by M. L. Briers
Mason bit down on the urge to offer the witch a piece of his mind and a slice of warning to go with her damn pie. He stomped away – didn’t look back at the firebrand, and grumbled to himself all the while.
Kelly flicked a look back over her shoulder at the big man-mountain that was stomping away from her. The broad shoulders of the man were practically up around his ears, and he was ramrod straight with his huge hands gripped into fists at his sides.
She let out the breath that she’d been holding in and mentally kicked herself in the backside for starting a fight with the wolf shifter from hell.
What had she been thinking?
She was fed up with being kicked to the curb. Why didn’t people just hang up a big sign on the way into town – Kelly, the witch; not welcome here! At least then she’d be expecting disappointment instead of running headfirst into it in the form of a bully.
~
The alpha hadn’t been wrong; the pie had been good.
Kelly had tried to brush off the annoyance of the man as she’d sat in the booth all by herself and had eaten some really good home cooking. Now it was time to climb back in her car and head out of town for – Goddess only knew where.
She was determined to find somewhere that she could just … be, and if she had to do life all on her own, well, that was fine by her. She’d done it before and she could do it again.
That wasn’t to say that she wouldn’t mind finding someone that looked like … well, that alpha. He might have been twice her size, packed full of muscles, and one heck of a sexy guy, like really, really sexy, but he wasn’t date material.
If it wasn’t for the attitude, the growling, and the obvious wolf problem, then he might make somebody a good match one day. That somebody definitely wouldn’t be her.
Wolves mated for life — alphas mated for life – ergo, when the man found his mate he wouldn’t have to think twice about it — and neither would his mate. Lucky mate.
No, when he found his mate, then they’d just … be.
She sighed inwardly — she’d like to just … be. Be with somebody who accepted her. Be with someone who would just put his big, strong arms around her and tell her that she was loved and that she had a place in the world.
But, Kelly knew that she lived in the real world — things like that just didn’t happen to people like her.
But how she wished they could.
CHAPTER THREE
~
Kelly strolled toward her Jeep, and there he was — six feet tall and built like a brick outhouse. It might not have been the alpha, but it was certainly a shifter.
The man eyed her with a whole big dollop of suspicion, and the look of someone who was on a mission. She could probably guess what that mission was and who sent him.
There he stood with his backside resting against his pickup truck, his arms folded, muscles bulging, and his legs crossed at the ankles — could he try to look any more casual?
“I know — I know, I’m leaving,” Kelly said as she waved a hand in his direction and dismissed him with the stink eye.
“He just wants to make sure,” Nathanial offered back.
Well, at least this one wasn’t growly, moody, broody, sullen, and mean. This one at least had a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“Going to follow me out of town?” She asked, as she reached for her car keys and clicked off the locks. Then she pulled the driver’s door open and tossed her bag over onto the passenger seat.
“Well, we know first-hand how devious witches can be…”
“Oh, do you?” Kelly’s back was up again.
She’d like to see that alpha once more if only to give him a piece of her mind. She’d said she was going — and she was. Far be it from her to stay where she wasn’t wanted.
Nathanial offered her a slow nod, and she offered him a sneer. Then his nose twitched as if he wasn’t sure if he needed to sneeze or … sniff.
“What are you doing?” Kelly saw that twitch of his sniffer, and she didn’t like it.
Nathanial looked both confused and sheepish, she had no idea that a wolf shifter could look sheepish, but it was there. Busted.
He shrugged. “Not a damn thing.”
“If you have it in your mind to sniff me…”
“Never crossed my mind,” he lied. It had. It was like an itch within him, the same sort of itch that he’d felt when Bree had unleashed her spell on the pack. “I’d say leave now while the going is good.”
“I’m leaving,” Kelly grumbled. Then she lifted her chin in defiance. “But not because you’re telling me too.”
“Hey lady, whatever gets you out of town; I’m happy for you to call it an alien abduction if you want.”
Kelly went to turn to get in the car, but that mischievousness tweaked within her and whirled the mist of annoyance in her mind — it itched to be allowed some freedom.
“Well,” Kelly lifted her hand, snapped her fingers, put a little magic behind it just for the giggles, and the front tire on the shifter’s truck offered a slow, squeaky hiss as the air escaped and the thing started to deflate. “Good luck following me now.”
“Hey!” Nathanial growled as he witnessed the death of his tire. He dropped his arms and stared down at the thing as it deflated in front of him. Witches, he growled to himself.
When he turned a glowering look back to the little witch, she was already in the driver’s seat. She slammed the door behind her, and the engine of her Jeep rumbled to life.
Nathanial grumbled a growl in the back of his throat, bit down on his need to list every curse word that he knew, and watched the witch reverse her Jeep like there was in a hold up at a pit stop of a race and she wanted to get going. Smart witch, his blood was boiling.
With a screech of tires — Kelly offered him the middle finger out of the window — and shot off down the road.
‘Alpha, we have a problem…’
~
Mason was in his truck where he was free to grumble and growl as much as he liked. He liked it a lot, especially since encountering the new witch in town.
By the sound of it, that witch was trying to start World War Three, and he had her damn number. All the woman had to do was head straight out of town — but no, she had to challenge the pack.
What was it with witches? He didn’t know — and he didn’t want to know. He just wanted to be rid of her.
Mason pulled a U-turn on the back road and headed straight back to town. If that witch wasn’t heading right in his direction, and off for the next county, then he was going to bounce her out on her cute behind himself, and he was going to enjoy it.
Red-haired firebrand. She was more trouble than his pack needed.
It was bad enough that she was a witch, but the flame colored hair told him all the needed to know about her temperament — hot-blooded — bad-tempered — irrational and female — and to top it all off – a witch. It was a bad combination.
Something caught Mason’s attention to the left, off the side of the road, and it was moving at such a fast speed that it can only be one thing — a vampire. Mason growled again, whatever the vampire was up to, he just hoped that it had nothing to do with the new witch in town.
Mason’s foot hovered over the brake. He trusted the vampire just about as much as he trusted a witch not to cause trouble, and that was not a damn lot.
He’d been right. When the vampire shot out in front of the pickup truck, Mason hit the brake, his wheels locked up with a squeal and the back end skidded around to try to meet the front end, and that was when he saw the witch’s Jeep coming right at him.
Mason wrenched the steering wheel to the left — in the same moment when he saw her vehicle pull to her left — damn stupid woman! He saw her car leave the road a heartbeat before his did the same thing.
If she’d just kept going straight, sure, she might have hit the vampire, but that was no big thing. Jai would have bounced right back up, and she would have been fine.
His beast itched and s
cratched to be set free — he grumbled another growl at the beast. It wasn’t like it was a good time.
What did the wolf expect to happen? Was he going to steer the car with his damn paws and excellent driving skills?
But, Mason had a feeling that the beast wasn’t overly worried about what happened to them – they healed fast thanks to his shifter blood. The witch was a different matter.
Still, if she’d been hurt then he’d wring the vampire’s blood out of his veins himself.
He understood his beast. He’d felt that itching and scratching in the back of his mind about the witch’s safety as well. She was, after all, female.
~
Kelly squealed as the Jeep left the road. There was jumping, jiggling, and bumping, as the vehicle traveled over uneven ground, and the dips and bumps took its toll on her vehicle as it protested in no uncertain terms.
Kelly eyes locked onto the large tree trunk of doom that the car was headed right toward, and she squealed again. Her foot was practically to the floor as it pressed down on the brake, and there wasn’t a lot more that she could do to stop the Jeep from moving.
She tried to turn the steering wheel away from her present course, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on the direction that she was going. It was as if her wheels were on a track and wouldn’t let go, wouldn’t be swayed from its present course.
The only good thing that she could say about the front end of her car hitting the tree trunk was that the vehicle came to a stop. Kelly was just sucking in a large lungful of oxygen when the airbag in a steering wheel exploded to life.
It took her a split second to aim her magic right at it and pop that sucker. Lucky for her — because she couldn’t really afford a nose job in her present situation of not having a job.
The rage inside her didn’t so much come to a slow boil as it rushed at her at warp speed. She yanked the handle of the door and was ready to take off like a bat out of hell to kill people and avenge her Jeep — when her seatbelt locked up and kept her cage inside.
She squealed again in annoyance, gripped the seatbelt with both hands and yanked it away from the feeder by her shoulder. Then she started jabbing at the release button until it gave way.
She didn’t wait for it to slowly slide back into place, she tossed the whole thing over her shoulder and heard the metal tip hit her window. It was kind of satisfying, but it wasn’t the window that she wanted to hit.
Kelly scrambled out of the car with one thing in mind, and one thing only — she was going to kill whatever had run out in front of her.
There he was — a vampire!
Oh, she was going to enjoy setting the flames that would take him back to hell and for good this time.
“Hey!” The deep, somewhat familiar tone made her briefly flick her attention sideways, and there was the big bully of an alpha coming right at her. How convenient!
“Not now!” she snapped out and dismissed him with a glare as she turned her attention right back to the vampire again.
“Noooow…” The vampire lifted a finger and wagged it at her. “That was not my fault.”
“I say different!” She bit out between clenched teeth as she stalked toward him.
Her car was dead, and so was he.
“I have to admit that for a witch you have a great reaction time, but you didn’t need to drive it off the road,” Jai offered back with the big, wide, devilish smile that spread his lips.
She wasn’t impressed. In fact, she wanted more than anything to fry that sucker.
“Are you hurt?” Mason growled with annoyance, but not for her, for the damn vampire.
“Hurt?” She didn’t care if she was hurt. “I have a vampire to kill.”
“I’ll pay for the damage,” the vampire tossed back as if that would make everything all right.
“Oh yeah, you will.” She’d be taking it out of his backside.
She lifted her hands, pulled on her magic, and readied herself to take her vengeance – savoring that thought for a long moment.
CHAPTER FOUR
~
It was a moment too long. A strong arm wrapped around Kelly’s waist and her feet were off the ground before she could let loose with her magic. Her brain kicked her backside into gear, and she kicked out to be set free of that vice-like grip.
Damn stupid alpha! Did the man have to get involved with absolutely everything and ruin her day all over again?
“Looks like you’ve caught yourself a witch — congratulations!” The vampire tossed back. “My work here is done.”
A second later and he’d vanished before her very eyes.
“What – wait – noooo!” Kelly shrieked in annoyance.
She wanted that vampire on the end of her magic — she would have vengeance. It might only have been a car to some people — but, that car was the oldest and longest relationship she’d ever had.
“Let me go so I can kill him!” She shrieked and heard the alpha groan.
“While I may applaud the sentiment — in reality…”
“Reality? How about the reality of my dead car?” She twisted, kicked out her feet, tried to elbow the alpha in any place that she could reach, squealed, cursed, and at one point she might even have growled — if she had then that should have been wolf speak that he could understand.
“Cars can be replaced…”
“Well, there’s more than enough vampires in the world,” she tossed back.
Mason groaned. “You’re being irrational…”
“Irrational this,” she said as she bought the heel of her boot back against his shin and heard him give a deep yelp of pain, but Mr. Arms-of-steel didn’t let go.
“Why the hell are you kicking me?” Mason growled.
“Because you’re the one stopping me from killing the vampire.”
“Do you see the vampire?” he growled back.
“Not the point!” she hissed in annoyance.
“No, of course not; it wouldn’t do to see things in a rational way, now would it?” Mason bit out — a heartbeat later, and he felt the hard sting of her magic shoot through his body like he’d gone and licked an electrical socket.
Mason felt every muscle in his body start to lock up — that wasn’t good — he was holding onto the witch and risked crushing her if he couldn’t control the amount of strength that he used to keep her from her madness.
He let go, and she fell the short distance to her feet on the ground. She stumbled sideways but recovered herself enough to whirl around to face him with the kind of death glare that said he should bend over and kiss his backside goodbye.
That would have been great if he’d been able to do anything other than stand there like he was glued in place, held taut by her magic.
“You’re really starting to miff me off!” Kelly bit out.
“That makes two of us,” Mason growled back.
The twisted look on his face said pain, and her brain kicked her backside into gear. She’d wrapped her rage up in her magic and had aimed it right at him.
Guilt twisted like a knife in her stomach, and she lifted her arms and dropped them in frustration as she shrieked once more.
“The pain is bad enough do you have to deafen me as well?” Mason growled as he tried to shake off her magic and regain his muscle strength and the ability to move.
“Yes!” She snapped back. “No!” She tossed up a hand again.
“I’m sensing a decision-making disorder…”
“Oooh, bite me!” she hissed out.
Then she turned on her heels and scanned the area for signs of the vampire. The coward was long gone.
“Be careful what you wish for — witch,” Mason growled out that word as if it was a deadly disease.
Kelly heard the tone of his voice and thought she might just give him a piece of her mind. When she spun back toward him, she found that the alpha had regained his senses and was right there in front of her.
His chin was angled down toward his broad chest, his big ha
nds were fisted at his sides, and there was a deep, angry rumble of a growl that went through his chest.
Whoops!
Kelly lifted her hand, her palm faced the alpha, and she flicked up her index finger as she wagged it at him. “Do not take one step further…”
“Or what?” Mason growled back.
He’d had a bellyful of witches to last him a lifetime, and this one was nothing to do with his pack. Ergo, he didn’t have to be nice and reasonable a moment longer.
“I’ll hurt you…”
“You did that already — next?”
“Don’t you know not to challenge a witch…?”
“You challenged an alpha,” Mason growled back.
Kelly winced. She had — she’d done that — she’d challenged an alpha — whoops.
Still … “Not the point…”
“Feels like the point to me,” Mason said, and his beast grumbled a growl within him.
“The only point I want to make right now is the sharp, whittled piece of the wooden variety right through the vampire’s heart,” Kelly said, and she cocked an eyebrow and offered him a look that asked if it was wrong.
“That vampire — and I hate to admit it — is a friend of mine,” Mason informed her.
“Commiserations. It looks like you’ll be needing a new friend.”
“Normally, I’d be ok with that, but you’re a witch…”
“And you’re a butthead – do you have a point?”
Mason narrowed his eyes on her. He knew that this could go either one of two ways – bad – or really bad.
That was when things got worse. “Hey, misogynistic, ego-tripping, dweeb of epic proportions!” The familiar female voice was yelling at him from the car that was headed their way.
Mason wanted nothing more than to headbutt the nearest tree. Bree was back!
“Sounds like someone knows you well,” Kelly hissed, and the alpha groaned.