A Cursed Bloodline (WG 4) (43 page)

Destiny stomped her neon-pink boots against the floor as she bolted after Aric and the guards holding him. “You can’t do this. The lion is
supposed
to mate with the tigress!” She blocked the door with her body, her gaze whipping between me and Aric. “A new evil is coming. And only their children will be strong enough to stop it.”

The room stilled as Destiny’s latest prediction struck us like a slap. The problem was, she didn’t completely make sense.

Aric’s brows furrowed deeply as he struggled to understand. “I’m a wolf,” he told her slowly.

Destiny threw her hands in the air, regarding Aric like he was the crazy one. “Don’t you know ‘Aric’ means ‘Lion of God’?”

Chapter Thirty-six

It turned out even the President of the North American Were Council was afraid to mess with Destiny. After a lame apology for the “unfortunate misunderstanding,” he ordered his guards to release Aric.

Destiny had predicted that “the tigress and the lion will mate” a couple of months ago at the gala. The second part of the prophecy had been “their children will be the ones to keep the world safe from evil.” That’s not what she said this time. She made it clear the world needed our children—mine and Aric’s—against a new evil that would soon rise. I couldn’t be sure if she’d done it to help us. But she’d made it a point to look at me when she dropped her latest prophecy bombshell.

Aric and Eliza retained their pureblood status, but after the deplorable way they were treated by the
were
elite present, it failed to hold the same prestige it once had. Omar gave Aric and me his damn blessing to be together—and holy hotness, we couldn’t bolt from
were
central fast enough.

My head nuzzled against Aric on our drive to the airport. “It was wrong of you to keep me in the dark.”

He gathered me closer. “I wanted to spare you. I never imagined Omar would be so dishonorable.”

Eliza stroked my hair. “But Celia’s right. You should have been honest with her, son.”

“Mom, look at her. She still hurts. She’s not like us.”

At first I scowled at him for singling me out, but then I chuckled when I realized what he meant. “You think I’m a wimp.”

Aric blinked back at me. I laughed again, knowing I was right. He couldn’t grasp that I’d always been a fighter—even before I’d gained my strength and my ability to control it. One of my earliest memories was when I was three. A big kid shoved me on the playground. My ingrained response was to shove back. And damn, hadn’t I spent my entire life doing as much?

The drive to push back harder and not take any shit earned me both respect and fear. Apparently, though, it wasn’t enough to impress my werewolf mate or my guardian angel master vampire.

Aric rubbed my arm. “It’s not that I think you’re a wimp. You’re just…”

I batted my thick lashes at him. “Yes?”

“Delicate,” he finished.

Koda and Shayna cracked up in the front. “Shit, Aric. If you don’t want to end up on the couch tonight, you’d better watch what you call her.”

“Yeah, dude.” Shayna turned around just to wink. “Be nice and count your lucky stars. Some werewalrus could have made you his bitch tonight.”

Eliza cleared her throat to cover her laughter. “Watch your language, kids.”

“Sorry, Miss Eliza,” they told her through their giggles.

—

Aric escorted me to Misha’s house to pick up my belongings. I tried calling Misha to tell him I was moving out. He wouldn’t take my calls or respond to my texts.

It didn’t take me long to gather my things. Like Aric’s quarters at the Den, Misha’s residence had never been my home. Aside from some clothes and a few belongings, there was nothing else to pack…except for the box on the bed.

I knew what was inside before I untied the thick satin ribbon and removed the lid. The white dress from my vision rested perfectly against the pink tissue paper. I lifted it and caught Misha’s scent.

“The master wanted you to have it.” Liz strolled into the bedroom, filing her nails.

Aric glanced up from packing my toiletries in the bathroom. I angled my chin in Liz’s direction. “Where is he?”

Liz brushed her nails against her tiny plaid skirt. “He’s in Romania.”

I folded the dress back into the box. “Romania? What’s there?”

“Transylvania. He’s gone to find a bride.”

I burst out laughing. I’d never realized Liz had a sense of humor. She stopped filing her nails and glared. Apparently she wasn’t trying to be funny. “Oh, sorry.” I clasped her wrist when she tried to leave. “Hey, Liz? Where did Misha get this dress?”

She threw back her ice blond hair. “From that boutique in Incline Village.”

“What?”

She rolled her eyes. Apparently I was interrupting her very important nail filing time. “You were out shopping there sometime before Christmas. Maria noticed you admiring it in the window and told the master. He had her buy it for you as a gift and then forgot about it until that day you got your ass kicked.”

“I’ve never been shopping with Maria.”

Liz shoved her file in her pocket. “She wasn’t shopping with you, she was following you. The master usually has us guard you.” She’d had her fill of humoring me and left without saying goodbye.

Aric lifted the suitcases we’d packed and kissed the top of my head. “Are you ready, sweetness?”

I drew the box against me and held it close. “Yes. I’m ready.”

I didn’t say much on our ride to Dollar Point and followed Aric quietly into the house. My sisters and their wolves were noticeably absent. They likely realized Aric and I needed time alone. My eyes skimmed around the large open family room that led into the kitchen. Shayna’s black-and-white nature prints hung beside the stairs in new frames, and the wall had a fresh coat of sage paint. It was as if my back had never been hurled against it and the evil known as Anara had never existed.

But I knew better.

Aric paused on the first step. His grip on the suitcases tightened as he focused on my hands. “If I could kill him again, I would.”

I hadn’t realized I was stroking my belly. I paused with my hand over the thin fabric of my sundress and made a decision. My breath released in a small sigh. I kicked off my sandals and walked to meet my mate. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Two dozen fire and ice purple roses sprayed from a crystal vase on my nightstand. I smiled and crossed the suite to take in their inviting aroma. Aric dropped the suitcases behind me and soon I felt his strong arms encircling my waist. “Do you like them? I wanted to give you something to mark our new beginning.”

His body so close to mine strengthened my resolve. I turned and ran my fingers across his chest, letting them slide over the dense muscles straining against his tight gray T-shirt. “I love them, but I want something more.”

Aric shuddered and clasped my hips. “You should rest.”

“I will. After…” I stood on my toes and kissed him. I’d like to say it was a gentle kiss that lasted all day, one preteens would swoon over. But I wasn’t a preteen and I didn’t like to lie. Aric clenched me tighter when my hot mouth left his and my teeth found his neck. He reached for the long silver stick holding up my hair and released my long waves to fall against my back. His hand cupped my neck and his lips smashed against mine.

I fumbled to tug off his jeans then dropped to my knees. Aric fell against the wall from the force of my appetite, grunting my name and digging his fingers into my tresses. He ripped my dress off—literally grasped the edge and tore through the soft cotton in one hard wrench. My bra and panties followed, dropping in shreds around me while I devoured my mate. I wanted more of him but he wouldn’t let me take. He wanted to
give
.

Aric lifted me, spreading me across the bed before his head dipped between my thighs. My fingers ran through his thick hair as lust burrowed through where his tongue flicked and his lips suckled. My fervor surged, firing upward and releasing my screams.

He entered me before I’d finished, thrusting his hips hard against me and making me cry out once more. “I want you,” he rasped. “I want you so much.” Our bodies became a tangle of flailing limbs as we rolled, changing positions in a sultry dance until we caved in bliss and exhaustion.

Aric covered us with a soft blanket and drew me against him, sweeping his lips over mine. His fingertips stroked my face as he regarded me with an intensity that made my heart pound. “I’m going to make you happy, I swear it.”

His eyes tamed at the sight of my smile and at the sound of my voice. “By being my mate, you already have.”

Epilogue

Aric’s hand skimmed over the small of my back as we strolled along the shore of Lake Tahoe. “We missed Thanksgiving together last year. We never celebrated your birthday, and Christmas downright sucked without you.”

The September sun warmed my face as I leaned closer against him. “We’ll make up for it this year, wolf,” I promised.

Aric bent to meet my lips with a smoldering kiss. I moaned softly as I curled my free arm around his neck. We’d spent so much time in bed since moving back in together. This kiss reminded me why.

He pulled back, his light brown eyes smoky as he spoke. “Celia, I think it’s time we start.”

I thought my werewolf lover would guide us back in the direction of the house. Instead he led me around the bend and removed a folded quilt tucked between two boulders. “What’s this?” I asked when he spread it along the sand.

Instead of answering, Aric pulled out a picnic basket from behind another large rock and placed it on the edge of the quilt. His dark Irish skin brightened to red and perspiration built along his crown. He hauled me to the quilt, causing me to trip over my feet. He barely caught me before I fell, and lowered me to the center. “Sorry—sorry,” he said, stumbling over his words. “There’s some…stuff in there.” He pointed to the basket. “Help yourself—I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t understand what was happening and blinked back at him as he darted away. I tucked my knees against myself and waited, then waited and waited some more. The breeze from the lake pushed back my hair and stirred Tahoe’s magic around me, enlivening my inner tigress and inviting her to frolic.

I paused from trying to lull her back to sleep and collect my long curls when I realized where Aric had brought me. This was the section of beach where I first saw him…and where his wolf side had recognized me as his mate. I let my hair slip through my fingers.

Oh my God.

I rose slowly, realizing what might be happening and wondering where Aric could be, when the sound of clanging metal had me whirling in the direction he’d disappeared.

Shrill screams followed swearing. Lots and lots of swearing. My claws shot out when I recognized my sisters’ distressed voices…only to withdraw when a snow-white wolf bolted past me wearing a dress.

That’s right, a wolf in a dress. Welcome to my eff’d-up reality. Have a seat, I’ll pour you a cup of crazy.

The wolf tore down the beach, kicking back sand with her large paws in her haste to escape…my sisters? I watched Taran, Shayna, and Emme race after her, the skirts of their medieval dresses hiked up to their waists and the rose petals from their baskets fluttering in the wind.

“Son of a
bitch
!” Taran ditched the floral wreath on her head and her basket of petals. “Run, Celia, goddamnit, run!” she screamed.

She jetted past me in full foul-mouthed glory with Shayna and Emme at her heels. The banging sound grew louder. Danny stumbled after them, the knight’s armor he wore making it hard for him to maneuver his limbs. “Get back to the road!” he urged.

Four more knights charged behind him on horses…wild, bucking horses. I only recognized Koda because his midnight hair hung from his helmet.

Horses clearly weren’t taken by werewolf charm. And it seemed my wolves would never become accomplished equestrians. One by one, the horses flung them from their backs like sock monkeys. They landed against the sand in a loud clash of noise, half groaning, half laughing…and failing to see the one horse thundering toward Emme. I dashed toward her as the large animal continued to kick.

The speed and agility that made me so formidable was hindered by the spasms of pain that continued to claim me. While I ducked away from the horse’s legs, and managed to yank Emme from its reach, I couldn’t avoid the smack of its tail.

The horse’s essence hit me like a thunderbolt and I fell into a violent seizure. The world spiraled around me and what felt like slivers of glass raked against my skin. I clenched my jaw, trying to hold back my cries and work through the misery of my unplanned
change
.

The banging of tin signaled my knight’s approach. “Celia, it’s okay,” Aric said. “I’m here. Just breathe, sweetness. Breathe.”

It took several long minutes for the convulsions to recede and my torment to end. I rose on four very long and wobbly legs to stare down at my mate. Aric tugged off his helmet and threw it aside, reaching to stroke my face. Fear darkened his features. “Are you all right?” he asked.

I whinnied to assure him I was fine and nudged him with my nose.

He swiped at his face. “This is a disaster.”

Gemini took a step forward. “Aric, just ask her,” he said quietly.

My sisters and friends gathered around us as Aric slowly fell to one knee. For a moment, he simply stared. But when he spoke, I could sense his devotion in every word. “Celia, you have been my princess since the first time I saw you. Now, I’d like you to be my queen for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

Big giant tears rolled down my long, fuzzy face.

“Scratch once for yes, twice for no!” Bren yelled.

I thought I’d always be ready to hear those words. And there I was, a damn horse. So instead of allowing this moment to be robbed from me, I closed my eyes and took in everything that was Aric—his scent, warmth, love, and all that had brought us together. Someone threw the quilt around me as I felt my body shrink and my bare feet slide along the sandy beach.

For the first time, I’d managed to reclaim my human form following an accidental
change,
and I welcomed it for everything it allowed. Aric tucked the quilt around my naked skin and drew me to him, waiting patiently for me to answer. The lump in my throat tightened. After all the times I thought I’d lost him, was this really happening?