Mate Set (Mating Heat Book 1) Read online

  Grady could fight. She could see he had both the attackers well under his control. Her relief was instant when she knew he’d be fine. She eyed the downed man on the ground who’d hit the wall to note he still wasn’t moving. The guy under the trashcan grunted, cursed while slowly shoving garbage off with one hand while gripping the back of his bleeding head where Mika had nailed him with the board. He looked done in.

  Finally, Mika turned and fled, running for all she was worth toward the main street. Bartock was pretty dead at ten at night so it wasn’t a surprise that she didn’t see anyone as she turned the corner and sprinted down the sidewalk. Her little house was three blocks away. She ran a bit before her burning side made her slow down. She was never going to go out at night again. No damn way. If she wanted chocolate, she’d call Uncle Omar to go get it for her or she’d be smart enough to buy it before dark.

  She was breathing hard and walking when she heard a sound behind her that made her spin around. Shock coursed through her when she saw the man who had saved her coming down the sidewalk. She froze as Grady advanced on her, his long legs quickly eating up the sidewalk between them. Even though his head was down and his sweater was gone, she knew it was him. He now wore a black tank top that was torn open over his stomach. His head lifted as he came within ten feet of her, pausing where he stood to stare.

  She’d never seen such dark eyes before. He was attractive but not handsome in the way she usually liked men to be. He was still damn good-looking in a purely male sense. Masculine fit him perfectly as a description. His hair was black, shaggy, and wild looking. He had long black eyelashes and his dark, intense gaze peered out at her from beneath them.

  Fear crept up her spine. No one’s eyes should be that black, and they didn’t look human. The fight he’d just been in had probably helped that look along, she realized.

  Why is he here? She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer. They stared at each other.

  The man moved first by taking a step toward her, and then another. Mika stood frozen. If she tried to run away from him, his instincts would demand he chase her. She was all up on her werewolf facts, since Uncle Omar had pounded them into her head from the time she was five years old and realized the “doggy” that sometimes played with her was really Uncle Omar. She’d accidentally witnessed him changing so he’d had to tell her the truth. Sometimes a big dog wasn’t what it appeared to be.

  She was alarmed by how tall Grady was when he stopped just feet away to stare down at her. At five feet four, Mika had never felt shorter in her life as she looked up a good foot into the man’s face. She had never considered herself really tiny before but she felt that way at that moment. The man dwarfed her.

  “Thanks for saving me back there,” she said softly.

  His eerie black eyes blinked and she couldn’t distinguish the pupil from the iris. The lighting on the residential street was a lot better than it had been in that alley, so she was getting a good look at him this time. His full lips parted, his breathing slowed only nominally as his tongue ran across his lower lip.

  “You know what we are. You owe me.”

  “Owe you?” She hated the way her voice shook. Uncle Omar hadn’t mentioned that tidbit to her, what it meant when you owed something to a werewolf. She wasn’t sure she was going to appreciate finding out the meaning either.

  “Don’t scream and don’t fight me.” His tone was commanding.

  “Shit,” she breathed out. There was no way that statement, coming from this big guy, was good news.

  His hands rose slowly and he gripped her arms over her elbows. His touch was gentle as his fingers curled around her and he backed her off the sidewalk, maneuvering them between two houses. A wood fence stopped her when her back brushed it. The streetlights didn’t reach between the houses so she stood there with him in the dim light.

  “Don’t talk. I’m not going to hurt you.” He had a husky, deep voice.

  “I—”

  “Shush,” he whispered.

  Her heart hammered as her lips sealed together. She had a pretty good idea why a man would back her into a dark area between two houses and tell her to be quiet. Her gaze raked up and down his body, verifying again that he was a big bastard, and it sent fear inching up her spine. She tried to think of something that would keep her calm, since fear wasn’t her friend when she was being touched by a werewolf. She didn’t want him to scent anything that would turn him on.

  One of his hands released her arm so he could reach between them. Mika could hardly make out anything in the shadows but nothing was wrong with her hearing. She heard a zipper—his, not hers, since he hadn’t touched her pants.

  “No,” she said softly. “Please.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he whispered. “I helped you and now you’re going to help me. Hold very still. I promise you’re safe with me.”

  She wanted to run. A scream would be great too, she thought. She held still though and kept her lips locked together while her heart thundered in her chest.

  The man leaned down to nuzzle the side of her face by brushing his scratchy, short whiskers lightly against her skin. His touch was too gentle to be painful, though he needed a shave. He lowered his face more and then his mouth brushed her throat.

  Mika tensed, stunned. The man wasn’t attacking her, just touching her with his face and mouth. He inhaled deeply as a soft growl came from his lips against her skin. She was grateful for the fence behind her that held her up when her knees started to shake. She took a deep breath, inhaling a soft, masculine scent that reminded her of the woodsy outdoors.

  “Easy,” he rasped against her neck. “Quiet.”

  Her vision adjusted to the darkness. The big warm hand on her arm tightened as he lifted his head, tilting it all the way back. She looked down his body and shock tore through her at seeing Grady’s open jeans, hard flesh protruding from the hand he had wrapped around a major hard-on.

  His hand released her arm so he could grip the bottom of her shirt and his head lowered again. Mika tore her focus from the hand on his cock and up to his face. His dark gaze locked with hers as he softly growled.

  “Turn and lower your pants now.”

  She was frozen.

  “Now,” he rasped. “I won’t enter you. I’m highly aroused, and this isn’t going to hurt you at all. Do it.”

  She got one word out. “No.”

  Another soft growl came from him. “I’m really turned on. I just want to touch you while I calm down.”

  Her gaze dropped to his hand wrapped around the distinctive shape of his cock. “That’s not going to calm you down. That’s going to make this situation worse.”

  “You know what I am and you know about our kind. Didn’t the male you’ve been with explain that the only way to calm a were in a highly agitated state is to get him off?” His voice was a soft rumble. “I just want to touch you, and I need to smell you.”

  “So inhale.” She realized he thought she knew about werewolves by dating one. She didn’t correct him, doubting that he’d care since the others hadn’t.

  “Not the kind of scent I need to get me off. I said I’m not going to hurt you or enter you. I saved your life. Can’t you do this for me?”

  Shit! He had saved her, she reasoned, and he didn’t have to get her permission. He was big enough to make her do whatever he wanted but he was asking instead. Damn!

  She turned and her hands shook as she unfastened her jeans to slide them down her thighs. He wasn’t hurting her and she knew that she couldn’t get away from him. At least there weren’t four of him. She hesitated and then lowered her panties until they bunched around her knees.

  “You better not be lying to me. If you hurt me―”

  “I won’t.” His voice was even deeper than it had been.

  He moved restlessly against her. She tensed, waiting for his next move. She hoped he was telling her the truth but half expected him to have lied—that he would force his way into her body. He was br