~
“Oh, you did not just kiss me…” Agatha tried to still her racing heart and get a grip on every other part of her that had abandoned all sense of rhyme and reason where he was concerned…
“Well, it wasn’t Casper the friendly ghost, sweetheart,” Liam offered back.
He might as well have been preening himself – the smug look on his face was doing a number on her last nerve…
“Give me a damn reason not to zap you where you stand,” she didn’t want to give in to any thoughts of temptation, and he was temptation all wrapped up in sex on a damn stick…
“You kissed me right back,” he offered.
“Such a bloody gentleman,” she huffed.
She knew that she’d kissed him back – she certainly didn’t need it pointing out to her, and by him. Not when she was floundering in a sea of uncertainty … and drowning in self-doubt.
“I never said I was a gentleman – I said I was your mate.”
“If this was a hundred years ago, I’d slap you…” she bit out, and then frowned hard…
Oh, what the hell…
Agatha lifted her hand and she hit him across the cheek with her palm – a palm that ended up throbbing and stinging…
Liam grinned harder. His eyes flashed with amusement and mischief…
“I like a woman with fire…”
“That fire can set your fluffy little backside alight, and don’t you forget it!”
“I won’t.” Liam offered back – his eyes twinkled sexily from the glow of the lights – humour resided there, and that annoyed her even more… “Just don’t you forget who the man of the house is…”
“I…”
What could she say to that?
She was a woman – she couldn’t very well deny that fact, now could she?
Out of the two of them, he would certainly have been the man…
“Speechless – about time.” Liam pushed his luck just a little too far and she let the spark of her magic loose, just enough to send a quick shot – like an electric mosquito bite – through his body…
“Out,” she raised a hand and pointed to the connecting door between their rooms.
“Or…?” Liam had every intention of leaving, and he had every intention of getting dressed, even if neither of those things appealed much to him, but he also wanted to see just how far he could go with her before she tried to flatten him…
“Trust me – it won’t be pretty, but it will be painful,” she promised with the tone of her voice, and her one free hand went to her hip and he got the message.
He believed in give and take, and he’d taken enough for then – a little at a time was better than overwhelming her all in one go.
He’d work on her.
He’d woo her.
He’d make her his…
Mine…
But she had to win a battle or two as well…
He turned and headed for the door. When he got one step on the other side; he turned back – almost certain of what she’d do next…
As the door slammed shut in his face, he tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter.
~
~
~
“I didn’t think it would be that damn easy…” Connor sighed as he followed the scent of Marco’s blood that hung in the air of the tunnels. He’d been hoping to find the man dead from the wounds that Liam had landed with his claws …
He should have known better.
“He’ll heal and come back for her again. Especially if Raul has sanctioned it.” Kent informed him.
“Do you think he did?”
“I don’t know. Raul is…” he sighed.
More than ever the thought of Raul being the alpha of the clan made him uneasy and his bear antsy.
The clan had lived a good, easy life under Zane. The man had been a fair and decent alpha, but Raul…?
He couldn’t say how that was going to go down with the rest of them let alone how he felt about it.
“Maybe you should find out,” Connor handed him his mobile phone and saw the man wince…
“You’re probably right, but I still can’t help feeling like that’s a damn bad idea.” Kent bit down on the feeling that was clawing inside of him – like his beast wanted out, but didn’t know why…
Trouble. He expected trouble, just not right then…
It was a damned annoying state of flux.
“Do you think Marco has it in him to act without his alpha’s say-so?”
“He’s a hothead. The man barely has control over his beast at the best of times. Zane could keep him in check, but Raul? And when the cat’s away…” he shrugged. “You’re right. Better to know what I’m dealing with than walk into something blindly, either here or back home.”
He didn’t want it to be true.
He didn’t want to hear the kill order come from Raul on Agatha…
He didn’t want to think that the new alpha of their clan was that damn stupid.
~
~
~
Agatha climbed in between the fresh sheets of her bed and dropped her head back against the pillow. She took a long deep breath in and let it out again on a sigh of contentment…
Marco might have been trying to kill her…
She might have found herself with a big wolf shifter mate…
The world as she knew it might just be coming to an end or going to hell in a handbasket…
And yet … clean sheets and a comfortable bed … the little wicked goodie in life that always made her feel better … that … and chocolate…
The sound of a door opening sent her up on her elbows in the bed. Her magic was more than ready to zap, and yet, she knew exactly who it was.
The bedroom door was locked by magic.
The tunnel entrance had been boarded up by Liam and his show of overkill with the bedroom furniture...
Who else could it be?
“Yes?” Agatha knew the answer to that question before she’d even asked it, but not asking it would send the wrong kind of signal, like she was just going to accept his presence without question, and as much as she’d enjoyed his kisses earlier – she wasn’t about to mate with the man … yet…
“Me. Floor. Don’t even bother protesting.” Liam offered back, and she pressed her lips together to save the smile forming…
“You Tarzan – me poor weakling female in need of protection from a man…” she tried to deepen her voice, but she’d never reach his level of bass even with a heavy dose of flu…
“Sounds about right.” He offered back. Snatching up the spare blanket that sat over the footboard of her bed and flicking it out onto the floor.
Agatha snorted her contempt for his answer, before dropping back down into the pillows – funnily, or not – they didn’t seem as comfortingly soft anymore…
“Butthead.” She muttered.
Liam shrugged.
“Well, this butthead is sworn to protect his mate, and that’s you, just in case you forgot.” He said, lowering his body to the floorboards and wrapping himself up in the blanket…
“Go to sleep,” she bit back.
She didn’t even want to admit just how much his words thrilled her. Because those words also warned her of exactly what she didn’t want to face up to.
Her mate – forever.