by M. L. Briers
He half cursed his decision and half slapped himself on the back for his restraint. She was his mate and he could have used the mating pull to get her into his bed, but where would that have left them. He wanted her to come to him of her own free will, because she wanted too, not because fate decreed it.
What the hell was he doing?
“You’ve already cast one on me, Kat.” Joe forced his body to move back away from her.
“Nice line, wolf.” She gave him a small smile, but he didn’t return it. There was something within his eyes that she couldn’t quite peg.
“It would be… if it was a line.” Joe said as he forced his body to back off from her. He saw her rush to realisation. Then he saw her jump to it and try to put one foot in front of the other to carrying her away from him; she just seemed to have a hard time doing it.
“I…” She frowned. She couldn’t find the words.
Kathy shook her head and tried to shake off every last thing that had happened in the space of a few minutes, but it wouldn’t leave her.
She still wanted him. In fact, she was even considering climbing up his hard body and wrapping herself around him like a damn vine, even as she forced her feet to move in the other direction. It felt as if she was walking in concrete. Every last step was an effort.
Mating pull or not, wolf or not, even mate or not; didn’t seem to matter a damned iota right then. Her body had an itch that needed scratching, and she knew the right man with a set of perfectly good claws for the job. She just didn’t want to admit it.
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“You look a little…” Eleanor stopped talking when Kathy bolted into the room, closed the door behind her with a back kick of her heel, and pressed her back up against it as if she was blocking the way to marauding pirates or something.
“Flushed.” Selena grinned. Both woman gave her a knowing look and she frowned hard back at them. Her mind was still trying to sort the wheat from the chaff, and her body was still overly sensitive to thoughts of her mate.
“Don’t even get me started.” Kathy bit out.
She didn’t want to think on it a moment longer. She needed to break the power of the ring so that she could break the spell her mate had cast on her, and then she could hightail it out of there as planned. Everything else would be a complete and total failure, and she didn’t like to fail.
She also didn’t like to admit when she was wrong and she wasn’t about to start now with him.
“Looks like Joe got you started…” Eleanor giggled like a schoolgirl and was rewarded with the stink eye from her new pack sister.
“Can we just sort this ring thing out?” Kathy wanted to push away from the door and yet her body was still undecided if it wanted to actually be there or back with Joe.
Damn, this is not working out well for me. I should have taken my chances with Gideon. I should never have set foot in this house.
“Too late now…” Selena offered and she snapped her mind back to the present.
“We can’t do the ring thing?” Kathy frowned hard.
“I was talking about Joe and what you were thinking.”
“You read minds?” Kathy snapped back.
“I can read your face from a mile away. Don’t think we didn’t have those thoughts and feelings- the ones where the mating pull was working on getting really deep within you- we did. Trust me when I say that you’ve gone too far to back off now.” Selena cautioned her and she snorted her contempt for that summary of events.
“It was a kiss…” She shook her head.
“That’s all it takes.” Selena shrugged.
“Bet it was a good one, right?” Eleanor giggled again. Kathy stared at her for a long moment and then shook off her need to head-butt something or someone.
“It was… not important.” Kathy shook her head again, as if denying it was going to make those feelings within her go away.
“Ha!” Selena snapped out and the sheer suddenness of it made Kathy jump inside. “Don’t bother trying to kid yourself, it’s a lost cause. Just enjoy the ride.”
“Seriously? Those are your pearls of wisdom?” Kathy shot her a look of pure disbelief.
“I’m not here to help you break the mating pull and kill Joe.” Selena frowned hard, but Kathy frowned even harder. Those words had startled her to another realisation- if she left, if she did hightail it out of town; there was a damned good risk that Joe could turn rogue.
There was an ache inside of her that she couldn’t explain. Her stomach twisted at the thought of his pack killing him when he became a mindless beast and that hurt too. Her own actions pricked her conscience and she didn’t like it, not one little bit.
“There’s no saying that he would go rogue…” Kathy might have been talking aloud and yet she was having that argument within herself.
“There’s no saying he wouldn’t either, but the question would be; are you willing to take that risk with his life?” Selena was being pragmatic.
“Harsh.” Eleanor muttered as she looked anywhere but at either of them.
“Realistic.” Selena offered back as she reached for the pillar candle that she needed to prepare for the spell that would link their magic together for the very first time.
“Still harsh.” Eleanor brought her eyes up to Selena and held her palms out in front of her. “Do you want to stay and become a mate for the rest of your life- or kill your mate?” She weight up those choices in her hands.
“Well, how would you like me to sugar coat it?” Selena said.
“I- don’t- know.” Eleanor admitted. “Maybe a little sugar is worth the tooth rot.”
“In your world where you are addicted to chocolate.” Selena shot back.
“There is nothing wrong with enjoying chocolate. Its natures little adrenaline rush.” Eleanor snapped back.
“Nothing, but the fact that it rots your teeth and puts weigh on. Your hips would probably be a couple of inches smaller without it.” Selena said and Eleanor hissed.
“Look, Kathy, ignore the witch-bitch. There are other great things that come from being a mate. Great sex, commitment, faithfulness, a sense of community, family, fun, did I mention the great sex?” Eleanor giggled again.
“It’s all she ever thinks about apart from chocolate.” Selena said and Eleanor snorted.
“Like you’ve got your legs crossed.” Eleanor hissed back.
“I don’t walk bowlegged either.” Selena gave her a smug grin.
“Look, let’s just get this done, and then I can make the decision about the rest of my life.” Kathy said.
“Sounds like a plan.” Selena nodded.
“But I did mention the great…”
“Sex? Yeah, I caught that one.” Kathy assured her. The trouble was from what she’d been a part of earlier with Joe- she knew the damn sex was going to be amazing, but who made their life choices on something as basic as great sex?
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“You look…” Joe had been pacing all night long while the witches were locked up in a room chanting and… stuff. He wasn’t exactly certain what they’d been doing in that room, but he wasn’t about to join his brothers running the perimeter and risk his mate running off when she finally made an appearance. Now all three of them had emerged; he felt a little more settled.
“The next word from your lips had better not be rough.” Kathy scowled up at him.
“Tired but beautiful.” He offered with another one of those sexy smiles that made her pulse race and the elastic on her panties a little loser.
“Line- still not a fish.” Kathy started off towards the kitchen and the gallon of coffee that she’d been promised.
“You could never be a fish. Maybe a mermaid.” He still had that smile on his lips and she would have given anything to be able to ignore it, ignore him, ignore all of this and more.
“I’m sure your… charm works well in a bar with semi-conscious women…”
; “Excuse me?” Joe frowned. He didn’t like the kind of picture that she was painting of him. “I can assure you that your particular character assassination of me is way off…”
“I’m sure it is.” Kathy said as blandly as she could. She was hungry, tired, and all she wanted was that coffee. His not- so- subtle attempts to woo her could be put on the backburner until she’d at least had her Java.
“Now hold on a minute…”
“I need coffee. If you want to debate your broken moral compass at least wait until I’ve had one full cup.” Joe growled in annoyance. Then he raised his arm and motioned for her to continue.
“After you, Princess.”
“Oh, don’t even try to annoy me.” She shot back over her shoulder as he dropped back behind her.
“You can dish it out but not take it, got it.” He growled again. She stopped and turned back towards him. Her hands went to her hips and she stared up at him.
“For your information. I can take whatever it is you want to dish out.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Good to know… Princess.” He winked at her and she scowled back at him.
“You got something in your eye?” She asked.
“Nope.” He grinned.
She swung for him then. He didn’t know if it was the lack of sleep or the fact that he’d never really considered her the type to resort to actual physical violence rather than use her magic, but whatever it was left him wide open for her fist to connect with his right eye.
“Now you do.” She growled. The woman actually growled at him as he held his hand against his eye and was grateful that she swung like a girl.
“You should stick to magic and zapping people…” He growled. She flicked her hand on her wrist and he felt that sharp sting against his backside. In truth that one hurt worse than the punch. He growled again.
“I’d hate to disappoint you.” She offered up to him. Then she turned on her heels and started on down the hallway, leaving him counting the cracks on the ceiling with his one good eye.
“I don’t believe you did that.” Joe growled.
“You’d better believe it, because there’s more where that came from, Popeye.” She didn’t turn around, she just tossed those words back over her shoulder and kept going. Her knuckles might be sore, but she’d live, and the sheer satisfaction of finally getting one up on him was pure gold.
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The car journey to town was amazingly uneventful. Kathy had insisted on going with them, but only after she’d swigged down a few cups of coffee as if someone had declared prohibition on the flavoursome bean. She sat in the back of the pickup truck beside Joe and kept her eyes full front.
Leo sat in the front passenger seat and couldn’t help but stare at his brother in the back via the small mirror on the sun visor. The bruise to his eye might have almost healed, but it drew Leo’s attention like a beacon in the open ocean.
“Stop staring at me. I can feel your beady little eyes…” Joe growled in his brother’s direction as their eyes met in the mirror. Leo smirked.
“I was just remembering my black eye, not so long ago. You seemed to think it was amusing.” Leo reminded him of the day he had met his own mate and Eleanor had given him the run around.
“You deserved it.” His mate snorted from the seat beside him.
“As I recall, I got hit by a window. That one looks like a fist…”
“Can we change the subject?” Joe growled. Kathy tried to hold onto her smile.
“Hit a nerve, did I?” Leo chuckled.
“Just move on.” Joe growled a warning.
“Did you actually slug him in the eye, or was it like a stray elbow or…?” Leo chuckled harder. Joe growled and resisted the urge to open the front door and toss his brother out of the fast moving vehicle.
CHAPTER TWELVE
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“I can demonstrate on you, if you’d like.” Kathy offered. Leo held up his hands in mock surrender.
“I’m not as precious as my brother. You just might break your fist on my face and we wouldn’t want that.” Leo chuckled harder as his eyes flicked back towards Joe and he watched the beta bite down on his jaw.
“When this truck stops, we’ll see who’s precious.” Joe growled.
“Fighting among ourselves when there’s a perfectly good vampire to kill is not the way to go.” Adrian warned them both.
“You’re going to kill Gideon?” Kathy sat bolt upright in her seat. It was the first she’d heard of the plan.
“Not unless he doesn’t give us the choice.” Adrian assured her.
“That seems to worry you. Were you and that vampire…?” Joe turned his eyes upon her and she turned to look at him. She got what he was asking her without him drawing a picture.
“No.” She looked at him as if he’d just grown another head. “He’s a vampire.”
“Some people like that kind of thing.” Joe shot back. He couldn’t sense any deceit coming from her, and that relaxed some deep seated need within him to rip the man limb from limb.
“Claws, fangs, the need to taste my blood on his tongue…” She rolled her eyes away from him and looked out of the side window. “Yeah, sounds great. Where do I sign up for that?” The sarcasm dripped from her tone and he growled again.
“That’s not all there is to…” Joe started but she held up her index finger to silence him and it worked.
“You’re right, I forgot. You have a wild beast inside of you.” It sounded like an accusation. “Gee, at least the kids would have a family pet.” She didn’t turn her eyes back towards him, but she could hear the rumbling growl that rolled through his body and it vibrated the seat at her back.
“That’s not…” Joe bit out the words, but she wasn’t about to let him finish.
“Look, that vampire had plenty of opportunity to kill me to get the ring back and he didn’t. In my book that says something.” Kathy offered towards Adrian.
“Mine too.” He agreed. “We’ll give him the ring and if he goes on his way then there’s no problem.”
“Fine.” She folded her arms under her breasts and a different kind of growl rumbled towards her. When she snapped her eyes towards her mate he was feasting on the sight of her girls being pushed upwards. “What are you, thirteen?” She scowled.
“If you’re gonna offer me the view on a damn platter, don’t expect me not to look.” Joe brought his eyes up to hers slowly. He was in no rush considering he’d already been busted.
“You want I should punch you in the other eye?” She snapped back at him. Leo sniggered from the front of the truck and Joe groaned. He didn’t expect to live it down for a while.
“Trust me, he’s slow to learn his lesson.” Leo offered.
“Leo…” Joe growled another warning. He was fast losing his patience with the man.
“That’s ok. I think I’ll find great satisfaction in hitting him in the head as many times as it takes.” Kathy said.
“Well that’s…” Joe turned to scowl down at her.
“So, you’re staying around then?” Leo shot back, and you could have heard a pin drop inside that vehicle. Kathy floundered as Joe watched her.
“I never said…” She started her rush to denial.
“Yeah, I’d stay around too with an incentive like that.” Leo chuckled.
Joe twisted his head on his neck and questioned her with his eyes. He saw the deep flush hit her cheeks and was about to say something when the truck started to slow.
“We’re here.” Adrian announced and she let out a breath on a rush of gratitude.
“Saved by the bell.” She grimaced as she turned towards her door and reached for the handle. She almost swallowed her own tongue when the door was whisked back away from her and there he stood, her mate, offering her his hand. “Speedy little sucker, aren’t ya?”
Joe grinned. He pushed aside his brother’s teasing and the fact that she’d left h
im in the dubious position of not answering Leo’s question.
“Not in everything. I can be very slow and methodical when the occasion calls for it.” He was giving her one of those sexy grins again and she had to squeeze her inner thighs together just in case. She didn’t make a move to take his hand and he didn’t make a move to back away.
“I can get myself out.”
“I know.” Joe didn’t budge one inch and his hand still bridged the gap between them.
Kathy bit the bullet and slid her palm against his. The tingling feeling that rushed up her hand and across her body was worth a thousand words and yet none at all. The connection that they had amazed her.
“Ah, loves young dream…” Gideon heard the chorus of growls from all three shifters. It amused him. There was a time when that would have sounded like a call to arms, but not anymore.
“Shut up, Gideon.” Kathy berated him.
“Hmm, not yet mated I see.” He saw her bristle at that comment and knew it was true.
“Not that it’s any of your business…” She snapped at him.
“On the contrary. If I hadn’t of been chasing you to get my ring back, you would never have been here to meet your mate.” Gideon goaded her.
“Gee, thanks.” She bit out.
“And speaking of my ring…” Gideon folded his arms across his chest and used his shoulder to prop up the wall beside him. He’d perfected the casual look over the years, but inside he was ready for anything that they might throw at him.
“I have it.” Kathy assured him. She plucked it from her finger and held it up between them. “Are you going to leave?”
“I have no reason to stay.” He assured her.
Kathy drew on her magic. She allowed the ring to leave her grasp and travel slowly towards him. In truth, she would have liked to pitch it at his head, but she didn’t want to start anything that couldn’t be undone.