by E A Price
Deanna groaned, and her bobcat flexed her claws. “It was before we were a couple and it was more like a knee-jerk reaction. He didn’t really want to date me.”
Casey muttered under his breath, and she began feathering kisses over his chest. Her bobcat let out a soft, soothing purr. “I just think that the party will be fun.”
“Please, It’ll be full of drunken dickheads who will try to hump anyone who moves.”
She chuckled. “You know from experience?”
He nodded. “I used to be one of them.” He cupped her cheek. “Trust me, that party is not the place for a sweet bobcat like you.”
“Sweet? You make me sound like some kind of naïve little girl; do I need to remind you of how we first met?”
A lascivious smile flashed over his features as his wolf howled gleefully. Nope, she definitely didn’t have to remind him. Admittedly, parts of that night were a blur due to too much alcohol, but their first encounter, a steamy liaison in a handicapped bathroom, was firmly ingrained into his memory.
He ran his hands down her back and softly massaged her buttocks. “That depends on how you’re going to remind me.”
Deanna smiled and traced circles with her finger on his chest. “I just kind of thought it would be nice to relax, and not have to worry about anyone else for one night.”
Casey felt an immediate twinge of guilt. Growing up he’d been pretty wild and had happily sowed his wild oats, doing whatever the hell he wanted. But Deanna had always had to be responsible and take care of her younger siblings. Not that she minded, she was absolutely devoted to her family and wouldn’t swap her life for anything. It just meant that she hadn’t exactly had any chance to really be a kid.
As it stood, he and Deanna were sharing a house with her grandmother, four younger siblings and the mate of one of her siblings. The family all pulled together to support one another, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to let loose once in a while and not worry about whether everyone would make it to school, or their doctor and dentist appointments on time.
While some people thought that Deanna and Casey were ill-matched, Deanna completely disagreed. She was making him more responsible, and he was showing her how to have a good time. They complimented one another.
Deanna saw him wavering. “Grandma’s away visiting her friends in Florida and the kids are sleeping over at your mom’s house for the night. We have a free night, so let's have some fun.”
“We can have fun at home, just the two of us.” Free from dozens of unmated males slobbering over her.
“We do that every night…”
His wolf was getting increasingly frustrated with the direction of this conversation. “Because it’s better than going out.”
“We don’t have to stay long…”
“We don’t have to stay at all,” he replied stubbornly.
Deanna gave him a naughty smile. “Just an hour and then you’ll have me for the rest of the night.”
“No, absolutely not. I am putting my foot down. We are not going to that party.”
*
14th February
Deanna squeezed her mate’s hand as she pulled him into Hunter and Jimmy’s house. He harrumphed but allowed her to lead him through the throng of people.
The party was in full swing. Hunter and Jimmy had actually thrown around a few pink and red streamers to make the house look festive. They found both hosts in the living room playing pool. Casey’s eyes bulged on seeing that both his friends were already shirtless. It appeared to be some kind of strip pool…
They both grinned and ducked out of the game on seeing Deanna and Casey.
“Hey guys!” Hunter moved to give Deanna a hug and Casey pulled her back against his body, snarling at the other male.
Hunter chuckled. “Settle down, killer.”
“Glad you came,” said Jimmy. “Drink?”
Deanna asked for a beer and Casey said he wasn’t thirsty. Since bonding with Deanna, he had eased up on drinking. Spending time with his pretty mate was much more fun than being drunk.
Casey helped her out of her coat and dumped both his and hers in the closet. He held back a growl as he came back to find Deanna sipping her beer and chatting to his two friends. Immediately, he approached and snaked one hand around her chest and the other around her waist. He forced himself not to growl the word ‘mine.’ They knew she belonged to him; he didn’t honestly think they would try anything with her. It’s just that he’d feel a little more secure once they were mated.
Deanna rubbed her mate’s arm with her spare hand. Everyone seemed like they were having a good time, and most people were already drunk and a lot were involved in some heavy petting. A warm, happy buzz pulsated through the party.
She looked between Jimmy and Hunter. “The party’s great, but how can you afford to ply all these people with beer? It must be costing a fortune.”
Jimmy shook his head. “Nah, everyone gives us money to cover anything they eat or drink.”
“Or destroy,” muttered Casey, as one rambunctious couple making out on the couch managed to knock over a lamp.
“Eat?” asked Deanna, looking round for food.
“Yeah, there’re about eighteen bags of pretzels in the kitchen. You should check them out.”
“I will; so what’s the charge?”
Hunter grinned. “Twenty bucks for females and thirty bucks for males.”
Deanna frowned, but Casey rolled his eyes. That arrangement had been his suggestion when the three of them first started throwing parties. They wanted more females at the parties than they did males.
“Oh, I didn’t realize. I can…”
Hunter winked at her and then smirked at Casey. “No charge for you, beautiful.”
Casey grunted as his wolf snapped and snarled. Hunter was just an ass; there was nothing to it.
Deanna graced his friends with a sweet smile. Far too sweet for those two bozos. “Thanks guys, we’re grateful, right, Casey?”
She elbowed her grumbling mate, and he muttered his agreement.
“I’m impressed so many people turned up.”
Hunter chuckled. “It’s Valentine’s! Everyone’s looking for love.”
“You think they’re going to find love here?”
Jimmy gave her a wry smile. “Yeah, I mean who meets their mate at a party when they’re drunk, and they’ve lost all their inhibitions?”
Deanna blushed; that was exactly how she met her mate.
Hunter nodded his head at Casey. “We figure if this one can meet someone like you and trick her into mating with him – anything’s possible.”
Casey’s wolf huffed a little, but Casey couldn’t deny that logic. Best thing he ever did was convince Deanna to mate with him. He still didn’t know how he pulled it off.
Deanna chewed her cheek. “Umm hmmm, and I take it all this alcohol was bought for you by a responsible adult?”
As much fun as Deanna wanted to have, she could never really shed her responsible side. Both Hunter and Jimmy were just shy of turning 21.
Jimmy nodded fervently. “We’ve made sure everyone who has come through the door is either over 21 or is with someone who is.”
Hunter agreed. “Yep, no need to arrest us. Unless you’re dying to see me in handcuffs?” He wagged his eyebrows suggestively.
Deanna giggled as Casey let out a furious roar. His wolf was livid. Those handcuffs were for her job and sometimes for him and Deanna when they got a little kinky.
Hunter almost choked with laughter. “Ah, man, you’re just too easy.”
Deanna wriggled out of her mate’s grasp and put her drink down. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“I’ll come too,” said Casey quickly.
Her eyes bulged a little. “No, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“You can’t go anywhere on your own.”
Jimmy gave him an odd look. “Jeez, man, she’s your mate, not your hostage. Let her go to the bathroom.”
Deanna flu
ttered her eyelids and brushed a kiss over her mate’s lips. “I won’t be long.”
Casey fidgeted as he watched her go. He found his friends giving him matching concerned looks. “What?” he snapped.
Hunter shrugged. “Nothing, you just seem so… different.”
Casey’s jaw ticked as his wolf prowled. “I guess I am different.”
“You’re lucky, Dee’s great. But, we’re still friends right?”
Casey frowned. “Of course.”
Jimmy licked his lips. “You know that we would never try anything with Dee, right? Don’t get me wrong, Dee’s hot, but we aren’t interested. She’s your mate, and we respect that.”
Casey let out a long sigh. “I’m trying to make my wolf believe that, but he just sees every male as a threat.”
Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, we’ll probably be the same when it happens to us. We just… kind of…” Hunter shifted uncomfortably.
Casey forced himself not to smile. His friends missed him. He’d been so paranoid about anyone trying to steal his mate that he had cut himself off from his friends. In his defense, they’d only been together for a few weeks. The mating was very new.
Casey shuffled from foot to foot as his wolf whined. “I’m sorry guys; I’ve been acting like an ass.”
“Nothing new there,” quipped Jimmy.
“I just can’t stand her being around unmated males.”
Hunter slapped him on the back. “Yeah, well, you have nothing to worry about from these two unmated males.”
“Yeah, plus we like Dee, we wanna hang out with the both of you,” agreed Jimmy.
Hunter looked at him wickedly. “Or if you wanna stay home and just let Dee come out and play with us, we’re fine with that too.”
Casey narrowed his eyes. “Not happening, asshole. But, yeah, for some unknown reason my mate actually likes you two. I keep telling her that you’re dumbasses, but she doesn’t believe me. I bet she’d like to hang out with you too.”
“Good, Dee will be happy to hear that; she was kind of worried about you…”
“What?” demanded Casey. “You’ve been talking about me behind my back with my mate?”
Jimmy groaned and shot Hunter a look of annoyance. “She was just a bit concerned about you. She’s worried that you seem to have given up your friends, as well as the pack. She was feeling guilty.”
His wolf squirmed a little. She had tried to broach the subject more than once, and he had always shot her down. He had gladly left his childhood pack to be with her. Damnit, he’d follow her to fucking Jupiter if he had to! But, he could understand that she was feeling like she was asking too much. She wasn’t, but he understood if she had a little doubt about it.
Hunter looked at him solemnly and put a hand on his shoulder. “You need to take care of your female. Or, if you’re not up to the task me and Jimmy…”
Casey knocked his hand away and punched him in the arm – hard. His wolf was at least happy with that. “I’ll catch you guys later; I gotta talk to my mate.”
They said goodbye while trying to hide their sniggers, and then disappeared into the party crowd.
Casey was lucky to find Deanna just as she was getting out the bathroom. He took her by the waist and maneuvered her back inside. Eagerly, he pressed his lips to hers and took her mouth in a searing kiss.
She ran her hands over his shoulders and panted from the intensity of their embrace. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”
He leaned his forehead against hers. “I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to be.”
A look of irritation flitted over her pretty face. “Which one blabbed?”
A laugh rumbled through his muscled chest. ‘Doesn’t matter; I’m not giving up my friends, I’m just having a bit of trouble trying to prove to my wolf that you’re safe around them. They’re major horndogs.”
“I’m safe around any men, because, even if they are horndogs, I’m only horny for one guy. You might know him, six foot two, very cute and an absolute god between the sheets.”
His wolf puffed out his chest. “Yeah, that rings a bell.”
A twinge of guilt assaulted her, and her bobcat whimpered softly. She hadn’t realized how hard he was finding their transition to mated couple, and she hadn’t exactly helped. “I’m sorry if me teasing you about Jake made things worse.”
Casey ran his hands over her ass. “Don’t be sorry, I kind of like you teasing me. I know you’re kidding, and I like you when you’re playful.”
Deanna preened and pushed her body against his. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, kitten,” he murmured in her ear.
She felt a tingling as his rock-hard erection pressed against her stomach. “You know, this bathroom reminds me of our first time.”
A smug smile adorned his face. “Oh yeah, when you seduced me and demanded I make love to you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Or more like you were hiding from your ex-girlfriend and literally ran into me.”
Casey ran his hands down her legs as he kneeled in front of her. “And then you seduced me…”
“And then I was so attracted to you that I… that I asked you if you wanted to… you know…
“Send you to heaven?” He slowly unzipped her boots and took them off. Next followed her pantyhose and, he almost swooned at seeing it, her thong.
Deanna wriggled her hips and moaned as he pushed a finger inside her heat. “Sure, okay, and then you practically tripped over your tongue getting me to the bathroom.”
“What can I say? It wasn’t every day that an angel practically ripped her clothes off to be with me, speaking of which…”
He abruptly stood up and pulled her dress over her head. Her hands sought his shirt, roughly pulling it open. She kissed her way over his chest as he desperately freed himself from his pants.
He cupped her ass and pulled her up his body, quickly impaling her on his thick length. She cried out in delight as every nerve ending came alive. He pushed her against the wall and began driving himself into her with fierce strokes. She squealed each time he filled her, dancing a delicious line between pain and pleasure.
Her bobcat yowled in glee, and her claws sprung forth, digging into his hard shoulders. He roared and forced himself inside her, enthusiastically seeking his release. His own claws lengthened and pierced the soft flesh of her milky thighs.
Deanna screamed as her orgasm struck her like lightning. She clutched at his body as her bobcat went wild, and her body shuddered around him. It was too much for him; he roared and exploded inside her, burying his head in her shoulder and eagerly biting her. His wolf howled, and she moaned as an unexpected second climax rocked her body.
Casey held his whimpering and trembling mate as he laved the fresh bite mark on her shoulder. Since bonding, he hadn’t bitten her again. Yes, often their claws came out to play – so often that they were grateful they were shifters. Otherwise, they’d look like pincushions, but he didn’t tend to bite. However, if this were the way she was going to react, he could see that he would have to make it a regular thing.
She hungrily sought his mouth and groaned at tasting her own blood on his tongue.
A sharp knock on the door brought them back to their senses. “Would you hurry up? We need to use the bathroom!”
Casey chuckled and gave his mate another quick kiss. “Happy Valentine’s, kitten.”
“Happy Valentine’s, mate.” Mine.
Kira & Gabe – Wedding
12th February
“Oh my god! This is a disaster! The wedding is cursed! We’re never getting married!”
Kira Norton hugged her twin sister, Lilah. “It’s okay, honey. It’s gonna be okay.”
Kira was in New Mexico for her sister’s wedding. Lilah was due to marry her true mate, Tommy, a massive bear shifter, on Valentine’s Day. However, things were not exactly running smoothly. Other than the latest disaster, there had been issues with the caterers, hiring the tables and chairs, the honeymo
on plane tickets, family members turning up who hadn’t RSVP’d…
Lilah sobbed into her sister’s shoulder. “Why did I think a month was long enough to plan a wedding?”
Kira soothed her and rubbed her back as her wolf tried to pacify her. “It’ll be fine; we can handle this.”
Kira and Lilah were both wolf shifters and Omegas. They were able to sense and help soothe their pack mates’ emotions. Kira lived in Virginia with her mate; a wolf shifter called Gabe North, who she had mated with a couple of months ago. He was also visiting, but while Kira was in charge of keeping Lilah on track, Gabe had been drafted in to take charge of Tommy.
Lilah, after a disastrously bad first marriage to an abusive wolf shifter, met her true mate just before Christmas. By New Year’s, they were engaged. Lilah wanted to wait until they were married to bond with one another, and, unable to wait for long, Tommy insisted they get married as soon as absolutely possible. He was besotted with Lilah, and desperately wanted her bonded to him before she had a chance to change her mind. They had dated as teenagers, but Tommy had dumped her when he went to college, for which he was now infinitely ashamed and determined to make it up to her. Not to mention he was resolved to try and make her forget her awful first husband.
It was, however, proving difficult to arrange the big, family wedding they both wanted at such short notice.
“I think it’s nice,” put in Hanna, one of the twins’ younger sisters.
“You would,” snorted Nina.
Kira looked at them both through narrowed eyes and mouthed at them to shut the hell up. Hanna and Nina took after their mother, in that they were both witches, whereas the twins took after their wolf shifter father. Hanna was unremittingly girly and had a large collection of pony shaped soft toys, while Nina had suddenly become interested in wearing leather jackets, thick black eyeliner and unrelenting sarcasm...
Lilah sniffed and let go of Kira. The four sisters looked at the wedding dress critically.
Lilah waved her arms around. “I can’t wear this.”
Hanna shrugged. “Why not?”
“It’s pink!”