The Mate Challenge (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Sassy Mates Book 4) (5 page)

Emma glanced around to the trees where Aria was pointing. Sure enough, within the shadows the light from two gold eyes shone through. Then, the wolf jumped by Emma’s side, growling and snarling. He moved in front of her and rumbled a bark.

The wolf took a quick jump toward the vampire, snarling loudly. Aria veered off to the left, shoving at the wolf with amazing speed.

“Tell your pet to stop,” Aria hissed. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

Mason flew at her while she glanced at Emma. He caught her at the side, biting on her leg.

“Dammit!” She growled and jumped away. “Stop it, Wolfe. I haven’t touched your female.”

“Mason!” Emma called out.

The wolf stopped, turning his golden gaze toward Emma. He rushed by her side, growling at the vampire.

“Stupid mutt made a hole in my pants,” Aria grumbled.

Emma watched the blood seeping from the wound stop and the bites heal themselves. It was unreal.

“Are you okay?” She asked, worried for the other woman. Dead or not, Mason had bitten her hard.

“Yes, just a pesky bite. I’ll go now. I’m not in the mood to get the rest of my outfit dirty,” Aria muttered, glaring at the wolf. “Remember what I said, Emma.”

She was gone so quickly it took Emma a second to realize she was no longer there. The giant wolf in front of her turned to face Emma and shifted into a very angry Mason Wolfe.

He prowled to her, eating the space between them with his steps. His eyes flashed gold and the vein on the side of his jaw held her in a trance. She wondered if it would pop the angrier he got.

“Mason, what are you doing here?”

“Keys,” he growled.

She didn’t want to argue with Mason. Not when she’d had such an informative visit with the local vampire. She yanked her car keys out of her pocket and handed them to him. “Happy?”

He pressed his lips into a thin angry line, opened the passenger side for her and motioned her with his head. “Get in the car, Emma.”

Uh-oh. He never called her Emma. It was always brat, sexy, gorgeous or some endearment, but never her name. She wondered what the hell pissed him off.

She slipped into the car quietly. Her mind wrapped around the information she got from Aria. Mason might stop being so angry if she shared what she’d learned with him. She turned to face him but the words died in her throat. His face was an angry mask. His skin pulled tight against his face and showed the animal still sitting below the surface.

The car’s engine roared as he took off and for a few minutes he sped as if they were running from something. Then, he took a turn she wasn’t familiar with and onto a dirt road.

“Mason?”

He said nothing. He stopped the car and jumped out, walking to the edge of a small stream that turned into a natural pool. She’d been there once before with her class on a picnic, but never at night.

She wondered if maybe she should leave him alone, but her gut instinct was to go to him. To figure out what was wrong. No matter what differences they had of opinion, she loved him and never wanted to see him upset. It worried her to see him so angry and quiet.

She marched up beside him just as he moved next to a giant tree. She wanted to tap him on the shoulder but didn’t. Instead, she walked in front of him, meeting his gaze. “What’s wrong? Why are you so...angry?”

He curled his hands into fists and held himself stiff. She wanted to shake him and make him talk to her. It was starting to freak her out to see him so quiet.

“Mason?”

He finally faced her and she was left speechless once again. He stood tense, his eyes glowing a bright gold.

“You are not to go back to that place. I don’t want to hear of you near vampires again. Are we clear?”

“Excuse me?” She choked the words out from the anger at him telling her what to do. This was the precise reason she refused to go into a deeper relationship with him. Giving her orders wasn’t going to cut it.

He grasped her arms in a steely hold. “I will not allow you to put yourself in danger any longer.”

She had a clear view of the vein throbbing on the side of his cheek along with the flat, thin line he’d pursed his lips into. Oh, damn. He was really pissed. Too bad. He wasn’t going to start ordering her around now. No fucking way.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” She argued, yanking her arms out of his hold and turning back to her car. “I’m a grown woman.”

“You’re a spoiled brat!”

She sucked a breath in and clenched her teeth. “I’m going to ignore that and head home.”

With another hard grip, he whirled her back to face him. “Don’t run. Why do you keep doing it? Why search out trouble when you don’t have the type of physiology needed to heal like we do?”

She frowned. “What does that have to do with anything? I don’t think about my being human to do what needs to be done.”

His eyes glowed bright under his harsh scowl. “You should. Maybe then you’d realize you can’t be fighting every battle. You can get hurt.”

“So, what? You want me to live my life in fear? That’s not me, Mason. I know that and you know that. Stop treating me with kid gloves. I don’t need special powers to do what I think is right. I wasn’t raised to be a coward.”

One thing her father had taught her and her brother was to stand up for themselves. To never allow anything they consider a wrong to continue. To do something if they can to help others. And more than anything, to not let anyone or anything scare them from doing what is right.

“It’s not about living in fear,” he growled, his skin tight over his angry features. “It’s about not stepping over the line. You can be killed. A lot easier than a shifter or even a vampire,” he argued.

She looked away from him, hating that he made sense in his own way. She wasn’t deliberately trying to get herself killed, but if nobody wanted to look for Maria, then she would.

“There are to be no more of these escapades, Emma.”

The anger that had slowly ebbed made a furious comeback. She fisted her hands and glared at him. “Or what?”

He lifted a hand, cupping her neck and twining his fingers into her hair to hold her captive. “Or I will have to teach you what happens when you don’t listen to me.”

Fucking hell, why did her body heat when he said those words? Her nipples swelled, tightening and aching to be touched. Her panties dampened and she squeezed her legs to try and stop him from knowing how much she’d been turned on by his words. No luck.

He inhaled deep. A soft growl left his lips as his head descended toward hers. “You might have been raised by a military father,” he said, his lips hovering over hers. His bright gaze held her in a trance. “But I am the one who knows every single inch of your body. I know ways to torture you that will drive you crazy.”

She licked her lips. “You plan on hurting me?”

His frown turned deadly. “I don’t need to hurt you to punish you.” He brushed his lips over hers in a feather-light caress. “In fact, the best types of torture involve pleasure.”

A hot shudder raced down her spine, shooting embers of lust straight to her pussy. She needed to control her body. This wasn’t the time to get all sexual because he talked of torturing her with pleasure. Goddamn that sounded like something she wanted to try.

“Mason—”

“Promise me you will stop the suicidal visits to the vamps.”

She couldn’t promise him that. It went against everything she believed in. If the vamps had Maria then she’d do whatever was necessary to find the girl. “Help me find Maria.”

“I’m trying. There’s been no trace of her.” She tried to look away, but his grip on her hair kept her still. “I’m doing the best I can. We do have a war raging with the Rahound pack. It’s only a matter of time before lives from our pack are taken.”

She nodded. “I understand. You do what you need to do.” She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn’t take her next words negatively. “I’ll do what I have to do as well.”

“Emma...” He growled her name as if ready to snap.

“I don’t look to put myself in danger, Mason. But you have to understand that I won’t let a young girl go missing and leave it at that.” She tried pulling out of his hold again, to no avail.

“I have people looking into it.”

Not good enough. Emma wouldn’t feel right about letting others handle it and sitting back. What if Maria was in trouble? What if she needed help? Emma knew all too well what it was like to be a teenager rebelling against the world. Her heart ached just remembering her family. She’d rebelled alright. To the point she’d lost them.

“I appreciate all you are doing and have others doing to help find Maria, I really do. But I can’t act like nothing is wrong. I can’t go back and teach her sister and say someone else will let me know what happened to her. I could not live with myself going to bed at night knowing that child is out there and not at home with her parents, where she should be.”

He snarled and released her arms. “I’ll find her.”

“You’re so hard-headed,” she sighed. “You really don’t want me to look for her?”

She gritted her teeth and marched for the car. He stopped her just as she reached the driver side door, flipping her around and pressing her against the side of the car. His naked, hard body plastered to her.

Their gazes met and the torture she saw in his eyes took her breath away. “You don’t understand how precious your life is to me.”

She gulped. Knots formed in her chest. Her heart beat tripled and she tried to calm the rapid rush of air in and out of her lungs. The words sunk through her pores to heat her from the inside. “I—”

He shook his head. “Don’t say anything. You’ve fought me every step of the way on us. I know there’s things about you I don’t know and until you feel comfortable sharing, I won’t push, but your safety is not something I am going to relent on.” He caressed his hand over her jaw. “I couldn’t survive without you.”

“But nothing—”

“You don’t know the future,” he chastised. “Listen to me carefully. Your life means more to me than my own. I would give mine up in a second for you.” He frowned, the glow in his eyes dimming with a flash of pain. “Life wouldn’t be worth living without you in it.”

She tried to find something to say, but couldn’t. What was there to say when a man said something that special to her? Mason had always been intense. He’d always tried to boss her around and for the most part she ignored his overbearing ass. But she hadn’t truly realized that he honestly worried her life could be in danger.

She lifted on her tip toes and kissed him. There was nothing she wanted more than to show him how much she loved what he’d just said. A rollercoaster of emotions bloomed in her chest. Need skyrocketed inside her body, urging her to find release.

She raked her nails down his chest, smoothly down to his cock. She curled her hand around his shaft and jerked him in her grasp. He inhaled sharply, the vein on his cheek quivering.

“I want to fuck you, Emma.”

“You’re such a romantic, Mason.” She slid down until her face was level with his dick. She glanced up and licked her lips. “I want you in my mouth.”

“Sounds like a fantastic idea.” He thrust his hips toward her mouth. “Open wide and take me.”

She did just that. Darting her tongue over his hot length, she encased his head with her lips and sucked.

He groaned and gripped clumps of her hair. “Your mouth is hot and wet. I fucking love it.”

She licked around his dick, using her saliva to lubricate him. Then she sucked around him, down to his balls. She licked and sucked them into her mouth and back up to the crown of his cock.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Take my dick to the back of your throat.” His words were soft growls.

Emma opened her mouth wide, sucking him as far down her throat as possible. She stopped when her gag reflex kicked into place. She jerked and sucked him. Loud slurping noises sounded as she did.

“Shit, Emma. That sounds so fucking hot.”

She licked and sucked, jerking him at the same time. He held her hair, pushing his hips further into her mouth. He snarled, his hips driving harder into her mouth.

“That’s my girl. Your mouth is fucking perfect. So fucking perfect.”

Moisture trickled down her legs from how wet she was. She loved giving Mason pleasure. Loved hearing him moaning for her to continue. His grip on her hair turned tighter. He pulled her up and off his cock.

“Your mouth is sexy as hell, but I want your pussy.” He growled, tugging on her clothes. “I want my dick branding you from the inside. I want my come trickling down your legs. You’re mine.”

“Oh, God,” she groaned.

He turned her to lean on the trunk of her car and slipped a hand between her ass cheeks. “I can’t wait to fuck you in the ass, baby. You’ve got the tightest little hole.”

Emma moaned. He urged her to push her ass out and use the trunk of the car for stability. He kissed his way down her back and tapped her ass.

Slap
.

“You have such a sexy fucking ass.”

She moaned and glanced over her shoulder. “You mean big. I have a big ass.”