Hexing the Alpha (Hex My Heart, #1) (3 page)

The bigger shifter of the group straightened and nodded in her way in a show of respect. Yeah, he’d tangoed with a witch before and she bet he’d never forget the encounter either.

She narrowed her eyes on him and slowly nailed each of his friends with a glare. The Matchstick was hers by inheritance. She’d spent a long time earning the respect of her new neighbors, both human and supernatural, and it looked like a few more coming-of-age drinkers needed to learn the rules. They shared a delicate balance between the races with witches new to the scene. Shifters and humans clashed often, but in her bar... her domain. Her rules.

A low snarled growl sounded from behind her, sending every hair on her neck on end. All the rowdy troublemakers slowly shifted their gazes to stare past her, even the rough looking humans. Jake only had to give a warning to make his point.

The pups hurried and righted themselves along with the overturned tables and chairs. She calmed her powers, turned on her heel and made her way back to the bar.

Dammit, Jake. Freaking meddling wolf.
She’d half hoped to dish out a little ass kicking. It would have gone a long way with helping her release some pent-up tension.

No matter how much she wanted to keep walking, her gaze defied her demands and glided over to lock on Jake’s. His eyes still burned with the same intense smolder. Goddess, even halfway across the room she could still feel his pull on her. As if her magick answered to his wolf. But that was crazy. She’d never heard of a witch and wolf mating before. Shifters, witches and fae kept to their own with so few crossovers she’d only heard it whispered about here and there.

With a roguish grin plastered on his face, he raised his tumbler in salute and tossed back the fuchsia and lavender liquor he favored.

She ground to a halt. Wait
. What the fuck?
Moon Lust was silver-white.

Uh-oh.

Her stomach dipped and rolled as though she’d just plunged from a fifty-foot drop.

“Amber.” Her eyes glued on Jake, she screamed for the waiter, but it was already too late. “Holy Hades in a hand basket I am so so fucked.” She muffled a groan in between debating which exit to use.

She found herself fumbling in her back pocket for her vibrating phone. Freaking hell, trouble always came in sets of three.

Her sister. And she could bet where there was one there were three.

She couldn’t ignore the call unless she wanted an impromptu visit.

“Yeah, can I call you back, Ambrosia?” She winced at her clipped voice that would only spark questions from her nosy sister. When her client had posed the idea of her making a love potion, for a brief two seconds she had considered asking for Ambrosia’s help. Hands down she was lucky to have a coven sister as understanding and forgiving as Ambrosia, but if things went south, no way she wanted to be responsible for her sister’s punishment.

Honor rounded the corner of the bar. Habit brought a quick smile of greeting to a few regulars, playing off the
holy-shit
moment she was having as to not scare off any of her customers.

Curious gazes followed the lascivious show between her and Jake, hopefully unaware of what had just gone down—Honor once again getting into trouble.

Her feet faltered. She stumbled forward. A wall of power slammed into her back, sending her sprawling face-first onto the hardwood floor. With her hands braced against the floor, she scanned the room. No longer did she see amused faces. Instead, everyone was huddled on the floor with her or outright shifting. Rippling shockwaves of her magick pulsed through the air to collide with everyone.

Fucking pups couldn’t keep it together this close to the full moon.

Fuck. She was so screwed.

How much had Jake drunk? From the sudden energy spike thrumming around the place she’d wager all of it, down to the last purple drop.

The sudden burst of energy kindled a response within her. Her power hummed to life, ready to defend against the outburst. She summoned control and looked over her shoulder to connect gazes with one very determined alpha.

The glow of his eyes stood out from the darkened corner and there was no mistaking the hungry, I-want to-fuck –you-long and hard look in his eyes. And the way his body flexed and moved with a predator’s grace. Fixated, she could do little else but watch his smooth, sensual glide as he made his way toward her...

Uh-oh.

“Uh, yeah, Ambrosia... gotta go.” She snapped the phone off, shoved it in her back pocket and on hands and knees scrambled up the stairs. She flung open the door to her apartment and slammed it behind her with a flick of the deadbolt.

Ha. Like locking a door would keep out the big bad wolf.

Honor pushed up and strode across the room. Maybe there was a way to cancel the effects of her spell. How could she not have once stopped and thought about how to nix the hex if things went to Hades in a kettle?

Thumbing through her Book of Shadows she found her love spell, but nothing on how to break it. Freaking holy Hades, this was not happening! Three hundred pages of spells, charms, and protections and still nothing? She so did not want to add to her growing list of offenses with the Council. The Elders would strip her of her powers and probably ban her from ever practicing her gift again. Blood drained from her head and the room started to spin. Her hand quivered more and more with each page she flipped. “Breathe, Honor, Just breathe.”

Wood cracked against wood.

She clenched her fist across her stomach and twirled on her heel.

The few pieces of apple she’d eaten earlier tried to make a reverse move back up her throat. Swallowing hard a few times helped squash the queasiness, but her stomach bottomed and rolled again. She found it harder to breathe with each swallow she forced past her suddenly dry throat.

The way the defined muscles of his torso and abs stood out beneath the tight cotton of his shirt drew her gaze first, then it drifted farther until her attention settled on the bulge in his jeans. His gaze steadied on hers, the stark crimson a drastic difference from the smoldering bluish-red tinge he’d had before. He stood there for a beat and she could do nothing but stare back at him bathed in the half-lit entryway of her apartment.

She unclenched her fingers and splayed her hand across her midriff to help settle the unruly butterflies. But there was no stopping the warm blush that washed over her from head to toe.

Goddess, he could do things to her...

He looked so... hungry.

Like he wanted to eat her.

Uncontrollable shivers faded to a full-on flaming need.

His nostrils flared. Could he smell her desire for him? She grew still—prey caught in the wolf’s sights.

She shook her head.
Think, Honor. Get your head out of bed with him and on task.
But still. Jake was in her apartment, mere feet from her bed. That mixed with their heated attraction for each other, well...

NO. It only spelled trouble. She giggled at her own pun.

Jake stalked across her small apartment, the shadows of night playing across his strong features. He stood only a few inches from her now, glowing pupils dilated. Heat radiated from him to stroke along her bare arms. With his shoulders back and gaze trained on her, she stiffened against the dining room table at her back.

She flexed her fingers around the rim of hardwood and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

Jake leaned in the last few inches separating them to run his nose along the sensitive skin of her neck.

Could he see her heart pounding a hole through her camisole?

“Do you fear me, Honor?” His chest rumbled against hers with his growled question next to her ear.

What kind of question was that? Her breath caught and she shifted slightly. “No. Yes. Maybe? I know you won’t hurt me, but...”

“But what?” he coaxed as he fingered a lock of her hair and brought the strands up to breathe in her scent.
But I can’t think with your mouth this close to mine.
She was so close to just reaching out for a small kiss to feel what his warm lips would be like on hers one more time.

“Mmm. You smell of strawberries. My favorite fruit.”
Goddess, his voice sounded so dreamy.

She connected their gazes. “Your eyes. They have that glow again. The blue mixed with red. Only it’s redder than blue now.”

“That’s because my wolf sees you as our mate.” His husky voice a sensual tug on her libido.

Her mouth fell open.
Shut the front door.
What the hell did she step into now? And did she care? Having an overly hexed alpha pressing up against her wasn’t so bad. The way his hardened cock rubbed against the sweet spot between her legs—

Stop, Honor. It’s not real. It’s your damn potion.
She mentally chided herself, but it did no good.

He hovered over her, waiting.

She shook her head on a drawn out sigh, causing her long dark hair to swish against her back and arms. His gaze followed the motion and settled on her breasts. With his body flush against hers, he pushed forward until he had her on the table and him between her legs. His hardness straining against the confined of his jeans created a delicious friction between her legs as he ground a slow rhythm.

Her heart danced and her breath came in short bursts. She finally had the alpha where she wanted him and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. Damn stubborn morals. She wouldn’t take advantage of him while he was under her spell.

Judging others wasn’t her thing, but she had her hard limits.

Working with unstable magick came with risks, she understood that. Love potions were unpredictable, but no, did she listen to reason? And the damn wolf had swallowed three times the dosage in one gulp.

“Um, Jake.”

“I can smell your need for me, baby. Feel you reaching out. My wolf is going mad for a taste of you.” A pulsing pressure budded to life in her core and worked its way along her nerves.

She straightened, feeling him grow even harder. “You can? You do?”

“Hmm. And you’re divine, Honor. Like forbidden fruit I’ve craved for a lifetime.”

She tipped her head back and stroked a single finger down the length of his jaw. Short stubble grazed her skin and his eyes grew more intense as he watched her. No more than a half inch of lust and magick-supercharged air separated them.

Every fiber of her being trained on him. What was so forbidden about her? Why did he get close to her only to pull back? Given everything she was dealing with over the past couple of days, she’d never asked why.

And another thing she never asked was why he insisted on staying until closing time every night this past month.

All the hot fantasies she’d dreamed about with him flitted across her mind, causing another wave of desire to flood her system. Long showers featuring him lathering her body, caressing her until she had no choice but to scream from all the pleasure he infused her with. Then making love to her against the steam heated tiles. Or there were the nights of waking up from wet dreams, her pussy pulsating from the need for him and him there to care for her.

But they were just her fantasies.

They’d flirted, he’d teased, and they even shared a world-altering kiss. Then something had happened and he’d peeled out of there as if the devil chased his soul, leaving her to dream about his dark blue eyes and sizzling lips.

Her nerves twisted into a bundle of knots. “Listen, Jake, I’m sorry about the mix up. Please don’t be mad.” She rested her palms on his chest and slightly pushed. He leaned closer to rub his nose on the tips of hers, ignoring her.

“Mad? Do I look mad to you?” His masculine yet gorgeous face a whisper away from hers.

No. He looked horny and as though she was the only thing that could satisfy the craving, and his tousled dark hair begging for her to run her fingers through.

It was uncanny, really, how she could read him so well tonight, but that was all due to her inability to follow rules.

“Umm. I just cast a spell over you, Jake. That can’t make you too happy.”

Jake wrapped a thick arm around her waist and scooted her bottom over the edge of the table until she was flush against his bulging pants. “Imagine that. Will it be permanent?”

She gasped and let it out on a harsh groan of delight. Goddess, she wished for a hunky drool-worthy alpha to call her own. Having a man who knew what she was as much as who she was and didn’t tuck tail and run from her magical side felt good for a change. Yeah, permanent sounded nice.

But she couldn’t do that to him no matter what she wanted. “No, Jake. In fact, if I could nix the spell I would. Unfortunately, you have a witch with a penchant for trouble on your hands and this kind of spell has to wear off by itself. It should only take a few hours—given the dosage you swallowed.” She plucked at some imaginary lint on her blouse unable to look him in the eye.

Jake stared down at her. The heat from his gaze all but searing her skin.

“Or we can finish what we started a few nights ago.”

J
ake didn’t wait for her answer. Not that she had one. Her mouth hung open too far for her to form any words. He was talking about their kiss. Their heart-searing single kiss that had seemed to last forever and was over just as fast. Then he’d pinned her against her bar, his fingers working her into a wet, mushy mess of want. His mouth devouring every exposed inch of her body. She couldn’t think about it without feeling the same rush of raw possessive need.

And before she could find her bearings, he’d stopped. Pulled back from her with a guilty, yet wistful, look in his eye and left her exposed in more ways than one.

Jake scrunched the ends of her halter-top in his hands and lifted the soft material over her head in one tug, his fingers brushing along the soft skin of her sides. Dark tendrils of her hair fell to cover her bare breasts. “Delicious. And just the way I like them. Ample and firm. I plan to feast. Lie back.” His words were a low command.

He guided her down, slowly revealing her extended nipples from beneath her thick hair one at a time. Cold wood against her naked back had her arching off the surface. The motion pushed her aching breasts up and straight into the hands and mouth of her hot alpha.