by R. E. Butler
“I think I’m okay. Who are you? Where did you come from?”
“Name’s Savage. I live here. And who are you?”
“I’m Thea.”
He inhaled and let out another gruff purr. “You’re not a shifter.”
“I’m a witch.”
“Do you know you’re in jaguar territory?”
She looked over her shoulder and then back to the man who held her. She couldn’t make out his features, but she didn’t really care. She felt instantly connected to him in a way she’d never experienced before. His scent had drawn her to him, and now that she was in his arms, she never wanted to leave.
“I didn’t. I drove to a public park, left my car there, and went on a hunt.”
“A hunt for what?”
“The Spike-Tipped Apple Blossom. It blooms in these woods on the full moon.”
“Never heard of it. Did you find it?”
“I did. Then I found you.” She let her fingers slide up the back of his neck and into his hair, which was thick and soft. She brushed her lips against his once, then stopped, her lips resting against his. He purred and opened his mouth and she followed suit, their tongues touching and sliding. She chased his tongue, pulling herself closer to him, wishing they weren’t standing in the woods but were someplace more suitable to whatever might follow.
He moved and the babbling creek grew louder. He lowered to his knees and shifted her in his arms until she was straddling him. She rested her hands on his shoulders and kissed him, the apex of her thighs grinding into his erection. His scent seemed to grow even stronger, the cinnamon and sugar sweetness tantalizing her senses. He moved his hands to her neck and she felt the brush of something warm on her throat.
She could’ve sat there all night kissing him. She actually wasn’t sure how long they’d locked lips, which brought her mind back to the task at hand. She had to get the flowers for Anne’s spell.
Easing from the kiss, she said, “I have to go.”
“What?” he snarled.
“I need to pick the flowers and get them home and in water so they’ll be alive for a spell I’m casting in a few days.”
“Take me with you.”
She blinked in surprise. “Sure. I share a house with my sister, but I can just text her to let her know I’m bringing you along.”
He relaxed fractionally, but she could feel the tension in his body, and there was an air of worry between them that she couldn’t identify.
She cupped his face, feeling the rough stubble on his cheeks. “Savage, what’s going on here? Why were you hiding in the woods?”
He sighed deeply, his head tilting down. “I don’t want to scare you.”
She wiggled a little on his lap and he groaned in response. “I’m not scared.”
“Do you believe in fate?”
“Sure.”
“No, I mean really believe in it.”
“Do you mean to ask me if I think that we were destined to meet on this night?”
“Yes.”
“Why would that be scary?”
“You didn’t answer the question,” he said gruffly.
“Touché. I believed that I’d one day meet the man I’m supposed to be with. That the meeting would be engineered by fate and not something I could force. I didn’t come into the woods looking for you, but I found you all the same. I felt drawn here by your scent, like it called to me.”
“Fate.”
“Seems like it.” She hummed and brushed her fingertip over his bottom lip. “Tell me what’s going on, please.”
“I’m participating in a Mate Hunt.”
“I have no idea what you mean by that.”
There was a significant pause, and she stared at him, wondering what he looked like and just what was going to happen when they got to her house.
“Thea,” he said, “if the males in my prowl are unmated when they reach the age of twenty-five, they’re forced to participate in a Mate Hunt, where the unmated females are given the power to choose a male for a mate. The males have an hour to disappear, but we’re not allowed to leave the territory until dawn, unless we’ve been chosen as a mate.”
“That’s... barbaric.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to talk crap about your people, but holy hell. You don’t have a say in who you spend the rest of your life with? I’ve honestly never heard of anything so backward.”
“I take it that witches don’t have forced matings,” he said, dryly.
“Not even a little.” Something was still around her neck, and she brushed her hand against her throat to feel it. She gave the necklace a gentle tug. “What is this?”
“My mating necklace.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She opened her mouth to say something, but words failed her. She wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right.
He tensed suddenly, a growl in his throat. “Thea, you’re mine. You said you were drawn to me. It’s because we’re mates. We were destined to find each other tonight. I gave you my necklace so that you could stake your claim to me.”
She leaned back, clasping the necklace in her fist. It was then that she heard a branch snap nearby and Savage growled deeper, rising to his feet and pushing Thea behind him. “Forgive me,” he whispered. “But you’re wearing my necklace. It protects both of us. Just promise to take me home with you and I swear I’ll explain everything.”
A multitude of emotions rattled through Thea, her knees weakening and her heart pounding. Someone was coming. Someone who Savage was growling at, his skin prickling under her hands as she held them against his back.
“Hello, Savage,” a woman said.
Thea leaned around Savage’s broad body and saw a woman standing on the other side of the creek. Her pale hair lit by moonlight was all that Thea could see.
“I’m afraid you’re too late, Sybil,” Savage said. “I was already claimed by this female. We were just discussing her taking me home so we could make our mating official.”
Sybil sniffed the air and snarled. “She’s not one of our kind, so the Mate Hunt rules do not apply. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can get away from me, Savage. You’re mine and I’ll have you.”
Thea closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was something seriously wrong with this situation. Everything was happening so fast that she wanted time to think, but judging by the angry woman across the creek, Thea didn’t believe she was going to get time to figure things out. The question she had to ask herself was whether she believed that fate had truly brought her and Savage together. Because if they were destined to meet, then the necklace around her throat was hers because he was the man she was supposed to be with. Savage clearly didn’t want to mate with a woman from his own people, or he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to hide himself. But he’d chosen her, hadn’t he? He could have stayed hidden, could have let her fall into the creek and kept his hiding place a secret.
But he didn’t.
He exposed himself to get to Thea.
And that was worth fighting for.
Stepping to Savage’s side, she patted the necklace and straightened her spine. “Savage is mine. You have no claim here.”
Chapter Four
Savage was straddling heaven and hell. Across the creek, hell waited for him in the form of the prowl princess. At his side, the female he’d been hoping to find all the years he’d been searching – the enticing Thea. Thanks to his shifter genes, he could see her well in the dark, and she was stunning, her curves made his mouth water and her sweet scent beckoned him and his cat.
It hadn’t even occurred to him to stay hidden. He’d felt Thea approach, and he’d slipped from under the rocky ledge and been about to announce himself when she lost her balance. He’d been in the right place at the right time. Considering the woods were crawling with females looking for males to mate with, it seemed impossible that his mate just happened to be where he was tonight.
He hated that they’d been interrupted by Sybil. There was
so much that he wanted to explain to Thea. He never wanted her to think he only gave her his necklace so he didn’t have to mate Sybil or one of the other jag females.
Thea was his mate. His destined, fated mate.
Thea stepped to his side and kept her arm around him. He wanted to shield her from Sybil, his cat on alert if the female should try to get across the creek.
“Savage is mine. You have no claim here.”
His heart soared! Thea claimed him. She might not fully understand everything that was happening, but she stood by him and said he was hers. He’d never imagined being so happy to be claimed by someone.
Sybil growled. “Run away home, human, before you get in over your head. I’m the prowl princess, and I’m the authority here. Savage is an eligible male, and I will have him.”
“You can go fuck yourself,” Thea said.
“What did you say?” Sybil demanded, striding into the creek, the water splashing around her.
Savage put his arm in front of Thea, pushing her behind him. “You know I’m following the laws. I was caught by a female and gave her my mating necklace. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“I can kill her.”
“If you touch a hair on my mate’s head, I won’t hesitate to gut you. She’s claimed me and I will defend our mating to the death.”
“You’re a male. You don’t get to decide anything on this night. Your threats to me will see you whipped and beaten within an inch of your life.” She tilted her head and purred, “After I’ve claimed you of course.”
Thea scoffed and stepped to his side again. She clapped her hands. With a few words in a language he didn’t recognize, the wind kicked up and lightning flashed across the sky. Thea’s hands began to glow, illuminating her face as she pushed them outward. The ground shook and the branches clacked together. “You can try to kill me, but you’ll find it a difficult job to finish. I’m more powerful than you can imagine, and I don’t take kindly to your threats against myself or my mate. Run along home, kitty cat. You don’t want to tangle with me tonight.”
Sybil looked between Savage and Thea.
“This isn’t over,” Sybil said. She spun on her heels and stalked away, her growl echoing in the darkness.
Thea brought her hands together, extinguishing the glow. The wind and tremors stopped, and she sighed.
“You’re amazing,” he said, turning to face her.
She grunted, looking past him to where Sybil had stood. “You put me in a hell of a situation.”
“I didn’t think she would be able to find me.”
“She found you because you saved me, right?”
“Yes. But I’d do it a hundred times anyway.”
“If I were human, what would she have done?”
“Intimidated you, maybe tried to engage you in a fight. But I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you. We might be matriarchal, but our males are still fighters. I wasn’t about to let you be taken from me.”
She stared at him, her hands on her hips and an air of pissed-off-female emanating from her. He’d never been more attracted to a female in all his life. She wasn’t just his mate, she was perfect and fierce.
“You need to tell me everything.”
“I promise. Just not here.” He was worried that Sybil would come back with reinforcements. The safest thing he could do for both himself and Thea was to mate her fully. Even the queen was forbidden by their laws from parting a mated pair.
She nodded. “I need to pick the flowers for my spell. Then we can go to my place to talk.”
“Of course.”
She climbed up the rocky embankment to where she’d been standing before she fell. He followed, standing next to her as she peered into the forest.
“I can’t see the damn glow stick.” She made a frustrated sound. “Damn it.”
He narrowed his eyes, letting his senses expand and strengthen with the help of his cat. Within moments, he had located a neon glow in the distance.
“This way.” He took her hand and they headed off in the direction of the glow.
“You can see well because you’re a shifter?”
“My senses are all better than a human’s, but I can also tap into my cat and enhance them. I would have shifted if I couldn’t see it. Then I would have been able to follow your scent.”
“You could follow my scent?”
“My cat’s attuned to you now. It would be easy for me to follow your scent. Once we’re mated, that ability will be compounded in a way that will ensure I can find you anywhere, no matter if I lose your scent.”
“I haven’t made any promises.”
He smiled inwardly. He’d felt her attraction to him when they were kissing – she wanted him, maybe as much as he wanted her. She might need some time to come to terms with their relationship, but he was positive they were meant to meet tonight.
“I know, Thea.”
They came upon the glow stick and she dropped to her knees, pulling a pack on the ground close to herself.
“Can I help?” he asked.
“Yeah, hold this.” She opened a plastic bag and handed him a stack of wet paper towels. She used the glow stick to see into the pack and removed a set of thin scissors. She snipped off four blooms and laid them in the center of the paper towels. After securing the scissors back in the pack, she carefully wrapped the towels around the stems and put the bundle in the plastic bag, closing the zipper top as much as she could.
“You said this flower was for a spell.”
She returned the items to her pack and zipped it shut. She rose to her feet and he joined her, holding the flowers in his hand. They smelled sweet and tangy, like the tropical fruit bars his grandmother had enjoyed baking.
“Yeah.” She slid the pack over her shoulder. “My sister wants to be married. She’s been trying so hard to find her Mr. Right.”
“The spell will bring him to her?” He looked down at the flower curiously. How could a plant have the power to draw people together?
She took his free hand and he smiled inwardly at the reflexive action. She might be trying to put the brakes on how fast things were moving, but his cat was thrilled that she wanted to touch him in any way. They began to walk toward the edge of the jag territory.
“It’s called a ‘drawing’ spell, and it won’t force them together, but it will draw them to meet.”
“Is there a spell that would force people together?”
“That’s a love spell, and they pretty much don’t work. Or, I guess the right way to look at it is that they do work, but they don’t last. You can’t bring two people together if both of them aren’t in agreement. Eventually, free will wins over the spell, and what tends to happen is that the person who doesn’t want to be there leaves and then the other one is left alone. A drawing spell opens the way for the two people who are truly destined to be together to find each other. It’s similar to a love spell, but both parties are in agreement.”
“The spell will bring your sister and the male she’s destined to marry together, but not by force?”
“Exactly.”
He hummed, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s interesting that you came here to find flowers for your sister’s spell and found me, too.”
She chuckled. “Interesting’s one word for it.”
They breached the woods and walked into the park. A single car was illuminated underneath a tall floodlight. She clicked the key fob and the lights flashed twice. He moved ahead of her and grabbed the door to open it for her.
She stopped, resting her hand on the top of the door. “This is by far the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t really understand your people or the situation between yourself and that bitchy princess, but I can’t deny that I’m a hundred percent attracted to you. I mean, now that I can actually see you in the light, you’re gorgeous. But I was attracted to you before I even knew what you looked like.”
“As was I,” he said, placing one hand on top of hers ho
lding onto the door and the other on the curve of her hip.
He’d had an idea of what she looked like thanks to his enhanced senses, but now that he could see her in the bright light from above, he couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. Her chestnut hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, but he imagined the long tresses would look even more lovely loose and flowing. Her eyes were hazel and rimmed with thick lashes, and her lips were the perfect cupid’s bow, made for kissing. And other wicked things.
She was petite and lushly curved, shorter than him by at least a foot. She’d felt amazing in his arms, curves to hard muscles – a perfect fit.
And he wanted more.
He wanted it all. With her.
And not just because her falling into his arms had saved him from a life chained to a female he hated, but because she was right where she needed to be on this most important night, just so they could meet. She was wearing his necklace, and yeah, he’d slipped it on her without letting her know the consequences, but he’d been running on instinct and adrenaline, his senses overwhelmed with how amazing she smelled and how right she felt in his arms. No one was more perfect for him, he was certain.
“You’re so serious,” she whispered. “What on earth are you thinking about?”
He chuckled. “Sorry, just marveling at how lucky I am. You’re beautiful.”
She turned her head to look into the woods. Past the spill of overhead light was darkness. Males from his prowl were still there, waiting for dawn to end the Hunt. He wished they all could be so lucky as to find someone like Thea.
She rose onto her toes and kissed him, then climbed in behind the wheel. He shut the door, hurrying around to the passenger side and sliding into the seat. She turned on the engine and clicked the button to lock the doors. He held the flowers still, trying not to let on how anxious he was to get away from jag territory. He couldn’t hide the nervous tap of his foot, though, and she placed her hand on his knee and smiled at him.
“If you’ll type out a text for my sister, we’ll get on the way.”
She unlocked her phone and handed it to him. He set the bundle of flowers on his lap and tried not to let out a huge sigh of relief as she backed out of the parking spot and left the park.
