Page 103 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

I skimmed my fingers over his chest as I remained on him, partially propped and totally naked. “Are you familiar with the story?”

“Quite,” he answered.

“Well then, the part with the Weird Sisters and what they did to Jonathan Harker really bothered me. And the commenter, whoever he was, seemed bothered by it too. It was wrong what they did to him. A violation that they didn’t seem even to understand was bad. And I didn’t like reading the comments the man made in the margins about his relationship with Wilhelmina Murray. He seemed pretty worked up over how Stoker portrayed it all. It read like they were friends, not engaged, and not husband and wife.”

“They were friends, and they weren’t a couple,” Jonathan said, setting his phone on the cave floor next to us right before he touched my cheek softly. “They’d been friends since childhood, and he valued their friendship. And you’re right, he didn’t like the way it was portrayed in the novel.”

I couldn’t help but snicker. “You sound very sure of that.”

“I am,” he replied.

I laughed more but stopped when I thought about what Marcy had said when she’d made introductions back at the house. She’d called him Jonathan Harker. “You know a lot about the novel because you share a name with one of the main characters?”

He drew me down toward his face and gave me a slow, drugging kiss.

I licked my lips, my breathing increasing. “Is that it? Is that why you know so much about it? Mina and I spent our childhood hearing about Wilhelmina from my father and our uncles. We’re named after her.”

The edges of his lips drew up. “She’d have liked that. She’d have liked you too.”

“You talk about her like she was real, not a fictitious character,” I said, wondering if he knew the story had grains of truth in it or if he just liked it because he shared a name with one of the characters.

“She was real,” stated Jonathan. “So was everyone else who was mentioned.”

“You know the truth then?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. I know that it is inspired by real events.”

I folded my hands on his chest and propped my chin on them, leaving me staring up at his face. It was a great face, so I wasn’t going to complain. “Kind of weird to think about someone from my family tree having met Dracula.”

Jonathan’s jaw set. “Please tell me you didn’t fall in love with the movie version of that dickhead.”

“You mean the movie that has Mina as his reincarnated wife?” I asked.

He gave a curt nod.

I wrinkled my nose. “Uh, no. He’s not the character I developed a thing for while watching it. Also, it should be noted that my sister loathes that film and the book. Okay, anything to do with the mention of Dracula, really.”

Jonathan appeared relieved. “Good. Wait, you didn’t develop a thing for Quinn, Seward, Van Helsing, or Arthur, did you?”

“Wow, you really are familiar with the story,” I said, impressed that he knew all the names involved. “And no. Turns out, I have a major soft spot for Harker.”

His lips twitched. “Is that so?”

I did my best to mimic his accent. “It is so.”

He growled, and my wolf perked, taking notice of the sound he’d made. “Are you sure we can’t go for an encore of our encore?”

I reached for the pocket watch. I opened it and was surprised to see it was still running. “Uh, I’m starting to think that house on Gallows Lane is some weird time portal or something. Look, the watch is still running.”

He glanced at it. “Hmm?”

I did a double take when I saw the time. “Is this correct?”

Jonathan checked his phone and nodded, confirming the time.

My stomach sank. “Crap. Mina has to be totally freaking out.”

He handed me the phone, and I, in turn, pushed the watch into his hand as I sat up on him, straddling his waist as I dialed my sister’s number.

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