The Witch and the Wolf: Part One (6 page)

She stretched next to the bike as Cross opened the door of the cabin. From the outside the place looked great.
It looked like something that belonged on a post card. The perfect cabin for the mountains. As long as it had two bedrooms though, she didn’t care if it looked like a crack house.

Cross was acting very strange since his little outburst. One minute he was pacing in wolf form and the next he was back to being himself. He hadn’t said anything about it beyond “you should have told me this sooner”. That didn’t explain why he had shifted so suddenly. He had almost broken the number rule of were
-kind. No shifting in front of humans. If he had been seen, his pack would have torn him apart. Son of the alpha or not, there were some lines you couldn’t cross.

Rory was having a very similar problem. Seeing Cross shift and act all angry and alpha had only turned her on more. She hadn’t thought that was possible
, but he wasn’t the only one trembling after his outburst. She had only rushed their arrival into Sienna so she could get away from him. The second they get into town, he goes all alpha wolf on her. It excited something deep and primal inside of her.

It was very different than how every other guy affected her. She had never felt desire this strong. Not even with other were
-creatures, not that she had much contact with those. It's not like Cross’ friend Ozzy did anything to her.

Actually, now that she thought about it neither had Cross until they had gotten into Sienna. Not until he had gotten angry ay the dinner. Before that, she had wanted him
, but not the same way. This was almost uncontrollable. Her body was begging to her to lie down at his feet and let him have his way with her. It was a marvel her pants were still on her body.

The feeling reminded her of what she knew about the mating ritual with werewolves. The male’s wolf would claim the female and if she was his true mate, her wolf would act accordingly. She had overhead some witches talking about it at one of the Gatherings when she was a preteen. The group had been drunk
and were talking about the intensity of were-mating. As a preteen, she had been both disgusted and titillated by the talk. Remembering it now, she was mostly just disgusted.

“Hey!” she went over to Cross and shoved
him against the door. “Did you fucking claim me?!”

“Whaa…” his mouth hung open
, but he quickly recovered. “What the fuck?! Have you lost your mind witch?”

“I don’t think I have,” she said angrily. “The way I’m feeling right now, all this lust and need to submit. I think this is part of werewolf claiming. This sure as hell isn’t how I felt about you before.”

Cross narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“After you shifted back there? Ever since then I’ve been filled with this…longing. This desire,” she said, searching for the words to describe it. “I didn’t feel that way before and now it’s overwhelming. You claimed me didn’t you?”

“A wolf can’t claim a witch,” he said
, and turned to go inside the house.

She shoved him against the door frame. “You didn’t answer my question! You did! You fucking claimed me. You son of a bitch!”

She moved to hit him in the face, but he caught her wrists and held her against the other side of the door. “Even if my wolf did claim you, that’s only for wolves and humans. Other supernaturals are immune.”

She tried fighting against him
, but his grip was too tight. “You keep saying that and I don’t understand why.”

“Why what? And would you please calm the fuck down. This really isn’t the time to be fighting each other.”

“I can’t calm down,” she said. “I can’t believe you did something so utterly stupid at a time like this.”

“First of all, if you knew anything about werewolf mating like you say, you would know it isn’t a choice,” he said
, letting go of her wrists. “Mates are destined. It’s not something you can do consciously. Second, I’ll repeat, wolves can’t claim a witch. That isn’t how it works.”

“I really beg to differ,” she said
, red-faced. Just being that close and physical with him had made the ache in her pussy almost painful. She was tempted to just shove her hands down the front of her jeans while they were talking. It’s not like he would mind anyway. He had claimed her after all. Asshole.

“If I had claimed you, and I’m not saying I did,” he held up his hands in defense. “But if I had, there wouldn’t be anything for me to claim. You know? There’s nothing for my wolf to grasp onto.”

She put her hand over her face. “I am dealing with a total moron. A total fucking moron claimed me.”

He put his hand against the door frame next to her face and leaned in. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

She shivered at the tone in his voice. There he was going all alpha again. “You have to be stupid. What does the wolf claim when it latches onto a human?”

“I guess you would call it the soul,” he said into her ear.

She shivered again. “Well, if you can claim a human’s soul
, then why not a witches?”

He thought it over for a minute. “Theoretically that might be true
, but it’s never happened before.”

“Not that you know of. How many wolves even try to mate outside of their species?”

“I told you. It’s not a choice.” He leaned back across from her and rubbed his face. “Shit. Are you seriously feeling that too?” 

“Yes. I am really
really
feeling it. How do we make this stop?”

“We don’t,” he said gravely. “I think we’re going to have to talk with your coven and my pack though. I’ve never heard of anything lik
e this happening. Ever.”

She slumped further down the door until she was sitting. “We really don’t need this right now. I can’t even believe my shitty luck.”

“Hey,” he crouched down. “I don’t think I’m that bad. You really could have done worse.”

“I really don’t think she could have,” someone said from near the bike.

Rory and Cross both jumped up. She looked around for whoever had spoken, but couldn’t see anyone.

Cross growled low in his chest. “Show yourself!”

“I’m right here,” the voice said again. Only this time it was inside the house.

They both turned around and Cross got in front of Rory. Whoever it was hadn’t set off Rory’s internal alarm. They must have powerful spells cloaking them. She squinted into the house and was shocked at what she saw.

There was a ghost standing a few feet in front of them. A woman with long, blond hair and what must have been pale skin when she was alive. She was wearing tattered clothes that looked old-fashioned, maybe from the Civil War Era. Rory couldn’t tell. She had always been bad with history. Whichever time period she came from, the ghost looked an awful lot like Rory. Cross glanced between her and the ghost a few times.

“My wolf isn’t losing its mind,” he said
, not taking his eyes off the apparition. “I don’t think whatever this is wants to harm us.”

“Whoever
, dear. I was a person like you once,” the ghost looked him up and down. “Well, not exactly like you. You are a filthy mutt after all. But I was a person, like my lovely great-great-great-great-great-great-great granddaughter.”

“Granddaughter?!” Rory said
, coming out from behind Cross. “Who are you?”

“Drat. I guess you really don’
t recognize me,” she frowned. “I guess that means my idiot son didn’t keep the only picture of me. It was so expensive too!”

“That’s great and all
, lady, but who the fuck are you?” Cross asked again. He tried to stand in front of Rory again, but she shoved him away.

“Beatrice Silver,” the ghost said. She pointed at Rory. “I’m related to that young lady if you couldn’t tell. It really is like looking in a mirror. I don’t know why I waited so long to do this.”

“Why are you here?” Rory asked coming closer. Beatrice was right. They looked so similar, even more than Rory and her mom. Cross closed the door to the cabin and came to stand by Rory’s side.

“I had to see what all the fuss was about of course,” Beatrice said. “I really am glad I came. You aren’t much to see magic
-wise, but this whole werewolf mate thing is most distressing.”

“You’re telling me,” Rory agreed.

“Why are the ghosts fussing about Rory?” Cross asked.

“You don’t know?” Beatrice asked and laughed. She could barely speak she was laughing so hard. “Oh
, you stupid children! You’re running around trying to have relations with each other and have no idea what kind of danger you’re in. This is rich.”

“I fail to see how any of this is funny,” Cross said
, sounding more than a little angry.

“I really wish I could tell you all about it
, but this is spot is too far from my resting place. Come find me if you want to talk.”

The ghost faded away before they could ask anymore questions.

“Fuck!” Cross kicked the couch next to where the ghost had been standing. “Who the fuck was that bitch?!”

“I’m pretty sure it was one of my ancestors,” Rory said quietly. She had never been visited by a spirit before. Though this Beatrice wasn’t exactly helpful
, at least she had broken up the fight between her and Cross. She was grateful for that.

“All she does is say you’re in danger and then leave?! What the hell,” Cross kicked the couch again. “I hate fucking ghosts.”

“At least that’s something to go on,” Rory said. “I’ll call my mom and talk with her. Hopefully, she’ll know who that was and they can send someone out to find her.”

“I don’t like this one bit,” Cross said.

“You aren’t the one in danger.”

“If my mate is in danger, then I’m in danger.”

Rory sighed. “This day has taken a strange turn. I really didn’t think it could get worse.”

“Don’t say that,” Cross warned. “That was just a spirit. She didn’t come here to hurt us. You don’t want to jinx it and bring down a whole den of vampires on us.”

Rory laughed. “I don’t think that’s how it works. Plus, the only reason she could find us is because she’s related to me. Unless you close it, that’s usually a loophole in cover and cloaking spells.”

“Good to know,” Cross sat on the couch and put his head between his hands.

“Don’t worry,” Rory said, coming over to put a hand on his back. “Our parents will figure this out. It’ll be fine. Then we’ll have to tell them about this claiming business and we can fix that.”

He looked up at her. “You really don’t get this do you? If you actually accepted my claim, there is no ‘fixing this.’ We’re mates. End of story.”

Rory didn’t argue with him and instead went off to explore the house. She needed to get some distance between them to clear her head. He may have thought that was the end of the story, but it wasn’t. There was no way she was going to stay mated to a werewolf. She was going to let the coven and the Moon Brothers take care of the Sun Rider problem. Once that was finished they could tackle this whole claim thing. However it happened, she was going to fix it. Witches and wolves didn’t mix. She wasn’t about to start bucking that trend.

Coming Soon

The Witch and the Wolf: Part Two

Rory’s problems have only gotten bigger since getting to Sienna. What was supposed to be a trip to keep her safe has only added to her anxiety. As Rory and Cross head out to find a ghost, she hopes she can keep her desires in check.

Cross won’t be leaving Rory’s side anytime soon. Now that she’s accepted his claim, he’ll do anything to seal the deal. The only problem is, she’s resisting him at every turn. He has to find a way both to keep his mate safe and solidify his claim.

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