~

 

After Marco’s impromptu attack on Agatha outside the bar, Kent, didn’t trust the shifter as far as he could throw him. The man could have gotten them both killed, and as far as he knew, nobody had given the kill order on the little witch.

They’d followed them, Agatha included, back to the castle where she’d been hold up for the past few weeks, and now Marco was scenting the air and testing for all the ways that he could gain entry without alerting the vampire that he was there.

Marco had been doing the exact same thing since he’d arrived as backup a week ago, but that was only because Agatha didn’t really leave the castle grounds much. The man said he was being prepared – now, Kent had to wonder if that damn order to kill her had already been given by the alpha of the clan, and he just wasn’t in the loop.

If Raul didn’t trust him to carry out orders then that didn’t bode well for his standing within the clan.

‘Don’t you think you would have found secret tunnels by now?’ Kent had to wonder what the man was really up to.

‘The only other way in, beside the front door that I can figure is via the tree and the roof – and I don’t like heights.’

‘Well, good luck with that, because if I was the vampire… I would certainly had sealed up any tunnels…’

‘I really don’t want to go in through the old sewer runaways if I can help it…’

‘Nobody is going in yet. We haven’t had the order…’ Kent said, but the quick flick of the shifter’s eyes towards him said that he might have been wrong about that.

That didn’t bode well for Agatha.

 

~

~

~

 

Agatha pulled open the door that separated the two rooms, and her eyes took him in.

Liam stood there, one hand on either side of the door frame, leaning his upper body towards her, and looking every inch the alpha male. Her heart skipped a couple of beats and lodged firmly in her throat.

The fact that she was standing in her bedroom, with a large four poster bed behind her, and all that implied wasn’t lost on her. That was what made the sight of him all the more imposing.

His chin was tipped down towards his broad muscled chest, and rather uncharacteristically, she felt an urge to reach out and prod it with her forefinger, just to see how hard those muscles really were. She guessed it didn’t help matters that he was looking at her with jet black eyes from under his dark eyebrows…

That was as sexy as hell.

The sight of him didn’t exactly make her panties drop, but it did set off her feminine alarm bells to the possibility that they might be in danger of sliding.

She couldn’t help it when she pictured him standing there like that butt naked – it wasn’t something that her mind usually rushed to imagine – and yet, she had to mentally drag herself from that happy thought as her pulse sped up, and her cheeks coloured a nice red hue.

“Face to face is better, is it?” Agatha finally said and her tone was a little begrudging of how her mind had wandered.

“I like it,” Liam smiled. It was a tense smile that stretched his face, but it was genuine.

Agatha had to guess that he didn’t have much of a clue of how to act around her either. Being his mate didn’t appear to just be a daunting prospect for her…

“What do you want, Liam?” Agatha asked, and the low rumble of a thunder-like growl rolled through his chest … “Aside from the obvious…” She offered him frown.

Liam berated himself and his beast for letting that growl slip out. He’d learned to control his wolf side a long time ago when he was around humans – but his mate was more than just human, and his defences were down as he tried to concentrate on not taking just the few steps forward that he would need to be able to scoop her up against him, and let nature take its course as he kissed her senseless…

Geez, stupid witch – I walked right into that one… She berated herself…

Why didn’t I just strip naked and yell for him to take me now?

I can’t really berate him for growling, for his mind wandering at my question – I did sort of paint the picture for him…

And it’s not like I didn’t think about him naked…

I’m not going to admit that thought, am I?

Nope. I can honestly say that at this point in time I’d rather crawl over broken glass…

“To get to know you,” Liam offered back, and that sounded genuine to her ears.

She did have to wonder if, in the back of his mind, he had meant it in the biblical sense…

“I’m tired…” Agatha didn’t lie. She felt a little drained, but only because her mind wouldn’t be still for longer than a few seconds before it swirled with this thought or that…

A mate and a death threat…

A pack and a clan…

Staying or going…

Him naked or clothed…

Not that again … get off the naked and back to thinking of him as a dangerous beast…

“We could … sit on the bed?” Liam’s eyes flashed with hunger at that thought, and there was no mistaking the small wolfish grin that he offered her along with a heap load of new thoughts that swirled into the tsunami inside of her head…

Dangerous beast … dangerous beast … dangerous beast…

“Or, you could go sit on your bed, I could go sit on my bed, and we could talk in the morning,” she offered back, and she couldn’t help the teasing smile that graced her lips when he gave a small grimace at that idea…

“Are you planning on running?” Liam got right to the point…

“Running…?”

She’d thought about it. Heaven only knew how that thought had been swirling around inside of her mind with all of the others.

If she left then Kent and Marco would follow her. No harm no foul to the pack or Connor, and especially her mate … but, it was just a thought like all the others.

She hadn’t exactly plotted on how to get out of Connor’s castle and steal away in the night, missing the bear shifters along the way … or maybe she had, just a little, and for that she felt a pang of guilt for what that meant for him as her mate…

She’d already had a crazy bear in her life – but her own mate going crazy wolf – rogue – that didn’t sit well with her need to protect those around her that had shown her kindness when she didn’t think that she deserved any. Throwing Liam to his dark side was a definite no-no.

“You know…” he drew his arms against his sides and pretended to run on the spot.

Agatha couldn’t help but find amusement in the sight of that. A big, grown, growly, shifter, looking like an idiot for her benefit. She wasn’t so sure that wasn’t what he’d intended, lighten the moment and all that, because the man did have a stupid look on his face, even if his eyes were dark and deadly serious.

“I know what running looks like. I just don’t partake in sports, but thanks,” Agatha bit down on the smile that stretched her lips.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Liam said, placing his hands back on either side of the door and leaning in towards her once more.

That time it felt more personal. It felt like she was a schoolgirl again and he was her first ever date, leaning in for a goodnight kiss…

One kiss from him made her doubt that it would feel like a goodnight one … although, she had the feeling that a good night would be had by the both of them…

“It was a stupid question.”

Agatha rushed back her answer on a frown that wasn’t necessarily for him, more at just how her mind had run off on its own path once more – leading her to think about all things mating when they weren’t even out of the starting blocks yet...