by M. L. Briers
“Scooby snack?”Faith growled.
“I’m trying to fit in with the family, honey, when in Rome…”Jake shrugged of his insults and moved his hips against her. He was hard and getting harder inside her again.
“Did you miss me, honey?”Faith teased, knowing how insatiable he could be after a forced absence from her.
“I’m going to take you every which way and then we can work on finding some new ones…”
“Not in here you’re not, somewhere in here lurks some Christmas decorations people will be wanting.”Faith warned him and he sighed.
“Do you think anyone will notice if I carry you through the house to your bedroom like this?”He teased again and she chuckled.
“I think everyone is too busy having sex to notice, make it fast…”
“The carrying or the sex, because we already did fast…”
Sasha stood looking down at the material puddle around her ankles. There was just no way in hell that she was ever going to make them stay up, considering the wolf claimed he didn’t own a belt, which she found highly suspect. Who didn’t own at least one damn belt? Still, she had a few choices, walk around holding the damn jog pants in place, forget, drop them, and either give him the wrong idea, or trip the hell over them.
Eat a few pounds of cheese, waiting for the bloating to start and when she looked five months pregnant… well then they just might stay in place, or, forgo them altogether and leave the bare space between his socks, that were pulled up to her damn knees, and his t-shirt, that came down to just above the knee…
Hmm, decisions-decisions… Sasha stepped out of the material and bent over to pick them up just as the bedroom door shot open and a low deep growl echoed through his bedroom around her.
“For the love of the Goddess can I get some damn privacy?”She hissed out. Spinning on her heels and finding him standing there with his mouth open and a really dumb expression on his face.
When Abel hadn’t heard anything from the bedroom for a while he got worried and thought he’d make sure she was alright. When he opened the door the last thing he’d expected to see was her bent over and the long white creamy skin of the backs of her thighs, topped off with the ample swell of her backside greeting him like a welcome home sign…
Damn it, but he was harder than one of those fancy, naked male ice sculptures that Faith had at her wedding, and he didn’t think he’d melt as fast as they did either.
Abel couldn’t move, he didn’t breathe. He thought his tongue might have been hanging out of his mouth, and his eyes might have popped out of his head and hit her backside when she rallied at him, wailing like a banshee, but he had that insane need to grin like an idiot as he stared back at her.
“There’s a lock on the door, babe, if you weren’t inviting me in, wouldn’t you have locked it?”Abel teased. He just couldn’t help himself, the fiery look of her eyes met with the adorable crimson of her cheeks, and the way she was dressed, in just a tee and socks, and nothing underneath, made him want to emulate his wolf and fall on the floor to show her his belly.
“You have the morals of a pig…”She spat out and he grinned wider.
“You take the high road, and I’ll take the low road…”
“And where the damn roads join, I’ll run you the hell over, now get out…”She raised her arm and pointed her finger over his shoulder and he tipped his head to one side and considered her.
“Did you think I didn’t know the way?”Abel was in full fledge devilish mode and she wasn’t impressed.
“Goddess, you are the most infuriating…”She stomped her foot. Actually stomped her damn foot, she hadn’t done that since she was nine. This was what being around a stupid Lycan male did to her…
“Yeah and you love it, don’t you?”Abel rolled his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows, and she felt the urgent need to plant his head through the nearest wall.
“Were your parents related by any chance?”She snapped back and Abel gave a low whistle of disbelief.
“Wow sweetheart, don’t hold back for my sake, come on, and really let me have it.”Abel threw his arms up in the air and snorted in disbelief.
Sasha felt the anger rise within her along with her magic. With one hand held out, she drew on the power within her. Abel’s large frame was lifted off his feet and he went sailing backwards out of the door. He hit the wall with relative little force, but that didn’t stop him from sliding down it onto his backside on the floor.
Shocked and disorientated he shook his head and stared back into the room at her as she stood there glaring at him, with a flick of her wrist the door slammed shut and he growled out, long and hard in annoyance.
Dragging himself to his feet he shook it off. He drew himself to his full height and stalked the few paces back to the door. Gripping the handle he yelped in pain as what felt like electricity shot up his arm and through his body causing every muscle to spasm hard within him.
It took a long moment for the pain to subside and his muscles to relax after he let go of the damn handle, and he stood there, as mad as hell and panting in anger like his damn wolf.
He was going to kill her, rip her limb from limb, and then he was going to feed her to the damn crows, and when they were done he’d gnaw on the damn bones, using them for toothpicks…
His wolf whimpered inside him at the thought and he growled with menace as he lifted his leg and kicked in the door.
Sasha was about to sit on the bed when the door was beaten backwards against the frame. The loud thud and sounds of wood splintering made her jump inwardly and hold in place, her backside half in the air as her head snapped up and she met his dark glare.
Was history going to repeat itself, right here and now? Had she pushed him too far? Could this wolf contain himself, or would she end up like her mother had… dead at the hands of a wolf?
Sasha froze in fear. Her eyes were wide and her brain shut down almost completely to anything but the sight of Abel’s dark glare. He stalked towards her with so much menace in every step that he took, that she forgot to breathe, forgot who she was, forgot to use the one thing she had to save herself… Magic.
“Woman, you asked for it…”Abel growled out between clenched teeth…
So there it was his intent. She was going to die by her mate’s hand, or to be more accurate, claws and fangs, ripped apart like her mother had been. Lycans really were no different from werewolves.
Abel reached out to grab her. If she had been any other, he might have finished her there and then, but right now the only intention he had was to kiss the damn woman senseless until she couldn’t think of anything but the damn mating pull. He’d show her who was boss and have his revenge by making her see that she couldn’t escape Fates plan for her.
Sasha saw the large hand come towards her and her knees buckled beneath her body, unable or unwilling to hold her up any longer as her muscles quivered within her and she fell.
Bringing her hands up to protect her head from the expected blows, she didn’t make a sound, didn’t cry out as the fear washed through her. It wasn’t in her to go out that way. She wished she’d been strong enough to face him, to face the final blow head on…
CHAPTER FIVE
Abel saw his mate cower and his body froze in place. His anger died in an instant, replaced by rationality as he felt his mates fear like a battering ram to his senses, and his wolf roared within him.
“No!”Abel felt the shame rush through him for what he had done, for what he saw and felt from his mate. “Sasha…”He saw her eyes beneath the protective shield of her arms staring up at him, and he reached for her slowly, so as not to scare her any further.
“I would never hurt you…”His gentle growl was mixed with the disgust inside him that his own actions had made his mate fear him, and that twisted his guts and made him feel physically ill.
He dropped to one knee on the floor in front of her and bowed his head in shame as his hand rested upon her side as she lay twisted in fear on the bed.
“Forg
ive me for making you think that I would strike you, that was not my intention, I swear.”Abel’s sorrowful tone made her stomach clench and she wasn’t sure why.
“You were going to…”Sasha’s arms didn’t drop down, but they did relax slightly.
“I have never hit a female, and I never would…”Abel assured her. His eyes stayed down in his shame. His head was tilted to one side, and she knew enough about Lycans to know that he was showing her reverence, showing his shame, and showing her his submission for her judgement of him, of his actions.
“Please go away.”Sasha couldn’t deal with this now. The memories of her mother’s death had flooded back to her. All the hate she felt for the shifters was bubbling within her, and she couldn’t deal with his act of contrition, not now.
Abel hesitated. He opened his mouth to speak but just nodded instead. Slowly he brought himself to his feet, but not fully. His back still curved forwards and his head was still down in shame as he turned and left the room. He would have closed the door and given her privacy, but it was hanging on only one hinge and he didn’t want her to have to suffer his presence any longer than she needed too.
Sasha saw him go and took her first real breath since he had kicked in the door. Slowly she uncurled her body, her muscles were tense and wouldn’t be as easily unwound. She crawled up the bed and curled up against the headboard. Her hands reached blindly for the pillow beside her and she hugged it to her chest. The scent of him clung to the pillowcase and she breathed him in. The sound of the front door slamming shut made her ears hurt as she strained to hear him over the deafening silence of the cabin.
Adam yanked the bedroom door closed behind him as he heard Faith giggle from the stairs. His eyes caught sight of his sister with her legs wrapped around her mate and he snorted as the scent of what they had been up to reached his nose.
“If it isn’t Mr Transfusion back from beyond.”Adam growled. He kept up the pretence of not really liking the guy, when in truth he actually thought Jake was ok, especially for a vampire. He was also a good influence on Faith, he calmed her a little, and that was always a bonus.
“Bitten any heads of small puppies lately, Adam?”Jake offered lightly, knowing that he’d been caught in rather a compromising situation with his mate. He was still buried deep inside her and it was only her skirt that covered that fact.
“Some damned vampire had gotten to them first…”
“Must be frustrating, always coming in second to a vampire…”Jake offered and heard the alpha growl.
“Boys behave, put those little girl claws away and play nicely…”Faith offered, wanting to groan aloud as Jake shifted his stance and buried himself deeper within her. And she knew that was deliberate, because he could stand perfectly still all day long without even twitching a muscle let alone his… “It’s nearly Christmas.”She offered innocently, as she sunk her fingernails into Jake’s neck and felt his arousal twitch inside her. Two could play at that game, and she played to win. Just a little slow squeeze of her inner muscles and…
“You’re right, I would never ruin Christmas for Fay…”Jake offered with a little dig at the Alpha and he saw Adam’s eyes flare.
“Are you insinuating that I would?”Adam growled and Jake managed a shrug off his shoulders.
“If the little cap that reads humbug fits…”Jake informed him as Faith squeezed those damn muscles hard around him and he groaned inwardly. God, the woman was like a boa constrictor at times, not that it bothered him normally…
Adam opened his mouth, but the thud of the front door opening and being slammed shut again drew his attention to the sound of his brother stomping into the house.
“Faith, I need you…”Abel shouted and Faith looked at Adam. The sound of Abel’s voice told her something was wrong, but how the hell could she move? She was impaled on her mate…
“Adam turn around…”She hissed out, and Adam frowned in confusion at her.
“What?”Adam growled and Faith rolled her eyes, did she need to draw him a damned picture?
“Faith, please…”Abel called out, getting closer.
“We’re…”Faith hissed, “joined.”She finished, drawing him that damned picture with her eyes.
Adam took a minute to cotton on and then he balked, a grin spreading across his face in amusement for her predicament. “Oh.” He turned his back as Jake lifted her from him, quickly tucking himself away, as Faith brushed her skirt downwards, already setting off down the stairs towards Abel who was coming up.
“What’s happened?”Faith demanded, and saw an Abel that she didn’t recognise. The pain and shame was mixed on his face as he stared up at her. His eyes were blank as if he’d just lost the love of his life, and Faith felt the greying of his aura around him more than she saw it. “Abel?”
She reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder as he shook his head in remorse.
“She fears me, Faith. I caused my mate to fear me…”His eyes dropped and then his head followed with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “She cowered.”He admitted in his remorse and Faith took a long breath in and squeezed his shoulder.
“Where is she?”
“My cabin.”Abel’s body went to fold in on itself and he started to sit, but Faith had other ideas and she used all of her strength to keep him up on his feet.
“Nope. You’re coming with me.”She ground out, thankful that Abel had taken his own weight and was standing up again. “And you.”She tossed over her shoulder at her mate as she turned Abel on the stairs and pushed him ahead of her.
Sasha hadn’t moved an inch on the bed. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there, tossing and turning things over in her mind, when she heard the front door open and close again, but when Faith came bounding into the bedroom, she had to guess it had been quite a while.
Faith took in the door hanging off its hinges and sighed. Her eyes taking in Sasha, all curled into the very top of the bed and she sighed again, especially when Sasha only double blinked her hellos.
“What the hell happened to you?”Faith bounded up onto the bed and pulled her legs under her body as she settled in for what might be the long haul.
“I choked…”Sasha said the words so quietly that Faith barely caught them.
“What does that mean?”Faith leaned in, if Sasha was planning to whisper she didn’t want to miss anything.
“We were arguing, I tossed him out the door, shocked him a little, and when he kicked the door in, he was so…”Sasha stopped and remembered the look in her mate’s eyes. The anger that boiled within him, the dark glare as he looked at her as though he was going to rip her limb from limb, and the menacing way that he had stalked towards her… “Do you think that was the last thing my mother saw…?”
Faith almost choked on her own tongue as her heart lurched within her chest. “Oh crap, Sasha, Abel would never hurt you…” Faith reached for her hand, but she moved it away, hugging the pillow to her chest for comfort.
“That’s what he said…”Sasha dropped her eyes to the space between them on the bed, lost somewhere in the question and answers that were pinging back and forth within her mind. “The way he looked at me, Faith. I thought…”Sasha shook her head and screwed up her face. “I couldn’t pull on my magic to defend myself, just like my mother…”
“Sash, this was nothing like that. Abel would never hurt a woman, not intentionally, trust me, I’ve just about done everything to him of the Fae and human torture variety growing up, and he never once attacked me…”Faith rolled her eyes in her head and let a small smile roll over her face. “He held me down and tickled me until I couldn’t breathe a few times. I nearly peed my pants once.”She admitted, bringing Sasha eyes back up to hers. She seemed to be getting through to her.
“He’s thrown me into the pond more times than I care to mention. Held me upside down by my ankles so the blood rushed to my head and made me dizzy a few times. He once drew a beard with permanent marker on me when I was drunk and sleeping…”Faith t
ried to think of all the things Abel had done by way of payback for her misdemeanours, but they were just to numerable to recount in one go.
“Oh, and he once stuck a frog down my knickers in retaliation for me super gluing his backside to the toilet seat…”Faith offered and saw a light come on in Sasha’s eyes. She was back in the here and now, and Faith patted herself on the back.
“But that was totally worth it, seeing him walk around with the damn seat stuck to his arse, until someone could be bothered to let him into the nail varnish remover secret, was worth its weight in gold. And when he’s being a butthead, people still tell him to go take his toilet seat and crap in the woods.”Faith’s eyes glinted with the mischief that was roaming through her.
“Oh the stories I could tell you about Abel… but not once did he ever lift his hand to me in anger, and you know what a bitch I can be.”Faith was sure that she heard agreement from the other room, be it Jake or Abel, she wasn’t sure, but she would damn well find out later by nefarious means, and one of them was going to pay for it.
“Tell me.”Sasha prompted, and Faith grinned as she crawled up the bed beside her and settled in for the long haul.
“Jake, a couple of coffees wouldn’t go a miss.”She called out with a devilish grin at Sasha. “Where to start?”
“Did you have to tell her about the time I got my penis stuck in the…?”Abel whined as Faith sauntered out of the bedroom.
“No…”Faith shook her head in innocent agreement.
“So why did you?”Abel growled down at her as Jake walked to her side and wrapped his arm around her back, pulling her to his hip, he couldn’t hide his own amusement at Abel’s unease.
“Because that’s what families do…”Faith gave him an over the top look of glee. She had to admit, it was fun reliving all of the old days as she took his mate through all his stupidities over the years, and it was even more fun knowing that Abel would be out there listening and squirming to each and every one of those stories. “And it’s Christmas.”Faith added with extra relish on a shrug of her shoulders and a playful slap to his chest.