by M. L. Briers
“Don’t even think about it,” Luke warned him. Sensing the change in the man, sensing the fur in the air just under his skin…
“You’re making a grave mistake…” Dram grunted in annoyance as he stalked away from the group, and Sage lifted her hand and gave the man a little zap to see him on his way…
That was when all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
Dram’s wolf ripped from inside of him the moment that man and beast recognised the magic that shot through them. The beast roared with intention as it turned back towards Sage, and a heartbeat later she found herself staring at Luke’s back…
“You want to take me on, wolf?” Luke growled.
His wolf was ravenous for the taste of the man’s blood upon his fangs just from that wolf showing himself so close to his mate…
“Luke,” Josh growled a warning, but it was already too late.
The beta took one long stride away from his mate and his wolf burst free of his human body. Josh started to strip off his clothes as his brother’s wolf took the challenge head on.
“Talk about stranger danger!” Geri bit out on something of a whisper as she leaned in towards Marley, but Marley was intent on Sage not causing anymore trouble, and she was already working on building up her magic to toss a shield around Sage should the woman decide to conjure up any more spells.
As the two wolves clashed together at the back end of Dram’s jeep, fur flew and so did the claws. Neither beast wanted to give ground, and both wanted the taste of the other’s blood.
“Hey! Leave him alone.” Sage bit out on a scowl. She started to raise her hands to offer her help with her magic, but stopped midway, that scowl only deepening…
“Sage?” Marley called across the way, just as Josh shifted into his wolf and started for the fighting beasts…
“Don’t move,” Chance said to Marley as his hand locked around her arm to keep her in place, but Marley yanked her arm free of his grip and moved off anyway.
Josh announced his arrival with a crashing blow into both wolves that sent them apart in opposite directions as he roared out another warning that both men would have been fools to dismiss … His alpha wolf wasn’t in the mood…
“Sage!” Marley yelled out as she took off on fast feet the moment that Sage’s eyes rolled back into her head and she started to fall to the ground, collapsing in a heap on the grass…
Luke roared out, charging forward towards both witches, and it was only Chance’s quick thinking; as he snatched up Marley and whirled her away from Sage that kept the woman from being steamrollered by Luke’s beast as he stormed towards his mate…
Luke pushed the wolf back into his change, shifting back into his human form as he dropped to his knees on the ground beside his mate. His warning growl to the others echoed in the silence all around him, as he reached out for her and gently lifted her from the ground into his arms…
Marley snapped her head around towards Geri and the witch’s eyes snapped towards Marley…
“You got your mobile?” Marley demanded.
“Yeah…” Geri was already fishing in the back pocket of her jeans for it.
“Call J.C and get him here now!” Marley said to the sound of a growl so filled with rage from Luke that she knew getting the vampire here was only going to be the start of their problems.
~
~
~
Josh shifted back into his human form and snarled at Dram’s wolf. It didn’t take much more than that to get the man to shift from beast to man again, and Dram eyed the unconscious witch with contempt.
“Get the hell out of here. I’ll deal with you later.” Josh growled at Dram and that sent the man’s feet stalking across the earth and back to his battered truck.
It took a couple of tries to get the engine started, but once it had roared to life, he backed away from Luke’s truck, yanked the wheel to the left, and tore off down the road with only a cursory glance back at the group.
Chance had acted quickly and saved Marley from a whole world of pain, and for that Josh was grateful, but the sight of his brother standing in front of Marley, guarding her against Luke was a little more than the alpha could stomach right then.
With one long warning growl as he stalked towards them, Chance backed off…
“Thanks, Chance…” Josh growled, even though his tone said he would rather be beating the man senseless on the end of his fist.
“You’d have done it for me,” Chance knew better than to take the alpha at face value then. His beast was only just settling back down beneath his skin and the man had mate issues going on.
“I need to…” Marley took Chance’s withdraw as an opportunity to take a step towards the mates… bad idea. Luke’s head snapped around on his neck and he growled a long, hard warning at her to stay away.
“Never go near a wolf and his injured mate no matter how good your intentions are.” Josh warned her as he locked his hand around her upper arm and led her back away from them.
“But, maybe I can help…” Marley offered and the alpha shook his head.
“He’s never going to let you near,” Josh assured her.
“You called J.C?” Marley asked, snapping a look towards Geri.
“He’s on his way,” she offered back and Josh grumbled at the thought of it. “And when I say on his way … he was like … already on his way.”
“A vampire on pack land, and not one we can kill…” The alpha growled out.
“Suck it up, alpha…” Marley whispered back and the man took a deep breath, his naked muscled chest getting so much broader… and then he nodded just once.
He didn’t have much of a choice.
~
~
~
Josh wanted to make certain that his mate didn’t try to go anywhere near Luke and Sage. He’d left her standing with Geri as he took Chance off to one side, but he made damn sure that his eyes were on her at all times and that he could get to her before Luke could…
“We have two problems…” Josh growled with the wolf still in his voice. His mind was racing about everything that had happened, that could yet happen, and that would happen, and right then, none of that involved wooing or mating.
“Dram…” Chance nodded. “The man’s a pain in the butt, and he does not like witches.”
“Yeah, well, he’s got two choices there, live with it or get out of Dodge…”
“The other problem?” Chance asked as he eyed his mate to make sure that she didn’t do anything stupid.
“The vampire…” Josh groaned and growled all in one go.
He sure didn’t like the thought of having a vampire around … especially that vampire. The man was a walking – talking – sarcastic – pain in the backside – of trouble just waiting to happen.
“Wait til Dram hears about the vampire!” Chance grumbled and Josh bit out a curse.
“We need to cut that off before it gets started…”
“Kill the vampire after he’s healed Sage?” Chance offered back hopeful to say the least. Josh scoffed at the beta’s words.
“If only. No, Marley likes him…” Josh growled again. “But in case you didn’t notice, we’ve got to get Luke away from his mate so that the vampire can heal her.”
Chance grimaced at the thought. A wolf guarding his injured mate wasn’t going to be a picnic…
“I don’t like that idea…”
“It’s gotta be done…” Josh shook his head. Truth be told, he didn’t much care for the idea himself.
“Maybe we can just throw the vampire at him and see what happens.” Chance grinned, but he had no intention of risking Sage’s life. For better or for worse, and he hadn’t made up his mind about which was which yet, she was his brother’s mate and his new sister. He’d protect her with his life…
“Sounds like a plan,” Josh knew that his brother was messing with him, but it still sounded good to his ears, unless the vampire got the upper
hand, of course.
“We’re going to have to bait him away from her, because he’s holding onto her pretty damn tightly right now,” Chance groaned inwardly.
“I vote you do that,” Josh said back.
“Me? You’re the alpha…” Chance grumbled.
“And therefore I delegate the job to my trusty beta…” Josh’s smirk was wide and Chance took in a deep breath and sighed it back out.
“Fine, but if he bites…” Chance grumbled.
“Bite back, nobody said we had to be nice about it.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“I let you out of my sight for one minute,” J.C bit out as he slammed the driver’s door with so much anger that the whole car shook in place…
“She thought she’d play chicken with trucks…” Marley shot back as she watched the vampire stalk towards Luke and Sage and knew what came next was not going to be pleasant for either of the mates.
“And where was her damn mate at the time … snoozing?” J.C ground out.
Luke’s head was already up and there was already a low warning growl rumbling within his chest at the sight of the vampire. The man wasn’t about to let him anywhere near Sage. But it was J.C’s accusation about him protecting her that really made his beast want to rip the man’s head off…
“Be nice J.C,” Marley bit out, but the vampire scoffed at her words.
“He doesn’t deserve a damn mate if he can’t protect her, even from herself…” J.C got closer and closer without a care in the world.
He knew exactly what he was doing, baiting the man and the beast to attack. Hell, it was the only way that he was going to get the opportunity to get anywhere near Sage.
He just hoped that the other two wolves were smart enough to get what he was doing.
Chance noted Josh move slowly around to one side of the vampire, and he started off towards the other side. Luke knew where all three of them were, and each one was a potential threat to his mate…
Luke’s wolf was fixed on the vampire as the biggest threat of all. He eased Sage down to the ground and every muscle in his body tightened in preparation to take the vampire head on.
“Are you a mate or a mouse?” J.C taunted the beta, and the shifter needed no more than that. The vampire’s proximity was too close, and the man had a big mouth on him.
Luke sprung up from the ground and launched his body towards the vampire. One moment the damn bloodsucker was there, and the next he was gone…
Luke whirled around as his eyes located the man on the other side of his mate. There was a teasing look in the vampire’s eyes, but a moment later, something hit Luke from the side, and it felt like a runaway train as it knocked him sideways and took him down to the dirt.
J.C Moved fast. He knew what he needed to do and he roughly knew the time frame for doing it.
He lifted his hand as his fangs elongated and he bit down into his flesh, grimacing once for the pain that shot through his body, and once for the pain that Luke must have felt when two big shifters slammed him down into the dirt and piled on top of him, pinning him beneath their combined weight.
“That’s gotta hurt,” J.C grinned as he opened Sage’s mouth and fed her his healing blood.
“Just … hurry … the … hell … up…” Chance growled out each word as Luke tried to buck them off. It would have been easier to ride on the back of a mad as hell bull…
“You sure, because you guys look like your having…”
There was a loud roar that came from Luke as both of his brothers tossed themselves away from him. The vampire was done and if he didn’t get the hell out of the way as Luke scrambled to his feet and made a beeline for his mate, then that was his lookout.
J.C was there with Sage one moment and gone the next to stand beside Marley…
“Not even an hour without me and you’re calling, needing me…” J.C teased her. The sound of Josh growling deep and hard made him grin even more.
“Play nice or go home,” Marley offered up to him, and the vampire chuckled.
“Not on your life. Apparently, mating is a dangerous game.” He offered back.
~
~
~
“What the hell is that?” Josh growled out. He put his hands on his hips and demanded an answer from the vampire.
“That…?” J.C eyed his own belongings in the back of his car. A couple of suitcases and a box of things that he considered that he just couldn’t do without.
“That.” Josh sneered back, pointing a finger at the back seat.
“Well, you didn’t expect me to move in without my things, did you?” J.C gave a small shrug off his shoulders and Josh twisted his head on his neck and craned it towards the man in utter disbelief.
“I’m sorry, move in?” Josh growled.
“You don’t expect me to leave the protection of my witches to you three, do you? He already broke one of them,” J.C said as he lifted his hand and pointed towards Luke. Luke’s top lip twitched in anger as he glared back at the vampire.
“You’re not moving onto pack land…” Josh said with a shake of his head, adamant that it was never going to happen.
“Hands up all of those who want me to move in!” J.C exclaimed and Geri’s hand shot up in the air, Marley couldn’t help but grimace as her hand rose up slower than Geri’s, but still it went up…
“That’s three to two, sorry,” Josh grinned back.
“You’re forgetting Sage,” J.C said on a whisper as if it was a secret just between them. “And hell, look, I could be wrong, but I just saved her life, so I think she’s going to be on my side in this one … what’d you think, alpha?” He beamed the man a cocky smile.
Josh bit down on the need to roar in frustration. Three witches were bad enough for the likes of Dram, but a vampire too, and living on pack land … Oh, hell no … that wasn’t going to work.
“I appreciate what you did here…” Josh started to dismiss the idea, but the vampire rolled right over the top of that.
“Well good, because I’m a handy man to have around.” He offered back. Then he rolled his eyes back in his head and thought about what he’d said. “Not a handy man as in I fix things that are broken … apart from Sage, obviously… but then that speaks for itself, doesn’t it now … Hmm?”
He offered the alpha a cocky grin and Josh pushed out a breath on a grunt.
“Well, I’ll take that as a yes, nice chat!” J.C said and strolled on by him towards Marley.
“You are just asking for trouble,” Marley hissed up at the vampire and J.C grinned back.
“Yeah, but you know what…? I make life more exciting, right? Right?” J.C chuckled.
He nudged her with his elbow and the alpha growled again, this time in a warning to the man not to touch his mate. Then he held his hands up to his chest in mock surrender…
“It wasn’t me…” he said and the alpha frowned.
“What wasn’t you?”
“Whatever that growl was for.” J.C shrugged.
“You know what it was for…” Josh tossed back.
“Damn, girl…” J.C said as he turned to look at Marley. “I’m part witch ... Why didn’t you tell me I was psychic?”
“I’m really not ever going to like you.” Josh growled out to the sound of his mate’s chuckle.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
Luke had taken Sage back to his cabin and wouldn’t let anyone else near her. He was guarding her with his life, or at least that was the way that it felt to him.
His mate had vampire blood within her system and there was no way that he was letting her out of their bed until it was gone.
Having a witch for a mate was bad enough in the eyes of some in the pack, like Dram, but having a vampire mate … it might have felt as if the sky was falling, especially when that vampire was a newbie and out of control where her bloodlust was concerned.
He’d put her in their bed. The same bed that she’d left the morning after th
e night before, escaping out of the bathroom window like some thief in the night, and he’d left the door to the bedroom open so that as he stood in the open plan kitchen making a hearty stew, he not only had one ear listening out for her, but one eye on her too.
She’s a wild one.
He knew he’d do best to acknowledge that before he even thought about anything else between them.
His wolf was anxiously waiting for the time when he could claim her, mark her, and bond her to him for life. He felt it too. That absolute need that was clawing within him.
He’d already had her in his arms. In his bed.
How the hell do you tame a wildling?
She’s not just wild, she’s reckless…
She could have died…
Booze and magic don’t exactly go hand in hand. They don’t make for great choices. At least, not in Sage’s case.
I need to woo her … easier said than done.
I need to tame the beast within her … but when that beast is magic and wildness, where do I start?
She’s mine … has been since the moment I held her in my arms … since the moment we lay together…
She’ll know it.
She’ll feel it. That mating pull will be working its way through her, bringing her back to me…
I damn well hope it will anyway.
Mine … that damn simple.
She wasn’t getting away from him this time. He’d definitely bet his life on that one.
~
~
~
“I found a space for you in the barn.” Josh said as the vampire strolled into the kitchen where Chance and Marley were busy making food, and Josh was keeping a close eye on his mate from one of the stools at the kitchen counter.
Geri was sitting at the long kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee, and eyeing her mate with a slight frown that she probably didn’t even realise was lodged on her forehead.