by M. L. Briers
Jill rolled over onto her stomach and rested up on her elbows. The room did a little sideways dance for a moment, but she wasn’t overly concerned with that, it was par for the course after the night she’d had. But she wanted to look at him, really look at him, as the guilt of his words sucker punched her in the jaw, or maybe the stomach, but definitely her conscience.
“Ok, look, maybe we started off on the wrong foot.”She offered, and under the circumstances, her irrational need never to back down or give ground, it was probably the best she could do.
“Sweetheart, when I first met you, you puked on my feet.” Brad thought he might just remind her of that fact. Hell, he’d be the first in line to tie one on, and he didn’t begrudge her a good time. But when having a good time meant she was incapable of getting herself home safely, well, he didn’t hold much stock in that kind of enjoyment. The outside world was dangerous enough with all sorts of monsters waiting in the shadows, and not all of them of the supernatural kind, adding alcoholic obliviousness to that was just asking for trouble.
“Oh, the party police have arrived…”Jill muttered as much to herself as to him. It was more than obvious that he disapproved of the circumstances of their meeting, and she remembered some of it, if not all. But she had a big problem with his attitude. She wouldn’t be told what to do or how to live her life, especially by a bunny chaser, even if he was her mate. Although, the fact he was her mate kind of signalled the death nail in her party antics anyway.
“There’s partying and then there’s painting a target on your backside. Which category do you see yourself in?”
“Bite me, Dudley Do-right…”One second he was there at the bedroom door, looking all Mr-Superiority, and the next time she blinked he was gone and it didn’t take a genius to realise she’d screwed up, and she so wanted to take those two little words back.
Every inch of her body was aware that he was close. It was a strange feeling, akin to being stalked by a wild animal, or at least that’s how she imagined it to be. It might only have been a few seconds of her life, but time felt as if it was dragging on. She made it over onto her back, and her eyes connected with his as he crawled up and over her body, looking every inch the predator, with his black eyes and even a little fang showing, and she couldn’t have stilled her racing heart if her life depended on it.
Instinctively Jill knew that this beast was her mate, and as her mate he would never intentionally hurt her. Yet that knowledge did nothing to ease the rush of panic that was mixed with a large dose of adrenaline, and an even bigger dose of excitement. She had, after all, invited him to bite her, and a Lycan did like to bite when he got the chance, almost as much as a vampire. Her mate probably wanted nothing more than to chomp on her, due to the mating pull and that damn bonding need that would be a fire within his blood for her.
“Back off!”Jill saw the desire within his eyes. Whether it was for her blood or her body she couldn’t be sure, all she could be sure of was it was there, and that wasn’t a good sign.
“You invited me.”The low rumble of a growl underpinned his words and she couldn’t help the shiver that ran through the length of her body at hearing something so primal, so feral, so lustful…
There was little time to think on her actions, she reacted on gut instinct. Raising her hand in front of her she sent out a warning shot, but apparently her brain didn’t quite see it that way, and as her energy hit him, it tore him from the bed and slammed him into the nearest wall, making a mate sized indent into the plasterboard.
Jill sat bolt upright in bed and took in her handy work. Her eyes went wide and she swallowed hard as he slowly slid down the wall, little pieces of debris going with him, and for the longest moment she was reminded of a cartoon character. That was until his head snapped up and he glared at her with jet black eyes and a look that could kill, if he only had the magic to follow through on it.
“Whoops.”It was her voice, but it was more of a squeaky, throttled murmur than she had intended. By the time she swallowed down the lump in her throat he was off the floor and heading back in her direction, but this time he wasn’t crawling up her body in some seductively sexy way, he was launching himself at her.
CHAPTER FOUR
The shriek that left her lips, when the realisation of what he was doing took hold, was nothing compared to the growl that tore from his, as he landed on all fours around her. If she hadn’t of thrown herself backwards on the bed then he would probably have taken her down. But as it was, she was trapped beneath the large, imposing body of her mate, caged in by his arms, legs, and his broad torso as he glared down at her. This was no playful puppy, he was as mad as hell.
“No chewing!”It was the first thing that popped into her mind and then right out of her mouth, and she regretted it the instance she’d said it. When he twisted his head on his neck and stared down at her in disbelief she mentally slammed the palm of her hand against her forehead, trying desperately to wake her brain up enough to deal with this, with him, and even with them as mates.
Brad leaned in over her. There wasn’t an inch of his body touching hers and yet he could feel her as if she were skin on skin with him again, as she had been for much of the night. He’d left her with her modesty, being human and all, and had covered her body with one of his large tee’s, but it hadn’t taken much movement for it to ride up in places and allow for the skin on skin contact that he craved. Right now, he craved that feeling again.
“No biting!”Jill added, as his dishevelled hair brushed her cheek. His hot breath caressed her neck and the part of her shoulder where the fabric had slipped down, and she felt the jolt of excitement go straight to her sex. Damn the mating pull, she told herself, even as her body cried out for more of him.
Brad tried damn hard to push his beast back within him. His fangs might have retracted into his gums, but his beast was still there just under the surface, and when he took in her scent, that beast roared with a demand for more. That fight within him would be a lot more difficult than subduing a feisty witch.
“I want to taste you.”The rumble of a growl in his voice would have left her weak kneed if she’d been standing up, as it was, it made her body tingle with awareness and desire. Neither of those two things was a welcome feeling, not yet, not in her mind, but it seemed her body had other ideas. Drawn to him as she was, the knowledge that this was the sooner, rather than the later, she’d been expecting didn’t fill her with a happy feeling.
“No biting…”She reiterated her previous demand, and yet this time it was clear to the both of them that she was less forceful in her words. She’d known him all of five minutes, awake, and yet the fact that she’d shared a bed with him wasn’t lost on her. That was probably the catalyst her body was drawing on for the response his closeness created within her.
Brad touched his lips to the soft skin of her neck. It was the briefest of touches that he couldn’t help but make, and yet it stirred the fire within his blood almost as much as if he’d just sunk his body into hers. The feel of his tongue against her heated flesh had her stomach doing cartwheels, and even though she didn’t want to admit it to herself, or him, especially him, just that simple act felt as if he were knocking on her very womb.
There was a steady low growl that filled the air around her and made her toes curl. That sound also woke her distracted brain up to the fact that she was lying half naked on a bed with a big old Lycan licking her as if she was breakfast. Truth be told, she might not have objected to the fact if he wasn’t her mate, but he was, and forever felt like an awfully long time right then.
“I’m not an ice cream.”Her hands found the hard muscles of his chest and she palmed the heat of him that warmed her fingers even through his clothes, and she pushed upwards. She knew she stood no chance in moving the hulk of a man if he didn’t chose to move, but with a final low growl, akin to regret, he lifted back from her.
Brad took in the flush to her cheeks and couldn’t help but grin, she was as affected by him as he wa
s by her. It might have been a given considering the mating pull, but it was still rewarding to see the attraction, the need in his mate’s eyes. Even the gentle curl of her fingers against his chest, as if she wanted to pull him closer, keep him near, was a welcome gesture, no matter how slight.
“If you use your magic on me again…”He growled down his warning.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, the big bad Lycan will eat me.”She tossed up at him. Trying to get her breathing back in check after his attack on her senses wasn’t helped by the quick flick of his eyes down her body. It might have been locked under a duvet, held down around her by his weight, but there was no mistaking what he was thinking, or where he was looking, and a shiver wracked her body at the very thought.
“You and I have different definitions of the word eat right now.”He was growling again and her body was swooning, and no amount of mental cursing would cure that. If her body was that smitten after a night lying beside him, she reasoned, how the hell was it going to react after a day or two in his presence? She needed to get her head around this and having him hovering above her like a promise of more wasn’t going to help with that.
“Where’s Petra?”Jill demanded. She very much doubted that Petra was anywhere other than on pack land, and what better way to take her mind off her mate than conspire with her friend? At least that was the hope.
“That was a fast change of subject…”He teased.
“Well, that should give you some idea of how not interested in playing your game I am.”
“Your body says differently.”He assured her and she felt the urge to slap him, or herself for landing in this situation, but it would probably be more satisfying to slap him, she reasoned and then held onto that urge. It was her fault for getting drunk. It was fate’s fault for giving her a mate, and it was his fault for… being him. Just being him probably didn’t deserve a slap…yet. Although he was annoyingly self assured and smirky, so she guessed it would only be a matter of time before the urge to land him a right hook took centre stage.
“But my brain is still repulsed, so if we could do this another time, that’d be great.”Jill used every ounce of sarcasm that she could muster, hoping it would do the trick. From the way he grinned down at her, she knew it hadn’t, but he did back off.
“Feel free to go through my drawers and find something that you can wear, and when you’re ready, come downstairs.”He didn’t just back off, he made for the bedroom door, and with one final look back at her lying in his bed, he left her alone.
Jill rolled back over in the bed and pushed up onto her elbows. She hadn’t noticed the breath she’d been holding until her lungs forced it out of her, and then she sucked in another. There was a part of her that hadn’t wanted him to go, and it was a big part, mainly her feminine parts, but still a notable part that she cursed and praised in equal measure. It would only get worse over time, of that she was under no illusion. She would be mating with him. She just wanted a little more than a good-morning-sunshine before that happened.
Brad eyed his alpha as he strolled into the kitchen. If he hadn’t of known about him finding his mate last night he would have assumed the beast had a long and productive hunt the night before, he was in that good a mood and it showed in every step, every movement, and when the alpha scented the breakfast foods being kept warm on the plate, he even did that act with renewed vigour. Perhaps the alpha was having a little less trouble with his mate.
“Someone’s in a good mood.”Brad couldn’t help teasing his brother. They weren’t just pack brothers, they were birth brothers, and that meant they knew each other inside out. A gentle prod here, a fist there, they’d fought against each other and side by side, and there were bonds that could never be broken, even if they had wanted to kill each other on occasion.
“I think we both have a reason to be.”Dale offered back to him. His brother could dig and jibe today and it wouldn’t break his good mood. That wasn’t to say he still wouldn’t get a fist in his face given the right provocation, that was only natural, but he would be happier in delivering the blow.
“Fae. There’s a complication I didn’t expect, and we were doing so well in keeping order within the pack.”Brad mused, even if it did come out on a grin of quiet amusement. His mate was feisty, he assumed her friend was the same, and that meant trouble, extra trouble for him being their beta, he was the one who would have to keep them in line. He didn’t know whether to thank fate or slap it upside its head.
“That’s not the complication I’m worried about right now.”Dale admitted. He lifted the fresh brewed coffee that was always on hand and poured it to the brim of his cup. “We need to find out who that vampire was last night and find out if it was a happenchance or more. If our mates are in danger I want to know about it before anything happens.”
“I’ll give Jerome a call, see if he’s aware that there’s a new vampire on his patch.”Brad wasn’t best pleased with the idea that his alpha had now firmly instilled in his mind of his mate being in danger. His beast prowled within him nervously, more than ready to push forward in defence of their mate, protective of her to the point of bloodlust should the situation arise. It probably didn’t help that her actions had caused his beast to come to the forefront earlier, the wolf still wanted out.
“Make sure you drop it into the conversation that the girls are our mates. We don’t need to mark them to offer that kind of protection within Jerome’s circle, just the knowledge of who they are should be enough, unless this vampire has a specific reason to confront them.”
“You think the vampire had a specific intent last night?”Brad was more than uneasy, he was ready to flick his claws out, let his fangs drop down and start slicing, dicing and tearing anything that threatened his mate.
“I don’t like coincidences. A new vampire happening upon two Fae in an alleyway, it smells a little off. But I’ll hold that thought until we speak to Jerome, maybe he can enlighten us.”
Petra was in two minds about setting foot outside her bedroom haven. While she was all in favour of escaping the four walls around her, she wasn’t too impressed by what awaited her outside those walls. It would be stupid of her to ignore the fact that she would have to deal with her mate sooner rather than later, and she wasn’t denying that they were mates, or that they would mate, she just wasn’t in favour of rushing head first into another confrontation with him.
Cowardly little witch, she told herself, hiding from the big bad wolf. Petra’s hand rested against the door handle, but she just didn’t have the inclination to pull on it. Backbone, sister, grow one. You have to see him at some point, mating is a certainty… unless you kill him first…Petra rolled her eyes as a small wicked smile tugged at her lips, and then she mentally slammed her head into the wood of the door. He’s your mate, how could you even think it? Because a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do?
Dropping her hand and turning her back to the door, probably in some kind of subconscious effort to keep him on the other side, not that she could, the size of the man and his natural Lycan strength would see him getting inside no matter what, unless she used a little magic… That’d go down like a lead balloon, but still… No! Behave…
“God, I think I’m developing a split personality…”The words were out of her mouth before she even thought about them…
“Petra?” Jill hissed from the other side of the door and Petra’s head spun around, her body had no choice but to follow suit.
Petra had no qualms about yanking open the door now. Her eyes devoured her friend as if she was chocolate, and she reached out, grabbing a handful of oversized sweatshirt, and yanked Jill inside. It wasn’t a graceful entrance, as Jill practically flew headfirst into the room, steadying herself on her bare feet as she turned back towards her friend.
“I think I left my womb outside in the hall, you wanna grab that for me?” Jill grumbled. Yanking her borrowed top this way and that until it sat as best it could on her slim shoulders.
“I was going to
come and look for you…”Petra started and then dropped her eyes to the floor between them. The guilty look that crept over her face brought a small smile to Jill’s lips, but she lifted her hand to cover it. After a moment of foot shuffling Petra shrugged her shoulders, “but I didn’t want to run into my mate again so soon.”
Jill had to admit that she could empathise with that statement. “Throw me to the wolves for your own self preservation, nice.”Jill teased her. But the guilt that showed on Petra’s face was more than mirrored inside Jill. After all, this wasn’t actually Petra’s fault. Jill knew she couldn’t claim the same thing.
“It’s not like that. I knew you’d be ok…”Petra wanted to absolve her conscience, but Jill stopped her in her tracks.
“I’m just pulling your leg. Besides, there’s something I need to tell you, and I don’t want you to kill me.”Now Jill looked guiltier than hell as Petra lifted her eyes and took in her friend as she stood there squirming in front of her. She’d known Jill a long time, she was probably the first person she could remember from her past after her accident, and she instinctively knew that she wasn’t going to like what she needed to hear.
“What did you do now?”Petra narrowed her eyes, and to Jill it was as if her friend was trying to pluck the information right out of her mind, “Or should I say how do I undo what you’ve done?”Petra added for good measure.
While Jill would openly admit to herself, and maybe Petra, that she could be a little over zealous with her skills and experimenting on occasion, it really wasn’t as bad as Petra’s statement made out. Or at least, she didn’t think so. But then she was standing on the wrong side of bias.
“You were saying how you didn’t want just any man…” Jill found one hand with the other and wrung them together like a washer woman. She felt the nervous tension within her. Perhaps this time she had taken a step too far, considering the circumstances they now found themselves in.