Sealed with a Curse

by Cecy Robson

  “No. My tigress is on edge. I need to walk off some tension.”

  Aric leaped out, too. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

  “No, I—”

  Koda’s menacing scowl was enough to take down the thick cluster of trees aligning the side of the road. “After all the shit that happened to Paul and Leya? Do you think this is wise?”

  Aric’s stare hit harder than Koda’s, and his tone put any further arguments to rest. “I’m staying with Celia. You’ll hear my call if anything happens.”

  Koda didn’t appear any happier. Yet he nodded at his Leader and peeled away in an angry huff.

  My intention was to put some distance between us, not generate alone time. I crossed my arms and hurried up the steep incline, wishing things could be better. Although my Dansko shoes weren’t meant for climbing small hills, I managed to reach the top without slipping.

  Aric rushed to catch up. “Where are you going?”

  “This path runs parallel to the road. It’s safer than walking along the highway.”

  “All right, but you’re walking closest to the side of the road. If anything happens, you’re not to go deeper into the woods.”

  My eyes narrowed. “Do you like ordering me around?”

  Aric rubbed at his five-o’clock shadow. “Yes. Despite that it does nothing but piss you off.”

  My cheeks burned. Okay, he had a point. As the sun began its descent across Tahoe, and the long branches of the thick firs darkened the path, my tigress eyes replaced my own. As much as I knew being alone with Aric wasn’t in either of our best interests, I relished this last moment between us. Half a mile passed with only silence. I hated the tension, and, against my better judgment, I spoke.

  “Do you think Leya will make it?”

  Aric shrugged. “Physically, she can…. Emotionally it may not be possible. She and Paul were mates.”

  I cocked my head toward him. “You mean married?”

  Aric smiled softly. “No. I mean mated, the real deal.”

  Dried twigs cracked beneath my feet. “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

  Aric focused ahead. “All weres have mates, the one he or she will love and share a soul with for eternity.” He sighed. “If one mate loses the other, the mourning is so great the surviving half of the union typically dies at the rise of the next full moon.”

  My throat tightened. “So even after all we did for Leya, she may still join her mate at the next moon?”

  Aric nodded, his expression growing grim. “I’m hoping she’ll choose to live for the sake of their unborn child.” He kicked a few stones from the path. “My presence is what kept my mother alive when my father was killed.”

  My body straightened. I hadn’t expected such a bombshell. The sadness in Aric’s voice at the mention of his father nailed me in the heart. My own father had been my hero. And he’d been brought down like a piece of meat.

  I said nothing, allowing him to continue. “Our females tend to be stronger when it comes to their young. They fight more viciously for them. And, sometimes, their children are the only ones who can help them survive a mate’s death…but not always.”

  I stroked Aric’s back without thinking, wanting to comfort him. My hand slid along his spine and up to his shoulder blades. Warmth flooded my fingertips. His hard muscles tensed beneath my caress. A soft, wolfish sound similar to a growl escaped his lips. I dropped my hand and gave him space, certain I’d offended him and angry at myself for stroking him.

  Aric groaned as my hand left his back. His face darkened to red and he seemed to be working to control his breathing. Except his expression wasn’t one of a slighted wolf; it was one of desire. I stepped back. Good Lord, I shouldn’t have touched him. He had fathered another woman’s child, for heaven’s sake. “So-sorry.”

  He shook his head, his steel gaze locking onto mine. “I wish you wouldn’t be.”

  Aric closed the distance between us. I shrank back, away from the path and into the trunk of a dying tree. Please don’t look at me that way.

  He reached for me, but I jerked away, stumbling back onto the muddy trail. “Why are you here with me? You should be with your girlfriend.” I hurried around the bend until Aric’s throaty voice sliced through the air behind me.

  “What girlfriend?”

  I froze before slowly glancing over my shoulder. Aric stood on the muddy ground, confusion knitting his brows before they angled fiercely. He bounded to my side in what seemed like two strides. “Celia, what are you talking about?”

  At that moment, I was no longer sure about anything. I glanced around, as if searching for answers along the shadows of the darkening forest. “That blond wolf I’ve seen you with. She showed up at my house a few days ago. She said…”

  Aric’s jaw tightened the longer it took me to form my words. “What did she say?”

  “She told me she…was pregnant with your child.”

  Something crunched. It might have been a few of Aric’s teeth. “She’s not my girlfriend. And if she’s pregnant, the child is not mine.”

  My muscles tightened and my blood pounded through my veins. “Are you sure?”

  “I didn’t sleep with her, Celia. That night you saw us together was the first and last time I went out with her.”

  Joy should have made me dance to the beat of something Gaga. Except all I felt was stupid. Stupidity made worse by Aric’s next comment.

  “Is this the reason you’ve been blowing me off?”

  My lids shut tight; I was embarrassed by how I’d treated him. When I opened them, my eyes stung with tears. I wanted to apologize, but all I could do was nod like the fool I was. I should have confronted him sooner, but my lack of expertise with men made me run from a fight, not to it.

  Aric huffed. “You can’t sniff a lie, can you?”

  “No. Bren’s tried to teach me…but…no.” I’d continued along before I realized my feet had taken the first few steps. “You didn’t sleep with her,” my voice repeated numbly.

  “No.”

  “And that night…I saw you together was the only time you were with her?”

  “Yes. She’s pursued me. But I’m not interested.”

  It almost seemed impossible to believe. Blondie could have been my complete opposite. She had everything I didn’t—gorgeous features, perfect makeup, eye-catching clothes. “Why?” I asked without thinking.

  “Why what?”

  I brushed my hair out of my face. “Why don’t you want her?”

  Aric blocked my path, his breath increasing its pace as his gaze bore into mine. “Because I want you. I haven’t been able to think of anyone else.”

  I couldn’t have heard right. Males like Aric didn’t fall for weird girls like me. They went for the Blondies of the world. And when they tired of one, they sought another. Except then his hands enveloped mine.

  As our skin touched, a wave of heat warmed my body. I thought for sure he’d step away, but then he released my hands and drew me to him, melding our bodies together. For the first time in my life, I felt completely safe, protected, and whole. Yet I fought against the solace, not believing it was possible…or deserved.

  Aric inhaled deeply, taking in my scent as his lips swept along my crown. “I’ve been waiting for you, Celia. Please don’t push me away.”

  The comfort of his voice and the security of his powerful arms collapsed my defense mechanisms like a wrecking ball. And just like that, the walls built from fear and strengthened by years of cruelty disappeared. My hands encircled his waist, tightening as they met. I shuddered, wanting to cry from the relief his strong presence granted me.

  And just like that I realized my beast had met her match.

  “I won’t,” I promised.

  Aric’s hand pressed against my lower back while the other stroked along my shoulder and neck until his wide palm cupped my face. He greeted me with that sexy grin and smoldering eyes that stopped my heart. “I’ve wanted you for so long,” he whispered.

&
nbsp; Something rustled behind the trees. I thought I caught a whiff of the wereraccoon before the furious howl of a wolf blared from high in the mountains.

  Aric swore. He grabbed my hand and started tearing down the path away from the howl. “The pack found the vampires.”

  I tried to break from his hold. “Aric, wait. I can help!”

  He ignored me, propelling us forward. “No. I’m taking you home. I won’t risk your getting hurt.”

  At the speed our feet pounded we reached our house minutes later. Koda paced outside his Yukon. He jumped in the moment he caught sight of us.

  “Don’t leave the house!” Aric growled before leaping into Koda’s moving car.

  I watched him leave, worried he’d get hurt, and terrified he wouldn’t come back to me.

  CHAPTER 30

  “That’s it. You’re doing it, Carrie. Good job.” My words were reassuring. My voice calm. The delivery was going smoothly. But I was screaming on the inside. We hadn’t heard from the wolves since they disappeared last night. No e-mail, no texts, no calls.

  None of us had slept. My first instinct was to search for them in the direction I’d heard the howl. But after the attack on Leya and her mate, it would have been a stupid move to hunt for them alone. Worse yet, my sisters would have insisted on tagging along.

  My focus returned to my patient. “Okay, Carrie, one more push and we’ll see your baby.”

  Without fail, the beautiful sound of a baby’s cry filled the room. Dr. Summers handed me the sweet infant to place on her mommy’s chest. “Here’s your little girl, Carrie.”

  “Congratulations,” said Lori, the second nurse, who had come in for the delivery.

  Above us, the overhead paging system clicked on, followed by some static. Lori frowned. “That’s strange. They’re only supposed to turn that thing on during emergencies.”

  A few more clicks followed before Taran’s voice rang loud and clear. “Celia Wird. Please report to the cardiac catheterization lab.”

  I stopped wiping the baby. A shiver traveled down to my toes. I threw a warm blanket on mom and baby and headed toward the door. “Take over, will you, Lori?”

  She nodded, staring blankly at the overhead pager.

  Tap. Tap. Tha-lump.

  “Celia Wird. You are needed in the cardiac catheterization lab—immediately.”

  My quick steps turned into a sprint. Shayna rounded the corner, eyes wide. “Meet me down there!” I yelled to her.

  I didn’t bother with the elevator. When I saw the coast was clear in the foyer, I leaped down an entire story. I landed in a crouch in time to hear Taran’s increasingly panicked voice. “Celia Wird! Get your ass to the cardiac lab—now!”

  My nursing shoes beat against the tile, moving so fast I tumbled into a skid and kept going as I turned into the hall leading to the lab. I burst through the double doors in time to hear, “Son of a bitch! The lab. You’re needed in the goddamn cardiac lab—”

  My tigress eyes took in the scene at once. Bodies—lots of bodies—of nurses, doctors, and patients were scattered like crumpled trash around the tiled floor, over procedure tables, and along the steps leading up to the glass control room where the patient’s vital signs were closely monitored.

  Taran had barricaded herself in the control room by welding one of the metal file cabinets to the door. She looked up from the microphone she’d been screaming into, her face red with fear and fury. She pointed to the giant oxygen tanks against the opposite wall. Calling her fire would have ignited the lab…and most of the hospital.

  A pity, considering four infected vampires stuck to the glass like bottom-feeders.

  Crap.

  They pounded against the thick crackling glass in expensive suits and dress shoes. These freaks weren’t as sick. The tinge to their skins varied from fair to dark brown—but after fighting varying levels of bloodlust vampires over the last few days, my tigress had come to recognize the scent of their infection, no matter how subtle.

  I crouched and ambled around one of the overturned tables. They hadn’t noticed me in their haste to get to Taran. I fell into a crawl. If I could sneak up through the middle, I could shift two into the tile and possibly hold off the others until Shayna and Emme arrived.

  It sounded like a great plan. It might have worked if I didn’t hear a sniff followed by a stomp.

  A set of loafers landed in front of me. My eyes skimmed up the legs to the voracious mouth, watching the vampire’s incisors lengthen and snap. He pointed to me and whispered, “magic” with the same enthusiasm I would say “cookies.”

  Double crap.

  He dove on me like a seasoned pro wrestler. I rolled out of the way, tearing through my scrubs and changing. The two vampires who decided to help their buddy paused at the sight of my three-hundred-and-fifty-pound beast. I hoped to intimidate them enough to think twice. They didn’t. They pounced on me, and the closest one bit hard into my neck, narrowly missing my jugular.

  I swatted him off as Shayna appeared. She lifted an IV pole and transformed it into a long, sharp scythe. She spun with it, decapitating one vampire as I tore into the chest of another. Shayna and I scrambled to our feet. Two vampires left.

  And one of them had Emme.

  The vampire wrenched back Emme’s hair, exposing the straining cords of her neck. His thick arm held her tiny frame close to his body. “Mine,” he hissed.

  No. She’s. Not! The roar from my chest rattled the instruments lining the metal stand behind me. My massive paws stepped forward; I was ready to pounce. The fourth vampire flopped like a fish out of water beside us, jerking from Taran’s bolts. He’d broken through the glass and reached in. His mistake.

  My legs bent in a deep lunge; my tail flicked behind me. This bastard was hurting my sister, and I was going to make him bleed.

  “Don’t, Celia,” Shayna whispered urgently. “He’ll break her neck.” Her hand disappeared behind her back, reaching for a metal clamp, shaping it into a dagger behind her.

  A terrified whimper broke from Emme’s throat as silent tears of pain leaked down her chin. But it was the vamp who screamed.

  He released Emme and spun. About eighteen different surgical instruments stuck out of his back like quills on a porcupine. Emme used her force to skewer him like a shish kebab. She wiped her eyes, refusing to watch as she drilled the instruments into her attacker’s back until he burst into ash. Shayna ran to her shaking form.

  “He was too fast. I didn’t see him coming,” Emme cried.

  “It’s okay, Emme. You got him. You’re safe now, dude.”

  I changed back and used one of the metal tables to finish breaking through the glass to free Taran while Emme scrambled to heal all the limp bodies.

  Taran’s blue-and-white mist surrounded the large cluster of victims as Emme slowly brought them back to consciousness. Taran paced in front of them as I commandeered a white lab coat from one of the docs and wrapped it around me. She kicked at a metal pan. “Shit, Ceel. How am I going to explain away this mess? If I tell them it was an exploding oxygen tank like I did last night, OSHA is going to shut our asses down.”

  Taran had a point. Thank God there were no surveillance cameras in the wing. “I don’t care, just—” I froze as my eyes darted around the lab. “Where’s the other vampire?”

  Shayna jumped and pointed to an open area. “He was just flopping right there a second ago.”

  Shit.

  My sisters and I scrambled out into the hall in time to see the doors leading out to the dock shut behind someone hauling ass.

  No, no, no.

  I bolted after him, only to see him disappear into the thinly wooded area behind the hospital. My sisters stumbled next to me, out of breath and jabbering away in a jumbled mess of anxious verbiage.

  “Damn it, Celia. Where the hell did he go?”

  I stared at the four-wheel-drive ambulance parked a few feet from where I stood. A cold sweat ran down the length of my bare back. I glanced at the woods, then back
at the ambulance. We had to catch the vampire. And we had to do it now. But I didn’t like our only option. And, sweet Lord, I didn’t want to need it.

  Taran tugged hard on my arm. “Celia. Celia. Damn it, are you listening?”

  My voice echoed in my head. “We have to go after the vampire….”

  Taran threw her hands in the air. “Yeah, well, no shit—”

  I swallowed hard and looked at Shayna. “You’re going to have to drive.”

  I only remember Shayna ever looking like that once. I was seven. She was five. It was Christmas. And Daddy had bounced into our tiny apartment dressed as Santa.

  “Woo-hoo!” she screamed.

  A snowstorm of swear words flew out of Taran’s mouth. Emme fell back against the cinder-block wall. “No, Celia, no,” she begged me. “Please don’t let her drive.”

  Shayna rushed into the driver’s side without hesitation. Her head disappeared as she searched the cab. She jumped up, waving the keys at us. “Got ’em. Let’s roll.”

  Taran swore again. I ignored her and jumped in the passenger side, dragging Emme with me.

  Taran hopped in the back and pulled Emme between the seats with her. Taran was still swearing, but resolved to the fact that there was no other choice. We needed a vehicle that could cut through the thin section of woods and Shayna’s hyper-oh-my-God-we’re going-to-die speed.

  Shayna adjusted the seat and mirrors in record time, starting the engine with a powerful roar. Taran released a ball of blue-and-white mist. It swerved out the window and into the forest, fixing on the vampire like a magnet to a set of jacks. And while Taran couldn’t track him by scent, the vampire’s magic remained close enough to draw her own power to it. Especially at the velocity we traveled. “Follow the bouncing ball,” she muttered.

  Shayna rocketed around the trees well over eighty miles an hour. Bark and mud flew through the air, spraying the windows. My knuckles turned white from my grip on the “oh shit” bar, and my claws dug into the dash. Shayna’s eyes cut to me. “What’s wrong, dude? You seem upset.”

  My hands trembled as they gripped harder. “Oh, I don’t know, dude. I’m half-naked in a stolen ambulance, chasing a lethal infected being back to his crib, where his entire family is probably waiting to eat us.”