Winning His Mate ( Lycan Romance ) Read online

  WINNING HIS MATE

  By

  M.L BRIERS

  Copyright © 2013 by M.L Briers

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  Shannon brushed a wayward strand of auburn hair from her face with the back of her hand. Annoyed that it had escaped the tie at the back of her neck yet again, she set about trying to ignore it and concentrate on the elixir that she was working on for Marigold Barton’s ailing husband. Well, to Marigold her husband was ailing, but to the rest of the world he was in fact going bald.

  Adding the Juniper to the mixture, she heard the erratic tinkle of the bell over the shop door and sensed trouble in the air. With a resigned sigh, she set the elixir aside and got to her feet.

  Her friend Gabrielle had warned her that this town would be different, and that certain people wouldn’t embrace her open show of who and what she was, but she wasn’t used to living in the shadows and she had only agreed to come to the town if the circle would allow her to do it her way.

  It was safe to say that Shannon hadn’t wanted to leave Cannon Falls behind her. She had established herself there within all three communities. Fae, Vampire, and Lycan alike accepted her for what she was and called on her in time of need. Here her reputation as a healer had preceded her. But she didn’t know these people and she certainly didn’t trust them. Not yet.

  She tested her shields, making sure that they were wrapped around her body as tightly as she could get them, before she pulled aside the curtain that separated the front of the shop from the storage and work area at the back.

  She saw him standing there. He would have been hard to miss even in a crowd. Dark eyes meet hers instantly, and she felt the usual brush of the supernatural sweep over her skin, even through her shields.

  Like a warning signalling danger or kin, the feeling was unmistakable, and she resisted the urge to shiver that the touch caused.

  Shannon took a step forward into the winter sunlight that streamed through the glass façade of the shop. Knowing what he was didn’t make it any easier to face him when he was glaring at her with eyes the colour of ebony and a menacing stance about him. The stance of his tall, well muscled body put her on the defensive mode to start off with.

  Having been around Lycans most of her life, she knew the difference between the ‘hi, how are you.’ And the ‘get ready for trouble’ posturing that went with the nature of the beast, and this beasts nature was on full tilt right now.

  “Do you have a death wish, Witch?” His deep tones were punctuated with the low rumble of a growl that rolled through his wide chest, and the little twitch on his upper lip told Shannon that he wasn’t kidding around.

  I’ve been here two weeks, been open for one week, and made my first enemy today. Way to go- me!

  “Do you have a point wolf, or do you expect me to read your mind? Because I don’t do that, it’s not my thing.” She took a slow walk to the counter and placed her palms flat down on the surface as she regarded him.

  This one was definitely the Alpha of the pack.

  Don’t show weakness… She reminded herself, and then almost balked at the idea. This guy looked like he was out for blood, and even if she were triplets, joined together, she still couldn’t make up one of him. No- No weakness there.

  When he took two giant strides towards her and stood just shy of the counter on the other side, she noted the play of his mental search against her shields, as if tiny sparks of electricity crackled and popped over the surface. It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortable. He was looking for something, but what that something was she didn’t have a clue.

  Shannon noted the way his hands started to ball into fists at his side, and she realised that maybe smart mouthing him wasn’t the way to go. She didn’t know him. This wasn’t the Alpha of the other pack that she had tended. For one thing this Lycan was a mere pup compared to Julius, old and wise. God, she missed their talks already. She very much doubted this man could hold an enlightened conversation with anyone.

  That’s not to say he didn’t have his own things going for him. As with most Lycans, the broad, well muscled shoulders and chest that she could see defined to great detail under the snug fitted black top as it clung to him in all of the right places, and angled in at his waist and hips, pointing the way to what she was sure would be his large manhood under the fabric of the well worn jeans that rode low on his hips.

  “No your thing is to give Aconite to the local population…” He accused, eyes flashing with anger.

  Now she knew where he was going with this, she could see why he might be a tad bit upset.

  “Look…” She started, but he took another giant stride and slammed his fists down onto the counter top. The loud boom that echoed through the small space of the shop made her jump in place. When the marble counter cracked in one long crevice down the middle, she felt her anger surge within her.

  “You know that Aconite is banned in this town…”He growled down at her and she felt the temperature rise within her blood.

  “Actually no I didn’t…” She tossed back at him, before motioning to the damage he had done to her counter. “And you’re going to pay for that.” She spat out.

  “Do you know what Aconite can do to a Lycan?” He growled down at her, his whole body leaning in over the counter. She had the urge to take a step back, but she didn’t. She had the desire to take her palms that rested so close to his fisted hands from the counter top, but she quashed it.

  “It’s Wolf’s bane, so yes, I have a pretty good idea…”

  “And yet you disregard the rules and dish it out like candy anyway.” There was a sneer that crept over the handsome features of his face that warned her he was close to wolf himself, and she snatched her hands back from the counter to place them on her hips in a show of defiance. Killing two birds with one stone, she had silenced the low hum of electricity that was passing between them, and she wasn’t backing down to his tirade.

  “I did not dish it out like candy. The person in question said she needed it as a wash for her tools…” She didn’t really need to explain herself to him, and yet she felt it might be easier to do just that rather than have the situation escalate.

  “And you believed her?” He sneered back, black eyes flashing and she mentally slapped herself for even entertaining this man.

  “Look, Wolf. I’m not in the habit of disbelieving, or being suspicious of anyone who comes to me for a product or service. If your wolf is harassing a woman to the point she needs protection than that’s his bad, not mine. So get off your soap box, turn the hell around and walk back out the way you came in. Surely you can manage to do that without me drawing you a map.”

  Shannon didn’t think she could have made it any clearer to him if she tried. Until he learned some civility he wasn’t welcome in her shop. Like it or lump it.

  “He is not harassing her, she is his mate.” He growled down at her and she balked.

  “Obviously not by choice…” She snapped back, leaning her upper body towards him and glaring back.

  “You have no right…” He growled back, and she raised one pointy eyebrow and scoffed at his words.
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  “I have as much right as your wolf has to chase a mate who has rejected him.” He leaned further over the counter top, in what she assumed was his version of intimidation. The trouble was Shannon didn’t like to be intimidated.

  “He is wooing her…” His growl was getting deeper and it should have set off warning bells, and it might have if she wasn’t so stubborn.

  “Well he isn’t doing a very good job if she’s buying wolfs bane now is he?”

  Lucas roared a growl of annoyance, his anger flared within him for the defiance of the witch. Spinning away from the counter he focused his attention on the outside world through the glass windows, and ran his hands through his jet black hair to try to calm his inner wolf.

  The damn beast had been rattled ever since walking into the Witches lair and he couldn’t blame it. He would rather be anywhere but here. But as Alpha he had a job to do, and that was protecting his pack from the meddling little vixen.

  “Some mates are reluctant at first…” He didn’t know why he was explaining himself to her. She should never have Aconite here in the first place, it was forbidden and with good cause. If ingested it could kill a Lycan. If worn, it could repel them, neither of which is conducive to the mating process.

  “Well here’s a tip, if she says no, its no.” Shannon shot back with the acidity of someone who had been where this poor woman found herself right now. Not with a Lycan, but with a man who didn’t want to take no for an answer. But that wasn’t the whole story, and she wasn’t about to tell either of them to a knucklehead.

  Lucas spun back towards her with a fire in his eyes that didn’t just make her want to take a step back it made her want to run like hell.

  “You think my pack would force a woman…?” He growled low and hard, his eyes spitting fire as his words dripped with venom, and she felt her heart kicking at her ribs like it was trying to escape from him, and she couldn’t blame it.

  “That’s not what I said.” Shannon denied hotly. She hadn’t meant it the way he’d heard it, and she would damn well not apologise for his mistake.

  In two long strides he had crossed the space back to the counter, and in one swift movement he was over the top and standing beside her.

  Shannon turned and took a step backwards all in one go. Her back hit the counter on the far side, and she tried to eyeball her only escape route from him, somewhere over his left shoulder. But he was just too damn big to be able to see around him.

  He seemed to fill the whole space around her, as he glared down with a menacing look that had her heart really trying to escape her chest this time.

  Lucas placed one hand on the counter top on either side of her waist. Leaning down over her, and using his whole body like a steel cage to keep her exactly where he wanted her.

  He pushed away the flowery scent that emanated from her and caused the tingle in his nostrils, a sure sign she was Fae, and glared deep into her sea blue eyes with all of his might.

  “You insult my pack with your aspersions.”The deep growl rumbled through his chest and then through Shannon. The sound of it caused a long, hard shiver to run through the length of her body, and she gritted her teeth and tried to fight against it, but to no avail. He had to have seen it. Point one to the Lycan, she thought, annoyed at her body for betraying her.

  “I did not…” She felt quite giddy, as if she’d had one too many glasses of wine, and she paused for a long moment to try to shake off the feeling. “And back off, you’re sucking all of the oxygen out of the air.” She didn’t know quite what it was, a spacey feeling that washed through her and caused her shields to quiver around her aura.

  Lucas starred down at the little Fae with a death glare. This woman was infuriating by anyone’s standards. Beautiful, yes, but with a defiant streak that ran a mile wild, something most Witches seemed to possess. Barking fire one minute and now she was silent. But she couldn’t silence the race of her heart within her. He could hear how it was beating like fast paws upon the winter ground and it enticed his ears to listen harder.

  “Oh trust me little Fae, oxygen is the last thing you need to worry about with me.” He growled as he dipped his head and whispered the words into her ear. When his cheek accidently brushed against hers, she swayed on her feet and the powerful sting, like an electric shock snapped between them.

  He heard the slight whimper of pain that left her lips and pulled his head back to stare down at her, question her. But he saw the grimace on her face just before her eyes rolled back in her head.

  Shannon felt his touch against her skin and in one fail swoop her shields came crashing down with such force that the backlash hit her hard. The pain of her magic collapsing in on itself tore through her, and she swayed on her feet as the tide of dizziness washed through her mind.

  Lucas growled out a dark curse as she collapsed in front of him. The steel of his arms caught her before she had a chance to fall, and he snatched her against his chest. Her body was as limp as a ragdoll and he lifted her with ease into his arms, and looked down upon her beautiful face that rested against his chest.

  He’d never had a woman literally pass out in front of him like that before, and he guessed that was why his protectiveness kicked in. She seemed fragile in his arms. He looked around for what he could do with her.

  Stalking towards the curtain to the back of the shop, he used his arm to nudge it aside and walked into the back. His eyes taking in the shelves full of jars and the long workspace in front of him.

  There was nowhere to put her down, except for the floor and he wasn’t about to do that. Fae or not, trouble or not, she was still a female and he had a duty to care for her.

  Lucas walked over to the large comfortable looking armchair that sat next to the window and turned to sit down with her on his lap. Mindful to keep her head from lulling away from the security of his chest, as he listened to the steady beat of her heart, and waited for her to wake up.

  It was somewhere between amusing and disconcerting for him to know that he had caused a woman to faint dead away, and her a Fae as well. Sure he was as mad as hell, and his blood was boiling within him. But he would no more have harmed the defenceless witch than kicked a puppy. Even though she could have done some real damage with the Aconite, she had not harmed his pack. Just caused a momentary problem, and he couldn’t see why she had reacted the way she had to him.

  Perhaps she was sick in some way? He opened himself to her scent to see if he could find an ailment within her and his body sparked with a fire that wasn’t anger. Damn, she was a potent mixture of floral and spice, and he found his body responding to her with a desire that he didn’t expect.

  His heart raced within his chest as the blood rushed to his groin, and he groaned against the instant state of arousal he found himself in. He looked down on her face with fresh eyes, eyes that weren’t blinded with anger, and saw the face of a woman who enthralled him.

  Why hadn’t he felt it before? Why hadn’t he sensed her even through his anger? The call of her body and mind were so strong now that he couldn’t believe that she had evaded detection from him for so long.

  She must have been using magic to shield herself from him, her true self, because even her scent seemed different to him now as she lay sleeping within the protection of his arms.

  Mate. Our one true mate.

  Damn it to hell, this couldn’t be happening, he argued within himself. Argued with the beast that was eagerly prancing within his soul for the one he had found. He came here looking for answers not a mate. Not a Fae mate.

  Lucas reached out his fingertips and brushed a stray strand of her auburn hair from her face. The connection of his touch against her skin had his body ignite with the desire to mate her. Kiss the full strawberry red lips that were already slightly parted to accept his tongue, and he growled against the urges that flooded through him.

  He could imagine himself doing all that and more, a lot more.

  When she whimpered slightly against his chest he found it was a p
owerful sound for him to hear, as if his very being was being called on to protect her. But from what? Him?

  Shannon found the haze was starting to lift around her mind. Even as her body hummed to a tune that she didn’t recognise to be one that she had felt before. Her fingers searched for the closest stable thing. Fabric over hard muscles that rolled in waves down his chest, and gave her body an even stronger buzz that she couldn’t say was unwelcome.

  The image of the Lycan floated into her mind and she wasn’t at all sure why. Maybe because he had a body this hard and this sexy and…

  Shannon’s mind snapped to attention as the haze was replaced by warning bells that were ringing her awake. In the instant that her lashes flicked upwards and she saw him gazing down at her, slightly bemused, she was already trying to push herself away from him.

  Damn, she was in his lap. What the hell?

  Her backside tried to get away from him before the rest of her and she found herself falling butt first towards his feet. His hands reached out for her and dragged her back up onto his lap.

  Shannon squirmed to get away. She didn’t much like the way he felt against her body. The hum of electricity that his presence caused to go through her body was not just off putting, it was downright unnerving.

  “Easy, you’re safe. I’m not going to…” She punched him right in the thick band of muscles at his stomach and yelped with the pain that flowed through her knuckles and into her wrist, while the blow had little on effect him.

  She tried to escape his lap once again, but he snagged both of her wrists in his large hands and held her still. His dark brows drawing down into a deep frown as he berated her.

  “Are you trying to break your hand?” There was a definite growl to his tone, but it wasn’t like before. It was softer, gentler and she wondered if the fact that she had passed out like an idiot had something to do with this turn of events.

  “I’m trying to get up…” She spat out between clenched teeth, and he lifted a brow in amusement.