Tall, Dark and Furry (The Elementals Book 1)

by Meredith Allen Conner

  Mac swallowed. He looked at the hunk of raw meat in his hand. “Deer. I got this one last weekend . . .” He trailed off. Sela appeared more green now than white.

  Mac set the meat on the counter and hurried forward to catch her in case she fainted, but Sela back-pedaled. She threw her hands up in front of her. The half eaten apple went flying.

  “No. Stop. Don’t touch me,” she yelled.

  What the hell? Mac reached out for her, she batted at his hand. “You have blood all over you!”

  Mac took swift inventory. Just a little. Barely enough to coat his hand.

  “Is that what this is about?” He couldn’t believe it. She’d hardly blinked an eye when he’d killed the bad guys after her. And she had been covered in blood when he found her in that cage.

  “Of course it is. How can you eat that?” Sela sputtered at him, waving her hand in the general direction of the meat. “That is disgusting!”

  Disgusting? This coming from a woman who’d just devoured seven bags of chocolate?

  On the plus side, she wasn’t freezing him out anymore. Now, if he could just get her to calm down and explain. He reached out again and she swatted his hand. Fed up, Mac simply grabbed her around the waist and tugged her up against him.

  “Ah. Ooh. Yuck. Get that blood away from me!” She pounded her little fists on his chest.

  Maybe she’d had too much sun? Completely baffled, Mac spun her around so she wouldn’t bruise her fists on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms at her side.

  “Gross. Now your hand is touching my clothes,” she wailed.

  Most of his hand had been inside her and he hadn’t heard any complaints then.

  “What is the big deal about the blood?” He might be talking loudly, but he wasn’t yelling. Truly he wasn’t. “You were covered in blood back in that cage. Hell, you wanted to join in on the killing there, and believe me, there was a lot of blood then.”

  “Yes, but that was human blood.” She wiggled and kicked at his legs.

  Mac simply gripped her legs between his.

  “Your point being?”

  “I’m a vegetarian!”

  Stunned, Mac let her go. Sela immediately pushed away from him. She took in the blood on her shirt, visibly swallowed then dashed over to the sink. She wet a washcloth and began frantically scrubbing at the red spot, gagging as she did so.

  Mac couldn’t move. His mate was a vegetarian? He knew that term. He tried to keep up with modern culture and Roc held several subscriptions to women’s magazines. Vegetarians - crazy people who didn’t eat meat.

  “You’re . . . you are . . .” He gritted his teeth, tried again. “You’re a vegetarian?”

  “You don’t have to say it like it’s a bad word,” she huffed at him.

  “It is a bad word. How can you live if you don’t eat meat?”

  “And now you’re shouting.”

  Damn it all, he was shouting at her. Mac ran both hands through his hair. Of all the . . . how . . . I could just . . . my mate doesn’t eat meat.

  He couldn’t get his mind around it. He was a werewolf. In the simplest of terms that meant top dog on the food chain, a predator built for chasing and taking down prey. He rarely ate anything aside from meat, and she . . . didn’t.

  Sela snorted. “If you could see your face.” She pulled her shirt away from her stomach, a few inches of soft, smooth skin peeked out at him. “It’ll have to do I guess,” she muttered. She let go of her shirt. The wet section clung tightly to her belly.

  “You eat meat, obviously,” she nodded towards the chunk he left on the counter. She shuddered. “Bloody, dripping, probably-cried-for-help meat,” she muttered under her breath. He should tell her at some point that he could hear crickets chirping miles away. Muttering around a werewolf was fairly pointless.

  “Still think I’m your mate?”

  Mac watched her brace her shoulders as if expecting a blow. She thrust her chin at him, her eyes hooded. He couldn’t take it. A swing of the sword couldn’t hurt as much. He stalked over to her and cupped her face.

  “I know you’re my mate.” He assured her. He saw the swift relief she couldn’t hide. “No matter what, you’re the one for me.”

  She rubbed her cheek along his hand then pushed away from him. Hands on hips, she glared up at him. “I still don’t eat meat. I don’t like the way it tastes. I don’t like the way it looks and I am not going to eat it.”

  The woman was determined to drive him crazy. Every time he thought he might be making progress with her she shut him out. Bristly, defensive and desperately in need of someone to love her, the little Elemental kept putting up roadblocks. He knew she didn’t trust him or the bond between them. She needed time to get used to him and in time she would trust him.

  That, however, was the one thing they didn’t have much of.

  Mac knew Cam. He would have a plan of action in place very soon. Mac didn’t want to leave Sela until he knew she had accepted the bond between them. If she tried to leave while he was gone . . . Mac scrubbed a hand over his jaw. The bond informed Mac anytime she got too far away from his presence. Once he left, his internal alarm system didn’t work quite so efficiently. He would find her, he could track her anywhere now that they’d mated, but the thought of her alone again without him to protect her . . . Mac growled.

  “Don’t you growl at me,” Sela got right up in his face. “I am not going to eat meat and that’s that.” She poked him in the

  chest to emphasize her point.

  What? Oh, right, the meat issue.

  “You don’t eat meat. Got it. Don’t understand it at all, but I got it.” He rubbed her upper arms, squeezing and cupping her. “So what exactly do you eat? Aside from chocolate.”

  Sela eyed him suspiciously. Mac didn’t even hint at a smile.

  “I eat fruits, vegetables – you know, healthy stuff.” Since she didn’t bat an eye, Mac figured she must put the seven bags of chocolate in a different category other than food.

  “Prey food.” Mac rolled his eyes.

  “Pray food?” She frowned at him.

  “Prey, as in, I hunt you down and eat you up.” Mac waited.

  A gamut of emotions ran quickly over her face, suspicion, horror, disgust and then caution. “You would eat me?”

  Mac grinned, delighted with her response. He leaned down and whispered suggestively in her ear. “Baby, that’s turning out to be my favorite thing.”

  “Oh!” She slugged him.

  He laughed, wrapped his arms around her and rocked her from side to side. He liked teasing her. He doubted she’d been teased much, if at all. She walked right into that one. He would have to do it more often.

  Sela pressed her cheek to his chest and pinched his waist. “So, did you really hunt down and kill that?” She pointed at the chunk of meat still lying on the counter.

  Mac leaned back and waited until she looked up at him. “I am a werewolf.”

  She nibbled on her lower lip. “Maybe we could get two refrigerators,” she mused. Almost immediately she stiffened, scowled at him.

  Mac hugged her. She said we. He didn’t push her. He would take what he could get. For right now. As long as she was beginning to get used to the idea of him as her mate he could wait.

  He’d spent centuries searching for her. He could give her a day or two to accept him.

  ****

  Sela couldn’t believe she’d said that. She might not be talking about love or even acknowledging the mate thing, but still . . . she’d said “we”. She had not been a “we” since before her mother was killed. And even then the “we” meant Rea and Lizzie, as in “what can we find to eat today?” Or “are there any clean clothes we can wear?”

  She’d lost her mind, a few climaxes and suddenly she was talking dual refrigerators.

  I am heading down a slippery slope here.

  But it felt so good to be held by him, his arms cradling her, holding her tight with his warmth surrounding her.
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  She wanted to go bang her head on the nearest wall.

  The phone rang. Sela jumped at the sound. Mac pressed a quick kiss on her head before setting her to the side and heading over to grab the phone.

  If he would just quit touching her and kissing her she might actually want to leave, before the MIBs or her fears drove her away.

  Muttering, she walked over to pick up her half eaten apple on the floor. She’d just bent down when she heard Mac say, “Then we’ll need to leave right away. I’ll find out if Sela knows where her sisters are.”

  She straightened, whirled around. Mac held the phone in one hand, his heated eyes on her. She flushed. He’d obviously been watching her backside.

  She shook her head at him. He shrugged back as if to say, “Of course, I’m going to look.” He readjusted himself. Her eyes popped wide, she couldn’t help it. Holy Hannah, he’d come three times and he was getting hard again? Wow, werewolves. Yikes. Good Golly Miss Molly. Yeah baby.

  “Right. I’ll call Kevin, see if he can watch Sela then I’ll meet you at your place.” Mac hung up the phone.

  What? She needed a babysitter? She . . . it hit her all at once.

  He was planning to leave her.

  Sela sucked in a deep breath.

  “Lupa, what’s wrong?” Mac crossed to her, cupped her face, his big hands hot on her skin.

  Push it down. Push it down.

  “Nothing. I’m fine. What’s going on?” Good, she sounded steady.

  Mac frowned down at her. He looked ready to argue then apparently reconsidered. “That was Cam. He just spoke with a fairy who knows about this Order of the Elements.”

  Fairies? With wings and everything? Deep breath. I am so far from Kansas it isn’t even on the map.

  “This fairy has run across them a few times, enough to know they’re just a little off and that they’re after supernaturals. So, now he keeps track of what they’re up to. He said several of their members just got on a flight to Louisiana. They were in a hurry.”

  Damn it, Livie had been roaming around Louisiana last she knew. She said she was taking advantage of the areas hit hard by the bigger hurricanes in the last few years. Easier to stay lost there.

  Damn the MIBs.

  “Sela?” Mac shook her gently. “Are your sisters in Louisiana?”

  Shit. Go time. She wasn’t ready for this. She’d thought she would be able to spend more time with Mac, see if she could consider staying with him, if she might actually be able to trust him, before making any kind of decision.

  This was her sister’s life they were talking about. Could she truly trust him? Did these men, these werewolves, really want to simply protect her and her sisters? Mac, Roc and Cam appeared to only want to help them. But that line about appearances being deceptive took on a whole different meaning when it came to werewolves.

  Plus she’d trusted her own mother and look where that got her.

  Sela rubbed her left shoulder, completely torn. Her past screamed at her to run, but part of her urged her to stay, to try and trust Mac. It terrified her to realize that part was in fact her heart.

  “I . . . I don’t . . .,” she pressed her lips together to get them to stop shaking.

  Mac sighed. He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “You’re not going to tell me.” He didn’t say it like a question.

  “Look, I’ll go with you. I can tell you if . . .” Mac shook his head. “You’re staying here,” he said.

  “No. I’m going with you.” Did he really think she would stay and play the helpless female?

  “No. You’re not.” The werewolf had clearly lost his mind.

  “Yes. I am.” She shouted. Deep breath, Chickie. “We can do this all day or you can simply understand that I am going with you.” She held up a hand to stop his reply. She would try reason. “You have no idea what my sister looks like. I do. I can find her and . . .” He shook his head again.

  “We don’t need you, Sela.” Ouch, that one hurt. “I have your scent. I can track your sisters with that scent. Their scent will have a similarity to yours.”

  Damn his nose.

  “Okay, well then I can help you fight the MIBs. I am not helpless anymore.”

  Mac started shaking his head before she got the fifth word out. “You’re not going anywhere near them.”

  “They’re my enemies, Mac.”

  “And I was born to protect you.” Lord help her, she melted at his words.

  “I need you to trust me, Lupa.” Ah, the crux of the matter.

  Sela stared at him. This giant of a man turned her inside out. She might be falling in love with him. He got to her like she never thought possible. But trust him? She just needed more time.

  Sela shook her head.

  The sensual heat she was used to seeing left his eyes. Vanished. Dark, without a hint of amber and cold, Mac watched her.

  “So be it. Kevin will stay here. He won’t let you leave and he won’t let anyone near you.” Mac paused, as if he thought she might change her mind. “We have a lead on these guys and we need to act on it.” Mac took a step back.

  “I have to pack. I’m leaving in an hour.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Damn werewolf!

  Anger welled up, pushing aside all the other emotions, namely the hurt and crazy guilt. She hadn’t been raised to feel guilt and now she knew why. It wasn’t fair. Sela hurtled the apple to the floor. Small, juicy bits scattered everywhere.

  What did he expect? That she should simply cast aside everything she knew, ignore her entire past and trust him? A man she had only known for . . . hell, a day and a half at this point?

  Not gonna happen, wolf man.

  She’d be a total idiot to trust him. She hadn’t been around her sisters in years and he expected her to have blind faith in a near stranger?

  He might call her mate, but she still hadn’t made up her mind about him. Yes, she wanted him. Okay, so maybe so far she couldn’t get enough of him and she’d been ignoring her common sense to stay with him. And maybe, just maybe, she might be falling in love with him. That in no way what-so-ever meant that she planned to permanently hook up with a werewolf who apparently lived for a very long time, possibly forever, and wanted children. The plural version.

  Sela smacked her head. Where was her brain? Her hormones had taken over and sabotaged her mind. Yet again. She could be pregnant right now. Mac hadn’t used a condom the last three times either. He’d already made his stance clear about children. The plural version. He wanted them and planned to have them with her.

  She didn’t even know how she felt about one, much less more than one. She’d never thought she would have children. How could she make play dates when she didn’t know if she would be in the same area for one hour or three weeks?

  Plus, she hadn’t had the best role model. Good old Mom thought drugs and alcohol were much better than her own kids. Then there was the issue of her mom handing Sela over to the enemy so they could kill her. Familial homicide. Not exactly the best family traits to pass on.

  And exactly how long did he live? Was Mac immortal? Would she grow old and haggard while he stayed Mr. Stud of the Century? That would be just plain . . . gross.

  She didn’t know. She didn’t know the answer to the majority of the questions she had for Mac because she had only met him two days ago.

  The man had her life planned out for her. No asking, no how about a movie and a date thing, not even an “I care about you because you are you.” Oh no. She didn’t get that. No, Sela got a chest-thumping-howling-at-the-moon “you are my mate.” And she was supposed to simply go along with it?

  No way, buddy. Not this chick.

  What made her his mate anyway? Some strange chemical combination? Oh sure, Mac might claim he craved her – but did he truly crave her? Or did he want the whatever-the-hell-thing that made her his mate? He didn’t even know her. How could he crave her?

  Sela clenched her fists. Energy pooled, her mark glowed. The moist apple bits st
arted spinning around on the floor. Sela glared at her mark.

  Some freaking help you are!

  Why her? Why was she the one to bear this mark? Shouldn’t it belong to a mystical princess or something? What the hell was wrong with Fate? How could she think it would be just damn ducky to give the mark to a girl who would grow up to be an out-of-work homeless woman with serious interpersonal issues?

  “Aarghh,” she yelled and thrust her hands out toward the apple pieces.

  The pieces exploded. Tiny, mushy bits went flying everywhere. A fair amount of them landed on Sela.

  She blinked and sputtered. She coughed and hacked and finally spit up the chunk that landed in her mouth.

  This is all his fault.

  Mac had been the one to spark her power. He was the one who claimed her as mate. He was the one pushing her to trust him. He was the one making her crazy.

  Sela whirled and headed for the hall. She had quite a few things to tell Mr. Trust-me-right-now Mac.

  She plowed head first into his chest.

  “What’s wrong?” Mac grabbed her, holding her upright when she would have fallen over onto her backside. He pushed her behind him, his body braced, he looked around the kitchen, scoping out every corner. Satisfied no one intruded, he turned back to her.

  “I heard you yell and . . .” his nose twitched. “Why do you have bits of apple all over you?”

  That tears it.

  Sela shoved both hands into Mac’s chest. He arched an eyebrow at her, not budging an inch.

  Overgrown, muscle bound . . . oh, right.

  “You overgrown, muscle bound, werewolf!” She spat the last word at him. “Just who do you think you are? How dare you think I am going to stay here while you go out and fight the MIBs by yourself?” Sela poked him in the chest.

  “Do you honestly think that after years – years I tell you – of running and hiding from these bastards that I am going to stay here? I control the Element of Water! I can protect myself!” She poked him again.

  “And these are my sisters they are after. Mine, not yours. I have a right to be there to help them. I have a right to fight for them too. They don’t know you from a jack-in-the-box. Do you think they are going to trust you?” She poked him again. Mac grabbed her finger in his hand.