Hexing the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #1) (7 page)

Fear. Doubt. Maybe sheer stubbornness kept her from stripping the bond, if it were even possible. Who knew?

Because, really? How did she call either, Luke or Evan, and ask how to rid herself of their claim over her? That was not a conversation she wanted to have, not after what happened between them that saddled her with the insatiable craving for both men in the first place. And her last phone call to them almost lead to exactly what she didn’t—shouldn’t—want.

****

“A
mbrosia, what will it take?” No hello, no pleasantries. She didn’t need any to know the frustrated man on the other end of her phone. “Tell us and we’ll travel to Hell and back if it will return you to us. Your pain...” a deep gut-wrenching sigh followed by a growl broke his words, “... woman, it’s eating us alive. Stop shoving us away. Please.”

She continued to lie in her bed, eyes closed with silent tears wetting her cheeks and pillow.

Luke’s commanding voice dripped with the same all-consuming need that knotted her insides. So used to getting what he wanted, the need to act and not being able to, brought out his beast. Desperation stained every word he uttered.

He could never stand seeing her unhappy and took every opportunity to make her smile. Tonight he must have sensed her need for them.

Birthdays were his favorite. Surprise gifts appeared on her doorstep every year since she’d arrived in Sweet Briar with only a small note showing two wolf prints as a signature. One print for Luke and the other for Evan. She silently treasured their gifts, each one tempting her closer to the edge of breaking her peoples’ law.

Until she finally had broken the law three months ago.

She shouldn’t have answered the phone. The minute Luke’s husky voice reached her, the pain eased and she caved by not breaking the connection and hanging up.

She couldn’t give him what he wanted. What she wanted. Her as their mate. Instead, she did the next best thing. With the phone cradled to her ear, she listened as he shared stories of his childhood in a deep voice that always soothed her. The way he revered his father and loved his pack life.

He’d then shared what she imagine was one of the hardest things to reveal—the violent loss of his father and mother. Her pain had turned from her own to that for the boy who’d witnessed their deaths.

He’d given her a piece of his past and she’d taken it for what it was—a peek behind the force of strength the man personified.

It wasn’t long before Evan picked up on another line and the conversation settled into an intimate moment. Hours passed and just as she watched the sun peak over the mountain, Luke made a promise to her in a gruff voice. “Little witch, you can’t run forever. We will be together and sooner than you think.” No question of if it would happen, just a matter of time. Such arrogance. Conviction.

Something clicked and a resolve so profound settled over the connection she could almost reach out and touch it. And it scared her. Not of what he and Evan would do to be with her, but the price it would take for that dream to become a reality. When Luke made up his mind not even the power of magick would stop him.

Evan, his tone just as grave, added, “This is the last night you shed any tears. That’s a promise, sweetheart.”

And she believed them.

****

T
heir shared call three nights ago looped in her head. Every word burned in her memory.

Ambrosia stumbled slightly, her vision a blurry mess.
Damn Luke and Evan and their promise.
She paused, wiped at her eyes, and flicked open her cell to hit the speed dial for her sister. After several rings Honor picked up.

Snaps and cracks followed by a few colorful curses blared in her ear. “Honor, you there?”

“Uh, Ambrosia... gotta go.”

The line went dead. “Okaaaay.” Hellz bellz. Whatever her sister was up to now just turned Ambrosia’s plan into a solo mission. No excuses and no one to talk her out of the crazy plan.

It was too late to turn back anyway. She broke through the barrier of the woods opposite her sister’s property as the moon swam behind a wave of fluffy clouds. It was just her and the moon-drenched scenery now.

Ambrosia’s brain replayed her fated night of Moon Lust and hot sex. Luke and Evan had no right over her, but she only had herself to blame for letting the power of their bond grow to this strength. Three months gave her plenty of time to figure out a way to break their claim, but like a spell held her bound, every time she tried something to break the hold, her heart would quiver with a rush of anxiety, making  every breath next to impossible. The second her thoughts changed, the symptoms disappeared.

Tonight was no exception. When her sisters had sat her down and handed her the small vial of magick, she’d balked. But after the death glares and a few sisterly threats, they’d convinced her they’d finally found a way to break the alphas’ bond.

At this point, she had little choice, so down the hatch the first elixir went, quivering heart or not.

As she swallowed the bitter potion, Honor gave her the low-down.

Step one: strip away her magick, temporarily, of course which would break the defensive barriers protecting the bond. Her magick would be spotty up until it became a no-go. After that had time to take effect, then came...

Step two: Get her ass to their protective circle, shoot back the second vial full of ingredients Ember promised her would then cut the bond between Luke Evan and herself. Only then could she perform a cleansing and healing ritual. BAM. She’d be free of the shifters and alone. Again.

Only Honor and Ember left out one important detail. How sick it would make her. Ambrosia paused and clasped a hand to her stomach.

Not even the eldest witch of the High Council, Ms. Voltere’s, winter solstice fruitcake had this bad effect on her and that thing felled grown-ass men. Muscles constricted along her middle on a wave of nausea. Uh-oh.

Ice filled her veins and it wasn’t only the cold weather causing it. She quickened her steps, moving through the trees, over exposed roots and stumbled on a few she didn’t see in the muted moonlight. Trudging through the woods in the middle of winter didn’t exactly scream bright idea, but her sisters had a point. Winter’s first full moon would boost her moonpowers graced upon her by the goddesses.

Knots tightened her belly, but this time there was more at work than her liquid concoction. Her back stiffened milliseconds before the hair on her neck stood on end. She scanned the woods, her heart hammering against her chest.

Luke and Evan, were they close? She could feel it, the bond preparing for a fight. They had to be.

She scoffed. After tonight she’d belong to herself and no one else.

She fisted her resolve and shoved it back where it belonged. Firmly in place within the tight confines of her actions. One step forward, followed by another.

She’d gone the mundane route—ignore the bond at all cost. Chalk it up to what it was... a one-night stand that gave her a taste of what lay on the other side of the law. Come morn, it should have been all forgotten and out of her system.

She should have known one night with them would never be enough. After a month of denial and another two wishing things were different, she had to face the truth. As a Council member, rules bound her to never marry—or mate—outside her people or risk severe punishment.

As the first symptoms of the bonding took hold, she didn’t know what was wrong, thought maybe she was jonesing for more hot shifter sex, but deep down she knew it was more than what appeared on the surface.

In the last two months she’d drank, injected, bathed in, and smoked every elixir and charm her coven sisters had brewed up to no avail. She’d enjoyed a few feel-good side effects, but getting high wasn’t her ultimate goal.

The need, the bone-deep ache untouchable by any magick she knew of, grew hour after hour and tonight, the first day of the winter solstice, was her last shot at freeing herself before all Hades broke loose and she either went rogue and sought out her sinful shifters or went mad with lust. Thank the goddesses her sister had stepped in with one last option.

Chills rushed along her skin only to have a wave of heat to follow. Her breath now coming in shallow gasps.

Her inner walls clenched from an echo of Luke and Evan’s salacious ministrations to her body. Hellz, her senses and emotions collided with so much force she wanted to cry, laugh, and fuck all at once.

Emptiness and the craving for one more taste of what Luke and Evan offered drowned everything out. She froze, raking her hands through her hair and over her face for some kind of control.

“Whoa, girl.”

Live wires danced through her body in a low hum, and she continued forward.

Before tonight, her latest remedy courtesy of her coven sister, Ember, called for dragon’s blood.

Dread scaled down the length of her spine. The only thing worse than her current situation was owing the winged scaly beasts. She would suffer less jumping out of the cauldron and directly into the flames.

Asking a Dragon Lord for a single drop of blood would indenture her as their servant for the time they saw fit. There was no doubt the debt would call for sexual favors. But the other thing they would require of her, that’s where she paled. The things they could do without a witch’s powers scared her. What they could do with her particular skill set with moonpower made her heart stop cold.

Warriors, the entire race of them. Sensual creatures, bodies of gods meant to pleasure a woman, but it didn’t stop there. Their sinful lure a simple façade to the dark powers they wielded. She’d read the scribed stories from the Witches and Weres war during the height of their power two hundred years ago. How they once controlled an entire coven to do their dirty work during the blood-drenched clash. Once they entwined their magick over a witch, all the good intentions in the world wouldn’t save them. If allowed to dig their talons in, dragons never let go. They claimed. Like all shifters.

Her laws forbade it for council members. Within her coven, only she and Ember were from within the High Council. Her other coven sisters were witches, but not of royal blood so safe from punishment.

Those outside the High Council could entertain the idea of taking a mate other than a witch or warlock, but still feared rejection from the Council.

And Ember’s lack of concern for the law stood out like a siren in the storm that would eventually call attention. She didn’t seem to care about the ‘archaic group of cave dwellers’—aka their Elders. Her coven sister loved to defy the High Council just for the hell of it.

But Ambrosia didn’t.

If only she hadn’t let her sisters convince her one night of no rules and too much Moon Lust brew would be a good idea. Letting go and getting freaky, as they put it, landed her in a bubbling cauldron of deep trouble and now she was paying the heavy price with everything that meant anything to her.

Tonight afforded her one last chance at getting back the old Ambrosia pre-one night stand and her double alpha bonding status.

She rubbed a hand over her chest.

Another week, hellz bellz, another hour feeling the weight of all the supernatural worlds on her shoulders...

She puffed out a smoky sigh. She should be tucked away in her warm bed, her fingers curled around her latest addition to her handheld boyfriends, fantasizing about two sets of strong hands and the devilish smiles that went with them. She might be fighting to rid herself of their claim, but a girl had her fantasies and they’d always be the center of her attention.

Distracted by her thoughts, she missed the slight dip in the ground and lost her footing.

Going ass first in the snow, she fisted a handful before pulling herself up. She squeezed her grip. Ice crystals crunched together to form a hard ball in her palm.

If she had half a chance she’d throw it right at Luke and Evan’s heads. Her feet had lost feeling minutes ago and her fingers were numb. Clouds rolled along the inky sky to shield her path of the natural light. She took a long breath, raised her hand, and called on the lady of the moon for light, coaxing her gently with the lull of her magick to reveal her glow.

After a whole lot of clandestine research and repeat history browser cleaning, she finally found the problem to her symptoms.

Luke and Evan’s wolves had sneaked in and placed a bond on her soul. The only thing needed to make it permanent was a full moon and a bite. Or two. She didn’t know if it was possible for two shifters to claim one mate. And never would.

By all accounts, she should be mad. Furious. But then she let her mind drift to the soul-searing orgasms they bestowed on her. Their heavy lengths buried within her body, the hum of anticipation right before they captured her. The unyielding electric current of satisfaction that hummed through her spent body the next morning...

She thought two things.

How fast could she run? And hellz bellz, when could she have more?

(End of sneak peek)

To continue reading make sure to pick up the second Hex My Heart release, Jinxing the Alphas.

T
alina is an erotic romance author of steamy military and paranormal romance books with fast paced plots, strong heroines, and kick-ass alpha heroes.

Born and raised in Mayberry USA, this small town country girl spread her wings at the young age of fourteen and moved to Mexico where she's lived for the past eighteen years. Now, Talina currently resides in sunny Puerto Vallarta with her four children and is married to a U.S. Recon Marine—her very own smokin’ hot hero.

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