by M. L. Briers
“You have to talk to me at some point, Sky.” He offered in a low melodic tone that was designed to draw her in. It worked. She eased in her stance. The nervous shifting from one foot to the other stopped and she brought her chocolate brown eyes up to meet his.
“Hi. How you doing? Thanks for saving my life. Can you let go of my wrist?” The sarcasm in her voice caused him to frown, but he was still smiling like an idiot, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
“Ok, maybe you shouldn’t speak…” He offered back with equal amounts of sarcasm that caused her to frown up at him. Her eyes narrowed, as she considered him for a long moment.
“How old are you anyway?” She snorted. Nathan leaned in towards her as if sharing a secret.
“Very old.”
“I saw your car out front, how rich are you?” Sky thought if there was one thing that would put him off it would be the thought of her spending his ill gotten gains.
“Very rich.” He teased, and she snorted her annoyance.
“I thought you wanted to talk?” Sky announced, noting that he still hadn’t let go of her wrist. The sensation of his touch wasn’t lost on her, but his general proximity meant that she was feeling the hum of her mate all over her body already. His touch just heightened it. She went to pull her arm away, but he held onto her, pulled her in a little closer and she frowned again.
“I want to talk about you. I know all about me…”
“You’re being evasive. I don’t like evasive.” Sky declared, trying to dislodge his hand again, but it only served to make him pull her that little bit closer.
“Old enough to know how to make you happy and rich enough to give you whatever your heart desires.” He breathed against her ear, and she felt the shudder rush through her body. She knew it wasn’t repulsion. She wanted him from the first moment she felt his arms around her, even that close to death, her body had recognised her mate. The moment she tasted his blood she had been lost to him, knowing she could try to fight it, and yet helpless in her desire for him.
“You can’t give me pups.” Sky looked up into his eyes just in time to see him flinch.
“I can, but they wouldn’t be of my seed, but if it’s what you want…”
“You’d let me sleep with another man?” Sky looked both shocked and horrified. What kind of mate would do that?
“I’d rip him limb from limb…” Nathan’s anger rippled within him, although the only outward sign of it was the flare of his nostrils and his flicker of anger that widened his eyes. “But there are other ways to swell your belly without having sex, Sky.” He informed her, biting down on the urge to kill something. Anything but her.
“Hmm, and I’m sure they would make a tasty snack for you…” Sky bit out. Cutting her eyes at him and trying to disengage his hand again. Again he pulled her closer, she was getting the idea that the more she tried to move away, the more he would show her that he was the boss.
“That’s just offensive.” Nathan growled down a warning at her. She brought her eyes back to his and found that it wasn’t so much anger there as hurt, and her guilt washed through her.
She went to speak when Nathan pulled back slightly and pointed his index finger towards the front door. “Don’t even think about it, Jasmine.” He called out, and Sky flicked her gaze to where Jasmine was pulling open the front door to make her escape.
“I’m getting some fresh air.” Jasmine snorted back, unimpressed that she had been caught, she thought he was preoccupied enough with Sky not to notice her leaving.
“I’ll take my car keys back now, sweetheart.” He held out his palm and Jasmine balked, the flush to her cheeks told him she was about to lie.
“Don’t have them, Nath…” He was in front of her in an instant, and she rolled her eyes and slammed the front door closed again. As he held his hand out to her, a smirk lifted his lips.
“You’re mate told you to stay put.” He offered, as he reached for the hand that she casually held behind her back and snatched his keys away.
“I hate you.” She whispered, and he couldn’t help chuckle.
“Now claws away little Fae, I’m just the messenger.” He informed her as he turned on his heels and walked back towards Sky, who was watching with interest.
“What are you his guard dog?” Jasmine sneered. She stomped off into the office area to the right, not waiting for his answer. Crossing her arms over her chest, she comforted herself with the knowledge that they couldn’t watch her twenty four hours a day, and she would get to her damn Grimoire’s if it was the last thing she did.
Sienna had assigned her a bedroom and Jasmine decided to retreat there and consider how best to get past the pack and her all knowing vampire ex, to be able to leave the confines of her comfortable prison that she found herself in.
She didn’t consider the mating process to be a worthwhile pursuit of her time when there was so much more important things to do. Like finding that damn illusive spell that she had been searching for. It might not seem important to Nathan, or her new mate, but it was to her, and she wouldn’t let a little thing like other people’s opinion sway her.
She had been fighting the council for years over this. They told her it couldn’t be done, and then conceded that if it could be done, it shouldn’t be done. But that wasn’t going to stop her. Nothing would stop her from trying to change a wrong from her past. Not Nathan, not the Fae council, and not her potential mate.
The sound of the bedroom door opening brought her out of her musings, and she didn’t need to turn around to know who had entered. Firstly, she suspected that only the Alpha himself would be so rude as to believe he could just enter her room without knocking. Secondly, her body started to hum with the knowledge that he was close. And the third thing was the urge within her to turn and see him standing there.
Jasmine tried to reinforced the shields around her, readjust them to block him out just a little more, but it was becoming an almost impossible task to accomplish, and when he closed the distance between them, standing so close behind her, as she stood looking out of the window, she could actually feel his heat warming her, and fought the urge to sink back against him.
“Nathan tells me that you were trying to leave.” There was a definite growl of annoyance within those deep rolled tones that felt both chastising and as sexy as hell.
“Nathan has a big mouth and no loyalty.” Jasmine offered. Not really the apology that he was certain to be looking for. She waited for the recrimination of her actions, but heard him only sigh. His hot breath caressed her cheek and she felt the long shudder of her body responding to his and closed her eyes, trying to push it away.
“Am I that distasteful to you that you would risk running from me, Jasmine?”
CHAPTER FIVE
Goddess, no. The very opposite. I want to turn and crawl up your body. I want to… oh crap!... Jasmine bit down on her lower lip and kept her mouth firmly shut for fear that she would only put her damn foot in her mouth.
“I see.” Wade offered. Taking a step back away from her, even though it physically pained him to do so, and mentally all but crushed his desire to take her, but it did little to quash the need within him. But he wouldn’t take a mate who had no interest in him, who didn’t want to be taken. No matter how much it pained him.
When Jasmine heard the bedroom door close behind him, she turned on a frown. She had expected him to touch her, to try to secure the pull between them with underhanded means. His withdrawal from the room left her more confused than relieved. It seemed her mate was more honourable than she had given him credit for.
Sienna wasn’t entirely worried about Jasmine lack of appearance for dinner, even if she could tell from Wade’s demeanour that things weren’t running entirely smoothly between the mates.
He was preoccupied with the hunt for the rogue, but even so, she could sense that Jasmine was troubling him more now.
Nathan seemed to be charming her daughter with ease. But the mating call was always going to be
easier on a Lycan female than a Fae one. So the battle was already half won in Nathan’s favour. But even so, Sienna had to admit that Nathan’s easygoing temperament and abundance of charm were more than alluring, and that Vampire tone that was melodic and enticing didn’t hurt either.
“How’s the hunt for the rogue going?” Nathan eyed the alpha across the table, causing Wade to straighten in his chair a little more and pay attention to what was happening around him.
“Not well, we we’re thinking of using your skills to try to track him. It seems he is masking his scent to us, but you might not have that problem.” Wade admitted, and watched his sister squirm a little in her seat, uncomfortable at the thought of the rogue still being out there somewhere.
“Whatever you need, but I will need to scent your pack…” Nathan warned and the alpha nodded.
“We’d already discussed it. If we do ask you to join us, we would of course make sure that it was only a small hunting party that was out, and you would meet them beforehand.” Wade was only half minded on the conversation, his eyes kept flicking up towards the top of the stairs, either in the hope that his mate would appear, or because he was worried about her.
Nathan watched him for a long moment, unsure if his advice where Jasmine was concerned would be welcomed.
“She searches for a spell. It consumes her to the point that she has put the rest of her life on hold for it.” Nathan offered, and watched as Wade dragged his eyes down to hold his gaze.
“Why?” It was a simple enough question, and Nathan wasn’t sure how much detail he should go into, but he assumed that if he knew the whole story then her mate had the right too.
“When I met Jasmine she was sixteen years old. She had found out from the council that I held numerous Grimoire’s dating back…” Nathan paused and rolled his eyes. “A very long time.” He flicked his eyes down to his mate, who grinned up at him, knowing that it amused her to try to find out how old he actually was.
“She was actually trying to borrow quite a few when I caught her.” His eyes flashed with amusement as he recalled the look on her face when he had found her. The little waif that had the audacity to break into a vampire’s lair to steal from him, had amused, and impressed him all at once. “The spell apparently dated back centuries and was supposed to allow the Fae to travel into the past to be able to interact with the people of that time…” Nathan took a moment to roll the thought around his mind.
“Jasmine lost her entire family to an accident when she was fourteen. She wanted to use the spell to go back and warn her parents that they were in danger. To stop them going down the same path, and to ensure that they wouldn’t die that day.” He heard the slight whimper of sadness that came from Sienna, and when he brought his eyes up to the alpha, he could see the compassion that resided there.
“So, she’s not so much running away from you, Alpha, as she is running to change her past and keep her family safe. She wants the Grimoire’s and it burns like a fire within her, has done for the last five years, and will do until she finds that damn Grimoire that contains the spell.” Nathan spanned his hands and shook his head. “She has to know if it could work.”
Wade got to his feet, pushing the chair back with the back of his knees and took off for the staircase. Climbing faster than ever before with a need that burned within him to get to his mate. He rushed down the corridor to her room and threw the door open, startling her into spinning around to look at him, as he stared down at her.
“If you promise not to try to leave, I will get you to your Grimoire’s or the Grimoire’s to you as soon as the rogue is dead. Good enough?”
Jasmine took a step back from him and stared up in confusion, and then it hit her, Nathan. Jasmine took a moment to steady her nerves. She had the desire to march downstairs and beat the living daylights out of the damn loose lipped vampire, but that would only break her hand.
“Good enough.” Jasmine agreed, and when he turned to leave she added. “Tell Nathan to mind his own damn business.” She watched as Wade turned once again to leave and then hesitated, turning back towards her.
“You should have told me.” He didn’t give her time to answer. He turned and left straight away, closing the door behind him and leaving her to own thoughts.
Perhaps she should have. Perhaps she was being too harsh on the Lycan, he was her mate. Idiot. Perhaps you’re losing your mind. The spell is what matters, anything else is just twaddle.
Sky unconsciously edged a little closer to Nathan at the table and he smiled to himself, knowing that his mate had no real natural control to fight the mating call, unlike Jasmine.
“So if you have all of these Grimoire’s, why don’t you just hand them over to the Fae council?” She asked, before popping another forkful of Sienna chocolate fudge cake into her mouth and revelling in the explosion of heaven on her taste buds.
“Because, that would make them too powerful.” Nathan offered lightly, but she frowned in confusion.
“Why would it make them too powerful?”
“Because the Grimoire’s contain many powerful spells, including spells on how to kill Lycan and Vampire.”
“But they really belong to the Fae council, don’t they?”
“In a way. But the witches that entrusted me with them knew that I would keep them safe.”
“Why would the witches give them to you?”
“Many reasons. Some Fae do not trust the council and it has been that way for a long time. Some came from solitary witches, who want nothing to do with the council…” Nathan watched her mind work. He could see she had her next question before he had finished answering her last and he liked that.
“How many do you have?” Sky asked as she turned her eyes to Nathan, and for a long moment he was lost.
“Many.” Was all he could come up with until she dropped her eyes back to her plate, and he regained some control over his brain although other areas of his body weren’t as easy to control.
“And what’s to stop the Fae coming for them?”
“They are in vaulted steel rooms, under many different houses, on many different continents.” Nathan offered, reaching out his hand to gently tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and she caught her breath, losing her chain of thought.
“How many houses?” Sky’s chain of thought detoured, she’d never left the woods, not for any real length of time, and here was her mate telling her that he owned property all over the world. Maybe she just might be able to spread her wings and fly after all.
“Many. Too many to remember.”
“Ballpark figure?” Sky smiled sweetly, she wasn’t going to be shirked off with a non answer for this question.
Nathan leaned in towards her and lowered his voice, although he knew with those around him, they could still hear what he had to say, but he just wanted the intimacy of getting closer to her.
“If you’re asking me if we will travel the world together little she-wolf, the answer is yes. Wherever your heart desires to go, I’ll take you there.” Nathan’s breath touched her cheek and she caught her breath again as a shiver of desire rushed through her.
Her eyes flicked to her mother’s, who was standing on the other side of the room at the counter, busying herself with nothing much at all. An air of sadness pushed away the excitement within her. While she wanted to travel and see everything she could, the thought of leaving her home, her mother and her pack saddened her.
“What if I don’t want to go?” Sky asked, confusion rushing through her.
“Then we won’t. Just tell me what you want, what you really, really want…” Nathan could feel her mixed emotions and tried to sooth her.
“What are you a spice girl?” Sky snapped. Pushing her chair back with her knees and stalking out of the room, elbowing Wade on his way back in. He growled at her as she went, but she made no effort to apologise.
Nathan dropped his forehead to the table and slowly lifted and dropped it again, over and over.
“I feel
your pain brother, does it help?” Nathan lifted his head and the alpha motioned to his forehead. Nathan mulled over his answer.
“It doesn’t not help.” He sighed, and dropped his head against the table again, the sound of Sienna’s chuckle drifting to his ears.
“At least your mate is talking to you.” Wade offered and Nathan pulled himself up to his elbows on the table, propping his chin in his hands, he gave a non committal shrug.
“That’s not always a good thing. But at least she doesn’t zap me…” Nathan couldn’t help but grin as Wade growled at the memory, the pain still as clear as day. Wade eyed him. Not sure if he wanted to rehash the thought of them as lovers, it made him want to tear limbs off the damn vampire.
“What you experienced earlier was a love tap. That woman has thrown me across rooms, with and without the zap.” Nathan informed him with an unimpressed frown and Wade raised an eyebrow in contemplation.
“Has she now? So how strong is her magic?” Wade thought it was prudent to find out. He didn’t much care for magic, but it was a part of his mate that he couldn’t deny her. She was Fae, she would always use her magic, even if he tried to forbid it, and he wouldn’t. As long as she hurt none of their pack, she was free to use her powers.
“I wasn’t kidding earlier, Wade. She can be quite formidable.” Nathan warned him. Better that he be prepared for her gifts, because when she was pushed too far she would use them. “I’m surprised that she hasn’t already employed her magic to leave.”
“She could do that?” Wade looked towards the stairs, listening for his mate’s heartbeat and to his relief, finding it.
“That and more.” Nathan informed him, getting to his feet and lifting the last two plates at the table and walking them to the counter. His eyes connected with Sienna as he walked around towards her and lifted the back of her hand, placing a gentle brush of his lips against her skin.