Summer Lovin'

by M. L. Briers

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  “Griffin,” Keri stalked towards the alpha wolf; her eyes blazed with concern, anger, and a whole lot of relief.

  Griffin’s wolf wanted one thing and one thing only – to meet his mate in the flesh. The beast turned his turned his head on his neck, and his eyes took her in.

  Then the wolf turned his large body around on his paws and started a slow walk towards the witch – expecting to be zapped at some point – but not wanting to rush at her and speed up the process.

  “Whoa, wolf.” Keri ground to a halt and took a second or two to think about the bloodied and large beast that was heading her way.

  He’s not going to take a bite.

  I’m his mate.

  Calm down.

  Breathe.

  He’s kind of like the family pet.

  Big damn pet.

  But still.

  Don’t panic the wild animal.

  “He won’t hurt you,” Maria assured her from somewhere off to her left, but she didn’t turn her head to acknowledge the woman’s words.

  Keri’s eyes were intent on the wolf.

  “He might nibble, a little,” Percival offered, stirring the pot.

  “Shut up, Percy,” Keri bit out of the side of her mouth as she raised her hand in front of her towards the beast – palm out – as if she was going to use her magic against him.

  The wolf didn’t hesitate in his step. He kept the same slow pace all the way towards her.

  His eyes were intent on hers, and when he did stop – it was because the tip of his nose was pressed gently against the palm of her hand.

  “Look at you,” Keri muttered to herself.

  A smile started on her lips, and when the beast sniffed against her flesh, that smile grew wider.

  “Got any Scooby snacks?” Percival asked, but Keri was too enamored with the beast to bother berating him.

  Griffin’s wolf was glorious to behold, but when her eyes took him in – she could see the blood that covered his fur and wounds that cut deep into his flesh.

  “You’re hurt… I can heal…” the beast nudged her hand out of the way and padded closer.

  Keri didn’t move a muscle as the wolf brushed the side of his head against her cheek and took her scent at the source.

  Mine…

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “I had it under control,” Penny rushed forwards towards her mate’s wolf and stopped in her tracks when the beast turned on fast paws towards her. “But, thanks for saving me,” she rushed out – feeling a fresh wave of guilt chase through her.

  The wolf grumbled a growl of annoyance and snorted. A heartbeat later and Neal was standing there, bloodied, bruised, cut, and very, very, very naked.

  “Running?” He growled out.

  “What?” Penny’s mind farted and spun in a million different directions – that was until the naked beta lifted his hand and pointed at the open bathroom window behind her. “What? No!”

  “Really? You just climbed out of the window for the fun of it, do you?” Neal growled back.

  He knew that he probably shouldn’t have been growling at his mate, but he was as mad as hell that she’d put herself in danger, and his beast was still front and center from the fight.

  “Actually – funny – not-so-funny story,” Penny swallowed hard at the look that she got back from her mate.

  “Witches be mental…” Lucas said and got an elbow in the ribs from Isla for his trouble.

  “Why would she run?” Isla demanded of her mate.

  “That’s what I’d like to hear,” Neal growled down at Penny as she scowled back at him.

  “I didn’t!” She protested. “I wouldn’t!” She said adamantly. “I have every damn intention of mating with you!” She bit out.

  Neal’s mouth opened, and he twisted his head on his neck as he narrowed his eyes on her.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me, dumb oaf!” Penny snapped back.

  “I heard you – I think – but, I’m not sure you heard you,” Neal said, slightly confused.

  “I have ears, don’t I?” Penny snapped back. “And do you have to stand there like that? It’s distracting!”

  Neal took all of a few seconds for his brain to kick his backside in gear.

  Then he reached out, scooped her up, turned on his heels and started for the back door of the house.

  “Bye… then,” Isla waved.

  “Oh, you can put me the hell down anytime, Muscles!” Penny grumbled, but she didn’t force the issue.

  “I will, as soon as we get to our bedroom,” Neal growled back.

  Penny opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  That was the moment that the grin started at his lips and grew wider across his face by the second with every step that the man took.

  He was savoring the moment.

  He’d silence her.

  He’d won the fight.

  He’d won his mate.

  He’d wooed her.

  Now, he was going to love her in every way, shape and form possible, and maybe some that weren’t damn well possible, but he was more than willing to try.

  He had her in his arms, and he was never letting go.

  No more wooing.

  She was his.

  His to love.

  His to cherish.

  And his to keep until the end of his days.

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  ~

  “You made my wolf very happy,” Griffin informed his mate the moment that he shifted back into his human form.

  “Cool wolf – what’s not to love?” Keri’s eyes took in every inch of the alpha’s body that she possibly could.

  His wounds were already clearly healing – the superficial ones had already turned into angry red welts – the bruises that dotted his body and face were already turning a dull green-yellow, and there didn’t look to be any broken bones as he moved towards her.

  Naked, the man was naked and with those hard muscles of his moving under his tanned skin.

  Griffin’s wolf practically purred at her words. The daft beast was already head over heels in love with their mate, and he would have rolled over onto his back and let her rub his tummy if she’d asked.

  Griffin hadn’t fared much better. His heart was full of her, and yet, there was still room for more.

  “You on the other hand,” she frowned at him.

  Griffin stopped in place and eyed her. He was unsure of what she was going to berate him for next, but he was ready to listen.

  She was his mate, and he would always take her gripes and grievances seriously.

  “Go on,” he urged, drawing in a long, deep breath of expectation as his chest expanded, and her eyes roamed down to it once more.

  “Are a mess,” Keri said, placing only one hand on one hip, and he let out that breath slowly – it was filled with relief.

  “It couldn’t be helped,” Griffin offered back.

  One side of his mouth reached upwards in a lopsided grin that filled his jet black eyes with light and humor, and she was glad to see it.

  “Boys will be boys, I guess,” she said, tossing up her shoulders as his grin was mirrored on her face.

  “About what you said earlier.” Griffin narrowed his eyes just a little, but it was the movement of his hard length as it twitched that made her snap her eyes down and then flick them back up to his face.

  He caught that quick look and growled.

  “Earlier?” Keri looking a little distracted.

  “Before the fight…”

  “The fight,” Keri mused.

  “When you were talking to the vampire.”

  “I have a name!” Percival announced. The man was stalking back towards them. “Why does everyone have to refer to me as the vampire? I don’t go around calling you the alpha, the Wolfman, the minion of Satan that howls at the moon, now, do it?”

  “Do you mind, Percy?” Keri tossed
over her shoulder and heard the man groan.

  “Fine… call me the vampire,” he tossed up a hand. “Crisis averted. Gerald is dead.”

  “Penny!” Keri kicked herself for not giving her friend the thought and worry that she deserved.

  “Safe. Her mate is whisking her up to their bedroom as we speak.” Percival announced.

  “That sounds like a plan of action for what comes next,” Griffin growled and snatched Keri’s attention back towards him.

  “Oh, for what comes next. Someone’s confident,” Keri frowned again as both of her hands found her hips.

  “I’m just repeating what you told me,” Griffin gave her a very wolfish grin.

  “I told you?”

  “Did you not?”

  “Not what?”

  “Here we go with the twenty questions again.” Percival sighed. “Yes, you did – no, I didn’t … yadda – yadda – yadda – blah – blah – blah. I know I don’t age, but sometimes it feels like I do.”

  “Oh, poor baby,” Keri offered in a bored tone.

  “Slacking, Alpha. Now your mate is calling me baby…” Percival teased, but the warning growl that came back from the shifter made the vampire take a long step back, and he held his hands up to his chest in mock surrender. “Too soon?”

  “Eternity would be too soon,” Griffin growled.

  “Got it,” Percival looked suitably chastised.

  “So, back to what you said,” Griffin turned his attention back towards Keri.

  “I said a lot of things … before the fight – which… before… are we talking about?”

  She knew, and Griffin knew that she knew.

  She was doing that sidestepping thing that women were fond of to waste time and confuse matters, to confuse him, but he wasn’t about to let things drop.

  Oh, no. She’d said it alright – and he was going to enjoy handing her back her words.

  “I think it went something like; Well, Griffin had better win the fight then, because the moment that he does – I’m going to bond with him,” The alpha stated.

  There was an underlying growl that ran with every word. She liked that sound a lot.

  “You think?” Keri asked as innocently as she could. “That’s not going to hold up in a court of law…”

  “It’s lucky then that I don’t need a court of law.” Griffin closed the distance between them, and surprisingly; his mate held her ground.

  “Just like that?” Keri said with a breathless giggle at the thought of what came next.

  “Just like that,” Griffin assured her.

  Then he reached for her, snatched her up against him, and she wrapped her legs around his naked hips and felt the full press of his hard length against her sex.

  She already hated that she was still wearing clothes.

  There were a few manly cheers that went up around them. A few excited giggles sounded out, and a lot of happy mutterings from the pack that was still gathered behind them.

  “Get a room,” Percival groaned as he rolled his eyes in his head.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Keri grinned, and Griffin wasted no time in starting off towards the house.

  “Come on, Percy,” Maria said. “We’ve got cake…”

  “And Whiskey?”

  “Lots of whiskey,” Maria assured him.

  “You know the way to my heart.” Percival grinned.

  “You have a heart?” Maria teased, and the vampire frowned.

  “Only when absolutely necessary.”

  “Commiserations.”

  “Thank you. See, you understand me.” Percival grinned, and the elder snorted a chuckle.

  “I’m not your type,” Maria offered back.

  “Blood type or type-type?” Percival asked as he strolled at the side of the elder, and she reached out and slapped him around the back of his head. “Both. Got it.”

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  ~

  “Where’d everyone go?” Isla frowned as she eyed her mate with suspicion.

  “Let’s get you some coffee,” Lucas said.

  Neal had swept his mate off her feet and carried her away right in front of his eyes.

  He’d heard Griffin practically do the same with his mate.

  While Isla was as drunk as sin, and he knew that the wooing would have to wait until the little witch sobered up.

  He sighed inside. His beast clawed to be set free to claim their mate, and he had to slam shut that steel cage around his needs, his wants, and his desires until his mate was back within her rational mind – wherever and if ever that was the case.

  He really didn’t want to wait.

  But, he could wait.

  He could wait just as long as it took for her to agree to bond with him, because she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Isla was his and he was hers, and in the grand scheme of things – he felt more settled and content inside than he’d ever felt in his life before.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  ~

  Griffin didn’t want to stop.

  He was hungry for her, every inch, every taste, every smell, and every touch, but the damn shower was practically calling his name – tapping on his subconscious – and making him groan inwardly at the thought of separation from her, and he growled outwardly with the deeply ingrained need of not wanting to let her go.

  “I’m going to take the fastest shower in history, and you’d better not be gone when I get back, or my wolf is going to be on the damn prowl,” Griffin growled at the impending loss.

  “So, take me with you, or do you have a shower alone policy?”

  “No damn policy I can think of,” he offered back to her. His grin was more wolfish than she’d ever seen it before.

  “So, you shower with your brothers then?” She teased and got another growl back for her trouble.

  She also got spun around in his arms as he turned towards the bathroom door and started to stalk towards it.

  “I’m not even going there,” Griffin grumbled.

  “Where? There?”

  Her eyes dropped to where his hard length was pressed against her sex, and the hungry growl that rumbled through him was well and truly worth its weight in gold.

  “Oh, you can be damn sure I’m going there, in every damn way possible, and until you’re begging for mercy.”

  “Begging for mercy?” Keri chuckled. “Seriously?”

  “Very,” Griffin assured her.

  The next moment; he was lowering her to her feet, and she would have protested the loss of contact between them, but he was already stripping off her clothes and exposing her to his hungry eyes.

  “Bet you can’t recite something smart right about now,” she teased him, and he growled again.

  “I don’t even know my name right about now,” Griffin admitted.

  It was true. His little brain had taken over from his normal brain, and he was grateful for it.

  Nature would have out – and he damn well wanted to do what came naturally between mates.

  His large hands replaced her clothing in places that she liked.

  Outside, and then inside the caged walls of the shower cubicle – his fingertips searched, touched, and found the places that made her moan, gasp, and make sweet noises.

  His tongue ran over her skin.

  His blunt teeth nipped.

  He kissed, teased, and tasted her everywhere that he could – right up to the point where neither of them could take anymore.

  He had to really taste her.

  Keri wasn’t entirely sure how the hell she managed to stay on her feet, well, one foot, as her other leg was against his shoulder and draped down his back as he knelt in front of her.

  Her back was against the tiles, and one of his hands wedged her in place, but still – her legs felt weak as he brought her up towards the edge of oblivion and made her see shooting stars behind her eyelids when he thrust her over the edge with his clever demanding tongue that was buried inside of her clenching channel.


  Keri moaned, and cursed, and grumbled, and even growled, and that was where he drew the damn line.

  Griffin released her and pushed up to his feet.

  He wrapped one strong arm around her trembling body, as he snatched her up against him, and her legs wrapped around his velvet hips.

  The hard press of his cock was like the promise of Christmas in July. So close, and yet so far away.

  Griffin could hardly keep a hold of the wet, squirming, fiery woman within his arms as she rubbed her sex against his length like a somewhat demented cat in heat.

  He pressed her back against the nearest wall and moved his hips. The bulbous head of his cock found the warm, wet heat of her sex and he opened her silken walls around the girth of his rock hard length.

  Keri’s head went back against the wall, and she cursed again at the fullness that was plowing home.

  Griffin didn’t stop until his cock was buried to the hilt inside of her. She felt so damn tight, so damn good, that he thought he might just be in danger of losing his mind.

  Hell, he wanted to take her down to the tiled floor and take her like a wildling right there and then, but there was a part of his brain that was hammering it home that she was his mate.

  She needed to be revered. Loved. Not taken like a drunken one night stand in a sleazy bar’s bathroom.

  He snatched her away from the wall and spun around towards the bedroom door.

  Every step that he stalked towards the bed made his cock move inside of her, and the sound that rumbled in her throat made his balls hard and they ached with need.

  Griffin had never wanted anything in his life before as much as he wanted to bond with her.

  The taste of her feminine essence was still on his tongue, and he was desperate to add the tang of her blood to it when he placed his bonding mark in the soft flesh of her shoulder.

  Mine…

  His wolf stated the obvious.

  Keri was his.

  His mate to love, cherish, and care for all the days of their lives and that first day had already started.

  He’d fought Angus for her.