by A. B Lee
“Oh,” I muttered.
“Remember,” Bree leaned in towards me and whispered in my ear, “anger issues.”
I could have given her ‘anger issues’. I grunted in response and she snapped back away from me, covering her ribs with her hand- just in case I let loose an elbow.
“Not very trusting of you, mate,” Seth grinned, and I pressed my lips together for want of something really offensive coming out of my mouth in front of Mirahbel.
I gave him my best death glare and he chuckled back at me.
“Mated life,” Robert chuckled from across the way and I turned that glare on him. He sobered a little.
“I have a knee with your name on it,” I informed him, and then Mirahbel cleared her throat and I snapped my glare off.
“I could not stop your pack from entering our realm during the Solstice, even if I wanted too,” Mirahbel said to the alpha.
“Unless you fought on both fronts, but we are not your enemy,” Finlay assured her.
“No, you are not. And I’m grateful that your pack would consider joining our fight, it means a lot, and we will, of course, and in the tradition of our people, grant you protection from your foes in return.”
Well, I was shocked. You could have knocked me down with a feather, and that was a lot harder to do in my human form than my Fae one.
“It’s not necessary, but gratefully accepted,” Finlay wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If he went to war with the vampires, then they just might need that magical protection from the Fae.
He was also aware of the history of the Faerie flag that had been carried into battle by some great warriors of the past. Their clans had been victorious and they still survived to this day. He wanted that for his pack.
“My kin will get to work on weaving the spell into the material of a fine flag for your pack. It will be finished before the first blow is struck in a fight with the vampires- so that no matter what happens to me, my word is sealed in the bonding of that flag.”
I was more than impressed. It had been forever since our kind had undertaken such an intricate spell, but it might go some way to soothing the worries of our community as we waited for the Solstice that was fast approaching.
“Thank you.”
“And thank you for your packs help,” Mirahbel offered back. “Come, Alpha, I shall show you exactly where our realm begins and ends, so that your people know the way to the very heart of us.”
I went to follow my queen but she turned back and held me in place with an outstretched palm of her hand. I watched them walk away, and when I turned to look at Bree, she jumped in the air and vanished into her Fae body. I groaned inwardly- deciding to take the easy way out, but just before my feet left the ground, Seth’s fingers wrapped around my wrist and tethered me to the earth.
Poop!
“We need to talk,” he didn’t growl, but he did have a small rumble in his chest as I looked up into his eyes and all humour had ceased to exist there.
“About your balls…” I started and stopped promptly when Robert chuckled, deep and loud, and gave him another death glare which made him turn on his feet and stalk away from us.
“I don’t care that you find it enchanting to knee me every time that I see you,” he started and I held up a hand, just as my queen had, to stop him in his tracks.
“I do not find it enchanting,” I hissed up at him.
“And yet you do it anyway, and it isn’t attractive, it’s… annoying,” Seth offered.
“Noted,” I countered, “so stop making me do it.” I bit out.
“I have no control over what you do with your knees, Jazz, but that is not what I want to speak with you about. I heal, enough said.”
“Fine.”
“Then let’s talk about us,” he said and I groaned inwardly.
“It’s not a conversation that I want to have right now,” I hissed up at him, “supernatural beings have ears.”
I eyed Robert in the near distance, and I knew that Bree was buzzing around somewhere close by. Besides, he was putting me on the spot. He held up his index finger in front of my face and I snapped my head back on my neck.
“Hold that thought and do not knee me or zap me,” he informed me.
I went to open my mouth, but any thought of answering him died on my lips when he bent his body and hauled me onto his shoulder. I squealed and hissed, and I had the urge to knee him where I had on two previous occasions, but even if I wanted to, it was physically impossible as I was hanging down his back with a great view of his backside.
Hmm, that was a great view.
Seth started off to parts unknown with fast steps that ate up the ground in no time. I lifted my head on a number of occasions and tried to get my bearings, but we weren’t headed onto my land or towards the river, and I had no idea where he was taking me.
“Put me down, Seth,” I tried for bored.
“Not yet, have some patience, little Fae,” I heard the amusement in his voice and felt that urge to do him harm wash back through me.
“You’re pushing your luck with me,” I informed him. “Don’t you remember that I have anger issues?”
“Which is why, when I do let you down, that I’m going to damn well pin you to something and make sure that you can’t do either one of us any damage.”
Boy, my heart had never taken off at such speed before in my entire life. Even when I had slept over at Bree’s house and she’d come charging out of the bathroom wearing a bright green, moss face mask and looking like a frog on steroids-
“And don’t get any ideas,” he added.
As if my brain would allow me rational thought after what he’d threatened to do to me. Pah!
Seth was as good as his word. A few minutes later, and in some kind of cave, I found myself flat on my back against the earth with the big, muscled wolfman lying down on top of me, every possible inch of me that he could get to- and every inch of him pressed against me.
I could feel everything, even the hardness of his desire against my thigh, and I had to try to swallow down my tongue in order not to choke. He’d thought of everything- even pinning both of my wrists under just one of his hands to the ground above my head. The other; he used to rest his face against, quite bloody casually, as his elbow stabbed the ground.
“Comfortable?” I hissed at him, annoyance sweeping through me at his victorious attitude and smug expression. Oh, how I wanted to wipe that smile off his face, and didn’t, because I liked those dimples at the same time.
“Quite,” he grinned harder, dimpled more. I felt the need to growl, suddenly understanding its appeal, but held onto it.
“Speak then, before I decide to damage you some more,” I offered.
“I’m just savouring the moment…” he teased, but as soon as I started to buck and squirm beneath him he relented, “alright, alright, easy- she-demon,” he chuckled.
The reason I wanted up was because this was getting to me more than I wanted to say. My body was hot from the inside out. That heat that had started deep within my womb was spreading fast to every inch of my skin, and just to rub salt into the wounds- my stupid, damn toes were curling again.
“I get it, this is payback,” I said.
“This is keeping you tame,” he seemed to be more than enjoying himself at my expense.
“We both know I’m not the wild one here,” I bit out.
“My beast hasn’t yet made an appearance, while yours has been pretty much evident from the moment we met.”
I guessed that was true-ish.
“Start as you mean to go on,” I felt the hard press of a stone against my back and tried shifting my weight off from it. The sound of a deep growl rumbled in his chest, and the way that his eyelids came down over his eyes said I’d done more than that.
“Careful, little Fae, you’re teasing me in ways that I might not have any power over.”
His lids opened and his eyes were jet black. There was a hungry, look about him, as if his pr
edator side had just been activated, awakened from its slumber. I stayed as still as I could manage.
“You’d do well to get your beast under control,” I warned him.
I still wasn’t averse to using my magic on him, and after getting my knee twice, I’m sure he’d probably appreciate the change.
“My beast wants its mate,” his voice had changed tone, deeper now, with a rumble that rolled through his chest like distant thunder.
“And you?” I don’t know why I asked, the masochist in me, perhaps?
“I want you more with every passing moment,” he growled then, another low rumble, but this time it stalled in his throat.
I shouldn’t have asked. I’d known it was wrong the moment those words had come out of my mouth. Just hearing his confirmation of what I already knew sent my heart racing and my blood pressure soaring, as if it wasn’t high enough.
But the worst thing about it was- I wanted him too. But that was just my body talking, my mind was still undecided.
“Seth,” I started and his mouth bowed upwards in a strange smile.
“I know, Jazz. I have time to wait, and I will wait for as long as it takes you to realise that you were made for me- that I’m yours and always will be.”
Well, what could a girl say to that?
“Then get the hell off of me, I’m not a cushion,” I went on the defensive.
“A lumpy one,” he chuckled. He released my hands and pressed his palms down on the ground on either side of my head. “One condition…”
He held in place and I must have looked as if I was chewing a wasp as a million of his supposed conditions popped into my mind.
“I’ll listen, but I make no promises to accept.”
“No more attacking me with your knee, either of them,” his frown was kind of cute, and I had to try to reel in the chuckle that was trying desperately to escape.
“Deal,” I conceded.
A half a second later and he’d pushed up and off of me. I felt lighter. Even though his weight had been mostly held up away from me, my body still felt as if it was starting to float from the ground.
I already missed the heat of him. I already missed the view of looking up into his eyes, and spirits forgive me, but I already missed the feel of his body against mine and the way that it sent jolts of excitement right to the heart of me.
Seth planted his feet and held out his hand. I had to admit that I had a great shot at his groin with my foot, and he hadn’t negated the use of a foot or two, but I was loathed to take it.
I needed to grow up- he was my mate and trying to woo me, even when I didn’t want to be wooed, it wasn’t a crime…
I reached up and clasped his wrist as his long, thick fingers wrapped gently around mine. I expected him to yank me to my feet, braced myself for the hard tug, but he slowly pulled me upwards towards him- every inch that I got closer to him made me want to be another inch on, speed up time until I was right there with him, feeling the heat of his body again.
“So, you brought me all the way here just for this?” I felt the need to break the silence between us.
I felt his right arm encircle my waist and a hand palmed the curve of my lower back- that heat was back, inside and out, as he locked me against his lower body and a rush of excitement shot through me.
“For this,” he brought his lips down on mine again, and for the second time this day- I was lost, lost to him, lost to the moment, and so damn lost to the rushing and pinging of sensations within my body that I didn’t have the mind to try to escape him.
CHAPTER THRITEEN
~
I gave into it. Gave into the moment between us just as I had before. It seemed that when his lips were on mine I couldn’t bring myself to want to think of the reality of what I was doing.
It wasn’t until my mind woke up to the fact that my back was against some wall of the cave, and my legs were somehow wrapped around his waist- that I finally realised that I was in danger of losing myself completely.
I had to take a moment to ask myself if that was a bad thing…
“Seth,” I broke away from his lips to another hearty growl that rumbled in the air around us.
Seth’s forehead pressed against mine, and then he rolled it away. His cheek brushed my cheek, his breath was against my ear, my hair, my neck, each step a caress, each caress making me rethink my decision to pull away from his kiss.
He nuzzled between my neck and my shoulder and I felt the air rush over my bare skin as he took in my scent. I let him scent me, releasing the wards around me… There was another deep growl, needier now, more animalistic in nature, and I was in danger of letting go of everything and embracing that need for myself.
“We’re about to go to war with vampires, is this really the best time?” I asked, almost desperate to be free and yet wanting to stay like this forever, stuck in this moment with him.
“Probably not- but life doesn’t play by our rules, Jazz. Sometimes we have to take a moment for ourselves- just in case there isn’t another one coming along.”
Those words hit right to the heart of me. I knew that this was a moment that I would cherish- store within my memory for a rainy day when life overwhelmed me, and recall it when I needed comfort.
“You are more than I expected you to be,” I admitted.
I felt the brush of his cheek against mine again, as if he didn’t want to let that contact go until the very last moment when he had no other choice. Then he pulled his head back and gazed down at me- hungry eyes took me in, and I would like to have known what he saw in that moment.
“You mean- I’m not the savage heart you were expecting,” his lips drew back again in a smile, and there were those damn dimples, baying me to see if I could lose a fingertip in their depth.
“Not by a longshot,” I made another admission and it caused that deep roll of his laughter to pull me in, made me want to be closer, but how much closer could I get to him without mating?
“Good to know that you like me,” he teased.
“I never went that far,” I teased right back. “Now put me down,” before I do something that I might regret- of course I didn’t say the last part.
Seth had the kind of look on his face that looked to me a lot like regret as he eased back down, and I’d released his hips with my inner thighs. I felt the embarrassment of the moment- awkward. But as my feet touched the ground- he pressed right back against me again- another shot of excitement right to my womb…
“You’re down, but not free of me just yet,” he teased again. “And remember no knee,” he cautioned.
“I’m female, Seth. There are always ways to torture a man,” I smiled and kept it as innocent as I could, but his eyes narrowed on mine anyway.
“Trust me when I say that you don’t have to tell me that, little Fae, I’m living every moment of it.”
Then he released me properly and I felt bereft- floating on a sea of endless horizons with only the promise of land somewhere ahead. I resisted the urge to throw myself at his body, climb back up those legs, and wrap myself back around him- though how I managed it, only the spirits knew.
“Admit that you’re seriously considering mating with me,” he didn’t demand an answer, it was more a plea- wrapped in a tease.
“I’ll admit to nothing of the sort,” I teased back, but I think he read the truth in my eyes because he grunted a chuckle and reached down for my hand, snagging it with his own, engulfing it in the sheer size of his touch.
“Thought so,” he teased again.
Those dark eyes were shining in the dim light of the cave- was that victory? Maybe- but right then I didn’t care to get defensive.
“I’m saying nothing,” I informed him and he chuckled again. “But your ego is astounding in its magnitude,” I had to give a little dig, didn’t I?
“I’m learning to read you, little Fae,” he gave a small tug on my hand and drew me to his side.
“Then I’ll have to become more unpredictable.”
~
~
~
“So, how did you like being carried off by your caveman?” Bree giggled as she flew next to me. I shot her a frown, but inside my heart skipped a beat just thinking about it.
“That’s not open for discussion,” I shot back much to her obvious disappointment.
“Come on, Jazz. I have no love life, at least let me live vicariously through yours,” she grumbled. I chuckled at the pouty face that she was pulling.
“Maybe we should find you a caveman of your own,” I teased her and even if she did scowl- her eyes lit up at the thought of finding her mate.
“I think not,” Bree scowled harder.
“You’d probably eat him alive,” I teased her again.
“I doubt they taste like chocolate,” she tossed back at me with a po-face.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” I wiggled my eyebrows until her mouth dropped open and she looked as shocked as hell.
“Jazz!” she snapped out, looking around us to see if anyone was in earshot, nobody was.
“You know it’s true. I’m sure your appetite isn’t just limited to the sweet stuff,” I grinned harder as her cheeks took on a nice healthy- just hung out over the furnace- look about them.
“I hate you,” she snapped, and shot me a quick look that let me know she didn’t mean it.
“I hate you too,” I grinned back at her embarrassment.
I was sure of one thing- if Bree ever found her mate- he’d not have to woo her too hard.
Bree was like a trusting puppy, which is probably why I always felt so damn protective of her. Giggly and bubbly with a big personality that matched her curvy figure- it spilled over with love and kindness into everything that she did- which was why Bree wasn’t a fighter by nature.
