~

 

“It’s not a game. I am getting closer.” Doug said.

“Well, don’t.”

“Again, that’s not really helpful with this whole wooing and mating thing,” he said as he took another step.

“I don’t want to be helpful with the whole bloody wooing and mating thing.”

“You just want me to take the lead.” His eyes were smiling just as much as his lips were.

“Off a tall cliff.”

“So, that’s a yes?”

“Now, you’re just twisting my words.”

“Maybe I’m just reading between the lines.”

“I can spell it out for you if you like. I’m thinking two words and the second one would be off.”

“I like the first word better, and on its own – or maybe with a lets in front of it. But again, that has nothing to do with us mating, and everything to do with how your dirty mind works.” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the look on her face. It was picture perfect.

“I do not have a dirty mind!” She lied. She’d definitely developed one since the first time that she’d seen him.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” He did chuckle then.

“It’s Christmas!” Saffy scowled at him. She wasn’t sure why she’d said it, but her brain had farted it out anyway.

“Think of me as a Christmas present.”

“I just wanted a normal Christmas. Like a normal person. Was that too much to ask?” She tossed up her hands and let them fall back to her sides with a slap against her thighs.

“Sweetheart, I can make all of your Christmases come true right here tonight.”

“If your ego gets any bigger it could eclipse the sun and end all life on Earth as we know it,” Saffy grumbled.

She hated the fact that the man was getting to her, and in more ways than one.

She hated the mating pull because that was surely clouding up her brain and making her think stupid thoughts. Mainly about him.

She hated the fact that she had even helped the mating pull on its way because she still would have found Doug so damn attractive — like sex on a stick — like that chocolate cake that you just couldn’t resist, and that was a bad thing.

He was better than chocolate cake. At least with chocolate cake once you’d eaten the damn thing you really regretted it.

Of course, what you regretted most was that there wasn’t any more left. But he was the gift that just kept on giving. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Mates.

A lifetime commitment.

Love.

Family.

Him.

How could she say no to that?

Why would she want to say no to that, to him?

She was standing in his bedroom, of all places, and there he was looking so damn sexy. Temptation was literally staring her in the face and temptation was a scary thing — especially when it looked like him, and you were so damn tempted that your toes actually curled inside your socks.

Saffy tried to knock the feeling of frustration that was back-building within her on the head, squish it down, and squash it out if existence. She knew that was never going to work, turning off fate’s mating pull was a no-no, and she was stuck with it.

And he was chocolate cake!

Even if she walked away from him, there would still be a residue of it within her, need to go back and take a bite.

How cruel was fate?

“It’s not ego talking.” He said and snapped her out if her musings.

Doug was finally right where he wanted to be. Close enough to reach out and touch her, but far enough away so that she didn’t turn into a scared rabbit and run.

“Nooo?”

“No. I’m just saying what I see in your eyes,” Doug growled, just a little, just enough to make her whole body pay attention – some bits more than others – her nipples were definitely paying attention, and pointing at him like heat-seeking missiles, and he was certainly hot.

“Am I supposed to fall for that old twaddle?”

Saffy was about to fold her arms in front of her like it was the last line of defiant defense against…him, but she never got the chance. His arm reached out and wrapped around her waist, and Doug deliberately yanked her toward him, making sure that he caught her off balance so that she would have no choice but to reach for him to stabilize herself.

“Fall for me, Saffy,” Doug growled.

Even when he brought his lips down on hers, there was still that rumbling within his chest. It just added to the torrent of different emotions that battered her senses and reinforced the fact that they were mates.

Doug felt familiar to her, not as if she’d known him before, not really, but as if his kiss was just… right.

As if his touch was… right.

As if she was exactly where she was supposed to be with the man that she was supposed to be with.

Everything just connected in the same way that a puzzle started to take shape from all of the pieces and you just knew that you were going to make it whole.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if she should protest, push away, zap him. But that didn’t feel right — he felt right — they felt right.

Doug knew the exact moment when she’d stopped fighting with herself, debating what she was doing, and just gave herself over to the moment. With a hard growl, he deepened the kiss, and Saffy responded.

He didn’t want to push her too far too fast. His beast might have been clawing within him to claim her as their mate, but Doug wanted to win her over, heart, body, mind, and soul.

Completely.

He slammed the cage door closed on his beast. He needed to woo his mate and woo her he would.

 

~

~

~

 

“With a head that big I’m surprised he could fit through the front door,” Natalie hissed out as she planted her hands on her hips and glared at her mate like he was a Demon in disguise.

“Well, with hips that big…”

Jonathan never got any further than that. The look on her face told him to bend over and kiss his backside goodbye, and that might have been a good idea — but she’d already taken to zapping him.

“Oh, did he really go there?” Tom dropped his head on his neck and slapped his hands against his face on a groan.

“No-no, don’t bury your head in the sand now,” Jake said as he folded his arms and grinned from ear to ear with glee. “It’s just getting to the good part — she’s zapping him.”

Tom’s head snapped up, and his eyes took in the scene. The beta’s body was contorted in pain that registered on his face, and his eyes were practically bulging out of his head.

“Oh yes, she got him a good one!” Tom chuckled.

“Less than he deserves with a comment like that,” Jake chuckled.

Natalie had already snapped off her magic. She couldn’t understand why Jonathan’s body was still twisted in pain.

The zap that she’d given him hadn’t even been that bad. It had been akin to a quick lick of an electrical cable, and it should have been over and done with by now.

Natalie had to wonder if something was amiss. She eyed the area, upstairs and down, to see if either of the other witches had joined her in zapping him, but she found herself the only witch around.

Her attention was snapped right back to Jonathan when he offered up a rather miffed off hungry growl that told her he wasn’t best pleased. The beta shook off the last of the magic from his body, dropped his chin toward his chest, and eyed her like the wolf that had trapped its prey.

“Okay,” Natalie started as she raised a hand and pointed her index finger at him. That probably wasn’t the best thing to do considering the circumstances, and Jonathan growled once more as he started toward her. “That wasn’t entirely me…”

Jonathan’s hard growl rumbled over the top of her explanation. A moment later and her back was being pressed against the wall, partly out of her own need to put just a little distance between her and her mate, and partly out of the fact that there was no distance between her and her mate.

“I may have committed a crime against your sensibilities that you didn’t find funny — but, trust me when I say, that your overreaction was way out of line,” Jonathan growled.

His beast was miffed. Worse than miffed, it was also hungry to teach her a lesson in manners.

His beast didn’t mind a little pain, but if it wanted to feel that much agony, it would go and lick an electricity pylon.

The wolf wanted out. It took almost all of Jonathan’s sheer determination and willpower to keep the beast caged inside.

Mate or not — she had crossed a line.

His witch needed to be taught a lesson and the wolf within felt it was best placed to do it.

Jonathon wasn’t entirely sure just how long he could hold the beast at bay.