ASMSG Scifi Fantasy Paranormal Emagazine August 2014 | Page 33

SFP Indie Issue 3

Unexpectedly Mated
Milly taid en

EXCERPT
FOR CRYING OUT loud! Nicole Acosta tugged the
earpiece out and glared at it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like
Emma, heck, most of the time she pretty much ignored
her friend. Emma was just…bossy. Yeah, bossy. But
tonight, that wasn’t the problem. She glared into the
darkness. There better not be any mosquitoes or she’d go
ballistic. Already her skin crawled with the thought of what
could be in the area.
She shoved the ear piece back in.
“It’s only for a little while,” Jordan said. “We’ll be out
of here in no time, Nic.”
Right. Not frickin’ likely. She bit her lip to swallow
the yell she wanted to throw at her friends. There were
bugs all over the place and she and bugs did not mix. She’d
have to buy new trainers after this. There was no way in
hell she’d wear those mud-covered ones again.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Emma whispered.
“We all agreed to come and do this for Ellie. Just suck it
up.”
Suck it up? Easy for her to say. Emma loved the
outdoors and all that stuff. Outdoors to Nic meant the
park. Or the pool. Now here she was, like a deranged
teenager, spying on a scent ritual that was sacred to Ellie’s
people. All for what? To catch a glimpse of Jake Wolfe.
That philandering mutt.
She couldn’t help herself, she peeked over the
ceremony site where Mrs. Wolfe or as she preferred to be
called, Barbara, motioned the guys into the woods. Ellie
said they’d be on watch. Something moved on Nic’s leg.
Oh God. Was it a snake? She peered into the darkness and
swatted away whatever crawled on her.
The things she did for her insatiable crush on Jake.
It’d been that way from the first time she’d met him. And
what a way to meet a man that had been. If first
impressions were everything, Nic got the best first
impression of Jake ever. She’d visited Ellie’s house for a
weekend sleepover when they’d been in college. Their
gazes met and she swore she’d been electrocuted. She’d
been rooted to the spot like an idiot, staring at his
hunkiness in all his wet and naked glory with stars in her
eyes. Well, that’s what he loved to tell her.
From that moment on, Nic knew she couldn’t let Jake
get to her. He was the world’s biggest flirt, used to women
falling to his feet. And while she wasn’t familiar with the
whole love thing, she knew all about lust. He’d smiled one
time. That’s all it took. For him to show her that dimple

she

adored and her girly bits had readied for surrender. Not to
mention her brain cells had gone AWOL. It was pathetic.
It was also the reason why she’d let herself get talked into
sitting on a picnic blanket, with her knees to her chest. She
still couldn’t figure out what made the noise in the grass.
Maybe Ellie was wrong. What if there were snakes
there? A firefly zoomed around her. She watched the tiny
bug light up the dark with its yellow glow, zipping and
buzzing back and forth in front of her. Some bugs weren’t
so scary. From far away.
Her attention shot down to the blanket in the
darkness. She’d swear it moved again. Her mind ran on
overdrive and she knew the likelihood of her seeing shit
that wasn’t even there was big. She took a deep breath and
sighed. Her muscles ached from how tense she held
herself. The night’s coolness did nothing to stop the heat
from the earlier part of the day. Her tank top stuck to her
back. She yanked on the front part and blew on her boobs.
Thank goodness she was alone or she’d look so stupid
doing that.
The others had gone silent. She wondered what they
were up to. Where they as freaked out as her? Probably
not. She’d bet Emma would live in the damn forest if she
got a chance. Leaves crunched from a nearby bush. With
an agility she knew she didn’t possess, she got on her
knees on the blanket. The noise in the trees increased. Fear
froze the blood in her veins. Her heartbeat thundered in
her ears along with the sound of the harsh breaths that
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