A Cursed Embrace
by Cecy Robson
Published by Berkley
Book # 2 in The Weird Girls Series
Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like other twentysomething girls—
with one tiny exception: They are the products of a curse that backfired and gave each of them unique powers that made them, well, a little weird.… After Celia Wird and her sisters help master vampire Misha save his family, their powers are exposed to the supernatural community of the Lake Tahoe region. But fame comes at a price, and being “weird” isn’t always welcome. To make matters worse, Celia desires the love of Alpha werewolf Aric, but his pack is bent on destroying their relationship to preserve his pureblood status. And once weres start turning up dead—with evidence pointing to the vampires—she must face the prospect of losing Aric forever. But the chaos only masks a new threat. An evil known as the Tribe has risen—and their sights are set on Celia and her sisters.
Genre
Triggers
Violence, Death
A Cursed Embrace by Cecy Robson is the second book in the Weird Girls series, and is written in the oldest Wird sister's point-of-view, Celia. It continues right after the first book in the series, with all the Wird sisters in relationships with Aric and his warriors. This book introduces a new enemy that continues for books to come, and hones in on the mating bond.
I love Celia's relationship with Aric. Their connection with one another, and intense passion, and love for one another is wonderful to read. Even before Celia admits her feelings, and Aric doesn't say it back ... it's obvious in the way they are with one another. Their mating "ceremony" (two questions asked during love making, with no barrier between them, like a condom, answered simply with a yes), when their souls officially mate is rather quite beautiful in its simplicity. So I'm not going to lie, I got a bit emotional when Aric abruptly broke things off with her. The reasoning made sense, in a way, but I couldn't help but be angry with him. How could he give up on his mate, the love of his life, just because he was ordered to do so? And the wolves and her sisters, while obviously empathetic with Celia when she was heartbroken, seemed to side with Aric, and argue he was hurting more. So I was a little bitter with them as well. It couldn't be easy for Celia to see Taran and Shayna with their mated wolves, or see Liam and Emme in love with one another, while she was heartbroken and missing her mate. Finding out in the end that Aric was already engaged with a pure-blood were, while knowing he was unhappy about it, was agonizing for me to read.
It's obvious that Anara, the werewolf elder who ordered all pure-blood weres to breed with other pure-bloods to help build their population again will be a problem in the future.
The enemy here, is, well, confusing. This book introduces us to demons. The demons round up the lone weres and vamps, it seems all over the world, and brings on dark witches, to form The Tribe. They seem content on destroying the were's, as the earth's protectors, and eventually taking over. What is confusing, is their obsession with Celia. Sure, she does kill a Tribemaster (a huge demon who is able to stay in Earth because it's half demon, half - witch), and while a difficult fight, and she was the one to end its life, others helped her bring it down. So we don't really know why Misha hears whispers from the lake that Celia is seen as the end of the Tribe. Hopefully we find out in the next book.
In the end, A Cursed Embrace is a great follow-up to Sealed With A Curse. The story flows beautifully from book to book, and while some of the supernatural elements are cheesy, its a fantastic story. I genuinely care about these characters, and their happiness, and I can't stop myself from buying the next book right away to find out what happens.
Mrs. Mancuso: "Celia Wird! You unhand that boy this instant!"
And that's when the devil in support hose appeared. Sweet God in heaven ... no! Aric's head snapped up. His face heated.
Aric: "What the hell?"
I wrenched my neck to face my neighbor, Mrs. Mancuso. Her penciled-in brows angled in a permanent state of pissed-offness, her curlers tightened hard enough to make her scalp bleed, and her neck skin flapped in the wind.
Mrs. Mancuso: "This is a family neighborhood!"
And because having an eighty-plus woman catching me in a major tongue-hockey moment wasn't humiliating enough, my lovely sister Taran came to the rescue. She didn't have supernatural hearing, but she could spot a Mancuso attack a mile away. Taran threw open the front door and stormed down the steps.
Taran: "Goddamn it, woman, aren't you dead yet? Get back in the house and mind your own freaking business!"
Mrs. Mancuso: "Whore. Trollops, sluts, tramps!"
Celia: "Does this mean things are over between us?"
Aric: "You asked me before if I spoke French."
Celia nods.
Aric: "Then I'd like you to hear me now. Tu es belle. Je ne te laisserai pas partir."
Celia: "Tell me what it means."
Aric: "It means you're beautiful. And that I won't let you go."
Shayna: "What's wrong, dude? Up all night?"
Taran: "Apparently he was, too."
Celia: "I guess you heard us."
Taran: "Damn, girl, of course we did. It sounded like you were watching Animal Planet. Did you do it as beasts? Please tell me, I must know."
Celia: "Of course not!"
Shayna: "Well, you could have fooled us. Taran activated a silencing spell around your room so we could get some sleep. It was like you were watching porn - well, the good kind anyway. I swear, Ceel, all you needed was the boom-chooka-boom-boom sound track!"
Celia: "Are you all right?"
Aric: "Yeah. Just hungry, baby, and I have a long day ahead."
Taran: "Not to mention the poor bastard hardly got any shut-eye."
Celia throws her fork down as Shayna bursts into giggles.
Celia: "Don't make me kill you in front of Aric."
Mrs. Mancuso: "Harlot!"
Taran: "For shit's sake, lady, just die already!"
Taran: "That old bag needs to get laid. It's the only thing that's going to save us. But who the hell is going to want to bang a woman with a saggy vajayjay -"
Emme: "Taren, please. I realize Mrs. Mancuso is very ... unpleasant. But even she deserves some kindness. Perhaps if we made more of an effort to be nice to her, her attitude might change for the better."
Taran: "I'd rather photograph her saggy vajayjay."
Taran: "He likes me."
Celia: "Yes."
Taran: "And he wants me."
Celia: "Apparently so.
Taran: "I'm gonna knock that wolf right out of his pants."
Celia: "Aric and I, um, have been having a lot of, ah, you know - we're engaging in intimacy."
Taran: *laughs* "Celia, I wouldn't call all the gorilla sex you've been having with him 'engaging in intimacy'.
Celia: "Ah. Okay. Where's Taran?"
Shayna: "She called Gemini to her room and asked him if he'd like to deflower her. He slammed the door shut behind him. We heard a lot of grunting and screaming, and they haven't come out since. I think they broke her dresser."
Aric: "Do you want me?"
Celia: "Yes."
Aric: "Can I have you?"
Celia: "Yes."
Aric: "Then you're mine."
Mrs. Mancuso: "Whores!"
Taran: "You got that right, Mancuso. By the way, your grandson sends his love."
Taran: "Celia, I'm not sitting in the goddamn mud. Do you have something I can use?"
Celia: "Take my sweatshirt. I don't need it."
No sooner had I pulled it off than Aric had it wrapped back around me. He zipped up the front.
Aric: "What are you doing?"
Celia zipped it back open
Celia: "I'm going to get hot once I start running."
Aric: "So will I if that's all you wear."
Celia: "I'll tell you what, wolf. Pull my flag and I'll wear whatever you want."
Aric: "Watch out, little kitty. Here comes the wolf."
Celia: "Okay. You are a freak. Welcome to the club. We have a secret handshake."
Aric: "Can't wait to learn it."
Celia: "So you really are the big, bad wolf. Aren't you?"
Aric: "I suppose. But unlike you, my strength didn't come with any special gifts. I'd have given it up for the power to see the future."
Celia: "That can be more of a curse than a gift."
Werebear: "You girls together?"
Bren: "Nah, I like banging your sister too damn much to play for the other team."
Bren: "Ceel. I gotta give you props. If that mutant freak had called me by name, I would have pissed out a kidney."
Celia: "I love you, Aric. I know you're probably used to hearing it, but I want you to know, I'm not used to saying it."
Aric: "I have heard it before, but it's never meant anything ... until now."
Aric: "You'll always be mine. And I swear to always be yours."
Aric: "Damn, sweetness. I love the way you walk."
Celia: "My eyes are up here, wolf."
Aric: "I know, but I'm having a hard time getting the image of you naked in the woods out of my mind."
Celia: "Liar."
Aric had lied to me with his body. He'd lied to me with his words. "You're beautiful."
Celia: "Liar."
"You're the best thing in my life."
Celia: "Liar!"
Aric's words reverberated in my mind as I raced farther up the mountain. "Can you understand what you mean to me? Losing you is my greatest fear."
Celia: "Liar!"
"Don't be afraid. I won't ever hurt you."
Celia: "LIAR!"
My thighs burned, but I pushed on, forcing my legs to move faster. The forest became a blur as some of his last words rang through my head. "You'll always be mine. And I swear to always be yours."
Celia: "You goddamn liar."
Taran: "Keep Aric and his bitch fiancee away from Celia. If they so much as hold lands around her, he'll never use his penis again."
Aric: "I'll kill you! I'll tear out your goddamn throat!"
Although Misha remained calm, I didn't want to risk another confrontation. I shut the door and led him back to the limo.
Celia: "I'm sorry for everything, Misha. Thank you for your friendship tonight. I would have been lost without it."
Misha: "It is not your friendship that I seek, my beautiful kitten. But it will do for now."
With that he kissed my lips and left. Everything stopped when I entered the house. Their combined strength had succeeded in restraining Aric. I scoffed, disgusted, and moved toward the stairs.
Aric: "Release me now. I'd lay down my life for you to be happy, Celia. With anyone but him."
Celia: "You walked out on me without looking back. You don't get to decide who makes me happy!"
Aric grabbed my arm before I could take the first step. The moment I felt his skin againt mine, that familiar warmth I'd longed for spread throughout my body, making me shudder. When I met his eyes, his anger was gone. Only the tenderness I knew so well remained. I ripped my arm away from him.
Celia: "Don't you touch me! Don't you ever touch me again!"
Aric: "Celia ... Mom ame fait mal sans toi."
Taran: "You asshole! Can't you see what you're doing to her?"
I presumed Aric could, because I heard him leave. It sounded like Koda and Liam followed him.
Taran: "What the hell did he say to her anyway."
Gemini: "Celia ... my soul hurts without you."
Bren: "Celia. Stop the car."
Celia: "No."
Bren: "Damn it, you almost hit a fountain. Stop the car now!"
My foot stomped on the brake. I glared at him when he came around the drivers side.
Bren: "Get out. You're in no condition to drive.
Celia: "My world is shit, Bren. Get back in the car, and allow me some control."
Bren: "You're going to be okay, kid."
I couldn't sniff lies. Yet I knew Bren didn't believe his own words.
Check out the prequel novellas, and the rest of the Weird Girls series below!
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