He kept going. Oh no, no, she couldn’t let her little sister barge in on her while her jeans were around her knees. Especially not now, not today, not before she had explained that their mother was dying.
“William!” Cerise barked.
William’s fingers slid under the band of her panties, teasing their way down.
“Stop!”
Someone’s steps approached the door.
She punched him in the head.
William startled, as if shaken awake, and rolled off her. She jerked her jeans back in place.
The door swung open.
William rolled to his feet and dashed across the room, to the balcony and over the rail. She sprinted left and landed in her chair, tugging her bra in place and buttoning her shirt.
Kaldar came up the stairs. “Cerise?”
She yawned. “Yes?”
“Here you are.” He dropped into the other chair. Behind him William pulled himself back up with one arm and landed on the balcony’s rail.
“Aunt Pete panicked everybody. She thought you might have done something rash.”
William stood on the rail. The damn thing was two inches wide. He padded along it like it was solid ground and made some shooing motions at Kaldar’s back.
She tried to ignore him. “I never do anything rash.”
William mouthed,
“She saw you leave with the blueblood.”
Cerise raised her eyebrows. “I had myself a nice long cry and then I fell asleep in the chair. Did you expect to find me on the floor, making out with him half-naked?”
William nodded several times, a big grin painted on his face.
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Kaldar said. “Or him. Who knows what the hell he might do?”
William made a cutting motion across his throat.
“He might kill you if you’re not careful,” she told him.
“Who, Will? We’re the best of friends.”
William rolled his eyes.
“Thick as thieves, I’m sure,” she mumbled.
“If you do decide to make out with him, try to get caught,” Kaldar said. “Easier to rope him into marriage that way.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Kaldar looked like he’d bitten into something sour. “The fusing, do you want to talk about it?”
And just like that all sexy thoughts fled from her head. “Not right now.”
“You will have to talk about it with the family tomorrow,” he warned.
“I know. I’ll speak to Lark before we go to bed.” Cerise got up. Kaldar did, too. William dropped straight down off the rail, and she almost gasped. “Let me grab my hair tie. I left it outside. I’ll be right down.”
She walked on the balcony, aware of Kaldar’s gaze on her back. William hung off the edge, his feet pressed against the wall. He didn’t look like he was straining.
Yes, she was definitely over her head. But when William held her, she felt happy and safe. Everything was falling to pieces, and she wanted to be with him so badly, even if only for a couple of minutes of bliss.
“Tonight,” she mouthed. “My room.”
He grinned a happy feral grin. Cerise turned and went with Kaldar downstairs.
TWENTY-FOUR
CERISE awoke. Her bedroom lay dark. It took her a second to place the even, whispery sound next to her, and then she recognized it—Lark, breathing.
The explanations didn’t go well. She’d tried her best, but the only thing Lark heard was that Mother wasn’t coming back. Ever. The poor kid broke and cried. She cried and cried with feverish desperation. At first Cerise tried to calm her, and then something snapped inside her, and she cried, too. You’d think she had no tears left, but no, she bawled just like Lark. They huddled on the bed and sobbed from the pain and unfairness of it. Finally Cerise made herself stop and held Lark, murmuring soothing things to her and stroking her hair, until her sister curled into a ball and fell asleep, whimpering like a sick kitten.
Cerise looked at the ceiling. No noises disturbed the silence. She heard nothing, she saw nothing, but something had to have woken her up.
She sat up slowly and turned to the tall window opening onto the verandah. A pair of glowing eyes stared through the glass.
William.
He had no shirt on. The moonlight slid over his back and shoulders, tracing the outline of sculpted biceps, sliding over the shield of muscle on his side to the narrow waist. His hair fell on his shoulders in a dark mane. He stood with easy predatory grace, beautiful and terrifying, and he stared at her with the same impossible longing she’d seen in him in the lake house. The intensity of it took her breath away. She wasn’t sure if she should swoon, scream, or just wake up.
He moved and tapped the window with his knuckle.
Not dreaming. He’d showed up and he wanted in.
Cerise shook her head.
He raised his arms.
She leaned over and very gently pulled the blanket down, revealing Lark’s tousled hair.
His face fell. He rocked forward and bumped his head on the glass.
“Aaaah!” Lark jerked up. “Ceri! Ceri!”
Cerise thrust herself between her sister and the window. “What is it?”
“A monster, a monster at the window!”
Cerise grabbed Lark into a hug and turned, keeping Lark’s face away from the glass. William ripped off his pants. A convulsion gripped his body, jerking him, breaking his arms, twisting his shoulders. Cerise gulped. “There’s nothing there.”
“There is a monster! I saw it.”
William’s muscles flowed like melted wax. He crashed to all fours. Dense black fur sheathed him. He shook, and a huge black wolf sat at the window, his eyes glowing like two wild moons.
She did not just see that. Surely, she didn’t.
Every hair on the back of Cerise’s neck stood up. She swallowed. “Look, baby, it’s not a monster, it’s just a dog. See?”
Lark pulled from her and glanced at the window. “Where did it come from?”
“It’s William’s dog.” The damn wolf was the size of a pony.
William pawed at the glass gently and licked it.
“William doesn’t have a dog.”
“Sure he does. His dog stays in the woods so he doesn’t bother our dogs. He’s very nice. See?” Cerise rose and opened the window. William trotted in, an enormous black shadow, and put his head on the sheets next to Lark. She reached over and petted his sable fur. “He’s nice.”
“Come on.” Cerise adjusted the pillows. “Try to get back to sleep.”
She slid under the covers next to Lark. William hopped on the bed by their legs and lay still. “Behave,” she told him.
He yawned, showing her white teeth the size of her pinkies, and closed his mouth with a click.
“Ceri?”
“Mmmm … ?”
