I saw him for what he was. No, I knew instantly—exactly—what he was. Wolf.
The moment my revelation was projected, his eyes widened and his dominant expression turned to one of surprise.
“I saw what you did to the picture.” His voice strummed through me like a melody.
“What did I do to the picture?” I breathed.
His icy gaze lifted above my head and fixed on the wall behind me. “That’s not the way you found it.”
I turned slowly to glance at the painting. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now, the entire frame was lopsided, as though whatever had been holding it to the wall had failed to do its job. Had my abilities taken me over again? Had I repositioned the frame? I erased the surprise on my face before I turned back around.
“I was just looking at it. I’m a painter myself, and this is good work,” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He narrowed his gaze. “You’re a painter?”
“I…” I needed to divert attention away from me. “Maybe the owner of this house needs to check the hooks. One of them probably got loose or something,” I said. “Excuse me.” Even though something in me wanted me to stay here because I knew there was more to this mansion and that crest to uncover, I pushed past him. My curiosity had led me to others like me. But I wasn’t an animal. I was something else entirely.
I didn’t get very far. In fact, the guy caught up with me as I made my way across the dance floor. First his arm circled my waist, and then his voice wrapped around me.
“I am the owner of this house,” he said.
I swallowed. “Well, then.”
“Are you having fun at my party?” he asked.
Oh, shit. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. Would he check the guest list? Did he recognize me as an intruder here? It was his house, if what he said was true. Certainly he would know everyone who had been invited. I couldn’t recall the wording on the invite. The only thing that had stayed with me was the wolf crest and the first initial of the man throwing the party—D.
“I was just leaving,” I answered.
“Do you even know who I am?”
Oh, no. I was caught. Intruder. Spy. Guilty as charged.
He circled around so that he was in front of me again. I was left with no choice but to raise my gaze to meet his. For a moment, I thought I saw my irises reflected in his own. He appeared young, but something about his influence on both those around him and me told me that he was much wiser than his years.
“Well… do you?”
“Sort of,” I said. It was a half-truth and all I had to offer. I didn’t know his name or who he was, but I knew what he was. And if he owned the house, he must be affiliated with the family name right above the infamous crest. “Caedmon,” I added.
He smiled and his icy demeanor faded. “Good answer.”
Something told me that as long as he had me in his sights and knew that I had done something with that painting, he would never let me roam here to snoop any further. Which was why I had to bounce.
He leaned forward and his chest rose and fell as though he inhaled deeply. “By the way…don’t you think I know you’re a witch?”
My mouth dropped open. No one had ever called me that. I had never called myself that for fear that it was actually true. This stranger knew more about me than I knew about myself. Was it true?
“How—?” I managed to croak out.
He winked. “How else would you have known without me revealing it to you that I was wolf?”
I tore off from him and headed straight for the door. Somehow, I knew he wasn’t following me. Of course, if he’d wanted to, he probably could have caught up to me.
I made it out of the home, past the courtyard, and to my little sports car in record time. I was able to get in, crank the engine, and speed off without another encounter from the strange wolf men.
Chapter Two
Dawson
I was in an open field, running as wolf. The wind rushed through my fur and whipped past my ears. The sun had already heated the ground, and each time my paws hit the earth, vibrant warmth radiated through me. I was running to the woman of my dreams. The woman I loved and had given my heart, my soul, and my all to. She stood near the edge of a lake in a pair of black cut-off shorts and a bikini top. Her beautiful skin glistened under the sunrays. Her body was perfect—the right size for me. Mine. Once I was within a couple feet of her, I shifted to my human form. The rays hit my bare shoulders and chest, but a little sunburn was the least of my worries. Her smile was worth a trillion words. Pleasing my mate and making her happy was all I cared about. I lived to see her smile. When my gaze met hers, I saw the seductive beauty for what she was. Her eyes were silver and filled with magic…
I gasped and jerked upward. It took me a while to realize that I had fallen asleep. I dropped my forehead to my palms and then ran my fingers over my hair.
“Man, what a dream,” I mumbled to myself.
I swiped my forearm against my sweat-dampened forehead. Why was I dreaming about a woman I barely knew…the woman from the party?
I stood up from the sofa and trudged into my small galley kitchen. I poured myself a tall glass of ice water, took it over to my den, and plopped down in my lounge chair.
What had come over me? Was I desperate for a woman?
I picked up the remote and tuned into the NFL football game on the television. After all, I was alone and had been catching up on work all afternoon. Maybe I was bored and desperate. It had been months since I had invited any woman here. Had I gotten tired of this fast-paced bachelor life already? I hadn’t even reached the age of thirty yet, but as with all my Caedmon ancestors before me, we maintained our youth long enough to explore life, multiply our Packs, and find mates. And we were expected to give back to our community tenfold. I had no problems with the latter. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed my appointed position as a Caedmon Council member, dealing with shifter and Pack politics alongside my older half-brother. I looked up to Devin in more ways than he knew.
I had also enjoyed my induction into one of the oldest and most successful law firms in the country. I’d only been with the firm for a couple of years, yet Dr. Markham, the current owner, had already approached me more than once about becoming partner and had hinted that I’d eventually inherit the firm in the event of his demise. It was a huge responsibility, and not one often afforded to many twenty-three-year-olds.
Dr. Markham was a shifter, over eight decades old, and had no sons. Or any children for that matter. His human wife had died of cancer two years ago. It was no surprise that Dr. Markham wanted to leave the firm with one of his kind. I planned to accept, but I was reluctant, and most of my reservations were centered on the fact that I had never led anything in my life. Even when he’d hired me as an intern, Dr. Markham swore he saw something in me that no one else could see. For the most part, he knew the real me. I didn’t want anyone else to know my vulnerabilities—certain they would use those things against me if and when the time came. It was better for them to believe that I was just a young bachelor, interested in living the fast life and dating countless beautiful women, both human and shifter-kind alike. That way, people left me alone. They stayed out of my personal life. They came to my parties, laughed with me, and drank with me. The few I called true friends had already proven their loyalty to me, but outside of my circle, I was known as the bad boy and womanizer who could and had shattered a marriage. Some didn’t even care to associate with me until they needed a lawyer to represent them. But they all knew that I won cases just like I’d won the hearts of many women. Easily.
I downed the entire glass of water and my insides cooled. My wolf rejoiced as hydration set in. I had just returned from my evening run, but soon I’d call it a night since I had a new case to review with Dr. Markham in the morning. But would I be able to focus? I couldn’t get the beautiful woman standing in front of the art piece last night off my mind.
I’d reviewed the security tapes thre
e times already, knowing full well that I wouldn’t need the video to remember her perfectly round face and her seductive eyes. My memories of her were more vivid than the blurry recording. So had the dream of her been. And there was no doubt that the woman in my dream had been the beauty from last night.
I’d never seen her before. Her being at the party was just as suspicious as what had happened to the painting on the wall. I knew everyone at the party because I had hand-selected each individual for a reason. They were my friends from my alma mater, a mix of both humans and shifters. I knew them all by name, but not her. Her presence and prompt departure were odd to me. I was upset that I hadn’t gotten her name.
Other than the fact that she shouldn’t have been there in the first place without a formal invite, I knew she was hiding something. At first sight, I’d known she was a witch—and she had known that I was wolf. I’d heard her thoughts identifying me as such. Something in my soul resonated with her. My wolf had almost ripped me in half trying to get me to shift and run after her. But I had held my ground. My wolf didn’t seem to care that she was a witch. My wolf wanted to lay claim to her.
Before I could change my mind, I picked up my cell phone from the coffee table and speed dialed Devin Caedmon, my brother and the Alpha of the Caedmon Pack.
As always, he answered after several rings with the regular background noise. Ashton, Boyd, and Channing were now toddlers, and on any given day you could find the boys wrestling and tackling each other all over the house. They were rowdy now, and in a year or so, they’d be ready to learn what it was truly like to be a shifter.
“Hey, brother,” Devin said.
“Hey back,” I relaxed on the couch.
“I haven’t seen you in a week, but I did hear about your graduation bash over at the old mansion. What’s up?” Devin asked.
“I’ve been mostly traveling. Just got back after spending a week in Vegas.”
“Fun or business?”
“Business. My team had an assignment out there. Of course, we had some fun, too.”
“I miss the West. I might need to plan a trip out there. Me and the mate and kids. Since things have settled down a bit on this end.”
“You should, man,” I said. “You deserve a vacation. You’ve got five of us to delegate shit to. We’ll take care of things while you’re gone.”
There would have been silence on the other end had it not been for Devin’s triplets.
“How are my nephews?” I asked.
“We need a babysitter,” was Devin’s reply.
I smiled. “Hmmm, last time I came out there to help out, they teamed up and tackled me to the ground. What is Tamara feeding them? I really think you’ve got some football players on your hands. I’ll take one, but I don’t know about all three. Where’s Elisa these days anyway?”
Their half-sister Elisa Caedmon was Godmother to all three. She’d stayed by Tamara’s side a lot during the months after the births, especially when Devin was away on business runs.
“She’s trying to do the university thing too, just like you decided. Apparently, she doesn’t want to be just a housewife.”
“Ah, yeah, I remember those talks with her. It’s different for her, though. Her life is set. She’s got the best of both worlds if things fall into place…as they were meant to. How is Tristan taking this?”
Tristan was Alpha of the Arnou Pack, and they’d only just recently confirmed that Elisa and Tristan were true mates. Of course, time would only tell, but when shifters from two formerly rival Packs confirmed that a true mating would result from their union, there was nothing left to question. All anyone could do was wait and see.
“Tristan co-signed it, but my speculations are that Tristan would do almost anything Elisa asked him to do.”
I shrugged. “Right. All that mate mumbo jumbo.”
“That’s what you say about it now, brother,” Devin replied. “Your time will come, Dawson.”
I paused for a moment and then blurted out my question. “How many witches have remained true to the Caedmon Pack?”
“Where did that come from?”
“I was just thinking…about Elisa and all that…and about how her mother was one,” I mumbled quickly.
“Well, we have Elisa, of course. And we have Elisa’s aunt, who no longer practices the craft. One of our Elders who sat on a committee with late Great Uncle Roman still has powers and uses them. I can check the rolls, but I’m certain we have a little over a dozen belonging to the Caedmon Pack, but most of them are older and no longer practice. And then, of course, there are probably a couple hundred witches in the world that can be broken down into three groups: those that know they are witches and practice in private, those that don’t know they are witches and blend rather well with human society, and those who have affiliated with rival covens such as the one that was once led by the witch Shanhah, who was executed.”
“Hmmm.” I rubbed my chin. “But all witches don’t possess the same powers, right?”
“Precisely. You’d need to grill Elisa more on that end. Most practicing witches specialize, and what they don’t know, they learn or inherit.”
Could my mystery witch specialize in making shit move on walls and luring men to drop at her feet? If it hadn’t been for the distractions at the party last night, I honestly thought I would have done just that.
“Don’t go thinking anything about a witch is bad or good. Actually, I’d stay away from any witch you don’t know at all costs. They can see us on sight for what we are. I know you know our history, and that it was a witch who assisted in bonding the soul of a dying wolf with our Caedmon ancestor. And now, here we all are. The powers these beings hold—sometimes over us and to our detriment, but sometimes for our benefit—shouldn’t be underestimated. Both well-trained and inexperienced witches are to be equally weighted. The powers are there, and the only difference is that one knows how to control them and one does not. I’m a shifter. We’re shifters. We have our own abilities. Why are you asking about witches anyway?”
I swallowed. “I told you…I was just thinking about Elisa and all that and why they aren’t often acknowledged all that much.”
Devin chuckled. “I can’t forget that you’re a lawyer. Ask all the questions you want…”
“That’s all.” I sighed. “Anyway, I was just checking up on you. I have to rise at 5 A.M. tomorrow morning. We’ll chat later. I might stop by your house next week.”
“See you then. And tell Dr. Markham I said hello.”
“All right, bro.”
Once I hung up, I had a slight inkling that something was about to hit the fan over this witch and me. I instinctually knew that she was mine to mate, and I had already declared so without much thought.
When I lay in bed that night, I saw her eyes shining a bright silver and sensed just how much she was consumed with her untested magic. My wolf wanted to hunt, claim, and mate, but I did everything in my power to ease his excitement.
I tossed and turned and hardly got any sleep at all.
Chapter Three
Dawson
Dr. Markham looked at me over the rim of his wide spectacles. He wore a poker face that rivaled the one I had managed to master over the years.
“In either case, the court date has been pushed back. This is the third time their lawyers have done this,” Dr. Markham explained. He tossed a stack of papers on an outgoing pile on his desk. “My guess is that they’re pressing for evidence that they don’t have, or are thinking of settling.”
I nodded and picked up my fountain pen and made a note in my files. “For the past few weeks, there’s been nothing in the local newspapers about the lawsuit. When the ball wasn’t in their court, they spread a lot of rumors surrounding our client. All nonsense. After we presented the judge with sound evidence regarding the past embezzlement their client was accused but never convicted of, they shut their mouths, quickly. Ball’s in their court now, and it’s been over a week.”
“Our client isn�
��t opposed to settling. I spoke to him right before the trial began. With his failing health, he’s more than willing to close this case for the right amount of cash.”
“Leave it to me to run some figures on the net worth and potential future income,” I said. “I’m willing to bet they’ll want to settle out of court, but this will cost them.”
“Yes, indeed.” Dr. Markham sat back in his chair and wove his fingers together. “Have you looked over the stack of resumes I gave you for the paralegal opening?”
“Yeah. I’ve already got two candidates picked out from our alma mater. One guy has to catch a flight to get here, but I should be able to schedule something with him over the next few days.”
“Very good. I’m going to leave the recruiting up to you now. You will take my place soon.”
Dr. Markham was fishing for answers. I hadn’t officially given my acceptance to his offer, but he and I both knew that I wouldn’t say no and that this was the path I had been working hard to remain on. I wanted to steer this firm for the next few decades or for however long I was able to. But in order to do so, I’d have to give up my privacy.
When I’d joined the firm, I discovered firsthand just how curious the clients were about family background and morals and all that. Unless our client was a Caedmon or Arnou shifter, not many knew that I was the half-brother of the Caedmon Alpha. Since I stayed behind the scenes, mostly following in the footsteps of Dr. Markham, I didn’t meet most clients face to face unless he was out. I did most of the grunt work—drafting documents and heavy research, and since I was Dr. Markham’s right-hand man, I had been exposed to many facets of litigation and court proceedings.
Wolf's Temptation (Caedmon Wolves Book 7) Page 2