A Cursed Bloodline (WG 4) by Cecy Robson

my neck, making me purr. Even as a beast, he felt good, soft…perfect. My bed threatened to break when he playfully flipped me onto my back, so we returned to our human forms. His skin was as warm as his fur against me. For a while neither of us moved, we just stared at each other, breathing heavily as the heat continued to rise between us. Slowly, he stroked my hair away from my face. “God, you’re beautiful,” he’d whispered.
    He had kissed me, and within moments had me writhing in pleasure. I rolled onto my stomach and gripped my pillow against me. I missed Aric—not just the intimate moments between us, but how he made me feel. In his arms I’d never known fear.
    Celia? Aric’s voice whispered in my head.
    I scrambled to my feet and stilled, my eyes scanning the room. Through our bond as mates, Aric was communicating. They were more than just words; his feelings attached themselves to his verbiage. I felt his torment, just as I knew he felt my longing and hurt. And yet unlike a phone conversation, it didn’t appear as though we could talk back and forth. It was more like our deepest emotions transferred to each other’s soul.
    The phone rang before I could panic about how much he knew.
    “Hello?”
    Anara snarled on the other line. “Break the bond.” My blood pounded through my veins and into my skull. I couldn’t speak. Anara, though, had plenty to say. “Aric’s yearning for you is so desperate, I can sense it as his Elder. It sickens me to feel your presence. Break the bond.”

    My claws protruded. “I don’t know how.”
    “You will find a way or you shall suffer. You have two days.”
    My phone shattered in pieces when I threw it against the wall. “As if I’m not suffering enough, asshole!”
    I unwittingly changed into my tigress form and paced for the next half hour. It helped. My inner animal dealt with stress far better than my human side.
    Someone knocked on the door leading out into the garden. Within moments Shayna poked her head into my bedroom. She took in the shattered phone and her sister the golden tigress, but without missing a beat, she skipped in fearlessly.
    “How’s it going, Ceel?” Shayna hugged my neck and scratched behind my ears. I purred and dropped to the floor. “Koda loves his ears scratched, too—when he’s a wolf, I mean.” She chatted about her life, the weather, and Taran’s plans to set Hank aflame if she caught him near Emme. Gruesome details aside, it was the distraction I needed. I licked her hand in appreciation. “You’re welcome, dude.”
    She rolled on her back and she used my belly for a pillow. “Celia, we’re all meeting at the house tonight for dinner. I’d really love it if you’d join us. Aric won’t be there. I promise he won’t.”
    Aric’s name made me cringe. Not just because of how I treated him, but also because I didn’t know how much Anara suspected. She moved when I stood and changed back. “I don’t feel much like socializing, Shayna.” I yanked on a thong and bra and pulled a stretchy T-shirt over my thick hair. I fastened my skinny jeans and paused, knowing they wouldn’t fit me in a few weeks. I was thin and muscular. My pregnancy wouldn’t be easy to hide once I began to show.

    Shayna flung an arm over my neck. “Then what do you need, Ceel? Tell me. I just want to help.”
    She was trying. Lord knows they were all trying to reach me. So against my better judgment, I reached back. “A milkshake would be nice.”
    She smiled. “Can I drive?”
    —
    Shayna tore out of Misha’s driveway like her tiny butt was on fire. Her excited “woo-hoos” sent Emme into a tizzy. Despite Emme’s protests in the form of shrieks, Shayna refused to slow down. She took the curves along the back roads like a band of crazed knife-wielding clowns were on our tail.
    Emme screamed at the top of her lungs. My baby didn’t like the ride any better. On the last turn out of Tahoe City I stuck my head out the window and threw up. So