by S. A. Ravel
Lia raised an eyebrow. "And you're not here to protect the town?"
He shrugged and smiled. "Belmont will survive as it always has. But the strength of this town isn't in some wishful alliance with the animals up on that mountain."
"Careful, Pres," Lia said. "That's my brother-in-law you’re talking about."
Pres was quiet for a moment, then tilted his chin up. "Would have been, yes. But your duties to him died with Melora, you must understand that."
Lia folded her arms across her chest. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was marching into a trap; one she couldn't escape without knowing why it was set. The problem was she wasn't the rational one. She wasn't the charming one.
"If you want your sister's seat," Preston said. "There are some things you will need to know. Subtle nuances, shall we call them, to make your time on the Council easier."
"Such as?"
"Such as it's customary to thank guests and constituents for stopping by. Even if you didn't want to speak with them. Especially if you didn't want to speak with them."
Lia nodded. "I'm sure you can understand that being polite isn't my first concern right now."
"It's never your first concern, Amelia. Which is why you'll need an ally. A good one, and soon."
"And let me guess, you'd be willing to step in on my behalf?" It took every ounce of self-control that she had not to punch Preston and see how well his mourning suit hid blood stains.
"You make me sound so calculating," he said.
Lia raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do I?"
Preston smiled. "Fair enough, I can see how it would seem that way. The truth is, Amelia, I've been interested in you since you moved into town. You're beautiful, cunning, and have a level of power of which most witches in this town could only dream."
"And all I'd have to do is marry you and dissolve the Harper Coven, is that it?"
"Of course not." Preston took a step closer to her and reached out to stroke her cheek. "I would never ask you to renounce your bloodline."
"But you are asking me to marry you?" Lia turned her face aside, pulling her skin out of Preston's reach.
If Preston had a reaction to Lia turning away from him he hid it well. "The Harvest Moon is in a few nights. My mother always said marriages sealed under a Harvest Moon will be a fruitful one."
"That's what I like about you, Preston," she spat. "You’re a romantic at heart."
What kind of arrogant asshole would ask her not only to marry him, but to make a decision about it in two or three days?
Preston leaned down so that his lips were near her ear. "If I'd said I had fallen in love with you, that I couldn't think of anyone else...would you have believed me?"
"No."
He stood again. "That's why I didn't. Love can be a beautiful thing, but friendship makes for stronger ties. I could be a very powerful friend to have, Lia. Just think it over."
A strange smile spread across Preston's lips. He probably meant for it to be reassuring, but something was off about his eyes. As he turned to go, one word flashed in Lia's mind, in Melora's voice. She was gone, and yet Lia could hear Mel whispering in her ear clear as day.
Trouble.
8
Lia took a sip from her glass of wine, her second of the evening. Parker rubbed his hands over his face and grunted, the dim light from the fire giving his skin a warm sheen. She'd spent the rest of the afternoon setting up wards and talismans. Some to protect her from anyone who meant harm, so to alert her if anyone got past the first set.
Around sunset, she called Parker offering to talk him through the politics of Belmont. The Parker she knew would have jumped at the chance to have more information. Parker loved a puzzle.
He'd been at the Harper house for two hours, in an arm chair listening to Lia break down the players in town and who had beef with whom. Breaking the details of her life into digestible pieces gave her mind something to focus on. The wine loosened her tongue and calmed her nerves.
Parker being in her living room calmed her even more.
"I thought shifter politics were messy," he groaned. "But it's a wonder this town hasn't exploded in a collapse of gambits and double crosses."
Lia shrugged, her eyes watching him slouch in her armchair. "My Aunt said it has once or twice, but it's hard to aim a curse at someone you went on a family picnic with the weekend before."
"I've seen it," Parker said.
Lia glanced at the darkness beyond the window. She'd told Parker everything she knew about Belmont. She even told him about Cora and Preston's recruitment attempts.
He had every piece of the puzzle she could give him...so he had no reason to stay.
"Now what?" she asked.
Parker gave her a lopsided smile and leaned back in the armchair. "Now, I work the case."
"Oh? Enlighten me."
Three years later, Parker was still the sexiest man she'd ever met. He slouched in her chair, intense brown eyes locked on her, reading her.
"Do you really want me to walk you through how I'm going to solve your sister's murder?"
Parker watched her as she considered his question. Even she had to admit, it was a fair one. She didn't want to know about the case. The details she already knew lingered in her mind waiting to haunt her when she closed her eyes. From the moment she learned about Melora's death, Lia felt control slipping away from her.
She needed to get back her control. Even if it meant facing what happened to the only family she had left.
"You think you know me, but I know you too," she said. "Right now, you're wondering if I have something to hide, and if I would seduce you to keep you off my trail."
"Occupational hazard," he said.
She laughed softly. "No, you've always been paranoid. You're right, I don't want to hear it...but I need to."
Parker nodded. "There's only two reasons to kill someone. Passion or to make yourself better off."
"What about hate?" she asked.
"Hate falls under passion. Did someone hate Melora?"
"Four days ago, I would have said no. That was a long time ago." Lia raked her fingers through her hair as she felt control slipping away a bit more. "What if it's the other option?"
Parker took a deep breath. "Then whoever it is has unfinished business."
Lia couldn't respond. She couldn't react. Deep down, she'd known she was in danger since Parker told her Melora's death wasn't an accident. Now the information hovered in the air around her, weighing down her shoulders and threatening to steal her breath.
Parker crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to her, putting his arm around her. She knew she should pull away, but the contact felt too good to refuse. Trouble was at her door, and there was only one man in the world she wanted to help her fight it.
"Has anyone given you reason to worry?" he asked.
She shrugged and turned, pressing the front of her body against the side of his. The words that came from her lips had a bitter taste to them. "I'm a hot shit witch with barely a coven to speak of. Everybody wants a piece of me. Present company included."
Parker cleared his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"No?" Lia snaked her hand between them, letting her palm settle between his thighs. "You used to."
He was rock hard in an instant, his body tensing beneath her hand. Parker struggled for breath and pressed his back deeper against the cushions of the couch as she caressed him through the rough fabric of his pants.
"Lia..." he whispered, a note of warning in his voice.
"Are you going to tell me to stop again?" she purred as she kissed along his jawline.
Don't tell me to stop. Please, baby.
She dragged her hand down the length of his shaft, her lips curving into a smile as he groaned, this time in pleasure. She'd always loved the way he tried to keep control when she teased.
"I thought you said I was your mate."
"Y-you are. Unclaimed, but you are." The little thread of honor th
at held him against that couch was going to snap any second.
"Mel always said Branden couldn't resist her." She tugged the zipper of his pants down and slide her hand inside.
Parker grabbed her caressing hand by the wrist. She could hear the bear just beneath the surface when he spoke. "Woman...what the hell makes you think I can resist you?"
"So don't..."
It was all the encouragement he needed. Parker sprang forward, pinning her against the cushions and claiming her lips in one smooth motion. She moaned into his open mouth and brushed her hips, letting her still covered sex replace her hands at caressing him.
It was far from modest, but to hell with being good and responsible. She didn't have anyone to be accountable to anymore. Everyone was gone.
Parker pulled back, blazing eyes staring down at her, worshiping her. He moved back in, kissing and sucking her skin. His path took him back down her neck to her chest, where he pulled a soft nipple into his lips and teased it to a firm nub.
His touch sent fire pumping through her veins and moisture dripping from her lips. How had she gone so long without this? How had she thought she could again?
Parker slid his hand beneath her skirt and teased her wetness with his fingers. "All these years, you know what I missed the most?"
"What?" The question dissolved into a moan as he slid a finger inside of her.
"That," he whispered.
The waves of pleasure that crashed over her as another finger brushed across her clit made responding impossible. All she could do was lay there beneath him, surfing the tide and giving him the moans he so desired.
As he moved lower, Parker settled between her thighs. He rubbed his cheek against them as he pulled the strip of cloth to the side.
"Let me hear you, Lia." He lowered his head, licking a path up downward from her clit.
She moaned shamelessly. Her hips bucked against his warm tongue. Her fingers sank into the cushions of the couch. Parker sucked her, savored her. Each moan and sigh only spurring him own.
Her muscles trembled, her body all too eager for release after three years without attention. The rushing wave of pleasure brought clarity with it. She could have had any man in those three years, many men. But she hadn't. Lia had spent three years alone, because she didn't want any man but Parker to touch her.
From the moment she met Parker Kane, there wasn't another man in the world. She loved him back then, she loved him just as much now.
Lia gasped as the first orgasmic pulse ripped through her. "Claim me!"
Parker pulled her hips closer with one hand, the other finished undoing his zipper and pushed his pants away. All the while he drank in her nectar as she trembled. As the last shocks faded, he moved over her again, positioning the head of his rock-hard cock at her still twitching entrance.
"Woman, don't tease me," he grunted. His shoulders twitched each time her lips teased his tip.
"I'm not teasing," she moaned. "Claim me."
Parker watched her for a moment then pushed his hips forward, ramming his cock to the hilt inside of her. Lia cried out, sinking her nails into the flesh of his back.
He thrust into her, his rhythm hard and steady as he leaned forward and kissed her shoulder. How many times had Melora described the mating ritual to her? A night of sex. A bite to the shoulder.
"Claim me," she whimpered as he rode her, whipping her body into another orgasmic frenzy.
Parker kept thrusting, moaning into her shoulder as his own climax neared. She thrust her hips up to meet him, adding a delirious frenzy to their love making.
He gasped and turned his head to the side, clamping his teeth down on his own lip as the first spurt of his seed shot into her. Lia came again, clinging to him as she rode the crest again.
Even the most profound, earth shattering pleasure fades. As she crashed back down to Earth reality set in. She'd asked Parker to claim her...and he'd refused.
Without a word, Parker gathered her in his arms and lifted her from the couch. He carried her to her bedroom, setting her down on the bed and climbing in beside her.
"How'd you know which bedroom was mine?" she asked.
"Two rooms have talismans on the inside," he said. "The bathroom and this one."
She sat up and started to unbutton her dress, tossing it aside. "I didn't think you noticed those."
"Do you want to tell me who you're afraid of?"
Lia shook her head. "I'm not scared."
Parker leaned forward and kissed her forehead. His voice was gentle when he spoke. "Don't think I don't care just because I didn't claim you tonight."
"Why didn't you?" she asked.
"Because both of us have too many things to settle first."
"And once they're settled?"
A smile tugged at the corner of Parker's lips. "Then we have this discussion again, except it ends with you wearing my mark."
9
Parker clutched a mug of lukewarm coffee in his hands as he watched the sun rise through Lia's living room window. At first, he blamed his restless sleep on the case. Small town murder investigations always brought up raw emotions and old feuds, but it felt different working a case he was connected to. Every new piece of information sent his mind in a tailspin as he tried to connect the dots. He always felt a sense of urgency to solve cases, the fact that the victim had been his sort of sister-in-law two times over only made things worse. It left his bear on edge, constantly waiting for an attack that might never come.
There was something else tugging at the back of his mind. No matter what she said, he couldn't shake the feeling that Lia hadn't called him to share information. He heard the tremor of her voice. He saw the new wards hanging from the doorways and the fresh line of salt at the door. Lia was scared of something, but she didn't trust him enough yet to tell him what.
The knowledge that his mate didn't trust him yet was a bitter drink for Parker to swallow. Worse than lukewarm coffee.
A ray of sunlight caught Lia's naked body as she stepped out into the living room. “Morning, stranger."
He grinned and put the coffee on the table. It was a wasted cup anyway. "Morning, good looking. Still a light sleeper?"
Lia nodded as she sauntered over to the couch and sat down in Parker's lap. He sure as hell wasn't going to complain about a woman that fine using him as a chair.
"What's on the agenda today?" she asked.
"After the cold coffee? I hadn't decided yet."
She scoffed. "You're a bad liar, and I have a microwave, y'know."
"You said you don't grow poisons, what about medicinal herbs?"
Lia shook her head and curled up against him, pressing her bare breasts against his chest.
"I mean we have a few things in the garden that could go into a medicinal potion, but nothing that would have any umpf to it."
"Well if Mel was feeling sick she went to someone. Would she drive all the way to Eureka?"
Lia shook her head again. "Not a chance. Melora only ever left the Coast on business. She didn't want to risk anyone finding out about Belmont or Blackthorn."
"Who did she trust?"
Lia laughed. "Wow, I'm a step ahead of the big bad Arcane Affairs agent."
Parker raised an eyebrow and swatted Lia on her curvy rear, delighting in the little squeal she let out. "Woman what are you talking about?"
"If Mel was sick and she didn't want me to know, there's only one person in Belmont she would go to, and I'm gonna go see her this afternoon."
Parker's mouth hung open in shock. "No, I'm going to go see her."
"Really? You're Arcane Affairs and a bear besides, how are you going to get a witch to talk to you."
He grunted. "Damn, I hate it when you're right."
She leaned forward, leaving little kisses along his lips. "Really? You didn't last night."
Parker's chest rumbled as he held her close. No, he hadn't objected last night. He didn't object that morning either. Who need to be right when their mate was beneath them,
her delicious body twitching from the thrashing orgasm he provided?
It was nearly noon by the time they came down from the sex induced endorphin high and nearly one in the afternoon by the time they got to Nora's. Fortunately for Parker, Nora Davis worked out of her small house across the road from the Harper house.
"She knows me, you should let me do the talking," Lia said as they approached the steps.
Before Parker could say anything, a brown haired, russet skinned woman stepped onto the front porch, a bundle of herbs under her arm. She looked up at Lia and smiled, but the happy expression faded as she caught sight of Parker.
"Nora, this is Agent Parker Kane." Lia said.
Nora looked Parker up and down with naked suspicion. He smiled, doing his best to be welcoming.
"I mean you no harm, Miss Davis, I promise," he said, making his voice as warm as he could manage. It wasn't easy with the Kane hereditary gravel voice.
Nora quirked an eyebrow. "I've seen bears before Agent..."
"Parker's fine. I was just hoping you could tell me some things about Melora Harper."
"Anything I could tell you Lia could tell you. Hell, probably more."
Lia took the steps up the porch and touched Nora's arm. "Please, Nora. It's important."
The witch looked at Lia and nodded reluctantly. "Inside though. I already have enough trouble getting business."
"Why is that?" Parker asked, though he went into the house all the same.
Nora didn't answer until she'd shut the door behind her. "I've only been in here about a year. I'm still an outsider to most folks."
"What about Melora?" he asked.
"She was my best friend. One of my only friends."
Parker motioned to the hanging herbs and assorted bottles on the kitchen table. "Was she a customer as well?"
"Like I said, I don't have many customers," Nora snapped.
Alarm bells went off in Parker's head. It wasn't an admission, but it wasn't a denial either.
"Miss Davis--"
"Mrs. Davis," Nora said. "Look I've dealt with Arcane Affairs before. Whatever you think is going to happen here won't. Can't you just leave us in peace?"
