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“You are warm. You are straddling me. Forgive me if it’s taking time for their sexual energy to disappear from my body.”
Ruby froze from her tirade. He bit back a sound when her hips instinctively snuggled against his erection before she remembered herself and jumped off him like he had a disease. He kept his eyes closed, sensing her mortification, and gathered his bearings.
“Don’t leave. They are still outside.”
The whisper did the trick as he opened his eyes to find her reluctantly returning to the back of the file room, where she crossed her arms and pouted. There was more laughter outside, some quiet, intimate conversation, then more moaning. While that happened, Ruby got over her petulant mood and strolled the shelf rows, actively searching for something. He followed her at a distance, curiosity warring with the need to prevent her from doing something crazy.
“What are you looking for?”
Her head tilted to peer at him. She shook her head and attempted a smile, one so similar to the one she gave Lionel—except now that it was directed at him, it clicked.
“I know that smile. It means you are up to something.”
The smile disappeared, and she rolled her eyes. “No.”
“Yes.”
“They will hear us,” she warned.
He perked his ears and hesitated for a second. “They are gone.”
Ruby straightened, hopeful with the news. She ducked when he reached for her arm, boldly continuing her path to the office and ambling toward the back of the building this time. She held up her hands, fingers spread.
“See? Nothing. Clean.”
There was that smile again, willing him to believe her. He scanned her from head to toe as she turned, latching on to her hip.
“Stop. You can’t take that.”
She didn’t stop.
“Ruby,” he warned.
“Don’t you dare try to stop me.”
She made a run for it. He peered at her back, dumbfounded, and set off to tail her as she took cover in the trees and continued down the thick forest. That was her first mistake, but he didn’t say a word as he opened up the rest of his senses until he could hear every fall of her footsteps. He expected her to get louder when she went in deeper, as most prey often did when they realized they were being cornered. But Ruby caught him off guard again when her beat grew lighter, then disappeared altogether.
He halted, confused, and climbed the nearest tree to sweep the area and find…nothing. Magic had to be at work, but he hadn’t felt her magic in a while and he knew how it felt: like a soft, warm hug, then a punch of sweetness. He had always known since their first meeting when she had healed his injuries.
Ruby?
The word echoed in his head, but he bit his tongue at the sudden urge to stay silent. Maddox jumped back to the ground—and was swiftly pulled by a hand clutching the back of his shirt.
“Full moon,” was her familiar whisper, her body invisible inside the trunk of a tree. He narrowed his gaze at it, baffled over the enchantment, then saw her face pop out in an intense state of urgency. The words sank in.
And that was when Maddox heard the growl and saw the wolf shifter emerging from a bush to approach him.
Chapter 4
Ruby knew the wolf. So did Maddox. They knew the creature since it—he—was just a teenager, raised by the good pirates who had rescued him and were clueless over his origins until recently. Moon had been a playful, eager crew member until his first shifting, the wolf taking over his body until he had gone and attacked his peers. Ruby had been the only one who could magic some sense into him, which had Moon deciding that Broom’s Isle was the perfect place to live…or hide.
There was no magic now to put some sense into the wolf, who was eyeing Maddox with a hunger that made her hair stand on end. She cursed the fact that she hadn’t warned the half-vampire earlier, then the certainty that physically putting herself between the two was the only way to stop the brewing fight. Ruby made a move forward.
“Hey, Moon,” Maddox greeted, taking a step to the right and covering her from sight. “I’m sure your beast thinks I’m the enemy considering I’m trespassing in your…new territory, but I’m also sure you are somewhere inside there, listening to me. So, please continue listening.”
Her ears perked as she waited.
“I don’t mean any harm. I’m Maddox, one of your peers on the ship. Remember Isaiah, the ship captain? Outsiders called him Isaiah the Great, the most formidable pirate to exist. We knew him as Isaiah the Savior since he saved our lives at different stages—you when you were a child and me when I was bleeding to death. Actually, Ruby was the one who sealed my wounds. Remember her? Witch. Brown hair when you met her, but now it’s this mix of orange and gold on the island. Badass with her crazy powers.”
