by M. L. Briers
“Fine…”She gritted her teeth and stopped moving. The obvious press of his manhood against her stomach made her heart thump and her body respond to what was undoubtedly a good sized display of his wares, and she cursed out in her mind, as part of her brain rushed to excitement. She so wanted to groan with the irony of it all…
Hadn’t she spent the better part of the last year staying away from men, all men? Hell, she wouldn’t even accept to do a reading for a man, shoving them instead towards Jill’s capable hands as she dealt with the female cliental only. And what were the odds of finding Mr-Wrong-Time-Wrong-Place in an alleyway behind the bar in a town they’d just moved too?
Petra’s head spun for a long moment as she found herself not pressed to the length of him anymore, yea. But on the downside instead of being on her feet, she was in his arms like a damn child… Go figure.
“You said you’d put me on my feet…”She ground out. Even in her slightly-worse-for wear state, her brain was crying out to find solid ground. Her fear of all things lofty griped her insides like a tight fist and she couldn’t help but squirm a little more, even if she did have a death grip on his clothes.
“It’s probably better this way.”He informed her, sounding rational, and yet she saw it more as annoyingly superior and somewhat dictatorial in his nature, which brought a hiss to her lips.
“For who?”She bucked her hips up and hoped to dislodge herself from his arms. If she’d actually considered the consequence of where she’d end up should her plan succeed, she might have thought twice. But it only served to make him tighten the hold he had on her.
“Not you I’m guessing.”By the way her heart was thumping within her chest he had to assume she had some kind of a problem with heights, or him, or both, and while he wanted nothing more than to sooth her worries, he also found it amusing…
“While I get that you have a burning desire to carry me off that gels with your rather antiquated sense of values, if you take just one step…”She clamped her lips together when he inevitably took that one step and grinned down at her with mischief playing in those dark eyes.
“Like that?”He offered her the look of an innocent. She offered him the look of a She-Devil.
“One more step buster and…”Petra ground out through grated teeth and he set too putting one foot in front of the other, taunting her in ways that had her blood boiling within her. Lycans could just be so infuriatingly awkward in their small brained, egotistical, arrogant little selves, she told herself, and then agreed whole heartedly with that take on this situation. He was certainly all of those things and probably more…
“We can sort this out back at the car…”He tried for innocent again, but there was that mischievous look in his eyes, and the way his lips curled up just slightly at the corners… Even in her slightly less-than-sober state it had her wholeheartedly doubting his sincerity with a hiss of annoyance and a slight squeal as his feet gained ground.
To say that she now had a death grip around his neck and shoulders wouldn’t have been an exaggeration. She pressed her lids tightly closed and prayed for this to be over quickly as she counted all the ways that this could go badly wrong within her mind. Not least the fact that her magic bayed at her to zap him into tomorrow and give him a hangover that he wouldn’t forget in a hurry, if he refused to let go again, that could end very badly.
“I hate you with the ferocity of a thousand suns…”She hissed, practically curling herself against his body… for purely safety reasons, she concluded. It had nothing to do with the fact that her body kind of worshipped the position she found herself in, although, truth be told, her mind could imagine a lot more beneficial ways for her to wrap herself around him…
“At least do me the courtesy of knowing me for more than an hour before you come to a decision like that…”He could hear Brad chuckling behind him as his beta kept step with his own. Carrying the other inebriated female, who was now snoring like a fog horn, the Beta seemed to be enjoying the floor show…
“Plainly you’re a pig of a man who…”Petra felt the overwhelming need to share with him just how much she disliked him…
“Actually sweetheart, I’m a wolf, but don’t tell anyone…”He teased down at her, and she couldn’t help but snort her contempt for him…
“Oh trust me, I know what you are, and you’re the worst kind of a wolf, an alpha…”He might have jumped a puddle, on the other hand he might have just tossed her up in the air a little to hear her squeal. Only he knew for sure and he’d never tell. But he couldn’t help but grin when it had the desired effect and she buried her face against his neck and tightened her grip on him.
Dale took the opportunity to take in her scent as he buried his face against her hair at the curve of her neck. Every inch of him grew harder with the recognition of his mate, with his need to be inside her, stroking into her flesh and hearing her moan his name…
“Don’t smell me…”She pulled back and glared at him. So he felt the need to jump that imaginary puddle again, and again she buried her face back against his neck and he scented her. This was a good day…
“But you smell like cherry blossoms on a fresh spring breeze…”He growled into her hair. His hot breath fanned over the soft skin of her neck and increased her scent as her body tensed within his arms.
Damn, but if his words didn’t make her want to purr. Just as her body wanted to open up and let him in, she found herself squeezing that imaginary length of him that was tucked away out of her reach…
“That’s not good…”The words came from her lips before her brain had a chance to kick it into the long grass a million miles away. She clamped her lips together and moaned slightly, out of the fact that she wanted to headbutt the nearest wall in humiliation, or out of pure desire for him, she couldn’t actually be sure which in her confused state, but she’d just hoped she hadn’t let the squirming little kitty out of the bag where he was concerned.
Dale could scent the strength of her arousal and growled out his need to not throw her down on the ground and enter her right there in the middle of the damn alley. She was his mate, and in his mind there were rules about that kind of thing. She was Fae, which meant she probably wouldn’t appreciate being taken in such a manner. She was drunk, which meant she wasn’t able to consent wholeheartedly to their mating, and she was his forever, which meant that when the moment came for them to mate, he would make sure that her pleasure came first, and his needs, and that of his beast would come a close second.
“No, you keep thinking that way and we’re going to get along just fine.”He couldn’t help the teasing chuckle that rolled out with the growl of desire he felt for her, and then she pulled back slightly to narrow her eyes on his face and question him with her glare.
“You’re not vampire. You have no clue as to what I was thinking.”She was adamant in her supposition, but he couldn’t help the playful little shrug that moved those broad shoulders beneath her grip, or the knowing look that sent her cheeks back to crimson. Damn. He did know what she was thinking!
“Oh, sweetheart, trust me when I say I didn’t have to read your mind…”He leaned his head in and brushed his mouth over the silken strands of her hair as it veiled her ear. “I can scent you.”He whispered, although it sounded more like he was using a loud speaker as his words bounced around in her mind.
To say that a shiver wracked her body would be like saying space was vast. The damn thing tore through her from head to toe. It was the drawbridge that opened her whole body up to the mating pull that he exuded from every sexy, overly masculine inch of his body. What a body, what a man.
There was a man’s-man, and a woman’s-man, and then there was the kind of man who wasn’t suave and sophisticated, debonair and worldly, he was just the epitome of every raw sexual fantasy that a woman could ever imagine herself in. When his eyes looked at you, not only did they undress you, but they devoured you without mercy. There was no promise of a night you wouldn’t forget, but a certainty. He screamed
power, but not in the boardroom, and not with chains and whips. He needed none of those things to bring about a total submission, dominate every inch of your body and soul…
He was the kind of man you saw once in a lifetime but never got to have. Across a crowded room as the man you were with swept you away. Sitting on the train as it started to depart the station, or from the back of a cab resting in traffic, and your eyes met, just for the briefest of moments, but oh what a moment… That jolt goes through your whole body, awakening it for what feels like the very first time, sweat brakes out down your spine and those suddenly clammy hands curl into fists. When you can feel every raw sexual nerve come to fruition inside of you, and you know, just know that if he was standing there right in front of you, you’d be in his arms in a heartbeat and his kisses would devour you as he claimed you, body, mind and soul.
This was one of those men. One of those men you’re not supposed to have. Not because it’s wrong, but because it just didn’t happen that way. Because life didn’t turn out to be everything you hoped for and compromise felt like the right thing to do at the time…
Petra knew on some level of her addled brain that this was something she couldn’t put up an internal wall against, couldn’t guard her heart from, keep her distance, run away… Running away from a wolf, she mused, oh that would be very, very bad…
“I really don’t like you very much right now.”It was part moan, part whine, but spoken so softly that if it wasn’t for his wolf like hearing he might not have heard her at all.
“You’ll get over it.”He teased back, by way of a promise. And she was sure she would.
When they reached the pickup truck it was as easy as juggling oranges for him to move her slightly in his arms and open the door. Careful not to hit her head on the roof as he put his knee into the driver’s seat and placed her inside. She immediately curled against the back of the passenger seat without complaint, and he watched her for a long moment, as her lashes fluttered down against her cheek and her whole body relaxed as if he’d placed her in her own bed.
Dale straightened and watched his beta put the snoring Fae onto the back seat…
“I’ve got this if you wanna get back to that blonde…”Dale grinned as his brother’s eyes took a long moment to question his words.
“Blonde…”He mused and then jerked his head on his neck in remembrance as his eyes flicked towards Jill on the backseat. “Slight problem there brother. You’re not the only one who’s found their mate tonight.”
Dale followed his brother’s eyes to the sleeping Witch and he had to admit, he was more than a little surprised…It wasn’t just the fact that this woman was no tall, leggy blonde, more of a short, mousy one, but that they had discovered their mates together. Fitting probably, they had been doing everything together their whole lives.
“There’s a certain symmetry to that I guess…”Dale shook his head for a long moment as the realisation hit him. “Two new members of our pack, two mates, and both of them Fae…”He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck as he thought that one through.
“I guess things are gonna liven up nicely.”Brad slapped his brother on the back with both sympathy and amusement. Their once orderly pack that they had running like clockwork was about to get a boost of Fae energy, and not the magical kind. More the troublesome ways that most Fae have about them, and looking into the truck, where both their mates were now sleeping off the effects of a night out, he’d say it was more than a possibility that they were going to shake things up a little.
Wesley stood on the corner of the walled roof and looked down at the Lycans as they climbed into their pickup truck. Taking in a long breath that he didn’t need, he blew it out again on a sigh of foreboding.
It didn’t sit well with him that both of the Fae had found a mate tonight. It certainly wasn’t a good thing that both had found Lycan mates, especially as the Lycans could be so damn annoyingly protective of their mates, that was doubly true when they weren’t bonded yet, and especially as both men were from the damn pack that he was here to protect them from.
There had been a well thought out plan put in place for him to do what he needed to do, and tonight had been the night to execute it. He’d thought of every possibility but the one that had actually taken place. But then who could have anticipated that along would come an alpha who just happened to be the Fae’s mate?
“Ah, the best laid plans…”Wesley watched the truck as it pulled out of the alleyway and sighed again. He was going to have to find another way to get to the Witches, at another time when those damn Lycans weren’t about, and that wasn’t going to be easy, but still, it needed to be done.
“Hubble bubble toil and trouble…”The vampire turned on his heels and dropped down from the wall onto the flat roof. “And ye are certainly trouble, my dear.” Wesley shook his head as he looked to the moon. Nothing was ever easy with the damn Fae.
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…
“Seriously?”Jill pulled the pillow over her head and groaned at the sound of the rather annoying loud clock that permeated her rather strange dream and brought her an awareness of how she’d managed to sink way to many margaritas last night. Someone should have stopped her, and by someone she centred her thoughts on Petra.
Damn, but she hoped her friend felt as badly as she did right now, because the sound of that clock felt like a chisel that was tapping into her brainpan…
Wait, she didn’t have a damn clock. Who had a clock that did the ticking thing anymore? Clocks were digital, clocks were on appliances and phones…
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick…
It might have been ticking away to the sound of her heart beating before, but the fact that she had come to a sudden realisation that this wasn’t her bed, her room, or her house made her heart drum its own tune, and it was a lot damn faster than that annoying clock.
Jill forced open her eyes as far as they would permit and she encountered the dark royal blue of the bedding. Nope, definitely not in Kansas anymore kid…
Gingerly lifting the pillow from off her head she scanned the room about her. She couldn’t help but nudge out with her toes to see if she might encounter a warm body in bed beside her. If she’d sunk enough margaritas to find herself in a strange bed, she might just have done something equally as stupid…
No body that she could find, alive or dead, thank the Goddess, she told herself as she took in the very masculine décor about her and sighed inwardly.
“Crap it…”She moaned out. Hearing the sound of a definite squeak of floorboards from somewhere outside the bedroom door she quickly ducked back under the pillow. “Poop.” She muttered trying to search her brain for what she remembered of the night before. Her mind took off in a million different directions, none of which was particularly helpful to further her cause, and all were clouded by the fact that someone was coming.
The feeling of tingles that ran up her spine as she lay like a statue, face down on the bed and with the pillow still over her head, led her to believe that she had screwed up big time. Whoever it was that had just come into the room was supernatural in origin, and she tried her damndest never to go there.
Vampire… She remembered a vampire… and being dropped on her backside on the cold stone of the road, but more importantly, she berated herself, there was a bloody vampire. Well, not bloody, not then, but maybe later…? Oh damn it to hell. Tell me I didn’t go there… She begged her own mind and body, feeling that tingle creep over her skin like a rash, the closer he got.
“Good morning…”The deep tones of amusement seemed to be aimed in her direction, unless she truly was sharing the bed with someone she hadn’t found on her cursory foot exploration, and she cursed in her own mind, but yet was somehow relieved as well… Not a vampire…
Oh the Lycan… Alpha, tall, broad, stubbly… and into Petra, she remembered, curiosity finally got the better of her and she lifted her head slightly and peeked out from under the pillow.
A big toothy gri
n shone back at her, thankfully no fangs, she told herself as she took in this mere God… Her heart thudded in her chest a couple of times as she looked at what was probably last night’s conquest, and she felt a slight twang of disappointment that she didn’t remember a moment of it…
“And who the hell are you?”Subtly was never her strongest attribute, she reminded herself as she mentally winced in her admission that she had absolutely no idea who she’d bedded. Damn it was official, she was a Ho, a harlot, a…
“You’re mate.”He said it with such glee, such amusement that she almost bit her own tongue off as she snapped her jaws shut and glared back at him from underneath the pillow that still balanced on her head.
Not a Ho, a harlot or anything else that her mother would have shook her head in shame about, even thought the woman had more lovers than Rasputin…
“Say it ain’t so.”Jill managed to get out of her thin lips, and still with her brain was half fuddled, she would have been proud of herself were it not for the fact that she was in her mate’s bed and couldn’t remember the damn mating…
“Can’t do that, but I have brought you a nice breakfast.”She hadn’t noticed the covered plate in his hand until then. Funny the things your brain can dismiss when you were hungover and faced with a supernatural lover that you couldn’t remember.
He went to reach for the cover over the food and she felt her insides crawling already. “Don’t lift that lid unless you want me to hurl on you.”She warned and saw the glimmer of amusement sparkle in his dark eyes.
“Word to the wise, you already did…”He somehow seemed gleeful about even that, she thought, as the shame ignited the crimson heat in her cheeks and she groaned to herself as she let the pillow drop back over her head and face planted the covers. One thing she promised herself in that moment was that she was never going to drink again… and this time, well she might just mean it.