The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 147: Chapter 147
You are reading The Maverick Pride Tales, Chapter 147: Chapter 147. Read more chapters of The Maverick Pride Tales.
How could anyone be so damn pretty? And she was. She really was. Cute little nose. Gorgeous golden eyes. Pretty skin. Soft smile. Enticing lips. Decadent body.
This was so not helping. He closed his eyes and tried some yoga breathing, and fuuckk, all he managed to do was breathe her in.
Why did she have to smell so good? Like candy covered sweetness, warm strawberry pie, homemade ice cream, and springtime.
He should call someone from the station to pick her up. Anyone else would be better. They could take her instead—NO!
No one drives her except me, growled the bird.
His raptor was possessive already. Definitely not a good sign, but Hank was still unsure. Truthfully, he had no idea what to do. Luckily, he did not have to do anything. The little Lioness took it out of his hands entirely, settling herself in the back seat of his limo.
“You ready?” she called impatiently.
“Uh,” he replied.
Smooth. Real smooth.
“Look, we need to leave now. The sooner the better. I assume Uncle Uzzi explained this is a business trip,” the sassy little bundle said and took out her laptop.
Ignoring his shocked stare, she slipped a pair of sexy-as-fuck tortoiseshell glasses on her straight button nose before flashing those golden beauties at him once more.
Did he say she looked sexy? Make that deadly. The woman could stop traffic with that getup. And judging from the satisfied gleam in her gaze, she knew it too.
“Yes, uh, he did,” Hank said, responding to her original statement as he settled in the driver’s seat.
“Good. Then I am also assuming he mentioned the little problem of me going into my heat cycle this week?”
The sound of her fingers flying across the keyboard was magnified tenfold as she dropped that little bomb in his lap.
Heat. Cycle.
He racked his brain for what he knew about it and came up with very basic info. Felines had a heat cycle. Unmated females who went into their heat needed protecting. Their sexy times pheromones amped up to like eleven, making every male within a ten-mile radius hard as stone and wanting to rut her like animals.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
Hank had trouble making out her words, but his dick more than understood. She was going into heat, and he had everything she needed to take care of her. Fucking cock was already ready. Thing could punch a hole through a brick wall, it was so hard.
Most males reacted predictably to a female in heat. It was a biological imperative to want to service said female regardless of Shifter species, but she hadn’t exactly gone into her heat yet.
Tell that to his primed cock, though.
Sigh.
Fucking hell. This trip was getting longer and more difficult by the second.
Heat cycle? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Uncle Uzzi is behind this.
Doesn’t matter, his bird insisted.
Mine.
“I said, I will probably go into my heat in the next day or so, leaving me a short time to find accommodations,” she told him.
“Whaattt? I mean, uh, I’m sorry, can you say that again?” he asked and tried for patience.
No.
He did not screech in an unmanly manner. That loud call was a perfectly normal sound for a bird of prey, fuck you very much.
“Just start driving, please,” she instructed calmly.
He looked in the rearview, but her eyes were locked on her screen once more. Hank was not sure he liked her easy dismissal of him.
How could whatever the heck she was doing be more important than this discussion?
Uncle Uzzi must have known who she was. That this female was his. And the man also knew of Hank’s promise. He’d deliberately put him between a rock and a hard place.
A very hard place, he growled angrily, tapping his cock to calm the thing down.
Hank hit the steering wheel as he pulled into traffic with a screech of his tires. He was gnawing on the inside of his cheek, a habit he’d thought he kicked in high school.
“You don’t have anger issues, do you? Cause I am just letting you know now, I come from a very large and rambunctious family. If this gets physical, I am pretty sure I can take you,” Annabeth smirked, but she was still focused on her screen.
Take me? Yes, please. To bed. Or in the backseat. Anywhere you want, his raptor chimed in.
No. No. NO!
“I do not have anger issues,” he replied between gritted teeth.
“Can you go any faster?”
“Why?”
“Well, I would like to get to the convention before my heat cycle begins. I don’t know what you know about it, but it will get very painful for me. I need to find a suitable male, preferably a Shifter, to service me in my time of need. I would have asked you, but since you are, you know, engaged to be engaged, and we already had that unfortunate confusion about being mates, well, it’s probably best left to someone else. Um, that was a red light,” she said, and was she grinning? Fuck. Yes. She was.
MINE!
Kak kak kak!
His Gyrfalcon practically roared, the little beast was flapping his wings so hard, he was creating a fucking hurricane inside of him. Hank swerved into the other lane, ignoring the glaring horn of the fella in the red Jeep.
Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Shit.
It should be noted that Hank had a perfectly clear driving record. He’d never had an accident. Nor had he ever put a scratch or dent of any kind on any vehicle he drove. It was that whole Falcon eyesight or precognition thing again.
Yeah right, his inner fowl chuckled. First time for everything.
“What do you mean you need to find a suitable male? How?” he growled the question, hating himself for asking.
“Several of the businesses attending the con are Shifter run. All secret, of course, from the humans. I have some of their contact information and I’m currently going through the list of invited guests to see who fits the bill.”
“Fits the bill?”
“Yeah. Look, Hank, this might be a joke to you, but when my heat starts, it’s going to hurt. I’m a Lioness, not a human. I need a male who can handle me, so a checklist is necessary.”
“What’s on this checklist?”
Hank hated himself for asking but he could not stop himself. He watched her shrug in the rearview mirror and knew from her words she was being honest with him. In fact, the bit about it hurting—which she revealed twice now—rang of truth, and it gutted him to think of her in any kind of pain.
“Just some attributes. They aren’t important,” she whispered.
“Must be if you are checking them off some kind of list,” he muttered.
“Fine. If you want to know, I am looking for someone strong. So, preferably, a Shifter, the larger the animal the better. He must be uninvolved at the moment. I will not be someone’s little home wrecker. He should be physically acceptable, of course,” she mumbled.
“So, you’re looking at a list of guests for this con, picking out all the available men you know are Shifters, and you plan on asking them to service you through your heat? Just like that? If this is some kind of fucking manipulation Annabeth, I can tell you right now, it won’t work. I will not be forced to break a vow I made on my father’s deathbed—”
Hank said, anger coiling in his gut.
“Oh, screw you, you conceited moron,” Annabeth growled. “This is not about you!”
“Oh, no? Then why are you making a list of eligible men to fuck in the back of my limo after I rejected the notion of being your mate?”
Ouch. That fucking hurt. He looked at the raw pain and hurt on Annabeth’s face, hurt that he put there, and Hank felt like throwing up. Hell, he’d only known her for like ten minutes, and already his instincts were all over the fucking place.
Shit. Shit. SHIT.
“Why am I making this list after meeting the man I thought was my mate and having him openly reject me? Hmm? How about, because Mother Nature and the Fates are a bunch of sadistic bitches, Hank? Does that answer the question?” she growled.
“Annabeth—”
“No wait, there is more,” she said, and he felt her anger boiling from the front seat, and fuck, he knew he deserved it.
“Look—”
“Don’t interrupt now. Where was I? Oh yes, well, I saw you, thought it would be fine, but then you said you’re not mine. Okay then, I accept that. But it does not matter if you want me or not,” she said with so much raw pain Hank wanted to punch himself in the face.
“It does not matter,” she continued, “because in about twenty more hours, I’m gonna need me some dick, Hank! Whether or not you’re my mate is completely fucking irrelevant! Ohmyfuckinggawd! Watch out!” Annabeth shouted.
A few minutes later, Hank was standing outside glaring at the new fire-hydrant-red scratch gracing the front right fender of his Phantom. He glared angrily, trying to absorb everything that had happened in the past twenty minutes.
Fuck.
His keen eyes spied a pair of high heels leading up to shapely ankles, and a pair of long, curvy legs outfitted in some silky and dainty as fuck shorts. Annabeth stood, leaning against the door, an amused smirk on her pretty face. She tapped the door with her long red nails.
“So much for a perfect driving record, like your website says.”
“You googled me?”
“Of course, I did. Well, you comin’, slick?” she asked.
Not yet, his bird replied.
Hank rubbed a hand over his face. The stubble on his cheeks was a surprise, but he supposed his emotions weren’t the only things out of control upon meeting the little Lioness. Seemed his Shifter hormones were running amok as well.
“Best hop to it, lover. We are in for a long drive,” Annabeth whispered, sliding back inside the limo, her pretty little feet disappearing last.
Was that a whimper that came from his throat as she disappeared behind the car door?
Fucking hell.
This was so not helping. He closed his eyes and tried some yoga breathing, and fuuckk, all he managed to do was breathe her in.
Why did she have to smell so good? Like candy covered sweetness, warm strawberry pie, homemade ice cream, and springtime.
He should call someone from the station to pick her up. Anyone else would be better. They could take her instead—NO!
No one drives her except me, growled the bird.
His raptor was possessive already. Definitely not a good sign, but Hank was still unsure. Truthfully, he had no idea what to do. Luckily, he did not have to do anything. The little Lioness took it out of his hands entirely, settling herself in the back seat of his limo.
“You ready?” she called impatiently.
“Uh,” he replied.
Smooth. Real smooth.
“Look, we need to leave now. The sooner the better. I assume Uncle Uzzi explained this is a business trip,” the sassy little bundle said and took out her laptop.
Ignoring his shocked stare, she slipped a pair of sexy-as-fuck tortoiseshell glasses on her straight button nose before flashing those golden beauties at him once more.
Did he say she looked sexy? Make that deadly. The woman could stop traffic with that getup. And judging from the satisfied gleam in her gaze, she knew it too.
“Yes, uh, he did,” Hank said, responding to her original statement as he settled in the driver’s seat.
“Good. Then I am also assuming he mentioned the little problem of me going into my heat cycle this week?”
The sound of her fingers flying across the keyboard was magnified tenfold as she dropped that little bomb in his lap.
Heat. Cycle.
He racked his brain for what he knew about it and came up with very basic info. Felines had a heat cycle. Unmated females who went into their heat needed protecting. Their sexy times pheromones amped up to like eleven, making every male within a ten-mile radius hard as stone and wanting to rut her like animals.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
Hank had trouble making out her words, but his dick more than understood. She was going into heat, and he had everything she needed to take care of her. Fucking cock was already ready. Thing could punch a hole through a brick wall, it was so hard.
Most males reacted predictably to a female in heat. It was a biological imperative to want to service said female regardless of Shifter species, but she hadn’t exactly gone into her heat yet.
Tell that to his primed cock, though.
Sigh.
Fucking hell. This trip was getting longer and more difficult by the second.
Heat cycle? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Uncle Uzzi is behind this.
Doesn’t matter, his bird insisted.
Mine.
“I said, I will probably go into my heat in the next day or so, leaving me a short time to find accommodations,” she told him.
“Whaattt? I mean, uh, I’m sorry, can you say that again?” he asked and tried for patience.
No.
He did not screech in an unmanly manner. That loud call was a perfectly normal sound for a bird of prey, fuck you very much.
“Just start driving, please,” she instructed calmly.
He looked in the rearview, but her eyes were locked on her screen once more. Hank was not sure he liked her easy dismissal of him.
How could whatever the heck she was doing be more important than this discussion?
Uncle Uzzi must have known who she was. That this female was his. And the man also knew of Hank’s promise. He’d deliberately put him between a rock and a hard place.
A very hard place, he growled angrily, tapping his cock to calm the thing down.
Hank hit the steering wheel as he pulled into traffic with a screech of his tires. He was gnawing on the inside of his cheek, a habit he’d thought he kicked in high school.
“You don’t have anger issues, do you? Cause I am just letting you know now, I come from a very large and rambunctious family. If this gets physical, I am pretty sure I can take you,” Annabeth smirked, but she was still focused on her screen.
Take me? Yes, please. To bed. Or in the backseat. Anywhere you want, his raptor chimed in.
No. No. NO!
“I do not have anger issues,” he replied between gritted teeth.
“Can you go any faster?”
“Why?”
“Well, I would like to get to the convention before my heat cycle begins. I don’t know what you know about it, but it will get very painful for me. I need to find a suitable male, preferably a Shifter, to service me in my time of need. I would have asked you, but since you are, you know, engaged to be engaged, and we already had that unfortunate confusion about being mates, well, it’s probably best left to someone else. Um, that was a red light,” she said, and was she grinning? Fuck. Yes. She was.
MINE!
Kak kak kak!
His Gyrfalcon practically roared, the little beast was flapping his wings so hard, he was creating a fucking hurricane inside of him. Hank swerved into the other lane, ignoring the glaring horn of the fella in the red Jeep.
Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Shit.
It should be noted that Hank had a perfectly clear driving record. He’d never had an accident. Nor had he ever put a scratch or dent of any kind on any vehicle he drove. It was that whole Falcon eyesight or precognition thing again.
Yeah right, his inner fowl chuckled. First time for everything.
“What do you mean you need to find a suitable male? How?” he growled the question, hating himself for asking.
“Several of the businesses attending the con are Shifter run. All secret, of course, from the humans. I have some of their contact information and I’m currently going through the list of invited guests to see who fits the bill.”
“Fits the bill?”
“Yeah. Look, Hank, this might be a joke to you, but when my heat starts, it’s going to hurt. I’m a Lioness, not a human. I need a male who can handle me, so a checklist is necessary.”
“What’s on this checklist?”
Hank hated himself for asking but he could not stop himself. He watched her shrug in the rearview mirror and knew from her words she was being honest with him. In fact, the bit about it hurting—which she revealed twice now—rang of truth, and it gutted him to think of her in any kind of pain.
“Just some attributes. They aren’t important,” she whispered.
“Must be if you are checking them off some kind of list,” he muttered.
“Fine. If you want to know, I am looking for someone strong. So, preferably, a Shifter, the larger the animal the better. He must be uninvolved at the moment. I will not be someone’s little home wrecker. He should be physically acceptable, of course,” she mumbled.
“So, you’re looking at a list of guests for this con, picking out all the available men you know are Shifters, and you plan on asking them to service you through your heat? Just like that? If this is some kind of fucking manipulation Annabeth, I can tell you right now, it won’t work. I will not be forced to break a vow I made on my father’s deathbed—”
Hank said, anger coiling in his gut.
“Oh, screw you, you conceited moron,” Annabeth growled. “This is not about you!”
“Oh, no? Then why are you making a list of eligible men to fuck in the back of my limo after I rejected the notion of being your mate?”
Ouch. That fucking hurt. He looked at the raw pain and hurt on Annabeth’s face, hurt that he put there, and Hank felt like throwing up. Hell, he’d only known her for like ten minutes, and already his instincts were all over the fucking place.
Shit. Shit. SHIT.
“Why am I making this list after meeting the man I thought was my mate and having him openly reject me? Hmm? How about, because Mother Nature and the Fates are a bunch of sadistic bitches, Hank? Does that answer the question?” she growled.
“Annabeth—”
“No wait, there is more,” she said, and he felt her anger boiling from the front seat, and fuck, he knew he deserved it.
“Look—”
“Don’t interrupt now. Where was I? Oh yes, well, I saw you, thought it would be fine, but then you said you’re not mine. Okay then, I accept that. But it does not matter if you want me or not,” she said with so much raw pain Hank wanted to punch himself in the face.
“It does not matter,” she continued, “because in about twenty more hours, I’m gonna need me some dick, Hank! Whether or not you’re my mate is completely fucking irrelevant! Ohmyfuckinggawd! Watch out!” Annabeth shouted.
A few minutes later, Hank was standing outside glaring at the new fire-hydrant-red scratch gracing the front right fender of his Phantom. He glared angrily, trying to absorb everything that had happened in the past twenty minutes.
Fuck.
His keen eyes spied a pair of high heels leading up to shapely ankles, and a pair of long, curvy legs outfitted in some silky and dainty as fuck shorts. Annabeth stood, leaning against the door, an amused smirk on her pretty face. She tapped the door with her long red nails.
“So much for a perfect driving record, like your website says.”
“You googled me?”
“Of course, I did. Well, you comin’, slick?” she asked.
Not yet, his bird replied.
Hank rubbed a hand over his face. The stubble on his cheeks was a surprise, but he supposed his emotions weren’t the only things out of control upon meeting the little Lioness. Seemed his Shifter hormones were running amok as well.
“Best hop to it, lover. We are in for a long drive,” Annabeth whispered, sliding back inside the limo, her pretty little feet disappearing last.
Was that a whimper that came from his throat as she disappeared behind the car door?
Fucking hell.
End of The Maverick Pride Tales Chapter 147. Continue reading Chapter 148 or return to The Maverick Pride Tales book page.