Summer Cursed

“Stephens, will you excuse us?” he asked Isaac without taking his eyes from mine.

“Em?” Isaac asked.

I turned to him with a soft smile. “It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Fine, but I’ll be around. Text if you need me,” he said before turning to leave through the back door.

“What do you want, Fraser?”

He gestured to a chair. “Mind if we have a seat?”

“Be my guest,” I said, but leaned back against the counter. “Want a beer?”

“No, thank you.” He slipped off his suit jacket and flipped the chair around to straddle it, leaning his arms on the back.

Even through his long-sleeved shirt, the position emphasized his muscular arms, and it was all I could do not to throw him to the floor and ride him until I was satisfied... or as close to it as I could get. If only he’d waited another two days.

Being in heat without a fated mate was torture. I did a pretty good job taking care of myself. With the added help of my vibrator, I did a really good job. But with shifters, only our mates could really scratch that itch to true completion. So, until I found him, my hormones afflicted me with being relentlessly horny for an entire week every month.

I crossed my arms and tilted my head, doing my best to hide how much he turned me on. I wasn’t happy about being attracted to my sworn enemy, but I had no control over my wolf’s hormones, so it didn’t pay to beat myself up over it. “Fine. Then tell me what you want and leave.”

“Things changed when you told me about Chris’ assault.”

“Attempted assault. I ended it before it started. And exactly what things have changed?”

“It doesn’t matter. What does matter is I believe you.”

I gave myself a mental pat on the back for hiding my surprise. “Okay, so why are you still here?”

His eyes lowered to my lips before returning to mine, and I had to squeeze my legs together again. “I’m not sure anymore.”

“Then I think you should leave.” My anatomy further betrayed me by throbbing when he licked his lips. “Actually, I know you should.”

He slowly got to his feet. “You sure about that?” he asked, inhaling again.

His dark brown hair shifted to curtain his face as he leaned in toward me. He was so close I could see little dots of gold in his light brown eyes, and his beard tickled my chin as his lips touched mine.

He ran his tongue over my bottom lip, waking me from my daze, then he groaned when my knee met his crotch.

“What the hell, dude? Is it an Autumn pack thing? Do all of you think you can just have your way with any female?”

He bent over, his hands resting on his thighs as he caught his breath. After a moment or two, he rose to his full height again. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. What Chris did was despicable, and I will take care of him. In the meantime, how can I make up for my behavior?”

His sincerity threw me off, and no immediate response came to mind. “Uh. Nothing. It’s all good. For some reason, I believe you.”

“Okay. I truly don’t know what came over me.”

That would be true as well. From the strength of the power I’d felt coming from him, a hundred females in heat shouldn’t break his resolve. So, I believed his actions had confused him.

“Yeah, it’s been a weird day. We’re getting close to the changing of the seasons. Maybe it’s something in the air.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He smiled as he took a few steps back and clenched his hands into fists again. “Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to make up for my actions?”

I started to shake my head, but a thought arose. “You know what? You can tell your pack to leave me alone. It’d be nice to have one pack whose members I don’t have to kick the shit out of every day.”

“Consider it done.”

I took the hand he offered and shook in agreement. “Goodbye, Fraser.”