by M. L. Briers
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
Samuel gulped. Her scent was all around him, and he couldn’t shake it free. His brain was seriously going into meltdown, and his body wasn’t that far behind.
Mine…
His beast restated its claim, unsure why there was inaction, uncertain why the man hadn’t already pounced on his mate to make her theirs.
You’ve got to be kidding me?
I mean … … … … seriously?
Are you nuts?
No – no, don’t you dare growl at me again – cos, I know that you’re nuts – certifiable – ready for the wolf equivalent of the padded cell.
Sure, you might chew on the padding, but…
Damn … a mate.
A witch…
A sexy damn witch with a figure that a man can wrap his arms around and …
Nope.
Not having it.
There is no damn way that I’m taking a witch for my mate.
And … and … and … ha-ha! Not this witch!
She’s nuts – you’re nuts – good match!
Wait – What? Not a match… damn it … not a mate … not a match.
I gotta get me out of this.
But how?
I suppose I could go and slam my head in a truck door a few hundred times until I don’t know which way is up… which … yeah, witch.
Damn it – that’s just too unfair – uncalled for – not right.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Summer asked.
She tossed her hands onto her curvy hips and eyed him as if he had a disease that she didn’t want to catch, but was still somewhat curious about.
“I…m …” he moved his head from one side to the other very slowly – eyeing his mate as if he’d seen her shift from a she-demon and slip back again.
“We covered what you are – now, I’d like to know why you’re standing there looking like E.T just landed on my shoulder – I think you might have gone a little green too.”
“I … am feeling a touch … sick to my stomach.” He eyed her some more as he tried to plan how to dig himself out of a very big hole.
“Well, don’t give me what ails you…”
“Oh, I think it might just be a little late to keep this one to myself,” Samuel bit out.
“Huh?”
“I think I need to sit down,” he grumbled.
“Floor’s right beneath your feet,” Summer offered back when he eyed her room over her shoulder.
“Not exactly Florence Nightingale, are you?” Samuel grumbled.
“If you think I’m letting some …” she eyed him up and down, boy, did he look good to her eyes, and her pulse raced as her heart slammed her ribs and a burst of excitement shot through her.
“Oh please, don’t stop on my account, sweetheart,” he growled just a little, just enough for his beast to see that as a sign that it could try to push forwards.
Do not even consider it, wolf.
Samuel slammed that cage door shut on his beast.
“Don’t call me sweetheart – that’s akin to calling me honey, and if you’re gonna call me honey, you might as well just call me sweetcakes, or sugar, and that’s a definite no-no.”
“You talk … a lot,” Samuel said with a slow nod of his head.
Summer pulled her head back on her neck and curled her top lip in disbelief. The man was a pig – probably a male chauvinistic one as well, but right then, she had the urge to zap him with her magic again.
“Well, in that case … two words, second word – off,” she snapped her hand on her wrist and slammed the door closed in his face with her magic.
“That’s…” Samuel bit down on his annoyance, as his beast raised its head and made its feelings known by growling like a wildling at him.
Samuel raised his fisted hand and thudded on the door.
“Go away!” She called from inside. He could hear the mumbles that followed, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying.
He knocked again. And again, and again.
“Will you please, sod off?!” She yelled.
“I wanna talk to you,” Samuel growled.
“Geez, brother, get the damn message – she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Nathan growled as he stood at the top of the long hallway, arms folded across his broad chest, a scowl on his face, and a shake of his head in disbelief. “Save the apology for another time.”
“Oh, this isn’t an apology, brother,” Samuel growled out as he dropped his chin down to his chest and growled back at his sibling, his alpha… “Oh, no, this is soooo much more.”
“Well…” Nathan raised a hand and shrugged his broad shoulders. “It can wait.”
“Noooo, it can’t wait,” Samuel said, as he turned his whole body towards his brother and eyed him as if he was the devil. “And it’s all your fault.”
“Mine?” Nathan bit out in surprise.
“Exactly!” Samuel growled.
“Exactly what? Huh?” Nathan shrugged again. “Have you been at a barrel of damn beer?”
“Not yet … that’s next though, and probably for the rest of my damn life. And it’s all thanks to you and your – go and apologise – go now – make nice with the witch…” His voice sounded higher pitched and strained.
“Ok, firstly – I do not sound like that, and secondly …” Nathan stopped and eyed his brother – Samuel eyed him right back.
“What…?” The beta was done waiting.
There was a slow to boil smile that started on the alpha’s face and stretched far and wide. Nathan’s eyes lit up with amusement. Then the alpha lifted his hand and pointed an accusing finger at his sibling.
“You found your damn mate!” The alpha roared out the deepest belly laugh that his brother had ever heard.
“I should kill you where you stand,” Samuel growled, and the alpha wolf took exception to that remark, but Nathan was too busy chuckling to give it much thought by way of a potential challenge.
A loud thud from inside the bedroom made Samuel snap his head around on his neck, and his ears pricked up as he narrowed his eyes on the wood that stood between him and his mate.
There was a low shriek that started from inside the room and grew louder until Samuel feared for his mate’s safety.
That was when he lifted a booted foot and kicked in the door.
Unfortunately – Summer was lying on her back on the floor with her legs up in the air, trying desperately to untangle her feet from her dress, half naked in only a bra and panties – she snapped her eyes towards him, and then let out one hell of a scream.
CHAPTER NINE
~
Randy stalked towards the gathering that was sitting in the wooden deck chairs around a table that had been set up for morning tea on the right-hand side of the porch.
He knew all the usual suspects – Dorothy, Angela, Sarah, and Chloe – and he shot a look towards Monty, who was sitting on the porch railing, set back from the group – but there was one face that he didn’t recognize, and his heart pumped hard as her scent drew him in.
All eyes turned towards him as he stopped dead in his tracks and eyed her with a purpose.
“Randy.” His name had popped out of his mouth before his brain was even in gear.
“How is that my problem?” Pamela offered back, somewhat taken aback by the appearance of the silver-fox and his two sidekicks that followed on behind him up the porch stairs. “What have people been saying?” she eyed the group that were sniggering behind their hands.
All of them were amused, except for Chloe, who spat out the sip of tea that she’d only bothered to taste to try to fit in. She would have preferred blood – Fae blood, but asking one of them to open a vein seemed somewhat rude as they’d invited her into their little group.
“Don’t look at me,” Dorothy shook her head, but there were tears in the older woman’s eyes as she tried her hardest not to giggle.
“It’s my name,” Randy bit out – narrowing his eyes on the
woman and drinking her in.
His mate.
His love.
The woman that he’d been dreaming about meeting for all of those long, lonely years.
Damn, she’s a fine looking woman.
His beast agreed… Mine.
“Oh,” Pamela snorted a small chuckle. “The kind I’m not entirely sure you could live up to at your age.”
Hank and Lark’s deep chuckles felt like a challenge to him.
“Oh, believe me – I can,” Randy growled just a little at the thought of it.
“Good for you,” Pamela said, a small frown fleeting across her brow as she nervously eyed the women gathered, looking for someone to say something so that she didn’t have too.
“And you,” Randy said – with a wiggle of his salt and pepper eyebrows, and her eyes went wide.
“Seriously?” she eyed the group with suspicion. “Who said what?” she demanded.
“Don’t look at me,” Angela giggled.
“Not guilty,” Sarah chuckled into her hand.
“I have no damn idea what you people are talking about…” Chloe said with a small shrug. “But, if he’s bothering you. I can kill him for you.”
“Not just yet,” Pamela frowned at the vampire. “But I appreciate the offer, and I’ll get back to you if things change.”
“Got it,” Chloe eased back in her chair and did a double take of the elder shifter as he snatched a glare down at her. “What? I like her.”
“R-i-g-h-t…” he grumbled a growl and turned his attention back towards his mate.
“The same applies to you. I’ll get back to you,” Pamela scowled at the man. She knew that shifters were known for being highly sexual, but his forwardness was a little much.
“Oh, it’s not that simple…” Randy assured her.
“Oh, I think it is…” she assured him right back.
“I think you’d be surprised…” Randy gave a small shake of his head.
“Takes a lot to surprise me…” she offered back.
“You’re my mate,” Randy said and got a stone wall of silence back from the woman as she just stared at him. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
Pamela was stunned. Gobsmacked.
She’s had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, and a kick to her womb when she had read the ad for the matchmaking Inn on the witchy website, but she hadn’t believed that it was entirely possible.
She guessed, she hadn’t really thought through what it would mean – exactly – to find herself faced with a life mate.
“Is this a joke?” She snatched a look at the women present, and they all shook their heads.
“No joke,” Randy assured her.
Pamela gripped the armrests of the chair and pushed herself up from the seat on shaking legs. Her eyes never left his as she battled the twister of thoughts within her mind.
“I changed my mind,” she muttered on a rush of words, as she turned sharply, almost tripped over on top of Dorothy, in her need to escape him – escape the Inn – run for her life and save herself.
“What am I a mountain?” Dorothy rushed out. “Go around me, not over me!”
“Now hold on there, little lady,” Randy growled, and she found him standing right behind Dorothy’s chair, his wide frame half blocking her escape to freedom and her heart shot into her throat.
“He’s not that bad,” Hank chuckled.
“He’s pretty bad – and he farts – a lot,” Lark offered, and Pamela’s head snapped towards the double act and back towards her mate once more.
“True,” Hank gave a thoughtful nod. “You could cut some of those farts with a damn knife.”
“The air gets kind of chewy,” Lark chuckled.
“Might be amusing watching the duvet levitate when you have nothing better to do,” Hank chuckled with a big, teasing grin.
“Not in my bed, he doesn’t.” Pamela rushed out, somewhat mortified by the thought of it.
She liked her bed. She didn’t want the stench of male gases lingering in the air – levitating the linen. She liked her alone time. She liked watching stupid shows on her television. She had to question her sanity at coming to the damn Inn in the first place.
“I thought you wanted a mate?” Angela chuckled.
“Can’t a woman change her mind?” Pamela grumbled.
“Non-returnable,” Dorothy giggled.
“Keep the money,” Pamela snapped back.
“That’s non-refundable. I’m talking about him,” Dorothy pointed her finger at Randy, and the man stuck out his chest like a proud peacock.
“Even if I claim a senior damn moment?” Pamela bit out.
“When in sickness and in health takes on a new meaning,” Angela chuckled.
“Pamela, meet Randy – Randy, your mate, Pamela…” Sarah announced, and the witch groaned as she closed her eyes for a moment and wished him away.
Unfortunately, magic didn’t quite work like that.
CHAPTER TEN
~
Samuel didn’t know whether to rush to his mate to help her with her troubles, or just headbutt the nearest wall. There she was lying semi-naked on the floor, trying desperately to untangle her ankles, and there he was ogling her – again.
He heard his brother’s footsteps coming down the hallway towards them, but he couldn’t quite manage to turn his head, or his eyes to look at the man.
“Stop right there, brother. She’s naked.” Samuel growled like a hungry wolf that had spotted his prey as he held out his palm towards the alpha to stop the man in his tracks.
“Again?” Nathan grumbled, rolling his eyes back in his head, and then his head on his neck as his first thought rushed to Sarah and the tongue lashing that he was going to get that time.
A moment later, and Samuel was shot back against the hallway wall, with a crack from the wood paneling behind his large body, and the door to the room that was slammed shut once more with a loud thud that echoed through the Inn.
“Will you never learn, brother?” Nathan grumbled.
That time Samuel’s eyes did snap towards his brother. There was a low rumble of a growl within the man’s chest, and a look of sheer annoyance within his eyes.
“Not – my – damn - fault,” Samuel bit out the words like he was chewing on each one of them.
“I beg to differ. Miffing off your mate once is understandable, but careless. Twice is just plain stupid.”
“And you were just Mr Perfect when it came to wooing your mate, were you?”
“Not the point.”
“How was I to know that she was naked, again?” Samuel straightened his body and huffed out a breath as he shook off the witch’s magic.
“I heard the way you said that,” Summer’s muted voice hissed out from the other side of the door. “Like it was my fault or something!”
Samuel opened his mouth to speak, but Nathan lifted his hand to hold him off. The beta scowled back at him, questioning his stance.
“Be careful, brother. She’s female, and every thing you say from this moment on could be twisted like a knife,” Nathan warned, feeling the urge to chuckle, but holding it at bay as his brother’s dark eyes took him in for a long moment while he considered it. Samuel nodded.
“It was my fault, and I apologise.”
“Again,” she snapped out.
“Yes. My fault again.”
“No!” She bit out.
Samuel could hear her moving around inside the room, and he would much have preferred to look her in the eye and better judge her mood and reaction to him, but there was the small problem of the door that stood between them.
“No?”
“No!” she snapped again.
Then the room door was torn open, and there she stood, wearing the sundress on her body instead of wrapped around her ankles, with eyes that spat fire and wrath when she glared back at him.
He could still picture her naked from the first time, and that image was battling with the one where she’d been wea
ring sexy lingerie, and it made his length harder than hell, and his libido was dialled up to ten out of ten with desire.
“No?” he questioned again.
Samuel wasn’t sure if they’d finished that conversation or not. Especially as his brain became congested with…other thoughts.
“You’re developing a habit of appearing at inopportune moments, and I am developing a habit of zapping you for it. What say you bloody well sod off and I never have to lay eyes on you again?”
Summer had a death grip on the side of the door with one hand, and the other was perched on her curvy hip as she glared at him like she was debating whether to fry his backside or not. Samuel thought not. If she was going to do it, then he suspected that she would already have done it.
“Oh, this is going to be good,” Nathan muttered, folding his arms across his broad chest and resisting the urge to run off to find a chair and some popcorn.
“We might have a small problem there.” Samuel wanted to choose his words carefully. After all, he didn’t want to get zapped again – and she was a zappy witch.
“I think that it’s pretty straightforward. You sod off. Job done.”
“Just tell her,” Nathan grumbled. He couldn’t wait for the fireworks to begin.
“In my own way,” Samuel muttered back.
“It’s not like she isn’t going to find out,” Nathan chuckled to himself.
“Could you…?” Samuel’s head snapped around, and his eyes glared at the alpha. “Not be here, now?” He growled, just enough to let the alpha know that he wasn’t playing.
“You know what? I like it right here; it turns out this is my new favorite spot in the whole Inn.” Nathan snapped on a bright smirk.
“Do you guys need some time alone?” Summer said with a sigh to back it up.
“No!” Samuel snapped his attention right back to his mate. “I’m … you’re … we’re…”
“Oh, for the love of the Triple Goddess will you get to the damn point already?” She snapped back.
“Ok, fine!” Samuel tossed up a hand in frustration. Everyone was rushing him into it, and he’d wanted to hold back, go slow, but what the hey! “Mate!” he snapped out, and she yanked her head backward on her neck as if he’d slapped her. “We’re mates!” he threw at her again, and she blinked, once. “You’re my mate!”