~

 

“Tell me you’re not a vegetarian,” Lucas said.

Isla turned at the sound of his voice, and her eyes automatically scanned down his body. She liked the view.

In his cupped hands, he held two hot dogs – loaded – Isla didn’t just feel her stomach growl, she heard it. She hated to say it, but that view was even better.

“You bought me a phallic symbol?” Isla said with a frown.

Part of her was amused at his choice, and the other part was just plain ravenous. She’d been smelling the food in the air all day, but it had only been in the last half hour that her eyes kept drifting over towards the food stalls where her stomach wanted to be.

In truth, she could have set up camp right next to them.

“I didn’t even think of…” Lucas rushed out.

“I guess your little brain was doing the thinking for you,” Isla took a slow walk towards him… towards the food.

She marveled at her self-control, because if it had been anyone else bringing her a hot dog; she would have set off out of the gate like someone had shot a starter’s pistol.

“I can get you a burger instead…” Lucas grimaced at his own stupidity.

He should have asked her what she wanted. Asking might have gotten him some brownie points.

“Nope,” Don’t you dare move a damn muscle. I want food, and I want it now. Don’t rip off his arm to get it. She told herself. “A hot dog is a good choice.”

Isla watched his dark brows lift, his eyes lighten, and his shoulders ease just a little.

Lucas held out a hand, and she took his offering. Her fingers brushed his, and she felt the tingle from skin to skin contact that chased up her arm and over her body. That felt as good as the hot dog smelled.

“I got something right,” Lucas mumbled to himself and her eyes locked with his.

“Maybe next time you could ask what I want?” She said, but she didn’t berate him.

Lucas felt a rush of heat through his body. He’d already figured out for himself what she was telling him – ask, don’t assume – he could do that. But, she’d also said the next time, and that to him was worth more than his weight in gold.

It implied, whether she’d meant it or not, that she thought there would be a next time. If Lucas had his way then there would not only be a next time, but a time after that, and a time after that.

 

~

~

~

 

Keri had finally escaped the sponge booth. Ida had taken over, and she was free and clear to meet up with her friends and plan their impending escape.

She noted Father Ted and a rush of panic surged through her. The last thing she needed was to be hoodwinked into doing more of his bidding.

The witch turned on speedy feet and headed towards the closest thing where she could hide. The Hall of Mirrors beckoned her on to sanctuary, and she was pretty uncaring of what she was walking into. She was just happy to be out of Father Ted’s evil plan for world domination and free labor.

Keri didn’t begrudge what she’d done so far, and on the plus side her body had gotten a workout as she humped bags and boxes around, but it wasn’t exactly the weekend away that she’d planned.

Keri’s mind was elsewhere when she caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrors – short and dumpy with her arms and legs the same size that her waist usually spanned – she tipped her head on her neck and frowned at the sight.

“Wow. That chocolate from last night worked fast,” She muttered to herself.

“You’re shorter than I remember,” Griffin’s deep, amused tone echoed off the mirrors and came at her from everywhere. His sudden presence made her jump in place, turning towards him; she frowned again, as she found it was another reflection.

“Mention my thighs or backside, and you’re getting zapped!” Keri offered back, and his grin spread wide, lighting his eyes, and making him look too damn sexy for his own good. Too damn sexy for her good.

She looked from mirror to mirror until she found the real thing. He was definitely so much better in the flesh.

“I like a woman with curves…” he chuckled, and her eyes shot to another mirror that curved and twisted her body.

“I look like a pretzel.” She nodded her head at the mirror and Griffin took a quick look.

“I like bendy.”

“You like female,” she snorted her contempt for him and his male ways.

Griffin started towards her. The toned, well-worked muscles of his body moved beneath his skin, and he might have put his shirt back on, but she still had the memory of his hard chest imprinted on her mind.

“Correction. I like you.”

“Oh, only because fate said so.” She took a long step back from him, but his long legs were eating up the distance between them.

“Fate, attraction, lust, circumstances … does it matter what brings two people together?” Griffin stopped right in front of her, and she took just one, small step backward on her heels, just to put a little more distance between them.

“I… don’t know.”

It was the absolute truth. Her brain was mush.

Her body was already reacting to his presence, and her shields were sounding the alarm bells at his proximity – but, they only matched what her mind was telling her – danger – not a physical danger, but a lust fuelled, attraction that shot bolts of excitement into her womb every time she caught sight of him…

“I do…”

“Do what?” Keri had lost her chain of thought somewhere between imagining him naked, and wondering just how good it would feel to be pressed – skin to skin – against his body.

“I don’t know,” Griffin admitted.

He couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her.

Taking her scent at the source.

Feeling her body against his.

“Me either,” she said lamely, staring up into his eyes as they darkened to jet black. It was bewitching to watch.

Griffin did what came naturally, what he’d told himself not to do since the moment that the humans had arrived, and he growled like a man possessed.

He couldn’t hold back that need a moment longer.

“That’s not a good idea.” Keri registered the danger of the alpha letting his wild side show.

“I know what is.” He reached out, wrapped a strong arm around her waist and hauled her body up against his.

Keri’s soft curves collided with his hard ones, and she palmed one hand against his chest and the other against his bicep. She wasn’t pushing him away – her brain was preoccupied with just how good it felt to be in his arms – not worrying about getting away from him.

A heartbeat later and Griffin was bringing his warm lips down on hers.

 

~

~

~

 

“Why are you following me?” Penny huffed as she turned on her heels and faced her mate.

Neal stopped in his tracks and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, like a stroppy teenager that had been busted doing something that he shouldn’t.

“Wolf problem.”

“Yes, I have. It’s you,” she offered back, and giving him an expectant look.

“No, one of the pack has taken exception to the fact that you three are witches,” Neal offered back.

He wasn’t in the mood to answer her sarcasm, not when Angus could have been on the warpath. It made his wolf testy.

“So, why is he following us?” She raised her hand and pointed to the not-so-stealthy vampire that was hiding in plain sight.

Neal turned his head to catch sight of Percival scanning the area and trying not to look suspicious, which only served to make him look even more suspicious.

“I don’t know.” Neal frowned at the vampire, and the shrugged his shoulders.

“Just… watching you woo,” Percival muttered, trying for complete innocence, even though he failed miserably.

“Go … watch Griffin,” Neal tossed back.

He really didn’t need an audience. He had enough of his own pack milling around and sniggering behind his back. Especially the females.

“Oh, he’s in the hall of mirrors place, little hard to be stealthy in there with your reflection everywhere you turn,” Percival offered back.

“Little hard for you to be stealthy anywhere,” Neal grumbled.

“Well, while you are worrying what I’m doing, your mate is getting away from you,” Percival offered with a smug smile.

Neal snapped his head around on his neck and growled inwardly at the sight of his mate’s back as she strolled across the grass towards the food stands. He set off after her on wide strides that had him closing the gap between them in no time.

“Not cool,” Neal called out to her.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” she tossed back over her shoulder. She did know, but she didn’t care.

“You know that running from me is a bad idea.”

“I’m walking.”

“Semantics.”

“To you, oh growly one.”

Penny shot a look back at him over her shoulder. He looked like sex on a stick, all tall, dark, and muscly handsome as he strolled towards her with purpose, and then she walked slap bang into a solid wall of muscle that just didn’t give even an inch.

“You’re not welcome here,” Angus growled down at her, nudging her backward on her heels, and she collided with another wall of muscle behind her.

Neal’s arm came around her waist, and he wasted no time in spinning her behind his back. She’d gone from pillar to post in under a minute, and she was staring at the broad shoulders and wide back of the shifter that blotted out all sight of the angry shifter that she’d run into.