“What the fuck?”
“Don’t concern yourself, Jay, or should I call you Jason? It’s so hard to know what’s appropriate. You’ve had so many identities.” An all-too-familiar voice came from Teresa’s lips. He’d know that voice anywhere. Lowering his chin, he narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
“Nickelova?”
“Call me Nickie.” Teresa’s head rotated on her neck, back and around while the redhead’s features changed, morphing into those of a sharp-featured woman with a sleek platinum bob. A wicked smile broke out across full red lips. “Miss me?”
Jason popped off the arm of the sofa and backed across the room. “What are you doing here?” The words came out in an anxious slur.
She stood, setting the glass of wine Teresa had been holding on the mantel. Then she strode toward him like she owned the place. When she was within reach, his hand shot out to grip her by the throat. “I should kill you after what you did.”
“But you won’t,” she rasped through his tightening grip. “If you do, you’ll be murdering the redhead whose body I’m possessing, not me.”
With a grunt of disgust, he released her, not wanting to damage Teresa. She didn’t deserve this. “Coward. Where are you, Nickelova? Face me yourself.”
She snorted. “We’ll get to that.”
“Why are you here?” he demanded.
“We had something, Jason. Don’t deny it. You felt our connection. You feel it now.” She winked at him, closing the space between them until she was close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin, smell her smoky raspberry mint scent.
“No, we didn’t,” he said, fighting his inner wolf with everything he had. The damned beast wanted control, wanted to touch her, and more. “I didn’t even know who you were.”
“But your wolf does. I can feel your beast even now trying to get to me. It’s a fae thing. We’re addictive to your kind, you know.”
He shook his head. “Go, Nickelova. I don’t want you here. Neither does my beast.”
“That would be counterproductive. I need your help, Jason. Alex can no longer follow through on his end of our bargain. I need you to take his place.”
“Fuck you and fuck off.”
Scoffing, she paced the room, and he had the fleeting thought that she made warm minimalism look cold and deadly. “You don’t mean that. You and I together? We’d be unstoppable. You can do what Alex can’t. I need you, Jason. I want you to join me.”
Goddess, the thought turned his stomach. “I said fuck off. The answer is no.”
She folded her arms, her lips peeling back from her teeth. “Just think about what we could accomplish together. The supernatural community has spent far too long denying who we are. With common leadership, a wolf and a dragon as king and queen, we could change everything. We wouldn’t have to tiptoe around humans anymore. We’d be free.”
“Do you hear how crazy you sound?” Jason snapped. “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.”
“That’s how things are, but if we work together, it can be different. We can make it better. We can change the law.”
“Never gonna happen,” he growled.
Her eyes narrowed to slits. “I’m truly sorry you feel that way. I’d thought you might listen to reason, but if you want to be difficult.” She raised her hands, forming a twisted square with her fingers. “Remember.”
A grenade exploded inside his skull, light blinding him and rattling his teeth. The image of 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 memory. A feeling that he could find the location if he tried.
“Come to me, Jason. I’ll fulfill all your needs.” Her eyes dropped to his crotch, and he felt filthy to have ever touched her. “Deny me and pay the price.”
A growl ripped from Jason’s throat. “You complete psycho bitch from hell. Fuck off and get out of my house!”
She bared her teeth. “Oh, don’t bother getting all high and mighty now, Jason. The deed’s been done. When you were with me in Sable Creek, you signed a contract with your body. I cursed you, cowboy, and I’m here to activate that curse.”
He cringed, heaviness overcoming him as if he had oil in his veins. He shook his head. “I didn’t sign anything. I didn’t even know who you were or what you were.”
“Doesn’t matter, Jason.” She flashed an evil grin. “I gave you a little something to remember me by. Youwillremember and youwillcome to me. I curse you, Jason Flynn, and the wolf within you. From this day forward, your craving for sex will double every day you go without it. Every time you give in to your need, the act will bind you to me. It will give me power over you. I’ve planted how to find me in your brain. You can either come to me of your own free will or wait until your vice makes you my robot.” She backed toward the fireplace. “Oh, and Jason, don’t tell anyone about any of this, unless you want them dead.” She snapped her fingers.
Jason felt a tug deep within his torso like someone had clawed open his chest and toyed with the deepest part of him. The fae bitch wasn’t kidding. He could already feel the curse tainting him, making the vice he’d work so hard to get control of even worse than it was before. “Don’t do this,” he said through his teeth. “I swear to the goddess, I will kill you, Nickelova.”
