by M. L. Briers
Mine…
Neal was about as happy as his beast at the small, but, noticeable distance that he put between them.
“You’re welcome…” Neal craned his head forward on his neck and offered her a slightly strained smile.
His body was on full alert just from having her that close. He didn’t think the ladies from the church would be too impressed with him if he reached down and adjusted the hard length that was being strangled within his jeans, or maybe they would, but he wasn’t about to risk it.
“Thanks,” Penny hissed back. She didn’t really sound a woman that was grateful not to be munching on grass like a cow. “Now jog on.”
“Is that any way to speak to the man who saved you from going splat?”
Neal wasn’t sure what to do with his arms or his hands – he knew what he wanted to do and that was to have them full of the feel of his mate once more. Instead, he folded them over his broad, muscled chest.
“Maybe not, but it’s a good way to speak to the man who wants to mate with me…” she offered back with a small sneer and watched as realization dawned on him that she knew.
The very thought of it – having her body wrapped around his as he took her down his hard length – sent shockwaves through his mind, body, and even his soul.
He wanted that. He wanted her, and his beast was more than ready to make that claim given half a chance.
Mine… The wolf confirmed what he already knew.
“Hmm, let me guess – you have a problem with that?” Neal said, ignoring his wolf.
He might have been teasing her on the inside, but he held a look of thoughtful and serious contemplation on his face.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s a question, and from your words, maybe a little observation.”
“I’m… speechless.”
“Obviously not.” He shot back, and she snapped her head back on her neck and scowled up at him.
“I don’t think I like you much?” Penny offered, doing some contemplating of her own.
Either the man was insane, or she’d entered an alternate reality where she didn’t know the rules.
Aren’t mates supposed to woo?
The man’s downright rude.
“Well, you don’t have to like me to sleep with me,” Neal tossed back, playing the woman at her own game.
“Excuse me?” Penny gasped and swallowed hard against her tongue.
Is he for real?
“We could call it a marriage of convenience.” Neal gave a small shrug off his shoulders.
“Oh, could we?” Penny’s voice became slightly edgy and heading towards the shrill end of the scale. His better-than-perfect hearing didn’t appreciate the sound much.
“I’m thinking yes.”
Penny took a moment to look around her. He wasn’t sure if she was looking for one of her friends to bail her out, or if she was seeing if anyone was looking so that she could zap the hell out of him – either way, he braced his body for action.
“I’m thinking you escaped from the loony bin and hopefully someone is coming to lock you back up,” Penny muttered.
“Have a nice trip dear?” Enid asked as she walked on by, and Penny offered her a clueless look.
“Trip?”
“You know?” The woman pretended to trip over her own feet with a small chuckle for her acting skills.
“Trip,” Neal muttered on a teasing grin.
“Oh!” Penny forced a smile to her lips, but she’d bet a penny to a pound that it hadn’t reached her eyes. “Yes, two left feet.”
“Lucky, you had this big, strong, hunk of a man to save you!”
Enid’s schoolgirl enthusiasm jumped all over Penny’s last nerve.
“My hero,” Penny bit out as if those words tasted horribly on her tongue.
“Yesss, heroic.”
Enid grinned at Neal – the older woman’s eyes said yum, and Penny’s lower jaw sagged slightly at the scene in front of her. She had to question if the woman would be so happy if she knew what the man she was drooling over actually was.
“You mind how you go now, Miss Enid,” Neal offered – oozing charm from every pore.
Penny rolled her eyes at his antics.
Mind how you go Miss Enid… she mimicked.
Such a blooming hero!
Super-wolf… certainly not teen wolf.
You lap it up, you.
Ha! Lap it up, wolf, scum suck-y muck head.
“Going to save me too, young man…?” Enid chuckled and swooned all in one go. Then the woman blushed as she carried on towards the trucks.
Penny groaned inwardly.
“Don’t mind me, you go and run right after your mate,” Penny said, lifting her hands and shooing him towards Enid, and inadvertently bringing Neal’s attention right back towards her.
“Jealous?”
It was one word, and it was teasing, she knew that, but boy, did it explain the irrational feelings inside of her.
“Nope,” she lied was one small shake of her head. “You can definitely go right ahead.”
Oh – my – Goddess – jealous of a woman old enough to be my grandmother!
What’s wrong with me?
I think I’m having a senior moment of my own.
No thinking, I’m definitely having a senior moment.
I need a drink.
I need a lot of drinks.
How can I be jealous of an old lady ogling my mate.
Oh, mate… What a horrible thought.
She can have him.
I hope they’ll be very happy together, doing…
Oh God, I don’t want that picture in my mind.
Scrub it away.
Bleach. I need mind bleach!
I definitely need a drink.
Alcohol is always good for.
Oh, who cares what it’s good for … if it scrubs that image from my damn mind.
I need to think rationally.
I need to kick fate right in the…
“I think I’ll pass,” Neal leaned his upper body in further towards hers.
He half expected her to pull back, maybe take a step, and he was quite surprised when she stood her ground.
But then – this was the same witch from the night before that had kicked him in the balls – twice.
“I’m sure she’s a little too much for you.”
Penny knew that she was dicing with his dominant side – practically tossing out a challenge for him and his wolf, but then, in truth, she didn’t much care.
“You, on the other hand, are the perfect fit.”
“I’m…” Penny didn’t like the sounds of his words, the hidden meaning, and yet her body liked it just fine.
“Tongue tied and bashful…” Neal gave another thoughtful nod of his head.
“Repulsed and nauseous…”
“Excited by the prospect of being my mate.”
“Disgusted beyond belief at the thought.”
“Eager to get started.”
“And be as far away as humanly possible before the sun goes down.” She snapped.
“In that case.” Neal leaned his upper body in further and watched her eyes narrow on him, but still, she didn’t pull away. “I’d better get to the mating part as quickly as possible, don’t you think?”
Oh boy, am I thinking!
There he goes again, putting thoughts into my mind.
I’d rather not think about his hard body pressed against mine as we’re getting down and dirty.
I’d certainly rather not think about licking the man from head to toe like he’s an ice cream.
I’d rather put an ice pick in my own eye than imagine his naked – hard – body.
Oh, Goddess – save my damn sanity.
“Oh, believe me. I’m trying not to think.” Penny hissed back. “I find myself very queasy at that image.”
“Pregnant already?” Neal grinned. “Boy, my swimmers are awesome.” He motioned at the small space between them
.
“A premature ejeculator…?” She shrugged her shoulders at the thought and heard his low, deep, growl of annoyance.
“W-what?”
“Oooh, I hit a raw nerve.” She grinned inwardly.
“No, no you didn’t,” he rushed out, taking the blow to his manhood about as well as if he’d hit a wall at high speed.
“Poor you,” she offered him a dollop of mock sympathy. Then she gasped and palmed her chest. “Poor me.” She twisted her face and grimaced up at him.
“Now, just you wait a…” He lifted his hand and wagged a thick index finger in her direction.
“I could never be fulfilled on a sexual level,” she sighed.
“That’s not…”
“Damn, so close and yet so far in the happiness stakes.” She tossed up her hands as if life had just handed her a lemon.
“Will you just…?”
“Oh well, never mind!” She reached up a hand and slapped his bicep, resisting the urge to close her palm around it and squeeze.
“Now…”
“Best we part here, and you go back to watching internet porn.” Penny gave him an emphatic nod of her head.
Then she sidestepped the man who looked just as equally miffed as he did confused by how the conversation had gotten away from him and the direction that it had taken.
“I…” he announced, turning on his heels to follow her direction, and holding out that index finger, pointing at her back as she sauntered away with a little spring in her step.
He raised that hand to his head and scratched.
“You’ve gotta be faster than that to catch that one,” Enid said, and she shook her head and chuckled hard as she walked back towards the stools clutching a sack of soft toys.
“I think you’re right,” Neal bit out.
His head was still spinning at the speed with which it had all slipped away from him.
He was giving as good as he got, and for a long moment there he was sure that she was on the back foot.
Where the heck did that all go wrong?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
Isla felt the hot hand on her backside as she tried to wrench her body up into the back of the truck, and her mind froze in shock, but her witchy powers cut in a moment later and she knew that hand belonged to a damn shifter.
Oh, he is so going to be pulling back a stump.
Three legged wolf coming right up!
“Let me help you,” Lucas said.
The beta’s deep, sexy tones seemed to flow over her body, in through her ears and smacked her subconscious mind upside the head.
Isla was normally guarded against any show of her magic in public, but she wasn’t about to stand for that from a man she hadn’t even been introduced to, let alone a wolf with more paws than an octopus, and bad manners to boot.
She forced her magic out of her body and heard him grunt in pain as a rather hard blast, akin to an electric shock, shot through him.
Half up, and half down; she scrambled backward out of the truck and onto her bare feet on the grass, having kicked off her shoes before she’d attempted the climb.
“That’s a little like overkill,” Lucas ground out.
The man was still feeling the side effects of her magic, but it was wearing off.
“Touch my backside, prepare to be witch slapped.”
Isla tossed her hands onto her hips and scowled up at the behemoth, and he had the audacity to be scowling right back.
“I was helping…”
“Yourself…”
“Not true.”
“So true. The truest.”
“You looked a little stuck.”
“So you thought you’d cop a feel?”
“That’s not what that was…” Lucas grumbled back.
“Oh, please,” she groaned and eyed him with a whole heap of suspicion and accusation.
“Ok, fine. I apologize – if that’s how that might have come across to your sensitive, feminist…”
“Feminist? You’d better just stop right there before you give me cause to zap you again.” She warned him on hushed tones, and she would too if he gave her cause.
That and more besides.
“You’re a witch, and witches like to inflict pain…”
“Ok.” She shrugged and zapped him once more. It wasn’t as jaw-grindingly painful the second time, but he was sure the hairs still stood up all over his skin. “Ask, and ye shall receive.”
“A kiss,” he said, still biting down on the sting in his tail.
Mine… His beast liked the way that his mind was working, even with the pain.
“You asked for a miracle.”
“It’s just a kiss.”
“But, look who it is that I have to kiss.” She shrugged again.
“Am I that bad?”
“I’d rather kiss a toad.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes!” she cut him off before he could throw his pitch.
Lucas considered the way that she’d slammed the proverbial door right in his face – it reminded him of the way that she’d slammed the pod door on him the night before.
Tactics needed to change. That he knew, but how did you go about wooing a witch?
He took one long step towards her, slapped a hand down on each of her curvy hips, and swung her up into the truck before she could even think of zapping him again.
“Have it your way then,” he offered.
“Be still my heart,” Ida chuckled as she stalked towards the truck.
Lucas turned to look down on the rather short and dumpy church lady. Her eyes were sparkling with mischief.
“Would you like me to swing you up there?” Lucas teased and got more robust chuckles for his efforts.
At least someone liked him.
“Maybe thirty years ago,” Ida offered back.
“You’re as young as the man that tickles your fancy,” Lucas grinned, and Ida placed a hand on her matronly breasts.
“If only that were true,” she muttered.
Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but Isla had already launched a sack full of toys at his head – he caught it with his face, and his arm came up and grabbed it in response.
“For you,” Lucas offered the sack to the woman, and she happily took it, grinning between the mates as she turned and walked away, happily chuckling to herself.
“Muppet,” Isla bit out.
She started yanking sacks from the pile and tossing them towards the open door so that they were more easily accessible. At least that was what she told herself.
In truth, her subconscious mind might just have been trying to build a barricade.
“Someone has a very deep jealous streak,” Lucas said from just over her right shoulder and practically against her ear.
It had taken him just a moment to jump into the truck and to position himself right behind her – not that she’d noticed – she’d been too busy taking out her annoyance on the sacks of toys.
That deep voice, the heat from his body, and the small space in the back of the truck that she’d found herself in with him – all of those things she did notice, as her shields warned her of his closeness once more.
Stealthy, speedy, little – big – eejit!
Never turn your back on a wolf!
Smart move, Isla… she berated herself.
Why not just go find that vampire and open a vein?
Geez, I’m an eejit!
No, he’s an eejit!
Dear Goddess, we’re well suited in the eejit department!
Pair of flaming eejits.
“Get over yourself,” Isla hissed back, turning towards him and thrusting a sack against his hard chest.
“You don’t have to be jealous, sweetheart. I’m yours.” He gave her a wolfish grin, the likes of which she’d never seen before.
Isla’s stomach flip-flopped, heat rushed through her body, and her mind seemed to like the imagery that popped into her brain.
Holy poop of
the poop-i-ness!
“It’s like fishing for Salmon and finding a piranha,” she grumbled back, twisting her face in disgust – even if disgust wasn’t the depth of emotion that was rolling through her body.
The man hadn’t exactly hit every branch on the ugly tree. Maybe not even one of them.
His body was sculpted beneath his snug clothing, and the sight of it made her heart flutter every time that she saw one of those big muscles flex beneath his tanned skin.
He had a smile that warmed her in places that she’d rather not be warmed, and she bemoaned and begrudged it in equal measure.
“Imagine how I feel, my mate is a witch,” he leaned in slightly and whispered back.
Isla screwed up her face and gasped back at him in disbelief.
“It’s at least comforting to know that you have a death wish. It’ll make life with you so much shorter,” She bit out.
“Which says to me that you’re already contemplating mating with me,” he grinned again.
Smug little word twisting… She grumbled.
Lucas tossed down the bag and leaned his upper torso towards her even more, and there was something of a smug smile on his face that she felt the urge to thump away.
She might only have had a little fist, and it might run the risk of getting damaged in the process, but she swung it anyway.
Lucas saw that fist coming a mile away. His reaction time would have served him better if that fist had come out of nowhere, but he’d seen her intention from the moment the thought had crossed her mind.
By the time that it took her to act on her impulse; he already caught her little fist inside his large hand before it got anywhere near his face, and saved her from the pain that she would have inflicted upon herself by thumping it against his hard head.
Then he used her own momentum and lack of balance against her, and spun her body around on the balls of her naked feet, yanking her back up against his hard chest, and wrapping her inside the safety and security of his arms.
By the time that she’d figured out what had happened; she was trapped, caged within his arms. The feel of his body heat seeped into her like she’d wrapped herself in a comfy blanket, and it took her a moment of sheer amazement to realize that was how she actually felt. Safe and secure, and so very, very warm and cozy…
That’s not good!