Chapter Twenty-one
A couple of hours later, Ripper lowered his cutlery to his empty plate and leaned back in his chair. Across from him at the dining table, Emberlyn was almost done with her meal. He’d never seen anyone tackle spaghetti with elegance, but she somehow managed it.
As he watched her, satisfaction rumbled in his belly. He liked feeding her. Liked seeing her enjoy something he’d made for her. But he also just plain liked watching her eat.
She really tasted every bite, chewing it slowly. Always sat upright, her posture perfect. There was no slurping, no scraping the dishware with utensils, no splashing sauce or dropping food.
He had the feeling her grace was innate, because it was not something she’d gotten from Millicent – that woman had been far from elegant.
Anger still lingered in his system. Fucking Michael had cheated on her. The guy would have known better than most how much Emberlyn had been let down by all those around her. He, her own mate, had become one of them.
Full moons had power over a werewolf’s control, yes, but not in a sexual sense. They might feel the drive to mate, but it wasn’t all-consuming. Still, some used that bullshit defense for cheating, and there were people who bought it.
If Michael had honestly expected Emberlyn to buy and forgive it, he either hadn’t known her well or he’d thought he could manipulate her into letting it go.
Had the guy openly admitted he’d had a moment of weakness and then apologized to Emberlyn, Ripper could have at least respected that Michael had owned his fuckup. Everyone made mistakes. It was part of life. But you couldn’t betray your mate and then call them dramatic for being crushed by it.
She could have spread the news of Michael’s betrayal far and wide. Could have wrecked his reputation. Could have turned other wolves against him. Could have made Opal suffer in any number of ways for any length of time.
Instead, Emberlyn had kept it quiet to ensure searches would still be launched for Michael. She had more compassion in her than people would guess, but Ripper supposed she preferred that it wasn’t common knowledge; never wanting to display what others might perceive as weakness.
He wondered if she would have grown up to be quite so vengeful and ruthless if the coven hadn’t targeted her the way they had since she was a small child.
Probably not. Even as he wished that she hadn’t suffered such persecution, he still wouldn’t want her to be any other version of herself than the pitiless witch in front of him.
Having finished her food, she set her cutlery down on her plate and lifted her glass of water. Sipping at it, she eyed him. ‘You swore you’d stop being mad if I stayed for dinner. You’re not living up to your end of the bargain.’
‘It’s hard to not be pissed.’ He nudged her foot with his own beneath the table. ‘You’re mine to protect now. He hurt you. I want to beat the shit out of him.’
‘His current fate is far worse than anything you or I could have put him through.’ She set down her glass, her expression turning . . . inscrutable. ‘You haven’t asked if the rumor is true,’ she said, her tone careless.
‘What rumor?’
‘That I used magick to make him turn Rabid. Knowing he betrayed me, you must be wondering if in fact I did do that to punish him.’
Ripper felt his brow furrow. ‘The thought didn’t even enter my head.’ He leaned forward, planting his lower arms on the table. ‘You’re many things, Emberlyn, but you’re not callous.’
A hint of warmth blotted her eyes. ‘Watch it, Rip. I might start thinking you like me.’
He hiked up a brow. ‘That’s not already obvious?’
Snorting, she carefully slid her plate aside. ‘On another note, who taught you to cook?’
‘My aunt Yvette.’ She ran their clan’s diner, and she kept nagging him to take Emberlyn there for dinner.
‘That explains why you’re good at it.’
‘You’re not so bad in the kitchen yourself. Millicent gave you lessons?’
‘Very early on so I could feed myself. She spent a lot of time refining her craft.’
He felt his lips thin. Honestly, the more he learned about Emberlyn’s childhood, the more he disagreed with the general consensus that she was ‘raised’ by Millicent. Her grandmother had been too self-focused to truly raise anyone. ‘What made her so power-hungry?’
Running one finger down the stem of her glass, Emberlyn gave a delicate shrug.
‘Kage will tell you it was because she was a sociopath. Maybe that’s true.
With Millicent, it seemed to be all about the rush.
She was always trying to beat the initial high she’d felt on gathering more power the very first time.
She kept chasing it, kept telling herself that the next thrill would finally be so much better. Only it never was.’
‘Like with a serial killer who keeps trying to beat the high of their first murder.’
‘Yes. I think she believed that once she beat it, she’d never crave it again; that the empty spots inside her would be filled. Those cold voids . . . they allowed her to cross lines others wouldn’t, but they denied her any real sense of fulfilment.’
‘She cared for you, though.’
‘In the only way someone like that can care for another,’ Emberlyn conceded with a nod. ‘I think she also cared for all three of her children. She just couldn’t give anything of herself to them. She didn’t know how, and she didn’t try to learn.’
Ripper cocked his head. ‘How are you . . . you? You had no real role model.’ Her mother hadn’t been in her life long enough to have a true influence on her.
She twisted her mouth. ‘I looked up to Lilith.’
‘Lilith?’
‘I know it’s rumored that she had an “in” with Satan – I can’t comment on that, as I’m not sure if it’s true or not – but she was always real nice to me. Very dignified and stylish.’
His brows drawing together, he leaned further forward. ‘You’ve met Lilith?’
‘The spirits of many Vautiers roam the manor. Not my mother, though. I never saw her. Not all spirits are strong enough to cross realms. Avery wasn’t strong.’
So he’d heard. ‘Your mother really died of heartbreak?’
‘In a sense. She loved with her entire being, and she thought that the sperm donor was her forever. When he left, it wrecked her. She checked out. Stopped using magick. A witch who can’t or who doesn’t use their magick can fade away and die.’
‘Like Rosemary did.’ He was about to speak again, but then the distant purring of a car engine reached his ears. ‘I have a visitor.’ Annoyed at the interruption, he pushed to his feet with an aggrieved sigh. ‘Don’t do that thing again.’
‘What thing?’
‘Clean up all on your own when I disappear from the room.’
‘You cooked. It only seems fair that I clean.’
‘You do it even when you cook.’
‘Those were accidents; I forgot you wanted to help.’
He inwardly snorted. ‘Well, don’t “forget” this time.’
She raised her hands. ‘I’ll wait for you before I get started.’
He gave her a look that said she’d better – to which she only regarded him flatly – and then stalked out of the room. He reached the front door before his visitor knocked. When he opened it, he had to bite back a curse. CeCe.
Taking tentative steps up the path, she offered him a bright smile that was edged with caution. She wouldn’t be smiling if she knew he had company. But as he’d earlier picked Emberlyn up from the manor, her vehicle wasn’t parked here.
Stepping onto the porch, he pulled the door closed behind him. Not to hide that Emberlyn was here, but to keep her shielded from any shit CeCe might toss.
Her face fell. ‘I’m not welcome inside, I take it.’ She sighed, pausing at the base of the stone steps. ‘I really am sorry for everything, Rip. I’m trying to make it right.’
So she’d said before, but he’d yet to see her actively attempt it.
She gingerly climbed onto his porch. ‘I know I’m not your favorite person right now, but we’ve been friends how long? Definitely too long to throw that friendship away. It’s worth saving. I came here to fix things so we could get back on track.’
Maybe she did come here for that reason, and maybe they could in fact do that. This wasn’t the time or place to explore this matter further, though. ‘We can talk tomorrow. Not here and now.’
Her brow furrowing, she moved closer. ‘Why not? It’s a Wednesday evening, there’s no clan fires to put out, you don’t have visitors. I don’t see how this could be a bad time.’
The breeze fluttered around them, carrying woodsy scents and stirring up their own. When her face went rock hard, he knew she’d picked up the smell of Emberlyn intertwined with sex.
She staggered back a step as if he’d gone to slap her. ‘So, it actually is true. You’re fucking the witch.’ She put a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening in horror. ‘Oh, my God.’
He tipped his chin at her vehicle. ‘You need to leave.’
She flicked the front door a glance, her face contorting into a sour look tinged with jealousy. ‘Is she in there?’
‘CeCe, go.’
Her face sullen, she balled up her hands. ‘It makes no sense! You don’t trust witches. You keep your dealings with them short and sweet. You don’t fuck them.’
He shot her a severe look. ‘Who I have in my bed is my business, not yours. Never yours.’
Her cheeks reddening, CeCe notched up her chin. ‘Is she why you won’t agree to the triad? Has this been going on for longer than people think?’
‘Jesus, are you still going on about that fucking triad?’
She flinched. ‘You don’t have to speak of it with such disgust. If there’s anything you should be so put off by, it’s a witch. You’re out of your mind to be even associating with Emberlyn Vautier! She’s a lunatic! She’s—’
‘Marked as mine,’ he finished, the words rough and low, ‘so watch what the fuck you say.’
She snapped her mouth shut, shaking her head. ‘Something’s wrong here. You would never roll in the sack with one of her kind. Maybe she bespelled you or something. If a Rabid can be trapped in a state of bloodlust by magick, then a person could also be trapped in a state of sexual lust.’
He couldn’t help but pull a face at the ridiculous notion. ‘For shit’s sake, CeCe, just go.’
‘I’m trying to help you!’
The door behind him creaked open, and then . . . ‘Sounds more like you’re trying to convince yourself that I’m no threat to your triad dream,’ said Emberlyn.
Shit. Ripper glanced over his shoulder. His witch casually propped her hip against the doorjamb, cool and calm, regarding CeCe with a mix of boredom and pity.
He half-turned, about to usher Emberlyn back inside.
‘We’re having a private conversation here, if you don’t mind,’ CeCe snarked at her.
‘If you wanted to keep it private, you shouldn’t have raised your voice. I don’t have werewolf hearing but even I heard you just fine.’ Emberlyn folded her arms. ‘If you have something to accuse me of, you can at least do it to my face. It’s only fair.’
CeCe straightened her shoulders. ‘You did something to him.’
Emberlyn’s lips kicked up. ‘I’ve done quite a few things to Rip.’ Her tone was pure sex, and it made CeCe’s eyes blaze.
‘You put some sort of spell on him! He would never otherwise touch you!’
‘You really do believe that,’ Emberlyn sensed. ‘Only because you want to believe it, but still.’
‘I know I’m right!’
‘I know you’re eaten up with jealousy right now. You think of Ripper as yours; think of yourself as the woman in his life. The only one he ever let close.’
CeCe’s upper lip curled. ‘Don’t talk like you know me.’
‘Why? You talk like you know me.’ Emberlyn pushed away from the doorjamb.
‘I don’t know if this will really sink in – you seem to be a person for whom logic isn’t always required – but it’s safe to say that Ripper doesn’t consider himself yours.
He wouldn’t have covered me in his scent, let alone sexed me up, if he did.
‘I don’t point that out to be a bitch, only to highlight that you’re both on different pages. I realize that might be hard to accept, I do, but try. Because it can’t possibly be worse than living in denial.’ She coolly sauntered back inside.
CeCe glowered after her. ‘Hey, where are you—’
‘No,’ Ripper bit out when she went to storm past him.
CeCe’s nostrils flared. ‘You’re fine with her speaking to me that way?’
‘All she did was give you a dose of the truth. I’m hoping you’ll listen to it. Now go.’ He growled when she went to argue. ‘Don’t test my patience any more than you already have.’
CeCe dragged in a breath, clamped her lips shut and stormed off.
Only once her car had crossed the boundaries of his land did he return inside. In the kitchen, he found Emberlyn stood at the sink facing the window. ‘She’s gone,’ he said. ‘I’d apologize for her behavior—’
‘No need.’ Emberlyn turned to him. ‘You didn’t do anything wrong.’
Studying her calm expression, he realized . . . ‘You’re not even angry at what she said, are you?’
Emberlyn only shrugged.
He stalked to her. ‘You’re so used to people laying accusations at your feet that you’re not even bothered she claimed you’re using magick to control me. It pisses me off that you’ve had reasons to become so used to it.’
‘A lot of things are pissing you off tonight.’
‘We can add something else to the list.’ He gestured at the spotless kitchen. ‘You said you’d wait for me before you started cleaning up.’
One slender brow lifted. ‘Did I?’
‘Yes, you did.’ He snapped his teeth, gently grazing her chin. ‘You lied.’
‘I didn’t lie.’ A haughty glance. ‘I simply changed my mind.’
‘You do that a lot.’
Mischief danced in her eyes. ‘You’re not used to it yet?’
He planted a hand on the counter either side of her, caging her in. ‘I’m more used to it than I care to be.’
‘You’d be bored if I gave you your own way in everything. Not that you’ll ever admit it.’
Truthfully . . . she wasn’t wrong on either count.