by E A Price
“You,” Zara said softly. “He agreed to give her the firstborn son in his family – he was just waiting for either his daughter or his nephews to mate.”
Holt laughed coldly. “Yeah, except we were taking our sweet time about it.”
“Mate finder spells are expensive and not always accurate,” she murmured, a little preoccupied. “They’re difficult to perform – they’re convoluted, and they have to be done over a period of three days,” she chattered. “If just one detail of the spell is off, they give a false outcome. People have made awful matches based on those spells.”
His gorilla let out a worried huff. He was never sure how Zara felt about him. She was attracted to him – that was for sure. But he didn’t know whether she felt the same mate pull that he did. It wasn’t the same for humans. Shifters felt the pull keenly, but humans… Was she considering how this affected her as his mate?
“I told Sean and Rachel, but Sean didn’t believe me. Rachel did. After the way he tried to push her into mating, it made sense to her. But Sean loved the son of a bitch. I don’t blame him really. After my dad died, my uncle virtually raised Sean, my idiot brother looked up to him.
“Then about eight months ago Rachel found her mate – by accident, working in my damned club of all places. They…”
He winced.
“Got jiggy,” supplied Zara.
Holt tried not to groan – Rachel was like a little sister to him. Sex and Rachel did not belong even in the same sentence.
“Right, and she got pregnant and panicked. So, I had to hide her, had to get her away from him before he got to her. I brought her here. She told me the night after…”
“We got jiggy.”
“I was going to say after I rocked your world, but yeah, sure.”
Zara rolled her eyes again.
“They’ll get stuck if you’re not careful.”
She gave them another roll.
“Rachel’s baby?” she asked.
“Is a boy.”
They’d found some out of the way clinic, and she had a scan to confirm it. Her reaction had been bittersweet – thrilled at the thought of having a son, but sad at the danger he would be in.
“Oh. Where’s her mate?”
“Still working at my club. He thinks Rachel left him after their one night together.”
Eric’s disposition had certainly soured over the last six months. But then, Holt had hardly been overly cheerful.
“Habit for your family members,” she muttered, but on seeing his expression added, “sorry – low blow.”
“I’ve been trying to find a way to break this damn hex since I found out about it but…”
“It’s unbreakable.”
“Yeah, everyone I’ve spoken to is in agreement like that.” He didn’t hide the bitter tone. In theory, the witch who cast it could break it, but he hadn’t found her, and he doubted he could persuade her to do so. Not given how much his uncle had paid her.
“So how does this all lead to your brother getting arrested for murder? Or is that unrelated? Does your family just have more drama than a soap opera?”
“Sometimes it feels that way. A few months back my uncle was on Sean to find his mate – wanted him to go through one of those mate finding spells. Sean refused. My uncle kept trying to pressure him, and it royally pissed him off. It was about the time he actually kind of started talking to me again.”
Up until then, his brother had gone out of his way to avoid Holt and only communicated in grunts, but that was a tiny turning point for them.
“I figured by the way he was acting he already had a girl.”
“Ah – the Pebbles girl.”
“Bubbles – also known as Cora. I don’t know if she is his mate, but he didn’t seem to want to get rid of her. My uncle and Sean came to blows over the issue and the next thing I know, my brother’s arrested for two murders.”
Zara didn’t particularly follow the news, but she had seen Sean’s file. The whole thing seemed quite grisly, but only circumstantial evidence put him at the crime scene.
“I went to visit him in jail,” continued Holt. “But he wouldn’t talk to me. Told me to stay away and not to come to the trial. It was only the other night when we caught him when he told me what happened. Turns out, our uncle sent him on an errand. The two guys were already dead, and Sean panicked and left. He didn’t have an alibi, but his lawyer was confident Sean would be found not guilty. My uncle said he’d have a word with the judge and make sure he got off as long as he agreed to find his mate.”
“Your uncle must have been desperate to go to such lengths.”
Holt snorted. “Well, he thinks Rachel ran away, and he knows I hate him. He probably thought Sean was his last chance to get him that baby boy. I don’t believe he planned to frame Sean. I think it just fell in his lap, to be honest. According to my brother, those guys borrowed money from my uncle – I didn’t realize he was a loan shark as well as a total asshole. Anyway, he sent Sean to collect payment from them, and he found them dead. The two guys were known to the cops. At first, they thought they were killed by their drug dealer. But, my uncle paid off some of the cops to forget about the drugs and just focus all their energy on Sean.”
“So framing your brother and letting the real killer go free.”
“Sean thinks my uncle even knows who killed them – but he’s waiting for Sean to promise to do the mate claiming spell.”
“Since framing him wasn’t working, he sent his goons to pick him up and my car just got in the way. So now, your uncle has Sean somewhere and is trying to put pressure on him to do the spell, but he won’t because of Pebbles…”
“Bubbles,” mumbled Holt.
Zara stopped eating and placed her hand over his.
He smiled faintly. “I’m sorry about what happened tonight, my little cactus flower.”
“Are you?” she asked quickly, her face betraying how keenly she was watching him for his answer.
“Well, no,” he admitted with a growl of agreement from his gorilla. “I’m sorry it happened that way – I’m not sorry about what we did. But I wanted to get you back in my bed on my own terms.”
She must have been content with that answer because her full lips curled slightly and she started tracing patterns on the back of his hand. “What does all this have to do with keeping me safe?”
Now she was just toying with him, getting him to say what she wanted to hear.
“Like you don’t know,” he teased.
Zara peeked up at him through her eyelashes. “I want to hear it.”
“You’re my mate, cactus flower.”
His beast bellowed. About damn time.
“I wanted you the moment I saw you - more than anything in the world. But I guessed that once my uncle figured you were my mate…”
“He’d lock us in his sex dungeon until we made him a baby boy?” she suggested wryly.
“Yeah.”
“And I complain about my mom driving my boyfriends away.”
“She seemed sweet.”
Zara almost choked on a piece of chicken, but with a few sound slaps to the back she managed to rally. “Well, compared to your uncle she is, but that’s not saying much.” She eyed him disapprovingly. “You should have told me; I’d have tried to help you.”
“I thought staying away from you was the best thing.”
“You’re an idiot,” she scolded mildly.
“No arguments here, cactus flower.”
His skin heated at her touch. Her fingers burned a path as they traveled along his arm and she placed a hand on his chest.
“You’re still not wearing pants,” she whispered conspiratorially.
“Umm hmm.” His inner animal groaned as she caressed him.
“We still need to talk.” Her breathing was becoming quicker; her breaths shorter and her chest heaved. He watched the rhythmic swell and fall under his t-shirt. Her unfettered breasts pressed against the fabric, her hard nipples obvious against the
loose fabric.
“Umm hmm.”
He tried to control himself as blood rushed to his dick. Zara shuffled closer to him.
“We still need to find your brother.”
Effortlessly, his arms came around her and lifted her onto his lap. She gasped as she felt his steely member pressing against her ass.
“Yep.”
She was making a lot of good points, and they were all things he couldn’t focus on at that moment.
“And figure out what we’re going to do about this curse…”
Her voice was quivering as her hips started rocking of their own accord, pressing her sex against his. He pushed the material of the shirt up, so it pooled at her waist. Her flesh was slick with her own excitement as it slipped over his hardness.
“Couldn’t agree more,” he groaned.
His fingers kneaded her ass, massaging the silky skin as her sex glided over his.
“Do you think the pheromones have worn off?” she panted.
Holt froze. “Yes,” he answered slowly, fearing her reason for asking.
“Good.”
Zara hooked an arm around his neck, pulling him to her for a kiss. Their lips collided as she undulated her hips. Her wetness slickened his member as she rode him. He swelled with arousal, his manhood growing, and throbbing, moving of its own accord.
She braced one hand on his chest; her fingers were digging into his skin as she took what she needed. Her nether lips grazed and scraped against him. Each time she moved over him she came tantalizing close to taking him inside but never did. No, she teased him, slowly dragging him to the brink. Taunting him with her beauty, her sexiness, giving him almost what he wanted, to thrust inside her over and over until he came, and then slipping away from him.
She moaned and hissed her pleasure into his mouth. When she wasn’t tangling her tongue with his, she nibbled on his lip, tenderly yet passionately. He couldn’t help the jerk of his hips. Damn how he wanted to just drive himself inside her, but he waited, held back with tenuous restraint wanting her to come, wanting to watch her fall apart, wanting to hear that musical cry as she reached her dizzying peak.
Zara pulled away from his lips, panting for breath. Her lips were inflamed from his kisses, her eyes stormy with lust. Damn but just watching her was tough. She was making him painfully hard, and the desire to find his own pleasure was almost overwhelming.
She bit her lip, trying to stifle the moans she wanted to let out. She was almost there, he could sense it. Could see her dancing on edge, just needing a small push. Hell, how he wanted to help her get there and he damn well would
He pressed a thumb against her clit, and she squeaked. Her hips jolted, and he flicked at the tiny bundle of nerves until she let out her cry of completion and wrapped herself around him.
Holt clamped an arm around her waist and stood up. With the other arm he swept the table clean, cartons of food and tableware clattered to the floor. He lay his mate down and finally thrust himself inside her waiting channel. As she clenched and clutched at him, his found his own release ripped from his body and hurtling after hers. He buried his neck in her shoulder as he spilled himself inside his mate.
His beast roared in happiness as they lay panting in one another’s arms.
“Let’s go to bed,” she breathed into his ear as she smoothed a hand down his sweat slickened back.
Pressing a kiss to her shoulder, he agreed, “Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Fourteen
Zara smiled sheepishly at Rachel.
Before last night – turning up at Rachel’s house in nothing but one of Holt’s t-shirts - the last time Zara saw her she may or may not have shouted cow at her as she was trying to leave Holt’s apartment with a little dignity. Some people hold onto those kinds of things.
“Hey.”
Rachel gave her a wry smile. “Hey.”
Zara hovered in the doorway to the kitchen. “How are you?”
She ran a hand over her huge stomach. “Well, thank you.”
“Sorry about the mess in the kitchen, Holt and I, ah…” After their little romp on the kitchen table, they hadn’t bothered to clean up – not wanting to delay a further romp in bed. She had thought to get up early and tidy up, but Rachel beat her to it.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “No problem.”
“Perhaps we should start over.”
“Agreed. I don’t think either of us was particularly nice to each other the first time we met.”
Zara nodded vehemently. “No, but it was Holt’s fault.”
“Totally, he’s completely to blame.”
“One hundred percent. I’m Zara. I’m a witch and a bounty hunter. My favorite color is yellow, and my favorite food is pineapple.”
The pregnant woman smiled. “I’m Rachel. I’m human, though my father is both a gorilla and a crazy person. I work from home as a travel agent. My favorite color is red, and every food is my favorite food right now.”
Zara walked over to her, so Rachel didn’t feel the need to struggle to her feet, and they shook hands.
“It is lovely to meet you.”
“Lovely to meet you too. Sit down, help yourself.” Rachel gestured at the overflowing kitchen table. “If there’s one thing I have here, it’s food, and I do have fresh pineapple.”
“Yum, thanks.”
Rachel winced and rubbed her stomach.
“Everything okay?”
Zara paused in the process of shoveling pineapple into her mouth. She was ravenous; keeping up with a gorilla took a lot out of a girl. To think, she’d thought marathons were tough.
“Just the baby kicking,” she said, her voice full of pride. “His father loves playing football so it seems about right.”
She looked sad for a moment and massaged her stomach.
Not used to handling weepy women, Zara wasn’t sure what to say. The women in her family were generously called evil bitches – and that was the kindest way of putting it. The idea of crying over a man would have horrified the women in her family. Except maybe her cousin Leah – the younger generations seemed to be softening which was mercifully a good thing. Her great-grandmother allegedly used to eat glass as a recreational past time. That reminded her – she needed to have a talk with Leah.
“Holt kind of told me about the father.”
Rachel nodded. “I agree it’s for the best to stay away, but it’s hard. I just hope that I’ll get to see him again and that he’ll understand why I did this.” Rachel gave her a hopeful look. “You forgive Holt, right?”
“Ummm… sure.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow.
“Mostly,” she amended. “Somewhat. Okay, I’m still pissed, but I’ll probably get over it.”
“But Holt wasn’t hiding your baby from you.”
“No, though I would have been amazed if he had been.”
“Sometimes all I want is to hear his voice, sometimes it’s enough, but most times not.” Rachel scowled. “Whether or not Eric hates me is moot anyway if I have to live my life in hiding.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
She hoped. She was kind of considering the possibility of letting Holt into her life, but she wasn’t sure how far they could move with this hanging over them.
“Morning ladies.”
Holt sauntered into the room wearing a small pair of boxers and an enormous smile. He gave Zara a devilish look, and she rolled her eyes. Anyone would think he was the first man ever to make it with a woman.
He settled into a seat and made a show of giving Zara a kiss. She slapped at him, but it was like trying to slap the wind – utterly fruitless.
“Morning… stallion,” snickered Rachel.
Zara tried to hide behind her glass of orange juice. In her defense, he had been like a stallion. It totally warranted her screaming it out loud.
Rachel smiled, and Holt didn’t even bother to try not looking thrilled. Zara gave him a kick under the table, but he barely noticed. He poured himself a huge b
owl of cereal and devoured it in seconds flat before pouring another.
Seeing that he was otherwise occupied, Rachel heaved herself up from her seat and waddled away to switch on the TV.
Zara pushed away her plate and gave him a stern look. As much fun as last night had been, they needed to get down to business.
“So what’s the plan? I still need to find your brother - he’s still technically on trial for murder.”
“Not anymore,” called Rachel. “Look at this.”
They watched a news bulletin declaring that a new suspect in the murders had come forward and he was being charged. Apparently, they had just come decided to turn themselves in.
Zara scrunched her nose. “Guilty conscience?”
“More like my uncle persuaded him to confess,” rumbled Holt. He placed his hand on her shoulder and started rubbing. He did that a lot, and it seemed to comfort him as much as it did her.
“Why now?”
“Maybe Sean agreed to the mate finding spell.”
Zara rubbed her forehead. “I guess my boss isn’t on the hook for his bond anymore, but the cops do need to see Sean in person and drop the charges, I should probably call and talk to him. Where’s my phone?”
“I crushed it and tossed the pieces in the trash at the gas station on the way here.”
“Oh, sure, sure thing,” she said softly before adding, “why the hell did you do that?!
“I couldn’t risk my uncle tracking you here.” He inclined his head at Rachel, and she scowled.
“Fine, but you could have just turned it off. You owe me a new phone.” She wagged a finger at him, and he caught it and kissed it. Rachel groaned and left the room.
“We need to find Sean.”
“We also need to find the witch who put a spell on your uncle, and I may know some people who can help with that.”
*
“Mom!”
Zara’s mother, grandmother, and aunt were all huddled around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and wolfing cookies. Never a good sign. She’d feel more comfortable if they were actually huddled around a cauldron. A kitchen table meeting never led to good things.