S.A. Price (21 page)

She wasn’t sure what to say, Merrick, no matter how rich his family, was never into doing things by the book, especially making money. Elise had always been the respectable one, the one that was bound by the laws of society, and Merrick never was, and she never knew what to say to it.

He sat himself on the bench putting his arm around her. "Did I mention that clothing would be optional?"

She chuckled and breathed in, his scent surrounding her. "Yeah I sort of figured it would be."

"I just wanted to make sure." He smiled down at her.

"Well it’s something to think about, there’s a lot of things to think about, nothing is black and white you know?" she sighed and shook her head. "Though most pressing would be what you plan to do about your nest I think. Ramona won’t allow the thought of you having a council sanctioned nest when we turned down Hannah and her own."

He sighed, "I know, I was saving that problem for after our holiday. I could always have Aiden blow something of hers up maybe with her inside it?" he chuckled softly, "That does tend to do the trick. Keeps the boy happy too."

"Well that might solve that problem but it would open up a whole can of worms that you don’t need I think. And you might as well get all your problems squared away, I have come to grips with the fact that there’s just too much going on to have you to myself until its all taken care of, Merrick. I have waited this long. What are a few more years, eh?" she said bitterly.

"True, but you can still have me to yourself some of the time." He nuzzled her neck, his lips brushing her.

"Not really, but that does feel good. I don’t know where things are going John, all I know is having you this close is such a tease, you know that?" she sighed and reached down and squeezed his knee and looked about where they were stopped. "A place like this is supposed to be romantic. You know I heard Ildris would hold a lovers’ quest in here with the eligible snakes of all the nests on midsummer’s eve back before our parents were even a thought."

"Ildris was quite the snake apparently. It makes sense though..." His lips quirked. "Proving yourself to your mate, it’s romantic. I always was fond of the old quest stories."

She giggled and stood. "Yeah? Well if those stories are true I wonder about the ones involving the orgies."

Smirking he looked up at her, dark amusement in his eyes, "Ah well let us hope most of those are based in fiction... or at least were greatly exaggerated. I don’t think the word depraved can accurately describe those stories."

"Makes Caligula look tame." She grinned and turned. "Have you ever been in this maze?"

~85~

He looked thoughtfully about before answering. "No I don’t believe so."

She nodded looking down the row and then back to him. "Me neither, though I understand it used to be a test... So..." she blushed.

He raised an eyebrow at her his grin widening. "A lovers quest? You wish for me to hunt for you?

Set your terms..."

She blushed harder and then stood with her hands on her hips, feigning deep thought. "If you catch me before I reach the center," she licked her lips, grinning to match his and sighed, "I’ll mate with you... no more issues or second thoughts. You catch me and I’ll know you’re going to stay with me." She blushed and looked down, giggling slightly. She felt like a schoolgirl again, and the entire scene brought her back to one of the last nights they were together, when he asked her about mating to him.

Merrick sat across from her on the grounds just outside his mother’s compound just outside of Edinburgh, the clear night above and the city beyond the perfect backdrop, Merrick leaned in, as if to kiss her, and then moved to her ear and whispered, his words making her shiver.

“Mate with me Elise…”

She looked at him and smirked, shaking her head. “After all this time? How many times have you had me, and held back John? I have been promised to you since we met, and you never even bothered before now.”

“You’re mine Elise, and I want the world to know.”

“Why now though?”

He sighed and moved back, looking her in the face. “My mother is sending me to Brazil, nest business. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but I won’t go without the promise of being with you when I return.”

She scoffed, and then blushed. “So you would mate me to keep me? Only to keep me waiting for you? John, you don’t have to, and I won’t let you. It’s supposed to be special John, and if I don’t let you, well, then you’ll come home to me all the quicker to do it, if you really want to, for us, and not your damn foolish male pride.” She smiled. “No one else will have me John, because I already belong to you. I’ll mate to you when you’re ready for us to be the center of everything, when you realize I’m the most important.”

True it was selfish, but it was exactly what she was feeling. Since then she had seen all their friends pair off and have a clutch of their own, or become archons and have their loves at their side.

She was ready and had been for a long time, and damn it all if she was going to let him slip away from her again from his sense of duty. She was probably wrong in stopping him then, but now… now she had a chance to change history.

"Oh you will, will you?" he grinned at her licking his lips. "Okay I can agree to those terms. Which form shall we do this in? Human or snake? It's been too long since I had my coils around you... but running is fun too."

She shivered and giggled. "Ooh decisions. I think human form, with a little coil time later?" she asked hopefully. Catching her in snake form would be fun, but she wanted the romance of it, wanted the feel of being claimed before she was, as was the old stories of this particular hedge maze.

He nodded standing up and shrugging off his coat setting it on the bench. "Fair enough. Do you want a head start?"

Elise giggled and winked dashing off down the row and giggled as she turned right, the sound on the wind as she sprinted away. “Come and get me Merrick.” She was out of sight but not scent range in mere moments and knew that the fun was just about to begin.

****

~86~

Myra sat in the passenger side of the large Excursion and gave a sideways glance at Aiden, smiling to herself. He looked good in his jeans and black t-shirt, and he smelled even better with her scent clinging to his and mingling deliciously.

He had found her walking up the stairs, telling her to get dressed, they had a mission, and while she wasn’t too fond of his superior tone, she did as he told her, satisfied that his promise of telling her what was going on when they were on their way. And he did. He was very thorough in his briefing, explaining to her that Evelyn Rose had called in and she was alive and had intel they needed, and it was up to her and him to bring her back.

“Ok so why send you and me? I mean I understand sending you, she knows you and you know her, but why me? Unless you just wanted me along for the ride?” She grinned and rolled her shoulders. “And what the hell do we do once we have her? Elise and Merrick got a plan?”

"I tend to get along better when I don't question the big guy’s plans. I'm sure he has something in mind and we can get everything he knows from the source and work our way to a plan from there." He answered part of her question keeping his eyes on the road.

"Ok, but why send the two of us? Surely you can pick up this woman alone." The thought of him alone with a woman that wasn’t her knotted her stomach, and she slowed her breathing trying to ignore it.

"Sure I could, but it's easer with you here. Me and Evelyn don't get along so well, I'd have to knock her out or hold a gun on her to get her in a car with me."

"Isn’t that how you get most of your dates?" she asked with a cheeky grin.

He chuckled sparing her a glance. "Very true, but Merrick doesn’t want to scare her, reckons the little slut's been through enough. I'm not one to disagree."

"Little slut?" This was getting interesting. "What, she turn you down, or are you going to call me that too when I’m not around?"

"Huh?" He looked over at her frowning, "Hell no, you’re magnificent, she's just a little cock tease and yeah, she did turn me down, a few times. Not that she won’t open her legs to any married film star that asks..."

She beamed inwardly, hearing him call her magnificent. It was quite possible he was only saying it because they were alone together but there was the off chance he meant it. "I take it Evelyn is a sore spot then? You really think I’m magnificent?" she asked with a slight blush.

"I do." he said a little awkwardly keeping focused on the road. "I really do. Evelyn Rose isn’t a sore spot for me; I just find time to pull her pigtail, metaphorically speaking, now and again. She despises me and I couldn't care either way."

She reached over and placed her hand on his denim clad thigh, letting the warmth of her body heat sink into his leg as she leaned in. "Well I think you’re pretty mind blowing as well Aiden, Evelyn doesn’t know what she’s missing."

"That's good to know. Not that I didn't already know, it is good to hear you agree with me. We should do it again sometime."

She giggled and shook her head. "I’m counting on it." She squeezed his leg and smiled. "Though next time we’ll have to try something with scales, I still want my coil."

"We'll have to see about that." He answered stiffly his whole body tensing.

"You really don’t like the thought of that do you?" she asked pulling her hand away. "I mean I understand if you’re not into sharing that with me, if I’m not right for that with you..." she said quickly trying not to babble.

"It’s not that," he blurted out quickly. "Trust me it’s not, if I were to with anyone it'd be you. I just... I mean I don’t really." Aiden sighed gripping the wheel. "It’s just snakes in general... I had an incident when I was younger and I tend to keep having them. Snakes don’t like me and I don’t like them."

"Ah." she said and smiled. "Well I’m not a snake all the time, and I like you, and I know my snake will, she likes the way you smell." She looked out the window as they past the roadside forests as they

~87~

headed south to find Evelyn. Her snake has already decided to mark him next chance it got, but there was no need to tell him that. "So you don’t change often, or hunt?"

"I change when I have to but I don’t hunt. I don't let it win and it has no control over me. It's not a matter of whether yours will like me love, it’s more a matter of if it comes near me I'll be forced into some rather unmanly shrieking and running. Trust me when I say you don’t want to see me like that, damages the pride."

She giggled and sighed. "Ok then, but, you’re looking at it the wrong way Aiden."

"Yeah? And how should I be looking at it?"

"Not as your snake being some burden, but another part of you. I understand that might be hard, but compromising with that side of yourself creates a symbiosis and better quality of life. My snake enjoys what I do, and me, I enjoy most of what she likes to do. We both enjoy painting though, and we really are a part of each other. I think if you come to terms with that part of yourself, you won’t have such a hard time with it."

"I know," He sighed. "I've been working on it. We rarely agree on anything, in fact, we only agree on one thing to date. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate what I am and I sure as hell don’t spend my time wallowing in self pity because I occasionally turn into a giant snake. We just don’t connect, he gets his time provided that he follows the rules and I have mine. It works, I'm not scared of him... it’s the other ones that I don't like, it’s unnatural. It's all snakes, big ones little ones, hell even, rope that moves quickly. If it startles me I don’t like it. I shouldn't even be discussing this with you as this is the last thing I need to get out. Were snakes just aren’t scared of their kin. It’s humiliating but understandable given the circumstances."

She nodded. "Fair enough. What’s the one thing you do agree on then? Sure as hell isn’t hunting."

"No hunting is out of the question. It's you," he winked turning back to the road. "We both happen to think you’re magnificent."

Myra was surprised to hear that his snake liked her. Hers wanted Aiden, body and soul, but his...

"Well that’s something to use as a jump off. You know, I could help you with your snake issues if you want," she blushed. "And I would love to have you and your snake slither over me nude." She looked out the window once again, trying not to watch him. Her snake half agreed that it wanted some time with his, and that it was an excellent idea.

He was silent for a long while until she was sure he wasn't going to answer. "Maybe." He said quietly.

"I’ll take that," she giggled and turned back to him, placing her hand on his thigh again. "You don’t have to answer, but is your snake attractive?"

He chuckled, "My turn to say something lewd I guess? He's just a snake; normal retic colorings with maybe a little more orange than most. The only other one I see is Merrick so I can't really comment."

"I’m not going to ask about Merrick. That’s not for me to know. And you could have said something lewd, though I know the answer already, intimately. So you have more orange? Sounds sexy." she winked at him and ran her hand up his thigh her fingers playing softly on the inner part, stopping just short of his groin.

"It's just a snake. I wouldn't describe him as sexy."

"Well that’s where you and I differ. Snakes are very sexy to me, and my snake. We are the world’s most sensual creature Aiden, a mix of both human and Ophidian and your snake is a part of you, and you’re dead sexy."