by Riley Storm
“Sorry. Not used to this sort of exertion. It scared me.” Jennifer slumped back into the ground.
“It’ll be okay.”
“Oh sure. Of course, it will,” she said. “Of course, it will.”
Liam watched her chest rise and fall. He was breathing hard as well, but more of that was nervousness from his worry about her condition than from the fight. As far as shifter fights went, that had been relatively short and easy.
“Hey. Liam?”
He looked down at her as she said his name. Her eyes were focused on him now, but they were partially obscured. Without thinking, he reached out and gently brushed the bright red hairs out of the way.
Jennifer stiffened, and for a moment he thought he’d made a mistake. No anger came to her eyes, no snarky retort made it past her lips. They simply looked at one another in silence, neither daring to speak.
His brain didn’t register what he was doing until he was already doing it, but by that point, his lips were mere inches from hers, and she wasn’t stopping him.
The first thing he felt was heat, the warmth of her pale skin as he cupped her cheek, brushing his thumb along the smooth curve of her jaw. Then he was covering her mouth with his, losing himself in the moment. Losing himself in her.
Her. Jennifer. The mage. He was kissing her in the middle of a field. It was crazy. Not just a quick tentative peck either, his tongue was playing against hers as he leaned down farther. His body was on fire, her touch a trail of lava against his skin to the point it burned, searing his nerves permanently yet making him long for more, always more.
Under him, Jennifer abruptly tensed, and all at once his senses returned to him in the blink of an eye. Liam stiffened and pulled back, suddenly aware, truly aware of what it was he’d just been doing. And with whom. He couldn’t be doing this with her, couldn’t let any desires manifest, lest they cloud his judgment, made him miss something critical.
She still wasn’t trustworthy.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he rumbled.
“Right,” she said, licking her lower lip. “Um. By the way, you’re naked.”
He shrugged. “Comes with the territory. We shifters tend to be hard on clothing.”
Jennifer bit her lip this time. “Right. Speaking of hard.”
“Excuse me?”
She flicked her eyes between his legs.
Liam glanced down to see he had a raging hard-on, and, due to his kneeling position at her side, as he’d leaned in to kiss her, it had begun to poke Jennifer in the ribs.
“Ahhh. Right. That. Well, the thing about that is…” He adjusted his position, moving to kneel on one leg only, using his other to hide his rock-solid cock from view.
“Is what?” Jennifer wanted to know with a smirk when he didn’t continue.
“You’re okay?” he asked with a blunt change of subject. “No lasting injuries from that jerk.”
“I’m fine physically,” she said, accepting the change without argument, much to his relief.
It was hard enough—no pun intended—trying to figure out for himself why he’d done what he’d done. Explaining it to her when his mind was a mess of confusing thoughts would be downright impossible.
“Did he mess with your head?” Liam wanted to know, giving the mage a suspicious frown.
“Sort of.” Jennifer waved a hand at him. “Not with his magic, you idiot. I’m not that weak-minded. I just meant with his appearance and the lengths he was willing to go to right away. I…” she trailed off.
Sensing this wasn’t exactly easy for her, Liam gave her time to think, time to ponder and form a reply. He wasn’t all asshole, after all. If this helped her to open up to him, to stop with the lies and half-truths, then he would give her as much time as she needed.
“I always knew it would come to this, you understand,” she explained, sitting up.
His heart spiked as she glanced between his legs once more, but he fought it off. He needed to stop thinking about this thick, lush woman as a—dammit, stop focusing on her looks! That’s exactly what’s making you so hard. She’s not to be trusted. Even less so, since apparently, you’re letting yourself get distracted by her appearance. She could be using that against you!
“Right,” he said gruffly, trying to mask his thoughts. “You knew they would send someone.”
“I suspected as much, though they moved far faster than I anticipated. That part was a surprise. But you know how it goes.”
“Of course.” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“Help me up.”
He gave her a hand, casually pulling the mage to her feet, trying to keep his own calm as he stood up as well.
“Do you have any clothes you could put on? That thing is…”
He glanced down between his legs. “It’ll go away. Eventually.” Maybe.
“Then I think we should head back and get you something to wear,” she muttered. “Probably best to call it a day, don’t you think?”
“Why? I can go get some clothes, be back soon,” he said.
“Well I’m also exhausted after that display. Using raw magic like that is…tiring, to say the least. Plus, and don’t let this go to your ego but, that,” she pointed at his dick again. “That thing is distracting.”
“So, you did notice,” he teased, though he didn’t know why.
“Shut up,” Jennifer said with a sigh. “Let’s go.”
They walked over to the four-wheeler, but a quick glance at it showed it wasn’t going anywhere.
“Well, that’s not very nice,” he rumbled. “Look at this.”
The entire thing was covered in scorch marks. Clearly, at some point during the fight, Daniel had purposefully disabled their vehicle, leaving them out in the field with no method of transport.
“So, we have to walk back?” Jennifer half-moaned. “Well that sucks.”
He rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you the one who was telling me just yesterday that—” He cleared his throat and used his best feminine voice. “You do know I’m a mage, right? That I can open portals to wherever I want?” He finished with a mocking smile.
“Fuck you,” she growled.
Liam was about to respond with a reference to his dick, but before he could, Jennifer slashed at the air and walked through. He followed with a grin—
Only to have the portal close before he could reach it.
“Low blow!” he shouted at thin air. “That’s not funny. It’s too easy.”
There was no response.
“What a bitch.”
He pushed his body through the change a second time, relishing in the power that came with being in his wolf form. The actual shift was rather painful, disjointed and awkward as his body reshaped itself, but once it was done, he practically crackled with power, and Liam loved it.
Faster than the wind. Stronger than ten humans. Teeth that could shred most material. Except that damn mage robe. He grinned a wolf grin at the memory of how he’d used that to his advantage, whipping Daniel around like a doll.
That memory faded as he moved off at a comfortable lope toward the farmhouse, trying to puzzle out the mystery of Jennifer. He’d thought he had her figured out, at least, somewhat. But just now she’d thrown everything he’d thought for a loop, most likely without even meaning to.
She’d clearly noted his dick, and he’d smelled the arousal come over her as they kissed. On a purely physical level, she wanted him. It was obvious. Not as obvious as his arousal had been, but neither one of them regretted the kiss when it came to how they felt about the other’s body.
Liam had stopped himself from kissing her because he frankly didn’t trust her. At all. She wasn’t telling him the truth, and until she did, he wouldn’t believe most of what came out of her mouth.
But today, she’d turned down his advances, and then blatantly acknowledged she didn’t hate the sight of his cock. In fact, she’d almost implied she thought it was nice. That she wouldn’t mind touching it…if the circumst
ances were different.
That was the confusing part. She’d called him a distraction.
A distraction.
He should have been insulted that was all he was to her, but it was the choice of words that had his mind all in an uproar. A distraction meant she was focused on something else. The only something else in this case, was the mission itself. Which meant, she felt she couldn’t afford a distraction.
It all implied a level of seriousness and dedication toward actually helping them that Liam had never believed she felt. Oh sure, she’d said the words, made the right platitudes about wanting to help, but he’d never truly believed she wanted to. Liam had always thought there was another reason for her presence.
Now he couldn’t be so sure. Daniel had said some things in the standoff before the fight that lent some credence to his thoughts. A brief mention about her personal feelings. So, it was obvious Jennifer still wasn’t telling him the truth about everything.
But could she be serious about wanting to help his House? Maybe she wasn’t fully lying about that.
Liam just didn’t know, because not only had she called him a distraction, but she’d fought a fellow mage, just to be able to stay.
He’d thought she was a liar, but now everything she was doing was going against what he’d expected from her.
I don’t know what your angle is, Jennifer Shaw. But I am going to find out.
16
Liam got bold and put on some jeans instead of sweatpants after getting back to the farmhouse. Sometimes, it was nice to change things up and have a different look.
Whatever his reason for doing it, he told himself, it most certainly was for his own reasons. Not anything external.
“All covered up?”
He turned to see Jennifer come down the stairs. She too had changed, leaving behind her mage robe for more sensible and practical clothing, such as a pair of dark pants, a deep red tank top and a white light overshirt. It was a casual style, but Liam loved the way it fit her.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Whatever you say. Ready for some food?”
The tiniest shudder ran through her delicious frame, but she nodded nonetheless. “Starved. That’s one thing we have in common at least.”
“Huh?” He didn’t let his confusion stop his feet from taking him in the direction of the kitchen, and sustenance. Though the fight hadn’t been overly intense, it still left him with a need to replenish the energy. A five-hundred-pound wolf burned an insane number of calories.
“Food is energy. Hurling magic around of any kind increases your appetite, but raw unfocused energy? That will drain your reserves in no time. Need to restock my reserves.”
Liam hadn’t known that about mages. It made sense, he supposed, but he’d never really been involved enough with a magic user in any way before, even just as an escort. He was learning all sorts of new things.
They headed into the kitchen and got in line. He noted that this time, Jennifer wasn’t afraid to stand up to the other shifters. Admittedly it was off-peak feeding time, so the crowd was much smaller, and thus easier to handle, but it was good to see even then.
“Back again?” the chef of the hour asked with a grin. “So soon?”
Liam laughed. “Sure are, Chief. What the hell are you doing behind the counter today?”
“Celebrity chef endorsement,” the third-in-command of the rebellion joked.
“I made him.”
Another of the chefs turned, revealing himself to be none other than Sydney, Chief’s mate. Although he knew she was pregnant, Liam couldn’t see any signs of it, so he refrained from commenting. It was still early, after all, barely more than three months. Soon she would start showing. He couldn’t wait. It wasn’t his child of course, but like any shifter, he loved babies. The creation of life was something to be celebrated.
“Well, what have you two got for us today?” he asked, not wanting to hold up the line. “I wouldn’t normally trust your cooking, but I don’t have much choice today. We don’t have much choice,” he amended, indicating Jennifer. “Because—”
“Because neither of us can cook for a damn,” Jennifer interjected with a laugh.
Liam held his tongue, laughing along with the two cooks and several others in line with them as well. Not that he could figure out why. That wasn’t the truth at all. He was a decent cook, and like everyone else, he spent a shift or two as a community cook every week.
Jennifer was up to something, he realized. He grinned, took his helpings of pasta and baked chicken and moved off, waiting for the mage to join him before heading out onto the porch, where they could at least enjoy a modicum of privacy.
“Sorry about that,” Jennifer said before he’d even gotten the first bite down the hatch. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you. Though you went with it well enough.”
“Suppose you tell me why?” He stabbed the chicken with his fork, cutting it into pieces and pairing it with a mouthful of pasta as he ate.
Jennifer shrugged, taking her time to respond as she, too, ate. Liam wanted answers, but he didn’t let his curiosity get the better of him. She was just as hungry as he was, and they weren’t in much of a rush either, so did it really matter?
“I need you to promise me something, Liam.”
He went still, arm halfway to his mouth with food on his fork. “That’s a pretty big ask, considering you only just met me, don’t you think?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But I don’t have much choice,” she said slowly. “You might not like me much, or trust me, but you seem like a man of your word at least.”
“Accurate enough,” he said, finally take the bite of food. He chewed slowly, thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I can guarantee to keep whatever promise it is you expect from me,” he said at last. “Not if the good of my House outweighs it.”
Jennifer paused in her eating, biting heavily on her lower lip as she stared out over the porch railing in silence stretching on into minutes. He was about to prompt her when she shook herself slightly, her focus returning to the then and there, not wherever her mind had wandered off to.
“It’s about the fight. With Daniel. The fact the Mage Council doesn’t approve of me being here. I need you to keep that a secret.”
He sat up straighter, spine stiffening. That was a big ask of him. “Don’t you think the others should know about that? It’s kind of a big deal.”
“It’s kind of a big deal…for me.” She turned, fixating him with one of those powerful looks she possessed, green eyes backed by the fire of her hair. She had a hell of a stare to her, and it almost worked on him. Almost.
“You’re asking a lot of me, Jennifer,” he said quietly. “That’s really something the high command should know, at a minimum.”
She shook her head fiercely. “This is my issue, Liam. My problem to deal with. You understand that, right?”
“Until they send another representative to apprehend you, and another shifter gets caught in the crossfire, yes, I understand.”
“They won’t.”
He scoffed. “How can you possibly know that?”
“Because the more they try, the stronger the mage they have to send, the more they risk word getting out. Right now, they can play it off like I resigned peacefully, as if it was planned. That way, they look unified. A solid front to all the other polities in our world, including the other shifter Houses.”
Liam considered her words, looking for errors in them, but he couldn’t find any. Her statement seemed accurate. The Mage Council was in a precarious position. They were the second most powerful group, after the shifters, but they also existed at the will of said shifters. That made exerting their influence on the other groups, such as the Fae, the elves, etcetera, difficult—to say the least.
Presenting a unified front was important, because it allowed them to appear stronger than they actually were, preventing challenges from those who wanted more power and say in the goings-on of the paranormal world. Liam wasn’t
convinced that was enough to prevent them from trying to bring her to heel a second time, but perhaps.
“So, what will they do?” he asked. “Just look the other way.”
“They will declare me rogue,” Jennifer said. “And hope that will be enough to convince someone to turn on me.”
“That’s quite the risk you take, don’t you think? Ignoring them, hoping they ignore you, and yet never being able to trust anyone around you?”
She shrugged. “I trust you.”
He laughed sharply. “What on earth for?”
“Because you’re honest, Liam. You’re upfront in the fact you don’t trust me. You tell me what you think, and you don’t lie about it. That doesn’t mean you like me, but if you tell me you’ll do something, I know I can trust you will.”
“Right. That…” he frowned. “That makes a sickening amount of sense.”
Jennifer smiled. “Now, can you please promise me you’ll keep this a secret? This is my issue to deal with, and I will handle it on my own. You and your house do not need to fight this battle for me. It’s up to me to take care. But only after we do our job. Not before.”
He wanted to hate her. To tell her she was wrong. He didn’t trust her, not an ounce. Despite that, Liam was finding it harder and harder not to at least respect her. How could he not, after she was so adamant about fighting her own battles, without dragging anyone else into them?
“Okay,” he said reluctantly. “I won’t tell anyone about the little fracas earlier, or the fact it was another mage.”
“Thank you, Liam. I really appreciate that. I—”
“But in return,” he continued abruptly. “Tell me why.”
“Why…what?”
“Why did you choose to fight,” he asked, keeping any hostility out of his voice. “Why not just go back? It would be infinitely easier for you that way. We both know it. So, don’t treat me like an idiot and pretend I’m blind. Why are you here?”
“I told you, Liam. I told you when you first asked me. And when you asked me again. And now I’m going to tell you again. It all boils down to this being the right thing to do.”