by M. L. Briers
He’d had the upper hand, and he thought he’d won — but now the rug had been pulled out from beneath his feet.
“As I said — you’re trespassing. Leave.” Malachi growled.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
Donna didn’t understand. Everything had happened so fast, and her mind was spinning like a top. But the sight of her father leaving was a damn good feeling to have.
She turned towards Malachi, and the man looked sheepish. After winning the fight with her father she thought that he’d be standing there proud with his chest sticking out, as men did — but, instead, he looked as if she was going to tear him a new one.
“Okay, I really don’t understand what just happened,” Donna said.
“It’s complicated…”
“Uncomplicate it,” Donna searched for answers in Malachi’s eyes, but there were none.
“Can we at least go inside?” Malachi pointed the way to her cabin as if she didn’t know where it was.
“Fine.”
“Coffee?”
“You make the coffee, and then you spill your guts.” Donna took off towards the cabin on fast feet, and Malachi gave a small shake of his head in disbelief. He really didn’t understand women.
“Do I get breakfast?” Malachi hesitated in his stride as she tossed a death glare back over her shoulder at him. “Just asking.”
~
~
~
“You got your coffee now out with it,” Donna demanded.
Malachi looked at his mate. She was standing with her back pressed against the kitchen counter, her arms were crossed, and she still didn’t look best pleased with him.
“Come and sit down,” Malachi patted the cushion next to him, and her eyebrows shot up towards her hairline.
Nope, she didn’t look pleased at all.
“I’m good.”
“And yet, you’re looking at me as if I should go and hide the pitchforks and the matches,” Malachi’s chin was tipped downward, and he looked up at her from beneath his dark eyebrows — those damn eyebrows were dancing again, and she found that more than annoying.
She was supposed to be angry at him. She was trying her best.
Malachi hadn’t lied to her, but he hadn’t told her the whole truth either. Was the man like her father?
“Tempting.” That was all she said, but Malachi got the gist of it.
“Okay, I get that you’re mad…”
“I’m not mad…” Donna bit down on those words.
She was mad — or at least, she was trying to be, but the way that he was looking at her meant that other thoughts kept creeping in — thoughts that she didn’t want to consider.
It wasn’t enough that he was a shifter — she’d done her research on that on the Internet and had come to terms with the fact that she was his mate — and all that implied.
Now, he was creating an all-new challenge for her by acting like her father… Not quite her father, but she had seen a different side to Malachi in that exchange that she couldn’t quite reconcile with the man that she thought she knew.
“You look mad…”
“It must be the company I’m keeping, lately.” Donna tossed back. She didn’t want to discuss her — she wanted to discuss him.
“I suppose I deserve that,” Malachi gave a slow nod of his head in understanding.
“Could we just get to the explanation part?”
Malachi patted the cushion next to him once more, and Donna snorted in contempt. She tossed a look at the stool that stood beside her, took a step sideways, and pulled herself up onto it.
“I guess I deserve that as well,” Malachi grimaced. “I made a deal with the devil…”
“I don’t know what that means.” She kind of hope that he didn’t mean that in a literal sense.
The world had only just got used to the fact that there were supernatural beings like shifters and vampires around — she thought she might just completely freak out if the devil was actually real as well.
“My clan…” He stopped and considered his words briefly. “Before shifters were exposed to the world, my… family was considered just normal people. I grew up having to hide what I was. Imagine my surprise when shifters were announced to the world and people that had known me all their life looked at me like a monster.”
Donna had never really thought about the shifters dilemma from their point of view. How could she? She could no more imagine herself in his shoes then she could fly to the moon.
“Overnight my world was turned upside down. I reacted badly — got in some trouble — and it was decided that for the good of my clan and our business that I should leave.” Malachi watched as his mate opened her mouth to speak — but he didn’t want her pity.
“Buttholes,” Donna bit out, and Malachi almost choked on his tongue as he chuckled at her reaction. He hadn’t expected that.
“I could see their side of it. Business is business and the clan needed to be funded. People relied on the goodwill of business partners…”
“Like my father?”
“From what I am told, your father decided that was a good time to renegotiate a deal with my clan for more favorable terms.”
“Sounds like dear old dad,” Donna grumbled. “But wait — small world.”
“That’s fate for you.”
“So who is the devil that you did a deal with — and what deal did you do with the devil?” Donna asked.
“I may have left my community — my clan — but, I still have voting rights, and get a dividend from the family business every year…”
“Please tell me you didn’t cut your nose off to spite your face.”
“I still get the dividend — I no longer have voting rights.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. It means I don’t have to go back and see them anymore. The devil — my brother, gets to take the business in the direction he wants. It is what it is, and I have no regrets.” Malachi said.
Donna felt guilty. Because of her, he had cut off the last remaining ties he had to his family. But what a family — it reminded her of her own.
“But they’re still your family…”
“Like your father is still your family?” Malachi asked.
She was right — they made a good pair.
“Well…” Donna could maul that one over until the cows came home. The upshot would still be the same — she wanted nothing more to do with her father.
“Exactly.” Malachi grinned.
It was one of his big, sexy, ear to ear grins that made her stomach flip and then flop, and a fever rise within her blood while her mind flashed up the kind of thoughts to make her toes curl.
“Okay, so I’m a hypocrite — sue me,” she shrugged. “The fact remains…”
“The fact remains that I still have my family — I hope.”
For one long moment, Donna didn’t follow his reasoning. How could he cut ties with his family and yet still have them? But then the look in his eyes practically slapped her around the back of the head, and she understood what he meant.
“You’re my family now, Donna. You and Stacey — but only if you want to be,” Malachi growled at the thought. He couldn’t help himself.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
~
“Stacey seems to think that we should give you a bed so that you don’t have to go home at night,” Donna offered back and watched as that smile reappeared.
“I think Stacey is a very smart child,” Malachi nodded. He really liked that idea.
“Stacey thinks I have a big bed — too big for one person…”
“A really, really smart child,” Malachi grinned as he pushed up to his feet.
Donna licked her dry lips, and her mate growled long and hard. She didn’t know if it was just her or not, but he sounded decidedly hungry.
“Now…” Donna grinned and giggled with nervous excitement. She couldn’t help herself, she felt like a teenager on her first date.
So much anticipation in so few steps. Both of them felt it.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Malachi growled.
He was in front of her, standing there with his hands fisted at his sides like he couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to do next.
Donna knew what she wanted him to do next. She just didn’t want to draw him a map.
“There was a question?” Donna couldn’t remember.
“I asked you if you wanted to be my mate,” Malachi was in a holding pattern. He knew what he wanted to do, but he needed her to agree to it.
“That wasn’t the question…” Donna giggled like a schoolgirl again.
“Then let me ask it — will you be mine?” Malachi growled long and hard.
It was taking every inch of willpower that he possessed to keep his beast in its cage, and his hands to himself.
“Is that the shifter equivalent of will you marry me?” Donna offered him a teasing look, and Malachi growled once more.
“Do you want me to get down on one knee?” Malachi demanded.
“Do you want to get down on one knee?” Donna chuckled.
“I’d much rather have you wound around my body — naked — as I love you like a mate should.” Malachi couldn’t help but growl at that image within his mind.
“Wow — that’s…” So bloody hot and tempting that I think I just melted on the stool.
“Tempting?” Malachi’s sexy grin was back, and his eyebrows were dancing in sinful ways that tempted her more than he would ever know.
“Some would say tempting,” Donna took a long moment to pretend to think about it, and Malachi growled once more.
“And what would you say?” Malachi demanded.
He was fit to burst — his hands were so tightly fisted that his fingernails pressed into his skin and he was sure that he could scent his own blood.
Mine…
“I’d say…” She had something of a sly, teasing, tempting smile upon her lips. Her eyes sparkled with mischief and humor — and she was stretching out the torture to epic proportions. “Yes.”
Donna said the word and was shocked that a heartbeat later Malachi had wrapped his arms around her, lifted her from the stool, and had started to stalk toward the bedroom with her wrapped around his body.
“Please tell me you’re sure,” Malachi growled.
“Well…” Donna teased again.
Malachi almost tripped over his own feet as he hesitated in his stride. She still had a teasing look on her face, and her eyes still flared with amusement.
“Seriously?” Malachi growled.
“No…”
“No?” Malachi frowned.
“Seriously — no. Am I sure — yes,” she chuckled, but that chuckle turned to a squeal when he booted open the bedroom door and spun her toward the bed.
“There are so many ways that I might just make you pay for that,” Malachi grinned.
“I hope so.” She chuckled.
Donna felt her world tip backward and then she felt the mattress behind her back. Her heart raced, her mind raced, and all she could think about was being naked with him.
“Don’t tease me,” Malachi growled.
“Because I might not like you when you’re angry?” Donna chuckled.
“Because I might just prove my point,” Malachi warned her.
“Now who is teasing who?” Donna chuckled, and that chuckle sounded decidedly dirty to his ears.
He liked that — he liked that a lot.
“Tell me you’re mine…” Malachi wanted to make certain.
“Needy — very needy,” Donna chuckled again.
“That’s it…” Malachi growled.
“What’s…?” She got no further as his soft lips came down on hers. Her heart made a concerted effort to reach him through her rib cage.
One moment; they were just kissing and the next they were hot and heavy. Malachi might have been a shifter, but the man had more hands than an octopus. Donna had to admit that she wasn’t much better — she was pulling and tugging at his clothes, but he was getting a lot further than she was.
“Stop slapping my hands away,” Donna chuckled, but she managed to get the words out even as she gasped for air.
“Stop putting your hands in the way — I’m trying to get you naked,” Malachi chuckled back.
“Oh, there’s a coincidence,” Donna offered back, but she gave something of a small shriek when he fisted her jeans and yanked them down her legs and off. “Geez, give a girl some warning.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Malachi growled and that growl was hungry, and it matched the look in his eyes.
Malachi reached for his shirt and yanked it over his head. It only took a few seconds more for him to have his jeans around his hips. When his eyes locked onto her face, he saw that there was a hungry look that mirrored his own.
In some small corner of her mind, she knew that she was gawking at him — a naked him — almost. Those big broad shoulders, those big muscled arms, and the chest and abdomen that was packed with ridges of hard muscle held her attention and wouldn’t let go. She gawked anyway.
When her gaze followed the natural ridge of muscles down over his hips to the dark hair that promised what she was looking for was close by, she licked her lips before swallowing hard.
Then she practically jumped with pleasant surprise when his long, thick, cock sprang free from the material as he thrust his jeans down his legs and kicked them off.
“Holy moly!” She announced with glee and Malachi’s amused chuckles followed.
“I’m going to make sure you’re ready for me, sweetheart,” Malachi could have drooled at the prospect.
He moved onto his hands and knees and crawled up her body. His thick, heavy cock hung low and pointed toward her channel like it was looking for a home.
“Better than; ready or not here I come…” She couldn’t say anymore because she was giggling like a schoolgirl.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Malachi chuckled.
When he leaned over her, caging her in with his hard body, neither one of them felt the need to chuckle anymore.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
~
Malachi kissed her like she’d never been kissed before like she was his favorite thing on the menu to devour, and Donna returned that sentiment in spades.
Her hands explored the hard muscles of his chest, up and over those broad shoulders, and down his back as her fingernails scraped across his skin.
Malachi arched his back at the feel of her human claws against his skin. His bear roared within him, demanding that they claim their mate, and Malachi reached for her wrists and pinned them down against the bed to try to keep his beast locked within its cage.
He broke away from her lips and brushed his cheek against hers as he sought to take her scent at the source. She tipped her head to one side and opened her neck and shoulder so that he could nuzzle there.
The heady, hungry sound of the growl that rolled through his chest and caught in his throat vibrated through her body. Then he was devouring her again, only this time it was her body.
Malachi couldn’t get enough of his mate. He licked, nipped, and kissed every inch of her skin until the both of them were fired with a fever that begged for more.
He needed to taste her feminine juices. That need clawed within him until he palmed her inner thighs and opened her sex to his hungry tongue.
Donna couldn’t have held off the inevitable if she’d tried, but there was no way in hell that she was going to try. She fisted the covers and hung on for the ride.
Wave after wave of pleasure took over her body and sent her to a very happy place. She was happier still to come back down to earth with the sight of Malachi climbing up the bed, over her body, and caging her in once more.
; His jet black eyes ate her up. But it was the hard press of his cock against her sex that really focused her mind with need.
She felt it slide against her juices, find the rim of her channel, and demand entry. Her body was only too willing to comply.
Malachi’s thick cock pushed against the satin walls, the still fluttering muscles, and was buried to the hilt so deep within her that it felt like heaven and hell had collided.
He wanted more — so much more – but his willpower held him in place as he rolled his hips and allowed her body to get used to his size.
The way her legs came up his to wrap around his hips felt like a claim on his body. He liked that.
He wanted to claim her there and then — bite — taste her blood on his tongue, but instead, he pulled back to the tip of his cock before burying it deep again.
“No clawing,” Malachi warned her as he snatched her wrists once more and pressed them back against the mattress.
“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?” Donna grinned.
He answered with a hungry growl and a thrust of his cock that made her back arch against the bed and a gasp escape her lips.
“Aren’t you going to bite me?” Donna asked.
“Not yet — and not if you don’t want me to.”
“I thought that was how you claimed a mate?”
“It is, and the moment that you show me your back, on your hands and knees, I don’t think I’ll be able to resist…”
“That sounds good…” Donna couldn’t get the rest of that sentence out because his cock thrust to the hilt and her mind was elsewhere.
The heady sound of Malachi’s growl made her refocus her attention on him. A moment later and he was pulling back from her, she felt that loss.
Her world spun, and she found herself on her hands and knees on the bed front of him.
Mine…
Malachi bit down on a hungry growl as his eyes took in the curve of her back, up to her shoulder where he desperately wanted to place his mark, and he fisted his cock with one hand, placing the other on her hip to hold her in place, and guided his cock back inside of her.
