Dire Wants by Stephanie Tyler Page A

“She did this to me. You saw when she touched me.”
    “She was a high-level witch.”
    “And she made me one too?”
    “Yes. She transferred her powers to you.”
    “Why would she do that to a thirteen-year-old girl?” she demanded.
    “She had her reasons.”
    “Are you going to share them?”
    There was so damned much to unfold, centuries of history, and there was so little time left. “She wanted to die.”
    Kate swallowed hard, and he had to keep her calm. As her anger rose, the entire house sounded like it was coming down around them. “I felt what you’ve been through, yes. I believe you. Please let me see the brand again.”
    He needed to see it, an indescribable need that scratched at him until he wasn’t sure he could resist touching it. He fisted his hands by his sides.
    Kate hesitated briefly, but she finally turned. With her head bent forward, she pulled up the shirt, exposing a bit of unblemished skin . . . until the fabric passed her lower back.
    As he had moments earlier when he’d first seen it, Stray had to fight to keep his composure at the sight of the brand marring her skin. It was a distinctly raised handprint, the mark of the witch who’d passed her powers on, in the middle of perfect, unblemished skin.
    He glanced between her face and the brand as she looked over her shoulder to try to see the handprint. “You were definitely touched by a witch.”
    Kate was for sure a made witch, not a born one, but she’d been touched by someone very powerful. And she had to be powerful in her own right in order to handle such a transfer of power. He had a feeling she didn’t look on it as a gift, and he could fully relate.
    “You’re sure I’m the only one who’s seen this? Not even doctors?” he pressed.
    “No one’s ever been able to see it before, until you.”
    He blinked. Shook his head. “I touched your back yesterday and felt something.”
    “That’s our link,” she murmured. “That’s why . . . when I need you—”
    “I come to you,” he finished, glad she hadn’t turned to face him. His hand stretched out, his fingers nearly brushing the raised marks, but he pulled it back. If he touched that, he wouldn’t be able to stop touching her, would take her, here and now on the ground, against the wall, any way he pleased. And she would let him, because she wanted him just as badly.
    He drew in a deep, shuddering breath and realized he couldn’t stop himself, not until Kate spoke again.
    “It must . . . like you,” she said. “It let me kiss you.”
    “What do you mean, it let you?” he demanded.
    “God, this is embarrassing,” she said quietly. “When I’ve tried to . . . you know, be with other guys—”
    He growled. Couldn’t help that it slipped out of his throat like an uncontrolled tic. He cursed Brother Wolf, who, in turn, bit off a sharp, howled
fuck you
in his ear.
    “Sorry, keep going,” he told her.
    “The brand stopped me. When I’d do so much as kiss a guy . . . Okay, you’re doing that growling thing again.” When he didn’t say anything, she kept going. “You’re the first guy I’ve ever been able to enjoy kissing. You seemed to be enjoying yourself too. Oh wait. I forgot—prey instincts, right?”
    Right then and there, he knew, somehow, that fate had socked him in the chest. “You’re a virgin.”
    She eyed him defiantly. “Yes. And that’s not going to change because you can invade my head.”
    “You weren’t exactly trying to stay out of mine. You called for me. Drew me. Did you dream about me, too?”
    “Did you dream about me?” she countered.
    “I haven’t slept since I met you, but I jerked off several times in the shower picturing you naked.”
    Whoa. Her entire body literally flooded with heat. He felt it as surely as if he were touching her. “You liked me saying that.”
    “I’d like it better if you meant it.”
    “I did. Do you want to watch me do it again?”
    Without waiting for her answer, he took