Wolfsbane: Aspect of the Wolf (11 page)

She gasped at the raw pleasure at finally having his hands on her. Trapped against his chest, she felt his heart beating under her fingertips. His breath warmed her neck and his body commanded hers once again. Something took over, just as it had the night before, and she lost herself in the desire to be taken again.

"You did something to me. You changed me, too.” She nuzzled his neck and nipped at his jaw. “I can't stop thinking about you. I feel like I'm in heat or something."

Daniel met her gaze. Did he growl again as he lowered his lips to her neck? He gripped the collar of her shirt and exposed enough skin to place a branding kiss over her wounds.

"It definitely has to do with moonrise. I was all right until then. I've been desperate to get near you since I left the house."

She smiled and ground her hips against his. “So now you're near me."

"Not near enough.” Daniel tugged open her shirt and feasted on the flesh above the lacy edge of her bra. He bent her body back against the counter and started to explore under her clothes.

The logical part of her brain spoke up. “Not here ... someone might walk by."

She squirmed out of his grasp and rounded the counter. He reached for her, but she ducked into the back corridor, laughing as she led him to her own lair.

When Daniel caught up to her, Emilie stood in the center of the black sunburst that now decorated the floor of the back room. She wore nothing but her jeans and an inviting look. In the far corner of the room, a black pillar burned. The flame reflected in her eyes as she beckoned him to touch her.

In the space of a heartbeat, he had her on the floor, stretched beneath him. His vision blurred with uncontrolled desire as he tore open her jeans and slid them down her legs. It shocked him that she wore nothing underneath. He would have enjoyed ripping off her underwear, but this made things easier.

Completely naked now, she arched her back and opened for him. He settled against her, letting her feel his need pressed tight against her warm center, while she pulled off his shirt.

She grinned and licked her lips, running her hands over his chest. He followed the movement of her tongue, hungry for a taste of her. He took that taste, ravaging her mouth while she opened his pants and thrust her hand inside to find him. She curled her fingers around his shaft and caressed it, helped him slide out of his pants.

Emilie drew him toward her and gasped when he thrust deep. He loved the sound she made, loved that her pupils went wide with pleasure at the feel of him cleaving into her. She wrapped her body around his and matched his rhythm, pumping back against him until they reached the edge of the precipice. He rose up and watched her eyes lose focus as she came hard. The grasping contractions of her body milked his own release from him. He loved everything about her. He loved her and yet he hated the wolf that brought him to this.

"Tell me again what you think Vance did to you.” He punctuated the command with finishing thrusts that wrung wanton moans from her lips. “Who claimed you? Who made you?
I
did. You're
mine. My
mate, not his.
Not
the beast's. The wolf inside you is
me
!"

She nodded, breathless, and she came again, shuddering in his arms.

When they lay spent and shivering on the cold floor, she drew his face to hers and kissed him hard. “Now what do you say we try this in a bed?"

Emilie awoke disoriented. The unfamiliar walls around her looked gray in the dim light oozing from a partially open window. She felt turned around, and for a moment, wondered if she'd rearranged the furniture in her bedroom before she went to sleep.

"Where—?"

Then it came back to her. Daniel had taken her to his house. Vance's car had been gone when they'd arrived, and finding they had the place to themselves had sparked a wild session of lovemaking on the living room floor, then onto the stairs, and finally, hours later, into Daniel's bed.

The feeble light of a cloudy dawn filtered in through the blue curtains, casting long shadows across the bed and across the sleeping form next to her. Daniel took up most of the mattress, his strong arms flung wide, a pillow bunched under his shoulder. The tangled sheets concealed little, and Emilie indulged in looking at him, long and lean, his handsome face relaxed in sleep.

Suddenly, she felt naked. Whatever had possessed her at moonrise seemed now to have fled, leaving her vaguely uneasy. She pulled her side of the sheet around her and nudged him. He grunted in response.

"Wake up."

"Wha...? Huh...?” He blinked at her. “What time is it?"

"I don't know. How do you feel?"

One eyebrow rose. “Like I should be sleeping."

"I mean, do you still feel ... you know?” She shrugged, unable to put the feeling into words.

He shifted in his position, careful to take the sheet with him, and rose on one elbow. “Insatiable?"

She nodded. That about summed it up.

"Uh ... no. I'm satiable ... sated, right now. You?"

"Mmm."

"What's wrong?” He had that look, that clueless guy look.

"It has to be the moon. That ... last night ... was so unlike us."

"But yesterday morning you said you wanted to—” He pulled the sheet a little tighter around him and gave her a searching look.

"I know. But the way it came on last night."

Daniel sat up all the way and ran one hand through his hair. He looked stark in the colorless light. Stubble darkened the lower half of his jaw and his eyes lay in shadows.

When she looked at him, Emilie felt a familiar ache low in her belly. The attraction to him still existed, but the clawing, biting she-wolf that had begged him to ravage her last night had vanished. In its place had settled a mild self-consciousness that bordered on embarrassment. She'd done things with him, gone places she'd never gone with another man—never thought she would go. What could he possibly think of her?

He stretched and groaned. “Maybe we'll need that spell reversal after all. Or maybe it will wear off in a couple of days."

"Do you think we should just wait for it to wear off? What if it happens every month?” Her voice rose as she considered the consequences. Would they tear each other apart for two more nights, then just get over it and go their separate ways?

"I don't know, Em. I can't think straight right now.” He put his hand on her shoulder.

The familiar touch seemed right, comfortable, yet her nerves flared and her muscles tightened. Involuntarily, she shrugged away from him.

"I want to check on Vance,” he said. “Then I'll make us some breakfast and we'll work this out. It'll be all right. Won't it?"

She nodded. “I'll meet you downstairs. If you find my underwear..."

He grinned, which made her blush. “I think you left your panties in the shop."

"Oh.” She watched when he climbed out of bed, leaving the sheet behind. Yes, the attraction was
definitely
still there. She bit her lower lip as he bent to retrieve his pants, then rummaged in a bureau drawer.

"Could I borrow another one of your shirts?” she asked.

"Help yourself. Top drawer, shirts. Bottom drawer, underwear.” He laughed. “On that note, I guess I'm glad we ended up at my place."

Her heart ached as she watched him cross the room. He stopped at the bedroom door and turned, a sober look replacing his smile. “Uh ... the fact that we didn't ... use any..."

"Protection.” She her stomach rolled. “I'm on the pill."

He sighed. “That's good. Not that I—"

"I know we should have."

"Well, magickal side effects tend to eradicate logical thought."

Emilie wanted to laugh. There stood the petition writer, the three-piece-suited investment broker disguised as the man with whom she was falling in love.

"Why don't you call Charlotte and see what you two can cook up by way of an antidote?"

"Good idea.”
Great
idea. Emilie definitely needed an antidote for what she felt for Daniel. And fast.

Breakfast at the Garrison house was quick and silent. Vance joined them, looking morose. He explained, between sips of coffee, that he'd gone to see Bethany but she hadn't been home. He'd waited outside her apartment all night and had finally given up and come home at daybreak.

Emilie apologized to him again before she rose to leave, her nervous stomach full from half a bran muffin and a few sips of orange juice. Daniel walked her to the front door and gave her a quick kiss.

"Let me drive you home,” he said.

"I could really use the walk. I'll be fine."

"Call me.” He looked a little lost, sweet, tired and too damn sexy for his own good. She kissed him back.

"I will."

At home, Emilie found Charlotte asleep on her couch. Her cousin woke as she tiptoed past.

"Maybe you should pack an overnight bag the next time you see Daniel.” Charlotte sat up and stretched, then eyed the gray T-shirt Emilie had borrowed. “I know that's not your shirt."

Emilie read the upside down words—the caption, “Property of the nearest blonde,” hung mid-torso—and moaned. “This was the first thing I pulled out of the drawer.” She plopped onto the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. “I need help."

"My rates are reasonable and I happen to have an opening in my schedule,” Charlotte quipped as she mimicked Emilie's posture. “Where would you like to begin?"

"I don't need therapy. I need an anti-love potion. Something to cool me off and keep me away from Daniel. Whatever happened during the spell the other night has taken over both of us, and I don't know what to do about it."

"Anti-love potions are tricky. They're best reserved for psycho-love, like stalkers and such. You could end up hating each other."

Emilie gave Charlotte a sidelong glance.

"Besides, are you in love? Or just lust? If a spell like that backfires, you could end up finding him utterly repulsive and still feel compelled to jump his bones every time you see him."

"What am I going to do, Charl? I've never felt like this. It's like having something inside gnawing at me. It hurts."

Charlotte stared at her with the Swanson eyes, sympathetic but stern. “Pull yourself together, girl. Get rid of that stupid T-shirt and take a long hot shower. I'll open up the shop for you, and when you get there, we'll work on something that will cool your jets and help you put things in perspective."

"Why don't you come to the office with me?” Daniel asked Vance. He paced back and forth in the kitchen, feeling a little shameful that he hadn't insisted on taking Emilie home. He felt somehow incomplete now, jittery and at loose ends. Maybe she was right about needing a long walk.

Vance grunted.

"How about a run around the park? Then we really
can
work on the Peterson Portfolio?"

His brother only blinked.

"Come on! You've got to get moving or your arteries will harden!” And Daniel had to keep moving to keep his thoughts off of Emilie and how much he hated letting her go this morning. He already had gotten used to seeing her in his clothes, and she looked amazing, draped in an oversized T-shirt, her hair mussed and her big green eyes sultry and sleepy. She glowed this morning, and he felt a surge of male pride that he'd done that to her. He wanted to do so much more.

"She was out all night,” Vance said, rising to dump the last of his coffee in the sink. “Who could she have been with all night?"

Like a bucket of cold water, Vance's pain washed away Daniel's growing lust. Back to reality. Focus, focus, his mind commanded. “Bethany's parents live over in Carrington Heights, don't they? Maybe she went over there."

"I called them. No answer."

"What about her girlfriends? She probably spent the night eating Häagen-Dazs and begging them to let her call you. You know how women are, they rally when relationships fall apart and they...” Had he said, “fall apart"?

Vance glared at him. “That's good. I feel so much better now. Hey, speaking of women—who put claw marks in the wallpaper next to the couch?"

Daniel coughed and looked away. “You're the one with claws, not me."

"Come on."

"It's nothing. The spell seems to have affected us a little bit. We got ... carried away."

"Aspect of the wolf,” Vance said under his breath.

Daniel shook his head, not because he disagreed with his brother, but because he didn't want to believe it. He'd kept his one-quarter werewolf blood under control all these years and now, because of Emilie's spell, it had broken loose. Even now, hours after moonset, his body hummed with unspent energy. He felt like a jet engine, ready to take off.

He needed a good run, a hot shower ... and he needed to get his hands on Emilie again. The wolf wasn't satisfied. He'd claimed her, bruised her with his lips, bitten her and devoured her over and over, and still he needed more.

"I can control it,” he said, more to reassure himself than Vance. “I know I can."

His brother shrugged, unconvinced. “Maybe you can, but can Emilie?"

"Give him this. Make sure he drinks all of it and you drink all of yours.” Charlotte corked two small bottles of the potion she and Emilie had cooked up. In the cauldron that sat between them, the remains of the red liquid still bubbled over a low flame. The steam smelled like licorice and chamomile.

"Do you think just a calming potion will be strong enough?” Emilie held up the bottles and looked at her cousin through the glass. She'd wanted something that would cure her attraction to Daniel completely, not just quiet the urge to tear off her clothes whenever she saw him. She didn't want love as the side effect of a spell.

"This will be fine.” Charlotte patted her arm. “Anything stronger and you might develop the urge to push him off the pier."

"I'd better take this to him before moonrise. I'll bring it to his office right now."

Charlotte began cleaning up the remnants of their spell work. “I'll watch the shop. I think I'll bottle the last of this just in case you come across a need for it in the future."