by M L Briers
“Want to try that on me?” Caleb blocked her view of the Warlock with the broadness of his back. The instant relief that she felt washed through her and she was more than grateful for it. She’d misjudged his power but that wouldn’t happen again.
CHAPTER FOUR
Devlin held his place. Under normal circumstances he might have taken a few steps back and unleashed his power against the vampire in his presence, but he was more than mindful that they were outside on the street, and although darkness was closing in, there were still people milling about. The vampire couldn’t risk a confrontation anymore than he could.
“The witch has a champion.” Devlin sneered. He’d underestimated the situation that he’d found himself in. His woman had run to a vampire for protection and he knew he’d have to be more creative in getting her back where she belonged.
“Question is, do you want to live to see the sunrise?” Caleb offered with a resoluteness that had the Warlock thinking long and hard about the confrontation he’d found himself in. He wasn’t ready to take this on, not yet, but he would be.
“I’m sure you’re old enough to figure out the answer to that one yourself.” Devlin was ready for an attack if it came, but he didn’t believe the vampire was that stupid. Caleb didn’t respond, it was enough that he stared back at the man with unflinching assuredness. “Until the next time.” Devlin offered before backing off into the premises from which he’d emerged.
Caleb turned towards Wendy. His eyes took her in; looking for any sign that her pain hadn’t receded. He would have preferred to have done that differently and taken the Warlock’s head from his neck, but that hadn’t been an option.
“My knight in shining armour… again.” Wendy offered with a small teasing smile on her lips. Caleb offered her a small incline of his head as he bowed to her. “Such a gentleman.” She added and watched as a smile drew his lips wider and the light of amusement danced in his dark eyes.
“Call me old fashioned but I still like to offer a damsel my protection when it’s warranted.” Caleb took a long step towards her and offered her his arm. She took it, linking her arm with his as he led her away from the guest house. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”
“Do you think that’s going to happen, Caleb?” She couldn’t hide her amusement. The man was a canny judge of character and he had known her since she’d moved to town, she expected him to know the answer to that one. The sigh that left his lips confirmed it.
“Well, can you at least tell me if I should be worried?” Caleb tried it from a different angle.
“Aren’t you always worried?” Wendy leaned her head in towards him and heard his gentle laughter. It sounded like music to her ears and her body paid attention to that sound for the longest moment.
“I thought I was the carefree, didn’t give a damn type.” He offered back to her and watched as she berated him with her eyes.
“Now-now, don’t pout, it’s unbecoming and you know it.” Wendy teased him.
“When you are unjustly accused of something it does tend to grate on the nerves.” Caleb offered back and saw her shoulders move in a gentle, silent chuckle.
“Perhaps. We’ll see.” Wendy offered and Caleb raised just one eyebrow in return.
“You’re a hard woman to satisfy. But I do enjoy our little moments like this as much as I enjoy our fencing matches. You are a formidable woman, but I think you already know that.” He offered back. It was her turn to raise her eyebrow in response.
“Stop trying to butter me up.” She berated him and his smile turned devilish.
“Never.” He assured her.
“I’m too long in the tooth…” She started but he cut her off.
“You’re the same age as I am…” He frowned. “Give or take my vampiric years.” He added when both of her eyebrows rose up on her forehead.
“Then perhaps you should start acting your age…” He tossed her another grin. “The human one not the vampiric one or you’d be long dead.”
“Stiff…” His eyes flared with innuendo and mischief.
“I have a cure for that, it’s long, pointy and made of wood and you wear it through your heart.” She informed him to more gentle laughter.
“And I was getting all excited there for a moment…” His playfulness was catching, but she had too much to worry about to be caught up in it.
“Behave yourself.” She scolded him.
“Never going to happen.” Caleb assured her and heard her over exaggerated sigh.
“I noticed.”
Deborah heard the sound of the shower and stayed right where she was at the closed bedroom door. She had an image of her mate naked and wet with water cascading down over his hard, toned muscles as he stood not ten feet away from her under the shower. It was just a shame that he’d chosen to close the damn door and she couldn’t see it for herself.
Mischief danced within her as she tossed and turned a thought over in her mind for all of a minute before she started towards the bathroom and tossed open the door; revealing the shower cubicle and the man inside to her appreciative gaze. The sound of a long drawn out growl of annoyance reached her ears, but it was his eyes that captivated her attention for a long moment once she’d finally worked her way up from those thick muscled thighs to his face, lingering for long moments in all the right places. She was more than pleased to get sight of his hard length, thick and long and more than inviting as the heat swept through her body.
“I should have showered elsewhere, but you were occupied.” He informed her and she folded her arms across her chest and raised her hand to her face, her index finger tapping her lips as if she was contemplating a choice to be had. There was no choice, he was her mate and fate would see to it that they were bonded, one way or another. She was quite looking forward to it. “I’ll be done in a minute.”
“Take your time. The view is great and I’m in no rush.” She offered with a certain amount of glee. Jethro frowned hard. The woman was a witch, wasn’t she supposed to be running the other way from him and fighting the mating pull with everything that she had?
“You are certainly different from any witch I’ve known.” He wasn’t shy of his nakedness and he enjoyed the fact that she didn’t hide her curiosity towards him. Shy, bashful women who hide their bodies away and turned from the natural sight of a man in all of his glory annoyed him so; at least his mate was open about her curiosity.
“That’s because I’m your mate.”
“No, it’s more than that. The other witches in the pack had to be wooed…” He fisted his length with a soapy hand and watched her eyes drop to it. The way she bit down on her lower lip before the tip of her tongue came out to run over it made his length ache, it didn’t help that he held it in his hand either. His grip tightened around it and he wanted to groan out with the need that tore through him.
“Well, why waste time wooing when you know the end of the story?” Deborah informed him. Jethro frowned as he considered her words.
“Are you telling me that you’re ready to bond with me?” He snapped off the shower and pushed open the glass door to the cubicle. Her eyes took him in as a rush of excitement went through her.
“For better or worse this is the path that my future is on. Fate has already decided what’s going to happen, Jethro. What would be the point in trying to hide from it?” It seemed simple to her. She was his mate and fate had deemed it so, to fight it was wasted energy that could be put to better use.
He closed the distance between them in a heartbeat, and boy was her heart beating fast. Before she had time to think; one large arm was securing her to the naked, wet length of his body as his hand splayed against her back and his other hand was reaching to run his fingertips down her cheek. Just the touch of his fingers against her skin sent shockwaves through her body and she revelled in the sensation as she closed her eyes to the world about her and centred all of her attention on the feel of the heat of his skin warming her skin even through the thin layer of he
r dress.
The feel of his hard length pressed against her stomach was unmistakable and made her channel wet just from the knowledge that he wanted her more than any other man ever had or would. It wasn’t entirely lust, although there was an element of that mixed in, how could there not be? It wasn’t because he could; it was because he needed to have her. He desired her above all else.
The sound of the possessive growl that rumbled through his chest made the hairs on her body stand to attention. But those fingertips travelling down her skin and the pad of the thumb that brushed against her lips was a potent feeling that had heady repercussions for her mind, body and soul.
The feel of his breath against her neck was like a caress to her senses. She heard him draw a long breath and take in her scent, and her heart skipped another beat as her womb flipped and her stomach flopped. Then another possessive growl against the warm flesh of her neck made her legs go weak.
“Mine.” He staked his claim once more. He had little choice when his beast was yipping, prancing and demanding that he claim her for his mate.
“I can live with that, can you?” When he pulled back to look down at her she was gazing up at him, her eyes wide with expectation.
“You’re my mate.”
“That’s not what I asked…” She saw him hesitate as if he was stumped. She would like to think that his penis-brain was receding in order to allow him to think, but she could see from the way that he flinched that wasn’t entirely the case.
“I won’t lie and say that I’m overjoyed that you’re Fae.” She nodded slightly before placing the palms of her hands against the naked skin of his chest, resisting the urge to run her fingertips down over those hard muscles.
“Well when you get your head around it and into a good place about it, just let me know.” She didn’t move but the expectation in her eyes told him it was time to back off. He took a long step back from her and willed his body and his beast to calm down. Just the thought of claiming her had driven fire through his veins and the thought of her heritage hadn’t even been a considering factor, just that she was his.
“I understand.” He reached for a towel and wrapped it around his waist. She might have been able to stop her hands from reaching for him, for her body to back down, but her mind was still racing with images of them together and her eyes still wandered down over his sexy body. Then he was gone, strolling out of the room as she watched him go.
“Sexy as hell.” She muttered under her breath and knew that she’d be having a restless night thinking about him.
Caleb made sure that Wendy got home safely before he returned to the bed and breakfast and made sure the Warlock was tucked up in his bed. He had an urge to go inside and rip the man’s head from his body, and yet he knew that would be overkill… Not for the Warlock, but for the witch.
He’d spent the better part of his time being on his best behaviour. It wasn’t a surprise to him that the Fae saw him in his vampire colours first and not the man behind the curtain. He didn’t feel hard done by that his reputation was linked with that of the vampire world, because he’d spent a good half of his vampire existence trying to make up for the first half when his blood lust was ravenous. But he wasn’t that monster anymore.
That wasn’t to say he wouldn’t slay a beast if he felt the need to, in whatever shape or skin that beast came in. It was an honour to protect the people that he cared about. The pack had come at the top of that list for as long as he could remember. Way back when they had allowed him to coexist with them, and although he had to disappear and reinvent himself every twenty years or so, he’d always had a welcome when he came home.
Now there were the witches. Three were a part of the pack and he’d defend them with his life if he had to. Wendy wasn’t pack, but that was a whole different ballgame. He’d lay down his life for her in a heartbeat.
Caleb was a patient man and he could wait for the Warlock to do something that the witch considered bad enough for him to be forgiven for ripping him apart. But right now wasn’t the time or the place, especially with the Warlock being inside a bed and breakfast. Then he’d have the whole disposing of the body thing to deal with… No, he was going to bide his time.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” Deborah had listened to Jethro’s steps in the darkness of the bedroom as he padded around like a beast with its prey. Her heart slammed into her chest with a rush of excitement every time he drew near the bed but then he’d back off again. When the man grunted out a dark curse before the covers were lifted and the weight of his body moved hers in the bed she thought it was time to say something.
“I told you, it’s our bedroom.” Jethro had long considered sleeping elsewhere. He’d tossed the arguments back and forth within his mind before finally taking the plunge and climbing in beside her, knowing she was still awake was half the battle, explaining himself would be the other half.
“Fair enough.” She hadn’t turned towards him in the darkness, she’d kept her back firmly to him, and when she didn’t argue or demand that he find somewhere else to sleep he was kind of taken back. He laid his head back against the pillow and frowned up at the ceiling feeling somehow deflated. He’d been expecting an argument at the very least. His mate puzzled him.
He’d always considered witches somewhat down the supernatural pecking order. His father and pack elders had always warned of their mischievous ways, and yet he hadn’t seen much of that with the three new additions to his life. Wendy was… different, cagey, and not to mention one of the most annoying women he’d ever met, but there was an element of trust there too. He didn’t believe her to be working against the pack.
Now he had a Fae mate and knew that it was time to let go of his preconceptions of all things witch. She’d accepted him as her mate without so much as a knee being lifted in his direction. She was his and yet he was still pussyfooting about.
What the hell are you waiting for? He growled to himself. She smells so damn good you just want to take a bite… He frowned harder, tracing a small crack along the ceiling with his eyes and trying not to concentrate on the warmth of her body in the bed beside him. Bite… that’s not it… His length twitched with need. Damn but I want to be buried inside her…
He rolled onto his side and faced her. The heat from her body became more intense against his naked flesh. The sight of her naked shoulder curving up to her neck made his length twitch again and there was an ache in the pit of his stomach and his balls that he couldn’t ignore…
“See something you like, Alpha?” She teased him. Her voice was full of a husky sexiness that enthralled him. He wanted to hear more. He edged his body closer, lifting his hand; he reached out to touch her hip. Bare skin met his fingertips and he growled with desire. “Do you want to play with me, Alpha?”
Those words slammed into his mind and sent his body wild with need. She’d said those exact words to him before and they’d continued to bounce off the walls of his brain ever since. His hand locked around her other hip and he yanked her over onto her back.
“I don’t intend to play, sweetheart.” He growled down at her a moment before his lips came down on hers, demanding that she open for him with a thrust of his tongue against the seam of her lips. His kiss took no prisoners and she was no passive virgin as her tongue fenced with his.
One of her hands locked into his shoulder length hair while the other ran down over the mountainous muscles of his chest. Her fingernails scratched a path down over his abs and she was well on the way to attaining her prize when his hand closed around her wrist and he thrust her arm back against the mattress with a rolling dominant growl. She dragged her lips from his and he immediately dipped his head to her neck, licking and nipping the flesh as he went. She did the same until she reached his ear.
“I like to play too…” She nipped his earlobe and received a damned sexy growl in return. He repaid her nip with one of his own and felt her hips brush his length as they came off the bed slightly.
“But I a
m the Alpha…” He growled against her ear and felt a long shiver run through her body.
“And I’m a witch, and we all have needs…” She watched his head come up, saw his eyes narrow as he considered her words, and then he let go of her wrist and she palmed his chest and pushed against it. He allowed her to roll him onto his back, even with the element of uncertainty in his eyes as she reared up over him.
CHAPTER FIVE
When the cover fell away from Deborah’s naked body Jethro’s eyes took her in. Luscious curves that a man could lose himself in greeted his eyes and made his cock harder for her. He went to move, the temptation to trace every inch of her with his tongue almost too much to bear, when she dipped her head and ran her flat tongue down over his abs every muscle quivered.
His hands fisted at his sides when she nipped his skin just above his left hip. The growl that rolled through his chest was as sexy as hell to her ears and she looked up his body to see him staring down at her with tortured eyes. The man was certainly finding it difficult to relinquish control.
“Be good and I won’t have to hold you down with magic…” Her eyes flared with amusement and mischief and this time his growl wasn’t as sexy but filled with a warning.
“Do not…” It was as far as he got. She ran her tongue from the base of his cock up to the very tip and his eyes practically rolled in his head as that sexy growl greeted her ears once more.
“Then don’t make me.” She breathed out as she fisted his length in one small hand and lifted the weight of him from where it rested. Just the feel of her hand wrapped around his length was enough torture, but when she closed her lips around the bulbous head and ran her tongue around the sensitive ridge, he was lost in a world of sweet, sweet, hell.