Monsters Under Mistletoe

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

M ate .

She was beautiful, the tall woman standing at the door to his coffee shop. Inky black hair fell down to her shoulders in waves, crystalline blue eyes looking right at him. Thorne couldn’t see much more of her, the long coat she was wearing hiding most of her frame, ending just at her knees to show leggings and sensible shoes.

Mate , his body pulsed again, and he didn’t bother fighting the impulse to approach her. Not that Thorne was in the habit of resisting pleasures, but this one would be different. Should be different.

How he ached for different.

It wasn’t rare for his kind to find their mates, but it wasn’t all that common either. He’d only known a handful of mated pairs personally, and while he hadn’t been actively looking for his, a part of him had always wanted it to happen.

And it had, delivering this delightful woman right into his clutches at his annual Christmas party. Figured he’d find his mate while wearing only an apron and a jockstrap.

“Hello,” he greeted, a purr in his voice even if he was reaching desperately for normalcy. “Welcome to the annual S’Expresso Beanery Christmas Party. I’m Thorne. I own the shop.”

Her eyes were brighter than he’d originally believed, her lips pursing at the sudden press of fangs, and a knowing settled in his being. A shifter! They didn’t get many of those traveling through Greenmere, but he was grateful for whatever circumstance brought her here.

“Hi,” she said, a rasp in her tone that stroked over his skin. “Holly.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Holly.” He couldn’t wait to dangle her over his bed for decoration. Instead, he held out his hand for her to shake, unable to resist pulling it up to kiss the back of her hand. Her palm was calloused, but the back of her hand was soft and smooth. Her eyes widened at the gesture, a bit of that blush flaring down her neck, but the moment his lips touched her skin, he froze.

Her blood was thundering under his touch, that flushed color more than just chill from the outside or a small bit of attraction. No, his shifter mate was in heat.

His wings snapped wide before he could pull them back, sheltering her from the rest of the shop, and her pulse raced. He was close enough to see her pupils flare as they took in the breadth of his wings, tracing the ridge from tip inward to spine.

“Not to be too bold,” he said, fighting against that purr that wanted to ring, “but do you need help?”

When her eyes came back to his, they were heavy and hazy. She blinked a few times, clearing them but still struggling as her body angled toward him. “I need a safe place to stay.”

“I live above the shop,” he said, fighting an internal battle to keep his wings from folding around her and tucking her close. “You’ll be safe to stay there if you want.”

Holly looked down, and Thorne followed her gaze, seeing his own damn tail curling around her knee, inching up her coat. Uncurling it and yanking it away from her, Thorne took a step back, wanting her response before his body got away with itself.

“I’m sorry—”

“No, put it back.”

She stilled in front of him, her eyes closing and her hands curling in, a flash of her claws pinching her skin. “It’s really hard to think this close to you,” she said.

He moved back, his body protesting under the strain of putting more space between him and his mate.

“No.” Those blue eyes flashed open, pinning him in place. She blinked again, her spine straightening as she confronted him. “I’m going into heat.”

He nodded, not trusting his mouth.

“I need a place to stay until it’s over.”

Another nod, a flick of his tail until he wrapped it around his own wrist.

Her gaze caught on that tail, a hunger darkening her eyes before she snarled, blinking herself back into focus. “If I take your offer, I’m going to expect you to stay with me.”

A flicker of his wings, but he still resisted that final circle around her.

“Do you know what that entails? I don’t want to burden—”

“Holly, I’m an incubus,” he stated plainly, his tongue running away from his brain as one wing closed in, caressing around her shoulder. “I’ll handle your heat better than any other partner you’ve ever had.”

That got him a smile, a bit of sharp, pointed fang pressing into her bottom lip. “Big words.”

“Bigger dick.” Wait, fuck, no, that wasn’t supposed to come out at all. He was supposed to be seducing her, not making dick jokes when she was feeling vulnerable.

Before he could take back his words, Holly let out a burst of laughter, a thrill of joy soaking into his skin. She was potent , her pleasure addictive. How he couldn’t wait to press against her and gorge.

“Thorne, you said?” she asked, humor sparkling on her face in a way he hadn’t anticipated, and then she was against him, her hands on his chest as she leaned in, her height wonderful as she pressed against him a way that strangled his self-control.

His wings acted on their own accord, sweeping around her and cradling her close, the curve of her body so sweet now that he could finally feel it completely.

“My alpha knows where I am,” she said, her body relaxing against him even as she was issuing a warning. “If anything happens to me, the entire pack will be at your doorstep.” Her fingers turned sharp, those claws of her scratching through the apron and against his skin. “Though don’t think I won’t put up a fight if I need to.”

“You better dig those in my back later,” he said, his tail finally sliding up her leg to curl around a muscular thigh. “I want to be covered in your marks.”

She liked his words, judging by the pleasure on his tongue, feeding him in a way he hadn’t been fed in a while. Not since the half-succubus stopped coming to town for her quarterly feed.

And even that high hadn’t touched the satisfaction that came from his own mate .

Holly leaned in and pressed her nose to his throat, breathing in his scent. He’d been told he smelled good, but his back teeth ached at the question of what he smelled like to her . Would she like him? Would her body accept their mating as quickly as his?

Her hum of pleasure was a relief and he grit his teeth as her tongue snaked out and licked at his skin. The second lick sent a jolt down his body, his cock pinching in the stupid cup that came with his jockstrap. If she didn’t stop, this was going to get awful, quick.

“Do I pass the test?” he asked, only half-joking.

“So far,” she said, her lips brushing along before she pulled back, her eyes shifting green. Holly was falling into her instincts, the haze of the heat slowly taking over.

If he didn’t get her out of the shop soon, it was going to start affecting every non-human in the vicinity.

Her hands swept down his chest, the claws scratching along the apron and staking her claim in a very wolfish way. “You’re a very pretty heat partner.”

She was petting him, both physically and verbally, and as much as he loved it, he would love it even more if she were stroking his skin and not the apron. And when he got the damn cup off. “I’ll be prettier upstairs.”

Hands paused, her body pushing away from his chest and against his wings as she looked up at him, her lips pulling into a frown. “I don’t like that,” she said, her body warring with her mind. She leaned back in, an audible sniff before her nose wrinkled adorably. “You smell wrong.”

He didn’t know how to fix that, and even if he did, it wouldn’t get them moving. “The longer we stand here, the more people will be affected by your heat.”

A rumble came then—acknowledgement, but not quite agreement.

“Also, you feel really good,” he continued, aiming for honesty. “I haven’t fed like this in a while, and it’s going to my head. And this damn jockstrap has been pinching my dick since you got your hands on me.”

He shouldn’t have been that surprised at the mischief in her grin. “It frames your ass nicely.”

“Thank you.”

Her eyes flared and she leaned in again. “There.” She mouthed at his throat, pulling in more of whatever it was she was searching for—and driving him out of his fucking mind. “That’s a better scent. You should work on accepting compliments rather than rejecting them behind a front.”

It would have been less of a shock if she’d reared back and headbutt him. He rejected compliments? That didn’t make sense. He got them all the time.

His body was designed to entice and seduce; why would he take it seriously when it worked?

“Now you’re thinking too much.” Holly pulled back, her claws scratching along his sides and his wings fought her for a second before he released her completely. Her eyes were wolf-bright, her fangs the largest he’d seen them so far. “Are you going to take me upstairs or what?”