Page 49 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

The woman was pleasant and sweet. Funny, but not in a mean way. I could see myself striking up a friendship with her. Would that be the best idea, though? I had no idea how things would play out between Jace and me. Befriending his sister might be a bad idea.

I winked. “I pity you.”

That got a laugh out of her. “If you ever get tired of his shit, my mate and I run the Copper Valley Pack,” she said. “He’s the alpha. It’s only thirty minutes from here, going the opposite way of Scottsdale. Come by any time, and we can talk about Grumpy there.” She nodded toward Jace, who was looking more and more uncomfortable.

“I might do that,” I said.

“I’ll leave you guys to it,” Shayna said, then she jogged down the driveway.

As I watched, she leaped into the air, morphed into her wolf, and loped off into the forest. Seeing it was always surreal. Even though everyone knew shifters were real, watching them shift was a wonder.

“Hey there,” Jace said. “Come on in.”

As soon as he spoke, my nerves returned, though I followed him inside. My hands shook, and I clutched at my purse to hide it. I’d never been the type to let a man get to me like this, but there was something about Jace that made it hard to maintain my composure. When he looked at me with those eyes, it was even worse. The way they seemed to bore into my soul, peeling back the layers of me until all that was left was naked and unguarded, unnerved the hell out of me.

“What’s up?” he asked.

What’s up? My brain had gone blank. It took a moment, but I finally found my words.

“Uh, I need to talk to you. About the curse,” I said.

Jace’s face softened as a look of mild surprise took over his features. “Did you find out how to break it?”

“No,” I said. “Sorry. I went to see the witch in St. Louis, the one who gave me those books? I wanted to get her input and see if she had any ideas.”

Jace did a good job hiding the look of disappointment on his face, but I still caught it. To his credit, he didn’t allow any bitterness to creep into his voice. “What did she say?”

“She said that the curse is very strong, and it’s usually difficult to keep it up for long. I told her about how I broke the old ward and rebuilt the new one. How when you touched me, it became easier. She thinks, uh, well, that you might be something called a tether. For me. My tether. It’s a person who—”

“Allows for more powerful magic in witches,” Jace said, finishing my sentence for me.

I gaped at him, and he laughed. “You think after being cursed for a century, I wouldn’t have done as much research on witches as possible? I know what a tether is. Honestly, it kinda makes sense. I had an inkling, but I dismissed it. Now that you’ve laid it out like that, I think you may be right.”

“You do?”

I was worried I’d sound like some stalker… begging the sexy, macho neighbor to bend me over and make me his because we were meant for each other.

I blinked in surprise at that mental image. Where the hell had that come from? I didn’t want Jace to do that. Never. Though, I was having a very hard time shoving the mental movie to the back of my mind.

Jace stepped forward, closing the distance between us. Something in his eyes changed, almost like he’d seen the weird little fantasy that had just flitted through my mind. I had the distinct feeling that I was standing naked before him. Smoldering eyes met mine. A knot formed in my stomach, not unpleasant. More like the sensation you got right before the rollercoaster dropped.

“I do,” he said quietly. “I think your magic reacts to me the way my wolf reacts to you.”

“How, uh…” I cleared my throat. “Um, how does your wolf react to me?”

He stared at me for several seconds before taking one more step closer, now less than an arm’s reach away. I swallowed hard, and that movie in my head began to play again. Me bent over, Jace yanking my pants and panties down. His fingers digging into my hips as he plunged himself into me.

I was wet just thinking about it. Fuck, what was wrong with me? Jesus, stop it. Stop it, I thought to myself.

“I don’t think you’re ready to hear about that,” Jace said.

Fight-or-flight kicked in, and I suddenly felt like a young deer staring down the muzzle of a hungry wolf. That might have been exactly what I was.

Without a word, I rushed for the door, desperate for some fresh air. Jace was too fast. My God, shifters were fast. He was there before I could reach it, arm pressed into the frame, blocking my way. My chest pressed against his, our faces so close, our breaths intermingled. I clenched my thighs together as more images of what we would do to each other flitted through my mind. I didn’t want to think about these things, but I couldn’t stop. A weird buzzing sizzled across my skin, and my crystal throbbed in time to the pulse between my legs.

“Soon,” Jace whispered, “the two of us will have to face the truth about what’s going on between us. We won’t be able to run from it forever.”

Wanna bet? I thought and opened the door, ducking under his arm.

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