“Ryder’s home with our cub, Minette, but Ben’s here. This late at night, Calum takes a break to join Vicki and Alec, so Joe Thorson supervises. Since there’ve been a couple of fights recently, Ben said he’d back Joe up.” Emma smiled. “No one messes with my grizzly cahir.”
“Not anyone who wants a long life,” Heather said in a dry voice.
“And after last night, they’re both keeping an eye on me—even though Donal fixed me up just fine.” Emma wrinkled her nose. “Margery, I’m so glad you were there.”
“What happened?” Heather asked.
“Darcy was giving me a ride home, but she swerved to avoid a fox. Well, she’s still a new driver, you know?”
Heather lifted an eyebrow. “Lost control, mmm?”
“Exactly. We skidded sideways, and it would’ve been okay, but Kepler and Norman had”—Emma rolled her eyes—“perhaps a bit to drink and roared up, hit us from the side. They slid into a tree. Kepler wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, I guess, and he got thrown out, so he was a mess.”
Heather stared. “That sounds like a horrible mess. You and Darcy are all right?”
“Donal has magic hands.” Emma smiled at Margery. “And Margery was there to defend us when Norman started shouting.”
“Gods, Vicki would call that a sheepfuck…no, it’s a goatfuck, although I don’t get why one animal is better than the other.” Heather gave Emma a sympathetic look, then smiled at Margery. “I’m glad you were there, too.”
“Hey, there’s my favorite redhead.” A male sauntered up and leaned over the back of Heather’s chair. “Can I entice you to spend some time with me?”
He wasn’t a bad-looking male, and his confidence was appealing. Margery gave a mental nod of approval if Heather wanted him.
She did. Offering her hand, Heather let him pull her to her feet and toward the stairway.
Margery eyed her friend. As far as she could tell, Heather wasn’t overwhelmed with lust, just pleasantly interested.
“I’m so happy I found Ben and Ryder,” Emma muttered, then turned red. “Sorry. I have ugly memories from my first Gathering.”
Ugly enough that the bard’s eyes were haunted. Margery moved to sit beside Emma and squeezed her hand. “You didn’t say anything wrong. I’m really glad you found lifemates—and I’m sorry you had a rough Gathering.”
“It’s years in the past, but now and then, something brings it back…like all the shouting last night, actually.” With a sigh, Emma leaned against her. “I see why the cubs didn’t want to leave your lap. You simply exude peace.”
Margery laughed. “It’s a talent. My grandmama had it, too.”
“Useful for a banfasa.” After a couple of minutes, Emma straightened. “I’m all right. You probably want to check out the males.”
“I’m good.” Margery looked around, listened, breathed in the scents. “No one is setting off my want-to-have-him bell.”
Laughing, Emma got up and added another log to the fire. As fresh flames ignited, a salamander spiraled around the highest one, adding a shimmering glow to the reds and oranges of the flames.
“So, what’s it like living with a bear and a…what animal is Ryder?”
“He’s a cat.” Emma considered. “I think it’s easier than living with a wolf and panther combination, like Tynan and Donal. Ben’s huge, but bears are mellow. Ryder has a hard time riling him up—and being a cat, he really does try.”
Margery busted out laughing. “Cats. All snark and claws.”
Benighted, sprite-brained, testosterone-poisoned males. After dealing with the second brawl of the night, Donal walked up the cave steps ready to claw someone just to ease his temper. And it’d help him warm up.
He was shaking with the cold.
Only he didn’t start fights for stupid reasons, not since his twenties. Well…maybe thirties.
Shredding someone might help his mood tonight. So far, it’d been a completely crappy night.
Because his interest in sex was completely gone for some reason. By the Gods, with the two matings earlier, he’d been so bored his cock had barely risen to the task. And a task was what the sex had felt like. Neither Nia nor Francesca were to blame. Both were lovely, pleasant females, thrilled at being taken upstairs by the healer.
Although being classified as the healer rather than Donal grew more tiresome every year, it’d never wiped out his desire to mate. Nothing did.
Until tonight.
At the top of the stairs, he yanked open the door and stumbled inside. Through the closet, out of the portal room into the hall, then into the main room of the tavern.
At least, the number of aroused shifters meant the place wasn’t cold. Not that he could tell. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get warm again.
“Whoa, Donal, you look half-frozen.” Rather than the Cosantir, Ben was tending bar along with Thorson. “Want a hot coffee?”
“Bless you, yes.” Donal slid onto a bar stool, set his hands on the bar, and watched them shake.
The grizzly cahir set the coffee in front of him. “Emma’s over by the fire. Get on over there and warm yourself up.”
“That’s the best plan I’ve heard all night.” Forget mating. He wanted a different kind of heat right now.
He tried the coffee and was shaking hard enough he burned his lips. Grumbling under his breath, he crossed the room, trying to avoid collisions with heedless younger males who saw only females. Clumsy pups.
Around the fireplace, the temperature increased and Donal’s legs went weak. With an oath, he hastily sat down at the end of the couch. Don’t spill the coffee.
“Donal!”
“Healer!”
“What’s wrong with him?”
Someone touched him.
“He’s freezing. Build up the fire some more, Emma.” Now there was a lovely voice.
Someone sat and wrapped her arms around him. As the soft body pressed closer, warmth seeped into him. The scent of flowers drifted to his nose.
“Margery?”
“Well, your brains haven’t frozen, at least.” The humor in her voice lightened his mood. “Here, drink your coffee.” She set her hand under his shaking one and helped him raise the cup to his lips.
The hot liquid burned all the way down but started to warm him from inside. Ben must have laced it with bourbon from Calum’s private stash under the bar. Good grizzly.
Another set of shivers hit, and Margery moved the cup away. “How did you get so chilled?”
“Fight outside—bear versus panther. Bloody mess.”
“I bet you forgot your coat and got so involved in healing you didn’t notice the cold.”
“You’d be right. At least it wasn’t raining.”
Emma tsked at him. “You need a keeper.”
“This from the female who gets in car accidents?” But then the next set of shivers hit, and his laugh strangled. “Aye. I’ll take a keeper.”
As the spasms eased off, Margery helped him drink more coffee.
The heat from the fireplace and the warmth of her body on the other side finally penetrated. With a sigh, he leaned back. “Thank you.”