my room. I was certain that Aradia wouldn’t want me reading this, but I had to know more. I tucked the small sized book in my sweater and grabbed another book from the shelf.
I headed up toward my room and I thought I was in the clear. I could see my room, and my heart was racing at my near at hand victory. Then anger washed through me. I felt my face flush and a hint of fear slipped through me. I didn’t want to get caught with the book, but I could see Vance headed right towards me. I still couldn’t convince my wolf, who had become a permeant resident in the forefront of my mind, to accept I had to play a part with him. Rationally I knew I must, but I couldn’t even convince myself.
“Colette,” Vance nodded his head at me. When he got closer his nose flared and I hated that he probably smelled my fear.
“Van,” I said trying to brush past him.
“Don’t call me that,” he growled.
I smiled and knew that I would certainly, most definitely be calling him that in the future.
“I know what you’re afraid of,” he said. He caught my arm and kept me standing next to him. I looked up at him. I hated the hunger I saw there.
“And what’s that?”
In a blink of an eye Vance had me pressed against the wall, his body smothering mine. I wanted to bring my arms up and push him away, but his hands them pinned down at the wrist.
“I told you, you will respect me,” his breath was hot and suffocating against my neck.
I wanted to retreat, to pull away, but I was stuck. I turned my head and snapped my teeth at him, warning him to back off.
He knocked his head against mine. My head snapped back into the wall. White blinded my vision.
I felt his lips against my exposed neck, teeth pressed down. My heart stopped.
The range of my anger and fear were at such odds with each other my body felt like lead. Rage won and I pushed against him trying to get him off of me. I couldn’t move him and his hand clutching my wrist. I snarled when he held too tight.
He let his teeth nibble against my neck. My rage melted down to what drove it. Fear. No. Not there. That was for Hunter. For our pairing. I felt sick to my stomach, his touch brought tears to my eyes, and I couldn’t breathe. All I could think of was Hunter. Sorrow stole through me. His face appeared behind my close lids. He lifted away, brushing his nose through my hair to the shell of my ear.
“I fought for you and I intend to keep you.”
With that, Vance left. I held out until he was gone before my knees gave out.
A fear so great pressed on me weighing me down. Markings meant everything to wolves, a mating wasn’t complete without it. If he had bit in, broke the skin and left a mark…I felt bile rise up my throat. I moved to clutch my stomach and felt the book instead.
I breathed through my nose and stood up straight. I walked to my room on shaky legs. I had to figure this out. I had to know what Aradia was up to before I was trapped.
I shut the door behind me and wished for once that it locked on the inside and not the out. I climbed into the bed and wished for a familiar scent that would give me comfort. Instead it was the scent of the house. A hint of ocean and an overpowering scent of lavender. I craved the woods. I shut my eyes. No, I craved him. Pine needles and sandalwood.
I pulled out Emery’s diary. I needed something, anything to keep my mind off of what had happened in the hallway. Off of him.
Aradia’s plan is a foolish one, but I have to hope that it will save our kind. The babe in my womb depends on her. Aradia’s own daughter is only five. Her daughter – Ari, was the reason she turned to such dark magic. We have discovered that with those spells, the stronger blood used, the stronger the spell. I fear the consequences of her actions, for us and for the future generations of our coven.
Aradia has her prize. The spell requires the blood of the strongest creature we could find. The blood of a were. An Alpha were. We have