“YOU KNOW, I hate to say it, but Moonbeam could give Cleocatra a run for her money,” Tivali said.
“Sad, but true,” Muezza agreed.
“I don’t know,” Soraya said. “Cleocatra wasn’t that vicious.”
Tivali, Bygul and Muezza all stared at her.
“She wasn’t!”
“If you say so,” Muezza said.
“How quickly we forget,” Tivali said.
“She was just a tiny kitten, whereas Moonbeam’s a monster cat!”
“True,” Bygul said. “We were just lucky we made those matches before Cleocatra fully grew into her claws. Unfortunately, our luck has clearly run out, which means we have to somehow convince Moonbeam to stop torturing the wolf.”
“Impossible,” Tivali said. “I saw the look on Moonbeam’s face and there’s no doubt in my mind. She’s officially claimed that wolf as her new alligator.”
* * *
Corwin spent the evening with a bag full of ice on his dick.
Thank all the goddesses in the heavens, he’d been wearing jeans at the time.
If he’d been wearing any other fabric, he was absolutely positive that demon-cat would have drawn blood.
As it was, his dick was feeling mighty abused.
He’d checked it out thoroughly and there wasn’t even a bruise, but he blamed that on shifter healing because based on how it felt, his whole dick should have been bright purple by now.
Of course, he wasn’t about to admit that he was bruise-free.
Instead, he took advantage of the sympathy all the pack women showered upon him and ignored how the pack men grumbled and glared at him.
They’d be taking advantage too if their dick had been caught in the jaws of that hell-beast.
He hung out in the pack’s communal spaces all night long, enjoying the many treats the women brought him, and sulking over the fact that Natalie had called him a big baby and how she’d crooned to her demon-cat, praising her predatory instincts, rather than offering him any sympathy.
What kind of mate was she, anyway, to ignore his suffering in favor of the cat who attacked him?
It was shameful, utterly shameful!
Especially since he was convinced she was actually amused at the entire situation.
Rude!
He spent most of the night trying to convince himself that he could live without his mate. Who needed one?
Not him, that’s for sure.
Look at all the pack women, fawning all over him.
All he had to do was crook his finger and any one of them—well, the non-mated ones, anyway—would be delighted to fall into bed with him.
Unfortunately, he didn’t want any of them.
He wanted his mate.
Natalie.
The witch with a demon-cat for a familiar.
Whatever had he done to deserve this?
* * *
Natalie woke the next morning with Moonbeam stretched across her chest, purring into her ear.
It was a fabulous way to wake.
She lay in bed for almost an hour, just petting Moonbeam and feeling her purr rumble through her.
Eventually, though, her memories of the day before filtered in and she began to giggle.
Poor Corwin.
She should probably track him down and apologize or at least try to make amends.
Then again, her breath hitched as she remembered the feel of his teeth gripping her neck and the shivers that ran up her spine at the sound of his soft growl and raspy voice murmuring in her ear.
Dear goddess, he was potent!
She had no idea what had gotten into him—or her, for that matter—but Moonbeam had probably done them both a favor.
“Such a smart kitty,” she whispered, then giggled again as she pictured how Corwin had looked with Moonbeam plastered to the front of his trousers. The image reminded her of those ridiculous Halloween decorations of witches on brooms plastered up against a tree.
A knock came at the door. “Um, Natalie? We’ve got a tiny situation out here.”
Fifteen minutes later, Natalie stood, hands on hips, completely stunned at how her coven had managed to understate the situation. “A tiny situation? There are plants growing through the floorboards and vines on the walls! How the hell did this happen, Jo?”
Jo winced. “I’m not exactly sure. It was like this when we woke this morning.”
“Uh-huh. And what were you dreaming about last night? Better yet, what were you doing before you fell asleep?”
Jo blushed. “Nothing you need to know about.”
“It was probably my fault,” Annika said.
“Really?” Natalie asked dryly. “So you’re also a Garden Witch?”
“Well, no, but…” Her voice trailed off.
“Never mind,” Natalie said. “I’m sure we’re all quite aware of what you two were up to last night. I simply have no idea why it triggered your magic, Jo. It’s not like you haven’t been with Annika for weeks.”
Oh, shit.
A memory slammed into Natalie of the dreams she’d had all night long.
Heated dreams filled with writhing limbs and—she slammed the door on those thoughts and yanked her staff toward her.
A second later, Natalie’s staff slammed into her hand, but it was already too late.
The plants and vines all surged upward.
She slammed her staff onto the floor and the foliage quivered to a stop.
Mouths agape, the entire coven stared at Natalie.
“Did you just make that happen?” Jo demanded.
Natalie fanned her face. “Maybe. I don’t know. This is a mess.”
“You did,” Tempest accused. “How are you doing that? You’re not a garden witch. Are you?”
Natalie sighed. “It’s the curse of my line.”
“What does that mean?” Rowan asked.
“Why do you think I didn’t want the role of High Witch? You guys kept insisting and I kept saying no, but apparently the staff doesn’t care what I want.
“So now I’m not only struggling with all the powers of my entire line, of which there were legion, but I also get a snippet of your powers as well.
“Basically, I’m—”
“The Witch Queen?” Amari exclaimed, her voice the loudest Natalie had ever heard it.
“I thought that was a myth,” Jo said.
“There hasn’t been a queen in centuries. Right?” Tempest asked.
Natalie sighed. “The line’s been dying, it’s true. Too much power plays havoc with fertility, which honestly, isn’t a bad thing. I expected the line to die with me. That was the plan anyway. I’m the last of my former coven since my grandmother died and I inherited the staff. The problem is the staff has apparently accepted The Zero Cum Laude Coven as a new branch in its line of power.”
“What does that mean?” Morana asked.
“It means whoever steps into the role of High Witch after me will inherit the staff, even if they’re not my child. The staff’s future is now tied to the coven, not to my specific genetic line.”
“Oh my good goddess,” Amari whispered.
“What is it, Amari?” Tempest gave her a concerned glance.
“That’s why she dresses like royalty and carries the staff everywhere. She’s not being dramatic or stereotypical. She’s the Witch Queen.”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Look. I’m the same Natalie you’ve always known. I just can’t help the way I dress. It’s the way my grandmother raised me and it seems disrespectful to stop now, simply because she’s gone. I don’t care that some people think I’m being dramatic or playing into witchy stereotypes. It’s how I honor my grandmother and the entire line of Queens who came before me.
“Now forget about me and the staff. How are we going to clean this shit up?” She glared around her at the foliage that had pretty much taken over the entire first floor of their coven house.
It took her a moment to realize the rest of the coven was just staring at her in silence. “What?”
“Natalie, you’ve got the staff,” Jo said, “and you don’t know how to fix all this?”
“Hey. It’s not like I’ve had the staff that long, you know. And my powers, which were pretty out-of-control before I inherited the staff aren’t exactly of any help here. I mean, sure the power of foresight helped lead us here, but they’re certainly not going to help clean up this mess.”
“But you’ve got the staff!” Jo repeated.
“So?”
“So, you’ve got access to the powers of every witch queen throughout history. Use some of those powers.”
Natalie groaned. “You have no idea how difficult it is to control someone else’s powers. I mean think about it—you guys struggle to control your own powers. Now imagine trying to control the powers of a crazy-powerful queen, then imagine trying to control the powers of every queen in existence!”
“Huh. Never thought about it like that,” Jo said. “Still. What’s the point of having the staff if you’re not going to use it?”
Natalie sighed. “Fine. But don’t blame me when things go wrong.”
* * *
When Corwin, Jared and Pippa arrived at the coven house for breakfast that morning, they found the entire coven standing on the front lawn, staring at the house, which was completely covered in vines.
Corwin sidled up behind Natalie, who stood with the staff in her left hand and the demon-cat winding between her legs. “So. What’s going on?”
“Out-of-control magic, that’s what’s going on,” Amari said with a giggle.
Thunder rolled overhead and lightning forked through the sky.
Corwin looked up. “Huh. Today was supposed to be a beautiful day.”
More thunder rolled and a crack of lightning hit not too far away.
“Uh, Tempest, maybe you should tone it down a bit,” Pippa said. “I’m sure we’ll figure out how to get inside eventually.”
“It’s not me,” Tempest said with a grin.
“What do you mean it’s not you?” Pippa demanded. “You’re the only weather witch around and there’s no way this thunderstorm is a natural phenomenon.”
Rowan snickered. “Ask our resident Witch Queen.”
Corwin stiffened. Witches had queens?
“Witch—what?” Pippa whirled toward Natalie. “You’re the Witch Queen?” she screeched.
Hold on now.
Corwin took a careful step back from his mate, then turned slightly so he could see her face.
Natalie scowled. “Why do you assume it’s me? It could be any one of us!”
“No one else walks around with a giant staff of power or dresses like royalty,” Pippa accused. “How come you never told us?”
More importantly, how come she’d never told him?
And what in the hell had he done to deserve this?
A mate who was royalty?
“I’m the last of my line, Pippa. It’s not like I thought I was going to pass the staff on to anyone else. I expected the staff’s power to die with me, not to come alive because some idiot witches decided I should be the leader of their coven.”
“Hold on,” Pippa said. “You mean the staff—”
“I mean it’s been getting weaker, not stronger, through the generations. Yes, more power flowed into it as the generations passed, but without a coven to feed energy to its Queen, not much of that power could be accessed. So like I said, I expected the staff to die with me. Instead, its power is now tied to that of the Zero Cum Laude Coven, so congratulations, witches. You’re now the Queen’s Council and your first task is to help me figure out how to control this damn staff.”
A giant crack rendered the air and a tree at the edge of their property let out a horrendous groan before beginning a slow topple toward the roof of the coven house.
Natalie whipped the staff up with a jerk and the tree moved, rolling to the side and crashing to the ground in such a way that it missed every building on the property.
How the hell did she do that?
Corwin eyed the staff.
The two jewels, one at the top and the other at the bottom, were glowing a brilliant red.
The wind picked all around, them, leaves lifting and swirling through the air, faster and faster.
“Oh, shit,” Tempest exclaimed. She whirled and raced toward Natalie. “You have to pull in the storm. It’s about to take on a life of its own. Natalie, if you don’t pull it in, there are going to be tornadoes in about three minutes. Big ones, ones that will take out the entire town.”
Natalie didn’t seem to hear Tempest. Her hair was lifting off her shoulders and her eyes were blind to anything around her.
Corwin hooked an arm around her waist and dragged her back so that she rested against his chest. “Natalie,” he murmured in her ear. “Pull the storm back.”
When nothing happened, he whipped her around and kissed her. Deep.
* * *
One moment, Natalie was all storm—inside her, around her, everywhere, thunder, lightning, crashing rain—then it was all heat.
Fire sweeping through her and slamming into the ground, over and over again.
Lightning and fire and dear goddess, the wolf could kiss.
She raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck.
She slid her fingers deep into his hair, something else slipping from her grasp to thump onto the ground below.
She should maybe figure out what she’d just dropped, pick it up, hold it tight, but the heat from Corwin’s kiss was consuming her thoughts, stealing her breath.
All she knew was the wolf who had her wrapped tight in his embrace and the fire that consumed them both.
* * *
The entire world had disappeared except for the witch in his arms.
Her scent, everything about her, wrapped itself around him and dragged him deep.
Corwin lifted her closer, reveling in the feel of her nails raking through his scalp.
Something about that should register with him—that both her arms were wrapped around him, that her fingers were plowing through his hair, pulling and tugging—but whatever it was that wanted his attention was so much less important than the feel of the woman in his arms and the rising heat that threatened to consume them both.
A white streak launched up, claws hooking deep in his arm, then the demon-cat was crawling onto his shoulder and from there, to Natalie’s where it shoved its nose in her ear and licked her cheek.
Natalie let out a shudder and her fingers slowly unclenched from his hair.
She leaned back, gasping for breath, then reached up and scratched the cat’s head.
Damn cat.
Always interfering at the worst of times.
Or in this case, perhaps just in time, for Corwin finally noticed the cyclone that spun around them at incredible speeds.
He would have expected it to tear them apart, but it simply wrapped them in a world of their own making, blocking out all sights and sounds of anything but each other.
And that damn cat.
They stood still, plastered together, the cat wrapped around Natalie’s shoulders, purring loudly as she pet her in long, soothing strokes.
Corwin shuddered as he once again imagined Natalie’s hand petting his wolf’s fur in the same slow movements.
The longer they stood there, staring into each other’s eyes, the calmer their breathing became, until finally, the wind died down and with it, the foliage covering the house behind Natalie began a slow withdrawal, slithering to the ground and sinking into the soil.
Silence fell.
A quick glance around showed Corwin that his alpha had retreated with the rest of the coven to the other side of the property.
They now slowly moved back toward them, looks of awe on their faces.
“Dude, your mate is the freaking queen of witches,” Jared teased, echoing Corwin’s words from the day they witnessed Pippa’s power for the first time.
Corwin was speechless.
That stupid staff—the one he’d thought was a prop from some drama club, the one he now realized she’d dropped when wrapping her arms around his neck—plus the elaborate clothing, even the witch’s hat, all had symbolic, royal freaking meaning.
To think he’d laughed at Jared for having a firestarter for a mate.
“Well, that was fun,” Pippa said. “Not. I was absolutely certain you were a goner, Natalie.”
“And man, the amount of trees and limbs that fell while you were in your little cyclone of goodness, just wow,” Rowan said. “Glad you’re on our side is really all I can say about that.”
“Yes, but good news,” Jo said cheerfully, “As far as we know, no one’s risen from the dead and there haven’t been any fires—though you two did scorch the land a bit where you’re standing, but all things considered, I’d say that’s a win, wouldn’t you?”
“Seriously?” Morana exclaimed. “Why would you say that? There’s no point in tempting fate, Jo!”
“I’m just saying, you gotta celebrate the wins, you know?”
* * *
“Maybe I was wrong,” Soraya said.
Bygul and Muezza stared at each other, utterly amazed.
No cat worth their salt ever admitted when they were wrong. It simply wasn’t done.
There was always a reason for everything they did or said.
Humans might not like their reasons, but that didn’t mean they were wrong.
“What’s that now?” Tivali asked.
“You know, when I said Morana was the cheerful one. I probably meant Jo. They all look the same to me. Witches, vampires, shifters, what’s the difference, really? They’re all humans.”
Well, that was a good point, Bygul mused.
“So it’s not like you were wrong so much as confused,” Muezza said.
“Exactly!” Soraya exclaimed. “And maybe not even so much confused as just not paying attention.”
“Oh, now, that makes total sense,” Tivali said.
“Absolutely,” Bygul said. “We’re cats, after all. We only pay attention when we want to.”
* * *
“What a nightmare,” Natalie muttered.
It was all the wolf’s fault!
She’d had perfect control—well, mostly—and then, he had to kiss her!
What in the world made him think a kiss would help?
For goddess’ sake, that kiss had obliterated her control, and then, she’d dropped her staff.
She shuddered to think what might have happened if Moonbeam hadn’t leapt into play.
This was truly terrible.
Because all she could think about now was kissing him.
The wolf!
The aggravating, arrogant, sexy-as-hell wolf.
Even worse was knowing she’d have to resist temptation unless she wanted to chance unleashing her powers again.
Dear goddess, she didn’t know which was worse.
Wanting the wolf in the first place.
Or never getting to kiss him again.
* * *
All Corwin wanted was to kiss his mate again, then drag her off somewhere private so they could explore each other to their heart’s content.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of clean-up to be done due to the crazed thunderstorm Natalie had sent crashing through their town.
Jared and Corwin headed for pack lands, to help clear paths in the forest and to ensure no-one was hurt.
Meanwhile, the witches headed for town to help out there.
It was late afternoon before Corwin managed to break away from his pack and track down his mate. He found her at the diner, eating with her coven.
He immediately grabbed a chair and shoved his way between Natalie and Rowan, throwing a growl and glare at the male witch for daring to sit so close to his mate.
Rowan chuckled, threw up his hands in surrender, grabbed his plate and moved around to the opposite side of the table.
“What are you doing?” Natalie demanded.
“Joining you for a meal, of course,” Corwin said.
“But why?”
Hmm. Dilemma time.
Should he admit they were mates?
Or just keep playing it by ear?
Probably best not to say anything.
“Because I’m starving and if I eat with you, we can count this as our first date. Or maybe it’s our second, on account of the earlier kiss and all. Or should it be our third? You know, in case kissing is only a second date activity, which would move our lunch yesterday up to first date status. Yeah, that makes total sense. Third date, here we are!”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes.
“Where’s Pippa?” Tempest asked.
“She and Jared are hanging out at the den. Some of the pups were frightened by the storm, so they’re sticking close to give them the comfort of the alpha pair.”
Natalie’s right hand clenched into a fist on the table. “Damnit. I can’t believe I lost control like that.”
“Hey, it’s all good.” Corwin settled his hand on top of hers and squeezed gently. “Really. No one blames you. In fact, we’re all pretty impressed. Even though tree limbs were falling everywhere, none of them—not in the town or on pack lands—landed on property, animals or people. Literally, no one was hurt.”
“I guess.”
“The amount of control that took is off the charts,” Tempest said. “We knew there was no damage in town, but we weren’t sure about the other territories. I can’t even imagine how you kept everything controlled, Natalie. When my storms get that bad, there’s no controlling them. They gain a life of their own and then, it’s out of my hands, you know?”
Natalie shrugged. “The staff helped. Moonbeam helped more.”
“Moonbeam?” Corwin asked.
“My familiar.”
“Ah. The demon-cat.”
Natalie snickered. “Only around you. She loves me.”