So very much more.
Maggie continued to watch him curiously. “I have tea. Pretty much any kind you can think of.”
“Yes,” he managed.
I want you, lass, spread out on the counter for me to sample.
“Yes what? Tea?”
His cockhead pushed at the zipper of his jeans and he cursed, wishing he was in his plaid, then he’d not have to worry about such modern things as zippers. His cock could be free. His breathing increased as he took the smallest of steps toward the woman.
I want you.
She licked her lip again. “Sir?”
“Yes.” He nodded, easing closer to her. By Daga, he wanted to touch her, feel her skin under his fingertips, her breath upon his neck as he eased his cock into her velvety folds.
She drew in a deep breath. “What kind of tea?”
“Yes.”
A puzzled expression fell over her beautiful face and he noticed the tiniest of freckles dotting her nose and upper cheeks. They were faint but there. He wanted to kiss every one of them and he wanted to see if she had any more—in other places.
“Hey, girlie,” said another woman, coming in quickly, bringing with her the scent of shifter and something else. A smell he couldn’t quite place with as out of sorts as his senses currently were. The woman brushed past Kennard as if he wasn’t even there and put herself in front of Maggie, standing a good four inches taller than Maggie. She was what many would term beautiful and sexy, tanned, dark haired with large chocolate eyes, but her beauty paled next to Maggie. To Kennard, there had never been one as alluring as Maggie.
“Tell me you’re going to be free tonight. I need a girl’s night more than I need a man,” said the woman.
Maggie leaned, looking past her taller, raven-haired friend and right at Kennard. Her friend turned and inhaled deeply, her gaze snapping to Kennard.
Definitely shifter, he thought.
Though, she was not wolf. She was something else.
Cat maybe. It was so faint he wasn’t even sure he was actually smelling it, or perhaps the woman had a houseful of cats. That could explain it.
She turned and put herself in front of the redhead protectively. “Picking up strays, Maggie?”
Kennard never moved, choosing instead to lock gazes with Maggie. She pushed out and around her friend, smiling as she neared Kennard.
“Did you decide on a tea?”
“You pick, lass,” he said softly. “I’ll enjoy whatever you offer.”
The new arrival snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”
“Maria, stop,” said Maggie, still smiling, though it appeared forced.
“I’ll stop when he does,” returned Maria.
Maggie twisted, took her friend by the arm and dragged her to the kitchen area. Kennard could still hear everything as Maggie spoke. “What is wrong with you?”
“There is something different about that guy,” said Maria, her voice bordering on whiny for a split second.
“Yeah. I noticed. He’s drop-dead sexy. I find that very different for this area,” added Maggie, making Kennard grin from ear to ear.
The woman found him attractive.
Guid.
He could talk her into bed with him sooner if she was interested as well.
“Maggie, seriously. He could be trouble,” said the raven-haired one.
“Oh, I don’t doubt that for a second. Just looking at him, I’m pretty sure he walked off the pages of a romance novel.”
He grinned. He could play the part of hero long enough to get what he wanted from her. Yet the thought of taking advantage of her suddenly made his stomach tighten and his wolf growl at him—a threat if he’d ever heard one.
“Head out of the clouds here a minute, girl,” said Maria. “What if he turns out to be a demon?”
Kennard stilled. The women knew of demons?
Had his first instinct on Maria been correct? Was she a shifter? How was it she could confuse his senses?
She didn’t, he thought as the sobering reality came over him. Maria hadn’t been the one to confuse his senses. Maggie had. She caused everything in him to react differently.
As a mate would.
No. It couldn’t be. Chosen ones weren’t human. His cousins who had mated had known their mates some time before finally realizing who they were to them. He then remembered Gordon and how he’d not known his mate. She’d spilled hot chocolate on his groin during their first introduction and they’d had a whirlwind romance ever since.
Kennard’s eyes widened as he realized the coffee shop more than likely had an ample supply of hot chocolate. He cupped his groin protectively and thought of leaving, but couldn’t seem to get his feet to agree with his head.
“You’re being ridiculous,” said Maggie from the other room. “Let me make the hotty some tea and then you can go back to being weirder than me. Congrats, because that is hard to do.”
“Hey, I love ya like a sister,” pressed Maria, softer than she’d been speaking prior. “I just want to know you’re safe. I saw Rodney out front, and since my shop is only a half day today, I thought I’d come down to save you from the sleazebag. If I’d known you had hunky men coming in, I’d have come sooner.”
Maggie’s laugh tugged at Kennard as he continued to eavesdrop into the women’s conversation. It was an invasion of their privacy but he couldn’t stop himself. He had to know more about Maggie.
“He is pretty hunky, isn’t he?” asked Maggie.
Another woman spoke, this one in Spanish. Being alive over seven-hundred years allowed a man to pick up a thing or two. Other languages was one of them. He laughed softly as the woman scolded both the young ladies for having their heads in the clouds and thinking of boys when they should be worried about the messes they get themselves in.
Maria relayed this sentiment to Maggie before Maggie exited and came out with a large mug of tea in her hand and a smile on her face. Her rose-colored lips almost begged to be kissed, and he had to focus to stay rooted in place, worried he’d act out and do something foolish.
“Told ya I’d find him,” came Liam’s voice from behind as the door to the coffee shop opened. “Trust him to be hangin’ around a place called Mystic Grounds. Wonder if witches run it?”
With a sigh, Kennard glanced over his shoulder at his cousins. “I thought you were stayin’ at the bar.”
Liam groaned. “Me too, until Cillian insisted we check on you. He thinks somethin’ is off with… oh, what do we have here?” he asked of Maggie, his gaze lingering over her longer than Kennard liked.
His wolf reared up, wanting free. With a snarl, he cast a push of magik at his cousin, leaving there no room for doubt. Maggie was his.
Mine?
His actions caused him to take pause and his cousins to touch one another, share a concerned look and then move quickly in his direction. Cillian reached him first, grabbing him by the arm.
“What is wrong with him?” asked Liam.
Cillian glanced in Maggie’s direction.
Liam nodded. “Oh, this is the woman he wanted?”
Maggie yelped.
Kennard’s magik pulsed within him, beating at him from the inside out almost as hard as his wolf was trying to escape. He didn’t like knowing she was upset, that she was confused. He tried to reach for her but his cousins grabbed him, making somewhat of a scene as they yanked on him.
“We should go. Wouldnae want to let pets in or anything.” Cillian stared hard at him and Kennard knew what he was hinting at. Kennard’s wolf was close to taking control and his cousins could smell it.
Suddenly, Maggie was there, the mug of tea set off to the side on the counter. She put her hand on Kennard’s arm and fire shot through him, making him stagger back a step. She moved with him. “Sir, are you okay?”
“Sir? Did the stacked hot redhead just sir him?” asked Liam with a laugh.
Cillian grunted, giving his brother a pointed look. “Yer nae helpin’.”
�
��No?” Liam asked as Kennard’s teeth began to lengthen at a rate he knew he couldn’t stop himself. “Och, yer behavin’ like a pup. Get it together, O’Caha.”
Maggie swatted Liam’s arm once and tsked him. “Stop. Is he okay?”
“She hit me,” said Liam in mock surprise.
Maggie stilled and Kennard broke his cousins’ hold, reaching out, his hand going to her cheek. He wouldn’t have blamed her if she screamed, hit him and then ran away. After all, he was a stranger laying his hands on her. She closed her eyes a moment and leaned her head into the weight of his palm, caressing him with her cheek, energy bouncing around them. Vaguely, he felt his cousins drawing upon their combined power to try to confuse the minds of the humans in the shop. Compel them to pay no mind to what was happening and to go about their business as normal.
It took Kennard a moment to realize Maggie wasn’t turning and returning to whatever it was she normally did. No, she was standing in place, her cheek against his palm, her eyes closed, her full lips tilted upwards slightly.
It was enough.
He bent, capturing her mouth with his. He wasn’t sure what his plan was, as he’d not actually had one beyond tasting her lips. Once he did he found his beast instantly calming, sinking down, allowing him to experience kissing her without interference. And he did. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and she returned the gesture. Growling into her mouth, he cupped her face, wanting to lift her off her feet and ravish her mouth, her body, everything about her.
There was cursing in Spanish, and the next he knew he was being thrust back away from Maggie. Maria stood between them, a shocked look on her face as she spun and touched her friend.
“Maggie?” she asked. “What the hell was that?”
Maggie touched her lips gingerly, looking as dazed as Kennard felt. “A kiss.”
“You do not know that man. You do not kiss men you do not know,” Maria countered, every word punctuated as if to drive the point home harder.
Kennard liked knowing his woman didn’t just go around kissing strangers.
My woman?
He tensed and glanced over his shoulder at his cousins. He lowered his sunglasses and Cillian shook his head quickly, pointing to his own eyes to warn Kennard his were not human yet.
Shit.
Maria continued to curse in Spanish, and even Kennard was surprised at just how foul-mouthed the woman could be. Liam’s laughter grounded him and he got his bearings and cleared his throat. He pulled a twenty out and went to the counter, setting it next to the mug of tea Maggie had made him.
“Thank you for the tea,” he said, his voice deeper than normal because of the near shift. He wasted no time and didn’t dare look back as he rushed for the door, his cousins hot on his heels. He felt Maggie’s confusion reaching out to him, her hurt, and knew he was the cause.
Why had he done that?
How had he lost control so fast?
And why the fuck was his cock still hard as a rock?
“Shit,” he spat as he made it out and into the street.
Cillian jogged up alongside him. “What was that back there?”
“Kennard mystically wrote his name on the redhead. Might as well have written ‘my toy’ as big as possible on the lass,” said Liam, shaking his head. “And to think you two are always worried about what stunt I’ll pull in public. Ha. I’ve never done that.”
Cillian caught Kennard’s arm and tugged him to a stop. “What happened?”
“I do nae know,” he admitted softly, shaking his head. He finally gained the courage to look back at the coffee shop, and the first thing he spotted was Maggie at the door, looking out at him, bewilderment coating her face. The second was a skinny, pale human male, glaring at him from the patio area. The man should not have been paying them any mind. The fact that he was was troubling, but Kennard was in no condition mentally to think harder upon the matter.
“We should get food in him,” said Cillian to Liam. “He probably just needs food and rest. We pushed hard. Rest will do us all guid.”
He didn’t need rest and they all knew it, but none voiced it. Kennard knew his control was shaky around the female, and staying close to her until he figured it out could expose magik to humans and, more so, could leave them seeing him shift into a wolf.
Big no-no in the supernatural world.
* * *
“What was that?” asked Maria as Maggie pulled herself from the door to her shop. She glanced nervously around, expecting to be greeted by judgmental gazes of the patrons.
No one was paying any attention to her or what had just happened in front of them all. Confused, she looked at her friend. “You saw him kiss me, right? I didn’t finally really lose my mind, did I?”
Maria put a hand on her hip. “Oh, I saw him kiss you all right. You’re lucky you didn’t see me stick my size nine right up his Scottish ass.”
Maggie touched her throat, nervous and excited all at once. A small laugh bubbled up from her and she met her best friend’s hard gaze. “Holy crap, I got swept off my feet by a guy worthy of a romance novel hero.”
Maria’s hard expression softened until she laughed too. “I half thought he might actually pick you up for a second there. I think he considered it too.”
Maggie took a deep breath. “I’d have let him.”
“I know. Why do you think I broke apart the kiss?” asked Maria.
Maggie glanced downwards. “Things like that don’t ever happen to me. You, yes. But not me. I always feel like your ugly best friend.”
With a sympathetic look, Maria shook her head. “Girl, that hunk didn’t even know I was alive. He only had eyes for you. And men notice you all the time, Maggie. It’s you who don’t see them looking. This one was smart enough to make sure you didn’t miss his interest in you.”
Glancing at the door, Maggie wasn’t so sure her friend was right. Maybe she was a prank to him. Something the twins who had followed him in and clearly knew him had put him up to. “He just walked out like it didn’t happen.”
Maria sighed and wrapped her arm around Maggie. “No, honey, he stormed out as if he was worried he might lose his cool and screw you in the middle of the shop.”
Gulping, Maggie spun and took the tea she’d made for the man and swallowed it down, her throat suddenly very dry. An uneasy feeling settled over her and she turned to catch Rodney outside on the patio, glaring at something or someone out of her line of sight now.
“What do you say I help you for the rest of the afternoon and then we close up and have girl’s night?” asked Maria. “So far we’ve run into nothing but dead ends on our hunt for whatever is causing the uptick in violence around here lately. How about we take a night off of hunting bad guys and just be girls? We’ll grab some ice cream and totally pig out while we watch old movies. Fun!”
Maggie nodded, her gaze remaining on Rodney. Deep down she knew he was about to become even more trouble than he already was.
Chapter 5
Maria’s soft snores kept Maggie from drifting off to sleep on the sofa opposite her friend. Maggie at one end, Maria at the other. The two had met up after closing and had gone for dinner and ice cream, deciding to have a movie marathon and a girl’s night. They hadn’t gone to Maria’s apartment because of her noisy neighbors who Maggie was pretty sure Maria was on the verge of throttling. They called the guy who lived there Piston because he was able to pound a woman so hard and so long every night that they had to wonder if he was a machine.
Maggie’s tiny trailer wasn’t much and had seen far better days. It was hers, bought and paid for, and was outside of town just enough that they had privacy when called for. They couldn’t exactly drag a bad guy supernatural back to Maria’s place to interrogate him. There was an old shed out behind Maggie’s place that worked perfectly when need be. The shed was in better shape than the trailer.
Maggie was pouring her money into her savings, hoping to one day be able to buy the building her shop was in and then renovate the ups
tairs, making it her home. She didn’t require much and wasn’t one of those women who needed the finest money could buy.
As she tried and failed to get comfortable on the sofa. Her other option was to get up and go to bed, but that seemed far away at the moment. Too far from Maria, who made her feel safe while she rested. She could just roll onto the floor, but she’d end up on the old brown shag carpet that was a testament to the trailer’s age. She began to reconsider the finer things in life. New carpet would be nice. It would have to wait.
She exhaled, enjoying the small bit of respite they’d been provided. The evil that had plagued Sandsville had been quiet for the last few nights. While both women hoped it meant the troubles were over, they knew better. They also were wise enough to accept the break when offered to them. They needed a night of normal.
“Normal,” Maggie breathed softly, almost laughing at the idea of it all. Neither was normal, nor would they ever be.
They’d become instant friends when they’d met in junior high and quickly learned why. They were both different. More than human.
Maria had become family to Maggie, snores and all.
Marilyn Monroe’s breathy voice glided from the television to Maggie. The girls had decided a movie marathon was in order, along with two pints of ice cream which they’d proudly packed away without blinking before moving on to popcorn. It had seemed like the perfect solution to a long day and all the tension that had been happening in their lives.
As indigestion struck, the idea lost its merit. Maggie’s stomach wasn’t as thrilled with the plan as when she’d started eating earlier in the evening. She shifted uneasily on the sofa, scared to nod off for fear the nightmares would return.
She touched her stomach, positive she’d be sick at any moment. The price of a girl’s night was high. She should have known better and stopped herself somewhere around the bag of chips, but certainly before the chicken wings.
Unable to help herself, she closed her eyes, but only for a split second. Worry about the demon she’d been dreaming of coming to her in her sleep again had her jerking awake, trying to stay up. She couldn’t go through another of the nightmares. Not the new ones.
A Druid of Her Own: An Immortal Highlander (Druid Series Book 4) Page 4
