by M. L. Briers
Sure, I probably would have run in the opposite direction — but that’s not the point.
“I could ask you what you’re thinking — but…” Doug left it there.
He could see that she was mulling over something, probably him, and he wouldn’t press her for an answer, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t put it out there for her to offer one.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m going to share that,” Saffy gave a little chuckle of embarrassment.
“So, you weren’t wondering if you’re on Santa’s naughty list?”
“Not exactly — no,” Saffy chuckled again.
Why was it when you are trying not to think about sinful things that all you can think about is sinful things?
Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate. And him.
Him and me.
I really have the urge to walk over there and poke one of those hard muscles — just for research — like a scientist. Maybe not a scientist, but who cares? I just want to see, all up close and personal like, just how hard they really are.
The squeeze test.
Wow, now I want to squeeze?
Does that make me a bad person? Why would that make me a bad person?
For one thing, he’s my mate — I’m perfectly within my rights to poke — or stroke and squeeze — anything I want.
They’re mine — oh, don’t say that out loud!
He’s mine — sort of — kind of — in a non-claiming, no fangs out, kind of a way.
That’s not to say there wouldn’t be any claws. I have pretty long fingernails, and he’d probably like it if I were to run them down his…
Dear goddess, I sound like a sex-starved — which I’m not, well I am — nymphomaniac of the worst kind. Which I’m not either, but, maybe I wish I was.
Damn, that’s his fault — I went from thinking how nice his words were to thinking about how nice his body was.
Fate has a lot to answer for.
Stupid fate.
Stupid fingernails.
Stupid hard muscles.
How stupid am I?
“You’re kind of quiet,” Doug had to wonder what she was thinking about now. Her cheeks were going bright red and could probably light Santa’s way all on their own.
“Still thinking,” Saffy offered him the smallest of guilty smiles.
But I am not saying what I’m thinking about. No way.
“I think I know what you’re thinking about.”
“Oh,” Saffy raised her eyebrows and pressed her lips together. I don’t think you bloody well do!
“Me,” Doug had a smug look on his face.
It was obvious from the way that she looked at him that the mating pull — lust — and a good active imagination on her part was making her see him in a whole different light.
Doug thought that was a very good thing.
“Oh, and let me guess — you’re naked,” she rolled her eyes and tried to deflect the attention away from herself.
“Am I?” He grinned from ear to ear, and as she brought her gaze back down, she couldn’t help but note just how damn sexy that was.
She wanted to roll her eyes upwards once more, but decided it was safer not to — there would be fewer surprises that way on the way back down.
“Aren’t you just full of yourself?” She offered with something approaching righteous indignation.
“Wouldn’t you like to be full of me too?”
Just the way that her jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide meant that he couldn’t hold back the chuckle that had been building within him. If he’d had a camera, then he might have taken the shot.
Saffy snapped her mouth shut and blinked a couple of times. If she’d been in a bar, sure, but she just hadn’t expected him to come out with something like that.
“Your wooing skills leave a lot to be desired,” she said in almost total disbelief.
There was a part of her that was as nervous as a schoolgirl — maybe because his words had touched a nerve. She wanted to chuckle — but that would give him entirely the wrong idea – an idea that she knew was already in his mind, but she didn’t need to box check it.
“Why don’t you tell me how it’s done?” He took a step towards her and her eyes flicked down to his feet then straight back up again to his face, and she looked a little nervous.
“How I want to be wooed?” Saffy drew her eyebrows downwards.
The man was just totally unbelievable. Who drew a map to their destruction?
“Sure, why not? You tell me how it’s done — I do it, and we get to the mating part.” He really wanted to chuckle again, and yet he held onto it so desperately that he ended up growling instead.
“Oh, I see your devious plan, and I raise you one of my own. How about I don’t tell you how it’s done — don’t tell you how to woo me — and we don’t get to the mating — ever.” Saffy offered back.
He took a long moment to consider her words.
“Yeah – no, I don’t like that idea. Mine is better.”
“For you.”
“And for you too — which you’ll find out when we get to the mating part.”
He folded his arms across his chest and grinned from ear to ear. That grin was very wolfish, and she was sure that she could see his beast just below the surface.
“You know? I think I’ll pass.”
“Sure? I really do think you’ll enjoy it,” Doug did chuckle then.
That sound was deep, like velvet over gravel, and it rumbled over her skin and made the fine hairs on her body stand to attention.
“If I put my hair in pigtails will you pull them as well?”
“Now that’s different thing entirely. I don’t think I’m being mean to you — unless you are so desperate to get to the mating part that having to deny helping me is so painful to you on another level.”
“There is definitely another level at play here — but I think that’s how your mind works, not my body,” Saffy offered back.
He took another step toward her and her gaze rushed up and down his body once more. She kind of liked the journey that her eyes took — he was a great view.
“Speaking of your body…”
“Let’s not go there,” Saffy gave a small shake of her head in denial.
“That would make mating difficult.” That wolfish smile spread even further.
Doug took one more step, and it felt just a little bit too close for comfort for her. Saffy narrowed her eyes on him as if she expected him to pounce at any moment.
“That’s the general idea.”
“But I don’t like that idea.” He said, and Saffy scowled.
“Well, tough. That’s my idea, and I’m sticking to it.”
“You’re sure? Because you don’t look totally sure that’s exactly what you want.”
“I’m certain,” Saffy said, and she even folded her arms and tilted her chin up in the air to show him just how certain she was.
“You know, every time you think certain thoughts your cheeks go a nice rosy red. And when you look me up and down your gaze kind of hesitates in certain places on my body like you’re showing a lot of interest…”
“Perhaps it’s just my brain farting that’s affecting my eyes,” Saffy shot back.
She kind of wanted to kick herself. She could have laughed his words off rather than rushing to denial, but she couldn’t take it back, nor could she take back the smirk that her rash actions had brought to his lips.
“Does it do that a lot?” He took another step.
“Misdirection.”
“I don’t know what that means. Well, I do — just not how it applies to what we were talking about.”
“You trying to distract me — misdirect me. You take a step then you say something insulting — or stupid — or overtly sexual by nature — and try to misdirect me from the fact that you’re getting closer. I’m onto your little game.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
“It’s not a game. I am getting closer.�
�� Doug said.
“Well, don’t.”
“Again, that’s not really helpful with this whole wooing and mating thing,” he said as he took another step.
“I don’t want to be helpful with the whole bloody wooing and mating thing.”
“You just want me to take the lead.” His eyes were smiling just as much as his lips were.
“Off a tall cliff.”
“So, that’s a yes?”
“Now, you’re just twisting my words.”
“Maybe I’m just reading between the lines.”
“I can spell it out for you if you like. I’m thinking two words and the second one would be off.”
“I like the first word better, and on its own – or maybe with a lets in front of it. But again, that has nothing to do with us mating, and everything to do with how your dirty mind works.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the look on her face. It was picture perfect.
“I do not have a dirty mind!” She lied. She’d definitely developed one since the first time that she’d seen him.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He did chuckle then.
“It’s Christmas!” Saffy scowled at him. She wasn’t sure why she’d said it, but her brain had farted it out anyway.
“Think of me as a Christmas present.”
“I just wanted a normal Christmas. Like a normal person. Was that too much to ask?” She tossed up her hands and let them fall back to her sides with a slap against her thighs.
“Sweetheart, I can make all of your Christmases come true right here tonight.”
“If your ego gets any bigger it could eclipse the sun and end all life on Earth as we know it,” Saffy grumbled.
She hated the fact that the man was getting to her, and in more ways than one.
She hated the mating pull because that was surely clouding up her brain and making her think stupid thoughts. Mainly about him.
She hated the fact that she had even helped the mating pull on its way because she still would have found Doug so damn attractive — like sex on a stick — like that chocolate cake that you just couldn’t resist, and that was a bad thing.
He was better than chocolate cake. At least with chocolate cake once you’d eaten the damn thing you really regretted it.
Of course, what you regretted most was that there wasn’t any more left. But he was the gift that just kept on giving. He wasn’t going anywhere.
Mates.
A lifetime commitment.
Love.
Family.
Him.
How could she say no to that?
Why would she want to say no to that, to him?
She was standing in his bedroom, of all places, and there he was looking so damn sexy. Temptation was literally staring her in the face and temptation was a scary thing — especially when it looked like him, and you were so damn tempted that your toes actually curled inside your socks.
Saffy tried to knock the feeling of frustration that was back-building within her on the head, squish it down, and squash it out if existence. She knew that was never going to work, turning off fate’s mating pull was a no-no, and she was stuck with it.
And he was chocolate cake!
Even if she walked away from him, there would still be a residue of it within her, need to go back and take a bite.
How cruel was fate?
“It’s not ego talking.” He said and snapped her out if her musings.
Doug was finally right where he wanted to be. Close enough to reach out and touch her, but far enough away so that she didn’t turn into a scared rabbit and run.
“Nooo?”
“No. I’m just saying what I see in your eyes,” Doug growled, just a little, just enough to make her whole body pay attention – some bits more than others – her nipples were definitely paying attention, and pointing at him like heat-seeking missiles, and he was certainly hot.
“Am I supposed to fall for that old twaddle?”
Saffy was about to fold her arms in front of her like it was the last line of defiant defense against…him, but she never got the chance. His arm reached out and wrapped around her waist, and Doug deliberately yanked her toward him, making sure that he caught her off balance so that she would have no choice but to reach for him to stabilize herself.
“Fall for me, Saffy,” Doug growled.
Even when he brought his lips down on hers, there was still that rumbling within his chest. It just added to the torrent of different emotions that battered her senses and reinforced the fact that they were mates.
Doug felt familiar to her, not as if she’d known him before, not really, but as if his kiss was just… right.
As if his touch was… right.
As if she was exactly where she was supposed to be with the man that she was supposed to be with.
Everything just connected in the same way that a puzzle started to take shape from all of the pieces and you just knew that you were going to make it whole.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if she should protest, push away, zap him. But that didn’t feel right — he felt right — they felt right.
Doug knew the exact moment when she’d stopped fighting with herself, debating what she was doing, and just gave herself over to the moment. With a hard growl, he deepened the kiss, and Saffy responded.
He didn’t want to push her too far too fast. His beast might have been clawing within him to claim her as their mate, but Doug wanted to win her over, heart, body, mind, and soul.
Completely.
He slammed the cage door closed on his beast. He needed to woo his mate and woo her he would.
~
~
~
“With a head that big I’m surprised he could fit through the front door,” Natalie hissed out as she planted her hands on her hips and glared at her mate like he was a Demon in disguise.
“Well, with hips that big…”
Jonathan never got any further than that. The look on her face told him to bend over and kiss his backside goodbye, and that might have been a good idea — but she’d already taken to zapping him.
“Oh, did he really go there?” Tom dropped his head on his neck and slapped his hands against his face on a groan.
“No-no, don’t bury your head in the sand now,” Jake said as he folded his arms and grinned from ear to ear with glee. “It’s just getting to the good part — she’s zapping him.”
Tom’s head snapped up, and his eyes took in the scene. The beta’s body was contorted in pain that registered on his face, and his eyes were practically bulging out of his head.
“Oh yes, she got him a good one!” Tom chuckled.
“Less than he deserves with a comment like that,” Jake chuckled.
Natalie had already snapped off her magic. She couldn’t understand why Jonathan’s body was still twisted in pain.
The zap that she’d given him hadn’t even been that bad. It had been akin to a quick lick of an electrical cable, and it should have been over and done with by now.
Natalie had to wonder if something was amiss. She eyed the area, upstairs and down, to see if either of the other witches had joined her in zapping him, but she found herself the only witch around.
Her attention was snapped right back to Jonathan when he offered up a rather miffed off hungry growl that told her he wasn’t best pleased. The beta shook off the last of the magic from his body, dropped his chin toward his chest, and eyed her like the wolf that had trapped its prey.
“Okay,” Natalie started as she raised a hand and pointed her index finger at him. That probably wasn’t the best thing to do considering the circumstances, and Jonathan growled once more as he started toward her. “That wasn’t entirely me…”
Jonathan’s hard growl rumbled over the top of her explanation. A moment later and her back was being pressed against the wall, partly out of her own need to put just a little distance between her and her mate, and partly out of the fact that there was no distance between her and
her mate.
“I may have committed a crime against your sensibilities that you didn’t find funny — but, trust me when I say, that your overreaction was way out of line,” Jonathan growled.
His beast was miffed. Worse than miffed, it was also hungry to teach her a lesson in manners.
His beast didn’t mind a little pain, but if it wanted to feel that much agony, it would go and lick an electricity pylon.
The wolf wanted out. It took almost all of Jonathan’s sheer determination and willpower to keep the beast caged inside.
Mate or not — she had crossed a line.
His witch needed to be taught a lesson and the wolf within felt it was best placed to do it.
Jonathon wasn’t entirely sure just how long he could hold the beast at bay.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
~
“I’m trying to tell you — it wasn’t…” Natalie protested, but this time she was cut off by the kitchen door being slammed open and Christie stomping across the room toward the front door.
“Why don’t you go and shove your head up your backside — then you can truly smell what’s coming out of your mouth,” Christie tossed back behind her as Rex stormed across the room hard on her heels.
“All I said was…” He started to protest, but she cut him off. She didn’t want to hear it.
“Trust me, if you repeat it, you’ll regret it!” Christie hissed out the warning over her shoulder as she reached up for her jacket and yanked it from the hook.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Rex demanded.
“Gee, I thought I’d go to the toilet — it’s kind of cold in there.” Christie rolled her eyes at the beta as she shrugged into her jacket, and yanked the zip right up to her neck.
“This side of your personality is an eye-opener,” Rex shot back.
“Run then — be gone — I wouldn’t want to inflict my personality on you a moment longer.”
Rex growled long and hard. Christie wasn’t going to wait around for his reply, she turned on her heels, and yanked open the front door to a blast of freezing cold wind that took her breath away.
If she was thinking rationally, then she may have thought that outside wasn’t the best option for her. But she wasn’t thinking rationally — she just wanted to get some air and escape her mate before she did something to him that they might both have regretted.