Fangs (4 page)

At the first hint that Myka could be something more to her than an ally, she should have threw her things back in her saddlebags and rode out. Instead she tortured herself with daily contact. Tee groaned. She’d found a mate but if war was to break out, she’d have to act on her Alpha’s behalf. A mate couldn’t be counted in that equation, at least not one from a different species. She was a snake, a natural born assassin. Tee exhaled and nodded to herself, she’d help him secure an alliance with the residents of Betaille then tell Jamison to screw the job and transfer her.

The night sounds ceased, and soft footsteps made her glance over her shoulder. She didn’t have time to turn around completely before someone tackled her across the middle. They hit the ground and her scream was cut off when the air was knocked out of her lungs. Tee scrambled to get from beneath the heavy weight on top of her. She shifted. The thick body of another snake wrapped around her and she sunk her teeth into the underbelly of the beast that attacked her. Blood coated her tongue and she released her venom. Her attacker constricted and she struggled to catch her breath. Bastard was trying to mate her. She could feel him sliding up and down her length. She struck again, twisting her body and curling in on herself.

A flash of fangs and she was yanked into the murky water. Whoever struck her was snatched off her. She slithered to the shore and shifted. A wave of water splashed over her face and temporarily blocked her vision but the growls told her the other animal was Myka. She narrowed her eyes and caught sight of the pale underbelly of another water moccasin. Myka had the snake in his mouth while it had wrapped around his fore leg. Behind her she could hear shouting, and men with torches burst through the bushes.

Aunt Sint rushed to her side. She took her jacket off and covered Tee. A few of the Alpha’s stomped into the inlet and grabbed the two animals battling. Myka snapped his jaws and thrashed against the people restraining him. More men hurried into the water to help hold him back. Others tried to keep a hold of the snake. It twisted out their hands, dropping from their grasp. In the dark, murky water he was close to invisible.

“What the fuck is going on?” Percel yelled.

Myka shifted. “That fucker was trying to hurt Tee!” He yanked his arms out of the men’s grasp and took a few steps deeper into the swamp.

“Impossible. We take care of our own here, not harm them.” Etienne, Alpha of the alligators, responded.

“I want the bastard found, tonight.” Myka growled before rounding on the men. His voice was cold. “If you don’t find him, I will. Then I’ll hang his ass from one of these old trees with his belly sliced open from sternum to hip as a damn warning that nobody, no fucking body, touches Tee.” He stomped out the water and pushed past the crowd.

Percel turned around and pinned Tee with an unblinking stare. “Are you sure he isn’t the Alpha?”

Etienne and the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Sint helped Tee up and wrapped the jacket tightly around her. “The better question is, are you sure you’re not mated?”

Tee was still going over the parts of the fight she could see in her head. She pulled away from her aunt, yanking her arms out the sleeves and took off running. The crowd split to allow her through, and uncertainty motivated her to move faster. She lifted her chin and took in his scent following in the direction he’d gone. A need to make sure Myka hadn’t been bit overwhelmed her as she tried to push the worry out of her mind.

Chapter Four

Myka took the stairs two at a time and crossed the deck to enter the house through the French doors facing the bayou. The full moon hung low in the sky as if anchored to the treetops and the overpowering smell of cooked fish and hush puppies was still ripe in the air. Below him, the courtyard was empty. He assumed most of the party attendants were either still at the inlet or had left for home.

No one had the right to touch his mate and he’d make it a point to cut off the hands of the bastard that dared. His steps faltered. Within seconds he’d gone from keeping her at arm’s length to embracing the idea of a mating. This emotional shit was for the birds. He caught a whiff of her scent before he heard the footfalls on the stairs. Slipping deeper into the shadows shrouding the deck, he listened to Tee open the front door. Myka watched as the lights flicked on in each room. The back door flew open, illumination from inside the structure cut across part of the deck, and Tee padded across the wooden planks and over to the railing. She swung around and narrowed her eyes as if she searched the nooks and crannies.

His canines lengthened and his vision changed. He rolled his head trying to loosen the tight muscles in his shoulders. Mating her shouldn’t be an option, yet his beast was snapping at the tethers he’d place on it. His erection bobbed as if it had a life of its own and he formed tight fists at his sides to keep from reaching for her. Tee whispered his name. The pale moonlight bathed her in its beams, highlighting erect nipples on her pert breasts and the curve of her hips. All he had to do was reach out and caress her. He lost his internal battle. Without thinking he yanked her into the dark corner with him and spun her around. Her back hit the siding with a
thud
. She opened her mouth, exposing her double fangs, and hissed. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, his wolf ripping at his insides for the freedom to claim Tee.

He pinned her to the side of the building with his body and uttered the only words he could think of. “Mate”

She went still beneath him.

“I can’t fight you…this…us anymore.” His words were a jumble as he struggled to get them out around a mouth full of fangs.

Her hands skimmed his arms, up and down. “Did he bite you?”

Myka could hear the fear in her voice. He dropped his head forward to rest his forehead against hers, and closed his eyes.

“No, not bit.” His erection brushed her hip.

She stopped roaming her hands over his torso, and locked her fingers behind his neck. “Talk to me.”

“I have wanted to do this for forever.” He opened his eyes, took her mouth with his, and delved past her lips, into the deeper recesses of her mouth to coil his tongue around hers.

Tee cupped the back of his head while playing tag with his tongue. Desire replaced his anger and the inferno he’d banked within his body for weeks jumped the barriers he’d built. He ran his hands along her form and dug his fingertips in to the soft curve of her ass. She moaned into his mouth and sent shockwaves along his spine. Myka broke the kiss and slid his open mouth south along the column of her neck. Her breath came out in short pants and she caressed his shoulders and neck, massaging the knotted muscles.

He dipped his head and sucked a hard nipple between his lips grazing his teeth across the taut tip. She wound her leg around his and his cock settled in the warm apex where her thighs met. He took the tight bud of her other orb between his thumb and index finger and squeezed. Her head bumped the wall.

Tee pulled his hair and he bit down on her nipple. She tugged again. He released her breast and straightened to look down at her. He pushed back a few of the tight curls from her face that had escaped her puff ponytail. His gaze locked on the hollow at the base of her throat just above her collarbone, and his canines cut into his bottom gums. Blood trickled down his throat when he swallowed.

She cupped his jaw, brushing his lips with her thumb. “We both know a mating is permanent.” She paused and he watched her throat work as she swallowed several times, and sighed before continuing. “This is the only out I will give you.” Tee leaned in and placed her cheek on his chest.

His ardor cooled. He sucked in a lungful of air. His animal could wait. She’d just been attacked and he wouldn’t take her under such circumstances. No, he would eliminate the threat to her, handle pack business, and when all the fires were out he would claim her. Fuck his other duties, she was his and he could no longer deny himself.

Myka wrapped his arms around her chilled body. “You’re cold.”

He felt the lift of her lips against his pectoral muscle. “I’m always cold.”

“Let’s go inside where I can warm you.” His voice still held the grittiness of his beast, which was still so close to the surface.

Tee hung back. “Why?”

“Why what?” He tilted his head and moved his body to shield hers from the evening air.

“Why now? Why me? What’s going to happen?” Panic added a cold edge to her questions.

“Why you? Ask the Goddess. Why now? It dawned on me when I saw you slip into the black water that I may never have another chance with you. As for what’s going to happen, who the hell knows. Understand this though.” He brushed the shell of her ear with his lips. “Another shifter will never touch you again or they will die. Come on let’s go to bed.” He trailed his digits down her arm and tangled his finger with hers.

“We are not sleeping together.” She tugged at her hand, and he tightened his grip.

He offered a half smile. “Skin to skin is the quickest way to get you warm, so yes, I will be curled around your body like the mate I am and intend to be.”

“We are not mated!”

“But we will be, consider tonight a practice run. ’Cause the plans I have for us will last a lifetime and then some.” He swooped down, slid his arm beneath her knees, scooped her up and walked into the house flipping off the light switches on his path.

She locked her arms around his neck. “Fine! Suit yourself, but you’re the one who will regret it. We can’t do this now. Between the two of us there are too many problems.”

“Our issues aren’t insurmountable and somehow I don’t see sleeping next to my woman as being one of them.” He chuckled.

“Screw you.”

“Oh we will, when the time is right.” He set her down on her feet in front of the king-size bed. The duvet billowed as he ripped it off the bed. Myka turned and faced her. “We sleep now or stay up all night learning about each other. I’m good with either.”

She crawled on the mattress and grunted. “You’re an ass.”

“No, I’m a wolf and yours at that, so get used to it.” The cover snapped as he whipped it in the air and it floated down to cover her. The bed dipped when he crawled in under the heavy linen. Myka pulled her body flush against his, spooning her back with his front.

 “Sleep well, Tee.” He reached past her to shut off the bedside lamp before settling a splayed palm possessively across her belly.

* * * *

Someone was working somewhere. The constant banging was what woke her. Tee ducked her head under the covers and burrowed her face into the hollow created by Myka’s shoulder. His breath tickled her cheek since he had his arms wrapped around so his hand rested on the small of her back just above her ass. The warmth of his body kept her body temperature up and she hadn’t had to get up in the middle of the night and pile the covers high to keep sleeping. The hair on his leg grazed the backs of hers when she moved it and she felt the rigidity of his morning erection pressing against her hip. She pulled her arm between them and pressed closer to his body. The hammering resumed.

His hand strummed her spine and his voice was muffled through the covers. “Someone is at the door.”

“Leaf ’em here,” she answered.

He lifted the blanket. “What did you say?”

She sighed and pushed the blanket off her shoulders. “I said leave them there.” Tee twisted her torso to glance behind her at the bedside clock and groaned. “Is it even light yet?”

“No, but we have business to attend too.” Myka whipped the covers back and the chill in the room crept under the sheets to wrap cold fingers around her limbs. She watched as he reached into a bag on the floor and pulled out a pair of jeans.

As if on cue his phone rang in the other room. He stuffed his legs into his pants and zipped them, neglecting the button and walked out the bedroom. Tee flipped to her back and pulled the bed linen up around her chin.

The coarse baritone of Myka’s voice drifted to her when he answered the phone. Then she heard the smooth dulcet tones of Etienne heavy accent. It sounded like Myka was trying to have two separate conversations. Tee sighed and sat up in bed, shivering as she went to the closet and pulled out the robe that her aunt always kept for guests. She’d have to go to the other bedroom to retrieve her clothes from her bag. Stepping into the great room, she nodded to Etienne who waited patiently for Myka to get off the phone.

She stopped short a few feet from the gator shifter. “Etienne, you wouldn’t happen to know where Keen is?”

“That pale child that you brought down with you?”

“
Oui
. I mean I know he’s safe but I would like to keep tabs at whose house he will most likely be found in.”

 “That boy safer than you be at the moment. After you left Sint gathered all the children and housed them wit her. I believe there is a shotgun sitting at both entrances to her home.” Etienne snorted. “Like she need guns wit Percel sleeping in the bedroom. That boar would gut man or beast if he thought Sint or hers was in trouble.”

Tee smiled. “That sounds like Aunt Sint. So my next question is why are you here so early?

Etienne pressed his lips together in a straight line and glanced over at Myka who had his back turned and was quietly speaking into his cell. Etienne turned his head to face Tee. “You are a part of Betaille and some asshole attacking you just don’t sit right. I came by to see if your man want to go to the Viper Clutch and get to the bottom of dis shit.”

“You’re a good man, Etienne.”

“Hmph, tell that to the mate I don’t have.”

“But you will my friend. I smell love in the air.” Tee patted his arm.

“What you scent is swamp gas,” Etienne grumbled.

Myka walked up behind her and slipped an arm around her waist. “Etienne, sorry about that. I caught part of your conversation. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be ready to get moving.”

“Gimme five minutes. I need to shower and I’ll go with you.” Tee pulled out of Myka’s embrace.

Myka shook his head. “No, you stay here.”

“Screw that!” Tee spat back.