by M. L. Briers
‘Give me a break. Why do you always have to be so dumb?’
‘I promise you, I’m a vampire.’
‘ Have you ever fed from me? I think I’d remember…’
‘Yes, and not if I wiped your memory.’
‘Right.’
‘Macy…’
‘Stop it.’
‘What will it take for you to believe?’
‘Fangs.’ At which point they just seemed to pop out by themselves, as if his mind had decided he was done trying to convince her with words. And bam, she’d let out a deafening scream of epic proportions and thrown herself into the bathtub.
“Look, I’m a vampire, not a shrink. How was I supposed to convince her?”Link bit down on his annoyance, with himself, with the Alpha, with Macy for not just trusting in him as she always did…
“Y-you’re o-one t-too.”She stammered, her lips quivered and she was barely audible, but she got it out as she stared at Rudd with part fear and part disbelief.
“No!” Rudd was cleaning imaginary windows with the large hands that he held out in front of him. He was also shaking his head emphatically and trying to slowly move towards her. He stopped moving forwards when she increased the death grip she had on the shower curtain.
“He’s no vampire.”Link bit out, as if the mere suggestion of it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.
Macy looked from Rudd to Link and back again. Slightly relieved to know that the sex mad, sexy big man in front of her wasn’t a vampire…
“He’s a wolf.”Link offered as an afterthought. Crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for the other shoe to drop inside Macy’s mind…
CHAPTER EIGHT
“What the hell are you…?”Rudd turned on a snarl of rage as Link just shrugged.
“W-w-w-wolf?”Macy spat out, eventually.
Rudd’s head snapped back towards his mate just as her eyes were widening to the size of damned saucers in her head and she tried to speak, but there was just a hiss of air from her lips as they moved up and down without a word coming out.
“Look, I’m going to have to wipe her memory and try this whole thing again…”Link shrugged and Macy’s eyes flicked to her mate as he twisted his head on his neck and stared at her, and something in her mind connected the wolf to the man and she whimpered again.
“Yeah, probably for the best.”Rudd growled out and followed it up with a sigh.
“D-d-d-don’t… y-you… d-d-d-dare.”Macy spat out, although she wasn’t entirely sure it was worth the effort it afforded her.
“Macy, sweetheart…”Rudd started towards her and she yelped and scooted to the other end of the tub, dragging the shower curtain along with her.
“N-n-no. S-s-sweet-h-h…”She squeaked in annoyance and stomped a foot against the tub. The sound of her five inch heel snapping beneath her made her squeal out like a stuck pig and she rushed to fury. Fury bought clarity, and clarity brought her need to hit someone, or something. She knew how the incredible hulk felt, she wanted to smash, and smash, and smash, and she didn’t care who or what…
Macy bent over and yanked off her poor broken shoe. Pulling her arm back she gave it everything she had, tossing it towards Rudd’s head, and when he reached out and snatched it from the air a millimetre before it hit him she screeched in frustrated anger.
“That’s it. I’ve had it…”She screeched at the top of her lungs. Her hands gripped the shower curtain and she wrenched it from its moorings on the rail above her. There was some ripping, some little hooks flying across the room and pinging off the walls and fittings as she fought with the damn thing until she’d torn it free and then she put all of her energy into pounding it into an abstract ball against her thighs. Her fists working overtime as she scrunched, twisted and pounded it.
“I’m not going to be wiped like a defective disc…”She growled her venom into the curtain until it couldn’t get any smaller, any tighter, any more pounded into a kind of shape that she hefted above her head and launched at Rudd. Again he caught it and tossed it to the side.
“She’s back.”Link chuckled. Folding his arms across his chest and watching the scene unfold. Who needed TV when Macy was around, and when she went into one, boy did she let rip…
Macy went to climb out of the tub, but her one shoe slipped and Rudd reached for her. Bad move, she punched and scratched him like a wildcat.
“Don’t you dare touch me…”She spat out. Seeing red, a very, very, deep shade of killer red. And she reached for the bottle of shampoo and bounced it off his head as he tried to protect himself from her wrath and not hurt her all in one go. Not easy when his wolf was baying to show her who was the Alpha.
Rudd backed up. Not something he relished doing, he’d never backed out of a challenge in his life, but this was his mate and she didn’t have claws, fangs or even a knife, she was wielding her little fists and cleaning products.
Macy went for the under sink bottles. Bleach flew; bath cream, a shower gel and an S shaped bottle that she didn’t have a clue what it contained. But the products weren’t the point, not to her; the point was each time she threw one they were being intercepted and that annoyed the hell out of her more than anything else.
“Macy…”Rudd tried to placate her.
“She’s running out of things to throw, give her a minute to work it out.”Link offered, back to his sarcastic self, she noted, feeling the need to punch him in the face and not the shoulder…
Punch a vampire, was she insane? Macy stopped in mid throw, her hand was still in the air clutching a bar of soap when her eyes narrowed and she looked past her target, through them, as she considered what he had told her, what she now knew to be true. Vampire…
Hadn’t she already punched him, and on a regular basis? He hadn’t killed her yet, but then she hadn’t known what he was then, now she did… why would he tell her?
“Because my dear we have a little problem.”Link announced taking the opportunity to read her thoughts and that realisation made her snap her mouth shut and try to switch off her brain as she stared at him as if he was going to reach out and snap her neck….
“Oh my god you read my mind…”She finally came to the realisation of all those times they had sent together when he just seemed to know what she was thinking and she thought he was just a really good friend and knew her so well… “You cheating, lying, weasel…”She launched the soap right at him and his hand shot out and retrieved it before it knocked him upside the head. It was wet and slimy and he tossed it aside.
“And didn’t you just enjoy all those times I knew your feet were crying out for a foot rub? Or when you needed that chocolate…”
“I hate you.”She spat out and he started towards her.
“Then I have nothing to lose by wiping your memory and…”
“No!” She practically tossed herself backwards against the wall and held up her hand in front of her. “Don’t.”She shook her head emphatically. “Please.”She added for good measure and Rudd cocked an eyebrow towards Link.
“What do you suggest, because from where I’m standing…”He looked around at the remains of the bathroom and sighed. “In the midst of this war zone. This didn’t go to well.”
“Do you think it’s going to go any better the next time? How many times will you try?”She looked from Link to Rudd and back again. “It could be like groundhog day for a very long while.”She admitted. She knew her brain wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders right then and there, and she had a billion and one questions that she needed to ask, or more importantly, have answered, but she knew now, and she couldn’t possibly imagine how she could receive this news in a good way.
“Promise not to throw anything else?”Link gave her a distasteful look and she gave him a shrug.
“Not really. It depends on what comes next I guess…”She bit out, now that the shock had gone, and the anger had receded, she was left with a nervous anxiety as to why she knew what she did…
“Relax if I was going to ea
t you I wouldn’t have bothered telling you who I was…”Link offered with a gleam of mischief that she knew so well in his eyes, and she tried to relax, but it was just so damned hard, knowing what she did.
“What…”She said quietly.
“What?”Link replied and she frowned.
“What you are, not who you are. I know who you are, you’re my friend…”She stopped and considered it. “At least, I hope you weren’t lying about that.”
Link raised his eyebrows towards his hairline and looked impressed. “No I wasn’t lying about that, what do you take me for?”
“A blood sucking liar.”She answered before she’d even considered her words and Rudd snorted a laugh as she eyed him suspiciously. “You I don’t know, don’t trust, so stay the hell away from me.”She informed Rudd as she side stepped the pair of them and moved towards the bathroom door.
“Where are you going, Mace?”Link asked and she shrugged her shoulders but didn’t stop and didn’t turn around.
“Kitchen. There’s chocolate cake with my name on it, and more things to throw, should the need arise.”She carried on walking on shaky legs. Her heart was still thumping out a fast beat within her chest and she could feel the sweat dripping down between her shoulder blades, but all in all, she thought she was keeping it together well… considering.
“That wasn’t too bad.”Rudd offered quietly and Link cocked just one brow at him and shook his head.
“Eye of the storm my friend, just the eye of the damned storm.”He groaned out as he started after Macy.
Link sat across the table from Macy as she worked her way through the chocolate cake that she was going to regret gorging on either later tonight, if it made her feel sick, early tomorrow if it actually made her physically sick, or when she got on the scale in a couple of days, but what the hell, you only live once, she thought, her eyes flicking up to the vampire opposite her, sometimes twice and for a very long time…
Rudd was standing on the other side of the kitchen counter. She was his mate and yet she’d directed him to put the counter between them. He didn’t want her to flip out again so he did as she asked.
Macy pointed her fork at Link and narrowed her eyes at him, regarding him with the suspicion that roamed through her brain.
“So was I a midnight snack?”She tried to keep the bitterness from her voice but she was sure it crept in anyway.
“Once.”Link offered without an explanation or an apology.
The sound of the low deep growl from the other side of the counter made her flick her eyes towards Rudd. “Why’s he doing that?”She whispered, leaning into the table slightly. Link leaned in on his side.
“He can hear you, and he’s pissed because I fed on you.”Link saw the shiver run through her whole body. He guessed the thought of being fed on by a vampire didn’t much appeal to her, not like some women whose toes would curl at the thought of his fangs slicing into their neck and the euphoria they would get from his touch…
Macy snapped back into her seat and stabbed her fork into the cake. He was sure if his hand had been closer she would gladly have done that to him, just because she could…
“What’s it got to do with him?”She bit out. It was bad enough that her best friend was a vampire… and that she hadn’t noticed… but now she was in a house with a guy who was a wolf in his spare time… How screwed up was that?
Link hadn’t sat back in his chair. He put his palms flat down on the table in front of him and considered his next words and how mad she was going to be, but she beat him too it. “Does he want to bite me or something?”She’d tipped her head away from Rudd and Link couldn’t help but smile, she still wasn’t getting this super hearing thing.
“Not exactly, at least not in the way you imagine.”Link informed her and then grew more serious. “He’s your mate, the one you’re destined to spend the rest of your life with…”He wasn’t entirely sure she’d caught every last word as she was up on her feet. The chair discarded behind her and the fork on its way down into the back of his hand just before he snatched his hands away and the fork stabbed the table top with such force that her fist travelled down the handle as she glared at him.
“My what?”She was shrill but demanding. Glaring at him as if she could make up her mind if she wanted to rip his head off of whittle a stake and stab him with it, and he guessed he should be thankful she hadn’t thought of the possible ways to kill a vampire yet…
“Relax and breathe.”Link waved his hands around like a mental patient pretending to be a breathing coach as he grinned up at her.
“Link…”His name was a warning, a warning that he’d better spill the beans, and that this had better all be some kind of sick joke. “Tell me that the growly guy with the huge penis is not my… mate.”She spat out, but she saw the instant look of sympathy from Link and knew he was telling the truth. She’d known him long enough to know when he was winding her up, and sadly, this wasn’t one of those times. “Or tell me how I can fix this.”She added as she ground her teeth in annoyance bordering on insanity.
“Ok, good news is he has a big penis…”Link looked like a demented game show host, “bad news is you can’t fix it. He’s your mate, you have to mate. There aren’t any alternatives…”
“Why do we have to mate…? And by mate I assume you mean he’s going to want to try and split me in two with that…”She waved the hand with the fork in Rudd’s general direction without even looking at him.
“Huge penis, yes.”Link folded his arms over his chest and sat back in his seat hoping she’d do the same. She still had the fork, there was a plate in front of her, and he thought if she was close to losing it he might just need that extra warning time.
“Go on.”She urged him and watched him sigh.
“Look, every supernatural being has a mate, or supposedly. When they find their mate a bond is formed, that bond, if not consummated and kept linked, can drive them insane…”
“Him insane, right? Not me?”She shot in quickly and Link tipped his head and regarded her with disbelief, even through the devilish grin on his lips.
“You little renegade.”He accused and she flustered for a moment, dropping her eyes down to the table and the cake in front of her and she eased her body back down into the chair. “No, actually, well yes, I mean you shouldn’t flip out and become a mass murderer as Rudd probably would…”He noted the way Macy’s eyes flicked nervously towards her mate and back again. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t be affected by not consuming your need for each other…”
“Like what?”She demanded quickly and he sighed again.
“Never knowing true peace. Always feeling that something is missing. Never finding anyone to love, never knowing real love…”
“I can live with that.”She shot out quickly and caught her so called mate shuffling from one foot to the other across the room. He folded his arms defensively across his chest and regarded her with interest.
“And sex with anyone else… let down, big time.”He emphasized the word big and she wasn’t impressed, although she did flick her eyes back to Rudd, and that image of them together flashed into her mind, filling her body with unwanted heat and making her swallow several times to rid herself of the lump within her throat.
“But he’s just so…”She bit down on her tongue. The man was right there, he could obviously hear every word she was saying and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything…
“Big.”Link bit out on a snort of amusement. Macy sneered back at him across the table, she was so glad that her best friend was enjoying her misery. Her vampire best friend, she corrected herself.
“Ok, so say we did it, once, and then that was it. I regained full working legs again and toddle off home…”Link was already shaking his head and she kept going until the frustration welled within her and made her snap. “What? Why not?”She demanded on a hiss, and Link shrugged those broad shoulders again, like this whole thing was nothing. Nothing to him maybe, but he didn’t have to mat
e the wolf.
“Won’t work, it would be worse for the both of you, him especially…”Link nodded in the Alpha’s general direction and Macy sighed.
“Why?”She whined.
“Because for him to lose his mate would send him cuckoo, he’d be a wolf full time with fangs and claws, eating the general population, and you wouldn’t want that now would you…?”Link offered her and she winced, she wasn’t entirely opposed to the general idea of not being mated to him…
“How many people would he eat, exactly?”She offered and Link gasped in mock shock at her question.
“You little beast.”He tossed at her and she grimaced as she turned away from them. There had to be some kind of compromise, didn’t there?
“It’s not that I want him to eat people, it’s just he’s so…”She turned towards him and motioned up and down his body, wincing again at the thought of having to mate with a wolfman, even once, but from what Link was telling her it wasn’t just once, it was forever.
“Big.”Link nodded his understanding.
“How often would we have to…?”She held her hands out in front of her and shook her head. “No. Look, I can’t do this…”She pushed back up to her full height and went to turn towards the door. But all she found was a large muscled chest in front of her and it took her a moment to realise that Rudd had blocked her way, and she slowly tipped her head back and stared up at him.
“Close your eyes…”Rudd’s deep voice hit her somewhere in the deepest part of her womb and she shivered her denial.
“You know I stopped falling for that trick after pull my finger.”She hissed up at him just as his hand came down on her shoulder and he soothed her.
“Trust me, Macy, close your eyes.”Rudd instructed her and her lashes fluttered for a second before she closed her eyes, her body swayed slightly towards his as was the natural order of the mating pull.
Rudd lifted his other hand and very slowly and very gently brushed the backs of his finger down her cheek. The corresponding touch flashed to life within her and against her sex, and she gasped in a breath as her eyes flashed open, snapping downwards to make sure he wasn’t touching her there.
