A Cursed Embrace

course, Aric has explained how close you are with your sisters. They’re also welcome. It would be nice to have all the boys home.”

I rolled onto my stomach and tried to scramble off the bed when Aric’s hands went from daring to downright naughty. “I’ll have to ask them about it,” I choked.

“Yeah, and maybe you can come spend Christmas in Tahoe,” Aric said. He clasped my ankles and yanked me back with one tug. “We have to go, Mom. We’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay, dear. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

He pounced on my now naked body. “Oh, we will. Give our love to Aunt Suzie.”

Aric disconnected the call and started laughing again. I smacked his shoulder. “I can’t believe you just did that while I was on the phone with your mother!”

“And I can’t believe you thought there was someone else.” His humor ceased and his rough voice deepened. “Damn, Celia. Don’t you know how much you mean to me?”

My voice quieted. “I guess I don’t.”

A bee flew in the window and buzzed around the room. Aric snatched it from the air and tossed it outside. It flew in swirls, temporarily stunned, before disappearing toward Mrs. Mancuso’s house. He adjusted his position on top of me. “What the hell happened to the screen?”

“Oh, it’s not important.” I pulled one of the sheets from the edge of the mattress and fanned it out around us. “Tell me about your parents.”

The aroma of Aric’s raw need floated into my nose, demanding that I pay attention. “I don’t want to think about my parents. I’d rather focus on you.”

Aric disappeared beneath the covers, but I pulled him back up before it was too late. “Come on, wolf. I’d like to know more about them.”

“Now?” he grumbled.

I batted my eyelashes at him. “Please, baby.”

Aric paused, watching me closely as he stroked a few strands of hair off my cheek. “Okay, but only because I can’t resist that face.” He kissed my lips so softly I barely felt their gentle sweep. “My parents were mated. But I guess you already knew that.”

I nodded. “They connected spiritually.”

“Yeah. They sure as hell did.” Aric’s face reddened. “But it took them years to establish that connection. My father was forty when he realized my mother was his mate, though he’d known her all her life.”

My head angled beneath him. “I thought for sure it was a love-at-first-sight moment. You know, staring at each other from across a crowded room and such.”

Aric didn’t laugh at my humor. Instead he grew serious. “Sometimes it is, but other times it takes a physical act for a wolf to recognize his mate.”

I angled an eyebrow. “Dare I ask what kind of physical act took place?”

Aric chuckled. “My mother was twenty-five at the time and had always had a crush on my dad. He considered her his good friend’s little sister, so he never paid much attention to her. One day she got mad when she saw him hitting on another were at a bar. She went up to him, kicked him in the shins, then kissed him.”

“Good for your mom. Was he mad?”

Aric shook his head. He’d probably heard the story of his parents’ union a thousand times. Yet he didn’t appear tired of it or hesitant to retell the tale. But he did seem a little sad. “The kiss made his wolf identify my mom as their mate. They became inseparable and married days later. Crazy, huh?”

My nails grazed Aric’s arms. “I guess.” He kissed the knuckles of each hand, then rolled me on top of him. I positioned a pillow behind his head and tucked my head against his shoulder. “When did you come along?”

“Not until my mother was forty-five and Dad turned sixty. Mom had trouble conceiving and maintaining her pregnancies, a rare occurrence when you have two purebloods. She lost favor among the were elite. The pack Elders encouraged my father to take a mistress.”

I stiffened. “Aric, that’s horrible.”

“It was a difficult time for both of them and one they didn’t speak of much. But given that they were mates, Dad refused to have anyone but Mom.” Aric adjusted his position so he could see me better. “They had the last laugh, though, when I was born.”

“Because you were so damn adorable?”

Aric grinned back at me. “Yeah, that . . . and when I proved as an infant to possess the power of an Elder.”

My hand slid across his chest to rest against his other shoulder. “How could they know something like that if you were just a baby?” Aric didn’t answer, his indecision raking against my skin. “What’s wrong, love?”

His fingertips skimmed the edges of my ribs. “I’m going to tell you something about me, but I don’t want you to freak out and think I’m weird.”

I sighed. “I’ve split my atoms in front of you and changed into a damn chicken.” Not that I wanted to remind him of the “feathered ass” incident when we’d first met. “I think it’s safe to say I’m the weird one in this relationship.”

Aric’s hard laugh forced his head back. “Okay. Fair enough.” He cleared his throat, trying to quiet. “As weres, we’re born resembling human babies. We obtain our first change during a full moon before our first birthday. The younger we are when we first change, the more powerful we’ll be as weres. The strongest usually change between six and nine months of age.”

“How old were you when you first changed?”

“How old do you think?”

“Considering you’d make the Hulk your bitch? I’ll go with not a day past six months.” He didn’t answer. “Babe, how old were you?”

Aric smirked before answering, “Not even two months old.”

I didn’t move, or breathe, or blink. “Okay. You are a freak. Welcome to the club. We have a secret handshake.”

Aric slid his hands slowly down my back, immediately warming my body. “Can’t wait to learn it.”

I placed my chin on his chest. “So you really are the big, bad wolf. Aren’t you?”

Aric’s voice turned distant. “I suppose. But unlike you, my strength didn’t come with any special gifts. I’d have given it up for the power to see the future.”

I shook my head. “That can be more of a curse than a gift, love.”

“Maybe. But at least it would have saved my father.” Aric drew me closer. “When I was fifteen, my dad and Martin, our current Alpha, were sent with a team to Africa. Martin’s mate, Nala, also accompanied them. Their mission was to dispose of an extremely powerful witch in Lesotho protecting diamond smugglers. In exchange for protection, the smugglers paid her well and gave her sacrifices. When my father and his team caught up with her, they weren’t prepared for how powerful she’d become. She bespelled Nala with moon sickness and disappeared.”

My stomach churned. Bren once told me moon sickness was the equivalent of bloodlust for weres. I didn’t want Aric to relive such a tragedy and thought I should interrupt. But he continued. Maybe because he had to.

“My father was one of many weres killed that day before Nala was finally destroyed. Martin’s strength allowed him to live, and so did his guilt. He felt obligated to raise me since his mate killed my father and because he failed as my dad’s Warrior to protect him. My mother didn’t fare as well. She was literally on her deathbed the moment she felt my father pass. I kept her alive by making her a foolish promise she continues to expect me to fulfill.”

“What did you promise her?”

Aric swallowed hard. “I promised to give her grandchildren.”

This time it was my turn to tense. “Oh.”

We held each other in silence, our beating hearts syncing in strength and rhythm. Birds sang outside and the warm breeze passed hard enough to billow the drapes. In the distance, cars swept along the highway, once, twice, three times before I finally spoke again. “Whatever happened to the witch?”