Her Warriors by Bianca D'Arc Page A

other hand. He noticed that she also
still held one of Geir’s hands, but surprisingly, his tiger didn’t
want to roar about it. Normally, the time between discovery of
one’s mate and the actual claiming, was rough. The slightest thing
had been known to start terrible battles, and even a war or two, in
ancient times.
    At the very least, Beau had prepared himself
for the idea that he might be a little overly possessive of Jacki
until he could solidify the bond. Maybe being drained of most of
his energy by the High Priestess had mellowed his reaction. If so,
Beau was grateful for the reprieve. His father had warned him many
times that Beau’s unusually volatile temper could get him into
serious trouble—especially when and if he finally found a mate.
    Well, he’d found her now, but his temper
wasn’t riding him the way it usually did. It was odd, really. Beau
often had to work hard at keeping his temper in check. His family
had gotten used to his quirks over the years, and they knew when
not to poke the tiger. Most of his military colleagues had learned
the same, though some had learned it the hard way. But now, when
his temper should probably be the most out of control…it
just…wasn’t. In fact, he felt calmer now than he had in a long
time. It was like just knowing that Jacki existed, and was here
with him, was enough. Well…almost enough.
    The tiger and the man both wanted to pounce
on her and make love to her long into the night. They wanted to
hole up in a room with her for days and try every position in the
Kama Sutra—and some that hadn’t been invented yet. But the tiger
wasn’t interested in biting Geir’s hand off for daring to touch his
mate…which really was decidedly odd.
    “Are you two okay?” Jacki squeezed his hand
as the High Priestess spoke, lifting her head.
    “I’m okay,” Beau answered, though his voice
felt and sounded weak. Geir merely nodded. “How is Tom? Did we do
it?”
    Bettina bent over Tom to examine him. When
she lifted one of his eyelids with her finger, Beau caught a
glimpse of that same golden glow that had been around his body, now
shining out through his eyes. Beau almost took a step back in
surprise, but his legs still didn’t want to cooperate with him.
    Bettina rose and smiled. The older lady
really did have a beautiful smile. Beau felt his heart lift, along
with his mood.
    “We’ve protected him well,” she announced.
“The drain on his personal power is stopped for now. He will get no
worse before we have a chance to break the connection once and for
all. You’ve all done very well. Thank you for your help and energy.
I think the men should probably rest now, don’t you, Jacki? Maybe
you could help them find a place to sit. And you should probably
stay with them for a little while, just to keep an eye on them.
I’ll sit with Tom and plan our next move. I’ll meet you in the
kitchen in an hour, all right?”
    Bettina’s smile invited no objection, but
Beau figured Jacki probably needed a little break too. She looked a
lot better than he felt, but he wanted to be certain she was
feeling no ill effects from what they had just done before he let
her go off with Bettina to plan more magic. If this was only a small spell, he almost hated to see what they would be doing
tomorrow.
    Geir walked out from behind the head of the
bed and stumbled a bit. Jacki let go of his hand, which she had
still been holding, and moved under his shoulder, putting her arm
around him, supporting him. The two of them stepped closer to Beau,
and he finally let go of the foot rail of Tom’s bed, realizing too
late that it had been holding him up.
    Much to his chagrin, Jacki put her other arm
around his waist and the three of them stumbled toward the door.
Jacki was supporting the two males—one on either side of her
womanly form. How embarrassing.
     
    Geir tried to be prosaic about his own
weakness, but the truth was he felt humiliated that Jacki had to
hold him up. Beau too. They