“Is there really that big a difference?”
“You wouldn’t ask that if you’d ever seen a werewolf. They look like a sasquatch and smell worse.”
She made a face, like she still didn’t completely believe him. “Fine. So tell me about being a shape shifter, then.”
Zeke hesitated. “I was born into a pack.” He finally began. “But, I never fit in with them. I was less into marauding and crime sprees, and more into comic books. I always wanted to be Indiana Jones. Track down legends. Find treasure.”
“That’s kind of adorable. You’re the geeky black sheep of your family?”
“We’re not really a family. Shifters don’t keep tract of parents or siblings the way humans do.”
“Bullshit. I know a family when I see one. It comes with never having one of my own.” She turned to look at him. “Caleb is your brother, Zeke. Anyone can see that. Caleb can see it. It’s why he came looking for you before anyone else.”
“It went against pack rules to do that.” Zeke admitted. “It’s every man for himself during a crisis. Cale can’t do that, though. It’s in his nature to try and protect. He’s such a White Hat.”
“He loves you. You love him, too. You should show it more.” She smiled. “I’m not your only person in the world, no matter what you might think. It’s a gift to have so many people who care about you, Zeke. You should be grateful for them.”
God, what the hell was he supposed to do with someone so sweet? It was almost sad that she was stuck with him instead of some noble do-gooding asshole who’d be thinking up ways to start a food bank for orphans of the zombie war.
“Trix, Caleb and I aren’t big on hugging and sharing. I wouldn’t get your hopes up about any Memorial Day barbeques in our future.”
“You don’t have even one good childhood memory?”
“No.” He paused. “Well…” Shit. “Alright, when Darcy was young, there was a war within the vampire ranks. They don’t live like shifters do, in individual packs. They have a king.”
“This Joseff guy?”
“Right. Joseff staged a coup and killed Darcy’s uncle, the old king Stavros. No great loss. Stavros was a mean son-of-a-bitch. He liked to torture any vampires who opposed him by staking them out in the sunlight and watching them burn. And he hated shifters. He took our kind as slaves.”
“That’s terrible!”
“To be fair, he hated everyone.” Zeke allowed. “One shifter had been enslaved for a long time, though, and had worked her way up to be a royal nanny. She got Darcy out of slaughter and brought her back to our pack.” He snorted. “Joseff should be grateful to us, really. If we hadn’t taken her in, either Darcy would’ve been killed in the fighting or Stavros would’ve murdered her to keep Joseff from taking her prisoner. The shifters saved her life.”
“That’s how you know Darcy?”
“Yeah. She grew-up with us. I think that was the only good thing the pack ever did. Mainly, it was just to piss off Joseff by keeping him away from her. And, God knows, shifters aren’t really the most loving surrogate parents. But, we protected her. So, all my good memories are of Darcy and Cale.”
“They’re your brother and your sister.”
“I wouldn’t go that far…”
“Liar.” She smiled. “You have such good heart underneath the snarkiness.”
Zeke’s “good heart” beat faster as he realized Scotlyn had no idea what kind of man he really was. She knew he was a shifter, but she didn’t understand the primitive needs that drove him. She looked at him and saw someone decent.
It would be so simple to steal that kind of purity. Especially now. He’d spent his whole life taking things worth far less, from people with far more awareness of how the world worked. After all, sharks only survived by preying on the harmless fish. Honestly, he’d always believed that it was the fish’s own fault for being so damn harmless in the first place.
Scotlyn was too nice to realize that, though. It was why Zeke always hesitated with her. Always halfheartedly tried to push her away. Because, she didn’t understand that he was a selfish son-of-a-bitch who only cared about himself. That one day he’d stop circling and pull her under.
Unfortunately for her, that day had arrived.
“Did you mean what you said before? About having to feel something special before you’d go to bed with someone?” He asked abruptly.
“Yes.” Scotlyn rolled her eyes. “Not that you would understand. You’ve had ‘something special’ with half of Nevada.”
“Not true. My reputation is blown way out of proportion.”
“You dressed up as the Marquis de Sade for Halloween.”
“That was a political statement.”
She gave an unconvinced snort.
“Trixie, I swear on my life, I haven’t touched another girl since I met you.”
That was the truth and it captured her full attention.
“What about Tanna?”
“Tanna?” It actually took Zeke a second to recall who that even was. “The hooker from across the street? Shit, Scottie, I tease you about her, but no. I’ve never touched Tanna.”
She frowned at him. “You haven’t?”
“No. I just give her money when things are slow so she can feed her kid.”
Scotlyn blinked. “That’s suspiciously nice of you.”
“I’m a suspiciously nice guy.” He leaned closer to her. “Come on, have I made any secret of the fact that you’re the one I want?”
Scotlyn swallowed. “Are you really hitting on me during the end of the world?”
“Name a better time to give into temptation.”
“You’re unbelievable.” She very deliberately flipped over so she faced away from him. “Just go to sleep and dream that I’m dumb enough to fall for your lines.”
Time passed and she still remained quiet. He didn’t want to scare her away by pushing too far, so he stopped talking. He was exhausted, both from the Change and from months of insomnia. Ever since he met her, Zeke had been sleeping poorly. It had bothered him that Scotlyn wasn’t in his bed beside him. He’d jerk awake five times a night, instinctively reaching for her, only to remember that she was locked away from him in her apartment across town.
Now, Zeke could hear her breathing and feel her presence and he was satisfied to have even that much… Except, after a while, he could tell she was crying.
Zeke’s chest tightened at her distress, his eyes popping open. “Shh.” He shifted closer to her, so his body pressed up against her back. “Baby, it’s gonna be alright.” He wrapped his arms around her, holding tight. “I promise. It’ll all be alright.”
“I’m having my freak out!” She sobbed. “You said I could have it later and it’s later. There are zombies outside, Zeke! Every time I close my eyes, I see them eating people. And now we’ve been arrested by vampires. How am I supposed to deal with that? What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to survive it.” He kissed the top of her head. “You and me –together-- will survive it.” And if only one of them survived it would be her. He would do anything to protect this woman. “You’re going to be okay, Scottie.”
A long moment passed as she just clung to him and reigned in her tears.
“…Really?” She finally whispered.
“Really.” He held her.
…And she let him.
No one had ever let Zeke just hold them before. Her body pressed against his and she snuggled closer. She had to feel how aroused he was, but she still let out a trusting sigh and relaxed in his embrace.
Zeke wasn’t tired anymore. He stared out into the darkness of the room and knew he would do absolutely anything to keep her right where she was forever. According to pack law, there was only one way to ensure that. Maneuvering an innocent, emotionally vulnerable human into a mating was a new all-time low, even for Zeke.
He didn’t care.
Not if it meant he got Scotlyn.
“I cheated at that poker game, you kn
ow.” Zeke tried to warn her one last time about the lengths he’d go to have her. “When I won TGW? I cheated every. single. hand. I would’ve done whatever it took.” There were no limits when it came to Scotlyn. “I wasn’t trying to win a golf course. I was trying to win you and I wasn’t leaving it up to chance.” He ran a hand down her arm and he sensed her heartbeat speed up. “Playing fair doesn’t matter to me, when I need something the way I need you.”
“I know you cheated. I watched you cheating.” She sounded breathless, now.
“And you didn’t feel morally obligated to warn what’s-his-name about my underhanded tactics?” That surprised him. Scotlyn was such a loyal little thing.
“I thought about it, but… I didn’t like Mr. Jamison very much. He was always trying to touch me.”
Zeke paused. “Did he hurt you?” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but he had a feeling it didn’t work.
Scotlyn’s eyes went wide. “No! No, he just made me uncomfortable. I didn’t trust him and I know he was using the golf course as a façade for all his illegal dealings. I care about that place and he was ruining it.”
Zeke’s eyebrows compressed in confusion. “So you picked me to run it over him?” He translated. “Why? You’d just met me.”
“I…” She shook her head. “I just… had a good feeling about you. I saw you were an amoral, conceited, underhanded jackass, but somehow I… trusted you.”
His mouth curved, pleased even though he was about to break that trust. “Did you?” His hand left her arm and slid south.
She swallowed, knowing here his palm was headed. “This is a bad idea.”
“You always say that about my ideas.”
“And I’m always right.” But she wasn’t pushing him away.
“I won’t go beyond third base.” He wouldn’t have to in order to mate with her. “Just relax and you can go back to being right tomorrow.” His palm slipped under the edge of her skirt. “You don’t have to do anything but feel good.”
Her felt her breathing get even faster. She still didn’t say no.
Zeke pushed a little further. He never would’ve gotten anywhere with this woman if he wasn’t a pushy sort of guy. His hand slid upward. “It’s dark in here.” Which didn’t mean much to a shifter, but she didn’t know that. “I drew all the blinds. We’re thirty-some stories up. I have the door blocked with a chair, so we won’t be interrupted. You can keep your clothes on, even.” His lips found the back of her neck. “Everything is safe. Let me play with what I won.”
She made a soft sound and rubbed against his erection in that little undulation that drove him insane with lust.
“That’s a good girl.” He reached the inside of her thigh and bit back a groan at the heat of her. Scotlyn’s legs shifted apart giving him better access.
…And that was all Zeke needed.
His whole body throbbed, remembering all the thousands and thousands of times he’d seen her behind that damn desk and wanted her. She was the every dream he’d ever had amplified to the highest degree. No way in hell was he going to give her a chance to change her mind. It had taken the damn zombie apocalypse to get this far.
His fingers slid under the silky edge of her underwear --underwear that his money had provided-- brushing the hidden thatch of curls. She was hot and damp and Zeke had never felt anything so right.
Finally he had her in his arms.
His thumb found her tight knot of nerve endings and she drew in a quick breath. “This might change things between us, though.” She bit her bottom lip. “I wouldn’t want that, Zeke. Even when your drive me insane… you’re my best friend.”
His heart turned over. “You’re my only friend.” He nuzzled her hair. “You’re my only everything, Scotlyn.”
“But what if you don’t feel that way after…? Oh.”
He started gently caressing her soft flesh and her whole body arched. “I will always feel that way, baby.”
“Zeke.” Scotlyn’s hand found his wrist, holding tight. Not trying to push him away, but keeping him right where she wanted him.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He made a soothing sound. “Trust me, you’re going to get everything you need. You don’t ever have to worry about that.” One finger worked its way inside of her.
Christ she was tight.
Her head fell back against his shoulder in pleasure. “Oh God, right there.”
Her poor beautiful body was starved for some attention. Which was just as well, since Zeke would’ve killed any man who touched her. For months, he’d been quietly interceding anytime he saw another guy getting too close. Staking his claim.
His teeth ground together. “I’ve been dying for you. I’ll never get enough.” He began working his finger in and out of her, and was rewarded with a gasp.
“Oh yes.” Her grip on his wrist tightened, trying to bring him deeper. “Harder.”
Zeke deliberately did just the opposite. “Noooo, I don’t think so.”
“Damn it, you promised…”
“And I’ll keep my word.” He assured her. “You’re gonna come all over my hand, screaming my name.”
Her answering whimper went straight to his groin.
Zeke dipped his head to graze his teeth against her shoulder, wondering if he was going to survive this. “But, I’m pretty sure that I’m the boss, aren’t I?”
“Well, that’s what it says on your door, but… Oh God.” Her nails bit into his skin as he moved his palm just a tiny bit faster. “That is so unfair.”
“Talk to OHSA.”
She tried to draw him deeper and get more friction. “Please, Zeke.”
That’s what he wanted to hear. “Every time I walked into the office and saw you sitting there, I wanted this. I wanted you to be mine.”
She turned her head to meet his eyes. “Then you should have asked.”
“You would’ve said no.”
She would say no to the mating, too, which was why Zeke wasn’t telling her about it. When it came to courting Scotlyn Summerline Zeke’s philosophy could be summed up in six simple words: Better to ask forgiveness than permission. He had one shot at this before she came to her senses and realized she could do better for a mate, even at the end of the world.
“If you’d asked nicely, without the innuendo and wiseass remarks, I would’ve…” She trailed off with a small cry as a second finger slid home. He stopped the gentle motion and just kept them there, filling her. “Oh please, oh please, oh please.” She chanted, trying to make him resume his thrusting. “Please, Zeke.”
“I’m asking nicely.” He licked her ear. “Will you be mine?”
“What?” She sounded delirious.
“Do you accept me as your mate?” His thumb rubbed her knot of desire. At the same time, he slowly spread his fingers deep inside of her.
Scotlyn gave a shriek. “Yes.” The answer was immediate and desperate. “Anything you want. Please just let me finish. I’ve never been so close with another person…” She broke off, flushed and befuddled. “I mean… I’ve never… with anyone.”
Zeke paused. “Never?” Shit, he’d known she was a nice girl, but that was just amazing. “Why not?” It didn’t make any sense.
She frowned as if the answer was obvious. “I’ve been waiting for the kind of man I’d marry, of course.”
She wanted someone special.
Zeke’s jaw clenched, his whole body stilling.
Green eyes turned to meet his in the darkness. “Are you going to stop?” She sounded heartbroken.
“Hell, no.”
If anything her words washed away any lingering hesitation he might have had about taking her for himself. The girl couldn’t survive in this new hellhole of a world alone. Jesus, it was a miracle she’d survived in the last one. Marking her would at least show the other assholes out there that she belonged to a shifter who would kill the first man to even look at her. Mating with Scotlyn kept her safe.
Damn, that was a good argument to pull out when
she inevitably started screaming about… He’d have to… With the…
Zeke lost his train of thought as she tilted her head back to smile at him.
Oh Jesus, she was sweet.
His hand started moving more aggressively, tunneling through flesh no one else had ever touched. Every other man in the world was out of luck. He would never give her up to some perfect, “special” jackass.
The woman was his.
She rode his palm, meeting his invasion with a dazed moan. “I knew you could do this for me.” She sounded disorientated and soooo close, now. “I wake-up sometimes and I’m so tight. I want to call you, because I’m aching and if you were just there to touch me I know I could…”
“Why didn’t you?” Zeke interrupted. He would’ve been at her apartment so fast he would’ve broken the sound barrier.
“Because…” She trailed off, trying to focus through her passion. “I couldn’t think of how I could ever ask something like that.”
His mouth curved at that adorably puritanical answer. “The vampire women control mating.” Zeke pressed his erection against her, letting her feel how much he wanted her and her body quivered. “They pick out an unattached male and say ‘pleasure me’ and he pretty much has to do what they say.”
“That… doesn’t seem… fair to the men.”
“And yet I have never heard a vampire male complain about it.”
Scotlyn’s body was soaked and yielding, as she opened for him completely. Her hips moved against the length of him. “Pleasure me.” She whispered seductively.
Christ yes. No wonder the idiot vamps were so attached to their system.
“I will just as soon as you say the words, baby.” He moved his hand, determined to be the one and only man who’d ever bring her to completion. “Say, ‘I accept Ezekiel Macready, now and forever.’”
“Wait, why am I saying…?”
“Because I want to hear it.”
Because he needed to hear it. He was going to explode just from the feel of her and the sound of the words. He didn’t feel an ounce of shame about it, either. There had never been a male shifter that didn’t come during the ritual. He’d never fully understood why until now. “Say it, baby.”
Love in the Time of Zombies Page 12