Watching Out For Fangs (The Cloverleah Pack Book 7) (12 page)

“No, just fill me, mate.  Fill me, bite me and make me yours.”

“You’re already mine.” But Vadim seemed to have taken Josh’s words to heart because seconds later he felt a nudge, then a push, and…”Holy fucking hell, you’re huge.”

Josh did not mean to say anything, and Vadim had every right to look so fucking proud of himself. He was built. Josh focused on his breathing, in and out, long slow breaths as he felt his mate steadily conquer his insides. He’d had that cock in his mouth and he didn’t remember it being so big, but then clearly his jaw was more flexible than his ass.

After what felt like forever, Vadim finally stopped. “You need a moment?” He said, and Josh felt like hitting the man. Smug bastard.

“Just one,” he said, holding up a finger. Fuck, the burn was incredible. Josh wasn’t into pain, but there was something about the sting, the ache and the blessed fullness – Josh had never been filled so much, by anyone who meant so much to him before.  Thank goodness Vadim didn’t seem to be in a hurry to move.  In fact he seemed to be on a distraction mission of his own, tracing his fangs up and down the throbbing vein in Josh’s neck, sending shivers straight down his spine.  Damn, that felt amazing.

“You can move,” he said when the burn had eased into a pleasant ache.  Vadim looked at him, as though reading his face, and Josh managed a grin.

“Honest. I’m fine.”  In fact he was more than fine. Now he had gotten used to his mate’s length and girth, Josh wanted to know how it felt when Vadim really got going. Was he hard and fast straight out of the gate? Would he do the slow and sensual build up? Josh didn’t think the second option was likely given his mate’s temperament. But Vadim surprised him yet again.

Slow short strokes. Slow longer strokes. Slow long dicking strokes. With every push in Vadim moaned low in his throat, the sound so erotic in the large room. 

“You feel so hot around me, babe,” Vadim said softly, his eyes closed as though savoring every stroke. “So hot, so tight, so fucking right in every way. It’s amazing.”

Josh was feeling pretty amazing himself. But he was also conscious they were on a time constraint.  He wanted to be cleaned up before he met his new mother-in-law. Tipping his hips slightly, he started pushing back and his mate took that as the challenge it was.

“Wanted it to last,” Vadim grumbled as he tilted Josh’s hips and slammed in a bit harder.

“Next time,” Josh promised, slamming back. “When you haven’t made an appointment with your mother.”

Vadim winked and moved faster, apparently getting into the swing of things. Closing his eyes, Josh relaxed back into the bed and let his mate take over his body. Vadim’s hands were tight on his hips, bound to leave bruises, which gave Josh a feeling if pride.  The stroke of his cock caressed Josh’s insides, the way Vadim’s ass flexed into every push was a porn show all on its own, and as his vampire sped up even more, pushing them both towards the inevitable conclusion, Josh knew he was on the edge. Vadim’s scent had intensified, the power, the eroticism of Vadim’s body in him, on him, around him.  It was all just too much and as Vadim pushed across his prostate Josh yelled, his cock spouting thick fluid like a faucet.

Two strokes later Vadim let out a cry, before ducking his head and slicking his long fangs into the skin above Josh’s heart. Josh could feel his man’s cock swell inside of him, and then a pulsating warmth echoed the careful sucking of his mate’s mouth.  Satiated, happy beyond belief, all Josh could hear through their mind link was Vadim’s voice,
mine, mine, mine.
It seemed his mate was happy too. As he softly caressed Vadim’s shaggy hair, Josh smiled to himself. Pride and possession weren’t the only emotions coming through their link.

Chapter Fifteen

Vadim wasn’t used to feeling so unnerved, but he was starting to think it was going to be a common occurrence living with Josh. The intensity of their claiming sex had shaken him more than he would ever admit to anyone, and his treacherous heart, the organ he had long believed dead, was beating with a whole new cadence – Josh, Josh, Josh.  While Vadim’s logical mind had always known that having a fated mate, in comparison to a bonded one, would always involve stronger feelings, he had never imagined how much
more
those feelings would be. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe unless he was holding Josh’s hand, and that was just not like him.

Hopefully unaware of his inner turmoil, Josh sat beside him in the living room, dressed in the camo-black outfits that all of the men from Cloverleah had worn for their trip. Vadim had offered his mate a suit to meet his mother, but Josh had laughed. Apparently he wasn’t a suit-type of person. Vadim felt overdressed in his, but he wouldn’t think of greeting his mother wearing anything else.

The sound of the doorbell had Vadim confused for a moment. Right. No butler. Josh made to get up, but Vadim smiled and shook his head. He could get his own door for goodness sake, even if he wasn’t used to it. Wondering if that made him a bit of a snob, Vadim headed for the door, sensing his mother’s presence. Opening it, he was surprised to see Max standing next to her.

Raising an eyebrow he stood aside, and indicated Max and his mother should head into the living room. They had both been there before.  After securing the door he went hurried back into the room, to see Josh standing by the couch he’d been sitting on, while Max and his mother stood just inside of the entranceway, both of them appearing to be giving his mate the once-over. Josh was looking decidedly uncomfortable, and that just would not do.

Hurrying to his mate’s side, Vadim slipped his arm around Josh’s waist, pleased when Josh did the same.

“Mother, Max, I’d like you to meet my true match, Josh…Josh…”

Francis.
Thank goodness for the mind link.

“Josh Francis, inner circle enforcer of the Cloverleah pack,” Vadim said quickly. “Josh, this is my mother, Eloise D’Arcy, Dowager Regent of the Atlanta Coven, and Maximillian Lipovsky, one of my oldest friends.”

Eloise held out her hand as though she expected Josh to kiss it, but instead Josh held it carefully and bowed over it instead before releasing it. “Ma’am, Mr. Lipovsky, it’s nice to meet you both. Please, won’t you sit down? Can I offer you any refreshments?”

“No, thank you Josh,” Vadim’s mother said, sitting with a smile. “How nice to see a young person with some manners.”

“My mother will be happy to hear that, ma’am,” Josh said with a smile of his own, taking his seat beside Vadim. “Although, if I may say so, you don’t look old enough to be anyone’s mother.”

Eloise laughed, a loud, happy sound and something Vadim wasn’t used too, coming from his mother at least. She was always so gentile.

“Oh my, you are going to have to watch your mate, Vadim. He is a charmer.”

“And a very handsome young man as well,” Max added. “So full of energy and vitality.”

“Shifter’s are like that. Find one of your own,” Vadim growled. He and Max had similar tastes in bed partners, and Max hadn’t found his true match yet. Vadim didn’t like the gleam in his friend’s eye and put a proprietary arm over Josh’s shoulder. The fact that Max just laughed at him didn’t help.

“It is lovely to meet you Josh, and I wish I had time to spend getting to know you better,” Eloise said smoothly. “But that wretched butler of yours has already gone blabbing to Ermine that you are back in Atlanta, and I fear Ermine is not too happy about it. Lorraine has convinced him that your actions are disrespectful to his position, given that you had escaped his custody, and she is trying to get the guards to come and take you back to the cells. You and your friends.”

“So much for a bloodless coup,” Vadim snapped. “Fucking Ivan – I should have guessed that was where he would go running too. Josh…”

“Already texting, the others will be down shortly.”

“You have shifter friends with you?” Max asked.

“Mated shifters, and a couple of Fae,” Vadim said. “The Fae can ward my land, but…”

“I don’t know if that would be a good idea, hon,” Josh said. “It’ll be a freaking siege situation, which could go on indefinitely.”

“Your young mate is right,” Max said and there was a look of respect on the man’s face.  Max was classically handsome, with dark hair and the same dark eyes that Vadim had. But he was taller and a lot slimmer than Vadim. “There’s more. Lorraine has been working on the Atlanta Alpha. It seems some guy on the Shifter Council, Pelham, is it?”

“Pelham’s not on the council anymore. Our Alpha Mate, a Shifter Guardian, had him removed from his seat.”  Jax strode into the room, Aelfric and Fafnir behind him, Anton and Troy by his side. They ringed the couch where Vadim and Josh were sitting, but remained standing, apparently unfazed by the text or the sight of two more vampires in the house.

“Well, the Atlanta Alpha doesn’t know that and thinks he is on a mission to wipe out the Cloverleah pack for the Council, securing the Omega wolf as payment for himself. Lorraine has convinced him to work with the Coven enforcers to mount a full scale attack on Cloverleah. They are heading out in the morning,” Max continued.

“That doesn’t give us a lot of time,” Vadim said, thinking quickly. Ermine had to be removed, there was nothing else for it, and he looked at his mother, wondering how she would take the news.

“It’s all right, my son,” she said softly. “I know Ermine has gone beyond the point of no return. To commit the coven to such a folly for one woman is beyond stupid, especially with magic and goodness knows what else in play. You will have to kill him, and put Max in his place as Proctor. I know you will all want to get back to Cloverleah as soon as possible. But can you find the time to do this first?”

Vadim looked at Jax. He didn’t know much about the man but he knew that the wolf shifter was hellishly possessive about his mates. Unfortunately to get everything done, he needed a Fae to get him in and out of the coven undetected.

“Don’t even think about splitting us up, Vadim,” Jax warned. “We all stick together as a pack. Anton, ring Kane and tell them all to step up patrols, guards and everything else, let them know the Atlanta pack will be on its way within hours, maybe sooner. Let him know we have to take out Ermine and then we’ll be back as well.”

/~/~/~/~/

Josh wasn’t sure when a simple meet and greet with the mother in law had turned into a council of war, but that is exactly what happened. Max had blueprints of the coven to help the Fae work out how to zap them all inside, hopefully without being seen and then Eloise left, presumably to the safety of her own home. Josh couldn’t imagine what it must be like for a mother to knowingly send one son in to kill another, and when she came to say goodbye to him, he gave in to his urge to hug her. The way her body stiffened suggested it wasn’t something she was used to, but after a moment she hugged him back, surprisingly strong for a slender woman.

“Teach my son to live and love again, please,” she whispered in his ear as she held him close.

“You have my word,” Josh promised, holding her tight for a moment more, before letting her go. He wasn’t sure if he would ever see the elegant looking lady again, and found himself sad at the thought.  She must have guessed what he was thinking because she gave him a wink. “I will be coming to visit,” she said with a smile. “I have so much to share with you, about your new mate when he was growing up.”

“I look forward to it,” Josh said, surprised that he meant it. “As soon as it is safe, I will find a way to let you know.”

Now he was standing by Vadim’s side, waiting for the Fae to transport them into the coven.  Max had elected to go with them. As soon as Ermine was dead, Vadim would proclaim Max the Regent Proctor in his stead, and then they would head back home to Cloverleah. Everyone seemed edgy. Vadim had wanted Jax, Aelfric, Anton and Troy to all go back to Cloverleah without them, promising he would keep Fafnir safe. Jax, being Jax, refused but offered to have Anton and Troy sent back to their home, to help the pack ready themselves for attack.  That got Anton upset. He didn’t want Jax thinking he wasn’t up for a fight with vampires.

Finally it was Troy who yelled out, “we’re fucking pack, we’re going together. Now shut the fuck up and shift if you’re going to. We’re wasting time with all this posturing.”

Without thinking about it, Josh pulled off his shirt and went to unbutton his trousers, stopping when he heard Vadim growl.

“Have to get naked to shift, sweetheart,” he said. “Otherwise it’s hell on the clothes. Don’t look if it bothers you.”

“I’ll look all I like, but I don’t want Max seeing you,” Vadim snarled, looking at his dearest friend, who did have a bit of a gleam in his eye.

All he can do is look, sweetheart, only you can touch,
Josh sent through their mind link, just before he initiated his shift. His wolf wasn’t used to shifting inside, but he was pleased to be free, especially with all the tension in the room. He shook his fur out and then took in a lungful of his mate’s intoxicating scent. In wolf form everything was enhanced, and Josh would have groaned if his voice box had enabled him too.  He settled for a whine and rubbed against Vadim’s legs, seeking his touch.

Can I touch?

Please do.

Vadim’s strong hand’s brushed over Josh’s head, and down his back. Josh shivered under the caress, so unused to being touched in wolf form.

“You are a lovely looking wolf, babe. You have no idea.”

Josh kept his preening to himself, but inside he was jumping for joy. He wasn’t sure how Vadim would take to his wolf form, but given that his mate had left his hand on his head, while talking to the Aelfric and Max, the only two left in human form, he guessed Vadim was comfortable with it. Fafnir had taken the wolf form he’d used before.

“Under no circumstances is anyone to take out Ermine, except me. It would be deemed an act of war by your pack. Only I have the right to challenge, because I am part of the family line.”

“That sounds all kinds of fucked up to me,” Aelfric said, “but you can explain all the political shit later. No one touches Ermine, we will just keep you clear of the guards. What about his wife? Is she pregnant, only I have to tell you, killing her doesn’t sit right with me if she is? Would it be okay if we just froze her to keep her out of the way, and worried about her afterwards?”

“I don’t know about the pregnancy, but yes, just keep her out of the way. Remember she’s as sneaky as fuck, as manipulative as hell, and will claw you as soon as look at you. Okay. If everyone’s ready, let’s get this show on the road.”