Chapter 1

One

Astra

I 'm wearing clothes! Real clothes. It's a first for me. Nymphs never wear anything that will shed when stepping inside a tree. I have a closet filled with sheer magical gowns and not one pair of jeans. However, the manticore Cade's new mate told me I could take what I wanted from her room at the resort to make my getaway. I can't exactly go into the human world with the wyvern shifter naked. I suppose that was one of the ways Father kept me in these woods and out of sight.

In jeans and a white shirt tied at the waist, I look like every other human roaming the earth. All I have to do is get to the meeting place by the lake and Drayce will fly us out of these woods forever.

My father thought he could give me to a satyr without even bothering to let me meet the fiend. Old-fashioned and high-handed, he set a date and kept it from me until the day before my wedding day.

Well, I hope Father will be very happy when there is a groom and no bride for the ceremony. A stupid tear tries to escape at the thought of leaving my forest, and I suppose Father too, but I force my anger aside.

These little white sneakers are not as comfortable as running barefoot, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

The clouds gather and I begin to worry that a bad storm might keep the wyvern from flying. He thinks he's in love with me, which is unfortunate. Most creatures fall in love with me. It's part of being a nymph. We are alluring to men, women, and monsters alike.

However, it doesn't work both ways. While Drayce is nice, I don't love him and probably never will. I don't think I've ever loved anyone. He's my ticket out of this place, so I'll use him to escape, and then I'll find him someone he's really in love with. His love for me is only because of my magic.

That tear makes its way to my cheek and I dash it away.

The underbrush rustles to my left.

I stop and crouch in case Father has come after me. Inching closer to a big oak, I slip inside the trunk to wait for him to pass. The human's clothes fall away in a heap at the base of the tree.

The bushes move and the deer trail I was using fills with a man. He's tall and broad. His dark hair catches the breeze. His eyes are intense and his full mouth tips up as if he knows a joke and won't tell. Horns curl back from the top of his head. Though he wears a kilt, there is no denying the hair-covered bend of goat's legs.

The satyr.

He's far more beautiful than I imagined, but that doesn't make him more appealing. I'll not be forced to wed anyone, no matter what they look like.

My body says differently as I can't help wondering what he hides beneath that kilt. I close my eyes and my arousal shakes the leaves of the tree I'm hiding within.

"I know you are in there, little nymph. Come out so we can talk." His voice is deep and seductive.

Damn him.

I'm staying right where I am. I'm not going to be bullied by him, either.

He picks up my borrowed jeans and they look tiny in his hand. "What would I have to say to make you come out, Astra?" He holds the denim close to his nose and breathes deep. Closing his eyes, his lips tighten and the crease between his eyes deepens as if in pain.

I swear his kilt flares, but it's probably just my overactive imagination. Though, he is a satyr after all.

He sits and folds the jeans and shirt and makes a little pile next to the tree's trunk before smiling at the sneakers and placing them next to the clothes. Leaning back against the rough trunk, his shoulders are nearly as wide as the old oak.

If I crouched, I could touch him, but that would give myself away. I shouldn't want to touch him, but heavens help me, I do.

"Shall I tell you about myself? Will that make you more inclined to come out of hiding?" He lets out a long breath. "Maybe your father told you that my name is Niko Barbaros. I was born in woods similar to these in Canada. It's colder there, but I was happy. I had hoped to find a bride there when your father sent a letter. He asked if I would marry his daughter as she was becoming restless and needed a husband."

Rage at my father rushes into my chest and if I'm not careful, I'll solidify and have to jump free of my place within the wooden rings that hold me.

He touches my clothes. "I didn't think nymphs wore clothes." After a long pause, he says, "I initially told your father no, but then he sent me a photograph of your face and I said yes. I think you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Beauty, ha. Of course, that's why he wants me. When he tires of my looks, he'll move on to the next. I suppose I could wait for him to tire and appease my father. Why doesn't anyone care what I want?

Picking up one of the sneakers, he studies it from different directions. "It might have been better if I had come sooner and introduced myself, but I had a life to sort out up north. When I arrived, I learned you were apprehensive about our arrangement. I asked your father why you hadn't responded to any of my letters. He said he'd kept them from you and that it was better for you to know me after our marriage. An old-fashioned idea."

His back stretches as he takes a deep breath. "Astra, you don't have to marry me."

My heart is beating so fast, I may pass out and become part of this tree forever. I gather my wits. "How can I know you're not lying?"

The tree's leaves shiver with the vibration of my voice.

"I suppose you can't." He stands and faces the tree and me. "I swear on the old gods, I will not force you to do anything you do not wish for. I promise to go away if that's what you want. All I ask is that you spend a week with me without distraction. If you don't like me and never could, I'll return to Canada and your father will blame me for the failure."

"One week?" I like the idea of having a choice, and he is beautiful to look at.

"I heard you were planning to run off with a dragon. Do you love him?" There's a tight warning in his otherwise caressing voice.

I step from the tree.

Niko scans my body from head to toe. "Lovely." He focuses on my face. "Do you love the dragon?"

I pull on the jeans and shirt, which I button and tie at the waist before slipping my feet into the sneakers. "Drayce is a wyvern who is very fond of me. He thinks he loves me, but he is only lured in by my nature. I had hoped for him to take me far away from here and then find his true mate for him." I have no idea why I told him all of that. It shouldn't matter what he thinks of me, but I don't like the idea of being some femme fetal who uses men.

A hint of a smile pulls at his lips, and it's totally distracting. He stares at me, his hands on his hips and his head cocked. "Do we have a deal, Astra?"

"Where would we go that there wouldn't be distractions and what would you demand of me once we arrived?" Half of me wants one thing, the other, another. Honestly, more than half can't get the idea of being pressed up against him out of my head. What's wrong with me?

"There is a cabin several kilometers from here. I bought it when I agreed to your father's offer. We can go there unless you have another place you'd prefer. I will make no demands other than you spend at least one hour talking to me each day and we take our meals together." He crosses his thick arms over his chest.

How can any man be this perfectly formed? He makes my mouth water.

I don't want to lose my father, and this plan makes Niko the villain. Father is controlling and misguided in the ways of the modern world, but he is my only family. "I agree to your terms. After a week, you can leave and Father will blame you. I can go back to the way my life has always been."

He bows. "If that is your wish, Astra, that's how it will be." He reaches a hand out.

Hesitant but not wanting to look cowardly, I take it and shake. Heat rushes through me at his touch. I pull back. "I have a message to send." Closing my eyes, I call the owl roosting high in the trees.

It soars down to me, landing delicately on my arm. Its long talons are gentle on my skin, and it hoots.

I whisper along his feathers. "Tell the wyvern I cannot come. Tell him I'm sorry."

With a flap of his wide wings, the owl lifts into the air and flies toward the lake.

"Ready?" Niko smiles at me as if he's won something.

I'm not a prize. "Keep your grinning to yourself, satyr. I only agreed to one week. After that, you and I will never see each other again."

It's almost sad when his smile falters.

We walk through the forest, moving west, then north.

After twenty minutes, something nags at me. "What did you write in your letters?"

Shrugging, there's a hint of a blush on his smooth cheeks. "I wrote the things a young man writes when he wants to impress a woman."

Not much of an answer. "Why didn't Father give them to me?"

"Perhaps he worried you would use the letters as an excuse for disobeying him." Niko probably isn't far off.

Father likes to be obeyed without question and when I was a little girl, that was fine, but I'm grown and have a mind of my own. Perhaps my father never expected to have a child. Mother died when I was small. She was human. That's all I know since that's another subject forbidden in his house.

A sigh escapes.

Niko stops. "If you are tired, I will carry you."

Dammit, does he have to be so sweet and charming? "No. I'm thoughtful, not tired."

"Would you like to share your thoughts?"

"Not really," I say. "I wonder if Father read the letters?"

"He did not." Niko turns down a driveway that ascends a mountain.

My thighs and calves begin to ache. Maybe I shouldn't have said no to being carried. "How can you be so sure?"

"He gave them to me and they are all still sealed." As if sensing my distress, he lowers to his knees with his back to me. "My legs are much stronger. Please, let me carry you?"

Against my better judgment, I wrap my legs around his waist and grip his shoulders. "Only because climbing mountains is not in my daily routine."

Holding my calves in his hands, he runs up the mountain.

I hold tighter, afraid that if he hits a rock, I'll go flying off and roll to my death. "Why are we running?"

His voice is tight. "Because having your body pressed to mine is more than my cock can take. Galloping is a distraction and if I don't, it will be difficult to walk."

I stifle my amusement. "Then why did you offer me a ride?"

"I am a gentleman and didn't bring you proper transportation. Thus, carrying you is the least I can do." He grunts and a hint of what's under his kilt nudges at my foot.

My body tingles with lust. I think it's going to be a long week.