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his
eyes. He would have turned away had she not put one hand on his chest to stop
him. She felt his sharp intake of breath as the surge of electricity zinged up
her arm, his incredible warmth seeping through her skin and calling her further
into his space, until they were so close his scent threatened to overwhelm her.
Had it not been for the baby in her arms, Marnie wasn’t sure she would have
been able to stop the urge to snuggle into him and kiss away the lines of
sadness, which made him look much older and weary.
    “I don’t need your pity, little one.”
    He tried to distance himself from her but she
simply stepped in front of him again.
    “I’m not offering pity, Ion. Just a listening
ear. Surely, even big, bad alpha wolves need someone to listen to them every
once in a while? You can’t bring me here and not expect me to ask questions.
I’m training to become a lawyer; asking questions is in my nature.”
    “And what if you don’t like the answers, little
one?”
    His voice had dropped an octave, the intensity
of his gaze painful to take, and Marnie took a deep gulp of air to steady her
nerves.
    “Well, considering everything that I ever
believed has been turned upside down in the last 48 hours and I’m standing
here, talking to a man that shouldn’t be able to exist by the laws of science,
how bad can it be? Right now, if you told me fairies existed too and there was
a leprechaun riding a Unicorn behind me, I would not be at all surprised.”
    He smiled at her attempt to lighten the mood
and she was once again struck by how insanely good looking that smile made his
craggy features.
    “I haven’t ever met a leprechaun, I’m afraid,
and Unicorns are very rare indeed, but I do have a few fairies working at my
club, as it happens.”
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    His amused chuckle did strange things to her
insides and her heart felt lighter. He leant in close enough to bury his nose
in her hair and she felt him inhale deeply. Her heart went into overdrive
again.
    “Any other strange creatures working in there?”
    Ion pulled back, still smiling down at her and
she couldn’t help returning that smile, which made his eyes deepen, before he
sniffed her again.
    “Will you stop doing that?”
    He ignored her exasperated moan and cupped her
face in one large hand. “Apart from humans, you mean?”
    “What?”
    “My club…nothing stranger than the humans that
work there.” He smiled again at her groan in response to that statement. “I do
have one dragon and a few were panthers and an owl too, but mostly they’re
wolves. My pack and the neighbouring one.”
    “Riiiiggght, of course you do…” Marnie was
beginning to think she might not want the answers after all, all too aware of
his intense gaze watching her. She had the beginnings of a headache, what with
the information overload, not to mention the way her body was reacting to his
nearness.
    “So, fairytales are true, is that what you’re
telling me? All of them? Let me guess, there are real live witches too?”
    “Let’s just say, most legends are based on
truth and there are plenty of things that humans don’t know about. Can you
imagine the outrage if they did? Talking of which, how are you holding up,
little one? Not going to pass out on me, are you?”
    Marnie shook her head, not trusting her voice.
She was grateful for the arm that had slipped around her waist, pulling her
into Ion’s side.
    “So what happens now… you’re gonna have to kill
me, now that I know?”
    She was only half-joking. Surely he wouldn’t
just let her walk away with this knowledge? The grip round her waist tightened,
as he sighed into her shoulder.
    “No, little one. I have lost too many people I
care about as it is.” He didn’t look at her, but the sadness was back with a
vengeance. “We should get Leah back to her mother. Trust me, when she wakes up
she will be screeching for food and she has no patience.”
    “I haven’t met a baby yet that