by M. L. Briers
“Really?” Monty sighed. “That’s your pitch?”
“What? No,” Chloe shot back with a look of disbelief.
“You’d suck in sales,” Monty assured her and she snorted.
“No I wouldn’t. I’d drink the rest of the team, ergo, I’d win,” Chloe offered back.
“I’m going to go feed a bad mood alpha that won’t want my help, my blood. If you could refrain from trying to drink the witches – it would be appreciated.” Monty offered with a smug smile.
“If you could refrain from being so damn condescending, it would be appreciated, because then I won’t have to punch your fangs down the back of your throat,” Chloe bit out with a sneer.
“Fine, deal. I’ll start trusting you a little more if you stop behaving like the neighbourhood leech.” Monty shrugged.
“Well, if the neighbourhood wasn’t a damn, all you can eat buffet of witches, that might be helpful too, don’t you think?” Chloe tossed her hands onto her hips and Monty knew that he’d lost the fight.
Every time that she got defensive she got hungry, and he didn’t need her to get hungry right then.
“We’ll move,” he assure her, as he stalked towards Nathan, and Jamie growled a warning… “He’s not your mate, dumbass,” Monty snapped at the beta. “Go protect the witch from my ravenous mate!”
“Oh – my – Goddess!” Chloe bit out and Monty snapped a quick look at her. “You just so threw me to the wolves!” She hissed in disbelief.
“Did not!”
“Did too,” Chloe snapped.
“Can someone fix my mate, he looks a little … broken,” Sarah tossed up her hands in disbelief at the pair of them arguing while Nathan needed the vampire’s blood to heal him faster.
“I’m getting to it,” Monty grumbled.
“While tossing your mate under the bus,” Chloe snorted.
“Even if I did toss you under a bus, you’d survive,” Monty grumbled as he crouched down next to Nathan and the alpha growled… “I’m having a bad day, don’t start with me.” Monty snapped at the man…
“Me too…” Nathan growled back.
“Not if it rolled over my head and damn well decapitated me,” Chloe hissed back.
“The bus? Would you let it drop?” Sarah grumbled.
“Don’t give me that blood,” Nathan growled out, and Monty rolled his eyes…
“Do you see what I have to deal with?” The vampire said, grabbing a handful of the alpha’s hair and not being too gentle about it as he wrenched his head back on his neck…
“Hey!” Sarah bit out … she was more than ready to hand the vampire his backside…
“What now?” Monty grumbled.
“Be gentle!” Sarah snapped back.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
~
“You want him healed, live with it!” Monty snapped back.
“Don’t you speak to my niece like that…” Chloe hissed.
“You mean the interloper that’s living in your Inn?” Monty offered back with a small sneer as he tugged hard and Nathan opened his mouth on a growl…
Monty shoved his wrist in the alpha’s mouth and without another word, he kicked him in the balls…
“What the…?” Sarah bit out as Nathan bit down in a yelp of pain…
“That stings…!” Monty grumbled, tugging on the alpha’s hair to try to get the man to release him from his bite, now that he had the healing blood flowing over his tongue…
“Serves you right, kicking a man in the balls…” Sarah’s hands went to her hips, and Aunt, and Niece stood there with exactly the same pose, exactly the same death glares on their faces, and Monty groaned…
“Do you ever feel that you’re having one of those days?” Monty asked the alpha and Nathan growled long and hard… “Let go or I’ll kick you again.” He grumbled, and the alpha forced his jaws open…
“You didn’t need to kick him…” Chloe berated her mate as he pushed up to standing.
“Yes, yes I did…” Monty assured her.
“Butthead,” Sarah bit out as she stalked towards Nathan and Monty sidestepped her.
“Hey, this butthead just saved your mate a few days pain and healing…” Monty said with a smug look that she wanted to wipe off his face with a hearty zap.
“That’s the only reason you still have your balls,” Sarah hissed at him on her way to Nathan’s side.
“Good to know.” Monty declared as he turned to look at his mate, and she was still glaring at him. “Now what?”
“Just …” she huffed, and turned on her heels to stomp away.
Monty groaned and rolled his eyes towards the tops of the trees. He’d known his mate for decades and he still couldn’t figure her out.
He guessed that it might just have been time to stop trying.
~
~
~
“I’m fine, stop fussing.” Dorothy wasn’t in the mood to have flighty witches, well one witch, prancing around her, and all the while berating her with dark glares … Angela snorted.
“No thanks to you,” She berated her once more.
“You know, when you did something equally as stupid, I seem to remember that I let it drop after the first few huffs,” Dorothy reminded her of her own dice with death.
“You still bring it up,” Angela bit out.
“Well, now you’ll have something to toss back at me, won’t you?” Dorothy grumbled.
“So, you did me a favour?” Angela folded her arms and drummed her fingertips against her own skin. She looked like a schoolteacher that was down to her last nerve.
“Something like that,” Dorothy shot back.
“Next time send me flowers,” Angela grumbled.
“You two are like an old married couple,” Hank grinned at Angela, but when he turned his eyes towards Dorothy, he wasn’t as forgiving. He was sure that the woman had given him a mini heart attack – at least, it had pained him to see her like that.
“Well, I want a divorce for unreasonable behaviour,” Dorothy snorted and lifted her chin in defiance of her friend’s wrath.
“My unreasonable behaviour? Ha! Don’t make me laugh.”
“If you’re worried about the laughter lines then you’re about twenty years too late,” Dorothy snapped back.
“Oh, you want to stick the knife in some more?” Angela shot back. She turned in place. “Here’s my back, have at it.”
“I want some peace from your eternal fuffing,” Dorothy hissed back.
“Fine!” Angela bit out, turning on her heels and stomping towards the bedroom door. “I’ll leave you and your mate to it then.”
“Do what?” Dorothy blinked. “To what?”
Dorothy shot a quick look at Hank who was giving her a wolfish grin. She felt the flush of heat to her cheeks and scowled back at him.
“You know what,” Angela called back over her shoulder…
“But…” Dorothy lifted her hand and was about to protest when Angela stopped at the bedroom door, one hand wrapped around the handle, and she tossed her a very wicked look back over her shoulder.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Angela’s laughter sounded so dirty t Dorothy’s ears that she was sure her cheeks had caught on fire…
“From what I’ve heard that doesn’t leave a lot,” Dorothy grumbled as she folded her arms and huffed.
“Exactly,” Angela’s eyes twinkled with mischief, and Dorothy offered her a dark glare, just before her friend yanked the door closed behind her with a satisfied thud and left her alone with Hank.
“She was joking,” Dorothy bit out quickly, eyeing her mate as he sat beside her bed on a straight backed chair, and he leaned in a little.
“I don’t think she was,” Hank grinned.
Dorothy felt her heart jump into her throat, and she rolled her eyes away from the man. Still, she couldn’t help but feel his presence right next to her, as her body hummed from the lack of her magical shields…
“Bum.” She bit
out, and the sound of the elder’s deep chuckle rolled over her skin and reinforced the clarity of who he was to her.
Whichever way she wanted to see it; the fact remained that he was her mate, and there was no escaping that fact.
~
~
~
Jamie stalked into the bedroom after his mate and tossed the bedroom door closed behind him.
His eyes flicked to the messed up covers on the bed and his memory kicked images of what had happened between them earlier into the forefront of his mind, and he really couldn’t help the low, deep, hungry growl that rolled through his broad chest…
Fallon’s eyes flicked towards him and she scowled at the sound…
“You’re scary,” Jamie offered her a teasing smile to go with his words.
She’d killed the vampire in a way that he’d never seen before, and wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to witness it again…
“Words a girl likes to hear,” Fallon shot back with a teasing smile of her own. “And you’re naked while doing it.”
Not that she had any objection to seeing his hard, muscled body in all of its naked glory. No, she didn’t mind one little bit. Not that anything on him fitted the category of little…
Her eyes took a slow wander as her mind filled in the blanks – every inch of what she could see had been pressed up against her at some stage during their last time together in the bedroom – just not naked…
“I thought we could start again where we left off.” Jamie’s hungry growl was right up front and centre and it rolled through every word…
“You weren’t naked when we left off…” Fallon tossed up just one shoulder and tried really hard not to devour him with her eyes…
Really, really hard – not to devour him with her eyes – not to stare at the rise and fall of his muscled chest and abdomen – not the take in the thick corded muscles of his arms and legs that seemed to be flexing under his skin of their own accord just to teased her – and then there was the hard thick length of his cock that stood proud and begged mercilessly for her undivided attention….
Fallon had to try really hard to keep her eyes moving up his body…
Not that it helped which part of him she was looking at.
The man’s shoulders were impossibly wide and she had the urge to grip on to them and climb her way up his body, wrap herself around him like a vine, and be as wicked as sin with the man who was her mate…
“You don’t look like you object,” Jamie gave her a wolfish grin, and there was mischief and desire flashing in equal measure within his darkened eyes, and that was sexy as well…
Object?
Hell no!
That would just be silly…
Who can object to perfection?
Who can object to eyeing up their naked, muscle bound mate with his perfect body on show?
People paid good money to go to museums and look at something that good…
He’s an Adonis.
He’s worthy of being looked at, and more, touched, but only by me…
I find some skanky hands on his body and I’ll rip them off and hand them back to the bitch that dared to touch him … not that she’d be able to take them from me… because she’d have no damn hands…
Sex on a stick.
My - sex on a stick to look at, to touch…
Damn…
He’s my mate!
My mate – a shifter wolf – an Adonis…
What the hell am I still doing with my clothes on?
Wait … that’s … the mating pull … thanks, fate…
Or maybe I should be thanking fate…
I’m confused…
I’m ogling…
I’m objectifying…
Hell yeah!
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
~
“I’m still mad at you – in a mate kind of a way…” Hank grumbled on a frown.
“You don’t look mad.”
“I don’t look smart either, but looks can be deceptive,” Hank said.
He was miffed at her, but he understood why she’d left the safety of the Inn. Family was family, and he knew all too well what he would do to save his own pack, his mate, and his new granddaughter, but it wasn’t all about personal sacrifice…
“Agreed,” Dorothy shrugged.
“Which part?” Hank gave her a sideways glance, and she couldn’t help but smile…
“Now, that’s just a leading question, and a woman never gives away all of her secrets.” Dorothy informed him…
“Just a lot of grief…” Hank grumbled.
“Well, you know where the door is, you walked through it, just go backwards…” Dorothy snatched a sideways look at her mate and did a double take.
Hank’s chin was down, one eyebrow was raised, questioning her sanity, and he looked as sexy as hell to her.
A true silver – wolf.
“Stop being a grumbly old broad and admit that you did wrong,” he growled back.
“I did nothing wrong, and I’d do it again,” Dorothy exclaimed on a scowl that she couldn’t hold for long, because his eyes were flashing with amusement…
“You know that I’m the alpha of you and me, right?” Hank challenged her, and it was her turn to raise just one eyebrow back at him.
“If thinking that makes you feel better,” Dorothy muttered, smoothing over the bed covers on her lap and looking anywhere but at him.
“It does,” Hank grumbled.
“Well, alright then.” Dorothy sniggered, trying to press her lips together to silence her laughter.
“And as the alpha of the two of us – I’m telling you, if you ever do anything like that again…” he grumbled and growled, and she giggled like a schoolgirl…
“Oh, will you smack my behind?” Her eyes flashed with mischief as she brought them to bear on her mate, and for one long moment Hank tripped over his tongue…
“Well, I…”
“Yes?” She asked, leaning towards him slightly and giving him a teasing, but innocent look…
“That could be …” he cleared his throat as his hard length pulsed against the taut fabric of his jeans…
“What say you climb in this big bed and keep me warm for a while?” Dorothy asked with her eyes and her words…
Hank had never moved so damn fast in his life. He felt like a pup again.
His blood rushed through his veins and his heart got the workout of its life as he dashed around to the other side of the bed and hopped on board, making Dorothy bounce in place…
“Hold on for the ride of your life, sweetheart…” Hank growled to the sound of her excited giggles.
“Funny, I was going to say the exact same thing to you.” Dorothy offered back, and Hank’s eyes flashed with excitement.
~
~
~
Fallon wrapped her legs around Jamie’s hips and felt the hard press of his length against her sex. She’d much rather be naked herself, but while he was devouring her with hot kisses, and rocking that hard length against her sex – she wasn’t about to protest…
Her back hit the solidity of the wall and freed up his hands to roam, and roam they did, under her clothes, skin against skin, and the sound of his hungry growl as it rolled through his chest only heightened her need for more.
Her mind spun and her body protested when he broke their kisses long enough to whip the shirt right over her head and toss it away. His eyes devoured the creamy white globes of her breasts as they sat nestled in the black lace cups of her bra, and his cock twitched against her sex…
“Bra too…” Fallon rushed out on a choppy breath before sucking in another, a heartbeat later and he’d complied with her wish – replacing the confines of the lace with the heat of his hands…
The pads of his thumbs stroked over her hard nipples and she dropped her head back against the wall glorying in the feel of it – he noted the movement – saw the way that she’d opened her neck up to him, and his beast pushed for
ward…
Mine…
His wolf wanted out.
His beast was fevered with the need to bite – to bond with her and make her theirs forever.
Jamie dipped his head and brushed his cheek against hers on the way to taking her scent.
He devoured her neck with hot kisses, small nips from his blunt teeth, and his soothing tongue ran over her heated skin and made her hips press against his…
“I want to devour you from your head to your toes…” his words might have been whispered in hard, deep tones against her ear, but they were strong and clear, and they made her body ache with need…
“I want you inside me…” Fallon was never one to mince her words about anything.
She certainly wasn’t going to change the habit of a lifetime with her mate…
Jamie cursed long and hard as her words sent his imagination soaring … he slapped his hands against the curvy cheeks of her backside and spun her away from the wall…
“You know my wild side is coming out, right?” He growled.
“I damn well hope so,” Fallon chuckled, wiggling her backside, and making him growl harder as she rubbed her sex against his cock…
“You know there’s gonna be a bite…?” Jamie took her down beneath him to the bed.
His hands were busy unwrapping her body from around his – need and desire fuelling his actions as he started to strip her naked…
Then he realised that she hadn’t answered his last question. His head snapped up, and his eyes took her in…
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
“Fallon?” Jamie held in place.
He didn’t move, barely took a breath as he stared down at her.
His hands had her jeans down to her ankles, his cock was practically doing the Samba in anticipation of more, and his heart was matching that imaginary beat within his throat …
But still, she didn’t answer his question…
“You’re killing me here, sweetheart…” Jamie growl.
Maybe, she hadn’t thought that far ahead…?