by M. L. Briers
He let her go and turned back towards her. He thought he saw panic in her eyes for a moment, just before she dropped her head forward and stood there, breathing.
“Are you alright?” He moved silently to her side, lifting his hand and resting it on her shoulder. He felt her tense beneath his touch.
“Drop your shields, let me sooth you…” His tone was so gentle that she wouldn’t have believed that it was the same man, unless she snatched a glance at him. He wasn’t smirking now. There were deep furrows within his brow.
“That’s not necessary…”
“Necessary or not, let me try…”
“I can’t let you in Elijah…” She looked up at him then. He seemed to be concerned, but that wasn’t what she needed, she needed space, distance, not to drop her damn shields and let him further inside.
“The trouble is, Isabel. You can’t keep me out either.” He turned on his heels and walked away from her. Not far, still ever watchful. Just far enough that he wasn’t crowding her space.
Cynthia couldn’t help but pace the floor. She had allowed his mother to lead her away from the conflict between Isabel and Elijah, when she knew she should have stayed. What if Elijah hurt her? What if Isabel hurt him? What if one of them was lying injured right now and…
“That man is insufferable…” Isabel swept into the room and threw herself straight down onto the sofa. Cynthia’s heart was beating a gallop in her chest, and she wanted to run over and hug Isabel, until she squeezed her happiness at seeing her friend alive and in one piece right into her bones. If she could add a dash of good sense in with it, she would. But she knew Isabel would berate her for such a show of emotion, especially when she was this annoyed.
And she was annoyed. The little vein in her forehead was throbbing to its own beat and Cynthia knew when it did that, you kept a good few paces away.
“What happened?” Cynthia felt like a caged animal. She wanted to pace and yet she was drawn to the seat beside her friend.
“He kissed me!” She blurted it out there and shot a look towards Cynthia. Not getting the required amount of shock and horror that she had hoped to see on her friends face. Instead there was an amused smirk.
“How was it?” Cynthia leaned in and double raised her brows suggestively causing Isabel to balk.
“Really...? How was it? That is what you want to know?”
“Sure. He’s Lycan and Lycan men are supposed to be very sexual…” Cynthia didn’t have time for any dramatics when it came to Isabel’s love life. She had been trying to nudge her back towards dating for too long, and if it happened to be with a Lycan well…
“Well if you’re that interested why don’t you go find a Lycan and go for it yourself? They are basically dogs after all, I’m sure there’s one or two out there shagging a tree trunk as we speak…”Isabel crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Cynthia was supposed to rush to her defence. She was supposed to be shocked and disgusted by her revelation, not want to know how good it was.
Although, it had been good. Very good, in the toe curling sense of the word.
“You’re mean. And for your information, it’s about time you dipped your toe back in the water.” Cynthia gave her that knowing look and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
“There’s dipping one’s toe and then there is drowning in the deep end.”
“You know how to swim…” Cynthia shot back almost immediately and saw the frown etch onto Isabel’s forehead. There was more to this little saga, she could tell.
“Not when he claims I’m his mate.”
There was no sound to Cynthia’s jaw hitting the proverbial floor, but Isabel didn’t need one to know that had happened. Mainly because her friend was silent for once, and she turned to find her sitting there doing her best goldfish impression.
“Not so keen on me dipping my toe now are you?” Isabel smirked back. Point scored in her favour.
“You can’t be… the circle would not be happy… what are you...?”
“Going to do? Nothing. Even if I was his mate, which I’m not…” Although I can’t really say that with any certainty right now, she thought, trying to dismiss that kiss from her mind. “Then it’s a moot point. Mates are forever. I don’t do forever.” Isabel shifted in her seat, crossed and uncrossed her arms several times, while Cynthia thought it through.
“But Lycan’s only have one true mate. Their soul mate. What if you are his and he has to go through his life alone?”
“I’m sure he can find someone to warm his bed from somewhere.”
“That’s not the point…”
“It is so the point.”
“Be reasonable Isa…” Cynthia half begged with her words. To her it would be a tragedy for someone to never find the one they were destined for. Or to find the one and lose them.
“How reasonable would you be if it were you?” Isabel offered the challenge to her friend and watched her mull that one over.
“I’d be open to the idea…” Cynthia finally said and Isabel couldn’t spit out her word fast enough.
“Hogwash!”
“No it’s not. I would consider…”
“And then dismiss…” Isabel wasn’t having any of it. One sniff of a Lycan, or from a Lycan and she would be off running like a greyhound after a hare, and they both knew it. Just the thought of the circle’s disapproving stares would send her scurrying away.
“Not necessarily…”Cynthia was beginning to sag under the strain.
“How come you’re always willing to toss me out of the frying pan and into the fire Cyn? Do I not have enough challenges in my life already?”
“Well this one is of your own doing.”Cynthia sniped back and Isabel frowned. Well she couldn’t very well disagree with that could she? She hadn’t led the wolf to her door, she had just plain landed on his doorstep, and now she was in trouble with a vampire, and said wolf had gone all protectorate on her butt. Yep, definitely her own fault, but she didn’t need her nose rubbed in it either.
“And you’re going to help me get out of it…”
“Oh no, no, no, no. You’re not dragging me into one of your harebrained schemes ever again. That’s how you got into this mess in the first place. By helping out the hunky Lycan…”
“Hunky?” Isabel smirked and Cynthia frowned, mentally slapping herself.
“Slip of the brain. You picked up the stray, you deal with the fallout.”
“You know you’re going to help me…” She put that damn sing-song in her voice and Cynthia’s teeth felt as if they were on edge.
“You made your own bed…” Cynthia sung back and Isabel narrowed her eyes in disgust.
“Don’t talk about beds or I’ll kill you…” Isabel was still singing, but there was a fire in her eyes.
“Tempted?” Cynthia raised her eyebrows in amusement and Isabel shot her a look of contempt.
“Are you?” The deep growl of his voice cut through the room and Isabel’s shot nerves, and she groaned low and hard as Cynthia snorted back a chuckle of amusement.
“I know this is your house, but are we to have no privacy?” Isabel retorted, and watched him from the corner of her eye as he leaned against the door frame, folding his thick arms across his chest.
Her heartbeat skipped and thumped a little harder within her chest, and she cursed the fact that she couldn’t hide that little tell, that was her body’s response to him, within her shields.
“You mean will I walk in on you in the shower?” He was playing with her, wolf and mouse, but she wasn’t biting this time.
“Go away little man.” She used the best derogatory tone she could put in her voice, a throwback to the old Irish in her genes.
“I think you’ll find I’m big enough to please you, little Fae.”
Isabel’s eyes flashed with the cheek of the man. Cynthia snorted another chuckle and received an elbow in the ribs for her lack of self control. She was supposed to be on her side, not his.
“I highly doubt it. A
nd you still have the manners of a pig. Was there a reason you decided to eavesdrop on our private conversation, or do you just make a habit it?” She was back to the whole berating thing, and he managed not to roll his eyes. She would be tamed soon enough. He could allow her this little bit of freedom to deny her attraction to him all she wanted, but not for much longer.
“Road trip. We are going to take you and Cynthia home to get some things before dark. Unless you’d like to borrow some of my clothes to…”
“Road trip.” Isabel jumped to her feet. That sounded like the perfect way to get away from here and him. She reached down and grabbed Cynthia’s arm, dragging her up to her feet. Elijah eyed her across the room, she seemed a little too eager.
Isabel cast her eyes in the direction of Cynthia’s van longingly. It wasn’t a comfortable ride. But it was better than being stuck in a pickup cab with him and one of his pack, and it would give her an easier escape route.
“Boy girl, boy girl?” Elijah asked as he came beside her and breathed down against her neck. She felt the shiver run through her body. Damn him, he hadn’t been anywhere near her a moment ago and now he was on top of her. Well not quite, and hopefully she could prevent that from happening, she told herself.
“In your dreams shifter.” Isabel sneered back at him. Not even bothering to give him the satisfaction of looking at him. But he didn’t need it. He had already seen her shiver from head to toe, just from the touch of his breath against her neck. He could imagine her body’s response if he kissed her there.
Elijah’s imagination was a little too good. He had pictured her naked in his arms, his lips against her neck as he nestled his hips between her thighs, stroking into her body, and now he had an ache that wasn’t going to go away. Not without mentally going through every damned boring, monotonous thing he could think off.
“You will be, and would you like to know what you’re doing to me in those dreams?”
The fact that his deep tones entered her very psyche and pulled her towards him was bad enough. But the image that he just put into her head was enough to have her body responding in ways she had never imagined it would.
Isabel wanted to come back with a snappy response, sarcastic preferably, but she was lost for words and she didn’t trust her voice in that moment. Instead, she thought now was the time when actions spoke louder than words and she opened her mouth and snapped her teeth at him, her eyes dropping to the prominent bulge in his jeans.
Elijah flinched at the thought of his manhood being caught between her teeth. Damn, that gave him a little relief from the ache as his manhood retreated slightly, but he wasn’t giving her the satisfaction of winning.
“I’ll let you bite me anywhere you want, but there, sweetheart, as long as I can return the favour.” He had leaned down over her and she pressed her backside against the pickups door to retreat from the overwhelming sensation of him being that close.
“Keep your damn fangs to yourself wolf…”
“You didn’t seem to mind earlier…”
Isabel’s eyes snapped up to his as she considered his words. When had he bitten her…? Isabel’s mind cast back to the feel of his fangs against her skin and the rise of blood in her cheeks gave her a nice healthy glow.
“Told you…” He breathed down at her, just as Cynthia came down the steps closely followed by another member of the pack.
“Do you two need a minute?” Cynthia’s amusement at her friend’s predicament was evident in her words and the smirk on her lips.
Elijah leaned in closer to Isabel so he could whisper into her ear.
“It’ll take a lot longer than a minute to do everything to you that I want to do right now.” Elijah enjoyed the small intake of breath that came from his mate’s lips. He was definitely getting to her behind those shields of hers.
“Neanderthal.” She managed to bite out between clenched teeth as she stood stock still and waited for him to back off. It seemed to take an eternity for that to happen, but when it did she felt as if she could finally breathe again.
Elijah yanked open the door and motioned for her to get in. That was one order she was more than willing to follow, anything to be away from him in that moment. Her mind and body were imagining all sorts of things and none of which she could control, and all of which involved them naked.
“Cynthia.” Elijah managed to rein in his desires for Isabel long enough to turn his attention towards her friend and be as polite as possible. It seemed Cynthia might just be a secret weapon he could use to get behind Isabel’s defences.
“What are you doing?” Isabel hissed as Cynthia settled herself in the seat beside her.
“What?”
“Don’t act all innocent with me, you know what, and Cyn, it’s not going to work. I am not getting involved with that… that…”
“Man?” Cynthia offered a moment before the front doors were opened and the car filled with two big burly Lycan’s that seemed to take up all the space and all the air within the truck. At least that was how it felt to Isabel as she pushed down on the window release.
She was hot under the collar and it had nothing to do with the pleasant temperature outside the truck.
“What’s wrong with you, you used to have a sense of adventure…?” Cynthia hissed near her ear and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she shot her a look to silence her. Motioning towards her ear with her hand to remind her friend that they could hear them, no matter how low they whispered.
‘Self preservation.’ She mouthed back and Cynthia gave her a sorrowful look as she reached for her hand and squeezed it.
This whole thing had seemed amusing to Cynthia, almost like payback for where she found herself. But in truth she hadn’t really stopped to consider what being mated would mean to Isabel. It was a life choice, not a fling, with ramifications that far exceeded a simple roll in the hay.
If Isabel really was Elijah’s mate then the fallout from the circle alone would be enough of a headache to worry about, and not just for Isabel. If they wanted to get antsy about it, then Cynthia could also come under the crosshairs of the Witches.
What if they decreed that Isabel was to be shunned by the community? They were both solitary witches, but that didn’t mean they didn’t fall under the circles doctrine. They weren’t allowed on pack land for starters. A rule they had already broken. They weren’t supposed to help the Lycan. There goes another rule, and all of that would come out if Isabel were to mate with Elijah.
Cynthia didn’t think she would be welcome on pack land as the gooseberry between the mates, just so she could escape the wrath of the circle. But then, they could probably reach out to her there anyway.
This really was a hell of a mess.
Cynthia squeezed Isabel’s hand again and her friend turned to look at her. Cynthia mouthed the words. ‘What are you going to do?’ back at her and saw Isabel shrug.
‘Leave?’ Isabel mouthed back. Her eyes questioned what Cynthia though of the idea and she took a long moment to think about it. Sadness passed over her face as the enormity of her friend’s choice sunk in.
Cynthia nodded her head and squeezed Isabel’s hand again. It was the last thing she wanted for her friend, but it was probably the right decision.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Todd’s going to take you to your place. Get only what you need for a few days.” Elijah had turned within the cab and was addressing Cynthia as she squeezed her friends hand again. It was a touch that said goodbye and good luck. If she could get away from Elijah, now would probably be the time.
Cynthia didn’t say anything, she just nodded her understanding. She felt too torn to even trust her words right then.
Elijah eyed his brother’s mate. There was something wrong with her, something more off than usual. There was sadness in her eyes that he couldn’t quite understand, but when his eyes flicked down to their two hands joined on the seat between them, he thought he might have a pretty good idea what was going on.
“Let’
s go Isabel. You have until Todd get’s back to grab what you need. We need to be back before dark.” Elijah felt the annoyance rise within him as he manhandled the front passenger door open and dropped down to the roadside in front of her cottage.
If she had plans to escape him, she would be out of luck. He had absolutely no intention of letting her get away. That emotion was twofold. There was an angry vampire on the prowl for blood out there somewhere, and she was his mate. They at least had to explore the possibility that there was a connection between them. He had felt it, if he could get her to open up to him, drop her damn shields for long enough, she would feel it too and then she might not be so quick to dismiss the idea.
He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her down the pathway towards her cottage. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was Fae that she was trying so hard to resist the pull of him, or because she was scared of it, but if he needed to give her a little nudge, he would. He had no problem playing the big bad wolf when it suited him, and if dominating her was what he needed to do then he would.
Isabel didn’t offer to show him around. He’d already been there. Broken in when she was taking Joshua home. She made her way straight to her bedroom. The first thing that caught her eye was the unmade bed. Blood stains dotted and slashed against the sheets where Joshua had been lying. The injuries he had sustained from his run in with the vampire had been so severe she was unsure at first if she would be able to heal him.
She hadn’t realised that she was just standing there staring at the bloodied mess until Elijah rested his hand on her shoulder and jarred her from her thoughts. His breath caressed her cheek.
“What’s wrong Isa?” The deep tones drifted through the jumble in her mind, and she shook off the image of Joshua’s battered and bruised body just barely hanging onto life.
“I thought he was going to die.” A long shiver wracked through her body. Elijah turned her in his arms to face him. His fingertips were a gentle touch against her cheek and she felt the pull of the need to bring her eyes up to his.
