~

 

“Sit!” Valerie pointed to the chair on the opposite side of the window from her. Quinn snorted.

“I’m not a dog.”

“You’re making the place look untidy, sit!” Valerie scowled at her mate. “Or go away — your choice.”

Quinn took two long steps, turned in place, and dropped his backside against the seat.

“There now, are you happy?” Quinn grumbled a growl.

“Are you still my mate?”

“You know I am.”

“Then that was a really stupid question,” Valerie offered back stiffly in clipped tones. Quinn snorted again.

“It must be the company I’m keeping lately,” he muttered under his breath.

He was surprised when she caught his words. The daggers that she was throwing from her eyes said she wasn’t best pleased.

“I’m sure you know where the door is.”

“Why, do you fancy a walk?”

“Do you need to be kept on a leash, or do you get lost easily?” She tossed back, giving as good as she was getting, and finding a flash of satisfaction each time.

“At least fate sent me someone with spirit,” Quinn said.

He liked that about her. Admittedly, not at first, but the fire that she still had in her belly was a sure sign that life would never be dull again.

Then there was the mating part of it. Oh, how he’d missed having a soft female within his arms.

It would feel even better to know that she was his true mate. He’d given up — and now there she was the fiery ice Queen herself.

Now he had something to live for.

He could only hope that he could make her feel the same way about life. After all, that was what mates were for.

“I would have thought you would have preferred a simpering female,” Valerie said as she eyed him with a big dollop of suspicion.

“Why?”

“Something to do with your dog -matic nature,” she said, and the sides of her lips reached upwards.

“More dog jokes,” he rolled his eyes and grumbled another growl.

“It’s such an easy target.” She gave a small chuckle that made his ears prick up. He liked the sound of it.

“Tell me about your old life — I’m guessing there’s no Mr frosty the Ice Queen,” Quinn said, changing the subject.

She’d already told him that her husband had died, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have another suitor on the backburner. He’d fight the man.

“Men are like dogs — they bind you to the house and pee in corners when you aren’t looking.”

“I’m housetrained.” Quinn’s beast grumbled a growl.

“And shag your leg when the mood takes them.”

He noted just how brightly her eyes shone with amusement. He wanted to keep that look right where it was.

“I can assure you that the only thing I will be doing to your legs is wrapping them around me,” Quinn’s voice had deepened to a gravelly satin that felt as if it rubbed against her skin.

For the first time in a very long time, Valerie felt excited by the prospect of the picture that he painted within her mind. Her body seemed to kick up a gear – something else that it never did – or hadn’t in a good many years.

She felt a rush of heat in her blood that filled her body from head to toe as all of those old feelings came to life within her.

Sex – dear Goddess – could I even contemplate that at my age?

I know they say that age is just a number, and that I’m supposed to be as old as I feel, but I feel very damn old.

I creek. My joints actually creak and grind and the thought of trying to get my legs around his hips… What if I pop a joint? And not the kind you smoke either. Wouldn’t that just go down well?

Would you mind stopping while we go to the emergency room? That would go down a treat.

Oh, it’s alright for him. Men don’t age like women do.

But then they don’t give birth either. Or carry around something inside of them that plays football with their internal organs or uses their ovaries as stress balls.

Not that they have ovaries, oh no, nothing much shrivels and dies inside of a man.

Sex — Pah! If I wanted to tie myself in knots, I could do yoga for seniors.

Maybe if I’d done yoga for seniors, I’d be able to wrap my legs around his damn hips… Too late to worry about that now.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”

Two bloody right I am!

Who wouldn’t? I mean, I’m not dead yet — that’s it, I’m not dead yet.

“Me naked — you naked…”

“I think you repulsed me at the thought of you naked,” she lied.

“Where’s your sense of adventure? Where’s your zest for life?” Quinn asked.

“They ran out of the door screaming when they met you,” Valerie tossed up a hand in frustration. “What do you want me to say? I’m old. Do I like being old? No. But we all get old. Things start to wear out or break.”

“I understand. So, you wrap yourself in cotton wool and hope for the best.”

Quinn got it. She was human and didn’t have a shifter’s healing blood.

“Wrap myself in cotton wool — no, apparently that’s Elizabeth’s job.” Valerie shrugged.

“Well, Elizabeth isn’t here now…” Quinn’s dark eyes twinkled with a mischievous light.

“So I’ll just assume the position then, shall I?” Valerie scowled back at the man.

“Well, I’d be up for that — but it seems a little sudden,” Quinn chuckled.

Valerie couldn’t hold onto the scowl as his words tickled her. She tried to hold on to the laughter within her and pretend that she was still angry at him, but that just wasn’t working for her either.

The sound of his mate’s chuckle heartened him. Life without a mate hadn’t been a bed of roses for him, not when he’d watched so many of his pack find their one true mate, but he had her now, and he wasn’t going to let her get away.

He’d do whatever he had to do to make her his.

 

~

~

~

 

“Could you at least get some clothes on?” Elizabeth was trying really hard not to look up and down Rick’s naked body. But there were just bits and pieces of it that were like a magnet for her eyeballs.

“Finding it hard to concentrate?” Rick had her pegged, and there was little point in denying it.

“Something like that.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“Only in your world,” she offered back dryly as she folded her arms and huffed at him.

“Fine.” Rick went to turn away from her, but then he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “You’ll stay there?”

“Where am I going to go?”

She had a list of places that she’d much rather be — the Caribbean — somewhere hot where they served really large and very potent cocktails — or even the dark side of the moon.

But she had a feeling that trying to get away from him would be like dancing with bare feet on superglue — her actions would catch up with her eventually.

“If you run I will hunt you down.”

His tone wasn’t threatening, more of a warning, and she didn’t think that he’d meant it in a bad way. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t turn the knife — just a little.

“See — things like that don’t fill me with warm and fuzzy feelings of security where you’re concerned,” she offered back and watched as he twisted his head to one side, craned it forward, and inspected her face as if he expected to find the answers written there.

“Are you serious?”

“Well — no,” she offered back with a cheeky grin and a whole lot of mischief dancing in her eyes.

“There’s a time to have a sense of humor — this is that time,” Rick grumbled a growl.

“Well excuse me Mr grumpy – no pants.”

Rick went to open his mouth and say something, but instead, he just made a grunting sound. Then he turned and stalked away from her, shooting a look back over his shoulder to make sure that she was still standing there waiting for him.

Elizabeth hadn’t moved from the spot and with good reason. Her attention had been drawn elsewhere, and she could hardly believe her eyes.

Rick followed her gaze and turned to see the man standing at the edge of the woods. He wasn’t pack, and he certainly wasn’t there for the senior mating weekend.

He was Rick’s age, not as brawny, but still, he had a decent build on his tall frame and was what Rick thought most women considered handsome.

Worst of all, he knew his mate.

Rick hated the guy already.