Jager was breathing just as hard. He used his hand to wipe sweat from his brow. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“No. Why?”
“Well, for starters, you don’t usually practice this hard. And for another, you’re pounding on me as if you’re trying to distract yourself from something.”
Leif straightened. “You’re the last person I thought would complain about a tough sword workout.”
“Hey, I’m not complaining. The way you’re acting just reminds me of how I was before Daylen and I become mates and I had to convince Daylen not to arrest my ass every time she saw me.” Jager gave Leif a hard stare, then scratched his chin. “If I didn’t know better, I would say your mating urge has you in its claws and you’re trying to ignore it. You weren’t like this when we first arrived here, so I’m guessing it happened when you went to the store for Roxie.”
Hearing Jager accurately guess what was bothering him, Leif dropped his sword and jumped on the other warrior. Having caught Jager off guard, Leif knocked the larger man flat on his back and straddled his chest.
“What the fuck?” Jager snarled.
Leif kept him pinned and lowered his head until he was in Jager’s face. “Not a word.
Do you understand me? Don’t tell anyone, especially Roxie.”
The scowl on Jager’s face disappeared as he started to roar with laughter. “You found your mate,” he said through peals of laughter. “You should see your face. You look as if the hounds of hell are after you.”
Putting his hand over Jager’s mouth, he quietly snapped back, “Would you keep it down?”
With a hard shove, Jager pushed Leif off him and stood. His laughter had settled down to a chuckle. “So it’s true?”
“Yes,” Leif said with disgust.
“You’re a stupid fuck if you think you can run away from the mating urge. Accept it.
Being mated is not as bad as you think it is. It’s actually the best thing that ever happened to me. I never knew what I had been missing in my life until I found Daylen.”
Leif shook his head. “I will not accept it.”
“So what do you plan to do? Just ignore it and hope it goes away?”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Jager picked up his dropped sword and shook his head. “You’re delusional if you think that. There is no ignoring the mating urge. What’s the problem with her, besides you not wanting a mate? Is she a mortal?”
“Yes. There’s nothing really wrong with her. She’s just not what I expected.”
“She’s ugly? If that is the case, you could always put a bag over her head while you screw her.”
Leif let out a wolfish growl and launched himself at Jager, not liking the insult to his mate. Jager easily sidestepped him then slowly started to back away toward the mansion.
“See, you’ve got it bad, Leif. You say you don’t want her, but you’re quick to defend her.
You’re buggered, man.”
After watching Jager go inside, Leif picked up his sword. Shit, Jager was right. Of course the asshole had had to prove it to him in the most direct of ways. Jager may have been right, but that didn’t mean Leif was going to meekly accept his fate. He was going to stay strong. He wasn’t going to let the mating urge get the best of him.
Chapter Two
Leif was in a foul mood. It was the next day, and he was once again at Roxie’s place.
This time he was with Kye and Dirk. He’d also volunteered to take another shift of protecting her. He figured being here would give him a good enough excuse not to talk himself into going to the grocery store to see if his mate was working today.
He went into the kitchen, wondering if there was any coffee. Sleep had not come easily last night. And what he did get was filled with erotic dreams of claiming his mate.
He’d woken up with an aching hard-on. All he could think about was getting his mate under him and taking her in every position imaginable. He’d taken a cold shower this morning, which hadn’t cooled his libido any. Jerking off hadn’t done much to take the edge off, either. Even now, his cock was semi-hard.
Spotting the full pot of coffee, Leif crossed over to it and took a clean mug out of the cupboard. It was almost noon, but it already felt as if he’d been up for days. He needed caffeine, and lots of it.
Kye came into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of coffee as well. He glanced over at Leif, went over to the fridge and took out the milk and dumped some into his mug. “You look like you didn’t get any sleep.”
Leif shrugged. “It was just one of those nights when I couldn’t shut my brain off.”
Kye put the milk back and moved to stand in front of him. “I guess we’ll be making another pot of coffee soon then. Dirk and Roxie are upstairs again doing whatever they do on her computer. Listening to them talk about it puts me to sleep.”
Roxie was a web designer and had been teaching HTML to Dirk for months now.
He’d even coded a few web pages of his own. Not that Leif understood their technical speak anymore than Kye did.
“That should keep the two of them busy for hours,” he said.
“Yeah, the two computer geeks are happily in their element.”
“I wouldn’t let Roxie hear you call her a computer geek,” Beowulf said as he walked into the kitchen. He smiled at Kye. “I wish she’d stick to the computers, though lately, she’s been experimenting with her magic to see what other neat tricks she has that the rest of us don’t. And you know nothing good can come out of that.”
Every werewolf had a spark of magic inside them. It was how he and the rest of his kind were able to shift into their wolf forms. Roxie had a little bit more magic than the average werewolf. She not only could shift into a wolf, she could also shift into a half human/half werewolf form. No other werewolf could do that. She also could keep a werewolf in wolf form for twenty-four hours and freeze a person in place for as long as she wanted. Her great-great-great, etc. grandmother had been a mortal with magic of her own, or so Leif had been told. This magic had finally been passed down to Roxie, who supposedly was very similar in looks to her grandmother. Her grandfather, Royce, was still around to attest to that. Werewolves weren’t immortal, but they were very long-lived, living up to three thousand years old. Royce was well over a thousand and had found another mate who at one time had been a mortal like his first mate.
Kye cringed. “I definitely don’t want Roxie practicing anything new on me. She’d probably turn me into a toad or something just as awful.”
Beowulf chuckled. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Do you think one of you could give me a hand? The new crib and change table need to brought up to the baby’s room and assembled.”
Before Leif could say anything, Kye said, “I can help.”
“Great,” Beowulf said. “Since Roxie is busy with Dirk, I thought we could get it set up for her.”
Leif watched Beowulf and Kye walk out of the kitchen. So much for the added distraction he was looking for. He was now left alone with his thoughts, which seemed to center around sex with a certain cashier at a certain grocery store. He took a sip of his hot coffee. This had to get better, but if he was going to be truthful with himself, he knew the longer he held off claiming his mate the worse the mating urge would get. And it wasn’t as if he could search out another woman for some relief. Until the mating urge let him go, his cock wouldn’t get hard for anyone else. God, he hated this.
Finishing his coffee, he put down the mug on the counter and went over to the fridge.
He was in the mood for something to eat. He opened the fridge door, but didn’t see anything that appealed to him. Opening the freezer, he spotted the ice cream he’d bought the day before. He reached in and took out the carton of vanilla.
He took it over to the kitchen table and opened it. Roxie had already been into it since a quarter of it was gone. Having a hankering for some, Leif grabbed a big spoon out of the drawer. Usually no
t much of an ice cream eater, this one went down pretty good, creamy vanilla with just enough sweetness. Before he knew it, he’d eaten well over half the container of ice cream. There was nothing left but a few scrapings on the sides and the bottom.
“Oh, shit,” he said in a murmur.
Roxie was going to kill him. Wanting to hide what he’d done, Leif dropped the spoon inside the carton, closed it and hurriedly put it back in the freezer. What to do, what to do. He knew. He’d have to go to the grocery store and buy another one before Roxie found out. Yeah, that’s what he’d do.
Leif left the kitchen and planned to go upstairs and tell Kye where he was going when he saw Roxie coming down the stairs. She of course headed straight for the kitchen.
He closed his eyes and waited.
Sure enough, he heard Roxie yell, “Hey! Who the hell ate all the vanilla ice cream?
And who leaves a spoon in it?”
Deciding it was better to make a getaway now, Leif ran out of the mansion without telling Kye anything before Roxie came out of the kitchen. He was in his car and on the road to the store in less than a minute.
Arriving at the grocery store, all his senses started to come alive. Like a piece of metal drawn to a magnet, he headed inside. He sniffed the air, trying to single out one particular scent mixed in with the many. His mate’s scent was there, but weak. Realizing what he was doing, Leif gritted his teeth and forced himself to walk to the freezer section.
He was not here to search out his would-be mate. He would not try to find her. He would make his purchase and get the hell out of there without seeing her.
But in thinking that, he ended up doing the opposite. After he grabbed a carton of vanilla ice cream, he went unerringly to the end of the line where his mate’s scent was the strongest. She was once again working the cash register for the express checkout.
The closer he moved toward her the more her scent washed over him. His cock throbbed painfully, straining against the zipper of his jeans. The need to touch and taste every inch of the woman who had no idea what she meant to him just about overpowered Leif. The wolf inside him threw back its head with a howl of longing.
His body shook when it was finally his turn to pay. He tried to not look at her, but after he handed her his money, his gaze lifted to her face. She gave him a tentative smile, as if unsure of herself or what his reaction might be.
That small, sweet smile was just too much. With a groan, Leif leaned over the counter that separated them, wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. He hungrily kissed her, pushing his tongue inside her mouth to get his first taste of her. At first, her lips remained stiff and unyielding, but after he stroked her tongue, twining it with his, she started to kiss him back.
At the sound of loud whistles and cat calls, Leif jerked back to reality and to what he was doing. He abruptly released her and jumped back. His chest heaving as if he’d run a great distance, he looked at her. She stood there staring at him, her glasses slightly askew, looking dazed. The scent of her arousal filled his nose. He had to fight the growl that threatened to push past his lips.
Snatching up the ice cream, he dropped his gaze to her chest to look at the name tag pinned to her shirt. He only took the time to read it before he hurriedly walked away.
With the taste of Jaden still on his tongue, Leif forced himself not to turn back and drag his mate away with him. He had one taste of her. It had to be enough.
* * *
Jaden’s brain had seemed to stop functioning. It took her more than a few seconds to gather her wits about her and remember where she was. She straightened her glasses as she tried to get her rapidly beating heart to slow. The left lens was smudged where his nose had brushed up against it while he’d kissed her stupid.
Holy crap. The gorgeous guy had come back and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. Kissed her, Jaden Pryce, the plain Jane who normally only attracted men who wouldn’t know a dumbbell from a barbell. And what a kiss it had been. The feel of his tongue stroking hers had set her body on fire. Wetness had pooled in her pussy while her nipples had tightened beneath her shirt, begging for some attention.
Ignoring the large smudge hindering her line of sight, Jaden rang through the remaining customers in her line before she closed down her cash register for a quick washroom break. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her friend Vicky, shut down her register and follow.
Once inside the employee washroom, Vicky said, “You have to tell who that hot hunk was who laid that kiss on you.”
Jaden took off her glasses and ran them under the water in the sink before she grabbed some toilet paper from one of the stalls to dry them. “I have no idea.”
“What do you mean you have no idea? From that kiss, I’d say you know each other pretty well.”
Putting her glasses back on, Jaden shook her head. “It’s true. I don’t even know his name. I saw him here yesterday for the first time.”
“Well, you must have made one hell of an impression if he came back today and kissed you as if he couldn’t get enough of you. Why can’t something like that happen to me?”
Shaking her head, Jaden smiled. “If I did, I have no idea how I did it. I doubt it will happen again, and I doubt I’ll see him again.”
Vicky rolled her eyes. “If you believe that, you need your head seriously examined.
A guy does not kiss a woman like that and walk away forever. He’ll be back. And I bet he’ll hang around longer as well.”
Jaden wanted to hope that would be the case, but she didn’t have much confidence when it came to men. Yes, Mr. Gorgeous had kissed her senseless today, but he hadn’t exactly stuck around afterwards. At the end there, it almost seemed as if he realized he’d been doing something he shouldn’t have. And he couldn’t have been all that affected if he could just walk away without a word. Jaden had been lucky she’d even remained upright, let alone regained all her brain power. For a split second, when he’d stared at her after the kiss, her muddled brain had thought his eyes had glowed mutedly.
“Come on, Vic. Do you really think a guy like that would have any real interest in a woman that looks like me?”
“Stop selling yourself short. You’re not that bad.”
“But I’m not that good, either. Compared to you, I look like chopped liver.”
Vicky was in her mid-twenties, blonde and blue-eyed with a face that had turned more than one male head when she walked by. She had no trouble getting boyfriends and seemed to go through them faster than Jaden could keep track of.
“I’ve offered to give you a makeover, and you always refuse. If you’d stop wearing your hair up in that tight pony tail and wore contacts, you’d get your fair share of guys.”
“I told you I can’t wear contacts. I tried them once, and I couldn’t tolerate them. And I doubt changing my hair style would help that much.”
“Fine, have it your way. But I still think you’ll be seeing your hunk again soon.”
Vicky headed for the washroom door. “I’m going to go back to my register before both of us are missed. Don’t take too long.”
After Vicky left, Jaden stared at her reflection in the large mirror over the sink. Her lips were still a little puffy from being kissed. She touched them with her fingertips, remembering how it felt to have his lips moving over hers. It hadn’t been the longest kiss in the world, but it was one she’d probably always remember. With a sigh, she tugged her pony tail tighter and left the washroom. She still had another four hours of her shift to get through. At least she had something to daydream about to help make the time pass more quickly.
* * *
Leif managed to return to the mansion and sneak the new container of ice cream into the freezer with Roxie being none the wiser. He then spent the remainder of the time there thinking about Jaden. The taste of her mouth, the feel of her lips against his, the soft skin at the back of her neck all seemed to have burned into his brain. Her scent was already permanently etched there. H
e would be able to latch onto it anytime, anywhere.
Standing at the living room window, he watched Skylar’s black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 motorcycle drive up to the front of the mansion. Skylar was attached to that bike as much as his true brother, Jager, was attached to his sword. Personally, Leif didn’t know how Skylar could ride the thing, considering how low the handlebars were. Being a Supersport motorcycle, more suited for racing, the rider had to practically lean over the gas tank to reach them. Leif’s back just ached thinking about how uncomfortable that position had to be for any length of time.
He watched Skylar sit up, shut off the bike and put the kickstand down. Skylar was to replace him and Kye. Dirk was going to stay overnight. Ever since they’d found out Roxie was pregnant, the Protectors had stepped up their protection duties. At least one of them now spent the night at Beowulf and Roxie’s place. With Miles, Saskia’s true brother—and at one time a Protector himself until he’d decided he’d rather switch sides—on the loose they couldn’t be too careful. If Miles got his hands on Roxie, especially in her condition, he’d use her to rule all the werewolf packs in her stead. So far, as far as they knew, Miles didn’t know what Roxie looked like. They wanted to keep it that way so they kept Roxie well under wraps. And it wasn’t as if the packs had a society paper that told everybody who was who. The leaders of every pack had come and sworn their allegiance to Roxie, but the general population didn’t know too much about her yet.
Leif met Skylar at the door when he walked into the mansion. “You can tell Kye I already left. He’s upstairs with Beowulf. They’ve been working in the baby’s room most of the day. Of course Roxie and Dirk are in her office doing their computer stuff.”
Skylar nodded. “All right. Off on a hot date, are you?” he asked with a smile.
Leif stiffened. “No. Why would you say that?”
“You seem to be in an awful hurry to get out of here. I thought maybe you were going to go to Wulf’s Den tonight to look for your next conquest.”
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