by M. L. Briers
“No. Cynthia is under your protection. I can protect myself just fine without your help.”He breathed heavily again.
“Against a vampire?”
“Vampire… Lycan… it’s all pretty relative…”
“You’re talking about magic?”
She really wanted to slap her own forehead, or his, or someone’s. Of course she was talking about magic. How else was she supposed to defend herself against two of the most powerful and deadly species on the planet?
“No, I thought I would arm wrestle…” She shot him a purely sarcastic look and immediately regretted meeting his eyes. They weren’t as dark as she had seen them when he first yanked open the door of the van. But they were getting that way.
“Isabel, I forbid you to use magic on Lycan territory.” He put that little growl of menace behind his words and she balked at them.
“You forbid?” She turned towards him on the balls of her feet and placed her hands on her hips to show him that she meant business.
Elijah saw her change her stance and sighed inside. She was too feisty for her own good. Although she looked as sexy as hell when her eyes were flaring with fire, as they were now. But he needed to show her who the Alpha was around here.
“Yes.”
“Tough.” She snapped back and he cocked his head as if he hadn’t quite heard her correctly.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Tough.”
“My people will not stand by and…”
“Then tell them to walk in the other direction…” The sarcasm was thick like honey within her words and her attitude, and he didn’t like it.
In her mind the conversation was over. She had made her point clearly and now she wanted to retreat to the relative safety of anywhere that didn’t have him in it. She turned back towards the door and felt his fingers come down on the bare skin of her arm, changing the gentle buzz she felt from him, into an electric current that raced over her body.
She snatched her arm down and away from his touch. Her eyes flew to his and she saw recognition within his reaction to what had just happened. She definitely hadn’t been the only one to feel it.
“You need to stay inside…” His words were delivered with something of a distraction within his tone. Was he still pondering what that feeling was? Was he going to accuse her of using magic against him? Because it certainly wasn’t her doing.
“It’s daylight. The vampire will be sleeping. I think I can…”
“Try not to think. Just do as you’re told.” He crossed his arms over his chest again. A chest that had suddenly inflated and Isabel felt the need to punch him, right in that muscled torso of his and watch him deflate as the air escaped his lungs.
Trouble was she knew it would only damage her damn hand, but maybe if she put a little magic juice behind that punch…?
“You maybe the big Alpha hot shot around here buster, but you know nothing of women, or Fae…”
“I know all I need to know…” He glared down at her and she felt the very last nerve in her body go ping as it snapped.
“You are the most…” She lifted a finger, just one, and aimed it in his direction. He had time to narrow his eyes on her with suspicion, before she poked him in the chest with the full force of her magic behind it.
“No!” Cynthia screamed out in the hallway, just a moment too late.
Emily and Cynthia stood stock still at the end of the hallway. Both women’s eyes widened in shock as Elijah was propelled through the air and towards them with one little poke from Isabel’s index finger.
The Alpha crash landed against the floor at their feet with all the grace of an elephant. The startled look on his face was a priceless gift to Isabel that she wouldn’t have denied herself even if she could get a do-over.
The roar of sheer bloody minded anger tore from lips and shook the very foundations that they were all standing on, and was as good as a wakeup call to Isabel’s brain that she had just messed with the wrong man.
Jumping back to his feet, his hands were clenched into fists at his side and his eyes were the colour of ebony, as he took up an offensive stance towards her.
Isabel swallowed down hard as she finally realised that her little show of force was about to turn into something more deadly when the Alpha attacked. She was going to have to defend herself for real this time.
CHAPTER FOUR
Emily saw the way Elijah had positioned himself and knew that she needed to do something to stop this from happening. He had felt the call of his mate, but he had not even marked her yet. So although the will to protect her was strong, right now, the will for action was stronger to the Alpha side of his personality.
She considered shifting into her wolf and rushing to stand in front of Isabel, but she knew that might just have the opposite effect of what she needed to achieve. The Alpha might take it as a sign that his leadership was being challenged, and that would only spur him on to fight.
“Don’t run Isabel. Don’t move. Drop your eyes to the floor and tip your head to one side.” Emily offered the words of advice in the hope that her words would also sink into her son’s psyche, give him a moment’s pause before he acted against his mate.
Isabel saw the way that Elijah was glaring at her. She knew she had royally messed up, but she didn’t know how to deescalate the situation until Emily’s voice rang out into the hallway. Into her brain and she had a split seconds decision to make. Did she fight or did she capitulate?
Isabel dropped her eyes to the floor between them and tilted her head to the right, offering her neck for the Alpha of the pack. She had seen it done before, just once. She was showing him that she submitted to his dominance, recognised him as her Alpha. But she was sure that this was the part where he was now to decide her fate.
Isabel held her breath as she saw his bare feet step into view. He was stalking towards her so very slowly, and she found she didn’t have enough breath to hold it for as long as it took him to walk up to her. She released it slowly, quietly and then snatched another, as her heart raced within her chest.
Elijah gained ground on the submissive Fae; each step had his heart thundering within his ears for the kill that he could make, for the blood that he could let here today.
The witch had defied him by using magic when he had warned her against it. She had attacked him with that magic and challenged his dominance, and his wolf was torn between protecting his mate and the need to show his dominance over her.
She was one of his pack and he could not let her challenge go unanswered.
Isabel’s mind was in turmoil. It wasn’t within her to just stand there when she was under threat and allow an enemy that could end her to advance on her like this.
Everything inside her told her to use her magic to keep him away. To fight with whatever she had to keep herself safe. And yet, something told her that the fight would result in one of them not surviving.
What had been a petty argument had turned into something more deadly and she was as much to blame as he was for that. But she had chosen submission as her option when Emily had offered it to her. Why had she done that?
The seconds felt like hours dragging on as he closed the gap between them. When he stood in front of her, she kept her eyes downwards, fighting her nature to look trouble in the eye. All she could see were those fisted hands at his side. His lower body was meaningless, it was those fists that could snatch up at any minute and end her in a heartbeat.
Isabel saw one fist release as the large hand travelled up towards her until it was out of view. She so desperately wanted to lift her eyes and follow his hand to see what he was about to do, but she knew that simple move might be the end for her.
She felt his fingers against her hair, felt him make a fist and tighten his hold on her, tugging her head further to the right. The low deep growl that seemed to rumble all around her called to her in ways that she couldn’t explain.
Elijah took one step closer and she caught sight of his mouth fr
om the corner of her eye, she was sure she saw a glimmer of fangs and her heart kicked her right in the ribcage.
When his breath skirted over the bare skin of her neck, her lungs released a breath and she snatched oxygen back in again. He could rip her jugular out before she even had a chance to blink, or to raise her hand in defence, and she knew that she was now just trusting in him not to do it.
He was the big bad wolf and she was his prey, and when she felt the razor sharp fangs against her skin, she had only an instant to wonder why she had trusted in him.
Elijah scented her very essence. Fae. He knew deep within him that she was his mate in that moment. He recognised the pull she had on him, recognised her submission to his dominance and to his will, and the desire to taste her blood burned through his veins like a wildfire.
When his lips brushed against the smooth skin of her shoulder, the urge to bite was so strong. The need to claim his mate overrode anything else within him. She was submitting to him, she was asking for his bite and he would be damned if he didn’t take that offering now.
When Elijah sunk his fangs into her flesh, Isabel’s mind went into freefall. She felt the sharpness of the sting against the flesh as they entered her skin. More of a bee sting, or rather several of them, front and back, than real pain, and she caught her breath waiting for the pain to tear through her, but it never came.
It was as though he had just pressed his fangs lightly into her skin. Just the merest of touches and as he held there, for what almost seemed like an eternity to her, she felt something more.
A drawing of herself towards him. Not just her body, although she was aware that she swayed in his direction. But of her mind and her very aura, reaching out to his, wrapped around his essence for the briefest of times.
Elijah released her from his fangs. Sliding back out of her skin, he had marked her as his, marked her for his mate and his inner wolf was content that the challenge had been met in the physical sense, as well as in the spiritual.
“Come, Cynthia. It’s alright now. He’s not going to hurt her.” Emily took hold of Cynthia arm and had to almost physically drag her away, as the woman protested leaving her friend.
Elijah breathed in the scent of her blood a moment before his tongue ran over the wounds, cleaning and sealing them. Isabel was sure that her knees were knocking beneath her as his caress called to the very feminine side within her.
She felt his hand against her hip, felt it slowly travel around her waist to rest at the small of her back, and he eased her against him as his tongue continued working.
Isabel felt his arousal press into her stomach as her own body reacted to his nearness. It came alive with a need to feel more, to do more with this man and she tried to question her reaction to him, but found that she really didn’t want to.
His hand was still fisted in her hair, holding her where he wanted her, and when his lips closed over her skin she almost moaned out her need for him. Her lips parted on a sigh of pleasure and were covered by the warmth of his the very next moment.
There was no denying his touch, not in her mind. When his tongue ran over her semi parted lips, she opened to him and he pushed inside. His tongue swirling over hers, tasting and teasing until she joined him with questions of her own.
Elijah wanted to be inside her so damn much that he physically ached with the need. He had her soft body pressed against the length of him, but he wanted so much more.
Tasting the sweetness of her mouth was just the beginning. The moment she had offered her neck to him he wanted to claim her and he had. Now he wanted to mate with her, to bond with her. It was a desire that would now never leave him, and one day very soon he would have her within his jaws again. Bond with her for life.
But this was not that time.
He knew he needed to stop this before it escalated to the point where he would take her right here and now. Drag her down to the hallway floor and mate with her without care or question.
He slowed his exploration of her mouth, allowing them both time to regain some sense of propriety for where they were and what they were doing.
And when he released her lips from his possession, he kept her close as he stared down at her, his eyes searching for the confirmation that she was his, and he found it when she opened her eyes and stared back up at him.
“I…” It was one breathless word that left her lips, but could have formed a whole sentence to his ears. What the hell just happened? Was the question he thought that she was going for and he couldn’t help but run his fingertips over her cheek soothingly for just a moment longer.
“Are you sure you want to know?” He was just as breathless as she was, she noted before nodding her head at him.
“You are my mate Isabel.”
Isabel felt as if her whole world was caving in around her. His words cut deeply into her addled mind and she latched onto them. At first clutching them to her like a comforting blanket on a cold winter’s night and then, as the full realisation of what those words actually meant hit her like a ton of bricks, she tried to push them away with all of her might.
“Don’t be so ridiculous…” Lifting her palms to his chest she tried to push him away from her, but he stood like a rock and she only succeeded in pushing herself backwards. She wasn’t too fussed, as long as there was space between them to stop that damn buzz of electricity running over her skin. Not to mention the need she felt within her to pull him back towards her.
“You’ve got some nerve, Wolf…”
There wasn’t a trace of that wolf within him now. He stood there in silence looking down on her with a small uplift to the corners of his lips.
“Shocking, isn’t it?” He drawled back at her. She was unsure if he was teasing her or not, but whatever he was doing, she didn’t much care for it.
“You expect me to believe that fate would be cruel enough to either of us… well, to me. To put us as mates?” She balked at the very idea. But she didn’t have long to think about it as he closed the gap between them, and she backed herself up against the wall.
Elijah palmed the wall with his hand by her face and leaned down towards her. There was no menace within him this time, maybe a slight ripple of annoyance.
“Are you saying that I am not good enough to be your mate…?”
She wasn’t stupid enough to answer that question in the affirmative. She knew that would be too much of a wound to his male ego right now.
“Steady there Alpha. I think you have the wrong end of the stick…” When he raised one brow at her she almost choked on her words. “Not that you fetch sticks…” She rolled her eyes on a groan as the smirk touched his lips again. He liked her like this, slightly off kilter, a little rattled…
“Look, all I meant was… I’m Fae, you’re Lycan this isn’t a good match in anyone’s book…” She used the space between them that he had left, to lift her hand and motion for him to back off, but he didn’t move.
“But you were made for me little Fae. That means we are the perfect fit for each other…” Not only did he put the sexual innuendo behind those words, but he put the sex in sexy right then. His eyes flashed brightly with desire before turning ebony. His mouth curled up into a sensuously devilish smile and his whole body seemed to envelope her with its presence.
The fact that her knees felt weak was a sure sign in her book that she was attracted to him, but his mate? Damn, that was so… final. She didn’t even like him. He irked her in so many ways that it would take her a whole sheet of large paper to list them all. How the hell could she be his mate?
But he was as sexy a man as she had ever met. Would it be so bad to be…? What was she thinking? Yes. The answer was yes, it would be bad. She certainly wasn’t a shrinking flower, but how was she supposed to be an Alpha’s mate?
“Get over yourself Elijah. This… Us… It’s never going to happen.” She put the force of conviction behind her words, although it was so far from how she felt it was laughable. And he did laugh. A good hearty chuckl
e, that irritated her more than he could ever know.
“You know better than fate. I stand corrected little Fae…”
Even if they were meant to be mates, and that was a big if, and he would know better than her if that were true because she wasn’t Lycan, she wasn’t fine tuned to that… It didn’t mean they needed to act on it.
“I never said I knew better than fate. But it also means I don’t have to comply with it. There are other continents to live on. Maybe I’ll go find me one.”
Isabel tried to sidestep him, but he threw up his other hand against the wall and caged her within his arms. Now she really was surrounded by him. When he leaned his head down towards her, she was almost mesmerised by his eyes.
“You know that would mean neither of us would ever be truly happy, truly whole… would you really deny us that?”
It was as if his words were reaching right into her soul, beckoning her very reason for an answer. She could feel it then, it was so very powerful a pull towards him. She could only hazard a guess as to how it felt for him, a hundred times stronger? A thousand?
She needed space. She needed a moment to recover herself. She needed to be outside.
“I need to leave now…”
“Do you really think I would allow you to put yourself in harm’s way with a vampire on the loose?” He hadn’t moved. He was still too close to her for her to get any perspective on this.
“I need to go outside now. And if that means you need to come with me then fine…” He saw just how rattled she had become by his revelation. He wasn’t sure if she was getting paler by the minute, but she certainly appeared to be.
Elijah grabbed her around the waist and whirled her away from the wall. He snatched her wrist in his hand and pulled her along with him towards the front door. Yanking it back on its protesting hinges, he heard her physically inhale the air into her lungs as she tugged against his hold on her.
