Cursed (The Order of the Wolf) (6 page)

“He can’t take his eyes off you? Doesn’t want to leave your side? Seems protective?”

“Y-y-yes.” Darcy nodded. “Effects of the curse.”

“You want the reversal, you come to me and you tell the pack to stay home. I’m only going to deal with you and the wolf you cursed. No one else is welcome.”

Darcy cringed as her stomach plummeted. This was getting better and better.

Mayhem snatched the phone and hit speaker.

“Agree to that or the deal is off. Just you and the wolf.”

Mayhem looked at her with murder in his eyes.

Chapter Nine

“You fucking broadcasted Raven’s wolf status?” Mayhem hissed.

“I-I-I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t know it was a secret.” Darcy voice was little more than a croak.

Mayhem cut her down with a scathing look.

“She’s going to find another way or we’re going to do things my way,” Mayhem barked.

“There is no other way.” The disembodied voice cackled over the line. “The spell she cast, wolf or not, it’ll eventually kill your pack-mate.”

“What?” Mayhem roared.

Darcy scrambled to the other side of the bed, her back pressed against the wall and damn if Raven didn’t want to go to her and offer his protection. He held his place, knowing Mayhem would belt him across the head if he so much as twitched in her direction.

“No, it’s a lust curse. It can’t kill him. It’s just a lust curse.” Darcy whispered the last few words as she raised her hand to her mouth, her body shaking, eyes brimming with tears. “That can’t be right. It’s just supposed to make him want me.”

“Yes, want you to the point of madness,” the woman on speakerphone said, matter-of-factly.

“No!” Darcy slumped against the wall as another tremor shook her entire body, tears flowing freely now.

“I’m fine, really. Feel great.” Raven knew he didn’t sound convincing. “I feel better than I did.”

The woman laughed again. “You feel better because she’s there with you. I bet you’re doing everything in your power to keep yourself from touching her right now though, aren’t you?” She didn’t wait for Raven to answer. “That curse you’ve been wielding, girl, it’s very dangerous. If the subject is away from you for too long, he’ll die. He’ll stop eating, stop sleeping, stop drinking…eventually his heart will just stop period.”

“That can’t be true.” Darcy shook her head as she angrily wiped the tears off her cheeks, defiance shining from her eyes. “I don’t believe that.”

“It is true and I’m guessing you haven’t had much formal training, or you wouldn’t be using such a curse so damn flippantly.”

“So if they’re apart for an extended amount of time then Raven will die?” Mayhem’s anger was palpable. Raven knew it wouldn’t take much to force his hand against Darcy.

“That’s right. They need to stay together until the curse can be broken.”

“And you can break the curse?”

“It’s not an easy spell to break.” The witch hedged, her voice taking on a sly tone.

“Well, we could always just kill the witch.”

“No!” Raven yelled as he moved toward Darcy.

“Killing her won’t end the curse either. In fact, killing her will mean instant death for the wolf too.”

“Why should we believe you?” Mayhem growled, glaring at Darcy, his fists clenched as he took the call off speaker and put the phone to his ear.

Raven couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could see by Mayhem’s expression that the woman was somehow convincing him. Mayhem glanced from Darcy to Raven and gave a slight nod, then tossed the phone on the bed. “She wants to meet at a neutral location. Write down the address, Darcy,” he barked. “You’ll do as she says.”

He moved toward Raven, Jay pulling in as well. The three men were almost huddled but Raven couldn’t stop himself from glancing over Mayhem’s shoulder to spot Darcy. She was across the room, standing beside the desk, phone pressed to her ear, frantically scribbling on a pad of paper.

Mayhem gave a low growl and Raven snapped his gaze back, surprised to find the hard edge of anger gone from his alpha’s stare.

“She has a fix. You’ll go with the girl.”

“Alone?” Jay frowned. “You sure that’s safe, May?”

Mayhem rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “I’ve been given assurances.”

“For twenty thou? We forking up the money for this? And what? The girl walks?” Jay growled.

Mayhem shook his head. “The witch wants the girl.” His tone was low, too low for anyone but the wolves to hear. “Made a deal. The girl for the spell. Once she fixes this and you’re free, she’ll claim the girl. Some kind of servitude in payment for her spell. Says girls like that need to learn to respect their magic.”

Raven’s gut clenched. “I’m not leaving her there.”

Mayhem growled. “That’s the curse talking. Do what you need to for now, but once that witch breaks the spell you’ll be able to walk away free and clear.”

“I won’t take her there without her knowing what’s going on.”

Mayhem’s eyes flashed and he bared his teeth. “You will!”

“She’s my—”

Mayhem shook his head. “She’s not your mate. You know that. Come on, man, think about it. Did you feel anything for her beyond just a fuck when you first hooked up?”

Raven searched his mind, his memory of the night before foggy. “I…I…” There was a part of him that wanted to say yes. A part of him that thought…

“If she was your mate, you’d have known it immediately. You would have marked her. Trust me. That’s what the folklore says, that’s why it’s so impossible to find. The moment you caught her scent, you would have fallen in love immediately. Can you say that that’s what happened?”

Raven frowned. Could he? He leaned to the side and glanced at Darcy. Her body was calling to him and he wanted to bury himself in her, but did he love her? He wanted her. He burned for her. Lust. Not love. He gave his head a sharp shake. He focused on what his body was telling him. “My wolf…”

“The witch said your wolf will feel the effects of the spell on a more primal level. He seeks a mate. This spell is confusing the natural order of things. That’s the way it works.”

Raven concentrated again. The burn of the spell was still there, the desire to be with her like a pulse that bound them. He couldn’t remember what had happened before the spell. He knew they’d been intimate but everything else was gone. If his wolf recognized its mate at first sight, he’d know, right? The spell couldn’t alter that.

“You’re right.” Raven sighed. “I don’t remember meeting her. If she was my mate, I’d remember that. My wolf is confused.”

“So you do what you need to do. Slake your lust, whatever. But once this is over, you’re walking away from her.”

“What does the witch want with her?”

“Who the fuck cares? You’ll be free of her and it’ll be done. Karma in due course. Trust me, man, you won’t care once this is over. In fact, you’ll have to stop yourself from fucking killing the bitch for doing what she’s done to you.”

Raven sighed as he glanced over at Darcy, who stood watching them, phone on the desk, paper in her hand, and all he saw was a woman he couldn’t bear to be without.

“You just get her there. The witch will do the rest and for the sake of your sanity, keep what you know a secret. If she thinks it’s a trap, she’ll take off again.”

“Is it true?” Darcy voice was hesitant and she flinched slightly when Mayhem turned. “You’ve agreed to pay the twenty-thousand?”

“That’s right,” Mayhem growled.

She looked from him to Raven, her eyes showing her mistrust and disbelief. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth. To let her know it was a trap, but instead he steeled himself against the urge, battled back the cry of his wolf and nodded. “I’m paying, and I plan to get my money’s worth.”

Chapter Ten

Darcy flinched, hard. Raven’s scorching gaze traveled down the length of her body and back up again. His words burned her too…just in a different way. “I’m not a prostitute.”

“Could have fooled me.” His eyes were cold, anger flashing as he stalked toward her, backing her up against the wall with his towering, bulky body.

He radiated lust and her legs trembled. The curse wasn’t meant to be reciprocal. She shouldn’t have been affected and yet, here she was being called a whore and feeling…what? Hurt by it? “I’m not the one who uses women…”

“Willing women. What you did doesn’t even compare.” Raven growled as he caged her, bulging arms on either side of her body, face inches from hers, staring down at her with such raw need her panties were soaked in seconds, her body betraying her brain in every possible way. Here he was, insulting her and all she wanted was to rip his clothes off and lick his beautiful body.

“I was righting a wrong, that’s all it was ever meant to be,” she offered feebly, her voice wavering slightly. She’d said that line so many times over the years, a mantra to justify her actions. It was the armor she worn so she could do what she had to do for all those broken women. Right the wrongs. Pay those scummy men back in kind. And she’d believed it all, right up until a few minutes ago. If what that witch said was true, she’d not only left a trail of broken men lusting for her, she’d probably been responsible for many of their deaths as well. She might be a vengeance dealer, but she wasn’t a death dealer. That possibility weighed heavy on her conscience.

Raven leaned in and nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply. “My wolf wants to ravish you. Your spell is fucking with my beast. It doesn’t understand what you’ve done.”

Darcy squirmed, wanting to giggle at the intimate gesture, steeling herself against his touch. “You’ll have to take it then. I’m not giving it up willingly.” The other men were still in the room, and she didn’t like their loathing glares or the idea of being watched while Raven took out his frustration on her.

Raven laughed as he nipped her throat. “Liar. I can smell your arousal. I know you want me to fuck you. Was I good last night, huh, sweets? Did I make you scream?”

Darcy pushed against his chest, which was as effective as pushing against a brick wall. “My body might be giving you a green light, but trust me, my mind isn’t.”

He nipped her harder, the points of his teeth gouging deeper. She yelped, moved her hand to cover her neck, but he pushed his body against hers, immobilizing her. The feel of his hard cock effectively reminded her of just how well he’d made her scream the night before. “My wolf wants to mark you, lay claim to you.” His breath against her skin was hot, the wound he’d just made on her throat throbbed. He licked her there, his warm, wet tongue like a balm, shooting jolts of desire straight to her pussy. “You know what will happen if I do?”

“Rav,” Mayhem warned.

Darcy gulped, shook her head minutely.

Ignoring his alpha, Raven pulled back, moved his hand to brush her hair from her face, then clenched a handful of strands at the back of her head and forced her to look at him. “If I mark you, every single male on this planet, wolf or not, will know that you’re mine. They’ll sense it and instinctively know that they cannot touch you if they value their lives at all. If I mark you, you will never again know sexual pleasure from another male. Not unless that male is me and I decide to give it to you. Karma is a bitch, isn’t it, sweets?”

Darcy wanted him to mark her. She wanted him to. And that was fucked up. She knew it. Couldn’t explain it. He was effectively telling her he would do to her what she did to him. She could see in his eyes that he battled with that action. He wanted to do it, wanted it beyond an act of revenge and hated her for wanting it too.

“If you mark me, you’ll never want to let me go,” she countered, her voice defiant. She might be feeling these strange fucked up things for this man, but she’d be damned if he was going to know about it. “How would you like to be tied to a woman like me? A woman who would loathe your very existence. A woman who would run from you every opportunity she got. You’d spend your life hunting for me, I promise you. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” She bluffed, hoping her unwavering stare was convincing. He had no idea what a mediocre witch she was—better to make him think she could wield some power if necessary. “You might have my body, you might make me lust, but you’ll never,
ever
, have my heart. And that would kill your wolf just as surely as my curse will.”

They glared at each other, his eyes a stormy cloud of confusion. She thought she could see his wolf there, battling to take control. She wanted this man, wanted to understand him, his wolf, but she knew it had to be part of his beastly allure. The reason why he was so successful with the ladies—a mystery man, the ultimate bad boy. She fought against her body, desperate to remain logical. This was no romance. This man could inflict some serious harm and all she could really do in return was light a candle and drip some hot wax over his body. She shivered at that image, then silently scolded herself for lusting after a man who clearly wanted to hurt her.

Raven sneered. “How many men have you left wanting you, sweetheart? What kind of retribution do you deserve?”

Darcy frowned, tried to move her head away, but his steel grip in her hair kept her in place. She contemplated closing her eyes, but that would be an unforgivable weakness. He knew how to hurt her, how to make her feel things she didn’t want to feel. Right now, her gut clenched with regret. She turned it into anger. “I’ve had many clients.” She narrowed her eyes as she glared back at him, suddenly understanding what would cut him to the core. “And I fucked every single one of them.”