by M. L. Briers
“Exactly.”
“I don’t think you’re as bad as you like people to think you are.” Kate threw back at him and the smile died on his lips, but it was still in his eyes, a little devilish glint of something roguish.
“Really, do tell…” He challenged her and she shrugged a single shoulder at him.
“I think your bark is worse than your bite.” This time she challenged him and he felt his wolf rising to the bait within him, even though he tried to quiet it.
“Be careful, Kate. I may have to show you how wrong you are.” His words seemed genuine this time and Kate took a long moment to consider them, and then she dismissed them.
“You’re more of a pussy cat type…” Kate teased, one eyebrow rising to him in a challenge and she heard a low deep growl in response.
Dex could feel his wolf baying to meet their mates challenge. His feral side considered her words to mean he wasn’t worthy to be her mate, and Dex tried to sooth his wolf, but his beast was too riled by her words.
“I have a contract that says you’re not leaving…”He was almost upon her…
‘Dex, we’ve got a problem.’
He groaned into his own mind. Grateful for one thing and one thing only, his beast was now chaffing at the bit for a pack problem, rather than a mate one.
‘Can’t you take care of it?’
‘Well if I could I wouldn’t have called you…’ Riff shot back and Dex eyed his mate.
“Back off, Dex.” Kate shot him a warning and he gladly took that opportunity to step back away from her.
“This isn’t over. We need to set some parameters…” Dex took a few more steps back towards the door and watched her eyes flash with amusement.
“Tell it to the hand.” She flipped him the bird and heard him groan, just before he turned on his heels and disappeared as fast as he had entered her room.
Kate went to sit down on the mattress and held half way down, looking behind her to check the mattress was actually where she expected it to be this time. With a sigh, she dropped onto the mattress and felt the pain shoot through her backside, moaning and lifting up again.
She wasn’t entirely sure if she was grateful for his retreat or perturbed by it. When he was near her she wanted nothing more than to be with him, when he left her however, she could see the cracks in her reasoning and started to question what it was about him that attracted her so damn much.
‘Where are you?’ Dex pushed his words out into the link and got an immediate reply from Riff.
“You’re damn kitchen.” The man stood by the door looking at Dex with a half smile of amusement, but there was an underlying concern to his appearance, which was lucky for him, otherwise Dex might just have put his fist in his face for pulling him away from his mate.
“Well?” Dex walked straight passed Riff and into the kitchen. With a nod to Zoe who was making the evening meal, he walked over to fill a mug with coffee and Riff joined him, so as not to be overheard by Kate.
“One of the pack picked up the scent of a vampire…” Riff informed him in clipped tones and saw his friend freeze in place.
Dex considered the implications of Riff’s words. His first thought was why now, his second thought was to protect Kate, and his third thought was the pack as a whole.
“Anyone we know?” He asked, and Riff just shrugged his shoulders.
“The scent was too faint to say who, just that they had been there.”
“Where?”
“Down by the river bank. There had also been some human activity down there. Looks like some teenagers might have been skinny dipping by moonlight.” Riff advised and saw Dex roll his eyes to the ceiling and hold there for a long moment as he considered the ramifications of what his Beta was telling him.
“Damn stupid kids…” Dex didn’t see there was much he could do about it. Kids would ignore the trespass signs no matter how many he put up.
“Let’s get some boots on the ground out there tonight. Jake and Pete in human form in case the kids come back so they can scare the hell out of them, and some extra paws on the ground patrolling the land in case the damn vampire comes calling again.” Riff nodded his understanding. They both knew a vampire on their land was no coincidence. It had probably trailed the kids there. Neither one of them was happy about that. This town was protected from vampires by the pack. There were Lycan signs everywhere to inform any travelling vampire of that, if this one was choosing to ignore it, and had the audacity to come onto pack land, that was a bad sign.
“If we find it?” Riff asked and watched his Alpha grow in stature.
“He’s got two choices, move on and don’t come back, or die here.” Dex wouldn’t have his pack or the town put at risk by allowing the rules to be broken. A vampire was always bad news, and Dex wasn’t about to let anything come between him, Kate, and taking her as his mate.
“Is my scent more to your liking tonight?” Riff asked, careful not to lean in too close towards Kate. He didn’t want Dex’s beast to feel threatened and end up losing his head.
“You’re wearing scent? Isn’t that for girls?” Kate teased him and found the look of horror on his face totally amusing.
“No I’m not wearing scent. I meant my scent, smell…”
“Oh the manly aroma of your feet?” Kate shot back and watched Riff sink back into his seat with a small groan. Zoe chuckled from across the table. Riff was muttering to himself as he tucked back into his food, shooting a look back at Kate every now and again.
“So Kate, did you get what you needed today?” Zoe asked. One part in innocence and the other part in mischief. She could clearly see Dex’s mark in the woman’s shoulder and the scent of her brother was all over the woman.
Kate coughed as the water she was about to swallow decided to take a wrong turn. Her face flushed crimson and she shot a quick look towards Dex who was grinning from ear to ear. Jerk.
“It was very informative…”Kate offered and Riff chuckled.
“Never heard it called that before.” He snorted and Dex’s boot connected with his shin under the table. His whole body tensed on a groan of pain as Kate snapped her eyes first to Riff and then towards Dex.
“Oh my god, what are you like two, you had to go and…” Kate saw the angry scowl on Dex’s face that was aimed towards Riff, before he turned his attention to her, but by then it was too late, he could see she was as mad as hell.
“Now hold on a minute, Kate…” Dex tried to sooth her, but what was he supposed to say? That he hadn’t opened his mouth to Riff? That the wolf could scent him on her? That certainly would make things better right now, even if it would give her something else to think about.
“No, I don’t think so, Dex.” Kate threw her napkin onto the table and shot her chair back with the back on her knees as she got to her feet. If looks could kill he’d be in hell already. As he slowly raised himself up and placed his napkin down, he turned to her expecting another tirade, it shocked the hell out of him to see the sadness in her eyes.
“Kate…”
“Drop dead.” She turned and started to walk out of the kitchen as Zoe glared at Riff and Dex followed hot on her heels. He reached out to snag her arm, but when he tried to pull her back towards him she rallied with a knee to the groin.
Dex cupped himself and dropped to his knees. The air in his lungs escaped on a whoosh as she stared down at him, her eyes on fire.
“That one I meant!” She spat out before turning on her heels again and storming away from him. She needed to get as far away as she could get right now, before he dragged himself back up and she put him back down again.
“Oh…Dear.” Riff got to his feet in a flash. He was planning to follow Kate’s example and get the hell away from Dex before he recovered enough to do some damage, probably to him. But Zoe snagged his collar and when he turned pleading eyes on her, she gave him a small smirk and shook her head.
“I figure he can take it out on Kate or you, and as you started it…” Zoe offered
and watched the frown etch deep lines into Riff’s forehead.
“Damn it to hell, Zoe. I didn’t mean to…” Riff started, but the deep growl from his Alpha cut him short as he turned to eye Dex, who had started to drag himself to his feet. There was a black glare coming from him and it was all for Riff. “Ooh, nuts.” Riff mumbled under his breath, knowing he wasn’t about to get out of this one without a lot of pain.
Kate was halfway up the well worn trail that led from the cabin into the woods before she even considered what she had done. Again.
He deserved it. Kiss and tell, what a jerk! She spat out in her own mind as she ducked under a low hanging branch and continued on into the darkening woods. Too mad to think about where she was going or the fact that night had started to close in, and that she didn’t have a clue where this path led.
A rustling just ahead caught her attention and she slowed her steps, only for a rustling, that this time came from behind, to make her nervous enough to speed back up again. It was then that Kate did pay attention to where she was. The path she had been following at the start of her journey had disappeared and she was in the middle of a thick clump of trees. Cursing her own stupidity she thought about trying to backtrack her way out of there, but she’d last heard a rustling from that direction.
Now what genius? She took a slow three sixty scan of the area, ending back at where she started, just as someone dropped down in front of her and she jumped backwards, her heart thumping, her blood rushing, and her knee readied for action.
“What have we here?” His deep melodic voice held no emotion at all that she could detect, but the sweet sound seemed to sooth her fast beating pulse and ease the rush of panic within her mind, as a million scenario’s tried to vie for attention all at once.
“Where did you come from?” She would have seen him walking up to her, she reasoned, looking into eyes the same darkness as Dex’s, but not as expressive, they seemed a little colder, somewhat dead, or maybe that was just in her imagination.
He raised his hand and pointed upwards and Kate’s head tipped as she looked to the branch above him. It had to be a good twenty five feet in the air and she felt her annoyance start to surface again.
“Sure you did.” Kate went to step around him, but he took one step in front of her and blocked her way. “I’m really on my last nerve so maybe you should keep that in mind.” It was a warning that brought a small sardonic smile to his thin lips. He was as tall as Dex, but not as broad in the chest or shoulders and she wondered if he was a relative.
“I should keep a lot of things in mind, but I never do. I like to live on the edge.” He informed her reaching out his hand quickly and toying with a long stray strand of her hair that had come loose. Kate acted immediately by slapping at his hand, it didn’t move, just caused her fingers to sting, but he did draw his hand back away from her.
“Well I’m sure there’s a cliff around here somewhere, be my guest.” Kate hissed out before she tried to side step him again, but again he was blocking her path. For the longest moment she let her lids close and tried to hold onto her temper.
“You’re not very friendly…” He offered and she snapped her eyes open and gave him her best glare of annoyance.
“Look…” She huffed and he grinned at her then.
“But then I guess being with a pack full of mutts is enough to rile anyone up.” Kate hesitated for a long moment.
Oh lord, did they breed them like this up here or was the area just a damn beacon for every nut within a hundred mile radius?
“Which way are you going? Because I’ll go the other way and we can say goodbye here.” Kate put her hands on the curves of her hips and tipped her head to the side, feeling the desire to kick this guy into touch, but being gracious enough to give him one more chance.
“I’d say I’m going your way, but I wouldn’t want to step on any toes. I can scent the Alpha on you.” He went to reach out for her neck, but Kate balked and threw a punch. The sound of her fist connecting with his nose was closely followed by the pain that shot through her hand and up her arm and she yelped, flicking out her hand and trying to shake off the pain.
“You arse…” She snapped out as her eyes came up to his face and she saw that her best punch had no affect on him whatsoever, except when he opened his mouth to speak there were two long incisors that hadn’t been there before, and her breath hitched in her throat as she stared at him in complete shock.
“Ouch. Bet that hurt.” He shot back, his black eyes widening to bigger pools of pure ebony and she stumbled backwards, unable to walk, unable to think, and unable to talk.
Scream. Scream stupid! But she found she was unable to make any sound that wasn’t a squeak.
“That got your attention. Wolf got your tongue?” He beamed a devilish smile at her, but all she could focus on were those two long, razor sharp teeth.
“W-ha-t?” It was almost a word, but from the look on his face he seemed to have caught the gist of it.
“Oh come on, you can guess this one…” He teased. But she shook her head in denial. Not of what he was, it was damned obvious, but that he was actually standing there in front of her. “Sure you can. I’ll even give you three guesses, but I’m sure you only need one.” He took a step towards her and she took a shaky step backwards. The tree trunk thumped her in the back. At least that was the way it felt.
“Careful now, it’s not a good idea to draw blood around the… me.” He beamed a smile at her and she swallowed hard. There was not a single swear word that did not enter her mind, and if she thought she could have got them out of her mouth, then the air would surely have been turned blue.
“G-Get a-way…” Kate would have been proud of herself that she managed to get two words out of her mouth if she wasn’t in something that resembled a mental flux.
“I’m hurt. So you don’t have a problem with wolves, but vampires? I think that’s race discrimination.” He teased again and she shook her head, blinked and tried to wake up. “Not a dream.” He sounded slightly bored as he held up his index finger in front of her and she found herself staring at it and not at those dark eyes.
“How did you…?” She spat out, still transfixed on his finger until he dropped it and she went back to staring into those eyes again.
He tapped the side of his head. “We do read minds, not that I needed to bother, humans are so predictable. But hasn’t your little wolf friends told you all of this already?”
What bloody wolf friends?
“Are you insane?” Kate could have slapped her hand over her mouth when the words shot out, but she just clamped her lips shut.
“Sometime’s. But let’s talk about you…” He offered and she balked.
“I’m not talking to something that does not exist…” She scoffed, trying once more to dismiss his very presence.
Dreaming or I’m unconscious with a head injury somewhere…
“You mean like the tooth fairy?” He shot back, amusement playing on his lips. Her eyes were drawn back down. His fangs were gone.
“I mean like a vampire.”
“Want to see the fangs again?” He offered and she reached behind her and hugged the uncomforting tree trunk.
“No.” She spat out.
“Surely your boyfriend filled you in about vampires…”
“I don’t have a boyfriend…” She shot back and he chuckled.
“That mark on your neck says differently.” He tossed back at her and she screwed up her face and shook her head.
This was insane. She was insane.
“What damn mark?” She spat out and saw him take one long moment to size her up, from the boots on her feet to the top of her head. He looked pensive, and then he took a step back and folded his arms across his chest.
“You really don’t know do you?” He seemed to find amusement in that question.
“That you’re delusional?”
“That’s gotta be a shock to the system. Maybe I should take away your memories…”
/>
“My mem… On a scale of one to ten on the nutty scale, you’re a squirrel’s dream date.” She spat out, and for that he chuckled. The sound was like someone playing a musical scale and she found herself starring at him again, unable to look away.
“You know I like you…”
“That’s disturbing. But you’re not my type…”
“No?”
“No.”Kate assured him, trying to hold onto her temper as best she could.
“Do tell.”He had a glint of mischief in his eyes and it worried her.
“You’re dead.”
“Imagine my surprise…” He teased back and she rolled her eyes. This was a dream, and a damned annoying one. Only she could have a dream about a vampire and instead of hearts and flowers, she gets Mr Sarcastic. “I may be dead, but I assure you everything is still in perfect working order.” He raised one dark suggestive eyebrow on a smirk and Kate couldn’t help it, she screwed up her face in disgust.
“Eew.”
“This from a woman who sleeps with a wolf…” He tossed out, and she became animated, more than animated, so much so he actually took a step back as she waved her arms erratically.
“What’s with the damned wolf thing?”
“That’s right, you don’t know.” He beamed back and she ground her teeth as she glared at him.
“Aren’t vampires supposed to be seductive and sexy, not moronic and sarcastic?” She spat back. She was at that point where she was uncaring. If she was dreaming what would it hurt? If she was in fact awake, at least poking the bear would end the torture of listening to him.
“Depends on the vampire.” He offered with a shrug of his shoulders and Kate felt the need to scream. Not because she was scared, she was a long way from scared right now. Because she wanted to put her fist back in his face, but she didn’t want to break her damn hand.
That punch hurt, so why didn’t I wake up...? Ok, not a dream…
“So what do you want?” Kate asked feeling a little more tentative now she was ninety percent sure it wasn’t a dream, maybe eighty five, or eighty…