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what was already the most powerful orgasm of his not inconsiderable life.  He had bedded hundreds, if not thousands, of women in his time on earth, but never had one so easily wrested control away from him, dominated his senses with her very essence.
    Had he infected her?
    Not likely.  The bite wasn’t deep, and he was still in human form at the time.  Plus, she had witch blood flowing through her veins, so the magic would likely take care of whatever he might pass along.
    The beast had control of his body now and felt the need to remind him of that. Its strange, feral thoughts whipped through his mind like rapid-fire bullets, breaking up his conscious train of thought.  The monster wanted to go find her and tear her apart in any number of ways, and twice he doubled back toward the house, yet stopped short.
    He could not kill her.  He still wanted her too much.  Arousal scorched his veins more than the fever of frenzy.  Focusing on the memory of her bare body splayed beneath his, Russell pulled himself away from the beast.  He had used sex to stay the rage before…but he had never known it to dissipate a frenzy like this.
    With each galloping stride, Russell felt more and more human again.  More male.  More aroused.  He focused on the feel of her body and the smell of her hair, the way she threw her head back and chewed her bottom lip when she was close…
    Stopping in the alcove where they had made love—he could still smell sex in the air—he felt the last hold of the monster fall away.  He stood for a moment, weighing his options.  He could go to her, take her again and again until the moon began to wane.  He could stay in the garden and let the arousal die, which would only turn him back into the monster, and give it all the more reason to turn its ferocious thoughts back to the little witch.
    The choice was no contest.
    Pulling his pants on quickly, Russell ignored the rest of his clothes.  He all but ran back to the house in search of her.  Tabitha was already marked, and if her presence could hold back the beast, he wanted to keep her for as long as she would have him.
    Time to go stake his claim.
     

Chapter Three: Claimed
     
    “Oh, God…Tab…what the hell happened?!” Cera hissed as Tabitha re-entered the kitchen.  Relief flooded her head when she found her best friend and employees huddled together in the corner.  They looked terrified, but at least they were alive and all seemed to be in one piece.
    “He bit me,” she answered with a shrug.  The movement pulled at the wound and she stifled a wince.  “No big deal.”
    “No big deal?” Cera echoed, exasperated, then smacked a hand over her mouth to quiet her own voice.  “What the fuck are these people?” she hissed again
    “Werewolves,” Tabitha said with no inflection at all.  “Not that any of you know that,” she added with a pointed look to each person in the room.  Her staff stared at her with blank expressions.  Shock was quickly setting in on them…she had to get them out of here, and fast.  “Close your eyes, Cera.”  Recognizing the tone for what it was, Cera did as she was instructed, but not without a whine of distaste.  Tabitha waved her hand from one side of the room to the other.  The six servers stared back at her expectantly, their eyes glazing with forgotten memories.  “Go home, everybody,” she ordered, and the brainwashed, baffled kids shuffled out of the room one by one.  Cera opened first one eye, then the other, and looked around before fixing Tabitha with a hard stare.
    “Why don’t I ever get the redo?”
    “Because tonight someone needs to know where I am,” she replied evenly, fighting the sigh rising in her throat. “Take the kids home.  I’ll call you tomorrow, and if you really can’t handle the truth I’ll fix it, okay?”
    Cera issued a long-suffering groan and cocked her hip to one side.  “You always say that.”
    “I will this time.”
    “You better,