Page 49 of Wedding the Werepanther

When Shadow loses control of his kart, sending it flying off a cliff, he turns to me and makes a silly face.

When I laugh, he grins. Then he starts playing badly on purpose, sending his kart over the cliff, driving backward, or racing toward each Thwomp, begging the blocky bad-guys tosquish his kart. He does a fantastic job of playing badly, using that hand-eye coordination of his in ways that get zanier and more elaborate each time until I’m wheezing, barely able to breathe, and his rich laughter rolls through the room.

“You’re never going to win like that,” I say.

He points to the screen and leans close, voice deep and wicked, like chocolate and sin. “What ifthatisn’t the game I’m trying to win?”

My heart picks up speed, and I lick suddenly dry lips. “Then what are you trying to win?”

“You.” He reaches up to coil a lock of my hair around his finger. “Thank you for sharing this with me, my wife.” He smiles, as wide as his usual grin but more real. It takes me a moment to figure out the difference, but it’s his eyes—they’re full of warmth. “It’s a lot of fun. I see why you like it so much.”

My heart leaps against my ribs. Tonight’s going even better than I imagined. I hoped he wouldn’t hate gaming, but I didn’t expect him to love it.

I cue upPaper Marioto give me something—anything—to do other than think about how much I want him to kiss me. “So this is a role-playing game. It’s designed for multiple people to play at once, helping each other—”

Shadow grips my hand, his knee pressing into mine. “I’ll be more than happy to play it next time, but I want something else right now.”

“What do you want?” I ask, while a voice in my head chants: kiss, kiss, kiss. My entire body thrums, and I feel like my skin’s too tight.

“I want to try one of your games.” His hand tightens around mine. “I realize it’ll probably be too complex for me to get far, but I want to at least watch you play one.”

“Oh,” the word puffs from my lips in a soft sound of surprise. Even though Bradley was a gamer, he never liked that I was thebetter player, so he never asked me about my work or played any of my games. For Shadow to want to play one of mine is so supportive that it takes my breath away. Forget being jazzed about him liking video games. This right here just catapulted him straight to the title of Best Date Ever.

“I’ll, uh…” My throat tightens, and I have to clear it to continue. “I’ll have to connect wirelessly to the computer in my office.”

“I’m in no hurry.” He picks up his beer and takes a slow swig, his throat moving in a fascinating way.

It doesn’t take long for me to get the new game set up, and soon the haunting opening music starts as the titleFate of the Faeappears on the screen. I let the opening animation play, telling the tale of how Faerie used to be peaceful until the Dire God rose to power. He built magical walls that fractured the land into separate domains to isolate and control everyone more easily. Now a band of various types of fae must unite into a fellowship, each bringing different skills to aid their quest. They must gather all of the Harmony Crystals, take them deep into the bowels of the Dread Keep, and bring down the walls, reuniting all of Faerie.

“Sounds a little familiar.” He smirks at me.

“Naomi told us some of what happened in Faerie. I felt inspired.”

He leans close, his voice a low purr. “You do knowIwas one of the fae who helped reopen the doors of Faerie.”

I swallow and nod. Even more than his looks, thinking of Shadow doing all kinds of heroic shit is a total panty melter.

“I can’t wait to see what you created.”

I choose one of my mid-stat avatars, a human witch with a strong constitution and an arsenal of useful spells. I playedFate of the Faea lot while we ran it through beta testing, making sure we got all the kinks worked out, but haven’t played it in over ayear, since I already know how to find all the best loot and beat all the bosses.

The game begins in an orc pub as cloaked figures meet in the corner, whispering of the quest. I sneak close to overhear their talk of a nearby cave system rumored to contain a special dagger that can kill cavewights, called Wight’s Bane. It’s one of the smaller quests, designed to be playable by a multiplayer co-op or a good solo player.

“Is that me?” Shadow leans forward, squinting at the character who just threw back his hood. He’s tall and gorgeous, with long black hair and brilliant green eyes.

“No!” I lie.

But the characters start to talk, and all the clever dialogue I was so proud of last year comes back to bite me in the ass.

“Itisme!” the werepanther crows, pointing emphatically at the screen. “The elf just called him ‘Cat.’”

“It’s his nickname. He’s totally not a cat sith.” I don’t admit the character is a type of fae I made up called a shadow walker, because then Shadow willtotallyknow it’s based on him.

I cast a Teleport Spell to take us from the pub to the opening of the cave, hoping he’ll drop it once he can’t see the Cat character anymore.

No such flipping luck.

He leans over to murmur into my ear. “You wrote me into your game, my wife.”