by M. L. Briers
“So, you have a cold?”
“I just might…” Samuel lied again, but it was a good lie, a little white lie, and he knew that she wasn’t buying it.
“Well, don’t give it to me,” she offered back.
“We’d have to get real close for that to happen…” he said, moving fast, and a heartbeat later Summer found herself within his strong arms. “Like this close, maybe closer.”
There was a rumble of a growl that was brewing within his chest. Her soft body was pressed against his hard one, and his length was caught between them.
When she moved her hips – he could have groaned with the feel of it against his cock.
“Closer,” she said, blinking just once as if her brain was trying to compute that scenario.
“Just a little…” he whispered his words and dipped his head towards her… that was when the palm of her hand slapped him on the nose as she tossed it up between them.
“Whoa there – wolf-boy.”
Summer felt the urge to giggle. The man was certainly a chancer – he was chancing his luck with her – and if she hadn’t of been amused, then she might just have hit him with her magic.
“Wolf boy? Really? Again with the mean girl, and inaccurate comments,” his voice was gravelly deep. His beast was close to the surface, and she hated to admit it to herself, but she kind of liked that sound.
“Inaccurate?” Summer raised her eyebrows, questioning him with just a look.
“Wolf – okay. Boy – do I feel like a boy to you?”
There was a certain amount of wickedness is his tone, in his eyes, and in a wide smile that was, almost, totally mesmerizing – almost, because the rest of him was demanding her attention as well.
“I concede that last point without prejudice,” Summer said, and pressed her lips together to try to conceal her smile when he twisted his head to one side like a curious wolf and eyed her for a long moment.
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing that I win,” he said, happy that she seemed a lot more open towards him.
“You win,” she agreed. “That point,” she rushed out.
“Do I get a reward?” His grin was full of his victory.
“I seem to be out of Scooby snacks…”
Samuel’s lips came down on hers. If Summer was being honest with herself, then it wasn’t a complete surprise.
Somewhere on her shoulder, there was a little Devil waving a cheerleading flag – and when he deepened the kiss and tasted her tongue on his – well, the angle that sat on her other shoulder joined in the celebration.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“What do you think?” Dorothy leaned in towards Angela and whispered as the two of them stood at the window and looked out at the newest elder mates.
“Firstly; I’d have to wonder why you are whispering?” Angela offered back.
“Wolves have big ears,” Dorothy tossed back on a hiss.
“Ok,” Angela rolled her eyes. “Of course they’ll mate, and she’ll stay.” Angela tossed up just the one shoulder.
“How can you be so sure?” Dorothy asked.
“Well, just look at the way that she’s looking at him…”
“Like he’s sex on a stick,” Dorothy offered a dirty chuckle.
“It amazes me sometimes just how your mind works,” Angela grumbled.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Dorothy grinned.
“We’re not all sex mad maniacs, you know?”
“You have no idea what you’re missing,” Dorothy chuckled again.
“What are you two adolescents up to?” Sarah’s sudden appearance made them both jump.
She’d say that their jumpiness was out of guilt; they would probably deny that to the end of their days.
“Just taking in the view…” Dorothy turned and gave Sarah an innocent look, but the mischievous look was too ingrained in her eyes for that to hold sway.
“Of the mates?” Sarah craned her neck to see Randy and Pamela outside by the man’s spanking new truck. “Hmm, those two.”
“Haven’t seen Samuel for a while,” Angela offered.
“He was naked when he went off into the woods with Summer,” Dorothy said with glee as she wiggled her eyebrows at the pair of them.
“I have a feeling that this woman is never going to change,” Angela grumbled, but it was all for show. She loved the fact that her friend had such a zest for life.
“Goddess, I hope not,” Dorothy shot back. “If I ever get senile, shoot me some vampire juice.”
“Vampire juice?” Angela raised her eyebrows at that one.
“Sounds better than blood.” Dorothy turned her nose up at the thought of it.
“She has a point,” Sarah chuckled.
“Yes, she definitely has a way with words,” Angela snorted a chuckle.
“Oh look!” Dorothy exclaimed, snapping her attention right back out of the window. “Mr. Sex on a stick – silver wolf – my name is Randy – is leaning in…”
“Such a way with words…” Angela sighed.
~
~
~
“Would you like to see inside the cab?” Randy asked.
“Is that like – come up and see my etchings?” Pamela shot back and got a crooked, wicked smile for her efforts.
“Would you like it to be?” Randy teased.
“In the back of your truck?” Pamela snorted a chuckle. “Sure, if I wanna pop a hip.”
“Point taken,” Randy offered back. “I still think you should test it out for comfort.”
Randy reached out and opened the driver’s door for his mate to climb on inside. He loved his new truck, and he’d love it a whole lot more with her scent embedded in the leather.
Pamela took a moment to decide. She didn’t see the harm, even if Summer would probably have a heart attack if she spotted her behind the wheel.
One little accident and everyone was telling her that she shouldn’t drive anymore. She was perfectly capable of driving.
Pamela moved towards the driver’s seat, and there was her mate, giving her a little hand up with one large hand on the small of her back and the other under her arm.
“If that hand moves down to my ass then you’re getting zapped.” She shot a sideways look at him and found him grinning from ear to ear.
“It might just be worth it,” he chuckled.
~
~
~
Summer’s scent was all around him. She felt so damn good in his arms, pressed against his body like that, and making him harder than hell that he was almost desperate to take the next step.
Samuel was mindful that they were outside. If they had of been in his cabin, then he would have taken her to his bed and hoped to the spirits that she was ready for the next step in their blossoming relationship.
He wasn’t about to rush her. Hell, he considered himself more than lucky that she was kissing him back, and boy could she kiss.
Mine…
Samuel’s wolf was as close to the surface as he was going to allow it to get. He could feel the prickle of the beast’s fur just beneath the surface of his skin.
It wanted out.
Summer’s hands were on the bare skin of his shoulders, and her fingertips curled over the muscles. He could feel the hard press of her fingernails starting to bite into his flesh, and if he wasn’t careful, then his beast would take that as a damn sign.
He wasn’t going to allow that.
He wasn’t going to lose his mind to the mating pull.
The rumble of a growl reached his ears and kicked his brain into gear.
His protective streak was already in high gear, but that sound added fuel to the fire, and a heartbeat later – his mate was behind his back, and Samuel was facing down one very miffed off wolf.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
“Does all this mating fever make you long for the early days of our first union again, love?” Monty asked as he lounged
against the tree trunk.
The length of his body was resting along a thick bough, and his mate was sitting beside him, kicking her legs back and forth as if she were on a swing.
“God, no,” she snorted her contempt for that question.
“What have I told you about the G-word,” Monty playfully rolled his eyes at her.
“Well, I’d rather the wrath of the big man upstairs than having the ancestors up to their no good wicked ways because I was trying to invoke the Triple G-one,” Chloe shot back.
“Oh, fine. You go right ahead then,” Monty chuckled.
“There are drawbacks to being an ex-witch in a vampire body, you know?” Chloe snorted her contempt for that.
“Poor you. But, you don’t regret it?” Monty had asked her that same question at least once a day since the moment that she’d woken from her deathly slumber within his arms, a witch no more.
“Not for a second,” Chloe shot back. “And the craving for witches blood is easing…”
“Easing…?”
“Kind of,” she said and looked anywhere but at him.
“Liar-liar panties on fire,” Monty said with a big, beaming, devilish grin that made her snort a chuckle.
“But, I don’t wear any panties…”
The sound of a very feminine screech went up around the woods, and Chloe was up on her feet on the bough and off and running in the direction that it had come from before her mate had managed to do the same thing.
“Damn, newbie speed,” Monty bit out.
He hated the fact that his mate was faster, stronger, and more agile than he was, because that meant that she was able to rush into the damn fray before him.
He took off after her, hopping from branch to branch in the tree tops, and mentally kicking himself for not hunting down that damn rogue and killing it earlier.
~
~
~
Pamela’s head snapped up, and her eyes took in the empty driveway ahead as the sound of a piercing screech reached her ears and startled her into action. She’d have known that sound anywhere.
“Summer!” Pamela bit out.
“Don’t move from that seat,” Randy growled out as he kicked open the passenger door and hightailed it from the cab of the truck.
He was already running for the woods and listening hard for a direction to run when his mate started the truck.
~
~
~
Samuel felt the razor sharp claws as they tore up his back, and he roared with the pain that cut through him. Another swipe of the rogue’s claws chewed up his hind leg, and he knew that he was in real trouble.
His wolf turned towards Summer, and he roared at her with all of his might. His eyes took in the look of horror on her face, and he could see that she was in two minds about leaving him. He shook his head on his neck and roared at her once more.
Summer pulled on her magic and shot a blast at the rogue.
The wolf was wrenched from the ground by the force of the blast – it’s back hit a tree stump, but it didn’t stay down for longer than seconds. The bloodlust running through his veins was acting like a drug that sent him right back to his paws once more.
Samuel knew that his injuries were limiting his ability to fight, and he didn’t want his mate to be there to witness his demise. If the worst were to happen, he didn’t want her to be the next thing in the rogue’s sights.
His wolf turned as fast on its paws as it could manage, and aimed a set of claws at the rogue, catching the beast down one side of his face, and doing his best to slow him down. But that beast wasn’t going to be stopped lightly.
Samuel roared at his mate once more, snapping a look at her, and she gave him a slow shake of her head.
The rogue took advantage of his lack of concentration in the fight to deliver one more blow that sent his face into the dirt, and his body followed.
“Samuel…” Summer cried out, but for the life of him, he couldn’t find the breath to answer her.
He heard the sound of his mate’s shriek as the sound of heavy paws went rushing by him, and he wrenched his head up just in time to see Summer take off into the trees with the wolf on her heels.
Run…! Samuel begged her, not that she could hear him or his wolf.
~
~
~
Summer didn’t want to leave Samuel behind, but she needed to get the rogue away from him before the beast killed him. She could have stood her ground and fought the wolf with her magic, but she knew that her mate would only have tried to defend her.
No, running had been the only option. Samuel was injured, and he needed the time for his blood to heal him.
They weren’t on pack land, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t wolves still around. If she were lucky, then maybe she’d run into one. If not, then she’d have to make a stand at some point.
Just as long as her mate was no longer in harm’s way.
Summer wasn’t exactly dressed for a run. With the skirt of her dress getting caught around her calves and her strappy sandals making her feet slip, slide, and trip over every uneven clump of earth that she’d somehow managed to find, nature wasn’t making escaping easily on her.
She would swear that she heard the damn beast breathing down her neck, but she’d be damned if she was going to turn her head and take a look. She’d seen horror movies, and that was how people died.
Summer saw the sunlight at the edge of the woods and headed for it with everything that she had inside of her, which wasn’t a lot, considering she hated anything physical. She pumped her arms against the air and gave it everything that she had in the hope that the rogue might think twice about breaking the cover of the woods.
Just before she reached the clearing, her ankle smacked into an unmovable root of a tree that was sticking up out of the ground. She felt the pain – felt her body start to fall forwards – heard the sound of a snarl close behind her, and the next moment; there was a grip like a vice around her waist and she flying upwards through the air – with a scream on her lips that rattled the damn trees.
“She’s got a set of lungs on her…” Chloe bit out, louder than she had intended, to her mate, as Monty hit the branch beside them, and both of the vampires had their ears rung by the witch’s squeal.
“Nice scoop,” Monty congratulated his mate. “Gotta wolf to kill.” He said, planting a kiss on Chloe’s cheek before he dropped down to the ground behind the rogue.
The beast was still trying to figure out where his tasty witch snack had disappeared too.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
~
“Hey!” Monty snapped out from behind the rogue as the beast broke the cover of the woods.
The wolf, eager for a kill, immediately turned tail back towards him, and his eyes took in the sight of the vampire.
The beast’s lips pulled back and he snarled like he’d like nothing better than to taste vampire blood on his tongue.
“I think your bark’s worse than your bite, puppy,” Monty said, challenging the beast, and the wolf dropped its head on its neck and started to slowly pad back towards him – snarling harder with each step.
Monty’s eyes shot a quick look sideways – but before he could do or say a damn thing – the big, shiny pickup truck slammed head-on into the wolf, tossing the beast up into the air.
“Well,” Monty blinked. “That just happened.”
When the beast hit the ground with a heavy, bone-cracking thud, Monty raced towards it to finish the wolf off.
By the time that he’d reached down, placed his hands on both sides of the wolf’s head, and wrenched it around, snapping its neck, Randy’s pickup truck was rolling back towards him on the roadway.
He was more than a little shocked to see Pamela behind the wheel. She rolled down the window and leaned her arm against the frame.
“Job done…” Pamela crowed. “You seen my Granddaughter?”
“Yep, safe and…”
“My tr
uck,” Randy called as he ran full speed towards them.
“Whoops,” Monty winced.
“You said not to move from the seat,” she said with a shrug. “I didn’t move from the seat.”
Randy stopped and eyed his mate. Twisting his head to one side like a curious wolf, he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Summer is…” Monty raised a hand and pointed back over his shoulder. Then he winced again at the thought of the witch being alone with his bloodthirsty mate. “Be right back.”
Monty turned towards the woods, but he didn’t have to move a muscle as Summer and Chloe stood in the clearing of the woods and eyed the scene in front of them.
“Remind me never to get on Pamela’s bad side,” Monty said to his mate, and Chloe’s eyebrows slowly raised up on her forehead. She snorted a chuckle.
“I hear that,” she wholeheartedly agreed.
“But…” Randy took a long breath in. He really didn’t want to know the kind of damage that his mate had caused to the front end of his brand new vehicle. “My truck.”
“They have the audacity to tell me that I shouldn’t drive in case I have another accident,” Pamela gave her mate a small, innocent look. “Personally I think I drive just fine.”
“Samuel!” Summer bit out.
She had already turned on her heels and was rushing back into the woods when she saw that her mate was coming from the other direction.
Samuel was bruised, bloodied, and he had some healing to do, but he’d used every ounce of strength and willpower within him to drag his sorry backside after the rogue to protect his mate.
“Right here, sweetheart,” Samuel said.
If it hadn’t of been for the fact that she looked so damn happy to see him, then he might have just collapsed into a heap on the ground once more, especially now that he could see she was safe.
But, he kept going on legs that quivered beneath him, right up until she rushed at him and collided with his body as she wrapped her arms around his neck – that was when his legs gave way, and he went down with her in his arms.