Chapter Three
Effie…
Really, stealing an alpha werewolf’s motorcycle should be harder than this.
I guess what they say is true. The bigger they are, the harder they fall for shenanigans from sweet little ol’ me.
Shifter, witch, or vampire men are all the same—boring, predictable, and easily distracted. Thank the Fates for vibration spells.
Although the feel of this motorcycle between my thighs isn’t half bad either. I could definitely get used to this.
I zip around several trees, plow through a brambly bush (oops on the paint scratches, my bad), and zoom toward where I know my sister Leona is in trouble. How do I know? Ask any oldest sister that question, and they’ll tell you, we always know. We just do.
That’s when I spot Leona standing in between two talking trees (yeah, welcome to Witchingdom) who seem to be offering her advice.
Even from a distance I can see her eyes are watery, the tip of her nose has turned red from the effort not to cry, and the pale skin at the base of her throat has gone all splotchy, which only happens when she is about to lose her shit.
She looks like her whole world has been ruined.
Fuck that.
Not while I’m alive to have breath, her world is not. I may not be the heir to the Sherwood magic, but I’m still the sister most likely to kick the ass of anyone who looks at my siblings sideways.
Out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of something large, dark, and furry sprinting to catch up to me.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Darius has shifted into wolf form because he isn’t happy that I snagged his bike.
Too bad, so sad, Mr. Tough Guy Werewolf, because there’s no way you’re getting between me and saving my sister.
I gun the motorcycle’s engine, swerve around a few more trees, and dodge a bunch of rabbits and squirrels scurrying to safety.
The bike’s Milwaukee-Eight engine roars as I head straight for Leona before turning at the last minute and coming to a hard stop.
Leaves and forest floor debris go flying, but I barely notice.
My entire world shrinks down to my sister.
I’m off the bike a second later and sprinting over to Leona, wrapping my arms around her in the kind of I-love-you-and-I’m-going-to-kill-you-when-this-is-over hug only an older sister can give.
“Who are you?” Leona asks, looking wide-eyed over at the motorcycle when I finally relax my hold enough for her to get a breath in.
“Your big sister, you lucky witch.” Narrowing my eyes, I take a step back and hold Leona by the shoulders, giving her a serious once-over.
Whatever happened since we last talked, this is worse than Mom (who sent me on this mission) expected.
“If you offed your not-so-secret husband, I know how to hide the body.”
Before Leona can answer, Darius—who is still in full wolf form—trots over, lets out a low growl, and bares his teeth at me. Then he sits down next to my leg as if physical contact will keep me from stealing his motorcycle again.
Oh, honey, you have no hope of getting me to do what you expect.
Still, his fur is super soft, and I am such a sucker for that, so I drop my hand to his huge head (which hits close to boob height for me, because even sitting in wolf form he’s freakin’ huge) and give him some good behind-the-ear scratches.
He starts a rolling snarl, showing off his massive incisors (and making Leona take a step back), but I am unimpressed.
“I only know how to get rid of inconvenient bodies because I watch a lot of true crime shows,” I tell him. “Don’t get your fur in a twist, Darius.”
He lets out a wolfish huff and then turns his eerie golden gaze on Leona.
He takes her measure for a second before the air shimmers around him, taking on that wavy look the road gets on a hot day.
There’s a distinct cracking sound as he starts to shift, going from wolf to man in two shakes of a good wand.
All the oxygen leaves my lungs and my brain switches over to pure static for a second as I stare slack-jawed at him.
Clothed Darius is hot if you go for that strong-jawed, classically handsome but roughed-up stoic type.
Is it rude to gawk at the guy who’s naked because he shifted back into human form? Maybe.
But I’d have to old-school gouge my eyes out not to drink him up.
His WitchyGram influencer–worthy shoulder-length dark hair brushes the tops of his broad shoulders.
A dozen tattoos span the width of his wide, muscular chest. The long line of his back tapers down to a high, round ass that is more mouthwatering bare than in jeans (and that’s saying something).
You’d think that would always be the case.
You’d be wrong. And his legs? Fates alive, there are tree trunks less solid than his thighs.
Even better? Everything—and I mean everything—is in proportion.
Then, as if he isn’t stark naked among strangers, he walks past me to his motorcycle, reaches inside the leather saddlebag attached to it, and pulls out a pair of jeans.
I let out an involuntary whine of disappointment.
I have never hated denim so much in my whole life, because if there’s a man who should be walking around naked all the time, it’s Darius Aetos. Unfortunately, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Snarly knows it.
Lifting a single dark eyebrow, he grins at me. “Get a good look, or should I wait to put these on?”
I do my best whatever-who-cares shrug of one shoulder. “Like I care either way.” Then, desperate not to start drooling and ruin everything, I turn back to Leona and give her another hug. “Ignore him. He’s just my ride.”
“Effie,” she says, her voice breaking with a mix of relief and agony, “what’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“Short answer? I used a hot-wire spell on his motorcycle and came after you before he could stop me,” I say. “Long answer? Considering I arrived with the head of one of Witchingdom’s criminal underworld werewolf packs, it’s better you and Mom have plausible deniability on that one. Trust me.”
Was that absolute bullshit? Yes. It was a total accident I got to the edge of the Killjoy Forest right as the Aetos pack arrived instead of after they’d made their move to steal the spell book.
Or maybe it was the Fates working their magic in my favor for once—but I doubt it.
Whatever the reason I got there in time to hear them discussing their plans for a little light thievery, I’m not about to look the gifting universe in the mouth.
Still, even in moments like these, the oldest sister has to maintain her air of mystery.
“Speaking of our dear mother…” I pull a burner phone out of my jacket’s inside pocket and hand it to Leona. “She sent me with this.”
Even more than an oldest sister, a mother always knows when things are hitting the fan. And our mom? There are spy organizations that could benefit from her network of sources. Whatever is going on right now with Leona, Mom already has a plan to help. She always does.
The phone rings as soon as Leona takes it. “Hello?”
She walks a little bit away to talk to Mom, and I stick close to Darius—not because I want to, but because it seems prudent to watch out for what he does next, because I have a feeling he’s not going to take my whole borrowing-his-bike thing without a little payback.
That’s okay. I’m a woman who can take a lot.
He, however, seems completely content to finish getting dressed without even giving me a quick glance.
Okay, that’s a little annoying. I’m not exactly someone who gets ignored a lot.
Usually, I’m the one starting the party and stirring the shenanigans, so this whole you-don’t-exist thing is getting under my skin—which he probably knows.
The big werewolf jerk.
He’s shoving his large feet into a spare pair of motorcycle boots when an earsplitting crack of thunder echoes across the forest and ten tiny pixies appear hovering in the air while holding up the queen’s itty-bitty throne.
She peers down at us and mumbles something about interlopers and double-crossing werewolves who can’t be trusted.
Leona pockets the cell phone and makes her way over to where Darius and I are standing. Gone are the teary eyes and the splotchy skin. Leona holds her head high and looks eerily like our mom—the one woman who never fucks up and always has a plan. My sister really is that witch. I love it.
The pixie queen shoots us all an imperious glare, and the whole forest falls silent around us.
“You owe me a golden apple,” the queen says, pointing her absolutely gorgeous gold fan at Leona.
Then she turns her attention to Darius, who is standing next to his motorcycle, now slightly dinged up from my highly skilled daredevil driving.
She shoots him what must be the pixie equivalent of a flirty smile, which shows off her point-sharpened teeth.
“And you were warned to never come back here again.”
“It wasn’t by choice,” Darius says without looking up from his motorcycle as he checks it over, grumbling under his breath with every new dent or scratch he finds.
The color rises in the queen’s cheeks at his refusal to look at her.
Yeah, welcome to the club, sister.
Leona steps forward, handing me a golden apple as she does, and drops her head in deference to the queen. “I need your help.”
“You need more than that, but before you get to the begging portion of the show, I want my apple.” She flicks a bit of pixie dust into the air, and the apple flies out of my hands over to her while The Liber Umbrarum appears out of thin air to float in the middle of the clearing.
Now that gets Darius’s attention. He lets out a low, growly sound that’s more wolfish than human.
“Don’t even think about it,” the queen snaps at him.
After that, there’s a bit of negotiation between the queen and Leona, whose secret husband Erik it turns out has been turned into a tree.
What the fuck is all the reaction I can have to that.
And not for the first time in my life, I kind of wish I’d gotten more background information before I dove (or in this case drove) headfirst into a situation.
Whatever is going on here is complicated and confusing.
I’m only following about a third of it, but really, I don’t need to know any more than I’m on Leona’s side and whatever she wants, I’m here to make happen.
Finally, the queen begins to chant in pixyish, her voice going from high-pitched and so nasally it’s almost a squeak to a low bass boom.
Then a shower of pixie dust explodes overhead, and the forest floor starts to shake.
I’m ready to grab Leona and magic us out of here, but there’s something in the way she’s standing, as if somehow, some way, she’s totally in control, that stops me.
Whatever is happening, Leona has a plan.
A deep chasm appears in the ground, the line of broken earth moving like a runaway train straight for a large tree. Leona lets out a bloodcurdling, heartbreaking scream a second before the ground opens up and swallows the tree whole.
I’m summoning my magic to do whatever I can when the last of the pixie dust settles.
Sure, I have no idea what just happened, but Leona is gutted, and I don’t care what it takes, that pixie queen is about to have a rough day for making my sister feel like that.
All my attention is focused on the tiny little queen as Leona cries out and rushes toward the chasm.
Her pain is so raw and real that I can’t move for a second—and I’m not the only one.
All around us, everything has gone still.
There’s not a sound in the whole forest until the roar of Darius’s motorcycle booms through the silence as he races away, the top of The Liber Umbrarum spell book sticking out of his saddlebag.
Part of me is ready to chase after him, but I can’t leave my sister like this. She needs me.
It’s pure chaos as Leona rushes down into the pit, finds Erik unharmed and no longer a tree, and thus begins the kind of I’ll-always-love-you kissing sesh that rarely happens outside of the movies.
Seriously, it’s a lot, but I kinda get it.
True love and all will do that to you. But it quickly becomes apparent that my sister doesn’t need me for whatever is about to happen next between her and Erik.
And anyway, I need to go catch up with a thieving werewolf before he gets away with stealing the spell book.
“Hello down below,” I holler at Leona and Erik. “You two good here? Because I need to go chase after that duplicitous jerk Darius before he sells The Liber Umbrarum to the highest bidder.”
“You need help?” Erik and Leona ask in unison as if they aren’t desperate to get naked and orgasmic right about now.
“Believe me,” I tell them with a grin, “I can take care of one little werewolf on my own.”