He rubbed his thumbs at the center of my palms, and I swear, I instinctually squeezed my thighs against his hips on the shockwave it pulsed between my legs. I had no idea that the center of my palm was an erogenous zone. Actually, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t. It was just him. Anything he did with those hands made me crazy. The way he handled me in our make-out session had my imagination running stark-raving mad, thinking of how well he’d handle me in bed.

I cleared my throat and my wayward thoughts. “But you’re right. We want to be sure we’re powered up for tomorrow night.”

He gripped my waist and lifted me off the cooler to stand in front of him. Taking my hand, he tugged me toward the door. “Let me walk you home.”

Very reluctantly, I followed behind him. Nico was still playing on the stage in the corner. He and Mateo exchanged one of those manly head-nods, then we cut through the crowd and out the door. We walked in silence, taking a right at our shop on the corner. It wasn’t until we were at the gate and Mateo held it open for me that he said something. “So, I think we have good chemistry together.”

“Sorry?”

He chuckled, pulling me to a stop on the front porch. “You wanted to test our boundaries, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

“Do you agree?”

I shrugged one shoulder, pretending indifference, “Yeah. I guess we can give it a go.”

“Just a go.”

“Sure.” I pressed my lips together to keep the smirk from breaking free, because it was practically impossible to play it cool after my Mount Vesuvius-level explosion of lust and feelings back in the storage closet.

“Hmm. So on a scale from lukewarm to scorching, how would you rate our chemistry?”

I made a good show of pretending to figure out where we’d end up, squinting one eye. “I’d say maaaaybe like a simmer.”

He bit his lip, trying to keep from smiling, because he knew I was a big fat liar. “I see.” He dropped my hand and pulled away, putting a few steps between us. “Maybe it’s better we don’t give it a go then and just keep this”—he gestured between us with one hand—“nice and platonic. What do you say?”

I leaped onto him and wrapped my legs around his waist. He staggered back, laughing, his shoulders hitting the wall beside the door, one palm on my ass, the other under my thigh.

“Don’t you even think about it, Mr. Wolfman,” I said, nose to nose before I crushed my mouth to his.

He was still laughing until I slid my tongue along his and clenched my legs tight around him. Electric heat sizzled up my spine. He sucked on my tongue and groaned, skating down to kiss my neck. I arched for him, giving him all the access he wanted.

“Mr. Wolfman needs to get the fuck out of here,” he muffled into my skin. “You’re killing me, woman.”

His voice was edged with a growl. Pushing him in this arena wasn’t a good idea. As much as I wanted to tear his clothes off, I didn’t want Alpha showing up. For one, he scared the shit out of me. And second, I couldn’t stand to see that look of helplessness in Mateo’s eyes like I did after the haunted house debacle. I straightened and caught a flicker of gold flash before his eyes cooled to brown again. Yep, time to be a good girl. Detangling my legs, I dropped back to the porch and cupped his face, both of us heaving.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night.” I pressed a closed-mouth kiss to his devastating lips.

He pressed his forehead to mine, eyes closed for a second. “Tomorrow night. We break this curse.”

“Then your life can go back to normal.”

“Back to normal,” he repeated, catching my gaze and holding it. “Except you’ll still be in it.”

I grinned, pecked him on the lips, and backed away toward the front door. “I’ll text you the details in the morning. I’m sure Jules has a detailed plan and color-coded chart to go along with my spell.”

He laughed and shoved both of his hands into his jeans pockets, swallowed hard, and licked his lips with a deep nod. “Tomorrow then.” He jogged down the steps and loped toward the front gate as I opened the door.

“Hey, Mateo!”

He stopped and turned to me.

“Molten lava.”

His brow scrunched into the cutest frown. “What?”

“On the scale.” I flashed him a grin and made the explosion gesture with one hand. “Volcanic, seismic activity.”

His grin slid away, replaced by a hot look that made me squeeze my thighs together. Then he touched two fingers to his lips and tipped them up in my direction before sauntering off down the street.

Hmph. A big, bad werewolf just blew me a kiss. That was the sexiest and cutest thing I’d ever seen.

And now to face the firing squad. Unless I could get Violet to keep her big mouth shut and not tell Jules. Somehow, I knew there was no way that was happening.

Chapter 21

~EVIE~

“What!”

“They were practically clawing each other’s clothes off,” said Violet, checking out her new OPI nail color, Vampsterdam black. I’d moved her new polish off the kitchen counter this morning so Jules wouldn’t rip her a new asshole. But now I was plotting to accidentally spill last week’s Berry Fairy Fun purple on Jules’s butcher block. “If I hadn’t interrupted, they’d definitely be fucking on that freezer.”

“We would not be fu—.” I ground my teeth together before snapping, “You are the suckiest sister on the planet, you know that?” I picked up a throw pillow with my magic and launched it at Violet’s face.

She fell back onto the sofa, laughing like a goddamn hyena. No, I mean literally, she sounded like a braying donkey or hyena when she laughed full force like this. It was so unattractive but strangely endearing. Except when she was laughing at my expense. Like now.

“What did I miss?” Clara walked in, cuddling Z to her chest and wearing her gauzy white sundress.

“Evie is having sex with that werewolf,” blurted Violet.

“I am not!”

But I would be soon. If everything went well.

“Alright, alright,” said Jules, completely annoyed, her maternal scowl permanently fixed. “Enough, Violet. Sit down, Evie.”

Jules and I had gone over tomorrow night’s plan, waiting for Violet to end her shift and close up with JJ. Everything was fine and dandy till five minutes ago when she walked through the door and said, “Evie is doing Mateo.”

“First off,” I said, retaking my seat on the overstuffed chair beside the sofa, “Mateo and I aren’t sleeping together.”

“Yet,” added Violet with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“And if we do, that’s no one’s business but our own.” I aimed the last at Jules. She may be my older and wiser sister and all that shit, but she didn’t own me and couldn’t dictate who I could have a relationship with.

Jules kept her all-seeing stare on me, moving over my face for several seconds before she took a sip of her red wine and smoothed her features back to calm-as-the-Dead-Sea. “You’re right.”

“I am?”

“She is?” Violet leaned forward with shock and awe brightening her face.

“Look, Evie. You’re obviously a grown woman and can do whatever you want. My only concern was, and still is, the volatile nature of werewolves.” She paused and tilted her head toward me. “However, I’ve noticed how different you’ve been lately. You seem so…” She waved a hand, searching for the word, like she could pluck it out of the air.

“Happy,” said Clara.

Since when wasn’t I happy? I mulled over Clara’s observation, which both thrilled and saddened me at the same time. “I wasn’t happy before?”

“Of course, you were,” said Jules. “But something’s changed.”

This actually kind of pissed me off. I wasn’t a doom-and-gloom kind of girl. If anyone was emo, it was Violet, or high anxiety, it was Isadora.

“I’m always happy.”

“Not really,” supplied Clara. “You’re a very content person, Evie, it’s true. Nothing bothers you or sets you off. You’re the most even-keeled of all of us. But it’s also true that you’ve come more alive since you and Mateo became friends.”

Clara was right. I had been smiling at everything and laughing far too easily these days.

“All I’m saying,” interjected Jules, “is if you’re happy being with him, then I’m, of course, not going to stop you. I just caution you to be careful. Especially with this hex. We still don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

At least I knew what his alter-ego was like. I wasn’t going to lie and pretend that Alpha couldn’t be dangerous. While I was certain he’d never hurt me, I was fairly sure he could and would hurt someone else if he managed to overtake Mateo in an uncontrolled environment. It was just one more reason to help Mateo get rid of this damn hex. He needed to shift out in the woods where Alpha could run and hunt to his wolfish heart’s content.

“Fine. Warning heard loud and clear. Now, let’s get this round moving.”

Jules nodded, apparently content now that she’d given me her motherly advice on the matter. We filed out into the courtyard. Clara left Z inside.

“Is Fred in his pen?” asked Jules.

“Yes.” Violet sighed. “I double-checked, don’t worry.”

We always made sure the animals were locked up because the amount of energy we conjured could actually do damage to other living creatures. I mean, this was all positive, life-force kind of energy, but we never knew if a wayward zap could give Z or Fred a heart attack. Better to be safe than sorry.

We opened the wrought iron gate wrapped in ivy that led to the back garden. The enclosed space jutted out from the back corner of the house—quiet and out of the way. Jules struck a long match and lit the candles in each corner as we took our places around the witch’s wheel chalked at the center. Well, Jules, Violet, and I sat, but Clara remained standing at the top of the witch’s wheel scrawled with the season, Yule. Violet sat beside her at Samhain, even though Yule was her birthday month, too. I took the place opposite at Midsummer with Jules beside me at Beltane. The two spots for Isadora at Imbolg and Livvy at Lugnasadh were left open.