Shadow's End (Elder Races, #9)(67)

“Intense though your conversation may be,” Soren snapped, “you will have to set it aside for later.”

The Djinn’s acid tone splintered the bubble that surrounded Bel. Flinching, she realized Soren had moved across the room and stood right beside them. The Djinn looked furious.

Moving so fast he blurred, Graydon snatched at Bel, clamping her against his side, away from the Djinn. At the same time, he snarled at Soren wordlessly.

Oh, dear gods.

Graydon’s normal features, that had become so beautiful and dear to her, had vanished.

In his place stood a huge monster, with a feral, distorted face, fangs and claws. In an instant, he had gone from gentle, even sensual, to barbaric and half animal.

Bel’s mouth fell open, and she goggled at him.

“Whoa, okay,” Constantine said sharply. “Back up, Soren. Back up, now. How the hell do you get a Djinn to back the f*ck up? Like right now!”

“I told you he was close to flipping his shit,” Luis said.

Rune ordered, “Everybody else, leave the suite! Go out into the hall!”

Carling’s calm, telepathic voice flowed into Bel’s mind. Bel, you need to talk to Graydon and get him to calm down. Do it now.

I don’t understand, Bel stammered. Funny, she didn’t feel the slightest bit afraid. Simply astonished and confused. She hadn’t sensed any threat in the room, yet Graydon was clearly primed for battle.

Soren backed away, looking astonished and thoughtful.

I’ve seen this behavior before, and I know what it is, Carling said. We’ll talk about it later. Don’t be afraid, honey.

I’m not afraid. Bel switched to verbal speech. She said as calmly as she could, “Graydon, my love. All is well. There’s nothing dangerous here at all. Can you look at me?”

The monster had not stopped glaring at Soren. His long fangs were exposed in warning. The massive muscles in the arm that held her clamped to his side were hard as iron.

Where had her gentle giant gone? This was the same monster who had faced down Malphas in the Djinn’s country manor house in Wembley.

Something about Soren’s antagonistic attitude had triggered Graydon’s fight instinct.

The monster didn’t appear to pay any attention to her, but she noticed the sound of his growling subsided.

Hoping he quieted so he could hear the sound of her voice, she continued softly. “I need for you to pay attention, Gray. Are you listening to me? I need for you to pay attention to me right now.”

She injected all the urgency she could into her voice.

The monster’s gaze snapped to her.

Relief caused her muscles to turn shaky. He could listen to her. He could respond.

She laid a palm against his cheek. “Watch only me,” she whispered. “Never mind anything else that happens. Pay attention only to me.”

As people quietly slipped out of the room, the monster turned his head toward the movement and hissed.

Bel felt her eyebrows shoot up. He seemed to be protecting her? His behavior was beyond irrational. It was . . . it was . . .

When the answer finally came to her, she felt her world undergo an irrevocable shift.

It was Wyr mating behavior.

In an instant, everything she knew and read about Wyr mating flashed through her mind.

When the Wyr began to mate, they turned violent, irrational and possessive. Fascinated by the idea, she had once read everything she could about it.

Not that she had found much definitive information.

Wyr mated for life, but no one fully understood how or why it happened, not even the Wyr themselves. It was a complex occurrence involving sex, personality, emotion, timing and instinct.

She had read first-person accounts where Wyr had described falling in love, and even coping with a broken heart after a love affair had ended, yet they hadn’t experienced the mating frenzy.

As one Wyr female had said, she had fully believed she was in love, and thought she understood the full range of what that meant in terms of emotion, but it was only some years later, after she had mated, that she finally understood the depth of fulfillment, completion and even the edge of despair that mating gave to her.

If the mating Wyr weren’t handled with understanding and care, they could turn on lifelong friends and family. For even the gentlest among them, a time of mating could be unpredictable and dangerous.

Just as quickly as realization hit, Bel felt overcome by a huge tidal wave of reaction. Everything in her soul cried out in hunger and gladness, and reached greedily for the immense, precious gift that seemed to appear as if by magic in front of her.

If it had been another man, the possibility might have frightened or disturbed her, but this was Graydon.

This was everything she had ever wanted for herself, everything she could have hoped for. His warmth, his gentleness and constancy, and yes, this fierce, frightening creature as well. There was nothing cold or distant about him.

All other considerations fell away. The other people in the group, their lack of privacy, the challenge that lay before them, even the danger to her son.

This time, she put both hands to the monster’s face and turned him toward her.

He could have easily resisted her touch. Physically, he was much stronger than she was. But he obeyed the urging of her hands. The snarl that had distorted his lips eased.

Stroking his hair, she thought, I have never seen anything more beautiful than this.