“Exactly, the man I saw wasn’t Liam. He was British and had light hair, two features that Liam doesn’t have. Ian openly admits that Louis wants to collect me and we’re stalking Liam? Am I missing something?” I was beyond annoyed by the whole situation. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Ian was up to something yet again and Aiden and Micah were just going along with it. Was I the only one who saw him as a sleazeball?

“You also said that you thought he might be a warlock because his face was blocked from you, like he used a spell to protect his identity. That’s why I’m following Ian’s crazy plan,” Micah said, defending his detective status. I was quiet while I considered his words. Witches and warlocks could glamour their appearances, so Liam could have changed his, but it still didn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t say anything else though; I’d already voiced my objections to the whole nonsense, now I’d have to wait until my intuitions proved right.

I decided watching Aiden would be a much better use of my time. I admired the way his muscles played under his white, long sleeve t-shirt and the way his muscular legs filled out his jeans. I felt a familiar heat radiate through me, the same one I’d felt every time I was around him. He was beyond beautiful and even if I saw him twenty-four hours a day, it wouldn’t be enough to appreciate his mouth-watering good looks.

Aiden’s body stiffened and if I hadn’t been staring at him, I wouldn’t have caught the way he sniffed the air. His head swiveled around and his eyes burned into mine. I sucked in a deep breath at the intensity, but licked my lips as my desire grew.

“We’ll be right back, we’re going to check on the other side of the house,” Aiden said to Micah, holding a hand out to me to help me from the ground. I looked at him quizzically but followed him around the house. Liam’s yard was large and covered with trees, plenty of spaces for us to hide.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered, once we were hidden behind a large oak tree. Aiden peered around the tree and then turned to me, his lips on mine before I could even gasp. I happily returned his kiss, twisting my tongue with his as the heat stirred within my stomach. His hands roved all over my body, igniting every last one of my nerves on fire. I was breathless when his lips broke from mine. He trailed kisses from my ear and all the way down my neck until he got to the top of my breasts.

“This isn’t exactly the best time for this,” I said breathlessly. My hormones wanted to smack me for telling Aiden to stop. My body definitely thought it was the perfect time to experience Aiden again.

“Then you shouldn’t have been thinking naughty thoughts earlier,” he laughed.

I arched my eyebrows and said, “How’d you know?” I moaned as he pulled open my jacket and ripped my shirt down the center, exposing my breasts. He flicked his tongue against one of my excited nipples and I thought I’d spontaneously combust from the thickness of my lust.

“Your magic may be gone from my system, but your blood still runs through my veins, I’m attuned to you, my Gwen. Plus I could smell your desire.” He grinned at me and I returned the smile. In normal circumstances, it would embarrass me that he could smell my desire, but all it did was turn me on more.

His finger slipped under the waistband of my jeans and popped the button open easily. He pushed my jeans all the way off so that I stood in only a pair of thin, red panties. I was half excited about what we were doing and half scared of getting caught. I was, in no way, a prude but I also wasn’t that big on PDA, especially in the yard of one of the founders with my ex-boyfriend within hearing and smelling, distance.

Aiden’s jeans disappeared quickly and I gasped when his erection was hard and ready for action. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” I whispered. I thought I should throw it out there, even if I didn’t believe it, I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside me again. Flashes of our first time together flooded my mind and I visibly shuddered with want.

“Are you afraid we’ll get caught? Or that Micah will hear us?” he whispered, his lips close to my ear. I closed my eyes as tingles traveled all through my body. The boy knew how to turn me on.

“Both,” I said huskily.

“That’s the fun of it.” He grinned and without another word, lifted me up so that I was straddling his waist and thrust into me. I clung onto his strong shoulders and absorbed the feel of him inside of me. Everything about Aiden set me on fire. His energy swirled around me like a million electric currents caressing my skin, sending my lust into overdrive. I found his lips and kissed him feverishly. I moaned against his mouth and shook as an orgasm erupted within me. Aiden pumped a few more times and held onto me tightly as he reached his orgasm. We held onto each other, kissing, touching and absorbing each other. When Aiden reluctantly set me back on the ground, I started to giggle. I felt like a teenager who’d just done something extremely naughty.

I noticed that my panties lay torn in two on the ground. I hadn’t even remembered him doing that. I picked them up and pulled my jeans up in the process.

“You’re playing hell with my underwear supply,” I said with a smirk.

“I prefer you panty-less anyway,” Aiden said, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss on my lips.

We were walking back around the house, holding hands when we noticed a loud crash from inside the house. I looked up at Aiden and then to where Micah still stood by the rosebushes. Three things happened all at once. Micah ran toward the house, a loud crack of bright green magic sent Ian flying through the window that Aiden and I were standing in front of, and the magic didn’t stop with Ian. It slammed all the way through Ian and still traveled its path, directly toward me. Aiden screamed, “Gwen!” and tried to shove me out of the way, but was too late, a burning sensation hit my chest like a Mack truck and I hit the ground, falling into oblivion.

22

I awoke on the ground in front of Liam’s house, the spot where I fell when his magic hit me. Aiden cradled my body in his arms and screamed for me to wake up. The atmosphere had changed though, to a colorless, gray. I knelt down beside Aiden and my body and stared in confusion. All I could do was stare stoically at my limp body in his arms, a large burn right between my breasts.

“Aiden?” I said, unsure if he could hear me. I had to be dreaming, passed out from the hit. I couldn’t be dead; my mind wouldn’t accept that.

Aiden’s head snapped up and he stared right at me, but his eyes didn’t see me. That’s weird, I thought. Can he hear me?

“Aiden, I’m here,” I said again and his eyes widened as they searched the surrounding area and then down at my lifeless body in his arms.

“Gwen?” He shook my body and pressed two fingers to check the pulse of my carotid. He was still for a few moments while he listened to the thump of my heart, only to drop my hand in defeat when he didn’t feel a pulse. Bloody tears trailed down his flawless skin as he cried. My heart swelled with his pain. It was the first time I’d ever seen a vampire cry. It was eerily beautiful.

“I’m here, Aiden,” I said again and set my hand over his. He jerked and his eyes roamed the area in front of him.

Micah came bustling out the front door with Liam and Ian, both in special handcuffs. He pushed them down on the lawn and told them to “stay put” after seeing my body cradled in Aiden’s arms. He rushed over to where Aiden was and knelt down beside him, his eyes wide with fear.

“What happened?” he asked softly. Aiden’s energy was swirling around him like a storm. I’d never been able to actually see his energy but now that I was “passed out” I could see the vibrant brick red energy he held.

“Who cast the magic?” Aiden asked, his voice deathly calm. He looked up at Micah with an expression that would have frozen me with fear, had it been directed at me. Micah’s eyebrows arched and he looked back at where Ian and Liam sat and then back at Aiden, like he was wondering if he should say. Aiden looked like he was ready to tear someone’s head off.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll kill them both,” Aiden said, just as calmly as before.

“Liam cast…” Micah barely got out before Aiden was up and holding Liam by the throat, three feet off the ground. Liam’s body flailed and fought against Aiden’s hold.

Micah approached cautiously, knowing that a pissed off vampire wasn’t an easy thing to calm down and Aiden was beyond pissed. While Micah tried to talk Aiden out of committing murder, I noticed Ian watching me. I looked down at my body and back at Ian. He wasn’t watching my body, he was watching me, my spirit self. I walked over to where he sat and noticed his eyes followed me the whole way.

“You can see me?” I asked, completely flabbergasted. Out of all the people I would want to see me, Ian was the last. He nodded his head instead of speaking and drawing attention to himself. Anger surged within me and I motioned toward where the other three men stood.

“Tell them! Tell them you can see me, that I’m not dead!” I said. In all honesty, I didn’t feel dead. I may have been in spirit form but I was still very much attached to my body. Ian’s lips curved at the edges as he tried to conceal his smile. I cursed loudly when I realized that Liam hadn’t been the one to cast the magic. I saw it as clearly as if I had been inside that house. I didn’t know how but it all played through my mind.

Ian was inside Liam’s house, taunting him about the witches’ murders. “You’ve been sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong and now I have to teach you and the NAWC a lesson,” Ian said to Liam. Liam wasn’t someone to mess with. He was a very powerful warlock. They were standing in Liam’s office. The walls were covered with dark red wallpaper, a dark wood desk sat against the far wall, while a sitting area occupied the other side of the room. Desk lamps and a glow from the fireplace illuminated the English style office causing dark shadows to play off Liam’s and Ian’s angry features.

“Who are you to teach me a lesson?” Liam asked with authority. Ian walked over to the fireplace and propped an elbow on the mantle, acting as if he weren’t in the presence of a powerful warlock who could turn him to ash in a matter of minutes.