by M. L. Briers
“Aren’t Vampires supposed to be lady killers?”Nero offered with a little more glee at his friend’s fubar than was entirely necessary.
“Define killers…”Nadia offered, joining her sisters in delivering the Vampire a glare of contempt.
“Ok, it’s let’s pick on the poor, defenceless Vampire day…”Colt expanded his hands out in front of him and hoped for remorse from some quarter of the room, preferably his mate, although he’d probably be better off just walking towards the nearest wall and slamming his head into it over and over again with the reality of it all.
“That’s every day. It’s let’s pick on the jerk that just insulted my sister day…” Nadia shot back with an extra dose of venom.
“I didn’t insult your sister…”Colt offered, trying to think fast, but coming up short, which was so unlike him. He’d had centuries to perfect the art of sidestepping and deflecting the issue at hand, but right now, with his mate staring up at him, he was a little brain dead.
“Oh my mistake, my male-speak translator must not be working properly. I was sure you not only insulted her, but her heritage as well…”Nadia’s eyes narrowed on him, pinning him with her frosty glare as she dared him to deny it.
“You are such a troublesome little Witch, how is it someone hasn’t bumped you off yet?”Colt offered and all three sisters hissed at him in unison.
“I’d stop while you’re not a pile of ashes, and congratulate yourself on still being alive.”Nero growled out quietly on a shake of his head as he headed towards the coffee machine.
“I thought with age came wisdom.”Neve offered him, cutting him dead with her eyes and a part of her brain wished she could.
“With age comes clarity, and Nadia has a way of making things crystal clear in my mind.”Colt offered back with a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Well, let me make this crystal clear. You maybe Natasha’s mate, but castrating you would be my pleasure…”Neve hissed towards him and the sound of Nero’s deep chuckle caught her attention for a long moment as her body responded to the sound by tingling in a not-so-subtle way.
“And they say the world would be a less violent place if women were in charge…”Colt snorted.
“Just because we’re called the weaker sex it doesn’t mean we won’t fight back. We just apply our brains and not our brawn.”Nadia knew she was on safe ground with Colt. They’d spared verbally on more occasions than she cared to remember until she learned to stay out of his way. Now he was Natasha mate the last thing he’d ever do was to kill her…
“But in your case, Nadia, there is a lack of both.”Colt offered and watched the little Witch deflate somewhat from her posturing.
“Say’s the Vampire that tried stealth mode against three Fae and ended up making a Vampire shaped indent in the ground.”Neve reminded him with slightly more glee than she felt. A slight hiss from Natasha’s lips brought her eyes towards her sister and she saw the sudden rush to realisation hit her that she was sticking up for her mate. Swallowing hard, she shrugged just one shoulder apologetically and winced.
“Thank you, mate…”Colt eyed her with a firm smug look on his face.
“Don’t call me that, I haven’t accepted you yet.”Natasha informed him, lifting her chin and berating him with her eyes. Family first and her mate somewhere down the line behind her car, she told herself, taking a firm grip on her body and mind, even now as it tried to betray her.
“Yes you have. You just haven’t said the words.”Colt informed her and the way his eyes held hers sent a shiver down her spine that gave her little hope of reining in her attraction towards him, physically or mentally.
“Keep those eyes to yourself…”She hissed back at him and saw the glint of amusement against the blackness.
“I wasn’t aware I’d offered them too you. But if your sister is after my balls I suppose the least I can do is offer you my eyes…”Colt heard the Alpha snort his amusement. He was probably grateful that they had Colt to pick on, otherwise they might have started on him. The Fae could be very testy…
“Thanks, but I want nothing from you…”Natasha rallied every inch of her self respect. It was bad enough that she had an image in her mind’s eye of crawling across the floor towards him on her hands and knees, climbing up his body and wrapping herself around him as… whoa, back that the hell up, she berated herself, feeling the colour flush in her cheeks And noting the way his eyes flicked over her face.
“Are you really certain about that?”He teased and for a long moment that image was back, until she shook her head and cleared her throat, focusing her thoughts on what was important, and for now, he wasn’t the top of her list, or at least, he shouldn’t be…
“Don’t we have a Warlock to catch and Werewolves to kill, or are you so selfish as to let people die?”Natasha offered her mate and watched captivated as he slowly raised just one dark eyebrow and narrowed his eyes on her. Her skin tingled and her stomach flipped as her feminine muscles clamped around an imaginary him… wow, what would the real thing be like? That thought entered her mind and she slapped it back out again until she saw his grin widen across his face.
“So much better.”He offered her knowingly and she practically jumped out of her chair, testing her shields to make sure they hadn’t slipped, and then demanding an explanation with her eyes. “You’re shields are holding, I can just see it written all over you, sweetheart.”Colt informed her and her body rushed to even more awareness of him, as her mind tried to close down those avenues of her imagination.
Nadia couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips and rushed to cover the smirk that accompanied it as Natasha’s eyes flicked towards her in a warning glare.
“Whose side are you on?”Natasha berated her younger sister and watched her give an innocent shrug.
“I just find it amusing that my big, bad sisters are fazed by their mates. Like giant oaks felled by a lowly lumberjack…”Nadia widened her eyes and shrugged again in helpless amusement at their situation.
Nero walked around the counter and placed a cup of coffee each in front of Nadia and Natasha. His eyes fixed on Nadia with an element of amusement and she couldn’t help but squirm under his gaze. Her sister’s mate or not, he was still imposing.
“Lowly lumberjacks?”He growled more than spoke his words, and that was probably what fazed her more than anything else.
“Masters of the chainsaw?”She offered back to him with an element of sarcasm. Just because he was the big bad wolf didn’t mean she was about to buckle under his stare. He grunted and moved away slightly and she couldn’t say she wasn’t grateful for the space it afforded her.
“So what do you know of the Warlock?” He had a way of looking at her that interrogated her more than his words ever could. Why the security services didn’t use Alphas to interrogate prisoners she’d never know. Who needs torture when you’re facing one of these guys?
“I know of the Warlock…”Nadia admitted, squirming slightly in place under the dark stare he’d turned back on her.
“Spit it out, Sister.”Neve cautioned and Nadia took in a long breath and sighed.
“I didn’t invite him here if that’s what you’re implying, nor did I help him in many ways…”Nadia denied hotly. Too hotly, as her cheeks coloured and her eyes dropped to the cup in front of her rather than meet the Alpha’s gaze.
“Many…?”Nero left the word hanging and Nadia felt it like a noose around her neck.
“I got chatting to a guy on a message board. He said his local pack were bas…”She swallowed the swear word and moved on, “buttheads, we got to commiserating about hardass Alpha’s…”She swallowed that down, but even the slight rumble of a low growl from Nero couldn’t make her drag her eyes from her cup. “And he was asking about the local pack…”She gave a shrug off her shoulders, but her whole demeanour said she felt pretty guilty.
“Why do you think it’s the same guy?”Neve asked and this time her sister did bring her eyes up as she delib
erately looked around Nero to where Neve was standing.
“He said he was a white witch, but when we got talking about spells, it was more than obvious that he was so much darker than that. He’d slip up and mention black magic rituals, or uses for herbs that didn’t fit within the craft. His whole being was just off…”Nadia was sure of it. Although she didn’t have any physical proof, she’d suspected it for a while now, even before all of this started to happen.
“So who is he?”Nero demanded and Nadia couldn’t help but rush to her own defence.
“I have no clue, why would you think that I know him, like personally?”Nadia hated the fact that she’d been viewed with suspicion by his pack since the moment she got into town. Ok, she’d had a couple of run-ins with their rules and regulations, but she wasn’t in the damn army, and their laws weren’t written with anything like fairness in mind.
“Nadia, if there’s something we need to know that you’re not telling us about…”Nero warned and saw the fire in the little Fae’s eyes.
“Look, it’s my backside on the line here too, apparently, so get over yourself Alpha.”Nadia snapped back, although she’d gone as far as she wanted to in challenging him and she slumped back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest as she turned her eyes away and pouted.
“Maybe we can hack the message boards and use his IP address to locate him?”Natasha offered and Nero brought his eyes towards her.
“You can do that?”Nero narrowed his gaze as a wicked smile spread across her face.
“A girl needs more than just her charms to get by in this male dominated world.”She teased and was rewarded by the melodic chuckle from her mate that seemed to drift through the air towards her and wrap itself around her like a silken embrace. She shivered at the imaginary touch that it caused over her skin.
“Colt, show your mate to my office…”Nero straightened and walked back around the counter, pushing a mug at the Vampire that he gratefully accepted with a smirk of thanks for the chance to be alone with his mate that the Alpha was providing.
“My pleasure.”Colt motioned for Natasha to go with him and he saw the spark of excitement that crossed her face and that made him harder than hell for her.
“I need the site name, your user name and password, his username…”
“Do you want blood with that too?”Nadia reached for a pen and small pad that sat in the middle of the table and noted down the information, tearing off the sheet she handed it to her sister.
“Don’t read my stuff.”Nadia snapped and Natasha couldn’t help the mischievous look in her eyes as she shook her head in denial.
“Perish the thought.”She gave the parting shot over her shoulder as she headed out of the kitchen, closely followed by her mate.
“Do you cook?”Nero pinned Nadia with his eyes and she looked back at him as if he’d grown another head.
“Are you insane?”She offered back and watched the big guy roll his eyes up to the ceiling.
“Figures.”Nero ground out. Walking to the refrigerator and hefting a lump of meat from inside, he walked back to the counter and dropped it down. “Guess I’ll put some food on, it’s gonna be a long night.”
“I’ll help…”Neve offered and Nero brought his eyes towards his mate.
“You cook?”He looked surprised and Neve didn’t know whether to take offence or not.
“A girl needs more than just her charms to get by.”She echoed Natasha’s words and saw two rows of perfect white teeth as he grinned back at her, and for a long moment she wondered what he would look like when his fangs descended. But that was for later, for now they had other, more pressing things to worry about.
Colt didn’t go in much for subtle. He considered himself too worldly to beat around the bush. When he saw what he wanted, normally he would just take it. That wasn’t to say he was a bad guy, and he never went for things that he considered off limits, but he didn’t like to play the courting dance of a peacock either, until now.
Faced with his mate, he was more than willing to play any game she required in order to get to where he wanted to be. He just needed to figure out what it was that Natasha needed in order to play the game, and the more time that he spent with her, the easier it would be to figure that out.
Watching her as she sat at Nero’s desk, her slender fingers working over the keyboard of his computer, he noted the way her body responded to even the slightest movement of his. Nerves? He doubted it, this little Witch had already put him on his backside once and she was more than capable of doing it again, of that he was sure.
He swept a hand through his hair and watched as her eyes narrowed on the screen. Her body shifted just slightly within her seat and her head tilted just a fraction to one side…
“Look, this will go a lot faster if you stop moving.” Natasha finally bit out. Every little movement had caused her eyes to want to flick towards his, had her body spring to life with the awareness of where he was, how close he was and if he was coming her way, and it was getting old. “You’re a Vampire, so be like a damn statue and don’t move.”She bit out and felt the annoyance, mixed with attraction at the sound of those deep tones as he chuckled slightly.
“Nervous?”Colt finally asked and her eyes snapped to his, locked in place and bore a hole right into his brain.
“No. Attracted, and it’s off putting. So either stay still or leave.”Natasha thought she might as well lay it out on the line. She wasn’t one for games. He was her mate and she would mate with him, just not right now. Right now she had a job to do and she intended to do it with as little fanfare as possible.
Colt stared at her for a long moment and she thought there was an element of shock on his face, or in his eyes, but when she tried to peg down the emotion it was gone, too fleeting to be able to pinpoint its authenticity or if what she saw indeed happened.
“How attracted?”Colt couldn’t help himself. He’d been preparing to play the mating game with her, sorting through all the ways in which he could entice her into his arms, into his bed and keep her there forever. Now he wasn’t sure what to make of her statement.
Natasha rested her elbows on the desk and put her chin in her upturned hands as she stared back across the desk at him. For one long moment she said nothing, nothing with her voice and nothing with her eyes as she looked at him, and it had to be the longest moment of his life. It had been a long damn life.
“Let me spell this out for you in ways you will understand.”Natasha offered and Colt gave her an easy smile.
“Please do.”
“I’m a sure thing, being your mate and all. We will be mating…”
“You decided this just now?”Colt offered, because before she had stated that she hadn’t accepted him yet, yet being the word that had thrilled him the most at the time.
“If you like.” Hell, she’d decided it the moment she laid eyes on him, even before she knew he was her mate. “And it’s better to put you out of your misery than have you hovering like a damn mosquito, ready for your chance to strike…”
“I’m not sure I like that equation…”He rolled his eyes, playful in his manner, and when he locked back into hers he could see the amusement that lit a fire within him.
“So you won’t be sinking your fangs into my vein and drinking from me anytime soon?”Natasha saw the flare of his eyes and the way he swallowed hard at the image that her words conjured up. She wouldn’t be entirely surprised if he opened his mouth and there was just a touch of those razor sharp fangs in attendance.
Every inch of Colt’s body fired with that need to taste her blood that had been within him from the moment he recognised her as his mate. Just knowing who she was made him hard for her, but the damn thought of sinking his fangs into her soft skin, finding her vein, and drinking the sweet nectar of her lifeblood made him harden to the very threshold of pain. The groan that rolled through him brought a smile to her lips that made her eyes sparkle brighter, and it took him a mere heartbeat to cross the room, yank her fr
om the chair and have her back against the nearest wall as he held her in place with the press of his hips.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Teasing a Vampire isn’t exactly sensible if you want to keep me at arm’s length, Natasha.” Colt’s voice had become more melodic the more aroused he became, and he must have been very aroused, Natasha told herself, because his voice was like pure honey to her mind and her body, feeding her desire for him in ways she could never have imagined.
Natasha’s breath caught within her lungs as she drank in the pure arousal that swept through her. She’d already accepted him as her mate and that made the mating pull so much more potent. Not to mention the fact that she could feel his arousal pressing against her stomach as he palmed the wall either side of her body, caging her in, as if she would run from him. That was one thought that had never crossed her mind.
“I don’t…”His lips came down on hers before she could finish her sentence. Soft and supple, and with just the right amount of teasing pressure that made her respond to him, she could do nothing but hold on for the ride of her emotions. Her hands palmed the coolness of the wall behind her, saving her from doing something innately stupid like ripping off his clothes so she could feel his skin against her fingertips.
She felt the pressure of his tongue sweep over her lips. Opening for the taste of him that her whole body desired, and when it came, his tongue tasting hers on the low groan that escaped his throat, she felt the fire within her veins consume her with a need for more. A lot more.
Natasha couldn’t have kept her hands down against the wall if they had been glued there. Snaking their way up and over the hard muscles of his abdomen, they searched for his flesh, to touch, to feel him beneath her fingertips, her palms. God, what she wouldn’t give to be naked and beneath him, her body running the length of his, skin on skin, pressing, rubbing, feeling him…
Colt palmed the back of her neck and wound his fingers into the silken strands of her hair with one hand, tipping her head back and holding her in place so he could move on from tasting her, to devouring her mouth with his own. With the other hand, he slipped it between the wall and her spine, running his hand up between her shoulder blades as his arm kept her pressed to his body. He wanted to devour every inch of her body with his mouth, his tongue. Taste her, tease her into complete submission for his deep thrusts inside her. He wanted to fill her and feel her body squeeze around his shaft as she came undone, over and over until slept sated in his arms, but not before he had sunk his fangs into her vein and drank of her blood…