Not Quite Beast Read online

  I knew he was eventually going to make me pay for making him feel all little and cute. But I planned to enjoy it while it lasted. I grinned to myself and dropped him on the bed, letting him bounce a time or two before I joined him.

  Our laughter fizzled out, fading to something deeper as I leaned over and kissed him again. It was just as devouring as the kiss a moment before, but for different reasons. Both of us were uncertain, desperate to be accepted despite the thousand little rejections that happened every day. It was hard enough being a human-fiend cur. But when your human side also gave you physical challenges, it sometimes felt like the whole world was against you.

  I slid a hand up under his shirt, trailing my fingers over his defined abs and up to tweak a nipple. He hissed and nipped at my bottom lip in response, so I tweaked the other side just to get him to make that sound again.

  I grinned as I pulled away, dragging my blunt fingernails across his ribs as I moved lower to undo the fly of his jeans. Fin looked down at me with a level of adoration in his green eyes that I just couldn't handle. It made my whole body feel too hot and too full. This caring shit was still new. And it was really, really hard for me. I bared my sharp teeth at him in warning. "Don't go all sappy on me."

  He reached down to thread his hand through my hair, stroking his fingers over the blue and white streaks at my temple, then getting a good fistful and giving it a playful tug. "I wouldn't dream of it, Sabertooth." He raised his eyebrows. "Watch the fangs, yeah?"

  I smothered a laugh against his hip as I yanked his pants and underwear lower, freeing his cock. Trying for playful, even though it felt like my heart was about to explode out of my chest, I glanced up into Fin's bright green eyes and winked. "That is not proportionate," I informed him, leering at the surprisingly above-average sized dick on his much smaller than average body.

  He rolled his eyes and his cheeks went even redder. "Will you just get on with it before I die, Sam?"

  I tried my best not to let out a gross giggle, thanks to all the damned tension in the room. "Yes Sir, guild master, Sir."

  He yanked on my hair a little harder, sending a little jolt of pleasure right to my own dick and pussy. I stroked him a few times, gently rolling his balls, making him squirm before I finally licked a stripe up the length of his cock. His hips lifted off the bed and he swore in another language when I sucked him into my mouth and got to work.

  "Fuck, Sam!" He cried out when I swirled my tongue around his head. Feeling more than a little proud of myself for the reactions I was getting, I let my partial shift ripple over me, so I could drag my rough cat tongue up the underside of his dick and capture the pre-cum that leaked from his slit.

  He made a noise like I've never heard before, hips trying to thrust deeper into my mouth. His response went right to my gut, leaving me tingling and determined to drive him crazy. I tortured him for a few minutes longer, until he was cursing in another language. Finally, I chuckled and let go of his hips, letting him push deeper as he came down my throat yelling my name.

  He was still cussing in leprechaun other-side language when he pulled on my hair again, urging me up to lie next to him. "You're going to be the death of me," he muttered.

  He made a visible effort to rouse himself and rolled to face me, sliding a hand through my hair to pull me into a slow, deep kiss. "My turn," he said with a shy smile.

  My heart stuttered and my entire body went still. I cursed myself for the reaction. For my sudden terror and insecurity. Duh, Sam. What did you think was going to happen?

  Fin felt me tense up, and ran a soothing hand along my side. "Hey. Stay with me there, Saber," he said in a teasing tone, knowing the stupid fucking nickname would jolt me out of my panic.

  I growled at him. "Stop calling me that!"

  He ran his hand up my side again, then around toward my chest. "Can I?" He asked, his voice husky with his spent passion, but filled with a tender sort of hope. He was asking me to trust him.

  I closed my eyes and nodded, my throat working. "Please."

  It wasn't that I didn't like my female parts. It was just…safer to keep up a masculine front, when you operated in a male dominated, tough-guy job like fiend hunting. I'd done it so much, hidden that part away so often, that it was hard to be…soft.

  His hand slid over my chest, cupping my breasts and finding my hard nipples even through the tight sports bra I always wore to tone down my feminine attributes. I arched into his touch and let out an embarrassing little purr. Fin chuckled and levered himself onto an elbow to kiss a hot line up my neck. "I agree," he murmured against my skin. "I can't wait until the day you're ready to show me everything."

  I shuddered at his words. But even through the pleasure I was currently feeling, I knew today wasn't that day. So did he. And I loved the hell out of him for not pushing. For respecting my feelings and my stupid insecurities. I'd had a lifetime of feeling ashamed of my body. It was going to take time to undo that. Time, or a whole lot of booze.

  Fin's hand trailed lower and he met my eyes in question. "I want to get you off too, Sam. He waggled his eyebrows at me. " I promise, I'm no longer afraid of dicks. And I won't go exploring, if you don’t want me to."

  I huffed a laugh and tangled my hand in his thick red curls, holding him in place so I could lap at his mouth. "I trust you," I said when I pulled back, averting my eyes.

  Fin reached for my fly and I scooted up a bit so he could reach me with his short arms. I snaked an arm under his neck and held him lightly to my chest as he pulled my small cock free from my pants and gave me a gentle stroke. True to his word, he gently fondled the folds of skin that encased my one testicle, but didn't reach any lower before stroking my shaft again. He tilted his head up to kiss and nibble at my neck as he squeezed tighter, increasing the pace and driving me toward my own release.

  I dropped my head back and let myself thrust into his grip. Fin didn't flinch from my weird body. He pushed me onto my back and rolled to lie half-atop me, so he could fondle my tits through my clothes with his free hand while he stroked me off.

  I arched my back as tension built in my core, panting out his name. He gave me a wicked grin and gave me what I wanted, harder and faster until I was shouting and spilling over his hand and my stomach. I felt the dual sensation of my inner walls clenching as I came. And for a second there, I cursed myself for not just showing him everything and demanding that he fuck me.

  I floated back down to earth as Fin hopped off the bed. He returned a minute later with a washcloth to clean us both up. Chucking the cloth to the side, I pulled my clothes straight and turned my head on the pillow to look at him, dread and hope warring equally in my gut. This was the part where people usually ran off. Either because I'd paid them and their job was done, or because they were freaked out about my anatomy.

  Or because I loved them and trusted them with everything, and they left me tied up on the floor of a whorehouse. I firmly shoved all thoughts of Angel aside. The fucker.

  Fin met my gaze with a soft smile, no hint of disgust on his face. "Hey there, Saber--"

  I clapped a hand over his damned mouth. "I swear to fuck, I'll murder you right here and now if you don't stop calling me that."

  He laughed against my palm and wrapped his arms around my waist, settling in with a sigh.

  I removed my hand from his face and draped my arm over his small body, a weird, uncomfortable warmth trembling over me at his easy acceptance.

  Fuck, he was too good to be true.

  Chapter 3

  We didn't get to enjoy the afterglow very long before someone was pounding on the damned door.

  I sighed and sat up, pausing to glance back at a rumpled, half-asleep Fin. I wanted to reach for him and kiss him senseless just for looking so damned hot. But I pulled myself together. Gods, I was acting like a sappy moron. I cleared my throat and stood.

  Fin grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a halt as he sat up over the edge of the bed. "I saw that look," he said, in his most annoying, know-it-all vo
ice. "Come back here and kiss me, idiot."

  I growled and spun back to him, knocking him on his back, gripping his angular jaw, and kissing him so hard he had to beg for air. Then I stood, smirking down at him as he struggled to catch his breath and calm his bright red blush.

  "Fuck, Sam," he panted.

  I turned and headed to the living room to see who was out front. I rolled my eyes when I saw the happy, smiling face on the monitor. Shaking my head, I pushed a button to temporarily turn off the wards and let the half-ogre inside the building.

  By the time Emerson got to the apartment, Fin had mostly pulled himself together and sat on the couch, blinking away his sleepiness.

  Our fellow guild member ducked as he came through the door and avoided the low-hanging kitchen light, so he didn't brain himself. Then he crossed to the living room to toss a newspaper onto the coffee table. He looked at me, then ran a hand through his thick black hair and dropped his big brown eyes to the floor. "Hey Sam," he said in obvious discomfort. "You look…happy." He held out a small newspaper-wrapped bundle. "I was tinkering, and I thought you might like this."

  I arched a brow at him as I took the package, folding back the paper to reveal a brass watch face with a compass insert and a bunch of other dials and gauges, all attached to a flexible leather band. "Wow, Em," I said as I slipped the watch on. Thanks." It would be great out in the wastelands or the wild forests, where everything started to look the same, and it was easy to lose all sense of direction.

  The ogre really was amazing. I bet he'd assembled this all from scratch, pulled the design out of his head like magic while he holed up in his little squatter’s hole apartment. Then once it was completed, he probably took a couple weeks, at least, to work up the nerve to show anyone. That was Emerson.

  The half-ogre shuffled over and dropped into one of my ratty old overstuffed chairs, his cheeks slightly pink. He barely fit in the chair. It was comical, like an adult trying to use child-sized furniture. I felt like my house belonged in that old human story about the three bears every time Fin and Emerson visited me. This one's too big, this one's too small…. I was still working on the "just right," part.

  Fin snorted at the hulking giant's shyness. I eyed him in question, but he ignored me, reaching for the paper instead. "What's up with the newspaper, Emerson?" he said, snapping the paper straight so he could look at the front page.

  Emerson lifted his eyes to meet mine and Fin's. "The news is out about that guy we rescued from the wastelands," he said happily. I suppressed a smile when he reminded me of an overeager puppy. The man was far too sweet to be an ogre. "It was even on the TVs down at the store. I bought the paper to see if they mentioned our guild. But they didn't."

  I smirked at the thought of Emerson hanging around the electronics store in the posh part of downtown. It was the only way most poor people got to watch the TV news. Broadcasting was patchy and unreliable since the rift and the mini apocalypse that had followed. Only the rich had enough time and money to maintain TV access. Though, with Emerson's brains and his ability to manipulate anything electrical, I bet he could hack in and get us TV reception, if I got him a TV. That was a thought….

  Emerson seemed sad that our guild hadn't been mentioned in the story. I went to sit on the couch next to Fin, so I could read over his shoulder. "What a bunch of biased assholes," Fin muttered.

  I shrugged. "What are you complaining about? It's a good thing they didn't put our damned names in the article."

  Emerson blinked at me with wide red-brown doe eyes, looking hurt that I didn't want to be in the stupid paper.

  Fin glared. "Would have been good for business," he said, tossing the paper aside. "We save a rich politician's ass. If they knew, everyone would be wanting to hire us for hunts, maybe for protection jobs."

  I shook my head and sat back against the couch. "No thanks. We don't want that kind of attention. Especially since we don't even know what kind of shit that weirdo got himself into in the first place.”

  They both stared at me and I threw my arms up. "Clearly someone wanted the asshole dead. It's bad enough he wants me to find out who set us all up. Can you imagine how that would go if everyone knew our names and that we worked for the hunter association?"

  Emerson's kind eyes got wider. Fin's scowl got meaner.

  "Oh," I said, running a hand through my hair in exasperation. "Yeah, I forgot to tell you."

  Fin turned to me, fire in his eyes. "You just forgot to mention to your guild and your damned boyfriend that you took some kind of mercenary job for a millionaire?"

  I groaned and stood. "Don't get your panties in a twist," I muttered. "I was going to tell you, once I figured out how to even start on the job. Someone would need to know in case I go missing." And…boyfriend? That sounded so weird.

  Emerson shot to his feet and glared up at me, looking betrayed. "You were going to work on it alone, Sam?"

  I went to the stupidly well stocked fridge and got out a beer. My favorite brand, of course. Angel was such an asshole. Grabbing two more bottles, I stood and crossed the room to thrust one into Emerson's oversized hand. "Well, yeah," I said, frowning at how upset the ogre looked. I hated that I hated upsetting the big, gentle giant. It made my chest hurt. "It's probably going to be dangerous as shit," I muttered, rubbing that aching spot over my heart.

  Emerson reached out his free hand and engulfed my shoulder, giving it a squeeze as his warm gaze bored into mine, a bit of sadness crossing his wide, rugged features. "That's exactly why you can't do it on your own, Sam."

  I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out of his grip to hand Fin a beer. "Don't be dumb."

  Fin took the beer and thumped his head back against the couch like he was beating his head against the wall. "We're dumb? For fuck's sake, Sam. You don't even get that we would worry about you. That we'd be upset if you went off and died doing something stupid." His green eyes met mine. "I would kind of like you to stay alive, sweetheart."

  I scoffed. "I'm a fucking fiend hunter, Fin. If you can't deal with me sticking my neck out, there's the door." I pointed toward the exit.

  Fin gave me a hurt, furious look before he finally let out a long breath and opened his beer. "Help me, Emerson," he pleaded. "Because I'm going to kill the little shit myself in about five seconds."

  Emerson set his beer aside and paced close to me, putting a big hand on my back and patting gently. "People care about you, Sam. You aren't expendable. You're not some…weapon to be used and tossed aside."

  I blinked up at him in surprise. My heart was doing that annoying stabby, achy thing again. "But I knew you guys would insist on being involved. And you two idiots are way more vulnerable than me." I pressed my lips together before I said something stupid. Like how it would kill me if they got hurt doing something as shady as hunting down would-be assassins.

  Emerson's gaze went soft as he saw my struggle. I couldn't take the sappy expression. I shoved him back toward his seat and opened my beer, taking a long drink. Then I glared at the idiots in my living room. "Fine. You can help. But you have to listen to me. I'm in charge, so we don't all end up dead." Not that I even had a clue what I was doing.

  Once I got a grudging nod from both of them, I explained how Theo, the newly appointed leader of Westhold, had asked me to find the people responsible for trying to strand and kill him in the wastes. I left out the part where he first asked me to kill the involved parties. I had negotiated to just catching them and letting him and his hired thugs do what they would from there. The only things I would take money to kill were rabid fiends and broken curs.

  The very thought of working for some politician made me feel tired. But I got excited all over again when I told Fin and Emerson how much money the asshole had offered me. "We need to get a plan together soon," I told them with glee, "because he's agreed to pay in increments as long as we give him information and show we're working on the job."

  I'd already spent the first quarter of the payment to get my mom's cabin battened up
in preparation for winter. But I'd gladly split the rest with Fin and Emerson. "Once we get paid, I'm going to eat so much steak," I said trying not to drool.

  Emerson laughed. Fin just shook his head at me as if I was insane.

  But…cows. Cattle ranches were hard to maintain since the rift, what with all the fiends attacking every food source and taking over or destroying all the grazing land. I would do a lot of insane shit for a thick, rare hunk of juicy beef. I had my priorities.

  Chapter 4

  I was more worried than I let Fin and Emerson know. I was used to only having my own worthless hide to worry about if a hunt went wrong. And I didn't have a lot of experience dealing with people, especially people who operated in a world built on lies, half-truths, and manipulation. Why anyone would ever want to get caught up in something as stupid as politics and government crap, I'd never understand.

  It worried me that Fin and Emerson stood out. I was conspicuous enough on my own, with my blue and white streaked black hair, pointed canines, and my needlessly pretty feline features. As a cur operating among humans most my life, I was well aware of the prejudices and hatred that put a big 'ol target on my back. Only my reputation as a hunter and my ability to somewhat blend in kept me alive. But Fin's little stature and pointed ears made him even more of a target. And Emerson, with his hulking body and his green-tinted skin couldn't even begin to blend in. And to make things worse, they were newbies at the hunter gig. They weren't used to scrapping and clawing your way through life the way I was.

  I pulled the zipper of my leather jacket up higher and squared my shoulders as we prepared to enter the run-down cur bar in front of us. Westhold was a mixed city. Curs and humans lived here. But humans liked to remind us that they still ran things. That this was still their world. There were definitely unofficial zones in the city. And we were in one of the poor human zones. “Look, just…don't talk to anyone. And if you feel a fight coming on, let me deal with it."