His black fur was so dark, it reminded her of midnight velvet. She carefully brushed the whiskers of his muzzle back, then sank her hand in the soft fur of his neck.
Even though she knew it was true, it was hard to believe this was the same gorgeous man who had made the tenderest love to her.
And he had risked his life to protect her.
Her heart swelled with joy and with something she thought might be the first stirrings of love. No one had ever protected her. Not like this.
Pandora placed her hand near one of the vicious bite wounds above Dante's shoulder. "Will he be okay?" she asked Romeo.
If she didn't know better, she'd swear she saw pride in his eyes as he watched her.
"He's had worse."
"Really?"
"Really."
Romeo reached out and took her left hand so that he could see Dante's ring. His grip tightened on her hand. "That belonged to our brother Donatello," he said quietly. "I've never known Dante to take it off."
"He put a spell on it so that I could come back to him any time I wanted to."
Romeo smiled at that. "You have no idea just what a completely unbelievable feat that was for him."
"No, I think I do know." It ranked right up there with her lying beside him right now when she was terrified of panthers. This wasn't something she would have done even a few hours ago—and now…
Now she accepted the fact that this was her eternal mate. And for the first time in her life, she was beginning to understand exactly what that really meant.
Someone knocked on the door.
Pandora jumped.
"Relax," Romeo said as he moved to answer it while Mike stood aside. "The bad guys don't knock."
Pandora frowned as Romeo let in Leo and the gorgeous Goth man she'd seen downstairs. Leo went to stand beside Mike while the Goth came toward the bed.
"Pandora," Romeo said, "meet Acheron Parthenopaeus."
Acheron inclined his head to her.
She gaped. "You're the ancient Dark-Hunter?"
Acheron gave her that same wicked grin he had given her earlier. "The one and only."
A weird ripple went through her. "You knew me downstairs when our gazes met, didn't you?"
He nodded.
"If you knew I was looking for you, why didn't you say something?"
His gaze went to Dante. "Because it wasn't time for you to meet me yet." He glanced to Romeo. "And it's not time for you to lose another brother."
Pandora watched as the wounds on Dante healed instantly.
Romeo smiled in relief. "What do we owe you for that, Ash?"
Acheron shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'll call the favor in at a later date."
Dante flashed into human form. He looked up at her with a tender expression that melted her.
"Ash," he said, without looking at the Dark-Hunter. "Could I trade another favor for you to watch my mate for me while my brothers and I take care of something?"
"Absolutely."
Dante placed one large, warm hand against her cheek, then chastely kissed the side of her face. He got up and gathered his brothers to him.
"We'll be back in a minute."
Before she could ask him where he was going, they vanished.
"What is he doing?" she asked Ash.
"Knowing Dante, I'm confident he's going to guarantee that your 'friends' never return to threaten you or anyone from your pack again."
It didn't take Dante long to find the rogue pack of Katagaria panthers. They were camped in a small, isolated commune just outside of Charleston.
Ironically, they even had a sign up declaring the area a wildlife preserve.
With his three brothers behind him, he walked through the wooded area until he found the first panther he'd fought. The panther was lying wounded with a human woman tending him.
"Who leads this pack?" he asked the pair.
The panther didn't answer, but when the petite, blond woman did, Dante recognized a voice that was almost identical in tone, accent, and cadence to Pandora's. "Aristotle is the regis. He's sleeping over there." She pointed to a tree.
Dante inclined his head respectfully to her, then went to the tree to call down their leader.
Aristotle responded by only opening one bored eye. "Who are you?"
"Take human form when you address me, you bastard." Dante said harshly. "Or there won't be enough left of your pack to even start a new one."
The panther flashed into human form, then moved to stand before Dante in a stance that said he was ready to fight. He was four inches shorter than Dante and had short black hair that matched his black soulless eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" he snarled.
"Dante Pontis."
Aristotle's eyes widened as he took an immediate step back.
Dante's brutal, take-no-prisoners reputation was known far and wide, and it was respected or feared by all their kind.
"To what do I owe this honor?" Aristotle asked.
"A group of your strati tried to take my mate from me. Now I'm here for blood."
Aristotle sputtered. "There was some misunderstanding. My men went after an Arcadian whor—"
Dante slugged him before he could finish the insult. "Pandora Kouti-Pontis is my mate. If you speak of her with anything other than extreme reverence in your tone, you piss me off."
Aristotle turned pale. "I had no idea she belonged to you. Believe me."
"Now you do, and if I ever see any of you near her again, I'll end all your problems. Permanently."
Pandora was sitting in the Grandstand Lounge with Acheron, his daughter demon Simi, and two gods while they waited for Dante's return.
This had to be the oddest moment of her life. The demon was busy eating an extremely rare hamburger drenched in barbecue sauce while the gods and Acheron were telling Pandora stories about how they'd all met Dante.
Apparently her mate had quite a rambunctious club that catered to all manner of bizarre clientele. The gods and Acheron made routine visits there.
Zurvan, who went by the name Cas, was the ancient Persian god of time and space. He was the elegantly dressed man she had followed earlier toward the elevators, thinking he was Acheron.
Ariman—not to be confused with the Persian god Ariman—had been an ancient Phoenician god who had had the misfortune of visiting Atlantis at the time the continent was destroyed. He'd been in human form, trying to seduce a young woman, and as a result, he was now trapped in human form with no god powers except immortality.
He wasn't happy about it either.
"I really wish one of you would take mercy on me and fix me or kill me," Ariman said for the fifth time since he had joined them at their table.
Cas rolled his eyes, then turned toward Acheron. "I think we ought to banish him from our presence so we can't hear him bitch anymore."
Ash laughed.
"You're such—" Ariman's words broke off as he spotted the women who weren't wearing anything except warning tape. "Later." He bolted after the women.
Cas shook his head. "He is never going to learn, is he?"
Ash took a drink of beer before he responded. "Be grateful he doesn't. It gives us endless hours of amusement watching him screw his life up."
Cas snorted. "Considering how screwed up yours is, that says something."
"Let's not go there," Ash said, his eyes flashing red before they returned to their spooky swirling silver shade.
Sometimes it was very scary to hang out with supernatural beings.
"Pandora?"
She froze at the sound of a voice she never thought to hear again. Afraid she was hearing things, she turned to see her sister Sefia running up to her.
Pandora shot to her feet to throw her arms around her sister. Oh, it was too good to be real! "What are you doing here, Sef?"
"Your mate brought me," she said as tears poured down her cheeks. "He made them let us all go. Now it's up to us if we want to return to our mates or not."