Mack knew it must be serious when Celia stopped herself from trying to get rid of him. He nodded and followed her out. He picked up on Ranaild’s scent as they went and it only took him a minute to recognize Aislinn’s as well. Everyone in the pack had caught the new girl’s smell. She was weird. Hard to place. The rumors about her being ‘not quite human’ had everyone looking to get a wiff.
Twice Ranaild almost saw them. Celia’s heart was racing. She stood behind the newsstand and hid, waiting for him to keep going before continuing to follow him. “I can’t believe it. He really is following her. That piece of coach.”
“What the hell is going on here Celia?” Mack asked with a growing fear of what she was going to say.
Celia looked around the corner and seeing that Ranaild was moving again and watching Aislinn she pulled Mack along behind her and headed after them.
“I don’t really know. Ranaild is following Aislinn. I don’t know where Aislinn is going but it’s all too weird,” she said hurriedly.
Mack grabbed her by the arm, hard, and stopped her. He pulled Celia to face himself and she lost sight of Ranaild. She fought Mack’s grip but couldn’t manage to move him. Ranaild was one of his closest friends. Celia did a lot of stuff that pissed him off, but this was the limit. “Don’t you even suggest what I think you’re suggesting. Aislinn shouldn’t be out here. If he’s following her, he’s probably just keeping an eye on her.”
“Well we’ll never know that now,” Celia said angrily as she wrenched her arm free and ran off in the direction in which they had disappeared.
Mack came walking up behind her. She was pacing the sidewalk where the scents mingled and then ended. “They got into a car,” he said.
“Faigh muin! I caught that myself. I never should have brought you. You didn’t see the way he looked.”
“I know that Ranaild wouldn’t do what you’re suggesting.”
“You didn’t see the way he looked.” Celia paced. It didn’t feel right. “I agree with you. It doesn’t make sense. Ranaild has never… He wouldn’t… Would he?” The confusion in her voice concerned Mack.
“I don’t think so. Look if Aislinn is actually missing then the entire place will be in an uproar. Cullen is far too gone over her. I’m betting that Raniald is just keeping an eye on her. We’ll head back and if there aren’t alarms going off and warnings of Cullen bringing the apocalypse down on us all if we don’t produce her from the shadows then I think we can safely say that this isn’t what you think it looks like.”
Celia didn’t want to but she let him talk her into heading back and seeing. What do I care anyway? If Aislinn ends up gone then things can go back to normal. She didn’t even realize that she was leaning into Mack as they walked down the sidewalk and she didn’t think about how his words had been more reassuring than they should have been. She hated how much she liked him. She growled under her breath.
When they got out of the elevator on the 13th floor and headed into the great room nothing seemed amiss. “I guess maybe,” Celia said looking around. Cullen was still in the meeting with Keith, Sarah, and that human woman Sarah had brought up. More odd rumors. She was getting tired of all the secrets. It wasn’t like Lord Arnauk. Lord Arnauk, she thought. Her mind took on a mocking tone, Aislinn wouldn’t continue sleeping with a man who wouldn’t let her use his name.
“You guess maybe what?” Mack asked smugly, smiling at her.
“You’re probably right,” Celia snapped. “There you happy?”Gods why can’t I shut my brain off? How many times did he tell me that he’d never mate with me? Why did I think that I could change his mind if I just kept myself available. Is he an asshole, am I a complete fool, or both?
“Both,” Mack said out loud.
Celia didn’t realize she had been projecting. But Mack had always picked up on her thoughts so easily it didn’t really surprise her. Just embarrass. “I’d thank you to keep your opinions of what you know I don’t intend to say to yourself.”
“Cel, why do you fight me so hard? Is the fact that I’m not the alpha really that bad? You wanna break off and form our own pack? It’s not like we couldn’t manage. I just always thought that the family we had here was more important than rank. But you tell me what you want to do, I’ll do it.”
Mack sincerity seeped into her. She knew he’d do anything she asked him to do. Ambition aside she did care about him. She hated to admit it but she did. She growled and rolled her eyes. What was worse was that she was going into heat and she hadn’t been with anyone in so long it was really getting to her. Then the little chase they just went on. “Come back to my room. We’ll discuss reality later,” she offered begrudgingly.
Mack leaned into her and tilted his head cautiously to the side as he slipped an arm around her waist and leaned in to kiss her. She hadn’t let him touch her since that time they had been out at the reservation on a hunt and they nearly ended up mated. They had been so into each other that night. He thought he was going to catch fire when she moved into him for the kiss. Her hands slipped up his shoulders and grabbed the material of his shirt fiercely.
In seconds the kiss went from experimental and tentative to explosive passion. Celia’s tongue delved into his mouth and danced with his. Without breaking the kiss Mack picked her up by the waist and her legs wrapped around him. He backed them into the elevator and they fumbled for the key to the panel. Mack had to put her down as the exited the elevator and headed down the hall for her room. Both of their eyes swirling amber.
Celia’s door slammed behind them and she began tearing at Mack’s clothes. He grinned and watched her as she ripped them to pieces and pushed him back toward the bed. Celia knew that he was stronger than her and he was letting her run the show to prove a point. But at that moment she didn’t care. Her clothes quickly followed his in shreds onto the floor.
Mack found himself pushed back onto her bed. The scent of her overwhelming him. He’d never managed to get into her room before. He just hoped she’d be this enthusiastic about him when it was all said and done. Any way it turned out though, he knew he’d wait for her forever if he had to. Celia looked down at Mack’s form on her bed. She couldn’t decide what she wanted to do to him most. One look at the adoring gaze she was getting and she knew that the first thing she wanted was to wipe that look off his face.
Celia climbed onto the bed and much to Mack’s delight she turned away from him then straddled his face and pressed her sopping sex down onto his mouth while she leaned down and took his cock into hers. He couldn’t have had a better invitation. Mack grabbed hold of Celia’s writhing hips and plunged his tongue into her. Dying for a better taste he let his wolf slide out into his hybrid form. Celia moaned with delight as his cock grew in her mouth. She licked around its head and then plunged back down onto it. His wolven tongue was much longer and more maneuverable than his human tongue. He drove it deep into her pussy, lapping teasingly at the walls and the more sensitive spots, until he could just reach her cervix. Breathing in her scent in his wolven form was what told him that she was about to go into heat. He growled at the temptation. It wasn’t strong enough for him to catch in his human form. But being inside her sex and in his current state he couldn’t miss it. She would probably get her heat that night or the next morning. But really it was close enough.