~

 

“You know them better than I do…” Griffin said with another chuckle. “I pass no judgments.”

“Diplomacy? From an alpha?” She frowned.

“I think I can surprise you,” Griffin assured her.

“Only if you’ve got a tutu on under those jeans,” Keri grinned.

“I have nothing on under these jeans,” Griffin offered back.

Wow. Who needs Maria’s death by chocolate cake? My damn pulse just spiked!

I might be done with chocolate, but I have to admit that I wouldn’t mind seeing under those damn jeans.

Geez, my friends might be lush’s, but I’m turning into a sex-mad hussy of the very best kind… worst! I mean worst kind.

Damn, put a fork in me, I’m done.

My brain is mush, and all I can think about is what’s under his jeans.

Not that I’m not well aware of what he’s keeping in there, most of the day there’s been a bulge.

Ooh, I wonder if it’s…

Don’t… look… down

Damn, I did it. I looked down.

Maybe he didn’t notice.

The sound of Griffin’s deep, hungry growl rolled towards her, wrapped around her senses, and lulled her womb into a tap dance.

He noticed.

I’m toast!

Idiot.

Who am I kidding? I was damn toast anyway.

I was toast from the moment that he kissed me, maybe before, definitely after.

Griffin felt the hard press of his rigid length against the tight fabric of his jeans and he yearned to be able to release it from the confines that it had been forced to endure for the last twenty-four hours, ever since he’d first met his mate.

She’d let her eyes drop down to his lap, and he’d felt the hard twitching of his cock as it strained against the fabric, and he’d growled for all that he was worth.

She’d liked that sound – he could see it in the way that her breathing had changed, the way that her eyes had snapped up to meet his, and even the way that she just swooned towards him a little more.

Damn, but he appreciated all that his pack had done to welcome the mates onto their land, but he wished to hell that they would all go away so that he could have some real alone time with his mate.

Griffin’s mind flicked back to the alone time that they’d shared with her inside the hall of mirrors, and he wanted more than anything to replicate that. Not the place, but the closeness, the connection that came about from having her within his arms. Kissing her.

But, it wouldn’t stop there. It almost hadn’t the last time.

She could feel the mating pull just as much as he could, maybe even more, and he’d like to see just how hungry she was for him too.

He ached with that need.

He definitely couldn’t fault his pack, but right then – he kind of wished that he was a lone wolf.

 

~

~

~

 

“Ok, so… does your toilet work any differently than a billion toilets in this country?” Penny asked, slightly exasperated that her mate seemed to want to walk into the bathroom with her.

“Err, no,” Neal offered back on a frown.

“Then back off and let me pee, or I will pee on my damn foot,” Penny grumbled, shooing him back from the doorway with her hands like a mother hen.

Neal stood there for a long moment, seemingly lost for words or thought as he stared back at her.

“I’m not going to try to escape. I’m sure there aren’t any renegade vampires in here after my blood, and I don’t think I’m in any danger of falling down the pan and being magically flushed away.” Penny rushed out. “Can I please pee?”

“O-k.”

Neal took a long step back away from her, and the door immediately thudded shut in front of his face. He had a déjà vu moment as he remembered the night before and the pod door.

Neal grumbled a growl and listened hard at the door.

“You had better be walking away and not trying to listen to me peeing!” Penny grumbled from inside, and he bit down on a curse as he quietly backed away from the entrance.

“I’m nowhere near the damn door, woman. What do you take me for?” Neal said, making sure that he was faced the other way so that his voice sounded further away and carried less.

“I don’t know,” he heard her mutter. “Nut job… pervert… someone who listens to other people peeing.”

“I am not listening to…”

“See. I knew you were listening!” She huffed, and the sound of a tap coming on made him smile.

 

~

~

~

 

“You might want to pace yourself,” Lucas said as Isla reached for another bottle of beer.

She’d had Scotch and moved on to the easy to reach stuff, and she was getting slightly unsteady on her feet.

“Are we running out?” She whispered back, already on her way to being drunk.

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Is there a limit?”

“Nope.”

“Well, ok then,” she grinned as she snatched up another ice cold beer from one of the buckets that had been dotted around the garden, and almost pitched face first down onto the grass as alcohol and gravity found that they didn’t mix well together.

Lucas caught her before she could hit the ground with her face, and she made a whooping sound as he righted her back onto her feet.

“Didn’t spill a drop,” Isla said, holding up her beer.

“It still has the cap on,” Lucas offered back.

“Where’s the fun in that?” She leaned in and whispered.

The feel of her warm breath against his ear made his length harder than steel and he groaned and growled in unison. Her body fitted against his like it was supposed to always be there, and her soft curves made his hard ones even harder.

“Nice catch,” Isla said, and her lips brushed against his ear and sent a shiver of hunger through his body the likes of which he’d never known before, but he wasn’t hungry for food.

“Damn, you’re as drunk as a skunk,” Percival noted as he stopped in front of the beta and grinned at the man’s mate.

“Tell me about it,” Lucas grumbled.

“And you’ll be a total gentleman, of course,” Percival pointed out to the beta, and Lucas frowned hard at the thought.

“Anyone know how to sober someone up… like… real fast?” He asked the crowd.

“Vampire blood,” Percival said with a teasing smile.

Lucas growled like Percival had just asked the beta to open his mate’s vein for him to feed on.

“Walk away,” Lucas growled.

“Hmm, good luck with that then.” The vampire said before he flounced off.

“Could you get this cap off for me?” Isla asked, shoving the bottle right under Lucas’ nose, and the beta groaned again.

“How about some coffee? Say, a gallon or so?” He asked.

The beta turned his mate towards the house, and his eyes took in the sight of Angus stalking across the grounds towards the party… the man didn’t look very festive.

‘Griffin, trouble – Angus is here,’ Lucas said, giving his brother the heads up.

It looked like the party might have been coming to a dead stop – with dead the operative word.