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She realized what was happening and started to run.
“What is?—”
“It’s closing!”
She dove for the outside entrance but was second, minutes, years too late. The entrance sealed.
She ran in the other direction, unsure what would happen if she was trapped in the ward. The horse took off behind her, dragging Aiden with him. They tumbled onto the ground inside the wards with seconds to spare.
“Open it!” It was one thing to go home with this guy. It was quite another to be trapped by his impossible magic.
“I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“It’s part of the spell. Only the one who closed it can open it. It’s like a bear trap.”
“Then march their furry butt out here and get this open again.”
“I will get this back open, I promise.”
“Again with the promises.” She spun in a circle, unsure why this was so upsetting. She was willingly staying. Maybe that was it. Shehad beenwillingly staying.
“I have more chairs,” Aiden said a little desperately.
For a second, she had no idea what he was talking about. “Good, because the price just doubled.”
“Everything except the?—”
“The books.” She rolled her eyes. “Please keep all of your books.”
“Would you take kitchen equipment?”
She almost laughed. Almost.
“It’s just, I don’t have that many chairs.”
She blanched. How long did he think it would take to get open? She examined it frantically. She could open it with enough time, space, and blank paper. For the millionth time, she cursed her talent. She knew a dozen relatives who could have blasted through the wards in seconds with their fully functioning magic. She couldn’t help thinking they’d kidnapped the wrong witch.
“Take me home,” she said with a sigh.
He didn’t correct her this time.
7
After Aiden had settled Goldie in the guest bedroom and waited silently in the hall for her breathing to even out, he slipped back out of his house and jogged through the woods.
He wanted her all over again. Just the thought of the curve where her collarbone met her neck sent his pulse soaring, and that was only because he wouldn’t let his eyes stray any further south, even in his mind. If the tiny stretch of skin sent his temperature up, the curves of her breasts and hips would short-circuit his brain.
It had been incandescently stupid to sleep with her. She was under his power, the offer of chairs notwithstanding. Their families were at war because of her.
She was the last person he should ever be touching.
And so he was taking a late-night field trip. He had to get those wards open. He didn’t know for sure who’d closed them. The spell could be triggered from anywhere along the perimeter, but he had a good guess.
If this didn’t work, he’d bring in the nuclear option. His mother could tear them down completely, but he wasn’t quite ready to leave his entire pack vulnerable.
He came out in the central valley of their lands where a big barn and an acre of paddocks stretched in the lee of the hills. The valley floor was dedicated to the family business, and the alpha’s house behind it loomed over everything. Most of the pack lived in smaller houses they’d built up the opposite slope of the valley. No one had ever explicitly decided not to build near him, but it was funny how in fifty acres, everyone chose as far away as possible.
