The Minotaur's Kiss

by Erin St. Charles

  Mac frowned. He felt a wave of protectiveness towards Diana's sister. He had to make sure Bubba stayed away from Vanessa. He changed the subject.

  "What do your nieces play?"

  "They're in a shifter softball league."

  Shifters--especially predators--generally participated in separate sports leagues. Most were stronger than full humans and had an outsized killer instinct. Diana's family were human--as far as he could tell. But the fact that her nieces were shifters was a puzzle. He started to speak again, but she interrupted him, staring at him in that appraising way she had.

  "Vanessa has some shifter DNA, otherwise the girls wouldn't be shifters. And of course, I have some latent DNA myself."

  "I thought you didn't want to be with me because I'm a shifter."

  She looked up at him. "Not at all. It's just that...you don't seem completely comfortable with being a shifter."

  He raised his eyebrows at her. "What do you mean?"

  She gave him a cagey look. She stopped walking in the middle of the fairway. The crowd flowed around them. She cocked her head at him and asked, "Do you think I care?"

  "No, I don't." Yes, I do.

  She raised her hands, palms facing out in a conciliatory gesture. "It's none of my business how you feel about being a shifter."

  But everything about him was her business.

  He blurted, "Do you want to have children someday?" Someday meaning, in about nine months.

  "Sure...someday..." Well, this was good news.

  "Are you worried about us having shifter children?"

  "Are you seriously asking me this?"

  "You don't seem too eager to make a commitment...to me." Even as he said this, he knew it didn't make any sense.

  "I'm in love with you," she said, raising her voice. Standing in the middle of the fairway as they were, arguing, they were starting to attract attention. They got a few curious glances as people noticed the huge, agitated man confronting a much smaller woman in the middle of the fairway.

  Panic seized him as he realized this conversation was rapidly circling the drain. He loved her, and for the first time since he'd spoken to Bubba earlier that day, he knew for certain that he wanted her, and he wanted their baby. He couldn't let her get away. He gently took her shoulder and steered her away from the pedestrian traffic.

  "I'm not trying to put any pressure on you," he said, realizing at that moment that he was trying to put pressure on her, talking about babies a week after a botched marriage proposal. He tried and failed to keep the note of desperation out of his voice. She placed a hand on his arm.

  "Let's get some real food to eat," she said.

  The rest of the afternoon, Mac felt as if he were going through the motions with Diana. After they ate, they visited the arcade, where they took turns shooting ducks on a conveyor, popping balloons with water pistols, and playing skee ball. She tried to smooth over the disagreement, but the lighthearted mood had dissipated.

  They came to the strength tester. Finally, an activity that didn't take finesse or restraint. Something that wouldn't give him heartburn or harm the baby floating in Diana's belly. Brute strength was easy for him.

  He took the comically oversized mallet from the attendant. Prizes were awarded according to how many times he could make the bell ring. Diana gave him a bemused smile as he made the bell ring three times in succession, winning one of a choice of trinkets the attendant offered. Mac chose a bulls-head charm necklace and placed it around Diana's neck. Then he noticed there were better prizes to be had and managed to get the bell to ring twenty times in a row, winning an enormous pink stuffed shark. When Mac picked up the mallet again, the attendant looked unhappy, and Diana looked impatient.

  It was by then late afternoon, hot, and the crowds had grown larger. They decided to leave. They took the Glide back to Diana's neighborhood, then walked the block her house.

  "I had a great time," she said, smiling up at him.

  "You did?" He knew he sounded more eager than he should, but she made him feel like a schoolboy. He wanted to bring her closer. Instead, the harder he tried, the worse he made things between them.

  She bit her lower lip and wrinkled her brow at him. "Yeah, this is the first time anyone has ever won something for me."

  "Really?" He felt ten feet tall.

  She nodded. Her expression was open, her dark eyes shone with tenderness. "If I ever did have a baby, I wouldn't mind at all if they were shifters...or yours."

  Her eyes cast down when she said that.

  "I just want to get this assignment behind us, then see where we go from there."

  He pulled her close, enveloping her in his arms. He felt her breath in the hollow of his throat, and he inhaled her scent, wondering how he could possibly deserve this woman. He stroked her back and hugged her close, then bent down to kiss the shell of her ear. Her body arched into his with a ferocity he had never before experienced from her. His lips trailed down her neck, and she pulled away. Her eyes, now hooded with desire, burned into his and he caught his breath. Her lips trembled with her next words.

  "I think we should go inside." She placed her thumb against the biometric lock. The door snicked, and she nudged it open with her foot.

  "Really?" he repeated himself, his voice thick with lust and wonder at this beautiful woman about to take him into her bed. At that moment, he knew everything would be fine in the end. She would be his, and he would be hers. The three of them would be a family. All the dreams he didn't know he had before he met her would come true. Because with Diana at his side, all things were possible.

  "Yes. I feel like I'm repeating myself. Stop looking a gift horse in the mouth!" She backed into the house, and his body followed hers of its own volition. She lowered her eyes, looking him up and down. She lifted an eyebrow.

  "Don't forget the shark."

  And he didn't.

  Chapter 31

  Thursday, September 28, 2079. Morning.

  Diana lay on her bed, bladder full to bursting, snuggled in Mac's arms. She wondered how she would extricate herself from the giant man dozing away with an arm thrown possessively around her waist. She watched him sleep, feeling a bit obsessive but enjoying how he looked when he wasn't frowning.

  His eyelashes were longer and curlier than any man's had a right to be. They fanned over his high cheekbones as his eyes twitched through his dreams. His huge, yet nimble hands, the fingers thick and the tip blunt, gripped her hips to keep her snuggled up against his large body. His soft cock nestled between her ass cheeks. She was reluctant to leave the warmth and protection of his arms.

  But she needed to pee. Badly.

  She shifted her legs and wiggled her hips to disengage, only to be met with the tightening of his arms around her body, and the hardening of his cock against the cleft of her ass. His movements also intensified the need to empty her bladder.

  "Mac." She nudged him gently with an elbow. He made a muffled sound into her hair but did not release her. She wriggled against him. He slid the steel pipe of his dick against her again, this time sliding the mushroom head of his cock over her lady parts. It should feel good, but her moment of human urgency morphed into a moment of human desperation. Her bladder screamed for release.

  "Wake up," she demanded.

  He mumbled again. "I have to pee." He raised an arm, letting her go. His hazel blue eyes popped open, and he trained his gaze on her as she stood up. Her legs wobbled and nearly buckled beneath her as she ran for the bathroom. Sweet relief made her sigh heavily, even as she winced at the discomfort of her swollen pussy. She took a quick shower and brushed her teeth. She threw on her red kimono, finger-combed her hair, and twisted it into a damp knot on top of her head.

  Mac was still in bed when she returned, propped up on one elbow and hunched over his Omni screen with his back to the door. He had kicked off the sheets, and Diana took in the rippling muscles of his shoulders and his firm, athletic butt cheeks. She wanted to attack him and have her way with him, bu
t something stopped her. They needed to "talk." Serious, relationship-type talk.

  She had always prided herself on not having these "where is this relationship going" type talks. But Mac was introducing himself as her boyfriend...and she found she didn't mind.

  "Hey." He froze, quickly shut down his Omni, and turned around to face her with a forced smile twisting his lips. His eyes looked serious, completely at odds with his smile.

  "Everything okay?" she asked, frowning.

  Something in the way she looked at him triggered his stoic expression, which he had stopped using with her the longer they worked together. She could only think that he was hiding something--but what? She attributed his odd behavior at the fair the day before to the fact he didn't like to discuss his shifter heritage. Now she wasn't sure what to think. She approached the bed slowly.

  He reached out and took her hand, drawing her to the bed. He lay face to face, body to body with her. He smelled wonderful, without a trace of morning breath. He had minty breath. She leaned over and gave him a lingering kiss, tasting mint. She leaned back and eyed him suspiciously. No one smelled and tasted that good first thing in the morning.

  "When did you have a chance to freshen up?"

  "You have two bathrooms." His eyes twinkled at her. He reached into her robe to cup one of her generous breasts, but she arched away from him, brows furrowed, lips pursed thoughtfully. She waited for him to say something relevant and true, but he just stared at her as the seconds ticked by. She sighed and made to swing her legs over the side of the bed again, but he stopped her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

  "Okay," he started, letting out a long breath of his own. He stroked her hip through the fabric of her kimono. "I was chatting with Bubba about Julie Wheeler."

  She took a moment to process this new information. "Why didn't you just say so?" She searched his face.

  "Because it's part of an ongoing investigation. I'm only supposed to evaluate you and protect you, should it become necessary. I don't want to get you involved--"

  "I'm already involved." While it was true she was just the social worker, she still wanted to do anything she could to locate the missing woman. He continued to touch her through the fabric, only now he was making lazy circles over her hip. She scowled at him.

  "Are you trying to distract me?" Her voice became icy. She thought about how often he had pushed the boundaries in their relationship, how he went over the line right before they went on their first inspection together. He was doing it again--treating her as if her career was just an afterthought, trying to distract her from her work. Did he think she was so inexperienced that he needed to hide the particulars of the case from her? Was he patronizing her?

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him.

  "I need to catch up with my mom." This was true--she had not talked to her mother since the older woman left her house in a huff, and Diana knew she needed to apologize for her reaction to her mother's announcement. The slightest thing set her off these days

  "Wait, baby--" The use of the endearment infuriated her. She had wondered moments ago what they would do when the assignment was over. Now she was re-thinking the whole thing.

  "Baby--" He went to stroke her arm. She stiffened until he removed his hand. She stood up and stalked out of the room, Mac on her heels, following her to the kitchen.

  She went rifling through the cabinets, extracting ingredients for the peace offering cookies she would bake for her mother. She had purchased vegan replacements for her normal baking ingredients, but she hadn't tried any of them yet. She'd bought them when it seemed Mac might become a fixture in her life, but now...vegan chocolate-chip cookies would apparently be a one-time experiment. She could feel his eyes on her as she laid everything out on the kitchen counter.

  "What are you doing?" She spared him a withering glance out of the corner of her eye. The dude was bare ass naked, completely at ease in her space. His dick was brazen and huge against his thigh, compelling even when flaccid, and she rolled her eyes at the obvious display. He loomed over her as she went about assembling her utensils.

  "What the hell does it look like I'm doing? I'm polishing my shoes."

  He looked at her, expression comically confused, not getting her sarcasm. She was one second away from bursting into laughter. She scowled.

  "You're joking?" he said carefully, the perplexed expression never wavering.

  "Obviously." She started measuring ingredients into her mixing bowl.

  "Can I help?"

  "Why don't you just get dressed and run along?" She refused to make eye contact with him. She heard his retreating footsteps, faint thumping noises in her bedroom as she imagined him sliding one of his carved-out-of-marble legs into his jeans, then hopping around as he sought balance while simultaneously inserted the other sculpted leg into his jeans. A pair of jeans that would outline his muscular thighs and tight butt. She stirred the ingredients slowly as her mind wandered to the memory of her own thighs around his waist as he held her against the wall and fucked her--

  "Where do you want me?"

  Reality Mac's deep voice interrupted her musings on Fantasy Mac. He stood before her, wearing only a pair of jeans. His bare shoulders hunched forward in the way she had come to know he did when he didn't know what to do with his emotions. It was hard not to give him points for his persistence.

  "I thought I asked you to leave?"

  "You did," he conceded. "Want me to put these away?" He waved a hand at the dry ingredients she had obviously already used.

  She huffed, then started aggressively mixing ingredients. Who did he think he was? "I wasn't joking. I don't need you here."

  "That's debatable. I see you went out and bought vegan ingredients. That was really sweet of you." He was laying on the Southern accent. She had never told him how much it turned her on when he did that, but he seemed to know it intuitively, almost as if he could sense her will crumbling. He had inched closer to her with his last cocky pronouncements. Shifters tend to run hot, and Mac's body cast off heat in waves. Combined with his scent, his proximity became overwhelming.

  Her stirring motions slowed, and before she realized it, he had his arms around her, pulling her close. She struggled against his ridiculously firm chest.

  "Stop it!" she said helplessly against the hollow of his throat. “I don't need you," she lied. She pushed against him ineffectually, but he continued to hold her, swaying with her, stroking her back. Against her better judgment, she began to relax. How could she not, when he held her so carefully within his powerful embrace? He made her feel safe, and that was the worst part of all. She hadn't felt safe in a man's arms since her father died...

  He whispered into her hair. "I love you. I'm in love with you."

  She tried to squirm out of his arms, but he held her firm. "I missed you. Please don't send me away again." She heard his voice rumbling in his chest. Tears pricked her eyes. What the hell was wrong with her?

  She mumbled into his neck. "I don't know what's wrong with me." This shit was so confusing. He was her one-night stand. But he was also her forever man. A lump of emotion swelled in her throat.

  She should never have let him give her a bottle of water. She should never have kissed him.

  "Don't send me away, baby."

  Why was he still here? Her skin vibrated with heat and tension. His simple words, his gentle strokes, wore down her resistance. Somehow her determination to push him away morphed into desperation to bring him closer. Her arms went around his waist, and she clawed at his back with her blunt fingernails. But she was no match for his physical power, and he held her away from him.

  "Baby, look at me."

  She had squeezed her eyes shut, and now she opened them to look up at him. He tipped her chin up, and she shook her head no. She knew it was idiotic, and that he must think she was a fool. She felt him wiping away her tears with his calloused thumbs. His lips brushed the shell of her ear, his huge hands cupped her face, and he leaned his fo
rehead to touch hers.

  She sighed, confused by her reactions. "I'm really not ready for this."

  He chuckled. "We are a patient species. I'll still be here when you're ready."

  Diana gave him a shaky laugh. She buried her face in his firm chest and giggled when the light furring there brushed against her nose. She ran her fingers over his chest, circling one of his nipples with her fingertip and he sucked in a sharp breath.

  "Your scent is so strong." She knew his scent intensified when he was sexually aroused. It was wrong of her to be sending Mac mixed signals like this. But she couldn't help herself. She needed to be close to him. She loved the way it felt when he held her like this. It was like having him all around her. Far from overpowering her, it comforted her. She was safe with him, body, soul, and heart. She wanted to tell him how she felt about him, but she needed to be sure it was the right thing to do. She heard and felt his chuckle from deep in his chest, a sound that made her limbs go boneless and her body swoon into his. She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall to the bedroom.

  "Does this mean we're having makeup sex?"

  She stilled. They had been arguing, hadn't they?

  "I'm sorry. I just want to finish this and move onto the next phase without having Julie and the handover hanging over us."

  "I know baby. It's all going to work out."

  "I know it will." She tilted her head up at him. "I love you."

  The moment was interrupted when his Omni trilled, just as Diana's did the same. Two communications at the same time could only mean one thing: the concubine's fertility rite was at hand, and both he and Diana were being summoned to escort her. He watched emotions sweep over her face, wondering whether this might be a pregnancy symptom.

  He watched her face settle into a sharp, focused expression, as "All Business" Diana held up a finger in a "wait a second" gesture. She swiped the silver band at her wrist and projected the holographic screen, so they could both view it.