A Cursed Embrace

Growls and snarls echoed behind me. The bad guys were coming for me and closing in fast.

Just when I thought I was going to die, the cavalry showed up in the form of vampires in Catholic schoolgirl uniforms.

“You rang, kitten?” Misha stood in the center of the path dressed all in black with his arms crossed. His long blond hair whisked against his shoulders from the speed in which his vampires attacked. I turned to help the good Catholics, but Misha grabbed me and yanked me back. “Stop, Celia. You are already wounded. Leave my family to deal with them.”

The vamps easily tore the outnumbered weres apart, and had fun doing so. Blood splattered against their crisp white shirts. Their elongated nails shred through fur, and their fangs found the perfect veins to puncture and feast from. I changed to speak with Misha. At that moment, I was more fearful of Aric’s safety than being naked in the arms of a vampire.

“Misha, there are more weres. I have to get back to Aric.”

“Have you lost weight, my darling? You look thinner.”

I shoved myself away from him. “Misha, I’m serious!”

“Very well, Celia. I shall send others after your pet, but you will remain with me.”

With just a simple gesture of his hand, half of his vampires took off after Aric. A redhead human with dazed blue eyes appeared carrying clothes. She handed me a dress and some underwear, which I proceeded to don as fast as I could.

My head jerked in the direction the vampires had vanished. “Thank you, Misha.”

“You sound surprised that I am a gentleman.”

I clasped my injured thigh. “It’s not that.” I couldn’t finish my thought. I was terrified for Aric, and the profuse bleeding seeping through my fingers made my head spin.

“Please sit, Celia, so that I may tend to your wounds.”

The redhead spread a blanket on the ground and motioned me to it. I did as Misha asked and positioned myself on the ground, holding tight to my wound. Misha moved my hand with ease and spread my knees apart. Like an idiot, I forgot vampires didn’t use first aid kits. A gush of blood spurted out and splattered against the blanket. Misha didn’t panic. He bent forward and licked the inside of my thigh very slowly. The wound sealed, but he didn’t stop. He continued to lick me in teasing strokes, sending a wave of paralyzing chills up my spine. And call me crazy, but I failed to see how his look of seduction was beneficial to my injury.

“Ah . . . What? . . . I . . .” Words failed me. It took another flick of his tongue to finally jar me out of my shock. I slammed my knees together and quickly scrambled to the edge of the blanket. But I was too late. From nowhere, a snarling wolf appeared at my shoulder.

Aric changed back to human. Misha rose to meet him. They stood nose-to-nose. The scent of Aric’s fury scorched the air around us. Misha remained blissfully calm. After all, he’d just eaten. Challenging growls and hissing surrounded us as Misha’s vampires and Aric’s wolves prepared to attack.

I squeezed between them in an attempt to prevent all-out war. “Aric, stop.” I tried to push him back, yet couldn’t even manage to nudge him. Aric typically outmuscled me, but at that moment he was an impenetrable wall of livid energy. I didn’t want them to fight, and I sure as hell didn’t want anyone to die. So I threw in my only weapon—the weak and helpless card.

“Aric, please, Misha just saved me from a bunch of weres.”

“I was coming for you!”

“Yes, but you might have been too late. I was already badly wounded, and the weres had caught up to me. Misha was just trying to help.”

“By trying to seduce you?” Aric’s muscles tensed and shook violently beneath my hands.

My breath sputtered as I released it. “I was bleeding from a deep wound in my thigh. All he did was seal it.” I glanced back at Misha, hoping he’d back up what I was saying. He didn’t. Bastard.

Aric ground his teeth. “What is he even doing here?”

Misha flashed him one of the wickedest smiles in his arsenal. “Celia was in danger and thought my name. Thus, I responded. And now that I have tasted her blood, our call is that much stronger.”

Great. More bars, in more places. Having a vampire’s digits just got better and better.

Aric went perfectly still. In a way, that was way scarier than the angry, growling, red-faced wolf he’d been seconds before. I swallowed hard. The weak and helpless card clearly wasn’t working, so I tried to reason with him. My hand gently touched his face. “Aric, this is not the time. Something terrible is happening. We were attacked by vampires several months back. Yesterday it was a horde of demon children, and today some strange weres. What’s going to happen tomorrow? Misha isn’t the enemy. We have to figure out who is.”

Misha whipped his head away from Aric to glare at me. “You were attacked by a horde of demon children yesterday? And you did not inform me?”

I threw my hands in the air. Great, now they’re both pissed at me.

“Your mate is right, boss,” said an unfamiliar voice.

The word hit me hard enough to back away from Aric and Misha. I turned to find myself eye level with the biggest set of boobs I’d ever seen. A naked blonde covered in blood had moved to stand beside Aric. I didn’t know Pamela Anderson was a werewolf.

The blonde smiled and extended her hand. “Hi. I’m Heidi.” Her voice was cute and bubbly. Goody for her. I shook her bloody hand and looked at Aric, but he was preoccupied with visions of eating Misha’s insides dancing through his head.

Misha motioned his vampires to retreat with a subtle nod. “It appears our clans need to meet and discuss this matter.”

“It appears so,” Aric answered through clenched teeth. “Heidi, take five wolves with you and escort Celia home. Have Genevieve place a protective ward around her house. Call me if you sense any danger. I’m counting on you to keep her safe.”

“Okay, boss,” Heidi answered cheerfully before changing into a beautiful snow white wolf.

Great. Even her wolf form is hot.

Aric turned away from Misha to take my face gently in his hands. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay, I promise. I’ll be home as soon as I can.” He gave me a long, sweet kiss, proving to Misha that he was the one who held my heart.

* * *

“They should have called by now.” Shayna stared at the phone in her hands. They trembled slightly, but then again we all waited on edge.

“Screw this, I’m calling Gemini.”

I placed my hand on her shoulder. “Don’t, Taran.”

Taran shrugged me off. “Why the hell not? Shit, it’s one o’clock in the goddamn morning—”

“Do you really want to interrupt a meeting between a vampire family and a clan of weres just because your boyfriend’s not home yet?” Bren asked from the couch.

“Screw off, Bren. You don’t know what I’ve seen or felt. You don’t know shit!”

Bren narrowed his glare. “And you don’t know shit about supernatural politics.”

“That’s enough.” I stood between them. “Your bickering is not helping.”

Taran opened her mouth, no doubt to rip into me, when the walls of our house hummed from the ward Aric had asked the witches to place. Something powerful was approaching—fast. Taran’s magic ignited, my claws shot out, and a hideous growl thundered from Bren’s chest. Shayna raced toward the window with a dagger in her hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay. They’re home now.”

Taran released the magic surrounding the house with a charm the witches had provided and threw open the door. “Baby, why—?”

She backed away from the door, allowing the wolves to step slowly into the house. Everyone froze upon seeing their pale and distraught faces. Aric, in particular, appeared devastated beyond words. I hurried toward him, ready to throw my arms around him. He jerked away from me and stepped aside, refusing my touch. I turned