by M. L. Briers
Ok, so I don’t want to be a mate…
But death by divorce seems a little harsh…
All he did was scar up my shoulder a little…?
“You people really are …” she bit down on a low rumble of her own.
“There are rules…” Malachi offered back, because her mate seemed to have lost the ability to speak.
“Stupid rules!” she shot back.
“Nobody said shifters were the smartest of the bunch,” Malachi offered with glee.
“So how do we stop this?” Lucy demanded, looking from the vampire to her mate and back again, when all that she got from Declan was a loud grunt.
“We … don’t,” Malachi shrugged.
“Oh, the hell we don’t,” Lucy ground out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“It doesn’t work like that…” Malachi sighed once more.
He knew that human females had the ability to talk and talk, and question and question, until they were blue in the face, but without Declan saying anything more than a grunt every so often, it had been left to him to fend off all of her questions and stupid, female, human ideas.
“Well it should!” Lucy bit out, waving her arms in the air in frustration as she stood there somewhat dumbfounded…
Truth be told, she’d run out of ideas and everything that she had come up with … well, the vampire had knocked it out of the ballpark before it even cooled on her lips.
“I don’t disagree!” Malachi shouted back, waving his arms to match her own temperament. “Don’t shoot the messenger.” He added.
Declan grunted once more and Lucy ground out a low roar of annoyance as she turned on her heels towards her mate and stomped the few feet towards him. She lifted her hand and poked his chest …
“Hey!” she snapped out, but still he didn’t raise his eyes to her.
Lucy bit down on a loud sigh. Then she lifted her leg and stomped down with the heel of her boot on his toes … the man yelped, made a grab for his booted foot, danced around hopping, but still … he didn’t look at her…
“Hey!” she yelled again, louder. This time; he flicked his eyes up to hers for only a second.
“What?” He ground out.
“You’re the damn bear shifter, you should know more than anyone else what will get you off the hook here!” She bit out, madder than hell and ready to kill … or just maim them a lot…
“Nothing …” he grumbled a low growl. “There’s nothing that a man can say in his defence against taking a mate and bonding with her without her permission.” He bit back.
“You were drunk …” she expanded her hands.
“Not an excuse, for them or for me,” Declan growled back.
“His pride’s hurting …” Malachi offered and Declan growled long and hard in warning at the man.
He might not have been able to look at his mate in his shame, but he could certainly try to rip the vampire’s head off without any problem at all…
“Get the hell over it!” Lucy grumbled back. “You bit me, remember, you should be grovelling and apologising not…”
“I’m sorry!” Declan growled back, and he meant it. He was … more sorry than she could ever imagine or know…
“I don’t want your apology …” she hissed back and the man rolled his head on his neck and grumbled some more.
“You still have it,” he muttered.
“If you want to do something for me then figure out a way out of this mess that you’ve got yourself in.” She hissed back. “I don’t like you much right now, but I think killing you is a little harsh.”
“A forgiving woman, how many of those are left in the world?” Malachi offered back and she shot him a death glare. “Forgiving of some…”
“You could be more helpful…”
“I could be…”
“Aren’t you … vampires supposed to be like forever old and wise…?”
“Nooo,” he slowly shook his head.
“Then what use are you?” Lucy bit back.
“None really. Although, if they ever pass a law for criminals to die a death by sucking all of the blood from a condemned man’s body, instead of electric chair … I’m your man.” He offered back, and she snapped her head back on her neck and scowled harder at him…
“There are no words …” she offered back.
“So, you’re finally going to be quiet for five minutes then?” He offered back with glee, and that scowl on her face turned into the evil eye.
“Think!” She demanded.
“Guess you don’t do quiet,” Malachi offered as he sighed.
“Not when someone’s life is hanging in the balance because of Mr Run and tell tales out of school … no.” Lucy’s eyes shot back to where they had been standing, but when she scanned the landscape she couldn’t find Dougie lying anywhere … “Where’d he go?”
“He left midway through your ranting … the first one,” Malachi offered back.
“And you let him?” She hissed back.
“I could have continually punched his lights out for the next twenty years or so, but I thought it a waste of my time,” Malachi offered back.
“So, Declan’s life is a waste of your time?” She placed her hands on her hips and the vampire groaned.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Implied,” she shot back.
“Possibly, but the point is … Declan needs to leave here now, preferably with you in tow so that he doesn’t go crazy…”
“Crazy?” Lucy’s voice was back to shrill and Malachi winced at the high pitch as it rang in his ears.
“It’ll take too long to explain, by now Dougie is already half way back to the elders…”
“Then we’ll go to the elders,” she shot back.
“You?” Malachi’s eyes glinted with amusement. “I suppose talking them into an early grave might be one way to delay Declan’s punishment.”
“Bite me,” she snapped back and Declan growled long and hard at her words.
“You’re not on the menu,” Malachi offered back. “But leaving is, so…”
“No,” Declan growled, and they both turned towards him. “I did this. I should be punished.”
~
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~
“He may have met and mated her, but he never wooed her.” Tomas, one of the elders offered his thoughts on the situation and Malachi rolled his eyes back in his head and groaned inwardly.
He’d been at the meeting since it had started. He’d put his points across, stood as a character witness for Declan, and listened to the reasoned argument of the elders … now he’d got to the point where he wanted to head-butt a brick wall, maybe two … maybe an elder … maybe two.
He’d even used every argument, good or bad, that Lucy had thrown at him the day before. The fact remained that the law was the law and the elders were pretty inflexible when it came to implementing it.
“Well … she’s not holding a grudge…” Malachi bit out.
He was done with reasoned arguments because he could see the lay of the land and where this whole thing was headed.
“The point remains …” Ronald growled.
He didn’t like the vampire being there … hell, he didn’t much like the vampire, but the other three were not as dogged as he was.
“I know the point, I’ve heard the point, and the point, quite frankly … sucks. You’ll be denying her a true mate, did you consider that?” He demanded, and all of the elders frowned back at him.
“You made that point some ten or fifteen minutes ago…” Ronald bit back.
“Well, it’s a valid point and at least I’m consistent,” Malachi rose to his feet and stormed towards the door. “He could have run, but he didn’t. That in itself speaks to the character of the man.” Malachi tossed up a frustrated hand. “How many of you have never been drunk? Who’s to say that permission wasn’t given?” He wrenched open the door to the cabin and stormed out.
His eyes locked onto Doug
ie as the man stalked towards the bar and he muttered every curse imaginable under his breath. Payback was a bitch, but if Declan died for this then Dougie was on the top of Malachi’s list for retribution…
“Oh look, dead man walking,” Malachi offered the words knowing full well that the shifter’s ears would pick them up. The man turned back towards him and his eyes narrowed on the vampire.
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
“Declan’s in town? I didn’t see him,” Dougie offered back with a twisted smile that made Malachi want to bury the man’s face in a wall.
“They say payback’s a bitch, but I know I’m a lot worse,” Malachi warned him and the man gave a low growl that rumbled in his chest.
“Any time, vampire,” Dougie offered back before he turned on his heels and stalked into the bar leaving Malachi feeling solely lost for what to do with his anger.
He crossed the road and stalked into the bar right on the man’s heels.
“You heard me … you’re not welcome here!” Maisie said with her hands on her hips and a look in her eyes that could make him think twice about crossing her.
There she stood, the proprietor of the Slaughtered Sheep bar and grill, all, nearly, five foot of her. Her grey hair was pulled up into a bun on her head, her washed out steely blue eyes aiming hell fire at the wolf shifter, and a look of pure disgust on her thinly drawn on lips…
“For what reason?” Dougie growled back.
“Ha! You think I need a reason to ban you from my establishment? Think again…” she reached up a hand and pointed to the sign above the bar. “I’ll read it for your dumbass self. The establishment, that’s me, has the right to refuse service to whomever they chose, that’s you. Now get out of my bar before I throw you out.” Maisie lifted her other hand and the large rolling pin that she had fisted there.
“Listen, Maisie…” Dougie took one step towards her and Malachi was only too happy to get up close and personal in his face.
“Need help with the trash, Maisie?” Malachi asked over his shoulder and the little old woman huffed a good one.
“Be my guest, Malachi. I’d rather serve ten Declan’s than one of him,” Maisie ground out.
“Leaving so soon?” Malachi gave Dougie the kind of grin that the devil would have stepped back from, and the shifter bit down on his anger and stalked towards the door.
The sound of wood on wood echoed through the establishment and Malachi bit down on his annoyance.
“Damn, I wished he’d refused to leave,” Malachi ground out as he turned back towards Maisie.
“That boy has a lot to answer for,” she said, lifting that rolling pin and waving it towards the door. “How’s Declan?”
“Still brooding in his cabin,” Malachi offered back. “How’s his mate?”
“Lucy hasn’t come out of her room since you brought her here,” Maisie grumbled. “She’s not eating either.” Maisie shook her head. “It’s not right.”
“No, it’s not, but the elder’s aren’t listening…” Malachi shrugged his shoulders.
“Maybe they’ll listen to me,” she started for the door and Malachi put himself in front of her, making her pull up short.
“Now Maisie, it’s considered bad form to hit people with a rolling pin,” he teased and she scowled up at him.
“They need their heads knocked together,” she grumbled. “That boy’s never hurt anyone. He grumbles and growls until he’s fed and watered some, but he’s a good man…”
“Preaching to the converted there, Maise…” Malachi held his hands up to his chest in mock surrender and she huffed again.
“Let’s see where they’ll get there steak dinners and their booze from now on, cos it won’t be here.” She huffed again, turning on her heels and stomping back around the bar and into the kitchen muttering all kinds of words that a little old lady should never be heard saying.
~
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~
“So, Maisie’s on the war path. She’s banned the elders and Dougie from the bar, warned anyone else who might have a hand in this that they won’t be welcome … and that’s life bans, not just for now bans…” Malachi said.
He might as well have been talking to himself for all the good it was doing him. He didn’t think Declan was listening anyway as he tossed paperwork from the drawers, scattering pages here and there…
“What are you looking for?” Malachi said.
“The deeds to the cabin and land for my mate,” Declan bit back. She can sell it…”
“So you were listening,” Malachi said, and the shifter flicked a look at the vampire as he stood by the front door, arms folded across his chest, and with his shoulder propping up the wooden wall.
“No, I’m deaf,” Declan shot back. “Maisie shouldn’t do that, she’s losing business. Tell her I said…”
“Tell her yourself, and while you’re at it you can visit your mate…” Malachi offered back.
Declan stopped sorting through his paperwork for one long moment as his mind wandered to thoughts of Lucy. Then he grunted in annoyance and delved right back into it all again.
“She’s better off,” Declan growled out.
“You don’t believe that…”
“Of course I do,” Declan snapped back. “What the hell kind of man bonds with his mate without asking?” He growled long and hard at the thought of it. It wasn’t right…
“The drunk kind,” Malachi offered back.
“Still doesn’t make it right,” Declan shot back to the sound of the vampire sighing.
“Fine. You beat yourself up about it, but before they come to kill you, can you please just give a thought to leaving here with Lucy…”
“Why would Lucy want anything to do with me?” Declan growled back.
“Well, go woo her…” Malachi shot back. “Then take her and leave.” Declan grunted. “There’s a big wide world out there…”
“I like the mountain,” Declan growled back.
“There are other mountains,” Malachi shot back.
“Don’t you have something better to do than hold my damn hand?” Declan growled, turning to face the man as anger rose up within him.
“Not really, no.” Malachi scowled.
“Well, find something,” he grumbled back.
“Maybe I’ll go visit Lucy,” Malachi turned towards the door and wrenched it open.
“Stay away from my mate!” Declan growled back.
“That mate you don’t want, won’t fight for? Hmm, let me think…” Malachi shot back over his shoulder.
“I never said…” Declan growled.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Malachi tossed back at him just before he slammed the door closed behind him.
Declan turned and punched out at the wall in anger. His fist made a nice crater in the woodwork, and there he stood, spitting out curses and growling like a wildling as he seethed with the need to kill someone or something.
His bear roared within him, the beast echoing his frustration, and demanding their mate. He’d failed her, and for that he would be eternally ashamed.
CHAPTER NINE
~
Lucy heard the knock on the room door and buried her head back under the covers. She liked it under there.
Guilt was riding high within her at the thought of what would happen to Declan should the elders decide that he’d done wrong. She wasn’t happy about being marked, claimed, but she didn’t exactly want Declan dead over it either.
She’d been held up in her room since she’d arrived back in town. For the first few hours she’d been on her mobile phone reading everything that she could find about shifters and their mates.
Every so often someone would tap on her door and tell her that there was a tray of food outside, and she’d ignore them in much the same way that she was now…
She wasn’t sure what to do with herself. Truth be told, she didn’t much feel like doing anything except staying in bed.
Sure, she guessed that
she could get in her car and drive home … but that didn’t seem right either. From what she’d read online, a mate had one true chance at love and that chance was Declan.
For better or worse, he was her fated mate … she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Nice hiding place, I never would have found you under there.”
Malachi’s melodic tones made her roll her eyes in her head and groan inwardly at the intrusion. She flipped back the covers and found him standing by the window, his backside resting against the ledge and his arms folded like he was waiting for something…
“Go away,” she gave a half-hearted response to his presence. Being in the same room as him didn’t bother her anymore, she was getting used to the man and what he was now.
“Maisie sent me with a tray of food. Since none of the others have made it through that closed door I thought I’d bring it in myself,” Malachi offered back with a wicked smile on his lips and an air of superiority about him that said he was confident in his skin.
“I’m not hungry,” she sighed at his intrusion.
“Love sickness will do that to you,” Malachi offered back to a scowl that found its way onto her forehead and lodged there.
“I’m not …” she bit down on annoyance. “Why are you here?”
“Because your mate is being a bonehead,” he offered back. Then he lifted his hand and pointed a finger in her direction. “But more importantly, why are you still here?”
“Be…cause …” she didn’t really have an answer for him. She hadn’t even considered that question, not really, didn’t even know it was a question until then.
“Ah-ha!” Malachi made her jump in place and she scowled harder.
“Can you not?”
“Not what?”
“Do that!” She waved a hand in his direction.
“Do what?”
“Never mind…” she grumbled as she let her eyes rest for a moment on the shake of her head. “Just go away.”