by M. L. Briers
“I don’t want you doing anything stupid that will put you in danger.”
“Stupid is her middle name.” Belle’s voice drifted into the room as she strolled down the hallway towards her own bedroom, not even stopping to look inside.
“Nice, Belle, thanks.” Melody bit out, stretched her head on her neck to try to see around Richie, but it was impossible, the man was a mountain all on his own.
“I mean it, Melody.” Richie growled, bringing her attention right back to him – Her whole body swayed closer to him, and he growled again, and then she swayed back again…
“I hear you.”
“And yet you still haven’t agreed.” Richie reached up and touched her cheek and she swayed once more – this time he took it as an invitation, wrapping one strong arm around her waist and pulling her closer.
Melody’s hands palmed his chest and her whole body felt that rush of heat, the buzz, the tingle that started at her hands and spread on fast wings over her skin. She didn’t just hear that low, deep rumble of a growl, she felt it beneath her palms too.
She couldn’t tell herself that she didn’t like it, because she did. She couldn’t tell herself that it wasn’t right, because it was a heady feeling that swept her up and made her want more.
“I can’t agree.” She looked down at his chest save looking in his eyes.
Those dark eyes didn’t just excite her they told her everything that he was feeling and mirrored her own emotions, her own feelings, and she didn’t know if she was ready to accept all of that yet.
He hooked his index finger under her chin and brought her head up – her eyes to his – she felt a jolt deep within her womb that she couldn’t deny either.
“Don’t turn me into a lurky stalker.” He teased her. The amusement within his eyes was one thing, but that sexy grin was something else entirely, and she melted against the raging fire that swept through her blood.
Melody didn’t care if she thought – or he thought – that she was losing her mind. She pushed upwards onto her toes and with a deep, hungry growl; he leaned down to meet her.
His lips were warm, soft, and very, very tempting. She wanted more – so much more in a way that she had never conceived possible before.
Richie’s arm tightened around her body, bringing every inch of her that he possibly could, up close and personal. Her breasts pressed against his chest and her nipples ached at the touch – the low sound of a moan got caught within her throat and Richie’s ears pricked up at the sound.
Her lips parted and he deepened the kiss. The taste of her on his tongue was enough to send his body into freefall and his beast into an attack of the vapours.
He needed to concentrate on holding back the beast within while revelling in having her in his arms – It wasn’t an easy thing to do, but he was somehow managing it.
Melody didn’t think it would be so easy to lose herself within another person, but there she was, living proof that passion, desire, and pure unadulterated lust could win the day. If she’d been a she-wolf then she would have growled with a vengeance at just how good he felt, how good she felt within his arms.
She had to question if her wait and see approach had been all it was cracked up to be. Belle had jumped in with two feet and no brain and mated with her soul mate without blinking an eyelid.
She wasn’t Belle, but she was lost in him, in them together, and she didn’t have the slightest thought about finding a lifeline to wrench herself to shore.
Her hands had a mind of their own. She’d wanted to know how good his muscles would feel beneath her fingertips and now she was finding out, and boy did they feel good – she’d never believed that her primal instinct would flow towards more muscles and less geek, and yet he was living proof…
Somewhere in the back of her mind she heard the loud thud of wood against wood as he tossed the bedroom door closed, and she didn’t much care. That damn ghost could have tapped her on the shoulder right then and she would have paid it no mind…
Richie’s large hand cupped the ample curves of her backside and he swept her up against him. At the very least he had expected her to tense, pull away from him, but when her legs wrapped around his hips and her sex pressed against his hard length, well he was in hog heaven.
The low, deep, constant growl that had rumbled through his chest was forced upwards into his throat and it sounded a lot hungrier to her ears now. Melody liked it – she didn’t know how or why, she just did, and she guessed that it had something to do with that primal feminine instinct within her again – that Tarzan and Jane scenario that appealed to her within the depths of her psyche.
Fate had trained her well.
Richie was playing his own internal game of whack – a – mole with his wolf. The beast was constantly trying to assert itself, pushing forward in a determined need to claim her as theirs, and he was constantly trying to batter it back again.
She hadn’t agreed to become his mate – hell, she hadn’t agreed to anything yet, and he wouldn’t step over the line with her until she did.
That didn’t mean that he was just going to let this opportunity to woo her slip through his fingers. She had pushed up on her toes and come to him, and he wasn’t about to walk away from that.
He wanted her more than she could ever imagine. Not just in bed – but that was a part of it too – he wanted her in his arms, in his life – not for now, but forever. One wrong move and she might take flight, and that he couldn’t allow to happen.
This was his life – their future – and he’d do everything within his power to make her happier than she had ever been before, but first he needed her to trust that he would. First he needed her to take that final step into the unknown with him, believe in him, have faith in him, and he wasn’t about to wreck that by going too fast, too soon.
But neither could he pull away from her. Not now that he was finally getting close to her, not now that she was finally letting him in.
The intermittent sound that kept coming from her was like SETI discovering an alien transmission. The more that she made it; the more he wanted to hear it.
He took a step or two towards the chest of drawers and reached out a hand to brush everything aside so that he could sit her down on top, freeing up his hands for other things. He wanted to take her to the bed, lay down with her, and do all of those X-rated things that were flashing through his mind – but for now, until she signalled otherwise, this was where she drew that imaginary line that he tiptoed across.
Richie needed to scent her – for his own gratification and to placate the beast that growled within him for more, and also to allow her to breathe. He released her lips and buried his face between her shoulder and her neck, taking in a deep breath full of scent and growling right along with his beast…
Mine…
When he felt her lips against his ear he revelled in the sensation, but when her blunt teeth clamped down on his ear lobe and she nipped… he almost lost his mind… He snatched his head back and growled long at hard at the beast within him that threatened to push forward.
Melody blinked once – twice – three times as she swallowed down hard. Her eyes widened as far as they could and she looked like a doe caught in the headlights.
“I did something wrong?” She swallowed again.
“You almost made my wolf push forward…” Richie answered without thinking and saw her swallow again, she was back to blinking.
“Like out here in the bedroom?” She sounded a little shrill at the thought of it, her eyes tried to scan the area, but he took up so much of her vision that she couldn’t really see much…
Richie reached up and cupped her face in the palm of his hands, bringing her eyes back to his, and trying to sooth her with just that touch. She swallowed again, looking more than a little nervous, and he had to chuckle.
“No.” He gave a small shake of his head just in case she wasn’t listening to his words – it seemed to do the trick, she seemed to relax a little. “I meant tha
t my fangs nearly came down with the urge to mark you, to claim you as mine-”
“O.” It was barely audible, but her lips formed the shape. Then she looked more than contrite, she looked downright embarrassed at the same time. “Ooooo.” Now she looked even more shocked – realising what he was telling her – the thought of being bitten, marked, and claimed as his pinging around inside of her brain…
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
~
Richie held his breath. He’d said the wrong thing, he knew he had the moment that it was out of his mouth, and from the look on her face – well, he figured that she was about to do one of two things – run – or tell him to get lost.
“It’s fine. I have it under control now.” He tried to assure her, sooth her, and she eased a little, but still eyed him for a long moment.
“So no biting.” She frowned.
“Not unless you want to get nipped back – maybe more – before I claim you as mine.” Richie’s words sunk right in through the haze of her mind, cloudy by the pounding of her heart and the rushing of adrenaline that mixed with desire inside of her.
It was the thought of mating with him – naked together – touching everywhere – the feel of his hard length inside of her that really sent wild thoughts through her mind. She wanted that – in that very instant – she knew that she wanted that, wanted him, and yet, she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
She wasn’t good with men, and this man was all male and no geek, and she especially didn’t know what to do with that. Normally, with the men that she dated they just kind of stumbled into sex… this man’s very presence was demanding it, and not in a bad way. It was just different from anything that she had ever known before.
“Got it.” She bit down on what she really wanted to say. She wanted to throw caution to the wind – go for it – embrace the future, her future, his future, them together…
“And I’ve got you…” He teased and two little ridges formed between her eyebrows as she tried to pull her mind back from panic to what he was saying. “The question is; what am I going to do with you now?”
Mine. His beast declared, and he could have rolled his eyes back in his head and growled at his beast at that moment in time, and yet he wasn’t about to risk doing that with how twitchy she was.
Melody’s lips parted but she didn’t make a sound. She wanted to be brave. In that moment; she wanted nothing more than to be Belle and jump in feet first – she just couldn’t seem to push the words out.
“Mel?” He spoke softly, giving her a verbal nudge. She gave a little grunt back. “This is where you answer.” He teased.
“I…” she took a breath, tilted her head to one saw and narrowed her eyes on him. Her mind was racing faster than her heartbeat.
“Good start…” He teased again and she frowned harder.
Then everything seemed to snap into place. Her head snapped upright. Her eyes focused on his. And her lips finally worked.
“Mate. Bond. Go for it.” She declared with a nod of her head.
Richie had to wonder if his ears were playing tricks on him, but it was the look in her eyes – a definite agreement with what he’d thought he’d heard that sent his beast into a tailspin and his body into heightened alert for all things mating related.
With a hungry growl, he reached out and swept her against up against him. A heartbeat later and they were at the bed.
Her legs were right back to being wrapped around his hips as she clung onto him, and he was crawling over the mattress to the middle of his large bed, wanting her right slap bang in the middle so that he could open her body wide to his and do all of those things that he’d been dreaming of, imagining, since he’d first discovered that she was his.
“You’re sure?” He growled – already eagerly stripping off layers of her clothes. She nodded enthusiastically are her hands pulled and tugged at his clothes.
They were at cross purposes. First trying to get each others clothes off and then their own. She managed to slip in her haste and punch him in the ribs as he reached up to yank the shirt over his head, but he just grunted and carried on.
“You know that once I claim you as mine – there’s no going back?” He growled – his hands eagerly tearing at the zipper of his jeans…
“Are you trying to talk me out of it or yourself into it?” She asked, stopping what she was doing and staring up at him…
Richie’s head snapped back on his neck like she’d punched him squarely on the jaw. He stopped frantically trying to tear the material from his body and held in place. His eyebrows danced like two caterpillars squaring up to each other…
“What? No! Neither!” he snapped back, more than fearful that he’d said the wrong thing again.
His beast roared at his stupidity.
“Because it sounds like it to me.” She offered and saw the way that he almost choked on his own tongue…
“That’s not…” he bit off a chuckle of disbelief. “I wasn’t…” he shook his head with more vigour than was entirely necessary. “You just needed-”
“Okay, well I’m glad we got that settled.” She said, and that was when he saw it; the pure mischief in her eyes and the amusement that registered on her face…
Richie’s deep growl rumbled through his chest as his eyes practically rolled back within his head… then she giggled, and it was a damned dirty sound to his ears…
“That was so… not… you need… I can’t believe…” the words spilled from his lips and yet he couldn’t quite finish any of his thoughts as they tumbled one over the other – like a log rolling down a hill.
“Something I said?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly, but the grin assured him that she was a wicked woman, and had played him well.
“Ya think?”
“Often, maybe you should give it a go – it’ll only hurt for a moment or two.”
“Wow, someone’s finding their feet, coming into their own…” He grinned. He liked her like this – less scared rabbit and more she-demon.
“I borrowed that line from Belle.” She grinned, a sparkle of mischief still sitting within her eyes.
“Shocker.”
“Is the moment gone?”
“Sweetheart, I’m male – the moment is never gone.” His grin was all predator. His jet black eyes swept over her body and fired a fresh surge of heat beneath her skin. “I – is it gone for you?” He suddenly looked a little unsure of himself.
“W-e-l-l…” She drew it out, kept him hanging, until finally she looked him square in the eye. “Maybe if you get naked…”
A heartbeat later and his backside hit the bed, his jeans were wrenched off, and then he was back up on his knees again… If she’d blinked then she might have missed it.
Melody’s eyes couldn’t help but roam, and they did it almost independently of her brain. The hard muscles of his body made her fingers twitch with anticipation of touching, and then her eyes widened with delight as they practically devoured the hard jutting length of his manhood as it stood proud, throbbing with need for her.
“That’s…” She nodded a little, like she was caught in a thought.
“Impressive?” He gave her a wicked grin and she felt that right down to her toes.
“I was going to say smaller than what I’m used to-” She lied, not a little white lie, but a whopper.
“What?” He swallowed hard as he looked down his body at his hard length. The sound of her muted chuckles made him snap his eyes back to her. “Oh! You are evil!” He growled, pushing forward on his knees and landing over her body. His palms slapped down on the mattress either side of her head, and his body was caging her in.
“I’d say that’s two nil to me, but who’s counting, right?” She offered up to him, somewhat breathlessly.
“I guess I’m going to have to take that challenge and at least equal the score – if not beat it.” That grin was back to being all predator again, and she liked it. It seemed to set off something inside of her that was purely fe
minine and purely erotic by nature.
When his lips came down on hers, she didn’t have a mind to score points or wind him up a moment longer – her brain was otherwise occupied with what his lips were doing and where his hands were going, and she melted beneath him under the fire of desire that raged through her body.
~
~
~
“How the hell do you people function after getting a cock-a-doodle wakeup call at stupid o’clock in the morning?” Elizabeth moaned as she lent her head against the palm of her upturned hand and rested her elbow against the counter top.
“Lycans have a lot of stamina.” Jake noted the way that her eyes flicked towards him and he held her gaze, just the beginnings of a small smile upon his lips as she offered him a hard stare back.
“In the words of Shania – that don’t impress me much.” She snorted her contempt for just how good he looked, she, on the other hand, felt as if she’d spent the better part of the night drinking like a sailor on shore leave, and that probably would have been a welcome endeavour to her now.
“And what does impress you?” Jake asked, but she didn’t get a chance to answer as the sound of mayhem hit the air from somewhere outside…
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
~
“Whoa – whoa – whoa….” Jake growled as he came to a dead stop. He could feel Elizabeth racing up behind him, but he tossed his arms out to the side and backwards to keep her from getting around the wall of protection that his body offered her as his eyes took in the sight of the wolf in front of him…
“Shift back.” He growled out. Demanding that the beast comply, and the young wolf eyed him. A line of fur was standing to attention down her back and she looked more than spooked.
‘Spectre – barn…’ The she-wolf growled out through the psychic link that the pack possessed. The beast turned her head to stare back at the darkness inside the structure as it slowly backed up away from it.