by M. L. Briers
“Seriously?” Penny shot back with a small snort of laughter. “That guy is everyone’s problem.”
“I’ll deal with it,” Neal promised her.
“Deal?” She raised her eyebrows expectantly, hoping her mate would elaborate on that answer.
“It’s fine. You’re safe. I won’t let anyone harm you,” Neal assured her that he was in control once more, but she didn’t look assured. If anything, she looked amused.
“Because I can’t take care of myself?” Penny asked.
“You shouldn’t need to do that.”
“Because I have a big, strong male to do it for me?”
“Yes,” Neal’s chest puffed out even more than it already was.
“Pass.”
“Tough.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Neal grumbled because he knew that he couldn’t very well growl and grumbling was the next best thing. “From the moment that I realized who you were, you became my top priority. I’ll defend you with my li…”
“Ok, stop right there, He-Man,” Penny lifted her hand and waved it in front of his face.
She watched him blink twice, but he stopped his yapping, and that was what she’d wanted.
“I’m not Snow White, and you’re not my Prince Charming. I’m a witch, and you’re a wolf, and I think that we both know just how well I can take care of myself,” Penny’s hands went to her hips, and she tipped her head to one side to regard him through narrowed eyes.
She’d already had to deal with one bad mood wolf, she didn’t need another one, but she needed to be thought of as the little, weak woman even less.
“Yes,” Neal admitted. She’d certainly put up a fight the night before in the mud. “But, the point is – you don’t have to.”
“What if I want to?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Neal shook his head.
He was uncertain of her point. He was her mate, in his mind, the point was moot.
“Matters to me,” Penny tossed back.
“Then I suggest you get over it or find a way to deal with the fact that I will die for you.”
“Ok, go throw yourself under a bus,” Penny challenged him, and his frown turned into a scowl.
“Excuse me?”
“Off a cliff… toss yourself into the ocean and don’t swim for shore… juggle chainsaws.”
“Are you an insane person?” Neal grumbled.
“Yes,” Penny nodded. “I suggest you run away while you still can.”
“Ha-ha,” Neal folded his big, muscled arms across his chest and eyed her for a long moment.
“I don’t need you to fight for me, or die for me, or growl and get all macho BS for me. I put you down, didn’t I?” Penny offered up to him.
“I wasn’t fighting you. You blindsided me,” Neal offered back. Both he and his wolf felt offended by her argument.
“You underestimated me, and you still are.”
“Oh no, I know what a devious witch you can be,” Neal tossed back, and the moment that his words were out of his mouth, he snatched his head back on his neck, regretting it, as he waited to feel the lash of her tongue or her magic.
“Well, good,” Penny said, dropping her hands from her hips back down to her sides.
“G-o-o-d?” Neal looked a little surprised by her attitude.
“Yep, as long as you know where I stand, where you stand, where… I’m loathed to say the word, but, where we stand.”
“Oh,” Neal dropped his arms and considered it for a long moment. “I know that.”
“Good,” Penny said, brighter in herself as she turned on her heels and started on her journey towards the food stands again.
“You stand right behind me when there’s trouble,” he muttered to himself, following on behind her and taking a moment to watch the sway of her curvy hips as she walked away.
~
~
~
“Ok, I saw nothing,” Father Ted announced as he spun on his heels inside the hall of mirrors and caught sight of himself looking like a black clad Leprechaun – short and dumpy, and that sight distracted him for a long moment.
Keri unwound herself from Griffin, and the alpha grumbled a growl of annoyance as he reluctantly let his mate get away from him.
In truth, things had gone a little out of control. He’d only meant to kiss her and taste her lips, but he guessed that the mating pull had reeled them both in.
“Father Ted,” Griffin announced as if the man had just entered the mirrored hall and they’d been awaiting his arrival.
The priest turned back towards them. His eyes flicked from Griffin to a slightly disheveled, and very flushed Keri, before flicking back to the alpha once more.
“Oh, these heady, hazy days of summer.” Father Ted gave the man a wry grin, and the alpha cleared his throat.
“Yes, warm,” Griffin offered back as he noted his mate’s hand go up and cover her mouth as she giggled behind it.
“Practically sizzling,” Father Ted offered back, and he wasn’t holding back on his grin that time.
“We were just…” Griffin knew that they’d been busted, anything that he could say was frosting over a badly made cake.
“Weren’t we all young once…” The priest announced and Griffin frowned.
“You were?” He asked, and Keri sniggered.
“No, I was born old,” Father Ted shot back.
“I just meant…”
“I know what you meant, and boys and men will be… boys and men,” the priest shrugged.
“Yes.” Griffin felt uneasy.
Not only had he been busted doing what mates do, but he’d insulted the priest to boot.
“But, there are children around, so… get a room,” the priest offered before he turned on his heels and chuckled as he strolled back outside, away from the lovebirds…
“A room,” Griffin echoed the man’s words He liked that thought, hell, he liked that thought a lot.
Mine…
Then his eyes slowly turned towards his mate as his mind rallied to thoughts of where they’d left off moments earlier. His beast growled in anticipation of making her theirs.
Keri was still sniggering into her hand when she snatched a look at the alpha and did a double take. Her hand dropped down from her mouth as her back snapped straight.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
~
“Don’t even think…” Keri rushed to denial about what had happened between them, about what he thought came next, about her lack of judgment and being swept away in the moment.
Oh, what moments they were.
“It’s not a bad idea.”
Griffin gave her a wolfish grin. There was devilment in his eyes as he stared at her.
“It is if you start howling like someone nailed your paw to the cross,” she snapped back.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Griffin had ignored her sarcasm and honed in on her meaning. The mating howl. With so many humans in the area that could be somewhat problematic, to say the least.
“Maybe later,” He shrugged.
“Maybe?”
Keri started away from him on fast feet. She might have gotten carried away in his arms, but that didn’t mean that she was going to jump right into bed with the man – the mate – her forever one – true – love.
“Where are you going…?” Griffin asked, following on behind her in case she had a mind to run, or Angus was around.
“You know that sponge game? Well, I have a need to hit someone repeatedly in the face, and that seems like the next best thing. I’ll win you a big fluffy dog to keep you company of a night.” She bit out. Berating herself for what had just happened with every step she took.
Easy.
That’s what I am, or that’s what he thinks I am.
I’ll show him easy.
Magic myself a suit of armor and seal up all the entry points is what I’ll do.
A room!
Scum, sucking pond scum
my doofus. What does he think I am?
Oh yeah! Easy, that’s what.
~
~
~
Isla had half an eye on the cars that were coming and going during the day and half an eye on the rest of the world going by. Their car wouldn’t be able to move until the trucks were all packed up and gone.
There was a part of her that longed for that to happen, and a part that didn’t really want to see the summer fair end.
She’d made her choice the moment that she’s found out about the wolves, and it had been reinforced the second that she’d found out that she was a mate. Run. Get the hell out of there.
The trouble was the longer that she spent with Lucas, and the more she got to know him, well, she wanted to put off making that decision until push came to shove. Even then, she kind of wished that moment wouldn’t come. That time would sort of stand still and capture them in the little bubble of the day forever.
No right decision.
No wrong decision.
Just… being.
Just that moment in time.
Together, but not.
Nobody could say that her mate wasn’t sex on a stick. He was.
She could lie to herself and say that there was no sexual attraction there, but that’s all it would ever be a lie. She fancied him something rotten.
She could tell herself that she needed to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction to get away from him, and yet, mating pull or sexual attraction be it, there was something there between them. A connection, and she was in two minds to decide if that was something that she could turn her back on.
Isla knew the truth of it. She was painfully aware that a Lycan only got one shot at true love, at finding his mate, and once he had found her there was no turning back.
She was it for him. His only chance.
If she walked away now, then there was a good chance that the man would go rogue and his pack would have no choice but the kill him.
It was something that she’d been chewing over from the moment that her rational mind had kicked out the insanity of finding out that she was a mate.
Unfair? Maybe. But that was the unhappy truth that they were both faced with.
It wasn’t as if she could just have some summer loving and never look back, because, the chances were that he wouldn’t be there.
It wasn’t as if she could go away and mull it over, because, the chances were that he’d already be dead.
It wasn’t as if he wasn’t perfect for her. Truly, one hundred percent her life mate, and would love her until the day they died. He would with relish on top.
It should have been a simple decision. Maybe to anyone else it would have been.
Under normal circumstances, two humans finding love at first sight would have been so simple. Take the chance. Go for it.
The worst that could happen was an unhappy union where you found that you really couldn’t stand each other followed by a quickie divorce. No harm, no foul.
But, he was a wolf shifter, and she was a witch.
“A penny for your thoughts?” Lucas said, and Isla frowned to herself.
Could she really just blurt it all out?
“She’s over there, and you are welcome to her.”
Isla tossed up a hand into the crowd. In truth, she didn’t have a clue where Penny was, probably running rings around her mate somewhere and driving him to drink. But it was more the deflection tactic that she was going for as she tried to shake off the thoughts and feelings that were clouding her mind.
So much for the carefree days of summer.
“Throwing your friend under the bus… nice,” Lucas chuckled, and that sound warmed her to her very core.
“Hey, every witch for herself.” Isla couldn’t help but smile.
The man certainly had a way about him, and it was catching – like norovirus, just without the puking and the pooping, she hoped.
“Witch?” Father Ted asked as he strolled by.
“Which cake to try next … they’re all yummy,” Isla rushed out, mentally slapping herself on the back of her head and kicking her mate in the process of possible discovery by the clergy.
“Ahhh, you don’t have to tell me. I think the scales are going to think I’m carrying a small child in the morning.” He tossed back over his shoulder as he kept going.
“Priests have ears,” Lucas whispered.
“Not as big as wolves though,” she whispered back, meeting his eyes with mischief in her own.
“You can judge for yourself when you meet him,” Lucas grinned and his wolf clawed at the perceived invitation.
Mine…
“I’m sure he’ll roll over on his back and let me rub his tummy,” she chuckled.
Lucas waited for his wolf to growl. The wolf didn’t like anyone touching him, and the thought of being petted like a damn family pet usually sent the animal into a bad mood, unless it was a pup doing it, but the beast didn’t make a sound.
“I’ll roll on my back and let you rub my tummy anytime.” The beta chuckled.
“I’ll bet you would.” Isla pulled her upper body away from him and frowned back at her mate.
The man was as full of self-confidence as they came. Cheeky with the right amount of teasing, and all rolled up in a sinfully tempting package of good looks and a toned body that had her fingers just about itching to test and explore.
Nope, she didn’t think that walking away from her mate was going to be as easy as it had once appeared.
Isla snapped her fingers and gave him a small taste of her magic like a fast towel being flicked against his backside. The beta stiffened and bit down on the sting and a curse, but as his eyes rolled within his head and came right back down to hers, he tipped his head on his neck and regarded her with curious eyes.
“What was that for?”
“Just testing my level of guilt.” She offered back.
“From one to ten?”
“Ooh, is that an offer like best out of three?” She grinned.
“Not so much,” he said, hoping that she didn’t take him up on his ill thought out words to give him another nine lashes of her magic.
“Spoil sport.”
~
~
~
“Come home with me.” Griffin wanted one thing, and that was to have some alone time with his mate.
“Home?”
“Yes.” His smile was more than wolfish; it was downright hungry.
“Pass.”
“Because you can’t keep your hands off me?” He challenged her, tempted her, and her eyes flicked down over his body a second later.
“Because I was warned never to go off with strange men, and let’s face it, you’re strange.”
“Says the witch.”
“Who’s looking at the wolf.”
“And liking what she sees.”
“Someone got an over supply of confidence in the mail.”
“Someone knows his mate’s mind.”
“Someone should shut their yapping.”
Griffin liked the back and forth banter, especially when he could gauge his mate’s reaction to his words and meanings. She was interested alright, even if she wasn’t about to admit to it.
He just needed to show her how interested she really was, and job done, she’d be his forever more.
At least, that was the plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
~
“Ok,” Griffin tossed up one broad shoulder. “I can wait.”
“A patient man?” Keri’s grin started small, and it bewitched him as he watched it grow. “What are the odds?”
“I’ve waited for you all of my life, what’s another little while?”
“Ha! Nice line. Define, little while.”
“Not another twenty-eight years.”
“So sure, so certain, so in love with himself.”
“Sure that you are the one. Certain that you’ll be mine. And it’s not me that my heart fills wit
h love for.”
“Stop with the cheese and throw some mustard my way.” She chuckled with a small shake of her head.
“I can offer you relish, tangy sweet.” Griffin grinned hard.
“Can we stop talking about food? I’ve eaten my fill, and yet, there’s always more.” And she hated it.
She liked a healthy life, and since running into her mate, she’d eaten way too much chocolate, a hot dog, a burger with everything, and enough cake to make her want to run it off in a marathon.
She was getting like Penny and Isla.
“I like a woman with curves.”
“I like to be able to bend in the middle.” Keri offered back.
The moment those words were out, she wanted to snatch them back. She knew he was going to make a meal out of it, so to speak.
“That thought does sound tempting.” Griffin allowed himself a small growl at the thought of her bending over in front of him.
“Ah, it’s a little brain moment,” Keri teased back.
In truth, the moment that she’d said it, she’d also imagined something decidedly dirty. She couldn’t be sure exactly what was going through the Alpha's mind, but she could be sure that it all boiled down to the same thing – sex, lust, being naked, and a good time was had by all.
That thought was so damn tempting to her, especially after the fire that they’d almost set off between them back in the hall of mirrors.
“I’m male; it’s going to happen.”
“A lot.”
“Are we talking about the little brain thing or the actual act of making love itself, because I’m getting confused.”
“Well, you are male.”
“And you are female, and we are made to fit together like…”
“Two peas in a pod?” she shot back with more than enough mischief in her eyes.
“I was thinking more interlocking,” Griffin offered back, starting a fresh wave of erotic thoughts shooting through her mind like a porn movie on fast forward to all of the good bits.
“I was thinking wait until you’re asked,” Keri leaned in and whispered to him, but that extra closeness was like a red rag to a bull inside of her womb, and it already had tap shoes on, but now it was doing a happy dance.