by M. L. Briers
The man didn’t seem to be baying for her blood and frothing at the mouth, but he didn’t look too happy either.
“No thanks to you,” Luke growled.
“I know!” Angelique hated herself for it. “Wait! What?” She might have hated herself for it, but she never expected it to be thrown back in her face like that.
“Sure, I’m grateful that the faeries led me to you in time, and I’m grateful that you’re alive…”
“You wouldn’t know it to listen to you,” Angelique grumbled.
“But, what I’m not grateful for is the fact that you ran away in the first place. What were you thinking? Did you not see the blizzard?” Luke demanded an answer from her.
Angelique stayed silent. She was pretty much aghast at her mate’s attitude.
“You could have died — what do you have to say for yourself?” Luke demanded.
“Say for myself?” Angelique’s brain was running on empty.
“What if I’d turned rogue?”
“I’m guessing we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m also guessing that you probably would have had a better attitude,” Angelique offered back.
“Better attitude?” Luke offered her a look of pure disbelief.
“Well, right now I’m thinking that being in a room with a rogue wolf would probably be more enjoyable than being here with you.”
“Enjoyable?” Luke gave a slow shake of his head in disbelief.
“I don’t think your wolf would be judging me — a drunken me at that,” Angelique offered back. Mea culpa — she’d done wrong, and she knew it, but still…
“No more wine — you can’t be trusted,” Luke growled.
“A fate worse than death,” Angelique tossed back. She tried to keep the smile from bowing her lips upwards, but it didn’t work.
“And speaking of death…”
“That old chestnut again?”
“How are you not taking this seriously?” Luke demanded with a low, deep growl that rumbled through his chest, and through her body.
“Well, I think you’re taking this seriously enough for the both of us. There seems little point in us both going off the deep end about it…”
“The deep end…?”
“The end that’s not shallow.” She offered him in whispered tones as if she was sharing a secret with him.
Luke thought she might have just gone totally insane. It was the only explanation.
“Can brain freeze make you stupid?” Luke growled.
“Quite possibly. How much ice cream do you eat? It certainly gives you a new perspective on life, and death, but mainly life, because you’re not dead — meaning I’m not dead — and that’s something that I suppose I should be grateful for — and you — but mainly me. Although, if I were dead then I probably wouldn’t know it anyway.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“Are you playing me?” Luke growled. It was the only conclusion that he could come to given the circumstances.
There was a light of amusement in her eyes. She was a witch — therefore devious — mischievous — and a right royal pain in the backside.
“What are the odds?” She grinned from ear to ear.
Luke snapped his head back on his neck at the sight of that grin and growled long and hard in disbelief. The woman was a nightmare.
“I don’t believe you’d do that, especially, after what you did in the first place,” Luke growled again.
“Maybe we should chalk it up to pre-mating nerves, a bit like honeymoon jitters?” Angelique offered back.
“I really think you’ve gone…” Luke snapped of his words as his brain kicked his backside into gear. A hungry growl formed within his broad chest and rumbled up to his throat.
The alpha eyed his mate with suspicion. Suspicion for her words — suspicion that he’d actually heard those words in the first place, and not imagine what he wanted to hear.
“Oh, look at you second-guessing yourself — myself — that’s amusing,” she offered with a smug grin.
“Did you say…?”
“Let me help you out — pre-mating…”
“You’d better not be messing with me again,” he growled.
“Whatever would give you that idea?” Angelique giggled like a schoolgirl.
“Angelique…?” Luke growled again, that time in warning.
Mine…
“What’s the matter, Alpha. Wolf got your tongue?”
“I’m going to kiss you now,” Luke thought he’d give her fair warning. If she was messing with him, then they both knew where they stood.
“Just for future reference — I don’t need a play-by-play…”
Angelique got no further as Luke brought his lips down to hers. The rush of heat that went through her body warmed her to the very tips of her toes and deep within her bones.
~
~
~
“Yes!” George bit out as he fisted his hands and turned his eyes up towards the sky. “Thank you!”
‘Thank me?’ Jessica asked, somewhat surprised by George’s attitude. She guessed that things were working out the way that they should for the alpha and his mate.
“Not you,” George snapped. Then he took a long moment to think about it and grumbled to himself. “You as well.” He offered reluctantly.
‘I take it that all is well?’
“All is very, very well.” George beamed a smile that stretched from one ear to the other.
‘Well done, George.’
“But I…” George was confused. He couldn’t understand why Jessica was congratulating him and not berating him for his actions.
‘Well done, George.’ Jessica repeated herself. ‘You’re not such a bad Christmas fairy after all.’
“I think the fairy godmother would disagree with you.”
‘Well, what she doesn’t know she can’t berate you for.’
“You’re not going to tell?” George looked surprised.
‘Are the mates, mating?’
“There was some kissing going on — I’m too much of a gentleman to turn back around and look,” George shrugged his shoulders. “But I think they might be.”
‘Then job done, just a few hiccups along the way.’
“You’re really not going to tell?” George narrowed his eyes at the fairy. Jessica shook her head. “Well, I’m going to tell her. I messed up. I can’t be trusted to do the job right.”
‘Oh look, George, careful — it appears that you’re growing up,’ Jessica offered him a small smile in return.
“You know, I hope that the fairy godmother gives you back your Christmas fairy wings,” George said.
He knew that Jessica made a much better Christmas fairy than he ever could.
He’d almost presided over a Christmas disaster. That couldn’t be allowed to happen again. The fairy kingdom needed a Christmas fairy that was up to the job — it was lucky that his time as the Christmas fairy was over.
~
~
~
Luke tried to mentally slap himself around the back of the head and get a grip on himself. Angelique was emotional. She could have died out in the blizzard, and that had to go some way in shaping her emotional thoughts and actions.
She was his mate, and he would not take advantage of her. No matter how much his beast clawed within him to take her as their mate — he couldn’t do that to her – yet.
Before he could claim Angelique as his mate, he had to be absolutely certain that it was what she wanted. He needed her to be rational — and he knew that she was a female — and a witch — but he also hoped that she could find it within herself to do that.
Every inch of his body, mind, and soul berated him for not continuing to kiss her. Luke pulled back slightly and gazed down at her.
Angelique couldn’t quite figure out how one moment they were all hot and heavy and Luke was kissing her to the point of making her toes curl, and the next he wasn’t, but she certainly wanted to r
ectify the situation.
“Problem?” Angelique offered him a small frown as she gazed up at him.
“I don’t know — is there?”
“Not on my end,” Angelique gave a small shrug as she narrowed her eyes at him and considered his mood.
“I don’t want to rush you…”
“Rush me?” Angelique considered that for a long moment.
“I don’t want to take this anywhere that you don’t want it to go – just yet,” Luke said.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“Are you insane?” Luke growled. “Look who I’m asking.”
“That’s the line you want to go with?” She could barely contain the smile on her lips. Her eyes were full of amusement.
“Well, I…” he reconsidered his words. “That is…I don’t think…”
“Probably best not to think, considering you’re an alpha.”
“Touche.”
His eyebrows pinched together over his dark eyes, and he was back to looking like a damn soulful puppy again. That time, Angelique didn’t have the urge to kick that puppy.
“What brought about your change of heart where I’m concerned?” Luke asked.
“Change of heart? I thought I was using you for really great sex,” Angelique spluttered laughter at the somewhat shocked and confused look on his face.
“Huh…?” He grumbled a growl.
“You came for me…”
“So did the Christmas fairy…”
“Okay, I’ll have sex with him next…” A low, angry growl rumbled through his chest. “Although, I don’t think it’s going to be great sex with him.”
“That’s not even a good conversation to have, especially, right this minute,” Luke warned her.
“Then stop asking stupid questions,” Angelique offered back.
Luke twisted his head on his neck and just stared at her for the longest moment. She raised her eyebrows in expectation and waited for him to finish considering his options. He was male — she knew it took time.
“I still have a question…”
“Is it a stupid one?”
“As you say — I’m an alpha…”
“Okay, go ahead with the stupid question.”
“Great sex?” His eyebrows didn’t just pinch together they were practically making love. Angelique couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Well, the jury is still out on that one — but I’m hopeful,” Angelique offered back.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“But, seriously…?” Luke started.
“Really? Do we have to put a dampener on it? Oh yes, you’re an alpha.” She teased.
“Why the sudden change of heart?” Luke knew that he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He also knew he’d done a really bad job in wooing her. Whatever it was that brought her to this moment with him, shouldn’t he just be damn grateful?
“It was kind of cold out there — you can imagine. I was lost, I was tired, I was freezing my bejesus off, and all I could think about was you. Your puppy dog eyes, the way you smile…”
“Puppy dog eyes?” His eyebrows were dancing, and yet those soulful eyes were smiling. But it was that sexy slow to boil smile that spread on his face that really had her bewitched.
“Woof.” She gave a small, teasing shrug of her shoulders and a low chuckle that sounded decidedly dirty to his ears.
More than his ears pricked up at the sound of it.
“You know, my wolf might find offense in that,” Luke offered back. That smile of his had gone from slow to boil to dazzlingly bright.
“I’ve met your wolf, and I think he’ll forgive me.”
Mine…
“I think you’re right.”
“Heads up — female here…”
“Yes, you are.” That grin of his turned decidedly hungry. She’d liked that look before, but now, well, her toes were curling, and he wasn’t even kissing her.
“And, I believe I’m naked under here.”
“I swear I didn’t look.” He chuckled then, it sounded like a mixture of hunger and teasing, and decidedly dirty to her ears. She liked it a lot.
“More fool you. I looked…”
“You looked?”
“When you shifted from your wolf outside — I looked — I caught a glimpse…”
“That’s what changed your mind about me,” he chuckled.
“If I’d known that you would have been this slow to act…”
Luke didn’t need telling twice. He brought his lips back down to hers with so much passion that her toes didn’t just curl, they strained to break point.
“Say you’re mine,” Luke asked against her lips.
“Oh, geez, am I going to have to draw you a map as well?” She teased.
“Say it,” Luke demanded.
Mine…
“Okay, how about we do this…?”
Angelique trailed her fingers up his naked thigh and across his hip. She could feel the twitch of muscles beneath his skin, and she almost had her hand grabbed around his hard length — her fingers brushed the satin skin — and his hand closed around her wrist and pulled it away.
“Spoilsport.”
“I can think of somewhere I’d much rather that be than in your hand,” Luke’s words were underlined by his hungry growl.
“Snap to it then — what are you waiting for – an invitation?” She chuckled, again it sounded so damn dirty to his ears, and his cock twitched like it had a mind of its own, and it wanted to find a home inside of her.
“You have to tell me that you’re mine.”
“I’m sensing that is a thing with you,” she grinned.
“Stop teasing…”
“Oh, trust me, I haven’t started to tease you yet.” Her eyes flashed with amusement and hunger.
“Say it…” Luke couldn’t help himself; he had to snatch a kiss from her.
“How like a man to ask a woman to say something and then silence her with sloppy kisses…”
“Sloppy kisses? I’ll have to do better,” Luke went in for the kiss again, but Angelique turned her head away.
“I don’t do well with being teased. When I want something, I get it.”
“And what do you want?” Luke growled.
“You.” Angelique turned her head back as the hungriest growl yet rumbled through his chest and caught in his throat. “Mine.”
Luke’s beast roared within him at the sound of her claim. Luke’s heart hit his ribs and tried to make a mad dash to get to her.
He was speechless. He never expected a witch — his witch — to make a claim on him.
With a hearty, hungry growl Luke went in for the kill. His lips claimed hers; his hands were already roaming over her body, consigning every inch to memory, as his wolf clawed and growled within him as it tried to push forward.
Luke slammed the cage door shut. There were so many other things that he needed to do before he put his mark on her.
He needed to taste her, to nip, to tease, to bring her to the point of insanity, and then push her over the edge. That was his dastardly plan, and he was sticking to it.
Luke put that plan into action. He pushed up and over her body to cage her in, and then he started a slow downward path, licking and nipping at her skin.
~
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~
George turned toward the window and practically pressed his forehead against the glass. His eyes widened, and he snapped his head back on his neck in surprise.
“Okay! Well that’s — I don’t think — I’ve seen enough — too much — okay then — I’m just going to…” George snapped his fingers and transformed back into his fairy form.
He shot upward toward the porch rafters and landed in the space beside Jessica. She pulled her upper body back away from him slightly and offered him a teasing look.
‘I’m guessing by your wide eyes and rosy red cheeks that things are going well for the alpha and the witch.’ Jessica chuckled.
> ‘Very, very well — from what I saw — didn’t mean to see — don’t want to see again.’ George grumbled and winced for good measure.
‘I know you live with your mother, George, but have you led such a sheltered life?’
‘Hardly. But there are some things that should remain private,’ George grumbled back.
‘You know this means that we can go home now — right?’
‘I know this means I can finally stop being the Christmas fairy.’ George sighed with relief.
‘You kidnapped a witch — almost got her killed — miffed off an alpha enough to get yourself killed — but you got the mates together, and the bonus is there is a Christmas tree in the alpha’s house.’
‘What does a Christmas tree have to do with anything?’
‘Don’t you know that a Christmas fairy can always visit a house with a Christmas tree in it?’
‘You know — you people really needed to write a manual on this kind of thing.’
‘I think that’s a very good idea and one that, when I bring it to the fairy godmother, she will have you implement.’
‘What?’
‘Well, it is your idea, George.’ Jessica chuckled.
‘That’s not…
‘Come on, George. Let’s go home.’ Jessica shot off like a heat-seeking missile. George groaned inwardly
‘I’m really not cut out to be the Christmas fairy.’ He sighed before he took off after Jessica.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
Luke’s beast was agitated beyond all reason. It was clawing and demanding that they bond with their mate, and Luke didn’t think he could hold onto that need for much longer.
He’d tasted every inch of her body that he possibly could, and now he was bringing her to the pinnacle of oblivion with his tongue against her sex. His mate wasn’t too ashamed to be vocal about her needs, and he was man enough to oblige her.
Every inch of her body froze with anticipation, and he growled long and hard at the moment that he sent her over the edge and tasted her feminine essence on his tongue. Luke was like a man possessed, he couldn’t get enough of her.