Page 17 of Naughty Elf: Wink

Derek was so distracted that he didn’t notice me digging through his spice cupboard until it was too late. “Bingo, I think I found it! Take a look at—wait! What are you doing?” he asked with a gasp, grabbing the jar from my hand.

“I’m adding some cinnamon,” I said. “Oh, and nutmeg.” I grabbed the other jar and upended it, sprinkling aromatic spices into the bowl.

His jaw gaped, but he’d given up trying to stop me on this. “Why? That wasn’t part of the recipe.”

“So? Do you always follow the recipe?” I shrugged then set a peck on his lips. “Is that okay? It’ll taste good, I promise.”

He seemed skeptical, but he let it slide. “I guess it’ll be a fun experiment. Besides, we can bring the muffins as gifts for the people we’reabout to visit.” Derek held up his phone. “I found a group that looks promising. It says they meet every week, and just our luck, they’re meeting this afternoon. They might just be LARPers like this blog claims, but I have a good feeling about this.”

“What’s a LARPer?” I asked.

“It stands for Live Action Role Play. Basically, people who dress up and portray fictional characters in a chosen setting. Usually, there’s a theme, something like Vikings or aliens, but this seems to be specific to being animals.” His excitement dimmed for a second. “Oh gods, what if they’re furries.”

“What are—”

“Please don’t ask,” he said, pulling a face. “It’s a kink thing.” I made a mental note to look into it later.

An hour of X-rated cuddling on the couch later, he bit down into a muffin fresh from the oven and groaned in a way that made my cock sit up and take notice. And when he licked the crumbs from his lips, his pink tongue flicking out, I was a goner. “Okay, I can admit it. These are better than mine. How did you know?” he asked with genuine curiosity.

“It’s an elf thing,” I told him mysteriously, a mischievous smile ghosting my lips. It was, in fact, exactly an elf thing, because it hadn’t been merely spices I’d added but also a dash of magic.

With the car filled with the rich aroma of blueberries and cinnamon coming from the container of muffins in the back seat, Derek and I drove toward the meeting place, deep in the woods just outside of town. His hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel, and his left leg was bouncing.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you nervous?” I asked.

He sighed and took the hand I offered him across the console. “I guess so. I don’t know what I’m hoping to find. I mean,shifters would mean I might get some answers about where I came from, but what if it’s not good news? What if I find my birth parents, and they still don’t want me? Maybe it would be better if we just found a bunch of people in animal costumes instead.”

I gave his hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry. Either way, good news or bad, I’ve got you. This isn’t the end of the road. If they’re not shifters, then we’ll try something else.”

The GPS alerted us that we were approaching our turn, and Derek flicked on the turn signal. It was barely more than a dirt road, pitted even though packed snow had filled the worst of the potholes.

“Does this look right to you?” Derek asked me warily as he drove slowly through the close-growing trees. “This is the definition of the middle of nowhere.”

“Yeah, but look, there are other tire tracks. We’re not the first ones to drive through here today.”

We kept driving for another ten minutes, doubting ourselves the entire time, and right when we were about to turn around and head home, we saw a break in the trees ahead. Derek drove the car through and into a clearing, and we blinked in the sudden brightness. There were plenty of other cars parked along one side, but that wasn’t what drew our attention. It was the big-ass wolf standing in the middle, watching us as we pulled into a spot at the end of the row. He was no normal wolf—his eyes were an unnatural shade of amber, and his tail wagged in greeting.

“Not furries, then,” Derek muttered, gulping.

He didn’t turn off the engine right away, almost as if he were debating speeding off. “We don’t have to do this, you know,” I reminded him softly.

His eyes flicked to mine, then back to the wolf in his rearview mirror. “Yeah, I know.”

I gave him time to decide, not rushing him while a whole array of emotions passed across his features. Finally, he gave a firm nod and pushed the car door open, stepping out with determination. I got out my side and joined him by the rear bumper. I was so proud of my mate for facing his fears head-on, but I hoped he understood that he wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

I took his hand, and together, we crunched through the snow toward the wolf.

12

Derek

The badass wolf’s name was Ricky. I was almost disappointed it wasn’t something like Thor or The Rock. And as intimidating as he was in his fur, his human self was rather normal and kind of… geeky. Everything about the entire experience was unexpected.

His wolf had practically skipped over to us—could wolves skip?—and he’d licked the entire length of Wink’s face with a giant, slobbery tongue, right from his chin up to his hairline. As Wink sputtered, wiping the drool off with his coat sleeve, the wolf had shifted, leaving Ricky there in his very naked human form. Even though the temperature was well below freezing, he barely seemed to notice, tendrils of steam coming off him. Was that a shifter thing? Why was I so damn cold then?

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know why he did that,” he’d said, wincing. “This is so embarrassing. We don’t normally greet newcomers in such an unmannered way.”

“It’s fine,” Wink said, even as he’d scowled. I knew he was keeping his temper for my sake, trying to make a good first impression. “But maybe you could stick to eating the muffins instead.” He’d passed over the Tupperware, and suddenly, we gotverypopular, everyone gravitating toward the delicious smell.

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