Enchanting the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #4) (8 page)

Unable to focus, she managed to catch a glimpse of a young boy crying, then of a gravesite. Then again of the same boy, only a few years older, experiencing his shift for the first time, and all alone. Fear clogged her throat and burst through her then that faded for a strong resolve of indifference until nothing existed. The boy became a man that didn’t know how to love or be loved.

Her eyes shot open and landed on him. He watched, the same pain she felt shining back at her.

“There’s no room for that pain in your life. You have me now. You’ll never be alone again.”

“I know. I can feel the truth of your words in my soul as you speak them, my witch.”

“You can feel me too?”

Caden nodded. “And I can hear your thoughts, know when you are in danger and know when you need me.”

Holy shit.
She gave a brief smile. Then he knew all her kinky fantasies and still wanted to be with her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to control it where I only receive what you want to show me or have me feel.”

“Never.” She didn’t even have to think about it. “Well, maybe like when I’m out doing against-the-law shady stuff, but truly, I never want to hide a thing from you.” Harmony angled to face him then stopped dead.

“Holy goddesses divine.” She sat forward and pried her eye open with two fingers for a better look in the mirror. “When did that happen?” She took in several views from all sides and angles of her face.

“Same time mine did.” Caden pulled her hair to the side, gave a soft stroke down the side of her face, and paused at the bite mark that marred her ivory skin. “Does it hurt?”

“No, but I can feel the power that entered me, your power. It’s fusing with mine and kinda leaves a surplus of energy that tingles just below the surface.”

“We’ll have to do something about that, and I think all that energy makes you look ravishing and ravishable. All flushed and ready for me.”

She laughed. “Is that even a word?”

“It is now.”

With her fingers wrapped around the headboard for support, she sashayed her hips. “I think I look good in anything of one Caden Roarke.”

Before she could blink, he had her turned, thighs spread around his and the thick girth of his already hardening shaft wedged between her swollen pussy lips. Her head fell back against the mass of pillows as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hauling him within kissing range.

“So does this mean I get to take you home for a visit down south? My mom and aunts will absolutely love to meet my new husband.”

Caden froze and a sly grin splayed across her face. “Ya know, all that can come much later if I can get my turn.” She dangled the cuffs from her finger with a wicked glint to her new baby blues that gave away all the wicked little ideas she had playing in her mind. She picked one particular fantasy and focused on the image. His face lit up and a deep growl came in response to the image he saw.

Five seconds in and she already loved how this mated thing already suited them.

His mouth curled up into a wicked smile. “I think we can work something out, my playful witch.”

Her magick hummed along the surface of her skin to coil around them. Caden pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers, at ease with her powers as much as she was with his. “You, my darling Harmony, have given me the best gift of all and have captured my heart in return.”

Absolutely nothing could go wrong from here on out. Her world was complete.

She sat up, pushing him to the side.

“Harmony. Harmony McKenna.” The female voice jarred her.

Harmony swung around to face the door. “How many damn
Harmonys
do you think there are here, Marabelle?”

Caden pulled them both from the bed and quickly wrapped a sheet around her first and then himself.

Harmony threw open the door to find her sister bent over, clasping her knees, dragging in air and not really making any progress with her attempt.

“Marabelle, what’s wrong, what happened?” Flashes, of jewel-colored dragons, black smoke, and blood flitted across her mind.

Oh, goddesses... Her eyes widened. “Tell me, Marabelle. Tell me everything.”

“I... well, I kinda mighta played with magick and it backfired. Sorta. I got my powers back.” Marabelle proceeded to call on her powers to form a ball of fire similar to her own display earlier. “Whatcha think?”

“No way! That’s amazing.” She tucked the end of her sheet between her breasts and threw her arms around her sister in a big hug.

“Yeah, well, the High Council knows and I need to leave town. Like yesterday.” Marabelle pulled back, her hands on Harmony’s bare shoulders.

“That was fast. Almost like they were waiting for it to happen. And the dragons I see? The blood? What’s that about, Marabelle?”

Marabelle froze, her face blank with no clue to what she was talking about or she was unwilling to give the details. She’d bet on the latter. Either way, something told her this did not bode well.

Two men walked in, their heads held high, and they immediately zeroed in on Caden. She could tell they were shifters, alphas by the amount of energy they exude. They held Caden’s gaze for a brief second before they came to a silent understanding. This whole mated thing would take some getting used to on that level.

“What do you need from me? What can I do to help?”

“I have no idea what you saw, but you need to kill me, with this.” Marabelle held out a two-foot silver-tipped dagger. “And you need to make it look like they did it.”

She was suppose to be a clairvoyant, but did anything pop into her head about this? Hades no. Just like she never thought she’d add murder to her growing list of offenses the High Council could hold against her. And don’t get her started on the human side of the law.

She took the blade and turned the cold metal handle in her hands. The lethal tip gleamed with each pass, but it was the dragon-headed handle that held her spellbound. Darkness formed over her vision as her energy united with the blade.

Slowly Harmony raised her head and held her sister’s gaze. “Your death may lead to another war even greater than the last. Can you handle the weight of that burden?”

THE END

Keep reading for a chapter excerpt of the third Hex My Heart release, Bewitching the Alpha.

Hexing the Alpha
– Out Now

Jinxing the Alphas
– Out Now

Bewitching the Alpha
– Out Now

Enchanting the Alpha
– Out Now

Charming the Alphas
– December 2015

Other Available Series

Sexy Siesta Series

His By Sunrise
(novella)

Tequila Sunset
(novella)

Sunrise for Three
(novella)

Look for more anticipated novels from Talina

Sunrise Till Sunset

(Joel Cordona’s Novella)

COMING SOON!

Sexy Siesta Full-Lengths

Controlled Heat

Tropical Heat

Relentless Heat

Savage Heat

T
hank you for reading Enchanting the Alpha! I hope you enjoyed it! If you liked this book-or any of my other releases-please, consider reviewing the book at your favored online retailer. Your ratings and reviews help other readers find new favorites, and of course, there is no better or more appreciated support for an author than the word of mouth recommendations from readers. Thank you again for your interest in my books!

XOXO

Talina Perkins

www.TalinaPerkins.com

Want more smokin’ hot shifters

and misadventures with magick?

Read on for a sneak peek

at the third book of Talina Perkins’

sexy Hex My Heart Series

H
e was on fire.

Flames licked up his spine and burned through his veins until all he could think about was Ember. Having her wrapped around him, balls deep and his mouth claiming hers.

The burn had been on a constant high heat since she’d strutted back into town.

Seven months of pure fucking over-heated torture.

Why the hell did she have to come back here?  She could be in a million other small towns with her magick and heart-crushing ways. Why come back to Sweet Briar?

Tension seeped bone-deep and constricted all his muscles until he could barely move or think without gnashing his teeth. A shuffling sound came from behind him, but he brushed it away as small animals scurrying through the dead underbrush.

They sensed the predator in him and they were right to be afraid. It had been too long since his last hunt. Weeks since he’d felt the freedom of the woods with no one for company except the moon. He tightened his fists by his sides.

Tonight wasn’t about the hunt so much as it was about the escape. His wolf would have to wait for the rush and thrill of a good hunt for a bit longer.

Howls broke through the trees and brought him around to face the thick woods at his back. That’s when he caught the female’s scent. Square in the face like a two-by-four or maybe a semi-truck doing eighty.

Son-of-a-bitch!

A wall of fiery magick rammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs. He clutched a hand to his chest and doubled over, but quickly righted himself.
Talk about taking a hit...

He raised his head and inhaled sharply. Ember.

He’d recognize her signature anytime, anywhere. All witches left a small portion of their essence in their handiwork and this magick smelled of one particular witch. His witch. What was she up to?

Remnants of love-drenched energy wafted along the cold currents to sting his wolf’s heightened senses. With his bare feet braced on the cliff rocks, he shook his head, but it didn’t dislodge the potent aroma. She wasn’t nearby or even in the same woods with him. No, he could smell another witch’s power mingled with Ember’s.

But he could be mistaken. Every time he caught the scent of lavender or vanilla his mind clicked over to instinct and his wolf took control—all he could think about was Ember. The one witch he’d crawl over coals for and the one witch he’d vowed to never touch again.

His heart rate spiked and the blood in his veins heated. Fucking magick. Couldn’t a guy get a break? He lifted his chin and took a deep drag through his nose before he exhaled. Someone was out having a good time tonight. Too bad it wasn’t him because there was enough horny juju in the air to make every shifter within a mile or two sport some major hardware. His wolf didn’t want just another piece of ass though, and neither did he. If he couldn’t have her...

He clenched his teeth against the surge of adrenaline that shot through him and with it came a drudge of old memories. She’d promised nothing would keep them apart the night he’d claimed her as his mate, then she’d vanished less than twenty-four hours later. That was sixteen months ago without a word. Nothing. He’d scoured the whole fucking town looking for her only to have her family shun him at every turn. No one knew anything, or everyone that knew didn’t want him to know.

He shoved the past aside, buried the present beneath a wall of truth and let his gaze fall to the jagged rocks at his feet. She might be back in town, but she didn’t want him. Probably never did.

Earlier tonight he’d stopped in for a couple of shots at the Matchstick, the only dive bar that served anything worth drinking. Ember’s sister concocted a mean supernatural version of moonshine, and all walks of the otherworldly kind loved to get their buzz on with her Moon Lust brew.

He could lie all he wanted, but the last thing he went there for was the liquor. On most nights like this, his pack pounded back shots and tossed around a load of bullshit for hours, but he liked the off chance of catching a glimpse of Ember when she stopped in to see her sister.

Tonight was his lucky night. When she’d waltzed through the double doors something shifted the second her ice-blue eyes connected with his over the rim of his tumbler. Their normal ability to ignore each other vanished with that one look.

A blink and the connection was severed, but the coals he’d hoped had died down burst back to life and even now the veins crisscrossing him burned with wildfire.

He hadn’t meant to speak to her. Or touch her, but when she passed by him, a whisper away, his hand shot out and his fingers fanned through her hair in passing. She probably hadn’t felt it, but he did. With the slightest of touches, the soul-deep connection they shared struck him square in the chest like a well-aimed sledgehammer.

And he damn sure hadn’t meant to let her torment his thoughts again, but here he was, standing in the middle of a coming snowstorm, hard as granite and beyond lusting for her. He shifted himself a little to the left from the bite of his zipper.

Searching for anything to help him calm the beast, he dragged his attention to the thick silver beams of moonlight pouring over the snowed-in town laid out before him. Gauzy white light drowned the roads and left only small spirals of smoke that disappeared into the blackened sky as the only proof of life. Tucked between two rising mountains filled with cone-shaped pines, Sweet Briar Hollow slept.