Roused (Moon Claimed) (2 page)

THREE

So this was Joanne, Erin thought.

The woman in front of her was quite curvy, in a very sexy and yet also comfy way,
and looked to be in her late forties, though she was probably older than that - it was in her eyes but not in the lines surrounding them. Short brown hair framed a face glowing with friendliness and highlighted by clear green eyes sparkling with love of life. Tess had described her as a bullet of positive energy and Erin could only agree. The woman radiated it with every smile and twinkle in her eyes. Erin immediately wanted to like her but knew she had to keep a cool head until she had talked to Tess. Tess was her priority and until she wasn’t sure her sister was alright, she would be on her guard.

She offered her hand. “Erin Wright. Nice to meet you.”

From behind her Seth’s deep voice rumbled mockingly, “Oh, so suddenly you got your manners back?”

“Tess’s Erin?”

Erin smiled at that. “The one.”

She wouldn’t have thought it possible but Joanne gaze warmed even more and her smile spread to rival a supernova, and instead of taking her hand the woman pulled her into a fierce hug. “
Oh, she’s told us so much about you. It’s so good to finally meet you.” She drew back and ushered her towards one of the two high stools standing around the working island. “Come, come, sit down, sweetie. You must be hungry. When did you arrive?”

Erin’s head was turning as she
tried to keep up with the unexpected and kind welcome, and she simply had to smile back at Joanne - despite what she had promised to herself and despite knowing that Seth was watching her with hawk’s eyes, almost gleeful amusement tugging at his lips.

“She arrived about fifteen minutes ago,” he answered for her, which annoyed Erin.

Joanne stared at her, hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me you drove the whole night?”

Erin shrugged, a little sheepishly. Joanne had this
scolding mother-hen-thing going for her, something utterly new to Erin and she wasn’t quite sure how to react to it. “I wanted to see Tess.”

“Of course. “
Joanne visibly softened and sighed with understanding. “Well, she should be here soon. Tess always helps out with the breakfast.”

That was good to hear and Erin relaxed somewhat.

The whirlwind that was Joanne busied herself in the kitchen, grabbing a pan from the rack above the working island with one hand and putting it on the stove while she got out a bowl with the other. “Now, tell me what you’d like to eat. You must be starving, sweetie.”

“I’m alright, really.”

Seth’s warm breath suddenly kissed her ear as he leaned in from behind her. “Better choose something, she’ll only get worse.”

“He’s right.” Her sister’s voice cut through the erotic haze her mind had been stuck in and Erin jumped off her chair, to
run into her sister’s arms, hugging her as close as she could. “God, what a wonderful surprise! I didn’t expect you so soon. When the hell did you get here?”

“
Just this morning.”

Joanne cut in, “
Poor girl drove the whole night just to see you.”

Tess leaned in, her voice low but still loud enough for everyone to hear. “Piece of sisterly advice, tell
her what you want to eat before she asks again or ends up cooking enough to feed an army.”

Erin smiled and turned towards Joanne while Tess tied an apron around her hips. “Okay. Well, what is it you preparing there right now?”

“Plum poppy-seed muffins and hash browns.”

“
Sounds perfect. I’ll take some of both.”

“Seth,
get the girl another cup of coffee. I don’t want her to fall off that chair while she waits.”

Seth winked at Erin as he replied, “Yes,
M’am.”

It became clear pretty quickly who was boss in the kitchen. Watching Joanne move around, adding this and that to her dough and humming under her breath while more and more delicious scents filled the air around them was like magic, was like witnessing a piece of art come to life.
And Erin was stunned even more when she saw that Tess could keep up the rhythm and knew the steps to this dance that was so foreign and yet familiar to her. There was something in the air, something more than just food…it was the feeling of belonging, of friendship, and Erin would have been blind not to see the happiness shining in her sister’s eyes which gained even more power and heat when a man walked into the kitchen.

Nathan. Erin knew it instantly, struck by the brothers’ resemblance. Same dark hair
, even if cut a little shorter, and moonlit eyes, but there were subtle differences in height and the broadness of the shoulders.

“Ah, there’s the reason my best student and help was late this morning.”

Tess’ blush turned a deep crimson when Nathan simply shrugged and then pulled her up against him for a passionate kiss.

Seth put a new cup of coffee in front of her and Erin looked up slightly, their faces only a breath apart. “I’d be worried
if it wasn’t so.” His deep, suggestive voice rumbled though her, caressing all the right places, and Erin could easily imagine herself losing all track of time and forgetting the world around her while in his bed.

Something
was boiling. The sloshing sound hit her ears and she pulled her gaze away from Seth. “Woah, shit.” Her coffee was boiling, but it stopped the moment she snatched away the hand with which she had been cradling the cup. “Shit, what the hell did just happen?”

Her hand was trickling, it was a strange and yet eerily familiar buzzing sensation that
tugged at something within her. Hidden deep inside, faint, it whispered through her mind and made her heart clench.

When she looked up she found all eyes on her,
most of them filled with sympathy, but Seth’s gaze was so focused on her and held a heat in them, almost a promise, it took her breath away. It was her sister, however, who came to her, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Well, long or short story?”

FOUR

Erin was sitting on a bed in a cabin Tess had ushered her into, while her sister was running a hole into the carpet as she told stories about witches an
d wolves and her journey, of coming here to Joanne’s B&B for a reason.

Erin stared ahead, not seeing anything, her head reeling. Her sister went on explaining though the words barely registered with Erin. “You can’t imagine how I felt, seeing those flowers all scattered on the ground around us. And then…when Nathan changed
into a wolf right in front of my eyes? You think I would have been scared of losing my mind. But no. I think I was more frightened by the fact that I wasn’t frightened than anything else. Does that make sense?” Tess hardly took time to take a breath. “Joanne thinks our parents were a wolf and a witch. That they would have told us of our heritage, if it wouldn’t have been for the accident.”

Tess suddenly stopped to whirl around and look at her sister. When Erin didn’t say a word, or react in any way, Tess frowned with worry and sat down on the bed beside her sister. “Say something. Talk to me.”

Erin couldn’t. Was too lost and far away. That feeling, that invisible caress, she had felt in the kitchen after she had apparently made her own coffee boil in the cup…she had felt it before. The memory flickered, a little scratchy, like an old movie. Until that moment in the kitchen Erin had never even been sure that it was a memory and not just a figment of her imagination, but now she remembered.

She was a little girl again.

She was outside, in a beautiful garden and the sun was shining, breathing life into vibrant colors and scents. Her mother was kneeling between flowers and plants, her hands covered with dark earth. Her smile lit up her face and her laughter rang out, loud and clear and happy. It was the most beautiful sound her smaller self had ever heard, one she thought of as home. Her mother was talking to her – she knew it – but she couldn’t remember the words said so long ago. But what she did remember was golden dust suddenly swirling around her, moving in the air to dance with butterflies. She remembered this buzzing feeling inside her belly as if butterflies were tickling her there. She giggled, her eyes wide in wonder as she tried to catch the living blotches of color. And then she was suddenly airborne, strong hands holding her. A dark and familiar scent enveloped her like a blanket, and made Erin’s heart squeeze while her smaller self only knew that she was safe. Nothing else mattered as she squealed in delight as her father threw her into the air once more. It was magic.

“Erin?” Her sister
’s voice tugged at her and the present came back in a cool rush. “Erin, what’s wrong?”

Erin turned her head to face her baby sister, squeezing her hand in reassurance as she saw the worry in Tess’ eyes. Eyes that were confused and searching her own. Erin lifted a hand to
brush away a tear that had managed to escape. “That feeling? When you do magic?”

“The buzz?”

“Yeah, that. I’ve felt it before.”

“But…how?” Erin saw the moment realization and grief hit. “Our parents?”

Erin nodded, struggling for her voice and calm. “I never thought it was real. Never thought that it really was a memory, and not just wishful thinking or a dream. But…it was a memory.” She looked at her sister, her heart breaking a little. “I remember Mom and Dad. Being in a garden or backyard with them. Mom,” Erin swallowed past the lump in her throat. “She was doing some kind of magic. She made, I think it was, pollen glow like golden dust and swirl around us. And then…” She had to take a deep breath and tried again. “And then Dad picked me up.”

“Oh, Erin.”

“I must have been four years old, maybe. You would have been three.”

Tess’ arms came around her, pulling her into a long embrace that both of them needed. They held each other for a while, the silence a safe haven as the past and present clashed together in a raging sea around them.

Grief for a life she had never known, for a fate so different from the one she had known, was heavy in her heart. Even more so when other, darker memories  and nightmares threatened to tear down her walls, eager on taking even this small slice of bitter-sweet heaven from her.

Come here, my little girl.

She squeezed her eyes closed, shutting off the ugly voices of the past.

Drawing away Erin took comfort in her sister’s face, those eyes that were so much like their mother’s she realized now. Trying to lighten the mood, she gave Tess a weak smile. “So… we are witches, huh?”

It was a bad attempt at getting their heads back into the present, but Tess awarded the effort with a small laugh anyway. “So it seems, yeah.”

“And
tell me again, why did I boil a perfectly fine and hot coffee?”

“
Erm…well…” Tess very nearly squirmed.

Erin raised an eyebrow
, her curiosity utterly piqued. “Spill it.”

“Well,
the first times, though to be honest it still happens, I used magic to make flowers bloom for instance whenever Nathan was around and he… You see, our magic is tightly connected to our emotions, which means whenever we are angry or happy or aroused it can get out of hand...and you didn’t look like you were angry with Seth.”

Hearing what Tess wasn’t saying out loud, Erin stared. “Wait a sec! You mean, I
boiled my coffee because I was momentarily deranged enough to have the hots for him?”

Tess couldn’t hide the grin. “Literally. Yup.”

Erin opened her mouth to protest but realized the futility of it, when her sister gave her a look.
Throwing up her arms, she exclaimed. “Oh, that’s just great. Our powers are a big, fat billboard sign advertising our state of arousal. As if his ego needed anymore inflating.” Unwilling to give the dark-haired and granite-eyed temptation and the promised heat in his eyes another minute of her thoughts, Erin forced her gaze back to Tess.

The long blonde hair a few shades darker than her own,
the green eyes she knew so well and which revealed so eagerly the good heart hidden within. Watching her sister intently, she finally asked, “Are you happy, sis?” She already knew the answer but needed to hear it anyway.

“Yes, I am. I know you’re worried about me.” When Erin wanted to cut in, Tess shook her head, a soft smile playing at her lips, “Or you wouldn’t have jumped onto a plane and driven in the night, the moment after I told you I wanted to get married.”

Well, her sister had her there. “Okay, yes, I’m worried. Though I do hope that you’d have done the same if it were me.”

Her sister snorted. “If you start talking about marriage, I’ll personally drag you into the nearest hospital.”

Erin nodded seriously. “Thank you.” She got up and threw her bag on the bed and started unpacking. “Tell me about what’s going on with Nathan.”

“He makes me happy.”
Tess smiled a smile that Erin always thought of as a secret smile although it was blazing and so in-your-face radiating. There was love and happiness in it, but it was also filled with something she couldn’t put her finger on. She had always thought one had to belong to some kind of secret club to be able to fully grasp it.

Tess went on,
“He knows and understands and sees me in a way I never thought possible. From the very beginning it felt as if he could look right through the walls that everybody automatically builds up, I guess, and into me, into my very soul. I know it sounds cheesy to you, but there are no other words for it. It was scary as hell at first.”

Erin swallowed, not sure what to say. She had never felt what her sister was describing, had never been in love.

“Nathan is…home for me. He makes me feel safe and yet inspires me to explore and see the world differently. Walking through the woods here is fascinating, walking through them with Nathan is an adventure. And I think life with him will be pretty much the same way. He challenges me, but always seems to know how much I can take.”

“And they say
I
have a way with words.”

“Hey!” Blushing Tess grabbed a pillow and threw it at her. Erin promptly retaliated by throwing the jeans she was holding in her hands, and the f
ight was on. Minutes later and barely able to breathe, because they were laughing so hard, the sisters fell onto the bed together.

“
I can see that you’re better, Tess. That you’ve found happiness here. And believe me, I can’t tell you how glad I am.” Her sister had struggled and nearly gone out of her mind, restless and haunted by dreams. Remembering how hard it had been to let her sister go, in the hopes that a change in scenery might help, Erin said, “I was so worried, you have no idea.”

Tess grabbed Erin’s hand
as they lay on their sides, facing each other. “I know. But you don’t have to worry anymore.”

She would never stop, Erin was sure of that, but she knew what her sister tried to say. Her sister wasn’t alone anymore, she had found someone who
would take care of her and never let anything happen to her. “Okay,” Erin said, with a small smile, although she knew she would have to see that for herself.