Suzanne Johnson - Elysian Fields

Rand’s gaze on me was steady and intense. “Do you know yet if you’ll shift to loup-garou at the full moon?”

The question surprised me and dampened my anger. “What?”

Then the enormity of the question slammed into me. The whole Synod knew I’d been exposed to the loup-garou virus. They’d watched the scene with Jake over and over like a viral Internet video. It was ammunition, and I had no doubt they’d use it. The elves could have me destroyed without Mace Banyon breaking a fingernail.

I shuffled to the bed and sat heavily, leaning against the headboard and closing my eyes. What a disaster. If Mace Banyan did nothing until the full moon, I had one week of my life left. Or he could already have gone to the Elders, in which case Willem Zrakovi was downstairs deciding my fate.

“Answer me, DJ. It’s important for us to talk about this before Alex comes up and finds me here.” Rand leaned forward in his chair but didn’t make a move to come closer.

No point in pretending now. “I don’t know for sure, but a blood test has shown the virus is active in my system. I’m already healing fast, which means it isn’t dormant. It’s virtually assured that I’ll shift. The Synod knows I’ve been exposed, so what are they going to do about it?”

Rand nodded. “Mace will use it to destroy you; he’s furious that our staff claimed you, and you have a lot more of our magic at your disposal than we realized. You haven’t begun to even discover it yet. This whole thing was set up to see if you were powerful enough with the staff to pose a threat to us, and he’s convinced you are.”

I shook my head, not understanding. “How can I be a threat to him? To any of you?”

Rand fidgeted in the chair, and I got the impression he’d be pacing the floor if I hadn’t been clutching Charlie. “Think about it. If the elves and wizards ever break their truce, the wizards would be at a huge advantage if one of their own could do elven magic.”

“Then why are you telling me? If I’m a threat to the Synod, I’m a threat to you.”

Rand studied me a moment before answering. “You’re not a threat unless the elves and wizards end up in a war, and I don’t want that. I actually don’t think Mace does either, but he still finds you a threat and your loup-garou exposure makes it easy for him to get rid of you. If the Elders don’t lock you away or kill you themselves, he’ll find a way to goad you into losing control so the Elders will be forced to act.”

Damn. I couldn’t wait until next week to move to Old Barataria. I needed to go tonight. I got to my feet and opened the top drawer of my dresser, pulling out clothes and throwing them on the bed. “Get out of here. I have to pack.”

Rand was across the room and grasping my wrist before I realized he’d moved. “If you bond with me, you won’t shift.”

I wrenched my arm away from him and backed up a step. “What kind of crap are you trying to pull on me? Why would I believe anything you say?” I might be impulsive, maybe even naïve at times. But I wasn’t stupid.

Rand’s blue eyes were almost glowing. “Elves can’t become loup-garou. If we bond with a blood exchange, it will counteract the virus. You won’t shift, DJ. Mace’s threat will be neutralized.”

I shoved the pile of clothes out of the way and sat on the bed again. I’d only thought things couldn’t get worse. There had to be an angle. “So Mace wants you to bond with me so he can blackmail me into siding with the elves?”

Rand’s chuckle held no trace of humor. “Mace would kill me if he found out I’m trying to bond with you.”

I looked at the elf, hate and despair and hope mingling in an ugly stew. Elves apparently didn’t heal quickly like shapeshifters or weres. If anything, his blackening eye looked worse. I, on the other hand, was feeling stronger by the second. Can’t keep a good loup-garou down. “What’s in it for you?”

He sat beside me on the bed, shifting farther away when I waggled the staff at him. “Political leverage. My mother is dying, and I will ascend to chief of the Tân, a full member of the Synod. Our clan is the smallest and therefore has the least power. Mace wants to reduce our Synod vote by half. But if I have a connection to the wizards, he won’t dare move against me or my clan.”

I rubbed my eyes. “I don’t want any part of your political crap, and bonding yourself to me doesn’t mean the Elders would back you in a Synod power struggle. Forget it.”

Rand inched closer. “It will work, and it’s good for both of us. You’ll be in a stronger position with your Elders as a liaison with the Synod. I’ll secure my clan’s position in the elven hierarchy and have an alliance with the wizards that would make Mace think twice about ever breaking the truce between our people. And you won’t turn loup-garou and either be killed or spend the rest of your life in hiding.”

I sighed and closed my eyes. Crap on a freakin’ stick. I couldn’t even think about the political fallout right now. “Well, doesn’t that sound like candy and unicorns? Look, I don’t trust you. I’m not agreeing to anything without finding out exactly what this bonding entails, so I need time to think about it. I need to do some research.”

Rand gave an impatient growl. “We don’t have time. The closer you get to the full moon, the more the virus takes over your system and it will be harder to counteract.” He touched tentative fingers to his eye, which had almost swollen shut. Alex’s knuckles were probably bruised. “Not to mention the wizards won’t let me anywhere near you again, not in time to make this work. It has to be now. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

Yeah, and I might believe him. Or not. “Okay, what does the bonding mean? You say it gives you political clout, but how?”

He hesitated, which ratcheted up my suspicion level. “It’s a sacred union among my people. You’d be given the rights of any full-blooded member of my clan, plus a high standing from being bonded to a member of the Synod once I ascend.”

The last elf lesson with Adrian seemed like a month ago instead of a day, but I remembered him saying the elven clans had remained pure. “Tell me this isn’t like a marriage because if it is, the answer’s not only no, but hell no.”

Rand studied the hem of his sweater and didn’t meet my eye. God, I’d nailed it. “We’d be mates. But it’s not a marriage like you’re thinking about.”

Right. “Does it involve an exchange of vows?”

He shrugged. “It does.”

Uh-huh. “Does it involve a physical consummation?” Because I would never have sex with Quince Randolph. Not. Ever. Happening.

He smiled, which cracked his busted lip and sent a trickle of blood onto his chin. Served him right. “No, except for a small exchange of blood.”

“Can we bond until the loup-garou business is over and you’ve gotten your political benefit, and then undo it?” Elven divorce court was probably about as entertaining as the scene I’d just endured.

Rand pressed the hem of his sleeve against his lip to stop the bleeding. “Um, well, no. It’s permanent.” Recognizing the disgust on my face, he spoke faster. “Look, I’m offering you a way out. You can keep your life here. You won’t turn loupgarou. You keep the staff. You keep your job. And I know you and Alex are involved. Do you want to leave him?”

God, no, I didn’t want to leave him. I wanted to be able to live my life here, not hide out in the Beyond and meet with Alex in stolen moments, if I could even trust myself not to hurt him. Look at the problems Jake was having. I didn’t want Alex to start fearing me the way I’d begun to fear Jake.

Tying myself to Quince Randolph for the rest of my life— even in some bonding of convenience—made me ill. I had to consider it, but needed more time.