A Cursed Embrace

called. They’re on their way and will take care of matters inside the mill.”

The matters he spoke of no doubt involved identifying the victims and notifying their families. I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Do you think they’re local?”

The wind picked up, and so did the roar of the river. “Hard to tell with the number of tourists Tahoe gets.”

“I guess.” I wiggled against him so he’d put me down. He didn’t. “You realize I can walk.”

“You’re not wearing shoes.”

“Aric—”

A throaty, frustrated growl found its way out of Aric and heated his face. “Celia, my wolf failed to keep you safe. Cut him some slack and allow us to care for you now.”

My narrowed eyes slowly softened as I absorbed the extent of Aric’s culpability. My tigress took protecting my sisters seriously. When she failed, guilt dug hard enough to rupture my spleen. As a beast, I understood. As a female, I also recognized Aric’s need to be chivalrous. And yet had any other male carried me then, I’d have shifted him into the ground, kicked him in the head, and stomped back to the car. But because it was Aric, I relaxed against him, allowing both him and his beast to tend to me. I kissed the edge of his jaw. “All right. But just this one time, wolf.”

Aric huddled me closer. “I was convinced the danger lurked outside the mill. And I believed the sour stench was related to the woman’s violent death, not the presence of demons. I wanted to protect you by keeping you away from the fight and thought Gem’s wolf would be enough to keep you safe.”

“Well, now we know for next time.”

Aric tightened his jaw. He didn’t say it, but he left me the impression there might not be a next time. My tigress wasn’t so sure about that. The evil I’d witnessed terrified me, more than any other magical entity I’d encountered. And yet it triggered such hate and anger that even now my fangs begged to protrude and tear out the throats of those who threatened to shadow the world with darkness. Hell existed for creatures like that. My tigress yearned to send them back, and my faith demanded they never return. I wasn’t were, but at that moment I understood their loyalty to the earth.

Aric slowed as the trees thinned out and we reached the grassy knoll near the bakery. Human voices pricked my ears. “Where the hell is your brother? He and Beverly were supposed to meet us hours ago!”

A man wearing jeans and a thick jacket loomed over a young woman on her cell phone. She disconnected the call and glared at him. “For the last time, I don’t know. Tara and Bill said they haven’t heard from them, either.”

“We’re going to lose the damn deposit on the raft ride!”

The woman’s growing annoyance and underlying aroma of fear made her smack her partner’s arm. “Will you shut up about the damn deposit! What if something happened to them?”

My eyes widened, but I kept my mouth shut until Aric placed me in the passenger seat of his Escalade. I motioned toward the alley. “Could the screams you went after have come from those missing people?”

Aric watched the storefront of the antique shop as if he expected someone he knew to step onto the cracked walkway. “It was that same couple we passed before we entered the forest. I recognized the man’s cologne the closer we neared where they’d been taken.”

I stilled. Taken. As in gone forever. Aric clasped my hands, sensing my anger and sadness. “What took them?”

Aric shook his head. “I don’t know. When we left you with Gemini at the mill, we picked up a bizarre scent. I’ve never smelled anything like it. It stank of dark magic and death, but the prominent aroma was human. We tracked it, and the couple, until they vanished.”

My brows knitted together. “It didn’t rain, though. How could so many fresh scents vanish so quickly?”

An odd sense of gloom filled the car and shadowed Aric’s light brown eyes. “My guess? Something with wings carried them away.”

CHAPTER 7

Aric slipped into the driver’s side and cranked the engine while I absentmindedly clicked my seat belt in place. I thought of the demon children twins, small enough to stomp, yet hard to catch and equipped with a mouthful of sharp incentives to discourage anyone from trying. The wolves had killed them before they’d grown too big. But had others managed to venture into adulthood? “You think there are grown demon children out there?”

Aric pulled onto the road, passing all the quaint little shops that had withstood the passage of time. “My nose tells me the scents are too distinct to be the same creature, but I can’t come up with another reason that couple disappeared without a trace.”

“And yet the demon children don’t explain the deaths of the men.”

Aric rubbed his five o’clock shadow, his eyes narrowing when they glimpsed my foot. “No. What they did to you and how they tore that woman apart reinforces the theory that they’re cannibalistic creatures.”

I swiveled my foot a few times. The skin felt a little tight due to the dried blood and the freshly healed muscles. “Yep, definitely like piranhas with wings.”

Aric reached for my hand. “More of a reason I don’t want you involved in this shit.”

My fingers interlinked with his. Considering that I’d been chomped on like a bucket of chicken, now wasn’t the time to argue that he needed my help more than ever. I’d wait until his wolf calmed before I made my argument. Aric’s reason stood no chance against his riled beast, especially since my injuries remained on the forefront of his mind.

Five SUVs passed us on the way out of town. Aric gave a stiff nod to the first one. I recognized the last truck as Paul’s. “Why did you call Paul here? Is he a homicide cop?”

“He’s actually a forensics specialist, but not a cop. His eyes and sharp nose pick up things even most weres would overlook. I’m hoping he’ll find something we missed.”

I crinkled my nose. “I find it hard to believe you’d miss anything, wolf.”

Aric’s hand released mine to find the nape of my neck. I rubbed my cheek against his arm, seeking more of his touch. He smiled softly. “I didn’t search as hard as I could have, knowing I’d left you alone. But when Koda heard Shayna scream, none of us were sticking around to continue the hunt.”

I straightened, unease and guilt making me think twice. Maybe Aric’s Elders had a point about my presence distracting him from his duties. He stopped the car at the town’s only traffic light and pulled me to him. He kissed me deeply, groaning almost as loudly as I did when an impatient driver and his very loud horn alerted us that the light had turned green. Aric released me, winking before resuming our trek out of town. “Don’t even think it, sweetness. No way in hell was I not going back for you.”

I gripped the edges of the leather seat, panting softly and trying to regain my composure. Aric planted one hell of a smooch, laced with a great deal of sizzle and emotion behind it. I believed his caring for me was genuine, although I still marveled as to why. Regardless, I couldn’t help wondering whether maybe the wolves would have found the couple if they hadn’t abandoned their efforts. A thought I couldn’t bear to contemplate. We didn’t speak again until we passed the exit for the Stampede Reservoir on 89. “Aric, if there are demon children—grown ones, I mean—wouldn’t they have left a royal mess long before this?”

Aric placed his hand over my knee, the knuckles relaxing and tightening as he massaged. Good Lord, so much had happened since we first touched in his car. “Celia, over two thousand people go missing every day in the States. Most are never found. They could very well have been abducted by demons and devoured somewhere obscure. Yet the demon’s rarity should make it impossible. And so should their vile stench. They can’t hide that shit from a human nose, let alone one of my kind.”

Aric had a point. About a lot of what went down. Yet still so much didn’t make sense. The distinct smells. The leeched men. The missing couple. And the mutilated woman. How were they all connected? “Is it possible the couple and the dead bodies are somehow related, you know, as in from the same family?”

Aric let out a long breath. “I doubt it. The men all appeared of different ethnicities and their clothes suggested varying socioeconomic backgrounds. But the weres investigating will look into