Bewitching The Alpha (Hex My Heart, #3) (3 page)

“O
ne last thing—if I promise to be a good little witch tonight, will you open the Enchanted Embers in the morning?” In the last seven months since being back in Sweet Briar Hollow she’d added a few things to her growing list of accomplishments.

Finish degree in finance and business.
Check.

Set up a kick-ass magick and potions shoppe.
Check
.

Defy the High Council’s law.
Check
. And, of course, become the permanent black sheep or ‘witch’ of the family as a byproduct of that. If that counted, then double check.

After tonight she could stop suppressing the wildfire in her gut and let it burn in glory. Or let it slowly eat away at her. Either way, enough was enough.

“Do what you gotta do, darlin’. Call me when the bubbling cauldron you’re stirring explodes.”

“Such little faith...” Ember pressed end and slipped the cell into the back pocket of her jeans then swiveled on her heel, straightened her shoulders and pushed.

The scent of day-old cigar smoke accosted her before the wave of a flowery perfume drowned it out. Since flowers in winter weren’t likely, her mind dredged up the only explanation. Another woman had been here, or still was.

She eased one foot in front of the other. With nothing but moonlight drenching the cabin, she couldn’t see much.

But what if...

Back against the wall, she moved an inch at a time, her box still tucked tight to her side. Over the music and rumble of the crowd, she’d overheard Julian tell a pack-mate he was heading out for a run. Ten minutes later she watched him peel out of the parking lot in the direction of the ridge opposite his cabin.

But what if...

He couldn’t have beaten her back here. Could he? Hades to blaze, what if he was with someone? Her back stiffened and she froze in place. She tilted her head to catch any noise.
Please goddess, don’t let me hear anything.
Hot and cold waves flushed her body and her heart pounded. Winter had a firm grasp on the surrounding forest—not a sound inside or out penetrated the darkness.

Palm out, she ran a hand along the wall until she found the light switch. Muted yellow light flared to life, revealing a quiet room. With her gaze flicking from side to side, she didn’t notice any telltale signs of anyone being home. So far.

To her left the entryway opened to a tidy living space, and the kitchen and dining area took up the entire front area of the cabin. To the left, the bedroom. She swallowed past her dry throat and took a step, then another.

Books lined the back wall and the large reading space sported a leather sofa she knew intimately. Julian had made love to her every which way imaginable on those cushions and when they’d finished, he’d carried her over to the fireplace and made love to her again, claiming her in more ways than one. It was their last night together. Standing on the outside looking in, the memory felt like a lifetime ago. Looking down at the thick cushioned rug with his scent surrounding her, everything came rushing back. There were times she wished she could settle for letting it all stay in the past. Tears burned the back of her eyes. She stiffened and forced herself to concentrate. There would be time for reminiscing later, but right now... she had to know. Just one look and she’d get to work.

Ember strode deeper into the cabin and rounded the small counter space, and then entered the short hallway that lead to the bedroom. She closed her eyes and counted to five.

To Hades with what-ifs!

Nerves made her movements jerky. With a twist the doorknob clicked and the door swung open. Familiar scents hit her instantly. First a pine woodsy scent with a mixture of something she couldn’t pinpoint but leaned toward somewhat vanilla. Maybe from his cigar.

Her shoulders slumped and her chest heaved with a heavy sigh. So he wasn’t here now, but from the crumpled sheets, he must have been here with someone. If anything, the man was tidy to the point of driving her crazy-mad. Leaving his sheets in a balled mess wasn’t like him. Her heart constricted and she turned on her heel to flick a switch on. Several photos of all their friends and his pack members stuck out from random corners of the large mirror that hung opposite his bed.

She stroked a single digit down the gilded frame he’d hand carved. Wolves with their heads angled back, howling into the ether in and amongst the moon’s cycles decorated the frame.

Friendly faces and bright smiles caught her eye and she slipped the photo from its place. Jake, his arm around Honor, with Julian and herself all together and smiling at the opening of Honor’s bar, The Matchstick.

Happier times before the magick of a new love and a reality had time to smear her bliss with ugliness. Before all shit with her family and the High Council had gone sideways in a flaming cauldron.

Fresh air filled the room from the open window, causing something to glint in the light of the lamp.

What? A warm smile spread across her face. He had it all this time? She thought it had gone missing in her haste to leave town. How had he managed to get it? Ember cupped a thick gold ring in her palm that hung from a long chain she recognized as her own. The ring was his. He’d given it to her their first and last All Hallows gathering, a supernatural mixer where funky and fun tended to lead to all kinds of naughtiness. The one time of the year the dickdouches of the witches pulled the proverbial stick out of their conjoined asses long enough to relax the laws to help maintain the peace between the supernatural species.

Her entire body tightened with regret. He’d slid it on her finger with a look in his eye that meant more to her than his pack ring ever could. Then fate came rushing in with a whole other plan both knew nothing about until it was too late.

She slipped the chain from its perch between carved teeth of a wooden wolf’s mouth and let the cool metal of the gold chain puddle in her hand. The band was made of a wolf’s body and the head resting at the top of the finger with a single amber eye accent. The same color of Julian’s eyes before their bonding.

He’d kept it on her chain all this time. A few months after leaving, she’d mailed it back to him as a way to give him closure. The second hardest thing she’d ever had to do.

White curtains waved in the breeze and broke the shafts of moonlight and brought her out of the past.

Right, she had work to do. Coming in here was a mistake and cost her precious time she didn’t have.

She unclasped the chain and slid the ring onto her thumb, not wanting to think about what it would be like to have it back on the same finger he’d first slipped it on then replaced the photo back where she found it. Keeping her eyes trained anywhere but the bed, she made her way to the kitchen.

The open-style floor plan accommodated floor-to-ceiling windows to the side of the kitchen and flooded the entire space with natural light by day and moonlight by night.

Just what she needed.

With a flick of her wrist the box lid flung open, revealing the key to her regaining her past. She’d worked hard over the last several months on making Enchanted Embers the go-to spell shoppe and thank the goddess for that. Coming by some of the ingredients her charmed truth spell called for was no easy task.

In the center of the table she placed a small mortar bowl usually left for grinding herbs, then set out three small crystal vials, two thick white candles and her athame, a witch’s ritual blade, for the most important step.

In one hand she palmed a candle, carved in Julian’s name along the side then scribed her own in the second candle and placed them both in the grinding dish. With precise care, she peeled back the lid to first one vial to coat the rim of the candle with a single drop of lavender. Then followed that with two drops of pure lemon extract on the wicks of each candle from the other vial.

A clock chimed from somewhere within the cabin. Hades to blazes. One stroke and counting. If this was going to work, she needed to hurry before the clock struck a minute past midnight. Only one more step. As if the fate of every soul she knew depended on her, she palmed the last vial. In all her twenty-six years, ten years of which working all levels of magic, she still sweated using the scaly shifter’s blood.

She tipped the vial over until one rich crimson drop mixed with all the ingredients on each candle. Casting a spell with dragon’s blood wasn’t a game, and one mishap could land her in some real hot water with the Dragon Lords.

Bowl in hand, she turned to the moondrenched windows and began in a soft chant...

Spirits of earth, spirits of fire

Send to me my heart’s desire

Brightest blessing, brightest light

Bring to me truth this night

With open hearts and secrets revealed

Hear my words, this spell be sealed

By my will, so mote it be.

With a single snap above each wick, Ember lit the wick to Julian’s candle then hers. If she was going to do this, she had better be ready to give the same truth she demanded from him. An easy price to pay.

Whether he wanted to hear it at first or not. Painful as it was, he had a right to know and she’d wasted enough time skirting around him and the truth.

Bursts of golden flames licked high only to spiral around her head, her chest, and feed into the candle in a fierce spin. Mixtures of oranges and ginger tendrils of magick trailed behind to settle over the mortar bowl. In a blink, the white candle crumpled into a pile of fine pixie-like dust, infused with her charm and ready to do her bidding.

No going back
,
Ember
. But she still needed one missing ingredient. Julian.

Speak of the wolf.

A deep rumble preceded the bright light that bounced off the front window to cast a long shadow along the back wall.

Like a thought come to life, he was here.

Heavy footstep pounded up the front stairs a millisecond before the front door slammed open.
Hades to blazes, here goes nothing
.

Time froze. Ice blue eyes bored into her and everything ground to a full stop. Oh, shit.

Muscle. So much hard delicious, mouth-watering muscle. In all her hurry she’d forgotten one thing about Julian. How incredibly handsome he was. Sapphire eyes, black hair, and deeply tanned skin. If she could put words to the man that stood in front of her with the hard glint in his eye, she’d say edgy, capable and dangerous. So very dangerous. To her heart and her libido.

But her soul too, because a spot in Hades just opened for her right alongside the devil himself. Only someone evil and wicked could ever hurt this man.

Did that make her the wicked witch?

Eyes leveled on her, he pushed forward in a slow stalk. Oh goddess. She fought to keep the arousal that whipped through her hidden beneath a calm mask of indifference. Could he hear her heart beat?

Breathe, Ember.
She cleared her throat and stiffened, holding steady when what she wanted to do was fling herself into his arms and beg for his forgiveness. Or run. Run as if the devil was blowing fire up her ass. The old Ember would have. The new Ember straightened her shoulders and cocked a brow.

“Try and run, little girl, but the big bad wolf is home and there’s nowhere to hide now.”

A smile tilted a corner of her mouth up.
Touché, wolfie
.

Ember gathered the fine dust of her truth charm, moved from the table positioned in the middle of the kitchen and closed the few steps between her and Julian.

Before he could figure out her intentions, she raised her palm and blew.

Gold and silver flecks with a touch of crimson sparkled in the dim light, coating the whole man from head to toe. With a fair amount for herself, she quickly dusted the charm over her body and breathed in a heavy dose to make sure they were equal.

Seconds passed and she watched as her charm dissolved, revealing one very ticked off alpha with a hard icy-blue gaze trained one hundred percent on her.

Hades to blazes. “You’re playing with hellfire tonight, Ember, and this time I won’t let you get away from the flames.”

The man had no idea.

P
ure fury lightened his already ethereal eyes. The glow was as beautiful as it was lethal, lethal to others, anyway. She knew, down to the deepest part of her soul, he would never hurt her. Never threaten her or raise a hand to strike her.

But there was a warning that hid beneath the surface of his bunched muscles and strained expression. If she pushed too hard, he might push back and what he’d demand as payment would be more than she could pay.

Obviously, he didn’t know her very well. Not anymore. He thought the shy, sweet Ember he fell for two years ago had returned.

Her inner vixen smiled.
Oh, bad, bad move, wolfie
. No. All illusions of innocence had vanished long ago. What stood in the middle of his living room was a woman damn determined to give as much truth as received for both their sakes, and she damn sure wasn’t shy on how to go about getting it. She was so over cowering from the higher powers and the bullshit rules of her world.

Her new motto: Fuck ‘em.

And if his people had anything to say about her charming a second-in-command alpha shifter to a powerful pack, then they knew where to find her. Until then, she planned to get her life back on track.

If Julian wanted to scare her, he’d have to work a helluva lot harder at containing the lusty vibes that rolled off him to stroke a sweet trail of lust along her libido.

He stepped in and slammed the door closed behind him. She felt the thud of wood hitting metal all the way to the soles of her feet. He was pissed.

Too bad.

“What the hell was that, Ember?” He scrubbed a hand over his face but it was too late. The second the charm left her palm, it absorbed into the skin and it was balls to the wall from here on out. Let the fun begin.

She mentally cracked her knuckles. Tingles ran along her skin and her mouth grew dry. Deep and dark, she steeled against the shiver that wanted to rack her body. His voice washed over her like a velvety caress.