Moon Kissed (BBW witch and shifter romance) (Shifting Magick Trilogy Book 2) (2 page)

No, she had to stay away from the male.

***

It was three in the morning, and Audrey couldn’t sleep. She was in a strange bed—alone—and in a strange house. The energy flow she was accustomed to wasn’t right. It wasn’t like it was in her own place. Here, it was too primal and made her skin crawl.

She blamed a certain wolf for it all.

Thoughts of Lucian tumbled over and over in her mind. His scent clung to her, even after the hot shower she’d taken moments ago. Damn him.

Giving up the fight with sleep, she flung the covers off and stood. The house was quiet as she made her way down the hall and out the back door. She didn’t bother changing out of her nightgown. One, it was a comfortably warm spring night. Two, everyone was asleep.

She inhaled the calming scents of night jasmine mixed with the clean mountain air. Conjuring a steaming cup of tea, she sat on the swing and stared out into the dark forest. It was peaceful there, as long as she ignored the surge of energy created by Lucian. Why in Hades had she let the wolf invade her mind and body?

A rustling sound came from a few yards away, making her sit up straighter and scan the area. She didn’t have night vision like the wolves, but she could see better than a human. Especially when she opened her third sight. However, she didn’t need her extra witch senses to know who was out there.

Lucian. She sagged into the wicker patio chair and wished he’d go back where he’d come from. “Couldn’t sleep?”

His deep chuckle vibrated through her like a sensual touch. “Not with you in the den.”

Ugh. “You could be a little more subtle.”

“You know as well as I do what’s going on.”

Did she? Not really. Yes, she was attracted to the large, gorgeous male. She also knew enough about shifters to know that Lucian had started the mating dance. As much as she’d love to join the dance and play with the wolf and the man, she couldn’t bear the heartache it would cause in the end.

There would be an end.

“I’m cursed. I can never complete the mating with you.”

He was crouched in front of her within seconds, taking the cup from her and sitting it on the deck beside her chair. A surge of power bounced between them when he linked his fingers with hers. “You will never know unless you take the chance.”

“I’m too tired.” She broke the connection and pushed at him so she could stand. He rose with her but didn’t let go of her. Narrowing her eyes, she stared into his gold depths. “Your brother says you are descendants of the moon goddess. Have you met her?”

One corner of his full lips lifted. “I have met Artemis a few times.”

Her pulse increased slightly and hope bloomed in her chest.
Have you been kissed by her?
The question churned in her thoughts and rolled on her tongue, yet she couldn’t ask him. The fear he’d say no was too crippling.

She flattened her hand on his chest and pushed. Tears stung the back of her eyes and her nose started to tingle. “I have to go.”

When she turned her back, he wrapped his arms around her and held her body to his. His warm breath brushed against her cheek as he answered her thoughts—a sign of being true mates. “I’ve been kissed by more than one goddess.”

She froze in place. It couldn’t be so easy. Turning in his arms, she met his stare. Words failed her as she scanned his features. He could break her curse. Why did she feel that something else was missing?

“Take a chance, Audrey. You are my mate. I feel it growing stronger by the minute. Not even the Fates are that cruel. Besides, if I weren’t, I wouldn’t have been able to hear your thought. Your plea.”

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. His soft, commanding lips came down on hers in a hungry rush. Heat flooded her veins and she couldn’t deny him. It’d been too long. Lucian felt… right.

He tightened his hold on her, crushing their bodies together. Breaking the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers. “We should go to my place.”

“Yes. Before we wake everyone up.”

Desire lit up his eyes, making his gold irises glow as he took her hand and led her to his cabin a few yards away. All the while, she tried to control the rush of heat spreading up her arm. Her heart beat rapidly, and she was sure he heard it with his super-animal hearing.

Calm down. You’re acting like a teen at the prom
. If only her prom date had looked like Lucian. The wolf was lean, yet muscular with a dust of a beard. Rough and gorgeous rolled into a sexy as hell alpha male.

And he was hers for the taking.

Suddenly, a wave of unease flowed across her skin. She smashed the feeling before it took root. Lucian was right, the only way to find out was to just let go and get over her fears of being forever alone.

They came to a stop at his front door, and he faced her, one brow raised. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” The way he pressed his lips together before opening the door told her he didn’t believe her.
Damn wolf senses
.

Once inside with the door shut, she whirled around, coming face-to-face with him, she cupped his cheek and kissed him. Like the one in the forest earlier that night, it was hot and threatened to overload her senses.

Hot, raw desire rushed through her veins, heating her everywhere all at once. When he drew her body flush with his, the wildfire sparked to life, consuming her until all she wanted was the male in her arms.

The ache between her legs begged for him as their tongues danced and their mouths glided over each other. She moaned and squeezed her thighs together.

He tore his mouth from hers, his breaths coming in short draws as his wolf peered at her from his golden depths. Damn, he was hot.

“I’m too impatient for foreplay,” she burst out.

His lips twitched. “Good.” It came out on a growl that vibrated through her.

Much too fast for her to track, he jerked her nightgown over her head and tossed it to the floor. On instinct, she covered her curves, only to have him grip her wrists and spread her arms out to her sides. “Don’t hide from me, ever. You are perfect.” He kissed her forehead. “Every beautiful, curvy inch of you.”

Her heart melted. She’d never had a problem with her weight, and his admission melted away the small amount of insecurity she felt. A sense of flirtation rose within her and she crinkled her nose at him. “Then take me.”

Walking her backwards until her knees touched the arm of the sofa, he undid his jeans and freed his cock from its confinement. Good gods, he was beautiful, in a manly kind of way.

“My eyes are up here,” he teased, drawing a laugh from her.

“Yeah?”

Instead of responding, he stepped between her thighs and wrapped one arm around her while lifting one of her legs. Dipping his head, he teased a nipple. She gasped and let her head drop back. Tingles raced over her skin and her pussy throbbed, wanting him inside of her.

As if knowing what she was thinking, or needing, he thrust inside, stretching her. Pleasure slowly built as he pumped his hips, sliding in and out. He felt too good, too right. She scored his back with her nails and rode the wave of raw energy mounting between them. It was unlike anything she’d ever experienced with any of her other lovers. Magick swirled, connecting them in a way that renewed her hope to break the curse.

He increased his thrusts, burying himself deep inside of her. Her moans turned into cries of pleasure until she thought she’d explode from desire. Then he struck. The sting of his fangs piercing her shoulder made her gasp. The pain quickly shifted to pleasure and came in a rush of bliss as an orgasm crashed into her.

Lucian’s body tensed, then convulsed as he met his release, as well. She hugged him and rested her forehead against his shoulder. Nothing had changed. Wasn’t the bite supposed to start the mating? If so, she couldn’t feel him inside her like Olivia had described.

After a moment of awkward silence, Lucian pulled out, then with an index finger lifted her chin. “What is it?”

“The curse didn’t break.” A lump formed in her throat as she spoke the words out loud.

“Are you sure?”

Was she? Gods, she was confused. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Sometimes it takes time for the mating to take hold. It’s different from couple to couple.” His gold eyes told her he believed what he said.

She wasn’t sure she did. Sure, she trusted him. Her witch senses would tell her if he lied. However, there was obviously something she’d missed in the wording of the curse. “I…I have to go.” She grabbed her clothes and pushed past him while tugging her nightgown down as she ran out the door.

Her chest tightened as tears blurred her vision. Never again would she believe she’d ever be happily mated. That was why she needed to get—and stay—far away from Lucian.

Chapter Three

Lucian paced his living room. Not seeing Audrey for the past two weeks had driven him mad. Nothing he did eased the edge his wolf was on. All because he’d promised his sister-in-law he’d wait until the full moon.

The night Audrey walked out of his house, he’d chased her until Sawyer reined him in using his Alpha power. Brother or not, Lucian couldn’t go against a direct order of the Alpha. No amount of arguing had convinced Sawyer or Olivia to allow Lucian to go to his mate.

“Lucian,” Olivia’s soft voice drifted from the open door of her and Sawyer’s home. When he didn’t reply, she stepped out onto the porch and tapped the toe of her shoe. “She’s hurting and has stopped talking to me.”

He glanced over his shoulder and his irritation melted a little. Olivia hugged her middle, and her eyes were red as if she were crying. Damn it. Taking a deep breath, he reined in his wolf before speaking. “She’s hurting because we are mates. The more time we spend apart, the worse it will get.”

“I thought the curse would have kept her from feeling the mating.” Olivia lifted her lashes, a mix of hope and regret in her blue depths. “That makes me wonder if the curse indeed broke when you two…”

Her cheeks colored and she averted her gaze.

Turning to face her, he held out a hand. She stared at it for several moments before she took it. Lucian gave it a gentle squeeze, a sign of trust because he knew of her telepathic ability. “If that is true, then she hasn’t fully accepted me as her mate.”

“She’s scared.”

He nodded and kissed his sister-in-law on the cheek. “I plan to seduce her into believing.”

***

Audrey blew out the candle and rocked back on her heels, her eyes closed and her breathing slow and steady. The lingering magick from the full moon ritual charged the air around her and kissed her skin. Focusing, she gathered the energy to her and directed it into the earth beneath her bare feet, grounding and centering herself at the same time.

Opening her eyes, she smiled at the renewed energy. The last two weeks had been restless. Her skin felt too tight and her heart hurt. It was that wolf’s fault. Damn him for stirring desire in her. When she’d run away, he hadn’t even chased her.

A sign that he wasn’t her fated mate despite what he’d claimed.

Absently, she touched the small bite mark on her shoulder. The mark meant for a mate. Why hadn’t the bond formed? She knew why, but didn’t want to think about it. Lucian had made his choice by not hunting her down like a mate should have.

After cleaning up her ritual items from her outdoor altar, she carried everything into the house. Jazz, her smoke-grey cat meowed at her as she entered the kitchen. “You can’t go out.”

She kicked the door shut with her foot, only it didn’t click closed. Glancing over her shoulder, fear burned in her belly as she dropped the wooden box of ritual items. The top of the box broke off when it hit the ground, and the contents scattered over the tiled kitchen floor. Poor Jazz scattered from the room.

“Damn it, wolf, what the hell?” She bent down to clean up the mess.

“Sorry. I thought you heard me.” He squatted with her and reached out, but she slapped his hands away before he could touch any of the items. The last thing she needed was for his energy to transfer to her ritual tools.

“No.” Annoyance mixed with embarrassment fluttered inside her. “Why are you here?”

“To see you.” He cupped her chin, drawing her attention to his face. Gold eyes watched her so intensely her body warmed.

No, she couldn’t get attached to him. The curse prevented her from mating with anyone except
the one
, and she was beginning to believe he didn’t exist. However, she was a woman and had needs. She wouldn’t turn the sexy wolf from her bed. A weakness that would break her heart over and over again.

“Why?”

He paused and stared at her. “Why what?”

“Why are you here to see me?”

He moved closer to her as she set the box on the table beside them. “You’re my mate.”

Oh, no. This was so not fair. “No I’m not. You need to leave.”

There was no way in hell she’d get her hopes up, only to be crushed like a bug hitting a windshield. Again. She stepped forward and pushed him toward the back door. Once her hands touched his skin, wild energy flowed from him up her arm. Suddenly, his primal, sage scent filled her senses.

He snaked an arm around her waist, jerking her body to his. “You feel it. The need is alive; wild, and raw. My wolf calls to you.”

Yes, she felt it. And damn, she wanted it more than the air she breathed. Yet, it hadn’t worked the first time. Why would it be different the second time? “Why didn’t you chase me then?”

He tugged her into a hug and cradled her to him. “Olivia believed that it had to do with the full moon, plus, you needed space. She had Sawyer order me not to go after you until now.”

Lifting her head, she gazed into his face. His features were a combination of worry, hope, and stress. The dark circles under his eyes indicated he hadn’t slept much. Join the club. She hadn’t slept either. Every time she closed her eyes, he was there. Sexy and alluring.

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Open your heart to me and my wolf and it’ll happen. If not, we’ll keep trying until the Fates give up their games. I know in my soul you are my mate. I can’t rest until I have you by my side.” He cupped her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips.