A Cursed Embrace

targeting terrorists. I learned two things then. One, Taran had missed her calling as a Victoria’s Secret model. And two, I must have been on crack when I asked her for help.

Taran pushed off from the dresser and placed a hand on her hip, clearly presenting herself as the ruler of the overexaggerated backsides. I thought she expected us to bow, or at the very least applaud. We did neither. Nor did we move. Except for Emme, who eyed the door like she might bolt.

Taran ignored her and held out her hands. “Are you ready to try, my young grasshoppers?”

I nodded slowly, surprised by how much work went into seducing a werewolf. My tigress reminded me Aric was worth it, so I stepped forward and began my crash course in posing. I don’t know if we were seductively inept or what, but we had to work on our poses all afternoon.

“Shayna, what the hell are you doing? I told you to stick out your breasts!”

“They are out!”

“Oh yes, they are. Sorry, girl.”

“Damn it, Emme, flip the hair! More, more, more—oh, shit. Not that much!”

“Ow! Oh no, now I have to heal.”

“Dude, is this posing stuff supposed to hurt?”

“Quit whining, Shayna. You won’t be doing it for long, trust me. One of two things will happen. Either he’ll jump you right away or he’ll watch you completely entranced. If it’s the latter, try to bend over a lot. It drives men wild.” Taran turned to me and ran her fingers through my hair, making it fuller. “And for shit’s sake, don’t forget to work the mane as much as possible. Celia, you have that whole porn-star-hair thing going for you. Milk it for all it’s worth. Also, incorporate the furniture somehow. Guys like that.”

* * *

“Gimme your money and a little affection, bitch, and maybe I won’t hurt you.”

The universe hated me. I was honest-to-God convinced of that fact. Any other gal could have had a nice romantic dinner and gone home to have sex with her werewolf lover. Anyone but me.

Aric pulled me against him protectively. If the gang of delinquents facing us in the parking garage knew what was good for them, they would leave—now. Damn, I was pissed. Aric had been telling me how beautiful I was all night and barely kept his hands off me during dinner. My confidence soared, my sexuality bolstered. I was set to seduce Aric via Taran-esque posing. But if these little maggots forced me to change and rip my skimpy and expensive lingerie, I was going to beat the unholy crap out of them.

The leader meandered away from the Escalade and glared at Aric. Wrong move against an Alpha werewolf. Aric growled louder and deeper than a hound from hell. The stupid teenager had inadvertently challenged my wolf.

A kid flashed a gun. “Hey, mama. Come over here, I’ll give it to you real good.”

One by one, the rest pulled out knives. Aric stepped in front of me. His growl deepening as he headed toward the teen brandishing the gun. The others panicked as he advanced. I’d be scared, too, if some crazy guy pretending to be a dog was coming at me.

Before I could say, We need to get home so I can seduce you, all but one kid had either run off or lay unconscious. The last idiot waved a knife in my face, clearly terrified. “I’ll cut her, man,” he told Aric. “I’ll cut her if you get near me!”

I snatched the wrist holding the knife and crushed it as I yanked him to me, changing my face to that of my beast. The knife hit the concrete. I roared and snapped my fangs an inch from his nose. He didn’t take it well. The kid’s eyes rolled into the back of his head just before he crashed to the ground. I released him, trying hard not to kick his sorry ass into the wall. He and his friends could have hurt someone. I’d let him off easy with a broken wrist and a mild concussion.

Aric ushered me to the Escalade. “Come on, sweetness. I’ll call the weres on the force on the way.” He opened the car door for me, but something near the dark corner of the garage alerted my senses. I couldn’t smell it or hear it; I only felt it. And it felt cold, unearthly, wrong.

I inched away from the car. “What is that?”

He peered in the same direction. “Stay here.”

I ignored his order and followed behind him. Aric kept his arm out near me, but his focus remained ahead. We found nothing in the corner when we reached it, but the sense of wrongness continued to linger. Aric bent to take a whiff. His nose wrinkled in disgust. I inhaled as well, hoping to understand what had stalked and watched us.

An awful, sharp and sour stench burned my nose and made me want to flee from it. My inner beast cringed. Our saving grace was that whatever had lurked was gone, and that its scent faded quickly.

“Demon,” Aric said.

I hoped he was joking. “You mean demon child?”

“No. This was one of those damned to hell that can’t remain on earth.”

I straightened, my blood turning into clotting chunks of ice. “But who summoned it?”

Aric focused on the corner as he stood. “Sometimes demons appear on earth when there’s a strong collection of evil. Those damn kids probably attracted it through their shared thoughts and actions.” He shrugged. “And with all the attacks and the presence of evil lately, it was probably easier for one to present itself.”

My eyes scanned the area. “Should we search for it, just in case it’s still here?” Although I asked, meeting a demon was high on my list of things I never wanted to do. Their offspring had been kicks and giggles enough.

“No. There’s no trace of him left. I’m certain he’s back in hell where he belongs.”

I wrapped my arms around myself. “Glad to hear it.”

Aric’s eyes shimmered with ferocity when he drew me to him. “I swear to God, I won’t let anything hurt you, Celia.”

In his arms, with that heat, I believed him. He led me back to the car, holding me close. I didn’t like being coddled. I was tough, strong, and capable of protecting myself and those I loved. But something about Aric made it okay for me not to be the hero for once.

Aric’s constant touch on our drive back to the house dissolved the unease the demon had created. He kept rubbing my knee and reaching across the seat to stroke my cheek. The scuffle and momentary threat of danger had excited his wolf. I could taste his longing against my tongue and looked forward to exciting him more. But when we entered the house, my confidence took a nosedive.

Emme and Shayna, both wearing bathrobes, slouched on the couch while their wolves tended to them. Misery and humiliation shimmied like well-endowed burlesque dancers across their faces.

“Bend over a little more, angel.” Liam tucked the fan knotted into Emme’s hair beneath his arm. His right hand manipulated the scissors, cutting Emme’s hair free in large, uneven chunks. “Why did you shake your head so close to the fan, sweet girl?”

Emme’s bottom lip pouted down to her toes. “I was flipping my hair, Liam.” Her blush could have set off a sprinkler. “Oh, never mind. . . .”

Poor Emme. And Shayna? Good grief. Koda held an ice pack to her neck. He tilted her chin as he examined her head carefully. “I still don’t understand why you were lying on top of your dresser like that, baby. You could’ve gotten hurt a lot worse by the way you fell.”

“I’ll explain after Emme heals me, puppy,” she grumbled.

The wolves seemed so distracted by my sisters’ injuries, they’d missed the point entirely. I tugged at my skirt. My tigress made me more graceful and coordinated than my sisters, yet their sexual expertise far exceeded mine. I second-, third-, and fourth-guessed my posing abilities. “Um. Are you guys all right?” Shayna nodded. Emme tried, but the fan impeded her movements. “Ah. Okay. Where’s Taran?”

Shayna jerked a rather irate thumb in the direction of Taran’s bedroom. “She called Gemini to her room and asked him if he’d like to deflower her. He slammed the door shut behind him. We heard a lot of grunting and screaming, and they haven’t come out since.” Shayna thought about it. “I think they broke her dresser.”

“Oh.” Something told me no falls or fan fiascos lay behind Taran’s closed door. I hoped none would transpire in my room and made a mental note to avoid the window and anything pointy. I slapped my hands against my sides. “Well, I guess we should head up ourselves.”

Emme clasped her hands over her lap. “Yes, good luck with that.” Liam had finally set her free. And not to