The Mating Season 2

Christmas special

Abel’s Mate

By

M
L BRIERS

Copyright
© 2013 by M.L Briers

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Table of Contents

The Mating Season 2

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER
THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER
SEVEN

CHAPTER ONE

“But why does the
gathering have to be here?” Adam shot Faith a look of suspicion under his
brows. He didn’t like it when she had that smirk on her lips, it always
meant trouble. And with Faith, trouble meant the most extreme of events that
she could put her little witchy fingers too.

Faith rolled her
eyes and reached for a spoon. She went to dip it into Fay’s porridge and the
normally placid woman hit out, slapping her hand away, like a lioness over a
kill that she didn’t want to share.

“Because, you
knocked her up, and I don’t think you want us all travelling across the
country for the winter solstice. I mean, what if she runs out of porridge…?”
Faith eyed the porridge bowl with interest and Fay’s frown deepened.

“I offered to make
you some, so hands off.” Fay shot her friend a look that could possibly kill,
and Faith put the spoon down gently and held her hands up in mock surrender.

“See what you’ve
done to her. One little taste of porridge was all I wanted and she’s guarding
it with her life…” Faith’s head turned with the sound of the front door opening
and the rush of the icy winter winds that held the first traces of this
winter’s snow.

Abel shook himself
off at the door. Little flakes of white clinging to his hair and his body as he
scented the air, a gleam in his eye.

“Do I smell
porridge?” He shucked himself out of his jacket as Faith snorted.

“Yeah, good luck
pal. She’s guarding it with her life…” Faith watched Abel stroll across the
room and pour a cup of coffee.

“She’s my sister and
I love her, she’d let me have just a taste…” He teased, those bright blue eyes
gleaming with amusement as he joined them at the table.

Faith was almost expecting
Fay to grab the bowl and hug it to her chest when Abel made a move towards the
spoon.

“Pick the appendage
that you want to lose.” Fay growled out. And damn if she didn’t mean it.

Adam snorted a laugh
as Abel backed off. He leaned towards Faith and pretended to whisper into her
ear.

“I’ve seen less bad
tempered bears when they wake from hibernation.” Abel eyed his sister across
the table as she finished spooning the last of the porridge from the bowl and
licked her lips, sated, for now.

“Ten to one she
licks the damn bowl clean.” Faith muttered good naturedly and Abel snorted a
laugh.

“Well when Adam
bonded with her and took on the responsibility of providing for her, I bet he
didn’t figure he’d have to buy every pack of porridge in a twenty mile radius.”
Abel and Faith seemed to be enjoying her misery.

“Look. It’s not my
fault that the pup craves porridge…” Fay still seemed reluctant to push her
bowl away from her, even if it was empty.

“Whose fault is it
that you have to dump half of the sugar bowl on top of it?” Abel teased and Fay
caught him with a glare.

“Your turn will come
Abel. Let’s see what you’ll be buying your future mate when…”

“Hold it right there
little sister. And when I say little I mean the term very loosely at the
moment, sugar monster…” Faith snorted a laugh, as she saw Fay’s jaw snap open
in disbelief. This wasn’t going to end well for Abel.

“Insulting a
pregnant woman and using her weight is never going to go down well idiot.” Adam
groaned with a roll of his eyes and Abel shrugged his shoulders, his eyes
glancing towards Faith to back him up.

“Don’t look at me to
bail you out. I don’t have a death wish…” Faith assured him, sliding her chair
a little further away from his… Just in case.

Abel heard Fay’s
jaws snap shut and his eyes flashed in her direction. He could see the malice
in her eyes and he quickly held up his hands in mock surrender.

“Now Fay, I was just
kidding. You look…” He was lost for words, even though a million floated
through his mind. “Well rounded.” He snorted, he couldn’t help himself.

The fist that
connected with his jaw, and sent him sideways from the chair and sprawling
across the floor, came out of nowhere that he’d seen coming.

Fay’s head
practically snapped around on her neck to glare at Adam who grinned back at
her. He could tell that she was unhappy she never got to use her new found Fae
magic.

“Sorry sweetheart,
but it’s my job to defend you.” Adam informed her, with a quick look at Faith
as he dragged himself up from the table and walked to where his brother sat on
the floor. Abel’s hand was rubbing the sore spot on his jaw.

“You hit like a
girl.” Abel growled up at him and Adam beamed down.

“Better I hit you
than Fay, her hormones would have sent you through the wall and planted your
backside in the herb garden if she’d zapped you with her magic right now.” Adam
informed him quietly, so Fay couldn’t over hear him.

Abel shot a look at
Fay, who was giving him her best death glare, and he nodded.

“Fair enough. But
don’t expect me to thank you brother…”

“Wouldn’t expect you
too, brother. Now stop poking the mama bear-to-be, before she pokes you back.”
Adam cautioned, as he held his hand downwards for Abel to take. Yanking him up
to his feet, as he kept his back turned towards his mate.

“Is she still
glaring?” Adam whispered and Abel snatched a look in her direction.

“Like a demented
Troll…” Abel confirmed and Adam sighed on a wince of knowing.

“At you or me?”

“Me…”Abel confirmed.

Adam slapped his
brother on the shoulder and grinned at him.

“Good. That’s me off
the hook then”

“You know you’re not
supposed to be doing any spell work right now, what are you looking for,
something for the baby?”Faith asked as she handed Fay a wine glass of juice. She
could have the glass but not the alcohol, it was a lame concession that she
only need put up with for a few more weeks. Once the baby was born she could
delve back into the delights of a nice red with whatever meaty kill Adam and
the boys brought home, and oh how she missed a little tipple here and there.

Fay hugged the
Grimoire to her chest and sipped her fake wine as Faith settled in on the sofa
next to her.

“Not exactly, well
it is for a baby, just not my baby.”Fay gave a small shrug off
her shoulders and put the not-wine down on the table beside her. Two more weeks
then she was going to put a damn teat on the first wine bottle she laid her
hands on and go for it with a vengeance.

Faith hooked an
eyebrow up towards her and gave her a look of horror.

“Well don’t look at
me. I’m married to a vampire in case you forgot, and his fish don’t swim,
they’re belly up before they’ve even been shot at the target.”

Fay’s top lips
curled upwards in distaste. “God Faith, you have such a way with words, remind
me not to let you help my child with his homework.”

“I’m gonna make a great
Aunty.”Faith screwed up her nose and squirmed in her seat, gyrating to her own
beat.

“Don’t show him that
either. I don’t want the poor pup intimidated by women before he can even
walk.”

“God, you’re such a
prude. I thought time spent with Adam would have loosened you up by now…”Faith
heard the front door go, and caught the icy blast that came through the living
room, as Hope bounced into the room, a grin on her lips and rosy red cheeks.
“It’s either really cold out there or someone just got laid.”Faith announced
and Fay chuckled as Hope stuck out her tongue before slamming the door shut
behind her and shedding her padded jacket onto the hook.

“Actually both,
bitch face, just because you’re not getting any lately since lover boy went
away.”

“Bite me.”Faith
ground out. What she wanted to say was don’t remind me, but that would have
shown her vulnerable side, and she never showed that.

“Ask Abel, if you’re
so desperate for some fangs in your neck. He’s still unmated after all.” Hope
grabbed a glass and the wine bottle and dropped down into the chair opposite
them.

“Which brings me
nicely into what I was researching today.”Fay unclenched around the Grimoire
and rested it on her lap, or what damn lap she had left thanks to the pup
swelling her stomach.

Fay eyed Faith and
Hope, who looked back at her with expectation. When she said nothing Faith
sighed and rolled her eyes.

“It’s the pregnancy
curse, where your brain loses like a trillion brain cells right?”Faith offered
trying to take the Grimoire from her lap and getting a slapped hand for her
efforts. “Ouch.”Faith snorted. Turning in her seat towards her friend, she gave
her a questioning look. “You know we can’t read minds. You have to tell us what
you were researching, dippy.”

Fay went to open her
mouth and then closed it again. It was true; she did seem to have less brain
power than she had before getting pregnant, so she couldn’t really argue with
that one.

“Cut her some slack,
she’s going to be a mummy, things can only get worse from this point in her life
onwards where her brain is concerned…”Hope chuckled as she poured herself a
glass right up to the rim and her eyes caught Fay licking her lips in
anticipation of how that sweet wine was going to taste. “Relax sister, only a
few weeks and then you can get your chops around one of these.”Hope added,
snapping Fay out of her cravings.

“Easy for you to
say, it’s been eight months.”Fay bit out. Her fingers curling against the
delicate pages of the Grimoire until Faith reached for them and gently uncurled
them.

“Unhand the family
heirloom before it bites back.”Faith told her and Fay eased her grip. “Calling
the one?”Faith read the title of the spell out loud and the balked. “Whose
one?”She demanded, and Fay gave a small innocent shrug of her shoulders.

“I thought it was
about time that Abel got his mate, maybe then he’ll be less of a douche and
more occupied.”Fay offered and Hope balked.

“Boy what did he do
to you to piss you off?”Hope asked before taking a long drink of her wine.

“He tried playing
goldilocks and stealing her porridge.”Faith offered with her best mortified
tone, and Hope gave Fay her best shocked expression.

“Nooo.”Hope
gasped and shook her head. “The nerve of the guy. We should certainly teach him
a lesson…”

“Right.”Faith agreed
on a nod, both of them in full blown teasing mode now. “I mean, for Abel and
his man-ho ways, what could be worse?”

“It’s not a
punishment, it’s a distraction.”Fay offered up innocently, and Faith eyed Hope
across the way, a knowing smirk on her lips.

“A blessing.” Faith
offered and Fay nodded.

“That he doesn’t
want.”Hope reminded her, but Fay just shrugged her shoulders.

“He’ll be thanking
us…”Fay bit her lip for a long moment, a wickedness spreading within her. “If
he were ever to figure out that it was us who called her.”She said as
innocently as possible and Faith and Hope stared at each other.

“This is your
influence.”Hope told Faith as she motioned towards her. “You created this
monster…”

“And I’m sooo
proud.”Faith grinned at Fay. The wickedness of what Fay was proposing was
somehow catching, not that Faith ever needed much encouragement in that
department.

“ ‘Tis the
season…”Faith offered on a small shrug of devilment and Fay giggled.

“To what? Punish
Abel. Because, I don’t remember that in any Christmas jingles…”

“To give the gift of
love.”Faith offered. “Ladies, let’s get some candles…”She quickly read down the
spell. “Honey, and a ball of twine…”

“She’s mated to a
wolf, there has to be a ball around her somewhere for him to play fetch
with.”Hope rolled her eyes and didn’t make a move to help.

“Stop pouting, he’ll
love it…”Faith rolled that thought around in her mind. “Eventually.”

“When the pain wears
off.”Hope sunk the rest of the wine in her glass and dropped her head back
against the seat. “Let’s pray that this doesn’t come back to bite us in the
behind, and that all’s well that ends well.”

When it snowed, it
really snowed up here, Fay thought as she stared out of the living room window
and watched the blanket of white get visibly thicker with every minute that
ticked by.

Fay rubbed a hand
over her belly and sighed. Playing snowballs was out of the question, she could
barely bend at the waist as it was. No snowballs, no snowmen, and no damn
Christmas tree…

Fay turned on her
heels and caught Joshua’s eye. The big old bear shifter that was mated to Hope
was doing that a lot lately, watching her. She narrowed her eyes accusingly and
he snapped out of it, deliberately looking anywhere but at her. She reached up
and scratched an itch of annoyance on her neck. Maybe it was hives? Did you get
hives from cabin fever? It had only been a few days since she’d been out there,
but still.

Adam walked towards
her with a smile and a swagger, and she felt like reaching up and ripping the
smile from his lips, but she didn’t, because she was in control of her baby
madness.

“Hey sweetheart,
anything I can get you?”Adam draped his large arms gently over her shoulders
and met her swollen belly with his perfect muscled abs. Damn, damn, damn, damn,
damn, she missed her body. She wasn’t a supermodel, but at least she could bend
in the damn middle.

“A  Christmas
tree…”Fay offered up the first thing that came to mind that wasn’t to do with
her pregnancy, or porridge, or wine, or anything else that she could cram into
her mouth to feed the pup.

Adam opened his
mouth and then looked confused. “Sweetheart, you’re Fae…”He reminded her,
knowing the pregnancy had taken its toll on her rational mind at times.

“I’m still human,
and was more human than Fae, before I was Fae, and I want a tree.”She gave her
best indignant tone.

“I never get that
with humans, why they deem it necessary to go around cutting down trees so they
can hang little glass baubles on them…”Joshua was pretty much mumbling to
himself when his eyes met Fay’s dark glare and his jaw snapped shut, and that
big old bear swallowed down hard.

“You asked what I
wanted and I said tree…”Fay shrugged her shoulders.

“He meant something
rational.”Abel chuckled, and Fay’s head snapped sideways around his brother’s
body and she pinned him with another dark glare.

“It’s Christmas and
I want a tree…”Fay growled out at Abel, before she straightened back up and
looked up at her mate. She saw the corners of his lips curled upwards in a
smile. “But, if it’s too much trouble…”She sniffed back the tears that were
already in her eyes and stared up at her mate with big old doe eyes, as her
lower lip quivered.

Adam balked as his
mate started to sniffle. His back straightened, his muscles tensed, and he
quickly shook his head in denial.

“Sweetheart, if you
want a tree I’ll go cut you one down myself.”He assured her, anything to stop
the tears from flowing, because once those tears started he was only to aware that
they weren’t going to stop.

It wouldn’t end with
a damn tree either, oh no, she’d pick apart everything that had gone wrong in
their lives since they met, in great detail, over and over until he wanted to
knock himself out by slamming his head into a wall.

“Right now?”She
sniffed hopefully, and he nodded quickly.

“Right this minute.
I’m going to get you the best damn tree you’ve ever seen.”He started to back
away from her, a big smile of encouragement on his face as he backed towards
the front door. Snatching up his jacket from the hook.

“You love me sooo
much.”She sniffled again, a tear running down her cheek, and all hell broke
loose. Joshua and Abel were both on their feet and heading towards the front
door.

“I’ll help
you.”Joshua growled, reaching for his jacket as Adam wrenched the door open.

“I’ll hold it, you
cut it.”Abel rushed out the front door and then slammed back into Adam’s chest
as he remembered his jacket. Adam snatched it off the hook and slapped it
against his brother chest as he pushed him out of the door.

“Back soon,
sweetheart. Have some porridge.”Adam offered over his shoulder as they made
their getaway, and Fay wiped away the tears and hummed to herself.

“Oh my god, you were
so faking that to get what you wanted!”Faith accused her from the other side of
the room, and Fay turned on a shrug.

“And what if I
was?”Fay tipped her chin up in defiance and Faith chuckled.

“I just have to
say…”Faith strolled across the room and dropped down onto the newly vacated
sofa. “The pupil has surpassed the teacher, and damn did I teach you well.”

“What the hell is
that?”Adam growled at Abel as he stood next to a five foot odd tree, eyeing it
up for size.

“Your mates
Christmas tree.”Abel motioned towards it as if he was in a cheesy showroom ad,
and Adam growled his annoyance and rolled his eyes.

“That’s not a damn
tree, it’s a damn twig. If I go home with that one of two things is going to
happen, my mate will either rip off my balls, or she’ll burst into tears,
neither of which I want to happen.”He assured his brother as Joshua called from
ten feet away.

“Got a good one.”He
motioned to the eight foot blue spruce that was the epitome of the greeting
card Christmas tree. Adam nodded his approval, a large grin spreading across
his face as he slapped his brother on the back on route towards Joshua.

“Now that’s a tree
that won’t lose me my balls.”Adam informed him and Abel grunted.

“You lost those the
minute you were mated.”He spat out and Adam growled at him over his shoulder.
He went to answer his brother’s snipe, but the sound of someone flat out
accelerating their car drifted towards them.

“What the hell?”Adam
looked at Joshua as he chuckled.

“Sounds like
someone’s not too fond of their gearbox or their engine…”Joshua shook his head
in disbelief. “Gotta be city folk up here for the Christmas holidays, nobody
around these parts would be stupid enough not to fit winter tyres.”He added of
a huff.

An instant later the
sound of that same car hitting into something solid and immovable echoed out
into the woods. All three men set off at once in the direction the crack of
wood and metal had come from.

Adam exited the
clearing first, axe still in hand, and his long legs eating up the space until
he was standing beside the driver’s door of the car that was now hugging a tree
trunk.

The front end seemed
moulded around the wood, and he had to wonder how someone could be stupid
enough to do that. He yanked open the door and stared inside at the female
figure hunched over the air bag that had deployed from the steering wheel.

“You hurt?”He
growled out, reaching for her with one hand as she started to turn her head
towards him. He noted the small cut above her eye and the whack she had taken
to her nose, and knew she was going to look like a racoon by nightfall, at
best.

She looked groggy
for a long moment and then her eyes fixed on the axe in his hand and she
snapped back to reality.

“Back…”She flicked
her hand in his direction, and it felt like someone the size of Joshua had
thumped him in the chest. He was swept off his feet and propelled backwards
into a snow drift. More than thankful for the soft landing, if not overjoyed
with the ache in his chest.

CHAPTER TWO

“What the
hell…?”Abel growled out, moving towards the car as Joshua moved towards Adam to
help him. He caught sight of her for only an instant before she swept him up
too and he landed beside his brother.

Sasha yanked the door
to the car closed and hit the locks. Lycans, she knew she was close to pack
land, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Her eyes flicked quickly from
the men scrambling to their feet, back to the deflating air bag in front of her,
and what she could see of the remains of her car wrapped around the tree trunk
and felt the panic rise inside her.

She was trapped and
they were coming.

“I think she’s
nuts…”Joshua growled out and Abel nodded his agreement.

“That’s a good bet,
she is Fae, and she can’t drive, unless she was deliberately targeting the poor
tree.”Abel sighed.

“I think she saw the
damn axe and panicked, idiot.”Adam growled out at his brother, and Abel
shrugged.

“So what, you wanna
go back for more? Be my guest brother, perhaps she can embed your thick skull
inside the tree trunk this time.”Abel’s sarcasm was almost dripping from each
word as he watched the woman from as far away as he could get. He’d already
been tossed on his backside once, he wasn’t eager to repeat the experience.

Adam took a step
towards the car and waited for the woman’s eyes to flick back towards him. He
deliberately put the axe down on the ground and held up his hands to show her
he wasn’t about to attack her.

“You’re hurt…”He
offered and she scoffed.

“Genius…”She ground
out between clenched teeth. Hitting the damn tree had taken its toll on her
nerves as well as her body. Her chest felt sore from the seat belt and her nose
throbbed like a bitch, but apart from that, happy bloody Christmas, she thought
as she eyed the three stooges out of the window.

Maybe she’d been a
little rash, after all if he’d wanted to attack her he wouldn’t need a damn axe
to do it. He was Lycan, he could rip the damn doors off her car in a heartbeat
if he felt the need, and she hoped he didn’t feel the need.

Her eyes flicked to
Joshua and she had his number straight away. Bear shifter. Bear shifters always
looked like damn big bears, all cuddly and hairy, and he was no exception.
Definitely not her type. None of them were. She didn’t date shifters, whatever
form they took.

“You’re going to
need help…”Adam offered, and she couldn’t help but snort a laugh, even if it
did damn well hurt to do it.

“Not from you,
wolf.”She muttered again. She really didn’t want to engage with these guys, and
if she ignored them then she might just get lucky, they might get bored and go
away.

Her eyes flicked to
the other one. Abel stood there watching her with suspicion in his eyes. Nice
eyes, too nice, a girl could get lost in eyes like that, and he still wasn’t
her type, even if he was sexy.

“You’re Fae…”Adam
took another step towards the car and she rolled her eyes.

“Tell me something I
don’t know…”

“I’m Faith’s
brother…”Adam offered, knowing that if this woman was here, then it was a good
bet she’d come for the gathering.

Sasha’s eyes snapped
back towards him and she narrowed her gaze on him, wondering if this was the
wolf that Faith used to talk about when they were kids, her somewhat-adopted
brother. She knew Faith had called the Gathering, and she knew it was on pack
land, so the odds were in the guys favour…

“Ok. That was
something I didn’t know.”She muttered to herself as a pang of guilt washed
through her. Crap! She’d attacked Faith’s brother, Faith was going to be
pissed, not to mention he was so obviously the Alpha of the damn pack, she
could see that now, even if her eyes were starting to get puffy.

“You want to pop the
locks so we can get you out…?”

“You can get her
out.”Abel offered, digging his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looking
anywhere but at her.

“Faith and Hope are
back at the cabin, I’m sure they’ll be able to help with your injuries.”Adam
offered, and saw her frosty exterior melting with every moment that past.

“You’re not pissed I
tossed you on your butt?”She called through the glass, wary of him even though
he told her who he was.

“His wife does it
all the time…”Joshua offered with a smirk and Adam punched him in the gut.
Joshua whooshed a breath out and bent in two. “Harsh.”He growled.

“Justified.”Adam
growled at him and Abel chuckled.

“Yeah, even if you
did tell the truth.”He teased his brother and then jumped back a few feet to
save from getting a thump himself.

“Men.”Sasha shook
her head and immediately regretted it. She felt as if the car spun around
beneath her, or maybe it was the earth, maybe she was on a kid’s roundabout and
the car was turning.

She felt the rush of
heat go through her and then quickly drain away again as her whole body went
limp a moment before the lights went out.

“Crap.”Adam growled
as she passed out in the front seat. “Joshua.”He growled as they all stalked
towards the car.

“Got it.”Joshua
growled as he flicked out his claws. Hooking the small gap in the door, he
wrenched it outwards. The sound of metal protesting, of locks protesting, and
then a loud bang as the door gave way echoed through the woods. He ripped it
completely off its mountings, tossing it across the clearing, as Adam and Abel
leant in towards the woman to survey the damage.

Sasha’s sweet scent
filled the small inner space of the car and Abel took in his fill as he leaned
forwards towards her. There was a long moment when his body tensed. His mind
reached for the reality of who she was a moment before his body accepted it.

His half mast was
the first to react to her proximity. His hands fisted and then eased. His heart
raced and then steadied, and his eyes took every inch of her poor battered face
in to store it in his memory.

Adam’s hand reached
for the seatbelt and he heard the long deep growl of warning that came from his
brother and he paused. Turning his eyes to see the darkness within his
brother’s eyes, as his Beta reacted to the proximity of the Alpha to his mate,
to her being injured, and his need to protect her.

Adam shuffled back
on his heels and straightened up. Holding his hands out in front of him, he
eyed his brother.

“Easy brother, nobody
is going to touch your mate but you.”Adam offered and Abel growled out another
warning until Adam had backed right away.

“Mate, are you
kidding me?”Joshua spat out in disbelief. This was just too good.

“Help her Abel,
we’re not going to move.”Adam wanted to elbow Joshua in the ribs, but he didn’t
want the man making any sudden movements that would make Abel feel threatened, so
he buried the urge.

It was quite
possible, especially with his mate being injured that Abel would attack without
even thinking about it, and he didn’t want to have to deal with an irate mate,
especially when it was his brother.

Abel eyed them for a
long moment before he turned towards his mate, taking in her scent again as he
reached in and unlocked her seatbelt. Making sure he kept her body still as his
hands ran under her snow jacket and felt over the muscles, sinews, and bones
within her neck, looking for any damage.

Only when Abel was
happy that he wouldn’t be hurting her any worse than she already was by lifting
her out of the car, did he reach in and scoop her gently into his arms, bringing
her out against his chest, he ignored the men behind him and started off
towards where he knew she needed to be, with him and the sister’s who could
help her.

“Get her stuff…”Adam
told Joshua, who growled long and hard.

“Why do I have to
get her stuff? I’m a bear, not a damn porter.”Joshua growled out and Adam
tossed him a glare.

“I hear the girls
are preparing a nice meal tonight, it would be a shame if the bear among us had
to go sit in the woods… and note I said sit.”Adam tossed over his shoulder as
he followed on his brother’s heels, careful not to get too close.

“Oh wow…”Hope spat
out as she eyed the outside world.

“What? Is it the
tree?”Fay tried to get up from the sofa, but she just floundered in place like
a big old beached whale, growling and squirming in frustration.

“Not exactly. Abel’s
carrying an unconscious woman…”She gasped and turned to the others, eyes wide
in knowing as Faith and Fay looked at each other.

“His mate!” Faith
spat out and Fay yipped.

“Oh my god, we
killed his mate!” Hope blurted out, her hands going to cover her mouth as Faith
and Fay jaws just flapped about like goldfish. The sound of the door being
kicked open, before Adam stepped back and allowed Abel to carry his mate inside,
made all three of their heads snap around to the sight of him carrying his mate.

Fay almost rolled
herself off the damn sofa trying to get up, but Adam had sidestepped his
brother and was helping her in a heartbeat.

“What
happened?”Faith asked, trying to sound as casual as she could.

“Abel’s mate was in
a car wreck…”

“Mate…”They all spat
out together, although it felt a little forced to Adam, he didn’t query it, not
then.

“I think you might
know her, Faith…”Adam offered and Faith took a tentative step towards Abel, as
his low warning growl drifted towards her.

“Don’t you even
think about it, Abel…”She hissed at him, and he gave a low whine, somewhere
between an apology and permission for her to step forward.

Faith recognised her
straight away. The shock of who she was washed through her, damn, if she’d know
it was that easy to find Abel’s mate she would just have picked up the damn
phone.

“It’s Sasha.”Faith
told Hope who gasped.

“You’re kidding,
Sasha’s Abel’s mate?”Hope went to take a step forwards but she took one look at
Abel and decided against it.

“Take her up to the
guest bedroom brother. Fay you stay here in case Abel gets a little antsy.
Faith you should go with him.”

“Gee, thanks
Adam.”Faith flashed him a look of knowing and he couldn’t help but smile. But
Faith was as much a sister to Abel as to him and he didn’t think that Abel
would get out of hand with her, especially her.

“Anytime, sis.”He
teased as she followed Abel and his mate up the staircase. He turned his
attention towards his mate, a guilty look on his face. “We did pick out your tree,
we just didn’t have a chance to…”

“That’s ok, honey. I
understand.”She informed him sweetly, and then eased herself back down to the
sofa with a heavy sigh. “You can go back out and get it later.”She informed
him.

“Hey Sash, how are
you doing?”

Faith leaned towards
the edge of the chair. Putting her elbows on the bed, she looked down into the
purple and green of her friend’s bruised face.

“Like I’ve been hit
in the face by a car.” Sasha swallowed against the dryness in her mouth and
reached up to touch her nose.

“I wouldn’t
do…”Faith started, but she did it anyway and let out a dark curse that echoed
inside the four walls. “Did try to warn you.”Faith offered with a smidge of
sympathy for her friend’s predicament.

“You’re all heart as
usual, Faith.”

“Hey, she’s awake.
How’s she doing?”Abel walked into the room carrying a tray with three coffees,
and he set it down onto the bedside table, as his mate eyed him cautiously.

“She has a voice and
a brain and can speak for herself. She feels like crap.”Sasha turned her eyes
on Faith and rolled them, but even that caused a certain amount of pain. “Can’t
you put the dog outside?”

Faith bit down on
her lower lip so the chuckle and the smile that she was fighting to keep back
didn’t escape her.

“Sasha this is Abel,
Abel, Sasha.”Faith decided a formal introduction was probably in order. “Abel
carried you here from the car wreck.”Faith offered and Sasha winced.

“Great, so not only
do I look like a beast I smell like one too.”Sasha groaned. To say she had a
problem with his kind would be an understatement. She hated the very nature of
the beast. Wolves, vicious animals, packs of them living as humans, hiding
their true selves.

“She’s even more of
a bitch than you.”Abel groaned out, and Sasha glared at him.

“Doors right there,
walk back through it, don’t let me stop you.” Sasha didn’t believe in sugar
coating anything. She liked to get the truth and liked to give it, if people
didn’t like it then tough, she was done hiding her thoughts from the world.

“Maybe you should give
us a minute, Abel.”Faith offered and Abel shrugged.

“Fine by me,
sis.”Abel turned on his heels and strolled from the room. It took a lot for him
to do it. He’d sat by her bed for hours waiting for her to wake up, and then
Faith had persuaded him to get the coffee, knowing that if Sasha woke up and
saw just him by her bed, she might just zap him again.

He thought that was
a reasonable assumption as she didn’t seem to keen on them when she met them.
But now every step was like torture, especially after her words.

Faith leaned in
further and winced slightly as she debated exactly what she was going to say.

“What is it?”Sasha
asked. She’d know Faith for years. They had connected at every retreat and
every festival they attended, and they’d spent some wild times together, and
shared some secrets, and Faith knew that the secret buried within her friend
was going to go a long way to making this mating process as painful as possible
for both mates.

“You know how you
like people to give you the truth, the whole truth…”

“And nothing but the
truth. Sure. Hit me with it, what’s wrong?”Sasha agreed, and yet Faith still
hesitated. She winced with the knowledge that this wasn’t going to go smoothly,
but sooner or later Sasha was going to figure it out. The pull on her psyche alone
would give her the damn clue, let alone what her body was going to be telling
her to do.

“It’s about Abel…”

“Wolf boy…”

“And you…”Faith
added, trying to look calm, and innocent, innocent and calm was good,
especially as she felt a big twinge of guilt for doing the damn spell that had
brought the mates together.

“Me…”Sasha echoed.
The pieces weren’t even in position to fall into place, not with the way she
felt about wolves.

“Yes.”

“Ok. I’m guessing
there’s more.”

“Oh…yeah.”Faith
wanted to whistle a happy tune. Instead she looked everywhere but at Sasha, and
chewed on her lower lip.

“The suspense is
killing me…”

“Hopefully
not.”Faith offered back.

“Jesus, Faith, would
you just spit it…”

“He’s your
mate.”Faith went in for the kill quickly, giving Sasha no time to pull the band
aid off slowly.

The silence was
almost deafening, and the lack of emotion on Sasha’s face actually astonished
Faith, and then it all changed so quickly.

“You have got to be
kidding me. That’s not even close to funny, Faith.”Sasha accused and berated in
the same breath. She gathered the covers into her fists and pulled herself up
in the bed until she was sitting staring at Faith, searching her face for the
amusement she expected to find there.

“Sorry and
congratulations. He’s a really great…”

“Bloody wolf.”Sasha
spat out in disbelief.

“Well, yeah there is
that…”Faith admitted, wincing again. “Look, why don’t you just get to know him
a little and…?”

“I reject him…”Sasha
blurted out as she moved as fast as her injuries would allow her towards the
bottom of the bed. Faith sat up straight and shook her head.

“What?”

“I reject him as a
mate. He’s your brother, so break it to him as gently as you like, but make
sure you tell him to stay away from me.”Sasha dragged herself to her feet and
looked down at her sock clad feet. She had boots, and she couldn’t leave
without them.

“Sasha…”Faith stood
up and walked towards her, but she spotted her boots over on the other side of
the room and went to retrieve them.

“Minds made up,
there wasn’t anything to consider Faith. You know that, right?”

“But…”Faith started
and Sasha cut her off.

“Sorry.”She pushed
her boots on, one foot at a time as Faith floundered in a sea of uncertainty.

“But…”

“Not
happening.”Sasha shot back. She liked Faith, she liked her a lot. She always
found it kind of strange that a Fae would choose to hang around with wolves,
but they had agreed to disagree a long time ago, and Faith’s time with the pack
didn’t really come up much in conversation.

“Maybe…”

“Sorry. I can’t. And
thanks for the rescue and the TLC, but now I have to go.”Sasha started towards
the bedroom door, slower than she would have liked. If she could have run the
distance to get out of there she would have, but not right now. She was reduced
to something of hustle.

“Go where?”Faith
spat out on a scoff of disbelief. “You totalled your car and the snow’s still
coming down…”Faith followed her down the hallway towards the stairs, and as
Sasha was going down, she saw Abel appear at the bottom. He had to have overheard
that she was leaving.

“You need to go back
to bed…”Just as she reached the last step he walked in front of her to block
the way and she lifted her knee, bringing it up to his groin and dropping him
like a swatted fly.

“What was that
for?”Faith spluttered on a chuckle and Sasha shrugged.

“Let’s call it a
parting gift so he knows where I stand on the issue of mating with him.”

“That’s gotta hurt
his… feelings.”Faith winced along with him, as Sasha carefully walked over his
crumpled body and Faith followed.

“I’ll give you a
call…”Sasha offered, as if it were just another day, another chance meeting,
and she hadn’t just dropped her mate on his pride.

“Sasha…”Faith
couldn’t believe that this was happening. “You can’t go.”

“You keep saying
that…”Sasha chuckled as she shrugged into her jacket. “And yet that’s exactly
what I’m doing. Take care, Faith.”

“Someone grab my
mate.”Abel was desperately trying to pull himself to his feet, but he was just
doing a fish out of water impression on the floor. Adam looked at Joshua, and
Joshua stared back at him.

“Don’t look at
me…”The big man shook his head adamantly and Adam sighed. “She’s his damn mate,
and she’s meaner than Faith. Let him get her.”

“Kind of holding my
nuts right now, dude.”Abel spat out.

“Ah, crap.”Joshua
saw Adam take off for the front door and followed him.

“If she zaps me you
owe me big time.”Joshua tossed over his shoulder and Abel tried to chuckle, but
there was nothing funny about his balls right then.

“Sasha…”Adam called
as the little Fae woman stomped off through the snow, and he growled long and
hard as he followed her into the storm.

He reached out his
hand to touch her on the shoulder, but she sensed him there, turning on her
heels, she held out her hand to ward him off.

“Don’t make me hurt
you again.” She didn’t want to hurt him, he was Faith’s brother, but she would
do whatever it took to get back to sanity and away from her alleged mate.

Joshua grabbed her
from behind, and it was a definite bear hug that the big guy was giving her.
Her arms were swept down and locked against her sides, and even when she used
her petite frame against his big arms to try to struggle out of his grip,
hoping she might just slip through the cracks of his hold, it didn’t work, and
she was locked against him.

Sasha tried the old
back heel down the front of his shin routine, but for a big guy he was pretty
agile, too fast on his feet for her to connect with him. So she tried to head
butt him in the face with the back of her head, not thinking that the only
place her head reached was his damn chest.

“That’s gonna hurt
you more than me, sweetheart.”Joshua growled down at her, giving Adam a look of
pity as he held her still. “So I have her, what the hell do you want me to do
with her now?”He growled down, as she continued to squirm. Adam shrugged.

“Get her back in the
cabin I guess.”Adam turned to see everyone out on the porch watching them,
everyone but Abel, he was just following up the rear and when his eyed Joshua’s
death grip on his mate Adam could see the dark rage that descended over him.
“Second thoughts, you might want to let her go.”Adam bit out, just as Abel
launched himself from the porch, moving on fast feet towards Joshua and his
mate, and just then Joshua looked up and swallowed hard at the sight of Abel
making for him.

CHAPTER THREE

Joshua released her
a moment before Abel swung for him, connecting with his jaw of granite and
swaying the big man backwards, as Hope screeched out her annoyance.

“Abel, don’t you
dare. He was doing what you damn well told him too.”She ground out as she
started towards them.

Abel saw his mate move
away from Joshua and he launched himself at him. Knocking him backwards with
the force of his weight and rolling on the ground, as both men started to land
punches.

“Seriously Faith?
This is what you do now?”Sasha threw up her hands in disgust and started to
turn on her heels and trudge down the path.

“Oh really, Sasha?
And what lofty and noble past time do you do?”Faith folded her arms across her
chest and watched her friend go. She might have been Abel’s mate, but right now
Faith wasn’t so impressed with her sneering at her pack.

Adam kicked his
brother in the backside a moment before Joshua launched him into the nearest
snow bank with a hearty chuckle.

“Get off me little
wolf.”Joshua growled, teasing his friend for being under the mating spell that
made them all do stupid things. Like attacking a fully grown bear shifter when
you had no intention of using your fangs and claws.

“You might notice
that your mate is getting away again, stupid.”Adam growled down at Abel, as he
took a long moment to come up for air and shake the snow from his body.

Abel sat up
straighter and snapped his head around in the direction Adam was pointing. “You
could have stopped her.” Abel growled as he sprang up onto his feet.

“Yeah, Josh tried
that, look where it got him.”Adam chuckled as Abel started on a run after his
mate.

“Sasha…”Abel called
on a deep growl and he saw her wave a hand dismissively in the air. She didn’t
bother to turn around until she heard him behind her.

Sasha turned on fast
heels and held her hands up in frustration. “Did you not get the message,
wolf?”

“Look, you’re my
mate…”Sasha groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Shake…”Sasha said,
spying the large bough above his head with a good amount of snow clinging to
it. In an instant it thumped down onto Abel’s head and shoulders, making him
buckle to his knees under the sudden onslaught of so much snow.

“Leaving now…”She
held out her index finger and narrowed her eyes. “Stay. Good dog.”She saw the
shock register on his face, and she wanted to laugh as she turned on her heels
and started to walk away. She did hear the groan that came from his lips.

“We need to talk
about this…”Abel dragged himself up to his feet and shook off the damn snow.

“It’s not going to
happen, enough said. Goodbye.”Sasha carried on walking, as Abel sighed and
shook his head, snow still falling off him as he started after her again.

“The mountain is
snowed in. You don’t have a car…”Abel tried to reason with her.

“I have feet.”Sasha
was damn well going to walk away from here today. She wasn’t stupid, she knew
the mating pull would be harder to walk away from the longer she stayed near
him, and she wasn’t prepared to allow that damn pull to get to her.

“You’ll freeze to
death, it’s too many miles, and another blizzard is heading in.”Abel was
walking behind her, keeping time with her without closing the gap and making
her more antsy than she already was, but he wasn’t about to let her get away
from him.

“I’ll take my
chances…”

“I won’t let that
happen. I can’t, you’re my…”

Sasha turned fast
and held that damn finger out to him again. It stood between them like a lance,
and it made him more than nervous to wonder what she was going to do to him
this time.

“Don’t say it wolf
boy…”She warned.

Abel pulled in a
nice crisp breath into his lungs and his chest expanded before he let it out on
a sigh. Raising his hands up towards his shoulders he gave a small shrug.
“Mate.”He offered, a large smirk expanding over his face as she narrowed her
eyes and bit down on a curse or three, maybe four, nope she went for five, all rolling
through her mind as she stared anywhere but at him.

The way his eyes lit
up with mischief was enough of a pull on her senses, let alone that damned sexy
smirk of his, and standing there, so very potently male, so definitely wolf, in
those low hung jeans and thin tee that would have anyone else shivering in this
weather, well he just looked irresistible, and that wasn’t good.

It told her that the
mating pull was further along than she hoped for. Maybe because he had been the
one to carry her all the way back to the cabin while she slept. Sleeping meant
her shields were down, and that meant the mating pull would have been gaining
ground on her faster than if her shields were up. Damn…

“That’s the trouble
with you damn wolves, you just can’t be domesticated to do as you’re told.”She
spat out. Turning back on her heels and starting off again. She didn’t know
where she was headed, but away from him was a good start.

The crunch of his
big feet behind her let her know he was following again.

“Well hey, we can’t
all be meddlesome little Fae now can we?”

“Shame, right?”She
snapped back and heard him chuckle.

“Depends on the
Fae…”Abel offered and saw her shoulders tense.

“Meaning?”She
snapped out. Who was he comparing her too? Faith and Hope? Well, they were his
sisters… Did he think she failed in comparison to them?

“Just saying…”He
stopped when she did and watched in amusement as she spun back towards him, her
eyes flashing with annoyance.

“So you don’t
actually have a point, you’re just flapping your gums for the sake of hearing
your own voice?”Her words dripped sarcasm, and something else… Could it be a
little jealously that he heard there?

“Well, there’s
Faith, Fay and Hope, and then there’s…you.”Abel made a deliberate point of
folding his arms over his chest, and he watched her eyes dip to the muscles and
wanted to grin at her awareness of him, but he held himself in check. Jealousy
and a certain interest in his physique, both were very encouraging signs in his
mind.

Sasha looked at the
way his muscles expanded around his arms as he folded them over that big chest,
and swallowed down the rush of excitement within her. Damn, but he was
physically… Wolf. She needed to remember he was a wolf. He might look like a
human, but under all of those gorgeous muscles and perfectly sexy body he was a
wolf.

She dragged her eyes
back up to his. “Still waiting for the damn point.”Sasha snapped out, wanting
to bury her head into the nearest snow pile to rid her cheeks of that heat that
was forming there, just from his knowing look at her as she’d inspected his
body. Not to mention if her head was buried she wouldn’t be looking at him, and
she might just dull her brain enough to give her a chance at killing off the
damn mating pull.

“Everyone is
different…”It wasn’t where he’d initially been going with his thoughts, but it
couldn’t hurt his case…

“Oh, so you’re
telling me what a nice wolf you are?”Sasha snorted her contempt.

“Actually, I am a
nice guy…”Abel gave her his best smile and she gave him a dirty look.

“Sure you are…”She
went to turn away and he could have cursed out.

“If you give me a
chance to prove it to…”

“If I give you a
chance, then it’s more than likely that I’m stuck with you for life. I’m not
stupid wolf boy, I know how the mating pull works.”Sasha spat out, accusing him
with her eyes and her words, and he shrugged.

“Seems to me, it’s
already taken hold of you, Sasha. The further away from me you get the more
you’re going to want to come running back.”

“Let’s test that
theory. You stay there and I’ll be off.”She did turn this time and she started
walking away.

She knew she
shouldn’t have spoken to him, it was a mistake, now she knew his voice, deep
and soulful with the little growl that he put behind every word, not quite that
of an Alpha, but he was definitely all Beta.

She’d looked into
his eyes, smiling eyes, too blue for their own good, and she knew she could get
lost in those eyes, maybe she even wanted too, maybe he had been right and she
was too late to walk away. There was only one way to test that theory, because
she didn’t want to be mated to a damn wolf.

Faith’s words all of
those years ago came back to haunt her. ‘Lycans are different to werewolves.
Gentler. They coexist with their wolves, they aren’t dominated by them…’
She’d never stuck around a pack long enough to find out.

A wolf-man was a
wolf-man, it was just that damned simple in her book, but what if Faith was
right. From what she’d already experienced, Abel didn’t seem anything like the
wolves she’d known from personal experience…

Sasha’s feet faltered
in step, but she bit down and kept going. What if Faith was wrong? But then
Faith had lived among these wolves, why would she lie? Damn it, right now her
mind was so addled to everything she couldn’t even think straight.

Who cared if these
might be nicer wolves? They were wolves. But he was her mate, would he ever
give up looking for her? Even if she somehow made it off this damn mountain,
which she very much doubted that she would, especially without a car…

Abel trailed behind
her. He would follow her until she either gave up or was too exhausted to go
any further. He certainly wasn’t about to let her go off wandering on her own,
not with a snow storm coming. But he didn’t want to get zapped again, or worse,
so allowing her to walk it off seemed his best bet.

“Stop following
me.”Sasha bit out as annoyance flared within her.

“Don’t really have a
choice.”Abel offered and heard her snort her contempt.

“It’s not like I
have you on a leash…”

“Well, actually,
yeah you sort of do.”He stopped when she did and again he waited for her to
turn around.

“Look, Abel…”
She put just a little venom behind his name. “We might be mates, but I’m really
not interested in being mated to you.”

“I think you’re
getting a little more interested as the minutes tick by…”Abel tipped his head
and regarded her with that annoyingly knowing smirk, and she rolled her eyes
and placed her hands on her hips.

“No, really, I’m
not.”Sasha lied, and he could see it written all over her face.

“Yes, really, you
are, and it’s only going to get worse, sweetheart…”

“Don’t…”She pointed
that index finger at him again and he wondered if it was loaded with magic and
raring to go. “Call me sweetheart.”She informed him and he shrugged.

He dropped his eyes
to her snowy footprints in front of him and considered that for a long moment,
when he raised his eyes back to hers he saw the way she drew a long stabilising
breath in.

“Ok.”He offered her,
and she nodded and dropped her hand back to her hip. “How’s honey sound?”He
tossed out on a devastatingly handsome grin, and she groaned and rolled her
eyes and her feet away from him. Starting off again as he followed behind.
“No?” Abel looked for clarity in his teasing tone. “Love?”

She ignored him, but
that didn’t mean that he couldn’t hear her mumbling under her breath.
“Darling?”He shot off and she groaned again. “Babycakes?”He tossed out there
and she rounded on him again, her eyes flashing with annoyance.

“Do you really want
to start with me here?”Sasha demanded and he shrugged his broad shoulders.

“Much rather we were
back in the warmth of the cabin, but beggars can’t be choosers…”He offered back
on an air of sarcasm.

“Yeah. I get that.
Fate has been so kind to award me you as a damn mate. But you know what,
I can be choosy…”

“Ouch, baby, don’t
pull your punches now, tell it like it is, even if it is a little harsh as you
don’t know me.”

“Thank the Goddess,
and I don’t want to know you, in any way, shape, or form.”Sasha pointed back
the way they had come. “Go away, Abel, because you aren’t going to find what
you’re looking for with me.”She turned away from him.

“How do you
know?”Abel tossed his words after her and he saw her hesitate in her step, she
turned back to him.

“What?”

“How do you know,
either, what I’m looking for, or if you have it in you to give it to me?”Abel
grew serious and his eyes urged her to think about it.

“You’re a wolf.”It
was the obvious answer; he knew she could probably do better than that if she
put some effort into it. She had a bug up her backside about Lycans, there had
to be a reason.

“Doesn’t mean that I
couldn’t make you happy, Sasha.”Abel shrugged and waited for his words to sink
in. He didn’t know if they did, she had already turned away and started off
again.

“Doesn’t mean you
could.”She muttered.

Faith, Hope and Fay
had all gathered in the kitchen under the pretext of making dinner, leaving
Adam and Joshua in the living room, laughing and joking about Abel’s troubles.

“This is our
fault…”Hope hissed as quietly as she could and Faith warned her with her eyes.

“It’s not like we
knew it was going to be Sasha…”Faith answered shoving a bowl of flour at her
friend.

“What’s the big
deal? We all know the mating thing doesn’t work well for everyone, look at me
and Adam, but things worked out in the end.”Fay was using logic, from what she
knew, when it wasn’t Lycan on Lycan mating things hardly ever went smoothly, it
was just a few hiccups in the road.

“Yeah, but this is Sasha,
she’s not fond of all things wolf related…”

“But that was
werewolves right?”Hope looked for clarity and Faith shrugged.

“One wolf is as good
as another as far as she’s concerned…”Faith’s head snapped around the moment
Adam growled out his presence.

The look he got from
three very guilty witches told him all he needed to know and he sighed
inwardly.

“You called her
didn’t you?”Adam looked at Faith first for clarity and saw the look of guilty
shock flash across her face.

“She came for the
gathering…”Faith rushed out a little too quickly.

“Then how do you
know what I was talking about?”Adam growled with every word. Faiths jaw flapped
around for a moment or two.

“Even I knew what
you meant and I have baby brain…”Fay offered trying to buy Faith some time to
pick up her game.

Adam turned his
accusing eyes on his mate. “It would have been all three of you little troublemakers,
so don’t think I’ve forgotten your part in this.”Fay withered slightly under
his stare. Damn it, he could read her like a book.

“Well, does it
matter, what’s done is done, however she got here?”Hope offered on a small
guilty smile and Adam groaned.

“I knew it. Why
would you do that?”Adam frowned and growled, possibly the only time outside the
bedroom that the man could multitask, Fay thought as she sighed.

“It was me…”Fay
offered and she saw Hope and Faith take a physical step backwards. Cowards.

“What was you?”Adam
demanded and she shrugged.

“I was the one who
wanted to call his mate…”

“But dumb and dumber
went along with it…”Adam growled out and Faith took a step forwards again. Her
hands going to her hips. “Isn’t it called Fate for a damn reason?”

“Now hold on there
alpha…”She started, but Fay burst into tears and silence hung heavy over the
room. Faith’s eyes shot to Fay and then back to Adam, and she saw him
physically balk at his mate’s tears.

“Sweetheart?”Adam
growled down gently as he reached out and wrapped her in his arms, drawing her
to his chest and soothing her.

“I’m sorry, Adam. I
just thought it would be nice if everyone had a mate…”Her eyes flicked up to
Faith’s and Faith balked as she recognised the duplicity in Fay’s glance. Her
jaw sagged open until she mentally snapped it shut.

My God, the pupil
certainly had become the teacher… Faith looked to Hope with a knowing look, and
Hope caught her meaning as she bit down on her lips and turned away so that
Adam couldn’t see the smile that crept onto her lips.

“It’s ok…”Adam
growled gently.

“What with it being
Christmas soon. I just wanted Abel to be happy…”She sniffled.  Adam lifted her
chin and brushed at the tears that hadn’t fallen yet.

“It’ll be ok,
sweetheart. Abel will work it out.”Adam assured her and Faith rolled her eyes.

“If he’s not stuck
up a tree or down a ditch somewhere by now.”Faith muttered and Adam frowned at
her.

“Not very helpful,
Faith.”Adam growled out a warning at her as he motioned to his mate’s distress,
and Faith opened her mouth to berate him and closed it again on a muttered
sorry.

“Do you want some
porridge?”Adam asked Fay with a hopeful smile. He wanted to take her mind of
Abel. He certainly wanted to take her mind off her tears. He hated to see his
mate cry. He hated that since she was pregnant he couldn’t judge her emotions
so well. The damn hormones were running rampant inside her and one moment she
appeared happy and the next she might as well have had fangs and claws, because
she was just as vicious with her tongue.

Fay nodded and
sniffled the imaginary tears away as Adam let her go and moved through the
kitchen at speed. If there was one thing he had learned how to make it was
damned porridge, the woman ate so much of it he wouldn’t be surprised if the pup
came out with a porridge coating.

Faith narrowed her
eyes on Fay and gave her an accusing stare, and Fay answered with a small shrug
of her shoulders and a twinkle in her eye. Score one for the pregnancy wild
card, she told herself as she watched her mate work.

Motioning with her
head for Faith to leave, Faith slipped out of the kitchen on one side of her
and Hope on the other, as Fay waited for them to make their getaway before she
turned on her heels and fled after them.

The snow started to
thicken as it fell. Great big flakes of white blanketed around her in no time
at all and the silence was almost deafening as she carried on going, one cold,
leaded, foot in front of the other cold, leaded foot. She was no longer wearing
boots but concrete slabs on her feet, and Jack Frost wasn’t content with
nipping at her nose, he’d certainly had his hands inside the warmth of her snow
clothes.

Ok, so she knew that
this was a bad idea to start off with, a really, really, bad idea, but what was
supposed to do, stay at the cabin and succumb to the mating pull?

Was it really better
to freeze to death in the middle of nowhere? Not that her mate would allow that
of course. Not her mate, she corrected herself, the wolf, if she started to
think of him in terms of him being her mate it would stick in her brain and
only make him more real to her emotionally.

Abel had just about
enough of this. She was walking in a damn blizzard, and she had no idea where
she was going, because she had started to walk in a large arch. The further she
went, the closer she came back up towards the cabin again.

He was starting to
feel the cold and he was even considering shifting into his wolf for the rest
of the trail, but then he would lose his damn clothes and when he needed to
shift back for her, he would be naked.

He was closing the
distance between them, and he knew instinctively that he hadn’t speeded up,
which meant she was slowing down, obviously not a good sign that she was
enduring the weather well.

Abel reached out and
touched her shoulder. For a long moment she didn’t acknowledge his touch, and
then her body tensed and she shook her shoulder to try to shake him off.

“You can’t get
through this, we need to get you to safety…”Abel called through the hood she
had pulled up and over her head. Pulled tight it snuggled in around her ears
for warmth.

“I’m fine…”

“No, you’re not
fine. Let me help you…”Abel growled out. It didn’t take much for him to pull
her to a dead stop and turn her around towards him. Not only did she look like
a Popsicle, but she looked totally deflated, exhausted, and miserable.

“I don’t want your
help.”She shook her head adamantly, and Abel thought that it was probably the
most movement he had seen in a while from her, apart from the slide of her feet
on the snow.

“Tough.”Abel growled
down at her. A moment later he had reached down and slung her up and over his
broad shoulder, and was already stomping off in the slightly altered direction from
which they had been going. Off towards his cabin, although he guessed fate had
sent her on a pretty good path towards it.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Put me down,
wolf.”She seemed to have a little more life in her now, at least enough to kick
her legs and squirm against him as she tried for freedom, but he held her
tightly, unwilling to let her go.

“Abel.”He corrected
her and heard her huff.

“If I call you Abel
will you put me down?”She bit out between clenched teeth, ready and willing to
make that concession if it got her down from his shoulder.

“Nope.”Abel bit out,
certain that the moment he put her down she would either stomp off in a
different direction, or zap him and then take off in a different direction, and
he had her where he wanted her so he didn’t need to make any concessions. “But
I might let you down off my shoulder.” Abel grinned to himself, maybe one
concession.

“Fine, Abel…”She
spat out. It wasn’t a particularly nice way that she’d said his name, maybe
more of a curse than a caress on her tongue, but she had said it none the less.

He instantly spun
her downwards and she gave a small shriek as her world went spinning around
her, ending up in his arms, looking up at him through the falling snow and
meeting his blue eyes with hers.

“You’re a real jerk,
do you know that?”She ground out, not even bothering for the moment to try to
be set free. She was tired and bone cold, and she could have willing curled up
against him and surrendered to slumber in those strong arms once more.

“So I’ve been
told.”Abel grinned, he couldn’t help himself. It might not have been a
declaration of love from her lips, but at least she was starting to talk to him
again, even if he was a jerk, apparently.

“Then perhaps you
should take the hint.”

“Or perhaps I just
don’t care.”Abel offered back to her, and he thought she might have pouted and
folded her arms over her chest if she had been standing on her feet, instead he
heard a small sigh.

“Perhaps you’re
incapable of change…”

“Perhaps I haven’t
had the need or the inclination, until now.”Abel was who he was, he never
apologised for his laid back attitude to life, and he wasn’t going to start
now, but being mated meant compromising, so he guessed he would have to roll
with the punches, or the damn electrocution that his mate dished out.

“Don’t try to sweet
talk me, I already told you I’m not interested.”

“Yes you did.
Several times, but what your mouth says and what your heart feels are two
different things, and you’ll come to see that.”Abel assured her, and then she
really did look as if she wanted to pout, or go ten rounds of the zapping game
with him. He wasn’t entirely sure which, because she had her shields in place
and he hadn’t learned her moods yet.

“I won’t be around
long enough…”

“I’d say the snow
and Fate have other ideas.”Abel grinned to himself, he couldn’t help it. He had
his mate in his arms and he was headed for his warm cabin, where hopefully they
might just get snowed in for a while. Let her fight the mating pull on her body
and mind then, he thought, thinking that things just might be looking up.

By the time they
reached his cabin she was shivering. Abel knew the fastest way to warm her was
with a hot bath. He would have preferred to strip them both naked and curl
around her in his bed, but he didn’t think she’d go for that idea.

“W-here are
we?”Sasha’s teeth were grinding together as she bit down on her jaw to try to
stop them chattering in her damn head.

Abel flicked on the
lights as they entered and he made no move to put her down, back heeling the door
closed he stalked clear across the cabin to the door at the far end.

“My cabin…”

“What? N-no, I
thought y-ou were tak-ing me-ee back to-oo…”She gave up. It was too hard to
talk and not chatter in her gums, and she already felt enough like an idiot for
having to be carried here, wherever here actually was?

Abel slowly lowered
her down his body and set her on her feet. Reaching out, he flicked on the
bathroom light, and she frowned. The effort to try to stop her body convulsing
in shivers was becoming as tiring as it was tiresome.

“You ok to stand
there while I get the bath running?”She hadn’t even notice that Abel hadn’t
release his hold on her yet, or that her gloved hands were loosely gripped
against the sleeves of his jacket.

“B-ath? Not bl-oody
likely.”She ground out and watched Abel lift just one eyebrow at her,
questioning her sanity with that look.

“It’s the fastest
way to get your body temperature up, but if you’d prefer to share body heat…”

“W-what?”Sasha’s
cheeks found just a little colour and he had to chuckle.

“Stop being a baby,
I won’t even look at you when you’re naked if you…”

“W-ait, what?”Abel
left her standing against the wall as he strolled into the room and she heard
the sound of the water running. Damn, but that sound invoked the image of a hot
steamy bubble bath and she almost craved it as much as a hot chocolate.

She started to relax
the physical grip she had been holding on her muscles and her body started to
shake almost uncontrollably by the time Abel appeared again.

“Jesus woman, you’re
going to shake yourself to death. Let’s get your clothes off…”Abel went to
reach for the zipper on her jacket and she managed to slap his hand down.

“T-ouch me and lo-se
a-a hand.”She spat out between chattering and Abel grinned down at her. She
certainly was feisty, he liked that.

“Ok, here’s the
deal. No funny business, I’ll help you off with your layers, but no further
than underwear, or you’re going to be here all night the way that you’re
shaking.”Abel raised his brows at her, questioning her need to deny the logic
of his words.

“F-fine.”Sasha
didn’t think she could even pull off her gloves right at that moment. Her hands
weren’t even interested in gripping anything.

Abel stepped towards
her and tried to be as benign as possible, but obviously when he stepped in
front of her he was the only thing she could see. The huge broad shoulders and
expanse of a muscled chest loomed in from of her, as his hands made quick work
of her gloves and the zipper on her jacket. The backs of his hands touched her
frosty cheeks when he pushed the hood backwards, and the warmth felt like the
warmest summer sun hitting her skin, and she almost moaned at his touch.

He took off her
jacket and knelt down to take off her boots as she leaned back against the
wall. When he stood up she felt the heat from his proximity, on the outside and
the inside, and she didn’t notice that he was unzipping her jeans, and then she
did.

“W-hat are
y-y-you…?”She wasn’t sure if the rush to panic within her had made her stammer
that much, or if the shivers were getting worse.

“Outer wear…”He
informed her, not bothering to take no for an answer as he yanked them down
around her ankles and uncovered her long legs. He growled inwardly at the
vision, outwardly he made no effort to notice.

“Th-at’s
e-enough…”She tried to brush his hands away from her jumper, but he tugged it
upwards, praying that she wasn’t naked beneath and breaking his word, but
secretly hoping that she was.

She wasn’t naked.
She was wearing one of those sports bra’s that she stood little chance of
getting off on her own, and he growled down.

“You’re never going
to get that off…”Abel informed her and she balked, her eyes flew wide as she
tried to take a step away from him. She was already in her bra and panties and
she really wasn’t about to let him…  “We’ll just have to put you in like
that…”Abel said out loud, more to himself than her, but his words seemed to
ease her anxiety a little more, right up to the point where he bent down and
picked her back up into his strong arms again and she wanted to roll her eyes
and slap her forehead at the same time.

“F-f-f…”She couldn’t
spit it out, her mind and body was too intent on the warmth that seeped into
her skin from his body now that she was down to her bare flesh and he was only
in that top.

“It’s going to feel
hot, but it’s not, once you’re in we can slowly add more hot water…”Abel leant
over the large tub with her in his arms and slowly lowered her downwards. How
the hell could she feel so safe in his arms? She wondered briefly, before the
heat of the water hit her backside and she moaned aloud from the warmth.

The sound that left
her lips made him harder than he already was for her. Damn, but he hoped that
she made that noise when he took her to bed. Abel shook the thought out of his
mind, now certainly wasn’t the time.

Slowly he immersed
her in the water, flicking off the cold water and lowering the speed of the hot,
so that it slowly topped up the bath around her. He saw her head ease back
against the tub, saw her eyes close and her lips part as she savoured the heat
around her body. She was still shivering, her teeth trying to chatter, but she
was slowly thawing, and slowly relaxing her muscles.

“Will you be ok if I
go make some hot chocolate?”Abel asked and she nodded her head, but she didn’t
open her eyes.

He got to his feet
and looked down on her, she looked like an angel in his tub, a slightly
battered and bruised angel, but still, he’d give anything to climb in there
with her and hold her in his arms…

Sasha heard his
boots on the hardwood floor as he left the room, but she couldn’t dismiss him
so easily. He seemed so easy going, so… nice, but that was only because she was
his mate, she needed to remember that underneath he was a wolf, and that wasn’t
a good thing.

Abel called his
brother as he waited for the kettle to boil and filled him in on what had
happened. When Adam started to tease him he ended the call and finished making
their hot chocolate. Strolling into the bathroom he noted that her breathing
had eased and she had some more colour, bruises aside.

Placing the mugs
down on the floor as he knelt beside the bath he dipped his fingers into the
water and turned off the hot tap, any warmer and she might just come out like a
baked potato.

Abel rested his arm
against the tub and gently stroked down her cheek with the backs of his fingers,
careful to steer clear of her bruises.

“Sasha?”He knew she
was somewhere between sleep and getting there, just tittering on the edge. She
moaned softly and shivered again, her lashes fluttered open and she took a long
moment to realise where she was.

“Warmer?”He asked as
he saw the colour flood her cheeks this time, and he turned away to give her a
moment. Reaching for the mugs he held hers out to her. “Chocolate?”

Damn, a guy who
brought her hot chocolate in the tub, if that wasn’t a kick in the pants by
fate she didn’t know what could be. She reached for the cup, careful to place
her fingers as far away from his as she could get them so as not to touch him.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like the rush that went through her when they
touched, it felt good, really good, too good, and that was the problem.

“Thanks.”She blew
the stem from the mug and sipped carefully, she’d already been frozen, and she
didn’t need to be burnt on the same day.

Abel sat back on his
heels and kept his attention away from her. He looked at the room around him.

“Might just have to
decorate, what do you think?”He asked casually and she frowned into her mug.

“You’re asking me
for decorating tips?”

“I’m trying not to
notice that half naked woman in my tub…”He chuckled and just knew that her
cheeks were flushing red again.

“You could always do
the decent thing and leave.”She shot back.

“Wouldn’t want you
to fall asleep again and drown…”He offered and heard her sigh.

“Perhaps that would
at least solve both of our problems.”She heard the low growl that rumbled
through his chest and wondered at it.

“Don’t even go there,
Sasha.”Abel pulled himself to his feet and started for the door. “I’m going to
put some food on, please tell me you’re not a vegetable muncher.”

She couldn’t help
the chuckle that escaped her lips. Wouldn’t that serve him right, but she
couldn’t live without meat, not even to spite him.

“Not as carnivorous
as you, but I eat meat.”She answered, biting back another snigger, and watched
his backside as he walked out of the door. Tight and hard, just right to sink
her fingers into when… Damn.

“One tree.” Adam
growled as Joshua battled to get it through the front door. The branches
snagged and protested, but he finally managed to yank it inside.

“Oh, Joshua, it’s
amazing, thank you.”Fay grinned from the other side of the room and Joshua
glowed under her praise. Adam looked downcast as he waited for his brownie
points, but she turned her attention back to the bowl of porridge she was
hovering up.

“Hello?”Adam patted
his chest expectantly, and Fay swallowed down the mouthful of porridge and
pointed her spoon in his direction.

“You need to dig out
the two boxes of decorations that came with my stuff…”She watched the deep
frown on his forehead deepen even further as he stared back at her, and then
she flicked her spoon in the general direction of the cupboard under the stairs
to motivate him. “No time like the present.”She offered helpfully, and his head
dropped down on his neck and he started towards the cupboard.

“What do you want me
to do with this?”Joshua asked and Adam’s head snapped around on his neck.

“I could tell you
where to put it.”He growled at his friend. They both knew who had cut the damn
tree down, and who had dragged it through the woods. Joshua had only taken it
when Abel had called him on the mobile, and now he didn’t even have the decency
to tell Fay any of that, instead he took her praise. Some friend…

“Now now, don’t you
have baubles and tinsel to find?”Joshua teased and Adam debated putting his
fist into the big shifters face, but decided against it. He didn’t want to get
Fay all worked up again, but he did growl him a warning of things to come as he
yanked open the door to the cupboard and stalked inside.

“Just lean it
somewhere for now, thanks.”Fay told him, before she practically scrapped off
the pattern from the inside of the bowl and patted her swollen stomach to tell
the pup that was his lot for now.

Joshua sniffed the
air looking for his mates scent, and Fay dropped down from her stool. “She’s in
the back bedroom, we had a cookie dough malfunction and she’s changing her
top.”Fay informed him and saw his eyes light up as he took off faster than
normal and Fay chuckled.

The sound of things
being tossed around the cupboard made Fay smile even more. She knew Adam had
wanted his praise, expected it, and that made it all the more fun to deny him.

She crossed the room
and slipped into the cupboard behind him as he grumbled to himself. She pulled
the door shut behind her and his head came up and he sniffed the air.

“I’m looking…”He
offered without turning around, and she closed the distance between them,
reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. He turned towards her.

“Thank you for my
tree.”She grinned up at him with a look of mischief in her eyes. Adam grinned
down at her.

“You’re welcome.”His
eyes flicked to the closed door of the cupboard and then back to her in an
instant. “Is there something else you wanted love?”He moved towards her and she
shrugged her shoulders.

“I just wanted to
give you a proper thank you.”She wished she didn’t have a belly swollen to the
size of a damned poker table sticking out in front of her, because she’d really
like to be chest to breast with him again, preferably naked…

Adam scented her
arousal and growled long and hard. He was tall enough to be able to curve his
body over her swollen belly, and he claimed her lips in a heated kiss that had
her reaching for the zipper on his jeans.

“Not here.”He
growled, knocking her hands away and reaching down to lift her into his arms.
She couldn’t help but giggle as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Why not here?”

“Because I can’t lay
you down here, and what I’m going to do to you really needs a bed…”He growled
at the thought, as he kicked open the door and swept her through the living
room. The sound of Joshua and Hope drifted towards him from the back bedroom
and he grinned.

“Sounds like
everyone had the same idea.”He growled at her as Faith dropped down on the sofa
and huffed.

“Not everyone…”She
bitched, reaching for the remote and turning on the television. “Have fun. I
would.” -If my mate was here, she groaned inside her own mind as she settled
back to watch anything that would take her mind of all the sex around her. God
she missed him, and sex, and him, but sex… really missed all the sex they would
be having if he was here.

Abel heard her move
in the tub, heard the water cascade from her body as she dragged herself to her
feet, heard the plug being pulled, and then her feet hitting the floor.

He warmed the stew
that had been left over from the night before and given to him to take home as
leftovers by Fay, so that he had something on hand if he wanted it.

It wasn’t that he
couldn’t cook, he could and did, often. It was that Fay had become such a
damned mother hen that she was constantly looking after him, which might change
when she finally had the pup. Then she’d have someone else to look after and he
could go back to being self sufficient.

He heard her pull
off her wet clothes and deposit them in the sink and saw just her arms and
hands reach out for the fresh towels on the rack. When she appeared at the
doorway, wrapped in a large bath sheet, he cursed himself for not having
smaller towels.

“There’s a robe you
can put on, it’s clean.”He pointed towards the fluffy thing that Fay had bought
him as it hung over the back of the dinning chair, and turned his attention
back to what he was doing as she snatched it up and disappeared back into the
bathroom.

By the time she came
out again he had the food dished up into large bowls and was heading towards
the dinner table with them and spoons.

“Listen, I never
thanked you for what you did…”Sasha started, and he put the bowls down and
turned back towards the kitchen.

“No need. Eat your
food.”Abel certainly didn’t need thanking for protecting his mate, if anything
he should be chastised for not acting in her best interests sooner, although if
he had, he figured she would have put up more of a fight.

He grabbed a couple
of bottles of juice from the side and turned back towards her. She was sitting
at the table, wearing his robe and looking like she belonged, and his heart
skipped a couple of beats within his chest.

“What is it?”She
asked prodding around the food with her spoon and he wanted to chuckle.

“Fay made it last
night. It has chicken in it.”Abel placed the juice at the side of her bowl and
slipped onto a chair beside her.

“That’s
descriptive.”

“And vegetables. I
seem to remember seeing a carrot.”Now he was just being awkward, but it made
her smile. “Could be a potato lurking somewhere in there too.”Her smile widened,
and he couldn’t take his eyes off her as she continued to poke the food.

“I see a pea…”She
offered and he chuckled.

“I think you got the
only pea…”

“Wanna share it?”She
seemed to have forgotten for the moment that he was the enemy and he relished
that.

“Split it down the
middle like an atom?”He grinned just as she raised her eyes to his and she held
fast there for a long moment, snared in his gaze.

Sasha shook her head
slightly and tried to refocus on what she was doing and who she was with. She
was naked under his bathrobe, sitting in his cabin, eating his food, and he was
the wolf… Not so much the big bad wolf right now, but the wolf none the less.

“So when will the
road down thaw enough for me to be on my way?”Sasha saw the brightness in his
eyes dull a little and knew she’d hit her mark.

“Depends when the storm
lifts…”He wasn’t going to commit himself to a time frame. She was here now and
that meant that every moment they spent together her body would be itching to
mate with him, and that was what counted.

If she wasn’t his by
morning then something was going wrong somewhere. “Eat your food or you won’t
have the energy to do much of anything, let alone get down a mountain.”He
informed her, now working his way back to neutral.

Sasha found that the
stew wasn’t half bad. A little spicy as it tingled on her tongue, but then she
liked spicy, and she was getting used to tingling, every time her mate touched
her she tingled, and now that he wasn’t, she kind of missed it. Not that she
was ever going to admit that.

“I’ll have to sort
you out some clothes when we’ve finished…”He offered and she couldn’t help but
take in the large frame of the man. She might be a little curvier than most
women aspire too, but then she wasn’t most women, she did as she pleased and if
people didn’t like it then tough on them, but still she didn’t think he had
anything that was going to fit her like a glove.

“Thanks.”

“You can stop
thanking me.”Abel smiled.

“It’s called manners
and I have them, I get that you don’t…”

“I…”Abel frowned,
trying to figure out where that accusation came from.

“I could try to go
native, but…”She shrugged her indifference, and he sat back in his chair and
folded those large arms across his chest. Her eyes flicked to the corded
muscles, made more so by his actions, and she felt a jolt of something that
wasn’t unpleasant inside her, just unwelcome considering the circumstances.

“You know I must
have missed the area on my body where I have six-six-six tattooed into my skin,
perhaps you could point it out for me.”Abel tossed at her, and she nearly
choked on a lump of potato as she tried to swallow it down, spluttering in her
amusement, but trying to hide it.

“I don’t want to get
that close to you.”She put the acidity in her voice to keep the guilt away.
He’d been nothing but nice and she was treating him with contempt, it was akin
to kicking a puppy, but then he was no sweet little puppy, she reasoned, this
one had fangs and claws and could end her in a heartbeat, and that she knew
through personal experience.

“Well aren’t you
just the little caustic princess?”He teased and saw her squirm slightly in her
seat.

“We can’t all be
arseholes like you…”She shot back between clenched teeth. At least he was
showing his true colours now, she though. Her eyes flicked up to see his beady
little eyes on her, although they weren’t that beady, they were shining with
amusement, even though she had niggled the anger side of him.

“I’m just going to
go and find the princess some clothes…”He informed her unfolding his arm and
placing the palms of his large hands down onto the table top as he pushed
himself up to his full height, and boy did his body look like it went on
forever as she sneered up at him, menacingly hovering above where she sat.

“Nice to see you can
make yourself useful.”She sniped and watched him stalk away from the table on a
huff.

Sasha waited until
her body registered that he wasn’t that close to her anymore and sagged back
against the chair, biting off a silent curse as she closed her eyes and longed
for some summer sun to magically take away the snow and give her the freedom she
needed to escape him.

Faith sat snuggled
into the cushions watching some drippy love story that made her snort with
contempt, until contempt turned to boredom and her lids drooped downwards over
her eyes, and she felt her body slowly ease towards a catnap.

The hands that
covered her eyes made her jump in place. The feeling of wanting that went
through her body and brought her awake made her gasp in a breath. Her hands
flew up to his and her insides bubbled with excitement.

“Guess who?”The deep
melodic tones that whispered against her ear made her heart sing with happiness
as she pulled his hands away and turned in her seat, looking up to take Jake in,
before she clambered up over the back of the sofa.

He took a step
backwards as she launched herself against him. Her legs wrapped around his hips
and her arms around his neck, and she grinned until her cheeks hurt.

“I take it you
missed me?”Jake teased and Faith rolled her eyes.

“Well der. Everybody
is mated and I wanted you…”Faith brushed her lips against his and he groaned as
she pressed her sex against the hardness that wanted her right then and there.

“Just for sex
then?”He drawled and saw the glint of mischief in her eyes.

“Sex is good, but I
missed you…”

“Sex is very
good…”He raised his brows suggestively and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Cupboard…”Faith
motioned behind her and he gave her an old fashioned look of disbelief.

“Cupboard?”Jake
rolled his eyes, but she just grinned at him wickedly.

“Cupboard. Now…”She
hissed, dipping her head and nipping against his neck. Jake swung them around
and headed for the cupboard.

“What’s wrong with
your bedroom?”Jake asked, not really giving a damn. His mate was hot with
desire and need and he wasn’t about to say no to her.

“Too far.”Her hands
had already wandered down his chest and by the time he had her inside the small
room, her back up against a wall, and he was devouring her mouth and savouring
the taste of her that he’d missed this week, she had already let his arousal
lose and was stroking down his shaft in eager anticipation.

Jake broke away from
her lips and eased her down to her feet, but she didn’t stay there for long,
she was already on her knees, looking up at him with those big doe eyes and
licking her lips in anticipation.

“I missed you…”She
informed him, not giving him time to answer before she practically swallowed
him whole with her mouth.

Jake nearly punched
a hole in the wall as his hands shot out to keep his knees from buckling.

“Jesus, Faith!”He
growled out through clenched teeth at the feel of her sheathing him and then
licking at him as if he were her favourite ice cream, sucking hard and
ploughing back down as far as she could take him.

He reached down and
pulled her to her feet, turning her to face the wall, he reached under her skirt
and yanked down her panties.

“That’s rude. I
wasn’t finished…”Faith pouted with equal amounts of annoyance and frustration.

“No, but I nearly
was darling, and right now we both need more…”He breathed against her neck as
he yanked her hips backwards and felt his way along her wet sex with the tip of
his hardness. He could feel her wetness, she was ready for him, Faith was
always ready for him, and he wanted to drop to his knees and taste her, but he
knew she’d probably just grab a handful of his hair and pull him right back up
again to get what she wanted.

“What’s the opposite
of slow down?”Faith hissed at him sarcastically. He thrust deep into her and
felt her body melt for the longest moment as her inner muscles clenched at his
arrival.

“Happy now?”

“Nope, not yet…”She
did grab a handful of his hair and pulled his head against her shoulder. “Why
do you have fangs if you’re…?”He sunk his fangs deep into the vein on her neck
and she was instantly silenced. The first hard draw on her blood made her
clench around him even harder as he thrust into her over and again, and she
climbed right up there to that top diving board and was about to jump off when
he stopped everything.

“Are you kidding
me?”She groaned as he pulled out of her, fangs and erection, and slowly turned
her in place.

“I want to see your
face when you come for me…”Jake grinned at her wickedly, and she almost punched
him in the face.

“I want to rip
your…”He claimed her mouth at the same time as he lifted her against the wall
and thrust back inside her.

Faiths legs wrapped
around his hips and he was powering into her like a man possessed. She didn’t
have time to think, time to breathe, she was too caught up in what he was
doing.

“Tell me you missed
me…”Jake breathed against her lips and she groaned her contempt for him. “Tell
me you missed me or I’ll stop again…”Jake teased her until her eyes flew open
and her nails dug into the skin on his shoulders.

“Missed- you…”Faith
managed, just on the very edge of that diving board, and he shifted his hips,
rubbing his shaft over her nub. She exploded with a pulsing fire that raced
through her whole body and consumed her.

“So good-
Faith…”Jake felt her muscles massaging him hard towards his own climax and he
thrust hard and deep, burying himself inside her and taking his own pleasure,
thrusting over and over until he had nothing left to give.

“I hate it when you
pull crap like that…”She moaned against his chest. The feel of his tongue
running over the wounds on her neck made her shiver.

“Well, I like it
when you get all fiery and feisty.”Jake chuckled, savouring the last of her
blood and lifting his dark eyes to hers. “Tell me you missed me again…”

“Tell me you’re
staying for Christmas…”Faith bit back.

“Christmas?”Jake
looked somewhat confused and a little horrified. “Do we do Christmas?”

“Better get buying
those gifts…”She wiggled her eyebrows at him and he groaned. “Fay wants a
family Christmas, and we got a tree.”

“I wondered why the
pack was bringing the forest indoors. I just thought Abel needed somewhere to
relieve himself without getting cold paws.”

Faith couldn’t help
but chuckle, even though she slapped his chest hard and berated him with a dark
glare.

“Be nice…”

“I haven’t drained
anybody yet have I?”Jake tossed back. His eyes falling to the pulse in her
neck. “Although, I could go for another Scooby snack…”

“Scooby snack?”Faith
growled.

“I’m trying to fit
in with the family, honey, when in Rome…”Jake shrugged of his insults and moved
his hips against her. He was hard and getting harder inside her again.

“Did you miss me,
honey?”Faith teased, knowing how insatiable he could be after a forced absence
from her.

“I’m going to take
you every which way and then we can work on finding some new ones…”

“Not in here you’re
not, somewhere in here lurks some Christmas decorations people will be wanting.”Faith
warned him and he sighed.

“Do you think anyone
will notice if I carry you through the house to your bedroom like this?”He
teased again and she chuckled.

“I think everyone is
too busy having sex to notice, make it fast…”

“The carrying or the
sex, because we already did fast…”

Sasha stood looking
down at the material puddle around her ankles. There was just no way in hell
that she was ever going to make them stay up, considering the wolf claimed he
didn’t own a belt, which she found highly suspect. Who didn’t own at least one
damn belt? Still, she had a few choices, walk around holding the damn jog pants
in place, forget, drop them, and either give him the wrong idea, or trip the
hell over them.

Eat a few pounds of
cheese, waiting for the bloating to start and when she looked five months
pregnant… well then they just might stay in place, or, forgo them altogether
and leave the bare space between his socks, that were pulled up to her damn
knees, and his t-shirt, that came down to just above the knee…

Hmm,
decisions-decisions… Sasha stepped out of the material and bent over to pick
them up just as the bedroom door shot open and a low deep growl echoed through
his bedroom around her.

“For the love of the
Goddess can I get some damn privacy?”She hissed out. Spinning on her heels and
finding him standing there with his mouth open and a really dumb expression on
his face.

When Abel hadn’t
heard anything from the bedroom for a while he got worried and thought he’d
make sure she was alright. When he opened the door the last thing he’d expected
to see was her bent over and the long white creamy skin of the backs of her
thighs, topped off with the ample swell of her backside greeting him like a
welcome home sign…

Damn it, but he was
harder than one of those fancy, naked male ice sculptures that Faith had at her
wedding, and he didn’t think he’d melt as fast as they did either.

Abel couldn’t move,
he didn’t breathe. He thought his tongue might have been hanging out of his
mouth, and his eyes might have popped out of his head and hit her backside when
she rallied at him, wailing like a banshee, but he had that insane need to grin
like an idiot as he stared back at her.

“There’s a lock on
the door, babe, if you weren’t inviting me in, wouldn’t you have locked
it?”Abel teased. He just couldn’t help himself, the fiery look of her eyes met
with the adorable crimson of her cheeks, and the way she was dressed, in just a
tee and socks, and nothing underneath, made him want to emulate his wolf and
fall on the floor to show her his belly.

“You have the morals
of a pig…”She spat out and he grinned wider.

“You take the high
road, and I’ll take the low road…”

“And where the damn
roads join, I’ll run you the hell over, now get out…”She raised her arm and
pointed her finger over his shoulder and he tipped his head to one side and
considered her.

“Did you think I
didn’t know the way?”Abel was in full fledge devilish mode and she wasn’t
impressed.

“Goddess, you are
the most infuriating…”She stomped her foot. Actually stomped her damn foot, she
hadn’t done that since she was nine. This was what being around a stupid Lycan
male did to her…

“Yeah and you love
it, don’t you?”Abel rolled his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows, and she felt the
urgent need to plant his head through the nearest wall.

“Were your parents
related by any chance?”She snapped back and Abel gave a low whistle of
disbelief.

“Wow sweetheart,
don’t hold back for my sake, come on, and really let me have it.”Abel threw his
arms up in the air and snorted in disbelief.

Sasha felt the anger
rise within her along with her magic. With one hand held out, she drew on the
power within her. Abel’s large frame was lifted off his feet and he went
sailing backwards out of the door. He hit the wall with relative little force,
but that didn’t stop him from sliding down it onto his backside on the floor.

Shocked and
disorientated he shook his head and stared back into the room at her as she
stood there glaring at him, with a flick of her wrist the door slammed shut and
he growled out, long and hard in annoyance.

Dragging himself to
his feet he shook it off. He drew himself to his full height and stalked the
few paces back to the door. Gripping the handle he yelped in pain as what felt
like electricity shot up his arm and through his body causing every muscle to spasm
hard within him.

It took a long
moment for the pain to subside and his muscles to relax after he let go of the
damn handle, and he stood there, as mad as hell and panting in anger like his
damn wolf.

He was going to kill
her, rip her limb from limb, and then he was going to feed her to the damn
crows, and when they were done he’d gnaw on the damn bones, using them for
toothpicks…

His wolf whimpered
inside him at the thought and he growled with menace as he lifted his leg and
kicked in the door.

Sasha was about to
sit on the bed when the door was beaten backwards against the frame. The loud
thud and sounds of wood splintering made her jump inwardly and hold in place,
her backside half in the air as her head snapped up and she met his dark glare.

Was history going to
repeat itself, right here and now? Had she pushed him too far? Could this wolf
contain himself, or would she end up like her mother had… dead at the hands of
a wolf?

Sasha froze in fear.
Her eyes were wide and her brain shut down almost completely to anything but
the sight of Abel’s dark glare. He stalked towards her with so much menace in
every step that he took, that she forgot to breathe, forgot who she was, forgot
to use the one thing she had to save herself… Magic.

“Woman, you asked
for it…”Abel growled out between clenched teeth…

So there it was his
intent. She was going to die by her mate’s hand, or to be more accurate, claws
and fangs, ripped apart like her mother had been. Lycans really were no
different from werewolves.

Abel reached out to
grab her. If she had been any other, he might have finished her there and then,
but right now the only intention he had was to kiss the damn woman senseless
until she couldn’t think of anything but the damn mating pull. He’d show her
who was boss and have his revenge by making her see that she couldn’t escape
Fates plan for her.

Sasha saw the large
hand come towards her and her knees buckled beneath her body, unable or
unwilling to hold her up any longer as her muscles quivered within her and she
fell.

Bringing her hands
up to protect her head from the expected blows, she didn’t make a sound, didn’t
cry out as the fear washed through her. It wasn’t in her to go out that way.
She wished she’d been strong enough to face him, to face the final blow head
on…

CHAPTER FIVE

Abel saw his mate
cower and his body froze in place. His anger died in an instant, replaced by
rationality as he felt his mates fear like a battering ram to his senses, and
his wolf roared within him.

“No!”Abel felt the
shame rush through him for what he had done, for what he saw and felt from his
mate. “Sasha…”He saw her eyes beneath the protective shield of her arms staring
up at him, and he reached for her slowly, so as not to scare her any further.

“I would never hurt
you…”His gentle growl was mixed with the disgust inside him that his own
actions had made his mate fear him, and that twisted his guts and made him feel
physically ill.

He dropped to one
knee on the floor in front of her and bowed his head in shame as his hand
rested upon her side as she lay twisted in fear on the bed.

“Forgive me for
making you think that I would strike you, that was not my intention, I
swear.”Abel’s sorrowful tone made her stomach clench and she wasn’t sure why.

“You were going
to…”Sasha’s arms didn’t drop down, but they did relax slightly.

“I have never hit a
female, and I never would…”Abel assured her. His eyes stayed down in his shame.
His head was tilted to one side, and she knew enough about Lycans to know that
he was showing her reverence, showing his shame, and showing her his submission
for her judgement of him, of his actions.

“Please go
away.”Sasha couldn’t deal with this now. The memories of her mother’s death had
flooded back to her. All the hate she felt for the shifters was bubbling within
her, and she couldn’t deal with his act of contrition, not now.

Abel hesitated. He
opened his mouth to speak but just nodded instead. Slowly he brought himself to
his feet, but not fully. His back still curved forwards and his head was still
down in shame as he turned and left the room. He would have closed the door and
given her privacy, but it was hanging on only one hinge and he didn’t want her
to have to suffer his presence any longer than she needed too.

Sasha saw him go and
took her first real breath since he had kicked in the door. Slowly she uncurled
her body, her muscles were tense and wouldn’t be as easily unwound. She crawled
up the bed and curled up against the headboard. Her hands reached blindly for
the pillow beside her and she hugged it to her chest. The scent of him clung to
the pillowcase and she breathed him in. The sound of the front door slamming
shut made her ears hurt as she strained to hear him over the deafening silence
of the cabin.

Adam yanked the
bedroom door closed behind him as he heard Faith giggle from the stairs. His
eyes caught sight of his sister with her legs wrapped around her mate and he
snorted as the scent of what they had been up to reached his nose.

“If it isn’t Mr
Transfusion back from beyond.”Adam growled. He kept up the pretence of not
really liking the guy, when in truth he actually thought Jake was ok,
especially for a vampire. He was also a good influence on Faith, he calmed her
a little, and that was always a bonus.

“Bitten any heads of
small puppies lately, Adam?”Jake offered lightly, knowing that he’d been caught
in rather a compromising situation with his mate. He was still buried deep
inside her and it was only her skirt that covered that fact.

“Some damned vampire
had gotten to them first…”

“Must be
frustrating, always coming in second to a vampire…”Jake offered and heard the
alpha growl.

“Boys behave, put
those little girl claws away and play nicely…”Faith offered, wanting to groan
aloud as Jake shifted his stance and buried himself deeper within her. And she
knew that was deliberate, because he could stand perfectly still all day long
without even twitching a muscle let alone his… “It’s nearly Christmas.”She
offered innocently, as she sunk her fingernails into Jake’s neck and felt his
arousal twitch inside her. Two could play at that game, and she played to win.
Just a little slow squeeze of her inner muscles and…

“You’re right, I
would never ruin Christmas for Fay…”Jake offered with a little dig at the Alpha
and he saw Adam’s eyes flare.

“Are you insinuating
that I would?”Adam growled and Jake managed a shrug off his shoulders.

“If the little cap
that reads humbug fits…”Jake informed him as Faith squeezed those damn muscles
hard around him and he groaned inwardly. God, the woman was like a boa
constrictor at times, not that it bothered him normally…

Adam opened his
mouth, but the thud of the front door opening and being slammed shut again drew
his attention to the sound of his brother stomping into the house.

“Faith, I need
you…”Abel shouted and Faith looked at Adam. The sound of Abel’s voice told her
something was wrong, but how the hell could she move? She was impaled on her
mate…

“Adam turn
around…”She hissed out, and Adam frowned in confusion at her.

“What?”Adam growled
and Faith rolled her eyes, did she need to draw him a damned picture?

“Faith, please…”Abel
called out, getting closer.

“We’re…”Faith
hissed, “joined.”She finished, drawing him that damned picture with her eyes.

Adam took a minute
to cotton on and then he balked, a grin spreading across his face in amusement
for her predicament. “Oh.” He turned his back as Jake lifted her from him,
quickly tucking himself away, as Faith brushed her skirt downwards, already
setting off down the stairs towards Abel who was coming up.

“What’s
happened?”Faith demanded, and saw an Abel that she didn’t recognise. The pain
and shame was mixed on his face as he stared up at her. His eyes were blank as
if he’d just lost the love of his life, and Faith felt the greying of his aura
around him more than she saw it. “Abel?”

She reached out a
hand and placed it on his shoulder as he shook his head in remorse.

“She fears me,
Faith. I caused my mate to fear me…”His eyes dropped and then his head followed
with the weight of the world on his shoulders. “She cowered.”He admitted in his
remorse and Faith took a long breath in and squeezed his shoulder.

“Where is she?”

“My cabin.”Abel’s
body went to fold in on itself and he started to sit, but Faith had other ideas
and she used all of her strength to keep him up on his feet.

“Nope. You’re coming
with me.”She ground out, thankful that Abel had taken his own weight and was
standing up again. “And you.”She tossed over her shoulder at her mate as she
turned Abel on the stairs and pushed him ahead of her.

Sasha hadn’t moved
an inch on the bed. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there,
tossing and turning things over in her mind, when she heard the front door open
and close again, but when Faith came bounding into the bedroom, she had to
guess it had been quite a while.

Faith took in the
door hanging off its hinges and sighed. Her eyes taking in Sasha, all curled
into the very top of the bed and she sighed again, especially when Sasha only
double blinked her hellos.

“What the hell
happened to you?”Faith bounded up onto the bed and pulled her legs under her
body as she settled in for what might be the long haul.

“I choked…”Sasha
said the words so quietly that Faith barely caught them.

“What does that
mean?”Faith leaned in, if Sasha was planning to whisper she didn’t want to miss
anything.

“We were arguing, I
tossed him out the door, shocked him a little, and when he kicked the door in,
he was so…”Sasha stopped and remembered the look in her mate’s eyes. The anger
that boiled within him, the dark glare as he looked at her as though he was
going to rip her limb from limb, and the menacing way that he had stalked
towards her… “Do you think that was the last thing my mother saw…?”

Faith almost choked
on her own tongue as her heart lurched within her chest. “Oh crap, Sasha, Abel
would never hurt you…” Faith reached for her hand, but she moved it away,
hugging the pillow to her chest for comfort.

“That’s what he
said…”Sasha dropped her eyes to the space between them on the bed, lost
somewhere in the question and answers that were pinging back and forth within
her mind. “The way he looked at me, Faith. I thought…”Sasha shook her head and
screwed up her face. “I couldn’t pull on my magic to defend myself, just like
my mother…”

“Sash, this was
nothing like that. Abel would never hurt a woman, not intentionally, trust me,
I’ve just about done everything to him of the Fae and human torture variety
growing up, and he never once attacked me…”Faith rolled her eyes in her head
and let a small smile roll over her face. “He held me down and tickled me until
I couldn’t breathe a few times. I nearly peed my pants once.”She admitted,
bringing Sasha eyes back up to hers. She seemed to be getting through to her.

“He’s thrown me into
the pond more times than I care to mention. Held me upside down by my ankles so
the blood rushed to my head and made me dizzy a few times. He once drew a beard
with permanent marker on me when I was drunk and sleeping…”Faith tried to think
of all the things Abel had done by way of payback for her misdemeanours, but
they were just to numerable to recount in one go.

“Oh, and he once
stuck a frog down my knickers in retaliation for me super gluing his backside
to the toilet seat…”Faith offered and saw a light come on in Sasha’s eyes. She
was back in the here and now, and Faith patted herself on the back.

“But that was
totally worth it, seeing him walk around with the damn seat stuck to his arse,
until someone could be bothered to let him into the nail varnish remover secret,
was worth its weight in gold. And when he’s being a butthead, people still tell
him to go take his toilet seat and crap in the woods.”Faith’s eyes glinted with
the mischief that was roaming through her.

“Oh the stories I
could tell you about Abel… but not once did he ever lift his hand to me in
anger, and you know what a bitch I can be.”Faith was sure that she heard
agreement from the other room, be it Jake or Abel, she wasn’t sure, but she
would damn well find out later by nefarious means, and one of them was going to
pay for it.

“Tell me.”Sasha
prompted, and Faith grinned as she crawled up the bed beside her and settled in
for the long haul.

“Jake, a couple of coffees
wouldn’t go a miss.”She called out with a devilish grin at Sasha. “Where to
start?”

“Did you have to
tell her about the time I got my penis stuck in the…?”Abel whined as Faith
sauntered out of the bedroom.

“No…”Faith shook her
head in innocent agreement.

“So why did
you?”Abel growled down at her as Jake walked to her side and wrapped his arm
around her back, pulling her to his hip, he couldn’t hide his own amusement at
Abel’s unease.

“Because that’s what
families do…”Faith gave him an over the top look of glee. She had to admit, it
was fun reliving all of the old days as she took his mate through all his
stupidities over the years, and it was even more fun knowing that Abel would be
out there listening and squirming to each and every one of those stories. “And
it’s Christmas.”Faith added with extra relish on a shrug of her shoulders and a
playful slap to his chest.

“And what does that
mean?”Abel growled down at her, annoyed that she was having so much fun at his
expense.

“I looked it up on
the net. Christmas is the time when related people bother to visit each other,
they bitch and whine and rehash every mistake anyone has ever made, to the
enjoyment of others.”Faith assured him and Abel growled again.

“Actually
sweetheart, Christmas is the time for forgiving past mistakes and rekindling
the bond between families…”Jake watched both Faith and Abel turn their eyes
towards him in disbelief.

“Where’s the fun in
that?”Faith asked and Abel growled again.

“Wait ‘til it’s your
turn, Faith, and we’ll see how much fun reliving your old escapades cause
you.”Abel assured her and she swallowed and frowned.

“Ok, so I vote we go
with Jake’s version of Christmas.”Faith announced and Abel shook his head,
relishing in her discomfort for a change.

“Too late, Sister,
you started this little tradition.”Abel informed her.

“Ok, so we’re
going…”Faith rushed out, pushing at her mate’s chest and nudging him slowly
towards the cabin door.

“Run away little sister,
but it’s not even Christmas yet.”Abel growled after her and she snorted at him.
Pulling on her thick padded jacket and snow boots in record time. “Your time
will come.”Abel offered with glee as Faith yanked the door open and rushed Jake
through it.

Joshua didn’t need
the steps to reach the top of the tree, so Fay enlisted his help to string the
lights that far up, as she sniggered at her mate’s nervous breakdown every time
she clambered up the steps to place another bauble near the top.

“Fay, be…”

“Careful!” Everyone
chimed out together and Adam sneered.

“Over protective
much?”Hope chuckled first at everyone’s outburst, and then at the sight of him,
pacing around her in a semi circle, like his wolf would do, as she deliberately
tittered on the edge to annoy him.

Hope’s eyes flicked
towards her mate. She could see that Joshua was constantly eyeing Fay as well
and sighed to herself at the thought of just how protective he was going to be
once he knew she was pregnant, which was why she wasn’t going to tell him just
yet.

“Don’t you have
something to tell your mate?”Adam eyed her with amusement. He knew Hope’s scent
as well as he knew his own, and he’d known the moment she got pregnant. He
didn’t know why it wasn’t the same for bear shifters, unless Joshua knew but
wasn’t letting on…

Hope froze on the
spot as she stared back at Adam. She wondered if he knew her little secret, and
when his eyes dropped to her stomach, as gasped in a breath and hissed at him.

“How’d you…?”Hope
looked flummoxed, then guilty, and then very guilty as her eyes took a slow
journey to her mate and she found him questioning her from under his dark
brows.

“Honey, I’m an
Alpha.”Adam grinned. His hands reaching up for his mates fuller hips as he gave
up trying to be calm and went in for cautious, as he locked her in place on the
steps, trapped by his hold on her.

“What’s going
on?”Fay hissed down at Adam. Her lower body was facing the tree and her upper
body was turned to look down at Hope and Joshua as they faced off across the
room. Not an easy task when she had a belly the size of a small beanbag to
contend with.

“That’s what I’d
like to know…”Joshua growled. Holding himself back from the urge to close the
distance between them.

Hope’s eyes shot
back to Adam and he saw her top lip twitch with annoyance, as his grin spread
across his face.

“Yeah, Hope, what’s
going on?”Adam was feigning innocence now, obviously too little too late, and
Hope glared at him.

“I hate you.”She
growled at Adam who blew her a kiss.

“Hope?”Joshua
growled. His natural instinct to lose his patience in the blink of an eye had
been tempered lately, mainly thanks to his mate, but right now that instinct
gripped him like a hug from his mother, tight and hard, and he wanted answers.

Hope lifted her
hands and dropped them back at her sides with a small shrug of defeat.

“Well I wasn’t going
to tell you, just yet…”She shot Adam another glare that would have turned him
to stone if she’d applied the right spell and a lot of magic behind it. “But,
I’m pregnant.”Hope announced.

Joshua’s face
drained of blood as he growled low and hard. “Preg…”He swallowed hard, went to
take a step, froze, tried again, froze again. His knees felt weak and his
stomach was tossing over and again inside him. Damn it, those were the words he
had imagined hearing every day since he’d met his mate, and now that he heard
them for real he was lost in the thrall of total and complete… Panic.

“You alright big
guy?”Adam chuckled as little noises that sounded like gurgling came from
Joshua’s lips.

Fay reached out a
hand and slapped him hard around the back of his head. That one slap caused
Joshua to speed into action as he snapped to awareness. Rushing across the room
towards his mate he looked somewhat perplexed.

“Sit down…”Joshua
instructed her and she balked, rolling her eyes and looking around her mate’s
body to glare at Adam.

“Here we go…”She
snorted at the Alpha in disgust. “I don’t need to sit down…”Hope informed her
mate, but Joshua balked.

“But you should
rest…”Joshua offered, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her against
his hip as he moved her off towards the sofa and Faith snorted her amusement,
chucking a piece of popcorn into her open mouth as she settled in for the show.

“This should be
fun.”She tossed out to Jake who shook his head.

“You’re an evil
woman…”Jake offered on a chuckle of his own.

“And you love
it.”Faith shot back, keeping her eyes on Hope as she tried to dig her heels
into the floor.

“I don’t need
rest…”Hope tried to detach herself from her mate, but it was a hopeless
endeavour.

“You should
sit…”Joshua eased her down to the sofa and she sighed.

“There, I’m sitting,
now…”Hope watched Joshua panic slightly as he scratched his head.

“Feet up.”He growled
out as he snatched the footstool from under Faith’s feet, as she rushed to grab
the bowl of popcorn on her lap that threatened to spill when her heels hit the
ground.

“Hey watch the
food…”Faith growled, but she couldn’t help chuckle as Joshua grabbed Hope’s
legs and propelled her backwards against the cushions, shoving the footstool
beneath her suspended feet, slowly easing them down into the softness of the
padded stool.

“Are you crazy?”Hope
bit out as she planted her hands into the cushions and pushed herself back up
again, annoyance and embarrassment washed through her.

“Hungry?”Joshua
didn’t seem to notice his mate’s wrath, as he gave her a hopeful look.

“No…”Hope spat out
and he scratched his head.

“Porridge?”He
offered as if a lightbulb had turned on over his head, his eyes even lit up
with the suggestion.

“Hey…”Fay growled
down at him and he shrugged helplessly.

“I need to provide
for my mate at a time like this…”Joshua offered and Hope balked.

“A time like this?
Geez, Adam, thanks for nothing…”Hope bit out between clenched teeth.

“He’s just sooo
sweet…”Faith teased, encouraging Joshua in his effort and Hope balked.

“He’s over
protective enough, don’t get me started…”Hope growled out at Faith as her
so-called friend sniggered beside her on the sofa.

“Drink?”Joshua
offered and Hope sighed.

“No.”She snapped
back.

“Do you need to sleep?”Joshua
asked and Hope rolled her eyes in frustration.

“No!”She ground out.

“Bath?”Joshua
offered and Hope’s head snapped to one side as she looked at him with accusing
eyes.

“Can someone please
go to the village and tell them their idiot has escaped.”Hope half growl and
half snapped out, and Joshua deflated for a long moment.

“What can I
do?”Joshua asked and Faith snorted her laughter.

“Back the hell
off.”Hope ground out and heard her mate give a low growl of contrition.

“Don’t be mean, he’s
just excited…”Fay offered from her lofty height, trying to turn on the stool
but finding her movement blocked by Adam’s tight hold on her. “Hey, hands, move
‘em or lose them.” She snapped down and Adam balked. Lifting her down from the
stool and making sure she was stable before he let her go.

“Oh…”Hope offered to
her knowingly. “Pot, kettle, bloody black as night.”Hope accused and Fay rolled
her eyes.

“That’s different.
Try having nine months of Mr-Bubble wrap…”Fay ground out in her own defence and
Hope snorted as she motioned towards Joshua who was still faffing around,
unsure of what to do.

“I guess I’m about
too, because Adam couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself.”She threw every
imaginary dagger in her arsenal at him as he beamed in glee.

“Papa bear had a
right to know he was going to get a baby bear…”Adam teased.

“A cub…”Joshua
beamed, finally coming out of his panic and glowing with pride.

“Guess your junk
works.”Faith grinned up at him and watched his chest swell with pride.

“I was never in any
doubt…”Joshua growled out, his ego swelling with as much pride as his chest.

“Unlike the rest of
us…”Faith teased as she nudged Hope and offered her the bowl of popcorn.

Joshua’s face fell
and his ego was dented as he frowned and growled a low rumble, “Did someone say
something?”He demanded and the sniggers went up around the room.

Adam reached out and
slapped him on the back. “Relax big man, Faith’s just pulling your chain.” He
assured him, as Joshua went back to proud again.

“I’m gonna be a
daddy…”Joshua announced with glee and Faith chuckled again.

“Better get in all
the sex you can now then.”Faith warned him and he frowned and then turned to
look at his mate, a dark desire swept over his face.

“Faith actually had
a good idea…”Joshua beamed and Hope looked more than happy with his latest
offering.

“Maybe, we’ll see if
you annoy me too much between now and then.”Hope informed him and he raised his
brows.

“Now and when?”He
double raised his brows and she sighed again.

“See what you
did?”Hope gestured to Adam, and it wasn’t in the child friendly variety.

Abel had tried
sitting, but that didn’t work out well for him. He felt as if he’d eaten ten
chocolate bars and needed to run off the excess energy. He tried pacing back
and forth, but that only worked for so long, before his mind had tossed and
turned everything over time and again.

He wanted to go to
her, but knew that wouldn’t work, she needed to come to him. It wasn’t a power
play, it was acceptance. She needed to accept him as he was, needed to come to
terms with the fact that he was her mate and as such he would never hurt her.
That’s not to say he might not squash her once in a while, he might do that,
but that was unintentional, especially in bed…

Damn, his mind was
addled. He’d gone from acceptance to making love in a few short thoughts… The
mating pull wasn’t helping here. He had thought the mating pull would be the
answer to his prayers, but right now he wished he could turn it off, just for a
while…

Abel wanted to head
butt the nearest wall. That might turn the mating pull off for a while, it
wouldn’t be as much fun as burying his body within hers, wouldn’t be as
fulfilling, but it would be good too…

Damn, he was Lycan
through and through. But not with her, he was a man first, her man. Lycan
second… except for the damn mating thing…Crap.

This wasn’t working;
he had a fire within his blood for her that he couldn’t turn off just because
he needed his brain to work instead of penis… God, did he ache for her… Crap.
There it went again, His Mini Me was overriding his brain… If only they could
get that part out of the way… Not that he wanted it to be quick or over too
soon… Hell, he wanted to stay inside her all night, all tomorrow, and for the
rest of his damn life… Ah, Crap. This wasn’t working.

How the hell could
he stay inside her for the rest of his life? They’d be walking damn funny…
Maybe if she wrapped her legs around his hips… Oh sweet Jesus, could he just
get his mind of his penis and back onto his mate?

He’d shamed himself.
Shamed in the eyes of his mate, and he needed to repent, but how the hell could
he repent for that? Especially when she wouldn’t come out of the damn bedroom…
Bedroom… Nope, not going to think about sex… Just did. Crap.

He heard her
breathe, caught her scent as it drifted towards him, and turned to see her
standing in the doorway. His heart slammed into his ribs and his stomach rode
the downward drop of a rollercoaster. He could do this, he could not think of
anything but repentance, absolution in her eyes. He would die for her… Right
bloody here and now if she asked him too…

So why was he
standing there like a statue? Move, he commanded his limbs. Yeah, that didn’t
work. Ok, say something profound… He was male, how profound could he be? Just
don’t be Lycan for five minutes…

CHAPTER SIX

“Hungry?”He growled
gently at her. He really wanted to head butt a wall now… Hungry? What was he
his mother for God’s sake...? One long run at the nearest wall, head first
right into it… Thud… That should do the trick…

“You really are a
butt head aren’t you?”Sasha couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips,
even if she did put her hand over her mouth to cover the smile.

Abel took a deep
breath and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am…”He still couldn’t get his damn legs to
move for fear that she might turn tail and head back into the damn bedroom for
another few hours of torture, listening to his own damn brain work, or not
work, as the case may be.

“You going to make
me a cup of coffee? My coffee sucks and your hot chocolate was good, so…”

“So you’re making a
list of things I can do better than you?”Abel teased, but he still stood there
like he was stuck in quicksand. Idiot… Move, he ordered his body, but still
nothing.

“It’ll be a short
list, I’m sure.”Sasha tossed back at him and he couldn’t help the grin that
spread across his face. She was being bitchy again, must be a good sign.

“Maybe not…”Abel
offered and she raised her eyebrows expectantly.

“Coffee?”She nudged
and he nodded.

“Love one thanks,
two sugars, black…”Abel cursed his body with a vengeance. Move. Move. Move… And
he was off, but he found himself walking towards her instead of the kitchen.
What the hell was wrong with his brain and his body, he needed coordination,
not separation…

Abel couldn’t take
his eyes from hers. He wanted to see every reaction, every thought, and as the
eyes were the windows to the soul he wanted front row seats.

She didn’t move as
he gained ground, that was a good sign. Her eyes didn’t widen with fear, two
out of two, he noted, and then he saw them flare as he stepped right in front
of her and stopped, an elbows length away. Desire, he saw desire in her eyes,
on her face, and damn if he didn’t want to do black flips up and down the
living room… But then he would have looked like a compete bloody idiot, and her
worst fears of him being a butt head would have been confirmed.

Abel held himself in
check. He wanted nothing more than to reach for her, wrap her in his arms and
pull her to his chest, taste her lips, devour her mouth… Not again… He growled
at himself. But he didn’t do that. Instead he offered her his hand, palm
upwards just to see what she would do.

Abel couldn’t
breathe. He didn’t want too. His eyes held hers and he watched her. His ears
listened to the jump in the beat of her heart and then the steady, but fast,
rhythm. His body was attuned to the slightest variance in hers, be it a sway
back or forth…

Sasha was torn
between reaching for his touch or throwing herself at him, and bugger the
consequences, but what consequences? He was her mate. Her future, her life… But
only if she wanted him to be. Didn’t she want to get the hell out of there and
never look back?

Goddess, but he made
her crazy. She wanted to zap him and climb up those tree trunk legs, wrap
herself around his hips, and ride like the damn wind… Sasha’s brain hiccupped,
or farted, at least that was what she told herself. He was still a wolf man… He
might not have been a werewolf-man, but he was still a shifter… Did that make
him a bad person…?

Of course it… She
didn’t know anymore… Damn, Faith and her stories. Damn, him and his… his…?
Everything… It wasn’t just one thing. It wasn’t the blue of his eyes that she
wanted to get lost in. It wasn’t those lips that she wanted to taste and feel
over her body… A couple of places on her body more than others… Sasha balked at
the thought.

That broad, muscled
chest that would double as a damn fine table for her to dine from as she lay
beside him in bed, or laid him on the living room floor and had a picnic from
his… Ah, Goddess, but this was insane. He was still a shifter…

Think, she told
herself, commanded that she stop thinking with what her body wanted and go with
her heart and her mind, but that was easier said than done when he stood in
front of her looking like… Breakfast, lunch, and damn dinner all in one. Double
chocolate gateaux with a hot fudge sauce, and why not have some strawberry
syrup and squirt it along his…

Goddess, but she was
going insane. She squeezed her thighs together as well as other, more intimate
muscles. It was the mating pull. She wasn’t stupid, she knew what was making
her hornier than hell… But it was him too.

Sasha reached her
hand up and slowly ran her fingers along his in towards his palm. The electric
tingle that travelled along her digits didn’t stop at her hand, it travelled
through her entire body, little sparks of desire flaring along its route, and
when her palm met with his and he closed that giant hand around hers, she was
as lost in him as her hand was in his hand.

“Coffee?”Abel
swallowed down his need to pant at the feel of every nerve ending in his body
taking a hit from her touch. Panting and drooling would definitely be
considered wrong here, he reminded himself…

Sasha shook her
head. While it was true that she was suddenly parched, it wasn’t coffee that
she desired. She wanted him, how could she not? Why would she not?

Abel saw the desire
within her. He could scent her arousal and told himself that it wasn’t all in
his addled mind. She wanted him, but that was the mating pull. She would fight
it. She was strong, it was in her to fight…

Sasha took that one
long step towards him, closing the distance between them and her free hand
palmed his chest. They could have been dancing the way they stood there, and
then she slowly let her eyes climb up over his chest, paused at his mouth, and
then locked her gaze with his.

“You, Abel. I want you.”Sasha
admitted, it sounded like a declaration of intent to his ears and he almost
dropped to his knees on the floor at her feet.

For one long moment,
too long, he gently ran his hand against her hip and around her back, giving
her the chance to change her mind while his fingers burned a path to the small
of her back and he pressed her against his body. His arousal groaned of its own
damn accord, as he dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers.

The feel of her soft
lips made him growl with pleasure and need, it was low and gentle, but it was
there between them, and she didn’t pull back. If anything she may have melted
against him even more, but she was already pressed as close as he could get her,
so he wasn’t entirely sure.

Abel couldn’t hold
back another moment, he had to taste her lips, claim them for his own, and he
did, with gusto. Sasha responded instantly. Her lips opened for his first taste
of her as his tongue swept in and was battling with hers in an instant. She
tasted him right back, sweeping her tongue over his, duelling for the prize
that she wanted, more.

She was on fire for
him. She’d never been one to sit back and let the guy do all the work and she
wasn’t about to change the habit of a lifetime. Her hand ran down over his
chest, her fingernails biting in through his top, running over his puckered
nipples, and she heard him groan in response. But she wasn’t finished there.
Her nails ran down over his abdomen and she moved away slightly to give her the
room she needed.

When her nails hit denim,
she found the hardness that had been pressed against her stomach and ran her
nails along it. Thick and rock solid within the confines of his clothes, still she
felt it twitch as if it was trying to escape its bonds, as her nails travelled
back and forth, until he all but lost his mind.

Abel reached for her
hand and gently knocked it away. She was tormenting him so damn badly that he
might actually be in danger of spilling his seed inside his jeans, something he
hadn’t done since puberty.

His hands ran down
her back and he palmed the ample cheeks of her backside through the top. He
couldn’t help but squeeze, gently, then firmer, then firmer still as she pushed
her hips against him. He could feel her naked flesh beneath the top he had
given her and he was damn glad he hadn’t found her anything that actually
fitted her curves to wear beneath.

His thumbs made
short work of moving the material upwards and his hands covered her warm flesh,
two handful of the most sinful backside he’d ever known, and he lifted her
against him. Her legs wrapped around his hips without hesitation and she rubbed
her sex where her nails had tortured him.

That was all that
Abel could take. He was only a male, he wasn’t omnipotent, and she was the
sweetest temptation, the deepest desire, and the most sinful need he had ever
had in his arms, in his life, and he stalked into the bedroom with her wrapped
around him, intent on making her his.

By the time her back
hit the mattress she already had his top fisted in her hands and was yanking it
up his body. She wanted the feel of his naked flesh against hers, and now…

Abel returned the
gesture. The top that dwarfed his mate and tried its damndest to hide her
curves from him hit the floor a moment later, and she released her legs from
his hips as he ran his hand down the inside of each sock, taking the material down
her shapely legs until the material was gone.

Abel broke away from
her lips again to rid himself of his jeans. And he hesitated briefly from
covering her body with his again as he took in the sight of her, perfectly
naked, lying on his bed.

His eyes took a long
sweep of her body, and then he found her looking over the hard muscled contours
of his body and he growled out his intent, his need, and she answered by
reaching for his shoulders and yanking him down over her.

He devoured her
mouth as his hands stroked and teased her body, and she devoured him right
back. By the time he was working his way down to get to her breasts, nipping
and tasting, she’d already palmed him inside her fist and stroked more than a
gentle growl from him.

As he nipped her
breast his eyes went to her face and he saw her lift her fingers, the tip of
her tongue came out and she tasted the small bead of his essence she had
captured before he pulled out of her hand.

Abel covered the
hard bud of her nipple and sucked hard in his enthusiasm for her actions, and
the moan that escaped her lips was pure pleasure, sinful in its ability to practically
reach out and stroke him, long and hard with just that sound.

Abel cursed and
blessed everything and nothing at the same time. His mate was the epitome of
every desire he had ever had, and he wanted to plunder each and every one of
his fantasies as she lay beneath him, for those fantasies were here now in the
flesh.

His fingers stroked
up her thigh, teasing the flesh around her sex until she pushed her hips
upwards from the bed and he found the heat of her wet folds, and watched her
eyes close and her head press back against the bed as he pulled and tugged
against her nipple before moving to the other.

Sasha felt every
stroke of his fingertips, ever nip, lick, and suck of his mouth against her,
and she revelled in each and every touch. Hard or soft, gentle and soothing,
teasing her senses, or powerful enough to make her body arch towards him for
more, every single breath against her body pushed her further towards that need
to fulfil the promise of the ache within her.

His lips were
against her neck as he rimmed her sex, and no matter how she moved her hips she
couldn’t quite capture him inside her, and then his body was over hers, his
legs between her thighs and he was stroking her folds again, sending her insane
with need, as his tongue swirled and teased downwards to where her neck curved
into her shoulder.

Abel sucked hard
against her flesh and heard her moan. She tried to move her hips, but he held
her still. His blunt teeth pressed down into her flesh and he bit firmly, but
not enough to break the skin.

Sasha’s body
responded to the hold his teeth had on her flesh. Her head slowly rolled to the
side, offering her neck for him. Her legs fell back against the bed, opening
her body for his claim, and she whimpered her need to feel him inside her.

‘Mine.’
Abel’s wolf growled hard within him. He wanted him to take their mate, claim
her, and bond with her for life, but Abel held the beast off.

Abel slowly pushed
his finger knuckle deep inside her tight channel and the feel of her inner
muscles gripping him made him want to release his fangs and make his claim on
her. He circled his finger over the silken walls and she responded with another
whimper. He pulled back and entered her again, adding another finger and
stroking as deeply as he could, releasing her flesh from between his teeth, and
she came back to him.

“Did you claim
me?”She breathed and he shook his head as he gazed down into her eyes.

“Why?”

“You didn’t tell me
that I could.”He started to move down her body, but she brought her hands up to
cup his face and dragged him back up again, kissing him hard and devouring his
mouth. When she pulled back she was breathless.

“You can.”She
breathed out on a ragged breath and Abel almost thrust into her with the sheer
need that washed over him.

His deep growl
rumbled through the air between them and he pushed down the bed. His hands
gripped her inner thighs and he scented her arousal a moment before his tongue
took one long swipe along her folds, and she tried to arch as the moan escaped
her lips, but he held her still.

Abel savoured the
first taste of his mate and then growled long and hard as he dipped his head
and devoured her with a passion that only a mate could possess. His tongue
thrust in and out of her channel until she was almost fevered with need, and
then he snaked up over her folds, nipping and soothing on route to the
sensitive little nub of flesh that was so swollen with need for him, and he devoured
it with his tongue and his teeth as he suckled it within his mouth.

Sasha fisted his
hair in her hands and pulled and tugged against him, but he wouldn’t be moved.
She wanted the feel of him hard and deep inside her, and what he was doing to
her now was just a form of special torture that was so damn good she never
wanted it to end, and yet she needed him, more of him, all of him, everything
he could give her.

He was taking her
back and forth between standing on the cliff looking down into the abyss, where
he body was desperate to be, and letting her climb back down to the frustrating
plateau of safety. She wanted to rip his arm off and beat him over the head
with it until he rolled over and she could take what she needed from him herself,
and boy would she…

“Abel, for the love
of….”She felt her body tense and then shudder in the most violent way
imaginable as he hurled her off the cliff, and she cried out as the deep pulses
battered her body, hard and fast, taking her ability to think, to breathe, and
to do anything other than enjoy the intense pleasure.

Abel tasted her very
essence as she languished in her release. He couldn’t help the growl that
rolled through him as he watched the pleasure wash over her. He kept the
pressure against her nub until she shifted her hips away from his touch, and
then he started to climb up over her body, and her lashes fluttered open as she
caught her breath.

“Arse-hole.”She
accused, remembering just how many times he had frustrated her before letting
her fly.

“Not right now, but
I’ll keep it in mind…”He grinned down at her as he caged her with his body. He
was about to lower himself to her when her hands shot out and she nudged him
with more than just her physical strength. Rolling with him on the bed, she straddled
his hips, and used her magic to keep him in place.

“Sasha…”He growled
up at her, but she just smirked down at him.

“Somebody likes to
tease, shall we see if somebody likes to be teased?”His gentle growl of warning
made it clear to her that he wasn’t so fond of being held down so completely.

“You need to let me
go, before my wolf decides you’re issuing him a challenge…”Abel warned her and
she shrugged her shoulders.

Leaning in over him,
she rubbed her sex down over his shaft and watched him try to move. The best he
could do was a twitch and tense of his muscles.

“What’s the worst he
can do? You made it quite clear you won’t kill me…”Sasha offered as she started
to move down his body, a low, slow slide that had her hard nipples tracing over
his skin.

“He could push
forward and bond with you…”Abel warned. Half of his mind was on the feel of
what she was doing and the other half was on trying to suppress his wolf from
pushing through and testing his strength on her magic.

For one long moment
Sasha’s mind flashed her a warning, but she flicked off the sirens and the
bells and went back to the need to touch and taste her mate.

“Well let’s hope by
the time I’m finished with you I want that…”She dipped her head and ran a flat
tongue from the hilt of his arousal to the tip, rewarded by his long groan of
pleasure. She pulled back and blew over his damp skin.

Abel wanted to fist
his hands, but he couldn’t move. It was the strangest feeling he’d ever had. He
was perfectly aware of her every touch, the way her silken hair brushed against
his thigh, her hand against his hip, her tongue… God her tongue that was now
circling the very tip, teasing the silt and… but he couldn’t move, to either
push her away or pull her closer.

Sasha was in charge
and she liked that. Abel had teased her and she wanted to return the sheer
pleasure of it, and yet she wanted to devour him in the same instance. Slowly
she worked up and down his shaft with her tongue, paying special attention to
the very tip until his groan sounded especially needy, and then she took just
the head into her mouth and suckled him hard.

Her hand stroked
down his shaft and her tongue and teeth played around the ridge until he broke
out in a sweat, his veins straining in his neck, and she released him to play
her tongue along the shaft again.

“You’re killing me
here…”He growled and she chuckled. If he could talk he was ready to be teased
again, she decided as she repeated the process over and over until she knew he
would be thrashing against bindings if he had them.

“Sasha, please…”She
pushed down his shaft, taking him as far into her mouth as she could get him.
He was thick and long, and when she swallowed him down into her throat she
still needed to make up the excess with her fist around the base of his shaft.

“Christ…I
can’t…Sasha…”He growled in frustration, desperation, and she slowly sucked up
to the tip before ploughing back down again, over and over until she felt him
swell inside her throat.

The sound of him
roaring his release made her feel more in control than she ever had in her
life. The taste of his hot seed spilling out made her release him from her hold,
and his hands fisted her hair as she allowed him the control to thrust his hips
up as he spilled down her throat, over and over until he was sated.

It took him longer
than usual to fight his way back to her. She’d given him the kind of release
he’d never felt before and his body was trembling with the sheer power of her
assault on his senses.

Sasha was about to
move up his body when he eyes flashed open and his fingers wrapped around her
upper arms. Abel yanked her up his body and claimed her mouth, rolling her over
onto her back.

His hands ran down
her arms to her wrists and he trapped them against the bed. He could taste his
essence in her mouth as he devoured her with a fire that burned within him.

His knees nudged her
legs as far apart as he could push them, opening her to him, ready to thrust
into her to the hilt as his wolf demanded he claim her.

‘Mine.’ The
beast roared within him and he growled back.

Abel pulled away
from her and stared down into her eyes. She was breathless from his kiss, and
she looked up at him with her own needs, but he didn’t thrust. He pushed his
hips forwards, the bulbous head eased through her still swollen walls, in one
long, deep stroke that took him inside to the hilt as her hips came up to meet
his.

The moan that
escaped her lips made him rock hard, and he pulled back to the very tip before
stroking back to the hilt. Over and over he rocked his hips back and forth in
long, deep strokes that devoured her channel as she clenched her muscles around
him, welcoming him inside and trying to hold him there.

“What happened to
the wolf?”Sasha breathed up at him and he grinned down at her.

“Oh, he’s still
around, but you feel too damn good to rush to the happily ever after,
sweetheart…”Abel growled out every word and her body responded with excitement
to each and every growl, and each and every thrust of his hips against hers.

“Told you not to
call me sweetheart, jerk…”She groaned as he held deep inside her, grinding his
hips to hers before he shifted upwards and started again, stroking his shaft
down over her nub as he pushed deeply inside her.

“Thought you were
joking…”He teased, but she was done talking, her body was being swept up faster
towards another release, and Abel growled long and hard as his mate tightened
hard around him, searching for more.

“Claim or bond,
Sasha? I need to know before I let my wolf push forward…”He growled against her
ear and she moaned her need. “Soon, babe, but you need to tell me, Claim or
bond?”When she didn’t immediately answer he started to slow against her…

“Bond, Abel,
bond.”Sasha breathed out.

‘Mine.’ His
wolf wasn’t shy about wanting out. Abel let his wolf slip to the surface as his
tongue prepared her shoulder for his bite. He was almost salivating at the
thought of tasting her blood. His beast already was.

Abel felt his wolf
urging him on. His body caged his mate in, holding her down against the bed so
she didn’t move when he bite into her flesh. He speed was increasing as he
started to thrust deep inside her and her body knew to open up to him on
instinct. Her head lulled to one side and her legs fell back against the
mattress, surrendering herself to him, to them, to being joined, bonded.

“Mine.” Abel growled
against her ear, before his tongue ran a path down her neck to where he would
place his bite. Sasha was close to release, he could feel her muscles starting
to tense up and he took her faster, rubbing over the sweet spot inside her as
his own body fevered for what was to come.

He placed his fangs
against her skin and gently pressed into the flesh without piercing the skin,
but that was enough to take her over the edge and she cried out with the
ferocity of the orgasm that tore through her body.

Abel sunk his fangs
into her flesh, hard and fast as he bit down. The startled cry from her lips as
pleasure met pain, and then the whimper that met his growl of pleasure as her
blood rolled over his tongue and down his throat.

His wolf howled inside
him as his mind reached for her, and he found her there, caught within her
pleasure, sharing the feel of her orgasm as he released his fangs and licked
over the wound in desperation for his own pleasure.

His wolf was sated,
but the man wasn’t. He had connected with her mind and now he needed to take
his pleasure within her body. Abel reared up over her. With one large hand he
had both of her wrists trapped, and he reached for her knee, bringing her leg
up against her body as he thrust in deeper, harder, and faster.

Sasha’s body
responded to the feel of him inside her. Her orgasm was still rolling through
her as she was caught up with Abel towards another release.

He felt the
throbbing of her inner muscles around him, trying to milk his seed from his
body, and the pressure within his spine intensified as he thrust into her over
and over again until she cried out.

Her whole body shook
beneath him as he continued to thrust through her pulsing muscles, finding his
own release buried deep inside her, and he threw his head back and roared as he
exploded his seed against her womb.

His pleasure, her
pleasure mixed together within them, and Abel found his release ending as
another built immediately inside him. He shifted on his knees and took her in
long thrusts that ran his shaft against her over sensitive nub and she
whimpered against the pleasure and pain of yet another release that took her
hard.

Abel buried the tip
of his shaft as deeply as he could and released his seed into his mate. Howling
and growling within one last breath that escaped his body as he blindly took
her over and over until his hips locked in place and his legs shook with the
protest from his muscles.

Finally sated he
collapsed forwards onto his elbows. His arms barely holding him up from
crushing her body and he reached for her, turning her with him in the bed as he
rolled them onto their sides. Still pressed together, still inside her, they
revelled in the aftershocks of their bonding.

Abel recovered
first, but it wasn’t as fully or as quickly as he normally would. He felt like
a damn pup, his muscles ached and his body felt as if he’d let his damn wolf
run forever as he came back to her.

The scent of her
blood drew him to her wound, and his protective nature made him uncaring of how
his muscles protested, as he shifted against her, taking care to clean and seal
the wound over and over as she began to whimper quietly against his chest. Her
fingers curling against the damp skin as she nuzzled against him, allowing her
mate to care for her.

“Easy, baby. I have
you.”He growled gently against her ear, soothing her body and mind back to him.

“I can’t move…”She
breathed out on a ragged breath and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I guess I could say
I’m returning the feeling.”He teased as he pulled back and reached his hand to
her face to brush the hair away from her damp skin. Her lashes fluttered up, as
she regarded him with just one raised eyebrow.

“At least you could
walk afterwards. I don’t think I’ll be able to walk for a week.”

Abel felt a rise to
panic within him. “Did I hurt you?”He growled, cupping her cheek and stroking
down with his thumb, and he heard her gentle chuckle and relaxed slightly.

“Chill, wolf man,
I’ll be doing cartwheels tomorrow…”Sasha assured him and he snorted.

“Only in this bed
woman. I’m not letting you out of here for at least a week, but I’ll feed you
and…”

“Take care of my
bathroom needs…?”Sasha offered him that little morsel and he frowned.

“Can you pee in a
bottle?”He teased and she chuckled.

“No, and I’m not
going to learn either. I guess I could go native and you could just bring in a
patch of grass, like a rug…”Her sarcasm was back and she used it with glee.

Abel growled out a
chuckle. His wolf was still lurking about near the surface and when she ran her
fingertips down his chest he growled again.

“You’re going to
have to give me a minute, I’ve never come like that before and my body is
running on empty…”He teased and she snorted.

“I was just
exploring, that wasn’t an invite.”She informed him, putting him in his place
and he growled again.

“I need an
invite?”He shot back and she slapped him hard, it only made her hand sting, he
didn’t even flinch, but he did chuckle.

“What you think
every time I bend over I’m fair game?”

“Now you’re just
teasing me with mental imagery, and talking of fair game, we need to have words
about your little magic trick earlier…”Abel ran his hand down her spine and
felt her body move of its own volition.

“It’s no different
from what you did to me, I just used a different kind of strength to have you
where I wanted you, besides, you love it…”Abel gave a gentle growl as his mind
wandered to being at her mercy.

“My wolf wasn’t so
sure…”Abel chuckled and she snorted.

“He got over it…”

“You’re going to
have to meet him in person…”Abel warned her. Faith had told him of her mother’s
death. The way the werewolf had turned on her and killed her in a fit of rage.
Sasha hadn’t witnessed the slaughter, but she had found the body of her mother.
But Were’s and Lycan were a world apart, and only a rogue would be that unable
to control his wolf.

“He doesn’t scare
me. He’s a big old puppy, I reached out to him when we bonded…”Sasha snorted,
and Abel’s beast whimpered inside him. It seemed the two of them had an
understanding already.

“A big old
puppy?”Abel rolled her onto her back and traced his fingers down her cheek as
he chuckled.

“As long as he’s
house trained…”Sasha teased and Abel shook his head in disbelief.

“Girl, you’re asking
for it…”Abel teased, knowing his wolf was more than happy with their mate, and
would roll over and play dead for her if she asked him too.

“You on the other
hand are going to need some training…”

“Training?”Abel
growled down and she ran her fingertips over the hard muscles of his chest and
felt the way they tensed and released under her path.

“Well you are male,
and the bath and hot chocolate was a good start…”

“You know what I
said about giving me a minute? Well the minutes up…”He nuzzled against her neck
and pushed deep inside her, and she lost all thought of anything but him.

Fay was restless.
Snuggled up in Adam’s arms she felt warm and safe, and although she’d slept off
and on since they’d made love, she couldn’t quite manage to stay asleep. The
pup was doing that thing again where he liked to stretch out and push top to
toe, making her back ache, and she was sure he was using her internal organs as
baby rattles.

She would have
slipped out from under Adam’s arms without waking him, but the beached whale
effect meant that she wasn’t exactly stealthy anymore, and he stirred beside
her and wrapped his arm tighter around her, bringing her escape route to a
close as he pressed his body along her back and nuzzled against her neck.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just going to
get a drink…”

“I’ll get it.”Adam’s
lips caressed her skin before he released her and threw the covers back.

“No, I want to walk,
stretch out a little, and get the pup to move off whatever it is he’s laying on
in there.”Fay rolled to the edge of the bed and dropped her feet to the floor.
There was no easy way to do it, just roll and push up and hope the momentum
took her up onto her feet, and then she could maybe stand…

“Let me help
you…”Adam was over the bed and at her side in an instant.

“I’m not totally
incapable, Adam…”She snapped, as the pup squeezed another organ and she caught
her breath. The baby had a grip like a vice.

“You ok?”Adam
brought her to her feet and stared down at her in the darkness. She was in
pain, he felt it in her.

“He’s just playing
with things he shouldn’t in there. I guess I should get used to it. I just need
to move…”She started off for the bedroom door and another pain hit her, taking
her breath and making her muscles contract.

Adam was back at her
side in an instant. His arm circled around her as she doubled over, her hand
clamped down on his other arm.

“Ok, that’s not
normal…”She admitted.

“How long have you
had those pains?”Adam growled down gently and she shook her head.

“Off and on a few
hours, but they’re getting stronger…”Her eyes met his and she shook her head.
“No, no, I’ve still got two weeks…”She spat out, her eyes widening in panic.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“I don’t think so,
sweetheart…”Adam grinned. His pup wanted out and it didn’t care about due
dates.

“What are you
grinning at?”She hissed just as another pain shot through her and she gritted
her teeth and cursed.

“We’re having a
pup…”Adam beamed, and then he froze in place, the reality of their situation
setting in. “Oh crap. We’re having the pup.” He growled out. The sudden
rush to awareness hit him with another rush of heat that swept through his
entire body, and he panicked.

“Come and lay
down…”He tried to steer her across the room, but she growled at him, slapping
his hands away, and glaring up at him under her brows.

“I don’t want to lie
down. I want to walk, what part of walking aren’t you familiar with?”She ground
out, it seemed her panic and his were two different things. Adam wanted to
climb the walls, while she felt the need to kill him…

“Now sweetheart,
relax…”Adam offered and she growled again, doing a damn good impression of a
Lycan.

“I’m bloody well
relaxed…ouch…”She bent forwards and her hand slapped down on the handle of the
door as she held her breath and grinded her teeth.

“Getting anxious is
just going to make it worse, you need to breathe…”Adam fussed around her and
she slapped him again.

“Breathe? How about
I stab a carving knife into your body and see how well you breathe…?”She barked
at him. Yanking down on the handle and wrenching the door open.

“Where are you
going?”Adam balked as she started out into the hallway and growled again.

“One foot in front
of the other, I’d say I’m walking, like I wanted…ouch!”She cursed as she
clenched her body against another hit.

“Those pains seem
pretty damn close, are you sure it’s only been a few hours…”Adam saw her head
snap around in his direction, her eyes were dark pools of anger and she sneered
up at him.

“No, I’m lying. I do
that, its fun…Ouch, you motherfu…”She grabbed the stair rail and bit down on
her jaw.

“You should come
back to bed…”Adam growled out, reaching for her and she slapped him harder.

“Get away from me.
Haven’t you done enough?”She growled out, looking like a She-Wolf intent on
ripping his head off.

“What did I
do…?”Adam whined and heard Faith chuckle from down the hallway.

“You knocked her up
in the first place, jerk.”Faith teased, taking in the site of Fay and grinning.
“Now it’s payback time.”

Jake came up behind
Faith. Half naked from the waist upwards as he brushed a hand through his
tousled hair.

“Someone’s about to
be a mama wolf…”Jake grinned and Adam growled.

“State the bloody
obvious…”Fay snapped out and Jake chuckled.

“And she’s got her
claws out…”Jake added, and Adam growled again. Just the scent of a vampire was
enough to start his protective gene pinging around his body.

“Stop bloody
growling at the dead guy, and do something productive, wolf.”Fay ground out and
snapped her mate out of it, as Faith roared a laugh and Jake chuckled.

“What do you want me
to do?”Adam spat out quickly, he felt more than helpless and he didn’t like it.

Fay whimpered as
another pain hit her and she ground her teeth together.

“Go impale yourself
on a damn spike and see how it…”She gritted her teeth against the pain and held
on as the wave spiked within her. It felt like she’d been hit with a billion
volts of electricity, all centred at her stomach muscles. “Crap…”She growled
out.

“Should this be
happening so fast?”Faith shot a look at Adam and he balked.

“Pups come faster in
humans…”Adam offered as Fay reached for his arm and embedded her nails deep
into the flesh.

“Can we not debate
it?”Fay spat out as Hope and Joshua ran up the stairs, stopping halfway as they
saw Fay, half bent over and growling with her eyes at them.

“Oh!” Hope spat out
and Fay groaned.

“That’s a big
help.”She sniped and Joshua swallowed his tongue. He wasn’t ready for the baby
thing yet…

“Hot water?”Joshua
growled, and Fay twisted her head on her neck and glared at him in disbelief.

“Not unless it’s for
making an Irish coffee, you…”She gripped and growled again. Adam rubbed her
back in circles and tried to sooth her, but he thought he might need someone to
sooth him.

“Suggestions?”He
growled out, his eyes scanning the group.

“Don’t let her
anywhere near your testicles, she’ll just rip ‘em off…”Faith even made hand
signals and Adam swallowed hard.

“Not helpful,
Faith…”Adam growled out. “Anyone have anything useful to offer?”

“I thought that was
pretty good advice.”Jake offered with a grin and Joshua nodded his head, his
hands automatically covering his groin.

“Geez, would she do
that?”Joshua swallowed down his tongue and Hope turned her head to look up at
him.

“I’m gonna do
that…”She informed him and he swallowed hard again.

“Sounds like a
plan.”Fay ground out between clenched teeth as her head snapped around to look
at Adam. Naked and vulnerable to attack.

“Perhaps you should
get dressed Adam, temptation is a wonderful thing.”Faith offered and Adam
looked down at himself, not even realising that he was naked.

“Spoil sport.”Fay
spat out and Adam scowled. He didn’t believe his mate would ever do that, but
then again she did have her nails embedded in his arm in a death grip worthy of
a Lycan every time a pain hit.

“Maybe a nut cup for
added protection…”Joshua added and Hope shrugged.

“You can never be
too careful…”She teased and Adam growled out his annoyance.

“Don’t you people
have somewhere to be?”Adam watched as each and every one of them shrugged and
shook their heads.

“Don’t you?”Fay
demanded and he swallowed hard. “I wanted a drink.”She growled out and he went
to move, but she was still attached to his arm…

“I need you to let
go, sweetheart…”He informed her and she glared up at him.

“Why? Does it
hurt?”She growled out, more like a She-Devil now than a She-Wolf and he balked.

“Kind of, but if you
want me to go…”Adam offered gently and she snorted her contempt.

“Oh sure, run away.
Get me in this state and then…Ouch! God-damn it to hell, you absolute piece of
s…”Fay doubled over again and Adam looked to Faith.

“What do I do?”He
growled out helplessly and Faith grinned, pushing off from the wall she walked
towards him.

“Relax, Alpha. Three
witches and a vampire to take away the pain. I think we’re gonna be ok. But you
might want to call Bea and get her over here. She is the pack midwife.”Faith
reached down and placed one hand on the front of Fay stomach and one hand on
her back as she mumbled incantations, and Fay lessened her grip on Adam’s arm
as she straightened slightly.

“You couldn’t have
done that five minutes ago?”Fay growled out and Faith shrugged.

“I didn’t want you
to miss out on all the joys of giving birth naturally…”Faith teased and Fay
scowled.

“Gee, Thanks.”

Abel shot through
the front door. With his mate on his back he had run as fast as his aching
muscles would let him to get them there when he got the call. He eased Sasha
down to her feet and slammed the front door shut behind them, panting like his
wolf as he gave Joshua a quizzical look. Joshua just stared back at him
blankly.

“Well?”Abel demanded
and Joshua shrugged.

“She sure can curse
a lot.”Joshua offered and Abel rolled his eyes. Heading for the stairs, he
listened for a long moment, and grinned.

“What is it?”Sasha
asked and Abel chuckled.

“Joshua’s right,
she’s cursing up at storm and all at Adam.”He announced with glee.

“So are you
two…?”Joshua motioned with his eyes towards Sasha and Abel chuckled.

“Yeah, big man.
Sasha’s part of the pack now.”Abel offered as he walked back over to her and
wrapped his arm around her waist bringing her against his hip.

“You’re not a wolf…”She
had him pegged as a bear shifter when she’d seen him at the car, and then that
damn hug he gave her, but she wanted to make sure.

Sasha reached out to
him with her magic and drew a breath as she found his true nature. “Bear…
wow.”She looked impressed and then she frowned. “So how are you part of this
pack?”

“Long story short.
My parents were killed by hunters when I was a cub and Abel and Adam’s folks
took me in.”

“Yeah, my parents
had a soft spot for chubby kids…”Abel teased and Joshua growled long and hard
until the sound of a babies cry pierced the air and they all turned towards the
stairs.

The sound of a howl
of joy followed as Adam announced the newest member of the pack and celebrated
his son’s birth.

Fay sat in the bed
and watched Adam with his pup. She’d never seen him so alive and proud, as he
gazed down with love at the newborn. Bea, Faith and Hope had helped to clean
away all evidence of the babe’s birth, and tried to make Fay as comfortable as
possible.

“Ok, I’m going to
get Jake now.”Faith announced heading towards the bedroom door and Adam’s head
snapped up.

“Why?”He growled,
his arm tightening around the bundle in his arms.

“He likes the taste
of newborns…”Faith sat out in contempt and Adam growled long and hard at her.
“Why do you think?”Faith nodded her head towards Fay.

“Are you thinking
what I think you’re thinking?”Adam growled back and Faith put her hands on her
hips and tipped her head to one side, challenging her Alpha with one raised
eyebrow.

“A couple of drop of
vampire blood and she’s as right as rain…”Faith declared and Adam turned to
look at Fay who balked.

“What? Noooo…”Fay
shook her head and repositioned herself in the bed. To say she was
uncomfortable would be an understatement. She’d just pushed something bigger
than a bowling ball out and she’d felt better, but drink blood? Couldn’t she
just get that bottle of red wine she’d been eyeing for a month?

“It tastes
sweet…”Faith informed her and Fay scowled back at her.”I’ve done it, which is
probably why I don’t have crow’s feet, unlike Hope…”Faith saw Hopes head snap
around towards her from her perch on the bottom of the bed.

“Hey! Bitch
face…”Hope sneered and Fay chuckled.

“Adam, you know its
right. Why let her suffer when we have a whole vampire on hand with the cure…
and it might even tighten up those pelvic muscles….”

“Faith!”Fay snapped
out and watched her friend chuckle in amusement.

“If you don’t want
to watch, Adam, go show your son off to Abel and Joshua…”Faith motioned with
her head towards the door and Adam looked down at Fay, growling gently.

“What do you want to
do, love?”Adam sat down on the bed next to Fay and she reached out and brushed
her fingers down the softest skin of her baby’s face.

“One little sip,
Fay, and you’ll be up and raring to go…or we could leave you stuck in bed while
we all…”Faith teased and Fay shrugged.

“I get it, Faith.
Your mates a cure all… who says he wants to share?”

“I’m very giving,
especially as its Christmas, so I’m told.”Jake called out from somewhere down
the hallway and Fay chuckled.

“And he has big ears
too…”Hope sorted.

“And a big d…”Faith
added and Adam cleared his throat in a timely fashion.

“Thanks love.”Jake
chuckled from outside the door.

“You wanna do
this?”Adam asked and Fay nodded.

“Yeah then we can
have a proper Christmas…”

“With sex and
everything…”Faith announced with glee and Fay groaned.

“That’s what got me
into this mess in the first place.”

“That’s what got you
this beautiful little pup in the first place.”Hope teased and Adam beamed.

“Yeah. He is
gorgeous…”Faith sighed.

“And a tasty
midnight treat.”Jake teased from outside the door as Adam growled long and hard.
Fay slapped him and shook her head.

“Don’t growl at the dead
guy, he’s going to protect our son just as much as you are.”Fay berated him and
he leaned in and nuzzled against her neck.

“Merry Christmas,
sweetheart. And thanks you for my gift, he’s beautiful.”Adam whispered against
her ear and Faith and Hope swooned.

“Do Lycans believe
in Santa-with-claws?”Jake teased from the other side of the door and Faith back
heeled the wood. Hissing at him as she looked down at her family and the new
addition to the pack.

“Give me the
baby…”Jake offered as he sat on the sofa between Faith and Hope and watched
Adam trying to hold the baby in one hand and place a tray of drinks down with
the other.

“I’m not giving you
the pup…”Adam bit out, as Fay watched her family lounging around and enjoying a
quiet morning after the night before. She’d taken Jake’s blood, and Faith was
right, it was sweet, and she hated to admit it, but it was moreish, she could
understand the appeal, although she was definitely sticking to her Lycan mate.
She felt back to normal. The only difference was she now had a bigger family.

“Stop being a baby
and give me the pup.”Jake teased and Adam shook his head.

“Give him the
pup…”Faith groaned and Hope chuckled.

“Let him hold the
baby, what’s wrong with you, Adam?”Hope berated him and he growled gently down
at her.

“Yeah, anyone would
think he was the big bad wolf…”Fay added as she crossed her arms and hooked an
eyebrow at him.

Adam gazed back at
her. The way she stood there, her posture challenging him, he loved her
feistiness, even if it drove his wolf nuts.

“Fine, here, but if
you drop him…”Adam growled down a warning as he placed the bundle into Jakes
arms, and the vampire cocked his own eyebrow at the Alpha.

“You’re worried
about me dropping him?”Jake spat out in disbelief and Adam frowned.

“What else would I
be worried about?”Adam growled back defensively and Jake shrugged in disbelief.

“Me eating him?”Jake
balked as if Adam was insane and Adam snorted a chuckle.

“Like that’s ever
going to happen.”He turned on his heels and walked over to Fay, reaching out he
pulled her against the length of him and kissed her gently on the end of her
nose.

“Softie.”Fay
whispered up at him and he grinned.

“Only for you,
sweetheart.”He assured her.

“So, one down two to
go…”Faith announced as she cooed over the pup.

“Who’s the
second?”Hope asked and Faith nudged Abel off the end of the sofa. His backside
hit the floor and he growled up at her.

“What was that
for?”Abel spat out and Faith shrugged her shoulders.

“Just a little nudge
in the right direction. I kind of like this Aunty thing so you all need to
procreate as much as possible.”She announced as her eyes flicked to Sasha who
berated her with just a look.

“Well I promise to
try as hard as possible.”Abel offered on a low sexy growl as he crawled on his
hands and knees towards his mate and she chuckled.

“I can live with
that.”She informed him, letting him nuzzled against the mark on her shoulder.

“What about you Fay
how long do you reckon it’ll take you to spit out another one of these little
cuties?”Faith beamed down at the pup, and then up at her mate.

“About nine months
if we start tonight. I’m very fertile.”Adam offered and Fay elbowed him in the
ribs. His breath leaving his body in a rush as he tightened his grip on her.

“Wait until you’re
asked.”Fay spat out and Adam cocked an eyebrow and beamed a wicked smile.

“You’re all healed,
sweetheart, and I guarantee, you’ll be asking.”Adam growled as he went in for
the mark on her neck.

“I like this
Christmas thing.”Joshua announced from the chair beside his mate. Apart from
when she was helping Fay during the birth, he hadn’t left her side since he
found out she was pregnant, and he didn’t plan too either. “Maybe we should do
it once a month.”

“Yeah, you’re kind
of missing the whole point of Christmas there big guy.”Fay informed him and
Joshua shook his head.

“Nope, it’s all
about crazy families, and with two Lycans, four witches, a Vampire and a bear,
not to mention the newest little edition, I’d say we tick all the boxes.”

The End.