by M. L. Briers
“You put Zara’s life in danger?”Shaun spat out and Julia’s eyes snapped to his. The dark glare that he offered her wasn’t exactly comforting.
“No. At least, not on purpose, but…”She went to explain that she didn’t think Quinn would hurt her, but Shaun was already interrupting her.
“Who has her? That idiot Steve?” Shaun growled long and hard, and he felt the fear and anxiety mix within her.
“A vampire named…”
“Vampire! Christ!” Shaun reached out and grabbed her wrist. That simple touch washed through both of them, igniting the mating pull to new levels of awareness, but Shaun didn’t have the time or inclination to deal with it. His sister was in trouble and he needed to deal with that first.
“Alex. Zara’s in trouble!” Shaun bellowed as he stalked through the downstairs, pulling Julia along behind him.
“Wait, Shaun…”Julia started, but the sound of the thumping from upstairs drew her attention towards the top of the staircase and one very dishevelled looking alpha, who was yanking on his jeans as he made his way down the stairs.
His eyes flicked to Shaun’s hand around Julia’s wrist, and then to her face where he took in the deep blush of guilt to her cheeks and the look of anxiety on her face.
“What the hell happened, how’d he get in?”Alex growled out, thrusting a large hand through his hair and sweeping it back from his face. The blackness of his eyes as the anger boiled within him was enough to make Julia swallow her tongue, let alone her words.
“He didn’t, she snuck out.”Shaun informed him and Alex growled long and hard.
“We need to get a hunting party together…”Alex started, feeling the need to rip the damn vampire limb from limb.
“Wait, I can…”Julia cut him off, but Sofia coming down the stairs at warp speed as she pulled on one of Alex’s long tees down over her legs drew everyone’s attention.
“What happened to Zara?”Sofia asked, the worry etched into her brow.
“Vampire…” Alex growled out, and Julia felt her blood boil inside her.
“Will everyone just shut the hell up for a minute?” She shouted out, bringing silence to the room and all eyes on her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Normally she quite liked to be the centre of attention in a room, but at that moment in time she would gladly slip down under the nearest rug if it was only possible.
“It’s Quinn…”She started and Sofia balked.
“Quinn! Jesus, Julia what did you do now?”Sofia had the urge to shake her friend until she found sense at last. They’d all spent too many years cleaning up after Julia’s messes and now she’d bought a damn vampire onto pack land, and he had the alpha’s sister… “How stupid can you get?”
“I know. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to get away from…”She tipped her head towards Shaun and heard him growl his annoyance.
“Where is he?”Alex demanded, taking a step towards her and seeing his Beta take a step to guard his mate’s safety.
“I have no idea. I just got a message to say he had her as a bargaining chip for…”She swallowed down the mess she had made. “Me.” Both Lycans growled and Julia was sure that Sofia had as well. “Let me call him. I’ll put an end to this now.” Julia reached into her back pocket for her phone and snatched her wrist from Shaun’s grasp, even though her mind registered the loss of contact, she wasn’t even prepared to think about that now.
Quinn backed up against the tree as the little She-wolf leaned into him. He could see the desire in her eyes, the need in her body as she pressed against him. Damn it, but he might just lose it if he didn’t get her away from him and soon.
“Are you telling me you don’t find me attractive?”Zara growled gently, although what she wanted to do was throw him down onto the grass and climb on top of him…
“That’s not what I said…”Quinn was trying to think three steps ahead of the female. She was about to go full throttle into her breeding cycle and he was the only eligible male around her. That shortened the odds of him getting her home safely, somewhat…
“Then you do find me attractive…”Zara ran her hands down the hard muscles of his chest and heard him groan low and hard. She could see his willpower was tested, very tested. He might not want to be mated, but he did want her…
“Very. Which is why we need to go…”Quinn used his strength to lift and turn her against the tree trunk he had been standing in front off. Now he just needed to think of a way to get his mind off her body, off her blood, of what he wanted to do to her, over and over again.
“I thought you wanted to taste my blood again, what did it taste like to you, Quinn?”Zara wanted him to remember, wanted him to think of the taste of her until he could think of nothing else. She wanted him, needed him…
Quinn remembered the taste of her instantly, and damn he’d give almost anything to taste her on his tongue again. He pushed her back against the trunk with his hips and rolled his erection between them, making them both groan in desire. His eyes fixed onto the fast pulse in her neck and he…
“Damn it, little minx…”He growled out, feeling the need to run head first into the nearest tree to wake himself up from this need that was starting to burn like a fire within him.
It didn’t help that the scent of her arousal was so strong it didn’t just call to his libido- it virtually reached out to it and yanked it against her heated supple body…
“Wouldn’t you like to be buried deep…”He put his hand over her mouth and groaned. This wasn’t going to plan, nothing was, damn it…
The sound of the mobile going off gave him a slight reality check in the heat of the moment and he reached for it, throwing himself backwards away from his mate, clean across the clearing, and holding up his index finger as a warning of her impending approach.
“Damn it, Zara…”Quinn pushed up with his legs and found the safety of one of the upper thick boughs of the old tree. Safe for now, as he looked down at his mate circling him in her frustration, wolves didn’t like trees, thank god for one small mercy.
He lifted the phone to his ear and took a breath. “Julia, we have a slight problem…”
“What did you do?”Julia snapped into the mobile. Her heart started to race and she saw the alpha take another small step towards her, matched by her mate. Both of their eyes were black as they stood in some kind of pincer attack mode, and she wasn’t sure if her mate was there to attack or defend her.
“I took the alpha’s sister, and he can willingly have her back…”
“He can?”Julia’s head snapped back on her neck as if she’d been slapped. Quinn sounded off, very off…
“Oh he can, but he needs to come and get her…Now.”Quinn turned in place, keeping a watchful eye on his mate as she continued to circle the base of the tree.
“Why?”Julia heard Alex growl and knew he had overheard the conversation, and she shrugged.
“She’s in her breeding cycle…” Quinn offered, and he heard Julia snort a laugh down the phone. “It’s not funny…”He hissed.
“Kind of is, Quinn, you can’t even handle a Lycan female in her breeding cycle, big bad vamp…”Julia teased, feeling more relaxed now. Especially as everyone else was seemingly relaxing again around her.
“She’s my damn mate.”Quinn groaned into the phone and Julia’s eyebrows almost shot off her forehead, they were certainly trying to dance with her hairline, as she spluttered her next question.
“Your…?”
“What?”Alex growled out, the anger rising within him, as his hands fisted at his sides and he strolled away, trying to contain his rage.
“Whoops, the alpha says hi…”Julia offered, and she heard Quinn chuckle, for once sounding a little more at ease.
“Trust me, he’s the least of my worries right now.”Quinn was still hoping that this was all a bad dream and that he would wake in his own bed, unmated.
“I’m guessing you’re not thrilled about finding your mate?”Julia hissed down the line as s
he turned away from the others, she knew how he felt.
“Not for another few hundred years or so, and I don’t think she’d want to be kept on ice for that long…”Quinn informed her, and Julia went to answer but the phone was snatched out of her hand by the alpha, as Shaun grabbed her wrist and spun her around his back as he growled a warning at Alex.
“Jesus, what’s wrong with you people? And you wonder why nobody wants to mate with you…”Julia growled out.
“Bring my sister back and I may let you live.”Alex growled into the phone and Quinn couldn’t help but rise to the bait.
“Way to open negotiations alpha…”Quinn thought he could get in a couple of cheap shots for the inconvenience he’d been put through.
“What’s that, vampire humour?”Alex growled and Quinn rolled his eyes in his head and wanted to head butt the tree trunk beside him.
“Well at least you recognise humour. I suppose that’s a first step in evolution for a Lycan.”Quinn was in no mood for an alpha’s need to control the situation. His posturing nature was wasted on a vampire, he should have known that. But if the alpha wasn’t careful Quinn might just call a challenge to take his mind of the mating pull.
“Look…”Alex growled, mindful not to squeeze the damn phone to death in his hand.
“No, you look. I have your sister and I really, really, want to give her back…”
“Then what’s the damn problem?”Alex growled down the line, and Quinn rolled his eyes in his head again.
“She’s making it… difficult.”Quinn admitted to total silence as Alex considered his words.
“She’s accepted you as her mate?”Alex asked finally and Quinn sighed.
“And then some.”Quinn just needed the damn alpha to get out here and collect his sister.
“Then she’s your responsibility…” Alex admitted. If Zara had accepted her mate there wasn’t a lot anyone could do about it, but stay back and let nature take its course. “But if you hurt her…”
“Now wait a minute…”Quinn balked as the phone went dead in his hand and he groaned at the sheer stupidity of the Lycan way.
“What are you doing?”Julia stepped out from behind Shaun and went to snatch the phone from Alex, but he pulled it away from her approaching hand.
“I’ll keep this, just in case you were planning anything really stupid as an encore.” Alex informed her, and Shaun growled low and menacingly in a warning.
“Up yours, Alpha.”Julia turned on her heels and stalked away from them. Shoving the door to the kitchen open and disappearing out of sight.
“Was that entirely necessary?”Sofia ground out between clenched teeth as she went to follow on her friends heels, but Alex’s hand caught her wrist and he pulled her against his hip as he nodded to Shaun to follow his mate.
“Let her mate sooth her ruffled feathers.”Alex whispered against her ear as he wrapped his arm around her and turned her back towards the staircase.
“Wait, you’re just going to leave Zara out there with Quinn?”Sofia didn’t get it.
“Quinn can’t be that dangerous if the two of you know him, and as her mate he wouldn’t hurt her unless he was entirely insane, and maybe even not then. She’s accepted him, he just needs a little encouragement…”Alex offered and Sofia shook her head.
“I think your ways are going to take some getting used to, Alpha.”Sofia admitted, and saw the wolfish grin spread across her mates face.
“Let me take you back upstairs and finish what we started, and I can tutor you in some Lycan ways.” Alex offered, reaching down and snatching her up into his arms as she giggled.
“You’ve got to come down at some point, Quinn.”Zara could see him up there as plain as day. He was sitting on the bough now, watching her, and she could feel those dark eyes on her as if it was a caress.
“Maybe. But in truth I have a good two weeks before I need to feed again, can you say the same, little wolf?”Quinn tossed that down to her in the hopes she would stomp off in a huff. She didn’t.
“I have my mobile, perhaps I should call one of my pack to come and get me…”She offered, a little more down hearted than he would expect her to be at this point in time.
“Good idea, tell them I said hi.”
“You’ll meet him when he gets here. I expect you can watch him ease my breeding cycle for me too, if that’s your thing…”She tossed over her shoulder as she chuckled on the inside of her mind.
He was in front of her in an instant. His hand snatched the mobile from hers and he tossed it over his shoulder, uncaring where it landed as he narrowed his eyes on her.
“Damn it little wolf, why’d you have to go and put that imagine in my damn head?”Quinn growled and saw her shrug.
“If you don’t want me, Quinn, my body, my blood…”He reached out and wrapped an arm around her back, yanking her up against his body and groaning when his arousal was caught between them.
“I didn’t say I didn’t want you, sweetheart…”He claimed her lips with passion. She was his damned mate and he would have her. Denying her would be not only a sin against her, but a curse upon his mind and body for the rest of his life. It just took the right kind of nudge to get him to realise it.
Zara felt the fire within her blood. Her breeding cycle was in full effect from the moment she knew that Quinn was hers. She hooked her legs around the back of his and pushed against his chest, knocking him down onto the ground in one swift movement and then stepping either side of his hips on her five inch heels, looking down at him as if she wanted to devour him alive.
From his position below her Quinn looked up those endless legs to the dark shadow beneath her mini skirt and the promise that awaited him there. It seemed his little wolf knew what she wanted and how she wanted it, but Quinn had other ideas.
He reached up and grabbed her hips, yanking her off her feet and down to her knees over his chest. His hands reaching up under the small band of material she called a skirt, and he wrenched off her panties before lifting her upwards and positioning her over his face.
Damn her arousal was strong, if he was a betting man, he’d say she’d just entered her breeding cycle, and if he didn’t act soon she was going to pin him down and take what she needed anyway.
He grabbed her hips and pulled her down to him. His tongue took the first taste of her and he groaned in pleasure. The sound of her gentle growl let him know that he still had time to taste and tease her a little before her needs became too great.
Zara revelled in the feel of his clever tongue as he licked over her folds and his blunt teeth nibbled against her flesh. There was a need growing inside her that wouldn’t be sated with just his tongue, no matter how talented, and when he pushed inside her channel, pulling her hips down so he could push further inside, that need raged within her, and she squirmed to be set free so she could claim what she needed, but Quinn didn’t release her.
“Quinn…”
There was an urgency to her tone that let him know he was out of time. She was wet for him, but not wet enough for the wild ride he knew she wanted, and he captured her nub in his mouth and suckled it hard and fast as he held her tight against him. Working her flesh with his teeth and tongue until he felt the shudder roll through her, a moment before her inner flesh convulsed and she moaned with her first release.
Quinn tasted her essence on his tongue as he lapped against her sex. He’d never tasted a woman so sweet in his life, and he savoured the moment. But it was short lived, she was already trying to pull away from him.
The satisfaction of her release was short lived, she needed more, and he allowed her to move down his body. Her hands were already releasing him from the confines of his jeans, and she stroked down the length of him, savouring the feel of him hot and hard inside her closed fist.
Quinn knocked her hand away before fingers dug into her hips as he lifted her and positioned her over him. Moving his hips until he found the burning heat of her channel and slowly lowering her down, inch by inch down his thi
ck shaft. His eyes flicked to her face and he watched as her eyes closed and her lips parted as she revelled in the feel of him stretching the inner walls.
Quinn’s eyes dropped to the sight of his length easing into her. She was tight around him and getting tighter the further she took him inside, and he groaned with the pleasure of her inner muscles clenching and releasing around him with every inch he buried himself deeper inside her.
He felt the resistance of the last inch or so as her body tensed, and he lifted her back up his length, coaxing her to open fully to him as he pushed up with his hips, moving back and forwards, until she moaned with the pleasure, and then he thrust to hilt inside her and she cried out with the satisfaction of having him where she needed him.
Zara felt the fullness inside her channel. He stretched her as wide and took her deeper than she thought she could have taken him, and she ground down on him, clenching her muscles and savouring the feel of him inside her a moment before the fire raged through her body and she felt that raw need returning.
Quinn felt the change sweep over her and knew that this wasn’t about making love. They had the rest of their lives for that, right now his mate needed to be sated and he felt her trying to move against his hold on her.
Quinn released her hips and she took control. Her hands hit the floor either side of his body and he saw her claws come out as she started to ride him, hard and fast.
‘Mine.’ Her wolf growled within her, but her beast’s needs played second fiddle to her own right now.
Her movement were raw. There was no finesse, just pure need as she rocked back and forth on her knees, until her breathing became ragged and her movements weren’t giving her the release that she desired.
She felt Quinn’s hands back on her hips as he lifted her above him and took control. Thrusting his hips up and taking her deeply as she growled with each stroke of him inside her. The tension was building and her fingers curled against the earth, her claws ripping into the ground.