by M. L. Briers
“You could always do the decent thing and leave.”She shot back.
“Wouldn’t want you to fall asleep again and drown…”He offered and heard her sigh.
“Perhaps that would at least solve both of our problems.”She heard the low growl that rumbled through his chest and wondered at it.
“Don’t even go there, Sasha.”Abel pulled himself to his feet and started for the door. “I’m going to put some food on, please tell me you’re not a vegetable muncher.”
She couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her lips. Wouldn’t that serve him right, but she couldn’t live without meat, not even to spite him.
“Not as carnivorous as you, but I eat meat.”She answered, biting back another snigger, and watched his backside as he walked out of the door. Tight and hard, just right to sink her fingers into when… Damn.
“One tree.” Adam growled as Joshua battled to get it through the front door. The branches snagged and protested, but he finally managed to yank it inside.
“Oh, Joshua, it’s amazing, thank you.”Fay grinned from the other side of the room and Joshua glowed under her praise. Adam looked downcast as he waited for his brownie points, but she turned her attention back to the bowl of porridge she was hovering up.
“Hello?”Adam patted his chest expectantly, and Fay swallowed down the mouthful of porridge and pointed her spoon in his direction.
“You need to dig out the two boxes of decorations that came with my stuff…”She watched the deep frown on his forehead deepen even further as he stared back at her, and then she flicked her spoon in the general direction of the cupboard under the stairs to motivate him. “No time like the present.”She offered helpfully, and his head dropped down on his neck and he started towards the cupboard.
“What do you want me to do with this?”Joshua asked and Adam’s head snapped around on his neck.
“I could tell you where to put it.”He growled at his friend. They both knew who had cut the damn tree down, and who had dragged it through the woods. Joshua had only taken it when Abel had called him on the mobile, and now he didn’t even have the decency to tell Fay any of that, instead he took her praise. Some friend…
“Now now, don’t you have baubles and tinsel to find?”Joshua teased and Adam debated putting his fist into the big shifters face, but decided against it. He didn’t want to get Fay all worked up again, but he did growl him a warning of things to come as he yanked open the door to the cupboard and stalked inside.
“Just lean it somewhere for now, thanks.”Fay told him, before she practically scrapped off the pattern from the inside of the bowl and patted her swollen stomach to tell the pup that was his lot for now.
Joshua sniffed the air looking for his mates scent, and Fay dropped down from her stool. “She’s in the back bedroom, we had a cookie dough malfunction and she’s changing her top.”Fay informed him and saw his eyes light up as he took off faster than normal and Fay chuckled.
The sound of things being tossed around the cupboard made Fay smile even more. She knew Adam had wanted his praise, expected it, and that made it all the more fun to deny him.
She crossed the room and slipped into the cupboard behind him as he grumbled to himself. She pulled the door shut behind her and his head came up and he sniffed the air.
“I’m looking…”He offered without turning around, and she closed the distance between them, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. He turned towards her.
“Thank you for my tree.”She grinned up at him with a look of mischief in her eyes. Adam grinned down at her.
“You’re welcome.”His eyes flicked to the closed door of the cupboard and then back to her in an instant. “Is there something else you wanted love?”He moved towards her and she shrugged her shoulders.
“I just wanted to give you a proper thank you.”She wished she didn’t have a belly swollen to the size of a damned poker table sticking out in front of her, because she’d really like to be chest to breast with him again, preferably naked…
Adam scented her arousal and growled long and hard. He was tall enough to be able to curve his body over her swollen belly, and he claimed her lips in a heated kiss that had her reaching for the zipper on his jeans.
“Not here.”He growled, knocking her hands away and reaching down to lift her into his arms. She couldn’t help but giggle as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Why not here?”
“Because I can’t lay you down here, and what I’m going to do to you really needs a bed…”He growled at the thought, as he kicked open the door and swept her through the living room. The sound of Joshua and Hope drifted towards him from the back bedroom and he grinned.
“Sounds like everyone had the same idea.”He growled at her as Faith dropped down on the sofa and huffed.
“Not everyone…”She bitched, reaching for the remote and turning on the television. “Have fun. I would.” -If my mate was here, she groaned inside her own mind as she settled back to watch anything that would take her mind of all the sex around her. God she missed him, and sex, and him, but sex… really missed all the sex they would be having if he was here.
Abel heard her move in the tub, heard the water cascade from her body as she dragged herself to her feet, heard the plug being pulled, and then her feet hitting the floor.
He warmed the stew that had been left over from the night before and given to him to take home as leftovers by Fay, so that he had something on hand if he wanted it.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t cook, he could and did, often. It was that Fay had become such a damned mother hen that she was constantly looking after him, which might change when she finally had the pup. Then she’d have someone else to look after and he could go back to being self sufficient.
He heard her pull off her wet clothes and deposit them in the sink and saw just her arms and hands reach out for the fresh towels on the rack. When she appeared at the doorway, wrapped in a large bath sheet, he cursed himself for not having smaller towels.
“There’s a robe you can put on, it’s clean.”He pointed towards the fluffy thing that Fay had bought him as it hung over the back of the dinning chair, and turned his attention back to what he was doing as she snatched it up and disappeared back into the bathroom.
By the time she came out again he had the food dished up into large bowls and was heading towards the dinner table with them and spoons.
“Listen, I never thanked you for what you did…”Sasha started, and he put the bowls down and turned back towards the kitchen.
“No need. Eat your food.”Abel certainly didn’t need thanking for protecting his mate, if anything he should be chastised for not acting in her best interests sooner, although if he had, he figured she would have put up more of a fight.
He grabbed a couple of bottles of juice from the side and turned back towards her. She was sitting at the table, wearing his robe and looking like she belonged, and his heart skipped a couple of beats within his chest.
“What is it?”She asked prodding around the food with her spoon and he wanted to chuckle.
“Fay made it last night. It has chicken in it.”Abel placed the juice at the side of her bowl and slipped onto a chair beside her.
“That’s descriptive.”
“And vegetables. I seem to remember seeing a carrot.”Now he was just being awkward, but it made her smile. “Could be a potato lurking somewhere in there too.”Her smile widened, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she continued to poke the food.
“I see a pea…”She offered and he chuckled.
“I think you got the only pea…”
“Wanna share it?”She seemed to have forgotten for the moment that he was the enemy and he relished that.
“Split it down the middle like an atom?”He grinned just as she raised her eyes to his and she held fast there for a long moment, snared in his gaze.
Sasha shook her head slightly and tried to refocus on what she was doing and who she was with. She was n
aked under his bathrobe, sitting in his cabin, eating his food, and he was the wolf… Not so much the big bad wolf right now, but the wolf none the less.
“So when will the road down thaw enough for me to be on my way?”Sasha saw the brightness in his eyes dull a little and knew she’d hit her mark.
“Depends when the storm lifts…”He wasn’t going to commit himself to a time frame. She was here now and that meant that every moment they spent together her body would be itching to mate with him, and that was what counted.
If she wasn’t his by morning then something was going wrong somewhere. “Eat your food or you won’t have the energy to do much of anything, let alone get down a mountain.”He informed her, now working his way back to neutral.
Sasha found that the stew wasn’t half bad. A little spicy as it tingled on her tongue, but then she liked spicy, and she was getting used to tingling, every time her mate touched her she tingled, and now that he wasn’t, she kind of missed it. Not that she was ever going to admit that.
“I’ll have to sort you out some clothes when we’ve finished…”He offered and she couldn’t help but take in the large frame of the man. She might be a little curvier than most women aspire too, but then she wasn’t most women, she did as she pleased and if people didn’t like it then tough on them, but still she didn’t think he had anything that was going to fit her like a glove.
“Thanks.”
“You can stop thanking me.”Abel smiled.
“It’s called manners and I have them, I get that you don’t…”
“I…”Abel frowned, trying to figure out where that accusation came from.
“I could try to go native, but…”She shrugged her indifference, and he sat back in his chair and folded those large arms across his chest. Her eyes flicked to the corded muscles, made more so by his actions, and she felt a jolt of something that wasn’t unpleasant inside her, just unwelcome considering the circumstances.
“You know I must have missed the area on my body where I have six-six-six tattooed into my skin, perhaps you could point it out for me.”Abel tossed at her, and she nearly choked on a lump of potato as she tried to swallow it down, spluttering in her amusement, but trying to hide it.
“I don’t want to get that close to you.”She put the acidity in her voice to keep the guilt away. He’d been nothing but nice and she was treating him with contempt, it was akin to kicking a puppy, but then he was no sweet little puppy, she reasoned, this one had fangs and claws and could end her in a heartbeat, and that she knew through personal experience.
“Well aren’t you just the little caustic princess?”He teased and saw her squirm slightly in her seat.
“We can’t all be arseholes like you…”She shot back between clenched teeth. At least he was showing his true colours now, she though. Her eyes flicked up to see his beady little eyes on her, although they weren’t that beady, they were shining with amusement, even though she had niggled the anger side of him.
“I’m just going to go and find the princess some clothes…”He informed her unfolding his arm and placing the palms of his large hands down onto the table top as he pushed himself up to his full height, and boy did his body look like it went on forever as she sneered up at him, menacingly hovering above where she sat.
“Nice to see you can make yourself useful.”She sniped and watched him stalk away from the table on a huff.
Sasha waited until her body registered that he wasn’t that close to her anymore and sagged back against the chair, biting off a silent curse as she closed her eyes and longed for some summer sun to magically take away the snow and give her the freedom she needed to escape him.
Faith sat snuggled into the cushions watching some drippy love story that made her snort with contempt, until contempt turned to boredom and her lids drooped downwards over her eyes, and she felt her body slowly ease towards a catnap.
The hands that covered her eyes made her jump in place. The feeling of wanting that went through her body and brought her awake made her gasp in a breath. Her hands flew up to his and her insides bubbled with excitement.
“Guess who?”The deep melodic tones that whispered against her ear made her heart sing with happiness as she pulled his hands away and turned in her seat, looking up to take Jake in, before she clambered up over the back of the sofa.
He took a step backwards as she launched herself against him. Her legs wrapped around his hips and her arms around his neck, and she grinned until her cheeks hurt.
“I take it you missed me?”Jake teased and Faith rolled her eyes.
“Well der. Everybody is mated and I wanted you…”Faith brushed her lips against his and he groaned as she pressed her sex against the hardness that wanted her right then and there.
“Just for sex then?”He drawled and saw the glint of mischief in her eyes.
“Sex is good, but I missed you…”
“Sex is very good…”He raised his brows suggestively and she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Cupboard…”Faith motioned behind her and he gave her an old fashioned look of disbelief.
“Cupboard?”Jake rolled his eyes, but she just grinned at him wickedly.
“Cupboard. Now…”She hissed, dipping her head and nipping against his neck. Jake swung them around and headed for the cupboard.
“What’s wrong with your bedroom?”Jake asked, not really giving a damn. His mate was hot with desire and need and he wasn’t about to say no to her.
“Too far.”Her hands had already wandered down his chest and by the time he had her inside the small room, her back up against a wall, and he was devouring her mouth and savouring the taste of her that he’d missed this week, she had already let his arousal lose and was stroking down his shaft in eager anticipation.
Jake broke away from her lips and eased her down to her feet, but she didn’t stay there for long, she was already on her knees, looking up at him with those big doe eyes and licking her lips in anticipation.
“I missed you…”She informed him, not giving him time to answer before she practically swallowed him whole with her mouth.
Jake nearly punched a hole in the wall as his hands shot out to keep his knees from buckling.
“Jesus, Faith!”He growled out through clenched teeth at the feel of her sheathing him and then licking at him as if he were her favourite ice cream, sucking hard and ploughing back down as far as she could take him.
He reached down and pulled her to her feet, turning her to face the wall, he reached under her skirt and yanked down her panties.
“That’s rude. I wasn’t finished…”Faith pouted with equal amounts of annoyance and frustration.
“No, but I nearly was darling, and right now we both need more…”He breathed against her neck as he yanked her hips backwards and felt his way along her wet sex with the tip of his hardness. He could feel her wetness, she was ready for him, Faith was always ready for him, and he wanted to drop to his knees and taste her, but he knew she’d probably just grab a handful of his hair and pull him right back up again to get what she wanted.
“What’s the opposite of slow down?”Faith hissed at him sarcastically. He thrust deep into her and felt her body melt for the longest moment as her inner muscles clenched at his arrival.
“Happy now?”
“Nope, not yet…”She did grab a handful of his hair and pulled his head against her shoulder. “Why do you have fangs if you’re…?”He sunk his fangs deep into the vein on her neck and she was instantly silenced. The first hard draw on her blood made her clench around him even harder as he thrust into her over and again, and she climbed right up there to that top diving board and was about to jump off when he stopped everything.
“Are you kidding me?”She groaned as he pulled out of her, fangs and erection, and slowly turned her in place.
“I want to see your face when you come for me…”Jake grinned at her wickedly, and she almost punched him in the face.
“I want to rip your…”He claimed her mouth
at the same time as he lifted her against the wall and thrust back inside her.
Faiths legs wrapped around his hips and he was powering into her like a man possessed. She didn’t have time to think, time to breathe, she was too caught up in what he was doing.
“Tell me you missed me…”Jake breathed against her lips and she groaned her contempt for him. “Tell me you missed me or I’ll stop again…”Jake teased her until her eyes flew open and her nails dug into the skin on his shoulders.
“Missed- you…”Faith managed, just on the very edge of that diving board, and he shifted his hips, rubbing his shaft over her nub. She exploded with a pulsing fire that raced through her whole body and consumed her.
“So good- Faith…”Jake felt her muscles massaging him hard towards his own climax and he thrust hard and deep, burying himself inside her and taking his own pleasure, thrusting over and over until he had nothing left to give.
“I hate it when you pull crap like that…”She moaned against his chest. The feel of his tongue running over the wounds on her neck made her shiver.
“Well, I like it when you get all fiery and feisty.”Jake chuckled, savouring the last of her blood and lifting his dark eyes to hers. “Tell me you missed me again…”
“Tell me you’re staying for Christmas…”Faith bit back.
“Christmas?”Jake looked somewhat confused and a little horrified. “Do we do Christmas?”
“Better get buying those gifts…”She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he groaned. “Fay wants a family Christmas, and we got a tree.”
“I wondered why the pack was bringing the forest indoors. I just thought Abel needed somewhere to relieve himself without getting cold paws.”
Faith couldn’t help but chuckle, even though she slapped his chest hard and berated him with a dark glare.
“Be nice…”
“I haven’t drained anybody yet have I?”Jake tossed back. His eyes falling to the pulse in her neck. “Although, I could go for another Scooby snack…”