A Cursed Embrace

following you.”

No. It didn’t. Good Lord, what a night. I leaned over Aric, protecting him with my body as growing anger tightened my chest. He could have been food. My hand clutched his. But then his stomach lurched.

“Koda, pull over!”

Koda veered to the side of the road. I pushed open the door and hauled Aric over my lap. I wanted to rub his back, but not enough skin remained. The salt had expanded the bullet wounds into gaping craters. The sight would have sickened most. Yet it only made me feel deep sadness, mostly because I hadn’t been there to save Aric like he had saved me.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hands. Thankfully, Gemini and Koda gave me the courtesy of turning away. Aric gulped deep breaths of air, but nothing happened. “I’m all right,” he said after a few moments.

No. He wasn’t. I’d have preferred him to hurl. Vomiting would have expelled some of the poison. I hoped Aric hadn’t fought the nausea on my account. But something inside me told me that’s exactly what he’d done. I pulled him back into the car and shut the door, wrapping myself around him as he trembled. I fought the urge to change. My tigress wanted to enclose him in our warmth. Except my beast was too big and the last thing Aric needed was a fur blanket with legs on top of him.

“Hang in there, baby. We’re almost home.”

Koda couldn’t get back to my house fast enough. The minute we pulled into the driveway, my sisters and Liam rushed out to meet us. “Son of a bitch,” Taran muttered when she saw Aric.

“Yeah. Pretty much,” Aric mumbled.

That was bad enough. But then Emme and Shayna screamed when they saw his coloring. In their defense, his gray tone appeared worse in the light of the family room. I ignored their shrieks. “Is the tub ready?”

Emme nodded while keeping her hands clasped tightly over her mouth. I hurried upstairs as the wolves lifted Aric off his feet. I burst into my bedroom and through the double doors leading to my five-piece bath. The steam from the hot water slowed my steps, signaling the torture to come. I stopped next to my Jacuzzi tub, filled to the brim with water. Salt water.

Koda tugged off the blanket around Aric’s waist and he and Gemini lowered him into the water.

And that’s when his roars began.

CHAPTER 14

The water boiled from the effects of the cursed gold leaving Aric’s body. Eventually Aric’s body gave out. He stopped thrashing and fell limp. It scared the hell out of me, but it allowed me to clean his wounds with a scrub brush Koda handed me while Gemini kept his head abovewater. My hands moved quickly, wanting to be thorough yet desperate to be done.

“What would have happened if Aric hadn’t been found?” I didn’t want to ask except it remained a passing question that continued to gnaw at my skin.

“With the hook and the bullets out, and no intervention, it would take his wolf a few weeks to excrete the poison.”

“What if the hooks and the bullets remained?” I asked quietly, wondering whether I truly wanted to know.

Koda tightened his jaw. “The gold would have stopped his heart over time.”

My throat tightened. “How much time?”

Koda shrugged. “Two, maybe three weeks.”

I stopped scrubbing just to take a few slow breaths and rub my face against Aric’s. His stubble scratched my cheek and moistened my skin, but I needed a moment—just one moment. Not caring who saw me have it. Two to three weeks—violently ill and in pain. Only to ultimately die. I sighed. Death by cursed gold seemed the most nightmarish way for a preternatural to go.

Aric’s lips opened and closed briefly. I interpreted it as him urging me on and returned to my work, saving the gaping holes from the hook for last.

Koda handed me a toothbrush straight from the package. I closed my eyes as he gave me instructions. “Scrub and twist all the way through. Don’t be afraid to be too rough. It will only help him.”

I kept my eyes closed when I asked my next question. “Do I—” I beat back my nausea, but just barely. “In order to clean the bullet holes, do I have to dig the brush through his chest and out his back?”

“No. Aric dug the bullets out fairly quickly. The salt water should be enough.”

I opened my eyes to catch Koda watching me carefully.

“The gold hook was lodged in his shoulder for more than two hours. It’s what did the most damage and kept his wolf from healing him.”

I thought I heard wrong. “Aric dug the bullets out . . . himself?”

“The others found a long screwdriver with Aric’s blood on it when they arrived.” Koda turned his back, facing away like he was afraid to continue. “He used it to push them through his body.”

I pictured the six bullets hitting Aric’s chest and getting lodged within. It made sense to push them through rather than to attempt to dig them out. The gold would have burned a path straight to the other side. I understood the logic. And the desperation. But that didn’t mean I liked it. I made a silent promise to Aric. If I found the surviving vamp, I’d kill him myself.

I let the water out of the tub with shaking hands when Gemini felt the wounds had been thoroughly cleansed. Gold had no effect on me. But I had the feeling even the residue would have sickened the wolves. They stayed loyally by Aric’s side. My sisters waited in the hall. I’d ignored Liam when he insisted that Aric wouldn’t have minded their presence.

“Should I bring your sisters in now? They’re worried about Aric.”

I ran the sprayer over Aric’s body. “Not until he’s dried and covered, Liam.”

Liam cocked his head. “Celia, I’m telling you it’s no big deal. Plenty of females have seen Aric naked.”

I paused my rinsing, praying to Saint Patrick to keep me from strangling Liam with the damn metal hose. I didn’t need reminding of how many females Aric had exposed himself to, whether through innocent changes before his pack mates . . . or in more intimate settings. Aric’s stature, his rippling muscles, his startling eyes, his deep tenor voice—everything about him screamed sex appeal. Were babes wanted him. And they would continue to want him despite our relationship. But sure, thanks, Liam, for the update.

I grabbed the stack of chocolate brown towels and spread them over Aric, using one towel per section, drying him carefully. I wished we were alone. And that he wasn’t so sick. Over the last week, I’d dreamt of seeing his naked body, of feeling his flesh slide over mine, of exploring him through taste and touch. Just like we’d done our first real night together. But not like this. Not while his injuries debilitated him, and definitely not while the pain froze his features into an agonized grimace. The next time Aric and I faced each other unclothed, it would be to make love again. There would be no pain, no worry, no hesitation.

“I think he’s dry enough, Celia,” Gemini stated.

His words snapped me back to reality. I hoped the leftover steam excused my blush. I went to lift him, but then thought better of it. I didn’t want to hurt his pride, so I moved aside so Gemini and Koda could reach him. “Please get him out of the tub fast. When his fever breaks, the sudden cold may be too much for him.”

I tossed the thick cotton towels on the rust-colored tiles, forming a giant pile. The wolves pulled Aric from the tub and wrapped him in a soft blanket, fresh from the dryer.

“Where do you want him, Celia?”

“On my bed please, Koda.”

“Are you sure? He might ruin—” Koda stopped arguing when he saw my sisters had padded my bed with cotton hospital pads.

I reached for the bandages on my dresser. “They’re waterproof, too.” Fear made my voice crack. There was still more to do. I took a deep breath, hugging the packages of gauze against me. Aric’s skin shone like alabaster and just as white—sadly, a tremendous improvement from that deathly gray. “What’s next?”

Liam opened the door. Emme entered carrying a metal bowl filled with, oh, fantastic, more salt water. The