Chapter Four
Mia
This evening was getting worse and worse. I hated being treated like this. I was a woman, a witch fully capable in taking care of myself...aside from my magic flaking out on me so badly when I’d needed it the most. As much as I hated to admit it, Ethan had saved my life.
Helplessness clawed at my throat, but I pushed the painful emotion aside. Usually I wasn’t this much of a weakling, so why did I feel that way? Ugh...The next time I spoke with Nolan, I’d be giving him a piece of my mind. Ethan was his best friend. My brother should’ve been there for him. It was ridiculous that he hadn’t.
If it weren’t for Nolan, I wouldn’t be in this position, where the man whom I’d adored was now second-guessing me. He suspected what I was! And he thought I needed to be protected. The idea of him watching over me wasn’t distasteful. The spark between us for that moment had made me forget about everything except the close proximity of our lips.
Geez...get yourself together, girl.
The car door opened, startling me for a moment. Ethan stepped aside, giving me a little space to get out but not much. He might as well have put handcuffs on me, the way he acted. If he got Nolan in on this, I’d never talk to him again. Ever.
Besides, if I had werewolves after me, it’d be better for me to leave. Even if I hated the idea of leaving behind my family and those I held dear.
The old woman who lived next door kept blatantly watching us. She needed to learn how to mind her own business. I cringed to think of what we looked like. The last thing we needed was for her to call the police.
Ethan placed his hand on the small of my back, leading me forward toward the door. His touch lit a fire inside me. I wanted to melt into his arms, but I’d heard his cries of pain when we’d faced the werewolf. Pissed off or not, I still needed to help him as best I could.
I unlocked the door, but Ethan nudged me aside. “Let me go in first. I’ll make sure it’s safe,” he said, his deep command not giving me much choice.
“You don’t have anything to defend yourself with.” Worry clenched my throat. He was right. What if there was a werewolf in my home? I’d hate to see Ethan get hurt worse than he already was.
He cut his gaze to me. “I’m a soldier. I’ll be fine.” As if it weren’t that obvious. Without another word, he headed inside my dark home.
Another thirty seconds passed, and I couldn’t stay outside anymore. Staring out into the night, I wondered if Ethan was safe—or if I was, for that matter. What if he needed my help? What if the werewolves were outside, instead of in? I’d be caught off guard and without his help. Argh.... Better to stick together, regardless.
I peeked inside and spotted him heading upstairs. Man, oh, man...if he looked in my room. I hadn’t had time to fold my clean laundry yet. He’d see my bras and panties. I scurried inside, closing and locking the door behind me. If he’d finished looking through the downstairs, at least I knew things were safe down here.
I hurried up the stairs, hoping to cut him off before he went into my bedroom. When I hit the top of the staircase, the door to my room was open. Oh no...I stuck my head around the corner at the same time Ethan was walking out.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me against the opposite wall, before realizing it was only me. I stared up at him, amazed by his reflexes and their closeness. Before I could stop myself, I reached up, brushing my hand over his chiseled jaw.
His demeanor shifted from strong and tough, to softer and more sensual. “Mia, what are you doing here? I told you to wait outside.”
I lowered my gaze, not wanting to see his disappointment, and to my horror, I saw the claw marks in Ethan’s uniform and the blood soaking the cloth. Oh, God. What had I been doing? He needed help. Fast.
“I couldn’t wait outside. Not if you were in here all by yourself with who knows what. Besides, I need to help you. You should’ve told me you were bleeding this much.” Tears formed in my eyes and it took all I could to hold them back.
He lifted my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “I’ll be fine. Just please stay here. I want to finish checking out the house before we get too comfortable.” He straightened his spine a little but stopped, a wince tightening his facial features.
I hated seeing him in pain. Hated it. “Just hurry. I don’t want you to suffer anymore.”
“I will. I promise.” He strode down the hall. His footfalls were silent, even though he was a big, muscular man in combat boots.
I leaned back against the wall. My pulse raced in at the sight of him, so sexy...so confident. No wonder he’d gotten as many promotions as he had. He was the epitome of the tough, deadly male.
This had been the most we’d talked in our many years of knowing each other, and I wondered for a moment if that would all change once he walked out the door. Would he spend the rest of his holidays with Nolan, or doing whatever he’d planned to do?
However, if he did...what would happen to me? I still didn’t have a clue why that werewolf was after me.
No! Don’t get caught up in Ethan.
Hopefully the werewolves didn’t know more about me, like where my loved ones lived. If they did, I’d be forced to use whatever meager power I had against them, and that wasn’t overly much, from the looks of it.
If I had any chance of surviving, I needed to make sure my powers were at their full capacity, and that meant visiting my mentor, Jessa. My dream was running a shop like that, but it’d be much too dangerous. It might cause people to look too closely at me, and I tried to avoid that. Apparently for good reason, too.
Casting a glance down the hall, I sighed at the sight of Ethan closing the door to my guest bedroom. He headed in my direction, but now he pressed one hand tight against his side. Pain radiated from him like a dark light.
I closed the distance between us. “Everything’s fine?”
He nodded.
“Let’s get you to the bathroom.” I opened the door to the restroom, flipped on the lights, then retrieved a few towels from the linen closet. When I turned around, Ethan stood in the doorway. The bathroom was too small for him to slide by me and sit on the toilet lid, and we’d have to brush against each other. I didn’t mind, but he didn’t seem too eager.
Hurt crept into my heart, but I had to push it aside. This didn’t change anything. I couldn’t expect him to be my hero and me his damsel in distress. I wasn’t a damsel who he needed to save. He put his life on the line for a living. I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to take a break from that kind of thing, now that he was home.
It was just as well. He didn’t need to be caught up in my problems. Once he left, I’d work on fixing them. It would be better that way. I could concentrate on what I needed to do without my raging libido distracting me.
When Ethan made no effort to move into the bathroom, I frowned. “Sit on the toilet lid? Please?”
His gaze drifted from me to the toilet right behind me. “You’re kinda in the way.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I walked toward the doorway. Fine. If he wanted to do this, then I’d play along. I was only trying to be helpful, but he was acting as if I had the bubonic plague.
He moved aside, then walked into the bathroom. He took a seat on the commode and watched me with his stunning blue eyes. My heart leapt at the intensity of his gaze. He never failed to send the butterflies in my stomach fluttering.
“Now?” he asked.
“Now if you could take off the remainder of your shirt, I’d appreciate it. I’m going to get...uh, my first aid kit.” Geez...what would he think about me putting the salve on his naked chest? Would he reject my help because I was a witch?
I only hoped he was more understanding than that.
He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Why isn’t your first aid kit in the bathroom?”
“Um...it’s,” I tugged my lower lip between my teeth, trying to figure out how to say it, “different than a normal first aid kit.” With that, I darted down the hall before h
e could ask more questions that I didn’t want to answer.
“Fine,” he said, more under his breath than to me.
I slipped back downstairs, needing to get the healing salve from the kitchen. My usual hiding place was a shoebox in the guest bedroom’s closet. If anyone suspected me, they’d probably go to my room. They wouldn’t think to look in a box that used to house a pair of very expensive Gucci shoes. Those heels were still my favorites.
Shaking the thoughts away, I also grabbed the shoebox on my way back and headed back to the bathroom. I came up short at the sight.
“That’s your first aid kit?” Ethan chuckled. “Don’t know if your shoes will help this.”
My heart hammered in my chest. I couldn’t respond to his skeptical quip. Seeing him without his shirt on and so close froze me in place, but the bite marks marring his pecs and side were a horrible sight. I couldn’t imagine how he’d kept calm together all this time—and had driven, too.
If I didn’t give him the salve and cast the charm over him, he’d surely be lost to me as a werewolf. However, part of me wondered if I were too late.
No. I couldn’t think that way. Regardless of the way my power had let me down at the airport’s parking garage, I could only hope that I’d be able to rescue him from this now. If I couldn’t...I’d prefer not to think that way. I refused to.
Let’s just say the werewolves would have one more tool to use in exacting revenge on me then what they’d already used, and I wanted to keep the collateral damage at a minimum and keep the people I cared about safe. Even if that meant never seeing them again....
“Mia?” Ethan took hold of my wrist. “Are you okay? If you’re uncomfortable, I can wash this out myself. I have had field training for treating injuries. Nothing quite like this, but I could manage.”
I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly trying not to show anymore fear than I already had. “No, I’ll be okay. I can do this.”
I chanted under my breath, focusing all of my energy into making sure the salve was successful and healed away the possibility of the werewolf infecting Ethan with lycanthropy. I refused to give in, not if it meant risking both my and Ethan’s safety. Regardless of the feelings I’d had for Ethan, he meant an awful lot to my whole family.