by M. L. Briers
“No you shouldn’t, if I need to carry you…”
“I can walk perfectly well…”Sofia snapped out.
“Unlike Shaun.”Zara snorted over her shoulder as she steered Julia into the house, arm in arm, like they had been best friends forever.
“Nice sister, thank you.”Shaun grated out between clenched teeth. Alex shot him a look over his shoulder. His colour had returned to near normal and the twisted look of pain on his face had dissolved into mere grimaces.
“Come on son, let’s get you up on your feet.”Cornelius reached a hand down to him and yanked him upwards. For an old man, he still had as much strength as a young human. Not that Shaun was entirely grateful to him. The pain shot through him and he groaned out.
“Thanks.”He grimaced and heard Cornelius chuckle as he turned and walked ahead of him into the house, following Alex and Sofia inside. “I think your mate is going to be all kinds of fun.”He muttered and Shaun rolled his eyes.
“That wasn’t the kind of fun I was hoping for.”He bit out.
“You need to stay away from me.”Julia warned Shaun as he walked into the kitchen and eyed her at the counter next to his sister.
“Sweetheart, I wouldn’t come near you right now, if I had a fatal disease and you were the only cure. But I guarantee that you won’t be saying that later.” Shaun growled out each and every word, and she felt each and every word bounce around in her brain and sweep through her body, and she wasn’t happy about it.
“We’ll see.”Julia snorted.
“Yes we will.”He confirmed her worst fears in those three little words. She was his mate and there was absolutely nothing she could do to change that, except kill him, obviously, but even for her that felt a little extreme. She didn’t want him dead, she just didn’t want him.
“Don’t be so sure…”
“Honey that is the one thing I’m certain about.”He informed her as his eyes flicked to Zara who was sitting next to her. The amusement on his sister’s face made him want to give her a dunking, but then he had felt the exact same amusement when Alex had discovered his mate. It was almost akin to a pack tradition when mates found each other to sit back with glee and watch any fireworks that ensued.
“Proves what a damn idiot you are then.”Julia ground out, turning away from him and in her mind ending the conversation.
“Well fate gave me you as a mate, how smart would I need to be?”Shaun wasn’t about to cut her any slack. He wasn’t best pleased she’d gone for his balls, that wasn’t exactly his idea of heaven. He could give as good as he got in any department, if she wanted to give him attitude, he’d damn well give it right back, but when she gave in to the mating pull and curled up in his arms, he’d give her that back too, tenfold.
Alex hadn’t bothered listening to protestations from his mate when he carried her upstairs to his room. He still needed to check her body out to make sure she hadn’t sustained any injuries that she was either denying, or not feeling due to the shock of everything that was happening around her.
She’d been quiet since they left her house. He wasn’t keen on quiet, not when she’d nearly died, he would much rather that she rant and rave. Deny him as a mate, show some fire in her belly, at least then he would know she was feeling more like herself. Right now she was just lying there watching him in the half light of the room, as his hands roamed over her body, looking for pain, waiting for her to flinch so he could locate any wounds.
She had cuts and scrapes, and there was no doubt that she would have some bruising, mainly from where she had impacted Shaun, but to him they were good injuries, injuries she had received rather than what could have been if Shaun hadn’t been there.
“You lied to me.”Alex’s deep tone pulled her out of herself. A part of her was reflecting on everything that had happened, while the rest of her was trying to denying the feel of his hands on her body. Be it bare skin or over clothing, the impact was technically the same, she burned for more.
Sofia watched him as impassively as she could, but when his dark eyes flicked up to hers she felt the guilt and the heat wash through her. She’d lied on a technicality. She was married and she did love her husband, just not in an outsiders definition of a marriage, although, when a married couple could no longer have sex with each other, did that mean they loved each other any less, that their marriage was any less valid?
“I didn’t lie.”
He had started at her feet and ankles and worked his way upwards, now he was at her shoulders and soon to be touching her neck. How could she not acknowledge his presence beside her? His face was close to hers as he leaned in over her, and that gave him the opportunity to study her properly.
“You gave me the impression he was your husband in all sense of the word.” Alex’s warm hands touched her neck and she couldn’t help but pull in an extra breath.
“You assumed…”
“Sofia, you know what I’m saying…”He stopped touching her and she felt the loss, and yet somewhere inside her, she breathed a sigh of relief because the ordeal of trying to remain neutral was over.
Alex planted a hand on the bed either side of her shoulder’s and leaned further towards her. His black eyes captured hers. It felt impossible for her to be able to look away. “You gave me no hope that we would be mated.”
“What makes you think that there is hope now, Alex?”Sofia saw the small rise of his lips at the corners, the way his eyes glinted with the knowledge he needed to be certain that he would be wooing her.
“Your husband gave us his blessing, Sofia. Do you really think that I would let you get away from me now? From us? You can’t hide behind your marriage like a shield anymore, sweetheart, because I won’t let you.”He meant every word, she could tell that it was from the heart, and an element of fear stoked within her. Not fear of him, although he looked every inch the predator at that moment, fear of the unknown, love.
Alex could feel her unease, but this time he wouldn’t be denied the taste of her lips. His wolf was anxious within him, and he’d denied his wolf before. He closed the distance between them, leaning in and brushing his lips over hers to see how she would react to his touch. Was she going to denying him again? His heart practically shut down in his chest as he waited for what felt like an eternity for her movement.
The moment his lips touched hers it was as if a burst of pure white light swept through her body, akin to a magical burst of energy that she might feel upon drawing on a cleansing light to do spell work. It was potent in its intensity and she couldn’t quite understand how that one touch opened her up like a blossom bursting into a flower.
When she didn’t deny his touch, Alex did it again, and again, and again. Each brush of his lips lasted longer with a little more pressure, until finally he captured her lips in a gentle kiss that teased the promise of more. His hand cupped her cheek, his fingers delving into the silk of her hair, until finally she moved.
Sofia couldn’t keep her hands down any longer. She’d been fighting what she knew was a losing battle not to touch him again. She remembered the feel of her hands against his chest from earlier, and she was almost desperate to feel it again by the time she lifted her hands and ran them up his body, until her fingers were splayed against the hard muscles of his chest, and they curled against him of their own accord as he deepened the kiss.
Alex coaxed her to accept him, to open to him, and when she surrendered his tongue swept over hers and he gently growled as he had his first taste of her. His fingers tightened in her hair, it was a subconscious reaction to the thought that she may pull back from him again.
Sofia’s fingers curled into him and she wanted to pull him closer, but she resisted the urge, the temptation to give into her basic instincts. Her mind was in as much chaos as her body.
She wanted this, she wanted him, and yet if she could manage to do it, she might have just taken flight and never looked back, so strong was the urge to flee, but it was being hampered by the needs within her for him, the recognit
ion that he was her mate.
Why did she fear this intimacy so much? It wasn’t as if she had never had a lover. Before her marriage to Jonathon she had been with a few men, but it never seemed to last because they could never compete with her love of painting. Her art had come first.
Now there was him and she knew that he would consume her to the point where he would come first, and her art would be somewhere down a long list of things that came before it.
Sofia’s head swam with the reality of losing a big part of herself to him and the needs that had awakened within her. This was fate, he was her fate, so therefore this must be the right path, and she believed that fate knew best, trusted in fate not to let her down, she just needed to know how to turn off her fears.
Alex kept a tight rein on his emotions. He could feel the ebb and flow of her uncertainty, knew that she was fighting a battle within her mind over this, over him, over them, and he wouldn’t push her too far. But he had needs.
Alex released her lips and trailed soft kisses of fire down her neck, and with each press of his lips against her skin her fingers curled into him harder until he reached the fast beat of her pulse in her neck and he nipped against the heated flesh before soothing it with his tongue and she moaned. It may have been the softest of moans, but he heard it within his heart and his head, and they were both telling him to claim her.
Sofia was his and he wanted her. Damn he wanted her. He’d never been that hard for a woman in his life. He ached to push inside her, to take her to the hilt and feel her whole body curl around him the same way her fingers were curled against his chest.
His wolf was urging him on, but his wolf didn’t know what Sofia needed and he did. Time. She needed time to come to terms with him and being his mate, and that was something he couldn’t deny her.
It took every ounce of strength he possessed to stop kissing and caressing her. He rested his forehead against hers and allowed her to come back to him within her rational mind.
“Please Sofia, don’t hide from me again.”Alex’s gentle growl echoed through her body and served to heighten the excitement within her, even as she was fighting to regain the ground that she had lost.
“It’s already slipping away from me, Alex.”Her voice was quiet, even in the silence of the room.
“What is sweetheart?”
“My life…”
“This is your life, Sofia.”Alex offered. He didn’t understand what she thought she would be losing by being his mate.
“My life is painting.”Sofia shuddered, as if the dead had walked right through her. Did her mind already mourn the loss of her normal life?
“Do you think you won’t be able to paint if you’re truly happy?”Alex’s words seemed to echo within her mind. It was something she hadn’t considered, being truly happy.
“I don’t…?”Sofia had never thought in those terms. Happiness was painting. She’d never relied on anyone else for being happy, or for making her happy. In that respect she was self contained, maybe even self absorbed when she painted. Wasn’t that why her marriage to Jonathon worked so well? Was there something out there that could compare to the way she felt when she stood in front of her canvass? If there was it would be Alex.
“Baby steps, Sofia. I think we both know that I’m going to grow on you.”He teased and she couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips. The mating pull would guarantee it.
Julia turned on the tap and allowed the water to run into the sink as she scrolled through her phone. Hitting the number, she was fidgety as she waited for the connection. There was only one way that she could envisage getting out of the mating bond and that was with a little help, and who better to help with a Lycan problem than a vampire.
“Julia, I take it you’re calling in that favour I owe you?”His voice was sweet with melody, and if anyone knew her well enough to call hit the nail on the head it was him.
“I’m in a little bit of a bind…”Julia admitted, biting down on her lower lip and keeping her voice as low and even as she could.
“I thought as much considering the last time we parted ways you called me…”She heard the amusement in his voice, but she really didn’t have time for his particular brand of humour tonight, she needed out of here before she succumbed to the mating.
“I know what I called you, and I may have been a little harsh, but you do owe me…”
“Yes I do, and I always pay up on my debts. So, tell me what you need, my little witch.”
“Rescuing from myself.”Julia almost hissed
“Intriguing. What did you do now?”There was an accusation in his words that she didn’t much appreciate. It wasn’t like she was always getting into trouble, and this situation was not of her making.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time…”
“Aren’t you always…”
“Are you going to help me or not, because…”She did hiss this time. How long could she pretend to be washing her damn hands for?
“Not with that attitude.”
“Quinn!”Julia hissed down the line and Quinn could hear the urgency in her voice. He’d already picked up on the anxiety and assumed it was just another one of her end of the world scenarios, but this was different, she didn’t sound as if she was over dramatising this one, she sounded worried.
“Where are you?”
“That’s what I need your help with. I’ve been kidnapped by Lycans…”
“Kidnapped?”
“Held against my will. I can’t leave. I need you to come and get me.”Julia hissed back. Time was running out, in more ways than one.
“And yet they allowed you to keep your phone?”Quinn was intrigued. What could she possibly have done to a pack to make them warrant kidnapping her? She wasn’t the sweetest peach in the Fae bowl with her acid tongue and eager knee that usually hit its target.
“Quinn…”She bit down on the dark curses she wanted to unleash on him and heard him sigh.
“Why don’t you just show them your natural sweet personality, they’ll be sure to let you go then…?”
“Oh bite me, you…”
“My point exactly, little Miss Sunshine.”
“Quinn, I swear to the Goddess if you don’t come and help me…”
“Where are you?”Quinn made it sound as if it bored him, and yet his interest was more than peaked, and he did owe her a favour. He supposed he could rescue her from herself, again.
Zara watched Shaun eyeing his mate from across the room with a certain amount of amusement. It seemed that Shaun didn’t have much of an appetite to go near his mate until she was a lot more affected by the mating pull. Perhaps she should have delivered a knee to his groin years ago, it appeared that it made him stop and think, and she might have saved herself a few of those dunkings in the pond.
Being a nineteen year old Lycan female wasn’t the easiest of circumstances with all of the testosterone around, but being the Alpha’s sister was even more precarious, because every damn one of the males went out of their way to protect her, and that made life even harder than it should have been.
If she made an appearance at the bar in town it always got back to her brother. None of the Lycan males in the pack wanted to date her, so she’d taken to going to the next town and mixing more with the humans just to have a social life.
But Shaun drove her insane. There were times when he’d follow her to see what she was up too, and she knew that it had nothing to do with Alex, and nothing to do with mating, he was just too damn protective of her. The only one who ragged on her was him. She was the princess locked in the castle tower, or would be locked in if Shaun had his way…
But now that Shaun was caught up in the mating pull and had something else to occupy his time, he might just not notice where she went and who she went there with, and she thought it was about time she got to have a good night out. Maybe an all-nighter like some of the other girls?
Zara reached for her phone and sent out her first text. Shaun and Alex had enough p
roblems of their own right now, it was the ideal time for her to get some crazy time.
“Do you have to stare? It’s rude.”Julia sniped.
Shaun raised just the one eyebrow and stared back at her. “Seriously? I’m rude? You’re kidding right?”Shaun showed no outward signs of amusement, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling it.
“What are you going to do next, drop the ball at my feet and whine until I play catch with you?”
“We’ll be playing babe, and there will be balls involved, but I don’t think you’re envisioning the right game.”Shaun offered back, before he turned his attention back towards his coffee mug and brought it to his lips.
Julia made just the slightest of movements with her hand as she brought it to her hair, making a show of brushing her hair away from her face, as the handle on Shaun’s mug snapped off, depositing hot coffee in his lap and all over his legs.
Zara’s head snapped around on her neck as Shaun roared a growl of shock mixed with pain. The liquid quickly seeped through his jeans and hit his legs, and he jumped down from the stool. As quick as a flash he ripped the jeans down his body as he cursed and muttered obscenities through clenched teeth.
“Guess you won’t be playing any ball games for a while. How careless of you.”Julia lifted her own mug to her lips and gently blew against her brew. Her eyes took in the sight of him with his jeans around his ankles and thick muscled legs on display. She couldn’t help but recall him naked, and then again wrapped only in a bath towel on the drive here, and she shivered with excitement.
“That was you.”He accused, fixing her with a dark glare, and she balked at the idea.
CHAPTER SIX
“Me? You’re insane.”She dismissed his accusation with one of her own, trying to put as much innocence behind her words as she could muster, considering she wanted to cackle out a laugh like an old hag.
Zara’s chuckle next to her did nothing to diminish the need to enjoy the scene for all it was worth.