Wickedest Witch (17 page)

Incredible
. Advice from his mother on how to keep his witch. Ryker cocked his head and looked at her. “Are you sure you’re okay, Ma? You do remember she’s a witch, right? Yet here you are telling me to go after her. Shouldn’t you be freaking right about now and going after her ready to rip her head off?”

“Yeah, it’s a shame about her
sorceress blood. She’d have made a great shifter. But, even I can’t fight fate or decide who you’ll love. I might be bossy, but only because I care for you, Ryker. If she makes you happy, then I’ll just have to learn to live with it. Now go, quickly, before she does something stupid.”

Ryker didn’t wait any longer, almost running for the front door and his bike parked in the driveway. But he could have sworn he heard his mother say behind him, almost ruefully, “What a pity they can’t conceive together. The babies they would have made.”

The pounding on her door wouldn’t let up, but Evangeline refused to give in.

“Come on, Evangeline. Can’t we talk about this? It’s not that bad.”

“Oh yeah, what does your fiancée think about
you accidentally marrying a witch?” Oh how Evangeline longed to scalp the unknown woman.

“I don’t have a fiancé
e,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“Not according to your mother.”

“I can explain if you’d just open this damned door,” he yelled.

“Bullshit. Trying explaining how you claimed me as your mate without my permission,” she shouted back.
He didn’t mark me because he loves me.
And why that should matter she couldn’t have explained, but it did.

Rotten fucking shifter. Marking me like some kind of possession. How barbaric—and hot.
Evangeline hated the warmth that coiled though her at the thought of being
his
. She didn’t need a man. She belonged to herself. So why, oh why, did an annoying girlie part of her long to throw open the door?

She knew the sex would be incredible. Make that mind
-blowing, especially in their current moods. He’d ride her hard, his thick muscles straining and slick with sweat. Evangeline couldn’t help the wetness that pooled between her legs, but still she wouldn’t give in.

The pounding paused for a minute and in the silence, she could have sworn she heard sniffing. “Open this damn door, witch,” Ryker roared. “I can smell you, and you can’t deny it. You want me.”

Evangeline, though, had stubbornness in droves and, crossing her arms over her chest, she stuck her tongue out at the door in a childish gesture he couldn’t see but she personally enjoyed.

Crack!

The doorjamb splintered. The door swung open and, with a heavy thump, hit the wall.

Six-foot-something of bristling shifter stalked in with glowing golden eyes and the muscles in his torso bulging with tension. Evangeline couldn’t help the jolt of desire that struck like lightning between her thighs and the heaviness that overtook her breasts.

Ryker
bore a wild look about him, barely in control, a man pushed beyond the edge of reason. “Dammit, Evangeline. Why do you have to be so bloody stubborn? I want you to let me explain, but if you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m not going to be able to control myself. You drive me fucking wild.”

Her tongue darted out and licked her lips, a motion he caught, and with a groan of
need, he crushed her to his chest.

“My little
heksen
,” he murmured.

His lips plundered hers, taking and drinking deeply of her like a man parched in the desert. She understood the feeling,
because she thirsted for him too. She soaked in his kiss and opened her mouth wider for more, her limbs wrapping around him sinuously, holding him tight to her body.

Deny it all she wanted. Hate him as well. But when it came to passion, she couldn’t help herself.

He kicked the splintered door shut behind them, and she absently wove some magic to keep it shut before he carried her to the bedroom and crawled onto the bed with her clinging to him. She knew she should send him away, but her hormones had taken over and they didn’t want to think beyond the pleasure.

Her hands were taken from around his neck and pinned above her head by his in a gesture of dominance that made her gasp. His heavy weight nestled between her thighs and pinned her. Evangeline squirmed and panted. This submissive feeling was new and surprisingly exciting.

Using his lips and teeth, he tugged at the fabric of her shirt; his shirt actually, since she hadn’t had the time—or heart—to change out of it when she got home.

Baring her breasts, he blew on her nipples until they stood erect and begged for attention.

“I’m going to tell you a story, my sweet
heksen
.”

“Can’t it wait?” she groaned, arching her breasts up to his mouth
, which hovered out of reach.

Bending
his head, Ryker bit down on a nipple, making her twitch and cry out.

“Quiet, my wild
heksen,
and listen.”

“Why do you keep calling me
heksen
?” she asked.

“It’s Danish for witch. Think of it as a term of endearment.”

“Oh.” She’d never had a lover give her a nickname before. Although, most of her enemies had; the most common term rhymed with witch.

“
Are you ready to listen?”

“I’d rather you did other things with your mouth,” Evangeline
replied with a pout.

His tongue laved her nipple, a liquid line of fire that shot right to her groin. “Be a good little witch and you will be rewarded.”

“If this is about the mating thing—”

His lips cut off her protest. “Enough,” he said, his breathing erratic when he came up for air. “Now pay attention. Not too many people know this story, but I’m going to tell you since my mother obviously left out a lot of details when she claimed I was engaged. Vivian, my
ex
-fiancée,” he stressed, “was the daughter of my mom’s best friend and our next door neighbor. My mom originally wanted her to marry my older brother, but the age gap of fifteen years was a bit much, so they decided I should be the one instead to join our families.”

“And I care because?” Evangeline said sarcastically
, already hating this Vivian person.

“Because you are obviously jealous and yet have no need.”

“I am not jealous.”

“Liar.”
He sucked her breast into his mouth and she writhed under him. “Like I was saying, our mothers arranged a marriage between me and Vivian.”

Realizing he would just keep torturing her if she didn’t listen, she decided to pay attention—for
the moment. And being the multi-tasking type, she started thinking up ways of hurting the girl next door, Vivian. Very painful ways.

*

“Are arranged marriages common for your kind?” Evangeline asked, seeming resigned to listen.

Ryker almost breathed a sigh of relief when she seemed agreeable to hearing his tale even as he grimaced at her question. “Unfortunately, yes.”

Evangeline let out a throaty laugh that made him grind his hips against hers, cutting her laugh short and turning it into a moan. “Oh, how barbaric,” she said breathily.

“I wouldn’t talk. I’ve heard about your virgin witch and Satan ritual. Isn’t that how your sister met her fiancé?”

Evangeline didn’t have to answer because the blooming color in her cheeks said it all. “Touché. So, you were betrothed against your will. What happened next?” she asked.

“Yes, well, being almost seven years older than Vivian, we didn’t really see each other much when she was young. When she did start going to the same school, I was grades ahead of her, not to mention I dropped out at fifteen.”

“Couldn’t control the beast and your hormones at the same time?”

At least
she hadn’t assumed he was an idiot, but had instead jumped to the correct conclusion. “Exactly. As you know, keeping humans ignorant is the number one motto. When I really started noticing girls, so did my beast, and let’s just say he really wanted to come out and play. I didn’t see Vivian much for the next couple of years, and then I moved to the city for work and only went home for holidays. I’d actually pretty much forgotten about her until she turned eighteen and my mom started bugging me to come home and meet her.”

Seeing his witch’s eyes darken, Ryker dipped his head and circled both her nipples, one at a time
, with his tongue, until she softened and sighed. Then he continued. “I put it off for over two years, but then my father spoke up, and no one says no to the alpha of the pack.”

“That must have stuck in your craw, taking orders from someone, even your own dad.”

Again, she’d struck the nail on the head. “Noticed my stubborn tendencies, did you? Well, being a good son, I went back prepared to do my duty to my clan. I shouldn’t have bothered. Vivian was a pussy, literally. She fainted the first time she saw me.”

“I know you’re good
-looking, but really, that’s taking it far.”

The surge of emotion that
surged through him at her innocently spoken words took him by surprise and his beast growled softly—
mine.
Ryker’s lips claimed hers in a heated kiss that left them panting.

“She didn’t faint because I am God’s gift to women. She passed out ‘cause supposedly
, I scared her.”

“Stupid bitch.”

Evangeline’s heated words warmed him—and from a woman who professed to not care for him. They also dissipated the remaining anger, and yes, shame, he’d felt over Vivian’s reaction. Never mind the other women who had always dropped their panties if he smiled at them, the fact that Vivian had reacted that way had humiliated, and surprisingly enough, hurt him. But still, he’d tried to do his duty by his clan.

“Even given her apparent fear and dislike for me,
our families forged ahead with the wedding plans.”

“You would have been miserable. Why did no one stop it?” Her green eyes looked up at him and he could see the ire in them, but not directed at him. No, she was angry for him.
How strange it felt to have someone on his side, but he also liked it, liked it a lot.

“They thought she’d get over her fear of me, and as my father told me, so long as I got babes on her, I could always get my pleasure elsewhere.”

The look in Evangeline’s eyes turned dark and dangerous. “Keep in mind, so long as you are in my bed, you will touch no other. I don’t share,” she threatened. Then as if realizing she’d admitted to wanting him still in her bed, she added quickly, “Not that we’ll be together that much longer.”

He bit back a smile. Under the lobe of her ear, his warm breath making her shiver, he purred. “Just so you know, if a man so much as lays a hand on you, I will
rip him apart, then eat him—and I mean that quite literally.”

Her entire body shuddered under his. “You say the hottest things. And speaking of eating, perhaps you could demonstrate that for me later, or better yet, now.”

That comment almost made him come. His cock jerked like a caged beast in his pants and his inner cat roared—
Take her
! But, he needed to finish his story and get to the point he wanted to make.

“A week before the wedding
, I got tired of her tears and avoidance, so I decided to confront her.” What a mistake that turned out to be—and a blessing in disguise. “She told me I disgusted her and that the very thought of me touching her made her ill. As far as she was concerned, I was a savage beast and if she had her way, she’d never marry me in a million years. After hearing that, I couldn’t go through with it. I have my pride. So I walked.” And the shit had hit the fucking fan.

He and his father were currently not on speaking terms, and his mother kept trying to make excuses for Vivian. However, since meeting Evangeline, Ryker had learned one
very important thing. He and Vivian would never have worked even had he not scared her. His reaction, and that of his beast, made it clear. Only one woman could ever satisfy him—Evangeline. He loved everything about her from her feisty attitude to her cute, freckled nose. He even loved the way she showed no fear and gave as good as she got. Of course, he still had to convince her she felt the same way. She seemed to have a distinct aversion to relationships, and shifters in general.

“So what does this broken engagement have to do with us? I mean me?” she
asked, averting her eyes, feigning indifference. The rapid beat of her heart gave her away.

“Did my mother explain to you how our beasts sometimes recognize their mates? The need to claim her and mark her as our own?”

“Kind of. Thanks for reminding me, asshole. Get off.” She bucked under him like a wild cat. Ryker wondered if he should tell her he liked it. If he did, though, she’d probably stop.

His attempt to kiss her into submission met with nipping teeth
. The metallic taste of blood in his mouth did not deter him. She’d earned the right to her anger. He had marked her without permission, never mind that he didn’t regret it. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing no other male would or could claim her. Not if they wanted to live.