by M. L. Briers
“There’s no escaping the fact that I’m your mate and you’re mine,” he growled again at the thought of it.
His wolf was still antsy inside of him from her first attempt at escape, and they both expected there to be more, but right now both man and beast were happy to have her within their home.
“Define- escaping,” she offered back to him, and there it was, proof if ever he needed it that she was a damn runner.
He allowed that grin to take his lips once more. Even if his heart was racing within his damn chest, and his mind was expecting the worst as his muscles tightened in premature anticipation of her getting up and running for the door.
She was way more subtle than that. If she was going to try to run then she’d wait for an opportune moment.
How far could she get right now? The edge of the sofa- maybe halfway towards the door- unless she used magic and then all bets were off.
“Define me hunting you down,” he didn’t want to continue with that thought. This time, if she ran, he didn’t think his beast would be so forgiving of her.
“Define me kicking your ass,” she shot back- shooting more evil thoughts from her pretty blue eyes.
“Hmm,” he held her gaze until a thumping on his front door snatched his attention and made him groan in annoyance. “Go away!” he tossed over his shoulder.
“Open the damn door. I have a bone to pick with you!” The voice was feminine and miffed, and it caused him to groan.
“See, you don’t need me to toss the ball for you,” Janette shot him a smirk a moment before he jumped up and stalked away. “You have a playmate.”
She wasn’t quite sure why that thought lodged deep within her psyche, and it was as good as if she’d had a little evil fairy appear on her shoulder whispering bad thing in her ear. A pang of jealousy ensued, and she tried to dismiss it. The owner of that voice might well have been a female, but there was no saying that she wasn’t related to him- this was his pack.
Maverick yanked open the front door and stared down at trouble with a capital T. Mari was short in stature- but she could pack a punch like his mate had, only without the need for magic behind it.
She stood there in her cut off shorts and tank top, hands on hips, and with a look of disgust and disbelief on her face that signified she was about to go into another rant. Something every male in the pack was painfully accustomed too.
Mari had an anger management problem. That in itself wasn’t unheard of in a pack that size, but she was a female, and the men couldn’t very well punch her lights out when she annoyed them.
“Tell me that you do not have a damn witch in there,” Mari growled out. Her inner wolf was rattling a growl that caught in her throat and underscored her words.
“I do not have a damn witch in here,” He shot back and she scrunched up her face and gave a small shake of her head.
“Liar!” she could scent his deceit.
“True, but you asked me to tell you that. You never asked for the truth,” Maverick shot back with a killer smile that was meant to disarm her- it didn’t work. How could it? This was Mari.
“A witch- mate?” she growled again and Maverick’s beast was all over her attitude.
“Back off, Mari,” he warned her.
Mari went up on tiptoes to crane her neck and try get a look over his right shoulder at the woman sitting on his damn sofa like she owned the place. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t right.
“This is pack land, no damn witches allowed,” Mari growled out.
“This is my house, my mate, and keep a civil tongue in your head, woman,” he growled back.
Maverick’s wolf was getting antsy within him. He could scent the way that Mari’s rant was going. She didn’t like witches, but that was her problem, not his.
“The witch has no place here,” Mari’s eyes flashed with her beast- going from brown to black instantly with the rush of anger that had taken hold of her senses.
In her book witches were the lowest fruit on the food chain. She’d protect a human, but never a witch. Mate or not- she had to go before she the damn woman brought trouble to their land.
“You have no place at my doorstep-” he growled back. Anger flashing inside of him at her lack of decorum where the hierarchy of the pack was concerned. She was an Omega and he was a beta- and if she continued to press the point then he would put her in her place.
“More right to be here than a witch,” Mari growled back.
Maverick was just about to take a step towards her when he felt the presence of his mate at his back. Her warmth did something to him- soothed him- soothed the beast within, and now wasn’t exactly the best of times for that to happen- he froze in place, not wanting to let that feeling go.
Then he felt her hand against the naked skin of his back. Just the lightest of touches from her fingertips that made a warmth spread within him, and his length ache to be buried inside of her body…
“Problem?” Janette’s tone was acid mixed with a challenge that he didn’t want to hear because he knew that it would only escalate the situation.
“Big one, you,” Mari growled back and Maverick’s beast raised its head once more.
“Tough, go bark up another tree-” Janette hissed back.
Mari took the slur on the chin and rallied back. Her beast rose within her and she drew her top lip back, letting the growl that rolled within her chest turn into a snarl.
~
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
Maverick’s beast snapped. He took that step forward and opened his mouth on a roar of rage that had the she-wolf taking a long step back and opening her neck to his gaze, his will.
Her gaze was averted from her beta, locked onto the wooden slats of the porch, and she shivered as fear gripped her beast.
“Leave. Now.” Maverick growled with everything that he had. A warning. A promise of what would happen if she opened her mouth one more time.
Mari took a series of quick steps backwards. Keeping her eyes down and her neck open for his eyes, she started away from the cabin. But the sound of her muttering and cursing hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Would you really have attacked her?” Janette’s words brought him back to the moment, and his wolf softened inside of him. Not much, but enough for him to control it.
“If she’d continued to challenge me, yes.” He turned and she was right there in front of him- so close that he wanted to reach out, scoop her up, and take her to the nearest wall to bury his length inside of her body and claim her as his.
His beast was still riled up. Hell, he was still riled up and some stress relief wouldn’t go amiss. She was stress relief of the best kind, and he could lose himself within her, of that he was sure.
“But, she’s female.”
Janette’s frown worried him. He didn’t want her to think that he went around attacking women, and yet, everyone in the pack knew their place and knew what would happen if they overstepped the line.
Mari had done that in spades…
“She’s also an omega, and a she-wolf,” he explained. “There are rules within a pack that keep it functional.”
“Rules that I would have to abide by,” she was half talking to herself.
“Yes.”
“I don’t like rules,” she gave a small shake of her head.
“You’re a witch, it doesn’t surprise me.”
Janette tipped her chin up in defiance and he caught that stance. His beast growled within him- that sound, like distant thunder, rumbled within his chest but never made it to his throat.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She locked her gaze on his and felt a fresh flush within her body. His eyes devoured her very soul.
“We have rules for a reason. Any pack would quickly fall apart without them. Witches,” he sighed. “Witches are… about anarchy-”
“That’s not true,” she shook her head. “We have rules too, and covens, and a guiding council-”
“Yes, but those seem to be loose
rules,” he offered back.
“First- do no harm,” she tilted that chin up further as her hands went to her curvy hips, and his beast growled again at her show of defiance.
“And yet you had no problem with zapping me- how many times already?” He was trying to silence his beast, but she wasn’t making that easy.
“Different,” she snapped back as her eyes flared, and there was that spark of fire within the blueness again.
Damn, but he liked that. He wanted to see that fire as he took her down his hard length…
“Not even remotely.” He took a step and backed her up into the cabin. Tossing the door closed behind him as he went.
“I’m allowed to defend myself,” she shot back, her eyebrows arching upwards.
“From me?” He scowled at her words.
“From anyone,” she shot back.
“I’m no threat to you, little witch,” he growled again. “Not unless you run.” He warned her.
“Then what?” She shot back, knowing perfectly well what would happen next if she took off, but she wanted to prove her point. He was a danger to her, a big one, and not just with the whole running thing, but even now- when she wanted to dislike him- dismiss him- her body was starting to crave his touch, crave him.
When she’d stood behind his back at the door her fingers had reached out and touched him- it was instinctive and she’d had no control over that. Even now- her fingers still tingled with the need to make contact with his skin- to have that connection with him.
Maverick took another step to close the distance between them and she held her ground.
Brave witch- with the way his beast was growling within him he’d have thought that she would have backed up another few steps.
“Then I would hunt you down and take you in a way that no man should ever take a woman.” Maverick disgusted himself with that idea. He’d rather drive a silver knife right through his heart than hurt her like that.
Janette stared up into his eyes- unblinking as that thought pinged around her brain. In a split second it had morphed into something completely different- the thought of him feral, powerful, caging her body with his as he drove into her with mindless abandon. So different from what he had described and yet such a potent image to her body.
“You could do that?”
No. Yes. No…
He argued that thought within his own mind. He had no control over his beast if the damn thing took him over completely- forced back his humanity…
Slowly, he shook his head.
“I don’t know, and that scares the hell out of me.” It was the truth. No lies. No frills. No pretty words or promises that he couldn’t keep.
He took another step towards her and she didn’t move. Snared in place by his eyes on hers. Mesmerised by images within her own mind, and not the black ones that he painted so well.
“Please don’t run from me again.” He begged. “I don’t want to ever find out.”
Janette’s breath caught within her throat. His eyes were pleading. His words were begging.
“I…” she took another breath and that one caught too.
Her body was practically tingling from head to toe. Her heart was racing and her palms were sweating, and she absently rubbed them against the thin material at her thighs.
She had butterflies dancing within her stomach, and she licked her lips as she became dry…
Another growl rumbled through his chest as his eyes went down to her lips- that pink tip of her tongue that teased him, invited him. He wanted to taste her. Know her…
A heartbeat later and Maverick had scooped her up against the length of his body and turned her back towards the nearest wall, backing her up until she had nowhere else to go as he caged her soft body with his. He locked his gaze with hers as another rumble went through his chest- hungrier this time, needier, greedier.
Janette felt his power, his strength- not in the physical sense- he was a man and she was a woman- that was always going to be there- he was a shifter and she was human- it was a given, but in the very real sense of how it affected her body, ripening it towards that mating pull that would drive all her other senses away. Override her judgement, and force her to accept that he was her one true love.
“Say my name,” Maverick’s lips were just a breath away from hers. She could hear his beast close to the surface, that low rumble in his chest, and the depth of his voice.
It was potent.
She knew that she should attempt to push him away, but she also knew that she didn’t want that.
Too potent by far.
She knew that she should be thinking about a way to head for the hills on fast legs, but she also knew that she didn’t want that either…
Too potent to deny.
She wanted him.
She wanted to know how it would feel when his lips were on hers.
She wanted to know how it would feel to have every inch of his naked body pressed against her, and be wrapped around it like a damn vine.
She wanted to know how it would feel to have that large cock pushing into her channel, deep and unyielding, causing a glorious friction that would take her into the realm of insanity.
She wanted to know how his name would feel on her tongue, to her ears when she said it…
“Maverick,” she offered, made somewhat breathless by the sheer magnitude of realising that this man was… hers.
He held right there against her. His hard length throbbing between their bodies. His lips so close, so temptingly close…
“You’re right,” he growled, hungrily, but a lot more gently this time. “Names do hold power.”
Before she could think, could speak, his lips brushed against hers. So delicately that she wondered if she’d imaged it, but the wave of excitement that gripped her told her that she hadn’t. That jolt to her womb fired fresh life to blossom within her- life of the sexual nature.
When she didn’t move, didn’t deny him, didn’t zap him with her magic- he took that as a good sign.
He claimed her lips with his.
Janette had waited, wondered, imagined, and yet, it was nothing like she’d thought it would be.
She thought that he’d be brutal, feral, and savage in his kiss. Owning her. Stamping his mark on her like a wild man, and yet he was so gentle, so deliberate in tasting her lips as he ran the tip of his tongue against the seam, that she felt it all the more deeply.
The warmth of his hand ran down over her hip and caused her to push forward against him. The heat of his cock as it twitched against her stomach more than evident, and shooting X-rated images into her mind that fired her body just as much as it fired her imagination.
His other hand cupped the back of her neck, holding her in place, as he pressed his tongue into her mouth, and she didn’t think once, she opened for him. His tongue claimed her, gently at first, as a low, deep growl went through his chest.
Then he swirled his tongue against hers, and tasted her for real, greedily, hungrily, building that kiss into something so powerful, so tantalising, so overwhelming that every inch of her body burned for more.
Her hands climbed up his naked chest. Her fingers had been itching to touch, to test his muscles, to explore those hard curved and dips, and she didn’t hold back.
Maverick tore his lips from hers and allowed her to breathe as he traced down over her jaw, down her neck, and nipped with blunt teeth against her skin before sucking away that pain.
He wasn’t surprised when she angled her head away from him and opened up her neck, submission, it was in her nature- she was mate after all.
Her fingers climbed up to his thick neck and she curled her hand around the back of it, urging him close, urging him on. She would have climbed up his body and wrapped her legs around his hips right there and then if she’d felt that she had enough strength left to do it.
Her knees were weak. Her legs were shaking. Her whole body was alive with wanting him.
This wasn’t her. She didn’t do this
. She didn’t know him- not really.
He was her mate. A sure bet. The real thing, and it didn’t feel wrong.
He felt right. So damn right that all she wanted to do was to taste him right back. Run her tongue over his skin, down those damn muscles that packed out his chest, and drop to her knees to take him in her mouth.
She shocked herself with that admission, but she didn’t push it away, embracing it.
Maverick’s lips were back on hers. He couldn’t get enough of her. He wanted to drink her in- to breathe her in, and to feel her body swallowing his hard length as he drove inside of her.
The feel of her hands exploring him made him hungrier than he’d ever been for a woman. He wanted to call a halt to it- to give her more time to come to terms with everything, and yet- he couldn’t seem to drag himself away.
His muscles twitched and recoiled under her gentle touch- only to search for it again, but she was moving on- moving down his body, and his cock twitched within his jeans in the hope that she wouldn’t stop.
Janette traced the line of hair down towards the waistband of his jeans, recalling it so well from staring at it like a damned schoolgirl with her first look at a real man’s body.
Her fingers dipped beneath the material and encounter the heat of his cock as it stood upwards and proud, twitching hello as he growled, grunted, and groaned from just the brush of her fingertips against his flesh…
She didn’t think of what next. What came after this? Because, quite frankly, she didn’t give a damn.
~
CHAPTER NINE
~
Janette lowered the zip with her other hand and captured his heat within her closed fist. He broke away from her lips with a growl that was as needy as it was hungry.
“Don’t tease me, woman,” he begged. Resting his forehead against hers and closing his eyes to the feel of her hand as she stroked down his length…