marker on her perfectly blood-free clothes, but I refrained from more destruction. I could always key her car later.
Jake came to my side and looped an arm around my waist. His skin blazed against mine. He still had no shirt on, and I couldn’t help licking his shoulder before resting my head there. His skin was salty. Guess hybrids sweat. He tasted musky and manly, and when the surface of his arm erupted in gooseflesh, I wanted to taste more. The destruction had left me a bit calmer. I felt better, and I never really liked that lamp anyway.
Shelly’s nose wrinkled. Her cute mannerisms would have grated on me more were I not licking my mate. “What is that smell?”
“Mating pheromones. It’s a common occurrence in mated wolves. Lets all of us know to stay back. They’re taken.” Doc had trailed in before I chucked the ugly bubble lamp at the wall. He had helped clean up that. And the end table. And the radio. And a few dishes.
“No wonder you stay back. It’s not exactly the most pleasant smell.”
“I think your sister just said you stink.” I whispered to Jake as Shelly and Doc discussed the mating situation.
“How do you know it’s not you?”
“I am a fragrant flower of womanhood. You’ve been chopping wood all day. It’s you.” Actually it was both of us. Mating pheromones are only attractive to your true mate once the bonding has occurred. Because Jake and I had done the whole bite and claim dance, we both thought the other had a very attractive cologne. To any other shifter, and apparently vampire, we smelled like a shower was in order. One of those evolutionary fail-safes to prevent fighting among Pack.
Shelly broke out one of her opaque “water” bottles and took a swig. Ick.
“Are you betraying the Family, or bringing her in?” At least Vampire Barbie didn’t beat around the bush. I could respect that. Too bad I wanted to hate her so badly.
Jake tensed beside me. “I will not put her in danger.”
“She is in danger no matter your decision. I am just wondering if I can attempt to help without committing an act of treason. I owe you my life Jacob, but if you leave us, I will have no choice.”
Jake nodded. “I will need time.”
“The Family will be informed that you are taking a blood holiday for strength. With the time you’ve already been missing, it gives you another twenty-four hours. It’s what I can do.”
“Thank you, Shelly.”
She took another swig and headed for the door, hopping over a piece of lamp and an end table leg we missed on her way to the entry. “You might as well fill her in, Jacob. She should know where her options fall. There aren’t many. And giving her as much time to come to grips with that as possible…well, that would be to your advantage.”
A few minutes later, Doc made his excuses and booked it to yet another Council I was missing. Now I wanted cookies. I started scrounging the cupboards in search of some.
“Are you going to keep looking through the cabinets, or are you going to listen while I speak?”
Man he was proper with this stuff. I found my stash of Tim Tams. Only one package. This wouldn’t last long. Too bad getting them over from Australia took so long. Maybe we could move there while running for our lives. At least then we would have tasty chocolate cookies.
“I figure that we are about to go into something involving horrible circumstances, our poorly timed mating and overall demise. Times like this are why they invented cookies.” I popped two in my mouth and moaned. Seriously. Anyone who hasn’t tried these cookies has only lived a half-life.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I licked my fingers and pulled them out of my mouth slowly. Like I said. This was going to be bad. I had to have a little bit of fun before the earth fell out from beneath me.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. With the amount of earth shaking we did last night, the ground was bound to crumble. In my experience, anything good usually
Jake came to my side and looped an arm around my waist. His skin blazed against mine. He still had no shirt on, and I couldn’t help licking his shoulder before resting my head there. His skin was salty. Guess hybrids sweat. He tasted musky and manly, and when the surface of his arm erupted in gooseflesh, I wanted to taste more. The destruction had left me a bit calmer. I felt better, and I never really liked that lamp anyway.
Shelly’s nose wrinkled. Her cute mannerisms would have grated on me more were I not licking my mate. “What is that smell?”
“Mating pheromones. It’s a common occurrence in mated wolves. Lets all of us know to stay back. They’re taken.” Doc had trailed in before I chucked the ugly bubble lamp at the wall. He had helped clean up that. And the end table. And the radio. And a few dishes.
“No wonder you stay back. It’s not exactly the most pleasant smell.”
“I think your sister just said you stink.” I whispered to Jake as Shelly and Doc discussed the mating situation.
“How do you know it’s not you?”
“I am a fragrant flower of womanhood. You’ve been chopping wood all day. It’s you.” Actually it was both of us. Mating pheromones are only attractive to your true mate once the bonding has occurred. Because Jake and I had done the whole bite and claim dance, we both thought the other had a very attractive cologne. To any other shifter, and apparently vampire, we smelled like a shower was in order. One of those evolutionary fail-safes to prevent fighting among Pack.
Shelly broke out one of her opaque “water” bottles and took a swig. Ick.
“Are you betraying the Family, or bringing her in?” At least Vampire Barbie didn’t beat around the bush. I could respect that. Too bad I wanted to hate her so badly.
Jake tensed beside me. “I will not put her in danger.”
“She is in danger no matter your decision. I am just wondering if I can attempt to help without committing an act of treason. I owe you my life Jacob, but if you leave us, I will have no choice.”
Jake nodded. “I will need time.”
“The Family will be informed that you are taking a blood holiday for strength. With the time you’ve already been missing, it gives you another twenty-four hours. It’s what I can do.”
“Thank you, Shelly.”
She took another swig and headed for the door, hopping over a piece of lamp and an end table leg we missed on her way to the entry. “You might as well fill her in, Jacob. She should know where her options fall. There aren’t many. And giving her as much time to come to grips with that as possible…well, that would be to your advantage.”
A few minutes later, Doc made his excuses and booked it to yet another Council I was missing. Now I wanted cookies. I started scrounging the cupboards in search of some.
“Are you going to keep looking through the cabinets, or are you going to listen while I speak?”
Man he was proper with this stuff. I found my stash of Tim Tams. Only one package. This wouldn’t last long. Too bad getting them over from Australia took so long. Maybe we could move there while running for our lives. At least then we would have tasty chocolate cookies.
“I figure that we are about to go into something involving horrible circumstances, our poorly timed mating and overall demise. Times like this are why they invented cookies.” I popped two in my mouth and moaned. Seriously. Anyone who hasn’t tried these cookies has only lived a half-life.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I licked my fingers and pulled them out of my mouth slowly. Like I said. This was going to be bad. I had to have a little bit of fun before the earth fell out from beneath me.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. With the amount of earth shaking we did last night, the ground was bound to crumble. In my experience, anything good usually
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