Some Like It Wicked

“What do you want?” Aria tried to distract the thing as she pictured the gray thing disappearing, and the sensation of safety surrounding her.

Her magic sparked fitfully, and Aria knew it was because she couldn’t focus.

The gray thing didn’t respond, just swung back and forth fretfully...stalking her, Aria realized. There was something off about the being.

There was no sense of sentience. It was as if this creature was no more than a shadowy zombie, programmed to do only one thing.

“What do you want?” Aria repeated herself, and there was still no reply—there wasn’t even a sense that the creature had heard her, let alone acknowledged her.

This was her chance. Drawing everything that she had into her will, she pictured the scene again, and this time the heat of her magic streamed blue light from her fingers.

The gray mass charged at her again, swinging its ghostly fists as she lifted her hands and willed the streaks of blue light to make the creature disappear. With a great roar and the stench of burning flesh it did, fading away to little more than remnants of smoke.

As her heart pounded in her chest, Aria scrambled backward, still crouched at the ready, the light of magic still streaming from her fingers.

“What the fuck just happened?”

Aria groaned. From behind her she heard the crash of the motel room door slamming open, and recognized Declan’s voice.

Casting a new spell had clearly broken her previous one. The men were awake, and they were not impressed.

“Aria.” Declan was at her side before she could blink, and his arms were around her, pulling her tightly. Her heart skipped a beat. This—this touching without lust—this made her want all kinds of things that she couldn’t have.

She batted his arms away, then crossed her own over her chest.

“Are you all right?”

Aria could see the wolf in Adam as he crouched, sniffing the air. He growled, the sound more animal than human, and a shiver skated over her skin.

“I’m fine.” Her magic was still giving off feeble, last-minute sparks from her fingers. She saw Declan glower at it, then at her, and she knew that she’d been caught.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Declan was nothing if not alpha, and his male pride was quite clearly wounded at the thought that she had run out on the pair of them.

“Leaving.” Her words were defensive. Like you left me before, her brain silently added, a knee-jerk reaction before she could stop it. From the way Declan’s pale brow furrowed, she knew that he’d made the connection.

“I don’t recognize the smell.” Clearly frustrated, Adam rose to his feet, scrubbing his strong hands over sleepy-looking eyes. “It stinks of dying flowers, and it’s not something I’ve scented before.”

Dying flowers. Aria frowned, not sure what to think of that.

“It looked like a person, but...not.” Suddenly weary, she fisted her hands in her hair and tugged lightly. “I don’t think it was fully...I mean...it was like it was attacking on instinct. I don’t think it had any thoughts of its own.”

Declan caught her chin in his hand, and his vampire vision scrutinized the skin of her face, which was thankfully unmarked.

Her elbows, knees and forearms were another story.

“Why were you leaving?” Avoiding his stare, Aria looked over his shoulder to where Adam stood. Her eyes moved to the bite marks that marred his neck, and she felt as though her heart was being squeezed by a giant fist.

Aria shrugged off Declan’s touch, shaking like an angry bird, though she was more unnerved by the tender touch than angry. She didn’t answer, didn’t know how to express what she was feeling.

“I’m going back to Belladonna. I want to make sure that Lori’s okay.” Aria didn’t make it five steps when she found herself scooped off her feet and dangled ass over teakettle, her stomach pressed into Declan’s shoulder.

Rather than kick and scream, which she knew from experience that he’d enjoy, she growled, the sound full of the wrath of woman.

“Save it, sweetie.” Adam fell in beside them, protecting Aria’s exposed side as, together, the two men broke into a supernaturally fast run down the street, Aria bouncing over Declan’s shoulder the entire time.

“We told you why we were back here. We’ve had a taste of you now, and we’re sure as hell not letting go.”

Wrathfully, Aria stared at the fantastic view of Declan’s ass, which was at eye level. Declan had done what she couldn’t—had acknowledged the intensity of what had happened between the three of them.

But she wasn’t the only reason Declan was back. And until he told her more, she would hold her heart close.

* * *

“What the hell?” Aria heard her sister’s exclamation as she was carried upside down into the closed shop, accompanied by a werewolf and a vampire.

Still, Aria didn’t miss the quick flicker of glee that sparked in Lorelai’s eyes as she no doubt saw the sexual red energy threads binding the three.

“It’s a long story,” she began, glowering at Declan as he slid her down his body.

She tried to ignore the lust that ignited as she felt the skin-to-skin contact.

“I’d love to hear this, too.” Adam crossed his arms, looking just as irritated as Declan, and Aria blinked in surprise.

She’d been so lonely, how on earth had she wound up with two pissed-off alpha males in her company? She was so not in the mood to deal with even one right at the moment. She was edgy and emotional, and she couldn’t quite quell the nausea from her race down the street at vampire speed.

“It’s a story I’m happy to share with my sister, after the two of you leave.” Aria pointed at the door, and neither man moved so much as a whisper. Frustrated, she cast a look at Lorelai, who was staring at Adam in disbelief.

“Do you really have to hog both of them?” Aria was darkly amused to see Adam shift uncomfortably beneath Lorelai’s frank perusal. “Obviously I’d never go after Declan, but this one? Hello.”

“Lori!” Her twin wasn’t often so frank, but then, these two were fine specimens of manhood.

“And I didn’t have a choice. They’re sort of...a package deal.”

Lori furrowed her brow

“Oh.” Understanding seemed to dawn, and Aria felt her cheeks flush scarlet under her twin’s frank perusal. “Well, that worked better than I had intended.”

Lorelai’s eyes widened as the words fell from her lips. Knowing her twin as she did, Aria narrowed her eyes, honing in on what her sister wasn’t saying.

“What did you do?” Her words were a whisper, but one she knew that the two men would pick up on.

Whatever it was, she knew that she did not want them to hear it.

“Could you two please go somewhere else?” She thought of the shadowy gray figure and felt her pulse speed up. She wanted them to go so that she could talk to her sister, but she was a little bit afraid of being left alone.

It seemed to be the story of her life.

She thought that they would refuse, but Declan instead inclined his head to one side, his version, she knew, of an enthusiastic nod.

“We’ll be right outside.” She only hoped that that was enough distance to put a damper on Declan’s vampire hearing.

As soon as the men left, she whirled on her sister, her finger pointing accusingly.

“I smell roses. I smell strawberries and jasmine. A lust spell, Lori? Am I really so scary that my own sister thinks I can’t get a date?” Anger trembled through her, as did disappointment. She would forgive Lorelai, she knew