The Monster Ball: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Heather Hildenbrand

  “That you have magic in your blood?” I’d heard about them in whispers over the past few years. Things that a wolf wasn’t supposed to do.

  He shrugged. “You can answer that question yourself now, can’t you?”

  I thought about how we’d left the ballroom. He’d snapped his fingers, there was a moment of darkness, and then we’d showed up in this room. “Yes.”

  “And how does that knowledge make you feel?”

  I went with the first word that came to mind. “Lucky.”

  “Lucky? I wasn’t expecting that answer.” His eyes were fixed on mine.

  “Lucky that you got me away from them.” I wasn’t sure how much more of either of the brothers I could take. Their entertainment value had been wearing thin, and something about Bassett had me on edge. Like he wasn’t going to accept my no easily.

  “Have you thought more about what I said?”

  “About having a choice?” I’d thought about those words all evening.

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “I can’t spend my life with either of them. Who cares what my family thinks?” I cared, but that didn’t mean I’d tie myself to either of those twins.

  “Yet you’ve let your family dictate every aspect of your life. You’ve let your fears control you.”

  “No. You’re wrong.” I gritted my teeth. There was no way I was going to let him make me sound like a pushover.

  “Am I?” He cocked his head to the side. “How about staying in Atlanta most of the year even though you hate the city. Or hiding all of your dates from your family as if you were breaking the rules. Or attending family meetings monthly even though it’s the last thing you want to do. Should I continue?”

  “Have you been watching me?”

  “Maybe.”

  His response should have bothered me. But the reason for the observation was really the important part. “Why?”

  “You know why.”

  “I don’t.” I hoped this didn’t tie into his cousins.

  “I only came to the ball this year for one reason.”

  I watched him expectedly.

  “I knew this was your year.” He walked toward me.

  “I guess everyone knew.”

  “And I came because it was your year.”

  “Why?” My heart beat faster and faster.

  “Because I couldn’t let you choose either of them.” He ran his fingers down my cheek.

  “If you were worried about that—and we’ll get back to why you were worried—why not talk to me before I came?” He’d made it clear he’d known how to find me.

  “Because I needed to see you without your family.”

  “You afraid of my sisters?” I laughed. If he was, I didn’t blame him. Together they were quite the force to be reckoned with.

  “No.” he shook his head. “I was afraid of you using them as an excuse. You’re different, Kitty-Kat. You’ve always known it, yet you were never allowed to accept it. I know the feeling. I’m the same way.”

  I let his words sink in. “Your magic. I don’t have anything like that.”

  “Are you sure?” His fingers trailed down to my neck.

  “Isn’t that something I’d know?” I would think it would be hard to hide from yourself.

  “Not until you came of age…which is tonight. Born on Halloween.” He smiled. “Always a reason to have a party for your birthday.”

  “My parents thought my birth would bring me luck.” I shrugged. “They were wrong about a lot of things.”

  “Hey, don’t shoot that down so fast. You were the one who said my abilities were lucky.”

  “Why would you think I’ll have magic? None of my sisters do.” It was the only thing my perfect sisters didn’t have.

  “I feel it. I’ve felt it for years. At first, I thought it was pure attraction—my wanting to be near you. But it’s so much more than that. My magic and yours call to each other. I know you can feel it too. The way you’ve been responding to me all night is not all sexual I assure you.”

  “I don’t have magic. I’m less of a wolf if anything. Not more of one.”

  “See.” A slow smile spread across his face. “That’s another reason I can’t stay away from you. You see magic as making a wolf more. Not less. Most of our kind would think magic would make you less of a perfect she-wolf, but you see the truth. You understand that it only makes you more.”

  “Of course it would make you more. Power is a good thing last time I checked.” I tried to ignore the ache building inside me. I wanted him to touch me again. I wanted his lips on mine. I couldn’t think straight. The urges were so strong.

  “You feel it too.” He smiled. “The need. The desire.”

  “Please tell me this isn’t some big joke.” That’s all I needed. More humiliation.

  “A joke?” He took my hand in his. “What do you mean?”

  “To mess with me. Give me hope.”

  He wrapped his hands around each of my arms. “Do you really think I’d make that kind of joke?”

  “No.” I answered honestly, automatically. “I don’t. But this all seems a bit unreal.”

  “You’ve noticed me watching you before.”

  “I have?” Why was I asking him? He couldn’t possibly know what I knew or not. Well, unless he could read minds. I really hoped he couldn’t.

  “Yes. Or maybe noticed is the wrong word. You sensed me. You’d turn, but I’d be gone by then.”

  “I should be freaked out by this. About knowing you’ve watched me.”

  “But you’re not.” He wasn’t asking a question.

  “No.” I shook my head slowly.

  “I wasn’t hiding in your bedroom, Kitty-Kat. Nothing so lowbrow. I was just biding my time. I kept my distance because it was what was best for both of us until now.”

  “And now? What happens now?” I shivered. His hands moved from my arms down my sides and settled on my hips.

  “That’s all up to you. You’re the one with all the choices.”

  “But you get to make choices too.” I reached out for him, running my hand down his chest. He felt just as muscular as I expected.

  “And I have. I showed up tonight. I brought you to this room.”

  “You did.” His words reminded me of exactly where we were. Very much alone in a room he’d created. No one else knew where we were. I should have been nervous, but I wasn’t. Not in the slightest.

  “So what’s it going to be, Kitty-Kat?”

  “What am I deciding exactly?”

  “Isn’t that up to you?”

  “I mean after tonight I’m supposed to give an answer. Otherwise I’m going to have to get lost.”

  “The only place you’re getting lost is with me.” His hand moved around and cupped my ass. “Oops. I guess I shouldn’t say that if I’m giving you all the power.”

  “Can’t we share the power?”

  He smiled. “My cards are on the table. I want you. I want your body, magic, and spirit all merged with mine. I already know our potential.”

  I shivered again.

  “I’d ask if I needed to stoke the fire, but those shivers aren’t from the cold.” He wasn’t asking a question.

  “No. I’m not cold. I’m quite the opposite.”

  “What do you want?” His eyes bore into mine. “Right now what do you want?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Is there another way?”

  “I want to know what it’s like to kiss you.” I stared at his lips.

  “There’s only one way to find out.” He smiled before he leaned in. His lips crushed into mine as he wrapped his arms tightly around me, pressing my body firmly against his. I could feel the full evidence of his arousal as he deepened the kiss and filled me with his taste—spicy and hot. The taste seemed to flow through me, filling every part of my body, setting me on fire in a way I wasn’t sure could ever be put out.

  Then all at once he pulled away.

  “Why did you stop?” I tried to
catch my breath.

  “Sorry my Kitty-Kat. I wanted to make sure you weren’t just caught up in the moment.” Although he was talking normally, I could tell he’d been just as wrapped up in the moment as me.

  “Why would that be bad?” I was perfectly fine being caught up in the moment if it felt like that. I’d never felt that way before.

  He twisted a lock of my hair around his fingers. “You are of age. I am of age. Neither of us have mated. You know what happens if we take things to their natural end.”

  “Sex alone can’t make us mates.” I wasn’t an expert on mating, but I knew that. Hence how Deedy and Bassett weren’t mates.

  “No, but if I bite that sweet little neck of yours during sex, it does.” He ran his lips over my neck.

  I moaned. He’d found my most sensitive spot. “So you could just keep your teeth to yourself.”

  “I won’t want to.”

  “But that doesn’t mean you can’t.” I needed more of him. We couldn’t stop there.

  “Have you ever wanted something so bad you couldn’t think of anything else?” He ran his lips up and down slowly. “It’s so intense the want becomes a need, and you lose all control.”

  “I don’t think I’ve understood what need is until tonight.”

  “You are my need. I’m not going to resist. If you make the choice to give yourself to me, I’m taking you. All of you. There will be no turning back.”

  “And you want to mate? You want to start a pack together?” Being into me was one thing. That kind of commitment was entirely different.

  “How could you doubt that? Can you imagine what the pack would be? Fueled by magic? We would be unstoppable.” He removed his lips and looked me straight in the eyes.

  “How do I know you don’t only want me for the magic you think is inside me?” I said my fear out loud. It was hard to keep things quiet.

  “You know it because you feel it.” He put his hand over my heart. “You feel our connection. It goes a whole lot deeper than magic and sex. I say it’s your choice, but in truth, I don’t think either of us can fight this.”

  “That might have been only your magic.” I wasn’t about to let myself get crushed again.

  “It was our magic. My magic is growing stronger with yours starting to bloom. It’s incredible.”

  There was something about the way he said our magic. He was so confident and sure of things.

  “Do I need to prove it to you?”

  “How can you do that?”

  “I can help you unleash your powers.” His hands moved to my hips.

  “Can you?”

  “Yes.” His hand moved up my back.

  “Do it.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Shift into your wolf.” His voice was firm. He wasn’t asking a question. He was giving an order, and I felt it. Felt it the way I’d never felt orders before. Not even from the Alpha of my pack, who happened to be my father.

  I tried to resist for a second to see if I could. I felt the vibrations move through me. The order stinging the edges of my mind.

  “I said shift into your wolf.” His words hit me harder, and I fell onto my knees as if being physically restrained by him even though he wasn’t touching me. But I could feel him. I could feel his hands wrapped around my wrists. His hard body pressed against mine as I rolled onto my back. “Shift.”

  “What happened to my choices?” I fought against the pull.

  “You made your choice. You wanted me to unleash your powers. I am doing what you wanted.”

  He strode over, standing over me. His invisible grip on me tightened. “Now shift. Turn into your wolf.”

  It wasn’t painful. It was hot. Almost too hot like when we’d been kissing before. If I’d had use of my hands, I would have ripped off my clothes already.

  He grinned, kneeling down beside me. “I said to shift. Do it. Now.”

  I closed my eyes, soaking in the sensations flowing through me, simultaneously fighting the urge to shift and begging him to take me. I didn’t know it was possible to experience both those things at the same time.

  Pretty soon the begging him to take me part was the harder one to resist. I needed him. I needed his hands on something other than my wrists. Because even though they weren’t physically there, they sure felt like it. His hands needed to slide down my body. And his lips needed to do the same thing.

  He listened. One invisible hand cupped my breast over my dress while the other slowly slipped up my leg. I opened my eyes. He was still kneeling next to me, his grin growing bigger and bigger. I knew what I wanted. I commanded him to slip his hand inside of my dress, to run his fingers over my nipple. I closed my eyes again loving the sensation.

  “Fuck this.” His lips descended on my neck.

  I opened my eyes. He was really there, his hands moving to the places I’d willed them to before. Only this time he was taking charge too. He had me on the couch in seconds, hovering over me, his knees sinking into the cushions on either side. “We need more room.” The couch became a king-sized bed.

  “You really can get everything you want.”

  “I already told you. There’s only one thing I want.”

  He slid the straps of my dress down my shoulders slowly, looking into my eyes as he did it. “This is where a nice wolf would warn you again that we are entering territory where it is going to be impossible to turn back. But I am not a nice wolf.”

  “You’re not?”

  He slid the straps all the way down, fully exposing my breasts. He took each in a hand and squeezed them. “No. I’m not. But you already know that. And as much as you want everyone to think you’re a nice wolf, you’re not either.”

  “I’m not?”

  “You’re lying here with me. That says enough.” He released one breast and slid a hand underneath my dress. He slowly edged it up my leg. He hooked a finger on the waistband of my panties. “And that little show earlier. That wasn’t what a nice wolf would do.”

  “Was I supposed to just submit?” Right now submitting to whatever he wanted to do to me sounded very good.

  “I hoped you wouldn’t. That would have been entirely too boring.” He slowly slipped my panties down around my ankles and off. He took them and stuffed them into his jacket pocket.

  “What are you doing with those?”

  “Keeping them for safe keeping.”

  “For safe keeping?”

  “I should also remove this for safe keeping.” He slid my dress all the way off, his eyes following the trail of the silky fabric. “Dammit, you’re too perfect.”

  “I’m not perfect.” I resisted the urge to cover myself. There was something so hot about his eyes on me.

  “Oh yes you are.” He unstrapped my heels one at a time.

  “Are you going to stay dressed?”

  “You like that I am. Don’t you?” He smiled. “You like giving me some control even though you didn’t think you would.”

  “Hot or not, I’d like to see what you look like without that tux.”

  “Your wish is my command.” His clothes disappeared in a flash.

  “That took away the fun.”

  “You don’t seem to mind.”

  I didn’t. My eyes didn’t know where to look first. His muscular chest. The huge evidence of his arousal hanging over me.

  “This night is not turning out the way I expected.” I took him in my hand. I was feeling far more forward than I ever was.

  He groaned. “It’s turning out exactly the way I did.”

  “You knew I’d give in to you so easily?”

  “Give in to me? You want this just as bad as I do.” His hand slid between my legs. “Don’t pretend.”

  “I won’t.”

  His phone rang. He ignored it, and I closed my eyes as the fire burned again.

  It rang again. We both groaned.

  “I’d ignore that, but I can’t.” In a flash his phone appeared in his hand. His fingers stilled inside me.

  He pres
sed the phone to his ear. “We’ll be right there.” The phone disappeared again.

  “We’ll be right where?” I fought the urge to pout.

  He removed his hand. I felt the loss immediately. “This is going to have to wait.”

  In another flash I was back in my dress and standing up beside him. My panties weren’t back on.

  “You forgot a piece of my clothing.”

  “It’s safe.” He patted his jacket pocket. He was dressed too.

  “I kind of need those.”

  “No you don’t.” He winked. “Come on. We can’t be late.”

  “Late for what?” The only thing I was late for was satisfaction. He’d stopped short twice now.

  “You’ll see.” His wicked grin did nothing to cool me off.

  Chapter Eight

  I put a hand on his arm. “I’m not going anywhere until I get my underwear back.”

  “Are you worried someone will see you without them? Just to remind you, I already have.” His husky voice did things to me I had no interest in admitting to.

  “Why I want them is no matter. I want them.”

  “You can quit worrying.” He ran his teeth over my bottom lip.

  “Okay, it’s really unsettling that you can magically put my clothes on.”

  “Is that unsettling? Or is it unsettling that I can just as easily take them off?” He grinned.

  “Don’t even joke.”

  “You know I won’t do it unless we’re alone. I have no interest in letting anyone else see my she-wolf.”

  “I’m yours now?”

  “You’ve been mine for years.” He cupped my chin with his hand. “I was just waiting for the right time to point it out to you.”

  My thoughts were going back to the bed again. That wasn’t good. “Okay. Where are we going? What was that mysterious phone call that was enough to interrupt us?”

  “Sorry for the interruption, love. It couldn’t be helped. Trust me, I was just as bothered as you.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “This is one of those things that will be better if I don’t tell you in advance.”

  “I’m not much on surprises.” By not much, I meant not at all.

  “You are going to have to learn to be.”