Tuesday Teaser 11/3/15: Olivia’s Mate

Eek! How did it get to be November already? I am tentatively hoping to be done with Olivia’s Mate by December 30. We’ll see. I am planning on re-releasing Sleeping With the Wolf around December 5. I will be writing a few new scenes for it. It’s possible that Olivia and Kit will be pushed onto the back burner while I concentrate on Carla and Taye. But for now, here is the snip from Olivia’s Mate. Enjoy!

He slowed his steps to look down into her eyes. “Would you like to live close to your parents?”

He was so handsome. And so earnest. And so sweet. “Yes,” she whispered. “I would.”

His eyes glowed turquoise in the cold winter sun. He stopped walking and put his hand, warm in spite of the cold winter air, on her cheek. “If you want to live close to your parents, then we will.”

She was drowning in his eyes. So beautiful. “Thank you.”

His head bent, and his lips touched hers. Without actually meaning to, she opened her mouth under his, inviting him in. His arms went round her, pulling her close.

Through a haze, she heard Colby’s snarl, and a heavy weight leapt onto Kit and tore them apart. She stumbled back while Kit crashed to the icy sidewalk.

“Colby!” she shouted at the gray wolf standing on Kit’s chest, snapping his teeth at Kit’s throat.

Kit was holding him off with a forearm against his throat, and his face took on the subtle lines of his cat. She stared when claws sprouted at his fingertips. She jumped a few inches when Howling Wolf spoke beside her.

“He’s different from us,” her younger cousin said thoughtfully.

She spared him a glance and saw him folding Colby’s discarded clothes into a neat pile in his arms. “I mean for us, the wolf comes out all at one time. But look at his hands. They are paws, like a cat’s, even though the rest of him is human.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, trying to sound casual. Casual was difficult when her cousin and the man who was courting her were doing their best to kill each other. No, she realized, Colby might be trying to kill or at least hurt Kit, but Kit was clearly trying to not damage Colby. She swallowed and forced her voice to steady tones. “The cats aren’t like us. You have a wolf, but you aren’t a wolf. I think the cat and the man are one person.”

“Huh, that’s interesting.” Howling Wolf stepped closer to her, watching Kat flip Colby onto his back to expose his belly. No matter how Colby strained against Kit’s hold he couldn’t break free. “I think your cat is going to win this one.”

He was right. Kit held his clawed hand poised over Colby’s throat. “I don’t want to hurt you,” Kit said, with a thread of his cat rasping in his voice. “You are kin to my mate. Yield.”

The wolf’s slips peeled back in a snarl that was answer enough. He squirmed frantically but couldn’t budge the cat in mostly human shape. Kit stared intently down into Colby’s eyes.

“Yield,” he said, his tone almost a caress.

Howling Wolf grunted. “Cole is too Alpha to give up so easily.”

The wolf made only a half-hearted effort to escape, and gave a little whine.

“Yield,” Kit said, still staring into Colby’s eyes.

Olivia felt her jaw drop when Colby tilted his head back to expose his throat. Beside her, Howling Wolf gave another grunt, this one tinged with disbelief. Howling Wolf was right: Colby was too much an Alpha wolf to submit so tamely. He was stubborn and infuriatingly sure he was always right ,and he’s shown an implacable prejudice against Kit. Was this some sort of trick?

But when Kit stood up, Colby twisted to his four feet, shook the snow from his fur and shifted back to human. Without a word, he took his clothes from his brother and dressed. For the first time Olivia noticed they’d drawn an audience. Several spectators, female and male, watched Colby’s strong naked body with appreciation.

Kit came back to her and took her hand to place it in the crook of his arm. “I should take you back to your house,” he said, smiling down at her as if nothing had happened.

“Okay.” She walked with him in silence for several minutes, her two cousins almost a block behind them. “How did you do that? I never expected Colby to submit to you. He’s the sort to gnaw off his own paw rather than submit. It was almost like you hypnotized him.”

Kit was silent for a long moment. “It’s something I can do. I’ve always been able to do it. It’s … I guess it’s sort of like magic.”

Unease, like icy fingers, slid down her back. “Magic? I don’t believe in magic.”

He laid his free hand over hers on his arm. “No? But your fathers and brothers turn into wolves. That’s not magic?”

“No! That’s just the way they are.” Actually, she did believe in magic. It came from the Lakota side of her heritage. “What did you do to Colby?”

His hair slid over his shoulders when he shrugged. “Just made him agree with me. That way he wouldn’t be hurt and you wouldn’t be mad at me.”

She almost jerked her hand free. Instead she swallowed. The house was only a block away. She hurried her steps. “How did you do that?”

“I just looked at him and thought it.” His brow wrinkled as he thought about it. “I just think of what I want someone to do, and sort of push it at them until it goes in and they do it.”

Cold that had nothing to do with the air temperature swept over her. “Did you ever do it to me?”

He looked away, toward the gate in the fence that was only yards away, and swallowed. She watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down. “Just once,” he confessed in a whisper. “When I carried you back to my lair. I told you to sleep.”

Yes! She remembered how odd it was that in spite of her fear she had fallen asleep. She ripped her hand free of his hold, fear and suspicion swirling inside. “Never do that to me again!”

He took a hesitant step toward her but stopped when she retreated. “I won’t. I promise.”

She continued to back up until she was at the gate. Red Wing shifted narrowed eyes from her to Kit, and then to Colby and Howling Wolf who came up to the gate with expressionless faces. She managed a smile at her uncle. “We’re back,” she said cheerfully, and unnecessarily. “Let me in, please. I need to get into the kitchen to help with dishes.”

Kit took a quick step forward. “When can I see you again, Olivia?”

The pleading on his face softened the wild emotions churning inside her. Her immediate refusal died. “Tomorrow night at 8:30. Unless Uncle Hawk says no. Come here tomorrow night.”

The relief on his face almost made her smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”