by M. L. Briers
“I’ve got this,” he brushed his lips against her ear as he whispered the lie, well, he had it now. His beast was back under control and there was no point worrying her needlessly.
“You sure? Because you were getting a little growly pants there for a moment.” She shot back.
“Trust me,” he whispered and felt the hard shiver of her body as it pressed closer to his.
Not damn close enough, but it would have to do for now. She was right, he couldn’t rush her.
“Not yet, not a chance,” she whispered back. “Now back off, because I let you have your way.”
Rowan chuckled. It was a damned dirty laugh that rang through her ears and knocked on her womb.
“Sweetheart, I haven’t had my way with you yet-” his hand slide down from her neck, and he’d meant to let her go, release her from his hold and give her the space that she needed to adjust to him- but the backs of his fingers accidently brushed against her taut nipple, and before he realised what he’d done, a gasp escaped her lips, and he was sailing backwards away from her.
His backside skidded across the bonnet of her car, like a character from a seventies TV show, and he tensed every muscle in his body against the pain that resonated within his chest, inflicted by her magic, and the anticipated jolt to his backside that was sure to come when he landed.
She’d knocked the wind out of lungs, but that was the least of his problems.
Thud, and splat.
He was sure that his backside had put a Rowan sized dent in the earth where he’d hit it hard. Pain shot up his spine, and he managed to gasp a breath into his lungs. His beast roared within him…
Ouch!
“Just like a man to be a lying little toad,” she was stomping towards him with one hand on her curvy hip and the other wagging a finger of rebuke in his direction. Her eyes were on fire, and she scowled like a she-demon on steroids…
He had to guess that he’d pissed her off.
“That...” he started to explain, but had to draw in another breath- the dull ache in his chest was finally passing as his shifter blood went to work to heal him fast.
“Just scent, he said,” she twisted her head to the right and sneered down. “Trust me, he said,” she twisted her head to the left.
“I guess we got to see how far you could throw me,” he growled out.
He was more than miffed that she’d taken his mistake for something more. He snapped his body to a sitting position and felt a few of his vertebra snap back into place.
“Not even close,” she hissed out. “That was baby steps.” She added, placing both of her hands on her hips and looking like a challenge that he wanted to overcome, and fast.
Rowan’s pride was wounded. His beast was more than antsy. And she looked damned adorable even with that scowl that could probably turn him to ash if she had a mind to back it up with a little magic.
“More pup talk,” he growled with the ache in his back as he dragged his body up to his full height. A few minutes more and that pain would ease too, but there was still the matter of his damn pride.
“I wouldn’t have pups with a lowlife, lying toad like you if my damn life depended on it!” She snapped out.
“No, please, don’t hold back,” Rowan growled.
“Don’t tempt me,” she practically growled and his beast’s ears pricked up.
“And what about you, little miss perfect, hmm?” He took a step towards her and saw her eyes flare and then narrow. She was expecting trouble and he just might give it to her. “I’m not that kind of a witch.” He tried to imitate her voice, but his deep tone just made him sound like a damned cartoon chipmunk- the amusement shot through her, but she was still too riled to allow it to take hold.
“Extenuating circumstances,” she nodded her head to confirm her words. Rowan’s eyes slowly narrowed to slits in his head.
“I don’t even know what that means,” he growled out, leaning his head in on his neck.
“Figures,” she snapped back.
“But I know you lied, at least mine was an accident,” he tossed back at her.
“You copping a feel was an accident?” Kiri sneered at him once more, and he felt the rush of annoyance within him getting strong, creeping upwards.
“I did not cop a feel, the backs of my fingers accidentally stroked against your nipple when I went to let you go, as you requested I may add,” he growled.
“No you may not,” she snapped back, mirroring his pose as she strained her head on her neck towards him.
“Just like a witch to go to the nuclear option when-”
“The nuclear option?” she roared with hysterical laughter- then snapped it off. “That little tap?” she twisted her head on her neck and looked him up and then down, and then up once more. “Man up.” She hissed.
Rowan must have swallowed a good proportion of his tongue as her words stirred his pride. His eyes widened and his eyebrows snatched up towards his hairline, and then those eyes slowly narrowed again as a low growl rumbled in his chest.
“I’ll show you just what a man-” He started towards her. She snatched her head back and thrust her hands out in front of her. Blasting him with another jolt that brought him down onto his knees as his legs gave way beneath him.
Rowan gritted his teeth as his lips pulled back in a mock snarl, and she gasped at the sight of it. She hit him again, a slap to his manhood that made his upper body snap forwards, and he almost headbutted the ground as his hands cupped his prized jewels and he grunted and growled in pain.
“Don’t threaten me with that tone of voice!” She knew that didn’t sound right, especially as he hadn’t said a word and it was more the snarly look that had got her goat, but… she didn’t care.
She clicked her fingers and her magic hit him in the nice firm backside that was sticking up in the air for her viewing pleasure, but right then, she was too mad to care about how good he looked.
Rowan yelped and his body pitched forward. His hands were otherwise occupied holding his balls and he landed face first in the dirt. Groaning inwardly from the hit that he’d just taken to his pride along with the way his balls were being doused with lava from her previous shot…
So damn much for her not being that kind of a witch…
“I…” he pushed out on strained tones and then gasped a breath. It was all that he could do.
“You, you, you,” she blabbed out. “I’m sure you are used to everything in life being about you.” She stomped over towards him and bent at the waist to snatch up her car keys from the ground beside him. Triumphantly fisting them within her hand as she turned on the balls of her feet and stalked back towards her car…
Just as the sound of a truck caught her attention and she snapped her head around to see the pickup bouncing up the roadway towards them.
Oh, poop, not good!
“Hey!” There was a loud roar that came from the open driver’s window and her eyes locked onto the sight of the man behind the wheel as he waved a giant fist in her direction… and what else could she do…?
She panicked.
One miffed shifter was bad enough, but two was two too many.
Kiri hightailed it back to her car and shot into the driver’s seat. With trembling hands; she forced the key into the ignition and prayed that for once her damned stupid car would just start- no ifs, no teases, no turning over and over before it caught- just start.
She shoved a little magic behind it and the engine roared to life… Just as Rowan groaned and rolled onto his side on the grass… His black eyes looked more than dazed, but they were kind of trying to fix on her…
“Don’t - you…” he gasped in a deep breath of fire and agony, just as she slammed the door shut and hit the stick into gear. “Run… from…” he sucked in another breath and got a mouthful of sod as the tyre’s cut up the grass when she sped past…
Oh, that’s so not damn good it’s nuclear!
~
~
~
‘Dud
e, what the hell?’ Callum growled out into the link between them. ‘You get kicked in the balls by a girl?’
There was so much amusement in his brother’s voice that Rowan might have preferred it if the ground had opened up and swallowed him whole.
He’d love the witch- his witch- his woman- his damn mate to come back and finish him off just so that he didn’t have to hear about this moment for the rest of his life.
He could always just kill Callum- that would be easier.
‘Witch,’ he growled into the link as he willed his body to heal faster. His beast was growling, snarling, and baying for blood- his if he didn’t get the hell up and go after her- hers if he did and caught her.
‘Even worse,’ Callum snorted his amusement as he slowed his truck down at the sight of her little girl car coming towards him on the one car track.
He liked the game of chicken. Usually it involved his wolf and livestock, but his beast of a truck against her little clown car would be good too. She’d blink first, of that he was sure…
‘Mmm…’ Rowan growled as he tried to push upwards. His need to stop his mate trying to run was overwhelming the pain within his body ten to one, and yet it wasn’t working…
‘Mmm, is right. A tasty witch snack…’ Callum chuckled to himself at the sight of her inside her toy car- all wide eyed and expectant looking- panic on her face as she realised that only one of them was going to be staying on the road, and Callum knew that it wasn’t going to be her…
Closer, closer. He could see that she was debating what to do. He could practically see the cogs turning in her mind as her eyes flicked this way and that…
He had her now…
‘M-mate,’ Rowan growled out into the link as his eyes watched in terror at the sight of Callum’s pickup truck heading for a head on collision with his mate’s car… His beast roared, and then he heard the sound of his brother’s confused girlie squeal from the open driver’s window…
“Crap!” Callum bit out; just as his brother’s word smacked him upside the head…
Callum yanked on the steering wheel and his tyres left the road… He bumped. He jerked and jumped in his seat, smacking the top of his head against the roof as his car found every pot hole and rise and fall that was carved into the damn earth along the way.
He cursed, he growled, he grunted, and his eyes noted the victorious, triumphant, and somewhat relieved look on Rowan’s mate’s face as she tore by him.
“Double bloody crap!” He ground out. Stomping the brake and snapping his head around to see her bouncing on down the road, way too fast for her car’s liking as it creaked, squeaked, and protested in no uncertain terms…
Callum’s foot hit the accelerator pedal and he yanked the steering wheel around to follow her. One tyre found a deep grove cut into the earth and lodged tight… he wasn’t going anywhere fast he noted as his side of the truck started to sink.
Kiri’s eyes snapped towards the shifter’s pickup in the rear view mirror and she almost cheered when he got lodged in the earth…
“That’ll teach you!” She crowed out in victory. She was free and clear and it was all plain sailing from there. “I win, you lose, sucker!” She shouted out the window, and then regretted every single word as a loud pop signalled more trouble ahead…
“Oh, no…” she panicked as the steering went loopy and the damn car misbehaved as only a car could… “I can limp it, I can limp it!”
She kept going. Bouncing up and down even more in her seat as the tyre deflated at an alarming rate from the abuse it was receiving from the uneven roadway…
“No, no, no, no, no, no, noooooooo!” She groaned out the last word like a fog horn signalling trouble, so much damn trouble that she didn’t know what to do with it all.
One shifter down, balls deep in the earth and holding them for dear life, her doing- and another with a car stuck in ground and sinking sideways, again, her doing- and she knew how much testosterone fuelled men liked their cars…
She groaned again as her fist hit off the steering wheel as she limped- literally- to a halt, only halfway up the road to freedom…
“I shouldn’t have crowed,” she shook her head, arguing with herself. “Gloating is always a witch’s downfall…” she admonished herself.
Punching out at the steering wheel, over and over, with girl punches as panic rose within her throat and she tried to figure a way out of the mess that she’d landed herself in…
“Poop,” she hissed. “Crap!” she growled out…
And then two large hands hit the passenger window with a growl, and a groan to follow…
Her eyes snapped towards him, then the empty field where he had lay as if second guessing who she knew it to be, and then back towards those damned huge hands once more…
“Crap, crap, and double poopy!”
Rowan’s palms slipped sideways against the window and there, starring in at her, all hungry black eyes, and growly - scowly, as he pressed his forehead against the glass and groaned at the ache within his balls once more.
“Give me a minute,” he growled out.
Rowan wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball on the ground and rock back and forth until the pain that still clung to his balls like molten lava finally subsided. His beast wanted nothing more than to peel back the metal of the tin can that she was sitting in and wrench her out- take her down to the ground and mark her as his…
Which side of him would get their way was only a matter of conjecture at this point.
~
CHAPTER FOUR
~
Neither won- both had lost by his need to get to her before his healing blood had completed the healing process on his most valuable asset. He’d dragged his body up and had forced his legs to run towards her as she tried to make her escape - just because… because, he knew that he couldn’t let her get away – couldn’t lose her.
Now he was trying to reel in his temper and that of his beast. She wasn’t running anymore, and he was still hurting.
“How’s the limp?” Callum’s deep tone set his beast off once more – this time the protective side of the animal where his brother and his mate were concerned. He gave a hearty warning growl for Callum to stay back, and the man held out his hands in front of him and complied.
“It’s not a good time,” Rowan bit out between clenched teeth. His brother was a damned smartass and his beast was close the surface – it didn’t bode well for anyone.
“Oh look, Mr growly pants is back again, talk about your split personality,” Kiri said from the front seat and Rowan twisted his head and gave her a look of pure unadulterated disbelief, and his brother sniggered.
“I wonder why?” Rowan growled, his nose twitched in annoyance, and he watched her neck disappear as her shoulders came up towards her ears.
“Dropped on your head as a baby, no doubt.” She snorted a chuckle.
“No doubt,” Rowan growled back.
“She has a point, brother,” Callum thought that he’d stir the pot a little, just because it was fun.
“Oooooh, does she?” Rowan growled some more.
“See!” Kiri announced. “Thank you!” She offered to Callum and Rowan’s beast growled some more in disbelief.
“You’re not exactly in wooing mode,” Callum offered and Rowan’s dark eyes cut to his brother and warned him that he was fit to kill. “Just saying.”
“Geez, I’ll having to get on it - when my balls drop back down from the inside my stomach,” he bit out, cutting his eyes back to his mate and noting the way that she looked anywhere but at him.
“You groped,” she muttered.
“I did not grope – I brushed, and there’s a difference,” he growled.
“No difference really, touching without permission is-”
“Wrong,” Callum shook his head. “I’m disappointed in your brother.”
“Oh, bite me,” Rowan growled out. He wasn’t playing Callum’s game.
“Not my thing,” Kiri
shot back.
“Not you, him,” Rowan snapped back.
“Kinky, and stop growling.” She berated him. He let the first one slide, but the second…
“I’m sorry, there are parts of me that are feeling a little – t-e-n-d-e-r.”
“Well, why don’t you crawl off and find someone to rub them better for you.” She shot him a fierce look. “Maybe your b-r-o-t-h-e-r?”
“Hey!” Callum growled.
“Ignore her, I think she’s a mental person,” Rowan growled back, a warning in his tone for his brother growling at his mate.
“Then I guess I’d fit right in here,” Kiri shot back.
“That’s if you live long enough to mate,” Rowan growled back, still biting down on his wounded pride. Callum sniggered again and his mate hissed.
“More threats, gee, you’re such a catch,” she sneered. “Find me a pond so I can throw you the hell back.”
“I…” he snapped his lips closed and pressed them together.
Resisting the urge to kill her was one thing, but resisting the urge to tell her everything that he wanted to say – it seemed harder somehow… he growled again.
“And quit the growling, we all get that you think you’re the big bad wolf or something, but…” She held up her index finger and took a long look at him. “Look who’s holding their nuts, and look who bettered you.” She pointed that finger at her chest. “A g-i-r-l.”
She looked smug, so damn smug that he wanted to show her who could better who in a fair fight. No magic. No hitting from a distance, and not below the damn belt. Just one on one arm wrestling or… something.
“Look who’s caught,” he growled out on a low whisper that echoed through the glass and inside the car. “Look who’s a mate and was running.” He growled long and hard at that thought. His beast still wasn’t ok with it.
Kiri grimaced. She knew it was true. She’d gone into fight or flight mode and had ended up doing both… and from her mate.
Stupid is as stupid does, and she was the stupid in this scenario.