A Wicked Good Witches Paranormal Romance Books 1-7 (Wicked Good Witches Seasons) (8 page)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Charlie, Michael, and Eva stood in the cave, their eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness. The voices some distance ahead caught them off guard, echoing ominous warnings back to them.

Eva tripped, clutching Charlie for support. He grasped her, to keep her from falling over fully. “You steady?” he asked in a low voice.

“Fine. Really not normally this clumsy.”

He looked at her incredulously.

“I swear it,” she mouthed.

He could not resist a low chuckle. He might not trust her, but she was attractive, and had a keen mind, regardless of her clumsy missteps. Eva’s hands stayed glued to his shoulders, fingers kneading into muscles that twitched under her touch. She let her hand swipe down his arm, fingers radiating against his skin like warm satin.

The nagging suspicion returned. A tingle twisting in Charlie’s gut. What was it about her that sent his wolf senses into overdrive? He left her side and stepped forward cautiously until light drifted in from up ahead. They stopped, listening, trying to decipher if the sounds they heard were friend, or foe.

“Eat. Eat it all,” a cringing cackle reverberated through the cave.

They listened closer and heard odd sounds.

Sucking sounds.

Slurping sounds.

“I am thinking hostile,” Michael muttered, stepping closer to investigate. He motioned for them to hold up and wait. His footing was lighter and quieter than Charlie’s.

“Does this sort of thing happen a lot around here?” Eva asked Charlie. She’d snuck up alongside him.

He leaned down to her ear. “Welcome to the real Demon Isle.” His tone taunted, a mixture of fright and sarcasm. He grinned, dazzling her without meaning to, breathing her in. On his first inhale, his head went hazy. With the second, he might as well have downed a six-pack of beer laced with a lust potion.

Instantly heavenly and captivating, it shattered his guard making him forget he was on the job. Or standing in an underwater cave. Or with his brother ten feet away and an unknown assailant just around the corner. Or that the woman next to him was a complete stranger who got his hackles fired up.

None of that mattered. Only her. Only Eva. Only that smell. Like crisp air at night under the full moon. The smell of the earth under his feet. Of primal desire to run free and wild. The promise of the hunt. The reward of catching his prey… the white-haired woman caught between him and the cave wall. 

In movement Charlie did not recall he’d jammed his body against her, pinning Eva between him and the wall. A distant shout in his head asked him what the hell he was thinking, but that human voice trailed off when she let out a catch of breath over the unexpected act.

Not a frightened one.

She did not try to stop him.

He didn’t question. Only needed more.

Lips brushed down her neck; instead of pushing him away, Eva lifted her chin giving him deeper access, encouraging him to taste her. To smell her.

Why isn’t she fighting me?
The human thought in Charlie’s mind dissolved into not caring about the answer. Words would not formulate. His mouth unable to make the right movements to create speech. His legs went soft, feet stumbling, body acting drunk. To balance himself he wrapped his left arm around Eva’s waist, his right palm braced on the cave wall over her head. He towered over her, coming in at six-foot-three with a frame broad enough to hide her petite size from anyone.

So easily, he could overpower her. She’d never get away.

His hand splayed and tightened against her back. He could not force himself to let go. If he let go he’d lose the delicious intoxication. Never have it again.

Part of him panicked. That small human part of him struggling to remain coherent and make sense of all this. But every time the human side threatened to resurface the intoxicating smell fed into him, goading the wolf. Stoking its wild urges.

Eva’s gaze radiated amusement over Charlie’s sudden inability to speak or move correctly. But she didn’t pull away. And didn’t act surprised by his behavior. Her reactions welcomed him in. Encouraged him.

“Are you okay, Charlie?” she whispered with such innocent lechery it pulled him in even more. It took every ounce of willpower to stop himself from picking her up, slamming her against the cave wall, and taking her. Blood surged to his groin, making him hard as the rock behind them. He needed her to feel what she was doing to him, and pushed himself into her.

Eva sucked her lip, swallowing the moan threatening to slip out. But the quiver in her body gave her away. A quiver that sent his frayed control slipping. As far as his wolf was concerned she was free for the taking. So many carnal pleasures… his breaths got thicker. The hair on his face standing to attention, darkening. Silver blazing in his eyes.

This woman had no idea what she was inviting in. Eva might think it a frenzied one night stand in the making… or maybe she just had a fetish for supernatural beings.

Somewhere deep in Charlie’s human mind, he shouted for himself to stop. Begging for some measure of control over the wolf.  A snarl built in his throat… a sudden overwhelming need to sink his teeth into her porcelain flesh… to claim her. To bite. To tear into his skin… to hurt her.

Then it vanished.

The sudden intoxication lifted.

Just… gone.

Clarity coming back to Charlie’s befuddled brain.

His human face and mind returned, the wolf receding back into its hiding place.

He stepped back, although clumsily tripping as he did so. Distressed eyes narrowed in on Eva Jordan, Charlie a bundle of confusion and embarrassment.

Michael rejoined them from his lookout duties with a grimace.

Seriously?

Charlie goes from not noticing scantily clad women bouncing around the ferry to practically jumping a total stranger, just a few feet away from me.

Nice… yeah, um,
not
!

“Sorry,” was all Charlie could muster as he turned away from Eva. His mind repeating a steady line of expletives… there was no logical explanation for what just happened. It made no sense whatsoever.

“We all good?” Michael aimed at Charlie in a disgruntled whisper.

Charlie nodded, his memories a hazy mess. He did recall the last thing raging around his mind before it ended… his wolf. Hungry. Wanting to play. And by play it wanted to devour Eva. Pretty much literally. As in, I’d like to sink my teeth into your flesh and rip off your skin. All the lust had tunneled into this one thought. Devour all of her.

Where the hell does such a sadistic idea even come from?

Who the hell is this woman?

The desire to bite was one thing. A normal thing for his wolf to desire.

This need was much different. Much more dangerous. This was a need to inflict pain. For no other reason than he could.

Charlie was never so glad that he avoided dating humans. They were so fragile. He was dangerous. Possibly deadly if his wolf ever bit someone, and at the least, permanently life altering if he passed his curse onto someone else.

Just now though, his wolf had wanted so much more. Thank God it stopped before it was too late. He needed to be done with this cave job and get away from this vexing white-haired jezebel, as far away as the island would allow.

Why would he react to her like this?

No, not him…
his wolf
. It was his wolf that craved her. Not him.

It was a smell, he recalled. An intoxicating smell had set it off.

So the solution is easy. After we get out of this cave, I never get close to her again.

Problem. Fucking. Solved.

And as much as he wanted away from her, he could not imagine what she was thinking right now. Being jumped by a total stranger. Hell, he might as well have tried to attack her. So many wrongs about this situation!

He stepped up beside his brother, having difficulty focusing. His breathing uneasy.

“What the hell was that all about?” mouthed Michael. He held up his arm. “Rhetorical question. Can feel it, remember?” And he was
super
freaking happy about it.

Charlie wasn’t thrilled either, and wondered just how much of that Michael had picked up on. Sometimes, having an empath for a brother was a pain in the ass. It could come in handy, but at times like these...
“I have no idea what that was.” Charlie shook his head. “Let’s just focus on what’s ahead.
Please.
”

Michael’s empathy picked up on the fact that Charlie was no longer in
turned on
mode, but completely freaked out mode. Something about what just happened had him teetering on a precarious edge.

They didn’t have time to deal with it now.

Eva joined them.

Charlie ignored her, keeping his focus on the voices ahead in the cave and not her reaction to the despicable thing he’d just done, overwhelmed by a need to control the situation.

The smell was at least gone.
Thank. All. That’s. Holy.

“I think it’s time to crash this party.” Charlie narrowed his gaze, concentrating on the job.

“Yeah, let’s,” agreed Michael.

The brothers wasted no time, rushing forward, only to freeze in their tracks once out in the open. Horrified disgust washed over their faces.

Eva came up behind them. “What. The Hell. Are. Those?” she choked.

Michael tried to answer. “Those are the sickest… most disgusting…” he was cut off by Charlie.

“Sea Hag!”

“A what?” Eva shouted, her eyes bulging. 

The brothers did not reply to her question. 

Michael stretched out his right hand, his palm facing the Sea Hag.

The Hag turned to face Charlie and Eva, hissing at them through jagged teeth. Her eyes were a milky white and her skin, scaly, and covered in a thin layer of greenish slime.

Eva stayed hidden behind Charlie. Apparently, he hadn’t scared her enough to make her fear him and she looked all too eager to let him protect her. He almost laughed when he saw her face. She may have known about the supernatural, but she had never seen anything like a Sea Hag. The humor of the moment shook off whatever fucked-upness had just happened between them, and helped him refocus on the task.

He was Charlie Howard. Not a werewolf. And he was in control of his actions… he’d figure out some way to explain, and apologize. And hope she understood. She seemed okay all things considered.

“Watch out, Charlie,” Michael warned as the Hag advanced toward his brother, once again off his guard, thoughts wandering.

Michael pushed his arm forward as if shoving something away from his body. Something appeared in his hand: a round, surging energy ball, which he thrust at the Hag. She ducked, it missed, the energy ball smashing into the side of the cave. Slivers of rock fell to the ground. 

The Sea Hag skittered closer, her slimy webbed feet easily clinging to any surface. Then, what had only a moment ago looked like stiff quills covering her head, started to shift and wriggle, like snakes swimming in water. Each quill-like strand was much longer than it had initially appeared, and each one took on a life of its own, striking out at Charlie and Eva. Each strand came to a sharp, thorny arrow-like point. Something the brothers knew contained a toxin that could easily incapacitate them in seconds.

“Eva, stay away from those things on her head,” warned Charlie.

“Don’t intend on getting that close.”  

Charlie handed her three vials. “These are potions that will blow up just about anything,” he explained. “If something happens and we’re knocked out… throw them at whatever’s coming at you, and get the hell out of here!”

She nodded and glanced at her hand in awe of what she now held.

Charlie egged the Sea Hag, trying to keep her attention, while Michael positioned himself for a straight shot at her. 

The Hag bared her teeth, a rattling hiss emanating from her mouth.

“Howards,” they heard her speak, in her hissing tongue.

“She can talk,” Eva said, surprised.  “And she knows who you are.” 

“Most creatures around here do,” Charlie replied. His concern for their safety, as well as the desire to find out if this Hag knew anything about their parents’ deaths, sent his emotions into overdrive. Charlie let out a primal snarl that seemed to catch the Hag off guard, sending her back a few feet to rethink her approach.

“Why are you in this cave? What are these… things?” Charlie interrogated. 

Behind the Hag, wretchedly bloated, charcoal colored creatures that the brothers had never seen before sucked the walls of the cave, as if addicted to whatever substance they were sucking.

The Hag did not answer Charlie. Instead, she turned to the wall-sucking creatures and spoke to them. “You eat enough, pets.”

To the brother’s surprise, the bloated creatures listened to the Hag and stopped sucking, convening around her, as if she were their mother. 

Eva stepped back, watching wide-eyed as Charlie’s human face shifted into the wolf-like one she had seen earlier. Her stare lowered to his hands, as jagged nails grew long, extending outward from his fingers. He snapped his head, his fierce silver eyes shooting warnings at her. “Stay back,” he snarled. She pressed her back against the wall.