by M. L. Briers
“And what does that mean?”Abel growled down at her, annoyed that she was having so much fun at his expense.
“I looked it up on the net. Christmas is the time when related people bother to visit each other, they bitch and whine and rehash every mistake anyone has ever made, to the enjoyment of others.”Faith assured him and Abel growled again.
“Actually sweetheart, Christmas is the time for forgiving past mistakes and rekindling the bond between families…”Jake watched both Faith and Abel turn their eyes towards him in disbelief.
“Where’s the fun in that?”Faith asked and Abel growled again.
“Wait ‘til it’s your turn, Faith, and we’ll see how much fun reliving your old escapades cause you.”Abel assured her and she swallowed and frowned.
“Ok, so I vote we go with Jake’s version of Christmas.”Faith announced and Abel shook his head, relishing in her discomfort for a change.
“Too late, Sister, you started this little tradition.”Abel informed her.
“Ok, so we’re going…”Faith rushed out, pushing at her mate’s chest and nudging him slowly towards the cabin door.
“Run away little sister, but it’s not even Christmas yet.”Abel growled after her and she snorted at him. Pulling on her thick padded jacket and snow boots in record time. “Your time will come.”Abel offered with glee as Faith yanked the door open and rushed Jake through it.
Joshua didn’t need the steps to reach the top of the tree, so Fay enlisted his help to string the lights that far up, as she sniggered at her mate’s nervous breakdown every time she clambered up the steps to place another bauble near the top.
“Fay, be…”
“Careful!” Everyone chimed out together and Adam sneered.
“Over protective much?”Hope chuckled first at everyone’s outburst, and then at the sight of him, pacing around her in a semi circle, like his wolf would do, as she deliberately tittered on the edge to annoy him.
Hope’s eyes flicked towards her mate. She could see that Joshua was constantly eyeing Fay as well and sighed to herself at the thought of just how protective he was going to be once he knew she was pregnant, which was why she wasn’t going to tell him just yet.
“Don’t you have something to tell your mate?”Adam eyed her with amusement. He knew Hope’s scent as well as he knew his own, and he’d known the moment she got pregnant. He didn’t know why it wasn’t the same for bear shifters, unless Joshua knew but wasn’t letting on…
Hope froze on the spot as she stared back at Adam. She wondered if he knew her little secret, and when his eyes dropped to her stomach, as gasped in a breath and hissed at him.
“How’d you…?”Hope looked flummoxed, then guilty, and then very guilty as her eyes took a slow journey to her mate and she found him questioning her from under his dark brows.
“Honey, I’m an Alpha.”Adam grinned. His hands reaching up for his mates fuller hips as he gave up trying to be calm and went in for cautious, as he locked her in place on the steps, trapped by his hold on her.
“What’s going on?”Fay hissed down at Adam. Her lower body was facing the tree and her upper body was turned to look down at Hope and Joshua as they faced off across the room. Not an easy task when she had a belly the size of a small beanbag to contend with.
“That’s what I’d like to know…”Joshua growled. Holding himself back from the urge to close the distance between them.
Hope’s eyes shot back to Adam and he saw her top lip twitch with annoyance, as his grin spread across his face.
“Yeah, Hope, what’s going on?”Adam was feigning innocence now, obviously too little too late, and Hope glared at him.
“I hate you.”She growled at Adam who blew her a kiss.
“Hope?”Joshua growled. His natural instinct to lose his patience in the blink of an eye had been tempered lately, mainly thanks to his mate, but right now that instinct gripped him like a hug from his mother, tight and hard, and he wanted answers.
Hope lifted her hands and dropped them back at her sides with a small shrug of defeat.
“Well I wasn’t going to tell you, just yet…”She shot Adam another glare that would have turned him to stone if she’d applied the right spell and a lot of magic behind it. “But, I’m pregnant.”Hope announced.
Joshua’s face drained of blood as he growled low and hard. “Preg…”He swallowed hard, went to take a step, froze, tried again, froze again. His knees felt weak and his stomach was tossing over and again inside him. Damn it, those were the words he had imagined hearing every day since he’d met his mate, and now that he heard them for real he was lost in the thrall of total and complete… Panic.
“You alright big guy?”Adam chuckled as little noises that sounded like gurgling came from Joshua’s lips.
Fay reached out a hand and slapped him hard around the back of his head. That one slap caused Joshua to speed into action as he snapped to awareness. Rushing across the room towards his mate he looked somewhat perplexed.
“Sit down…”Joshua instructed her and she balked, rolling her eyes and looking around her mate’s body to glare at Adam.
“Here we go…”She snorted at the Alpha in disgust. “I don’t need to sit down…”Hope informed her mate, but Joshua balked.
“But you should rest…”Joshua offered, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her against his hip as he moved her off towards the sofa and Faith snorted her amusement, chucking a piece of popcorn into her open mouth as she settled in for the show.
“This should be fun.”She tossed out to Jake who shook his head.
“You’re an evil woman…”Jake offered on a chuckle of his own.
“And you love it.”Faith shot back, keeping her eyes on Hope as she tried to dig her heels into the floor.
“I don’t need rest…”Hope tried to detach herself from her mate, but it was a hopeless endeavour.
“You should sit…”Joshua eased her down to the sofa and she sighed.
“There, I’m sitting, now…”Hope watched Joshua panic slightly as he scratched his head.
“Feet up.”He growled out as he snatched the footstool from under Faith’s feet, as she rushed to grab the bowl of popcorn on her lap that threatened to spill when her heels hit the ground.
“Hey watch the food…”Faith growled, but she couldn’t help chuckle as Joshua grabbed Hope’s legs and propelled her backwards against the cushions, shoving the footstool beneath her suspended feet, slowly easing them down into the softness of the padded stool.
“Are you crazy?”Hope bit out as she planted her hands into the cushions and pushed herself back up again, annoyance and embarrassment washed through her.
“Hungry?”Joshua didn’t seem to notice his mate’s wrath, as he gave her a hopeful look.
“No…”Hope spat out and he scratched his head.
“Porridge?”He offered as if a lightbulb had turned on over his head, his eyes even lit up with the suggestion.
“Hey…”Fay growled down at him and he shrugged helplessly.
“I need to provide for my mate at a time like this…”Joshua offered and Hope balked.
“A time like this? Geez, Adam, thanks for nothing…”Hope bit out between clenched teeth.
“He’s just sooo sweet…”Faith teased, encouraging Joshua in his effort and Hope balked.
“He’s over protective enough, don’t get me started…”Hope growled out at Faith as her so-called friend sniggered beside her on the sofa.
“Drink?”Joshua offered and Hope sighed.
“No.”She snapped back.
“Do you need to sleep?”Joshua asked and Hope rolled her eyes in frustration.
“No!”She ground out.
“Bath?”Joshua offered and Hope’s head snapped to one side as she looked at him with accusing eyes.
“Can someone please go to the village and tell them their idiot has escaped.”Hope half growl and half snapped out, and Joshua deflated for a long moment.
“What can I do?”J
oshua asked and Faith snorted her laughter.
“Back the hell off.”Hope ground out and heard her mate give a low growl of contrition.
“Don’t be mean, he’s just excited…”Fay offered from her lofty height, trying to turn on the stool but finding her movement blocked by Adam’s tight hold on her. “Hey, hands, move ‘em or lose them.” She snapped down and Adam balked. Lifting her down from the stool and making sure she was stable before he let her go.
“Oh…”Hope offered to her knowingly. “Pot, kettle, bloody black as night.”Hope accused and Fay rolled her eyes.
“That’s different. Try having nine months of Mr-Bubble wrap…”Fay ground out in her own defence and Hope snorted as she motioned towards Joshua who was still faffing around, unsure of what to do.
“I guess I’m about too, because Adam couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself.”She threw every imaginary dagger in her arsenal at him as he beamed in glee.
“Papa bear had a right to know he was going to get a baby bear…”Adam teased.
“A cub…”Joshua beamed, finally coming out of his panic and glowing with pride.
“Guess your junk works.”Faith grinned up at him and watched his chest swell with pride.
“I was never in any doubt…”Joshua growled out, his ego swelling with as much pride as his chest.
“Unlike the rest of us…”Faith teased as she nudged Hope and offered her the bowl of popcorn.
Joshua’s face fell and his ego was dented as he frowned and growled a low rumble, “Did someone say something?”He demanded and the sniggers went up around the room.
Adam reached out and slapped him on the back. “Relax big man, Faith’s just pulling your chain.” He assured him, as Joshua went back to proud again.
“I’m gonna be a daddy…”Joshua announced with glee and Faith chuckled again.
“Better get in all the sex you can now then.”Faith warned him and he frowned and then turned to look at his mate, a dark desire swept over his face.
“Faith actually had a good idea…”Joshua beamed and Hope looked more than happy with his latest offering.
“Maybe, we’ll see if you annoy me too much between now and then.”Hope informed him and he raised his brows.
“Now and when?”He double raised his brows and she sighed again.
“See what you did?”Hope gestured to Adam, and it wasn’t in the child friendly variety.
Abel had tried sitting, but that didn’t work out well for him. He felt as if he’d eaten ten chocolate bars and needed to run off the excess energy. He tried pacing back and forth, but that only worked for so long, before his mind had tossed and turned everything over time and again.
He wanted to go to her, but knew that wouldn’t work, she needed to come to him. It wasn’t a power play, it was acceptance. She needed to accept him as he was, needed to come to terms with the fact that he was her mate and as such he would never hurt her. That’s not to say he might not squash her once in a while, he might do that, but that was unintentional, especially in bed…
Damn, his mind was addled. He’d gone from acceptance to making love in a few short thoughts… The mating pull wasn’t helping here. He had thought the mating pull would be the answer to his prayers, but right now he wished he could turn it off, just for a while…
Abel wanted to head butt the nearest wall. That might turn the mating pull off for a while, it wouldn’t be as much fun as burying his body within hers, wouldn’t be as fulfilling, but it would be good too…
Damn, he was Lycan through and through. But not with her, he was a man first, her man. Lycan second… except for the damn mating thing…Crap.
This wasn’t working; he had a fire within his blood for her that he couldn’t turn off just because he needed his brain to work instead of penis… God, did he ache for her… Crap. There it went again, His Mini Me was overriding his brain… If only they could get that part out of the way… Not that he wanted it to be quick or over too soon… Hell, he wanted to stay inside her all night, all tomorrow, and for the rest of his damn life… Ah, Crap. This wasn’t working.
How the hell could he stay inside her for the rest of his life? They’d be walking damn funny… Maybe if she wrapped her legs around his hips… Oh sweet Jesus, could he just get his mind of his penis and back onto his mate?
He’d shamed himself. Shamed in the eyes of his mate, and he needed to repent, but how the hell could he repent for that? Especially when she wouldn’t come out of the damn bedroom… Bedroom… Nope, not going to think about sex… Just did. Crap.
He heard her breathe, caught her scent as it drifted towards him, and turned to see her standing in the doorway. His heart slammed into his ribs and his stomach rode the downward drop of a rollercoaster. He could do this, he could not think of anything but repentance, absolution in her eyes. He would die for her… Right bloody here and now if she asked him too…
So why was he standing there like a statue? Move, he commanded his limbs. Yeah, that didn’t work. Ok, say something profound… He was male, how profound could he be? Just don’t be Lycan for five minutes…
CHAPTER SIX
“Hungry?”He growled gently at her. He really wanted to head butt a wall now… Hungry? What was he his mother for God’s sake...? One long run at the nearest wall, head first right into it… Thud… That should do the trick…
“You really are a butt head aren’t you?”Sasha couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips, even if she did put her hand over her mouth to cover the smile.
Abel took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am…”He still couldn’t get his damn legs to move for fear that she might turn tail and head back into the damn bedroom for another few hours of torture, listening to his own damn brain work, or not work, as the case may be.
“You going to make me a cup of coffee? My coffee sucks and your hot chocolate was good, so…”
“So you’re making a list of things I can do better than you?”Abel teased, but he still stood there like he was stuck in quicksand. Idiot… Move, he ordered his body, but still nothing.
“It’ll be a short list, I’m sure.”Sasha tossed back at him and he couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. She was being bitchy again, must be a good sign.
“Maybe not…”Abel offered and she raised her eyebrows expectantly.
“Coffee?”She nudged and he nodded.
“Love one thanks, two sugars, black…”Abel cursed his body with a vengeance. Move. Move. Move… And he was off, but he found himself walking towards her instead of the kitchen. What the hell was wrong with his brain and his body, he needed coordination, not separation…
Abel couldn’t take his eyes from hers. He wanted to see every reaction, every thought, and as the eyes were the windows to the soul he wanted front row seats.
She didn’t move as he gained ground, that was a good sign. Her eyes didn’t widen with fear, two out of two, he noted, and then he saw them flare as he stepped right in front of her and stopped, an elbows length away. Desire, he saw desire in her eyes, on her face, and damn if he didn’t want to do black flips up and down the living room… But then he would have looked like a compete bloody idiot, and her worst fears of him being a butt head would have been confirmed.
Abel held himself in check. He wanted nothing more than to reach for her, wrap her in his arms and pull her to his chest, taste her lips, devour her mouth… Not again… He growled at himself. But he didn’t do that. Instead he offered her his hand, palm upwards just to see what she would do.
Abel couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want too. His eyes held hers and he watched her. His ears listened to the jump in the beat of her heart and then the steady, but fast, rhythm. His body was attuned to the slightest variance in hers, be it a sway back or forth…
Sasha was torn between reaching for his touch or throwing herself at him, and bugger the consequences, but what consequences? He was her mate. Her future, her life… But only if she wanted him to be. Didn’t she want to get the h
ell out of there and never look back?
Goddess, but he made her crazy. She wanted to zap him and climb up those tree trunk legs, wrap herself around his hips, and ride like the damn wind… Sasha’s brain hiccupped, or farted, at least that was what she told herself. He was still a wolf man… He might not have been a werewolf-man, but he was still a shifter… Did that make him a bad person…?
Of course it… She didn’t know anymore… Damn, Faith and her stories. Damn, him and his… his…? Everything… It wasn’t just one thing. It wasn’t the blue of his eyes that she wanted to get lost in. It wasn’t those lips that she wanted to taste and feel over her body… A couple of places on her body more than others… Sasha balked at the thought.
That broad, muscled chest that would double as a damn fine table for her to dine from as she lay beside him in bed, or laid him on the living room floor and had a picnic from his… Ah, Goddess, but this was insane. He was still a shifter…
Think, she told herself, commanded that she stop thinking with what her body wanted and go with her heart and her mind, but that was easier said than done when he stood in front of her looking like… Breakfast, lunch, and damn dinner all in one. Double chocolate gateaux with a hot fudge sauce, and why not have some strawberry syrup and squirt it along his…
Goddess, but she was going insane. She squeezed her thighs together as well as other, more intimate muscles. It was the mating pull. She wasn’t stupid, she knew what was making her hornier than hell… But it was him too.
Sasha reached her hand up and slowly ran her fingers along his in towards his palm. The electric tingle that travelled along her digits didn’t stop at her hand, it travelled through her entire body, little sparks of desire flaring along its route, and when her palm met with his and he closed that giant hand around hers, she was as lost in him as her hand was in his hand.
“Coffee?”Abel swallowed down his need to pant at the feel of every nerve ending in his body taking a hit from her touch. Panting and drooling would definitely be considered wrong here, he reminded himself…