I was pacing. Constantly. I felt like all I did was pace. Of course the moon goddess would pick this moment to start making me very aware of the mate bond between Nathaniel and I, which is simply spiffing. The last thing I needed whilst trying to organise a hostile takeover was my body and my wolf to be distracted.I had hardly come to terms with the fact Nathaniel and I were fated mates, let alone worked out what I was going to do, especially with Luke. My wolf was absolutely adamant that I could have both of them, but I was just not convinced by that.It was less than an hour between my speaking to Lyla and when everyone got here. I felt my body relax, my blood pressure and heart rate settle when I saw Nathaniel come back through the door. The tense look on his face when he met my eyes said he felt the same way. His wolf was close, he was trying to work out what was going on too. The look in his eyes though, the swirling dark that was nearly black told me that his wolf wanted us, r
“What do we do, Nathaniel?” I asked, voice quiet, my hands running up his chest, coming to settle on the back of his neck. I looked up, my eyes meeting his; I could see his wolf staring back at me, and I’m sure he could see mine staring back at him. “I don’t know what to do.”“We don’t have to do anything yet, Effie. Nothing permanent, anyway.” His hands slid around my waist, meeting behind my back. “We can just let this develop, see what happens, and revisit once the situation with my father is over.”I was conflicted. Really conflicted. I wanted him, goddess knows I did. But was it fair? I didn’t want to lead him on if we then decided actually not to go ahead with whatever this was. The bond would keep getting stronger if we spent time together, but it wouldn’t be permanent until we marked each other. If we marked each other. We could still reject the bond. It would hurt both of us, but we could reject it.“Effie. Do you want me?”My eyes closed and my head fell forwards, leaning on
That was something else.He rolled off me, and we lay on the table together, trying to catch our breath. “That was amazing,” he whispered, voice low.I turned to face him so I could watch his eyes. “It really was something else, Nathaniel.”His smile was annoyingly smug.I scowled at him, but that scowl turned into a groan as his fingers trailed back up the inside of my thigh. I opened my legs wider, encouraging his hand closer to my core. He complied, his fingertips rubbing small circles around my clit.The door slammed open. “Alpha, I… oh fuck.” Lyla. Lyla was back.“Give us a moment, Lyla.”She nodded, spinning to give us a little privacy. In hindsight, HQ wasn’t a good place. We should have moved downstairs to my own quarters. That was my bad.I pulled my trousers and blouse back on, not worrying about my bra, and of course Nathaniel had ripped my thong, which was currently in the middle of the floor for everyone to see. I slipped my shoes back on, waiting for Nathaniel to do the
I’d hardly sat down when Luke burst back through the door of HQ. “Is Dr Bauer ready to go, Luke?”“Yes, alpha. She has everything to start working on something to counteract the psychoactive components and even the cyanide, but she really needs the samples to fully get up and running.”“Thanks, Luke.”“Just doing my job, alpha,” he gave me a small smile. “I know it’s not my place… but I can smell him all over you.”I sighed, closing my eyes. “If he’d had his way, it’d be stronger.”“Wait, what?”“He wanted me to mark him, Luke.”“But you didn’t?”“I said no. One problem at a time. I can’t start working out what to do about Nathaniel whilst we’re in the middle of orchestrating a hostile takeover and dealing with a biological threat.”“I understand that, Effie. But what did he say?”“He said he understands, but I know he’s hurt.”“That explains the look he gave me. He thinks you rejected him because of me.”I sighed. “I told him it was too soon and I needed to work out what I was going
I woke up to an empty bed about four hours later. I stretched, letting my toes curl into the cotton sheets. Nathaniel’s side was still warm, he couldn’t have been gone long. I rolled out of bed, shrugging on a nightie and heading for the coffee machine in my living room.And there, sitting on the sofa drinking coffee, was Nathaniel. My mate. I never thought I’d be saying that one.“Good afternoon, sleepyhead. I made you coffee.”“Music to my ears,” I smiled. I sank down into the chair next to him, sipping that beautiful cup of brown happiness. “Let me take you for lunch, Effie. Before you head over to the club.”“It’s a date. I just need to have a shower, get dressed, and then we can head out whenever.”“Shower quickly, Effie, can’t promise I won’t join you otherwise.”I giggled… giggled. Nearly 300 years old, and somehow this delicious wolf in front of me has me giggling like a schoolgirl.“You could just join me, Nathaniel,” I teased as I walked into the bathroom.“You don’t have t
By the time I got to the club, I was nearly two hours late. Coming through the door that late with Nathaniel in tow, both of us stinking of sex and each other, was always going to prove to be a distraction to everyone working.They weren’t even subtle. Everyone turned to face us. I sighed, rubbing my face. This was going to be a long day. “Back to work, people. Not long until we open.”On the way up the stairs to my office, I met Luke’s gaze. He looked between me and Nathaniel, who was just a step behind me, before sighing, looking dejected and walking away.Nathaniel skipped a couple stairs to catch up, his hand ending up on my back. “We knew he wouldn’t be happy, Effie.”I nodded. “I know, I just feel like I’ve been kicked in the chest all of a sudden.”“That’s the old bond, Effie,” he whispered. “It will have left a thin thread because he wanted it so much, but now he knows we mated, it’s going to have finally snapped completely. Because it was you that technically broke it, you we
9pm finally came. It felt like it had taken forever.I was already sitting downstairs at the bar with Nathaniel when Luke opened the doors to the crowd. It sounded like it would be a busy night. That many sweaty, horny bodies pressed together is just what my succubus needs.I sighed as I started to feel it. My succubus was starting to relax as the tension went out of my body.“Effie…” Nathaniel whispered in my ear. I turned to face him. “Your eyes, they’re blood red.”I nodded. “Succubus, remember.”He looked confused. “If your succubus can feed off the lust here, why couldn’t she feed off me, us, last night?”“I shut her out,” I whispered.Nathaniel looked like he’d protest.“I had to, Nathaniel. In time, it won’t be necessary. But the mark has to be done without you being under the influence of a succubus call. The mark had to be between your wolf and mine, it could not be a three-way with my succubus.”“You talk about your succubus as if she’s her own person?”“She is, to a degree.
I stood, walking towards the door, pulling it open. “You two might as well come in here so we can finish up this conversation.”They both nodded silently, following me into the office. I motioned for them both to sit down as I sunk into the third armchair next to the fireplace. “Nathaniel, are you following so far?” I asked. “You need to know what you’re getting involved in.”He nodded.“Good. Luke, you can continue.”“Yes, alpha,” he nodded in my direction, before turning back to Nathaniel. “The original Serene not only created werewolves, but is the mother of The First Ones, the first vampires. Our Serene, Ophelia, has the same abilities that the original had, but has more than enough power to do the opposite. Really, she is a descendant of the original, but so much more.”He paused, eyes closing. “She is the heir to both worlds. If the powers that be find out that she could easily turn their worlds upside down, Ophelia will be in a lot of trouble. That is why the name change was n