“You think you’re smart,” Esme hissed.
“I am smart. And cute as hell, too,” Sophie said. She placed herself between Calder’s legs, resting against his thigh, and Calder was pretty sure he was going to explode right then and there. “But more importantly, I’m not kidding. Stay away from what’s mine, Esme. Migisi made your life miserable in her way. Believe me, she was nothing compared to me. I’ve had a very stressful time of it lately, so I’m not really in the mood to mess around.”
“It’s a matter of time, witchling. You think you’re something. You are nothing. Just like every psychotic bitch in your line.”
Sophie opened and closed her hand, like she was working a puppet. “Yeah, yeah. Every psychotic bitch in my line. I’ve heard it all before. Get out of here before I get annoyed.”
Calder watched as Sophie and Esme stared at each other, a battle of wills, neither of them looking away.
Finally, Esme turned with a “Fuck this,” and stormed out of the bar.
“Watch the perimeter. Keep an eye on her, please,” Sophie said to one of the witches, a goth looking young woman near the front of the group. The other witch nodded and gestured for the rest of the witches to follow.
Sophie closed her eyes for a moment. Calder watched. She seemed to be focusing. He looked around and saw the other bar patrons shaking their heads as if they were coming out of a sleep.
Calder looked at her questioningly.
“They just nodded off for a bit. It’s okay,” she whispered.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” he said as he watched the other patrons start moving.
“I spend a lot of time sitting, messing around with Shadow, trying to figure out how it works,” she said with a shrug. “It’s not that hard, once I can see what I’m doing.” She started to move away and he held her firmly against him. She gave him a questioning look and he pressed himself into her hip. She gave a little gasp and he watched as she blushed prettily. He could tell from her scent that she was needy, ready for him.
“Stay with me, Sophie,” he said, looking into her eyes. “Don’t stop touching me.”
She lifted her hand and ran her fingers along his jaw. He leaned into her touch, keeping his eyes on hers. “She tried to use your needs against you,” she said softly.
“I managed not to give in. It is possible,” he said, well aware of the bitterness in his voice. His anger roared up again, but it did nothing to cool his libido. He held her tighter against his aching body and her breaths became shallow, faster.
“I want to fuck you until every memory of him is gone, until you’re hoarse from screaming my name,” he growled against her ear. “I want to fill you over and over again, until you know that mine is the only body you’ll ever know again.”
“Yours is already the only body I’ll ever know again,” she whispered. She was trembling, and he could smell her, the mix of lust and wariness. His bear raged. Too much Shadow magic, too much need. The madness he felt for her skated far too close to what he felt under the curse. But this had nothing to do with curses, and everything with the way she twisted him up inside. He dug his fingertips into her hips, holding her tight against his body.
“Why did you do it, Sophie?” he asked. She looked away from him and he took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him. “Why?”
She shook her head.
“I had the curse, kitten. I wanted to hump every female in my path. When you came into my life, it was pretty easy to save it for you. Why wasn’t I enough?”
“Why wasn’t I enough?” the pain in his voice made tears spring to Sophie’s eyes.
“You were always enough,” she told him. “Always.”
“Not that night, I wasn’t,” he said bitterly.
“I’m sorry,” she said, meeting his eyes. “I am so sorry.”
“You could have come to me. You know I would have taken care of you.”
“I know.”
He watched her, his gaze still full of hunger, anger.
“So what did Jack have that I didn’t?”
She shook her head. “Not a single thing.”
“So, why, Sophie?”
“You already know. It was because of the curse.” Not completely true, but it was as close as she could get without risking undoing whatever she’d done and letting the curse come back.
He held her against him, his grip hard, bruising on her hip. For some reason, that only made her needier.
He sighed. “You didn’t have it as long as I did. You didn’t get to build up your control the way I did. It came on me slowly. You didn’t have that luxury.” He massaged her hip, as if realizing how hard he’d been holding her. He was still pressed against her, still hard, and she closed her eyes. Everything ached for him. She pressed her thighs together, trying to get some relief from the way she throbbed for him. Her breasts were tender, needy for his touch. Her heart, too, missed just being with him. She’d been so close to begging, so many times, with him lying beside her at night. But she wanted him to decide when he would touch her again. She knew he was still dealing with what he’d seen, what he believed she’d done.
“I’ve been in agony sleeping next to you at night,” she murmured. “You say you want to take me hard? You want to take me, fill me, possess me? I want it too. But the ball’s in your court, Calder. When you decide to give me what we both need, I’ll be ready.”
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked. He was gripping her tight again, and she couldn’t hide the whimper of need that escaped when he pulled her even closer.
“So you know. Because I want you to have no doubt about how much I want you. About how you’re the only one I want, ever.”
He studied her for a tense, breathless moment, and then he slowly released her, turning toward the bar to hide the bulge in his jeans.
“Go home, Sophie. I’ll see you there later.”
“Calder?”
He turned and gave her a look that made her knees weak. “Go home. I’m going to hang out here for a little while, and then I’m going to run, because my bear is losing his goddamn mind. I’ll be home soon.”
She nodded, her stomach twisting, fluttering. He gave her another scorching look and nodded for her to go. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked out the door.
When she got outside, she took a shaky breath.
“She went home, my Lady,” Jayda said. “Watched her go there myself.”
“Thank you.” She glanced around at the Shadow coven. They seemed on edge, fidgety. “What’s wrong?”
“We, um… are we done now? Can we go back to the meadow?” one of the men asked.
She studied them. “You actually want to go to the meadow?”
“Yes, please.”
She shrugged. “Fine, knock yourselves out. Thanks for your help tonight.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, they each disappeared, one by one. She shook her head. She glanced back at the bar one more time, then took a step, and, with the next step, ended up in her living room. One of the Shadow coven witches had called it “witchwalking,” that ability to cover miles in just a step.
She put another log on the fire then stepped back. Her hands were shaking, not out of fear. Nervousness. She had an entire mental list of things she hoped would happen when he got home, but they’d been such a mess since that night that she had no idea whether he’d still be in the mood or not. And, she wasn’t positive it was a good idea for them to start up again, with so much between them. All she knew was that she wanted him, that the sight of Esme near him, saying those things to him, had nearly made her want to unleash every bit of Shadow magic she had on the redheaded witch.
A little over an hour later, she heard the familiar sound of Calder’s truck, listened as he pulled into the driveway across the street. Her entire body heated, and she trembled.
A couple of minutes later, he was walking through the door. She stood up and met his eyes. The silence between them, the intensity of h
is gaze, made Sophie feel like she was about to lose her mind. Every moment with Calder was always so much more. More intense, more exhilarating… more of everything. Calder looked her over, gaze dark, jaw clenched.
He took a few more steps into the room, and she walked up to him, standing in front of him, close enough to touch. His gaze roamed over her body, lingering hungrily on her breasts. She blushed and felt a tremor go through her.
Calder reached out and ran the tips of his fingers down the side of her neck, skating over the sensitive spot he bit when he wanted to make her lose her mind, down her shoulder, and over the side of her breast. She felt like she was about to hyperventilate, and she couldn’t stop looking at him, that dark look in his eyes, the way his nostrils flared at the scent of her.
“You’re just as out of your mind as I am,” he said in a low voice, and she swallowed.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“I ran for miles, Sophie,” he said, a deep growl to his voice. “I thought if I ran some of it off, it’d be less likely that I’d lose control with you. I don’t feel very in control right now.”
She whimpered as he cupped her breast.
“And the truth is, you don’t want me in control, do you?”
“N-no,” she managed. He flicked his thumb over her nipple, and she arched against his hand.
“No. We’ve fucked like we were out of our minds before, haven’t we, kitten?” he murmured, and she felt like she could barely breathe. “I thought, back then, that it was the curse.” He put her other breast through the same gentle torture, not taking his eyes off of her, his eyes locked onto hers. “The truth is, it’s just us.”
“Yes.”
His fingers found her nipples and he gave them a firm roll between his fingers. She cried out, and he growled low in his throat. He did it again, this time tugging her aching nipples.
“Calder.”
He did it again, and again, torturing her breasts as she stood there in front of him, fully clothed, yet feeling more naked and exposed than she’d ever felt in her life. He was about to say something when a car door slammed in the driveway. He growled and let her go, and she immediately missed his touch, mentally cursing whoever had such miserable timing.
There was a knock, and Calder wrenched the door open, Sophie right behind him.
The chief of police, another shifter, stood on the front porch, two other officers behind him, both with rifles aimed at Calder.
“Calder Turcotte, you’re wanted for the murder of Jack Harris.”
Chapter Six
Sophie stared at the officers, sure she’d heard wrong.
“What?”
“Get on the ground, Turcotte, hands where we can see them. Those two have tranquilizer darts. You’re not getting anywhere.”
“This is insane,” Sophie said. “He’s been here.”
“Was he here three hours ago?”
“He was at the bar with his brother.”
“He left the bar a little after nine,” the chief said. “We have witnesses.”
Sophie gaped at him. “This is ridiculous. You’re arresting him because of where he wasn’t?”
“No. We’re arresting him because he had a very obvious problem with Jack Harris,” he said, giving Sophie a meaningful look. “And Jack was ripped apart by something with great big claws. I’ve seen a bear attack or two in my day, sweetheart. I know what this was.”
“Yeah, okay, then. A bear. Calder wouldn’t—”
“He’s being smart, staying quiet,” he said to Sophie.
“You can’t just take him to a normal police station. That’s ridiculous. What, you what them all to find out about us?” she demanded. By “us,” she meant shifters, witches. The things their non-supernatural neighbors had no idea existed. “You really want to open that can of worms?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not going to any human jail. This is an issue of pack justice.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
The chief didn’t answer. He leaned down and cuffed Calder’s wrists, then his ankles, then pulled him up. Sophie stared at Calder, and he met her eyes. He was clearly angry.
“Call Jon,” he said to her.
“I will,” she said. He gave her one more look before they led him away. She watched helplessly as they loaded Calder into the police car and pulled out of her driveway. Every instinct in her wanted to destroy them, to get what was hers back, but she fought it. That would only make this all worse.
What the hell?
With shaking hands, she hit Jon’s number on her phone, and he answered immediately.
“Um. Calder was just arrested,” she said.
“What?”
“The chief just arrested him. Somebody killed Jack. He said it looked like a bear attack,” she finished, as it hit her that Jack Harris was very likely dead because of her. Calder hadn’t killed him — she couldn’t even begin to believe that — but someone wanted it to look like Calder had. And she’d given them every reason they’d need by getting him involved in her ploy to cure Calder’s curse. “He said something about pack justice and Calder told me to call you.”
“I’m on my way now,” he snarled.
“Where are they taking him?”
“The pack hunting grounds. I have to go.”
“Where is it? I should be there—”
“No, you goddamn should not,” he shouted. “Stay away, Sophie. You’ll only make it worse.” And then he hung up.
She stood there with her phone in her hand.
Then she dialed Layla’s number. Her friend picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, girl. What’s up?”
“Um. What does ‘pack justice’ mean?” Sophie asked.
The phone went deadly silent.
“Where did you hear that, Soph?”
Sophie relayed the whole story, and before she finished, Layla was shouting for Bryce.
“What’s going on? What does that mean?” Sophie asked.
“It means he’s going to have to fight to the death. If he survives, they have no choice but to let him go. If he loses, he dies.”
“Wh—”
“Stay. There. Sophie,” Layla said. “Bryce, Cara, and my mom are going. He’s allowed to have backup. Goddamn it.”
“I can’t just stay here. I can help him—”
“If you get involved in this, they won’t bother giving him a chance to fight. They’ll put a bullet in his brain and that’ll be the end of it. The pack does not fuck around, Soph. This is their alpha he’s accused of killing.”
“He didn’t do it.”
Layla was quiet for a minute, and it was all it took for Sophie to realize that she didn’t entirely believe in Calder’s innocence. “Let this work itself out. Do not get involved. If you love him, if you want him to have even a tiny chance of surviving this, stay away. Do you understand how important this is?”
“Fine,” Sophie said, biting back a snarl. “I could destroy every one of them.”
“I know. And so do they. And if they see so much as a glimpse of you, he’s finished. Just… stay. I’m going to get off the phone so Bryce or Cara can get a hold of me when they know something. Sit tight.”
Sophie hung up and set her phone down on the table. She paced the living room, jumping at every sound, her stomach in knots.
One hour.
Two.
Three.
She felt like she would go out of her mind. Kept checking to make sure her phone was charged and that there was a signal. Finally, the phone rang and she recognized Layla’s number.
She picked up, her stomach in her throat.
“He’s alive,” Layla said quietly, and Sophie’s knees buckled in relief. “Calder, Jon, and Bryce are in the hospital. They’re saying they were out in the woods and were attacked by wolves. Which is close enough.”
“Can I see him?” Sophie asked.
“Probably. I’m in the car with Cara, on the way there. She said Calder refused to let
her and my mom fight. What kind of chauvinistic, ageist shit is that?”
“He probably figured your family’s already lost enough because of our insanity.”
“I’ll see you there,” Layla said, and then she hung up.
Sophie put her shoes on, took a deep breath, and traveled to the hospital, her foot settling onto white linoleum flooring in the next instant. She’d scoped this place out when Layla had been in the hospital, a lonely hallway near a stairway, so if she suddenly appeared there, it wouldn’t seem too bizarre.
She made her way to the emergency room and went up to the desk.
“Calder Turcotte? Wolf attack?” she asked quietly. The nurse at the desk shook her head.
“He’s in surgery right now. He’s in rough shape.”
Sophie bit her lip.
“Are you family?”
“I’m his fiancee,” she lied, and the woman nodded.
“Just sit tight. We’ll let you know once we know more. Okay?”
Sophie nodded and sat down on one of the red vinyl chairs near the wall. There was a flatscreen television on the wall, with CNN on, and she looked at it without seeing it.
Layla, Cara, and their mom arrived, each of them hugging Sophie as they sat down. Layla situated her wheelchair across from where Sophie sat and kept her eyes down.
There were only a few more people in the emergency room waiting room, seated all the way at the other end.
“So, they fought their way out?” Sophie whispered.
Cara nodded. “The pack is… there’s not much of a pack left.”
Sophie stared at her, and Cara went on. “That’s on the chief. He had every eligible male there to fight Calder. And when we all showed up, he assumed he had Bryce, too. Jon was already there. When we said we were fighting for Calder, the chief looked like he wanted to destroy us, but it was our right.”
“Calder seemed determined to take on as many as he could,” her mother said quietly. “He didn’t want anyone else fighting for him.”
“Idiot,” Cara said, and her mother nodded.
“So, there’s not really a pack anymore. A few old men, some widowed females. Cubs.”
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