Wolfsbane: Aspect of the Wolf (14 page)

Bethany's half-human form folded in on itself. Her body seemed to melt away, and in her place stood a brown wolf, its fangs bared, red eyes blazing.

Daniel took aim, but the creature bounded away. Vance sank to his knees, deflated.

"I'm sorry, bro. I'm so sorry.” Daniel squeezed his brother's shoulder as he drew Emilie tighter against him with his other arm. He looked into the eyes of his mate and his heart ached with pain for Vance. “I know exactly how you felt about her."

"Vance is opening up some gazillion-year-old Scotch and we're going to do shots. Come on!"

Emilie glanced up at Charlotte, standing in the front doorway of the Garrison house and silhouetted by the amber glow of the dining room chandelier. Her cousin looked fresh as a daisy, excited, in fact, and apparently eager to tie one on.

In contrast, Emilie felt like she weighed a thousand pounds. She had no strength left to haul herself up from her seat on the front steps and no desire to disengage herself from Daniel's strong embrace. She waved Charlotte off. “Save us some."

Charlotte laughed ruefully. “Have you seen that boy? There won't be any left. When you've had your heart ripped out, you need to fill the hole with something. Take it from someone who's been there a couple of times."

"We'll pass,” Daniel said. “Just don't let him start singing ‘Danny Boy'—it'll make your ears bleed."

"Check.” Charlotte nodded, then disappeared into the house.

When they were alone, Daniel pulled Emilie closer to him. She sighed and leaned into his warmth. “I hope Vance will forgive me."

"For what? You saved him."

"He still lost the love of his life."

Daniel rested his chin on Emilie's shoulder and stroked her back. “I disagree. I don't think he's found her yet. He loved Beth ... he believed he did ... but she was only using him to get what she wanted. She wasn't the love of his life. He didn't have the same connection to her that I have with ... you."

Emilie smiled. “Are you saying I'm the love of your life?"

He nuzzled her neck and sighed into her ear. “Come upstairs with me and I'll show you."

She felt a familiar tingle pinball through her body, and some of the weight of her exhaustion lifted. Then the logical side of her brain rebelled. “We shouldn't."

"Shouldn't what?"

"Do that. Go crazy again."

In response, he kissed her neck, tangled his fingers in hers and squeezed. “I don't have the strength to go crazy, but I have enough strength to take the woman I love to my bed and show her how much I need her and want her and can't bear to lose her."

Emilie felt warm, as if she were melting into a soft, pliant puddle in Daniel's arms. “So then you've lost the urge to run me out of town?"

"I'm not letting you go anywhere without me.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. He kissed her again, then led her into the house and up the stairs to his bedroom. “I might let you
come
a few times by yourself, but I'm definitely not letting you
go
."

"And what about magick? Still dead set against it?” She gave him a curious look as they crossed the bedroom threshold. She may have cured his brother, but was it enough to convince him that the town needed a witch on hand? The tangle of nerves in her belly seemed to unravel as he gently guided her onto the soft blankets.

"'Dead’ is such a permanent word. Why don't we say I'm ‘cautiously optimistic'?"

"That's the petition writer talking,” she mused, snuggling against him. “I'd like to hear from the man who's mated to a witch."

"He's busy right now.” Daniel nuzzled her neck, nipped her ear and growled. “He's about to enchant his woman with a very potent love spell."

"Ooh...” Emilie lost her train of thought as Daniel settled over her. Once again, she surrendered to the wolf, and this time, it was magick.

As a child, Jennifer Colgan (who also writes as Bernadette Gardner) regularly spent all her allowance on books. She quickly progressed from Carolyn Keene's
Nancy Drew Mysteries
to Nora Roberts and Gary Jennings. Her search for the perfect mix of adventure and romance finally took her from the bookstore to her computer where she began writing the kinds of stories she loves to read.

"I'd been experimenting with different genres and decided to try a romance novel. Now I can't imagine writing a story without romance in it,” she says.

Jennifer is a native of the NY-NJ Metropolitan area, but her travels have taken her as far from home as Sydney, Australia. Her writing regularly takes her far into the future and deep into distant galaxies.

You can learn visit her websites to learn about her works in progress at www.bernadettegardner.com and www.jennifercolgan.com.

Swept into another world by the desperate spell of an evil sorceress, real estate agent Gillian Lawrence figures she must be dreaming. Her dream becomes a nightmare when she realizes her resemblance to the sorceress has embroiled her in the ambitious plans of the handsome Lord Rodan to save his people from an army of ruthless barbarians. Rodan demands that Gillian use her magick and join his cause, or spend the rest of her life as his prisoner and even possibly face death. But with no powers of magick at her disposal, what's a transported real estate agent from present-day America to do? A deadly battle hinges on her ability to convince two armies that her magick can stop an invasion and save the Southern Kingdom ... as well as winning the heart of the man she loves...