A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Books 1-7 (Wicked Good Witches Seasons) (73 page)

CHAPTER 15

Sunbeams warmed Charlie’s skin. He shifted, feeling comfortable and content. He leaned his head in sucking in a sweet scent. His lips touched skin. He nuzzled it, softly kissing it, hearing a contented purr in reply.

Charlie opened his eyes. Suddenly alert and aware.

Who was he kissing? And who was responding?

Charlie felt cool lips trailing across his chest, followed by a coo. He liked it, but didn’t know who those lips belonged to. Last he remembered he’d gone to bed… alone.

He saw hair. Lots of it, stark white, hiding a small trim body underneath its strands. A naked body he was holding securely against his own. Legs unwrapped themselves from around his torso. Firm rounded breasts rubbed against his chest. Sand chaffed below.

He wasn’t at home in his bed. And he was not alone. Somehow he’d done it again.

Left the mansion in the middle of the night and awakened outside, this time on a beach. Naked. And there was a woman adorning his body. His breath caught in his throat. He was pretty certain who was wrapped around him. 

The body stirred, waking. A face stretched and looked up at him.

Eyes met eyes.

Gasps choked out.

Followed by flailing limbs attempting to free themselves.

“Charlie!” “Eva!” they called out together.

Both freed themselves and slid away from each other, making their way to their feet.

Charlie remembered he was naked and swung his hands down to cover himself. Eva could not do so as easily and fanned her white locks to cover herself the best she could.

“What the hell is this?” she asked him. She noticed bruises on her arms and thighs and reached up where a trickle of blood had dried mid dribble down her neck. In the same location she’d been bitten before. A new bite mark in its place.

Charlie stared, unable to speak. Had he done that to her?

Shit. I bit her… Oh Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck.

He glanced down at his ring. Why would it have allowed this? He’d bitten her. She’d have to live with his curse now. He had turned her into a werewolf. How would he tell her this? That her life was ruined.

He noticed his boxers on the ground, along with a nightdress he assumed belonged to Eva. He grabbed them and tossed the dress to Eva, slipping into the boxers. No longer completely exposed, he stood up straight, searching for the right words. Collecting his thoughts. Figuring out how to tell her she was a werewolf now.

So this is how he’d been spending the nights he was forgetting. With Eva Jordan. How did he not know this? How could he not remember? And he’d hurt her. Apparently, she’d gotten in a few jabs herself. He’d had a couple nasty gashes, ones he wasn’t sure how she did herself. She was just a woman. Trim and shapely, but a woman.

He saw remnants of bloody marks on his arm. Almost healed now thanks to his wolf healing.
She must have scratched me… Fucking hell, I deserve so much more.

Eva leaned against a tree at the edge of the beach, a look of relief washing over her.

“I didn’t understand,” she said, her voice sounding unexpectedly calm. “I thought I was going crazy.”

“This has happened to you before then?” confirmed Charlie, his voice weak.

“I’m assuming to you too.”

He nodded. “How badly did I hurt you?”

She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Their actions from the night before were still a little hazy. Returning in little wisps of memory.

He took a few steps closer and lifted her hair, wiping away the blood. Charlie cringed, afraid he might vomit. How could he have done this? He’d promised never to hurt her again and somehow, he’d managed not only to do it again, but without either of them remembering. He opened his mouth to explain what his bite would do to her, but the words escaped him.

How? How was this whole thing possible?

Charlie looked at the bite mark again. It didn’t look as bad as it had a moment ago. He lifted her arm to check the bruise he’d seen there. He swore it was much deeper a minute ago. 

Eva cleared her throat. “I need to go.” She pulled away.

“Don’t you want to figure out what’s been happening?”

“Oh, I think I know, Charlie.”

“I meant,
why
it’s happening. It doesn’t bother you? Look what I did to you!” He raised her arm to show her the bruise. It was almost gone now.

“What bruise?” she asked, pretending she hadn’t seen it.

“What the hell?” he asked, letting go. He swiped her hair aside. The bite mark wasn’t so pronounced either. Like it was... “
Healing...
” He stepped back.

Eva made a move to leave, but Charlie grabbed her arm, stopping her.

“What are you?” he asked in a strained voice.

“What do you mean?” Eva replied innocently.

“You know what I mean. What. Are. You?”

“Aw, c’mon Charlie. I think you know what I am.” She grinned sardonically. If the game was up, it was up. “I think you know
who
I am…”

Charlie lost his breath and let go as if she’d just turned into liquid poison.

It had been right in front of him this entire time. She’d been right there. All the signs. All the warnings his gut had told him when they’d first met.

“It’s you. You’re the alpha. You’re the shapeshifter. You’re the wolf that bit me. Turned me.”

“And now it looks like you’ve been returning the favor,” she retaliated.

Memories of the previous night, and other previous nights, returned to her.

Charlie sinking his teeth into her shoulder had been a sign of dominance. She shook her head, disgusted with herself. Her wolf. Eva had no idea something like this was even possible. Their wolves acting on their own accord. Seeking out their own carnal pleasures. But it wasn’t just the wolf, she conceded. Her human side wanted it to some degree, too.

She gagged, choking through the memories. She had submitted to Charlie. Willingly.

Fury seared through her veins. He’d pay for making her submit to him.

The slightest relief lifted Charlie’s heavy heart. His bite would not do anything to Eva. She was already a werewolf. The wolf responsible for threatening his family. The cause of so much turmoil this summer on the Isle. She’d nearly become his alpha and stolen him from his family and duty. She killed Nina. She impersonated his sister and broke into their home. She had stolen his father’s diary.
She was after the power source.

His silver eyes rose to her, a fierce snarl building in his gut.

She returned with a lethal yellow eyed gaze of her own.

“I will never submit to you, Charlie Howard. You belong to
me.
” She charged at him. He stopped her easily, his large hand strangling her throat. He dragged her across the beach and pinned her body to a tree trunk. She looked surprised that he’d captured her so easily. 

His steely gaze raged back at her. “You’ve already submitted, bitch.” A realization that suddenly empowered him. “You hold no control over me.”

He loosened his grip allowing her to breathe again. He didn’t care what they’d been doing at night, he barely remembered it anyway. And it was unconscious on his part. A trick… yes. She’d tricked him somehow.

“How did you do it? A spell? A drug?” he demanded unkindly.

“I didn’t do anything, jackass. It was our wolves,” she spat back at him.

“I don’t believe you.” His grip tightened again. His teeth inching precariously close to her throat. He had it in his right mind to tear out her throat. He withdrew his teeth. There was a vibrating hum surging through him. Rage. Anger. And sharp clarity.

He needed proof. He needed to see it with his own eyes. Charlie realized this was coming from the ring. It was stopping him, giving him pause. It really
did
work. The acts they’d done together, though unconscious on their human parts, had been consensual by their wolves. And whether he accepted it or not, his human side wanted it to. He wasn’t actually hurting her. He was just fucking her.

It wasn’t a trick. Just their wolves… it did not excuse the rest of her actions. He released his chokehold and stepped back. Eva let out a ragged breath, her deadly gaze never dropping.

“I want to see you shift.” It wasn’t a request. She’d do it or pay the consequence. “I will see the proof with my own eyes.”

Her chest heaved, her eyes bright yellow and fierce.

“Shift!”

She let out a gasp and shook her head.

“Shift, God damn it!”

“I can’t,” she claimed in a confused wail.

He approached her, hand outstretched. “Shift. Now. Or I will cut your throat.” The fingernails on his hand elongated in silent request and agreement. The manner in which he spoke frightened Eva.

She replied with a shaky nod. “Just give me a second.”

“You have three,” Charlie told her, showing no empathy.

Eva closed her eyes, but nothing happened. Her eyes opened and she made a strange face.

Charlie lifted his hand in warning.

“I’m trying,” she pleaded. “And what difference does it make if you see it? You’re still going to kill me, either way.”

“Hurry up and shift,” he ordered again.

“Fine! Will that make you happy?” she spouted anxiously. “To
submit
to you.” Just saying the
s
word enraged her again.

“Just do it, Eva.”

She focused, her face contorting oddly as if trying to shift, but nothing happened.

“I’m done waiting!” Charlie warned, striding forward again. He pinned her to the tree, his fingers ready to slice her throat. “Give me one reason why I
shouldn’t
kill you.” His nail dug into her skin, threatening to cut deeper.

Eva winced. “I don’t know what happened. I swear. I can’t shift.”

“Convenient.”

“Please, Charlie. Really. I swear it. I know what I am and what I’ve done. Please let me explain.”

“Why? So I can listen to you spew lies. Just shift already so I can see it with my own eyes.”

“I can’t,” she cried. “Really, I can’t. I don’t know why...” she trailed off, her eyes growing into wide orbs. “Oh...”

“What?” asked Charlie, thinking Eva was stalling, looking for the right moment to escape his grasp.

It dawned on Eva what the Feyk had done to her. She listened very carefully for the sound she needed to find. The sound she needed Charlie to hear. Her wolf hearing was good, but she’d have to search for it. She inhaled sharply. “Oh my God.”

“No more games, Eva. Get on with it.”

“Wait! Charlie… there’s only one reason a shifter loses their ability to shift.”

“And that would be?” Charlie questioned indignantly.

“I... I...” Eva couldn’t say the words. She didn’t know how he would react to this news.

“Spit it out!”

“Listen Charlie. Listen to my heartbeat.”

“Why would I do that? For all I know, you’ve been making me do that all along and that’s why I keep forgetting everything.”

“Just listen,” she pleaded, as his grip tightened again.

Charlie’s rage remained surfaced. But his ears tuned into Eva’s heartbeat pounding in her chest. He heard the racing beats, could feel them underneath her skin. In between her beats was a tremor. Small, almost unnoticeable.

He used his wolf hearing to listen closer. His ability wasn’t a good as William’s, he didn’t have the distance the vampire did. But Charlie leaned his head in, listening for the tiny tremor.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

It was a second heartbeat.

Charlie let go and stepped back, horrified.

“No,” he sputtered. “No.”

“Yes. It’s a second heartbeat, Charlie. One you helped create,” she lied. “Neither of us may have wanted it. But it happened. I’m carrying your child.”

Eva wondered how the Feyk had known to do this to her.

Was it real? Was she actually pregnant? Or had the Feyk, faked it, effectively saving her life? Charlie Howard would not kill her. Not if he believed she was carrying his child.

What a devious plan… creepy ass Feyk knew what he was doing after all.

Charlie fell backwards, the world starting to spin. He leaned into another tree splaying his hands against its surface, trying to hold himself up. Trying to get a coherent thought out of his brain. Not even the ring could bring clarity into this mess.

This couldn’t be. Eva pregnant. The alpha werewolf pregnant. With
his
child!

What did this even mean? Was it even possible for a child to survive under these conditions? And if it did, what kind of child would it be?

Part shifter, part werewolf, and part witch.

Part Charlie Howard and part Eva Jordan.

His child’s mother would be the wolf that bit him and then returned ten years later to finish the job.