A Cursed Embrace

a different being had killed the humans and possibly saved lives.”

My tigress pawed inside me and chuffed with annoyance. “Aric, you’re the chancelor of students at the Den. When you’re not teaching your young wolves arithmetic and dismemberment, you’re the driving force in helping to protect the area from evil. Of course you’re distracted! You carry a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders. They need to back the hell off and—”

Aric’s grin cut me off and made my heart pound hard enough to muffle the toddler throwing a set of utensils across from us. He leaned over the table and brushed his soft lips against my cheek, reminding me why the fearless tigress had fallen so hard for the big, bad wolf. “My duties keep me busy, yes, but I’ve always managed . . . until now.” His eyes bored into mine, turning my blood into liquid fire. “You’re my distraction, Celia. You came into my life and knocked me on my ass. It’s hard to concentrate on anything else.”

The portly waitress hustled by to fill our water glasses as our emotions locked us together with invisible straps. “Would you folks care for anything else?”

A cup of your best ice cream, down my pants, please.

Aric slowly released me and pulled out a wad of clipped bills. He shoved a few into the small pleather folder. “Are you ready?”

To straddle you? Sure.

I nodded and half stumbled from the booth, my head spinning from Aric’s words. The way he spoke in that deep tenor voice and the terms he’d used to express his romantic feelings shoved back my fear and stimulated my desires. Aric noticed my lack of grace. He didn’t chuckle or comment like I’d come to expect. The strong angles of his face held nothing but seriousness—smacking me back into reality more than a dip into the freezing-cold lake.

Aric reached for my hand as we walked to the car. I gripped it tight, wanting to hold on to the moment. For someone who professed his feelings for me, he didn’t appear happy. If anything he seemed torn.

Aric settled into his seat after opening the door for me. He peeled onto the road, his voice lowered. “After giving it a lot of thought, I worried my Elders were right, and believed maybe some distance between us might help. That’s why I haven’t called.”

The way back to my house gave the passenger-side view of the woods. The thick firs whirled by me in a blur. My throat tightened with angst. I wasn’t sure what Aric might say next. “Did it help?”

Aric stayed silent for several breaths. “No. It just made me miss you more.”

I would have thrown my arms around him if it hadn’t been for his ominous tone. It reinforced that our connection might be a bad thing. He didn’t say anything else until he parked in front of my house and twisted his body to face mine. I unbuckled my seat belt and crossed my legs, resting the side of my head against the seat. To anyone watching, I appeared calm, possibly even bored, my feline side feigning a state of complete relaxation. But Aric’s beast scented my fear, sensed my tightening muscles, heard my racing heart. For the first time in years, I was close to having someone special. And yet he still seemed so far away.

Aric’s palm curved against my cheek, and his thumb stroked me gently. The light trickling through the sunroof shimmered in those baby browns. I wanted to touch him, but my natural defenses kicked in, and so did my shyness. So I waited and watched, mesmerized by his rugged good looks and the way his thumb rhythmically passed against my skin.

“Celia, I can’t ignore my duties as a pureblood,” he said softly. “But I also can’t dismiss what’s happening between us. I’d like us to try to have something, providing you want to as well.”

Aric’s hand trailed against my brown locks, lightened with the gold tones of my tigress. I inched away, worry for him preventing me from accepting his caress. “What about your Elders?”

“If I can catch who murdered the men, it would prove to them I haven’t abandoned the responsibilities to my pack.”

“Then let me help you. I could—”

That oh-so-familiar “you can’t help because you can’t heal” expression played across Aric’s features like a violin, completely cutting me off. “Celia, did you miss the part where I explained that these creatures rape women and are so atrocious the world’s power banishes them back to hell within five goddamn minutes?”

I tapped my foot impatiently against the car matt. “Did you, Mr. Leader of Wolves, miss the exploding body in my house? Aric, evil not only knocked on my door, it brought leftovers and displayed them across my threshold like a UPS package.”

“No shit. Which is more of a reason you should stay away from this mess.”

I narrowed my eyes. Yeah. Like that had any effect on him. “I know you think you can protect me by keeping me out of this—”

“Not if you don’t let me. And not if you ignore me when I tell you to keep out of trouble.”

“You act like I go out in search of danger.”

Aric counted off the error of my ways one finger at a time. “Vampire court. Storming a crazed vampire’s estate—twice.” He added two fingers on that one. “Consorting with the undead. Tracking an infected vampire in a stolen vehicle. And don’t get me started on getting trapped in a raging inferno.”

I crossed my arms defensively. “I don’t consort with the undead.” He tightened his jaw. “Much.”

We glared at each other. He’s really sexy when he broods, my tigress sighed. Shut up and focus, I hissed back.

I cleared my throat. More than once. My beast had a point. “Aric, if the wereraccoon is somehow related to this thing consuming humans, it knows where I live. It knows where my family lives. I get that you don’t want me fighting alongside you. Except you need to understand that I have to keep my sisters safe. So if you don’t want me with you, that’s fine. But you can’t stop me from protecting my family.”

Aric growled, more with frustration than anger, knowing I’d stomped his argument with my mighty, if not stubborn, logic. Take that, big shot.

Aric rubbed his forehead and swore under his breath. “You have to promise to stay with me at all times. You are not to hunt this thing on your own—that includes going off alone with your sisters. I’m not sure what we’re up against, or what it can do. If my Warriors or I are not with you, you are not to engage it. And if anything else wanders onto your property, I should be the first call you make.”

I probably shouldn’t have smiled considering I just willingly volunteered to go after yet another scary monster . . . who also likely slithered in from hell.

Aric shook his head. “Don’t look at me that way, Celia. It would destroy me if you were hurt.”

“How could a little kitty like me get hurt with a pack of supermacho wolves on my side?”

Aric didn’t find my attempt at humor funny. “Shit. What did I just get you into?”

“You didn’t ‘get me into’ anything. I think the wereraccoon managed that on his own.” I sighed. “Look, Aric, I also hate being the source of your problems. If helping you kill Tahoe’s latest superbeastie alleviates your situation with your Elders, let me.”

“Don’t for a moment think you’re the cause of my problems.” Aric leaned forward, sweeping his lips across my crown line. “What goes on between you and me is none of their damn business. But if eliminating this threat will shut them up, it’s more motivation for me to hunt and kill it.”

Aric wanted to mean what he said, except distress swept around his aura like a noose. Had I been of his kind, would his Elders have been as upset? Probably not.

“The purebloods are plentiful,” Aric continued as if trying to convince us both. “My Elders need to stop demanding that I associate with were-only females.”

Demand? Aric had practically growled his last statement. As one of the strongest weres in history, he didn’t like being told what to do. Even by those considered above him. I didn’t know much about wolves, or weres in general, and feared what the consequences his decision to pursue me might bring. So it only seemed right for me to help him hunt. Maybe he was right. In killing this monster, perhaps he’d prove he hadn’t lost his focus or abandoned his duties.

Stress further tightened Aric’s muscles. My tigress convinced me to comfort him through touch. I rubbed my face against his. “What will happen if they continue to insist that you do?”

Aric groaned, low and deep. His reaction had nothing to do with his Elders and everything to do with our contact. “Let me worry about it.” He cupped my face in his hands. “You and me, we can take things slow and see