by Sam Hall
“Had some dickheads try shit you weren’t ready for?” His thumbs pressed into my glutes, filling his hands with me. “Some trust, a whole lot of patience, weeks and weeks of teasing? I think I could broaden your horizons, love, in ways that’ll fucking rock your world.”
See, this was what I needed, what I wanted, not some burbled diatribe about how some rando wanted me. His lips barely brushed the skin peeking out the top of my shirt, but I felt every kiss.
He smiled when I turned to face him and trailed a hand down his chest, just feeling all the things we’d rushed through beforehand. He loosened my hair, working my plait free, pulled my shirt up over my head, and then undid my bra with a kind of practised finesse that had my eyebrow jumping upwards.
But he didn’t notice. His hands went to my ribs, not daring to go any further.
“You’re beautiful.”
“So are you.”
His smile grew broader as I traced his happy trail, his head tipping sideways as he gave me a nipping kiss.
“We don’t have long if the pissed off dude with the massive hard-on for you downstairs has anything to say about it, and coitus interruptus is my least favourite form of sex. How about I wash you down, rub my rigid cock against that fucking fantastic arse, and get you all soapy before I start flicking your clit.”
“And what about you?” I forced out, feeling every word he said throbbing between my legs.
“Oh, I’ll come with embarrassing swiftness all over your arse. It’s the first step, love, marking it as mine.”
“We better hurry.”
We didn’t.
Chapter 30
“Zack Gillespie,” the gym owner, Brock someone, said. I forgot his last name, being a little distracted. He was a big, blocky looking guy with reddish skin that had seen a lot of sun over the years, but it wasn’t him I was focussed on. “Never thought I’d see a fighter of your calibre in my gym.”
“How’s it going, Brock? You might not be so happy once we put our proposal to you.”
“You want to take over my gym and run the succession fights out of it? Mason’s saying the town will foot the bill, so I’m not too fussed. It’s well past the ‘new year, new you’ season, and I’ve got a few guys who are semi-serious and looking for an opportunity to test themselves. If people didn’t know about Gruf’s Gym before this, they sure as shit will afterwards. The fire department’s already had a chat though. We aren’t gonna be able to fit the whole town in here, which will create a fuss. I think we’ve gotta look at streaming it somehow.”
Brock and Zack walked off as they discussed things further, their voices fading away. I soaked in the stinky sweat sock smell of the place, which Brock had tried and failed to mask with the chemical stink of wetsuit cleaner. Weird trick, but the stuff was the best thing for getting the stench of body odour out of synthetic fabric. But while the scents were familiar, comforting, it wasn’t until I climbed into the empty ring that I felt it.
Everything seemed to settle. Mind and muscles became relaxed but alert, thoughts stopped, time stopped, my knees softened, leaving me poised, alert. When I heard someone climb into the ring, I turned to face them, pulling my fists up, ready to defend.
We were paranormal creatures, so he shouldn’t have looked any odder than the rest of us, but there was something almost unearthly about Micah. He strode across the canvas, sweat glistening across his bare chest, just a pair of athletic shorts on, slung low on his hips, and some wraps around his knuckles. His hair had been pulled back into a short queue, but strands had come loose, falling around his face as he came closer. Those pale eyes bore into mine as he approached, then when he got close enough, he reached out and tapped his knuckles to mine.
That was apparently some kind of sign, and the two of us started to shuffle, dancing around each other, not brave enough to touch yet. Getting the blood up, our lungs pumping, our muscles flexing. This was it, this was being alive. For some reason, my run on the beach, hunting Zack down, came to mind. But this was different. We moved in almost lazy motions, bodies long and loose but ready to snap into action when the time came.
Which was now.
His hands dropped, his smile growing wider. His focus was on my body, not me, and he was just enjoying having me here with him. More fool him. I waited until his hands started to fall and feinted with one fist, while his came up too late to block, leaving his side exposed. I struck like a snake, not hard but enough to give him a jolt, right in his ribs, a cheer going up around the ring. I didn’t pay attention to them, just him, which made me wonder if this was his plan all along.
Some of the contenders had tried to do the right thing, offering to take me out to nice restaurants, bring me flowers, shower me with gifts, and there was nothing wrong with that but it just didn’t appeal to me. Flowers, however pretty, didn’t get my heart pumping or make me feel fucking alive. Micah shot me a rueful smile, those grey eyes flashing fire, more than I’d ever seen in him, but I just got a nod, his fists lifting up. No more cheap shots for me. So on it went.
This was fucking foreplay. After my first hit, no serious strikes were laid. We weren’t trying to hurt each other, just get under each other’s guard. Get close enough to lay a tap or a toe on the other person, dancing away before they could retaliate, then hunting for the next opportunity while trying to stay clear of their jabs.
He got faster, tighter controlled, more precise in what he was doing, obviously confident I could take it, and I always loved those moments. It was like my opponent finally saw me—hello, daddy issues—and every hard won punch or breath they took to hold me off was some kind of validation.
My head was singing with this pure kind of energy, which was always a worry. Zack called it letting my bullshit get to my head, where the fucking joy of moving your body overrode everything else. I was skipping faster, not slower, and my muscles felt like they were only just starting to burn when he moved like bloody lightning. Ducking under my punch, wrapping his leg around mine, he used the most basic of throws to put me on my arse.
“Fuck!”
I looked up at the artificial lights, hearing how hard my breathing was coming now.
“You gave your excitement its head again, didn’t you?” Zack said.
“You OK?” Micah asked, trying not to smirk as he walked over, feet on either side of my legs before putting a hand out to haul me up.
The tilt of my head was my only warning before my feet shot up, landing on his waist, and I used my body weight to shove him down onto the mat with an oof, then rolled up and on top him, straddling him and pinning him down.
“I won,” the stupid man said.
“Like fuck, you did.”
“Nah, I won all right.” There were chuckles from around the ring when he bucked his hips up, making it clear what he meant. Very clear from the sizeable lump there. I snorted at that and made to get up, but he pulled me back down. “Go out with me.”
“Ooh…” came some responses from the peanut gallery.
“C’mon, dickheads,” Brock said. “The boy’s making his play, and he doesn’t want you mob watching him when he crashes and burns so get to work.”
“You’re still looking, for mates, right?” The smile faded, but the intensity in his eyes didn’t. “Mason said—”
“Yes.”
“To what? Me taking you out or—”
“Just yes.”
I got up now, unmolested, then held out a hand to haul him up. His hair tie had come loose in our playing, and something in me wanted to gather all that auburn hair and bind it back again.
This is it, I thought. When I wasn’t thinking, wondering, scared about being who I was, I knew. Who I was drawn to, that’s what I needed to follow.
“Give me some notice, let me organise things, as I think it’s gonna get hectic, but yes, Micah.”
“Well, all right.”
He grinned and then jogged off, getting out of the ring to finish off his training.
“You’re trusting
your instincts,” Zack said when I walked over, handing me a clean towel. I wiped the thin layer of sweat off, then looked past him to where Lorcan was working a speedball quickly and methodically.
I nodded, then looked back at him. “Seems like the only way. A lot will settle down when I find all my mates, but, Zack, that means a lot less time for you. We only just settled the bond yesterday. You must be needing me.”
“I’ve always needed you, babe, from the minute you walked into my gym. But a wolf on the hunt, he’s a slow methodical beast right up until he needs to run.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me up and over the ropes. “A relationship is never easy.” He cupped my jaw, kissed my lips to soften his words. “But it’s worth it, so fucking worth it. Now c’mon, lemme show you how this is gonna go down.”
We sat down with Brock and some of his team, and they spelled out what they thought would work. None of my guys could be involved in the running of the thing, for fear of appearing biased, so a group of older, mated fighters would come in and do compere and referee duties, as well as judge each bout. They were well respected in the community, one was the dad of a school friend, I thought, so that should build confidence in the process.
“Let’s do it,” I said, and when I pushed myself away from the table, I felt lighter somehow.
“You look like it’s chicken and licking day,” Lorcan said when we got out to the car.
“What the hell is that?”
“The female equivalent of steak and blowjobs day,” Zack replied.
“So I get chicken and you…” I grinned, suddenly able to imagine them doing just that, perched on a chair with a box full of KFC as both of them parted my legs.
Well, that did sound like a great way to spend the day.
“So?” Lorcan asked, leaning against the car, slowly looking me over. “Whaddya wanna do next?”
I looked up at the sky, saw it was starting to go dark, and remembered I’d said I’d get back to Declan about that date.
“Let’s head to the pub for a celebratory drink, and I’ll contact Dec, see if he still wants to go out.”
“Not the fighter?” Zack asked.
“He didn’t specify now, and Dec did.”
“Well, all right then.”
Stevie’s place was well and truly full, but while the music was still pumping, the chatter died away when we walked in. The guys scoped the place but I went straight up to an empty spot at the bar, and the woman herself met me there with shot glasses and tequila.
“So the fights are set up?”
“How the hell did you hear about that so fast?”
“A few of your referees drink here,” she said, nodding to a group over in the corner who were casting a curious eye over us. “So a new alpha will be decided within a week. How do you feel about that?”
“One of them for me?” Lorcan asked, throwing himself down on a stool, but Stevie just looked at me. I let out a long breath and then pushed a shot towards him. He grinned impishly and then downed it. “Your boy wants to play some pool while you’re out, do some male bonding or some shit. Make sure I’m OK to keep around or something. He can’t like, kick me out, can he?”
He was being a dick, as per usual, but there was a flash of vulnerability there, so I moved in and kissed the tequila off those lips until it was gone again.
“I’m the one you’ve gotta worry about.” For some reason, that put a smile back on his face. “Though I never put much thought into what happens if you guys don’t like the other men. You’re my fated mates, not each other’s.”
“Don’t much like people scoping me out. Doesn’t tend to end well.” He shook his head. “But I’m willing to give it a shot.”
In response, he snuck another one of my shots, to my spluttering disgust, then ducked out of reach before I could belt him. Zack had the balls set up and a cue in his hand by the time Lorcan ambled over.
“So the harem idea was just a joke. I never thought you’d take me up on it,” Stevie said, her eyebrows shooting upwards.
“Me either.” I looked at the bar, at the scratches on the polished wood. “I worked it out, what I am, why Dad wanted me to leave.” I met her eyes, not wanting to shy away from her reaction. “I’m a nix, Stevie.”
She was slow with it, just a nod at first, her eyes not leaving mine, but there was no rush of disgust or disbelief there.
“Thought you might be. The way the guys are acting… Y’know, in other places, it’s not that big a deal. You have more than one mate. So what?”
A long shuddering breath I hadn’t realised I was holding came rushing out at that. We weren’t super close, but for some reason, her even tone and her words made me feel better. We could do this. Get the fights sorted, pack up Dad’s stuff, finish off things with the suitors, and then get the hell out of this town. In the city we’d just be a face among many, with people too busy with their own love lives to care about mine.
“So Lorcan and Zack?” she prompted.
“Zack I made my mate the other day.” I took a breath, then another, feeling it, that day rise up inside me again. My eyes slid sideways, across the pub to where he leaned over the pool table, taking his shot. How the hell had I found someone like him? Someone who seemed to know what I needed before I knew I did. “Lorcan…that’s still new. And I have to text Declan about a date.”
“Damn…” Stevie said, and when I looked back, she lifted her drink in salute. “Well, I’m glad you’re embracing what you are. There’s no changing it. You can only be true to yourself.”
When she downed her glass, I did too, the burn down my throat making me feel like there was something more to this, but I didn’t know what.
“Have a few drinks on me.” She pushed the bottle my way as more drinkers clustered at the bar. She had other bartenders, but the press was growing. “And ring that other boy of yours.” She winked before moving back to deal with her customers, my phone feeling suddenly heavy in my hands. Mason had given me his number before we left, all the enforcers’ numbers, but as I scrolled, I felt something I hadn’t for some time.
Dad had always ragged on me for being ready and waiting when Dec came to pick me up. Treat ’em mean and keep ’em keen, he’d said. But I was keen. Keen to see his smile when he walked in the back door, keen to wrap my arms around his neck, to feel his lips on mine. Keen to be swept out of the house and into a swirl of fun and romance. From watching a movie together, to hanging out at his house playing computer games, to going to parties with our friends, I wanted that and couldn’t see why I was supposed to pretend that I didn’t. I pressed my thumb down on his contact and initiated a call.
“Paige?”
He picked up on the second ring, sounding slightly breathless when he said my name.
“Yeah, it’s me. We finished up at the gym. It’s all looking like it’s gonna go ahead smoothly. The fights will begin in less than a week.”
“That’s good, love. You must be feeling like a weight has lifted.”
He was walking somewhere, I could hear the crunch of his boots on gravel.
“Yeah, in a way.” I sank back against the bar. “I don’t know if I’d had time to think about it, but choosing the next alpha was this knife over my head the whole time. Like, what would have happened to us if the alpha thing was off the table?”
I heard his little snort down the line. “I gotta admit, I thought a lot about that over the years. Pretty sure I took a position as an enforcer to be in the running, just in case you came back. But, love…Mason.”
His name was a slap, sending a rush of complex feelings through me. Too many to parse.
“This…being a nix thing. It was a shock, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. You were always it for me. I’ve never found another woman I was drawn to like you, but you were always pulled towards more than one bloke. He told me one day when he knotted for you, so I put it from my mind. That meant you were his, that he was your true mate and I had to get my head out of my arse
and stop thinking about you.”
Something clawed inside me at that, a tightness forming as I saw him doing exactly that, all the girls in town seeing that big frame, those pale brown eyes. My hand formed a fist without even thinking.
“So you never knotted for me?”
I just heard one breath, then another, deeper, harsher.
“Let me come and get you if we’re gonna talk about my dick. I wanna see your face and have your scent in my nose if we do. Let me drown in it.”
“I’m at Stevie’s bar, but I’m just in gym gear. I’m sweaty and too casually dressed for a restaurant. I could go home and—”
“I don’t want a date, not really. I just want you, Paige.”
“Come and get me. I’ll be waiting outside. I just need to tell Zack and Lorcan where I’m going.”
“Already in the car, I’ll be there in five.”
And that was why I could never understand my dad’s advice. Dec didn’t play games, didn’t hide his interest. If he liked you or didn’t, you knew. I put my phone back in my pocket and walked over to the pool table.
“Got a hot date?” Zack asked, and when I looked at the two men standing there, I wondered how I could say yes. I still felt the ache of them inside me from what we’d gotten up to together, but I was about to walk away from that and go off with someone else.
But I’d come back, I knew that as much as breathing.
“Yeah, Declan’s picking me up. You guys’ll go back to the estate after here?”
Lorcan seemed to need to hear that, when we’d connect again, something softening in his stance.
“Figure we’d have a pub meal here.” he said. “Play a few rounds of pool, and hopefully, I won’t piss your mate off enough to tell you to kick me to the curb.”
“Not how it works,” Zack said. “Just keep her happy. Piss me off all you like, but keep her sweet.”
Both their eyes came to rest back on me, full of a hot sweetness that was almost too much to witness. Why me? Why did I win the wolf lottery? But pondering the origins of good luck was a waste of time. I had it, I just needed to appreciate it.