17. Kirsten

After Jace had left, I'd busied myself with the dishes, doing my best to calm the raging sexual desire. When I got in bed, I couldn't settle, tossing and turning for an hour before finally drifting off. Not that that had offered any refuge. My brain decided to feed me dream after dream of explicit scenes of me and Jace. By the time I woke up the next morning, I was freaking out. I'd never experienced anything so visceral and powerful before.

The first thing I did when I got up was call Harley. I needed to talk this out with someone. The phone rang seven times before she finally answered.

"Do you have any idea what fucking time it is?" She sounded groggy and muffled, like her face was still shoved into the pillow.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was eight o'clock. Sunday.

"It's eight," I said. "Were you not up yet?"

"Holy shit. No. I didn't even get home until after three." The bed rustled on the other end of the line, sounding like faint static. "What is so important, it couldn't wait until a decent hour? Like, one or two o'clock or something?"

"Guy trouble," I said.

Harley suddenly perked right up. "Oh! Well, for that, you should have just called me last night. Give me the dirt. All of it."

For the next thirty minutes, I told her everything. The way my body was pulled toward Jace, the way I desired him, how horny my magic made me. I told her what he'd said and how our dinner had gone.

Finally, I added, "And I'm having dinner at his house tonight. Part of me doesn't want to, but the other, more insistent part can't wait. Harley, what should I do?"

"Easy," Harley said. "You need to get some lingerie."

"Oh my god," I groaned. "I'm being serious."

"So am I. Look, you always have shitty luck with men, and as your friend, I know why. Every guy you've been with—which, might I add, have been few and far between—has never lived up to your standard. You settled, is what I'm saying. They've all screwed you over in one way or another. You've found a dude who lights a fire that's never been lit, and it's freaking you out. That's what's happening. What you need to do is break free and go with the flow. Nothing makes going with the flow easier than having a sexy little something under your clothes. Some crotchless panties, or maybe one of those numbers with the cutouts so your tits hang out? Guys love that shit."

"You think so?"

"I know so. I wore one of those when I went out with that linebacker for the Texans a couple years ago. Dude about lost his shit when I got undressed."

"Ugh, no, I mean about going with the flow. Just letting it happen?"

"Well, yeah. Honey, no offense, but when it comes to relationships, you're high-strung, and I say that from a place of love. Hell, buy whatever you want, but it might do you some good to clear your head with a little shopping. I'll send you a link to a place I love in St. Louis. Take a little day trip out there, browse, maybe pick something out, have lunch, the whole nine yards. Get out of your head a bit."

I checked the clock. It was close to nine. I had plenty of time, even if I stayed in the city for several hours, I'd be home with plenty of time before going to Jace's.

"Send me the address."

On the drive, I listened to a podcast and let my mind drift. The drive was pleasant, other than the crystal on my neck humming in a strange way. A weird feeling of dread came over me, which made me drive more carefully. Was it telling me I might get into an accident? If so, nothing ever materialized. No one swerved into me or tried to rear-end me. Eventually, I tuned it out.

By the time I pulled into a parking garage in St. Louis, I was calmer than I'd been in days. Maybe things with Jace would work out, even if it was just short-term. A summer fling. Still, I had to get the words out. Tell him what I wanted. He'd made it clear he was a gentleman and that nothing else would do. This was a big ask. At least for me.

The shop Harley had sent me to was not what I'd expected. I'd been almost certain it would be one of those places with dildos on racks all over the walls and a curtained area in the back to buy even naughtier things. Instead, it was more of a boutique shop with normal clothes up front and more risqué clothing at the back. It was actually really nice, and I began to browse.

It was still early, and I was the only customer. One woman worked the counter and bustled about, refolding and packing away items. When the doorbell dinged, I turned, curious to see the new patron entering, and my blood instantly froze in my veins. Eren walked in with a woman on his arm. She wore a large hat and big movie-star sunglasses that she didn't bother removing inside.

There was no way this was a coincidence. He must have followed me here. That's why my crystal had been warning me. My magic had sensed danger. Hell, he could have been on the highway a few cars behind me, and I never would have known. How the hell would he have known I'd be heading here, though? Had he been waiting near my cabin for me to venture out? That was supremely stalkerish, and it made my skin crawl.

When Eren spotted me, he didn't look the least bit surprised. He left his companion to browse and headed straight for me.

What could I do? There was nowhere to go. At least this was a public place in the daylight. I glanced at the retail worker, who looked engrossed in something on the computer.

"Hey there," Eren said, taking up a position on the opposite side of the clothing rack. "Pretty nice place, huh?"

"Yeah," I muttered. I had no desire to speak to him.

Should I walk out? Was it safer out on the street or in here? I wasn't sure.

"I was wondering," he went on, "Jace didn't happen to tell you about me needing your services, did he?"

"My services? Well, my degree is in education, so unless you need help learning to read, I don't know what I can do for you."

Eren tilted his head and chuckled quietly. "That's good. Really good, but not what I had in mind. You know what I mean."

The way he looked at me, like a wolf sizing up his prey—which was, in fact, exactly what was happening—made me even more uncomfortable than I already was.

"How about you just say what you need to say?" I told him. "Stop beating around the bush."

"Oh, dirty talk, I like it. Do you need someone to beat around your bush?"

"Gross," I snapped.

"Anyway, the reason I was so… surprised to see you here was that I'd been wanting to talk to you about a friend of mine."

"A friend?"

"Yeah, they've been having some issues. Fertility issues that a witch might be able to help out with."

At the mention of the word witch, I glanced around to see if anyone had heard. The lone store worker was now over by the front window, assisting Eren's friend. This felt like a planned attack. Eren and his friend arrive, Eren corners me, his friend distracts the worker. A sneak attack to get whatever it was he was trying to get. Lead filled my stomach.

"Doctors can't seem to help my friend," Eren continued. "He's pretty desperate to have a kid. He's an alpha, too. Needs an heir to stabilize his power base. You see where this is going? If medicine can't help, I'm sure a witch can."

Actually, I could recall at least a few chapters in my books about fertility magic. Libido enhancement, curing erectile dysfunction, a potion to ease morning sickness, and, yes, one for helping a barren couple get pregnant. I hadn't really gone over those chapters too much.

"The pay would be, shall we say, extravagant," Eren added with another shark-toothed grin. "What do you say? Help a guy out?"

If it meant I could get out of here with my skin intact, I'd say whatever I needed to say. Who cared if I was lying as long as Eren bought it?

"I guess I can do some research, see what I can come up with. No promises, though."

"Fair enough," he said, stepping back and holding his hands up in surrender. "I do appreciate that. My friend will be happy to hear it." He turned to leave, but before I could sigh with relief, he turned back. "Oh, one more thing?"

"Yes?" I said, exhausted.

"Let's keep this little chat to ourselves? No reason for anyone else to know about my buddy's issues. 'Kay?"

"Whatever you say."

"Cool." He winked and made a finger gun, pointing at me. "See you soon, Kirsten."

Eren went to his friend, and thirty seconds later, they were gone. I clung to the rack of clothes to keep my knees from giving out. God, there was something about that guy that was beyond creepy.

I wasn't in the mood to buy lingerie anymore, but I didn't want to leave the store too soon. The last thing I wanted was to run across Eren again on the street. I forced myself to browse a bit to kill time, and eventually I did grab one item from the back lingerie area. It wasn't as risqué as Harley probably would have liked, but it was much more skimpy than anything I'd ever worn before.

I shrugged. It was a good compromise.

Leaving the store gave me the strangest sensation that I was stepping out into a dangerous battlefield. Danger could be lurking around any corner. I didn't breathe easy until I was back in my car with the doors locked. I gave a little shudder of relief as I started my car and backed out. As I drove, I kept checking my mirrors and glancing at passing cars. I had no clue what Eren might be driving, so it was probably pointless, but I couldn't stop myself.

Home again and safe behind my ward, I allowed myself to relax at last. I spent the rest of the day going through more of Nana's things—thankfully, nothing else was earth-shattering—and getting ready for dinner at Jace's. If there was one good thing about Eren accosting me in the city, it was the fact that it had stopped me from stressing about the date.

When I arrived at Jace's place, my thoughts were less chaotic, the encounter with Eren pushed to the back of my mind. He greeted me at the door, again dressed in a way that complemented his muscular physique. I'd worn a simple sundress, though the little number I'd bought in the city was underneath.

"Evening," Jace said as I stepped up onto his porch.

"Hey."

He took my hand to lead me inside, then kissed me lightly. "I hope you're hungry," he said.

A delectable scent hit me then, and I realized that with the events of the day, I hadn't eaten anything. Not even breakfast. Two or three cups of coffee was all I'd managed. My stomach gave a lurch and growled so loud that even if Jace wasn't a shifter, he would have heard it.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said with a grin.

"A little," I admitted.

The table in the dining room was set with plates, glasses, and silverware. A bottle of white wine sat chilling in a small bucket along with a big bowl of salad, a dish I didn't recognize, and a strange-looking pasty at the center of the table.

"Um, what are we having?" I asked as I took a seat.

Jace pointed the items out as he spoke. "Chopped salad with blue cheese vinaigrette, a potato soufflé. Just imagine the softest and fluffiest mashed potatoes you've had in your life," he said, explaining the potato dish. "And Beef Wellington."

"Amazing," I said, then added hesitantly, "What's Beef Wellington?"

He took his own seat and laughed. "Sorry. It a beef fillet, seared, and then surrounded in a mushroom paté, wrapped in puff pastry and baked to medium rare."

I stared at the food in awe. I was a pretty decent cook, but there was no way I'd have any idea of where to begin with all this.

"You made all of this?" I asked, staring at him with open-mouthed wonder.

Jace shrugged. "Mostly. I used frozen puff pastry because this all took most of the day, and I didn't want to add more to my plate."

"Holy crap," I blurted. "Where did you learn to make this? Culinary school or something?"

"When you live as long as we do, you have the time to learn a lot. I like to cook, so here we are."

If I had an extended lifespan, what sorts of things would I pursue? It was an interesting thing to think about.

The food was as good as it looked, and I tried a bit of everything before making conversation with Jace.

"I don't want to pry," I began, "but can I ask about your parents?"

He nodded, but sadness flickered in his eyes. "Sure. I asked about your family. I can tell you."

"You don't have to if it's too painful," I added quickly.

He put his fork down and shook his head while wiping his mouth with a napkin. "No, it's all right. It happened a hundred years ago.

"I was still young, twenty-five years old, and full of life. My aging hadn't paused yet, so for shifters, that's still really young. We're basically still kids at that age. My father was the alpha, and he and my mother had just had Shayna a couple years prior, so she was still a toddler. It was 1918, World War I was just winding down, and we had lots of hope and excitement for the future. It's kinda hard to describe if you weren't there. Anyway, Dad had the pack running really smooth, and we were really well off compared to others. I thought I had decades before Dad retired and I would take over as alpha, so I really wasn't even thinking about it at that time.

"My parents had gone to see a silent picture in St. Louis about two years prior. While they were there, Dad saw an automobile for the first time and fell in love. Out here in Missouri, things took a little longer to take hold; plus, Crestwood was pretty rural, so cars were still fairly rare. He vowed then and there to own one. Once the war ended, he went ahead and put an order in with a new local dealership. It was delivered in the fall. The whole town came out to see. I was so excited. I'd never ridden in a car. It was this really crazy moment, like the future was coming to Crestwood." He smiled sadly as his eyes grew distant.

"Jace, I'm sorry, you don't—"

"It's okay, Kirsten. I've actually never told the story. Not out loud. I think it'll make me feel better." He sighed and rubbed his hand over his jaw. "Mom and Dad and everyone checked the thing out, walking around, touching the metal and tires. It was so cool," he chuckled. "Mom handed Shaya to me and hopped into the passenger seat. Dad patted me on the shoulder and told me to hold down the fort while he took her for a spin. He told me he'd let me drive it later.

"Dad turned the hand crank and started her up, got in the driver's seat, and took off. He didn't have much practice. The dealership had let him take their floor model around the block a couple times when he'd put in the order—that was the extent of training he had. Up until then, he'd ridden horses, and he'd had some practice with Waylan's dad's steam tractor. I think that was part of the problem. He didn't have enough skill with the machine yet.

"He told us all he'd be back in an hour." Jace poked at his food with his fork. "When that hour passed and they still weren't back, one of the pack betas hopped on a horse and took off down the road Mom and Dad had gone down. In those days, all the roads around here were just packed dirt. If you were lucky, there might be some gravel. Well, he came riding back thirty minutes later, white as a ghost. I still remember the way he called out to me. I had Shayna with me, but I could hear the terror in his voice, the horror. I handed my baby sister off and ran to meet him.

"They'd been going around a corner, heading up into the mountains. One of the tires got too close to the edge, and the dirt gave way under the weight of the vehicle. The thing tumbled like a stone. Rolling over and over. It had to have happened fast." A tight fist clenched around my heart as tears welled in Jace's eyes. Part of me didn't want to hear what came next, but I let him keep going.

"Mom, uh…" He cleared his throat. "Mom broke her neck. Dad was… well, his head was busted up so bad, we couldn't even have an open casket."

"Dear God, Jace," I whispered and reached over to put my hands over his. "I'm so sorry."

There was nothing I could think of to make it better. It had happened so many years ago, but losing someone like that must have been devastating. And for a shifter, with their extended life span, that wasn't really that long ago for Jace. Nana had only passed a few weeks ago, and that had been a slow but inevitable loss. Regardless of how hard she'd fought, the last six months, I'd pretty much known what the outcome would be. This? Losing both parents in such an awful way, on the same afternoon? My heart wept for him.

He nodded, wiping his eyes. "It's okay. It was the shock of it, you know? It's part of why I was so out of my mind that night with Dorothy. We'd had the funerals, but now I was saddled with all this responsibility. Raising my baby sister, being pack alpha, being an orphan… it was all so crushing. The night I was sworn in as alpha, there was a big party. Part celebration, part mourning. I drank. A lot. It takes quite a bit to get a shifter drunk, and by God, I wanted to get drunk. I left the revelry and headed off into the woods, shifting and running. Just running as fast as I could go.

"Eventually, I came upon Dorothy and that smell. The smell of magic? Something that I'd never scented before but instinctively knew? It messed me up. That's why I approached her. Wanted to take some of it. I was out of my mind and had no clue what I was doing. All I could think was, if I had even a little of what she had, maybe I could bring my parents back. I know that's impossible, that even with the strongest magic, death is death, but that didn't stop a dumb kid from dreaming." He let out a heavy breath.

"I walked up to her, spun her around, and kissed her. A drunken, slovenly kiss. I can still taste it, the acrid yet sweet taste of magic as it danced across my tongue. She'd been right in the middle of some kind of spell or ceremony. She yanked my head away and pushed me to the ground." Jace shrugged helplessly. "And that was the night she cursed me."

"Jace, I think this puts more truth to my theory," I said, rubbing his hand. "It was only a kiss. The punishment truly didn't fit the crime. I think that maybe when you kissed Dorothy, she may have had some sort of vision. Saw the future and knew what was coming. Maybe that's why she made it so that you wouldn't be with anyone else until I came along. She knew you would be the tether to one of her descendants. She maybe didn't know it would take a hundred years, but…"

We both laughed, the sad atmosphere broken.

"Man," I said, "you're really old."

Jace laughed even harder, the unshed tears drying in his eyes. "For a shifter, I'm middle-aged. How dare you? Besides," he added, "now that your magic has manifested, your aging will slow, too. You'll live longer."

I hadn't thought about that, and my mouth slowly dropped open.

Jace laughed again. "I guess that hadn't occurred to you?"

"Not for even a second."

It made sense now why Nana had forced Dad and her husband to move every few years. People would start to question why she was aging so much slower than her husband. Explaining that you were a witch was much more far-fetched than explaining you were a shifter. Jace and his kind were part of the collective consciousness now, no stranger than any other race. They were mysterious, yes, and backward in some ways, mostly due to their long lives and holding onto older traditions. Witches were so rare, it would be difficult to get someone to understand that they were, in fact, real.

"Does that mean I need to live in seclusion?" I asked. "I don't want that. The thought of moving every few years sounds exhausting."

"You wouldn't have to," Jace said. "Not if we explore the possibility of you actually being my mate, and me being your tether. You wouldn't have to be alone, not if you had me and the pack. I'm sure you're a great teacher," he added. "We have a school in town. You could teach there. Or, you could stay at home. Study, enjoy your hobbies, whatever you want. Not that I mean you can't have a career—I'm a feminist, women can do what they want, don't get me wrong. What I meant was that you have options and…"

He went on babbling for several more seconds, doing his best not to offend me. It was cute. Endearing. I leaned over and kissed him, stopping him mid-sentence.

Jace sucked in a breath and pulled me close, dragging me from my chair into his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and as his tongue slipped into my mouth, I wondered how it would feel to have his cock inside me. Wet heat pooled between my legs. His hands roved my body, moving up to massage my breasts through my dress, and a delighted moan escaped my lips. This was it. When I had to either do what I was drawn to do or stop completely.

Pulling away from him, I looked into his eyes. "I want you. I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" he asked, voice trembling.

"Yes."