"Do you want a repeat of last time?” she asked, handing Emilie the key to the manacles.
Emilie stepped back to survey her cousin's work and bumped into Daniel. She'd won the argument with Charlotte, so they hadn't brought chains for him as well.
Despite the tension, Daniel grinned at his brother. “Now that he's chained up, I can tell you about the time when he was seven and he tried on Mom's—"
"That's enough!” Vance paled. “I won't be chained up forever, and when I get loose, I will hurt you."
Charlotte checked her watch. “All right, we've got seven minutes until moonrise.” She backed away from Vance and handed small silver mirrors to Daniel and Emilie.
"Keep these facing Vance, and stand back,” Emilie said, adjusting Daniel's mirror.
Charlotte picked up a third mirror and a smoldering sage bundle from a shell bowl on the basement floor. Even though they were one night short of the full moon, she'd decided they'd be better off underground where there would be no chance of moonlight touching Vance during the spell. If he transformed again tonight, he wouldn't remain in wolf form for long, and hopefully he wouldn't be able to break through the chains that bound him.
With the circle of protection complete, Charlotte took up a spot between Emilie and Daniel. They all faced Vance, and she and Emilie began the incantation that would, if all went as planned, separate him completely from the beast. The mirrors would reflect the wolf aspect of his soul back to him and contain his transformation while the beast lost its anchor within him.
As they walked the circle of protection widdershins around Vance, they spoke the incantation Charlotte had prepared...
Joined together, blood and bone.
An ancient curse made one alone.
Defy the evil curse within,
What now is one, make two again!
Everyone held his or her breath, staring at Vance, during the ten-second lull that followed. Emilie started to declare the spell a failure when a rush of sparkling air surged around the room like a miniature whirlwind and drove itself into Vance's chest.
A howl escaped his lips. Within seconds, his face began to transform. Eyes gleaming yellow, fangs protruding from his suddenly elongated face, Vance screamed at his captors. He growled and slavered as the transformation contorted his body.
Daniel took a step toward his brother.
Emilie grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Keep the mirror aimed at him—make him look at himself."
Vance's hands curled into claws. His long black nails scraped at the chair's wooden arms. He bucked against the chains and snarled each time he caught a glimpse of his grotesque visage in the silver mirrors.
Undaunted, Charlotte began reciting the incantation again. As Emilie joined in and their voices merged, the beast rose from the chair, unencumbered by the chains—a shadow, incorporeal—leaving Vance's body behind.
The ghost werewolf circled Vance, whose head slumped forward. His body went limp against the chains. Clearly the creature wanted to get back inside its host. It clawed at Vance, but couldn't touch him. Its snarls of rage and frustration seemed to echo from a great distance.
"It's working,” Daniel whispered.
"Don't count your chickens,” Charlotte replied. “Point the mirrors at its face. Keep it distracted."
Following Charlotte's lead, they moved toward the specter as it hovered next to Vance's unconscious form. Fear curdled the beast's gaze. It crouched and began to whimper.
"Good. Good boy...” Charlotte said.
"When it fades completely, we break the mirrors,” Emilie instructed.
"Isn't that bad luck?” Daniel asked, stepping closer to the shrinking apparition.
"No worse than being a werewolf forever,” Charlotte retorted.
The beast howled again. It tried to menace them with a tortured snarl as they closed in on it.
"What the heck is going on here?” a feminine voice intruded, startling them all. Even the beast jumped as the cellar room door burst open and a petite blonde rushed inside.
"Bethany, no!” Daniel warned.
When the woman broke the magick circle, it sounded like breaking glass. She flung herself at Vance. “Oh, God! What are you doing to my fiancé? Vance—baby? He's unconscious!"
Charlotte rushed forward to push Bethany out of the way “The mirrors!"
Emilie realized the sound she'd heard hadn't been the breaking of the magick circle, but the mirrors, which fell from her and Daniel's hands.
Charlotte's intact mirror wasn't enough to hold the beast at bay. It rose and sprung across the room.
Daniel put himself between the apparition and the open door. It ran at him, claws outstretched, jaws snapping.
Emilie screamed when the beast hit Daniel full force and knocked him over.
Then all hell broke loose.
While Charlotte battled with Bethany, Emilie raced after Daniel. Though she'd seen the shadow beast knock him to the floor, he seemed to recover quickly and crept on all fours into the hallway. He hesitated just a moment, then sprung to his feet and looked around as if he'd never seen the place before.
Emilie reached for him. He glared at her, his dark blue irises ringed in yellow. A faint smile turned up the corner of his mouth before he whirled and bolted up the cellar stairs.
At a dead run, she followed him through the house and out the front door. He moved with purpose, though she couldn't fathom what. He hadn't transformed—at least not completely.
Was the beast taking advantage of Daniel's human form and intelligence to attempt a permanent escape?
She called his name as she tracked him down the driveway and around the corner of the property.
The park. Yes! Daniel had told her the beast always headed for the park.
She followed.
* * * *
Of all the times he'd battled the beast, it had never been from within.
Daniel felt it, clawing its way deeper inside him, looking for the dark recesses it craved. It hunted for the rage that he'd suppressed after Pop's death, the resentment he'd felt at Vance running off to follow in a foolish old man's footsteps.
It found frustration and exhaustion and unrequited need.
Then it found something it could use.
Her scent reached him on the wind, filled him with a hunger beyond anything he'd ever experienced.
He ran. Not to elude her, but to lead here where he wanted her to go.
He heard her call to him, and the human part of his brain recognized the worry in her voice. That part understood that she would follow him to his destination.
He ran over familiar territory, growled at the water reflecting the silver moonlight that burned his soul. He recoiled from it, and stuck to the shadows beside the path that led into the dark places. He slowed his pace, allowed her to catch up, then darted under the overhanging trees.
Where the path branched off, he took the shadowy trail toward the small pond and the rock wall that fascinated him. Now, in this new body, standing upright, his reach extended by supple human muscles, he could finally climb to the small dark hole near the top of the rocks that beckoned him.
The lair he'd longed to possess was finally within reach. And the mate he desperately needed, an arm's length away.
"Daniel! Stop. Come back down!” She climbed even as she pleaded.
He glanced back at her and the need to possess her became overwhelming. She was almost close enough to touch—close enough for him to drag her into his hidden burrow and make her his.
No! He had to make her come to him, draw her all the way inside before he struck, so as not to frighten her away while she had a chance to escape.
"Fight it, Daniel! You were never bitten. The beast can't survive inside you."
No! He growled as he pulled himself through the narrow entrance of the tiny cave. Now that he'd found this kind of freedom, he would never relinquish control. This body belonged to him, and soon, her body would as well.
He crawled acro
ss the cave floor, oddly smooth and free of debris. The place, lit with the dim glow from the round lights outside, was large enough for him to crouch.
At the back of the cave, a bundle of wires disappeared inside a humming metal box. His human brain recognized the controls for the waterfall pump, and he understood that this little niche was the access point for park maintenance. This made it a poor choice for a permanent den, but for now it would serve his purpose well. Yet the beast wanted to rebel at the loss of his chosen territory, but a greater mind held sway. In this body he could roam free and find another place when he needed it.
"Daniel!” His mate appeared at the cave entrance, a dark shape against the amber glow of the outside lamps.
He filled himself with her scent and his body responded.
He reached for her.
CHAPTER 13
Daniel's hand closed around Emilie's wrist. He yanked her into the manmade cave at the top of the waterfall. She landed on a rubberized mat that covered the floor, and her breath left her lungs in a whoosh.
She gasped until her breathing slowed to normal. “Daniel! What ... is this place?"
His eyes glittered gold in the darkness, and her blood froze. He'd lured her here. Why hadn't she realized his intentions before she dragged herself up six feet of manmade boulders?
She pushed herself up onto her knees and scrambled backward.
He rushed forward and tackled her, rolled her onto her back and straddled her. “You're mine!” The words came out as a husky command, a claiming.
She should have screamed, should have kicked him and clawed her way to safety, but something in her blood stirred, answering the challenge. She tensed and met his feral gaze. “Daniel, the beast can't live in you.” Despite the fact that her heart thudded so hard she could barely breathe, she forced her voice to remain neutral. Forced her body to remain still, rather than arching against him the way she wanted to.
He bent over her, pressing his body against hers. She felt his tongue on the sensitive skin of her neck. He licked a hot path from her collarbone to a spot beneath her ear, then nipped the skin. She gasped, and her body stiffened. Electrical shocks went off along her spine and arrowed to the hot spot between her legs. She tried to deny the response as her nipples hardened and began to ache.
"I want you,” he said in a deep growl. The demand made her arch her back, involuntarily pressing her hips up against his. She wanted him, too. She wanted Daniel, not the beast. How long could the creature survive in a body that hadn't been prepared for it?
She wiggled upward a few inches, in hopes that breaking contact with the hard ridge in his jeans would cool her blood. She didn't get far before he clamped a hand on her shoulder and ground his body against hers.
"Fight it!” she said, more for herself than for him. What on earth would make her consider this—letting him take her, right here, right now? Was she insane? If she could hold him off, he'd return to normal, wouldn't he?
Already it seemed that the yellow rim around his irises had faded a bit. He panted, and each time he filled his lungs with air, his chest pressed against hers. That deliciously large ridge in his jeans fit perfectly between her thighs, resting right where she needed it. Each movement drove the iron bulge deeper into her flesh, tighter until she could think only about removing the barriers of denim that separated their bodies.
Her blood surged hot and needy when he ground against her once more. How could she want him like this? Why did it feel so good to know what he wanted to do to her—and to want it, too?
"Fight me!” he said, lowering his head to her chest.
Fight him? Was that the real Daniel, begging her to hold out against the beast that drove him, or was it the beast taunting her into making the chase last a little longer?
He bit gently just above her collarbone, then brought his hand from her shoulder, tearing open the soft neckline of her shirt.
She gasped when he dove for her exposed breast. She arched her back when he nuzzled her nipple, and moaned when he took it into his mouth. An arrow of sensation sliced through her when he sucked the tender, aching tip against his tongue.
To ease the answering fullness between her thighs, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled his body against her, rocking against his erection.
"The beast can't have me,” she said, thrusting her hand between them and opening the button of her jeans. “But you can. If you want me."
What was she doing? Why did she feel compelled to force him to take her like this? Had the beast somehow gotten inside her, too?'
If it hadn't, it was certainly about to.
* * * *
The creature inside Daniel clawed for control, and howled unmercifully when it felt that control slipping away.
Could Emilie be right? Could he hold the beast at bay until it died?
Not with her beneath him. Not with the taste of her in his mouth and her body yielding to his demands. She wanted him. Was it wrong to let the beast watch while he claimed its chosen mate for himself?
He tore off her shirt and reveled in the feral sound he wrung from her. The human part of him, fortunately, still understood zippers. He'd never have been able to tear the denim with his bare human hands.
He rose above her and yanked open her jeans. Savagely, he thrust his hand under the waistband of her panties and found her wet for him—hot for him. She moved against the intrusion of his fingers into the soft folds of her sex.
"Oh, God, Daniel!"
So ripe. The scent of her drove him mad. He pulled off her jeans and barely contained himself as she kicked off her shoes and wriggled out of her underwear.
Naked now, her breath coming in ragged gasps, she gave him a dark look, worthy of the she-wolf she'd become. “Let's go."
He didn't need her permission, but having it set him on fire. Her urging vindicated the human part of his soul. Now, he could claim her without remorse. What the beast would have taken by force, she offered freely to him.
The creature whimpered when he reached for her again. He thrust his hand between her legs and the demon lost its hold on him. As it weakened, inch by inch, the true wolf in his blood took over. Its strength grew as the beast shrank back, still longing to claim the mate it was about to lose forever.
He grasped her hips and flipped her onto her stomach. She rose on her knees and glanced at him over her bare shoulder, her eyes alight.
"Any way you want it."
He stripped off his clothes and pounced. For a moment, the beast reveled. The claiming came wild and hard, as if the demon remained in control. He thrust inside her, and she cried out, urging him on with ragged gasps. The beast howled, but its protest became lost in cries of passion as its mate surrendered to the man.
* * * *
Emilie felt as though the beast had completely taken her over. She surrendered control to the she-wolf inside her, and oddly, heard Charlotte's voice in her head as she braced her thighs against Daniel's and took him deeply.
There's nothing wrong with mixing it up, but don't get involved.
Too late. She was involved. No way now to get uninvolved. He was inside her, not just buried in her body, but in her blood, in her soul. She felt him everywhere, and with each thrust, her body contracted around him and her heart ached.
When Daniel released his hold on her long enough for her to turn over, she thought she saw the shadow form of the wolf slink into a dark corner of the cave, slouching like a wounded dog. She ignored it. The tumult of sensation building inside her eclipsed everything else.
They coupled like wild animals, tearing at each other, licking and biting. Yet now, it was only Daniel above her, his hands on her breasts, his mouth coming down hard on hers, devouring her with a hunger that came from the aspect of the wolf. He carried it in his blood, yet she felt it course through her as her inner muscles convulsed around him. She saw it blazing in his eyes when he came, and she saw nothing else as together they plunged over the edge of reason.
She dug her nails int
o his back, raked long scratches in his flesh, as her climax ripped through her. He seemed to revel in it, and she drank in his sigh of contentment when he exploded inside her.
As they lay panting in each other's arms, the beast died a quiet death. Emilie barely noticed its glowing yellow eyes fading away to nothing in the darkness.
CHAPTER 14
When Daniel awoke, Emilie lay beneath him, still panting, her skin slick with sweat. He rose up on all fours and surveyed the damage they'd done to each other.
Her lips were bruised and swollen from his savage kisses. Bite marks and scratches dotted her luscious skin. His back stung where she'd dug in with her nails and hung on for the ride.
How could he apologize for this?
Under his scrutiny, she opened her eyes and smirked. “Wanna go again?"
Her question hit him like a punch in the gut. She wanted more? His immediate reaction was, Oh, God, yes! Then his vision cleared and his thoughts calmed. What had they done? And where in the hell had they done it?
Weak morning light streamed into the tiny opening of the cave. Birds had begun to sing outside. Any moment the pump would start drawing water up from the lily pond to create the waterfall. They couldn't stay here. Not that he wanted to.
"Hold that thought. We need to get out of here,” he replied to her wanton question.
She struggled to sit up. He offered his hand, and she curled up her battered body around her crossed knees. She regarded him through a tangle of chestnut curls that hid one eye. God, she was beautiful.
His chest tightened and his heart hammered just from looking at her. “Did we really—?"
She nodded and ticked off positions on her fingers. “You on top, you on top again, me on top, then you on top again. I like you on top best."
Four times? Was that all? He could definitely go again—right now, in fact—but...
"How the hell did we get in here?” And where were all their clothes? He felt behind him and located his jeans, which he slipped on as quickly as possible. Then he found the shredded remains of the shirt she'd been wearing.
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