Guarding His Mate Read online

  “I have all the time in the world, little Fae. You on the other hand…”He swept his hand in front of her and she pursed her lips in contemplation.

  “You’re right… too soon. Two thousand and sixty three?” Her hands went to her hips and she tipped her head to the side in a challenge that would have ignited a Lycan’s wolf in an instant, but Mac being a vampire, he just found it amusing.

  “Dinner, tonight.”Mac informed her and watched as she balked.

  “Sorry, I have a previous engagement that I just…”Fiona hadn’t expected his arm to come around her back. She hadn’t expected to find herself pulled up against the length of his body, or the feel of his arousal against her stomach, and as such, she hadn’t prepared her defences against the feeling that raced through her.

  “Dinner, tonight.”Mac drawled down at her a moment before his lips found hers and he gave no quarter. She didn’t even have time to think before his tongue was demanding entry to her mouth and her treacherous mind and body had granted it.

  It wasn’t that she minded, Lord did she not mind one little bit, it was just that she had a bug up her butt about vampires at the moment, and he was definitely a vampire. Still….

  Fiona practically climbed up his hard body, with a little help from him, her legs were woven around him, arms too, and she wasn’t the least bit shy about giving as good as she got. Her tongue danced over his, searching, exploring, teasing, and then claiming. By the time he pulled his lips away to allow her to breathe she was on fire, burned by his kisses.

  “You want me to take you up against the dumpster?”He seemed just as perturbed by what had happened as she was, and boy was she. He might be her mate, which meant she was destined to spend forever with him, and forever with a vampire was a very long time, and yet she thought there might have been a more gradual build up to the fire that burned within her for him.

  “Hmm? Never done that before, it would be a first for me… How about you?” She saw the flash of his eyes, the flare of his nostrils and knew that she had either hit a sore spot, or he was more than considering it.

  “I’m going to take you home to my bed…”He started to move off, but she patted his chest.

  “Whoa, I thought I was getting dinner?”Fiona’s poor addled brain was slowly coming back to her. Even if within her mind her body was still spread-eagled on a bed with him doing wickedly naughty things to her. Fiona grinned at the thought and he narrowed his eyes and took her in.

  “That was a very dirty thought.”Mac gave her a devilish grin and she balked at him.

  “You read my mind?”She hissed down at him and he shook his head slowly.

  “I didn’t have too. It was all there on your face. Tell me, what was I doing to you?”Fiona gave him a thoroughly wicked look.

  “You’re going to have to figure that one out for yourself, but when you do, I’ll be very grateful.”The way she looked at that moment was completely seductive, and he groaned with the need to bury himself within her.

  “I’ll make sure that I figure it out eventually, it might take some time if you don’t tell me, but I’m sure that I can make you very satisfied in the meantime, little Fae.”Mac’s words were a promise, and she wasn’t stupid or naive, she knew exactly the kind of pleasure a vampire could bring their lover, and this would be better, this would be mates…

  “I don’t know Mac-Weenie, it still seems awfully small…”She teased, running a fingernail down his chest and over his abdomen, and being offered the low groan of a man on the edge of reason.

  Her back was against the wall in an instant. The hard press of the thick, long length of him against the heat of her sex, even through layers of clothing she could feel just how large he was, and she swallowed hard as he moved his hips against her, rubbing his shaft over her sensitive nub and making her moan into his shoulder.

  “I don’t think you’d want me to inadvertently poke you in the eye with it, would you?”He breathed against her neck, his tongue running over the vein there, drawing it closer to the surface, and how he wanted to sink his fangs into her soft skin, through into the vein and taste her blood.

  “I wouldn’t want you to poke me in the eye with your finger either and it feels about the same size…”Fiona teased and he drew back to look at her.

  “Is it a good idea to goad me, little Fae?”Mac gave her his best devilish look and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “You’re my mate, Mac-stroppy, I don’t think you’re going to kill me…”

  “Maybe there is something worse than death I could do to you…?”Mac showed her he was thinking about it, and the wicked look that touched his lips let her know he had the answer. “Perhaps I could keep you on the very edge of reason all night long, not let you release until I say so…”

  “I have hands…”Fiona leaned in and whispered against his ear and when she pulled back she knew it had been one image too far for him. His eyes were as black as ebony and his fangs had slipped down as the desire for her overrode his sense of propriety.

  “Not if I tie you up.”Mac grinned back, full fangs on show, and that just made her hotter for him, so much so that she squirmed against his hips, her body searching for him, even when her mind was trying to deny it.

  “So you have to tie a woman up to get what you want…?”Fiona challenged with the heavy tone of sarcasm dripping from every word. Mac groaned with what she was doing to him. The feel of her searching heat against his length made him hungry for her body and her blood.

  “What do you think?” He rubbed himself over that aching, swollen nub that shot jolts of sensation straight into her womb, and she couldn’t help but bite down on her lower lip to save from moaning out.

  The sight of her blunt teeth gnawing at her lower lip, the pale white skin as she put pressure on it and then released to allow the blood to chase back under the flesh, bright red, darker than before, had his arousal twitching and his feral need to taste that blood hitching higher within him. If he wasn’t as old as he was, he might just have sunk his fangs into her vain and tasted her then and there.

  “I think you need to work on your charming side…”

  “I can be charming…”

  “When are you going to start?”She countered quickly, causing him to frown.

  “You’re a hard woman to woo…”Fiona couldn’t help but snort her contempt, it was more fun to make him work for it than to just hand herself over to him.

  “This is wooing?”She made the conscious effort to pull her eyes from his dark gaze and look around her at their surroundings. “Dumpster? Wall? Alleyway? A leeching vampire…”

  “Leeching…?”He frown hard at her and she raised just one pert little brow at him.

  “Leeching, yes. Go on deny you would take me here and now, body and blood if I’d let you…”Fiona was now in her element. The bitch was back pushing through what had been the haze of her desire for him, and she mentally folded her arms and her legs and clenched her thighs tightly while she was at her imaginings, even though in truth she was still wrapped around him with his shaft pressed against her aching sex.

  “Well I…”He started, trying to think hard and fast about what the hell to say to her. She had gone from sexy goddess to shrew in a matter of minutes and he was completely thrown by it.

  “See, you can’t…”She gave him a shrug of her shoulders and he started to lower her down his body to set her free, and boy did that craving in her body give her brain a tongue lashing.

  Mac took a step back from her and looked down with both suspicion and longing.

  “I asked you to dinner.”He reminded her in a hot denial of her accusations. Fiona considered his words and gave him her best bored stare, even though she was far from bored, not with her mind and body in such uproar over the indecision of what she was doing.

  “So you did, but when I said no you became all Mac-impatient. If a rush to the finish line is what I can expect from our mating…” Ok, that might have been a step too far, she told herself. He looked both h
orrified and insulted.

  “I can assure you…”Mac growled down at her, doing a really good impression of a Lycan. Whoops.

  “Assurances, you’ve already lied to me once…”Fiona waved a dismissive hand at him and he took a long moment to try to recall his lie.

  “I did not…”

  “Did too.”Fiona side stepped him, moving back towards the door of the shop.

  “I did not lie to…”

  “You told me dinner…”Fiona injected and watched him scowl at her.

  “I asked you to have dinner with me…”He was getting more worked up by the second and she wanted to chuckle, but that would give her game away and she couldn’t have that, not now that she had him against the ropes and was swinging with both fists.

  “And then you got all Mac-horny…”She gave him her best hurt impression, but he was in front of her in an instant, his eyes narrowing with the suspicion that ran through him.

  “You’re playing me.”It was a simple statement of fact and she took a breath and considered it. There was no way she was going to make it through the door with him standing that close.

  Fiona shrugged her shoulders and gave him her best wicked smile.

  “And it was working too…”She found her breasts pressed against his chest as he scooped an arm around her and yanked her back to him.

  “Sneaky…”He breathed down at her and she chewed it over.

  “What’s a girl to do?”She offered innocently and he grinned down at her.

  “Have dinner with me tonight…”

  “Maybe…”

  “That’s better than a no. I’ll take it as a yes and pick you up at your place at seven thirty.”

  Before she could even formulate a thought he was gone.

  “Mac-speedy.” She muttered to herself as she pulled open the back door.

  “Beer, tap.”

  The burly guy that looked like a bear sat down on one of the stools at the bar and threw his hat down on the counter after growling out his order. Kay reached out with her mind to see if this guy was in anyway supernatural and came up empty.

  Grabbing a pint glass she walked to the beer tap and put the glass down on the metal catch tray beneath it, when she felt Lee come up behind her.

  “Let me show you how it’s done.”He drawled against her ear. The feel of his hot breath against her cheek made a shiver run fast and loose through her body, and when she felt his hips lightly press against her backside as his arms came about her, she very nearly turned and slapped him, but the feel of his hard arousal pressed between the cheeks of her backside did something to her body that set it on fire, and for a long moment her brain was blank.

  Lee put one hand over hers on the beer tap and lifted her other hand to the glass, tipping it at the perfect angle as they slowly pulled the tap together.

  “You’re going to find there is some resistance at first…”He breathed against her cheek and rocked his hips against her backside as her eyes caught the leering look the burly guy was giving them. “But you’ve just got to work through that, honey…”He pushed his hips against hers, rubbing his hips against her, as the glass slowly filled. “Because when you get there…”His lips brushed her ear and every inch of her body was alive with the fire between them. “And push comes to shove…”He eased her hand back on the tap as he tipped the glass back to standing and formed the frothy head on the top of the pint. “You’ll find it was worth every second.”

  Kay’s cheeks were burning hot as she imagined every damn eye in the place on her, watching Lee grinding and rubbing himself against her, when it truth, it was just one guy, and his tongue was practically hanging out, and it had nothing to do with the beer she had just pulled.

  Lee took a step back. “Now give the man his beer, and don’t forget to smile…”He leaned in towards her again and whispered against her ear. “And don’t be tempted to go licking the froth off the top. I have something far more fulfilling you can lick…”

  Kay turned on her heels and threw the pint in his face. The growl that left his lips was for her and her alone, although she did hear some sniggers and chuckles go around the bar. It seemed his beer shower hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  “I quit.”Kay informed him, her eyes taking in the soggy, dripping mess that stood glaring down at her from his arrogant, lofty perch. Then she turned on her heels and made a beeline away from him, knowing the Lycan temperament the way she did, if he was going to blow, she wanted to be in the next county.

  “Now you hold on a damn minute…”She heard him huffing with anger behind her, as his big feet echoed the sound of the hard wood floor in the quietness of the room.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Don’t think so. That’s sexual harassment…”Kay tossed over her shoulder, as she strolled through the bar that now had every customer staring at them opened mouthed and wide eyed.

  Lee growled again for good measure, but she wasn’t about to turn and face him down. She wanted out of there before he got all antsy, or all fangy, either way she wasn’t about to stick around for the fireworks.

  “Sexual harassment?”Lee growled to her back.

  Kay reached out and pushed the door open in front of her. Strolling out into the coldness of the night she bit down on several curse words that came to mind when she realised she’d left her coat behind, but she wasn’t about to go back in there and fetch it.

  “You’ll be hearing from my solicitor.”Kay bit out and grinned internally. Solicitor my Aunt Fanny, she didn’t know one, didn’t want one, and wasn’t about to cause trouble with the local pack, or for her mate. She just needed to put him in his place.

  “Now, just you wait…”Lee reached out and grabbed her shoulder, turning her back around to face him with one quick movement that had her brain wondering what the hell had happened. “You’re my mate…”He growled down at her and she gave him that sweet innocent look that worked every time with her sister… Well, once in a while, but you couldn’t blame a girl for trying.

  “Try getting up at an employment tribunal and saying that…”Kay saw the incredulous look he gave her and wanted to split her sides laughing. Standing there in the cold, dripping beer, and smelling like a barmaid’s apron, he did look a sight, and for one long moment she felt sorry for him, and then he opened his mouth…

  “Sometimes a female needs a little friendly persuasion…”

  Kay’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground at least it felt like it as she stood there staring up at him, open mouthed and momentarily speechless. And then everything snapped back into place as her brain rebooted and she shook her head at him in disbelief.

  “You’re a Neanderthal.”

  “Possibly, but I’m your Neanderthal.”He assured her, trying hard not to notice the drips of beer that were running down his face. His mate certainly had a little fire in her belly, and he hadn’t expected her to empty a glass of beer over his head, it had made him as mad as hell and yet as horny as hell for her.

  “Yes you are. Oh lucky me…”He was glad she didn’t bother to deny him, it made life easier, but he also knew that she wasn’t just going to fall into his bed either, he was going to have to woo her.

  “No, lucky me.”He growled down at her. His eyes taking her in from head to toe, and when she flushed bright red and her face softened from a scowl to a mere frown, he knew what he had to do to woo her.

  Mary didn’t need another lecture from Hannah. She also didn’t need Declan being tossed out of the house on his ear if her sister came home again to find him with her, even just watching the TV was apparently a sin in Saint Hannah’s eyes, and Mary wanted to spend time with her mate.

  She loved the feel of his strong arms about her, his soft lips kissing her, and the gentle growls that he gave against her neck as his hands roamed over her body, which was why she had taken him up to her bedroom and locked the door, so they could be alone.

  Now that she had him all to herself with no risk of intrusion she could kiss him all she wanted, and she wanted to kiss
him a lot.

  Declan had rolled her on top of him, it was the safer option for him to be able to hold on to his desire to be inside her. Having her beneath his body, squirming against him as he devoured her mouth and ran hot fevered hands up her thighs and over the hard buds of her breasts, was sending him almost wild with desire for her, at least this way he could find a little relief for the ache of his manhood inside his jeans, or so he thought…

  Mary shifted against his body. The heat between her legs pushed down over the hard steel of his shaft, searching for him, as she straddled him. Declan’s hands had worked they way up over the smooth soft skin of her outer thighs under her skirt, and when he cupped her backside, pressing her down against his length, she moaned with the softest, most desirable sound that had ever greeted his ears.

  Declan’s wolf was baying for more within him. The damn beast was conspiring with his mate to send him over the edge with his need to have her, to be inside her, buried deeply and claiming her for his own, and in his whole life he had never had to put up such a fight against the beast within to hold him at bay.

  “Mary we need to stop, now…”He growled against her neck, but the feel of his mate against his hard body, her hands under the fabric of his top, running fingertips down over the hard muscles of his chest. Her hot, moist lips against his neck, as her tongue snaked out to drive him almost beyond reason, and the way her sex moved back and forth over his shaft, even with the layers of clothes between them, made him crazy for more.

  “Not yet…”She breathed into his skin. Her hands ran back up his chest and took the material with it until she had it bunch up under his armpits. Moving her attention away from his neck, she ran her tongue over one nipple, and caused the gentle growl of need to escape his lips.

  “Mary…”He needed to warn her just what she was doing to him, just how close he was to flipping her over on her back and easing into her…”If We don’t stop now, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop…”