by M. L. Briers
Luke’s attention wavered, but snapped right back to the vampire when he stepped over Chance’s body and walked over the threshold like it wasn’t even there – the man had already been invited in.
“Clean up on aisle two,” J.C announced with a smirk that pulled his lips wide and filled his eyes with glee.
Tall, lean, and with broad shoulders. The vampire was a cliché in all ways except for the Mocha colour of his skin.
“You know this … one?” Luke growled.
His wolf didn’t like it – hell, he didn’t like being that close to a bloodsucker. They were unpredictable – not as volatile as bear shifters, but deadlier and faster.
It rubbed him up the wrong way to think that they had dealings with the man.
“One?” J.C stopped in his tracks and turned his attention towards Luke. His eyes scanned the man, taking him in and sizing him up, and he was more than ready to deal with the problem. “Why not just say … thing?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Hell, I’m not insulted – no, really.”
“He’s a … friend,” Marley sighed, knowing that J.C wouldn’t stop until someone else put an end to it.
The level of testosterone in the house had just shot through the roof and she wasn’t best pleased. Testosterone led to fighting, and fighting led to breaking things, and she really didn’t want things getting broken.
It was bad enough that J.C had been using her spare bedroom like a bed and breakfast for what was supposed to be a few days that had turned into a few months, but now they had wolves at the door – literally, and things could only get worse from there on in if she let this play out by itself.
“A vampire?” Luke twisted his head so that he could shoot a look back at her and keep the vampire in his peripheral vision at the same time. She might have said friend, but a vampire was no friend of his.
“I’m sorry, does my not being Mr no friends insult you somehow?” J.C questioned him with a subtle raise of his eyebrows.
“It’s not normal,” Luke bit out.
“Not normal is standing in front of me with his fangs and claws out.” J.C folded his arms across his chest. He looked a cross between Mr Superior and Mr Lack of Patience. “You wanna put those away?”
“You attacked my brothers,” Luke reminded him.
“They looked …” He leaned in a little, “shifty.”
The vampire snapped out a wide grin, enjoying the moment, and Luke growled long and hard back at him.
“Ok, that’s enough,” Marley waved an absent hand in the air as she nudged Luke out of the way and stepped between the two men. “You made a boo-boo, you need to apologise.” She scowled up at the vampire and he lifted just one eyebrow and turned to look at the two shifters that were still lying unconscious on the porch.
“They’re sleeping.” J.C offered back and he grinned harder with the sound of Luke’s hearty growl rattling in his ears.
“Behave,” Marley hissed at him, and watched as his broad chest rose and fell on a sigh. Always with the dramatic, she thought, but she wasn’t about to have this whole mess escalate inside of her kitchen.
“But where’s the fun…? He offered back.
“You know you said that I should tell you when you’re doing that thing?” He frowned and nodded, knowing what was coming and feeling a little disappointed about it. “Yeah, it’s that thing … And you …” She turned her attention back towards Luke, “put your wolf away.”
Luke’s beast wasn’t entirely keen on that idea. Just the presence of the vampire made its blood run cold. Add that to the attack on his brothers and the wolf wanted to stay real close to the surface.
There was now something of a standoff between the two men – the silence in the room was almost deafening – right up until the point where there was a loud roar that rumbled through the room and shook the window in its mount, and Marley snapped her head around just in time to see the alpha coming for the vampire…
CHAPTER FOUR
~
Marley’s bottom jaw dropped open the moment that the men collided. Taken by surprise, J.C was swept backwards in the alpha’s grip.
His back hit the big, solid wood dresser that stood against the far wall, and everything on it scattered and fell to the floor. The sound of breaking plates and dishes made her bite down in a rush of anger…
“That’s …” Marley planted her feet, lifted her hands, and called on her magic.
Fuelled by anger; she wrenched them apart, tossing both men away from each other with varying degrees of loud thuds as the vampire connected with the wall and the alpha hit the pantry door.
“Go away!” Sage yelled from inside.
Josh’s eyes practically rolled in his head at the sound of the witch in the cupboard. He yanked his body back onto his feet – fangs down, claws out – and his chin practically touched his chest as he growled long and hard at the vampire who was doing the exact same thing on the other side of the room.
“I will hurt you!” Marley hissed out to no one in particular and both men in general.
Testosterone was the bane of most women’s lives, and this was no exception. Her kitchen looked like a disaster area, and she had a vampire sized imprint in the plaster on the wall, and an alpha sized indent in the pantry door. Couple that with her favourite china being in pieces on the floor and she was not a happy bunny.
“He started it,” Josh lifted his hand and pointed a razor sharp claw at the vampire on a growl that said he wanted to be the one to finish it.
“He started it …” Marley babied him and his eyes snapped towards her on a scowl that warned her that right then – he was humourless.
“Apparently, he’s a friendly,” Luke informed his alpha. The beta’s claws and fangs were still down, and he was more than ready to join the fight if necessary.
“He’s a vampire,” Josh growled the last word in disbelief at the witch.
“I’m feeling pretty unloved right about now,” J.C made a point of brushing his hands down over his clothes to rid himself of dust.
“You’re a vampire,” Josh growled as if that was the definitive answer to everything.
“And Casper was a ghost…” J.C offered back and Josh looked more than confused.
“And?” The alpha growled.
“Hey, I’m just saying, if you can love a ghost…” He motioned down his body and Josh did a double take of Geri as she snorted a laugh.
“Is it me?” Josh growled at his brother and Luke slowly shook his head.
“I’m just pointing out that I live here,” J.C motioned around the room just in case there was any misunderstanding to his words. “You guys are the intruders.”
“He lives here?” Josh’s growl got deeper, longer, and he couldn’t understand why the hell that felt so damn wrong to him, he only knew that it did.
These witches weren’t his problem, and their living arrangements – as messed up as they seemed – shouldn’t have bothered him, and yet, he was bothered and so was his wolf.
“Did I stutter?” J.C smirked as the alpha growled once more.
Every time the man spoke the alpha’s wolf got more and more irritated. There was a sweet smell of vanilla in the air and that was distracting, like a thought that hadn’t quite been formed yet in the back of his mind.
Chance stirred. A moment later and the beta was inside the kitchen. Fangs down and claws out as he glared at the vampire … his beast eager to get payback.
“I have a nail technician who would have a field day in here,” Geri chuckled from the other side of the room…
“What’s happening?” Sage hissed out a whisper from inside the pantry.
“Sage, honey – they can hear you,” J.C offered back. “They’ve definitely got this whole Red Riding hood thing going on with the big ears, big fangs, and large claws.”
“Who the hell do you…?” Chance took a step forward, but Marley whirled towards him, putting her body between the beta and the vampire.
“Can you not?” Marley snapped
out at the beta and he scowled down at her.
“She says that a lot,” J.C shrugged. The alpha growled harder.
He didn’t like this one little bit. The thought of the vampire knowing so much about the redheaded witch annoyed him.
“Use your damn words,” Marley snapped at the alpha causing him to snap his head back on his neck in surprise.
“Look witch,” Josh growled.
“Marley,” Luke offered.
Josh would have shot a glare at his brother, but for some reason that he couldn’t yet define the woman had him bewitched, and he couldn’t quite manage to pull his eyes away from hers as she glared back at him.
“Well, Marley …” Josh liked the sound of her name as it rolled over his tongue.
His shoulders dropped a little as he got snagged in her angry gaze, and then he took a steadying breath in … and there was that damned vanilla scent again…
Josh savoured it as his beast stirred once more. His length twitched at the thought of what he could do – would like to do – with that curvy little firebrand, and his muscles tightened throughout his body…
Mine…
Josh’s eyes narrowed on hers. His wolf was already out there – ready and eager to push towards her.
He wanted to close the distance between them real bad, but he couldn’t seem to take that very first step – held in place by sheer disbelief…
“Marley, I think you need to sit down,” J.C offered, and she would have shot him a questioning look, but she couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away from the alpha’s…
“I don’t need to sit down,” she said.
“I pretty much think it’s about to become the default mode,” J.C said with a small chuckle…
Then Josh took that first, awkward, jarring step towards her, and quickly followed it up with more. Now that he’d found that very first step the momentum brought his large feet to hers…
“Oh, you need to back the hell off,” Marley bit out as she glared up at the alpha…
“I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon,” J.C muttered.
“Mine,” Josh growled.
Both of his brother’s snapped their heads around in shock. Geri’s jaw dropped on a small squeal of disbelief, and Sage hit open the pantry door like it was the running of the bulls – the wooden battering ram slammed into Chance, bounced off his head, and sent him reeling backwards on his heels – a grunt on his lips – as his eyes practically rolled within his head and he saw stars … again.
“Ha!” Geri slapped her hand over her lips and burst out laughing at the sight of the big Lycan taking the hit.
“Okay, I might need to sit,” Marley said, reeling back a little on her heels as the alpha snapped out an arm and wrapped it around her waist – yanking her body up against his.
Her mind whirled and she squealed out in surprise at having the alpha all around her … It felt right and wrong in so many different ways that she couldn’t have listed them if her life depended on it.
“Sit!” Not pressed against a sexy hot damn body… she didn’t say the second part aloud, mainly because there was a low growl of annoyance from the alpha for that one word. “Not you!” She hissed at him.
“It’s a cliché, but I told you so,” J.C offered with his best Mr superior attitude…
“Shut up!” Marley snapped back at him over her shoulder, but again the alpha took it personally and growled… “Still, not you!” Her eyes were locked and loaded on Josh with equal amounts of surprise, dread, annoyance, and suspicion.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” J.C held up his hands in surrender at his chest.
“How about we just rip his head off?” Luke offered with a small smile that took just one side of his lips up, and he looked as if he was savouring that thought.
“How about you back off the vampire?” Geri bit out as she turned towards Luke on a scowl.
Just at that moment; Chance, still dazed and confused, stumbled in Geri’s direction, clutching his forehead from where the door had bounced off it, and she snapped her head back on her neck when he slammed a palm down on the counter top next to her.
“You back off too,” she hissed.
“I …” Chance shook his head – trying to shake off the stars from his sudden encounter with the hard wood door.
The beta leaned against the counter for support, drawing in a hard breath to try to steady the room from spinning around him, because he didn’t think he was spinning around the room, although at that point, and with two recent head injuries, he supposed anything was possible.
His eyes slowly raised up her body to get a better look at her, and he tried to focus … his eyes snapped right back to normal when he felt the jolt to his manhood and got momentarily lost in the ample cleavage that offered him a great view and a reason to see again…
He grunted in appreciation.
“Eyes are up here, wolf,” Geri grumbled, biting down on the urge to zap him a good one, when he suddenly brought those deep chocolate coloured eyes up to hers…
Chance growled long and hard as her scent swept through his body – stiffening his muscles and sending his length impossibly hard…
“Mine…” he growled out and watched as surprise snapped onto his mate’s face as she threw herself backwards onto the counter top to get away from him.
“Not funny!” Geri snapped out.
“Not meant to be,” Chance growled back. His beast was hungry to mate.
“Hands up everyone who didn’t find a mate?” J.C chuckled, lifting his hand and grinning wildly.
“Wait!” Sage bit out, confused. “What?”
She twisted her head on her neck to get a better look at Geri but Luke’s sudden movement caught her eye and she snapped her eyes towards him instead, gasped, and slammed the door shut again on a squeal.
“Oh, this is gonna be good!” J.C chuckled.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
“Good for who?” Marley sneered at the vampire. “Back off!” She planted her palms against the alpha’s chest and pushed hard as she tried to wiggle out of his arms and the vice like grip that held her in place.
There was a long, low, hungry growl that rumbled in that hard muscled chest beneath her hands, and realisation suddenly slapped her upside the head as her mind centred on his hard length trapped between them, and what it was that the man was growling about with such eagerness.
She yanked her hands away as if she’d been burned by the heat of him, and then stood stock still. Thinking, considering, debating with herself on her next step…
Overly, damn testosterone fuelled, sex mad, beast of a man…
And me rubbing against that … hard … large … I will not think about it!
It’s not like I haven’t had sex in … umm … well, yeah, ok, so it’s been a while … but still, so not the damn point.
His hard – anything – doesn’t concern me.
I’m young – free – and single, and I intend to stay that way.
An alpha, oh p-lease … that’s just so not what I need in my life right now.
A mate.
An alpha mate.
A big … large … growly … muscle bound … sexier than hell … hunky…
Would you stop thinking about him? She berated herself.
Let’s get back to the problem at hand…
How the hell do I get rid of an alpha mate?
“No please,” Josh grinned down at her like the wolf that had trapped its prey, “Don’t let me stop you.”
Marley’s lower jaw dropped open, and then she snapped it shut as anger tore through her.
Not just a damn alpha … the man’s a pig!
“I swear I’m going to hurt you,” she warned, and the alpha’s grin turned decidedly hungry.
“If that’s what floats your boat, sweetheart,” he shrugged one of those meaty shoulders, and she wrinkled her nose in disbelief.
“Do you hear yourself?” Marley hissed.
“Hea
r myself, feel you…” he teased back as he made a decided effort to push his wolf right back into its cage. It could be off putting for a human female, he told himself.
His fangs and claws disappeared as his beast capitulated. The wolf didn’t want to be caged, but it didn’t want to scare off their mate either.
And there she was; staring up at one damn sexy wolf shifter with the deepest brown eyes that she had ever seen. Her body responded – even if she cursed it for doing so.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” Luke’s voice was playful as he lifted his hand and tapped a gentle knuckle against the pantry door.
“Not gonna happen,” Sage hissed back.
She was sour in tone and thought as she wished that she’d hit her mate in the head with the door instead of the other one.
Fate had a plan … yeah well fate could shove it!
Across the room, Geri had her back pressed against the counter with something of a look of horror on her face as her mate started to come down over the top of her body. His hands were palmed against the counter top on either side of her head and she had nowhere to go…
“Well fancy finding you here,” Chance gave her a wolfish grin. “And this is one of my favourite positions to be in.”
“No imagination,” J.C shook his head at the beta’s words.
“J.C … do something!” Geri bit out, suddenly remembering that the vampire was there.
“Don’t look at me … I know better than to get in between mates,” he shrugged, and Geri snapped her head towards him and glared. “I said don’t look at me.”
“I hate you,” she hissed.
“Where’s the love?” J.C chuckled.
“Hallmark,” Geri hissed back.
“Along with the sorry your dead cards,” Luke growled at the vampire. “Just saying.” He added.
“That’s next to the sorry I accidentally ripped your arm off and beat you to death with it, section,” J.C offered back in a dry tone, but humour played in his eyes.
“Can you two play nice?” Marley bit out, still unmoving inside the alpha’s arms.
She’d given up pushing and struggling and all that entailed. She wasn’t going to play his game.