Page 43 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“A new thing.”

“A thing?”

I nodded quickly, nearly slinging my head off my shoulders. “Yeah. To replace the ward. A thing.”

Jace opened his mouth to speak again, but I rushed down the hall into my room before he could get a word out. In my room, I pressed a hand to my chest and took a great, shuddering breath. God, that had been intense. I wondered if he’d noticed it. Part of me hoped so, then I didn’t have to think I was crazy. Another part hoped not, because what would that mean? It was almost too much to take in.

He was alone now, out there in the kitchen and free to snoop around the place, but I didn’t care. Not that I thought he would snoop. All I actually cared about was getting myself under control.

Jace was handsome, yes. Who was I kidding? He was absolutely gorgeous. That was something no one would ever deny. The way my heart was racing, he might be the death of me, though. Could I truly be attracted to him? Really? There was no way I could let that happen.

Could I?

Chapter 12

Jace

Follow, my wolf growled as Kirsten fled down the hall. Claim.

I mentally flinched away from that. The desire was there, the push from my wolf beyond powerful. If I wasn’t careful, he would take control, and that wasn’t something I could allow. The animalistic side of me couldn’t simply do whatever it wanted. No matter how Kirsten was reacting.

Her heart had sped up like a drum solo in a rock song. Her scent had changed while I’d patched her up. A combination of arousal, fear, panic, and confusion. The heady smell had stolen my voice. Then she’d looked into my eyes. And the spark it had set off had nearly caused my wolf to lose his mind with desire.

As I glanced around the interior of the cabin, I saw one of the bedroom doors was open. The edge of a bed was visible. That was all my wolf needed to see.

Mate. Claim. Follow.

As though to punctuate the thought, an image flooded my mind. Kirsten, sweaty and writhing, arching her back as I thrust into her.

“Stop,” I hissed, shaking my head to clear it of that tantalizing image. “Fucking stop it.” I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself, my wolf, or both.

Acting without thinking of the consequences was what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. I refused to let it happen again. No way in hell would I approach Kirsten. Not like that. Not when I still had a hard time believing she was my fated mate.

After a moment that felt like it had stretched into eternity, Kirsten finally returned, holding something in her hand. “Got it.”

It was a small hairpin. I looked at it, then at her, raising an eyebrow. “Seriously? That?”

She sighed, and an adorable pink flush crept into her cheeks. “It doesn’t have to be a big or super-important item. Just one that belongs to me or my enemy. This should work. At least that’s what the book says,” she added, pointing to the stack of books on the kitchen counter.

“All right,” I said with a smile. “You’re the expert. Not me.”

Kirsten let out a derisive laugh. “If I’m the expert, we’re in for a shit-ton of trouble.”

Uncertain how my wolf and I would react to being close to her again, I stayed rooted to the spot as she moved past me to the books on the counter.

Kirsten cursed under her breath as she flipped through the pages. “You know, it would have been really nice if Nana had told me about all this when she was still alive. I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.”

“So you never felt any magic before now?” I asked.

“Nope,” she said, then glanced up at me. “Not until I met you.”

So strange. It was a known fact that witches manifested their initial powers around the age of sixteen. For hers to wait until she was past thirty should have been damn near impossible.

“What about your parents? Did they ever say anything?” I asked.

Kirsten paused, tearing her eyes away from the book. “No. My mom died when I was a toddler. Plus, she wasn’t a blood relation to Nana. That was my dad. And…” she trailed off, a distant look in her eyes. “Well, let’s just say he wasn’t one for long talks.”

I wanted to kick myself for even asking. Waylan and I had already looked into her background. I knew her mother was out of the picture. Also, everyone knew magic was passed through the mother’s line. Men were incapable of magic. When Kirsten’s grandmother birthed a son, she probably believed the chance to pass her knowledge on had died. I could imagine how happy the woman must have been to find out she had a granddaughter. One last chance at some sort of heir. When Kirsten didn’t manifest anything, she must have given up all hope. It was sort of sad. Close to what I’d been going through.

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