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Seduced by Innocencey

By:Kimberly Kinrade


ONE





Sudden Endings





ROSE





These sudden joys have sudden endings. They burn up in victory like fire and gunpowder.

— William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet





LIQUID FIRE POURED into me, filling me with the intimate sense of him as he leaned in to claim my lips with his own. I reached for him, needing him closer, needing to feel his flesh against mine, but my arms couldn't close the distance between us, which grew wider with each hitched breath. So close to finally feeling something real, something carnal and deep, I cried out in frustration, dropping my hands as he disappeared. My cries deepened into a frenzy of panic and my eyes flew open. I clutched my blanket and stilled myself to calm my racing heart.

Just a dream. Always just a dream. It could never be more than that. Not with my dream man, not with any man. Knowing this did nothing to dampen the disappointment that weighed heavy on me each time I entered that one moment where dreams and reality co-existed and I forgot who I really was and what would happen if I ever experienced that level of surrender. But fear replaced my self-absorption when the alarms penetrated my foggy mind. Outside my cottage, footsteps raced through the cold night, crunching on newly fallen snow. Through my frosted window, flashlights wavered back and forth, looking for something, or someone. It's happening again!

The floor under my bare feet felt like ice as I slipped out of bed and fumbled in the dark for my clothes. Sandy, my loyal Alaskan Husky, whined when I moved to leave the cottage without her. I ran a hand through her thick white fur. "You want to come? I have to go check on your puppies. Do you want to see your babies?"

She barked once and wagged her tail.

The alarm shut off, leaving us both in a stunned silence that filled the room. Sandy licked my hand and stood by the door waiting as I pulled on my boots and coat and braced myself for the cold. I rummaged through the basket next to my door, looking for my warmest gloves. At least in the winter I had a ready excuse for covering my hands.

Outside, the black pitch of night greeted me. No one had turned on the floodlights yet, which made me wonder if they'd been damaged. Flashlight in hand, dog by my side, I headed to the main house on our coven's 100-acre property as I sent my magic ahead of me to sift through the energy from the attack.

Before I could get more than a few steps, Blake ran up to me and laid his hand on my arm as he fought to catch his breath. He ignored Sandy's low growl as he pushed me toward the door. "You should go back in. They've broken onto the property again. Bastards slashed the tires on three vehicles and left a deer carcass as a gift."

My heart thumped with extra force at the news. "That's horrible. Whose cars?"

"The property truck, Darren's car and Lauren's." His jaw hardened, and he narrowed his dark eyes, squeezing my arm tighter in his anger. "Bastards will cost us hundreds in new tires. They even smashed out the windows. We've got to strike back. Teach them a lesson."

Using my gloved hand, I eased his fingers off of me. He flinched at the touch, despite the layers of protection. Good thing I had a thick skin, sort of. I kept my voice calm, even through my own rage. "That's not a decision you can make on your own. We'll all talk about it when we meet tomorrow morning."

He waved his flashlight over his watch and smirked. "More like a few hours. It's 2 a.m. The meeting's in two hours. Where's Ocean?"

"She's on a date, and I'd better check on the puppies and try to get a bit more rest." I stepped around him to continue walking, but he blocked me with his large body made of the kind of muscle you get, not from the gym, but from manual labor day in and out. He smelled of pine needles and snow, a scent that would have been appealing on anyone else but him.

"Rainbow wants everyone inside except the security team. The puppies are fine," he said.

I'd thought about it a lot, what it was about Blake that revolted me so much. Easy on the eyes, dedicated to our coven, though lacking magic of his own, he would have been a safe choice, if I'd had any choice at all. He'd even indicated an interest on more than one occasion, and the only almost-kiss I'd ever experienced had been with him on my thirteenth birthday. But his touch made my skin crawl, even through clothing. I shifted away from him. "What about my sister? She must be scared."

"She's sixteen, Rose, not a little girl anymore. She's not as helpless as you think. Just go back inside. We'll handle this." He smiled to soften the command in his voice, and I sighed and walked back into the cottage.

I'm not a little girl anymore, either. Guess no one got the memo.

Not for the first time I wished for a lock on my house, but none of us had locks, despite the recent string of break-ins. I shed my winter gear and gloves and toweled off the snow from Sandy's paws. Knowing I'd never get back to sleep, and frustrated that I'd been dismissed by Blake like some kid, despite the fact that I was nineteen and he was only twenty-one, I searched my one-room dwelling for something to occupy my time until our daily pre-dawn meeting.