by Cecy Robson
Aric. Yum. I missed my big, bad hotness.
When the plane touched down I skipped to the door, restless to see Aric and mount him like a bronco. Mount him like a bronco? Hee, hee, hee. I’m so funny!
Taran, Emme, and Shayna carefully led me back and sat me down when I continued to giggle. “Celia,” Emme said gently. “Perhaps it’s best if you wait here a moment.”
“Why?”
Taran swore. “Because the wolves may not be ready to see you.”
I pushed out my perfect bosom and grinned. “How can they not want to see all this?”
They had no response other than to just stare back at me. They’d been doing that a lot lately. Hmm. What’s up with that?
Shayna straightened when the cabin door opened. “Maybe I should handle this,” she said.
She scrambled out of the plane right behind Agnes. Emme and Taran began to pace again. I couldn’t understand why they were all so edgy. Everything was damn fine as far as I was concerned. Taran had lent me a small mirror from her purse. I smiled into it, admiring how sexy I looked. Life was good. It couldn’t get any better than this.
“Celia?” Emme said softly. I stared up at her wide doe eyes. She held up a blue sundress. “Um. We were kind of hoping you could put this on.”
I cocked my head to the side. “I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“It is,” she insisted. “Y-you can’t exactly step out of the airplane naked.”
“Why?”
She didn’t seem to know and looked to Taran for help. Taran threw her hands up in the air before perking up and pointing at me. “Because you’ll look even prettier in the dress. You want to be pretty, don’t you, Celia?”
I smiled. I liked being pretty. It was fun. “Of course!”
Aric’s snarls had me peering out the small window. “What do you mean, she’s not herself? Is she hurt?” he shouted. “You said she wasn’t hurt!”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Someone’s cranky again.”
Shayna glanced nervously back at the plane. “Oh, she’s not hurt or anything. She’s just not quite herself.”
“If she’s not hurt, what the hell happened to her?” Aric pressed.
“Shah sort of attached himself to Celia,” Shayna explained.
Everyone outside stopped speaking. Aric swallowed hard. “What do you mean he attached himself to her?”
“We better get outside,” Taran muttered. She took the dress from Emme and shoved it over my head. She sighed and shook her head. “Damn. It’s not much better, but it will have to do. Come on, Emme.”
I stood up and spun around in the dress. I didn’t like the feel of it. It made me hot. So instead I ripped it off and skipped after my sisters. The wolves and vampires gathered around Shayna remained quiet as they listened to her explain what had happened when we found Shah. They seemed intrigued with her story. I didn’t like it. Her story took attention away from me.
I waved, jumping up and down until I had everyone’s attention. “Hey. Yoo-hoo! Hi!” I yelled.
Aside from the audible pop when everyone’s jaw dropped, no one made a sound. Their eyes collectively flew open. Danny and a few of the vampires actually jumped back as I bounded down the steps.
“Holy shit,” Tim muttered.
I skipped up to Aric who gaped at me like he’d been slapped with a giant salami. “Hi, baby,” I cooed, throwing my arms around him.
Instead of embracing me, Aric turned his head slowly to glare at Misha. “You fucking bastard,” he said to him. “This is all your fault.”
Misha wasn’t paying attention to Aric. He was too busy taking in my sparkling physique. My nipples tightened under his scrutiny, making a soft tinkling sound as they stiffened. I looked down at them and back at him. “How do you always get them to do that?” I asked him, smiling.
Aric had to be physically restrained from launching himself at Misha.
I stepped back and watched his Warriors struggle to hold him back. “Don’t you like how I look, Aric?”
He jerked in my direction and shrugged off the wolves holding him. Slowly, he edged toward me, his brows furrowed deep. Instead of gathering me to him, he kept his distance, his troubled expression traveling the length of my body.
I smiled and spun for him. For some reason he didn’t appear impressed with how my wavy hair flowed or how my breasts bounced. Instead, I only seemed to agitate him more. He turned his back and ran his hand through his hair, muttering something I couldn’t quite hear.
He couldn’t look at me. What was wrong with him? I was pretty, damnit.
I circled around to face him. He gave me a half-assed look right before he let loose a bunch of growls. Again, he turned his back on me. My heart sank and I almost started crying, but then I thought of the perfect solution to get him to notice me.
Cartwheels!
I placed my hands on the ground and swung my legs over one by one. I was a big hit. “Oh!” the crowd yelled as one.
“Ho-ly, shit,” Tim muttered again.
I was so happy with the response I tried a second cartwheel, but Emme stepped in front of me. Her face was beet red and horror crawled across her features. “Celia, you can’t go around doing that.”
I didn’t understand. “Why?”
Taran grabbed me forcibly by the arm. “Because we can see everything,” she hissed.
Aric ripped into Misha like a wolf possessed. “She had no right being there. All you had to do was notify the weres where Shah was and we would’ve handled it. Now look at her!”
Misha ignored him, appearing more stunned by my behavior than anything Aric had to say. I smiled and gave him a small pinky wave. He threw back his head, laughing, which only infuriated Aric more.
I stormed toward Aric. I had had enough. I shoved my fists onto my hips and stamped my foot down, causing my breasts to shake. Tink, tink, tink, went my nipples. “Do you like how I look or don’t you?” I demanded.
Aric gaped at me like I’d asked some bizarre question. “Well?” I asked. “I’m waiting.” Aric shut his mouth, which meant he didn’t find me attractive. Tears slid down my perfect cheeks and fell against the tarmac in the form of small diamonds. “You don’t think I’m pretty,” I said.
“Sweetness. It’s not that, it’s—”
“You don’t think I’m pretty!” I wailed.
The murmuring around us stopped. Aric struggled with what to say. “Celia, you’re not yourself, love. I…”
“I think you’re stunning,” Misha said, smiling.
I turned to him, my grin returning. “You do?”
“You are the most beautiful creature my eyes have ever gazed upon.”
I clasped my hands beneath my chin and bounced up and down. Tink, tink, tink. “What a sweet thing to say.”
Aric didn’t agree and tackled Misha to the ground. Several vampires jumped on top of him, causing the wolves to attack. My sisters screamed at everyone to stop over their growls and hisses. I was furious they were fighting. Now no one was paying attention to me!
Ooo. A butterfly!
I bounced away, chasing after it while I spread my arms and imitated its movements. “Fly, little butterfly. Fly, I say.”
I followed it into the wooded area and over a small brook when I heard Taran screaming behind me. “Celia. Celia. Goddamnit, get back here!”
I pointed to my little friend. “Butterfly!” I said, continuing to run.
“Jesus Christ, she’s fucking high.” Taran stopped trying to chase me and leaned on her knees, struggling to catch her breath.
Aric tore after me. His shirt was ripped to ribbons and blood dripped from the gaping wounds on his chest and arms. “Celia, wait.”
Something in his voice made me pause. “Hi, Aric. Why are you bleeding?” I pointed again. “Did you see the pretty butterfly—”
He snatched me in his arms before I could say anything more. “Get my ride,” he growled to the wolves following him.
Bren raced ahead of us whi
le Aric ran full-out with me back to the private airport lot. I sniffed. Then sniffed again, pressing my nose against Aric. His brief smackdown with Misha heightened the underlying musk of his aroma. I lifted my chin and flicked my tongue along his neck. Mmm. He tasted so good.
Aric stiffened in all the right ways.
Martin’s truck peeled into the lot, screeching to a halt. He raced to us, his steps slowing as he neared. “What in blazes happened to Celia?” he asked.
Shayna stepped forward. “Shah went inside her somehow. We think.”
Martin frowned. “Did she touch him—is she his holder?”
Shayna shook her head, making her ponytail swing side to side. “No. That’s the strange part. He was as big as a car and we were trying to figure out how to move him. Celia smiled at him and bam. Everything exploded with light and the next thing we knew Celia was naked, and crystal clear, and all like, sparkly.”
No offense, but I was getting bored. So I took another lick of Aric. That was fun, so I kept it up.
Aric cleared his throat. “I should take her home, until we figure things out.”
Martin sighed. “Perhaps that’s best. I’ll conference with the witches to see what they think.” His voice trailed off when he realized what I was doing. “Is she all right?”
“Her behavior appears to have been affected,” Aric ground out, his voice strained.
“Agnes thinks she’s intoxicated by Shah’s power,” Emme added, sounding oddly apologetic. She climbed into the passenger side of Aric’s Escalade when Bren slid behind the wheel.
Aric cleared his throat. “She’s ah, fine. Just—we need to get her home,” he added quickly. He lifted me into the backseat and buckled me in, then sat beside me and placed his arm around me. Bren cranked the engine and pulled out of the lot.
Aric sighed, holding me close. “Baby, about what I said, before you left the hotel. It was crazy, and I’m not sure where it came from.”
“ ’Kay.” I unbuckled my seat belt and straddled him, needing another taste of him. “You smell so good,” I purred. I trailed my tongue along the curve of his neck until I reached his earlobe and tugged.
Aric grunted loudly.
“Celia. What are you doing?” Emme yelled from the front.
The car jerked off to the side as Bren exploded with laughter.
Aric clasped my wrists when I reached into his pants. “Celia, baby, st-stop,” he stammered.
“I don’t want to,” I told him. “And I know you don’t want me to, either.”
I ground my hips against his lap, arching my back so my breasts skimmed against his face and my nipples swept over his lips. Aric grunted, turned his head and bit back a low growl when my hips rocked faster.
Bren continued laughing. Emme panicked and called Martin. “Martin—It’s Emme Wird. Celia is trying to have relations with Aric.”
“I beg your pardon?” Martin repeated into the phone.
“Celia’s trying to have sex with Aric!”
“What? Ah, ah, tell him to—tell him to resist.”
“Aric,” Emme urged, “you have to resist her.”
Aric held my hips, my wrists, trying to stop me. I welcomed his challenge with more hip swivels and tongue sweeps than he was prepared for. “I can’t,” he groaned. “It’s still Celia.”
The ride back to our house consisted of Aric and me wrestling in the backseat, him trying to keep me from tearing his clothes off with my teeth, Bren laughing and struggling to keep Aric’s Escalade on the road, and Emme demanding I stop my behavior. But then we were home. Aric lifted me into his arms and raced us into our bedroom, slamming the door shut.
This time, he didn’t work as hard to stop me.
Chapter 15
Did you ever wake up and know you’ve had sex? Lots of it? Yeah, well, that was me the next time I blinked my heavy eyelids open.
I lay on my back. Sort of. Aric’s foot was somewhere near my right ear and his other leg was tucked against my shoulder blade beneath me. I shimmied until I slid out from under his leg. Most of his upper body dangled over the opposite side of the bed and our brand-new sheets were torn to shreds.
I pushed my crazy hair out of my face. The entire room smelled like sex and us. Claw marks ran the length of our headboard and a chunk of wood was missing from the footboard. Damn. Just damn.
I laughed, remembering some of our more creative poses. I’d wanted him so much. I was glad he finally let me have him. I was still smiling, thinking about the way we’d made love until the image of naked cartwheels flooded my mind.
My body jolted as if poked, and I scrambled to his side. “Aric?” I shook his shoulder. Oh God, what did I do? I shook him harder. “Aric?”
He flipped me onto my back and dipped his head to kiss my neck. “Ready for more, sweetness?” he murmured.
He paused and pushed up from me, his gaze softening. “Hey. You’re not shiny anymore—”
“Did I do naked cartwheels in front of the vamps and everyone we know?” He sighed and carefully pulled me to a sitting position. “Oh my God!” I screamed. “I did, didn’t I?”
Aric rubbed his jaw. “Try not to worry too much about it. Everyone there realized you weren’t yourself.”
I buried my face in my hands. “Kill me. Just kill me.”
Aric pulled my hands from my face and kissed each one. “How can I kill my mate and the woman I love?” he asked softly.
He gathered me to him, and simply held me for a long while. His presence soothed me. At that moment, there was no doubt and nothing standing between us. So I melted against him and took it for the gift that it was.
“What happened to Shah?” I finally asked.
“I don’t know. We…” Aric straightened. “He’s right there.”
I lifted my head. There on my dresser was the smaller version of what I’d found in Malaysia. Aric and I stood and walked to him. Shah was now only the size of my palm. “How did you get him out?”
Aric frowned. “We didn’t. We came back here, made love over the past two days and—”
“Two days?”
Aric chuckled, his face reddening. “Yeah. It was pretty intense. I couldn’t keep you off me, but in all fairness, I didn’t want to.” He kissed my head. “He must have separated from you after we fell asleep this last time.”
“Okay. But now what?”
He shrugged. “I guess I’ll take him back to the Den for safekeeping.”
“Do you think he’ll be safe there?”
“I don’t know where else to hold him, sweetness.” He turned me around, keeping a hold on my hips. “This whole thing, you fighting, you going after him. Celia, I’m trying, baby, but I can’t handle you putting yourself out there and risking your life.”
Just like that, the peaceful moment we’d shared was gone. I lowered my gaze briefly before meeting his face once more. “Aric, you do it all the time.”
“But it’s my sworn duty. Not yours.”
“I may not have made an oath to earth, but I am obliged to defend it.” My fingers trailed over his skin. “Why else do I have the power that I do?”
“Shayna told me about the panthers,” Aric said. “If Shah hadn’t decided to help you, or if he’d turned against you, I would have lost you. You wouldn’t be here with me now, and I would be begging the next full moon to rise and claim my life so I could join you.”
My hands covered his. “Aric, I’m not planning on going anywhere.”
“Neither was Liam,” he said softly.
I tried to swallow back the grief that engulfed me. No one spoke of Liam anymore. Some things were just too painful. And some people were just too young and good to die. But I knew not a day went by when we weren’t reminded of his smile, or how he’d given his life to save mine.
Aric sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you, or force you into a corner. But if you feel compelled to help those who need you, I want you to go back to nursing.”
“I don’t think that’s where I’m mea
nt to be.”
“Will you try?” He lifted my chin, his eyes pleading. “Please, Celia. I just want you to try. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll regroup and work something else out, okay?”
I didn’t say anything for a few beats. But when I spoke, I hated what I had to ask. “If I do, will you consider stepping down from your position as Leader?” The bomb I dropped loosened Aric’s hold. “You don’t want to lose me, but you have to understand that I don’t want to lose you, either.”
It took him a while to respond, and in the minutes that passed I regretted my request. Whether he’d meant to or not, Aric had forced me into a corner. But then I’d gone and done the same thing to him. “Okay,” he finally said. “If that’s what it will take to keep you safe, I’ll step down at the end of the year.”
For something that would help ensure our safety and well-being, both of us looked miserable. Aric bent and kissed my lips, then turned from me to pull some clothes out of his dresser. He’d been so willing to make love mere moments ago, before my ultimatum; now he simply seemed distant and I only had myself to blame. Guilt twisted my belly. In a thousand years I would have never expected to make such a demand. Sometimes I still surprised myself, and it wasn’t for the better.
“I’d better get Shah to the Den,” he said quietly. “I’ll be back later; stay here and rest.”
I nodded and pulled on a T-shirt and shorts.
Aric disappeared into the bathroom. When he stepped out, he was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt and grasped a hand towel. He stared at Shah. “Will you start applying for nursing jobs sometime this week?”
I nodded, knowing I owed him as much for what I’d just asked of him. “I’ll start later today. I promise.”
“Thank you,” he whispered.
He reached for Shah, waiting a breath before he gathered him in the towel. “You’re not going to touch him?” I asked. He didn’t answer me, and wrapped Shah tighter. “Aric?”