~
Liam’s large hand closed around her wrist before she could truly decide what to do next, and he yanked her towards him …
A squeal escaped Agatha’s lips as she crashed into the hard muscles of his chest. With a rush of annoyance, she regretted not acting sooner.
Her head snapped back on her neck and she glared up at him.
Agatha tried to twist out of his hold, but he’d eased her arm behind her back with his own, and she knew that she was trapped. The man was holding her in a gentle death grip, and right then, there didn’t seem to be much that she could do about it.
Except zap him.
“Not close enough…” Liam growled out as he dipped his head in towards her neck, and she tried, and failed, to tip her head to that side to guard her neck from him getting in any closer.
Agatha felt his hot breath against her neck and squirmed a little … it felt so wrong, and yet, so right at the same time.
She wasn’t daft to the ways of shifters and she was more than aware of what was coming next, and once it came … there would be no going back.
Not that there really was any going back for him. Liam already knew what she was to him…
His beast certainly knew what she was to him – and he’d already stated his claim on her.
Not the neck … not the damn neck…
Bugger!
Don’t sniff …
Do not sniff…
Bugger!
Agatha felt the rush of air against her skin and even though the tingles of recognition for her mate were already at work over her body; from the skin on skin contact that he had against her arm – she flatly refused to acknowledge them.
They were pretty damn hard to ignore … but that sniffing thing, well that just miffed her off…
Agatha called on her magic and created what she thought he deserved…
She’d warned him off.
She’d told him no…
“Oh, wow…” Justice bit out in disgust.
Everyone, but her mate, moved away from them.
“Damn, that smells like one of your pup’s green nappies…” Connor was across the parking lot in a heartbeat as he wafted some fresh air in front of his nose with his hand, and watched the three alphas stalking towards him at speed…
“I think my eyes are watering…” Landon growled.
“I’m sort of praying that I lose my sense of smell – like right now…” Justice grumbled.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t drop it…” Dexter growled at the other three…
“Well, der…” Connor bit out and then he winced. “I think I might be chewing on it…”
“I feel like I need a bath…” Justice groaned.
“I think I wanna bleach my nose…” Landon added, wincing a look back at the mates.
Liam was still standing right there with Agatha, still scenting her…
“How can he not smell it?” Dexter grumbled.
“Love conquers … the bog of stench.” Connor shrugged.
“Will you get the hell off of me!” Agatha protested, and with that Liam lifted his head, and then he caught the scent that was thick on the air around them…
Mine…
His beast’s inopportune claim made him chuckle, but the scent gave him little to smile about…
“That’s disgusting,” he growled.
“Years of living with bear shifters gives you an appreciation for clean air and what disgusting truly smells like,” she informed him.
“You … lived with their clan?” Liam scowled down at her.
“Not like that …” Agatha turned up her nose at the idea. Then she cocked her eyebrows at him. “Unless, that’s a deal breaker?”
She tried to look innocent, but that scent in the air said she was anything but innocent in his eyes.
“Nice try,” Liam shot back. “And the fart smell, but you can drape yourself in that scent and it still wouldn’t put me off, because I can pick out your true scent from every other smell in the air and hone in on just that.”
“That’s true, he can,” Connor shrugged. “Lucky bast…”
“We need to get back to our respective packs, and clan…” Justice nodded towards Landon, “and tell them what’s happening with those bears from Zane’s clan.”
“Sounds like a plan, and the plus side is; I don’t have to smell that anymore,” Landon slapped Dexter on the back. “Good luck with your new witch.”
The alpha bear grinned wider than he thought he ever could after scenting what Agatha had tossed out in the air with her magic.
“Gee, thanks…” Dexter grumbled back.
~
~
~
“I still don’t see why we need to be here and not back home,” Liam paced on the ancient stone flooring.
It was true to say that if a man ever felt uncomfortable in his surroundings, he did. It was bad enough that it was the vampire’s home, but who the hell lived in a castle anyway?
“This kind of is my home,” Agatha said, frowning.
She didn’t like it much more than her mate did. The castle seemed, big, cold, and impersonal.
But Connor and Vicky had opened up their home and given her somewhere to live when she’d needed it, and for that she would always be grateful.
Liam had argued with Connor over taking her back to pack land, but there was the little matter of Lily being there, and maybe the witch still wasn’t over the fact that she’d helped Zane to find and almost kill her.
Then she’d had to consider the fact that by being there she would have been putting every other member of the pack in harm’s way if Kent and Marco got the order to kill her, and she thought that she’d already endangered the pack more than enough for one year.
Add to that the fact that the cabin was Liam’s home. A two bedroom, cosy, small place where she couldn’t really do anything without being right there in the man’s personal space, and him in hers.
That felt like a lot of pressure, especially with the whole – will they or won’t they attack – thing hanging over her heads.
“And Vicky would have killed me if I’d let Agatha go off to pack land with bears on the warpath,” Connor grumbled. “Be nice to Vicky or she’ll toast you into a furry little crispy critter.” He warned.
Liam raised just one eyebrow back at the vampire, and he had to wonder exactly how bad the dragon lady of the house was.
He didn’t have long to find out as Vicky strolled into the room and stopped short of the seating area where his mate was perched on a couch. She took a long moment to eye him…
“Hmm,” she finally offered her verdict, and Liam scowled.
“Meaning?” He couldn’t help but ask.
“You’ll do,” Vicky said with a small shrug off her shoulders.
Liam had to wonder why Connor had built the woman up to be some badass, mad witch, when she seemed pretty timid.
“Gee, thanks,” Liam offered back. He was more than a little confused by her attitude. She was more like a mother hen than a threat to his safety.
“But if one hair on Agatha’s head is bent, broken, or pulled out by one of those bears…” Vicky’s whole attitude changed in a heartbeat. Her eyes fired with anger and Connor gave Liam a smug grin…
“Told you – she’s a viper when she’s miffed,” Connor grinned.
“Miffed?” Vicky said turning towards her mate, and Connor had that long moment of reflection when he knew he should have kept his mouth firmly shut. “Miffed is waking up next to you each morning and realising that I didn’t accidentally on purpose stake you in your sleep…”