The Mate Challenge

Emma removed the Bluetooth from her ear and turned it off. The camera was on its tripod recording so she sat down on her picnic blanket and waited, watching the ritual. The two shifters at the clearing were touching each other as if discovering their bodies for the first time. It was really interesting and strangely erotic to watch. The heat from the night started getting to her. Oh boy. She glanced around the ground for the small cooler she’d brought with her water bottles. Ellie had mentioned it would take a while and Emma didn’t want to miss any of it. Even though she was recording it, it was much more fun to watch it as it was happening. A mating ritual. The words made her think of Mason Wolfe. Her wolf. Mason had been pretty open with his desire for her. At first, it caught her off guard. Men were usually wary of her bossiness. She tended to piss a lot of people off writing lists and giving them demands and jobs. Not to mention her organizational skills rivaled that of the worst case of OCD. It was who she was. When dating, a man didn’t want to hear that. Like her last boyfriend, Steve. It had been a few years since Steve, but she hadn’t forgotten how angry he used to get when they had s*x and she told him what got her off. Steve liked to do what he wanted. Eventually, that led to her breaking things off because what was the point of s*x if he couldn’t make her come? Not to mention how she kept thinking of Mason while with Steve. That had been pretty bad too. A rustle in the wind sounded. She took a drink from her bottle and sighed. She hadn’t been out in the woods in a while. It was one of the things she used to love to do with her father. Go for walks and hikes. She smiled thinking of what her father’s reaction would be if he would have met Mason. “Probably tell him he felt sorry for him,” she mumbled. Mason wasn’t like his brothers, though. The first time she’d met him, she’d been visiting Ellie’s house to work on a project together and bam! Mason opened the front door, took one look at her and hauled her inside. What came next was something she’d never forget. She’d gotten a single look at Mason with his spiky short hair and crazy number of arm tattoos, n****e piercings and forgot how to talk. Then there was the immediate first kiss. Any other guy to try that and she’d have decked him, but Mason caught her off guard. He told her she was his and proceeded to kiss her like she was the love of his life. Stupid shifter and his sexy tongue. He’d destroyed her thinking ability way back when. Still, Emma wasn’t going to let some shifter tell her what to do. She didn’t care how sexy he was. She ignored his advances and proceeded to tell him she had a boyfriend, which she did at the time. Did he care? Not at all. He went on to tell her he’d wait because he knew in time she’d be his. Cocky asshole. Though Mason was an amazing man, he was a protector, which was sweet, but that led to him trying to tell her what to do. Her father had done that for too many years of her life and she was not going there again. Not with mutt. Another howl sounded. She glanced around. This time it came from somewhere nearby. Hopefully her plan to make sure Jordan, Karla and Nicole got marked that night worked. Ellie and Barbara had been a little unsure at first, saying how they should give the girls time to come to terms with being in love with shifters. Hah! Like that was ever going to happen. Emma had to explain to them they needed to have those guys show their dominant sides and take their women already. She hoped all her hard work had paid off and everyone was busy getting their groove on. She’d talked more than her usual amount on that walkie trying to keep the women distracted. She’d also laid on the guilt trip when Karla and Nicole mentioned leaving. The last thing Emma wanted was for her plan to go down the drain. Leaves rustled behind her. She got up and glanced around, poking and prodding at branches to make sure there was no one nearby. Twin golden spots shone through the trees. She reeled back for a second before frowning and moving forward. “Who’s that?” A blink and the spots were gone. There was a loud howl at the ceremony site. She turned to see what was going on and caught a glimpse of the man picking up the woman in his arms, throwing her over his shoulder and rushing off. A hand slapped over her mouth and a steely arm went around her chest, holding her in place. She squealed, ready to kick and get out of the hold when the person holding her spoke. “Hello, beautiful.” The harsh pounding of her heart almost didn’t let her hear the words, but she recognized the body at her back. Mason. He removed the hand from her mouth and slid it down to encircle her chest, holding her in place with both arms. “Are you out of your mind? You’re not supposed to be here!” She chastised. “Did you make sure the others knew where the girls were?” Mason chuckled that low rumbly sound that made her knees weak. “So you expected me to sit around and twiddle my thumbs while you were sitting here all alone?” He slipped around to face her and met her gaze. “Not in this lifetime, brat.” She licked her lips and hoped he couldn’t hear the crazy thumping of her pulse against her chest. Damn, it was getting so hot out there. “Then...what did you have in mind?”