I'll Be There, page 12
part #19 of His Mate - Brother Series
Too close – the man was just too damn close – that’s what that was. But in reality, it felt as if he wasn’t close enough.
Ugh!
Lust sucked.
Curiosity sucked.
The mating pull double sucked.
But – dang it to Hades and back – she wanted to take his lips out for a test drive!
Lorna took the decision and turned towards him, placing her back against the door to help hold her weak legs in place, and the look is in his eyes said it all. He wanted her, not just to take her lips for a test drive, but wanted her, and the rush of excitement from that knowledge made her do something that was totally out of character.
Lorna reached up and palmed his face with her right hand, and her left hand rested against the hard muscles of his chest and felt the rumble of the growl that lived there. Then she leaned in to taste his lips for the first time.
The move she made towards him was all that Nash needed to flick the switch from thinly held control to full-on throw caution to the wind and make her his.
Wooing with words was one thing, but he thought he could say so much more by kissing her.
Nash’s soft lips came down on hers, and that flash of excitement shot straight to her womb. Her stomach flip-flopped, her brain went into hibernation, and everything inside of her was centred on the physical, touch and feel, and boy, did she want to touch and feel him?
Curiosity be damned – that which didn’t kill you felt so damn good that she was lost in those moments. Lost to the feeling of his strength, his needs and her own.
Nash’s kisses went from curious to tempting to demanding and hit the mark at ravenous. Lorna matched them kiss for kiss with her own emotions and urgency fuelling the fire.
It wasn’t about curiosity anymore, it was something deeper, a connection that had sparked between them and was being built on with every moment that past them by.
The mating pull had put them together, but something else was going to seal their fate.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
Coleen knew it couldn’t last. Peace, a moment to think, to consider where she stood in this whole nightmare of mating that fate had decided to thrust upon her, and she sat all curled up with her legs beneath her in the cosiest chair she’d ever had the pleasure to know and stared out at the darkness of the night and little lights that dotted the landscape, presumably from the cabins on pack land.
She assumed that there were trees and bushes in between Flint’s cabin and those others because the lights were blinking as the night breeze made the branches sway – either that or everyone practised some sort of code and spoke via signals.
Why look for Zebras when horses would do – the easiest explanation was usually the right one. She wondered if one of those lights was actually the bar she’d been aiming to reach and the salvation of the vampire’s car, but dismissed it just as readily.
In truth, she was right where fate wanted her to be and what kind of a witch turned her back on magic?
While it was true that she’d never wanted a mate – even a drop-dead gorgeous one like the shifter in the other room – deep down, she knew that she’d been blessed. It wasn’t everyone that found the love of their lives, and there were a lot of lonely people out there in the world looking for the one to share eternity with.
Coleen hoped their time would come because there was someone for everyone, but she knew her time was now. Now, and she needed to grasp it with both hands because she might never get it again.
It wasn’t as if she could walk away and come back when she was certain she was ready. Shifters had one shot at wooing their mate if they failed – she didn’t want to think of poor Flint turning into a rogue wolf as his beast took over and he lost himself to the wild side.
It wasn’t as if she knew him well – or at all really – but there was something about him, something that had nothing to do with the mating pull that told her he was the perfect fit for her.
Some people found their soulmate on the first day of school, some waited a lifetime, but there was one thing that she knew to be true – that spark – that knowing that they were just so right that it could never be wrong. It was a deeply entrenched feeling that came from the heart and the soul, and boy, she had felt it.
That didn’t mean she was going to change herself overnight or in the click of her fingers; she wasn’t. If a mate was true then they accepted you for who you were.
Flint had a wolf inside, and she had magic – not usually a good combination as the cultures clashed and lives were put on the line – but mates … that was different.
That didn’t mean that she didn’t feel the tapping of the hand of guilt on her shoulder for leaving her mate stuck in the window, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t leave him there to ponder his attitude either.
“You and I are going to have a discussion about magic,” Flint said with an underlying growl that rumbled with his words and snatched her out of her thoughts but not away from the view of the sparkling lights.
He might have made her jump, appearing out of nowhere like that when she was busy thinking, but she didn’t have to show him that he’d caught her off guard.
“It wasn’t my magic that got you stuck in that window. That was stupidity and a fat backside,” she said, not yet willing to back down and give in to his boneheaded ways just yet.
Magic was off limits – she had it and she was damn well going to use it, and he could like it or lump it, and by lump – that would be the duck egg on his head if he wasn’t careful.
“There needs to be some boundaries,” Flint said, taking another step closer to the chair she was sitting in – his favourite – and finally managing to bring her attention towards him.
Staring up at him like that with those big doe eyes, she looked good enough to eat, and he found the annoyance within him swept away on thoughts of having her look at him as a mate should.
“You’re damn right there needs to be some boundaries,” she said and wondered exactly what they were. “You’re like a dog with a bone…”
“What?” He took another step, and his wolf pushed forward.
“Do I look like a witch that wants to be pursued?” She had to admit; she had enjoyed the chase.
Flint didn’t know how to answer that. “You look like a wicked witch that needs to be tamed…”
“Says the beast…”
“You want to tame my wolf?” he asked, screwing up his face at the idea. His beast wasn’t impressed either.
“You want to tame my magic,” she tossed back. “What’s good for the goose – blah, blah, blah.”
“I don’t want to tame your magic; I just want you to use it for other purposes, like good, not evil – like the light side, not the dark…”
“Do you have cookies?” she tossed at him and watched a look of confusion sweep onto his face.
“Huh?”
Then Flint could have kicked himself. His mate was hungry and hadn’t eaten. She’d left two meals behind her that evening, and even if it wasn’t his fault, he could still do something about it and feed her.
“Come to the dark side, we have cookies?” she said, trying help him get the reference, and that only made him look constipated.
“You’re hungry?”
“No,” she said, but that wasn’t entirely true. She could eat, but that wasn’t what she’d been saying.
“Looking for snacks?”
“No! I don’t need Scooby snacks.”
“Then why do you want cookies?”
“It’s … ugh!” Coleen dropped her head down and groaned. “I’m in the land that time forgot, or tried really, really hard to.”
Flint didn’t get how they had gone from boundaries to magic to cookies, but she was female, and he guessed he’d have to learn to draw the dots to see a complete picture. He could do that – he hoped – but for now there were more important matters.
“You’re where you are supposed to be, and I’m sorry if that’s not good enough for you, if I’m not good enough for you, Princess, but we’re mates, and you need to stop trying to run away.”
“Princess?” she asked, raising her eyebrows and narrowing her eyes on him.
“Oh, yeah!”
“Don’t call me Princess,” Coleen warned him and then motioned around her. “Do you see me running?”
Flint opened his mouth to speak, but his brain had farted, and she’d thrown him a curveball. While it was true that she hadn’t taken advantage of his mishap to hightail it out of the door and be on her way – he still didn’t trust her not to run. “I guess you’re taking a rest moment or two,” Flint said, folding his arms across his big muscled chest and making himself wider.
Coleen couldn’t help but notice, the man did fill most of her vision and blocked out a big chunk of the wall behind him. “And what if I wasn’t?” she asked a spark of mischief dancing in her heart. “What if I’d given up, given in, and decided that fate had a point?”
Flint didn’t like the sound of her voice; it was sweeter, lighter, not condescending in any way – now that he didn’t trust. She was setting him up for the fall, and he thought he’d been put on his backside enough for one night. “I’d ask if you’d hit your head.”
Coleen heard the suspicion in his tone, and she liked it. There was nothing more satisfying than having someone on the back foot, and he’d been that way since the moment she’d met him – give or take a few moments when he’d asserted himself and tried to put his foot down only for it to end up in his mouth.
“You don’t trust me?” she asked, making it sound as innocent a question as possible.
“Are you kidding? I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to kick me in the butt,” Flint said, wondering what she was up to now.
“That seems fair, I suppose,” she said with a small shrug.
“Damn right, it does. Now about your magic…”
“Now about your wolf,” she offered back.
“My wolf is off the table,” he said, folding his thick muscled arms across the broadness of his chest and bringing them to something of a standoff.
“I should hope so as that would be unhygienic,” she tossed back, and she was sure she saw a smile pull his lips, but then it was gone. “Or do you need him to chew your food for you?”
“I’m perfectly capable of…” Flint stopped with a grunt when he saw the light of amusement in her eyes. He cleared his throat, reinforced his stance, and craned his neck forward. “No more locking me out, or in with your magic,” he growled.
Coleen deliberately took a long moment to show him that she was thinking about it. “You assume I’m staying around…”
“Oh, sweetheart, I know you’re staying around.”
Coleen liked self-confidence as much as the next girl, but this was different, this was him telling her what she was going to do, and that – she didn’t like.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
~
“You know, you had me there for a minute,” Coleen said, pushing up from the chair to confront him.
“When I’ve had you, you’ll know it,” Flint said and winked.
Winked.
Was he insane?
Coleen planted her feet, placed her hands on her hips, and offered him a steely glare. “Do you have something in your eye?”
Flint noted the stance, noted the look, and noted how her attitude seemed to have suddenly changed, and not for the better. He wasn’t sure what he’d said or done to bring this change, but he guessed it had something to do with winking.
Did females not like the wink?
He’d always found it useful when trying to show he was being playful – it was a part of his armoury and had served him well since he’d learned how to do it when he was a pup.
But she was back to her witchy self, and he needed to get things back on track. “Do you have a broomstick shoved up your backside?”
It had just popped out of his mouth before he’d been able to put his brain in gear.
“No, but it sounds like you’re asking for that experience,” she said and folded her arms.
Flint didn’t like it. She’d gone from hands-on-hips to folded arms, and that couldn’t be good.
He wished females came with a manual, like a car – but who the heck was going to write it? Certainly not a guy, and would a woman give away all her secrets?
“Now, hold on a minute,” he said, holding one hand up in front of his chest to trying to keep her from stepping in on his thoughts. “I’m just joking around here…”
“Oh, a male sense of humour?” Coleen looked unimpressed, and Flint scowled. “Don’t give up your day job.”
“I’m not the one who can’t take a joke, but you’re…”
“Do you really want to make it worse?”
“Do you think it can get any worse?” he asked, mentally kicking himself while defending his position.
Coleen took a moment to reflect on that. “Sure, you could mansplain something to me…”
“Sweetheart, I don’t even know what that means,” he grumbled.
“But I bet you do it anyway,” she tossed back.
Just when she’d been about to call a truce between them and tell him that she was sticking around; he’d gone and told her as much – the knucklehead.
It wasn’t his decision to make, it was hers, and she wasn’t going to be bullied into something that … well, that she’d already decided was going to happen anyway.
Coleen knew that didn’t really make sense, but it felt like it did.
Don’t lock him in – don’t lock him out – the man was making demands of her before they’d even had their first kiss. What would life be like with him if it was all rules and no witchy fun?
A woman needed fun. A witch needed mischief and magic, and there he was laying down the law.
Pah!
Flint shrugged his broad shoulders. “How can I give you an answer to that when I don’t know what you’re talking about?” he said as if he was spelling it out for her.
Coleen felt that prickle of annoyance run through her, and she wanted him to know just how annoying she found him right then.
She pressed her lips together and considered whether to put him on his backside or just zap him a good one that his offspring would feel – but Flint caught that look in her eyes, and he knew when he’d seen it before – just before she used her magic on him.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen again.
Flint moved so fast that Coleen didn’t see it coming. One moment she was debating her next move, and the next; he’d stolen her thunder, and his large hand came out, fingers wrapped around her wrist, and he yanked her towards his hard body.
Coleen didn’t even have time to save herself from crashing into that hard chest. Her arms were locked down at her sides, and all she could do was toss her head back and glare up at him.
“Oh, you did not just do that,” she bit out.
“I hate to tell you, but I did just do that,” Flint offered back with a growl. It didn’t sound like it wasn’t a warning or anger, but something a little closer to hunger.
“Well, then I’m more than entitled to do this…”
But this and that would have to wait because Flint brought his lips down on hers and she wasn’t just shocked – she was overwhelmed.
~
Merry thought enough was enough when she realised that between them they’d gone through half a bottle of Tequila. For her, it had taken the edge off, for Santino, well, there wasn’t much difference.
It annoyed her that vampires could do most things better than shifters, including holding their booze. But she had a wolf to shift into, and he couldn’t better that.
“Go home, Santi, I’m cutting you off,” she said, hugging the bottle like it was her firstborn.
“Seriously, you’re throwing me out in the middle of the night?” He looked downcast, but she only snorted a chuckle.
“Pretty much, nightwalker.”
“I resent the implication – oh, wait.” He frowned. “But you know there are wolves out there, right?”
Merry snorted another chuckle. “It’s really not the wolves out there that you have to worry about.”
Santino offered her a double-take. “I’d forgotten how mean you could be,” he said, lifting his chin and eyeing her down his nose.
“Since five minutes ago? Do vampires go senile?”
“You know it’s a long walk back to my car?”
“Go figure,” she said shrugging. “Don’t you have some witches to check up on?”
“Are you kidding? What’s the betting they are practically mated already?” he asked and rolled his head on his neck. “You know when you hit me in the face…?”
“Which time?”
“All of them.”
“Oh, ok,” she said, shrugging again.
“I think you broke something,” he lied.
Merry raised her eyebrows and shot him a grin. “I can only hope, but we both know you’re all healed.”
“See, mean to the very core,” he said, pushing up to his feet and stretching for the want of something to do.
“Stop procrastinating and go home,” she groaned.
“You just don’t want to share the rest of that bottle,” he said, turning for the doorway.
“Ain’t that the truth,” she muttered with a grin.
“I could pay you…”
“Sounds sleazy…”
“For the bottle,” he said and rolled his eyes.
Merry took a moment to consider the bottle and then shook her head. “Nah, I’m good – you can go now.”
“Dismissed,” he said and gave a dramatic sigh.
Merry watched him leave the room and couldn’t help but grin because he was still muttering all the way to the front door and she could still hear him. “Watch out for those big bad wolves,” she called chuckling.
“Shouldn’t that be please don’t eat any of my pack, Mr Vampire?” he called back.
“There’s a lot more of them than you,” she said and heard the door to the cabin open.
