Wickedest Witch (14 page)

“You’d better get ready
for our meeting,” said Evangeline, capable of fighting her own battles. And looking forward to it.
Stubborn mother, prepare to meet a wicked witch.

With a smile as false as her own, if with a
lot more teeth, Aneka agreed. “Go, son. I’m sure your
friend
and I will get along wonderfully.”

As if anybody believed that lie.

“No blood,” he admonished as he walked out shaking his head. Oh how cute. He trusted her not to kill his mother. Idiot.

“All right, spit it out,” said Evangeline, looking Aneka in the eye, not one to dance around.
“You’re obviously not happy about something and I’m guessing it has to do with Ryker.”

“You will stay away from my son,”
warned Aneka, her eyes hard and uncompromising.

“Why would I do that?” asked Evangeline
, perching herself on a stool.

“I can smell your filthy magic, witch. I will not have my boy tainted by your kind.”

Evangeline rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. My magic doesn’t work on him and you know it. Not to mention the whole interspecies thing means no babies. So why don’t you just butt out? Ryker and I are just having fun while on a job. Big fucking deal.”

“
It is a big deal. I’ve got plans for Ryker.”

“He’s a big boy. Why don’t we let him decide what he wants
?”

“Because he’s a man and men often think with the wrong body part.”

“Lucky for you, I don’t use him for thinking.” With a slow lick of her lips, Evangeline made it obvious what she did use him for.

Aneka’s eyes narrowed
. “Filthy slut.”

“
Such language.” Evangeline pretended shock before letting loose an evil chuckle. “Don’t make me wash your mouth out with soap.”

“
Are you threatening me?”

“I’m sorry. Was I being too subtle? To clarify
, yes. I am. I will fuck you son if and when I like, and if you continue to call me names, I will make you regret it whether you’re his mommy or not.”

“
Witch, you don’t know who you’re messing with.” Aneka’s form wavered from petite woman to that of a large, striped cat with very, big teeth.

Oh, how juvenile.
Evangeline yawned. “I really hope you’ve got more than that.” Narrowing her own eyes, Evangeline smiled coldly even as she formed an invisible bubble around Aneka, careful to make sure the edges didn’t touch the shape-shifter. Once formed, she sucked the air out of it. Evangeline almost giggled at the beauty of it. And to think it only took a single phone call, bitching to her grandfather about shape-shifters and their immunity to magic.
I love that Granddad taught me to think outside the box. Like using indirect magic against shifters, beautifully effective.

Standing in front of the gasping woman, Evangeline shook her head
in a chiding manner. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” She grinned her nastiest smile. “Let’s get one thing straight here. I actually kind of like your son. At least in the bedroom. I know, hard to believe. Trust me, I have a hard time believing it myself. While I like him, I can guarantee no one will hurt or fuck with him, or if they do, it won’t be something they’ll live to tell. Now, you might be his mommy, which means by default I have to keep you out of a coffin, but—” Evangeline leaned closer to the airless vacuum she’d created and met the bulging eyes of Ryker’s mother. “You will not fuck with me or insult me. At least not to my face. Do we
understand
each other?”

A begrudging nod from Aneka and Evangeline dropped the bubble.

For a second, a gleam of admiration entered Aneka’s eye. “It’s a pity you weren’t born a shifter.”

“But then we wouldn’t be having this wonderful time getting to know each other,” said Evangeline sweetly as Ryker walked in holding a large studded collar.

A typical male, Ryker seemed oblivious to the undercurrents, which suited Evangeline just fine. After all, he might take offense with the knowledge Evangeline had kind of choked his mother.

“I see you both survived.” He glanced around the pristine kitchen.

“Was there really any doubt? We had a lovely chat while you were gone.”

Aneka snorted
, but kept silent.

Ryker tossed them both a
suspicious look, but chose not to ask. Smart man.

“
What the hell is that for?” asked Evangeline, indicating the collar in his hands while at the same time wondering if it had matching cuffs. The things she could do with him spread eagle...

Dammit. Evangeline really needed to do something about the whole
he-could-smell-her-arousal thing because Ryker growled softly, and with a squeak, Aneka said, “I think I’d better leave. Yes, I, um, need to go do something, elsewhere. Out of this house elsewhere.”

Evangeline didn’t even
wave goodbye as Ryker’s mother left. She only had eyes for the big man stalking toward her, his eyes wavering between his intense blue and the golden that indicated his reciprocal arousal.

“So who won the fight?” he asked.

Lips curling in a triumphant grin, Evangeline licked her lips at the naughty gleam in his eye. “The wickedest witch never loses. Would you believe we came to a mutual
understanding
?”

He let out a bark of laughter that turned into a strangled moan when she rubbed up against him and cupped his groin.

“Now that I’ve passed the mommy test, do I get a prize?”

“I swear
, witch, after we’re done with our meeting with the vamps, I am going to pleasure you until you can’t move.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

His hard kiss left little doubt he meant what he said.

I can’t wait.

As Ryker padded alongside Evangeline in the form of his beast—a large, black, deadly panther—he thought over her reaction to his change of form back at his place.

Slapping his studded leather collar on the counter, he’d outlined his plan to accompany her in his beast form.

“So you want go as my black cat?
Sort of like a witch’s familiar?” she’d said, tapping her chin back at his place. “I like it.” Then she’d looked at him expectantly.

A part of him had wanted to shy from her keen eyes—
how will she react to my changing in front of her?
But his witch had guts. If any woman could handle the disturbing image of a man morphing into a beast, she could. Shedding his clothes, he stood in front of her naked and erect. He just couldn’t help himself around her. With an ability only natural born alphas owned—the others able to only change during extreme emotions or a full moo
n—
he’d coaxed his beast into taking over. It needed little urging. With a roar, the beast took over, his human form suddenly sprouting the fur, structure, and musculature of a jungle cat, all in the blink of an eye.

Evangeline said not a word
during his transformation, but her green eyes did had opened wide in her face. Then she’d smiled, a big, beautiful grin of admiration. “Fucking fantastic. Look at you. What a big, beautiful kitty you are.” To the man’s disgust, but the panther’s glee, she’d proceeded to rub his head, especially around the ears, and soon had his beast purring in delight.

Trust his witch to treat a dangerous predator like an overgrown house pet.

Once again, she’d passed yet another test, proving once again just how rightly his beast had chosen.
My mate.
The words didn’t seem so shocking anymore; on the contrary, a sense of rightness and possessiveness suffused them.
The only problem will be making her accept it. My lovemaking is one thing. Somehow, I don’t think she’ll handle the whole I’m yours-for-life
issue as well.

W
hen she’d placed the big black collar around his neck, she’d giggled without reason. Studded with gems and metal, it served as a prop to make him look more imposing. Stroking him, she leaned down and murmured the reason for her mirth—and scent of arousal.

“You’ll have to wear this for me sometime, naked of course.”

Yup. Fucking perfect for him.

She
drove them to the vampire lair in her car, an experience he never wanted to repeat. She truly lived up to her reputation as a menace to society in so many ways.

An hour’s drive with traffic, a few broken speed laws, and just past twilight, they found themselves outside of the city and in front of the large mansion that housed the vamps for the area. Awash in lights, the house lit up the encroaching gloom while strange howls and gibbering laughter announced their presence.

The one problem with Ryker wearing his kitty form was his inability to speak to Evangeline. He had to trust—that word almost made him cough up a hairball—that she had a plan. If not, he’d have to let his feline play. Something that might happen anyway given vamps were notorious seducers, a thought that made his fur bristle.
Mine.

Any vamp so much as laid a finger on her, and they’d end up minus a limb.
Ryker didn’t share well with others.

Evangeline strutted in her heels and slitted skirt—
mmm creamy white thighs
—up the steps to the double front door. Without an ounce of fear—on the contrary, he could smell the anticipation emanating from her—she banged the metal knocker in the shape of a demon’s head.

The eyes of the carving opened, their ruby red glow baleful. Its metallic lips curved into a sardonic smile when it said
, “What do ye want, witch?”

“I’m here to speak to the coven leader.”

“Is he expecting you?” asked the demonic face.

“
I swear, you are just as bad as the knocker at Rumpelstiltskin’s house.”

“We’re cousins. Gotta problem with that, hag?”

Lips pursed, he could smell her irritation mounting. “Listen you hunk of junk. I knocked out of courtesy and now you’re pissing me off. Let me in before I get
really
annoyed, you animated piece of scrap metal.” She didn’t raise her voice as she threatened, but the fact she would not hesitate to act came through loud and clear.

“There’s no need to be nasty,” sulked the doorknocker before the door swung open with a theatrical squeak.

“Come along, kitty,” she said, and holding her head imperially high, she strode into the bloodsuckers’ lair.

Damn, she’s got guts.
He thanked the fact his cat had control over its sexual urges because he knew if he’d seen her like this as a man, he would have pressed her up against the wall and kissed her breathless. Who would have thought a woman of power would have proven so sexy?

With her wiggle leading the way,
Ryker followed behind her, all senses on high alert. His nose, keener in this form, scented the air and the flavors that imbued it.
Dust, decay, undead thing. Ooh, yummy, a bleeding living thing.
Nothing surprising for a house full of vamps.

Unerringly, his witch strode into the vacant
-seeming mansion, her heels clacking on the marble entrance floor. She seemed to know where she wanted to go and never paused or slowed down her pace even as she approached a pair of closed wooden doors. With a fling of her hand and a rush of power he could feel along his heightened senses, she flung the portals open for their grand entrance.

The sudden stench of
bloodsuckers wafted out and Ryker’s beast bared its teeth.
Fuck me, there are a lot of them.
His witch seemed not to notice, though. She entered the ballroom with the grace and confidence of a queen, glancing neither left nor right at the ranks of undead that lined the walls. The sound of her heels echoed loudly as the congregation of vamps fell silent, their dark eyes following her path to the throne at the far end of the grand ballroom.

H
ead swinging from side to side, Ryker made sure his large canines were visible and menacing. He didn’t like the fact that so many vampires were gathered. The reports he’d studied about the vampires had not mentioned that this coven had grown so large.
I’ll have to let the shifter council know.
A culling was perhaps in order.

When Evangeline
came to a stop in front the throne, the silence hung thick all around them. You could have heard a mouse fart.

Nobody s
poke a word. The battle of wills had begun.

It didn’t take long for discomfort to set in. For everyone but his witch. She stood there
, still as a statue in bored indifference, waiting, her expression flat, her eyes cold.

Around them, Ryker heard the ruffle of fabric as those in attendance shifted, unsure and discomfited.

The vampire on his throne gave in. He straightened from his slouch with an expression if displeasure. Platinum-haired with pale aristocratic features that some might have called handsome, he surveyed them, or more specifically, Evangeline. Ryker definitely didn’t appreciate the interest that lit his expression as he eyed her up and down, trying to rile her. Still, she didn’t say a word.