by M. L. Briers
Masking her scent was one thing. But she could do nothing to hide the pounding of her heart, and she knew Lycan hearing was probably as good as their sense of smell. She was done for.
The sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs had her grimacing in place. She tried to hold her breath and calm her heart, but she knew it was a useless endeavour. Still, it felt like she was doing something, being proactive.
When those steps entered the bedroom, the loud boom of the door slamming shut had her jumping in place, and when he stopped in front of the closet, she wanted to conjure up a spell that would blend her into the background, but she knew it was impossible.
The doors in front of her were yanked open, taking the very breath from her lungs, as two large hands reached in among the clothes around her and griped her firmly, lifting her out of the nest she had created, and she was unceremoniously dropped down to her feet in front of him.
Her head snapped back, as her eyes took him in. He didn’t look as ravenous for her blood as he had when she had first zapped him, and yet his eyes were still dark and full of intent.
“Don’t ever run from me.” He growled down at her and she swallowed hard.
“Don’t you touch me.” She squirmed in his grip, trying to get him to release his hold on her. But all that managed to do was make him tighten his grip around her waist, pulled her a little further towards him, a little closer, a little too close.
“Don’t ever use your Fae magic on me.”
“Oh because you don’t use what the spirits gave you for your own advantages do you?” His hypocrisy astounded her. Was he really going to be that two faced to stand there and tell her that it was ok for him, but not for her- Ha!
“That’s…” He started, but she cut him off right there.
“Oh grandma, what big ears you have…” She mocked, trying her hardest to give him a sweet innocent parody of little red riding hood, and he gave a slow, low growl of annoyance in his chest.
“Do not even go there sweetheart.” He threw back at her, and she became slightly bolder.
“Oh grandma, what a big snout you have…”
“Cassidy, I’m warning you.” He was down to his last nerve and she was already stepping all over it.
“Oh give me a break wolfie. You’re the last person to even go there with me.” She lifted her index finger and poked him right in the chest, while he just looked down, following her finger until it made contact with his chest, and then she was suddenly aware that he turned them. Her back was against the wall, the heat from his lips against hers.
The first indication that she had that he was going to kiss her, was when he did, and she froze in place for a whole couple of seconds, before the realisation took over, and her body flared to life.
She clamped her lips together, when all she wanted to do was gasp. But that kiss felt more akin to a warning, maybe even a punishment for her audacity in standing up to him. Probably not something he was used to, being the Alpha and all.
But then things changed, as quickly as he had been hard and brutal, so he became more pliant, his lips started to work against hers, a gentle exploration of her softness, and the shock inside her, turned to a need to find out more.
When he turned to persuasion, and ran his tongue over the crease of her lips, she lost the will to clamp them together anymore. But she wasn’t about to open to him either. Then he would win, and she would fight him tooth and nail for that not to happen, even against her own instincts to allow him entry.
Cassidy pulled her head back away from him, turning her head away she gasped in a breath.
“Oh don’t you even think that…” His fingers were in her hair, and he fisted the silken mane to ease her mouth back to where he wanted it. His eyes flicked over her face, the kiss swollen lips, the flush to her cheeks, and those beautiful Jade eyes that showed him more than she wanted him to know, that he affected her, just as much as she was affecting him.
“I mean it Chase.” She warned.
CHAPTER FOUR
Then his lips came down on hers again. Silencing her, but this time she had no time to clamp her lips shut, no time to protect her body from complying with his wishes, as he slipped his tongue between her lips and tasted her sweetness.
The gentle growl that rolled through his chest shocked him to his very core. He wanted her with a fire that burned brightly within him, and he couldn’t remember ever wanting another like this before. Her lips had felt like heaven against his, but now he had tasted her, he wanted so much more.
It had to be her Fae blood that had enchanted him. The reason why Lycan’s tried their damndest to stay away from Witches, he was sure. As his wolf yipped within him, he deepened the kiss into first, a possession, and then a devouring, as he swept her senses up and took her along with him to the next level.
Chase pressed her back into the wall with the whole of his upper body. The ache at his groin was nothing compared to actually feeling it throbbing against her body, and he couldn’t help but rock his hips against her.
Probably not the best idea he’d ever had, as his body begged for the blessed relief of being inside her. The soft moan that she made, had him swallowing like it was a bitter pill to his senses. He couldn’t get involved with this woman. She was Fae for one thing, and while he would gladly quench his thirst for her body right here and now, something was telling him, that it wouldn’t be that simple.
When her hands ran up the taunt muscles of his back, he nearly came undone. Her body was pressed against his with just as much eagerness as he felt, and she was matching his passion with gusto.
His beast was urging him on, if the animal had his way, then Chase would already have pulled her down to the floor with him, stripped her naked, and entered her on one long, hard thrust, that would have had them both begging for more.
He knew one thing about this woman, she was dangerous. Because he was so damn close to losing his mind with her, sinking his body into hers, and to hell with the consequences.
Chase tore his mouth from hers and heard her gasps in a breath. Her fingers were curled into the muscles of his back, and it felt so good to have her this needy against him. But he had to be smart, sane, his pack came first, and taking a Fae as a lover, for however long it lasted, until they had both had their fill of each other’s bodies, wasn’t the right thing to do as Alpha.
“You bewitched me woman.” He took a step backwards. He needed to get some perspective, he needed to get her mad as hell at him again, so he didn’t want her so damn much, and it worked.
The heat of passion in her eyes was consumed by a much darker fire that burned within her now. She was a witch, and no witch liked to be called out on their use of magic, especially when there was none.
“I did no such thing, you leg humper.” She spat back with the most venomous of looks, which did little to quell his desire for her. With her palms coming up to his chest, she nudged him backwards away from her.
“Leg humper?” He snapped back, with equal amounts of disbelief in his tone. Damn, this woman could rile him up with the same amount of passion that he wanted to expend on making her his.
“Do you see anyone else rubbing themselves against me around here?” She shot back, sidestepping him and walking into the centre of the room, before she even dared to look at him again.
Chase fisted his hands and drew himself up to his full stature. It was the only thing he could think to do as she sidestepped him, for fear he would reach out and just drag her back into his arms.
“And what was with that kiss?” She demanded in full fury now.
“I thought you hadn’t been kissed in a while, so I threw you a bone.” He bit out with all the charm of a rattle snake, and boy did she look like she’d been bitten by one.
“You are a dog in more than just genetics.” She bit out between clenched teeth, before turning on her heels and storming to the bathroom. She didn’t even turn to look back at him. She just back heeled the door, slamming it as hard as she could.
The sound of wood on wood echoed through the room and made his ears hurt.
“Well we dogs aren’t all that fussy, even a Fae will do in times of need.” He shouted, and heard something hard and heavy hit the door on the other side, as she cursed him under her breath with a stream of dark words, that he wouldn’t dream of repeating in front of his grandmother.
“Oh go pee up a tree.” She hissed out, as an end to her tirade, and he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face, as he turned on his heels and strolled from the room. Sure his insults had done the trick and would keep her well away from him for the time being.
Chase’s good mood turned sour when he reached the hallway. He found his brother leaning with his backside against the upper stair railing, ankles and arms crossed, as he slowly raised his eyes from the floor to regard him with a smirk that stretched across his smug face.
“Leg humper?” Connor threw it out there with a certain amount of amusement, although he did manage to keep the laughter back, just as he watched Chase stiffen in annoyance.
“Drop it.” Chase wasn’t about to get in to this with him, not after going ten rounds with little miss Fae. He didn’t think his wolf would be as forgiving of his brother, as it had been of her.
“Look, it’s really none of my business.” Connor mused, lifting one arm and waving it dismissively in front of him, like he was dispersing a bad smell. Chase started to walk again. He wanted nothing to do with this conversation, whatever this conversation might be.
“You’re right, so let it be.” Chase got as far as the top of the staircase. His foot hovered over the next stair down, when Connor’s words stilled him in his tracks.
“Don’t you recognise your mate when you see her Chase?” Connor turned only his head towards his brother, his easy posture, in direct contrast to just how tightly every muscle in Chase’s body had contracted into a rigid pose, and he snorted in amusement.
Chase closed his eyes for a long moment. That could not be. The Fate’s would never have been so cruel as to give him a Fae for a mate. Connor was just blowing hot air out of his backside. But then, he had overreacted to her wellbeing in the snow storm, to Connor’s stance this morning.
Connor had gone against character and not attacked her when she zapped him this morning, and neither had he. In fact his wolf had protested his urge to rip her head from her body. And now the kiss-
Oh lord the kiss!-
The kiss he wanted never to end, the kiss he wanted to turn into so much more. His potent desire to have her. His need for her when she was close to him. How the hell had this happened?
“Nathaniel!” He growled out with so much ferocity, that it caused his Beta to wince, and his inner beast to all but roll over and play dead within him. If Connor’s wolf could have covered his ears with his paws, he probably would have.
“Nathaniel, wily old buzzard that he is…” Connor beamed to himself. He couldn’t see the look on his brother’s face, not with his back still turned to him. But he thought it was something of a snapshot moment.
“He wouldn’t…” Chase could deny it all he liked. But deep down, they both knew the truth- oh yes…
“He would!” Connor finished his sentence for him, with a certain amount of glee.
“I’m going out.” Chase growled, and Connor gave a silent chuckle, as his brother sailed down the stairs faster than you could say dinner’s on the table.
“Take a coat. I hear its cold out.” He chuckled, pushing off from the banister and chuckling silently to himself, as he strolled down the hallway, enjoying his brother’s discomfort immensely.
“Score one for the elder.” He feigned shooting a hoop, just as Cassidy came out of the bedroom, and his smile died on his lips, as he drew his head back on his neck and regarded her with suspicious eyes.
She gave him a long, hard stare, huffed, turned on her heels, and walked back into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.
Connor frowned for a long moment and then remembered his brother’s suffering, and the smile crept back over his face again, as he nodded in the sheer pleasure of the moment.
“It can be such a sweet- sweet life.”
By the time he reached Nathaniel’s house, Chase had managed to build up a head of steam that would tell any member of the pack not to get within a ten miles radius of him.
His eyes were as black as the mountain rock that he was born surrounded by, and he had the look of a wild rogue, as he barrelled through the elder’s door, without knocking, or showing any common courtesy normally afforded to a member of the pack, let alone an elder.
“Why don’t you come in Alpha? The door isn’t there for any particular purpose, other than to keep the wind out.” Nathaniel had seen the glare in his Alpha’s eyes the moment he had barged inside, and like he normally did at times like these, he ignored it in favour of sarcasm.
“You tricked me old man.” Chase was madder than hell right now, and he wouldn’t stand for anything less than answers.
“Don’t worry about closing the door behind you. I like frostbite on my extremities. There’s so little pleasure left in life at my age, you have to take it where you can get it.” Nathaniel dragged himself up, to almost his full height. He was at the age where his back didn’t straighten all the way anymore. But he was still able to do all the things he needed to, and even some of the things he didn’t. Like piss off his Alpha.
Chase didn’t turn to close the door, he just threw it backwards. The sound of the wood impacting the frame rattled the interior, and contents, and made little difference to Nathaniel’s mood.
“You knew she was Fae.” Chase’s voice boomed out into the silence of the small house, and Nathaniel couldn’t help cupping his ear at his Alpha.
“Could you speak up a little Chase? I’m a little deaf… Now.” Nathaniel was walking a fine line and he knew it. But he knew Chase, had done since he was a newborn pup, and there wasn’t a damn bone in his Alpha’s body that would force him to attack, not unless Nathaniel did…And he might be old, but he wasn’t stupid, and he certainly didn’t have a death wish.
“Nathaniel!” Chase was on his last nerve, he didn’t know what the old man was playing at right now, but he wasn’t going to get away with it.
“Oh, can I help you Chase? Did you want something?” Now he was just playing the fool, and Chase groaned out his frustration.
“Why did you have me bring the Fae here, when you knew?” Chase demanded his voice was less bombastic, his tone less demanding. The growl had eased, and Nathaniel raised just one lone brow and gave him an innocent look.
“So you brought the Fae to the pack? Good- good. Where is she?” Nathaniel asked, as though he hadn’t heard any other word that Chase had spoken in the last ten minutes.
“My house. Why would…?”
“Remember what I said…” He pointed his index finger towards the Alpha’s chest, and Chase sighed. “Bring her to me to learn your fate.”
“I already know my damn fate. It’s in my house right now!” Chase shot back, the anger back in place, as Nathaniel shrugged his shoulders.
“Up to you. Say tomorrow? About one would be good for me.” Nathaniel eased himself back down into the comfortable chair with a long sigh of contentment, as Chase growled out a long groan under his breath.
“Elders!” He blustered, pulling open the door and throwing himself back outside into the coldness of the day. Slamming the door shut behind him, he stalked back out through the snow.
Connor saw Chase shake himself off outside the back door, as he busied himself stirring the large stew pot on the stove. A smirk that he just couldn’t hold back spread across his face, as he dropped his eyes to the food, and listened to his brother huffing and cursing under his breath, as he came in the house and threw off his jacket.
“It went well then?” Connor threw out, making a decision not to raise his eyes from the pan, and Chase’s low growl rolled across the room towards him.
“What do you think?” Chase
snapped out, and Connor bit off a chuckle of disbelief.
“I think its Nathaniel, how well did you think it would go?”He shot back. Unsure exactly why his brother still listened to that old man, he had lost the plot years ago in Connor’s book.
“Where is the she devil?” Chase stalked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a brew, replacing the pot none too gently, as Cassidy’s feet sounded on the floor outside the kitchen.
“Ah that would be the little minx now.” Connor mused, as Chase growled out a groan of displeasure at his brothers constant ragging.
Cassidy walked through the kitchen door, and was greeted by two pairs of eyes, one pair bright with amusement, while the other held a blackness that she just didn’t want to deal with right now.
“I see he’s in a good mood- again. I’ll come back later.” She sneered, as she turned on her heels to backtrack her steps, when Connor called to her.
“Come get a cup of coffee woman. His bark is worse than his bite, most of the time.” Connor couldn’t hold back the amusement in his voice, as he chuckled low to himself.
Chase’s growl of annoyance, as he pushed off from the counter and walked away from the coffee pot, just added to his sense of merriment.
Cassidy walked to where Chase had been standing and reached for a mug. Eyeing the pot that Connor was tending, the smell was making her stomach rumble. Perhaps instead of planting Chase butt first into a snow drift this morning, she should have eaten something as he had offered.
Filling her cup, she eyed the contents and spotted assorted vegetables, it was making her mouth water.
“Smells good right?” Connor spotted her interest, as her stomach obliged his question by rumbling for the second time.
“Tell me it’s not Bambi.” She shot back with a slight sneer, and he grinned at her, a small shake of his head, as he balked.
“No, it’s not Bambi.” He stopped and considered her question, with a shrug of his shoulders, he grimaced playfully, “Can’t say it’s not thumper though.”