Chapter Four

HOLLY

“Excuse me?!”

Holly's shriek was so shrill it startled several birds above them. They burst into a cacophony of wings and chirps.

The stranger's face cracked into a sharp smile. With dimples. Her dark brows dropped impossibly lower over her face as she took in his smile. She was ready to scratch his eyes out. Little killer indeed.

“Ah, don't be like that,” he cajoled. The sound she made was more wolf than girl. She could feel her wolf straining to come out. To bite this suave prick. But she couldn't. She couldn't let anyone see. Her dagger was one thing. She could always claim she stole it. No one would mistake her wolf form for anything but what it was.

“No, really. Look up,” he crooned. Daring to touch her, he lifted her chin with a single finger so she could see the bushel of mistletoe right above her head.

If anything, she glared even harder.

“Are you serious? You suspect me of plotting something nefarious and then instead of alerting everyone you ask for a kiss? Or are you playing me? You fully intend to rat me out, don't you?” She really should be trying to convince him that he was mistaken and she was just a stupid naive maiden who didn't know what mistletoe was. But she had the feeling that that ship had sailed. As annoying as this stranger was, he didn't seem foolish. And she wasn't the best at playing pretend. She didn't have a hope in Hell of convincing him.

“No, I won't rat you out. I'll swear to it,” he said. His smile turned impossibly sharper. “But you can't expect me to let you get away with whatever it is you're doing without getting something in return, can you?”

She paused, torn between pulling her dagger out and stabbing this prick or just going along with it. If she went along with it there would be less cleanup…

“Why would you be okay with me poisoning someone?” She finally asked softly. So soft, like she was afraid others would hear. Maybe she was. He'd come out of nowhere after all.

His fingers were still on her chin, her jaw. The callouses on his fingertips rubbed against her soft skin. It was horribly distracting.

“A pretty girl like you? She's bound to have some enemies.”

It was true. She did. But he didn't need to know that.

“I kiss you.. and you leave?”

“And forget I ever saw anything,” he replied steadily. It sounded too good to be true. Just one little kiss and she'd get away scott free? Just like that?

Well… if he broke his promise she could always stab him…

“Okay,” No sooner did the word leave her mouth the fingers on her jaw traced their way back to her hair and tangled themselves wantonly.

“Okay,” he repeated, and proceeded to crash his lips against hers. He swallowed her soft ommpf and swiped his hot tongue along the seam of her lips, begging them to open.

She opened reluctantly.

Holy Hell, he was good at this. Her arms wound around his neck helplessly as he backed her further up against the oak behind her.

She'd kissed boys before, sure. Of course she had. She might be the wolfless omega of the village, the lowest of the low, but boys had still chased her. They'd even offered all sorts of prizes for her virginity, not that she ever agreed. She didn't need a betas rank or a couple acres of farmland. The village may not think of her as anything but she knew her worth. The worth of a fucking queen if she had any say in it.

And so yes, she'd kissed boys. Sweet little pecks and maybe one or two more aggressive slobbery sessions over the years. But never anything like this. His tongue played with hers and she could feel his weight everywhere.

One of his hands dropped from her hair to cradle her waist, the other tightening in the strands earnestly like he couldn't bear for them to be unattended for a moment.

She couldn't breathe. She didn't want to. He was her air. Everything she needed to survive she could get through this kiss. She-

He pulled away. The heat of his body left her and she stared as he took a step back.

They were both panting, but he looked horribly put together while she knew she must look like a mess. What was she supposed to say in a situation like this? She didn't do this. She didn't kiss strangers, not even I'm exchange for silence. Before she could start spiraling too much though he winked, shot her another dimpled smile, twisted into wolf form, and loved off back towards the village.

What the fuck had just happened.