by M. L. Briers
“Car…”Summer saw Abe push off with his backside from their pickup, and stand there staring at her with suspicious eyes, well they were narrowed so she guessed he was suspicious of her, or he could just have some damn duck feathers in them, she guessed wolves eat ducks.
“My car is here.”Flynn informed her and she tipped her head at him and regarded him as if he was seven kinds of stupid, which in her mind he was.
“And my car is there.”She tried to make it as slow and painless as possible for him to understand.
“And you’re coming in my car with me.”Flynn offered her back equally as slowly, and she chewed her lower lip in frustration.
“Why would I want to do that, when I have a perfectly good car right there?”She motioned to it with both hands, just in case he’d missed it the first time.
“Because, I don’t trust you not to high tail it out of town.”Flynn spoke to her as if she was two years old, and she was surprised he didn’t follow it up with a pat on the head. Right now she didn’t want to pat him on the head, she’d much rather give him a kick in the balls, but…
“I have a job to do, and I need my car to do it.”Summer looked at him like he was the village idiot, and he felt a nerve twinge, and not in a good way.
“Then Abe can drive it…”Flynn motioned to Abe who stood up straighter upon hearing his name, like a dog waiting for the ball to be thrown, and Summer gave him a quick appraisal.
“He can’t drive my car.”
“Why can’t he drive your car?”Flynn took a step closer and Summer held her place.
“Because, I don’t want fur on my seats.”She shot back with all the sweetness of arsenic and Flynn heard his Beta muttering under his breath.
“Get in my damn car…”It was Flynn’s turn to narrow his eyes on her, and this time she felt his beady little eyes pry right through into her soul.
“No.”Summer was standing her ground. She needed this, she was going to make a stand, especially while there were no beds around.
“No?”Flynn took another step towards her and she shrugged her shoulders, a small wry smile on her lips as she looked up at him.
“N-o.”She went from a smile to a she-devil in an instant in Flynn’s book, and he took a breath and she heard his sigh.
“Summer…”
“No, absolutely, categorically, definitely…Not.”Summer thought she could have made it clearer if she threw in a couple of hand signals, but she held herself back from that one… for now.
Flynn shook his head in frustration. He could gladly wring her neck, and he could be quite cheerful in his work as he choked the damn life out of her, frustrating, devious, annoying, smug little body.
Then his wolf growled at him and he knew he couldn’t, not that he didn’t still want to, because he surely did, but he knew his wolf wouldn’t let him. He’d shift and where would that leave them? A big sloppy love sick wolf playing tug of war with his human side to try to retake control.
Flynn growled low and hard. Damn it, he wanted to throw her over his shoulder, throw her into the back of his truck, and just drive off with her clinging onto the tailgate… But that wouldn’t get him far either, she’d probably scream and squeal, drawing attention to them, and then he’d have some explaining to do.
“F-ine…”He’d considered another four letter word, but it was all he could do to push that one out instead. He tossed his car keys to Abe who snatched them out of thin air. “I’ll meet you up there.”Flynn growled as he started towards her car, eyeing it with disinterest.
“Wait, you’re not coming with me.”Summer assured him and he pulled her along with him.
“Not only am I coming with you. I’m driving.”Flynn growled down at her and she balked at the very idea.
“No you’re not.”She was adamant. Nobody was driving her car but her, especially not him.
“Look, Summer…”Flynn pulled her against the car, dropped her suitcase down beside them, and growled down at her, but she wasn’t having it.
“My car. I drive, or it doesn’t move…”She held up the keys on a large fob from her index finger and smiled up at him triumphantly.
Flynn snatched the keys from her hand before she even had a chance to blink and he popped open the locks with a smug look at her.
Summer pulled on her magic, just a tad, and tapped her index finger on the roof of the car, the locks popped back on again. Flynn hit the button on the fob and they clicked off. Summer tapped the roof and they were on.
Abe rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath as he watched the light show. He was sure glad he didn’t have epilepsy with the continual flashing orange lights as they tried to better each other. Off. On. Off. On. Off…
Flynn grabbed her hand and held onto it, and she nodded her head. The locks clicked on and he growled in annoyance.
“Imagine how far we’re going to get when I do that to the engine?”Summer announced with all the over exaggerated glee she could put behind it. She rolled her eyes and enjoyed the fact that she had won. She could already see it in his eyes. Lost hope, and as her intended mate, she thought she’d be seeing that look a lot in the next few days. It kind of made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.
“F-ine…”Flynn growled between clenched teeth as he held out her keys for her to take, and she made a great show of taking them very slowly, victory on her face and in her eyes.
“Thank you. Now why don’t you sit in the back…”She offered him her best innocent look. Flynn snorted at her, innocent my ars…
“I’m not sitting in the back, there’s no leg room. It’s a girl car.”Flynn crossed his arms over his broad chest and glared down at her.
“You could always sit in the boot?”Summer offered and narrowed his eyes on her again in disbelief.
“Like a dog? I’m wise to you woman.”Flynn warned and she rolled her shoulders and her eyes.
“I was just saying. If you need to stretch out, lick your butt…”Summer felt the grip on her arm tighten slightly, not hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to let her know he was royally pissed at her.
“Get in the damn car.”He growled and she thought she had better cut her losses right there.
She clicked the locks off and his hand was opening the door for her before she had the chance, with a slight push and shove he made sure she was in the driver’s seat, before he tossed her case into the back.
“You even think about driving off without me. I will chase you down and do things to you that will make your toes curl…”He leaned in towards her. “Right there on the front seat of that damn car.”He added before pulling back and slamming her door shut, and she jumped at the sound. Physically jumped out of the reverie her mind was in from the damn images he had placed there.
The sound of the passenger door opening made her jump again and she thrust the keys into the ignition, as the whole car shook when he dropped down into the seat next to her. She shifted in her seat when she got the feeling that he was just too damn close. He seemed to everywhere, all around her in the small confines of her girlie car.
“Follow Abe.” He growled out into the semi darkness of the car, and the underlying growl beneath his words rolled through the car and over her body and she had to grit her teeth against the purr that was in the back of her throat in answer to his growl. Damn…
“I know where you live.”Summer shot back and she heard Flynn sigh beside her.
“Just follow the damn truck, Summer.”
Summer couldn’t say it was the best journey she’d ever had. He huffed, sighed, and just plain pouted beside her as she followed the pickup in front of her. Just to be extra annoying, she stuck to the speed limit, well, ten miles under the speed limit, sometimes less, and made Abe slow down in front of her for fear he was going to lose her.
And when Flynn crossed those big old arms over his extra big old chest, she wanted to snigger, but she knew she couldn’t, he’d probably dreamed up about a million different ways to kill her already, she didn’t need him acting o
n those plans.
Nope, she was driving her car like every little beetle and bug on the road was the most precious gift in the world to her, and she was going to miss every last one of the little buggers, a slight swerve left, the back right, then right, then back left.
“Females.”He growled low under his breath and she nearly lost it. The laughter rose within her and threatened to explode inside the quiet confines of the car, and she had to bite down on her inner cheek just to hold onto it.
“Males…” She managed a long sigh of her own. “Everything in a hurry, let’s hope you’re not this impatient in bed, Alpha.”Summer bit down again as his head whipped around towards her, and she could have sworn she heard the bones in his neck grind under the speed.
“Oh I assure you when I get you in bed you’ll be begging me to…”
“Brush your teeth?”She shot him an apologetic look before wincing and wafting her hand in front of her nose. “I’m not sure which little fluffy animal you partook in earlier, but perhaps brushing after…”She offered, making sure she kept her eyes ahead on the road.
Flynn frowned and reached up his hand to try to scent his own breath in his palm.
“Or flossing, flossing’s good…”She offered her off hand opinion as if she meant it kindly. Inside she was cackling like an old hag. “A nice minty floss.”She let her words drift off as he narrowed his eyes on her and frowned harder, not quite a scowl.
Flynn couldn’t decide if she was being honest with him or pulling his chain. He couldn’t scent anything bad on his breath, but that didn’t meant it wasn’t there…
“Me, I like to go with the whole, brushing, flossing, mouthwash ritual. You should really try it.”Summer thought she needed to stop right there, before he felt her deceit. Her shields were firmly in place, but still, they wouldn’t last forever as a form of defence against his little alpha ways, and it would be her luck for him to be able to sneak under her defences right when she didn’t need it.
Flynn couldn’t remember what the hell they had been talking about. Not since her declaration that he had bad breath. Damn it, he’d brushed, but he could do it again as soon as they got back to the house.
He watched Abe turn off onto the track that would lead them deep inside the woods and to the cabins that housed his pack. This was a good time for her to drive like she was driving Miss Daisy. The road was as uneven as any forest floor could be. It was one of the reasons that most of the pack favoured driving Pickup’s or off road vehicles. Her little car was going to have a hell of a time.
“You might want to slow down…”Flynn offered and heard her sigh.
“Speed up, slow down. I do know how to drive…”The front offside tyre disappeared into a large hole in the track and the car lurched and tossed them about inside. The steering wheel was wrenched sideways and it slipped between her fingers, jarring her wrist.
A long stream of swear words rolled just under her breath as she shook out the ache in her wrist and slowed right down.
“I did try to warn…”Flynn started, but she shot him a look. It was probably akin to the one Medusa used to turn poor unsuspecting men to stone, and she wielded it well.
“Didn’t you though…”She ground out, as the car lurched and bobbed along some more. It seemed it didn’t really matter what damn speed they were going at, her little car didn’t like the road and the road was trying to kill her car.
“Is it in your nature to be this damn caustic all of the time?”Flynn eyed her on a low growl, and she felt her cheeks flush again, and she would bet he could pick that out even in the darkness.
“No. I’m usually worse. Get back to me at the weekend and we’ll see how bitchy I can be.”She shot back and he crossed his arms tighter over his chest and ground his jaw.
“Oh, lucky me.”It was said on a low growl, but not low enough for her not to catch it.
“Oh bite me you overgrown…”She mumbled back.
“Ask me again when you’re not being a shrew and I just may…”
“Shrew. Listen chum, you think this is being a shrew, you haven’t even got to see my bad side yet…”Summer snapped back at him. This was like school all over again, she told herself. Playground bullies and boys who were up their own backsides. She’d honed her verbal skills then and she would use them now to defend herself against this Neanderthal.
“Do you live every day like you have PMS?”He growled, jostling from side to side within the small confines of the car. It would almost be funny if she wasn’t so damn mad at him.
“Better to have PMS than terminal arseholes disease.”Summer shot back and Flynn threw his hands up in the air in frustration.
“How could the damn Fates believe that you would make a good mate for me? You’re so caustic your tongue could strip the paint from this car.”
Summer bit down on her jaw and felt the annoyance rise even higher within her. God, but he sounded like her mother, and that was just not what she needed, someone else to belittle her and make her feel like crap.
Summer hit the brakes with everything she had. One damn lead foot that nearly put his head through the dashboard. Seatbelt or not, the car’s brakes were undoubtedly the best thing on the car.
“What the hell?”He growled, but she already had her seat belt off and the door open.
“You damn drive.”She growled back at him, just as he went to reach for her and she slammed the door closed. His fingers hit the hard glass and sent a wave of pain through his hand and a growl through his chest.
CHAPTER THREE
“Damn it, Summer.” He threw open his door at the same time as his seatbelt came off, and he started after her. The bright red brake lights ahead highlighted her in the darkness in an eerie red glow as she crossed her arms over her chest and stomped up the track.
Abe rolled down his window and stared at her as she stomped passed his car. He went to speak when his alpha stormed after her, so he kept his mouth shut.
“Summer!” Flynn barked out as he reached out and wrapped his fingers around her arm, turning her back towards him, even as she tried to dig the heels of her boots into the frozen earth. “Get back in the car.” He tried to soften the tone of his voice when he saw her eyes, pain, just not physical.
“Let me walk…”Summer tried to turn and pull away at the same time, only her heels slipped on the ground and she wasn’t going anywhere with him holding her.
“If you don’t want to ride with me, get in with Abe…”Flynn offered and her eyes flicked past the headlights to where his Beta sat, a look of surprise on the other man’s face as he squished his big frame down lower into his seat, like that was going hide him.
“No thank you.”It was a stubborn reply, but he noted how she wasn’t being sarcastic anymore. He figured whatever he had said to hurt her, she was feeling it hard.
“Then get back in with me. It’s freezing out here and we have a good mile to go…”Flynn felt himself softening towards her. His damn wolf was whining within him, sensing that their mate had been hurt, or slighted in some way, and the beast had taken it to heart. He didn’t feel much better either. He’d assumed that she was what she projected to be, tough as nails, but there was something under that tough girl persona that he’d hit on.
“I’m fine.”Summer wanted to kick him in the shin and carry on walking if it was the only way to get away from his eyes. Those sad little puppy dog eyes that told her he knew she wasn’t fine. Damn her mother for making her so weak.
“Then I’ll walk with you and come back for the car later.”Flynn wasn’t about to let her walk alone, and he certainly wasn’t going to have them following her at a snail’s pace up the damn track.
Summer liked that idea even less than being sat next to him inside her small little car. It seemed somehow more intimate to be walking with him and she didn’t want intimate. She didn’t want him, just like he didn’t want her.
“Fine. Car.”She ground out, starting to walk back towards the car and tugging her arm from his hand as she w
ent.
Flynn took a long moment to consider what he’d said to set her off, but right now he couldn’t replay their conversation for the life of him. His protective gene had kicked in and all he wanted to do was fold her against his chest and hold her until she was a shrew again.
“Flynn…?”Abe asked as he walked back past his beta and he shrugged his shoulders.
“I have no clue, brother. But I think I screwed up.”
Summer knew she had overreacted, of course she did. He was just giving her back some of her own medicine and he’d hit that damn raw nerve of hers. ‘How could the damn Fates believe that you would make a good mate for me?’ Ouch. It was the way he had said you, her damn mother’s words rung in her ears. ‘ How did I end up with a daughter like you?’ ‘How can you ever hope to be good enough…?’ and her personal favourite for the times when nothing else would do, ‘You are the bane of my existence.’ And now she had a life mate that felt the same way, and that stung her deeply.
Summer tried to watch the scenery go by. The little part of the woods that the headlights from both cars illuminated around them as they took a slow drive towards his home, her home, their home… God it was such an alien thought to her that any place could be called home. Even her apartment changed as leases would allow, six months here, twelve there. She never tried to stay in one place too long because that would mean she had roots, and she wasn’t a damn tree, she didn’t need roots.
Flynn kept silent in the driver’s seat beside her. She could feel his eyes flicking back and forth between her and the road ahead, and she couldn’t hide from those eyes in the confines of the car. Maybe she should have rode with Abe, maybe she should have grown a backbone back at the bed and breakfast and kicked him out. But she hadn’t done either of those damn things, because deep within her there was a connection between them that happened the moment he’d stated that one damn word. Mine.