by P. Jameson
“You don’t have to do this,” Maxim said quietly. “You can stay here. Wait for me. You know I’ll come back to you as fast as I can. And when I do, I’ll be free. We can start our life, stormy.”
She turned to look at him. In profile, his jaw was rigid with frustration. His long hair was tousled on the top and some of it hung into his eyes. Her man was strong. He was smart. He was sensitive even if he was hard.
And he would have to be hard when they got to Colorado. His people demanded a male they could respect and they only respected the brutal. Instinctually, she knew this trip was going to take some kind of toll on him.
Which meant he needed her.
He would need her to remind him why it was okay to follow your heart. And she needed him to remind her that love was worth fighting for.
“Max.” The tense lines of his face softened but he kept his eyes on the road. “You saw me the way I wanted to be seen. You saw a strong woman, and decided to make her stronger. There is nothing I won’t do for you now. I want to meet your people. I want to help you help them. So that’s what I’m going to do. You’re not dragging me there.” She laughed. “Besides… you promised me…” she cleared her throat suggestively “… things.”
That fast, the air inside the vehicle completely shifted, going from tense and worried to thick with desire. He tossed her a quick look, his silver eyes going molten as they landed on her lips and then dipped back to the road.
“Yes, I did.” His voice was low and husky. The way it got when he was planning a route into her pants. She couldn’t help but squirm. “I’ll give you a little preview when we stop tonight…” He sighed, gaze landing on her breasts through her tight sweater. “If I can make it that long.”
Tabatha laughed, loving that she was finally with a man who couldn’t keep his hands off her. What a difference it made. Life was suddenly like a box of chocolates instead of a bag of pistachios.
“Here, let me help you out by putting on some sexy tunes,” she quipped.
Reaching over she clicked the radio to the Christmas station, finding the perfect song. The clunky music and corresponding high-pitched voice were funny enough. But the horrified expression on her mate’s face was what brought out the laugh she couldn’t seem to stop.
“Why would anyone want a fucking hippopotamus for Christmas?” he asked, genuinely confused by the notion.
Which only made Tabatha laugh harder.
Yeah, this was going to be a challenging trip, for sure. They were in for some trials and maybe some more tears. But she was going to do her best to give Maxim a Christmas to remember. One laugh at a time.
Chapter Three
Maxim pulled into the little roadside diner and waited until the bikes and Aaron’s run-down truck had parked too before turning off the car. The alien robot car that didn’t make enough noise and felt like you were driving on air instead of racing down the interstate.
It wasn’t a nice feeling.
Or not a feeling he was used to at least. A man needed to feel the rumble of an engine when he pushed the gas pedal. Except this goddamn thing didn’t use gas. Although, he could appreciate not having to stop every couple of hours to fill up.
He stared over at his mate. She was asleep in the passenger seat, and had been for the last hour of the drive. Damn beautiful female. He didn’t want to wake her but she needed to eat, and he’d chosen this place because it was attached to a quaint little mountain lodge. It was the perfect spot for them to hole up overnight before the last leg of their journey into fox territory.
Maxim blew out a breath, feeling all the nerves he’d expected to feel.
Rocco wasn’t wrong to worry about him bringing a human, one he loved, into the skulk to be scrutinized and belittled by his people. He’d warned Tabatha it could be difficult. But he hadn’t told her it could be dangerous.
He would never let anything happen to her. So it was a moot damn point, right?
Nevertheless, he was glad the lead vixen and her mate would be there to help him watch over Tabatha. And he was glad his boys had pledged to keep her safe as well.
His inner animal however, was mysteriously quiet on the matter.
Reaching over, he brushed his thumb over his female’s satin soft cheek. “Stormy,” he husked. “Wake up.”
She blinked, slowly coming awake with a smile. Damn, he loved that look.
“Where are we?”
“Stopping for the night.”
“Oh, good. I’m starving.” She frowned sitting up to stare out the window. “Where are we?”
“Colorado.”
“Already?”
“Yes, but we’re not to the mountains yet. Or at least, not to my mountains yet. Just at the foothills. We’ll rest here tonight before going on up to the skulk’s land.”
“Do any shifters live down here?”
Maxim nodded. “Some. Stragglers who don’t want to live with their clan. Some who chose to live among humans.”
She grinned. “Like you.”
He couldn’t help the way his body responded to her expression. A stirring in his chest, a hardening below the belt. Her smile had power. Especially when it was paired with the idea of a future together. But the truth was, around these parts, those kinds of shifters were forever shunned. They were believed to be traitors.
That’s how his people would view him too unless he could change their mind.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “Like me.”
She leaned in to kiss his cheek and then swung her door open. “Let’s go! Maybe they’ve got chili cheese fries.”
Inside, they found a corner table large enough to fit three hulking males, one large-ish male, and two females, and settled in. They were an awkward bunch and Maxim knew the waitress could feel the tension when she approached to take their order.
“Coffee all around?” she asked, fidgeting with her order pad.
Unfortunately, Rocco was the first to respond. “Who the fuck drinks coffee at this time of night?”
The young female’s face looked stricken as she grappled for something to say.
“Me. I’d love coffee,” Tabatha piped up, jerking her thumb in Rocco’s direction. “And why don’t you go ahead and bring some for this guy too. He needs it more than he cares to admit.” This brought out some easy laughs around the table, putting the waitress at ease.
Rocco scowled, narrowing his eyes at Tabatha, but no one was paying attention.
Lexington raised a finger, requesting her own coffee. Aaron followed suit.
“I’ll take some too,” Maxim added.
“Yeahhhh, what the hell,” Jett sighed. “Coffee me up.”
The waitress nodded, passing out menus. “Coffee for everyone, coming right up.”
When she was gone, Tabatha stared at Rocco instead of her menu. He ignored her as long as he could, pretending to decide what he wanted to eat.
“What, female?” he groused, still not meeting her gaze. “It was a valid question.”
“It wasn’t nice.”
He shrugged. “No one ever said I was nice.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Jett muttered.
“Well, you should be,” Tabatha insisted. “She was being perfectly friendly. And trust me, if I’d been on my feet for hours serving meals to people, I probably wouldn’t have been. She didn’t deserve your assey-ness.”
Lexington snorted and slapped a hand over her mouth to cover the sound.
Finally, Rocco looked up from his menu. “Assey-ness? What the hell is that?”
“I second what he said,” Jett added, pressing his lips together in confusion. Or to prevent a laugh. Maxim couldn’t tell which.
“It’s the business of being assey. And it’s not a compliment.”
“Assey?”
“Yeah. Assey. I think that part’s self-explanatory.”
“Barb got to you,” Lexington murmured with a grin.
Tabatha nodded. “Barb gets the credit for that one.”
Rocco wen
t back to the menu. “Does that vixen make up words often?”
“Daily,” Lexington confirmed.
The waitress returned with their coffee and they placed their orders. Maxim almost laughed, watching Tabatha’s expression as Jett and Rocco ordered enough food to feed a mob.
When they were alone again, Aaron cleared his throat. “So… what’s the plan for tomorrow? Should we talk strategy?”
They should. Maxim just preferred to do it without his mate looking on. He didn’t want to make her any more nervous.
“Yeah, Maxim,” Rocco mused, pushing back in his chair. “Let’s talk strategy. For example, how do you plan on rolling up into the village with humans in tow? Shall we dress them up in fur and mask their scent? Put a collar on them and pretend they’re pets?”
“Knock it off,” Maxim growled
Tabatha turned to look at him. “They don’t know we’re coming?”
“They know,” Rocco answered instead. “They just don’t know you’re not a shifter.”
“Oh. Will… will it matter that much?” She asked Lexington as if she didn’t trust Rocco’s answer. Lexington stared at her own hands, mouth open to answer. But it was Aaron who spoke instead.
“Yes,” he said softly. “It will matter a lot.”
“Oh.”
Maxim pulled Tabatha closer, reminding her she was all that counted. If his skulk wouldn’t hear him out, he would take her and go. They weren’t worth losing the best piece of him.
The food arrived, filling up the table and bringing more uneasy silence as they ate, each caught in their own thoughts.
“I say we go in hard. Bring out the warpaint and leathers. Show them we came home to fight,” Jett said, stirring his runny eggs into his hashbrowns. “If they see us bringing humans into the place, they’ll think we’ve lost our edge and the males will rise against you. We need to show them we’re still unconquerable.”
Rocco nodded. “It will throw them off to see you bound to a human female but still battle-hard. They won’t know what to do with that. It will at least buy us some time to figure out who is making serious moves to become alpha.”
“We should take note of any friendlies,” Lexington mentioned. “Anyone who’s ready to listen, we want them on our side.”
“Then what?” Aaron asked. “When you find out who is the most serious threat, what happens then?”
All of them looked to Maxim, but he was silent. He knew what they wanted to hear.
“Maxim,” Jett pushed.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. This was all new territory, and he would have to go by instinct. He just hoped his fucking fox showed up to guide him.
Rocco threw his hands up. “You don’t know. You don’t know? You kill them. That’s what you do. Where’s your goddamn head?” But then his angry gaze landed on Tabatha.
Maxim felt her stiffen beside him.
“Rocco, enough,” he warned.
“No. She needs to know what she’s walking into.”
“She knows,” Lexington said. “We’ve talked.”
Rocco shook his head. “Naw, princess here doesn’t get it. She doesn’t know what she’s mating. We kill what gets in our way. What comes against us. We kill it dead and win. That’s what we do. That’s what your mate does.”
“Did,” Maxim ground out. “We are doing things differently this time. Showing them another way.”
“Bullshit. Because if you go in weak, you’ll be fighting for your goddamn life. And you won’t win. So, I call bullshit. You need to become alpha and then make whatever changes you hope to make.”
Maxim opened his mouth to argue, but Tabatha’s quiet voice stopped him.
“Wanting something better is not a weakness. Wanting something real is not a weakness. Caring, loving, hoping. Those aren’t weaknesses. They’re strengths. Strengths that you don’t have and desperately need.” Her voice was level. Even gentle compared to Rocco’s grinding fury. But Maxim saw the emotions in the hound’s expression. Like he’d been slapped across the cheek with her words.
“You’re going to get him killed,” he hissed. “Do you understand that? Hell, maybe all of us.”
With a disgusted shove, he stood from the table and stalked out the door, leaving them all to swallow down a very real possibility.
Maxim looked at the group. It was going to take a damn miracle to get through the holiday with all of them in one piece. He just hoped he wasn’t wrong in his decision to bring Tabatha along. Because if anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
Chapter Four
You’re going to get him killed.
Rocco’s hard words replayed in Tabatha’s mind as Maxim worked her lips open and his tongue dove inside, tasting everything as if it was brand new.
It couldn’t be true, could it? Maxim was the strongest man she knew and he wasn’t in this alone. There were two other muscled up shifters, a fierce vixen, and a human hunter on his side.
And her.
What good would she be at keeping him alive? And how in the hell did she convince herself this was going to be some mountain getaway Christmas spirit side project they were taking on?
This was going to be a goddamn battle, wasn’t it?
Maxim pulled away, hovering above her naked body as they lay in the cushy bed of the mountain lodge. He frowned down at her through lust-glazed eyes.
“Get him out of your head,” he demanded. “Now, understand me?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m worried.”
He kissed her lips again, gently this time. “I know. And I don’t like it. He’s a bastard. I should’ve kicked his ass for saying those things. Maybe tomorrow I will.” He feathered sweet kisses along her jaw and she sighed at the feel of him.
“No,” she murmured. “He’s hurting too. I can sense it. He cares for you.”
Maxim sighed, pulling back to stare at her again. “I know. What can I say to make you stop thinking about him, stormy. Because if he doesn’t get out of this bed so I can make love to you, I’m going to lose my senses and fuck you so hard you’ll be walking all funny when we get to the village.”
His crude and desperate words brought a smile to her lips. She loved it so much when he lost control.
“I guess you’re just going to have to work harder at making me forget,” she challenged, biting her lip to keep from laughing at his expression.
“I swear, woman… you’re going to damage my ego someday.”
With that, he pushed her legs wide, settling between them as he used his thumb to torture her already throbbing clit. He looked between them, watching every move she made with her hips, watching his own handiwork. His hard, heavy erection rested on her thigh, waiting to slide home, but Maxim drew out her pleasure and she knew it was payback.
Such a lovely payback.
He looked into her eyes, satisfaction painting his expression into something cocky and oh-so sexy.
“There,” he rumbled. “There’s my wanty little mate, right there.”
“Max,” she groaned, needing him to do more. But he didn’t. Not yet.
“Hm? What’s on your mind, Tabatha?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” He lowered his head, sucking her hard nipple between his lips to torture it with his insistent tongue. Pleasure had her arching her back off the bed with a moan and a growl rose in his throat. “Yes, female. Feel this. Feel me. Only me.”
“Only you,” she repeated, because it was true. She couldn’t even remember why she’d been worried. She only wanted to feel him right now. Be one with him right now. Be whole with him.
Maxim nipped at the curves over her ribs, still twisting his thumb over her clit until she felt like she was going to burst.
She reached between them for his hardness, wanting to torture him the same way. He tossed his head back, hissing in pleasure when her hand wrapped around it and slid all the way to the base in one hard motion. When he brought his gaze back to her, his eyes were sli
vered with the evidence of his animal.
“Hi, fox,” she whispered.
“Need inside. Come first.”
He wanted her orgasm before he fucked her. God. How did men like him exist in the world?
“Make. Me,” she breathed.
His expression turned very determined and he gripped his cock, sliding it between her folds but not entering her.
“You will come, female. You’ll get none of this until you do.”
Oh, shit.
His demand made her moan so loud she thought she heard someone bang on the wall. And… she didn’t even care.
Again, he slipped between her folds, his thumb still moving a slow aching circle over her. He pressed his mouth to the skin of her neck, grazing the area with his teeth… sharp teeth…
Fangs, she realized with a start.
The idea sent a shot of adrenaline to her pussy and she began convulsing beneath him. At the same time, he shoved inside, filling her so much that her body had to stretch around him mid-orgasm. The intense feeling took her breath away as she gasped through the sensation.
“Mine.” His gravelly claim rattled from his throat, sounding like pain mixed with pleasure as he thrust his hips, pistoning in and out of her tight body. “Mine, always.”
She couldn’t answer, couldn’t confirm his words, but damn she agreed.
Digging her nails into his shoulder, she let him ride her to another release, moaning her pleasure whenever she could find a breath.
With a sexy growl, he came inside her, throbbing and twitching until she was full.
Yesss. Yes, she loved this. Him.
Maxim slowed, pressing down on top of her and dropping a soft to her cheek, then her nose, then her mouth. He found her gaze, digging deep into her heart. “I need you to know something.”
“What?” she breathed.
“I love what you’ve done to me. I love what we stand for, what we are. I will never stop loving you. And I need you to believe it because come tomorrow I’m going to have to be hard. I’m going to have to be what they expect. I don’t know if I can save them, but I need to know that I tried. I need to know you’re getting an honorable male. I need that. And I need you to remember this moment right now, us together. Remember what we are, because they’re going to make you question it. Will you remember for me? Promise me you will.”