by Olivia Arran
She rolled her eyes, jamming her toothbrush back in her mouth. “You’re insatiable,” she mumbled around the bristles, but her eyes glinted as she checked me out in the mirror.
“Says the woman who jumped me last night and had her wicked way with me.”
“You’re a horny dog.” She didn’t bother to deny it. “And I didn’t hear you complaining.”
The memory of her mouth wrapped around my cock had me twitching to full attention.
“See?” She aimed the toothbrush in the direction of my hard-on. “One track mind.”
Sliding in behind her, I cupped her ass, inching my fingers under the lacy edges. Chin resting on her shoulder, I winked at her. “Marital privileges.”
Her smile dimmed, lips turning down. “That’s something we need to speak about.” Rinsing the toothbrush, she dropped it in the cup—right next to mine, I noted smugly—and twisted around, grunting when I didn’t immediately let her go.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I toyed with the dimples that sat just above her very gorgeous, perfectly rounded ass. “Go on then, spill whatever it is that’s got you freaking out.”
She bit her bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth. “This. Us. It’s just so…”
“Fast?”
Her voice softened, “Yeah.”
I’d been hoping for the honeymoon period to last a little longer, but this was Bree after all. I should count myself lucky that she’d even entertained the idea. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, I sighed, then let her go, sweeping my hand through my hair as I led us into the bedroom. If we were going to have this talk, I’d rather not be naked. Once I was wearing a pair of old sweatpants, I took a seat opposite her, snagging two bottles of water out of the mini fridge that sat on top of the table. “I’m not an idiot, Bree. I know that you see mating as a permanent thing and marriage as something that can be escaped, if necessary.” I held up a finger, narrowing my eyes. She’d wanted to talk about this, and now it was her turn to listen. “I get it, you’re not ready for that kind of commitment.” I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that I was fine with it, but I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her. “Whatever it is that has you so scared, I know you’ll find a way to beat it. That’s why I’m doing this.”
“Owen—”
My mouth twisted into an approximation of a smile. “And if it doesn’t happen, then at least I’ll have had you for a while.”
She drummed her fingers on the table. “You want us to…”
“Behave like a married couple.” Though fuck only knew what that actually meant. Julie liked to secretly watch those human soap operas, and from what I’d caught sight of human marriages involved a lot of shouting and fighting. Plus cheating on their spouses with other humans. Lying, lots of lying. And playing a game of guess-the-father with accidental pregnancies. The whole idea made me want to cringe, but I calmed myself with one simple fact.
Humans didn’t have soulmates and I did.
And she was sitting directly opposite me, looking at me like I’d shit in her mouth.
I threw my head back, laughing like I hadn’t laughed in years. “Fucking hell, Bree! I’m asking you to live with me and share my bed. Maybe have a conversation once in a while.” Cracking a bottle of water open, I took a swig. “You can talk smack to me all you want…”
“And I couldn’t before I married you?” She wiggled her fingers and I handed my bottle over, sucking back a groan when her lips sealed over the bottle in a suggestive way. The little firecracker was going to be the death of me.
I winked. “Ah, but now I have a guaranteed way of winning an argument.”
She licked a droplet of water from her lips, smugness curving them at the corners. “You mean you’ll cheat because that’s the only way you can win.”
“We all have weapons and some of us know how to use them.” I tilted my hips, not that she needed the hint with the way I was tenting my pants.
Her eyebrows shot up, then she tutted, leaning forward and squeezing her tits together.
I swallowed, mouth dry. Then swallowed again. Fuck. What was she saying?
“Baby, we’ve all got weapons.” It came out a purr as she sat back, flicking the bottle so it rolled across the table and landed in my crotch.
Gathering my wits back together, I cupped myself, as if to fend off any further attacks. “See? It’ll be fun being married.”
There. Nice and lighthearted. No pressure. No need for her to know that I was playing for keeps.
She tapped her chin, her eyes searching mine, trying to look inside my head. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours kind of thing?”
I nodded. “Anytime, sugar. Especially since considering I’m your husband, you’re the only one who’s allowed to scratch me now.”
She blinked at me, then rose and came around the table, sliding into my lap. Her lips pressed against mine, her ass wriggling against my groin. “Damn straight I am,” she murmured in a husky voice.
And, meanwhile, I’ll be figuring out how to tear down your walls and win your heart. My wolf snapped his teeth at the challenge. We’d learned early on that life was never easy. Sometimes it kicked you in the balls and then gutted you while you were down, but you had to keep on fighting. Because if you didn’t?
What was the fucking point in surviving?
All noise stopped when I entered the meeting room the next day, everyone’s attention turning to me.
Zane wrinkled his nose, leaning forward in his seat. He cocked his head at the other bear shifters crowded around the small table. “I thought he’d be walking funny.”
Stretching two beefy arms in the air, Law yawned, then scratched at his stomach. “The wolf mustn’t be doing it right,” he drawled with a cocky grin.
Stalking over to the coffee pot in the corner, I fixed a mug and brought it to the table, sitting my ass down. Giving the other alphas a smirk, I sipped the scalding drink, willing the jolt of caffeine to provide a much needed burst of energy. Dealing with the bear shifters was always a pain in the ass, even when I wasn’t dealing with honeymoon exhaustion. “I’ve not heard any complaints,” I eventually said, and even I could hear the satisfaction in my voice.
“If she’s still able to talk then you’re definitely doing something wrong,” Jay replied, draining the last of his cup and setting it down with a sly wink.
I bit back a sigh, palming my face. “No complaints, remember?”
Austin rolled his eyes. “As in she can’t talk to complain, Jay…”
Jay frowned, his eyes narrowing as he stared at his empty cup. “Oh, right.” His expression cleared and he grinned. “I hope she’s making other noises.”
Was it fucking hibernation time around here, or something? “What do we need to cover today?” The quicker we got this meeting over with, the sooner I could get back to my new wife. And that cursed bootcamp.
“We just wanted to say congratulations.” Austin tilted his head, indicating everyone around the table with a sweep of his hand.
“You said that yesterday.”
Zane sounded speculative when he pointed out, “Not every day a man is mated and married. You’re a lucky bastard.”
And it was none of their goddamn business. I wasn’t the sharing and caring kind of guy. “I know,” I bit out, not correcting them and hoping that would be the end of it. But, nope, I wasn’t so lucky.
“We never got to throw you a bachelor party.”
Jay shot Zane a confused expression. “What’s one of those?”
“Humans have them all the time. It’s to celebrate a man’s last night of freedom before getting hitched,” Zane explained.
Jay jerked his thumb in my direction. “But he was already mated, so he wasn’t free—”
“And we’re getting off track.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, sucking back a snarl.
“Exactly.” Austin nodded.
Finally, someone with—
He continued with a gleam in his eyes. “Dante was pissed. Wha
t’s the story there?”
I didn’t bother to hold back my snarl this time. “I don’t fucking know, why don’t you ask the scaly fucker?”
“Ask me what?”
Just my cursed luck. Swinging my attention to the man himself, I resisted the urge to jump to my feet and get right in his face. Austin was right; Dante had made his displeasure clear yesterday, and, since he happened to be here, I wanted to know exactly what was going on in that head of his. “We were just discussing your inappropriate infatuation with my wife.” I tapped the table, not taking my eyes off him.
I didn’t miss the way his eyes narrowed, or the grooves around his mouth deepening the finest fraction before he answered, “Briana is a dragon. She doesn’t belong with a wolf.”
“Good thing she doesn’t share your opinion.”
Around me, the bears looked like they were watching a tennis match, their heads swiveling back and forth.
The dragon smoothed down his shirt, pushing his hands into his pockets. With a shrug, he smirked. “She’ll come to her senses before she does anything … irreparable.” Cool purple eyes flashed with amusement as he stared at me.
Motherfucker. He knew. He had to.
“Stay away from her,” I growled, rising from my seat and bracing my hands on the table.
His expression morphed into one of pure pity. “I think you’ll find, that’s for Briana to decide. She’s a woman who knows what she wants.”
I was around the table in seconds. Austin leaped from his chair, dragging me back with a muffled curse. I curled my lip, spitting the words at him. “She doesn’t want you.”
Dante tilted his head, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to make of me. He took a step forward, putting us nose to nose, his voice low and biting, “You think you know what she wants, wolf, but do you know what she really needs? Do you truly want what’s best for her?”
My wolf howled at the challenge. “I know it’s not you.” I shrugged Austin off, slamming Dante into the wall.
He laughed, holding his hands up. “Wolf, you know nothing.” He shoved me away with a grunt. “Ask her about our people, our females. If she tells you the truth, then maybe you stand a chance with her.”
He didn’t even sound bothered.
He definitely didn’t sound like a man whose heart had just been broken. No, his anger was more of the righteous indignation kind.
And, with that realization, my rage died down to a low simmer.
Shrugging off the set of hands that reached for me again, I straightened my t-shirt, yanking it down. “She’s not your fated mate.”
“No. She isn’t.” He rubbed his chin, pushing away from the wall. “But that doesn’t mean you have what it takes.”
I shook my head. “What the fuck does that mean?”
With an air of arrogance that was unique to Dante, he chuckled. “Can you be what she needs and not what she wants?”
Austin cursed under his breath. “Always fucking riddles with this asshole.”
Tipping us a mocking salute, Dante strolled out of the door, his voice trailing after him, “I’ll leave you to your little meeting. Try not to fuck up too much, Wolf.”
For a guy that had threatened to barbecue my ass more times than I could count, for a second, he sounded like he actually cared. What the fuck?
Didn’t matter. “I—” I sucked back whatever the hell I’d been about to say; he was already gone.
Zane gave me a sharp nod. “We’ll finish up here, there’s nothing much happening anyway. Go see to your mate.”
Mate. If only it were that simple.
Chapter Fourteen
Briana
“I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Shooting the woman standing next to me a wink, I couldn’t help but laugh as her friend nodded vigorously, her jaw dropping open and eyes widening. The two human women—Mandy and Sarah—blinked, Sarah adding, “I’m not drooling, am I? Because I feel like I should be.” She licked her lips. “Damn,” she whispered.
And who could blame them. It was shifter show and tell, and the guys had decided to get the hell on with it while Owen was busy dealing with something in town. They were also having a lot of fun with it, especially once they’d clocked the women’s reactions. “When the calendar comes out, you might want to snag a copy,” I mock whispered, wresting their attention away from the hunks in front of them.
“Calendar?” Both women echoed, their attention piqued.
“Harper, the photographer who works at the gift shop down town, came up with the idea to make a shifter calendar. She’s hoping to have it completed in the next month, so it can be on sale by the time Christmas rocks around.” At their raised eyebrows, I winked. “It’s going to be called ‘shifters unwrapped’.” Or that was the name Harper was most fond of at the moment. She alternated between that, ‘shifters between the sheets’ and ‘unleashed: shifter style’. I winced, biting down on the inside of my cheek. Yeah, at least she still had time before she finished messing around with the photos for inspiration to strike.
Mandy grinned, her eyes sliding back to half-naked men. “Count me in for a dozen.”
Sarah elbowed her friend, shooting her a leer. “Geez, Mandy! Ever heard of laminating?”
I snorted, the water I’d just gulped down shooting out of my nose. Coughing, I managed to get myself back under control. I pointed at them, my lips curving up. “I like you two.”
The two women grinned. Then Sarah continued, “Same here. This bootcamp has been a lot more fun than we expected. For us anyway.” She indicated her coworkers with a roll of her eyes.
Yeah, the human men were enjoying the show … not so much. Chris and Don were staring at the ground or off into the sky, only Kel watched, impassive and unimpressed.
Grant, now down to just his jeans which were unzipped to reveal the fact that he’d forgotten to put something else on this morning, grinned at me before shoving them down to his ankles.
“Is this really necessary?” my new friend Don asked, his hand firmly plastered across his eyes.
Daryl, the other volunteer for show and tell just laughed, his jeans joining Grant’s in a heap on the floor.
Tom smirked, safely clothed and standing over to the side. “Clothes cost money, why waste it by ripping them?”
“But couldn’t they have done this…” Chris waved his hand in the general direction of the two muscular, very naked men in front of him, his eyes darting around in a spectacular effort to avoid eye contact. I smirked. Or maybe to avoid cock contact. “…striptease somewhere else?” he finished weakly.
I fielded this question. “It’s important to watch them shifting, so you know what to watch for.”
“Amen,” Mandy huffed out, fanning herself.
Don grunted, his attention locking on me. “Maybe you could have demonstrated?”
And where would the fun have been in that?
Tiny flexed the arms he had folded over his wide chest, biceps bulging. “She’s our alpha’s mate and not for your eyes.”
My mouth dropped open, then hit the floor when the huge guy actually winked at me. Wait … was the wink because he’d shocked the freaking hell out of me by speaking, or because he knew I wasn’t Owen’s mate in truth, or because he was being a gentleman and guarding my modesty? Not that shifters had any modesty, not with all the, yeah, you know, shifting. Naked was normal.
Don was grumbling under his breath, but the point had been made. No eye candy for the guys today. I blew him a mental raspberry, grinning to myself.
“Time to pay attention.” Grant flexed his shoulders, all business now. Once all eyes were facing front and center, he nodded at Dylan and they began to shift.
I held back the wince as bones cracked and fur sprouted. Ouch. I cleared my throat. “They are going at an average speed so you can see the process, but when faced with danger and the adrenaline starts pumping, they can go a lot faster. The shift starts with the large bones in the body and is filtered out, down to the hands a
nd feet. The more dominant a shifter is, the more controlled they can make it—they can shift only their hands or their faces.” The men were now in the final stages, shaking off the fading pain and stretching into their wolf shapes.
“Why don’t you demonstrate, Bree?” Tom asked.
All eyes turned to me, some more skeptical than others.
I couldn’t stifle my snort; they still saw me as the little, helpless woman, even though I’d kicked all of their asses over the last couple of days. “Sure, thing.” What to show them? I mused the idea over, eventually settling on the obvious. No need to give away too many secrets. Holding my middle finger up, I smirked as the digit twisted, the nail lengthening into a talon.
“The guys had claws when they were fighting the other day.”
I scratched my head with the claw as I scowled at Chris, who didn’t look too impressed. And since he’d been the one to admit he knew shifters outside of the settlement, that was kinda telling. They had to be dominants.
I huffed, sending a puff of smoke floating out of my mouth.
His eyes widened, giving him a deer in the headlights kind of look that my dragon appreciated a lot.
Prey… she murmured, licking her snout.
Feeling the familiar churn inside my belly, I grinned. Maybe there was one secret I wouldn’t mind sharing… I tilted my head up to the sky. Almost like a burp, a flash of fire sizzled through the air. Coughing into my hand to clear the sting of heartburn, I continued my lecture, “Every shifter has their own strengths and weaknesses, you’d be wise to remember that.”
Now I had his full attention.
Actually, I had everyone’s attention, including my fellow enforcers’.
“Hot damn,” Tom muttered, exhaling hard.
My dragon preened inside of me. Yep. That was me. Hot.
Tiny blinked, which was pretty much a rant from him.
Grant and Dylan in wolf form barked, cocking their heads in my direction.
“Neat party trick,” a low voice murmured behind me, his husky voice sending a shiver racing down my spine.
