Master of Smoke

looked down at her and smiled, and just like that her shoes were dry again.
    Eva laughed. “Damn, I could get used to that.”
    “That’s the idea. I want you addicted to me.” He twined his warm fingers with hers. “Because I’m definitely addicted to you.”
    “Silver-tongued devil.” The sand seemed to glow in the moonlight as whitecaps rolled toward the shore. “That was really beautiful,” she told him softly. “Thank you.”
    He shot her a glance and a wry smile. “There can be advantages to having a lover with certain magical abilities.”
    “Yeah, you definitely have magical abilities.”
    “But I’m still your David.” There was a trace of a question in the words. “Aren’t I?”
    Eva stopped in her tracks to stare up at him.
    That’s when it hit her just how much she’d been hurting him. Her refusal to accept Cat, her unconscious tendency to call him “David” even after his three personalities recombined—all of it had communicated a very ugly message.
    “What have I done to you?” She asked the question in a low, shaking voice.
    He frowned. “What do you mean? You haven’t done anything.”
    “Except hurt you worse than Warlock. At least that bastard valued your magic. I’ve rejected you over and over.”
    His brows drew down. “No, you haven’t. You just ...”
    “Told Cat I didn’t want to make love to him. Refused to call you anything but David. Acted like I only loved one third of you. Which is utter bullshit.”
    “No, that’s not the way I took it.” But his blue eyes flickered ever so slightly.
    “Now you’re lying to me, love.” She stepped up against him and took both his hands. “I love you. All of you. Period. The Cat part of you, who made diced asshole for me and then gave me David again because he realized that was what I wanted. The elemental with his beautiful eyes and ancient power, who greeted me with such joyful surprise because he didn’t think I cared enough to rescue him. And the Sidhe warrior who turned himself into a giant werecat to save my life.” Her lower lip trembled as her eyes stung. “How could I not love all that?”
    A muscle ticked in his jaw. “But I’m not human.”
    “Which is a damned good thing,” Eva said tartly, “because a human would have died a dozen times over this past week. A human couldn’t have helped me save my parents. And in case it’s escaped your notice, I’m not human either.”
    He shook his head. “You’re trying to be logical about this. As Cat says, there’s no logic in the heart. If you don’t love the other parts of me, there’s nothing either of us can do about it.”
    “Then answer one question.” She called her magic, let it spill over her in a breathtaking explosion of pain. The hands that held his acquired claws as she grew until she towered over him with sable fur covering her body. “Can you love me like this?”
    He looked up at her, and his lips quirked. “Of course. You’re beautiful.”
    Eva snorted. “Baby, every other man I know—with the possible exception of my dad and a couple of vampires—would be running like hell right now. Even Daddy freaked the first time I showed him what I am. Yet you never even batted an eye. You just hugged me and implied something kinky about my furry breasts. Do you have any idea how much that meant to me?”
    He shrugged. “Your werewolf form is as beautiful in its own way as your human body.”
    “And when you look at me like that, I believe you.” She lifted his hand. “Let me ask you something I should have asked a hell of a long time ago. What’s your Sidhe name?”
    He blinked. “What do you mean?”
    “What’s the real name of that part of you that’s a Sidhe warrior? Because it’s sure as hell not David. David is a statue in Italy.”
    He frowned at her, his expression uneasy. “I like David.”
    “But it’s not your name. What’s your Sidhe name?”
    “Urъvion. It means ‘fiery.’” He shook his head. “I doubt you can pronounce it.”
    She concentrated fiercely, working to reproduce his pronounciation. “Oo-roo-vee-on. How do you spell that? O-r-v ...”
    He laughed. “I have no idea. My people didn’t have a written language. Even if we had, I haven’t gone by that name in millennia. Not since I began hosting Smoke and Cat. Everyone else simply calls me Smoke.”
    “So.” Eva blew out a breath. “Smoke.” She met his bright blue gaze, her own steady, level with perfect honesty. “I love you,