Chapter 12
CALDER
No fucking way.
The words roared through my head while anger pulsed hard beneath my ribs.
For five years, I’d traveled with Evander and seen all that he was capable of.
And the longer I’d spent with him, the more certain I became that Evander wasn’t just dangerous.
He was deranged. I’d seen him kill without so much as batting an eye.
He had no problem in taking extreme measures to get what he wanted—including unleashing a black witch on unsuspecting innocents.
I didn’t want Thorne anywhere near Evander. Or Wren and Adrian, for that matter. They already had her on their radar. I wasn’t about to put her any deeper in their line of fire.
She stood between my thighs, close enough that the heat from her body seeped into mine, and while my wolf loved that, I didn’t.
Because her scent—that maddening, familiar mix that had haunted my dreams—flooded all my damn senses until I could barely breathe.
Barely think. She didn’t just smell good.
She smelled like mine. In every way I wanted her.
Thorne dipped her chin and stared at me.
The second our gazes locked, her breath hitched.
The casual observer might have missed that.
But I missed nothing when it came to her.
That little tell told me everything I needed to know.
She was just as affected by me as I was by her.
But I also knew she’d rather choke on glass than admit it, especially to me.
I blinked first, breaking the connection before we combusted.
“I can help you, Calder,” she repeated, her voice dropping to a near-whisper.
My damn wolf strained against the cage in my mind, urging me to close the distance, to press her back against the nearest wall and kiss her until she forgot what we were discussing.
I liked that image more than I cared to admit.
“No,” I finally said, the word scraping past my lips in a growl.
Thorne blinked, clearly expecting an argument, not a stone wall. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off her feet as I stood. She squeaked a small protest, her fingers fumbling at my shoulders for balance. I set her down three steps away, then put two crucial feet of distance between us.
“You can’t be anywhere near this,” I said, turning away to pace the room. I needed space to think. “I didn’t tell you about all this to drag you deeper in.” I blew out a breath. “I want you to go home and wait until I’ve completed this job. You’ll be safe there.”
“Safe?” She laughed humorlessly. “We are way past safe, don’t you think? There is a government hit squad hanging over my head like a cartoon anvil and a witch who can quite literally destroy our town with the flick of her wrist. Safe left the building five minutes ago!”
“Exactly. Which is why I refuse to bring you further into Evander’s line of sight,” I shot back, my control slipping.
“Evander,” she repeated. “Nice to finally have a name.”
I cursed inwardly. I hadn’t meant to give her his name, let alone hand her one more piece of the nightmare I’d tried to keep her out of.
I crossed the room in two strides, invading her space this time because staying away was impossible.
“This isn’t a game, Thorne. Evander is human, but he’s a fucking monster,” I hissed.
“He doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own.
Nor does he have a code. He will use you against me in any way he can possibly think of. ”
Thorne didn’t flinch, nor did she back down. She just glared up at me, her eyes burning with a defiance that was so quintessentially her it made my chest ache.
“Let him try,” she spat. “I’m not a damsel, Calder. I’m a Wolfe. We bite back.”
“You don’t know him! You don’t understand who I’ve been dealing with.”
“And whose fault is that?” she shouted. “You chose to keep me in the dark. You decided to treat me like a delicate flower instead of your partner. If I’m unprepared, if I don’t understand, it’s because you did that to me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive!” I shot back.
“I walked away from everything to keep that raving, murderous lunatic away from you. I took the only option that kept the feds from getting their hands on you and your family. I didn’t do all that so you could throw yourself straight into danger the first chance you got. ”
“I never asked you to do any of that!” she shouted back.
Thorne’s squeezed her eyes shut, then raised her hands and lowered them as she released a breath.
I recognized the gesture. It was something she did when she needed to calm herself.
She dragged in one deep breath. Then a second, and a third.
It wasn’t until her body stopped trembling with rage that she opened her eyes again.
“I didn’t marry a martyr, Calder. I married you. I just wanted you,” she said, her voice shaking but quieter now. “I wanted a husband. A partner. Someone to share all of life’s burdens with. But you decided to ruin everything. You decided my safety was more important than my agency.”
“And I’d make that same decision again, if it meant protecting you. Even if it meant you hated me for the rest of our lives. Because at least then you’d be alive to hate me. I’d choose your life over anything. I can’t imagine a world without you in it, don’t you get that?”
“The choice should have been mine to make,” she growled, raking her hands through her tousled hair. “You think you can make decisions for me. But you can’t!”
“Thorne—”
“Do you honestly think you can break into the Ravenspell estate, grab this ancient artifact that likely has more wards than the damn town itself, and walk back out without tripping an alarm?” she suddenly demanded.
“You’ve been gone for five years, Calder.
You’re out of date. Did you know they have new wards now? ”
“Of course, I do. I scouted the house last night. I know how to do my job.”
“Alright, then tell me this. Which sister is currently sleeping with the sheriff?”
The question came out of left field, and I stopped dead in my tracks. “What?”
“Which sister is currently sleeping with the sheriff?” she repeated, planting her hands on her hips.
When I didn’t answer, she raised her brows.
“See? You don’t know everything. Lyra and the sheriff have been in a relationship for going on a year.
She has a direct line to the station. You trip a ward, it alerts her, and she immediately alerts the sheriff. Then what, smart guy?”
I opened my mouth to argue.
“What wards did you clock?” she asked before I could speak.
My head spun trying to keep up. “There’s one on the gate and another on the back door.”
“So, you didn’t notice the hydrangeas,” she said, interrupting me again.
That one made me pause. “The hydrangeas?”
“Yes, the hydrangeas. The flowers planted along the fence.”
“Okay, yeah I noticed them. But so what? They’re just flowers.”
She scoffed and shook her head. “This is exactly what I’m talking about.
You’re operating under old information. Those flowers are carnivorous, Calder.
And warded. Miss Hannigan has been bragging about them to me and Izzy for months.
She and the Ravenspells have been working together to create this new breed for at least a year.
These plants detect invaders by scent and smell.
And once they’re activated, not only do they shriek an alarm, but they also attack.
Ever been attacked by sentient plants, Calder? ”
I stared at her, my anger slowly dissipating.
“Do you see what I mean?” Thorne demanded, taking advantage of my momentary derailment to press her advantage. “You are flying blind. You have the skills, sure. But you don’t have all the intel. I do.”
Her expression shifted from anger to something harder, more determined.
“I know the town. I know things you don’t, Calder. And if you go in there alone, you’re going to fail. And if you fail…” Her voice cracked, just a little. “Then I lose you again. And this time, it won’t be temporary. It’ll be forever.”
Shock sparked within me. Was that what she was worried about? For the first time since returning to Eternity Falls, hope flared. She was mad at me, sure. But if she was worried about me, that suggested we had a chance. Maybe I hadn’t destroyed us after all.
That didn’t change anything right now, though.
I wanted my life and wife back, but I also needed her safe, more than anything else. I was one artifact away from ending this all, forever. If I could get through this heist and put Evander behind me, I’d never have to leave again.
“I can’t,” I said roughly. “Thorne, please. Don’t ask me to do this. If he hurt you, I don’t think I’d survive that.”
“He’s already hurt me,” she whispered, “by taking you away from me.” She reached out, her fingers brushing across my shirt, right over my heart.
The contact burned through the layers, searing my skin.
“Let me help you, Calder. Please. My family caused this mess. Let me help clean it up. Consider it repayment for all you’ve done—not that I agree with what you did.
Or forgive you. Because I don’t. Not yet. ”
Not yet didn’t mean she wouldn’t.
A smile tugged at my lips, but it dropped a second later. “Thorne—”
“No,” she interrupted. “No more fighting. No more arguing. You know me better than anyone in this town. And you know I’m not going to give up. So just accept the unavoidable and thank me for my help.”
“Thank you?” I repeated.
“You’re welcome,” she said, beaming at me.
I stared down at her, fighting the urge to shake her. She made it sound so simple. So logical. But she didn’t know what Evander was like. She hadn’t seen the things I’d seen.
“You’re stubborn,” I muttered, my voice strained.
“I’m right,” she corrected.
“You’re infuriating.”
“I’m necessary.”
She smirked then, a tiny, victorious thing that broke the last of my resolve.
“And admit it,” she murmured, her voice dropping to a sultry purr that bypassed my brain and went straight to my groin. “You missed me bossing you around.”
With a growl, I cupped the back of her neck and tangled my fingers in her hair. She immediately braced her hands against my chest.
“I missed you,” I said, leaning down until my mouth was hovering inches from hers. “I missed your voice, your scent, the way you argue until you’re blue in the face even when you’re dead wrong.”
“I’m never wrong,” she breathed, her hands moving to grip my biceps, holding on like she was afraid I’d disappear again.
“You’re wrong about this,” I murmured. “This is going to get us killed.”
“Then let’s make it count,” she whispered.
She didn’t give me time to respond before she surged up, grabbed the front of my shirt, and crushed her mouth against mine.
For half a heartbeat I went still, stunned by the feel of her mouth against mine.
But my shock soon turned into feral need.
A low, guttural sound tore from my throat, dragged straight from the center of my chest as I immediately took control of the kiss.
My hand fisted deeper in her hair while the other slid down her spine, pulling her harder against me until there was no question about what half a decade of abstinence had done to my self-control.
She tasted so good and so familiar, it almost hurt to move. I wanted this so badly. And when her tongue pushed into my mouth, something snapped within me.
Angling her head, I deepened the kiss while letting my hands roam her body, relearning all her curves that I’d tried so hard to forget.
The moment I touched her, it all came roaring back.
The curve of her waist. The long, lean line of her back.
Her rounded ass. She fit against me like my perfect second half.
Without thinking, I gripped her ass and lifted her. A part of me wondered how she’d react to such a daring move, but she immediately wrapped her legs around me, locking them around my waist as though she’d simply been waiting for the invitation.
Her willingness—and eagerness—stoked the fire within me.
I turned and drove her back against my room door, bracing her weight against it so my hands were free to continue exploring.
Gripping her ass, I lifted her higher until I had to crane my head back just to keep kissing her.
She broke from the kiss with a grin, then playfully nipped my bottom lip.
I responded by sliding one hand back into her hair and angling her mouth over mine.
The kiss was slower this time, but no less intense.
I tasted her, savored her, relished the feel of her tongue swiping against mine.
Only when we needed to stop for breath did we pull apart, our chests both heaving.
Thorne’s swollen lips begged for another taste, but I restrained myself—barely. I didn’t let her go, though. I couldn’t. Not yet. Not after so long. Instead, I kept her pinned against the door and rested my forehead against hers.
“So,” I rasped, fighting to maintain a semblance of humanity. “Does this mean you forgive me now?”
Thorne blinked, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second. Then a slow, breathless laugh slipped past her lips, and gold flickered in the dark depths of her eyes.
“Not even remotely, fluff-butt.”
Admittedly, that made me smile. Of course Thorne wouldn’t forgive me so easily. She’d make me grovel and beg—and honestly, I was here for it, so long as she was mine.
She unwrapped her legs from my waist and slid down my body until her boots hit the floor with a soft thud.
“But I will let you have dinner with me,” she said, smoothing her shirt. “It’s unlimited taco night at the Hex Mex, and you’re buying. I’m going to need a full belly before we start brainstorming how to rob the most powerful witches in town.”
Dinner and a heist. Sounded like any other Tuesday.
I didn’t mind footing our dinner bill. I’d buy her all the tacos she wanted. I might not be able to keep her out of this, but I’d damn well make sure the real cost of this job wasn’t her life.