Strange Days (His Mate Series Book One)

by M. L. Briers

  “I don’t even like vampires; I’m not a vampire groupie.” She aimed her words at him along with a cold hard glare.

  “There are vampire groupies? Damn, I wished I’d known that before I found my mate,” he said.

  Erin wrenched open the car door and hit him with it. The pain registered on his face for a moment, but it was fleeting. “Ouch,” she said on a pitying tone, but she didn’t feel guilty, not in the slightest.

  “And there you’ve gone a put a dent in your door,” he said with amusement.

  “No words,” she bit out again as she threw herself into the driver’s seat. When she turned to grab the door to close it, his long hard length was pressed against the glass. Erin slowly dragged her eyes up to his teasing grin.

  “You’ve framed it nicely, I think,” he said, and she yanked the door closed on what could only be described as a growl and started the engine. “I’ll take that lift home…” he said, but she’d already hit the gas, and the wheels might have spun, but she still powered away.

  ~

  Joe had seen Blake and Conrad off pack land, and before they’d left, he issued them a warning not to set foot back on pack land again, and not to try to contact Tom. Neither man seemed interested in the boy and in the alpha’s mind that was a good thing, he had a place in the pack and a home, and they were outcasts.

  When he finally made it home, the cabin was in darkness, and he had to use his senses to find his mate. There she was, curled up on top of the covers in what had been her bedroom before they’d gone to Nathaniel’s.

  Nobody had slept the night before, and he was tired, so she must have been exhausted. Joe couldn’t bring himself to go down the hall to his room and spend a moment more away from her.

  He was tempted to crawl onto the bed beside her. Instead, he grabbed a pillow from the bed and dropped it onto the floor right next to where she slept.

  Joe lay down between her and the door, protecting her just in case Blake decided to come back for another try.

  Tomorrow was another day and as long as he was near her, he could wait as long as she needed to make her his.

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  ~

  Kirsty woke with a start. She knew something was different, but she didn’t know what. The room was pitch black, and she had an undeniable need to pee. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pushed off, eager to get right back to sleep again once she did what she needed to do.

  Her feet hit something hard and squishy at the same time; it certainly wasn’t the floor. The hard yelp that filled her ears mixed with her screech as she pitched sideways, and she knew she was going down.

  Kirsty clenched everything as she expected the hard impact from the floor, but when she was caught and yanked the other way, there was only the collision of her soft body against his hard one.

  Kirsty didn’t need to be drawn a picture as to who it was she was laying on. The bells and whistles of her witchy alarm, mixed with the tingles that raced from head to toe, meant she knew exactly who it was that had tripped, and then saved her from the fall.

  “Was that like a guard dog thing?” Kirsty demanded, as she blindly palmed his chest and tried to push her upper body away from him. He had one strong arm wrapped around her body, and she wasn’t going anywhere unless he released her.

  “Another dog joke? I thought we were done with those.” His voice was thick from sleep and as deep as sin would allow, and she couldn’t say that in the darkness it didn’t sound a damn sight sexier than before, if that was even possible.

  “We’ll never be done with those,” Kirsty replied. “But aren’t you supposed to lay at my feet?”

  “I didn’t know your feet needed to be guarded, I’ll try harder next time to remember,” he said, and she could hear the amusement in his tone. “It was nice of you to drop in for a visit though, pull up a pillow and stay awhile.”

  “I needed the bathroom,” Kirsty said, pushing against him.

  “Then I’d better let you go, but next time, turn on the light,” he said, and it took him a moment longer to release her.

  When Kirsty scrambled to get off him, her knee caught him between the legs, and he yelped again. “Who needs the light when I can feel my way,” she said. She had an idea of where she’d caught him, but it wasn’t as if she was going to offer to rub it better.

  “Hands feel, knees damage,” Joe bit out, thanking his lucky stars that she hadn’t meant it or it would have been so much worse.

  Kirsty walked headfirst into the wall and bounced back off with a curse; she’d been sure that was where the bathroom was. When the bedside light snapped on and flooded the room with a soft glow, she was grateful. She was also miffed that the bathroom was just a foot away. “Moving the damn door on me,” she grumbled.

  Joe couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sorry,” he called as she slammed the door shut behind her. “I was bored and thought it would look better a couple of feet to the right.” He chuckled harder at the sound of her muffled curses.

  When she finally came out again, she raised a curious eyebrow at him. “Why are you on the damn floor anyway?”

  “Because being in the bed would have been presumptuous,” he said and flashed a grin.

  “Why are you in my room?”

  “Because somebody needed to protect you…”

  “You think Blake might try something?” she asked, concerned.

  “I had a couple of my guys follow him, so no, but he could always slip them and come back, I suppose…”

  “So, who do I need protecting from?”

  “Yourself,” he said, and lent up on his elbows to get a better view of her. When she tilted her head to the side and gave him an old fashioned look, he shrugged. “Truth is; I didn’t want you to get lonely…”

  “Okay, BS boy, I’m going to bed, and you’re going to your own room,” she said, and strangely enough, that didn’t sound right to her.

  “But it’s so far down the hallway, and the floor is surprisingly comfortable…”

  “Off you go,” she said and pointed the way.

  “That’s the closet, it’s a little small, but I guess I could curl into a ball,” he said, and flashed a bigger grin, that one was something of a victory smile.

  “I’m going to bed,” Kirsty said. She’d already stepped on him, walked into a wall, and told him to get in the closet – how much more stupid did she need to look?

  Kirsty crawled up the mattress on her hands and knees, and halfway she heard the hungriest growl rolling in the air towards her. “Seriously?” she said and threw herself down onto her stomach. “Get a life.”

  “I’m looking at it,” he said, resting his chin on the edge of the mattress and wiggling his eyebrows at her.

  “It?”

  “My life, our future, the next fifty years, maybe more, hopefully…”

  “Okay!” she said and rolled onto her side. “I get it.”

  “And you get me, double bargain.”

  “Buy into a future and get an idiot thrown in for free?”

  “That’s harsh,” Joe said, moving so he could rest his arms on the mattress and lean his chin on them.

  “You’re slowly creeping onto the bed, aren’t you?” she said, giggling.

  Joe chuckled. “Damn, my dastardly plan is foiled,” he said.

  There was a long silence between them, but it didn’t feel awkward or strained. Then Kirsty rolled her eyes and rolled over onto her back. “Fine, you can get on the bed,” she said, and by the time she’d finished the last word, the bed bounced, and he was lying next to her. “I hope that speed isn’t a precursor of what’s to come,” she added, and he did a double-take.

  “Oh, I can assure you…” He didn’t need to, she was already rolling back over to him, and he turned to meet her face to face.

  “I heard a rumour that it’s better to show and not tell,” she said.

  “Now that sounds like a plan.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  ~


  Erin lay on the bed, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, held it, and then slowly let it out until there was none left. Then she did it again, and again, and on the fourth time… “Surprise!” Nathaniel yelled, jumping onto the bed beside her, but she shrieked, rolled, and hit the floor as the mattress disappeared from beneath her.

  “Motherf…”

  “So jumpy,” Nathaniel said, as he scooted to the edge of the bed and looked down at her. “How was it for you?”

  “Oh no, uh-uh,” she bit out as she pushed up to her knees, pulled on her magic, and blasted him across the bed and onto the floor on the other side with a loud satisfying thud.

  “I wasn’t asking for a demonstration,” he said and jumped to his feet while she was slowly pushing up.

  “Well, you got one, and if you don’t get out of this room, I’ll show you what else I learned at magic school,” she said and used her magic to throw the door open.

  “You’re so handy to have around,” he said, heading to the door. “I guess we’ll talk later.” He got out into the hallway and turned back to grin at her. “I’m a night owl, so feel free to…” As he predicted, she slammed the door shut in his face, and that was why he’d stopped in the hallway and not inside the room.

  “Fricking night owl,” she grumbled, face planting the bed with a groan. “No, kidding.”

  Erin could hear him chuckling on the other side of the door, and she whipped up a pillow and tossed it over her head with a groan.

  Men!

  ~

  Kirsty wasn’t entirely sure what the criteria was for going insane while making love to the man of your dreams, but she was sure she was skating the very edge of insanity right now.

  One moment he was ferociously nipping, licking, and kissing her body and the next he was taking his own sweet time – that was making her insane.

  Kirsty didn’t think there was more than an inch of her body that he hadn’t touched, and that was the part that was crying out to be loved. She’d even tried to go there herself, reached down and was so close to touching her needy, sensitive flesh when he snagged her hand away and drove her insane somewhere else.

  Who knew a body had so many good, sensitive, mind-blowing spots – well, she did now. But that one little spot – nothing – nada – zilch, and to say that she was getting frustrated was like telling Erin to calm down on a certain day of the month when she needed chocolate and Kirsty had just finished it off.

  A wickedly wonderful thought went through her mind where she would turn the tables on him, use her magic to pin him to the bed, and give him blue balls for an hour by teasing him mercilessly. As if he read her mind, his tongue found that little nub of flesh and he worked her into a frenzy before she could enact her plan.

  There was no tempting and teasing this time – like the predator she knew him to be – he went straight in for the kill. There was no way in hell she could have held back the tsunami of pure pleasure that swept over her, pulsing like the rhythm of her beating heart, and causing the kind of euphoria that she’d never felt before.

  The saying was true – all good things come to those who wait, and boy had she waited for that one – but she was damn glad she did.

  “Patience is a virtue,” Joe whispered against her ear, bringing her eyes open and jumpstarting her brain into gear.

  “I’m going to get my own back for that,” she lied. Who was she kidding, she’d gladly go to hell and back to feel like that again.

  When she felt the pressure of his hard length, demanding entry against the tight muscles of her channel, she pushed her hips up to take him inside and rejoiced that his hard length filled her so completely.

  Buried to the hilt, she tightened the inner muscle around the width, and he growled like a man possessed. “I don’t think you want to kill me with kindness just yet, sweetheart,” he growled.

  The look in her eye was the wickedest that he’d ever seen and that only made him hungrier for her. “I don’t react well to being told what to do,” she said, and quickly snagged his bottom lip, nipping it, and sending a wave of fevered need right to his soul.

  “Careful, sweetheart, you just might send me wild…”

  “I thought that’s what I was signing up for – a wild ride with my alpha,” she said, and her eyes were alive with mischief as she baited him.

  The growl that she got in return was nothing compared to when she dug her nails into the taut muscles of his back and ran then down his spine.

  Joe’s beast rose inside of him as he momentarily lost control, but by the time he’d snagged her wrists and pushed her hands down against the mattress, he had that control back – almost.

  She’d jarred something loose within his psyche that couldn’t be put back in the cage – an unadulterated desire to claim her and make her his.

  Joe’s hips picked up the pace as his little brain took over, and his body climbed on board for the ride. With her legs wrapped around him, and her feet digging into his bare-naked backside urging him on – he wasn’t about to put on the brakes.

  “I need to mark you,” he said against her ear before his tongue ran over the soft, smooth skin of her shoulder to the place he felt the hard need to bite.

  “What are you waiting for, alpha?” she asked. She could feel the knot tightening within her, and she was more than ready to feel that explosion of sensation tear through her once more.

  Joe let go of her wrists, wrapped a strong arm around her body, and lifted her from the mattress as he pushed back onto his knees. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his hips, and she wasn’t letting go.

  Joe could feel her hands exploring his body, the strange tingles that accompanied her touch were electric, but his mind was focused on one thing – placing his mark and tasting her blood on his tongue.

  He felt the ache in his gums as his fangs elongated and locked in place, and when she tipped her head back and to the side, opening up her shoulder to him, he growled long and hard at her invitation.

  “Do it, bite,” she urged, but he was still in control of his senses, and he wasn’t about to cause her pain without the accompanying pleasure.

  On a hard grunt of desire, he thrust inside of her like a wildman, the silken slide of his thick length running back and forth against the sensitive nub on the outside, and the ball of nerves on the inside took her higher. Her inner muscles tightened making him work harder with every deep stroke.

  The moment that she cried out with pleasure, his fangs pierced her skin and entered her flesh, and her body tightened around him for just a moment before pain and pleasure mixed, and she was lost to the insanity of just how good that felt.

  Joe’s beast roared within him, the taste of her blood on his tongue was all that the wolf needed to pull back, the knowledge that she was theirs forever satisfying the need.

  Joe felt the burning desire rising within him. He’d staked his claim, he’d placed his mark, and now he needed to complete the bond that would anchor them together forever.

  He wasn’t sure how he kept his mind long enough to seal the mark into her skin with his tongue with the need clawing like his beast within him, but he did it. Then with a hungry growl, he took her back down to the bed, snagged her wrists once more, and held on tightly to the last thread of control.

  Wild with need and fevered with desire, his hips met hers in a pounding rhythm that took them both to the edge of insanity. Every muscle in his body was on fire and begging for mercy, while his mate demanded more, and he was desperate to give it to her before he found his own sweet pleasure in her body.

  Joe felt her body tighten a moment before she cried out with pleasure, and he let go of every bit of control he’d had. His head went back, his mouth fell open, he buried his length to the hilt, and his seed exploded within her. A howl burst from within him that rattled the walls of the cabin and could be heard clean across the land to Nathaniel’s mansion.

  Over and over, he buried deep within her and gave her everything he had as he gazed down in wonder at
his mate. Kirsty stared back into his eyes sharing the moment in every possible way.

  Body to body, soul to soul, the bond between them was forged in those unending moments; they were lost together in forever.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  ~

  Tom stood on the river bank and gazed out over the water. He’d spent the night at the vampire’s mansion, and when he’d returned to pack land with Courtney the next day, his home still stood where it always had, his belongings were still where he’d left them, but his kin was gone.

  He wasn’t sure if he was happy to finally be out from under his father’s rule or if should feel like the loneliest guy on earth. “Should I feel guilty for abandoning my family?”

  “You didn’t abandon them, and no, you shouldn’t feel guilty about staying in your home,” Courtney said. “Remember, you did nothing wrong, and you can’t choose your biological family, but you have chosen to stay with your pack family.”

  “So, I did the right thing?” He didn’t turn to look at her; he wasn’t sure what he’d find.

  He knew a lot of people who said one thing, but when you looked them in the eye, you could see they didn’t mean it – his father was one of those people, and he didn’t want to see that look on her.

  “You’re not staying to see if I’m your mate, right?” Courtney asked.

  “No.” He screwed up his face and snorted a chuckle. “No, I know you’re not,” he added. Then he shrugged. “But you are my family, so…?” He left it there.

  “Ah, someone’s an old softie,” Courtney teased him, and he did look at her then.

  No shifter wanted to be thought of as soft, cute, or even cuddly, and she knew that. “Watch it,” he warned her, but he had a playful look in his eyes, and she knew that look – that was the look he had right before he’d thrown her in the water, and that wasn’t going to happen again.