Pema's Storm: Rowan Sisters' Trilogy Book 1 (2 page)

She should tell him to let her go. Her lips parted to say the words, but they were trapped in her throat. She breathed in his earthy, pine scent and a new flood of heat traveled through her. She needed to gather her senses, and added more force to her shove until he finally set her down. Her body slid down the hard length of him and she took a couple steps back before acting on impulse to rub against him like a cat in heat.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you one of the Rowan sisters?” he asked, holding out his hand. Did he crave contact with her as much as she did him? It seemed like an eternity to Pema since he had touched her, and she would die if he didn’t touch her again. Okaaay, she was losing her mind and she needed to stop this behavior.

Her brain and hormones weren’t on speaking terms, and she eagerly grabbed his hand and held it tightly. “Yes, I’m Pema and this is my sister, Suvi,” she nodded her head in the direction of her sister, keeping hold of his hand. “And you are?”

“My name is Ronan Blackwell,” the hunk said, keeping intense gaze into her eyes.

“How can we help you, Ronan?” Suvi asked, awakening Pema from her daydreams of ravishing his body. Realizing how odd it must seem to be holding onto his hand, she pulled from his firm grip and immediately felt a loss. She turned around to face the counter, needing to break eye contact with him.

“I’m not exactly sure. I need to win my female back. I believe her mother forced her to end things between us. I have never believed in this hocus-pocus shit, and I think it made her mother dislike me. I’m a shifter, and I believe in what I see in front of me,” Ronan said. Two things happened. For a brief second, Pema wanted to rip this female of his to shreds. She quickly dismissed the notion, reminding herself that she was only fantasizing about the male, nothing more. And, who the hell was he to call their magic hocus-pocus shit? She swiveled and took in this alpha male, and his confident stance amped her body’s response, making all other thought flee from her mind.

“I’m not sure what we can do for you. We refuse to make or sell true love potions, so we can’t force this female to love you, and we certainly can’t create a potion to make you believe in our hocus-pocus shit,” Pema said, acid dripping from her tone. “Who is this female anyway?”

Ronan was quiet for several long moments while he stared right through her soul before he answered. “Claire Wells. Surely you have something for me. I was told that the Rowan triplets are supposed to be the most powerful witches in the realm. I want to convince Claire to follow her heart. She has loved me for almost two hundred years, and I don’t believe that has changed.” He moved closer to Pema as he spoke, angling his body toward her. She wasn’t going to be a fool to think that he was as affected by her as she was by him. She was a means to an end for him, and she sure as hell wasn’t getting in the middle of his relationship problems.

Still, Pema had to bite her tongue. This magnificent male could not belong to this particular female. She wasn’t surprised that he was taken, but why did it have to be with Claire? The male was making Pema crazy with lust, and now disgust. Not a great combination.

She shuddered in revulsion. Claire Wells was Cele’s beloved daughter, and Pema hated them both. She didn’t have a jealous bone in her body, so why she was so upset over this couple was beyond her. Something had taken over her, and Goddess help her, she may embarrass herself yet.

Suvi jumped right into sales mode. “Of course we are, and if anyone can help you, it’s us. We have several truth potions. And, if you want to remind her of the passion you shared, we have pink tourmaline to enhance libido,” Suvi winked at him.

Pema watched their interaction, bewitched by his perfection and her desire for him. It had to be the red jasper messing with her. Her libido was working overtime with this male two feet from her. She needed to raise the price on these stones, and order more. This was obviously some powerful mojo.

Pema listened to him talk to Suvi and found herself wondering why he was with Claire. Those thoughts brought up the memory of her last interaction with Claire. It was the day Claire had moved back to Seattle, and Pema and her sisters were making their final payment to the High Priestess.

Claire stood in Cele’s office with her hands on her hips, her long mousy-brown hair flying around her shoulders in agitation as she snarled at them. “No matter how much money you make at that store of yours, you three are still just the poor kids in rags. You’ll never amount to anything.”

Isis sneered back. “This coming from the one who relies on mommy for everything. We may have started in rags, but we aren’t in them anymore.”

A deep rumble brought her out of the memory. “Bag up whatever crystals or potions you recommend.” That quickly, his sexy voice conjured images in Pema’s mind of him hovering over her while he slowly thrust into her, driving her to climax.

She clenched her teeth together, telling herself that she
had
to stop thinking about sex. She unclasped the magnet of the wrap around her wrist and dropped the bracelet onto the counter. She walked a few feet away, placing more distance between her and the sexy shifter, and pretended to organize the tarot cards.

Ronan inched closer to her then stopped. He ran his hands through his hair, ruffling his curls and shuffling from foot to foot. His gaze returned to Pema’s face again and again. Something in Pema stirred at the way he was staring at her. She couldn’t decipher the look in his chocolate brown depths, but it was intense.

Suvi bagged several items for Ronan, telling him how to use each one as she took his payment. Pema didn’t think Ronan heard a word her sister had said, given that his gaze never once wavered from her face. For someone who was so hot to win his girlfriend back, he sure didn’t seem too concerned about it at the moment. That was
not
wishful thinking, Pema assured herself.

“I need to get to work, but thank you for the help. See you around?” Ronan asked, but didn’t move to leave.

“If you are ever at Confetti Too then you’ll see me plenty,” Pema replied, hoping her invitation wasn’t too blatant.

“I guess I’ll see you often, since I’ve just been hired as part of the new security. Will you be there tomorrow night?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “We wouldn’t miss the grand opening.”

“Save me a dance?” he husked.

“Dancing with me is certainly not the way to win back another female,” she responded.

“You’re right,” he said. They stood staring at each other for what seemed like forever before he turned and exited the store. He gazed back at her from the street then hopped into a large truck. There was something about a male in a truck, Pema thought.

“That is some heat you two were throwing off. I need a walk-in freezer to cool down,” Suvi broke the silence, fanning her face.

“Shut it, Suvi,” Pema mumbled, staring out the window, captivated by glowing, brown eyes.

Gripping the steering wheel as he drove down the street, Ronan was as shaken as he had ever been in all of his six hundred years. He had felt as if his life was over when he discovered his parents and siblings murdered by human poachers. The grief had been so debilitating that his bear had taken over. Claire had stumbled across him centuries later and spent weeks coaxing him back to his male form. She had been the single most important female in his life for the past two centuries. He had never imagined his life without Claire, and when her mother forced her to end their relationship, he had been determined to win her back. It was that determination that had led him to the last place he’d ever thought to go, a shop selling magical accoutrements. But the second he opened the door and saw Pema standing on that ladder, he felt as if the rug was pulled out from under him.

Now as he drove away from the Black Moon, it was taking all of his considerable strength to keep from turning around and seeking Pema out. He hadn’t been this turned on in his life. His cock had yet to deflate and was completely on board with the idea of going back. The little witch was a vision and he couldn’t imagine a more flawless female. Her long, silky blonde hair fell in loose curls down her back and beckoned him to fist the length as he took her luscious body. The compulsion to act on those urges was so intense that it was hard to focus on something as simple as driving.

Her sea-green eyes were entrancing, and it had been impossible to keep his gaze from her for more than a moment at a time. The most disconcerting was the electrical current that pulsed through him when their skin made contact, causing his heart to skip a beat. The experience had been so intense that sweat still beaded his brow. He couldn’t make sense of the jumbled mess in his head.

He shook his head trying to clear it. He had gone to this magic shop to find a way to win back his girlfriend of almost two hundred years, and the bag containing the potion sat on the seat next to him. He should be planning a way to get it to Claire and resolve their issues, yet he questioned if he would ever even use it.

The image of Pema’s mile-long legs encased in skin tight jeans flashed in his mind, and was only rivaled by the sight of her generous breasts straining against a green top that matched her eyes. When she had fallen into his arms, he found that her curves fit perfectly against him. She was, bar none, the most striking female he had encountered.

He was tied up in knots and the whole mess had him questioning if he was wrong about witchcraft. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it than lighting candles. The only way he could explain the way he was feeling was if those witches had placed him under a spell. Hocus-pocus bullshit.

He passed the Space Needle and pulled into a parking spot in the lot of the new realm club, Confetti Too. As he put the truck in park and looked at the warehouse, he forced thoughts of Pema from his mind and focused on work.

Hayden, the shifter Omega, had personally recruited Ronan to protect the realm nightclub. For some time, Ronan had wanted to make a difference in his world. He wanted to be part of something more important than merely throwing around drunken shifters, and the skirm activity in Seattle had convinced him to accept the position, despite the fact that he would be closer to Claire’s mother.

He climbed out of the car and adjusted his erection before heading into the building where he encountered the chaos of last-minute preparations for the opening the next night. He spotted Killian talking to one of the waitresses and headed over.

Ronan waited while Kill gave the nymph instructions and tried to keep his mind off Pema, but the witch back at the candle shop continued to consume his thoughts. Of one thing he was certain. He had never before wanted a female as fervently as he wanted Pema.

“What do you want me to do today?” Ronan asked, feeling his anger rise to mask his confusion and frustration. Like many males, anger was his go-to emotion. Anger was easier to express than it was for him to deal with the situation he suddenly found himself in.

“You can start by chilling a bit, buddy. Tensions are high enough here with the Grand Opening tomorrow night.” His boss eyed him intently, “Okay, what’s up? You’re edgy.” Kill never missed a thing, but no way in hell was Ronan going to tell him about his new obsession with the alluring Pema. Ronan was beginning to feel like a female, he’d spent five minutes with her and he needed to get over it. He reminded himself that he was in love with Claire and determined to win her back.

“Sorry, this morning turned to shit. I’m good,” Ronan tried to reassure his boss.

“No, you’re not good. Your bear is itching to break through. Your eyes are completely black and your claws are out,” Kill pointed out. Ronan looked down and realized he was right. He’d been so preoccupied that he wasn’t aware his animal was so close to the surface. His bear had never been this restless unless Ronan was ready to beat the shit of out someone.

“I can call Hayden over if you need help regaining control. The grand opening is tomorrow night and I need you on your A-game. You came from a small town, and tomorrow night there will be twice as many people here as you’ve ever seen in one place. Hayden assured me that you were the male for the job. Was he wrong?” Killian asked, eyeing him closely.

“No, he wasn’t wrong. I thrive in chaos. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” Ronan reassured the sorcerer. He took several deep breaths until his claws retracted.

“Then it must be about a woman,” Kill laughed.

Ronan felt his cheeks warm. Now he was fucking blushing? If he didn’t watch it, this was going to ruin his image. “Claire dumped me,” he told his boss, unsure why he was now sharing it with him. He wasn’t one to talk about his relationship with anyone, let alone someone he hadn’t known very long. “I went to Black Moon Sabbat looking for answers but…question, what’s the story on witches and their magic?”

Kill winced and leaned back against the bar. “Claire dumped you, and you go to Black Moon? I hope you didn’t go to Black Moon to win her back because that is going to piss her off when she hears about it. And you don’t want to mess with the Wells family.”