by M. L. Briers
Well, now that he’d scratched that itch he wanted more – so much more that he was in danger of losing his mind if he didn’t stop. He’d said he’d give her time, even though she hadn’t agree to stay, and he would… The trouble was… he really didn’t want to stop…
Then she melted. The squeaking stopped. Her lips became more pliant, and finally she kissed him right back.
It was the beginning of the end for his self-control. He ran his free hand down over her hip at the same time as he pressed his tongue against the seam of her lips, and she opened for him – accepted him, and as he tasted her for the very first time – she tasted him right back…
It was the sound of the hungry growl that rumbled through his chest that woke her to what she was doing. She could have willingly stayed right where she was, doing what came naturally, what fate had intended of them, but the alarm bells that cautioned her were enough to snap her out of the moment, and that was when Jake felt her tense beneath him.
Jake didn’t want to admit to the fact that she was pulling away from him – leaving the moment between them when nothing else mattered but the two of them and building a bridge between them, a connection. He much preferred the feeling of her all soft and melting against him, but that moment was gone now, and he knew it.
“You were right there with me and then you slipped away.” Jake whispered as he buried his face against her hair, nuzzled between her neck and shoulder, and was taking in her sweet scent at source.
“I’m not going to apologise for coming to my senses and putting the brakes on, Jake.” Her words were just a breathless whisper upon her lips. “One moment I’m zapping you and throwing you across the room, and the next…”
“I prefer the next.” He pushed his weight up onto one elbow and pulled back enough to look down at her. Her lips were blood red from his kisses and her eyes were a little hooded, and he liked that look on her.
“I’m sure you do.”
“You don’t?” He teased and saw a frown flash onto her forehead before it went again.
“I prefer to be in control of myself.”
That wasn’t a new revelation to him. He’d already figured that one out for himself. But just how soft she had become, just how giving of herself she was with him – that was definitely something that he wanted to explore.
“Sometimes giving up control has its own rewards.” He smiled, a wicked smile that lit his dark eyes and made her heart tap against her ribs and give her pause for thought as to whether she should have ended their encounter so soon.
“Says the alpha.” She grinned a wicked grin right back at him, her eyes full of mischief, and he couldn’t help but growl again, even if it did lodge in his throat as he tried to resist the urge to taste her lips once more.
“I thought we were both alpha’s here. I guess we both have to learn to give a little and lose control a lot.”
His words were more than tempting to her ears. Her body was still humming with his presence and she could so easily have given into the moment again.
“Can I have my hands back?”
His eyes quickly flicked up to where he had captured her. In truth, he hadn’t noticed that he still had a hold on her there. With the rest of his body touching hers it wasn’t the only place that elicited a physical response from inside of him, and there were so many to try to keep up with that he’d just accepted them as one whole.
“Are you going to zap me and throw me off the bed again?” He was more than playful, he was downright glowing with mirth and mischief.
“I might well do, but take the chance, walk the line, live on the edge of reason for a while.” She threw out the challenge and heard another rumble in his chest.
He released her wrists – but the feel of his fingertips running down over the soft skin of her arms sent a shiver right down her spine and a big old jolt of something delicious right to her womb… He saw her lips part on a breath and wanted to claim them for his own again…
“The question is, Lizzy, how close to the line do you want to get?” He teased her again, but his eyes were dark and that hungry growl was still rumbling through him.
“I never said I wanted to walk the line.” She gave a soft laugh, but he could see it in her face, the attraction, the desire – she wanted him almost as much as he wanted her, and it was the almost that he would be working on until he had wooed her for his mate.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“I’m not sleeping in here. It’s hinky – downright creepy…” Melody scowled as her eyes constantly flicked around Richie’s bedroom looking for any more manifestations.
“You’re a witch.” He offered back with a teasing smile and she scowled harder.
“And that gives ghosts a right to just pop up like that?” She snorted her contempt for that idea. “Pah!”
“Aren’t you guys all supposed to be into that sort of thing?” Richie pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He had an urge to reach out and touch her, but he got the feeling that would only lead to sore balls again.
“Where’d you hear that, Mutt school?” Melody shot back without putting her brain into gear, and it was the low rumble of a growl that rolled towards her that made her rethink her words.
“I’m not a mutt, I’m a Lycan.” It was Richie’s turn to frown now.
“Sorry. I guess I’m a little creeped out.” She looked suitably contrite.
“Well you don’t have to worry. I’ll sleep in here with you.” He shrugged that idea off one shoulder and she balked.
“That’s not…” She shook her head fast.
“Just sleep.” His hands were out of his pockets and in front of his chest in a heartbeat. “I can control myself-”
“I doubt that.” She scoffed.
“You don’t trust me?” Richie was frowning again.
“I don’t know you.” Melody bit back.
“Fine. Point taken. So, let’s neither of us sleep. We can spend the night sitting up and getting to know each other.”
“So the mating pull has more effect.” She eyed him with a big dose of suspicion.
“Point taken – again. But you know that the mating pull is going to strengthen no matter what we do, right?”
Melody looked like a kid that had a need to kick a can. She mulled that over, pulling faces as she went.
“Yeah.” She finally admitted on a small sigh.
“Am I really that bad?” He chuckled then, and she brought her eyes up to his, gave a small wince, and then just shrugged her shoulders. “Actually, that works for me. The worse you think I am and the more you get to know me, the more you’ll like me, because, baby – I’m not the big bad wolf.”
~
~
~
Elizabeth shot upright in bed and almost fell off the edge of the mattress at the sound that echoed within her brain and rattled her nerves. When both feet hit something hard that wasn’t the floor – she jumped again at the sound of the gruff yelp that came from beneath her feet.
“What the hell is going on?” She snapped out, wrenching her feet up and wedging them against the mattress as she blinked a few times to rid her eyes of their sleep filled glaze.
“You stood on me.” Jake pushed up to a sitting position and twisted his head on his neck to take her in – she was back to scowling at him again.
“Why are you here? – Why are you on the floor? – And what in God’s name was that damn awful sound?” She bit back each and every question.
“I’m guessing you’re not a morning person-” He grunted as he pushed up to his hands and knees on the floor and then sat back on his ankles.
“This is not morning.”
“This is morning for people who don’t live in the city.”
“Well more fool them…” the sound echoed off the walls inside the room and grated on her brain.
“A rooster on wolf land!” She almost choked on that.
“They come from next doors farm – we try not to ea
t them, but…” he shrugged a shoulder. “Sometimes our beasts get carried away.”
The rooster went off again – like a grenade inside of her mind. He was right, she wasn’t a morning person, and a rooster was a definite no-no in her book.
“You’ll eat Bambi and his mother – cute cotton tailed little bunnies, but this… thing…” she motioned towards the window. “That is an affront to alarm clocks everywhere. This you won’t eat?”
“It’s the guy’s living.” Jake sighed as he rolled his head on his neck and stretched out his limbs.
“If you go silence the damn thing I’ll mate with you.” She spat out without even putting her brain into gear before the words had popped out of her mouth. He was up on his feet in a heartbeat and heading for the door when she realised what she’d done…
“Deal.” He growled over his shoulder and she panicked.
“I never said when… exactly!” She almost shrieked.
Jake turned then. One hand on the door handle as he shot her a sexy grin over his shoulder, and it was then that she noted the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt… His muscles were so well defined under his tanned skin that she had the urge to reach out and run her fingertips over them…
“I can wait.” He had the sexiest damn grin that she had ever seen in her life, and she groaned inwardly… not at the bargain that she had just managed to inadvertently make, but at the thought of paying up on it… her body was practically humming at the thought.
“I…” She held out her hand towards him, feeling as if she’d just made a pact with the devil himself, but he was already gone.
A grimace took a hold of her face and she let her eyes wander the ceiling as she held that pose… A moment later and she heard what sounded like a squawk from outside the bedroom window… She dropped her head into her hands and groaned.
“I’m an evil – evil person who is going to go right to hell. No passing go, no collecting two hundred…” She groaned again as she tossed her body down on the bed… then the sound of another squawk made her snap upright…
“He lives!” She declared as she rushed to push up from the bed and ran across the room to the bedroom window. Her hands wrenched the glass barrier upwards and the cold morning air blasted her head on…
“Fecking ice bunnies!” She groaned – taking a breath and shoving her upper body outside to get a good view of the area…
There he was – Mr Rooster – flapping his wings and running around like a headless chicken… or not as the case maybe, because the wolf that was chasing after him wasn’t as small and as agile, and little Mr Rooster was finding all of those little hiding spots that the big old alpha wolf couldn’t get into…
“Hey! Rambo!” She shouted, and the wolf’s head snapped up to look at her, twisting his head on his neck just like Jake had not five minutes earlier. “Leave the poor little thing alone!” She snapped.
She was sure that Jake’s wolf gave her a questioning whimper – It reminded her of Scooby Doo, and she couldn’t help but chuckle at the sound.
“How to confuse a wolf…” She giggled to herself as the beast stood stock still looking somewhat confused, or as confused as a wolf could look.
With that the rooster shot out from under the back of the porch and took off across the grass. The wolf’s head snapped around on its neck and a second later it shot off after it.
“Now you stop that!” She scolded him as the wolf turned to look up at her and ran smack bang into the washing pole with a loud clang… “Whoops…” she whispered and giggled some more, unable to fight the amusement that soared through her…
Jake’s beast didn’t sound too pleased. The rooster was now safely under the back of a pickup truck and his wolf was shaking off the impact with the pole…
Then he shifted, and she snatched her head back on her neck at the sight of him. Naked as the day is long and with a body that would rival any bodybuilder in one of those fancy city gym… But that wasn’t what held her attention – her eyes locked onto the hard length of him, thick and jutting away from his body like it was tempting her, and if she’d been down there with him, she might just have been mightily tempted…
“You want it dead – you don’t want it dead… do you have a decision making disorder?” Jake’s gruff voice snapped her attention back to his face.
“Maybe.” She grinned down at him, wiggling her eyebrows for extra effect.
“Choose.” He growled.
“Catch it.” She challenged him.
“Then what?” He asked.
“Give it back to the idiot who keeps them…” she waved a dismissive hand in his direction.
“Catch it…” he shook his head in disbelief.
“You can’t catch it?” She teased and he scowled up at her.
“Oh, I can catch it.” He assured her. “But we had a deal.”
“Deal stands – if you don’t hurt it.” She added that little clause to her challenge, and he blew out another sigh.
“Catch a damn rooster.” He shook his head again.
“This I have to see.” Mitchell announced from the side of the house. He rested his shoulder against the wall and folded his arms across his chest, a definite smirk upon his lips.
“Can you not?” Jake growled at the man.
“Not what?” Mitchell tossed back.
“Be you.” Jake growled… just then the rooster shot out from under the truck, making a wild break for freedom…
“Get it – get it!” Elizabeth shouted and Jake’s head snapped around and his body followed as he spotted the mini beast making a break for it.
He took off on fast feet, but the rooster was faster, and the little critter ended up back under the porch again…
“Yes, get it!” Mitchell chuckled, enjoying his friend’s misery as Jake growled, grunted, and grumbled at the missed opportunity.
“Would you shut up?” Jake growled out and Elizabeth snorted.
“Well if that’s how you feel!” She declared.
“Not you – him!” Jake snarled at the vampire and Mitchell put a hand to his chest in disbelief.
“How is this my fault Mr Snarly?”
“Well, if you’d shut up and let me get the damn stupid thing for the damn witch then-” He heard her squeak in a breath and bit down on his stupidity. Grimacing for a heartbeat before he turned to look up at her. Her mouth was open and her eyes were glaring. “That came out wrong.”
“Or was it a Freudian slip?” Mitchell offer unhelpfully and Jake growled as he shot him a death glare over his shoulder before turning back towards her. She was leaning out of the window again – her hands braced on the ledge.
“I’m with the vampire on this – there’s something I’d never thought I’d admit to.” She grumbled before snatching her body back inside, reaching up for the window…
“We had a…” Jake started, but she slammed the window back into place. “Deal.” He finished lamely. Then he slowly turned back towards Mitchell and the vampire raised just one eyebrow… “Y-o-u…” He growled.
“This was not of my doing.” Mitchell held his hands up in mock surrender against his chest as Jake took a long step towards him. Then the rooster broke for freedom once more and Mitchell’s hand shot out… “There he goes – go get him!”
Jake’s head whipped around and his body followed. Instinct told him to get the damn rooster, and his wolf might have wanted to chase the damn thing up and down dale, but he just wanted to wring the damn things neck… not that he would, because his mate had said to capture and not kill…
He growled in earnest. Some days he wished he was just an Omega.
The rooster looked like it could run for days, and Jake knew that he just didn’t have that amount of time to offer up to capturing a damn bird. So he took the chance and launched himself at the creature, his hand landed on the beast’s back, and he grimaced at the sound of its squawk…
“Can’t even capture a damn shrieking bird!” He heard her grumble, even though the c
losed window. The bird might have been protesting, but now that he had it – he wasn’t letting go…
“It’s good to see you putting your alpha skills to good use.” Mitchell chuckled, and boy did Jake had the urge to put his fist right in the man’s face, not just once, but repeatedly.
He pushed upwards and scooped the bird towards him, holding the protesting bird at arms length as he sighed.
“One captured, not killed, birdie.” Jake looked somewhat pleased with himself… And then a loud scream echoed through the walls of the house and he thrust the bird at the vampire. “Hold this.” He turned on his heels and took off into the house.
“I don’t want it!” Mitchell tossed the bird away. “Go – be free – wake her again in the morning.” He chuckled at the sight of the rooster taking off as fast as his stick thin legs could carry him.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“What the hell happened?” Jake panted as he got to the top of the stairs to find everyone else had gotten there before him.
He stood beside Melody at the doorway to Ed’s room and peered inside – his mate was standing there with her sister and all the colour had left Belle’s cheeks…
“I opened the damn bathroom door and there it was – right there – waiting for me – like it knew I was gonna pee.” Belle grumbled and huffed at the memory.
“It’s not there now.” Ed growled out, turning from the bathroom and stalking back towards his mate. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
Melody rolled her eyes away from Belle’s naked mate and encountered Jake. Very naked, and standing right next to her…
“Stop staring at me.” Jake frowned down at the little witch, sensing her eyes on him and finding her scowling at him when he looked.
“Don’t you people have clothes?” She hissed.
Richie reached out, wrapped his arm around her, and moved her to stand on the other side of him. He eyed Jake as his top lip twitch in annoyance.
“Says the woman who dances around at bonfires naked.” Jake snorted, and her head snapped out from around Richie as she glared him right in the eye.