The Bride Hunt Box Set Books 1 - 3

by Hartnady, Charlene

  The female nodded and giggled. “I guess.” Her voice sounded breathless. She was totally falling for Thunder’s bullshit.

  “Can you give us some privacy?” Blaze gritted his teeth.

  “What, and miss all the fun?” Thunder grinned.

  Fucker! His scales rubbed like mad. “Now,” Blaze growled.

  Thankfully the male nodded. “Don’t get your scaly tail in a knot. My female and I will be over there getting to know each other better. What’s your name, sweets?”

  “Lily,” the female smiled up at him. She didn’t seem to care in the least that she wasn’t Thunder’s first choice.

  His human felt very differently.

  “Explain the whole ‘I panicked thing.’ I find it hard to believe.” Her stunning blue eyes narrowed on his. “Why did you act like I have the plague? Are you sure I don’t smell?” She sniffed at her armpits again.

  “Stop doing that!” Blaze took a few steps away from her before spinning back to face her. “You smell fucking great,” his voice turned husky and blood congregated south as he was reminded of how sweet her scent was while she had been momentarily aroused.

  She frowned. “What then? This is confusing.” She shook her head.

  “The problem is that I’m too attracted to you.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “I’ve since decided that it’s a good thing if we are to be mated.”

  “Mated? That’s a very big maybe,” she mumbled. “I don’t even know if I like you yet.”

  “We do need to get along,” he nodded.

  The female smiled. “Yeah, at the very least.”

  “Look,” he huffed out a breath. “We got off to a bad start. I’m very attracted to you. I am sure that we will be compatible.”

  “Compatible?” Her cheeks turned pink and her eyes darted to the floor.

  “Yeah, the fucking will be really good,” he added, just in case she didn’t fully understand what compatible meant.

  She swallowed hard and made a strange noise in the back of her throat. “When Julie said you guys were open about sex she wasn’t messing around.”

  “We are open about sex. We’re open about everything.”

  Her stunning eyes caught his once again. Her cheeks were still flushed. “That’s a good thing. Okay, so you panicked because you were attracted to me but have since decided that it is a good thing. It still really doesn’t make sense.”

  “A major attraction between people can complicate things,” he said, choosing his words carefully. Blaze didn’t want to piss her off again.

  She frowned. “In what way? Being attracted to your partner is a good thing, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, it is.” Maybe! He sure as hell hoped so. There was no way he was falling for this female or any other for that matter. “Let’s just get to know each other a bit better.” He shrugged. “I should never have tried to hand you over to Thunder.”

  She pursed her lips. “It wasn’t very nice.”

  “I’m sorry,” he quickly added. Fuck! He’d forgotten how much work this was. “Please, can we start over? Let’s test compatibility and get to know each other. We might not even be suitable as mates.”

  The female pondered his words for a time. “Mister Negativity. Don’t you mean get to know each other and then test… you know… if… you know…?”

  Blaze shook his head.

  Chapter 8

  Holy hell!

  Crap sticks!

  He wanted to have sex with her and he didn’t even know her name. “I’m Roxanne,” she blurted. “My friends call me Roxy. I suppose you can call me Roxy. No, you should definitely call me Roxy.” It was her turn to panic, as in seriously panic, as in heart racing and blood pumping, serious as shit panic. “I work in a bakery. My best friend owns said bakery. It’s called Sweet Treats. Oh my God, you want to have sex.” The crazy thing was, she felt excited at the prospect. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t be? The guy in front of her was a dreamboat. A tall drink of delicious with a side order of muscles. His abs seemed to go on forever and he had that whole ‘v’ thing going on just above his pants. Don’t even talk about those pecs or how thick his biceps were. Those forearms were a thing of beauty as well. His hands, and my God his hands. She could only imagine what he could get up to with those.

  The shifter gave a single bark-like laugh. Oh shit, her eyes may or may not have been roaming freely across his body. When she looked back up, he was smiling. Well sort of smiling. Hello, hottie! Why did he have to look even better smiling? Why, oh why? “My name is Blaze.”

  Even his name was freaking hot. For a second there, Roxy felt like fanning herself.

  “To answer your question, yes, I wish to have sex with you but not right now. We have a long journey ahead of us. It will take us most of the night to get back to the fire kingdom.”

  “Oh!” She felt dumb. So very, very stupid. “Of course. I didn’t mean right now. I mean, I don’t even know you and well, I don’t just have sex with guys I’ve just met. It’s been so long since I had any… sex that is.” Why the hell did she say that?

  “Why not?” Blaze asked. “You are a highly attractive female.”

  “Sure, I could get sex. Any time I wanted. That’s all the guys on the dating websites want, but I’m a relationship kind of a person. That’s why it’s probably better that we get to know each other first, if that’s okay with you. Just to be sure that we like each other and get along and… you know…”

  The big shifter frowned. “If you haven’t had sex in a very long time, it would be better to ease some of the tension you’re feeling. It will make the getting to know each other part easier, but if you wish to wait, I’m okay with that also. Let’s not over-complicate things.”

  What did that even mean? No over-complicating things. Then again, complications within a relationship were bad. It seemed that he’d left the ball in her court. She could live with that.

  Roxy finally nodded. “We’d better get going then.”

  They walked in the direction that the other big shifter and Lily had taken. It didn’t take them long to catch up. Oh God! The big guy had Lily pushed up against a tree. They were seriously making out. The shifter was dry humping her and it sounded like Lily was well on her way to… well, to having a party in her pants… That, and he had his hands up her top, as in both hands; he was squeezing her boobs in tandem. These two hadn’t wasted any time.

  “Stop mauling that female,” Blaze growled.

  “My name is Lily,” she said, as the shifter came up for air. She was panting heavily as well.

  “I’m Blaze,” he introduced himself to Lily. Then he glanced down at Roxy. He was huge. Roxy was average height for a human, which meant that she barely made it halfway up his chest. “That’s Thunder.” Blaze pointed at the Casanova shifter. “He’s king of the air kingdom.”

  “Oh my God!” Lily shrieked. “I knew you were royalty but you’re the king of the whole kingdom.”

  “You better believe it, sweetness,” Thunder winked at her. She shrieked again as he lifted her into his arms. “Lily and I had a discussion.”

  “I could see that,” Blaze gave a half smile.

  Thunder grinned. “She’s tired and hungry. They gave the humans shitty tasting protein bars for the hunt instead of any real food.” The shifter king pulled a face. “We’re going to walk until nightfall and then set up camp, closer to the river. My female wants some roast meat. You’re welcome to join the party.”

  “I don’t know,” Blaze said. “I’d like to get back.”

  Thunder was right, although the protein bars hit the spot, they weren’t very appealing. The thought of sinking her teeth into freshly barbecued meat, dripping with fat, made Roxy’s stomach growl.

  The air king laughed. “It looks like your female likes the idea.” Oh shit! Had he heard that from way over there? Of course he had. The guy was a shifter.

  Blaze turned to her. “Do you want to camp
out with them?” He didn’t look happy about it.

  The thing was, the thought of being alone with him so soon nerve-wracked her a little bit. On the other hand, sleeping out in the wild wasn’t all that appealing either. At least they wouldn’t be alone. Roxy had already thrown herself at him once before and with all this talk of sex and him wearing those leave nothing to the imagination pants—not to mention her very long, extended dry spell—had left her feeling rather horny. No! Alone time with Mr. Brooding & Delicious-piece-of-ass-shifter was not a good idea right now.

  “I’d like to camp, if that’s okay with you? I’m hungry and tired. I’ll never be able to walk all night.”

  Blaze frowned, those beautiful green eyes of his bore into hers. “I would never expect you to walk. I’d carry you.”

  She snorted out a laugh. “What? The entire way? Don’t be crazy.”

  Blaze remained perfectly serious. “I’m not a human. I’m a dragon shifter and a fire breather at that. I can carry you to the other side of the continent with one hand tied behind my back and still not break a sweat.”

  “You don’t have much of an ego, do you?” The words just came out.

  “This has nothing to do with ego.” Deadpan.

  “Oh! Okay.” Maybe he could carry her. “If you say so.”

  “I do.” It came out growly. “I’m carrying you.”

  “Bossy as well I see. Do you plan on telling me what to do all the time?” Roxy was being a little hard on the big shifter but this relationship was not going to work if she just let him walk all over her and make all the decisions. It would be like being with her ex all over again and that hadn’t ended well at all.

  “I’m not bossy.” Blaze looked put out.

  “You pretty much are,” Thunder chimed in.

  “Who asked you?”

  Thunder held Lily in one arm—okay so maybe shifters were really strong, not that Lily was big or anything—he raised his free arm as a sign of apology. “Forget I said anything.”

  Blaze sighed loudly. “Please, let me carry you. I assure you that I can handle it. We need to make ground before nightfall. Unless you feel you can keep up.”

  “Now, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Roxy knew that she was busting his chops but at the same time they hardly knew each other. She didn’t want him to think that he could order her around and that she’d be fine with it.

  Blaze rolled his eyes. So far, this was going along swimmingly. As in not so much. She had thrown herself at him. She wasn’t so sure she bought his whole I find you highly attractive thing, or his whole I panicked story. Relationships were all about chemistry, at least they were in the beginning. Had he really planned on picking someone he didn’t have those kinds of feelings for? Why would he do a crazy thing like that?

  She’d have to wait and see.

  * * *

  Lily slumped back against the tree trunk; she gave a loud moan and patted her belly. “That was the best steak I’ve ever had in my whole entire life.”

  Roxy made a sound of agreement and rubbed her own distended belly. “I couldn’t eat another bite even if I wanted to.” They had all eaten like there was no tomorrow.

  The whole set-up was rustic. They had grilled chunks of meat on long pieces of stick and then proceeded to eat their dinner right off the makeshift skewers. It was the best thing she had tasted in the longest time.

  “I’ll hunt for you anytime, sweets,” Thunder pulled Lily against him. Roxy was still jealous at how well the two of them were getting along. They seemed completely relaxed in one another’s company, like they’d been dating for a long time.

  Lily made a disgusted noise. “Hunted? As in you butchered an innocent animal?” She crinkled her nose in clear disgust.

  Thunder frowned. “Yes. How did you think we got the meat?”

  “It’s not like we have a store or a butcher shop around here,” Blaze added.

  “Eeeeew!” Lily pulled a face. “What did I just eat anyway? I thought it was beef.”

  Thunder laughed. “Beef? No damned way. That was cane rat. I bet you never knew that rodent tasted so good?”

  Lily slapped a hand over her mouth and made a choking, gagging noise. Her eyes turned watery and she looked like she was going to barf any second.

  “I’m only joking, sweets,” Thunder laughed. “You should see your face right now.”

  “That’s not funny,” Lily mock punched his arm. Her face looked more pale than usual.

  “Those were a couple of deer steaks.” Roxy could hear that Blaze was smiling but, when she glanced in his direction, the smile turned to a frown. He turned serious the moment she laid eyes on him. He even scooted a little bit away from her. What the hell? She had to stop herself from giving her pits another whiff. She may have been walking half the day in the blazing sun but her antiperspirant had done its job. At least, she hoped it had. A person couldn’t always smell BO on themselves.

  “So, what did you think? Did you enjoy the meal?” He looked unsure of himself.

  “It was really good.” Her hand was still pressed against her belly. “I love deer steaks.”

  “Good.” He paused. “I take it you don’t mind that we tracked down a deer and killed it for your supper?” It felt like he was testing her, but at the same time, it also felt like he cared about her opinion. Maybe she didn’t smell after all.

  Roxy shook her head. “No. My father used to hunt sometimes back in the day. We had our fair share of deer steaks, not to mention rabbits, grouse and whatever else he could rustle up.”

  “So he doesn’t hunt anymore?” Blaze asked, there was genuine interest reflected in his eyes.

  “My dad died while I was still in high school. Heart attack.”

  “I’m sorry. That’s shitty,” Blaze frowned.

  “Yeah, it was. I still miss him. He wasn’t there when I graduated, he won’t be there when I walk down the aisle…” What was she saying? It seemed like her mouth wouldn’t shut it. “Or when I have babies, but hey…” Roxy shrugged. “I’ve come to terms with it.”

  They sat in silence for about half a minute.

  “What’s your air kingdom like?” Lily changed the subject, Roxy was grateful. Talking about her dad made her feel a bit sad and nostalgic. Especially when so many things were up in the air about her life right now. She was sitting in the middle of nowhere with a couple of shifters for crud’s sake.

  “My kingdom is amazing.” The flames illuminated Thunder’s face. The guy looked like he was beaming. “We live on the highest peak and have the best views.”

  “What about your lair? Is it as big and beautiful as the fire castle?” Lily’s eyes were wide and bright. She seemed genuinely excited. Then she turned to face Roxy. “Lair is another name for castle, in case you didn’t know.”

  Roxy nodded.

  “Not as big, no. Nearly though,” he winked at Lily. “As rulers of the four kingdoms, fire has the biggest lair.” Thunder shrugged, there was a smirk on his face. “My pad is way better though. Blaze might live in a bigger castle but I’m bigger where it counts.”

  Lily covered her mouth with one hand and giggled. Roxy had to suppress a gasp.

  Blaze chuckled and shook his head. “You wish, fucktard.”

  Thunder laughed. “I don’t have to wish, I know. What is a fucktard anyway? You’ve spent way too much time with humans, you sometimes even sound like one of them.”

  That shut Blaze right down. His jaw tightened and his eyes hardened up. It went from fun and lighthearted to watch out a hurricane is coming and in under three seconds.

  By the look on Thunder’s face, he could tell that he’d said the wrong thing because he put up both hands. “Forget I said anything. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

  Blaze didn’t say anything, he kept his intense gaze on Thunder. Roxy got the distinct impression that if they weren’t there, he’d be beating the air king right about now.

  “Come on, sweets,” Thunder tightened his arm around Lily. “Let’s give
these two some space.”

  “Um… I’m cold. Maybe it would be better if we stayed by the fire.”

  Thunder’s gaze turned molten. Roxy felt like she was intruding, so she looked away. Blaze was looking at her but he still looked angry so she quickly faced the other way. Was he still angry with Thunder or was it something she had done? It seemed that Blaze was a complicated guy.

  “I’ll keep you warm, honeybuns… Don’t you worry about that.” The big oaf was trying to whisper into Lily’s ear but his voice was so deep and so loud that everyone could hear.

  Lily sighed. “If you think it’ll work.”

  “Oh, it’ll work all right.”

  Blaze snorted but didn’t say anything. Oh shit! Were these two about to disappear in order to have sex? Probably. No, definitely, judging from the massive erection in Thunder’s pants. She’d purposefully chosen the camping option so that she wouldn’t have to be alone with Blaze too soon. This was awkward. She realized that her focus was still on Thunder’s erection even though she wasn’t really looking at it.

  Roxy quickly looked away, her eyes moving automatically to Blaze’s crotch. There was nothing happening there.

  Blaze cleared his throat.

  Oh damn! Busted! She pretended to look past him into the darkness beyond. Maybe he hadn’t noticed the staring.

  When she finally looked him in the eyes, his mouth did this twitch thing like he was trying to suppress a smile. She was so busted. This was so embarrassing.

  “So,” she blurted, her voice a little high-pitched. “You’re royalty; you have a golden tattoo.”

  “It’s not a tattoo, it’s a marking.” He rubbed his hand over the golden swirls on his amazing chest. His lick-worthy chest.

  Her eyes tracked the movement for a few seconds before she quickly looked away. Shit! He must think that she was some desperate hussy. She couldn’t stop ogling him. “How many princes are there in the fire kingdom?” She needed to try and make some conversation. There was this weird vibe between the two of them. It certainly wasn’t relaxed and carefree like Thunder and Lily. Far from it.