Page 72 of Black Willow Witch
‘I was supposed to hold a clan meeting, but it had to be canceled,’ he explained as he walked inside. He flicked a look at a departing Kage. ‘Everything all right?’
Emberlyn closed the door. ‘His parents came here to ask me to pressure Paisley into not taking the Change. Kage’s cousin had given him a heads-up about their intentions, so he came to be sure they didn’t upset me. Which they didn’t.’
He let out aGoodgrunt.
‘So, what can I do for you?’ It was more of a tease than a question.
Ripper edged closer to her, his eyes heating. ‘The same thing you did for me last night.’ He swooped down and took her mouth like he owned it, the bold bastard.
Her magick rose up and turned the air static, drawn as ever to this werewolf who hummed with his own power.
She took a shaky breath when he drew back. ‘Do you think we’ll make it upstairs this time?’
‘No. No, I don’t.’
It turned out that he was right.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Pulling her garden snips to her chest, Emberlyn sighed at Lucie. ‘If you don’t want me to accidentally cut off your ear, you need to give me a little space.’
The cat was either bored or in the mood to be a diva, because she’d been a menace for the past hour – batting at the fairy lights, scratching the fence, taking swipes at the gardening basket, climbing the floral arch, sharpening her claws on Emberlyn’s ankle rubber boots and trampling over plants as she chased a lizard through the yard.
Lucie flicked up her tail, its tip twitching, and flounced off to sniff at a herb.
‘Thank you.’Snickssounded as Emberlyn went back to gardening. She’d spent the past hour pruning back herbs, removing leaves, flowers and parts of stems.
It was a warm April day, but not hot. It was cooler here beneath the shadow of a hawthorn tree. Still, her hands were sweating inside her thick gardening gloves.
If it wasn’t for Lucie’s antics, it would have been a relaxing way for Emberlyn to spend her Sunday morning. It was relatively quiet here. Birds chirped. Slightdingscame from the wind chimes. The breeze made the grassshushand the leaves rustle. The faint buzzing of a bee came from somewhere behind her.
There were so many scents – spicy herbs, warm earth, mint leaves, ripe berries and fragrant flowers – and all were comforting in their familiarity.
Often she’d gardened here as a child. With her help, Millicent had kept the yard well tended – weed free, plants well shaped, flowers color coded.
Emberlyn didn’t plan to stay out here too long. She intended to pay Paisley another visit. On Wednesday, Crew had put her friend through the Change. But as Paisley hadn’t been fit to see anyone until yesterday, Emberlyn had had to keep her distance.
Delighted with her new situation, Paisley had been her usual self. But she tired quickly, which was normal for a newbie werewolf. She’d be fine after a week or so.
Unfortunately for Paisley, the witch side of her family hadn’t yet ‘come round’. They’d stayed away in silent protest. Which was dumb, really, because there was nothing to be done about the situation now. The Change couldn’t be reversed.
Emberlyn hadn’t been entirely surprised on hearing that some coven members – mostly Tyra and Sera – blamedherfor Paisley’s decision, saying her friend would not have done it if Emberlyn hadn’t been allied with Ripper. As if Paisley wanting to be a werewolf had come out of nowhere.
Still, no one had said as much to Emberlyn’s face. In fact, almost the entire coven had stayed clear of her. They were focused on Reena’s new plans – she was going to have Carver’s construction company convert two whole streets of houses at Bellcrest into bigger and more luxurious homes.
It was a good solution, really. Now Carver would still have a project to work on and Reena could still provide brand spanking new homes to the people she’d promised.
Ripper hadn’t heard a whisper out of Carver – or the coven, either. Likewise, he hadn’t had to deal with problems from CeCe. She was keeping a low profile, not upset by the rumor that he and Emberlyn were sleeping together. According to gossipers, CeCe didn’t believe it was true. In her view, Ripper had onlyscent-marked Emberlyn to make CeCe jealous, giving her a taste of her own medicine.
‘He would never get involved with a witch,’ she allegedly insisted to anyone who dared insinuate that she could be wrong.
Well, shewaswrong.
Each evening, either Emberlyn would go to Ripper’s house or he would go to hers. They’d eat, talk, fuck, talk a little more and then part ways.
It was . . . nice. Easy. Uncomplicated. And rather thrilling, since it seemed that he’d been blessed by sex gods or something.
Whenever his scent-mark became too faint for his liking, he would renew it. And she’d return the favor just to keep things even.
