by M. L. Briers
His beast rumbled a growl within him, and he let it roll through his chest… It sounded, needy, as if he’s smelled breakfast and he was just realising that he was hungry.
“That’s Ash, he’s sensitive about how he smells.” Connor raised his finger to his lips and teased her wish his eyes.
Ash scowled and lowered his chin towards his chest to sniff himself.
“What’s his problem?” Scarlett scowled at the shifter.
“You.” Connor sighed inwardly and outwardly. Both Ash and Scarlett snapped their heads to stare at him, and then he groaned.
“Come again?” Scarlett asked and another, hungrier growl rumbled in Ash’s chest…
“You might want to rephrase that.” Connor chuckled, and watched a she snapped her eyes towards the shifter and narrowed them on him…
Ash eyed her right back.
“O.” Gracie said, then she snapped to awareness. “Uh-oh!” She tossed her hand up to her mouth and covered her grin, but her eyes sparkled with amusement, until Scarlett snapped her head around and questioned her with her gaze. “Oops.” Gracie leaned in a little towards her, eyebrows raised, as she urged her friend to see what she saw.
“Can you not just spit it ou…” Something snapped on in Scarlett’s mind the moment that Ash set one foot towards her.
Her head snapped back around and she drew her whole body backwards as if he was a rattlesnake that was about to strike…
“Ooooohhhh!” She gasped. Her eyes widened, her mouth fell open, and she took a long step back. “No – O – no –way!” She hissed and recoiled from his approach… wagging her finger at him.
“I need to scent you now.” Ash twisted his head on his neck and gave her a sideways glance as if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for her to attack, and as he took more step towards her, so she took more back away from him…
Right up to the point where her backside was up against the counter and she had nowhere to go. Although, for one long moment there, Connor thought that the woman might jump climb on up onto the counter top and down the other side…
“Easy there, bear.” Connor cautioned.
Ash paid the vampire no mind. He was focused on one thing and one thing only – her scent.
He wanted to take it at source. He needed to take it at source.
His bear was clawing and baying for the full unadulterated scent of their mate without the mix of everything else in the air around them.
Candles. Incense. Another witch, and the damn vampire’s stink clouding, tainting her true scent.
No, he had to have it.
Scarlett arched her back over the counter top as Ash stood toe to toe with her. He slapped down one big hand on the counter surface on either side of her body, and braced himself for what was to come.
“Now, let’s not be…” Scarlett started to protest. She wanted to zap him and run – or run and zap him. Either way – she wasn’t thrilled with this turn of events.
“Do not move.” Ash growled out the warning. His bear needed this and would go to quite considerable lengths to obtain that pure scent…
Ash just needed her to comply for a few more seconds…
“That’s not…” Scarlett warned with a quick shake of her head and a rush of heat through her body that could have been caused by his proximity or the fact that several jolts of pure unadulterated excitement shot through her… either way she wasn’t happy.
Ash dipped his head and nuzzled between her neck and her shoulder as she tried to squish them together. She tried to sidestep, but his strong arm blocked the way, and then she felt that breath being draw against her neck as even her toes tingled in anticipation…
“Mine.” Ash growled into her skin. Then he pulled back slightly and breathed out a hot breath that felt like a caress against her ear.
Scarlett’s stomach flopped over inside of her. She felt as if someone was trying to kick her in the back of the knees as her legs weakened and her head swam with everything that was happening, with dread and panic…
And then, as only Scarlett could dare to do… She headbutted him, and caught him right on the bridge of his nose…
It was fair to say that Ash had not been expecting that. She was female… Not a shifter female either.
Who did that?
He yelped at the pain that shot through his face and the feeling like she’d thrust ice picks through his eyeballs, and he slapped of his both hands over his nose as he stumbled back in shocked surprise…
“What the hell, woman?” Ash demanded, but the sound of Connor’s whoop of laughter only made the pain seem worse…
“Ouch!” Scarlett’s hand went up to her forehead, and although she hated to admit it – that might just have hurt her way more than it hurt him.
She’d headbutted people before, of course she had. She was of proud Scottish ancestry and it was like a right of passage in Scotland… She’d just never encountered anyone with a head like a brick wall before – but then she’d never headbutted the supernatural before either.
Ash dropped his hands to his sides and took another long step towards her. His nose was bleeding and the skin around his eyes were turning a funny shade of purple and black that almost matched her hair, but his only interest was for his mate’s safety…
“Are you alright?” He demanded, starting to reach for her, when she sidestepped him, and scowled up at him.
“No, I’m not alright!” She hissed out. “Thick headed bear.” She grumbled.
“Who does that? Who headbutts someone?” He snapped back with a rumble of a deep growl within his chest.
“I do – get over it.” She snapped back. “What the hell is your head made of, brick?”
“You’d think.” Connor chuckled.
“Fix her!” Ash turned dark eyes on the vampire.
“You look like a damn racoon.” Connor chuckled.
“I don’t need fixing.” Scarlett snapped. “Certainly not by him. But if you take one more step towards me I might just fix you so that you never have cubs.”
Ash swallowed down hard. Cubs. And spoken from his mate’s lips…
He felt another rush of panic within him. He hadn’t even thought of little ankle biters running around…
Now he had a mate and cubs were a real possibility on the not so distance horizon…
What the hell was happening to him? He’d been single and loving it not half an hour ago!
“Congratulations, daddy bear.” Connor slapped him on the back, chuckling in amusement at the sight of Ash floundering so badly…
“I haven’t even touched her yet!” Ash rushed out.
“And you never will!” Scarlett snapped back.
CHAPTER SIX
~
Scarlett’s words sounded both good and bad to Ash’s brain.
No mate.
No cubs.
No commitments.
And yet, somewhere deep within his psyche he felt himself pine for the loss of all of those things that hadn’t even happened yet. That he’d never even known he really wanted.
Of course he wanted them. It was written into his damn DNA.
He was a bear by nature, and he wanted his mate to keep him company, for now – forever.
But her?!
The woman had headbutted him for God sake. Females did not do that!
He had to be thankful that she hadn’t gotten him in the balls, he supposed that would have been worse. But the headbutt had still felt like an attack on his manly pride…
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
He guess he’d overwhelmed her. He reasoned that he should have given her a little time, a little warning before he just stepped in and took her scent like that.
She was a witch.
She was a human.
She was an irrational female.
“C-o-n-g-r-a-t-u-l-a-t-i-o-n-s.” Gracie didn’t know whether to laugh and clap her hands in glee, or cry for the loss of another friend to the clan.
&nbs
p; Finding a soul mate was the stuff of dreams, and yet she knew that Scarlett wasn’t blessed with the romance gene. She’d been a tomboy since she’d shot out of her mother’s womb, fists clenched, by all accounts, and she’d never changed.
Scarlett was a brawler, which was quite good considering the company that she was about to start hanging out with.
Gracie half smiled and half grimaced at her friend as Scarlett turned her angry eyes onto her, a deep scowl had brought her eyebrows right down over her dark eyes, and beneath the red mark on her forehead where she’d headbutted the bear, and to say that she didn’t look so happy would have been an epic understatement.
“O-r not.” Gracie gave her an apologetic shrug off her shoulders.
“And now the even better news.” Connor announced and all eyes flicked to him. “Gracie, you’re a mate too.”
Connor saw the news go down like a lead balloon. The woman seemed to buzz and fizz with excitement – for all of a few seconds until his words hit home, and then she deflated and the smile slowly slid away from her face…
“W-hat?” She grimaced a smile. Connor grimaced one right back at her. “Who…?” Gracie gave a small shake of her head, as if she just couldn’t understand what was happening now…
“Not me and not him.” Connor offered, but she was still shaking her head. “I’ll explain all on the road, but we need to get you back to clan land…”
“Wait.” Gracie went to take a step forward and then, realising that Connor was still a vampire, and she was still unsure of him, she held in place. “It’s a little sudden, right?”
“Right.” Connor offered back. “Mates usually are.”
“I should think on…” Gracie waved a hand in the air.
First Gemma, then Scarlett, and now her…?
What the hell was happening?
“No – no.” Connor waved her words away. “Thinking really is overrated.”
“So are vampires but you’re still here.” Scarlett bit back.
“It’s been a couple of days since your mate scented you…” Connor offered to Gracie and she frowned. “I do hate to rush you, but if we don’t get back soon he might go a little…” Connor paused for effect and to try to find the right word. “Psycho the beast.”
He thought he’d give it to her straight. She deserved that much, and he’d probably only slip up and spit it out on the route back.
No, it was better that she was forewarned so that she knew what she was walking into when they got back. Ethan was already, well, Ethan, and he hated to think how far the man could slip and how quickly it could happen.
Time was on the essence – complicated only by Ash finding his mate.
Now that was something that Connor had not expected, and Connor was happy for the man, even if the man couldn’t quite be happy for himself just yet…
“Well… that’s… I… this… we… I… can…?” Gracie couldn’t quite peg exactly what it was she wanted to say first – so her brain just started to spit out random words. It happened a lot when she got sucker punched, and boy had she not seen that coming.
“You’re coming home with me.” Ash demanded, and Scarlett oh-so-slowly twisted her head around on her neck to look at him – that look turned to a stare – and that stare turned into a glare…
Ash’s bear clawed to get out. Ash himself was in two minds of whether to take his chances and bolt for the door – run and keep running and never turn to look over his shoulder, not even once. Take his chances on what would become of him without his mate…
And all because that look upon her face that said she wanted to rip him a new one…
And then there was that part of him that wanted to go to her, toss her up and over his shoulder, take her home to his bear cave, and get to know every last inch of her with his tongue, his hands…
And all because that was in his damn DNA.
If his own mate hadn’t already of headbutted him then he might have run headlong into the nearest brick wall… just to see what rattled loose.
“Pick a window…” Scarlett said. Her voice was quiet but very, very firm. Ash looked confused. “You’re leaving.” Scarlett said and the vampire roared with laughter.
It had been a long time since he’d heard someone make that statement. And there she was, a little thing of a woman, a witch, offering to throw him through a window… The trouble was that she was a witch, and probably could have done it quite easily.
“While I’d love nothing better than to stay here and watch you two hyper each other into a frenzy…” Connor took a long step to get between the mates. “We have a bear to save and a mate to deliver.” Connor eyed Ash, and the man didn’t look too happy – he very much doubted his beast was happy either.
“I’m not leaving her behind.” Ash growled.
“I never said you had too.” Connor offered.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Scarlett tossed back, and Conor rolled his eyes in his head and turned his gaze towards the stubborn witch.
“Now, let’s not rush to judgement on something you might regret.” Connor reasoned and she snorted her contempt for him and his words.
“I like regrets. They give you something to think about.” Scarlett shot back and Connor opened his mouth to speak, and then thought about it…
“Well, ok. I can’t argue away the logic in that statement, but it’s still better to not have too many regrets.”
“I like to think.” Scarlett tossed back.
“Well, I like to feed on people, we can’t always get what we want, now can we?” Connor shot back to the sound of a muffled gasp from Gracie. “Not you. I don’t want to feed on you.”
“Good, because I don’t think I’d taste very good – I think I’m getting a cold.” Gracie offered back and Connor groaned inwardly.
None of this was going anywhere close to the way that he’d planned on the journey up there. And he had a feeling that the journey back was going to feel so much longer…
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“I have to go with them.” Gracie announced to a rather pleased vampire, but Scarlett shot her a questioning look.
“Because they said so?” Scarlett asked and Gracie gave a small chuckle.
“Not even close.” She offered. “Because if fate was nice enough to give me a mate then I can’t exactly turn my back on him and let him go all…” She looked at Connor for confirmation of what he’d said before.
“Psycho the beast.” Connor offered.
“Yes.” She pointed a finger at the vampire. “Thank you…” She turned back to Scarlett. “Psycho the beast bear doesn’t really say much about the type of person I want to be, now does it?”
“I’m me. I don’t aspire to being anything but me.” Scarlett shrugged.
“Well, good for you.” Gracie turned back towards Connor. “If you try to eat me enroute I will not be best pleased and I will not hold back from frying your backside.” She warned him.
“Understood.” Connor didn’t want to waste time explaining to her that he wouldn’t dream of sampling her blood. He didn’t know if she’d believe him or not, but there was little time to get back to Ethan – they either trusted each other or they didn’t.
“I’m…” Scarlett scowled at Ash.
The man was a bear shifter alright. Big and built like an outhouse. Probably more muscle than brain, and with a temper to boot… and yet his eyes were part panic stricken and part soulful…
“I’m only going to make sure Gracie gets there in one piece and that this psycho bear doesn’t kill her when she gets there.” Scarlett told a half-truth.
She wasn’t opposed to grabbing life by the balls and taking it out for a spin just to see where she would end up… This felt like of those times, and she knew that the big guy was going to try to woo her, but she guessed that was all part of fate’s journey…
The most important thing was Gracie, and she’d kick herself up the road and down again if anything happened to her that
she could have stopped.
“If that’s what you want to tell yourself, and that’s it’s not your attraction to me…” Ash started his charm offensive…
“You.” Scarlett pointed a warning finger at him. “Need to be quiet.” She scowled at him, and Ash grinned at her, like he knew something that she didn’t.
“I can do that.” Ash’s eyes lit up with amusement, but she wasn’t smiling back at him.
Scarlett didn’t know if this was the worst idea that she’d ever had, but she thought that it probably came within the top five. She only hoped that they’d live to regret it.
~
~
~
“I’m hungry.” Connor announced from the front seat of the truck once they’d been on the road a good few hours. He’d offered to sit bear – girl – vamp – girl, to give the mates a chance to ride up front together, but the look of sheer horror in Gracie’s eyes and the quick snort of contempt from Scarlett had put paid to that idea. So he got to ride shotgun with the bear.
“Seriously, I’m not watching you suck a human, dude.” Scarlett ground out. “And witch blood is off the menu, but there’s one among us that might feed your fancy.”
Ash’s eyes snapped to the rear view mirror and the face of his mate, smirking back at him.
“Him, thanks I’ll pass.” Connor bit out to the sound of a low rumble that Ash was trying to keep contained within him.
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus though.” Ash didn’t take his eyes from hers, and now they were practically sparkling with amusement.
“I don’t think you should eat people.” Gracie frowned. Just the thought of it made a shiver run her spine.
“I never said I wanted human or any other type of blood. I said I was hungry. I’m still a man, I still eat food – just ask my mate.” Connor hated the fact that vampires had such a bad reputation. Sure, there were some bad ones, but there were some good ones too, and he’d been good for a very, very, long time… ish.
“If he sucks a human I’m going to freak out…” Gracie shot a look at Scarlett.