Eden's Charms by Jaclyn Tracey Page A

that used to guard you now knows him?” Savanah pointed between Donovan and Ethan.
    Ethan volunteered, “We had a bet to see who would find her first. I won.”
    “No you didn’t. I did.” Donovan straightened his posture and gave Raven a brilliant grin.
    “Can I shift back without setting off alarms and whistles?” For a few embarrassing moments, Ethan was unable to shift. He grunted, howled, scratched at his tummy, which did nothing, and after two rounds of chasing his tail, nipping his balls, fur still covered him. Frustrated, he asked, “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I shift? I’ve never had a problem.”
    “Viagra?” Savanah countered.
    “Trust me, Pippy, that works. Let me out, and I’ll show you.”
    “You can’t change because I don’t want you to. Not yet anyway.” Savanah answered. “Remember the pretty blue concoction you inhaled? That’s one of my specialty charms. It’s a holding spell. The orange gel is truth potion.”
    “Who the hell are you people? What have you done to me, witch ? Don’t even try telling me you hexed my hoodie.”
    “Puh-lease—it’s hooded?” Savanah’s gaze dropped directly to the source.
    “Only one way to find out.” Ethan rolled on his back and stretched his legs out but kept his paws covering his private tidbits.
    Fed up and getting nowhere fast, Savanah tried a new kinder, gentler tactic. “Just tell me all you know, then I’ll release your body.”
    Ethan rolled onto his tummy and stretched his hind legs out. “Xanti told the Maestro he fathered a child with you.” Ethan jerked his head toward Raven. “So the story goes the psycho vamp froze his brother’s sperm for a hundred years.”
    André looked at Raven. “Lucian beheaded the bastard. We were there. Serina’s got his heart in a canning jar in the Manhattan apartment to prove it.”
    “Okay, that’s really sick,” Ethan added.
    Donovan asked, “Why?”
    “She has a theory if his spawn ever got close to us again the heart would rejuvenate. It’s a metaphysical alarm system.”
    “I’m going to be…” Raven darted through the stable doors. Jonah followed on her heels.
    Ethan tried to ignore the gut wrenching sounds from outside the stables and the soured aromas of a mixture of blood, coffee and—he inhaled deeply—a Boston cream donut as they whiffed their way into the stable. Days like today he didn’t appreciate the extra senses his wolf offered him. Ethan would never be able to look at another Boston cream donut the same way, ever again. His bones popped, his body shifted, and he shed his hide into one matted down pile of slime and fur. It always reminded him of road-kill after a few trucks had flattened the remains. “I need a pair of pants,” Ethan proclaimed, standing butt naked, his loins covered by his hands.
    Julian disappeared and returned with a pair of jeans that easily could have fit Ethan and someone else. In no position to squabble, Ethan said, “Much appreciated,” as he donned them. More than aware he had Savanah’s attention, he flashed her a quick view of his backside as he turned to get his personal parts adjusted. When he turned back, Savanah no longer looked green, but a misty shade of pink.
    After Raven and Jonah came back, Jonah asked Ethan, “How long have you been searching for Raven and when did you find her?”
    “Hmmm…Xanti found her ah—you,” he pointed to Raven, “in Boston. Some girly store.”
    Raven protested, “Wasn’t me.”
    “Xanti never came back to the car. He called and told me to pick him up the next morning. Personally, I’d have bet ya a million to one odds that guy didn’t have sex with a woman.”
    Raven nodded to Donovan. “You showed up and marked me at the cash register that day.”
    Arrogance cloaked Donovan as he stood, arms crossed, chest puffed out, and a smug smirk thinning his lips.
    “Did you know Xanti was there?” Raven asked. Anger pulsed behind the question.
    Donovan gave a nod yes.
    “So you