Holiday Mates: Supernatural Enforcers Agency Short Stories (11 page)

Penny couldn’t help the snort that escaped.  She managed to clamp her hands over her mouth before any more of her bubbling laughter got out, but not before the ‘leprechaun’ shot her a withering gaze.

“That’s right, m’darlin’.”

“You’re not a leprechaun.  You’re a lunatic.  Seek help,” came the caring response of the tigress, before she stomped back into the elevator.

The bear shifter guard narrowed his eyes at the self-proclaimed leprechaun, and the only other occupant of the lobby, a tall, geeky looking young man, tried to shuffle away as far as possible.

Penny couldn’t help herself.  Perhaps it was an inquisitive nature.  More likely it was just a sneering nature, one she currently shared with her penguin.

“So you really think you’re a leprechaun?” she asked.

He took off his hat and gave her a flourishing bow.  “Seamus Fitzpatrick, at your service.”

Penny folded her arms.  “Aha.”

“Perhaps there is something I…”

“Take it easy,” rumbled the bear, rising to become a seven-foot wall of broken-nosed ruggedness.  “Try anything and they’ll have to carry you out of here in pieces.”

Seamus, unconcerned at the threat, beamed at the bear and donned his hat.  “Now, really, I’m only here to help.”

“How come you’re so tall?” asked Penny.  “I’ve eaten Lucky Charms before.  You’re supposed to be tiny and smoke a pipe, and come with your own rainbow and pot of gold.”

“Yes, I can see you are truly an expert on the subject,” he chuckled.

“You’re too handsome to be a leprechaun,” she insisted.

He placed a hand on his heart.  “You are too kind, m’dear.  But I assure you, we come in all shapes and sizes.  Though, I am particularly good looking.”  He winked, and Penny rolled her eyes, which made him chortle.

The bear, whose nametag read Boris, huffed.  “I did not let you upstairs, how did you get past me?”

“Magic, m’boy.”

“Why didn’t you magic your way out of the grip the tiger had on you?” said Penny.

His smile faltered a little as he rubbed his ear.  “I swear that female worked for the Spanish Inquisition in a former life.  But we’re getting off topic.”  He turned a thousand megawatt smile on Boris, Penny and the young, gawky man.  “The SEA caught me doing something I, ahem, shouldn’t have been doing…”

“What was that?”  Penny grinned thinking of the possibilities, and they only became more lurid as pink dusted his cheeks.

“Not important,” he said a little too quickly.  “The point is that by ancient leprechaun law…” he paused while Penny tried not to wet herself laughing.  “By ancient leprechaun law,” he said a little louder, “I have been caught, and before I can be free, I must perform three acts to better the lives of my captors.  Since the tiger doesn’t want anything, you three will have to do.”  He looked at them in turn.  “Ah, yes, I see what you all want.”  He cracked his knuckles.  “This won’t hurt a bit.”

Penny backed away as he started chanting something in, what? 
Gaelic??
  Her penguin flapped in panic.  Colors started whipping through the air.  “Holy crap!  He really does have his own rainbow!”

“Now hang on a minute!” shouted the bear.

Bright rainbow light hit them all square in their chests.  Penny staggered backward.  She heard a roar, and instantly she was tucked behind Diaz’s large frame.

Seamus tipped his hat to her and disappeared with a pop.  Diaz snarled and spun around.  “Are you okay?  Are you hurt?”  He ran his hands all over her body –
all over
.  “I’m fine,” she said in a daze, before squeaking when he came to a very private area.  Her penguin fluttered coquettishly, and Penny gave her an inner eye roll –
neither the time nor place
.

Boris helped the blinking young man to his feet. “What’s your name, son?” he boomed.

“W… Winston Strong.”

The huge bear made sure the young man was okay.

“What the fuck was that?” demanded Diaz.

Penny gave him a sour look.  “A leprechaun.”

*

Later that day…

Diaz gave her a worried look.  His jaguar paced restlessly.  “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Penny gave him an exasperated look –
one he knew all too well
.  It was the same look she threw his way when he was trying to get her to sneak out for a quickie during her niece’s dance recital.

She inhaled another poppadum and gave him a greedy smile.  She could eat almost as much as him – and that was saying something.  At first, she seemed to think he’d be put off by how much she devoured, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.  Seeing her tiny mouth stretch around huge quantities of food only made him harder.  A month ago, when they’d entered a hot dog eating contest for a lark, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven.  If they hadn’t been disqualified for making out, one of them might have won.

It was true they’d met during a hostage situation where he had been fortunate enough to be tethered to his surly little penguin, and had managed to grope her to his jaguar’s content. 
Best Christmas ever
.  What had started out as instant attraction had easily grown into something much, much more.  It was at the point where he couldn’t imagine his life without her.  And it was why seeing her hit by magic had him and his jaguar antsy.

“I’m fine,” came her muffled response as she tried to sample every dish at once.  “Try the butter chicken; it’s gorgeous.”

His beast wasn’t satisfied, but he didn’t want to ruin their evening.  Indian cuisine was Penny’s favorite, and while eating it, she made the most incredible orgasmic little sounds that could only be rivalled by the sounds she made in bed.

“Ummm,” she moaned.  “This mango chutney is heavenly.”

Diaz smiled as he tried it.  “Mmm, it’s pretty good.”

“Pretty good?”

“I can think of one way it could taste better.”  He waggled his eyebrows and leered so that she could be in no doubt as to what he meant.  They’d tried it with ice cream, but she’d said that was too cold against her skin. 
Perhaps mango chutney would work better…

He caught a flash out of the corner of his eye and noticed a table of businessmen staring at Penny.  He scowled at them and even flashed his fangs.  They noticed him and then… nothing.  They kept staring at Penny.

His cat grumbled.  Diaz pulled her around the booth and took her mouth in a very thorough, mango chutney flavoured kiss.  It left her sighing and her eyelashes fluttering.

Assholes could be in no doubt as to who she belonged to now.  Yet… their eyes were still riveted to Penny.  She moaned again, and one of them licked his lips. 
Licked.  His.  Fucking.  Lips.

Diaz felt his chest tighten as he struggled to contain the ferocious jaguar within.  But then he noticed something.  It wasn’t
just
them.  A lot of the males were looking at her.  In fact, all the males in the restaurant who weren’t with a female were looking at her, plus the middle-aged guy who was obviously out with his mother. 
His mother did not look pleased that she was no longer the center of his world
.  Even the waiter was casting Penny longing looks.  The dope just dropped a whole tray of drinks over a customer.  Not to worry, the customer was too busy ogling Penny to care.

“Something’s off about this place.”

“I know.  They should serve Peshwari naans.  I think I’m going to complain to the manager.”

“No, it’s the customer, they’re…
off
.”

Penny looked up, and all the males went back to their food.  “Seems fine to me.”

“All the men in here are rubbernecking you.”

Penny snorted.  “You’re exaggerating.”

“Okay, all the
single
men in here are rubbernecking you.”  His jaguar growled.  And worse, they didn’t seem to care that Diaz was obviously her boyfriend.

“Please, women look at you all the time, and I don’t complain.  Well, not out loud.  Or at least not out loud very often.  Okay, maybe I complain about your neighbour a lot, but she is obviously trying to get into your tight, tight pants.”

“She’s married,” he muttered as he surveyed the other males.

“But obviously a skank.”

“She’s not my type.”

“What is your type?”

He turned to find her enormous silver eyes staring up at him with curiosity.  She bit her pink lip, and her cheeks flushed.

“Cute, stubborn penguins,” he crooned before kissing her again, much to her delight.

It was just disconcerting that they were also everyone else’s type tonight
.

*

Boris slapped at the gator shifter’s boots.  “Feet down,” he rumbled.

Caleb sneered at him, and Boris gave him a cold look until he complied.  Good night guards were hard to find.  He was sorry when Amadeus, the previous vampire night guard had opted to give his girlfriend all his money and follow her to Canada to join a hippy commune. 
Apparently being two hundred years old didn’t make you smart or immune to a flirty smile.

He stood up a little straighter as Cecile, one of the directors of the SEA and a swan shifter came out of the elevator.  She stopped and threw them both a warm smile.

“Have a good evening, both of you,” she trilled in her musical voice.

Boris nodded stiffly, and Cecile blushed lightly before gliding out the door to the parking garage.  The gator never took his eyes off the portable TV.  Boris’ bear withheld the growl; watching TV was something Boris would never consider doing while on duty.

After waiting twenty seconds, Boris grunted at Caleb and followed her.  He kept a steady distance, waiting until she got to her car.  When she did, his bear nodded, and Boris turned back to get to his truck.  So lost in thought, he almost missed the yelp of surprise.  It was so soft, so sweet sounding that he nearly mistook it for the wind.  His bear howled, sensing danger, and Boris spun to find Cecile grappling with someone dressed in black.

Boris dropped his duffle and with a roar akin to a war cry, bolted towards Cecile.  He tore away his clothes as fur, fangs and claws pushed forward.  By the time he reached them, he was an enormous Kodiak bear and threw his full weight into the man attacking Cecile, ramming him into her car, forcing him to drop his grip on her arm.

She dropped to the ground and let out a whimper as she rolled onto her back.  The figure in black crumpled immediately, falling unconscious from the blow.  With an effort, the bear ignored him to tend to the swan shifter.  Her eyes widened as he leaned over her, and it took him a moment to realize it was because he was still in his bear form.  He tensed and allowed the shift to take over.  Bones and muscles snapped back into place to reveal Boris.

He knelt on the ground and propped Cecile up.  “Injured?” he demanded gruffly.

Boris started running his hands over her body, checking her, until he noticed she was watching him with wide eyes and he stopped.

Under his intense gaze, she ducked her eyes.  “I feel fine,” she murmured and started trying to stand up.

He gripped her shoulder.  “No.  Need ambulance.”

Cecile shook her head vehemently and then winced.  “No, perhaps if Lucie is still around…”

Lucie was a hedgehog shifter and one of the nurses who worked in the building.  She generally didn’t have a lot to do as most of the occupants of the building relied on their individual healing abilities.  But she came in handy in case one of the human members of the SEA ever got a papercut, and she was very good at mediating situations. 
Usually, ones that involved her volatile wolf mate who at any given time had about sixty-eight arguments in the wind.

Boris nodded and scooped her into his arms.  She squeaked and wrapped her arms around his huge shoulders.

“Sorry,” she muttered while loosening her grip.

He gave her a long look while ignoring the longing growls of his bear.  Her lithe form felt very snug against his large body.

Feeling heat rising to his cheeks, he quickly looked down at her attacker.  He was a pale-featured youth who no one would honestly give a second glance.  Boris kicked him for a good measure – he was out cold.  He would surely have liked to teach the boy a few manners, but Cecile came first.

First he would make sure Cecile was safe and uninjured.

Then he would deal with the intruder.

Then he would think up some cruel and unusual punishment for Caleb for letting the intruder get past him on the security cameras.  Not to mention the idiot parking attendant. 
Fuck, what was even the point of having security if they let any Tom, Dick or Asshat in there?

*

“Did you see that?” snapped Diaz.

Penny frowned.  “No, what?”

“That guy in the convertible actually slowed down so he could snap a picture of you with his phone.”

“Maybe he was snapping a picture of you,” she retorted saucily.  “You are pretty darn sexy.”

Well, there was no denying
that
, but Diaz was adamant that the man was looking at Penny.