by M. L. Briers
“That depends if it’s meant as a true apology or an expectation of sex…”Dee didn’t want to mince words with him. She was his, her body was already geared up and ready for him, it was part of the mating pull, and she knew it couldn’t be stopped by anything other than death now until they were bonded. But she didn’t want to start their relationship on false words.
“I meant it. And I don’t expect sex, that’s not to say I wouldn’t like to push deep inside you right now…”The low growl that accompanied his words and the imagine within her mind that they created sent a wave of heat through her body, and she found herself wondering why they were still wearing clothes at all…
“There’s an image…”She went to turn away from him, but he wrapped his arms around her body to hold her there.
“But just to have you sleep within my arms is all I need.”It was the truth. He wanted her and that he would never deny. He desired her- that was evident from the rock hard reminder that he carried around inside his jeans. But his need was just for her to be there, safe within his arms.
“Lacy was right, you are just a softie…”She teased up at him. Aidan couldn’t help himself; he let out a low warning growl of annoyance.
“Emasculate me, why don’t you…”He growled down and she gave him a small innocent wide eyed look that set his pulse racing.
“Well I tried castration and that didn’t work, although I could try again, and probably will if you keep being a…”He dipped his head and circled his tongue over the marks he had placed in her shoulder. Nestling his head against her, and bringing her mind to halt any thought in its tracks, but the desire that swept through her.
Her hands were on the hard muscles of his shoulders, her fingers curling into his skin through the thin material of his shirt as the urge to get closer to him overwhelmed her. But she couldn’t get any closer. The length of her body was pressed against his, and his hand at her back kept her upright as he tilted her backwards, opening up her neck and shoulder to his touch.
He covered her soft skin with his lips and sucked hard. Rewarded by the sweetest sound that rolled from her lips.
“Tell me you want me…”He growled out against her ear, but her brain was playing catch up and speaking wasn’t on her list of priorities right now. He turned her in place and brought her back up against his chest. His hands roamed down over the hard buds of her nipples as his tongue snaked against his mark. He could feel how caught up in him she was, how her need was spiralling within her, it matched his own.
Aidan peeled her top away from her body and discarded it on the floor. “Tell me you need me…”He growled against her ear and she pushed her backside against his arousal as if it were the only answer that she could manage to give him.
Her skirt was next, lying in a puddle around her ankles with her panties sliding down her legs to meet the fabric. His jeans were off and his shirt followed in a heartbeat. Standing naked behind her, he pressed the length of his arousal between the cheeks of her backside and she pushed back.
One flick of his wrist and her bra was following the rest of their clothes onto the floor. Both naked in the centre of the room, his hungry hands roamed over the heated skin of her body.
“Open for me…”He growled against her ear, nipping her lobe with blunt teeth as he pressed his hand between her thighs and she was more than eager for his touch, immediately moving her legs apart and granting his fingers access to the wet heat of her arousal.
She felt his touch against her sex and knew that it wouldn’t be all that difficult to bring her to her first orgasm if he kept doing what he was doing, but she was wet and wanting and she knocked his hand away.
“Inside me…”She did the hardest thing she could do and pulled away from him. Sinking down to her knees upon the carpet she looked over her shoulder and up at him as he stood above her. His dark eyes took her in as she rocked forwards and held herself up on all fours, and damn did his beast go wild within him.
Aidan moved towards her, but he didn’t sink to his knees as she expected he would. Instead he placed one thick thigh either side of her hips, squatting over her as if he were going to sit down on a magical chair. Wrapping his hand around his length he pushed against the wet heat of her channel and slowly eased into her.
Her body stretched around his hardness like a satin glove, she was so tight around him like this that he growled deeper with every inch he pushed into her.
She’d never felt anything like it in her life. The angle that he was entering her had him rubbing hard over her sweet spot with every inch of him, and she moaned against the fullness of him inside her. When she snatched a look at him over her shoulder, he looked so powerful, so sexy, that she almost came apart.
The thick muscles of his upper thighs stood hard under his skin, as did the muscles and sinews within his calves. His abdominal muscles strained under the tight skin and his whole body curled over hers. He looked more like his beast that she had ever seen him, and the image of two rutting wolves entered her mind, fitting perfectly with how he was taking her.
His hands locked around her waist and he slowly pulled back to the tip before stroking deep within her, deeper than she had felt him before, filling her so completely that her damn toes curled against the carpet.
“I don’t want to hurt you, so tell me if I…”He growled out, but she just hissed her reply back at him, cutting him off.
“Faster, you feel so good…”
He didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He’d know if he hurt her, he’d know instantly, and he started to rock his hips back and forth, taking her faster with each stroke.
She had to see him, twisting her head she looked over her shoulder. There wasn’t a muscle that wasn’t flexed on his hard body. Just the sight of him like that had her moaning his name, urging him on, as his strokes became long deep thrusts.
Dee felt the pressure building within her. She couldn’t stay upon her hands any longer, she turned away from him and surrendered to her elbows on the floor, changing the depth and angle of his penetration, and she moaned harder with every thrust.
He could feel the muscles tighten around his hardness, feel her body responding to his and moved faster, taking her from the tip to the hilt over and over until he thrust her over the edge and she cried out with the force of the orgasm that tore through her body.
‘Mine.’ His beast roared within him, trying to push forward to complete the bonding with their mate, but Aidan denied him. Stilling within her, buried deep inside her channel, he let her ride out her release and savoured the feel of her muscles working around him, as if she had taken him into her mouth and was sucking him hard.
He bit out a long curse and held onto his humanity. He wanted to bond with her, wanted to sink his fangs deep within her flesh and taste her blood on his tongue once more, but he wouldn’t let his beast claim her without her permission.
He moved behind her and eased down onto his knees, pushing back into her as she came back to him. She was gently rocking back and forth on her knees, taking him deep within her. His hands locked on her hips and he held within her, rolling his hips and making her gasp with the feel of him stroking around her walls.
“That felt amazing…”
“Too damn good, I nearly lost control of my beast.”He growled, reaching for her and pulling her up from the floor. She felt his chest stroking against her back as he moved inside her, dipping his hips to pull to the edge of her channel before pushing back in.
“Why did you hold back?”She bit out a moan as his fingers found her nub and he rolled over it. Her head tipped back against the hardness of his shoulder and her eyes closed as her body responded to his touch.
“You need to agree to bond, Dee. I won’t just take you like that, that’s not who I am…”
His fingers fisted her hair and he locked her head back and to the side. His tongue ran down her neck and over the curve where it met her shoulder. Finding the mark he had placed within her skin, he roamed over each tiny
indent.
Thrusting deeper and harder into her, taking her over and over, and building the tension within them both, he was playing her body like they had been lovers for years.
She had a deep desire within her to tell him to bond. She was in no doubt that it was going to happen it was just a question of when. But if they bonded now he would be her Alpha, she would comply with his word in most things, and take his wrath in others, after all she was Fae, but until she had her vengeance she wouldn’t be able to follow the rules, not all of them.
His name was a whisper on her breath. Each deep thrust brought her closer to him spiritually as well as physically. They already shared a bond of mates, it just wasn’t completed yet.
“Shhh, sweetheart, come for me.”He could feel her emotions rallying. She was fighting the urge to bond with him, but she wasn’t ready. He nipped against her shoulder with blunt teeth and felt her body quiver against his as he thrust her into release.
Her muscles tightened around the length of him, a rhythmic throbbing that pulled the orgasm from his body, and he threw his head back and revelled in the feel of what she did to him. His arms were wrapped tightly around her as he held her to his chest protectively, taking in her scent and thanking Fate for her.
Lacy roamed around the kitchen making coffee. Heaven forbid the wolves would have such a thing as hot chocolate in the damn house, still she didn’t expect anything less from men.
She was grateful to Aidan for coming to get her. She was more than grateful to be under the packs protection where Billy was concerned, but her face hurt and right now she just wanted it to be three days from now when the healing would be far enough along to not hurt so damn much.
She might not have had anything broken, but every time she breathed in and out it felt as though someone was jabbing her in the damn side. She considered sitting on the stool at the counter and decided against it. Instead she slumped in one of the straight back chairs at the long table.
The sound of the kitchen door being pushed open made her bring her eyes up and she saw Dee sneaking into the room as if she were in some classic noir private eye movie, snooping around a suspects house and looking for clues.
“Boo!” Lacy chuckled to herself as Dee jumped in place. Her eyes were wide in shock as they snapped to where she was sitting, and then she silently cursed her amusement when her face was pulled and tugged by a simple smile. Dee hissed at her to be quiet as she slowly pushed the door closed behind her and tiptoed into the room.
“Do you have a secret chocolate stash somewhere that you don’t want to share with the others?”Lacy could only hope that was the cause of Dee’s stealth.
“You didn’t see me. I wasn’t here.”Dee whispered, but Lacy wasn’t having any of it as Dee made her way to the back door.
“Not a good idea.”Lacy warned her. Dee pulled open the back door and started to take a step outside when she was confronted by a wolf. The animal just appeared in front of her as if barring her way. He tipped his head and regarded her from head to toe with bright blue eyes, like he was assessing her, and she snorted.
“What are you looking at?”She hissed down at the wolf and she could swear the damn thing smirked up at her. She raised one finger and started to wag it at the beast when she heard the kitchen door being thrown open, and she bit down on a curse that rose within her.
“Thanks, Jerome, I’ll take it from here.”Aidan growled out from behind her, and she winced as the wolf turned on his paws and trotted off.
“You have a watch dog?”Dee turned to face her mate and she saw the dark anger within his glare.
His jeans were zipped to half mast and hung low on his hips, his chest was naked, and he had a severe case of bed head, and he looked good enough to eat.
“When there is a threat to the pack we have more people patrolling than normal…”Aidan thought that would be sufficient explanation to ward off any more questions, but he was wrong.
Dee eyed him suspiciously from across the room. “Tell me was he there to keep Billy out or me in?”
Aidan growled within his own mind as he regarded his mate. Start as you mean to go on, he told himself. “Both.”He answered her truthfully and watched her nod her head slowly.
“So you knew I’d go out after Billy…”Dee lobbied what sounded like an accusation at him and he felt the annoyance rise within him.
“Thought you might, especially when you didn’t bond.” Aidan gave it to her straight. It seemed he knew her pretty well, considering they had just met.
“Why didn’t you just ask me not to go?”Dee was still standing at the open doorway and he was mindful of the outside world.
“Would it have made a difference?”
“I don’t know…”
“Well, I already told you not to leave the house without one of us being with you and that did little to stop you.”He saw the colour rush to her cheeks, saw the way that her eyes flared with guilt, and the way she shifted her weight from foot to foot as her brain worked within her, and he catalogued everything for future reference.
“And I told you, you’re not my Alpha yet…”Dee tossed back at him, using that as her first defence.
“Hence the non-bonding thing and my decision to post a guard around the house.”Aidan offered simply.
Dee’s eyes flicked to Lacy. For Lacy she was awfully quiet, usually she would have been offering little barbs or at least rushing to her friends defence, but there was nothing but silence.
“I suppose that makes you Sherlock bloody Bones…”Dee reverted to the one thing that gave her comfort in times of guilt and annoyance. Sarcasm.
“That makes me cautious. I don’t want you going up against a wolf…”
“I can take care of myself…”Dee threw her hands up in frustration.
“I’m sure you can, but you’re my mate, it’s my job to take care of you now, Fae or not, you are under my protection.”Dee rolled her eyes and slammed the back door shut behind her.
“Protect this…”She gave him the one finger salute as she stalked past him. The low growl of annoyance that followed her out of the room did little to calm the anger within her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“She blames herself…”Lacy offered, brining Aidan’s eyes towards her battered face. Lacy motioned to her face as if she were showing off a new range of cosmetics. “She brought Billy into our lives, and she’s always kind of protective of us. So you see, for all intents and purposes you’re not dealing with your mate right now, you’re dealing with an Alpha. Our Alpha, and she’s a Fae, and she’s pissed.” Lacy shrugged just one shoulder. It hurt too much to shrug the other one. But those injuries would heal. She was more concerned about what Dee was putting herself through.
“So what do you suggest I do, let her go hunt a wolf by herself?”Aidan sighed. He got what Lacy was trying to tell him, but it wasn’t in his nature to allow a female to put herself in harm’s way. Let alone the fact that female was his mate. He would rather gnaw off his own arm…
“Nope. You’ve got a few choices. Catch the damn monster and fast. Let the three of us go after the wolf, or take Dee out on the hunt with you…”Lacy gave him an apologetic look. He was kind of a good guy and she kind of liked him, even if he was an Alpha, but she knew Dee, and that girl wasn’t going to settle for anything less than justice.
“Trying to catch him, never going to happen, and the last suggestion is just impractical…” He counted them off on his hand.
“So she can’t shift, get over it. She’s got some tricks up her sleeve I guarantee you’ve never seen before. She can wipe the floor with that guy, and right now she’s wishing she had done it when she had the chance. It’s called guilt and I get that’s a female thing…”Aidan growled low and hard and she hurt her face giving him a small smirk, but it felt worth it.
“Put her in harm’s way to make her feel better?”Aidan shook his head in disbelief.
“Use her as bait. I guarantee he won’t get close enough to breathe on her.”Lac
y offered up to him and he snorted his contempt for the idea. “Or have a pissed off mate who won’t bond with you…”Lacy lifted her hands and shrugged both shoulders, regretting it as the pain jabbed her in the ribs.
“Why didn’t you use magic?”Aidan eyed her. Here was the little Fae telling him to put his mate in harm’s way and yet she sat there battered and bruised.
“Firstly I don’t have even a little fingers worth of power compared to your mate, she’s awesome…”Lacy grinned up at him and he narrowed his eyes down at her. This was the first he knew of it, just how powerful was his mate? “And secondly, I can’t garner my powers as quickly as Dee can, she can whip them up in a heartbeat, but if she’s expecting trouble she can hold them just below the surface like your wolf is, and when she calls on them, they come.”
“So tactically…”Aidan pondered the thought of his mate being that powerful.
“She’s a nuke, programmed and ready to explode at any minute.”Lacy tipped her head to one side and gave him a curious look. “Did I explain that in male friendly terms?”
Aidan huffed. He got the message, but he still didn’t feel comfortable with the thought of allowing Dee to participate in any hunt. Besides, until there was a confirmed sighting of Billy all this was moot.
Aidan followed her scent and found her in their bedroom. Her back was towards the room and she was staring out of the window into the darkness of the woods as he walked up behind her.
“When we hear something of where he is I will tell you, until then…”Aidan offered and she cut him off.
“He’s coming. I can feel it…”Dee offered and Aidan scowled. He didn’t understand Fae, or magic, but surely she couldn’t connect to the wolf over any sort of distance…
“What do you mean, you can feel it?”
