by M. L. Briers
“I think we’ve said all that needs saying right now, so I’m going to make my way back to my sisters…”She pulled herself up to her full height and saw Nero do the same. All thoughts of the food left on his plate forgotten.
“I’ll take you…”He growled out in what felt like a possessive claim on her, and she chewed that over.
“I want to get the lay of the land, I’ll walk…”Neve went to make a move and so did he. She stopped and stared at him expectantly.
“I’ll walk with you…”Nero offered and Neve felt that little niggling of her irk gene as it rushed to awareness within her.
“I can manage thanks.”Neve shot back and a slow rise to amusement filtered onto his face.
“I’m sure you can, but it’s my job to protect you…”Nero offered as Colt watched the back and forth exchange with glee. Mating just amused him so…
“I don’t need protecting, except from you…”Neve heard the snort of laughter come from Colts direction and tried hard to ignore the urge to slam his face down into the table top…
“You’ll never need protecting from me…”Nero’s dark brows drew down over his eyes as he frowned back at her. The grunt and growl in his voice told her she’d hit a nerve, a big one, and she felt a small twinge of victory at getting her own back on the man.
“Perhaps if you feel I need protection I should take the corpse with me?”Neve offered back to him and watched his upper lip twitch with the irrational rush to jealousy. If the guy turned green it would be a spectacular impersonation of the hulk, she thought, as her mates eyes flicked down towards the Vampire accusingly.
CHAPTER THREE
Colt balked and almost spat out his own tongue in a rush to deny any part in Neve’s diabolical plan to wind her mate up.
“Hold on there, Alpha, before we get into the claws and chewing…”Colt resisted the urge the let his fangs descend when the alpha growled long and hard. Neve took off away from the pair of them, using the opportunity to be on her way alone. Her work was complete and she felt a sense of achievement in making the both of them blink.
The giant hand that palmed the door to freedom made her snap her own hand downwards rather than touch his skin. Bare skin to bare skin with her mate would be a bad idea right about now, and she held onto the urge to sigh, but she did roll her eyes as he pushed the door open for her. She could taste the freedom in the air that rushed in at her, and knew it just wasn’t to be.
“Fine. Heel.”She snapped out and heard a warning growl behind her as she walked out into the greyness of the day.
“Let me make something very clear…”His breath was against her neck as he leaned in towards her from behind, and her brain focused on what felt like a caress to her skin. “My sense of humour only goes so far…”
“Kind of like your toothpaste…”She wafted her hand in front of her nose and set her feet to walking away from him, but he kept right alongside her. “Perhaps you could visit a vet and get some doggie dental sticks…”She tried her best not to look in his direction, but still her subconscious colluded with her libido and she sneaked a peek. While he didn’t look best pleased with her, he wasn’t exactly frothing at the mouth, yet.
“I get that civilised conversation is a concept that you haven’t grasped yet, but…” It was as far as he got. The snort of contempt that his mate issued was quickly followed by her chagrin.
“The bunny slayer dares to speak of civilised. Now that’s just classic…”She shot back and heard Nero’s growl or was it a groan of annoyance? She couldn’t quite tell as she issued a warning to her eyes to stay damn put in front of her and not even consider looking at him.
“Perhaps Colt is right. If I got you a saucer of milk you might put your claws away…” Nero saw her falter in her step only once, but it was enough to please him. As with most Fae he had encountered over the years, this one was sassy, fiery, and would need taming. It was a task he would willingly take on, given that she was his mate.
“Perhaps if you didn’t have a superiority complex you might realise that you’re not God’s gift to the female population…”
Nero grasped her by the wrist and not only turned her towards him, but managed to pull her up close and personal as her breasts pressed against his chest, her hips found his, and squashed in between them was what she knew to be the more than ample evidence of his desire for her. It took everything that she had within her not to send him backwards onto those muscle laden buttocks that she could still feel against her inner thighs from the earlier bike ride.
“Just you, Neve…”He growled down at her, and boy was it a growl and a half. It rumbled through her chest, making her nipples harden like cement, as it underlined his words. Going into her brain through her ears and ringing more bells and whistles than she cared to think about, although for a long moment, it was the only thing that she could think about.
“You…” She heard the high pitched squeak of her voice and clamped her mouth shut. Well and truly busted, and epically. Score one to the Lycan, big time. More than a few dark curses played ping-pong within her mind. But it was his eyes, darker now than she had seen them before, that really caught her damned attention, and when he growled this time, the sound was purely carnal.
There was a lot of satisfaction within her for that growl. He might have known that she had been affected by his proximity, by his damn growling at her in the way that he had, but she knew just how much she was affecting him as well. In her mind’s eye she high fived herself- sucker! Not exactly the most grown up response she could have mustered, but oh-so satisfying.
That warm fuzzy glow within her didn’t last long, not when he ran his fingertips down her cheek and over her neck and she could practically feel her body purring at his touch. Well that sucks… Not even long enough to bask fully in the light of her small victory, before he turned the tables on her. Damn it to hell and back.
“And don’t try to deny the attraction between us. It would be futile.”Nero was right and she knew it. With her whole body mentally curled up around his and her libido in overdrive, how the hell could she deny anything of the sort?
“That’s the mating pull. It has absolutely nothing to do with how I personally feel about you…”Neve had to try to make a stand, even a little one, even if only for that wounded thing called pride. He should get that, Lycans were big on pride. She placed the palm of her hand against the heat of his chest, warm to the touch, even with the material barring her from his skin, and she pushed a little distance between them.
Something reached out to her body and mind, like a ripple through the air that washed over her skin and left tiny goose bumps in its wake… Neve knew that feeling, and it was nothing to do with her mate. There was a feeling of pressure around her head, as if someone was physically squeezing it. Magic, an attack on her shields, and she drew on her energy to reinforce them as the nauseating feeling of vertigo swept through her and she reached for Nero. She found she had no need to, his hands were already against her back, and he pressed her against his body.
“What’s wrong?”His deep, urgent tone cut through the swirling of her thoughts and brought with it crystal clear clarity to her purpose.
“Magic…”She breathed out. Pushing out with her own energy like tentacles to see if she could wrap around the not-so subtle attempt of the Warlock to uncover just who she was and what he was dealing with, as she did the same. The deepness of Nero’s growl did little for her concentration, but she wasn’t about to pull back.
“Where is it coming from?”Nero eyed their surroundings to see who was out on the street. The trouble was they were slap bang in the middle of the high street with people coming and going into the small selection of shops and businesses that lined both sides of the road. There was no saying it was someone visible, he could just hope…
“Everywhere, it’s all around us…”Neve latched onto the very essence of the magic containing the Warlock’s aura and pushed back against him. Something that didn’t please the Warlock as h
e sent tiny shocks back against her mental probing that bounced off her shields with little effect.
“Can you find him?”Nero identified the faces that he had known the longest and dismissed them, in search of someone new, someone out of the ordinary.
“Give me a damn chance…”She almost growled back at him. Neve felt the air clear around her in one fast and powerful pull as the Warlock let his magic dissipate to nothing in the afternoon breeze. The suddenness of the loss of something to clasp her magic too took her by surprise, and she felt the sharp slap of it hitting her shields like a ball bouncing back to her and she cursed out.
“What’s wrong?”Nero growled. He could sense his mate’s pain, and yet there was nothing he could do about it.
“You distracted me, damn it.”She snapped out, pulling back from him as she glared up at his dark eyes accusingly, and he frowned down at her.
If she was honest with herself, it wasn’t all Nero’s fault. It was part her, part him, and a big dose of the mating pull between them. Not to mention the damn Warlock coward that had pulled back his magic as she started to gain ground on him.
“Sorry.”Nero ground out.
“It’s not entirely your fault.”Neve admitted. He’d had the good grace to apologise and she needed to cut him some slack. Not only were they in this together, for the sake of the pack and her sister, but they were mates, and she’d be looking up into those damn sexy dark eyes of his for a long time to come.
“Good to know.”Nero felt a shift in her attitude towards him. She seemed to soften against him slightly, as if some of the fight to keep him at arm’s length had gone out of her. He knew that could be due to their encounter with the Warlock and not her accepting him for who he was. He was under no illusion that she was going to just fall into his arms, they still had a long way to go off that he was sure.
“I’m going to take a walk around. He’s here somewhere, and like a mobile phone, if he uses his magic, I should be able to pick up on his signal.”Neve took a step back from him. It was just a small one, but it felt like a chasm had opened up between them and she didn’t much care for the feeling.
“I’m coming with you.”It wasn’t a statement she felt she could argue with. She knew why he said it. She knew why he would feel the need to do it, protection, pure and simple. He wasn’t about to let her put herself in danger while he was around, and she knew that with the Werewolf and Warlock danger as it was, he probably planned to be around her a lot.
“Come on then, Nero the hero…”She grinned to herself as she turned away from him. The gentle growl that sounded part groan, reached her ears and she couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over her face. Right up until she almost walked straight into the damn Vampire coming the other way…
Colt held up his hands in front of his chest and smirked down at her. Mischief played in his eyes and she knew he was about to challenge her ability to keep from splatting him against the nearest wall. She so wanted to splat him…
“I’m more than happy to hug you if you so desire, but I think your mate would have something to say about that.”Colt was right. Right on cue Nero growled a long, deep warning to the Vampire that seemed to amuse him even more.
“If you can’t play nice with others then don’t expect others to play nice with you…”Neve twisted her hand on her wrist and dropped the smirking Vampire onto his backside on the pavement before he even had a chance to see it coming.
“Nicely done.”Colt bit out, but it was said to her back as she had already started to walk off.
Nero grinned down at his friend, who craned his head to look up at him. The smirk was definitely gone, but Nero was assured by the fact that he didn’t look ready for vengeance. Colt wasn’t that type of guy.
“I’d say you got what you deserved.”Nero informed him dryly and Colt took a moment to sigh.
“I’d say good luck with your mate…”Colt shot back. Careful to pull himself up onto his feet as any other human walking around them would have.
“Neve’s a pussycat.” Nero started off after her, more than mindful that danger lurked somewhere in this sleepy town.
“And you’re delusional.” Colt bit out. Dusting himself down and shaking his head in misguided disbelief. He estimated that eight out of ten Fae were probably going to react to him the same way, and with little surprise, not all Vampires were as easy going as he was. But then not all Fae were whiter than white with their magic practices either. He’d lived long enough to see it all, or he hoped he’d seen it all, especially the bad, he considered himself way too old to put up with any real surprises.
After a couple of hours walking around town, which wasn’t all that easy to do as the town was the size of a damn shoebox, Neve admitted defeat and allowed Nero to steer her back towards his motorbike. She could have dug her heels in and walked back to her sister’s cottage, or she could have called Natasha and asked for a lift in her red hot troll-mobile, but she decided to make life easier for herself and just climb back onto the bike with Nero. Not that it made life easier in all respects.
It wasn’t the most unpleasant ride of her life. She had excellent balance and she could have easily not pressed the whole length of her front against the whole length of Nero’s back, but what would be the point? The mating pull was already in full swing and it would get to them sooner or later. The unmistakeable need to mate would raise its ugly head, rather than just a little prodding in the right direction, and who was she to deny Fate its end product?
That wasn’t to say she was about to throw herself down and scream ‘take me now, for the love of God, take me now.’ But she wasn’t going to try to throw up brick walls in the way either. Just to let nature take her course, however long that took, would be more than enough.
Right on cue, Nadia and Natasha filed out of the cottage as she rode up with Nero. Both sisters arms were folded across their chests and neither one of them had a warm, welcoming smile for her.
“And where have you been?”Nadia demanded. If she’d ever bothered to wear a watch she would have looked at it in that moment, like an irate father waiting for his daughter to get home after a date with the local bad boy.
“Where I said I was going, Mum…”Neve scolded her youngest sister with just a look. “Problem?”She added, giving them both her best glare and causing both of them to simultaneously shuffle on their feet.
“We didn’t think you’d be gone all day.”Natasha added in their defence and Neve shrugged her shoulders.
“And I wasn’t.”Neve took a slow walk towards them and Nero followed on behind her. As her mate he was expected to have her back, but right now as she looked at her two siblings practically squirming in place, she couldn’t help but find it amusing that the big, bad Lycan was doing just that.
“We need to shore up our defences around here and we could use your help, when you’ve finished with him…”Nadia eyed the Alpha and Neve couldn’t help but roll her eyes, but before she could answer Nero had stepped in.
“You’re not staying here. All of you need to be on pack land…”He started and Natasha balked at the very idea.
“Dream and on. The only way I’m going onto pack land is…”
“We’re leaving. Grab your stuff…”Neve announced and wasn’t entirely surprised when both of her sister’s jaws dropped down slightly as they stared at her. She could have just announced she was becoming a member of a satanic cult and probably would have gotten a slightly more muted reaction from her sisters.
When neither sister moved a muscle she reached out with her magic and gave them both a quick jolt of motivation on their backsides. Each sister jumped and gasped out their disbelief as they frowned in unison.
“Seriously, Neve?” Nadia spat out. She’d really like to give her sister a slap of her power, but she didn’t possess the same kinds of abilities as the other two.
“We need to get to pack land before dark and shore up the defences there. You’re wasting time and energy debating it. Our paths are linked, and
like it or not we need to join forces now.”Neve shouldn’t have to explain to them where magic was concerned, not when it was this important, and she envied the Alpha for his ability to command his pack the way he did, right now she could use some of that…
“Fine, but I don’t like it…”Nadia turned on her heels and started back towards the cottage.
“No, dying is so much more your thing.”Neve bit back, unable to keep the annoyance from her voice. She thought she was done cleaning up after her little sister’s mistakes, obviously Nadia had other ideas.
Neve had only seen so much in her vision. In truth she didn’t know how this would play out, but if they came through it alive, she thought she would be having strong words about Nadia’s whole attitude to life with the little madam when this was done.
“Family can be a bitch…”Nero started as the warmth of the hand he placed against her lower back seeped through her clothing and gave her a little something else to think about.
“That one certainly can.”Neve bit out and Nero’s deep, gentle laugh washed over her like a silk caress, causing her to shiver long and hard.
“But what would we do without them?”He offered and Neve had a mind to tell him all of the things that she had contemplated over the years, if only her sister had been more responsible and not so damn demanding. But she held her tongue. Family and pack was everything to a Lycan and she doubted that he would understand. Besides, her sisters were everything to her. She’d taken on that responsibility and in truth she was glad of it.
“I’m going to go and hurry her on or Nadia will be choosing her wardrobe and colour coordinating her clothes from now to eternity.” Neve felt a small pang of guilt for her feelings towards her sister. Perhaps the mating pull towards her Lycan mate was affecting her attitude as well as her libido, although she would probably still want to slap her sister upside her head for her misdemeanours.
