Unraveled

“I’m not.”

She ran her tongue over her teeth. Someone needed a truth spell, and it wasn’t her. “So where were you this morning? I waited.” And waited. Oh, God. Did he hear the whine in her voice?

“After the vampire gig, I had to escort Aden home. As there was a wee bit of opposition from his new subjects, I was afraid someone would follow him and try to take him out, so I ended up camping outside his window all night and all morning.”

Her hand whipped up to her throat as her gaze once again clashed with his. “Did they? Try to take him out, I mean?”

“No.”

“So he’s well?”

“Well, but tired. He still sees the fairy ghost, and that ghost prevented him from sleeping.”

Tired and ghost-whispering were far better than mortally wounded. “Where is he now?”

“Here.”

“With Victoria,” she said with a nod. A statement of fact, not a question. Those two were always together.

“No. Victoria didn’t attend today.”

“Why? Was she hurt?” And why wasn’t Riley with her? Usually Riley glued himself to the vampire’s side, protecting her his first priority.

Tendrils of jealousy worked through Mary A

Or maybe things were different now, under Aden’s rule.

“Physically, she’s fine,” Riley said. “Our councilmen want her to stay away from Aden so that he can date other people.”

What? “And she’s okay with that?”

Riley’s lips twitched. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“If Aden’s king, how can the councilmen tell her what to do? He wouldn’t allow it.” Would he?

“Aden doesn’t live in our home. He’s new and no one knows what to make of him. Everyone is looking to the councilmen for answers, and right now, they support him. We don’t want that to change, so we’re catering to their desires. Besides, to deny them would cause unrest among the people. That unrest would be dangerous for Aden.”

Still. Having to watch your boyfriend date other girls? Absolute torture! The thought of Riley with someone else…her hands curled, her nails cutting past skin. “Well, you could have called me. Let me know you weren’t coming for me.”

He tangled a hand through his dark hair, all hint of amusement fading. The fury returned, darkening his expression. “No, I couldn’t have. I would have yelled.”

“You’re yelling now!” And for no good reason, that she could tell.

“Yeah,” he said, still with that fury, but now, it was tinged with something else. Something low and raspy. His eyelids dipped to half-mast as he traced a fingertip along the slope of her nose. “But now we get to kiss and make up.” Even his voice had dipped.

Yes, please. “First, why would you have yelled?” Clearly someone had told him what she’d done, but she wanted to hear him admit it before she spilled her guts. “Second, we can’t kiss.” She backed away from him, not stopping until she hit the door. The closer they were, the headier his wild scent became. The closer they were, the better she could feel the heat radiating off him. The closer they were, the closer she wanted to be. “I need to get to class.”

“Actually, you’ll have to miss it. We’re talking right now.”

Uh-oh. The words echoed around her, a threat. “I can’t keep putting off my studies, Riley. Yeah, I’m fine with missing Geometry right now, but anything after that? No. As you know, Spanish is my worse subject, and I need all the help I can get.”

“I’ll tutor you later. Si?”

Yeah, right. Like they’d really pay attention to their books if they were alone in her room. “No.” The only other Spanish she could recall at the moment was: No hay tenedor limpio, tenemos que lavar la. There is no clean fork. We have to wash some.

That wasn’t really applicable here.

“Well, you’re not going to class until we discuss a few things. Namely, you went into town last night,” he said, jaw clenched.

And there it was. The admission. She gulped. “Yes.”

“Alone.”

“Yes. How did you find out?”

“My brothers. They followed you.”

The two wolves who tailed Pe

“They said you encountered a witch. Tell me, Mary A

You are not the weak link. You are not the freaking weak link. “Did your brothers also tell you that I stayed in the car? Did they tell you Pe

His nostrils flared in outrage. “You know her name now.”

Uh-oh.

“You’ve talked to her.” Again, not a question.

“Yes,” she admitted softly.

He slapped the wall beside her temples, caging her in. He’d done that yesterday, on the walk to school, and she’d loved it. He’d kissed her, after all. Now, he just looked like he wanted to choke her. The fu

“A witch doesn’t need to be close to you to bespell you, Mary A

“I do,” she said with a nod.

“Tell me.”

A tremor slid the length of her spine. “When a spell is uttered, that spell becomes alive, its sole existence to fulfill its purpose. There is no breaking it. Ever. Even by the witch who cast it.”

As she’d spoken, his gaze had lowered and remained on her lips. Tension had wafted from him before he’d snapped his attention back to her face. “That’s right,” he croaked. “And what would happen if a different type of death spell were cast over you?”

“I would die twice?” she asked dryly.

“Yes, smartie. That’s exactly what would happen, and neither time would be pleasant.”

She’d never seen Riley so fierce, so intense, but she pla

His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, even as he pressed deeper into her body. “I heal.”

“So do I!”

“Not from death!”

But his kind could be brought back? Hardly, she wanted to snort.

She paused. Wait. He had been brought back. She recalled the night he’d told her about his brothers’ curse. He should have been cursed that way, too, ugly to anyone he desired, but for him, the requirement of that spell had been met. He’d died, and the werewolves’ version of modern medicine had brought him back. Modern medicine could bring her back, as well, she thought defiantly.

Still. Thinking of his death filled her with fear. She couldn’t lose him. She needed him.

Mary A

“No, we can’t.” His hands settled on her waist, locking her in place. “She’ll be prepared now. We’ll walk right into an ambush.”

Mary A