by Ruby Raine
His eyebrow lifted. He was home. Even at human speed, it hadn’t taken long. In a vampiric flash he balanced himself just outside Melinda’s door. If what Lizzy told him was true for all vampires, William’s life did now have a determined end, whether he wanted it to, or not.
He might never claim her as his, or openly admit he loved her. But when she died and was gone from this world, he would leave it with her.
EVA JORDAN STAYED WITH her exhausted father. She had allowed him to sit, eat, have a drink and get comfortable before she suddenly appeared in front of him, arms folded, scowl on her face.
“Out with it,” he told her, seeing that she had much to say.
“I’m not even sure where to start,” she spoke sternly. “You tell me you have this map and you’re heading to check out the lighthouses. And then you vanish without a fucking trace! We might be here for very specific reasons but you are still my father and do you have any idea what you put me through today? How worried I was? You forced me to go to the Howards for help! Now I feel like I owe them! I can’t feel like that! How am I supposed to do my job when Charlie Howard,” she bit her lip and refused to say more.
She didn’t want to think about Charlie right now, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to tell her father about what had happened, especially since she had no idea what had happened. She decided he didn’t need to know.
Anthony Jordan smiled weakly and took a deep breath. “Seems like you knew where to start just fine.”
“Don’t patronize me,” she snapped.
“Eva, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry, and it was all rather out of my control.”
“What happened after you got to the lighthouse, perhaps? But not before that. Did you know the map was real? Where did you get it? Did you have any idea that Deane’s are on the Isle, and how incriminating that is to us now? The Howards loath the Deanes. Having a map that once belonged to them in our possession...” She pushed out a pissed off gush of air. “And why did you keep all this from me? I agreed to help you with your plans, and this is how you repay that loyalty? I’m your daughter, not just your fucking partner!”
Anthony Jordan huffed, cheeks red. “What does it matter now? The map is useless. The doors are shut. And I couldn’t care less that Deane’s are back on the Isle. It changes nothing.”
“It matters that you didn’t see fit to trust me. Your own daughter! Your partner!”
Anthony frowned, taking a calming breath. “I honestly have no idea who sent the map. It was delivered months ago before we came to the Isle. I assumed it was real, but I needed to investigate to find out. I thought if I could verify its authenticity I might be able to use it to our advantage.”
“I just cannot believe you didn’t tell me, Dad.”
He shrugged, indicating it was of no importance.
“And what will we do to put out any potential fires?” she asked. “The Howards are going to question where that map came from.”
Anthony waved it off. “It’s all moot. They won’t have enough time to question.”
She eyed him hard, not knowing what he meant by that.
“I’m too tired for this. But what about owing the Howards? Is this a problem for you?”
She shot him a nasty look and shook her head in a bothered fashion. “I can handle it.”
“Good. Hand me a glass of whiskey, I could use another drink and then I’m going to bed.”
She poured him a glass and angrily handed it to him, leaving the room without another word, the rest of the bottle in tow.
“The plan hasn’t changed, Eva,” barked her father as she disappeared.
Eva rolled her eyes and flared her nostrils. She closed herself in her bedroom, taking deep swigs from the bottle as she undressed down to her tank top and thong.
She tipped the bottle back again slinking to the floor and after one more swig, set the bottle aside. She lay back, staring at the ceiling, her long white strands splaying around her body. The booze made her lightheaded so she closed her eyes.
Damn, if she didn’t want to get off this island.
Fuck the plan.
Fuck her father.
Fuck Charlie, and the Howards.
Just leave. Tonight.
But that wasn’t going to happen. She’d sworn that one day she’d return here to help her father. And she’d see it through.
Part of her wanted to tell her father what had happened earlier that day with Charlie, but she was too pissed at him. And too consumed by the moment. It had never happened to her before. It was like the smell experiment she and her dad had tried out on Charlie had backfired, or was somehow being created by something else. Something else she was now experiencing too.
It was a bad idea to get close to Charlie. Whatever was happening could easily happen again. She thought about it though. Perhaps she had been going about her intentions all wrong. Maybe getting closer to Charlie was actually a good idea. Maybe it would keep him from getting suspicious of her and her father’s activities. Why not have a little fun on the side? It would make the ending just that much sweeter, once Charlie discovered what she was... who she was.
His creator. His true alpha. His... her drunken mind claimed.
And maybe she was just being a gigantic friggin’ idiot. Using any excuse that made her desire for him justified. She was not his. He belonged to her.
Eva’s body shuddered.
She wanted him, damn it. God, she fucking did.
She wrapped her arms around her stomach, holding herself together.
The memory of his chest pressing down on her. Pinned to the bench... his powerful arms. That growl that almost tore the wolf out of her. She wanted to play.
This was no good. Lines were being crossed that should not be crossed.
If she was going to get closer to him, she had to figure out a way to do so without getting too involved, without losing sight of the end game.
“It’s all the wolf,” she mumbled drunkenly. “It’s not me.” Her wolf craved his touch, not her. A lie she’d keep telling herself.
And the fact she was a wolf wasn’t something Charlie would guess, she didn’t think, seeing as he was not aware they had any wolf connection. Perhaps there was a way to use this to her advantage. But how?
The booze spread haze through her head.
She unraveled her arms, laying them by her sides.
With each inhale and exhale, Eva fell further into her thoughts, her breaths drawing heavier, her subconscious trapping her somewhere deep within.
“Charlie...” His name slipped across her lips in lusty thickness.
IN THE HOWARD MANSION, Charlie had showered and thrown himself onto his bed, exhaustion pulling him into sleep instantly. He lay on his stomach, hands above his head.
Fingernails elongated, tearing into his pillow.
But he did not wake.
EVA JORDAN LAY ON HER floor, her body convulsing as if unable to get enough air. Beads of sweat dripped down her milky white skin. Suddenly she gasped, her eyes swinging open. Yellow, streaked with hazel down the center. The yellow darkened, turning to a deep gold.
She panted heavily. Skin on fire, every nerve screaming for just one thing. Her arm lurched out over her body as if trying to grab something just out of reach.
“Charlie,” she called out through raspy breath. “I need you. I need you.”
CHARLIE’S EYES FLEW open, a growl escaped his lips echoing Eva’s name. He pushed up against the bed with his hands and legs landing on the floor with a soft thud. His feet planted firmly, his head flicked to the side. Silver eyes glowed into the darkness.
He took a determined step toward his door, but a shape passing by his mirror caught him off guard and he stopped, staring at it.
In the recesses of his mind, Charlie knew he was looking at himself. And yet he didn’t recognize this beast in front of him. He wasn’t fully transformed. But he wasn’t Charlie Howard either.
A mouthful of teeth snarled into the mirror. Memor
ies faded, turning into distant fog. Buried somewhere he could not currently access and taken over by something else. Something more savage. And primal.
“CHARLIE...” HE HEARD Eva’s voice, calling to him, like an echo in his mind that expanded all around him. “I need you, Charlie.” She spoke as if her life depended on him finding her.
It became his only thought.
His only mission.
He crept out of the house, darted through the yard escaping into the woods behind the mansion. He lifted his chin, sending a chilling howl into the night sky.
An eerie reply echoed back, and Charlie gazed hungrily into the woods.
The chase. His heart thudded against his skin in the anticipation of it. His muscles quaked in readiness.
“I will devour you,” his warning pulsed out to Eva. A seductive taunt splayed into his thoughts.
“But first, Charlie, you have to catch me.”
WICKED GOOD WITCHES BOOK 5
Trick or Treat? Surprise Me!
Supernatural Protectors: A Legacy of Magic
CHARLIE HOWARD’S EYES flickered open. For a moment, his vision was hazy but also blinded by brightness. He peered back and forth blinking repeatedly, trying to clear the haze and make sense of his surroundings.
He expected to be staring up at his bedroom ceiling, but instead he gazed up at a bright blue sky etched with pine tree branches and drifting puffy clouds. He sat up quickly, breath held, eyes darting from side to side when the realization hit him that he’d awakened outside in the middle of the woods. Again.
He grumbled out a slew of obscenities and picked himself up off the ground. “Where the hell am I this time? And perfect. No clothes. Again.” He scoured the ground and saw what looked like his boxer shorts, or what was left of them. Shredded pieces.
Having nothing to cover himself with other than his hands, his arms swung down to hide his privates from public exhibition.
His movements stalled. His breath hitched... dried streaks of red flaked off his arms.
He stared, dumbfounded and horrified. Blood. Lots of it. Covering his arms and hands with bits clinging under his fingernails.
“What the hell is happening to me?” His gaze landed on the black ring; recently gifted by the now deceased Guardian, Nina. “She promised I couldn’t hurt anyone. That the ring would not allow it.”
Was the ring not working properly?
Charlie needed to get home fast. He took a step and stopped, wincing. His calf had a nasty looking gash that was still healing. If Charlie hadn’t had his werewolf ability to heal, from the looks of the wound’s depth, he’d most likely have bled to death.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping this was all a terrible dream. He stared at the protection ring silently pleading for it to explain why it was allowing this to happen. Wishing desperately, he could talk to Nina.
She had sacrificed herself to help Charlie. And in the weeks after, the ring had protected him from harm, or from harming others, by keeping his werewolf side from surfacing, and therefore endangering anyone near him with its uncontrolled wildness.
So why was this happening? He was obviously injured, and he didn’t believe for a minute that the blood underneath his fingernails had come from his own body. Which meant he had to have injured someone. And to make matters worse, this wasn’t the first time he’d awakened in the middle of the woods, naked, in the previous weeks.
He sucked air in deeply, letting it out slowly, reminding himself that whatever had happened, and regardless of the blood on his hands, he could not have hurt anyone. The ring would not allow it.
So, what? He had self-inflicted these wounds? This blood really was his own? Perhaps it belonged to an animal.
Human or animal was not acceptable to Charlie Howard.
He took in his surroundings. With a relieved breath, he recognized where he was, and it wasn’t far from home. He was in the woods near the back of the Howard Mansion. His home. And on a trail many locals and tourists often used for jogging and hiking. He could at least be glad no early morning risers had sauntered by, or they’d have gotten an unexpected show, and either a good laugh or a good fright.
“At least I know the sheriff,” he jested grimly, picturing some female tourist happening upon him in his current state and thinking he was an attacker.
Although one dazzling smile with his perfect teeth and a captivating stare with his dreamy blue eyes, or a once over from toes to head would send almost any woman into an instant hot flash, or turn her legs to jelly. Plenty of distraction time for him to get away.
Hearing nothing but morning birds chirping, the distant crashing of waves, and a foghorn blowing, he made a mad dash for the gate at the back of his yard. Once he had slipped inside, he darted to the back door of the mansion and bounded into the kitchen, breathing out a huge sigh of relief.
It did not last.
He froze for a moment, listening to see if anyone was awake yet. He heard no movement. Of course, William would have heard him. And hearing movement in the house this early would definitely make- Charlie grabbed a hand towel just as the vampire dashed into the kitchen. “William, um, morning.”
The vampire didn’t speak for a moment, an eyebrow raised in bemusement over Charlie’s sudden appearance in the kitchen, stark naked and covered in dirt, scratches and blood.
“Do I want to ask?” William spoke in a wry tone. “Let me rephrase, do I need to ask?”
“I just woke up in the woods. Again,” Charlie explained.
“I see.”
“No idea how I got there. Last thing I remember was going to sleep. In my bed.”
“You’ve never been one for sleepwalking,” muttered the vampire. He frowned, disturbed by this turn of events.
“Or sleep undressing,” added Charlie dryly. “I don’t know what the hell is happening to me, William.”
“This is the third occurrence,” the vampire noted. “I think it would be unwise to allow a fourth.”
“I don’t understand why the ring is allowing this behavior.”
“My understanding of the ring is limited, but I trust that it will not allow you to harm, or come to harm, Charlie.”
“Well, I’m sure as hell sick of waking up bare ass naked in the middle of the God damned woods!”
“The better question right now is why didn’t I hear you leave last night? Oh. I went out for a late night patrol. You must have left the house while I was away.”
“I think you’d better put a stop to those late night patrols for a little while, William. When this happened before I just thought it was a freak thing. I was overtired. But now?”
“Three times is not coincidence, Charlie. Something is amiss.”
“You’ve never heard of any such thing?” asked Charlie. “Perhaps it’s some wacky side effect of the ring. Or me being a werewolf, wearing the ring. The rings are meant for Guardians after all. Not werewolves or witches.”
“I cannot be certain, but Nina was certain, Charlie. We must trust this. We must trust the ring, and that the Guardians know what they’re doing in giving it to you.”
“I wish there was a way to talk to a Guardian,” mused Charlie. “You don’t know any way...”
William shook his head. “Sorry. I don’t think one can seek audience with the Guardians. I believe they come to you.”
“It just gets better and better.” Charlie let out a brisk exhale.
“How do you feel this morning? Other than freaked out as you’d say.”
Charlie thought about it for a moment before answering William.
“It’s strange really, but before I fully woke up and got pissed about waking up in the woods bare ass naked, I actually had this sense of contentment. I was tired, but not tired.”
William shot him a questioning gaze. “How can one be tired but not tired?”
“Um, physically tired. Like I’d been running a marathon or doing something that required a lot of physical demand on my body. And a little hazy. Like t
here was a fog over my brain that was lifting. But not lack of sleep tired. I felt rested and happy, until I woke up in the woods.”
“I see. And as before, no recollection of the night’s events?”
“No. Nothing at all. Like I said, I woke up a little hazy. Almost like I’d been dreaming, but I have no memory of the dreams. You don’t think I’ve been put under some sort of spell do you?”
“I suppose anything is possible. However,” William added hastily, “I don’t believe the ring would allow you to be put under a spell. If you recall when the mermaids tried to mesmerize you, the ring stopped it from happening. It protected you. I think that falls under the category of possible harm to one’s self, or others.”
“But you can’t be sure, can you?”
William didn’t answer, his head cocking to the side.
Charlie let out an exasperated groan.
“Why don’t you get cleaned up,” suggested William, “before your siblings wake.”
“Yeah. Um, do you mind if for now we keep this just between you and me?”
“What? You don’t want your family to discover you’ve been romping through The Demon Isle woods naked as the day you were born?” The vampire’s mouth turned up in a bemused grin.
Charlie shook his head, not at all amused.
“Very well. My lips are sealed.”
“Thank you, William,” Charlie returned tightly. He headed upstairs to his bedroom.
Though humored by the moment, William did not find Charlie’s unconscious late nights romps funny in the least. He’d do his best to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.
Charlie turned on his shower allowing the water to pour out steamy hot.
Before getting in, he stood and stared at himself in a full-length mirror.
Nearly every gash or scratch was healed now, but the caked dirt and blood remained. Was it his own blood embedded beneath his fingernails? Or someone else’s as he feared it was?
