Then there was one other fact. Supposedly although shapeshifters did occasionally breed outside the clans, the offspring in the case of witches tended to all end up being shifters. Or so the textbooks said. The low incidences of this type of mating made information more difficult to come by, because both sides tended to guard the purity of their bloodlines closely. Interspecies breeding was greatly discouraged because of the dwindling witch and warlock population. It was expected and encouraged that when a witch did choose to settle down, she would do so with a warlock and thus continue her magical line. Yet this didn’t make complete sense to Sophia since she’d heard rumors of witches who’d been born of a human and witch and who had more powers than full-blooded witches.
All the history and background info, good or bad, wouldn’t change the fact she wouldn’t marry a man after knowing him for only a day, hot in the sack or not.
Now if only she could convince him-and her body.
The darkness and the drive lulled her, and Sophia lost the struggle with her eyelids, waking hours later to full daylight and to discover her head nestled in his lap.
She scrambled upright, and her cheeks heated at his low chuckle. After scrubbing at her eyes, she looked around, not recognizing anything, not that this area was familiar to start with, but she didn’t recall a huge forest on the drive to the Covenhouse Inn. She’d obviously slept a while since the sun seemed to have moved past midday.
“Where are we?”
“Close.”
She pursed her lips at his oblique answer. “Close to where, smartass?”
“You’ll see.” With that enigmatic answer, he started to whistle jauntily while Sophia simmered.
Her stomach growled, and she wanted to die of embarrassment, but instead she got mad. “So, does your convincing me to be your slave include starvation?”
“Look behind your seat.”
Sophia craned around and saw a cooler. Lifting the lid, she found cold water bottles, packaged sandwiches, and fruit. “Nice to know you came prepared for your kidnapping.”
“Actually, I stopped and bought that and some other supplies.”
“While I was asleep?” Something was fishy. No way she’d slept through all that. She peered at him suspiciously and was rewarded with color blooming on the tops of his cheeks.
“I might have had some help with that,” he admitted. “I made a friend, a dragon shifter, while you were dancing naked. When I stopped for gas, he was already there waiting for me, and before you ask me how, I don’t know. Anyways, he wove a sleep spell around you to allow me to make it to our destination.” As he said this the road they were on went from pavement to packed dirt, and Sophia bounced and jiggled on her seat as he drove over the ruts.
“You mean you weren’t the only one spying on us?” she asked as outrage filled her.
Aidan shrugged. “Dracin and I weren’t the only ones. Apparently, there are a lot more shifters bonded to witches than I previously thought. Don’t worry, though,” he said with a mischievous smile. “You were by far the hottest witch there. I quite enjoyed the way you shook that luscious ass of yours and the way your tits jiggled. Maybe you can give me a private dance later?”
Shocked into silence at his words, she turned to look out the window. She wanted to feel angry he’d watched her, but instead she fought two vastly different emotions. Arousal because his words made her picture herself giving him an up-close and personal dance wearing nothing. The other emotion made no sense. It felt like jealousy-the idea he’d laid eyes on other naked women did not please her at all. Yet why should she care?
The bumpy road finally ended in a clearing wherein a log cabin sat. Rustic didn’t begin to describe the setting. Surrounded by woods, she noticed that the only sound she could hear was the ticking of the hot engine accompanied by bird calls. Sophia, a city girl at heart, didn’t like it one bit.
Aidan rounded the truck and helped her out, standing her on her two feet. Only when she put pressure on her ankle did she remember her earlier injury, but to her surprise she felt not a twinge. To test it, she walked around a few paces before whirling to eye him questioningly.
“Dracin healed you after he put you to sleep. He claimed a wounded witch would be harder to convince.”
Sophia snorted and turned back to face the cabin. She marveled at the actually quite large cabin. It had big, modern windows that faced out into the yard. A screen door hid the solid wood front door, which was unlocked. Aidan carried in the cooler, among other things, after just opening it and walking in. She was left alone outside.
She twirled to look for an escape and ended up sighing. Welcome to the boonies. Maybe I can hitch a ride with a moose. There would be no escape on foot, and judging by how long they’d driven on the dirt path with no other signs of habitation, she doubted he had any neighbors in proximity she could turn to.
“The nearest house is about a five-mile hike east, and if you’re looking for the main road, it’s southwest about seventeen clicks.”
“I hate you.”
“You just think you do because you’re horny.”
Sophia gaped at him. “I! Of all… I am not!”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, as soon as I get the woodstove ready for the night and the food put away, I’m going to take care of you.”
Sophia shivered involuntarily at his words, and all her hormones screamed yes as they flooded her pussy with moisture. “You’ll have to force me, because I will not bed you willingly.”
Aidan’s face tightened, and his words emerged clipped. “I won’t need to force you. You’re going to beg me to take you. Hell, I can smell your body’s desire from here already. So, anytime you’re ready, just say please.”
“I hate you!” she yelled at his retreating back as he took another load of stuff into the cabin.
“Love you, too, witchy.”
Sophia stamped her foot, her frustration over the situation nothing compared with her annoyance at the warmth his words created. She didn’t want his love. She wanted to go home and forget she had ever met him, even if he was more exciting than anyone else she’d ever met. If only he were a warlock, she would have jumped all over him. Heck, if he hadn’t stated his intention to bite her, she would have bedded him. More than once too.
But forever with a wolf? It would never work. Right?
Chapter Seven
To drive her absolutely nuts and heighten the sexual tension he sensed building in her, Aidan ignored her. Not as easy as it sounded since the only thing he wanted to do was tear her robe off, bury his prick into her velvety wetness, and bite her as he pumped her fast and hard. It didn’t help that his wolf refused to go to sleep, his furry presence growling and yipping demands in his mind.
Aidan was determined, though, to make her ask for it. Call it pride, call it preserving his skin, either way he was determined to make her admit she wanted him no matter what she said. He could smell her desire, and while he knew he could seduce her and give her the mark without her willingness, he knew the method of his taking would always be a bone of contention. Not the most auspicious way to start their new life.
Hence, the plan he hatched on the drive in to his remote cabin where he escaped to when he wanted a place where he could be his furry self. He could smell her desire for him, see it in the way she watched him. If he turned it up a notch, he figured he could get her to cave into her desires. And by not mauling her right away, he’d give her a chance to get to know him, to ask questions, and to realize that her impression of shifter mating wasn’t entirely accurate. She’d equated it with being a slave, and yet like any species, relationships differed from couple to couple. In all races, some men treated their women like chattel whose only purpose was to serve and breed. Others, however, treated them as equal partners and friends. Aidan belonged to the latter half, but convincing her of that would prove interesting.