stream of salt as he went.
Flushed and extremely aroused, she turned away from the window and busied herself readying the food. Surely Arand would be hungry when he came inside. The guy hadn’t eaten in more than five thousand years.
Jessica waited impatiently as Tilly gave her staff final instructions. When she was done, Jessica held up her phone. “Can we call Jules now?”
Tilly nodded. “It’s still early, but he should be up by now.”
Jessica dialed the number she’d programmed into her phone an hour ago. “Come on,” she whispered as she waited for it to start ringing. There was one ring. Then a second. Was Jules still in bed? No matter. They couldn’t wait any longer.
“Girl, you’re up early this morning.” Jules gruff voice filled her ear and Jessica had never been so glad to hear it.
“I need a favor. We need a favor. Tilly and me.” Her knees were a bit wobbly so she sat in one of the colorful chairs, wishing she had a coffee. As if by magic, Tilly swooped in and placed a large paper cup in front of her. The rich aroma of coffee was like manna from the gods.
“Calm down, girl. Tell me what you need.” She could hear the clink of a dish and figured Jules was probably getting some breakfast.
“We need to borrow your truck.”
“What’s wrong with Tilly’s car?”
Jessica nibbled on her bottom lip, wondering just how much she could or should tell Jules. “Sabrina has it.”
There was a long pause on Jules’ end and Jessica held her breath, wondering if he’d loan them his truck without more of an explanation. “I’ll be at the store with the keys in about a half hour.”
Jessica released a huge breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Jules.” She hung up and turned to Tilly. “Half an hour.”
Tilly nodded. “We need to stop at Granny Ledet’s on the way out of town. She has some protection amulets for us.”
Jessica nodded, more than willing to take help from any quarter. She sipped her coffee and pulled out her grandmother’s journal from her bag. She opened it and began to read, wanting to make sure she had all the knowledge she might need to help save Sabrina and her friend’s warrior.
Morning had dawned in North Carolina. Aimee Horner stifled a yawn as she started a pot of coffee brewing. It was strange to have a houseful of people after living here alone for so long. Roric, stealthy as the tiger that was part of him, slid behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her. “You snuck out of bed.” His tone let her know he was less than pleased by that discovery.
Aimee laughed and turned in his arms. “I needed coffee.”
Roric grimaced. “I do not understand how you women can drink the stuff.”
She laughed again. It was amusing to her that none of the immortal warriors liked coffee, all of them preferring tea. “Are any of the others up yet?” Marko and Kellsie and Araminta and Leander had elected to stay with them for a week or so. They all had a sense of impending doom, a sense that the final act of the curse was about to play out.
Aimee was incredibly thankful that they were all safe. It was hard to wrap her head around the fact that she and the other women were now immortal, a gift from their warriors. But the Lady of the Beasts was still out there, as was Arand. They had no idea where he was or what was going to happen with him.
They were almost certain they knew the name of the woman who was supposed to release Arand from his animal form and begin the final phase of the curse, but they had no idea when the event would actually happen.
There was no way they could descend upon the woman and tell her what was about to happen. She’d think they were all crazy. And there was always the outside chance if they approached her Hades might kill her outright. With only one warrior left to be set free, and three recent losses, there was no telling what Hades’ state of mind was.
They were all still discussing their options, trying to decide on the best course of action.
Roric’s lips brushed hers, pushing away all negative thoughts. He cupped her ass, pulling her tight against his erection.
“Any coffee? Whoops, maybe I’ll take a rain check on that.” The amused female voice had Aimee jumping away from Roric. Caught red-handed.
The humor of the situation struck her and Aimee started to laugh. “There’s coffee. Come on in, Kellsie.”
Roric growled and stalked out of the room and up the stairs.
“Someone isn’t happy,” Kellsie pointed out. With her lush figure, blonde hair and blue eyes, Kellsie looked good even at this hour of the morning. If she wasn’t such a wonderful friend, Aimee could easily be envious of her.
“He’ll live.” Aimee pulled down two mugs and filled them. Both of them took a sip and gave a sigh. “Roric doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
Kellie grinned. “Neither does Marko. My big ol’ bear can’t stand coffee. He’s very fond of juice, will tolerate tea, but hates coffee.”
“Any coffee?” Araminta, her waist-length hair loose, trudged into the kitchen bleary-eyed and wrapped in her bathrobe.
Aimee and Kellsie looked at her and laughed.
Araminta paused and glanced down at her robe as if to make sure it was still closed. “What?”
“You tell her, Kellsie. I’m going to check my email.” Aimee was expecting an important email from work, and with people working in different time zones and from home, email came in at all hours of the day and night.
She opened the laptop and waited until it was fired up. The muted voices of her friends gave her a sense of pleasure, of belonging. Aimee scrolled through her mail, ignoring the obvious junk mail. Honestly, she really didn’t need anything to enlarge her penis, and Roric certainly didn’t need any help in that department.
One email made her stop. It had come through the website. She clicked on it and the first sentence made her gasp. “Roric.” His name was little more than a whisper. “Roric,” she called again, this time much louder.
A loud roar, like that of a tiger, filled the house, and seconds later Roric was beside her. “What’s wrong?” He glared at the other two women as if accusing them of doing something to upset her.
Two more roars filled the house and before Aimee could blink Marko and Leander were both there, ready to protect their women.
“Look.” Aimee pointed at the email. “Wolf is free in New Orleans. And there are directions too. We suspected the woman who could release Arand lived there. This has to be about Arand.”
Roric stared at the screen for a moment and then turned to his fellow warriors. “This is it, the end is upon us.”
“We go to New Orleans.” It wasn’t really a question. Marko crossed his arms over his massive chest and stared back at Roric.
Roric nodded and glanced toward Leander. Leander’s gold eyes narrowed at the unspoken question. “I’m in.”
“We’re going too.” Aimee knew the other women would want to go as well. “We’re all part of this. We don’t know what Hades has up his sleeve, but we do know he plans to take over the world once he’s dealt with Arand. It’s going to take all of us to defeat him and his army of demons.”
None of the men were happy, but they were smart enough not to try to stop them, knowing the women would simply follow them. Aimee did a quick search of available flights as there was no time to drive. “Okay, if we get our butts in gear there are a number of flights we can get and be in New Orleans early afternoon. We can rent a vehicle when we get there and head out to the coordinates we were sent.”
“But if we get involved in the fight, doesn’t that negate our immunity from Hades’ wrath?” Araminta chewed on her bottom lip with worry. “That’s what Hades told me when he was bargaining with me.”
Leander wrapped his arm around Araminta and pulled her close to his chest. “I will protect you.”
Roric shook his head. “Hades was lying, trying to manipulate you. Neither he nor his demons can touch us. That was the deal, the outcome of our breaking the curse. But there was nothing about us not going after him. I’m
