“Do you hear how crazy that sounds? The supernatural communities have different traditions, different needs. They need different leaders. Plus, it’s the law of the goddess that we don’t interfere with humans.” Jason was sweating now, leaning back against the couch as she worked his cock. He should push her away. He should run for his bedroom, lock himself inside. But he couldn’t. His vice held the keys and was the only one driving.
“That’s how things are, but if we work together, it can be different. We can make it better.”
He groaned as her hands twisted and tugged in perfect rhythm. Teetering on the edge of an orgasm, Jason suppressed the self-loathing that threatened to dull the edge. He went emotionally numb, thrusting rhythmically against her hands. He needed this. He’d consider the consequences later.
“Remember,” she whispered in his ear as she worked his cock. A map appeared in his mind, unraveling like a flag. There was a road, a river, and a space between two mountains. He didn’t recognize the place but a feeling accompanied the planted thought. A feeling that he could find the location if he tried. “Come to me, Jason. I’ll give you more of this. All that you can handle. Deny me, and pay the price.”
For some reason, he opened his eyes, although the last thing he wanted was to see what was happening. On the contrary, he wanted to hide from reality, pretend it was someone else between his legs. But she met his gaze as she lowered her head to wrap her lips around him. That’s when the wolf took over. Jason grabbed the sides of Nickie’s head and fucked her mouth in earnest, pounding the back of her throat until his orgasm sent pulsing shocks that kicked through his body again and again. He tipped his head back, groaning at the ceiling.
When his wolf finally receded, his self-loathing was enough to make him pull away like he’d been burned, tears welling in his eyes.
Her lips peeled back from her teeth. “Oh, don’t bother pulling away now, Jason. The deed’s been done. You just signed a contract with your body, activated a curse—a little something to remember me by. From this day forward, every time you have sex, the act will bind you to me. It will give me power over you. I’ve planted how to find me in your brain. Don’t try to tell anyone else; it won’t work out well for you. You can either come to me of your own free will or wait until your vice makes you my robot. Either way, I’ll see you soon.”
“No. No, Nickie, don’t do this.”
But Nickie was gone. The redhead was back, on her knees in front of his crotch, looking utterly disgusted with herself.
Jason shivered and collected himself, the practiced smile snapping back into place. “Teresa,” he drawled. “I can honestly say this has been a first for me.” He tucked, straightened, and zipped.
The girl looked confused. She glanced at her drink as if he might have drugged her, but it was across the room where she’d left it on the mantle. She’d never even taken a sip.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening, er, morning.” He helped her from the floor. “I’d love to make a day of it, but I have work. You understand.”
She nodded slowly, stopping halfway to the door. “What happened? I can’t remember.”
He paused and took her hand. “Just two people taking solace from an unforgiving world in the safety of each other’s arms. We broke through the daily loneliness, darling, connected on a spiritual level. I admit, I didn’t think we were ready to take this step, but you were so insistent.”
Even though he felt like an accomplice to a crime, he opened the door and showed her out. “I’ll call you.”
She smiled and gave him a half wave. “Bye.”
As he closed the door, a soul-shaking tremble rumbled from deep within him. He staggered to the shower and turned the water on as hot as it would go. The soap wasn’t strong enough but it would have to do. He scrubbed in the scalding heat, enduring the self-inflicted punishment he deserved.
He needed help. But who could he trust? If he told Silas about what happened, he might find himself without a head. Or, more likely, without a pack. But if he told no one, Nickie would use his vice to make him her slave. Because even as he struggled to wash all remnants of her from his body, a tiny voice inside his head was already whispering about how much he’d enjoyed her and how incredible it would be to have her again.
3
Jason arrived in Red Grove that night feeling twitchy and uneasy. It didn’t help that the tiny town was home to a cemetery that stretched on for miles, the army of headstones ending at the creepy Victorian home of demigoddess witch, Grateful Knight. No way did he want to run into her or her caretaker husband. The witch was a friend of Silas’s, but Jason always found her eerily unsettling.
Per Laina’s instructions, he turned down a winding road that led deep into the woods and parked near the quaint cabin by the lake where Kyle and Laina now lived. He could see why his sister wanted to get married here; the place was untarnished and magical. The early spring blossoms on the trees above shed petals that swirled overhead and weighed the air with a fantastical whimsy.
“Welcome. You must be Jason,” a melodious voice said. He scented her before he saw her, his wolf nose detecting a luscious concoction of mango and vanilla with a hint of spice on the breeze. When he divined the source, he was not disappointed. She was tall, willowy, and dressed in a flowing pink robe that matched the blush of the petals that circled her perfectly coifed caramel-colored hair. Standing beside the twisting branches of an oak tree, she smiled at him, and the effect was like something out of a dream. Jason’s wolf responded so fast and hard his legs stopped working. He froze, staring at her dumbly.
“Are you all right?” she asked, rushing forward to take his arm.
Her eyes were violet, a rare color he thought must actually be blue in the right light. But it was the innocence in those eyes and the soft, graceful way she touched his shoulder that unsettled him the most. His usually suave and practiced demeanor was nowhere to be found. He struggled to find his voice.
“I’m here for the rehearsal,” Jason said quietly.
The woman nodded. “Of course you are.” Removing one of the white flower leis that hung from the nook of her elbow, she lowered it around his neck. “I’m Selene. I’m an acolyte working with Artemis on your sister’s wedding. I don’t believe we’ve ever formally met.”
“No,” he said. He would have remembered meeting her. For forever and a day.
“I’m honored to help today. I’ll show you back to where the others are waiting and where the ceremony will take place tomorrow.
“Am I late?” he asked.
“No. We are still waiting for the groom’s brother to arrive.”
