by M. L. Briers
Den didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to, the deep, rumbling growl that rolled through his chest and vibrated against her hard nipples said everything for him. The mini-me inside her mind forgot all about waving and screaming and started to hit her over the head with a large sledgehammer. That she paid attention to.
“Don’t you use that tone of growl with me,” she grumbled as she tipped her head back on her neck and looked up into his dark, hungry eyes.
“Not my fault — you squeezed,” Den growled.
“Sure, this is all my fault. How typical of a man to blame the woman for his own lack of control,” she sneered, curling her top lip in annoyance at her own stupidity.
Den didn’t like the sound of that. Lack of control? He was an alpha, and he prided himself on having more control than any member of his pack.
“I don’t have a lack of control…”
“So, you just thought you’d growl at me for the fun of it?”
“You squeezed…”
“Why are you still in the bedroom?” Piper snapped back, deflecting his question with her own.
“So this is now my fault?”
“Well, it’s not my fault,” Piper snapped back.
“So, it’s nobody’s fault?”
“Oh, you’d like that to be true, wouldn’t you?”
“Right now — I don’t know,” Den admitted.
The fact that her body was pressed against his, that his arms were wrapped around her curves, and that she was only wearing a towel, was doing something very bad to his little brain.
She was his mate — damn it – how was he supposed to react?
“Well, don’t try to figure it out, you might hurt yourself,” Piper snapped back.
Then she braced her hands against his large biceps, resisted the urge to squeeze again, because that would be bad, and pushed back away from him. The stupid man wouldn’t let go, and she felt her towel suddenly slipping once more and squealed as she reached for it.
Too late — it was already around her ankles.
Den wasn’t about to fall for that one again. His little brain might have taken over from his big brain, but he still had the forethought to yank her body against his, squishing her breasts against his chest, in the hope that he wouldn’t then be staring at them.
“Are you insane?” Piper bit out, bringing up her knee and hitting a home run right in his balls.
This time, he didn’t have the forethought or the time to do anything other than fall to the ground and take her with him. Naked, squealing, and then biting out more curses than he’d ever heard in one go from one person, Piper started to pound on his shoulders with her little fists.
As the searing heat of a thousand suns burned through his groin, the little fists bothered him about as much as a mosquito bite.
~
~
Lulu raced through the downstairs hallway and into the living room. She wasn’t sure what she expected to find, but Karen’s scream had practically rattled every window in the house, so she was expecting at least a certain amount of blood to have been spilled.
There was Slade; standing a few feet away from the sofa with his hands held up to his chest, slowly wiggling his fingers like an idiot, while Karen was practically climbing up the wall beside where she was sitting as she tried her best to put as much distance between them as possible.
“Who died?” Lulu demanded, breathing hard, and noting the fact that her mate had come up behind her.
“He did,” Karen said, not really thinking as she blurted that out.
“Well, we know that,” Lulu said tossing up her hand and rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
“My bad,” Slade said, “I seem to have said the wrong thing.”
“There’s a shocker,” Lulu said rolling her eyes at the vampire as he offered an apologetic shrug.
“He said he was going to eat me,” Karen blurted out.
“Seriously?” Lulu looked at Slade as if he’d just grown another head.
“Well, obviously I didn’t mean it that way,” he protested.
“She’s human,” Lulu shrugged, “how do you expect her to take it, ask if you want fries with that?”
“Human, yes — but I’m actually wondering if there is a little banshee in her,” Slade said.
“Hey, if you don’t like the punishment then don’t do the crime,” Lulu grumbled back. That screamed certainly had jarred her into action; she could only wonder how badly that sound had been for the vampire being in such close proximity to Karen at the time.
“Zap him!” Karen demanded.
“Zap him?” Slade echoed his mate’s words, but it was already too late.
He felt the jolt from Lulu’s magic and groaned inwardly. Admittedly, it wasn’t that bad, more symbolic than anything.
“There you go, zapped,” Lulu said as she huffed out a breath. “I’m going back in the kitchen, and instead of coffee I’m getting a Scotch.” She turned to look over her shoulder at her mate. “Tell me you have Scotch.”
“I have Scotch,” he grinned from ear to ear.
“Well, it’s nice to see that you can do something right,” Lulu said, then she turned on her heels and stalked back toward the door.
“Is that it? You’re leaving me alone with him?” Karen rushed out.
“Hey, he’s your mate — you have to be alone with him some time,” Lulu shot back over her shoulder.
“That’s not fair – that’s not right — he said he was going to eat me,” Karen called out.
“Newsflash — vampires don’t eat people — they drink them,” Lulu tossed back as she disappeared into the hallway.
“Don’t you dare drink me!” Karen hissed.
“If I promise not to drink you, will you promise not to scream like a banshee again?”
“Umm — I suppose.” Karen shot back, slightly confused by his compromise.
“Then I promise not to drink you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
~
Darlene and Nick found themselves at something of a stand-off. They weren’t exactly standing toe-to-toe, but they might just as well have been.
“So, who were you going to marry?” Nick demanded.
“A vampire — a big one, still am.” Darlene lied, and he caught it.
“I don’t think so…”
“Was I asking for your opinion?” Darlene said, folding her arms and challenging him with just a look.
“Do I care that you didn’t want it?” Nick grumbled back.
“You’re so — rude…”
“Pot — kettle…” He left it there. “But at least I’m not a liar.”
“Was I lying?”
“Yes.”
Darlene took a moment or two to think on that one. Where would be the point in keeping the ruse going when he’d obviously busted her?
She wasn’t getting married, in her mind, marriage was for idiots and people that didn’t have a life plan. She had a life plan — and that was to enjoy herself while she was still young.
How was she supposed to do that with a shifter mate?
“I came to rescue my friends — now I’m leaving,” she announced.
She hadn’t admitted to anything, she’d just given it a sideways swipe out of the equation, and they both knew it.
“I don’t think so,” Nick said, he even gave a small shake of his head so that she knew where he stood.
“And how are you going to stop me?” She demanded.
“Maybe I’ll just follow you.”
Nick knew that being confrontational wasn’t getting him anywhere with her. He had to wonder if perhaps he would get more of a response from her by going a different route.
“Then I’d still be leaving.”
She offered him a look of victory. He didn’t like that look, but she was his mate, so he didn’t need to call her on it. There were other, more important things to discuss, but it still bugged the hell out of him.
“But we’d still be together,” Nick
said. “And that means the mating pull would still be working on you.”
He guessed from the sour look on her face that he’d won that round. It was turning out to be a pretty even contest between them.
“So, you’re planning to worm your way in through the back door rather than being man enough to stand on your own merit, good to know,” she said, offering him a smug look.
“That sounds like a challenge,” Nick growled, and his words made her snap to attention.
Darlene had certainly not meant to throw a challenge in his direction. She knew shifters — she knew about challenges to shifters, a dog with a bone came to mind — and she could have head-butted the nearest tree trunk for her stupidity.
“Only you could take that as a challenge,” she snapped.
“I’ll take that as a compliment…”
“I wouldn’t, but I can see how you’d be confused.”
“Why don’t we go back to the house so you can see your friends?” Nick tried another angle to tempt her, throw her off balance, and try to get her to drop her guard.
“Did I say that I wanted to see my friends?”
“It’s why you’re here…”
“I was here to rescue my friends…”
“Well, that didn’t work out very well, did it?” Nick tossed back with a small chuckle that played on her last nerve.
“And how is having a witch mate working out for you?” She tossed back and watched the smile slowly fade from his lips.
“I don’t know yet — but it’s looking pretty good so far,” he lied.
He had no more ideal idea on how to handle her then he did on how to stop the planet from turning or ice a damn birthday cake. A witch – and one wearing jackboots and a damn wedding dress just about summed up how he saw her – a puzzle – an enigma, but one that he was determined to get to the bottom of and win as his.
“Says you.” She snorted her contempt for him.
Wooing her would definitely amount to the challenge of his life. But Nick really did like challenges.
~
~
Den was slowly recovering from the knee induced pain that his mate had inflicted upon him. It felt as if a lifetime had gone by since she’d done it, and any pain made life go slower as you recovered, but a knee to the balls was so much worse.
It was hard for him to have sympathy for her predicament, trapped beneath his body and pinned against the floor; he knew that his weight must have been hard for her to take, and yet, despite that knee; there was still a part of him that was screaming for him to get his big backside off of her before he squished her to death.
Guilt mixed with a little satisfaction within him at knowing that she couldn’t escape him. It wasn’t for lack of trying, she was wriggling her body against his — which at any other time would undoubtedly have been pleasurable – but with his balls on fire that was the last thing that he needed, or wanted to think about.
“I suppose you think this is funny,” she bit out between clenched teeth.
Her hands were braced against his slumped shoulders, and she was trying to lift him with brute strength alone. The man was a dead weight and wasn’t going anywhere until he decided to get up, or she used her magic.
Den couldn’t help the rumble of a growl that lodged in the back of his throat. Still unable to speak; that sound was the best that he could do in answer to her stupidity.
Funny? That wasn’t a word that would ever apply to his situation.
There was never anything funny about being kicked in the balls, at least, no man that he knew had ever found it so. Sure, it was the second time that she had lost her towel and he’d seen her naked — that wasn’t really his fault — but, this time he’d tried to be a gentleman about it, and where had that got him?
A fiery agony of epic proportion.
That was definitely the last damn time that he was going to be a gentleman about anything.
Hold a door open for her? No, he was going to let it slam in her face.
Pull out a chair for her to sit on? She had hands to do it herself.
Fight her battles for her against vampires, shifters, and anyone that would mean to do her harm? Okay, that he would do, but that wasn’t being a gentleman that was being a mate.
Den grunted hard as he shifted his weight on top of her. It was an effort that he didn’t need to perform, but still, he had to.
His beast was somewhat muted within him, and he got the feeling that the wolf knew better than to make his life a misery at that time. It didn’t stop the beast from reminding him that she was their mate, and that probably had something to do with the thoughts about killing her that went through his mind.
His pain was easing, that didn’t mean that he didn’t still have the urge to rip his balls off in the hope that the fiery pain would go away faster. Considering he’d just found his mate that action seemed somwhat counter-productive.
His mate — a lifetime of being kicked in the balls didn’t seem so appealing — but still, fate had gifted them each other for a reason, and he couldn’t turn his back on that. He might have to wear a nut-cup for the rest of his life if he couldn’t tame her wild ways, but he considered that a small price to pay for finding his one true love.
Not that she felt like that right then, but still…
“Don’t — ever — do that — again,” the alpha growled out each and every word, and he meant it.
He’d much rather that she zapped him up and down the valley, drown him in the lake, or even flay him alive for that matter, but from that moment on his balls were off limits where he knee was concerned.
“You tried to take advantage of me,” Pippa hissed, wriggling against him to be set free.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
~
“I tried — to save — your embarrassment,” he growled.
Den braced one elbow against the floor and pushed up so that he could look at her. The pain was still etched on his face as he offered her a dark glare and a look of pure disbelief.
“By rubbing yourself against me?” Pippa hissed.
“If I looked at you naked — I’m the asshole. If I tried to protect your dignity — I’m the asshole. Let’s make a deal — you stop flashing me, and I’ll stop being male…”
“Deal. No more male behavior from you,” Pippa tossed back with a glare that he was grateful didn’t contain any magic. He’d already experienced fiery balls; he didn’t need to be a crispy critter as well.
“That’s not what I said,” Den growled, propping himself up on both elbows and relieving her of his full weight from the waist up.
“Sure it was…” She challenged him with just a look.
“Okay, maybe it was, but it was not what I meant,” Den said.
She had him over a barrel there. He guessed that he needed to think before he spoke around her. That probably wasn’t going to be as easy as it sounded on paper.
“Whoops!” Piper said. “But you can’t take it back now.”
“Yes, I can.” He wasn’t in the mood for her games.
“No, I’m pretty sure that it’s past its sell-by date. You should be more careful to say what you actually mean,” Piper offered back, seeing herself in the catbird seat, and him as dead as a Dodo without a leg to stand on.
“This is not a discussion I want to have with you right now.”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to talk about the weather when you’re lying on top of me.” Piper was well aware that she still naked, and in that respect, she wasn’t so much in the catbird seat as on the back foot.
She wanted him to get off her — but the moment that he did he was going to be eyeing her goodies once more — that didn’t work for her.
She supposed that she could always poke his eyes out, that moment of blindness would give her the opportunity to cover herself. But after kicking him in the balls, could she really do him any more damage?
Hell yes, but maybe not to such extremes as blinding him, even if it was only temporarily.
>
He’d been trying to be nice and save her blushes, the hell if that didn’t beat all. Didn’t she feel stupid? Well, she certainly felt guilty.
The man was an idiot – a sweet one – or maybe sweet wasn’t such a good word for a big, bad alpha wolf shifter, but she’d maimed him a good one for it anyway.
Big whoops.
“Maybe next time you can tell me what you’re doing before you do something stupid…” she muttered.
“Sure, next time your towel’s about to fall to your ankles, and I’m going to get accused of looking – I’ll draw you a pretty picture of what I’m about to do before I damn well do it.” He cut her a glare.
“Fine,” she sighed. “I’m sorry – I assumed you were being a jerky pervert…”
“Ass-umed, hmm,” he offered back and watched her frown lift as she pressed her lips together and tried not to smile. “Oh no, you do not get to laugh at my misfortune here…”
“Too soon?” she teased, and her eyes lightened with amusement.
“By about a decade.”
“Got it.”
“Well, don’t give it to me, especially if it’s a knee,” he grumbled.
“Alpha’s – no sense of humor.” She bit down on a rush of giggles and Den opened his mouth to speak, but she was in a way better mood now, and he didn’t want to put her in another bad one, so he closed his mouth on a grunt instead.
He much preferred the look that she was offering him now – with her violet eyes all sparkly with laughter and trying not to grin from ear to ear – it suited her way better than the death glare that she had been giving him before.
His balls were healing; in fact, he could feel his length showing some interest in having her pressed beneath him like that. He had a feeling that now might now be the best time for that to happen.
~
~
“You know, I think I’m the only person that actually wanted coffee in the first place,” Lulu bit out as she sat at the kitchen counter and eyed Carson as he poured the scotch. “Piper didn’t come down after her shower, Karen’s with Slade, and who knows where Darlene is torturing your mean and moody brother…”
