A Cursed Embrace

viciously. The wolves had returned after an almost-two-week absence. Taran and Gemini should have been locked in her room, not fighting in the kitchen.

Gemini had his arms around Taran. She shoved against his broad chest, trying uselessly to push him away. “I won’t leave you, Taran,” he said gently. “I love you.”

Taran stopped struggling and sobbed into her hands. “It doesn’t mean shit. You’re going to dump me, just like that asshole dumped her!”

Gemini tucked Taran into his shoulder and stroked back her dark hair. “No. I won’t,” he promised.

Taran continued to cry in his arms. I was going to return to my room when her retort halted my steps. “He broke her heart,” she whimpered.

Gemini looked up at me then. “I know.”

I could have picked up the house and thrown it at them, sick of their relentless pity.

I’d started to growl when Liam bounded down the stairs. “Hey, Ceel,” he said, oblivious of the fact that I was about to gnaw on Gemini’s eyeballs. “We just ordered food from Lakeside Pizza. Come with me to pick it up.”

I didn’t want to go with Liam, but begrudgingly agreed so not to upset Emme or crush Liam’s feelings. My loneliness made it difficult to be around my sisters and their wolves. I found excuses to leave the house when they were around. My actions upset my family and had strained our relationship. They probably thought I was incapable of being happy for them, but they were wrong. The wolves were just a constant reminder of what I’d had and lost.

Liam drove with the windows down, allowing the unusually warm October breeze to hit our faces. We were waiting for our pizzas when the door opened, and I was struck by a scent that threatened to stop my heart.

Aric froze the moment he saw me. Only at the insistence of the gorgeous blond were clutching his arm did he slowly move toward us. It was the first time I’d seen Aric since he’d left me and, my God, it hurt to see him with her.

She was tall, almost as tall as Aric. Cascading waves of shimmering blond hair swept down to her elbows, while her short red dress showed off her ridiculously sensual curves. As for me, I still wore my sports bra and shorts from my earlier run and hadn’t showered.

The were bitch pretended I wasn’t there. “Hi, Liam,” she said.

Liam stiffened and answered with a nod. Aric continued to stare at me, just as he had from the moment he walked in. “Hello, Celia,” he said.

At the sound of my name, the blonde tightened her grip on Aric’s arm and finally acknowledged me. Oh yeah, I had her attention then. The scowl she initially greeted me with was quickly replaced by a condescending little grin. “I’m Barbara.” She paused to lick her lips. “Aric’s fiancee.”

Aric closed his eyes and let out a pained breath. But you know what? It couldn’t have possibly compared to the pain I felt. The crumbled remains of my heart sank to my stomach. “Of course you are,” I said through gritted teeth.

I stalked out the door and into the parking lot, stopping only to dent the mailbox in with my fist. Fiancee. Aric had a fiancee after only a few weeks. We’d been a couple for more than five months!

Rage and grief sent a tidal wave of tremors up my body. My encounter with Aric and his fiancee had torn the scab off my emotional wounds. I had tried not to picture him with anyone else. But now I knew, knew what she looked like, knew what she smelled like, knew that she now shared his bed.

I turned when I heard Liam. He fumbled with his car keys while juggling eight pizzas in his left arm. “I’m sorry, Celia. I’m so, so sorry. I had no idea they’d be here.”

Liam apologized the entire way home. I was too busy fuming to talk. As soon as we arrived at the house, I stormed up the stairs.

“What happened, Lee?” I heard Emme ask. “Why is Celia so upset?”

“We ran into Aric and Barbara,” Liam muttered.

“Who the hell is Barbara?” Taran asked.

“Aric’s fiancee!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

* * *

“Dude! He has a fiancee?”

“That son of a bitch.”

“Oh, gosh, Liam. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, Koda. You must have known. We could have told Celia gently. It didn’t have to be like this, dude!”

“Stupid, insensitive bastard.”

“What were you boys thinking?”

“Angel, Aric asked us not to say anything,” Liam said.

“So you just listened to him?” Shayna argued. “This is Celia we’re talking about, not some stranger. Didn’t you think she had a right to know?”

Apparently not.

I fell back onto the bed, draped an arm over my eyes, and firmly reminded myself that I was done crying. Downstairs, Taran had momentarily stopped swearing. I could almost picture her glaring at the lot of them when she spoke again. “Well, it’s pretty damn obvious where your loyalties lie, right, boys?”

“Taran, please calm down,” Gemini said. “Aric didn’t want to hurt Celia more. He’s been waiting for the right time to tell her.”

“There is no right time!” Taran was officially screaming. “Shit, after what he did to her, he’s a goddamn coward for not telling her to her face!”

“Do you think this has been any easier on Aric?” Koda growled. “If you only knew how he felt.”

“I don’t give a damn how he feels,” Taran shot back. “He walked away from her, not the other way around.”

“She’s right, puppy,” Shayna said, a little more calmly. “Not to mention he’s got that fiancee of his to make him feel better. Who does Celia have?”

“She has us,” Emme said gently.

Emme was wrong. My connection to my sisters was waning, in part because I no longer felt needed. They had their wolves to keep them safe and to be strong for them. But I did have someone else, someone with a presence too commanding to ignore.

I rolled toward the nightstand and reached for my cell phone. Misha had begun calling a few days after Aric left. When I first spoke to him, it was during my angry phase. I yelled at him for tasting my blood. Instead of becoming defensive, Misha merely stated that my gruff voice sounded sexy. His retort had stunned me like usual. And while I knew I should keep my distance, my loneliness had made it impossible.

Out of all my sisters, Shayna was the most disappointed by my reconnection with Misha. Koda had her convinced that vampires, especially Misha, shouldn’t be trusted. Misha’s true intentions remained to be seen. Yet I looked forward to our talks and our interludes at the local ice cream shop. It was the only time my mind wasn’t flooded with thoughts of Aric. It also helped my fragile self-esteem to know someone wanted me, even if Misha didn’t precisely need me.

I hit the speed dial, ignoring the escalating argument downstairs. “Have dinner with me tonight.”

Misha paused before answering, “I take it you have learned of the mongrel’s engagement?”

Why am I the last to know? I ran my fingers irritably through my hair. “Does it matter?”

“No. Expect me at seven.” Misha disconnected.

I went downstairs and snagged an entire pizza for myself. No one attempted to speak to me. They watched, and waited, for my much-anticipated meltdown. I took a huge bite and swallowed.

“If you’d like, I can probably smash some dishes or boil a bunny in a pot.”

That was their clue to look elsewhere.

I finished my snack and went upstairs. After I showered, I called my sisters to my room.

They entered slowly when they saw me wrapped in a towel with my arms crossed. “I’m going out with Misha tonight. Will you help me get ready?”

Taran’s face lit up. “You’re damn right I will.” Her heels pounded down the stairs on her way to raid her