“I can see why you don’t smile more,” I say. “It makes you look too beautiful.”
Matt freezes, half-unwrapped bandages in her hands. “I’m beautiful?”
I nod. “Super stunning. If you were here as a female, I’m sure no one would look at me.”
She thinks about it and then gives a curt nod. “I thought so. I thought I’d be intimidating as a woman.” She sighs. “But it doesn’t matter. Besides, I doubt I’d be able to compete as much as you think. Weres like curves.” She pulls off her shirt and glares at us. “Are you guys going to leave, or didn’t you get enough of a show before?”
“Can I come back later and talk to you?” I ask, feeling shy but knowing that it would be amazing to have someone to talk to. And it looks like Matt could use a female friend as well.
She sighs, like what I’ve asked is super annoying, but I swear I see a flash of a smile as well. “Fine. You can come by tonight if you want, after dinner. I’ll just be reading.”
“Okay,” I say.
“So we aren’t telling anyone?” Fifi asks, full lips pouting.
“I don’t know who we would tell,” I reply. “We’ll just have to avoid activities that would get her hurt or give it away.”
“Please, guys, I’m completely competent,” Matt says. “I’ve gone twenty-six years without getting caught, I think I can go a few more. She grabs the vial from me and dabs it at her wrists and neck, inhaling the air and adjusting until she seems happy.
“But I have to say, Misty. If it were me, I’d go for Lindon.” She gives me a sly grin.
I perk up my ears interestedly. “What?”
“I’ve seen how you look at him. I’d pick Lindon if I had a choice of all the men. And I would definitely not pick Thor.” A blush tinges her cheekbones. Does Matt like Thor?
“Why Lindon?” I ask, and Fifi snorts.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Matt says, ticking reasons off on her fingers. “Great bloodline, prestigious pack connections with Rowan, whom even the tribunal fears. Great genes and looks, strong alpha blood and tremendous wealth. What’s not to like?”
“A bad personality,” I grumble, and Fifi laughs out loud, holding his stomach and rolling back on the bed. “Glad you are finding this hilarious, Fifi.”
He wipes invisible tears from his eyes. “It’s just…I’ve known Lindon since he was little, and I’ve never heard him described… exactly like that.”
“So, Fifi, why exactly are you here?”
That sobers him up slightly, and he sits up, wiping his eyes and composing himself. “I came to watch out for Matt. And to check out the guys.”
“So you’re gay then.”
“Not exactly,” he says, eyes flashing over me. “I’m okay with both.” He puts a hand up to caress my waist and I cough and step back.
Matt laughs. “No one can figure Fifi out. Don’t even try.”
Fifi shrugs. “I know I said you weren’t beautiful enough before, but I think I was wrong. Your beauty is just different than I thought. I think I’d be willing to do you now.”
I bite my lip, trying not to laugh. My eyes meet Matt’s and she makes a similar expression. Together, we somehow remain serious and I turn back to Fifi. “Good to know.”
He raises a purple tinted eyebrow. “You don’t believe me? You don’t see me as viable?”
“Um. No,” I say.
“Hm.” He leans back on his elbows, displaying an impressively toned chest and taut abs. Defined arms. Definitely all man, but there have just been too many times of ridiculousness for me to see Fifi like that.
Before I can say anything about it, Fifi grabs me behind the neck and pulls me onto him on the bed. He holds my hair and pulls my mouth down to meet his, and I gasp at the intense feeling when he bites down on my lip, hard, and then licks it better with his deft tongue.
Lavender overcomes me in a sleepy haze, and Fifi’s hands dig into my hair, pulling it tight, making each nerve aware as his tongue sweeps through my mouth, owning it completely. It’s like standing in a firestorm, overwhelming, odd, and yet completely safe.
Okay, maybe a little dangerous. He pulls my tank top straps down around my arms, pinning them at my sides as he moves to press a quick kiss at the side of my jaw and nip the skin there. He runs a finger along my arm and shoulder and I gasp. I look up into his hypnotic purple-blue eyes and feel my body responding even as my brain is starting to panic.
He likes being in charge, maybe even more than Lindon does. His eyes flicker with triumph and he toys with the bottom of my tank as I wriggle against my straps.
“All right, Felix, that’s enough,” Matt says, walking up to us with folded arms. “Stop being kinky with Lindon’s property.”
I release my breath as Fifi steps back with a smirk. “Property?” I ask.
“His scent is all over you. You know, Lindon’s been involved with some of the studies into scent disguise and replacement. You’re totally marked.” Matt’s lip curls. “And, stupid human that you are, you don’t even know it.”
“I’m not a human,” I say, sitting up and pulling my tank back over my shoulder. I take a deep breath and exhale, letting my heart return to normal. “I can turn into a wolf.”
“For how long?” Matt asks. “Not even hours, right? A true werewolf should be able to stay that way for days at the least.”
I sigh. “It’s not my fault my parents abandoned me.” I fold my arms, putting a wall between me and them. It’s been fun learning Matt’s secret, having a few moments of less animosity between us. But in reality, our worlds are too different for much more than that.
“Well, why don’t you just pick Lindon and get things over with?”
I blink, hoping the sting in my eyes is just dryness, not tears threatening. But it’s been such an overwhelming couple of days. “He isn’t competing. He has said he’ll stop marking me as much.”
Fifi and Matt look at each other. “Mmhmm,” they say together.
“What?”
Matt shakes her head. “I don’t blame you for not knowing, but I’d expect Lindon to know better. Males don’t mark if they aren’t competing. He may not be fully conscious of it, but he’s marking, so he wants you. Just get him to mate you, and you’ll be good.”
“You mean, have sex with him?”
Matt’s lip curls. “Crude human term.”
“Yes,” Fifi says, grinning at me. I flush, still not sure how I felt about our little kissing session.
“What if he already had a mate?” I ask them. “What if he thinks he was fated and can’t love again?”
Fifi’s brows lower, and he looks at Matt, as if hoping she knows more. Matt thinks for a moment and keeps unwinding the wrap absentmindedly.
“I’m not sure. I don’t know a lot about fated mates. But I don’t see why he’d be emitting pheromones and marking a female if he wasn’t in the market. Maybe you just have to show him how in the market you are.”
“You’re just trying to get me to end things so that you can go back to doing…whatever it is you do,” I tell Matt.
She grins at me, a sly grin this time that makes me realize just how much there is going on under that pouty mask she has on all the time. “Maybe. Probably. This whole situation is kind of a hell hole for me, associating with humans and lower bred males.”
“Lower bred?”
“Like those brothers. The twins. If they were higher bred, their parents would still be alive.”
“Rude,” I mutter.
“It’s not rude if it’s the truth,” she retorts.
“Actually, the truth can be very rude,” I say, leaving it at that. She just shrugs. I guess I just have to accept that Matt is a bigot, and try not to take it too personally that my parents are dead as well.
“So, what are you going to do?” she asks. “Because you need to get out of my room about now, and I’m curious.”
Fifi waits as well.
“Well, I don’t know. I… Lindon doesn’t seem to even want to do a
nything unless he smells someone else on me.”
Matt raises an eyebrow and then nods at Fifi. Before I can even scream in shock, Fifi pushes me back down on the bed and straddles me. My eyes widen as I push against his chest but I can’t manage to stop him from lowering himself over me, flattening his body to mine.
“What are you doing?” I squeak.
Fifi shakes his head. “Matt, go get ready, I’ll stay here until she’s good and scented, tell us when you’re changed.”
Matt shrugs and disappears into the bathroom adjoining the room.
Fifi absentmindedly runs his fingers along the back of my ears, and I bat at his hands.
“That tickles, stop it.”
“Hm,” he says, wrapping his arms around me as he lets his heavy, huge body hang all over me.
“You know, I really don’t get you,” I say.
“What’s there to get?” he asks.
“I don’t get why you’re here, I’m not sure I trust you, and I definitely don’t think I’m attracted to you.”
“But why?” he asks, blinking long lashes and sitting up a little. “I’m so beautiful.” But this time there’s a bit of mirth in those dark blue-purple eyes.
“You know, I believed that about you before. That you really were just full of yourself. But now, I think I see that maybe you feel you’re ugly under there somewhere. And that ugliness makes you nervous.”
“Ugly?” He raises a perfect eyebrow.
“But we all have ugly parts of ourselves, Fifi. And I think maybe acknowledging yours would make you even more beautiful.”
He takes a deep breath and his face goes serious and I see the man behind the mask. He’s breathtaking, but not for me.
“Can you get off now?”
He grins down at me. “Do you want me to?”
My eyes widen as the double meaning sinks in. “Oh gross!” I say, slapping at his arms and laughing. “Get off of me.”
“As you wish,” he says, rolling off. I laugh and brush my arms off and head for the door. “And Misty?” he asks.
“Yes?” I turn back and fold my arms, waiting.
“I hope we’ll still be friends after this. And if you want to talk about anything, you know I’m there.”
“Hm, I don’t know if I trust you.”
“You will after Lindon scents me on you and it wins you your man.”
I scoff at that and wave a hand at him. But it makes me smile that the odd pair of Matt and Fifi were even trying to help me.
The front door of the house bangs open just as I walk out into the hall, and I look down to see Lindon looking up at me with furious golden eyes.
Are Matt and Fifi right? Should I really lay it all on the line right now?
Chapter 2
Lindon rushes up the stairs and grabs me by the arms, looking me over and pulling me against him.
“When you didn’t come back after saying you were going for a drink…” He lets out a huge breath and releases my arms. “Well, I guess I freaked out for nothing. Do you have your bracelet on?”
“No.” I blush, thinking about how I wished I had it on earlier.
“What’s happened?” he asks, narrowing those glittering champagne eyes at me suspiciously. “You look shaken.”
“Just been a hard couple days. I mean, there’s someone out there trying to kill me, and you were lying to me, and now we’ve made up but still seem to be fighting.”
He puts a shushing finger up to my mouth and pulls me toward his room, pushes me in and shuts the door behind us.
So many shut doors in this mansion.
“I’m so ready for this to be done,” I say mournfully, walking over to the window.
“You are?” His voice is sharp, surprised. “I thought this was the fantasy. A bunch of men fighting over you.”
I play with the curtains and look out over the yard. “Thank you for tackling your teammate out there.”
He waves a hand. “It was nothing.”
“No it wasn’t. It was something, to me.”
He’s quiet as he takes a seat on the bed and rests his hands on either side of him. I love the sight of him. Body lightly sheened with sweat, tanned flesh glowing, golden eyes sparkling. Blond hair mussed like a woman has just had her hands in it.
It’s time to just be honest with myself and go for what I want.
“You know,” I say, keeping myself turned to the window so I don’t have to face him. “I was too nervous to tell you this before, but I didn’t really come here because of what your dad said about meeting lots of guys. You know why I really came?”
“No,” he says quietly, waiting. He folds his arms and I swallow at the biceps that flex there. He bites his lip, confused.
Gosh he’s beautiful. I might as well lay it all out for him now. If he rejects me, then he rejects me.
“Why did you come?” he asks.
I run my hands along the edges of the drapes, trying to distract myself, to keep my nerve. “I came because I saw your picture, and your dad said you were available.”
“Did he?” Lindon asks, a vein twitching near his left brow. “Interesting.”
“Yeah, it was like, seeing you, just seeing your picture, I was enamored. And I’ve never dreamed of a bunch of guys. It sounds like a fantasy. But all I ever really wanted, in my wildest daydreams, was just someone to take care of me. Someone to sit by the fire with, someone to read to me. Someone to read with. Someone I could take care of.” I blink down at the flawless grounds beneath me. “Someone to make the loneliness go away.”
“Well,” he says, voice strained, like he pities me but doesn’t know what to say. “There are plenty of men down there waiting to help you make that loneliness go away.”
I blink at him and then turn away. “Yeah, I know. But I think none of them can really match up to the one I want. And I should know, I’ve kissed all of them.”
“Misty, what are you saying?” Lindon sits on the edge of his bed, hands on his knees.
Gosh, I love those long legs.
“I’m saying I want you.”
“I’m not taking a mate,” he says.
“I heard from Rowan that you competed with Rafe over his mate.”
“That would have been a mating only for children. Not a mating for love. And we all knew Aspen was going to choose Rafe. She just needed a little nudging.”
Nudging, hm? I open the window a little, and the cool air from outside blows in, and I hear Lindon inhale sharply. That’s right, Fifi’s scent should be all over me.
“If you want me,” he says in a choked voice, “then why do I feel Fifi’s scent all over your damn body?”
I turn to him, a small smile on my face. “What? Scent? Come again?”
He lets out a little growl and paces to the window. He shuts it and then cages me against the wall next to it. “Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
“If it suits my purposes. Let’s be honest, we’ve been driving each other crazy this entire time, and I can’t do it anymore. I want you. If it’s a mating in name only, then it’s in name only.”
“Just yesterday you didn’t want to talk to me again. You were done with me.”
“I was mad,” I say, running a hand through his hair. “I was hurt.”
“Hm, you should stay hurt. I’m not good for you.”
“But what if I can’t focus on any of these men as long as you’re here?”
“You’re just getting confused,” he says. “You’re mistaking protection for real care. Misty, I was hired to do that for you.”
Frustrated tears blur my eyes. For once, I’m daring to hope, trusting myself that I know what I want. And of course, it’s still not working.
“Fine, I’ll find someone else. I just had to ask you for real. At least once, before I went.”
“Who? Misty, you can’t decide this quickly.”
“Oh, I should give it more time?” I narrow my eyes. “Why? Because some murderer is apparently going to come for me and you don’t wa
nt me to call this off until they find him?” I blink in offense.
“No…because you barely know them.”
“Ha!” I push him off of me and head for the door. This was a bad idea. Even Fifi underestimated the ridiculousness that is Lindon and his stubbornness.
“Just give it another week,” he says.
“Right, and just hope nothing happens?” I say.
“Right,” he says.
I lean against his closed door and tilt my head to the side. “I’ll give you what you want if you give me what I want.”
He swallows, handsome face tightening nervously. “What do you want?”
“One night with you.”
“I can’t mate—”
“I know. You can’t mate me. But I want one night with you. One night with everything but that.”
He frowns. “And then you’d go to another man?”
“Do I have a choice?” I throw my hands up.
“Yes. You could walk away and not do anything with me.”
I frown at that. “Yes, I could. But I know what I want. I’m giving a lot up for you and the race. The least you can do is give me a memory of us to think back on.”
“Misty, we barely know each other.”
“That’s not true,” I say, walking up to push on his chest, backing him to the wall. “That’s just not true. You know you know me when you touch me. I know I know you when I kiss you. And I’d be good for you. I’d push you. You know that, Lindon, and so, I think, does everyone around you. So, why won’t you just stop being so stubborn?”
He looks coldly into my eyes. “You’ll never understand. Fine, so we have this one night between us. I give you what you want, and then you’ll spend the rest of the week following the rules?”
“And will choose a mate at the end of it, yes,” I say.
“Fine,” he says, lowering his lips to my neck. “A week it is.”
“But I want my night tonight,” I say.
He sucks in breath and pulls back. “The others, they’ll know.”
I shrug. “And they’ll also know that you threw me back to them afterwards, without going all the way. It’ll be a perfect way to convince them you really aren’t competing.”
Ultimate Alpha Boxed Set: A BBW and Wolf Shifter collection Page 60
