Chapter Three
‘Now that was impressive,’ said Kerr.
‘It was,’ Ripper conceded. Reluctantly. Because he quite frankly begrudged that any witch would have the ability to make him feel impressed.
He had no personal beef with Emberlyn Vautier. He barely knew her. She’d never done harm to him or his clan. But he’d known a witch like her once – one who’d used magick to exact revenge. And she’d fucked with the lives of so many, including his.
Kerr glanced at the witches stood near their cars talking rapidly while jerkily gesticulating. ‘If their shock is anything to go by, Emberlyn hasn’t shown them exactly what she’s capable of before now. Either that or they were sure “the benevolent path” would prevail,’ he added with an eye roll.
Ripper hummed, sliding his gaze back to the manor. ‘They underestimated her. And she let them until now.’ It was cunning, really. And an indication that she’d felt absolutely no need to prove herself to them.
‘Which sets her apart from Millicent. That woman made sure everyone knew exactly what she had in her magickal arsenal. Emberlyn showed the coven just enough to make them wary of crossing her.’
And they had been wary. Yet, her family had tossed a lot of shit at her today.
She hadn’t flinched under the weight of their disapproval, insults or accusations – not here, not at Reena’s house.
In fact, Emberlyn hadn’t appeared in the least bit fazed.
She’d regarded them with a bored disappointment, as a teacher would unruly children.
And when they’d thought to attack her, she’d fucking laughed.
It had almost made Ripper smile. Almost. Not much did that.
‘Makes you wonder if she even showed the full extent of what she can do just now,’ said Kerr.
It did. Especially when Ripper took into account something that Millicent had once said to him when he’d purchased a potion from her . . .
‘The coven talks like my Emberlyn is evil. Pfft. She’s no angel – I couldn’t have abided an angel; I would have drowned her at some point.
Truth is that girl has the ability to commit every magickal heinous act you can imagine.
But she has a code; lines she won’t cross.
Unless you push or corner her – then she has few limits.
That doesn’t make her evil, it makes her ruthless. ’
You would never imagine, at a glance, that such ruthlessness existed within Emberlyn.
She was elegance and poise and style. Friendly but slightly aloof, like a cat.
Forever dressed in silk or cashmere or satin or other refined clothing, she looked like she belonged in a goddamn fashion magazine.
She never had a hair out of place or a slump in her shoulders.
But if you got close enough, you could sense that there was more to her. Emberlyn’s presence hummed with a charged, quietly fierce warning. Like the air a dominant wolf gave off that calmly asserted its power. It had caught his attention from their first up-close encounter.
Not that he hadn’t noticed her before then. A guy didn’t not notice a woman who looked like her.
Emberlyn Vautier was . . . unusual. Unearthly. Hauntingly beautiful.
Slender and average height, she had glossy iridescent hair that made him think of a raven’s wing. Her facial features were as delicate as her curves. Except for her mouth – it wasn’t delicate, it was carnal. Her eyes were an ethereally pale hazel that he’d heard some describe as eerie.
They weren’t spooky. They were fucking bewitching.
There was a little scratch in her voice that tickled your awareness and dug in hooks to keep your attention. Everything about her snared a man’s attention.
Compelling. In a word, she was compelling. And it galled the ever-loving shit out of him that he couldn’t be immune to it.
For a while, he’d been able to combat it by holding the image of her in his mind as a one-dimensional wicked witch. But that had become impossible after Michael vanished – she’d been lost back then, her eyes shadowed by pain and panic.
She wasn’t lost anymore.
She was also his new neighbor. And now that Millicent was gone, he might have to visit Emberlyn often. Because, according to the old woman, her granddaughter was the only living witch who could create the elixir he needed.
Whether she’d agree to create it, he didn’t know. Nor could he know what kind of price tag she’d put on it if she was willing to help him.
A howl rang out somewhere in the distance – one filled with turmoil.
Ripper sighed. ‘Seems like Logan took my advice to shift and go for a run.’ He’d recognize his brother’s howl anywhere. ‘I didn’t think he would.’ Logan had been entirely too pissed.
‘Stop being a selfish fucking asshole – or do you want to have to watch CeCe one day get claimed by another wolf? Because that’s what’ll happen if we don’t do it first, Rip.’
‘Instead of getting calmer as the weeks have gone on, he’s gotten more wound up,’ Kerr remarked. ‘It’s a good sign.’
Ripper frowned. ‘Is it?’
‘Yeah. He’s getting angrier because he’s finally facing that you’re not going to change your mind. He feels CeCe slipping away. And hey, I sympathize with him. But the sooner he accepts reality the better.’
Ripper rubbed at the back of his head. ‘I should never have agreed to share her with Logan that night.’
‘You couldn’t have known what would happen.’
‘No, but it’s fucked everything up.’ It was never good for two brothers to want the same woman. Neither he nor Logan had said it out loud; neither wanting to do something that might lead to a situation that hurt the other.
Three weeks ago, they’d been drinking heavily and – influenced by the beer he’d downed and the call of the full moon – Ripper had agreed to share her with his brother just once.
Worst fucking decision ever.
Because CeCe wasn’t content for them all to go back to being platonic friends. On the contrary, she had proposed that they enter an official triad.
Triads weren’t uncommon among werewolves. But although Logan was willing, Ripper was not. CeCe was adamant that she couldn’t choose between them – it was both or neither. And since Ripper wouldn’t change his mind, Logan was pissed at him.
‘You’re not the one who jacked everything up,’ Kerr upheld.
‘You recently gave them the greenlight to pursue a relationship, saying you’d support it.
It’s CeCe who’s the problem, claiming it ain’t fair of her to be with Logan when she also loves you.
How is it unfair when he’d be well aware of the situation? ’
Shrugging, Ripper scraped a hand over his jaw.
‘She went on and on about how she knew it’d hurt me to see them together and that she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
I assured her that she was wrong. I mean, would I like it?
No. But I wouldn’t stand in the way of my brother’s happiness, either.
Telling her that I’d be good with it just pissed her off, though. ’
‘Because she doesn’t want you to be okay with it.’
‘Yeah, I get that. But I’m fucking sick of Logan making me out to be the bad guy here. The person standing between him and what he most wants is CeCe herself.’
‘Which is what I pointed out to him yesterday. He mumbled something under his breath and walked away. My opinion? I don’t think he’s mad at you because you won’t agree to a triad.
I think he’s mad at you because she’s insisting on having you both.
It isn’t your fault, no, but he can’t help resenting you for it.
What guy would want to feel that he’s not enough for the woman he loves? ’
Ripper let out a long breath. ‘I don’t see what else I can do at this point. I’ve talked to both of them, I made my stance on the triad thing clear, and I promised I’ll support them if they go ahead with a relationship. But somehow, I still come off as the bastard in this scenario.’
Hearing a car engine come to life, Ripper looked to where the witches once stood. ‘Looks like they’re leaving.’
‘This won’t be the end of it, though,’ said Kerr. ‘They’d all reached agreements between themselves before Millicent passed, thinking they had a decent idea of what the will would state. They’re gonna give Emberlyn trouble.’
Probably. ‘I doubt it will get them anywhere.’ The woman didn’t appear to give one single measly fuck – which he begrudgingly respected.
More, she didn’t strike him as someone who’d break.
Even at her most vulnerable, when Michael had done a disappearing act, she’d radiated strength and self-assurance. ‘Millicent left her to me in her will.’
Kerr’s head whipped to face him. ‘What?’ he asked, the word coming out on a chuckle. ‘You’re serious?’
Ripper frowned at him. ‘Has there ever been a single time in my life that I’ve told a joke?’
‘Well, no, but it just doesn’t make sense.
Unless she was hinting at you making Emberlyn an ally.
It actually might be a good idea,’ Kerr mused.
‘It’s like with Millicent – you didn’t approve of her, but you knew it was smart to stay on her good side.
I think the same applies to Emberlyn. Especially when you’re going to need her to make those elixirs for you. ’
True. And if Ripper held out an olive branch and suggested an alliance, she might be less likely to try to contest the will and reclaim the land.
‘Also, as of today, you’ll both be dealing with the same problems from the same people,’ Kerr added. ‘Makes sense to team up. You two don’t need to be on opposite sides of the fence just because of your personal feelings about witches in general.’
‘It’s not about witches in general. I don’t like the coven because they rally around their own instead of making them face consequences, and I don’t like witches who use magick to avenge slights.’
He’d heard of Emberlyn’s many ‘exploits’. She’d infested homes with toads, turned pool water to blood, covered cars in slugs, given people the hiccups for twenty-four hours straight, and even once somehow blocked every toilet in Bellcrest.
Okay, yeah, some of it had been amusing.
And yeah, he could understand why she’d been driven to make her point.
It was no different from him showing his claws to those who thought to challenge him.
She’d done darker deeds, such as lumbering people with chronic hip pain and making their teeth rot and fall out one by one.
But, to be fair, she could probably have done a lot worse – if the demonstration she’d just made was anything to go by, at least.
Only witches had been victims – she seemed to have no issue with werewolves. And, aside from when she’d been a child herself, no kids were ever harmed. But it still made her a wild card, and Ripper wasn’t comfortable having those in his life.
‘Still, an alliance would be good,’ Kerr persisted. ‘I don’t know for sure that she’ll be up for it, but you can at least run the idea by her, can’t you?’
Undecided, Ripper twisted his mouth.
‘Talk to her. Feel her out. See what vibe you get from her.’
Ripper exhaled heavily. ‘You know, I originally thought that Millicent left Emberlyn to me in the will because she wanted others to assume that her granddaughter would be under my protection so they’d leave her be.’
‘But . . .?’
‘But after seeing Emberlyn’s little show of power just now, I don’t think Millicent was too concerned about her safety. I think she was hoping that Emberlyn wouldn’t get pushed into a corner.’
Again, Millicent’s words echoed in Ripper’s mind . . . ‘That girl has the ability to commit every magickal heinous act you can imagine.’
Kerr turned to him, his brow creased. ‘You’re saying Millicent created a monster, regretted it at the end, and took measures to help prevent that monster from losing it?’
Ripper shook his head. ‘No. I’m saying Millicent created a monster, relished that fact and wanted Emberlyn to have allies just in case she destroyed half the fucking coven.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah. Oh.’