by Alisa Woods
“Sure, come on in,” she said with heavy sarcasm. But she closed the door behind her. “Please, barge into my apartment, even though I distinctly told you to stay the hell away.”
He cocked his head. “You did not tell me stay away. You merely said you had an asshole for a boyfriend.”
She folded her arms. “I did not say he was an asshole.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Details.”
She shook her head, like she couldn’t believe his audacity, but he could tell she’d been crying. A lot. Before he even thought about what he was doing, he had her backed up against the door, hands on either side of her head. He wasn’t actually touching her, but he was ready to kiss those tears away.
Her eyes were wide.
“Any man who doesn’t see how wonderful you are is a complete idiot,” he said softly. He wasn’t going to trot out his strong suspicion that this millionaire boyfriend didn’t even exist… not until he knew the real reason why she was pushing him away.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’m one of those girls who likes unavailable men.” She was saying it defiantly, straight into his face, but she wasn’t trying to push him back or move away. Her words were shoving him away, but her trembling lips and heaving chest were saying something entirely different.
“What’s his name, Olivia?” he said with a little more edge in his voice. “I’d like to have a word with him.”
Her eyes were glassing over again. “Jaxson, please. Just leave it alone!”
He frowned. That plea was real—he could feel it. She was truly afraid of something.
“I don’t know what hold this man has over you, but I’m not giving up without a fight.” Then he leaned in, almost close enough to kiss, but stopping short of actually touching his lips to hers. “You’re worth fighting for,” he whispered against her lips. Then he did kiss her, pressing her luscious body up against the door as he tasted her sweet mouth. She responded to him, just as she had last night, allowing him into her mouth even as her hands gripped his shoulders hard. She seemed unable to decide whether to pull him closer or push him away.
He broke the kiss, but her electric touch brought back every rush of pleasure from the night before. His body ached for more, but he couldn’t stay.
“You care about me. I know you do,” he whispered in her ear. “And I want to be the man you finally let into your life.” Then he pulled back to look into her eyes.
Her tears were gone, and she was blinking, rapidly, stunned by something—either the kiss or his words, he didn’t know which. But that was all he had to give right now. He had to make sure his brother wasn’t being taken apart by whoever had captured him.
“I’m sorry, I have to go now,” he said, easing back and breaking the close personal space they were in. “Jared’s in trouble.”
A frown crashed through her stunned expression. “What? What happened?”
“I think he’s gone after the people who kidnaped Cassie. We found a warehouse where they might be keeping the others. Jared’s an ex-Marine sharpshooter, tough as all hell, but if he went in there alone, I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s not always…” He hesitated. Olivia didn’t need to know all the crazy that went on with the River brothers.
“Not always concerned for his own life?” Olivia’s frown grew deeper. “There’s a dark side to him, isn’t there?”
“Yes.” But Jaxson was relieved. He should have known she would understand. “And while I’m sure he has the best of intentions, I don’t trust him not to go blazing into a situation he won’t actually live through.”
“So you’re going after him.” The selfless concern on her face made Jaxson’s heart ache.
He wanted nothing more than to come back and make this woman his own… if he could only convince her to let him. “Yes. Jace is gathering a team. We’re watching the warehouse to make sure they don’t move anyone, but we might not go in until nightfall.”
She nodded. Then she pursed her lips, uncertain about something. Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “Be careful,” she whispered.
He held her close, relishing every bit of her concern and every second of her body pressed against his. Then he loosened his hold and kissed her again. This time she didn’t hold back, and it nearly made him groan with the need to have her. Again. Always.
When he finally broke the kiss, he said, breathless, “I’m coming back for you.” His voice was rough with too much emotion. He had no experience with goodbyes—he had never let himself care about someone enough to have to say one that mattered. He ducked his head so she wouldn’t see the emotion betrayed across it.
Then he strode out the door.
Olivia leaned against the closed door of her apartment, breathless.
Breathless from the goodbye Jaxson had just given her. Breathless from his kiss and his words and everything he was and did. You’re worth fighting for. It brought tears to her eyes, but it also made her heart pound with fear. Because the words inked on his chest might as well be etched in his soul—all in, all the time. If Jaxson River decided to fight for something, he wasn’t going to stop until he got it.
Only that something was her. And he had no idea what he was getting into.
She rubbed her eyes, clearing them of the lingering tears.
There had to be some way to stop Jaxson from wanting her. She was completely failing at that so far. The minute he opened that sexy mouth and said anything—much less put it on hers—she was complete putty in his hands. And her lie about loving another man wasn’t any deterrent at all! It was crazy. Jaxson River could have any woman—any human female would drop her panties for him, three shifter females were lined up waiting to mate him, and even a crazed witch from his past wanted him so badly that she cursed him—and he still wanted Olivia Lilyfield, ex-reporter and current-secretary.
The only explanation was that he couldn’t find a real mate. If he hadn’t been cursed, Jaxson would have settled down long ago, having pups and leading his pack like the alpha wolf he was supposed to be. The alpha he was.
Olivia straightened up from the door as it dawned on her: that was it.
She could lift the curse.
All this time, she’d locked away the part of her that was a witch. And that still needed to be kept deep inside—it was too dangerous to mess with—but she had also fled all ties to the witching world after she turned her parents into dust. She wanted nothing to do with any of it. But she still had an aunt in a powerful coven… maybe her aunt could find a way to break the curse that kept Jaxson from finding his perfect mate.
A sudden clarity came to her mind: this was what she was meant to do.
All her life, she strove to find the thing that would redeem her, make up for what happened to her parents. If she could accomplish this—if she could free Jaxson—it would be the one good thing she had been looking for. The one thing she was uniquely able to do that mattered.
But only if her aunt would take her call—which was by no means certain.
Olivia raced to her tiny bedroom and dug through her closet. She had a box of things left over from the fire. The few treasures she kept and hauled from foster care to foster care. It was small—a box for size-two dance shoes, which was how tiny her feet were at the time, back when they had money for lessons. The fire had charred the corners, and the lid had incurred some damage over the years, but it was still intact, buried under some winter sweaters on the back of her closet shelf. She hauled it out and took it to her bed.
Her hand shook a little before opening it. She hadn’t gone through it in years.
The contents were as meager and bedraggled as the box: a necklace of her mom’s, her dad’s eyeglasses with the lens broken, a dozen tiny shells from a visit to the beach not long before the fire, and… a tiny black notebook. Olivia snatched that out and closed the lid. She thumbed through it. Her mom’s precise and flowery print was so pretty, even faded after all these years. Most of the names Olivia didn’t know, but the one she
needed was still there: Guinevere Damon.
Olivia’s hand shook a little more as she dialed the number.
“Hello?” The rich female voice that answered seemed tentative.
“Is this Guinevere Damon?” Olivia asked.
“Depends on who’s asking.” Her voice had turned sultry, but Olivia could tell it was her.
“Auntie Gwen… it’s your niece, Olivia.”
Silence. Olivia held her breath.
Finally, there was a long exhalation of breath on the other end. “For the love of magic… Rowan’s girl has come home.”
This was a terrible idea. Olivia knew that.
But walking into a coven of witches was the only way to get what she needed: the magic to break Jaxson’s curse. For that, she’d do just about anything. Which, apparently, included visiting her Aunt Gwen’s office in downtown Seattle.
Urban Damon Design was etched on the glass entrance to the coven’s graphic design company. It was one of the largest and most prestigious in the city, doing work for all the big technology companies as well as the cutting-edge start-ups. Of course, all their preternaturally beautiful designs were conjured by the witches who filled the company’s ranks from top to bottom. Olivia didn’t know exactly how they used magic in their work, but she doubted it was design talent alone that landed them all those big contracts.
She pushed the door open and tried to keep her chin up, even though she was a ball of nerves. Aunt Gwen was waiting for her at the front desk with a smile that reminded Olivia far too much of her mother’s.
She didn’t expect that particular heartache. It made her low-heeled shoes catch on the luxurious white carpeting just inside the door. Her aunt hurried to her side and looked like she wanted to hug Olivia… which just made her stumble back to keep out of reach.
It was both terrifying and tremendously awkward. She grimaced.
Her aunt looked pained, but pulled her hands back and clasped them together. “My dear Olivia, you cannot even imagine how happy I am that you’ve returned to us.”
“I, um…” Olivia straightened her blouse. “I’m not exactly staying, Aunt Gwen. But thanks for meeting me on such short notice.”
She’d put on her best office attire for this, but her overly curvy body and plain blouse and skirt were vastly outclassed by her aunt, whose trim form was elegantly encased in a perfectly tailored red suit. Her nails were like small daggers and likewise fire-engine red. All of it set off a beautiful mane of black hair that tumbled in waves down to her waist. Her aunt was super-model gorgeous—more than any female shifter Olivia had ever seen—and it was clear that Olivia inherited her father’s genes in the looks department. Either that, or Aunt Gwen was using magic to enhance her beauty, like Jaxson suggested. She was ostensibly Olivia’s mother’s age, but she didn’t look a day over thirty.
“There’s nothing that could have stopped me from meeting with you, dear.” Gwen seemed to really mean it. “I’m just so relieved you’ve finally reached out to me. I thought for sure you would never… well… embrace your heritage.”
“I’m not a witch,” Olivia said hastily. Too hastily. And it sounded pretty defensive. “I mean, I’m not a practicing witch. Because… well…”
“It’s because of the fire, dear. I know.” Her aunt’s lovely face drew down in what looked like genuine compassion. Olivia didn’t know her at all, not really, but that single look and those words… she couldn’t keep the tears from welling up in her eyes.
“Oh, you poor, poor thing. Going through all of that alone. And with no one to guide you in your magical development.” She looked like she wanted to hug Olivia again, but Olivia knew all too well that a witch’s touch was her most potent weapon.
She folded up her arms to dissuade Aunt Gwen from any such ideas. “I wouldn’t have bothered you, Aunt Gwen, but I need your help. With a spell.”
“A spell?” Her perfectly-shaped eyebrows lifted. “Indeed. Sounds like something we should discuss in my office.” She ushered Olivia past the receptionist’s desk, down the hall, and into an exquisitely decorated office that looked out over the bay. The furniture was all burnished dark woods, and an entire wall was lined with bookcases, only instead of books, there were dozens of jeweled containers in every shape and size.
Once the door was closed, Gwen said, “Whatever you need, dear, I’m sure we can take care of it. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Not exactly.” Olivia frowned. She hadn’t really given thought to how to phrase this. “I need to break a curse.” That seemed like a good place to start.
Gwen’s green eyes flashed. “Has someone put a curse on you, Livvy?” It was her nickname from when she was just a child, and it speared Olivia with memories that tore into her heart.
She cleared her throat. “No, I promise. This is for a friend. Another witch put a curse on him, and I need to break it.”
The fiery anger went out of her aunt’s eyes. “Well, I’m glad to hear it’s not you, dear. I’m afraid I might have had some serious issues with a witch who dared to curse my niece.”
A warm feeling flooded Olivia’s chest, threatening to bring back the tears. No one had looked out for her in a long time. Except Jaxson, but that was different. Gwen might be a witch, but she was treating Olivia like she was really family.
Olivia gave her a small smile. “That’s really sweet of you, Aunt Gwen.”
This lit up her aunt’s face. All smiles, she edged a little closer to Olivia, obviously holding herself back from another embrace. “We tend to be very protective of our own, Miss Olivia.” Then she rubbed her hands together with mock glee. “Now tell me what spell we can do to help out your poor, little cursed friend. It’s not every day I get to do magic with my niece.”
Olivia shrugged. “I don’t know what spell would work, precisely. And my friend isn’t exactly little… but he’s been cursed so that he can never take a mate.”
Gwen’s smile evaporated. “A mate. You mean, he’s a shifter. A wolf to be precise.”
Olivia bit her lip. “Yeah. A witch wanted him, and when he said no…”
“She denied him the pleasure of a mate.” Gwen rolled her eyes. “I love my coven sisters, but I swear, some of them can be so dramatic.”
Olivia grimaced. It hadn’t occurred to her that the witch who cursed Jaxson might be in her family’s coven… or a distant relative. It wasn’t like there were millions of witches populating Seattle. The covens were small and generally knew each other. Although Olivia got the sense that they kept their distance.
“Why do you have such an interest in this wolf?” The fire was back in Gwen’s eyes. “Please tell me you’re not tangled up with him. They’re sexual beasts but really not good for much else.”
Olivia straightened. “Jaxson is a good man.”
Her face transformed into a picture of horror, briefly, then melted into a piteous expression. “Oh, dear. You’re in love with the creature.”
Olivia scowled at her aunt’s obvious lack of respect for wolves, but there wasn’t much use in denying it. “Yes.”
She nodded. “And you want him for your own.”
“No.” Olivia glared at her aunt, daring her to question it.
She frowned. “I don’t quite—”
Olivia balled up her fists. “Jaxson needs to be free to choose his own mate. A proper mate. And I’m his only chance to make that happen. This is my only chance to do something decent with my life for once. To make up for—”
Gwen’s eyes had gone wide.
“To make up for killing my parents.” All the air went out of Olivia’s lungs. She said it. Finally. Out loud. And to the one person who could destroy her by barely lifting a finger.
Gwen’s face twisted up. “Olivia, dear, that wasn’t your fault! You were just a child, coming into your powers and—”
Olivia held up her hand to cut her off. She’d made all the excuses in her own head for years. None of it changed the fact that her parents were dead by her own hand. “I
t doesn’t matter. It happened. And I can’t undo it. What matters now is that I need to break this curse. Before I’m too in love with Jaxson to be able to let him go.” She was afraid it might already be too late for that, but she was going to try.
Gwen’s concern wrinkled up her magically young face… then slowly, it relaxed. She was silent for a moment, seeming to look all over the air surrounding Olivia. She remembered that scanning look from when she was a child, when her mother would read her aura. Her aunt was judging her somehow by the essence of her intentions. Her thoughts. Olivia kept still and quiet while she did, hoping that she’d see Olivia’s determination in the colors visible only to true witches.
Finally, her aunt nodded. “I see. Well, then. We better find a way to break this spell.”
Olivia’s body sagged with relief. Then, impulsively, she reached out and threw her arms around the tall, gorgeous witch who was going to save not only Jaxson, but her as well. “Thank you so much, Aunt Gwen.”
When she pulled back, there was a shine in Gwen’s eyes to go with her smile.
Jaxson pulled his car up to the meeting spot where Jace had assembled the assault team.
Everyone, including Jaxson, had changed into combat gear—lightweight body armor they could still shift out of, if necessary, plus ultra-light helmets with built-in mics for communicating while human. All told, they had two vans, one car, a dozen shifters, and a small arsenal of weapons and tech for taking down the gate. The meetup was two blocks away from the warehouse, and the sun was starting to sink, but the cover of night was still hours away.
“What’s our status?” Jaxson asked his brother, who was holding one of their secure handsets to his ear.
Jace held up a finger, listened to something on the handset. “Copy that.” Then he turned to Jaxson. “About half an hour ago, a van arrived and entered the gate. It drove straight into the warehouse through a back garage door. Nothing has left since Murphy arrived and set up his surveillance, and there’s obviously still activity on the ground, so…”
