by M. L. Briers
The man was jumping up and down on his other foot, and he did look somewhat amusing to her, stark naked and hopping in place, it tickled her funny bone.
“Not exactly the monster mash — and no points for style and grace.”
Elizabeth bit down on her lower lip as she tried to stop the laughter from reaching his ears. It didn’t work.
“I’m glad I could amuse you again,” Rick growled.
“Do you want to hit me now?” Elizabeth demanded.
“No! Well…” He had to think on that for a moment. But it was only a moment, and it was a moment when his wolf growl at him.
“See!” She lifted a finger of accusation and pointed it at his chest. Her eyes narrowed on him.
“I said no!” Rick growled.
“Yes, you did — but, you meant yes,” she tossed back.
“I might if you don’t drop it,” Rick growled.
“See, you can’t help yourself,” she said as she offered him a shrug of her shoulders.
“That’s not…” Rick grumbled another growl. The woman was annoying to the point where what he really wanted to do was head-butt the nearest tree trunk.
He had to wonder what fate was actually thinking by putting them together as mates. He had the rest of his life to spend with her, and he wondered how long it would take for him to go insane.
“No?” She asked; piercing him with a steely gaze. He felt guilty — although, he wasn’t sure why.
“Well, I…” He thought long and hard about it.
“Yes?” She asked, and he felt another rush of guilt again.
“I don’t know.” Rick wasn’t sure of anything anymore. The woman had driven him around in circles and was already starting to drive him insane.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
“Sit!” Valerie pointed to the chair on the opposite side of the window from her. Quinn snorted.
“I’m not a dog.”
“You’re making the place look untidy, sit!” Valerie scowled at her mate. “Or go away — your choice.”
Quinn took two long steps, turned in place, and dropped his backside against the seat.
“There now, are you happy?” Quinn grumbled a growl.
“Are you still my mate?”
“You know I am.”
“Then that was a really stupid question,” Valerie offered back stiffly in clipped tones. Quinn snorted again.
“It must be the company I’m keeping lately,” he muttered under his breath.
He was surprised when she caught his words. The daggers that she was throwing from her eyes said she wasn’t best pleased.
“I’m sure you know where the door is.”
“Why, do you fancy a walk?”
“Do you need to be kept on a leash, or do you get lost easily?” She tossed back, giving as good as she was getting, and finding a flash of satisfaction each time.
“At least fate sent me someone with spirit,” Quinn said.
He liked that about her. Admittedly, not at first, but the fire that she still had in her belly was a sure sign that life would never be dull again.
Then there was the mating part of it. Oh, how he’d missed having a soft female within his arms.
It would feel even better to know that she was his true mate. He’d given up — and now there she was the fiery ice Queen herself.
Now he had something to live for.
He could only hope that he could make her feel the same way about life. After all, that was what mates were for.
“I would have thought you would have preferred a simpering female,” Valerie said as she eyed him with a big dollop of suspicion.
“Why?”
“Something to do with your dog -matic nature,” she said, and the sides of her lips reached upwards.
“More dog jokes,” he rolled his eyes and grumbled another growl.
“It’s such an easy target.” She gave a small chuckle that made his ears prick up. He liked the sound of it.
“Tell me about your old life — I’m guessing there’s no Mr frosty the Ice Queen,” Quinn said, changing the subject.
She’d already told him that her husband had died, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have another suitor on the backburner. He’d fight the man.
“Men are like dogs — they bind you to the house and pee in corners when you aren’t looking.”
“I’m housetrained.” Quinn’s beast grumbled a growl.
“And shag your leg when the mood takes them.”
He noted just how brightly her eyes shone with amusement. He wanted to keep that look right where it was.
“I can assure you that the only thing I will be doing to your legs is wrapping them around me,” Quinn’s voice had deepened to a gravelly satin that felt as if it rubbed against her skin.
For the first time in a very long time, Valerie felt excited by the prospect of the picture that he painted within her mind. Her body seemed to kick up a gear – something else that it never did – or hadn’t in a good many years.
She felt a rush of heat in her blood that filled her body from head to toe as all of those old feelings came to life within her.
Sex – dear Goddess – could I even contemplate that at my age?
I know they say that age is just a number, and that I’m supposed to be as old as I feel, but I feel very damn old.
I creek. My joints actually creak and grind and the thought of trying to get my legs around his hips… What if I pop a joint? And not the kind you smoke either. Wouldn’t that just go down well?
Would you mind stopping while we go to the emergency room? That would go down a treat.
Oh, it’s alright for him. Men don’t age like women do.
But then they don’t give birth either. Or carry around something inside of them that plays football with their internal organs or uses their ovaries as stress balls.
Not that they have ovaries, oh no, nothing much shrivels and dies inside of a man.
Sex — Pah! If I wanted to tie myself in knots, I could do yoga for seniors.
Maybe if I’d done yoga for seniors, I’d be able to wrap my legs around his damn hips… Too late to worry about that now.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”
Two bloody right I am!
Who wouldn’t? I mean, I’m not dead yet — that’s it, I’m not dead yet.
“Me naked — you naked…”
“I think you repulsed me at the thought of you naked,” she lied.
“Where’s your sense of adventure? Where’s your zest for life?” Quinn asked.
“They ran out of the door screaming when they met you,” Valerie tossed up a hand in frustration. “What do you want me to say? I’m old. Do I like being old? No. But we all get old. Things start to wear out or break.”
“I understand. So, you wrap yourself in cotton wool and hope for the best.”
Quinn got it. She was human and didn’t have a shifter’s healing blood.
“Wrap myself in cotton wool — no, apparently that’s Elizabeth’s job.” Valerie shrugged.
“Well, Elizabeth isn’t here now…” Quinn’s dark eyes twinkled with a mischievous light.
“So I’ll just assume the position then, shall I?” Valerie scowled back at the man.
“Well, I’d be up for that — but it seems a little sudden,” Quinn chuckled.
Valerie couldn’t hold onto the scowl as his words tickled her. She tried to hold on to the laughter within her and pretend that she was still angry at him, but that just wasn’t working for her either.
The sound of his mate’s chuckle heartened him. Life without a mate hadn’t been a bed of roses for him, not when he’d watched so many of his pack find their one true mate, but he had her now, and he wasn’t going to let her get away.
He’d do whatever he had to do to make her his.
~
~
~
“Could you at least get some clothes on?” Elizabeth was trying really hard not
to look up and down Rick’s naked body. But there were just bits and pieces of it that were like a magnet for her eyeballs.
“Finding it hard to concentrate?” Rick had her pegged, and there was little point in denying it.
“Something like that.”
“That’s a good thing.”
“Only in your world,” she offered back dryly as she folded her arms and huffed at him.
“Fine.” Rick went to turn away from her, but then he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “You’ll stay there?”
“Where am I going to go?”
She had a list of places that she’d much rather be — the Caribbean — somewhere hot where they served really large and very potent cocktails — or even the dark side of the moon.
But she had a feeling that trying to get away from him would be like dancing with bare feet on superglue — her actions would catch up with her eventually.
“If you run I will hunt you down.”
His tone wasn’t threatening, more of a warning, and she didn’t think that he’d meant it in a bad way. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t turn the knife — just a little.
“See — things like that don’t fill me with warm and fuzzy feelings of security where you’re concerned,” she offered back and watched as he twisted his head to one side, craned it forward, and inspected her face as if he expected to find the answers written there.
“Are you serious?”
“Well — no,” she offered back with a cheeky grin and a whole lot of mischief dancing in her eyes.
“There’s a time to have a sense of humor — this is that time,” Rick grumbled a growl.
“Well excuse me Mr grumpy – no pants.”
Rick went to open his mouth and say something, but instead, he just made a grunting sound. Then he turned and stalked away from her, shooting a look back over his shoulder to make sure that she was still standing there waiting for him.
Elizabeth hadn’t moved from the spot and with good reason. Her attention had been drawn elsewhere, and she could hardly believe her eyes.
Rick followed her gaze and turned to see the man standing at the edge of the woods. He wasn’t pack, and he certainly wasn’t there for the senior mating weekend.
He was Rick’s age, not as brawny, but still, he had a decent build on his tall frame and was what Rick thought most women considered handsome.
Worst of all, he knew his mate.
Rick hated the guy already.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
~
“Robert!” Elizabeth couldn’t believe her eyes.
It wasn’t as if she had just popped out to the corner shop and had run into him. That wouldn’t have felt so surreal; it happened all the time. But they were miles from home, and he was there — coincidence?
“Elizabeth?” Robert sounded both surprised and unsure.
“Robert?” Rick had the good sense to scent the air before he unleashed a growl. It was lucky that he had because the man was human.
“What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked.
Rick was torn. He was mindful that he was still naked and that it might have seemed odd to the human, and yet the overriding urge that he had wasn’t to get dressed but to grab the man by the scruff of the neck and escort him off pack land.
“I’m looking for a room…” Robert started to reply, but Rick couldn’t stop himself from jumping in with both feet.
“We’re full,” Rick said, and he wasn’t sure how he had the willpower to hold back another growl.
Robert turned his steely gaze onto Rick, and for one long moment, both men eyed each other. Rick noted the slight twitch of the man’s upper lip and the way his dark eyes narrowed on him.
“Is this how you greet all your guests?” Robert asked motioning with his hand to Rick’s naked body.
“I was in the tub,” Rick offered back.
It wasn’t a lie, he — sort of — had been, if only briefly and the wrong way up.
“More importantly,” Robert dismissed the man and returned his attention back towards Elizabeth. “What are you doing here?”
“Mother!” For one long moment, Elizabeth looked as if she had swallowed a wasp. “She likes it here.”
Elizabeth looked guilty. But she couldn’t exactly tell Robert that they were witches on shifter land and that she had brought her mother to a mating weekend, now could she?
“I can see why — it’s beautiful,” Robert didn’t take his eyes from Elizabeth, and that annoyed Rick even more.
“And we’re very busy,” Rick offered. “Booked up for the next couple of months.” He lied.
“Can you recommend anywhere else locally that I could get a room?” Robert asked.
“No.”
Elizabeth could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.
“I don’t suppose I could bunk on your floor?” Robert asked Elizabeth, and she swallowed down hard at the sound of a low growl that came from Rick’s direction.
“I’m in with mother.” She lied again. She hated lying, but needs must, and the need to get Robert away from Rick offered her an incentive to do so.
“Three’s a crowd,” Robert chuckled.
Rick berated himself for allowing a growl out the first time. But the sound of the man’s deep chuckle’s annoyed him to the point where he had to bite down on another growl of annoyance.
His beast was close to the surface. The wolf didn’t like the human any more than he did.
Sure, it could have been jealousy raising its ugly head, and it probably was, but that didn’t stop his wolf from wanting to burst free and chase the man clean across pack land. That wouldn’t go down well with anyone, least of all his mate.
The pair seemed friendly. Even if Elizabeth did look as if she was a rabbit caught in the man’s headlights.
If Rick had to hazard a guess, then he would have said that she was reacting to the situation that she found herself in. The man was human — he very much doubted that he knew of witches and shifters — and all the things that went bump in the night.
“Something like that,” Rick offered back.
“I’m sorry, do you two know each other?” Robert asked as he motioned between the mates.
“Something like that,” Elizabeth offered before Rick had a chance to reply. She grimaced just a little at the thought of ever being able to explain her situation to a regular human.
“Internet dating?” Robert grinned. But that grin looked forced and fake to Rick.
“Oh — what? No!” Elizabeth rushed out the words before her brain had a chance to catch up. When both men turned their attention towards her Elizabeth grimaced once more. “Awkward.” She muttered.
“You should go,” Rick bit out and drew Robert’s attention back towards him. “It’s a long drive to the next inn, and you don’t want to tackle these roads in the dark.”
“It really is,” Elizabeth offered.
“Right – well…” Robert hesitated.
In Rick’s opinion, the man didn’t look as if he wanted to go anywhere. That didn’t work for the enforcer, and he hated the fact that he needed to hold himself in check rather than running the man off.
Whoever the guy was, and whatever his relationship to Elizabeth, Rick didn’t like him one little bit, and he didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. But distance was a relative thing, and Rick had a mind to stand on top of a cliff and toss the guy into the sea.
~
~
~
“Would you slow down?” Angela grumbled as she followed Dorothy through the hallway and into the kitchen.
“There’s one I haven’t heard in a while,” Dorothy shot a look back over her shoulder in surprise, but when she turned back to look into the kitchen, she saw Quinn at the stove and Valerie sitting on one of the stools at the countertop.
Dorothy unexpectedly hit the brakes, and Angela slammed into her back.
“I said slow down not dead stop,” Angela grumbled.
“Lovebirds at six o�
�clock,” Dorothy hissed out in a whisper that was so loud that the mates heard her.
“Lovebirds…” Valerie scoffed at the very idea.
“What’s wrong with that?” Quinn asked, raising his eyebrows in a playful challenge to his mate.
“Apart from the fact it’s Quinn?” Angela whispered in Dorothy’s ear, and the woman swatted her head like she was an annoying fly.
“Go heavy breathe in your mate’s ear,” Dorothy hissed back on a hard shiver.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Angela tossed back.
“Should we subtly retreat?” Dorothy hissed.
“You do subtle now?” Angela shot back.
“I do; don’t bust my chops or I’ll zap you,” Dorothy hissed. “How’s that sound?”
“Like you’re having a senior moment again. We don’t zap family – except our mates because they’re male – and Monty – and Chloe…”
“So, basically everyone?” Dorothy whispered.
“Well…?” Angela paused for thought. “Sure…”
“So, I can zap you.” Dorothy smiled back over her shoulder and Angela groaned inwardly.
“Come in, ladies. The more, the merrier,” Valerie said.
“I think three’s a crowd and that’ll make four, so…” Quinn said.
“So, I vote Quinn leaves,” Angela said.
“Seconded,” Dorothy added with enthusiasm.
“Fine,” Quinn growled. “Come in.”
“Never fails,” Dorothy informed Valerie, and the witch chuckled.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
“So, how did you find your way here?” Elizabeth asked as she walked along behind Robert who was leading the way back towards the inn. Rick was at her side – there was just something about the man that didn’t sit right with him.
“I’m guessing he drove,” Rick said, his tone dripping with sarcasm and annoyance that they still had to suffer the displeasure of the man’s company. He wanted to be alone with his mate.
“Well, I certainly didn’t walk,” Robert chuckled back.