Page 76 of The Mating Quest

“This feels delightful.” Tristan lifted his face to thesun.

“I hope the hell you’re wearing swim trunks,” hegrumbled.

“Of course. I am not with my beloved mate, so decorum is required. Would you like to seethem?”

“No.” Ethan began swimming forshore.

The wizard popped out of the water, floating in mid-air. The black swim trunks had silver wolves on them. “Ethan, this is not a social call. I came to give you awarning.”

He stopped, wondering now what the hell waswrong.

“Ilana is here and she is, shall we say, a strong, powerfulMage.”

“Yeah? I know. I’ve fought withher.”

“She is also awoman.”

“Nokidding.”

“A beautiful, vulnerable woman.” Tristan lowered himself to eye level with Ethan. “Very vulnerable, though she would never admitit.”

“She can take care of herself. No worries.” He thought for a moment. “Is she still on the mend? Need medicalattention?”

Tristan floated over him and groaned. “Dear goddess, sometimes Lupines can be so… dense.Ethan!”

He glanced up. Tristan dropped into the water next to him, splashinghim.

“Wake up. Ilana can take care of herself, yes, of course. She is healed. But her heart has not.” Tristan pointed to his chest. “In here, she has much healingleft.”

Ethan closed his eyes. “Aw... damn. Yeah, I get itnow.”

More water splashed over him. He opened his eyes, sputtering. “Hey, whatgives?”

“You.” Tristan pointed to him. “You give. Do not hurt her, Ethan. Surrender to your feelings, yes. But hurt her emotionally, damage her more than she’s already been damaged… and you will pay theprice.”

The wizard vanished, leaving Ethan wondering what the hell had happened to Ilana to warrant such a direwarning.

“I’m not the one stating I’m gonna seduce her,” he yelled to the sky. “Blame the merman for that one,Tristan!”

Irritated, he headed out of the water and plopped on the sand, hugging his knees. Damn, he didn’t need this. Didn’t need mermen talking about sex with Ilana. Tristan giving him awarning.

Talk about a lousy vacation. Ethan kicked at thesand.

“Bad mood,wolf?”

He froze at the sound of Ilana’s amused voice. Watched as she snapped out a towel on the sand and sat next to him. In forest green shorts and a bright green tank top, she looked gorgeous. Tempting. Her legs were pale, but athletic and shapely and all he could think about was how they’d feel wrapped around his naked hips as he thrust deep into her body. He wanted to take her into his arms, roll her onto the sand and strip off their clothing and sink deep into her wetheat.

He wanted to run far, far away from her because he didn’t want to wanther.

Ilana stretched out her legs, wiggled her toes. Ethan wanted to curse. Even her toes were cute. “I love it here. This house has everything! Even an automatic de-sander.”

He snorted. “It’s called ashower.’

“No. Didn’t you read the instructions Drust left in thekitchen?”

Ethan shook his head. She rolled her eyes. “Men. You always rush into everything. The house is fully stocked with food, and there’s an outdoor thingie that looks like a shower but actually is magick and rids your body of all thesand.”

“Thingie?” Damn, she was cute like this. “Does this thingie get rid of sand in all the places sand likes to buryinto?”