by M. L. Briers
“Sarcasm is so helpful right now…Thank you.”Sofia took a leaf out of Steve’s book and pouted.
Alex held his hand out to her. “Let me check that you’re ok.”
“It’s just a few scrapes…”Sofia didn’t want to have to deal with any of this tonight. Ever, really.
“Oh let him check honey, you can never be too careful.”Steve offered his advice and Sofia hummed with the need to kick him in the shin. She was trying to stay away from Alex, couldn’t people see that? She’d already been lost in his arms once tonight, how many times did she need to tempt fate? Damn, bloody Fate…
“Then you’re coming home with me…”No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than he had snagged her wrist and was pulling her up from the sofa.
“Alex, what are you…?”Sofia bit out, but he had already swept her up into his strong arms, and boy did that thrill rush through her body like wildfire. Her mate was definitely all alpha male…
“I knew there’d be carrying off…”Shaun bit out on a chuckle.
“It’s just so romantic…”Steve offered on a gush of excitement and Jonathon scowled at him.
“Seriously?”Jonathon rolled his eyes. There were times when he considered his boyfriend a little too emotional, this was definitely one of those times.
“Says the man who wouldn’t know romance if someone stuck a candle up your backside…”Steve hissed out and Shaun chuckled. He liked these guys, they reminded him of how his parents used to be, he wasn’t sure which one was more like his mother though…
“That’s not romance Steve, that’s playtime.”Julia added bring Shaun’s eyes back around to her as he took her in again. There was just something about that Fae that made him want to do an Alex and carry her off…
Shaun scented the air. Picking out all the individual scents one by one until he had hers, a definite Fae essence mixed with… honey… damn she smelled as sweet as she would taste he was betting… He wanted to wrap her in his arms and sink deep into her with…
It hit Shaun right in the guts. His whole body tensed with the realisation that her scent was like pure adrenalin to his system, pure lust within his loins, and pure need within his soul…
“Oops…” Shaun growled out and Steve took a slight step to the side away from him.
“Oops? I’m not entirely sure that I want to know what that means.”Steve shot a look at where Shaun’s attention was fixed, and by fixed, he couldn’t have looked away in that instant if the damn roof came down on top of them.
Julia stared back at him. Her brows twitched against the smirk she had on her face from the amusement that she felt at what was going on around them. She narrowed her eyes on Shaun, unsure if she liked the kind of scrutiny that he was now putting her under.
“Is there something I can help you with?”He might have been eye candy, but that look on his face said he wouldn’t mind getting to know her better, a lot better. That wasn’t going to happen any time soon, she didn’t go for wolves, and he was definitely wolfish in the look he was giving her.
“Oh yeah.”Shaun answered, licking her from head to toe just with a look. She snorted.
“In your dreams wolf.”
“Alex, put me down…”
Julia’s attention turned towards Sofia who was now squirming against his gentle hold on her.
“No. I asked nicely, Sofia, now you’re coming home with me…”The growl that Alex issued was somewhere between annoyance at his mates inability to comply with his simple request and protectiveness.
“We should bring your friend along too…”Shaun offered and nearly chuckled out loud when Julia’s head snapped back around towards him. The dark scowl on her face was nothing compared to the death glare she was offering him with her eyes.
“You might be nice to look at, but boy are you certifiable.”
“Julia has a problem with wolves…”Steve offered on a half whisper as he leaned in towards Shaun, making Shaun turn his eyes on him for more information.
“Being?”
“That you’re not vampires, she has a little thing for the feed…”
Julia snapped up from the sofa.
“I think you’ve got that illness back again Steve…”Steve stopped, lost in thought and questioned her with his eyes. “Verbal dysentery. Make it stop or I’ll rip your tongue out and strangle you with it.”Julia growled and watched Steve’s eyes widen in surprise.
“Touchy, aren’t we?”Steve pouted.
“I’m not going with you.”Sofia was adamant in her rejection of his plans. She didn’t want to go to pack land, she wanted to stay in her house, even with all hell breaking lose the way it had. Going with him meant spending time with him, and that bond that she could already feel between them would only be strengthened by the time they spent together.
“I second that emotion.”Julia hissed on a glare at Shaun.
“Oh yes you are…”Alex started for the door with her still in his arms.
“Hey!” Julia snapped out, a moment before she felt Shaun’s hand on her upper arm. “Hey!” She tried to pull out of his grip, but it was like trying to pull against shackles. “Hands off.”She caught the look in his eye and her head snapped back on her neck as she swallowed down her disbelief at how this was going. “Oh…Oh!”She screeched on the sudden realisation of what this all meant.
“Look, surely we can talk about all of this?”Jonathon offered. First his wife was being carried off and now his sister was leaving. This was insanity.
“Your sister is my mate. What do we need to talk about?”Shaun offered as he started to march Julia across the room. She dug her heels into the carpet.
“Am bloody not!” She spat out, but the roar of laughter that came from Sofia’s lips had her head whipping around on her neck to berate her. “You can stop your hysterics. You’re in no position to laugh at my expense.”
“Not much no, but it does make me feel slightly better.”Sofia chuckled.
“Now wait a minute…”Jonathon took a step forward, and Shaun gave one long menacing growl of warning at him, and the one step was all he dared take.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Ok. Fine. Take her.”Jonathon threw up his hands and Julia balked.
“Nice. Thanks brother.”Julia hissed at him and he gave a helpless shrug.
“Well, what do you want me to do?”Jonathon offered and Julia rolled her eyes as Shaun started to drag her feet across the floor.
“Hit him with a vase…”Julia hissed out, and Shaun stopped and looked at Jonathon.
“Do you really think that’s a good idea?”Shaun growled and Jonathon swallowed his tongue and shook his head. His voice hitched as he pushed his words out through the lump in his throat.
“Nope.”He offered, not even able to look at Shaun’s dark glare a minute longer. He looked everywhere but at him, or Julia.
“See. Your brother is a pragmatist.” Shaun offered on a wolfish grin at his mate.
“Bloody coward you mean.”She snapped back, aiming he words at her brother.
“He’s Lycan…”Jonathon balked.
“Did you leave your balls at home?”Julia hissed, and Shaun yanked her forwards as Sofia disappeared out the front door with Alex.
“Where are the keys to your car?”Shaun asked her as she tried to dig her heels into the solid wood of the entrance hallway floor, to no avail.
“Bite me.”She snapped back and he tossed her another grin.
“Later. Keys?”Julia snorted her contempt at him and the next moment she was viewing the world from an entirely different direction as he tossed her over his shoulder.
“The hell you will…”She growled out.
“I’m going to carry you all the way back to the pack like this is you don’t tell me where the keys are…”Shaun offered as he spun her around through the air and she groaned. “I can’t guarantee you’ll enjoy it, especially over the rougher terrain.”He bobbed up and down on the balls of his feet and she flopped around, as her upper body bounced against
his back.
“Hall bloody table you…”She spat out in defeat. He might have won this round, but he wasn’t going to win the war, and this did mean war.
“Thank you, love.”Shaun strolled over to the table and palmed the keys. “Nice to meet you guys.”Shaun called out over his shoulder as he carried her out the door.
“You too.”Steve called with a small wave of his hand before Jonathon cleared his throat in annoyance and disbelief. Steve frowned and shrugged. “What, civility costs nothing.”Steve offered in his defence as Jonathon folded his arms over his chest and glared back at him.
“Hmm, thanks for robbing my house, come again soon…”The acidity in his voice made Steve pout. He turned on his heels and strolled towards the kitchen.
“You can be such a grouch sometimes.”He mumbled as he went back to making the tea.
“Un-fecking-believable.”Jonathon took off towards the front door.
“I am not getting in the damn car.”Julia was back on her feet and standing next to the back door that Shaun had opened for her.
“We already did things the hard way. This time the hard way is between you sitting in a seat or riding in the boot…”Shaun informed her, and she dragged in a gasp between her clenched teeth, her eyes narrowing in contempt.
“You wouldn’t!”
“Try me.”Shaun offered and from the look in his eye she got the distinct impression that this damn wolf would.
“This is why I hate Lycans…”She bit out with as much venom as was running through her veins.
“Yeah well, you might not like me much right now, but…”Shaun started as she went to dip to get in the car and she hesitated in mid air, glaring up at him.
“No buts. I’m never going to like you.”She hissed out to another wolfish grin that he offered her. This time he added a double rise to his brows.
“Tell me that again in a few days, sweetheart.”Shaun growled down at her in a definitely suggestive way, and she bit down hard on her jaw. Practically throwing herself into the back seat as she folded her arms over her chest and cursed him in every different language she knew, and there were quite a few.
Shaun slammed the door closed on her and chuckled as his eyes took in his alpha and Sofia. He was gently placing his mate into the front passenger seat.
“Alex please. I’m fine…”Sofia protested, although not as venomously as her friend had.
“Good to hear, but you’re still coming with me…”
“But this is stupid, I need…”
“Me.”Alex cut her off. It was all he needed to say to her. After what had happened he wasn’t about to let her get away from him again that easily. She’d lied about her husband, about her life to him, and they needed to discuss that. But more importantly, she’d nearly died tonight. If Shaun hadn’t of been there to save her they wouldn’t be having this conversation now. He needed her with him.
He closed the door and looked at Shaun. Both men were standing there wearing bath towels and nothing else. Both men looked a little punch drunk. Both men had found there mates. This was a good day, surreal, but good.
“Now what?”Shaun asked on a shrug of his shoulders and Alex shook his head in bewilderment.
“Our mates are Fae. I’d say all bets are off for a normal wooing, wouldn’t you?”Alex warned and Shaun couldn’t help the slow grow of the smirk on his face.
“Should be…interesting.”Shaun offered and heard Alex growl out a groan.
“To say the damn least.”
Jonathon watched the car drive away with his wife and sister inside, in the care of two Lycan mates and shook his head in disbelief. This certainly wasn’t what he was expecting when he drove up here tonight. A million scenarios had gone through his mind about why Julia thought to drag them up in such a hurry from the city, but this, well, this was something that never entered his consciousness.
“So now what?”Steve asked from behind him and he turned on his heels and saw his partner with two cups of tea in his hands, an expectant look on his face.
“I don’t have a bloody clue.”Jonathon admitted as he slammed the front door closed and stalked across the room, Steve following on his heels.
“A daring rescue?”Steve chuckled to himself as he followed Jonathon into the living room and watched him drop down into the cushions of the sofa. He looked tired, drained.
“No.”Jonathon shook his head, before he rubbed a tired hand over his face and eased back into the cushion behind him.
Steve put the cups down onto the low coffee table in front of him and sat down beside him.
“They’ll be ok though right?”Steve asked putting his hand over Jonathon’s to comfort him and Jonathon nodded.
“Their mates won’t hurt them. They might not be able to walk straight for a week after the bonding…”
“Hmm, lucky them.”Steve teased and Jonathon sighed.
“Is sex the only thing you think about?”Jonathon berated, and yet he knew Steve only too well, he could see the edge of worry on his face.
“Of course. That and fashion, I’m gay remember.”Steve tossed back sarcastically, feeling a little put out that Jonathon would even ask that question, even though he knew his partner well enough to know that Jonathon was being testy because he was worried about Sofia and Julia.
“Sorry.”Jonathon spat out and Steve waved a hand, brushing it off.
“So what now?”Steve asked coming back to the same question again, because Jonathon hadn’t given him a straight answer.
“I guess we sit and wait, and plan what housewarming gifts to get them.”Now it was Jonathon’s turn to be flippant, because he felt so damn helpless.
“Now who’s being bitchy?”
“Well if you can’t beat them, join them.”Jonathon muttered on a shrug.
“Out you get.”Shaun offered Julia his hand to help her from the car and she took it. Letting him help her to her full height, before him she stared up into his eyes and gave a small smile. “See how things can go when you cooperate with me?”Shaun teased and saw the smile light her eyes.
“Just one thing though…”Julia questioned him with her eyes and he tipped his head to one side, his eyes feasting on her face.
“What’s that love?”He offered, and she brought her knee up into his groin as hard and fast as she could.
The pain registered on his fast as he sucked in a hard breath. His hand tightened on hers for a long moment and she wondered if it would incapacitate him the way it would a human, and then she didn’t need to wonder any longer as his whole body seemed to clench and fold up on itself.
His hands went to his groin and he dropped first to his knees, as the pain twisted his features, and then to his back on the grass, as a female issued a hearty belly laugh that came from the front the house. Julia tore her eyes away from the man claiming to be her mate on the floor to the young girl standing by the front door.
Zara’s arms were wrapped around her belly and she was almost doubled over in hysterics as she watched Shaun writhe on the floor in agony.
“Julia!” Alex growled out a warning to her as he led Sofia out of the car and pulled her against his hip protectively.
“What? Just giving him a little taste of what to expect…”Julia hissed, carefully picking her way over his body on the floor as she strolled towards the young woman who seemed to appreciate her actions as much as she did. “Hi, I’m Julia…”She might as well make friends and accomplices while she was here, she thought as she reached out a hand towards Zara.
“That’s my brother…”Zara was slightly more serious now as she tried to bite back the amusement to question who would dare do this to one of her pack.
“That’s his mate.”Alex informed her and Zara’s jaw dropped at the thought of it, and then she let out another screech of laughter before offering her hand to Julia.
“Nice shot, sister.”Zara offered as Cornelius walked out of the front door and took it all in.
“Who got Shaun in the nuts?”Cornelius eyed the mate
strapped to Alex’s hip, and then the beautiful blonde that was standing with Zara. “Hmm. His mate?”Cornelius eyed her with indifference for a long moment.
“Yep, and I think she’s going to make a great match for Shaun.”Zara chuckled as Cornelius sighed.
“You young ones can’t just go around carrying off your mates. It’s not done that way anymore…”
“It is now.”Zara took a slow walk towards Shaun. “How you doing, Shaun? Not taking anyone for a dunk down at the pond at the moment are you?”She teased, as he found it in him somewhere to growl up at her.
“Don’t-be- too- sure…”Shaun could feel his body healing. His balls might still be on fire with the heat of the sun, but it wouldn’t take him long to drag himself back onto his feet. “Why do you- females always go for- the balls?”Shaun growled out, and Zara had no intention of hiding her amusement.
“Because we can, and what other use would there be for them to be so accessible if not for this very purpose?” Zara offered her hand to help him up, finally taking pity on him. She’d thought about kicking him there many times, she’d just never had the guts to do it.
“Let’s go inside.”Alex urged everyone, but Shaun, to move off. He just looked down with such a look at pity at his beta on the ground that Shaun waved him on.
“I’ll catch up.”Shaun offered on another growl of annoyance.
“Do you want me to carry you?”Alex asked and Shaun growled out again. “Not you…”Alex snapped at his beta and then turned to look down at Sofia. “Sofia?”
Sofia was still trying to take it all in. Especially Julia’s special way of bonding with her mate.
“I’m fine. I told you I…”
“I’ve found out that what you say and what is the truth isn’t necessarily the same thing.”Alex saw the look of shame on her face and wanted to snatch his words right back. He was an idiot, and he didn’t need to show that side of his personality to his mate.
“I should…”Sofia tried to turn away from him, but he kept her clamped to his hip.