by M. L. Briers
His fingers eased on her wrist, allowing her the freedom to move back from him. But she hesitated, caught somewhere between wanting to be like this with him, pressed so close against his body that she could feel his heart beating, feel the heat of him right through her clothes, and needing the reassurance to her battered senses that only distance would provide.
“I thought you wanted to go.” There was still an edge to his voice that her mind recognised as belonging to his beast. Yet his deep tones were now far more gentle, almost lulling her mind and body away from fear and apprehension, and towards something else, something more potent.
If she looked up at him now, she just might be lost. She didn’t know whether his eyes would be black or chocolate brown. She didn’t know if his features would be soft, the way they had been the moment after he had picked her up from the floor last night, or hard and demanding her to capitulate to his will, as she had just seen him. She wanted desperately to find out, but she couldn’t seem to get her eyes to look up at him.
She wasn’t sure what was happening between them. But there was a mutual attraction that she wanted and rejected at the same time. She was Fae and he was Lycan, and getting entangled in whatever this was, just seemed like a really bad idea.
“I do.” She breathed out on a whisper, her voice as unsure as she felt, and she heard the dark curse he muttered, as his other hand cupped her chin and tipped her face up towards his. Her eyes were still not ready to look at him, as she resisted the pull of his gaze that she felt like sunlight on her face.
She closed her eyes. Temptation was pulling at her psyche. But when his lips brushed over hers, she almost lost her footing as her knees signalled defeat. He let go of her wrist, and his arm came about her back, holding her up, holding her against him, while his lips pressed firmer against hers.
The heat of his touch warmed her, and when he brushed his tongue over her lips, seeking entry, she didn’t hesitate in granting him his wish.
It wasn’t a demanding kiss. There was no hint of domination as there had been this morning, when he swept his tongue over hers, exploring, encouraging her response, and she did respond, her whole body responded to his.
He sensed her doubts slipping away within her. Felt her body sway further into his, her needs growing, and he deepened the kiss, palming her cheek as he sought more from her. His mind and body were alive with the overwhelming need to feel her beneath him, naked, and this willing in her response.
Her hand climbed his chest and around his neck. Her fingers curled into his flesh. But when she lifted her injured hand, intending to follow the same journey up his body, the pain caused her to tense. A gasp caused him to reluctantly drag his lips from hers, as he looked down at her, his eyes questioning when her lashes fluttered upwards. The wince of pain on her face caused him to curse again.
“You’re hurt and I’m… Damn. Let’s get you back home and take a look at your arm.” He set her slightly back from him, before his need for her overwhelmed his concern for her injury.
“It’s fine.” If he had not have stopped kissing her, she didn’t think she would have been strong enough to do it herself. The attraction to him was heady. She had never been so needy in her life.
Her brain was locked into want and desire for his body against hers. Of having him inside her, as confusion tugged somewhere in the distance, not even a close second, more a slight niggle that the rest of her brain was trying to push aside.
“Do you want me to carry you?” He was back in protective mode. The same way he had been on the first night in the snowstorm, and she couldn’t help the amusement that rushed at her.
“It’s my arm, Chase, not my legs.” She chuckled, trying not to look down his body at the hardness that she had felt twitching against her body like a beacon. A beacon which could not be ignored, and yet, now she was trying really hard to do just that.
Her eyes flicked downwards. Damn. He was bigger than she had thought he’d be, bigger than she’d hoped he’d be, and… Chase cleared his throat, as if to say, excuse me, and she felt the heat rush to her cheeks. Busted.
“We should get back.” She spun on her heels quickly. Trying to hide the grimace on her face that was getting wider, as his chuckle greeted her ears, and she contemplated giving him a mouthful over her shoulder, but decided that it was probably a good idea to just ignore him right now.
He did, after all just catch her ogling his manhood, like a piece of meat. She might even have been drawling. It was too cold to tell.
“Did you see anything that took your fancy?” He teased. She could just imagine the smug look on his face, and her inner self bristled in contempt for her own lack of self control.
“Could you just be a gentleman for once in your life?” She wasn’t going to deny what she had done. There was no point, he had scored the point and they both knew it. But then, if he was going to blatantly flaunt his wears in front of her, he couldn’t really expect her not to look.
“Not right now. No.” He chuckled out and she bristled some more.
“Cause and effect.” She shot over her shoulder, desperately wanting to swing her arms just to get some momentum up behind her steps, so she could get away from him. But she was favouring that damn elbow.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re dangling that thing in front of me, Chase. You can’t expect me not to look at you.”
“So it’s my fault that you’re a sex hungry, wanton witch, with designs on my body?” He couldn’t hold the teasing back, no more than he could contain his amusement at her discomfort.
Lycan’s were used to nudity, he thought Fae were as well, all that dancing naked under the moon, and other stuff that he had heard about.
“Oh my. Your ego really does precede you Alpha. Be careful, you might not be able to fit that big head of yours through the front door.” She teased back at him; his mood seemed to be catching.
“Just to clarify, which head would we be talking about? And whose front door would that be?” His words caused her to lose her footing for an instant. When she nearly took another header into the snow, she cursed herself. She could already feel his hands on her, but he didn’t need to right her, she had already done it. It did bring him closer to her though, close enough that her body was very aware of his proximity.
“Well it certainly won’t be mine.”
“Don’t be too sure about that, Cassidy. I don’t think you would have been able to stop yourself, if circumstances would have been different.”
“The circumstance of you, not being you, I assume?” She threw back over her shoulder, and he beamed a smile so wide it actually hurt his face.
“Keep telling yourself that little Fae.” He whispered against her cheek, as he leaned down towards her, his body so close, as he matched her step for step. She shivered with the gentle caress of his breath, knowing he was right. She wanted to do more, would have kept going if her arm hadn’t of hurt her, even in the middle of nowhere. What was it about this Alpha?
“Oh I will. All the way safely back down the mountain, locking my front door, so the big bad wolf can’t get in.”
“Do you think a door could stop me, Cassidy?” He gave her a purposeful little growl, and watched with amusement as she shivered again. This was just too much fun to stop.
She probably had no idea why she was so attracted to him. No idea that no matter how she might fight it and she still might try, she was going to be his. She was going to be beneath him as he stroked into her, claiming her body and her soul, when he mated with her. Took her for his woman and kept her beside him, safe and loved for the rest of her life.
“I think I could put you head first into a snow bank next time.” She tossed out at him, with a certain amount of glee. Remembering the shock on his face the last time, a split second before his anger had ripped through him, and he had wanted to separate her head from her body.
“I don’t think you want that. I think you want to feel me inside you, filling you, stretching you…”
His breath was against her ear, his body almost enveloping hers, and his words were causing all kinds of mayhem within her.
“I think, you think too much.” He hadn’t really noticed the track back to the house; he was too intent on her. Everything about her was calling out to him, he would take her as a mate if it suited him, and right now, it suited him.
Cassidy stopped at the front door, and he had to sidestep her, or risk crushing her against the wood. His hand shot out for the handle at the same time as hers. She got there first, with a knowing sneer up at him; she opened the door and took a step to the side, motioning for him to enter.
“Ladies first.” She grinned, and saw that he was rolling his tongue over his teeth, his eyes flared with the barb.
“Get in the damn house, Cassidy. Before I pick you up by the scruff of the neck and put you in like a cat.” He looked everywhere else but at her while he spoke, and then his eyes came down on hers, and he held her gaze.
“Cats have claws.”
“And wolves have claws and fangs.” His face came down to hers, a breath away, his eyes staring into hers, and she wondered if they were having a blinking contest, because he certainly wasn’t blinking.
“Dick.” She turned away, strolling inside as though it was her plan all along, and he broke a smile again, following her in.
“Later sweetheart- it’s all yours.”
Connor had followed his brother out of the house, ready and prepared to shift with him to protect his mate if the need arose, it hadn’t. He saw that she was down on her butt. Decided that she was in no immediate danger, and left them to it. Going back to stir his pot and hum to himself, enjoying his brother being led around by the tail, by his female.
Now he was eyeing them across the kitchen, as Chase made her sit down, and helped her off with her jacket, so he could assess her injuries. Still butt naked, he had no intention of getting dressed, until he cared for her. While she rolled her eyes and looked anywhere but at him, for fear she would end up gawking at his arousal again.
“Broken?” Connor asked out of interest, as Chase pulled the loose fitting top up her arm and used his fingers to assess her injury, feeling along the bone for a break or a fracture and finding nothing.
“Doesn’t appear to be, you’ll live.” He announced, but he was still reluctant to release her arm.
“No thanks to you.” She reminded him, feeling more than a little uncomfortable that he was still naked, and what with Connor watching her intently from under his amused brows? If she did inadvertently happen to look somewhere she shouldn’t, she would be busted by the brother, and not just Chase.
“Here we go again, you’re safe aren’t you?” He did let go of her arm this time. He stalked across the kitchen into the utility room, to grab a pair of jeans and a jumper from the clean pile.
“Only because fang ran off when he heard your big…” She waved a hand abstractly searching for the right term, “Paws coming.” She went to reach for the mug of coffee that Connor had put in front of her when she had first come in, and grimaced, as pulled her bad arm again. Changing hands, she slid it across the table top towards her.
“By fang, you mean wolf?” It was both a question and a statement, and he pulled on his jeans and yanked the zip up.
“Yes wolf.” She sneered back sarcastically, shooting him a death glare. But her gaze softened when she watched him pull the jumper over his head, and she caught her last sight of that hard, muscled chest, before he dragged the soft fabric down, hiding it away. She wanted to sigh at the loss, but Connor’s chuckle caught her attention, and dragged her guilty eyes away.
“So, you saw one of our pack, and fell over your own feet in fear?” Chase dismissed her fears, as he strolled over to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. Connor chuckled again, what his brother didn’t know about women astounded him.
“Snarling and drawling, and doing that stalking its prey thing.” She motioned with her free hand, as she turned her nose up in disgust. A shiver ran through her when she thought about it. That didn’t go unnoticed by either brother.
She brought the mug to her lips, and took a long cleansing sip. She was so not impressed with his attitude.
“Maybe they could smell the Fae in her?” Connor shrugged. Chase sighed, knowing that he’d have to have words with whoever it was. They had gone against his orders to stay away from her.
“Don’t suppose you could describe its markings?” Chase could only hope she had been that vigilant. Whoever it was had been out to scare her, not hurt her he was sure of that. None of his pack would be stupid enough to go that far against his orders.
“Well der, it didn’t have any.” She sneered back at him. She was appreciating his attitude less and less. When he should have been apologising to her, he was giving her the third degree.
“A wolf without markings?” Connor chuckled rolling his eyes. She might be his brother’s mate, but she clearly wasn’t playing with a full deck.
“White on white, little black beady eyes.”
Connor and Chase both reacted together, “What?” the word came out in synchronicity from their lips, as they both turned to look at her and she shrugged.
“White wolf, quite pretty actually, until the whole fangs and drawling thing which…” Connor was already stalking across the kitchen, his jumper wrenched from his body, revealing another muscled torso that she also remembered from this morning. Her eyes flicked up and locked onto him, before she literally shook herself back to reality.
“I’ll see if I can get a scent.” Connor called from somewhere down the hallway, as Chase’s eyes locked on her and she frowned in confusion.
“Now you’re interested?” She commented snidely, as she reached for the cup again.
“You saw a white wolf, Cass. We don’t have any in our pack. It was a rogue. No pack, dangerous.” Chase moved across the kitchen in what felt like one fluid movement. “If you hadn’t of fallen and cried out, you’d probably be dead now.” There was a dark anger in his eyes that she couldn’t dismiss.
“That’s…” She swallowed hard with the thought of that wolf. “Comforting.” She added on a deep frown, as he stroked the back of his fingers down her cheek. He seemed pensive, caught faraway on a private moment, before he shook it off.
“I’m going to see if I can pick up the scent with Connor. Stay here. Lock the door behind me, and don’t leave.” The commanding tone to his voice didn’t annoy her this time, if anything it was more of a comfort. He was back in his protective mode, and she felt a rush of guilt sweep through her for the accusation she had levelled at him over that wolf. She nodded her head.
This was one time that she intended to do exactly what he told her.
‘What do you have for me?’ Chase was circling, his muzzle lifted to capture the rogue wolf’s scent on the surrounding area.
‘Paw prints, but the rogue’s masking its scent. Doing a good job of it. I’ve only been able to pick up the mere whiff of him.’ Connor admitted reluctantly. He didn’t like rogue’s, he certainly didn’t like rogues on pack land. That was never a good thing; it put everyone in the pack in danger.
Connor would hunt this one down for the good of the pack, and he was a damn good tracker. But this rogue was skilled at masking his scent, it might take him some time, but he would have him if he was a threat to the pack. On the other hand, he could have just been passing through pack land and kept going.
‘Luckily it snowed, so I can track his prints, see where that takes us. Hopefully he’s just passing through’ Connor started away from his brother, a slow trot that kept his eyes on the tracks that lead away from the house. Chase following on, his eyes intent on the landscape around him, he had Connor’s back while his brother was concentrating on the tracks.
‘Damn rogues, arrogant to come onto pack land at all’ Chase was less than happy with the situation; the rogue was good enough to mask his scent, especially after encountering Cassidy, which meant he was a problem that needed to be deal
t with.
They could find him and run him off, or if he was just too far gone, they would have to kill him for the safety of the pack. Either way, it wasn’t something he needed to be dealing with right now.
The rogue had threatened Cassidy, in Chase’s book that gave him enough reason to kill him. While it was true that he hadn’t marked her yet, and the rogue wasn’t to know who she was, or that she was protected by the pack, he had still threatened his mate, and right now, he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to take much else into account.
‘He stopped here. I’m guessing he was watching you and Cassidy’ Connor noted how the tracks had turned back on themselves. The extra paw prints where the wolf had lingered, watching, before turning off in a different direction.
Connor followed the tracks past the next tree, where paw prints littered the ground and caused Connor to groan in his own mind.
‘What is it?’ Chase asked taking up a flanking position, as Connor tried to make sense of what the wolf had done.
‘Guess he realised he was in trouble. He’s cross tracked his prints, it’s a mess. I can run the perimeter, see what tracks I can pick up, and if they are any good. But looking at this, and adding the way he’s masking his scent, I’d say he’s good enough for me to be chasing my tail for a while, before I might pick up anything even resembling a proper track I can follow.’ Chase heard the frustration in his brother’s voice, he felt it within him, and he knew that it wasn’t going to be a simple hunt.
‘You think he’s leading us on a dance?’
‘From the looks of these tracks, Chase, I’d say it was a polka. You want me to get Trey out here so you can stay with Cassidy?’ Connor eyed his Alpha. The unease in Chase’s voice showed in his wolf’s posture. He was as unhappy with this rogue being here as Chase was. But Chase had his mate to consider, it had been her that the rogue had threatened, it should have been Chase that hunted him down and challenged him. But leaving Cassidy back at the house alone was just inviting trouble. The little Fae had managed to encounter a rogue on her first day on pack land. She seemed to find trouble where there shouldn’t have been any.