by M. L. Briers
“Fast metabolisms and were always on the go up here.”That at least wasn’t a lie. He’d just omitted the part where he needed to tell her about his wolf…
“There’s always desert…” He winced again. Human, he told himself, remember she’s human…
“Yeah, like anyone can actually eat like this. I saw a documentary once on medieval banquets. It kind of looked like this…”She flicked her eyes up towards him as he came across the room carrying a large chocolate gateau and she couldn’t help but lick her lips. Anything chocolate was a number one priority in her book; hell if she could start every meal with desert she’d be happy. She’d be damned ecstatic if she could start and finish every meal with dessert, maybe just make every meal dessert…
“Let’s start with the most important food group and move on from there.”He informed her, sensing her mood had lifted considerably since she spotted the cake, and the fact that she was practically drooling told him that he’d found the route to his mates heart. Chocolate, or cake, but probably chocolate cake.
“It’s chocolate right? You’re not teasing me?”She grinned up at him and saw those two rows of gleaming white teeth as he grinned back.
“I would never do that. Chocolate is a sacred cow where teasing is concerned. Trust me.”The way he said the words ‘trust me’ left her in little doubt that she probably could.
“I think I may have misjudged you.”She teased back as he grabbed a plate of ham from in front of her and tossed it onto the kitchen counter. Putting the cake down right in front of her eyes that were already eating it up.
Yep, maybe she’d been a little rash in her dismissal of him. He kind of felt like Link, and the more time she spent with him the easier she became in his company. She didn’t not like him anymore, so that was a good sign, and as for trust, well, in Link she had found the one person she would trust with her life, and for some strange reason, now that she wasn’t being so uptight around Rudd anymore, she kind of felt the same way in his company, as if she’d known him forever and could trust him.
“It’s quite possible.”He offered, cutting into the gateau and presenting the biggest slice of damned cake she had ever seen on her plate before, in one go anyway, and she couldn’t help the rush of excitement at the thought that tucking into it brought her. Strange how chocolate could do that to a person. “Don’t stand on ceremony, tuck in.” He snatched up a cut of pork and popped it into his mouth, as an alpha it was sort of tradition that he would start the feeding frenzy around the table, but she wasn’t to know that, so he placated his wolf with taking the first bite, just in damn case…
Macy revelled in her fork going through the soft, delicate sponge and taking the cream filling with it, when she finally got it to her tongue she made a noise of pure pleasure that had his backside hovering over his seat, frozen in mid air as his ears listened to a sound that tightened every muscle in his body in sheer delight and need for her.
He wondered if she would make that sound when he was inside her body, bring her towards bliss, or maybe when she found that bliss and was revelling in the feel of it sweeping through her body.
Damn it, but he was harder than a hammer for her, and it took everything within him to put his backside down on the chair and not climb over the food on the table to get to her so he could pull her up and devour her there and then. Thoughts of throwing the damn food to the floor and taking her on the table, opening her wide to him and pushing deep inside her until they both moaned like that slammed into his mind and he swallowed hard.
Nuzzling into her hair and taking her scent would just be a damned bonus right now, but one he’d gladly take over being so helpless to make a move on his mate. When all he really wanted to do was claim her, make her his, take her on the table, up against the wall, over the kitchen counter and anyway he could get her as long as he could be buried within, listening to her moan and gasp in delight, in pleasure, anything would be a sorry substitute for that.
Rudd swallowed down his tongue or whatever else had lodged in the back of his throat. His eyes devoured her as she slowly devoured the cake, forkful by forkful, and each time she made the same damn noise, until he thought he might just unman himself in his jeans. Now that would be embarrassing…
“I just need to…”He motioned towards the door and she got the message. He needed the toilet.
“You can trust me not to eat everything here before you get back.”She assured him, eyeing the cake that was left and giving no promises as to whether it would survive his absence. It was a slice of heaven in an otherwise boring world and she wanted to be adopted by whoever had made it, because one thing was for sure, this cake was not shop bought.
Rudd groaned out his misery as he rushed towards the bathroom. He so wanted to stay and listen to her make those damn noises, watch her pure enjoyment as she feasted on the cake, but he also had an ache within his body that needed to be relieved, and unless he planned on taking her there and then, he would need to give it a little helping hand.
“Problem, Alpha?”Rick grinned at him from across the way and Rudd’s dark glare shot towards him as if the Alpha had his hands around his throat in person. The low, deep menacing growl that echoed through the hallway was even more reason for Rick to back off. “I’m just gonna go hunt me a Were. It’s safer.”Rick bit out as the Alpha turned towards the bathroom door and almost yanked it from its hinges in his haste.
When the vampire appeared in front of her, Jack very nearly reached for his throat and ripped it out, at least in her mind she did, and that was what she was telling herself and she was sticking to it.
There wasn’t one instant in her mind where she reached for him and dragged him against the warmth of her body, where her lips claimed his and she devoured him with a need that was growing inside of her, or where she wrapped her legs around his hips and rode him into abandon… That was also what she was telling herself.
“Have a death wish, corpse?”Jack hissed out. Angrier with herself for having any thoughts about this walking dead guy than putting him boots down in the ground.
“Been there, done that, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”He informed her dryly, although there was a light of amusement in his eyes she would like to claw out… Maybe not as much as earlier, she thought, wanting to slap herself in the face until she got those murderous thoughts coming naturally again.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, please try again.”Jack bit out, slowly and to make sure that he got each and every venom filled word. At least she hoped she sounded venomous, she wasn’t much feeling it, at least not for him, not right in that moment.
She guessed there was only so much venom to go around, and right now her portion was directed at the Werewolf that had tried to play with her insides while she was still using them, slice and dice wasn’t something she was fond of, at least not when it was directed at her.
“A little harsh, but, I’m big enough to await your eventual about face and be mine.”He informed her with a little less smirking than he would normally attach to that fact, given she was his mate, and given her past history with vampires.
Jack snorted and spun away from him. Standing that close to him just made her irritable. So close and yet she couldn’t take the kill, not with the human around anyway, or was it the fact that she was starting to warm to his presence that had her stomach in knots within her?
Either way the further she got from him the better off they would both be. She couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t lash out, and she didn’t want the mating pull to be anymore than it already was. How could she mate a vampire? That would be impossible.
He might not be the one who killed her pack, but he was still capable of it, more than. She knew his reputation, he was even older and therefore more powerful than the one she had killed, and yet the people of this pack spoke kindly of him, not usually when she was around, but she’d heard it nether the less.
He had come here to heal her, for that she supposed she should be grateful, b
ut she hadn’t asked for his help, she hadn’t asked for anyone’s help. The Alpha had taken the decision, not her, so how grateful should she be? It irked her that his blood flowed through her veins even now, and that was probably why the mating pull was stronger within her than it should be.
She was walking the path along by the old river bank and she could feel him behind her, close, but not close enough that if she turned and struck he would probably already be out of harm’s way in an instant. Was he as wary of her as she was of him? He should be. The need inside her to kill was stronger than it had been before she lost her pack. The desire to kill vampires was stronger still, but could she kill her mate? And wouldn’t she be signing her own death warrant, turning rogue and becoming just another mindless killing machine that her pack would need to hunt and end?
Link watched her move, and it was something to behold. The sway of her ample hips was a sleek motion that captivated his eyes. She moved with all the grace of a wolf, and he wondered just how powerful those long legs were and how they would feel wrapped around him.
“Stop watching my arse.”She ground out into the relative silence of the night. The sound of the woods played out around them, the steady flow of the river, but there was little else to distract him from listening to the beat of her heart.
Link couldn’t help the smile that stretched his lips. “Well as I’m following behind you, where would you expect me to look? I can’t exactly look in your eyes.”He offered logic to cover the fact that he was more than happy with the view he had.
“If you would go away you wouldn’t have a dilemma now would you?”Jack bit out. It unnerved her that his words, spoken in those deep melodic tones, affected her so much. Everything about him caused her body some semblance of emotion, of reaction, and how could she resist him if she responded to the slightest sound from him?
“Oh I assure you it’s not a dilemma that I mind.”Link offered teasingly and she whirled around towards him, her eyes fixed in a dark glare as he stood there in all of his innocence.
“How many have you killed vampire?”She demanded the ultimate price for his nature. The tally he had never bothered to try to discover, for in his infancy as a vampire there were too many to keep track of.
“In truth, I have no idea.”He might as well lay it out there for her. He had been the monster of people’s worst nightmares, her worst nightmares. He’d had a bloodlust that was so strong it consumed his life. To feed, to devour, to take his pleasure without thought or consequence, it was the way of a newborn…
Jack stared at him, as if she were trying to see into his very soul, but in truth that was a vampire trick and not one that she possessed. But she wondered what his soul looked like, how dark it was.
“Recently then?”
“Define recently. Time is a flowing concept for someone like me, we tend to lose track…”
“Fifty years.”Jack wasn’t about to let him squirm off the hook. She needed to hate him, and to hear of his kills would help her do that. It would help her keep some sort of wall between them.
“Ah, four…”Link offered and then rolled his eyes towards the canopy of tree above them and held up his finger in an afterthought. “Give or take. More give than take.”He amended and watched her stance change from offense to defence. She folded her arms across her chest and managed to push up her firm breasts, highlighting their perfection for his eyes, although he tried to ignore them, he was still a man.
“You’re kills have been human?”Jack needed something, anything; he was becoming a little too real in her eyes. A vampire that didn’t take pleasure in the kill…
“Vampires. One rogue.”Link admitted and she snorted as she narrowed her eyes on him.
“You’re lying.”Jack tossed out offhandedly. Turning away from him she cursed within her mind. He was a vampire, he couldn’t be good, he had to be evil…
“While it’s true that I do like to spin the odd yarn, I have no reason to lie to you. You’ll be my mate even if I was Jack the Ripper…”Link started off after her as she suddenly walked away from him. “I have no need to kill, I’m not a newborn and I have nothing to prove, except to you.”Link almost didn’t catch the fact that she had stopped abruptly and turned back towards him. Her eyes were ablaze with emotion, none of it in his favour.
“Prove to me? Prove what to me?”She demanded, thrown off kilter by his words.
“That I’m not now, nor would I have ever have been your enemy. I’ve not been like you imagine me to be in your lifetime.”Link knew Rick was right, that the way to get his mate to open up to him was through her hatred. That to prove himself in her eyes was paramount.
“But you were, once, you were…”Jack needed to hold onto that rationality. He was a vampire, therefore he was a monster, and therefore she could hate him with all the vengeance in her heart that hadn’t been exhausted by killing the one who had slain her family.
“I was, once. As the very nature of my beast demanded it to be. But that was a very long time ago, and while I don’t try to excuse it, I do try to live up to the man I was before I was sired.”Link knew she could never truly understand what it was like to be born a human and be turned into a monster that you have no control over. She would never know the monster inside her unless she gave over to it completely and became rogue, and that was a day she never wished to see.
Jack saw the emotion within him. Sadness flared in his eyes. She thought there was shame, regret, and she turned away from him, unwilling to accept that he was not the enemy.
Link went to reach out to her but she must have anticipated his touch because her body tensed, and it that moment of his indecisiveness she was gone from in front of him. Taking off into the shield of night, but he could track her with scent and vision, and she had to know that.
Taking in another breath he didn’t need, Link sighed out into the stillness around him and followed her progress in his mind using just his senses. He would track her to keep her safe. There was still a Werewolf out there somewhere that she wanted to kill, unless his own appearance in her life had now taken precedence over vengeance, and he wouldn’t allow that Were to have her under his claws again.
Rudd had finished putting everything back into the refrigerator by the time she had finished her third slice of chocolate cake. It was a trial of his willpower, for she still made that sound on every forkful that she tasted, even if the sound had become muted, to him, she could have been breathing it against his ear.
“It was an effort of epic proportions, but I believe I won the day.”She informed him contentedly as she sat back in her chair and his eyes took her in. She looked like a satisfied cat, her eyes slightly hooded as she slowly blinked her happiness at being totally full of her favourite food. He was half expecting her tongue to come out and lick her hand as a cat would its paw…
“There’s still another slice…”He teased and she groaned her desire for it along with the knowledge that even though it was cake, she couldn’t possibly force another mouthful down.
“That’s why they invented breakfast.”She beamed back at him, raising her brows and expanding her hands in front of her.
God but he yearned to wake up to her in the morning. After holding her within his arms as they slept, once they’d taken their fill of each other’s bodies, and she opened those eyes and fixed her gaze on his…
Rudd cleared his throat and concentrated on making the coffee. What was cake without coffee? What was anything without a caffeine fix? What was life without his mate? Yep, he’d let that one slip in there, and he knew he needed to calm his desires before he scared the hell out of her again.
“So we’re going to share breakfast in the morning?”Calming his desires didn’t mean he would let her off the hook. Planting the images of them together within her mind would only help him to speed up her body’s desire for him, and the sooner the damn better…
“Don’t you country folk get up super early?”She teased as he walked towards her baring the gift of caffeine and sh
e accepted the offering gratefully.
“Depends what we’ve been doing the night before.”There was no mistaking the suggestiveness of his words or the look in his eye as she stared up at him, and she felt the heat rise within her again. Not just bubbling under the surface but a full rush to bloom as her cheeks flushed again and she wanted to fan herself, like one of those women from times gone by.
She knew she could get herself in a whole heap of trouble if her mouth followed where her mind went, straight to his bed, his deliciously naked body against hers, legs entwined, hands laced together against the mattress as he stroked into her…
Macy dropped her head and swallowed down a mouthful of steaming coffee, hot wasn’t the problem, she’d half gulped and half snorted the damn thing, and now she was spluttering her distress as the drink was in two minds about coming back out of her nose or being swallowed down. Very ladylike, very classy, she admonished herself as he slapped her on the back, a little harder than he needed too and she glared up at him. Coffee crisis over.
“Quit playing the damn bongo’s on my back.”She declared. Squirming in her chair to get away from him and he jumped back from her as though she was a flame that would burn him.
“Sorry.”Then his protective instinct took over as he cursed his own strength and the fact he hadn’t remembered that she was a human. “Did I hurt you?”He lurched forwards towards her and she snapped back within her seat away from him as he loomed large.
“No, but it wasn’t for lack of trying, right?”She teased. And saw a flare of annoyance in his eyes.
“I would never deliberately hurt you.”It was like a declaration instead of a denial or a statement, and she felt the rush of guilt tear through her once more. She’d done it again. Her foot was firmly lodged deep within her mouth as her cheeks blushed with her remorse.