A Cursed Embrace(9)

My tigress pawed inside me and chuffed with annoyance. “Aric, you’re the chancelor of students at the Den. When you’re not teaching your young wolves arithmetic and dismemberment, you’re the driving force in helping to protect the area from evil. Of course you’re distracted! You carry a great deal of responsibility on your shoulders. They need to back the hell off and—”

Aric’s grin cut me off and made my heart pound hard enough to muffle the toddler throwing a set of utensils across from us. He leaned over the table and brushed his soft lips against my cheek, reminding me why the fearless tigress had fallen so hard for the big, bad wolf. “My duties keep me busy, yes, but I’ve always managed . . . until now.” His eyes bored into mine, turning my blood into liquid fire. “You’re my distraction, Celia. You came into my life and knocked me on my ass. It’s hard to concentrate on anything else.”

The portly waitress hustled by to fill our water glasses as our emotions locked us together with invisible straps. “Would you folks care for anything else?”

A cup of your best ice cream, down my pants, please.

Aric slowly released me and pulled out a wad of clipped bills. He shoved a few into the small pleather folder. “Are you ready?”

To straddle you? Sure.

I nodded and half stumbled from the booth, my head spinning from Aric’s words. The way he spoke in that deep tenor voice and the terms he’d used to express his romantic feelings shoved back my fear and stimulated my desires. Aric noticed my lack of grace. He didn’t chuckle or comment like I’d come to expect. The strong angles of his face held nothing but seriousness—smacking me back into reality more than a dip into the freezing-cold lake.

Aric reached for my hand as we walked to the car. I gripped it tight, wanting to hold on to the moment. For someone who professed his feelings for me, he didn’t appear happy. If anything he seemed torn.

Aric settled into his seat after opening the door for me. He peeled onto the road, his voice lowered. “After giving it a lot of thought, I worried my Elders were right, and believed maybe some distance between us might help. That’s why I haven’t called.”

The way back to my house gave the passenger-side view of the woods. The thick firs whirled by me in a blur. My throat tightened with angst. I wasn’t sure what Aric might say next. “Did it help?”

Aric stayed silent for several breaths. “No. It just made me miss you more.”

I would have thrown my arms around him if it hadn’t been for his ominous tone. It reinforced that our connection might be a bad thing. He didn’t say anything else until he parked in front of my house and twisted his body to face mine. I unbuckled my seat belt and crossed my legs, resting the side of my head against the seat. To anyone watching, I appeared calm, possibly even bored, my feline side feigning a state of complete relaxation. But Aric’s beast scented my fear, sensed my tightening muscles, heard my racing heart. For the first time in years, I was close to having someone special. And yet he still seemed so far away.

Aric’s palm curved against my cheek, and his thumb stroked me gently. The light trickling through the sunroof shimmered in those baby browns. I wanted to touch him, but my natural defenses kicked in, and so did my shyness. So I waited and watched, mesmerized by his rugged good looks and the way his thumb rhythmically passed against my skin.

“Celia, I can’t ignore my duties as a pureblood,” he said softly. “But I also can’t dismiss what’s happening between us. I’d like us to try to have something, providing you want to as well.”

Aric’s hand trailed against my brown locks, lightened with the gold tones of my tigress. I inched away, worry for him preventing me from accepting his caress. “What about your Elders?”

“If I can catch who murdered the men, it would prove to them I haven’t abandoned the responsibilities to my pack.”

“Then let me help you. I could—”

That oh-so-familiar “you can’t help because you can’t heal” expression played across Aric’s features like a violin, completely cutting me off. “Celia, did you miss the part where I explained that these creatures rape women and are so atrocious the world’s power banishes them back to hell within five goddamn minutes?”

I tapped my foot impatiently against the car matt. “Did you, Mr. Leader of Wolves, miss the exploding body in my house? Aric, evil not only knocked on my door, it brought leftovers and displayed them across my threshold like a UPS package.”

“No shit. Which is more of a reason you should stay away from this mess.”