by M. L. Briers
“Get out here and face your mate.”Teri hissed, but the sound still echoed within the tiled room and grated on Kiera’s nerves, making them a little rawer.
“Could you please stop saying mate, mate is a friend, a pal, a chum, and I think he has a little more in mind than a fish and chip supper after a night at the pub, don’t you?”Kiera had turned back towards the closed door and was berating it with her words and her eyes, as if Teri was actually standing there, as if she could see her… Oh lord, I think I’m going insane. Maybe someone spiked my drink… maybe I’m still sleeping… Kiera reached down and pinched her forearm as hard as she could through her top. Then she let out a shriek…Bugger that hurt!
“I’m guessing you just caught sight of yourself in the mirror.”The amusement in Teri’s voice made Kiera see red. Stalking the few steps towards the door, she flipped the lock, yanked on the handle, pulled open the door enough to reach out and grab a handful of Teri’s shirt, and yanked the woman inside. “Hey, play nice.”Teri scolded as she turned to see the door slammed shut and the lock flipped back on again.
“Thanks for the heads up that I look like a…”
“Yeti on a bad day…”Teri offered with a smug smile.
“There are Yeti’s too?”Kiera tossed her hands in the air and turned on her heels back towards the sink and that oh-so attractive look she had going for her in the mirror.
“Grab a brush, put on some slap, and brush your teeth. Lycans have an advanced sense of smell…”Teri informed her.
“Smell?”
“They like their woman au natural. At least it’ll save on the cost of all those smelly creams that you buy.”Teri offered light heartedly and Kiera sneered at her.
“I happen to like my smelly creams, thank you. Now go away so I can get ready, and no more banging on the bloody door.” Kiera yanked open the door and motioned for Teri to leave.
“Ten minutes then, you’re not trying out for Miss World.”
Kiera pushed her friend out into the hallway with a shove in her back and snapped the lock back on. Then she turned towards the bathroom mirror. Her eyes fell on the array of little perfume bottles that littered the side and she couldn’t help the small grin that played on her lips as an evil thought lodged itself in her brain.
“It’s just two little words…” Cyrus was standing at the kitchen door looking particularly hopeful as his mate stood on the other side of the threshold, arms crossed, head tilted to one side with a devious little smirk on her lips.
“Not ones you’re going to hear anytime soon.”Teri sang back, making her voice as melodic as his.
“You know you want to.”Cyrus shot back with a devilish smile that now matched her own. He knew she was enjoying this, it was written all over her face. If she liked to have the upper hand, she wouldn’t be happy, he believed in fifty fifty straight down the middle, give and take, in most things.
“You mistake me for someone who cares.”
“But, sweetheart, it’s cold out here.”He even added a little theatrical shiver to try to sway her.
“Since when did a corpse feel the cold?”Teri watched him roll his eyes and bring them back to hers.
“I could make you let me in…”He teased, his eyes deliberately flashing a warning to her and then his dark brows were doing a jig above his eyes and she breathed a hard breath down her nose like a dragon.
“I could send you back to the dark ages with just a flick of my wrist.”
“Oh for the love of sanity, come the hell in!” Caren ground out. She’d had just about enough of this mate thing already. The sooner the mates mated, the sooner sanity would return to her little corner of the world and she could get on with the good things in life, like sleeping.
Teri’s head snapped around on her neck as she glared her displeasure at her friend, but Caren just gave a small shrug off her shoulders. Teri could feel his breath against her cheek as he stepped up to her side in a flash.
“Somebody believes in playing nice in this house, shame it isn’t my mate.”He teased her again and saw her tense.
“Go throw yourself on a pyre…”Teri grumbled as she strolled away from him. Now that the damn vampire was in the house there wasn’t a lot she could do about it, except either move, kill him, or kill Caren and herself, and the latter would have negated the reason for keeping him out in the first place.
“Ouch, sweetheart, you don’t mean that.”Cyrus chuckled to himself. She was a feisty one. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her he knew it, and he appreciated that she wasn’t a shrinking violet. He liked a little fight in his woman, and she was gearing up for at least ten rounds, although he’d like it to be just one.
“Never a truer word…”She shot over her shoulder as all eyes turned towards the sound of the bathroom door opening. Out of the corner of her eye, Teri saw the alpha shift his stance. It was as if he was in two minds about staying where he was or going to greet his mate, he chose not to move.
“What the…?”Cyrus caught the scent in the air first, being nearer to the doorway, and then the alpha had it a moment later.
“That’s a little…”Callum coughed, clearing his throat. Then, he did it again.
“What?”Teri asked, confused by the reactions of the two mates, and then, when Kiera entered the room, even she could smell the mixture of perfumes that rolled towards her.
“Hells bells, you smell like a perfume counter…”Teri spat out.
“Is it too much?”Kiera asked innocently, she even had the doe eyed look going on. Teri narrowed her eyes and hissed at her.
“That’s just mean.”Teri started, but the sound of the sneeze that echoed through the kitchen made her stop and turn to look at the alpha. His face was contorted as another sneeze came on and his whole body wrenched with it.
“Damn it!” He growled out, knowing that he was in for another one until his sensitive nose got used to the over powering scents or he left the room. It kind of followed a pattern; sneeze, growl, sneeze, growl, growl, sneeze, growl, growl, sneeze, growl, growl, growl, sneeze, growl, growl and then he held still, eyes narrowed on his mate, waiting, just waiting for the next sneeze.
The only thing that broke the sound of the sneezing and growling was the two Fae as they chuckled at his predicament. Kiera tried to keep her innocent look, but it didn’t quite work for her, she was more than happy with the results. Score one for the human. She gave herself a high five in her mind.
Cyrus had already taken a step backwards towards the fresh air of the still open back door, and the alpha made a beeline for his position. When he got there the vampire sidestepped and the big guy stuck his head outside the door and took a big whiff of the freezing night air. “Oh thank the God’s…”He growl out to nobody in particular.
“Perhaps we can pick this up tomorrow, after the humans have had some sleep, and one of us has been fumigated.”Caren ground out, still amused by the alphas plight, and yet tired to her very bones.
“No!” The alpha sounded slightly desperate even to his own ears. Not only had he waited his entire lifetime to meet his mate, but he had a wager to win and a challenge to complete. His nose might be twitching and damn well burning, but losing time wasn’t an option.
“Desperate much?” Caren shot back, but she wasn’t looking at the alpha, she was grinning up at Kiera from where she sat at the kitchen table. “And can you close the back door? Some of us do feel the cold.” She turned to eye the alpha now as he gave a slow, low growl of annoyance. He was trying to freeze his damn nostrils so that the artificial scent his mate had covered herself with didn’t cause him to have a damn seizure from sneezing.
“Perhaps it would be best to put the mutt outside.”Cyrus chuckled as his eyes twinkled with mischief. Another growl, this one more of a warning, came from the alpha.
“I’m warning you, vampire.”Callum growled hard as he turned to glare at the man, but the sound of the long, piercing screech that came from his mate had his eyes snapping towards her. The scent of fear mingled
with the damn perfume and scrambled his senses for a long moment. He stripped away all of the other scents in the room and found pure unadulterated fear.
“Vam…”Kiera started to back away, knowing in some part of her mind that the doorway out of the room must be behind her, because she’d only just walked through it. Unfortunately she was heading for the wall and Callum got to her a moment before she hit it. His big arms wrapped around her and protected her from the impact, but she stifled another screech as she realised that she was staring at the expanse of his chest and was trapped with nowhere to go.
“He’s not going to hurt you, Kiera.” The deep soothing tones of Callum’s voice drifted over her, through her, soothing her nerves and bringing her head up so she could look at him. She didn’t know what she was expecting to find on his face, a monstrous look of a beast that had caught its prey perhaps? But there was concern, his eyebrows were drawn down, his deep brown eyes were searching hers, and he looked more than worried for her.
The warmth of his large hands against her back made her whole body come to life. Not in the slow progressive way that putting your feet on a hot water bottle did, but in a rush of heat that swept through her. Wow, whoa… she wasn’t entirely sure which reaction she liked best. Right now she was going to go with wow.
“I…You’re…I…”Kiera didn’t know where to start, or how to stop the feelings that was vying for her attention just from his proximity, his touch, him. It was kind of scary good and scary bad all at the same time.
“We, Kiera.” Callum offered. There wasn’t an ‘I’ between them anymore, it was we from here on in, at least in his mind. She was his mate, end of story.
“He’s…”She tried again. The elephant in the room had fangs and drank people’s blood, and she couldn’t quite get around that fact, even with the sudden lobotomy that she’d received from having Callum that close.
“A vampire. Yes. But he isn’t going to hurt you. I promise you that.”Callum made sure every word he spoke was full of the confidence he felt within him and aimed directly at her subconscious so she felt it too. She was still overly tense, but he suspected his touch was as much to blame for that as her understanding of what Cyrus was.
Kiera tilted her upper body slightly so she could peer around the large body that stood guard in front of her. She’d already seen the vampire, but now she knew what she was supposed to be looking for, fangs and blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, she wanted to get a better look. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but she did have a big man mountain in the way promising her safety, and boy, did he make her feel safe…
“Boo!” Cyrus couldn’t help himself as Kiera’s eyes locked with his. She blinked three times in a row, and then frowned so hard he thought her face might stay like that forever. But when he chuckled and her eyes darted towards his mouth, he knew what she was looking for. Should he drop his fangs for just a moment? The devilish thought amused him ever more, but he kept it in check.
“Cyrus, so help me, I will stake you myself.”Teri snapped at him across the way and he looked towards his mate with innocent eyes.
“I’m just teasing her, but if you’d rather I played with you…”He took a long step and Teri held out her hand, palm outwards towards him and he stopped in his tracks. “Spoil sport.”
“Tell me why I shouldn’t swat you like a bug?”Teri offered part question, part warning, and he gave her a dazzling smile that made her insides do a Highland Jig. She was sure that on some level she could even hear the accompanying bagpipes.
“Because, my little Fae, you like me.”He vamped it up for her benefit and heard her moan as she rolled her eyes. But she didn’t deny it, and he liked that even more.
“I like cats too, but if they stick their claws out they’re out the back door.”She informed him, knowing he got her meaning when he pouted and then grinned back at her.
“Is he your vampire?”Kiera asked, not wanting to say the word mate, it still felt kind of alien to her.
Cyrus folded his arms across his chest and gleefully pinned Teri with his eyes. “Well, am I?”He teased back at her. For a long moment Teri was loathed to answer that question. She was his mate, fine, she accepted that fact, but she hadn’t accepted them together yet, not really, not totally…
“Something like that.”Teri offered as she kept her eyes locked on Cyrus’s enquiring stare and saw a flicker of humour there.
“I’ll take that answer, for now.”Cyrus was so self assured in that moment that Teri wished she’d given another answer. An out and out flat refusal would have been good just to see the smile wiped off his face. But the more she thought about it, the more she kind of liked the idea of being his mate. He wasn’t such a bad guy, he made her laugh, she liked his sarcasm… and damn but he was one sexy bloodsucker.
Kiera noted the way Callum’s hands moved against her back and she snapped her eyes back up to his. She was sure the man was holding his breath, he looked a little, rigid. “Watch the hands, buster.”She warned and saw the amusement wash over his face. His eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, all glinting and sparkly against the deep brown and she had to catch her own breath. Whoa, this mating thing is toxic… “You should back off now.”
Callum hesitated for only a moment, but it was a long one where he debated pulling her closer, bringing the length of her body against his, letting her feel his desire for her, because he was harder than hell with wanting her. But that would make her run for the hills, of that he was sure. That would be bad, a mate on the run and a beast on the hunt, how well would that end for either of them?
Callum stepped back from her, but he didn’t drop her gaze. His eyes held hers as if she was still within his arms, and he could still feel the touch of her against his fingertips. A strange feeling he’d never encountered before, but he damn well liked it.
“I’ll protect you with my life, Kiera.”He wanted her to know that she was safe with him, for now and always.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”It was her turn for her eyebrows to dance upon her face as she looked at him like a man who was short a few cards from the deck.
“But if it did…”
“You’ve got my back, got it.”Kiera gave him an assured nod.
“Always.”He saw his mate flinch, as if he’d hit a raw nerve within her.
“That’s a long time, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that either.”She mumbled as she dragged her eyes away from his and widened them in a pleading look towards Teri. The smug look of amused enjoyment that she got in return left her in no doubt that she wouldn’t be receiving help from that quarter.
Callum breathed in and sneezed out again. He could only hold his breath for so long at a time, and although it might be longer than a human, it still wasn’t long enough to keep from scenting her mischief with the perfume. He growled again and his mate gave a small squeak at the sound. He gave her an apologetic look.
“I assure you, you’ll come to like the growling…”He teased her and she frowned on a small shake of her head.
“Doubtful.”She was eyeing him with caution. “Is there any chance that you’ll wig out and chew on me by mistake?”She saw the shock on his face and then the grin that spread from ear to ear a moment before he tossed his head back and roared with laughter.
“No…”He managed to get the word out as he turned those puppy eyes back on her and she felt them somewhere deep within her. Nice eyes, shame about the fur, tail and wolf thing… “I can promise you that as long as you don’t run from me you’ll be perfectly safe in my care.” Kiera went to give an understanding nod of her head, but then she frowned instead as bells went off inside her mind.
“W-what about the running thing?” She didn’t like the sound of that. One moment he would never hurt her and the next, she’d be ok if she didn’t run anywhere? What if she was running for a bus? Away from a bee, she did that a lot, usually accompanied by squealing and arm waving… but still…?
Cyrus snorted a laugh that brought her attent
ion towards him. “He’ll be like all claws and fangs and wolfie. Hunting you down and having his evil, wicked way with you.”Cyrus overplayed to the point of extreme, but it had its desired effect as he watched some of the colour drain from Kiera’s cheeks and she swallowed hard.
“Cyrus!” Teri snapped out. The sound of Callum’s annoyance reverberated around the room and made Kiera swallow again, this time she thought she might just have swallowed her tongue.
“I think I’m going to go for a shower…”Kiera announced and saw the flash of desire within Callum’s eyes. “Or maybe just bed…”She offered instead, the words were out of her mouth before her brain had a chance to vet them, but when Callum almost drooled down his chin, she shook her head. “Or…I’m just gonna go…”She turned on her heels and went to high tail it out of there, but then she remembered Cyrus’s warning and it took all the willpower she possessed, but she walked slowly and calmly towards the door.
“Now see what you’ve done?”Teri bit out and Cyrus played the innocent.
“Would you rather she was mauled and ravished by the beast of Bodmin moor?” Cyrus shrugged his shoulders at his mate. Callum once again gave a growl of warning.
“That’s a damn panther and you know it is…”Callum took it as a personal insult.
“Oh, stop pouting and go after her.”Cyrus bit out. He’d already put the image within her mind of what the alpha could be, she wasn’t about to shake that lightly.
“I want a word with you.”Teri announced, hooking her finger and bidding Cyrus to follow her as she made her way out of the kitchen. He didn’t need asking twice. He knew he was going to be berated, but that was a small price to pay for time alone with his mate.
Teri didn’t even consider what she was doing as she led him through the living room and into her bedroom. When he stepped inside, she slammed the door shut behind him and glared up at him. She had a bet to win and she wouldn’t let a meddlesome vampire stand in her way.