by M. L. Briers
“I take it you’re escaping?”Shaun threw down the pebble that he had been using like a worry stone in his hand, and watched as it bounced on the grass, before returning his eyes towards his mate.
“From what I can tell you’re usually wrong, so I guess you’re not breaking the habit of a lifetime.”She retreated to sarcasm like a comfort blanket around her shoulders.
“You know you’re a real…”
“Bitch, shrew, cow…”She offered. She knew her limitations and when her back was against the wall she came out with her claws slashing. In that respect she admired the Lycans.
“I was going to say piece of work, but hey, whatever works for you has my blessing.”Shaun offered and she snorted, and then looked the other way because she couldn’t help the smile that touched the corners of her mouth. It wasn’t lost on Shaun, he’d already caught sight of it.
“I’ll drive you back down tomorrow…”Shaun offered.
“It’s my car, I’m perfectly capable…”She started and heard him sigh.
“The road up here is unpredictable if you don’t know it. I’d feel more comfortable driving you back, it’s a mate thing…”He offered, when she went to open her mouth again to protest, she thought better of it and closed it on a shrug.
“Fair enough, but why not tonight?”She wasn’t ungrateful and she didn’t want to push her luck, but she could feel herself warming to him already, she’d much rather be out of here as soon as possible.
“It’s late and Alex has the keys. He’s a little preoccupied right now. I could go disturb him and Sofia while they’re…”
“Noooo.”Julia shook her head adamantly. She was more than happy that Sofia had warmed to the idea of being Alex’s mate. She had nothing against the mating call, it just wasn’t for her.
Shaun grinned, getting to his feet, he made like he was going to go into the house.
“You sure, because I could just…?”Julia chuckled as she shook her head.
“Yeah, I’m sure. Let them have their fun.”Julia dug her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and went to turn away.
“So where were you going, if not to escape?”Shaun wanted her to stay. Stupid and selfish, but very simplistic, he just wanted to spend some more time with her, even if she was going to hightail it out of town, and he was going to lose her, and even though the more time he spent with her, the more she was going to imprint on his psyche and leave him adrift with a need for her when she left, he couldn’t help it.
“I was just coming out for some air. I got bored being in there alone.”Julia admitted and Shaun frowned.
“Zara should be keeping you company.”
“Haven’t seen her in a while. I overheard her making plans to go out earlier, I guess…”
“She what?”Shaun growled out in annoyance. He was fed up dragging her backside out of bars, and after the last time she got rip-roaring drunk she had promised Alex that she was going to calm the hell down, so now what was she up to?
“Hey, I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble here. She might be in her room.”Shaun was already stalking back inside the house and Julia was following hard on his heels. She liked Zara and she hoped she hadn’t dropped her in a heap of stink.
Shaun walked to the bottom of the stairs and cocked his head in the general direction of upwards. He was listening for heartbeats and counting them. Two. Damn it, the little She-wolf had snuck out the house again and he was going to have to go and unwrap her from a lamppost somewhere. And what with her nearly being on her breeding cycle…
“Did you hear her say where she was going?”Shaun asked, knowing that if she was at the local shifter bar he would surely have been given the heads up by now. Julia shook her head.
“You know, she’s a grown woman.”
“Who’s about to go into her breeding cycle. Hell, she might even pay your brother a visit and jump his bones…”Shaun growled out and Julia blinked twice in recognition of what he was saying. She knew that her brother and Steve weren’t in any danger, but she also knew how unpredictable a She-wolf was during her breeding cycle.
Shaun already had his mobile in hand and was scrolling down for the number of the bar, just in case she turned up there and every male in the place went into a mating frenzy.
“So little wolf, are you going to tell me your name?”
His tone said tell him, his eyes said tell him, and Zara wasn’t in any doubt that she was going to do just that as the handsome vampire stared down at her.
“Zara.”His fingertips danced along her naked shoulder and she felt his touch deep within her. Damn, but did this suck. Her breeding cycle was coming on faster than she expected and right now she was stuck here with a damn vampire. This wasn’t good.
“Now your pack have something I want and I have something they want, so tell me little wolf how are we going to make a trade?”His eyes had released her and she didn’t feel the need to answer his question, except she did feel the need to tell him to go to hell, but then she needed to get out of the woods and back home before she lost all rational thought and all she could think about was climbing up his body and impaling herself on his…
“Try the damn phone like a good kidnapper.”She growled out. She wanted him. Well not necessarily him, but a man. She could feel it growing inside her like a black cloud that was about to burst forward the biggest rainstorm in history, and the worst if she needed to take comfort with the vampire. Boy was that not going to happen.
“Feisty little thing aren’t you?”She flicked her eyes towards him and saw the humour on his face. She’d give him feisty when she regained the will to snap the damn plastic tie around her wrists, but how the hell was she supposed to do that when he’d put it in her mind not to try?
“And then some, Dracula.”She spat out, and watched him lift one dark eyebrow and narrow his black eyes on her.
“Quinn…”
“I prefer Dracula, it keeps it clear in my mind what I’m dealing with.”She sniped, turning her head away. He strolled towards her and she took in his scent again.
‘Mine.’
She growled out at her own damn wolf. The beast was severely mistaken, which could sometimes happen around the breeding cycle when the wolf would become a sneaky little devil to try to get her to mate with whatever was handy.
“Would you like to feel a love tap from a vampire?”
“Would you like to feel my fangs ripping out your spinal column?”She snapped back quickly, trying to dismiss the damn man from her mind while keeping her wolf at bay.
The damn beast might just have complied and shifted if she had a mind too, but Dracula had made it so that didn’t happen. So the damn beast would obey him, but not her and shut the incessant chatter of mating up.
“Touchy, aren’t we?”He lifted his hand and flicked out his claws and her eyes took them in. Not as impressive as Lycan claws, but still razor sharp.
“Do you know how tasty you are to a vampire?”He lifted just one finger and ran it over the heated skin of her shoulder, and she yanked her body away from his touch.
“Go feed on a rat…”She snapped out, feeling the slight nick to her skin as her movement caused his claw to catch her.
“That’s not very hospitable…”Quinn scented her blood and a frown snapped onto his forehead. His eyes focused in on the deep red pool of blood that threatened to run down her arm, and he moved a little closer to her.
‘Mine.’ Her wolf growled out and Quinn couldn’t take his eyes from the prize.
“Let me heal that for you.”She went to move again, but his hand shot out and held her in place. He dipped his head and licked over the shallow wound, tasting her blood and letting the sweet nectar sweep over his tongue and down his throat as he recognised her for who she was…
“I’m going to kill Julia.”He growled out into the darkness of the night as he turned his back on Zara and started to pace.
“Julia?”Zara shot back, and he waved her question away.
“Of all the stupid
idea’s that woman has ever had, to bring me here, now… now when I haven’t yet had enough of the debauchery that awaits me, and here you are…”He was ranting, and she thought he might be a little insane, but then weren’t most damn vampires, she thought, eyeing his movements.
“Me?”She snapped.
“Yes, my little wolf, you…”He was in front of her in an instant, his eyes so dark that she had the need to swallow hard. “My mate…”
“Mate!” She growled out. Her head felt like it was swimming and she hadn’t even got to the damn bar yet.
‘Mine.’
No he’s bloody not, she told herself as much as she told her beast. A vampire mate? And an insane one to boot… Wow, did she luck out. An insane, kidnapping, vampire mate, wasn’t that what she just needed to end this perfect bloody day?
“That’s not even close to being funny…”
“Good, because I’m not laughing.”He sniped back at her. Reaching behind her he used his claws to free her from the binding at her wrists and her ankles. The sight of those long legs on his way down and then back up again, made him almost salivate at the thought of having them wrapped around him for the next eternity, and he groaned against his own passion for her.
Damn it, he’d tasted her blood, all he wanted was more. More blood, more her, more. That wasn’t a good thing, especially as he could scent her breeding cycle was approaching. At any other time and with any other wolf that might be fun, but with his mate…? Damn, he’d end up bonding for life and that would be his freedom out of the window as he devoted himself to only her.
“I’m not your mate…”Zara rubbed at the ache in her wrists as she eyed him with suspicion. Maybe he’d put this in her head too?
“Glad you see it my way, I’m too young for this bonding thing. I’ve only been on this planet for one hundred and forty three years, I’m too young to settle down.”Quinn growled at her, and she nodded her agreement. At least in her mind he was thinking along the right lines.
Quinn stared down at her with a deep frown of annoyance.
“You’re free of your bonds why aren’t you running away?”He wanted her to go, now, and fast before he got the mind to taste her again…
“You said I couldn’t…”
“I did not…”Quinn groaned. “Sure I did, well you’re free, runaway, fast as you can…”Quinn dismissed her with a wave of his hand and she was off and running in a flash.
“Damn Julia, bringing me out here…”Quinn stopped and slapped himself on the forehead. “Damn it to hell!” He growled, taking off on fast legs after his mate.
By the time he dropped down in front of her she was panting hard with the exertion of running in human form, and heels, high ones, he noted and frowned again as she squealed and jumped backwards away from him.
“Why are you running in heels?”
“I didn’t exactly have time to take them off, go away!”She snapped, eyeing the clearing to her left, and he lifted a finger and waggled it in her direction.
“I’m faster.”He informed her on a devilish grin and she sneered at him.
“I’m meaner.”She informed him, almost desperate to shift into her wolf, if only she could.
“Doubtful…”He informed her, double raising his brows in mischief and warning. “And why didn’t you just shift into your wolf?”
Zara took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. “Because some jerk of a Dracula told me I couldn’t.” She snapped out, feeling way to off kilter to be having this conversation.
“Oh.”It was one word, and he considered his actions carefully this time. He could release her from that suggestion and be gone in the treetops, where she couldn’t sink her damn fangs into him, in a heartbeat, and yet, there was the little matter of his friend being held captive by the pack to consider.
Quinn winced in annoyance. He really wanted to release her so she could get the hell away from him, and yet he knew he would never hear the last of it from Julia if he left her there. Still…
“Am I going or staying? Make your damn mind up Drac!” She snarled at him. She wasn’t in the best of moods, she would be the first to admit it. Mating a vampire didn’t thrill her to her very soul, and yet she could feel the mating pull on her body, not to mention the damn breeding cycle coming on.
“Going…”He winced again when she went to move, and he lifted a finger to halt her. “Damn it, staying. I have to get your pack to release Julia.”He shook his head in dismay. He was getting softer as the years went past, of that he was sure. A mellowing vampire wasn’t a happy vampire…
“Release her?”Those words sent her hands to her hips and her head to one side as she looked at him as if he’d lost his mind, which she believed by his actions here tonight, he might just have done. Either way she was sure the guy had a split personality, or maybe a decision making disorder.
“Yes. Kidnapping is…”
“Oh the hell you say? You accuse my pack of kidnapping your friend, when you kidnapped me?”She took the moral high ground, and he rolled it over in his mind.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, unless you need a bargaining chip…”He looked her up and down, from the five inch heels, up those legs that seemed to go on forever, and which disappeared under the tiniest of miniskirts. Over her shapely hips, dipped in waist, the swell of her breasts that he’d love to just taste right now…
Quinn snapped himself out of it. “And you’d be that bargaining chip, if you’re too dim to catch my meaning…”
“The only thing dim around here is going to be your lights when I knock your damn head off…”She took a step towards him, and he grinned down at her. He liked her spirit, she really was very…
“Now, now, play nicely and I won’t have to spank you…”He teased, but her eyes flared with anger.
“You lay one finger on me and I’ll…”Her back was against the nearest tree trunk and there was another pressed up against her stomach in a heartbeat, as she felt the size of his arousal between them.
“You’ll what little wolf?”He grinned down at her with a devilment in his eyes that had her wolf baying for more.
‘Mate.’
“God damn it…”Zara snapped out, she tried to use her Lycan strength to push the vampire away, but came up empty.
His knee came between her legs and forced them open, and her body responded instantly to the feel of his leg resting against her sex. Her arousal swept through her hard and fast, and she so wanted to rub herself against him for mercy…
“And there’s not only your breeding cycle starting, but your mating pull.”He informed her, desire flashing in those dark eyes of his as she dropped her head back against the tree trunk and stared up at him. “Damn it little wolf, but I want to taste your blood on my tongue again.”
“Julia!” She gasped out, trying to fight her breeding cycle with everything she had.
“She can wait a while longer…”Quinn went to dip his head, but she reached out and slapped him hard around the face.
Quinn blinked twice, coming to his senses slightly, only slightly as he looked down on her. “Thank you.”
“Any damn time.”She growled out between clenched teeth as he practically tossed himself away from her and against the further tree trunk from where she was standing.
“Julia…?”He asked and she shrugged.
“She’s at the house, nobody kidnapped her, she’s found her mate, but she’s not happy about it…”Zara breathed through her needs.
“I’m definitely going to kill her…”Quinn turned towards the tree trunk and sunk his claws into the wood. He needed to think…
Shaun was systematically going through every stored number in his phone that he could think of to find the one person that would have an idea where Zara was.
Sitting at the kitchen counter, while Julia made a fresh pot of coffee for want of something to do, he diligently dialled each number in the hopes of finding out who she was with.
The sight of his mobile made her more than aware that she had
n’t checked hers in a while, and she excused herself to the toilet so she could check her phone. When she flicked onto the text screen her eyes went wide and she almost dropped the damn phone into the running water in the sink.
Zara was with Quinn, he’d taken her as a bargaining chip…
The thumping on the toilet door made her snap her phone off and stash it back inside her back pocket, as she snapped off the tap and pulled the door open to find Shaun standing there.
The deep frown lines on his forehead told her that he knew something was wrong. Damn, she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t make out as if everything was normal when she knew that the idiot Vampire had taken the Alpha’s sister.
While she didn’t think Quinn would harm a hair on the girls head, she knew this could start a situation that could escalate if she let it, but how did she admit that she had called in a vampire to get her away from her mate? And how did she admit that she had potentially put the Alpha’s sister in danger?
“I’m going out to look for Zara, apparently she was going out with the girls, but she never showed up…”Shaun saw the red flush on her cheeks and studied her further. She might have her shields up right now, but he was slowly gaining access to her behind those walls, and something was definitely off with her.
“What is it?”He felt the rush to anxiety inside her as her shields slipped and her emotions washed over him like a damn battering ram. He took a step towards her and saw her wince, even though she swayed towards him slightly in her stance.
“I screwed up…”Julia bit the bullet and admitted it. She could put this right, she had to put this right.
“What are you talking about?”Shaun felt the next wave of emotion, it was guilt.
“My idiot friend has Zara.”The next emotion was fear, but he didn’t know if it was fear for what might happen to Zara, or fear of what she thought he might do with her admission.
“Has?”Shaun needed clarity and fast, if Zara was in any danger…
“He’s going to try to use her as a bargaining chip to get me out of here…Look…” She went to explain, but he cut her off. Taking a long step back from her she heard the deep anger in the growl that rolled through him.