Page 32 of Cursed Love
Peter sat on his haunches as she tried to figure out how to extinguish the flames. Minutes passed, but she was still unsuccessful in releasing him from his cage. Brandy wiped sweat from her brow, both from the heat and fear the fire would spread. Peter lowered his upper body and she watched with surprise as he humped the air.
A bubble of laughter burst from her lips at his silly antics. She put a hand on her belly as the sound echoed around them. Peter barked, and she spotted the charred ground where her flames once were.
This process went on for about an hour. Peter would scare her, and fire would appear in one form or another until she laughed at something silly he did.
Exhausted from the training session, Brandy sat on the ground and Peter padded to her side. He curled against her leg, and she ran her hand down his body.
“You’re so soft,” she told him, noticing his eyes soften with affection. “Thanks again for trying this. I appreciate it.” Peter pushed his face into her hand, and she scratched under his muzzle. “It’s so easy to forget you aren’t an animal. Let’s go inside.”
Brandy jumped to her feet as his body shimmered with power. The fur covering Peter vanished, leaving the sinewy skin that covered his taut naked body.
“You did great!” Peter told her, his arms reaching out to hug her.
Putting up a hand, she stopped him. Her voice caught at the very impressive semi-hard dick hanging between his legs. She forced her eyes up to Peter’s, but before she could say anything, he ran across the field they’d been working on.
“What the hell is going on here?” Ryan’s voice boomed through the forest. He stood on the deck looking down at them, his angry eyes piercing hers.
A growl came from behind her, and she found Peter in wolf form, with his teeth bared at Ryan. Her attention returned to Ryan, noting the power radiating from him as his eyes bore down on his best friend.
She blamed exhaustion for not sensing he’d returned. They hadn’t done anything wrong. Ryan could be logical about Peter’s naked state because of his wolf form, but he had gone alpha male and was not open to reason.
Brandy closed her eyes and tuned out the swirl of power emanating from the two men. She remembered the fear she had felt when the man on the street shone his snapping teeth, preparing to rip out her throat. Warmth spread throughout her body, like she wrapped herself in a blanket in front of a toasty fire.
“Fucking A, babycakes,” Peter said with awe.
She opened her eyes and stared at the ten-foot wall of fire separating them from Ryan. “Find your pants and go inside.” From the corner of her eye, she watched Peter do as she asked, only stopping once to look from her to Ryan.
Once their friend was at a safe distance, she flicked a finger, and the only evidence of the fire was the smell lingering in the air. Ryan grabbed the railing of the deck and launched himself over it. He stood from his crouch and took a step forward.
A twelve-inch-high wall of fire stopped him from getting closer. A smirk tipped her lips at the excitement over how easily she managed the fire this time. Ryan looked at her with something so deep, butterflies took flight in her stomach.
“Bran—”
She shook her head and stood to her full height. “No, Rye. You don’t get to come here and be all accusing after a week of no word from you.” She would not make this easy on him. Time was not on their side regarding their level of trust, but she wouldn’t roll over, not for him or any other man for that matter.
“Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
Her flames jumped higher, and Ryan leaned back. She had spent hours locked up, learning about the powerful women in her family tree, and she had grown up with six overbearing brothers. “Don’t yousweetheartme. We shared a couple kisses, then you persuade me to come out here with your best friend andthenyou can’t even fucking call or send a text? No. I could have been out here having mind-blowing sex with Peter, and it wouldn’t have been your right to throw him across this clearing.”
Ryan’s eyes darkened, and she wondered if she’d pushed it too far with the visual. “You’re my mate.”
She wondered what the hell he was talking about. The fire extinguished with her confusion, and Ryan took advantage of her lowered guard by stepping forward.
“Yeah, Brandy… We’re mates. How do you think I found you the night when the tubar was seconds from filleting you? I could feel your magic, but mostly I could sense you were in danger.”
“You’ve known this whole time, and you didn’t think to mention it?” Brandy balled her hands into a fist when her palms warmed.
Ryan chuckled a deep sexy sound that aroused her more than she would ever admit, especially when she wanted to kick his ass. “Well, you were handling this whole witch thing so well,” he told her with a quick glance at her flaming fists. “As you can imagine, I thought I’d wait until a better time. I was actually visiting with Peter, hoping the bastard would have some advice on it, when I sensed you were in danger.”
“You realize nothing is going on between Peter and me, right?” she whispered, needing more time to process the new information. She felt a strong invisible tie to him but had chalked it up to her attraction to the man. Never would she have guessed it was something deeper.
Ryan’s stared into her eyes. “How about you come home and find me with your naked best friend who is about to touch you andthenwe’ll talk.”
“Peter’s your best friend. He wouldn’t cross that line.” Even as she said the words, she was not sure if they were entirely true. Something told her that if she had chosen the attractive werewolf, he would not have denied her.
Ryan cocked his head to the side with disbelief. “I know you aren’t immune to his looks or his charms. I saw how he looked at you. I don’t know what happened this week, but he would lay down his life for you, and it no longer has to do with our friendship.”
“He’s not the one I want… or am mated to apparently,” she snapped, skirting around the truth of what she had noticed as well.
