by M. L. Briers
“God, do you know just how damn tempting that sounds?” Joe hung his head and shook it from side to side.
“Be- my- guest.” She bit out each word.
“Sure, then we can just take her ring, give it to the bloodsucker, and hey presto- an end to all of our problems.” Leo grinned as Joe gave him a dark look from under his eyebrows.
“Really?” Joe asked as he narrowed his eyes on his brother and considered planting his fist right in his face. Now, that would make him feel a whole lot better, and he’d got the same treatment from Leo not that long ago.
“I’m sorry, did you not want a list of pros? My bad.” Leo folded his arms across his naked chest and leaned back with a smug smile on his face. Yep, he was cruising for a fist…
“Which is why we’re here, to talk about the ring.” Adrian tried to keep his brothers from their usual antics of tearing bits off each other.
“And you had to do it naked?” Kathy folded her arms and gave him a curious, if not somewhat berating look.
“Being naked around here is…”
“Something you should be ok with, no?” Joe shot her the kind of grin that would make any other woman’s panties drop like lead balloons. She took in a deep breath and his eyes dropped to those incredible breasts that he’d just witnessed first-hand. She let it out slowly.
“N-o.” Kathy lied. She didn’t care how many of them were prancing around outside of her window naked and looking good enough to model for any underwear company- she kind of liked the view- but they didn’t need to know that.
“Prude.” Joe gave a small shrug off his shoulder and watched her frown.
“Am not.” She wrinkled her nose and he found that so damned endearing.
“Yeah, you kind of are.” He teased and watched her nose wrinkle all the more. Damn, she looked so cute that he was having a hard time concentrating on anything else.
“Look- wolf…” She tossed the window open and Joe had to jump back away from its path. She raised an index finger in his directions and he called a timeout. He wasn’t keen on being zapped again, especially in front of his idiot brothers.
“Ok. Maybe with what I’ve just seen maybe not a total prude.” He offered with a smug smile.
She zapped him anyway. Just for the fun of watching him jump, and the added bonus of watching his muscles contract and slowly release. He was fine looking, and she definitely had the urge to let her fingers do that talking over his body…
Yep, change the record, change the subject- think of something else. Not easy to do when you have an Adonis standing there naked outside your window. His window. The window.
“Because I flashed you my girls?” She enquired and Leo chuckled.
“Well, brother, you’re already half way to wooing your mate.” He smirked. Joe growled and Adrian groaned.
“Can we talk about the ring now?” Adrian asked and both Joe and Leo snapped their eyes towards him.
“No!” They both said in unison.
“Hell, this is just getting good.” Leo grinned some more.
Joe’s fist shot out of nowhere and caught his brother on the chin while Leo still had his eyes fixed on the alpha. Blindsided. He rallied sideways and stumbled at little before he found his footing again. He turned towards Joe and rubbed at the sore spot on his chin.
“Uncalled for.” He growled out.
“Premature at best, but you were aiming in the right direction.” Joe told him. Leo grumbled and frowned. He had the urge to retaliate when Adrian went to step in again, but Leo got there first.
“Why?” Leo demanded.
“My mate’s breasts? It’s just getting good?” Joe growled in disbelief and Leo balked.
“I have my own breasts to look at. I don’t want to look at yours.” Leo growled back. Both brothers eyeballed each other, but it was the sound of Kathy’s chuckles that pulled their attention towards her.
“You might want to rephrase that.” She grinned.
“The ring!” Adrian growled long and hard, silencing both men, and bringing their attention back towards him. He turned his attention towards Kathy, and she suddenly looked a lot sheepish.
“It’s mine.” She said quickly. Too quickly.
“Now honey, didn’t we already establish that you’re lying about that?” Joe offered with a mocking tone and a half-assed attempt at sympathy.
“You take the word of a vampire over your mate?” She eyed him back. Blinked a couple of times.
He took a long moment to consider it. He even went so far as to narrow his eyes on her and try to pry into her very soul…
“Yes!” He announced so suddenly and with such enthusiasm that she jumped in place.
CHAPTER TEN
~
“Asshole!” Kathy snapped.
“You betcha!” Joe chuckled.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?” She ground out. Her nose was wrinkling again, but this was an entirely different look on her.
“Not when you’re lying, and honey, you are lying.” Joe offered her a knowing smile and she bit down on her annoyance.
“Fine! I- might have… borrowed it.” She snapped. Reluctant to admit that she’d stolen the damn thing, but only too aware of how this man could see into her damn soul.
Geez, to go through life with someone who always knows when you’re bending the truth a little- or a lot. Hell on Earth.
“B-o-r-r-o-w-e-d?” He asked slowly. Too damn slowly- she had the need to reach out and slap him around the back of the head to speed it along a little, just as his brother had done, only she wouldn’t do it with kindness and the way her luck was playing out she’d probably fall out the damn window.
“Scum sucking pond life.” She muttered to herself, knowing he’d catch it. He gave her a dopey grin in return.
“Well, now that’s settled, we just need to return it to the vampire…” Adrian said, but she wasn’t done yet.
“Ask him why he wants it.” She folded her arms again. Adrian took a long, deep breath in and counted to ten. It didn’t work.
“Why?” He groaned out.
“It holds the key to a spell that can just turn off a witch’s magic…” She snapped her fingers. “Like that.” She shrugged her shoulders. The alpha frowned. “Now go ask your mates if they think it’s a good idea just to hand it back to him.” She gave him a knowing smile. He groaned louder.
“Nothing’s ever easy.” Adrian sighed.
“But on the bright side…” Leo offered. “Joe still isn’t mated.” He announced to another growl from his brothers.
“That’s the bright side?” Adrian asked and Leo shrugged.
“It is in my world.” He offered.
“I’ll have to go speak to Selena and Eleanor and figure out this ring thing.” Adrian said begrudgingly. “You- come too.” He pointed at Kathy.
“You want I should jump out of the window or shall I meet you inside?” She snapped back. He growled again. Then he shook his head and stalked away. Joe eyed Leo.
“Don’t look at me, Joe. If you can’t even woo your own mate…” Joe went to open his mouth but the sound of the window being slammed shut made him snap his head around just as his mate was yanking the curtains closed.
Leo took off the moment that Joe’s growl turned from a warning into something he recognised as pre attack. Joe followed him on fast feet.
~
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~
“Do you know what a witch without her powers is?” Selena scowled. She didn’t like the sound of the vampire or the ring, and giving the ring back to the vampire was just asking for trouble for some poor witch.
“I’d go with human?” Joe muttered as he folded his arms across his chest and eyed his mate as she sat at the kitchen table.
He wasn’t entirely sure that he believed her story. No yet, anyhow. She’d lied before, several times; what made this any different?
“And what if I put a spell on you to take away your shifter side and left you merely a human?” S
elena rounded on him. His wolf got antsy inside of him, sensing the danger of her words and the challenge in her voice.
“Don’t even try it.” Joe cautioned her.
“I wouldn’t, and that’s my point. We can’t give that ring back to the vampire and just trust to fate that nobody is ever going to use it.” Selena looked to Adrian for backup.
“So the pack goes to war over a ring?” Leo asked. He didn’t like it. “The pack should take care of its own and let the witches do the same.”
“And what if that witch were me?” Eleanor asked. Leo opened his mouth and then closed it again. “Exactly.”
“But that’s unlikely.” He offered.
“And yet fate brought the ring and the vampire to our door.” Eleanor shrugged.
“No, fate brought Joe’s mate to our door.” Leo said.
“Thanks for the reminder.” Kathy sighed. She tried not to look at Joe and yet her brain didn’t bother to tell her eyes not to move. A sharp jolt of something good went straight to her womb the moment that they made eye contact.
He’d slung on some clothes, jeans and a shirt, but naked or dressed- he still gave her body a wakeup call. It was more than annoying, and it was damned inconvenient. She was supposed to be arguing her case and all she could think about was seeing him naked once more, running her fingers over the hard ridges of his muscles, and delving where she feared to tread because she didn’t think there would be a way back from there.
“Can’t you spell the ring to stop it doing whatever it is that it does?” Adrian didn’t know magic, but he reasoned that there should be some way to make the damn thing benign.
Selena looked to Eleanor and Eleanor looked to Kathy- who was still having problems pulling her eyes and her imaginings from Joe. The man knew it too. There was a slow building smile that had already lit up his eyes and was starting to bow his lips, and somewhere deep within her psyche she was waiting for it to burst to life, counting the seconds…
“Kathy?” Eleanor nudged her back to the present and she half jumped in place. This time she managed to wrench her eyes away from him and turn her attention back towards Eleanor.
“Huh?” She’d only been half following the conversation.
“A spell to make the ring dormant?” Eleanor had a knowing grin on her face and Kathy felt the rush to heat in her cheeks.
“Maybe.” She offered. She wasn’t about to commit to anything when she was still only half focused on what had been said.
“We can give it a try. The power of our magic combined might be able to bind the ring in some way.” Selena looked to Adrian and he gave a thoughtful nod.
“Do it. You’ve got until morning.”
~
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~
“Aren’t you going the wrong way- or are you looking for me?” Joe’s deep tone sent a shiver through Kathy’s body that was unexpected.
She ground to a halt in the middle of the corridor and relished the unusual event. It wasn’t the type of shiver that said you were cold; more the damn hot kind that came with the after effect of a complete wakeup call to every sense in your body. It only proved to her that the mating pull was getting stronger between them- if she stayed around him much longer she might not be able to shake it off.
“I don’t go looking for trouble it just seems to always find me.” Kathy didn’t turn around to face him- partly because she didn’t need those thoughts in her head again- him naked, it slammed back into her mind and she could have groaned aloud.
“Honey, I’m the good kind of trouble.” He breathed out against her ear.
When had he gotten that close? Too damn close by her reckoning. She could feel the heat from his body right through her clothes as if she wasn’t wearing a stitch.
That sent her mind spinning in a tumble of images that she’d rather not have encountered. Both of them naked and wrapped around each other… That did things to her that she’d rather not admit to.
“No, you’re not.” Kathy went to move but her legs had other ideas. She swayed forward slightly on uncooperative feet that stayed rooted to the floor, but his hand found her hip and that shock sent a spark of something very combustible deep inside of her womb.
“I’m the kind of trouble that will curl your toes.” He teased on a whisper against her ear. His hot breath was like a caress to her cheek and her neck, and she shivered again. “Cold?”
“Disgusted.” Kathy lied. He gave a knowing chuckle that shook her right down to her bones.
“You know that you can’t lie to your mate, right?” Joe whispered again. His tone was so deep that it seeped into her very soul.
Then his hand moved around her- across her stomach- where he tightened the hold that he had on her body, and she naturally swayed back against him- cursing to herself when she felt that connection behind her. There it was- that hard length pressed against her backside, and boy did it register within her brain…
Naked- I like him better naked. I’d like to feel him naked… me naked… him pressed against my body- skin on skin…
Holy cow! Drag your mind out of the gutter and back to the reality of what you’re doing. He’s your mate, damn it- He’s your Kryptonite. Damn fine Kryptonite…
Hold it together. Wait, I’m past hold it together, I’ve got to get it together. Think… escape.
“Who’s lying?” The words were no sooner out of her mouth when she felt his lips brush against the heated skin of her neck. Her toes curled in her socks. Her heart tried to escape her body, and she melted from the inside out as a fire raged inside of her.
Kathy knew that she needed to move, take a long step away from him, break the connection between them, and yet every inch of her waited like a panting dog to see what came next. His lips moved down to the curve between her neck and her shoulder, and he brushed those warm lips across her skin before his lips opened against her flesh and he gave a little suck…
Holy cow that never felt so damn good before.
Her eyes closed to the world around her as her mind and body centred on those lips. Her nipples were hard enough to hammer nails into wood, her womb was doing the twostep, and the inner muscles of her channel were clenching so hard and fast that she could have squeezed the last drop of toothpaste from a tube.
Not that she wanted anything inside of her apart from him- that thick, hard length that had looked so damn good earlier was now foremost in her mind…
His fingers spanned out and his hand moved upwards. His thumb found the valley between her breasts and he palmed her left breast, cupping it, before the pad of his thumb brushed across her nipple. There was a rush of heat within her body on a jolt of pure electric that caused everything to happen all over again- the clenching- the heart thumping- the need within her, and she felt lost to it.
Then those dangerous lips of his were moving back up her neck and she didn’t know whether to moan or dissolve into a heap at his feet. She’d never felt so much need for a man, so much attraction to one, and so much lack of control all in one head-spinning, overwhelming moment in her life.
“The mating pull- it’s the mating pull…” She whispered. She didn’t know that she’d said it aloud until she heard his deep chuckle.
“You keep telling yourself that, honey…” He gave a deep, rumbling growl that rolled right over her skin.
She felt heady and grounded all at the same time. Confusion reigned within her. She didn’t know whether she wanted to zap him with her magic and bolt or surrender to whatever came next.
It was too late to make up her mind when he spun her in his arms and brought his lips down on hers. That rush of excitement swept her away. Those strong arms were wrapped around her body with his hands palming her back and her butt, and her mind didn’t know whether it wanted to focus on the hard length of him pressed against her stomach or the press of his tongue against the seam of her lips- so instead it ping-ponged between them.
Her hands had a mind of their own and they palmed his chest. Finally able to detail the
hard ridges of his muscles; her fingers went walkabout. She opened to the demanding press of his tongue, and when she did; he devoured her with hot, passionate kisses that sent her mind spinning and overwhelmed her senses.
It all felt too damn good to even consider stopping…
I want him- It’s the mating pull.
God, but those muscles feel good- the mating pull.
That hard length is just too damn tempting- mating pull.
Boy can he kiss- Mating…
Mate…
Joe moved her back against the nearest wall. He feasted on the scent of her alone. He could practically imagine the taste of her body, the taste of her sex, her blood on his tongue…
‘Mine.’
His beast wanted out. His mind was closed to any other possibility than that she would be his. Forever his mate- he needed her. He desired her with a fever that was eating him up inside.
She’d gone from lukewarm to burning hot in seconds. Her body was responding to him like no other woman before her. And yet, she wasn’t his, not really- not yet.
He could probably take her right here, right now, and yet that wasn’t wooing her. Right up until the moment that he was kissing her she was still denying him. He was so damn torn that he didn’t know which way was up.
His body said full speed ahead and yet his heart said; slow down. He broke the kiss and allowed her to breathe again. His forehead touched hers, keeping that connection between them, and when he saw her lids flutter open he pulled back slightly.
“I want you. But I want you heart, mind, body, and soul.” He whispered and saw the recognition of his words reflected in her eyes.
“That’s…”
“Don’t say it’s never going to happen, because I think we both know differently.” Joe’s hand palmed her cheek and instinctively she leaned into his touch. Then she caught herself doing it and tipped her head back away from him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“I have a spell to cast…” Kathy felt twisted and torn by his actions. He’d started this, and now he was pulling back from her. She couldn’t understand why he hadn’t just played the winning hand when he had the chance.