Act of Command Read online

  A supernatural.

  That meant Corbin was one as well. Mae had met plenty of men in her life who were, but she’d never been on a date with one before. The idea had always turned her off, until the mention of Corbin, though she wasn’t sure why he was different. She wasn’t exactly thrilled to be forced into a date, but she was curious. A little surprised too since her parents had always been so against her dating. Mae’s ‘condition’, as they all liked to call it, left her vulnerable to problems with the opposite sex. For her mother to push for her to go on a date was a big deal. She’d make the best of it.

  She’d promised her mother not to go looking like a throwback hippie, which was the style of clothing Mae preferred. Still, the long, somewhat flowing yellow number that Alice picked out, while similar to Mae’s whimsical dressing, was a touch too revealing for her. The four-inch heels were certainly not her style. Flip-flops and sandals were more to Mae’s liking. That or bare feet.

  She pushed her large black-framed glasses up her nose and glanced at her friend. “I look like Belle.” The women shared a love of classic children’s movies that had not died as they got older. Belle had always been Mae’s favorite character as she too had a love of books.

  “You look sexy. Trust me. That outfit will get you laid,” said Alice with a smirk. “And didn’t Belle land a beast? Yummy.”

  Mae groaned. There was no point going down the sex talk path again. “I’m perfectly fine hanging onto my virginity a bit longer. I totally respect that you embrace your sexuality and welcome new experiences. I’m just not quite there yet.”

  In truth, Mae was downright prudish when it came to sex, at least next to Alice. They joked a great deal about it and even bonded closer because of it. Mae wanted to have sex. She wanted to experience everything, but she lived in fear of somehow damaging the man. In her life, she’d left a fair number of men needing either medical attention, locked away in mental institutions or in prison. Her gift got away from her that much. That and no one had realized what she was doing to men when she sang. It had never affected her adoptive father or any of his friends. No one could figure it out and she’d stopped trying. She tried to stay away from men whenever possible and she didn’t dare sing—even though she had the urge to do so daily.

  It was another form of creativity for her. An outlet. A way to let her muse run free and wild. Sadly, the crazy bitch of a muse didn’t have a stopping point.

  “You say that now, but wait until you experience a big dick between your legs,” offered Alice as she lay on her back, putting her hands in the air and waving them back and forth. “Hard, hot and heavy. Yum. Now I’m thinking sex is in order tonight. I’ll pick a few frat boys. They’ll do.”

  “Or you could go on this date in my place. He’s never seen me. He won’t know you’re not me,” said Mae, ready to take the dress off and force Alice into it. Alice was a few inches shorter than Mae, but other than that they were close in size.

  “We wouldn’t be having this debate if you were going out with the guy you’ve been making a sculpture of. That hot dude with the long hair and ripped body. He reminds me of that one guy who was on the giant ad in Times Square.”

  “What ad?” asked Mae.

  “The underwear one. It was a traffic stopper. Yum. Your sculpture guy could totally be up on a billboard too.”

  Mae glanced at her friend. “He’s not real. I made him up. He’s my version of a Greek god.”

  Alice tipped her head. “Why is he resting his head on a sleeping lion? Is that a mythology thing too?”

  Shrugging, Mae continued to fidget with her dress. “I don’t know. It just felt right to sculpt.”

  “Did the muse tell you to make him hung too? He’s very blessed,” Alice said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word.

  Mae had sculpted every detail on the man with painstaking precision. Exactly as her mind pictured him and that had included a rather large cock. She’d sculpted the area as if she’d ever seen a penis that size before. She hadn’t. Proportionally she’d certainly gifted the man. She may have been a virgin, but she’d seen many a man part before. Her major made sure of it. The models that came to pose nude were fit and attractive, but they were nothing more than forms to study to her. They didn’t excite her. The man she saw in her mind, the one she was sculpting for her current class project, excited her. The sculpture wasn’t life-sized as the assignment was creating a nude sculpture that could fit on a pre-sized pedestal for a showing. Mae wasn’t sure she could have handled having a life-sized version of the man. The darn thing already turned her on enough and it would fit on an end table. More than once, Alice has suggested that when the project was done, they take turns posing next to the erotic form and post the pictures online.

  “That is my final project for class. Don’t get any funny ideas. It’s all done. It just needs to be graded.”

  Alice feigned indignation, touching her chest, her jaw slack. “I would never.”

  Playing innocent didn’t work for Alice in the least. But it did make Mae laugh. “You would. You totally would.”

  With a shrug, Alice picked at a fingernail. “You should have made the sculpture bigger. Like sex doll kind of big.”

  “Dirty girl,” quipped Mae.

  “Thank you.” Alice beamed. “I’m not the only woman who would want a piece of that hottie.”

  Mae smiled. She had to admit, the man she’d sculpted hit all her hot buttons too. If he was real he’d be a specimen for sure.

  “Wear contacts tonight,” said Alice, sitting up on the bed. She grabbed a small bottle of lotion from the side table and put a dollop in her hand.

  Mae shook her head. “If a man doesn’t appreciate a woman in glasses he’s not the man for me.”

  Alice rubbed the lotion over her hands and up her arms somewhat. “Mae, you’re killing me here. I’ve told you before, I’ve never met a supernatural who wears glasses. I think you should talk with my family doctor. He only treats non-humans. Humans are so beneath him. Let him take a look at your eyes.”

  With a sigh, she looked to her friend. “Not this again, please. I’ve been to tons of doctors and yes, they were for non-humans too. No one can figure out why I need glasses. I just do.”

  “You’re hopeless,” said Alice, rolling onto her side. She grabbed a stick of chewing gum from the bedside table and set about unwrapping it. “ Can I do your makeup?”

  “I wasn’t planning to wear makeup, and are you sure you’re not ADHD?”

  “I’m awesome.” She plopped the stick of gum into her mouth. “Seriously hopeless. How about some lipstick at least? You’d look hot in red. Chicks with dark hair and pale complexions always look super sexy in red. Throw me a bone here. I am the one who helped scrub the dried paint off your face.”

  Mae had been caught up in her art again and had lost track of time. When Alice had shown up in the sculpting room, demanding Mae get a move on, Mae had been covered in clay and she wasn’t sure how Alice managed to get it off her. Normally, Mae walked around campus with smears of paint or clay on her at all times. That or charcoal from her drawing sticks. It was par for the course with her major in fine arts. She loved just about every medium available to her and enjoyed getting to explore each and every one.

  Alice glanced at her phone, blowing a bubble in the process. She snapped it loudly. “We need to get you over to the Union. Smart having him meet you there, across campus, rather than here. If he’s a total creeper, it puts some distance from him knowing where you live.” She frowned and then a wicked smile fell over her face. “Unless you really are like Belle and you really do get a beast. Shifters and vampires can smell and track about anyone once they catch a scent. Like bloodhounds. So he’ll be able to track you anywhere on campus, even with a misdirect. Creepy, but they’re almost always smoking hot. I guess that means they’re worth it. If you can tolerate all the alpha-male bullshit.”

  Mae paused, wondering for the first time what Corbin was. He wasn’t human, or her mother wou
ldn’t have pushed for the date. She’d always warned Mae that dating a human could be bad. Very bad. When Mae was in grade school she’d caused an entire classroom full of boys to go nutty during their Christmas pageant. She’d been singing along with all the other students and it just happened. She got lost in the fun and joy of singing and the next she knew there was an all-out brawl happening on stage. All the boys began fighting with each other, knocking children off the stage. It was horrible.

  That was one of many events that had happened before they figured out the problem.

  “My mom never mentioned what Corbin is. Just that he’s something. I should have asked, shouldn’t I?” Unease settled over her once more. “This whole thing is a stupid idea. Who lets their mother fix them up?”

  “Sweet girls. Wait, I’m not sweet and I’d totally let your mother hook me up with a hot guy.” Alice offered a wide smile. “It’s enough you agreed to the date. We’ll work out the kinks later. Don’t forget your phone tonight. You’re always forgetting it.”

  “Not always,” Mae protested, knowing Alice was right. Mae did tend to forget most things—like phones and keys and time. As she said it, she realized she forgot something important. Embarrassed, she went to her top drawer and pulled out a pair of silk, white panties. She slipped them on under the dress and did her best to ignore Alice’s cackling.

  “You should have gone without any,” quipped Alice, still laughing.

  “I could never,” said Mae, shocked at the idea of walking around without panties on. “I’m normally not this forgetful. I’m stressing big time about this date.”

  Alice shook her head, offering a scolding look. “Phone. Remember it. Text me if you need me. If you get a hinky vibe from him or anything, text. If you’re bored, text. If you decide to do him, take video. I so want to know and see! I’m kinky like that.”

  Mae laughed. “Got it. If I do anything, text.”

  “You got it, sister! Now, let’s get you over to the Union.”

  Mae nodded. It was now or never. She started for the door, and Alice whistled, drawing her attention. When she turned, she found Alice holding her cell phone, smirking. “Off to a great start so far. At least you remembered panties, though I’m guessing this Corbin guy would have preferred you didn’t.”

  Mae was almost out of the door when she remembered she’d not put on the lipstick Alice had suggested. “I’m coming. Right behind you!”

  She hurried to the bathroom, rifled through her friend’s makeup drawer and found a lipstick she remembered getting with Alice when a popular company had done a tribute line to Marilyn Monroe. Setting her phone on the counter, Mae applied the lipstick and then dabbed most off, unsure how she felt about having something so bright and so red on her lips.

  “Mae, come on!” called Alice.

  She doubled-checked her hair and dress before walking as quickly as she could in heels back towards the front door. Alice was there, grinning. “See. Told ya you’d look hot in red.”

  Mae blushed. “Let’s go.”

  Alice held the main door open to the building and Mae exited, the cool evening air making her shiver as she did. She took a few steps and then stopped, butterflies overwhelming her stomach. This was a bad idea. She wasn’t the best in social situations, and she didn’t really know anything about Corbin other than her mother thought they’d be perfect together. Her mother had also thought it was a good idea to try to get Mae to play an organized sport when she was younger only to realize Mae seemed to have two left feet.

  “Never mind,” she said, trying to make a break for it and head back into the building.

  Alice blocked her path. “Sister, you’re going. If he’s not a creeper and he’s hot, you’re getting laid. The time has come.”

  A giggle erupted from Mae at the sight of her friend body-blocking the door. “You’re scary when sex is involved.”

  “Trust me, Mae. I have this feeling that this is going to work out for you in the end,” said Alice, stepping forward a small bit, but not enough for Mae to get past her with ease and back into the building. Alice was scrappy for sure.

  “Okay, but if he’s a mouth-breather, I’m out,”

  “Well, yeah! No one wants to hang on a date with a mouth-breather. Remember that one date I had. The one who couldn’t stop sniffling. I swear he was hooked on cocaine or something.” Alice took Mae’s hand in hers. “I’ll walk you to the Union.”

  “You’re only offering to escort me because you know I’ll bolt and bail on tonight,” said Mae, knowing her friend well.

  “Hell yeah.”

  Mae was about to comment more when she turned, her attention pulled to the side of the common area. Off in the distance was a man who looked oddly out of place surrounded by the frat boys all around him—all of them wearing shorts and polo shirts.

  The man walking through them was tall with a head of long blond hair that was tied back. He wasn’t wearing the douchebag get up. “Who is that?”

  Alice eased up alongside her. “The blond hunk?”

  “Yes.”

  “Tell your vagina to stand down. I think he’s probably a new professor or something. Not your blind date. But if I’m wrong, you are so doing that.”

  “Oh yes. For sure,” said Mae, still staring in the direction of the hot guy. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. “Can I just skip the date and go out with that guy instead? I bet he’d be great in bed.”

  “Earth to formerly-sexually-repressed-girl,” said Alice, waving a hand in Mae’s face. “Pod people took you, didn’t they? Where is my virgin?”

  “She’s lusting after some random guy,” responded Mae before facing forward.

  Alice stared harder in the direction of the man. “I can’t believe I’m going to encourage your strange obsession with a sculpture, but that guy looks a lot like your Greek god statue with the lion.”

  Mae gasped, realizing her friend was right. The man did look like her sculpture.

  “Think he’s hung the same?” asked Alice, ruining the moment.

  “Alice, really.”

  “What? Legit question.”

  Mae groaned. “I need to go back to the apartment. Before you think it’s to bail, I forgot deodorant and the blond is making me so hot that I noticed.”

  “Totally hopeless. Let’s get your pits covered and then we need to get you to your date.”

  Chapter Two

  Captain Corbin Jones held a bouquet of wildflowers in one hand and his phone in the other. He was behind on paperwork and trying to walk and scan read at the same time. The documents had been sitting in his inbox for nearly a week as it was. He didn’t have time to go on a blind date, and he certainly had no inclination to be on one. Blind dates were for men who couldn’t get a woman. Not for him. He could land any woman he wanted. He’d been considered quite a catch throughout his lifetime and had gone through certain periods when he paid more attention to his sex life—the last big burst being in the 1920s. He was still fond of jazz and gin. A perfect pairing. Sure, his pick-up lines needed work as they were somewhat antiquated, but he could blend when need be and he got by. The roaring twenties weren’t that long ago, were they?

  He nearly tripped as he thought about how long ago his last dating high period was. He blinked. “Your last rush coincided with the advent of sliced bread.”

  He cringed, hoping his teammates didn’t figure that tidbit out. They’d never let him hear the end of it. It wouldn’t matter that he’d not had the time to date. He’d told his mother as much. That was of no importance to her, who, even at his age, still managed to scare him. She may be in London, thousands of miles away from him, but that was no matter—the woman could still make him listen as if he were but a boy, rather than the leader of his own special operatives team and hundreds of years old. She had that effect on a lot of men, so he didn’t take it to heart. His father was a proud lion-shifter and alpha in his own right, but next to his mother, his father was merely a cuddly teddy bear. She came from a l
ong line of lion shifters herself, but lacked the ability to shift forms, as was often the case with female shifters. That didn’t stop her from putting the fear of the gods into those around her.

  There was simply no way out of the blind date. At least, not unless a crisis at work came about. It seemed wrong to hope for one, but secretly he did. So far, it was just a mass of paperwork that he was behind on. Nothing pressing enough to convince his mother he didn’t need to be fixed up—again. Not one of her past attempts had stuck. He’d only fucked a couple of them. His mother’s taste in women she thought would work for him was that poor, to say the very least.

  He sighed, his thumb scrolling down the document on his phone display. It was a briefing of another Paranormal Security and Intelligence (PSI) mission. It was not one his team had been on, but rather one with intel in connection to a group of very bad men Corbin’s team had recently begun tracking. Lately it seemed everything tied back to the Corporation.

  He really and truly was starting to hate them.

  He glanced up to be sure he wasn’t about to walk into anything and then continued reading. He felt out of place on the university grounds. He was far too old to be there, but then again, he was far too old for most everything—including his date. Looking at him, none would guess he was more than thirty at most. A perk of being immortal. As a lion-shifter he had heightened senses and drew upon them as he walked while reading, using them to smell and listen for anything that may be in his path.

  All he could smell was the group of young men gathered off to one side of the common area, tossing around a football. He snorted in derision, failing to see what the American version had to do with feet, apart from a designated kicker coming out at what seemed random to him. His preference was definitely for European football—at least it required the actual use of one’s feet coming into contact with the ball.