Finding Their Flame [Stone Passions 2] Read online

  “There’s another. His name is Thane Harris. He’s a doctor and is at work today.” Dante leaned forward. “And we’re here to guard them. It’s our job to make sure nothing happens to the Cim or their woman.”

  “So how do you know that I’m supposed to bond with you? Because of the Branal in me, I have this weird eye thing. What happens with a Gargoyle?” She clasped her hands together.

  “When I walked in and saw you, I felt a flash of recognition.” Dante slid his hand under the table and clenched his fist. The raw flash had seared with its heat and strength. And somehow, she had Branal blood. Which meant a hell of a lot of stress in the future for Cael, Thane, and him.

  “So that recognition means we should be together?” She frowned.

  Her teeth worried her lower lip. She was nervous, but it was understandable. Everything was changing.

  “The recognition, the knowing, I might have had some doubts about it if I hadn’t felt it two times before.” Cael smiled and reached over. His fingers brushed across the back of her hand.

  She stiffened, but didn’t pull away from him. That was a good sign. Perhaps her fear and the strangeness of the situation wasn’t completely negating the pull of the mating bond.

  “You mean with Dante and the other one, Thane?” She looked from Cael and back to him.

  “Yes, that’s what I mean. I felt the same sense of recognition, the same knowledge that I belonged with them as I do with you. On top of that, there’s also your scent. I knew from the first time I caught it that you were meant to be mine.” Cael glanced over at Dante.

  “My scent. How would you know I’m special simply by my scent? I smell like I always do, vanilla and probably a few other baking ingredients.” She rolled her eyes.

  “It’s not the scent from any baked good that draws me.” Dante leaned forward and lightly touched her fingers. “The first hint of your essence that I got was sweet caramel, but there’s also a spicy, exotic undertone. It reminds me of oriental five spice, but there’s something more there.”

  “All right, I admit that I didn’t make the caramel today. I’m certainly not wearing it. And I’m pretty sure I don’t have five spice, at least not premixed.” She tipped her head. “Do I smell like that to you?”

  Cael eased his chair closer and lifted her hand, inhaling. “I wasn’t quite sure. I thought I might be picking up on something you’ve cooked. Like Dante, I smell caramel, but there’s also a bite of lemon. I bet you’d give me a bit of that citrus tang if I licked your skin.”

  “You know there are some lemon desserts in my case over there. You could easily be smelling that.” She rolled her eyes.

  “No, this is very much you.” He smiled.

  “How are you two so sure that I’ll have the same reactions as a normal Branal? Will I respond like them at all? I’m not completely Branal, and I taught myself to use my abilities. I’m sure I’m doing some of it wrong.” She stared at him.

  “You already have responded like a normal Branal when your eyes glowed.” Dante laughed. Where she was heading with the questions wasn’t funny, but it was expected.

  She worried her lower lip. “Do the Gargoyles always have group relationships?”

  Dante tilted his head. She’d backed off from the subject, but she’d probably come back to it later. “It’s rare to find a simple couple. If the people are a couple, it’s usually because they lost the other member of the bond. Our instincts lead us to protect our mates, and we can better do that with comates.”

  “Oh.” She glanced down at the table. “How much of the rules apply to me? And to my cousin since we’re not formally part of a group? We’re half breeds, and as far as I can tell, my cousin doesn’t have some of the problems your leader asked him about.”

  “If the rules didn’t apply to you, Dante and I would have already swept you up and taken you back to our house.” Cael raised an eyebrow. “Because they do, we’re going to respect the boundaries and court you.”

  She blinked at him and leaned back. “All right, but don’t expect full cooperation. I’m not sure I could handle a relationship with three men.”

  Chapter Two

  Each blink grated as if sandpaper lined his eyelids. Dante took a last gulp of his coffee and put it in the black cup holder. A dull beat pounded at the back of his head. If they hadn’t planned this, he would have gone home straight after work. The day had been hell.

  First, no sleep thanks to some humans who’d decided to break into several houses. They’d caught the thieves. One of the men smelled of a Gobel, but they had no idea what they had been working for.

  Dante had turned the humans over to the human police. They didn’t have any useful information and having them locked up might slow the Gobel down. At least, the creature would have to hunt for someone else to do his dirty work.

  He stopped his car in front of Sweet Things, their woman’s bakery. He turned to Thane. He sat in the passenger seat while Cael relaxed in the back.

  Thane’s hand gripped the black door handle so tightly that his knuckles were white. If he didn’t watch it, he’d break that thing right off. Dante nodded. The nervousness was understandable. If he hadn’t met her, he’d probably be climbing out of his skin.

  Fucking hell, they had to leave her yesterday and would have to do it again today. They could not bring Moriah to the community against her will unless she was in danger. He enforced the rules, but damn, this one made his life hard.

  “You said she was raised as a human. Do you think that she’s going to accept the mating urges?” Thane glanced over.

  “Probably not at first. It’s going to take her some time to get accustomed to the idea, but she needs to get to know us as a group and individually.” Dante tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.

  Neither of those would be easy. She had years of thinking that relationships were between two people. Getting her to consider a ménage would take time and patience. That last part was going to be hard to come by.

  “And if she does respond to us individually when we’re with her, we use the opportunity to deepen the relationship. We talk and work at it until she’s ready to come home with us.” Cael leaned forward.

  Dante grimaced. Cael had omitted another possibility. Bringing her to the community before she agreed, because she was in danger. Hopefully, they could avoid it. She’d already seen a Gobel. If one of those beasts came at her before she was trained, they could lose her. They had to keep her safe.

  The pheromones and mating instinct would draw her close. He couldn’t muster up much guilt about that. They could build something great, but first, they had to get over her resistance. Once she felt the draw and saw them as people, it wouldn’t take long. But damn, waiting was going to be hard.

  He opened the door and rose to his feet. A few cars remained in the lot, and people sat in the bakery even though it was near closing time. Why were so many people here? They’d have to wait a while to talk without interruption. They weren’t leaving without spending some time with her.

  Dante slammed the door. He put his hand on the gleaming black metal roof and took a few deep breaths. Better get inside before Thane lost it. He led the way into the bakery. Thane and Cael followed.

  Moriah stood at the shining, white counter, a bright apron wrapped around her. The blue trimmed blackboard with the specials listed behind her made her blonde hair seem even more golden. She looked up from the cupcakes she was boxing up. Her mouth opened, probably to call a greeting, but no sound emerged. He bit back a smile. Well, at least, she reacted. They walked up to the counter and waited for the person in front of them to be served.

  “Hello, what can I get for you?” Moriah smiled and shifted on her feet.

  “Three coffees, a couple of blueberry muffins for me, whatever they want, and when you have time, talk with us?” Dante raised an eyebrow.

  She bit her lip and glanced around the bakery. “Sure. It might be a while, but I’ll join you when I can.”

  Cael and Than
e ordered their food. Dante paid for it and led the way to a table. It did take some time, but slowly, the people left the bakery until only Dante, Cael, Thane, and Moriah remained. She stepped into the back room and returned a few moments later

  She filled a cup of coffee for herself and walked over to lock the door. After flipping the sign to closed and turning off the lights over the colorful tables on the sidewalk, she strolled over to join them. Her hips swayed side to side with each step. Dante groaned. Damn. That would probably look even better from behind.

  “Is your cousin in back again?” Dante frowned. No conversation or low clangs came from there.

  “No, today, he has after-school work to do on a group project. I just let the others go home so we could talk in private.” Moriah shook her head and smiled. Her gaze settled on Thane. “This is the third man you told me about?”

  “Yes, this is Thane Harris. He’s a doctor and was at work the day we met you.” Dante sat back.

  “Hi, I’m Moriah.” She reached across the table.

  Thane took her hand between both of his and held it for a moment. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you since last night. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  A blush heated her cheeks. Kudos to Thane for that. Her lashes lowered over her eyes shielding them. What is she thinking?

  “You wanted to talk? About what?” Moriah looked to Dante.

  “We know this is all very strange to you. Very different from what you know as normal. We wanted a chance to explain. Get to know you and let you learn about us and our lives. We’re not that different even though our customs are a little unusual to you.” Cael braced his arms on the table as he leaned forward.

  “I’m not sure that I can do this.” She pulled back from Thane and clenched her hands together.

  “Talk only right now.” Thane held up a hand. “We wouldn’t object to you deciding to accept everything, but discovering more about you is our intention today.”

  “All right, we can talk, but I need to know you’ll be honest with me even if it doesn’t suit your plans.” She swept her glance over each of them in turn.

  Dante narrowed his eyes. Caution flared in her gaze. So watchful. That wasn’t good. She should be able to trust them to tell her the truth.

  “Why do I think you already know the answers to some of the questions you’re going to ask?” Dante tapped his fingers on the table.

  “Maybe I do, but maybe I don’t.” She grinned. “We might never know unless I catch you in a lie.”

  He laughed. “I like you. You’re going to challenge us.”

  “I think that’s a good thing.” Cael nodded. “Ask your questions. We won’t lie to you.”

  “All right, and just because I’m asking doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to anything.” She narrowed her eyes on them.

  “That’s all right. We don’t expect you to. We want to know what you need to make you happy, and the only way we can learn that is if we talk with you.” Thane settled back and took a sip of his coffee.

  “Well, how is this three of you thing supposed to work? Do you each get a day out of the week?” She tilted her head.

  “No, it’s not like that at all. We’re all part of the bond together. During the claiming, when we’re all together, we will have you one at a time though, but, otherwise, we can make love together or alone, whichever way we like.” Dante shook his head. Some misconceptions were understandable, but trading off days came out of left field. “Not that during that first time, the others will be in another room or even across the room. If you’re all right with it, they’ll even touch you.”

  “But what if I’m with one of you more than the others? Will that cause problems in your relationship? I don’t want to make trouble between you when you already seem to be such good friends.” She bit her lip.

  “If some of us want more time with you, we’ll talk about it. Getting mad wouldn’t solve anything. We’re more than friends, and we’ve learned that to solve problems in our relationship we have to communicate.” Cael glanced over at Thane.

  She frowned and stared at them for a moment. “You’re lovers, too?”

  “Yes, is there a problem with that?” Dante asked.

  “No problem, I just didn’t expect it.” She shook her head. “All I knew was that you’d be mating with me. I didn’t know that there was more. Is it that way with all Gargoyle relationships?”

  “No, it’s not always that way. It depends on the people involved. Some are simply comates with their female. Others are like us and found something more in the relationship with the males of the bond.” Thane reached over and drew his fingers over her hand.

  “Okay, that does settle some of that worry. I still don’t understand how your people even started with this type of relationship. Wouldn’t it be easier to find a woman for each of you? I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d volunteer.” She exhaled, and her shoulders slumped.

  “But those women wouldn’t be our mate.” Dante reached over and wrapped his fingers around her free hand.

  “Yeah, I’m not quite sure that I understand the draw of the mate thing. Couldn’t the woman who was your mate be a raging, evil bitch just as easily as she could be a nice person you’d like to get to know?” She grimaced and looked down at the table.

  “I’m sure that personality clashes happen. But I like to think that there’s something more than chance involved in finding a mate. It would explain why so many of them are happy.” Thane shrugged. “Very few Gargoyle choose not to wait for their mate.”

  “So you know I’m your mate by my smell, and we’re meant to be together forever.” She sighed.

  “It’s your smell and the attraction we feel for you.” Dante squeezed her hand gently. Maybe some would be offended by the oversimplification, but she wasn’t familiar with even her own people much less his.

  “You never explained why the ménage thing. We got distracted by other things.” She lifted her mug of coffee and took a long drink.

  “Gargoyles have been mating in ménage groupings for a long while. It’s not recent and is probably nearly as old as Gargoyle society. The groupings work in our society even today. It allows us to keep our mates safe when there’s danger.” Dante released her hand and lifted his own cup.

  “The two things Agal Vincent mentioned are that much trouble?” She bit her lip.

  “Yes, they are.” Thane nodded. “Usually they can be handled without too much problem, but there are times when they do serious damage.”

  “But what do you do in a social situation where you know it could damage yourself or one of your other partners if it became known that you were in a ménage relationship?” She frowned.

  Dante nodded. Very good question and there were some people who did encounter that situation. “If there’s a public situation where a ménage relationship wouldn’t be accepted, one man is usually designated to act as husband to the female.”

  “So one man would be on if I needed him to act as a husband. What about the formalities? Would there be an actual wedding to him?” She cupped the mug as she stared at him.

  “Yes, one man would be the go-to in that case. A formal marriage, yes, we’d probably do that just to make sure you’re taken care of legally. We’d also do a ceremony joining the four of us together within the Gargoyle community because that’s where it really matters.” Thane leaned back in the chair.

  “All right, that seems to take care of any probable situation. It would annoy me to have to deny part of the relationship though. Does it annoy those in the relationships to do that?” She glanced up at him.

  “I’m sure it does. I don’t think I’d like it. It’s the reason a lot of us work in companies owned by other Gargoyles or we own our own company. We don’t have to answer to humans in that way.” Cael smiled.

  “Well, that would make it easier, but I’m sure there are conferences and things in some professions that are necessary.” She pushed her cup away and twined her fingers together.

&
nbsp; “There probably are, but they would be dealt with when it occurs.” Thane eased his chair a little closer to hers.

  “We’d like to take you out to dinner.” Dante reached over and touched her hands.

  She took a deep breath. “If it was another day, I’d love to, but I can’t go with you tonight. A friend of mine is having a bachelorette party. I can’t miss that. Ask me again on another day?”

  Dante inhaled. No hint of deception, just some anxiety. If she simply wasn’t ready for a date, she’d say so. She bit her lip. Maybe she felt a little torn.

  “We’ll definitely ask again.” Thane nodded. “We’ll let you finish closing up so that you can get to your friend’s party.”

  Time to back off. Pressing for too much too soon would only drive her away. They’d see her again soon.

  Chapter Three

  Where is he?

  Moriah slammed her car door and stepped up onto the sidewalk. At least this park was on the other side of town than the one where Ford had encountered the beast. A gentle breeze tousled her hair as she surveyed the three paths branching out from this point. Somewhere along one of them, her cousin waited for her, left here by Donny, one of his friends.

  Ford would probably try to take responsibility for this. The stubborn male called her only because he couldn’t track down another ride. That big independent streak might get him in trouble one day. She exhaled. At least he’d called this time.

  She pulled out her phone as she walked up the sidewalk. The sun radiated down on her, and warmth seeped through her clothes. It would get chilly once the sun went down, though. She glanced around once more. No sign of him yet. She dialed his number. The phone rang a couple times before Ford answered.

  “Hi, are you here?” Ford asked.

  “Yes, I can’t see you and was wondering if you could see me or perhaps tell me where to meet you. Or maybe you could find me. I’m in the south parking lot.” She glanced around. There was a map on a sign to the left. She walked over to it.