by M. L. Briers
“Looks like you’ve bagged yourself a mate, Rowan. Congrats.” Callum chuckled and Kiri’s whole body seemed to deflate in her seat, sliding downwards as her hands slipped from the steering wheel onto her lap and she grimaced again.
“A witch,” Rowan growled out with a small shake of his head.
“Really?” Her head shot around and she glared at him through the glass, tempted to let her magic loose once more.
I’m not that kind of a damned witch – but he makes me wanna be one.
“Good luck with that,” Callum turned on his heels and took a step towards his pickup, angled his head to one side to emulate the lay of the car as it rested two wheels in the dip of the land, and then sighed.
“Yeah! Thanks.” Rowan sneered, and his eyes flicked towards the pickup truck. “Good luck with that.” He sniggered and heard his brother sigh.
His smile dropped right off his face as he turned his attention back towards her and narrowed his eyes.
“And you,” he growled out. “You’re coming home with me.”
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“Another one.” Mari growled out as she heard the news that was spreading like wildfire around the pack.
Rowan had found a mate and she was a witch. A damned witch. That made two.
Justice eyed her across the pathway that ran in between her cabin and the woods. As she-wolves went, Mari was a little more aggressive than most.
She had a wild streak that needed taming with a firm hand, and he’d hoped that she would have found a mate to do it by now- helped her work off some of the aggression in other ways besides causing trouble, but she hadn’t, and he needed to keep a close eye on her.
“I heard she got him right in the balls,” her friend and long-time trouble buddy, Tania said.
Justice shook his head at the females gossiping. He guessed it wasn’t just a human trait, around this pack it was a regular occurrence, and not only undertaken by the females.
“With her magic, no doubt.” Mari growled back, a click of her tongue, and a sneer to boot.
“Don’t you two have better things to be getting on with?” Justice growled.
He wanted to nip Mari’s troublemaking in the bud before it got out of hand like the last time when she’d had her claws in his brother, Maverick, and all because of a witch mate.
“No,” Mari snapped back.
“Of course we do,” Tania gave him a look that said innocent, but he knew better.
Tania’s eyes dropped down to feast on his hard body. The woman had a little thing for him that he’d discouraged a while back… She wasn’t his mate and he was the alpha, he didn’t need the hassle a liaison with her would bring him.
“Then go do it, and make sure it’s nowhere near Rowan’s cabin,” he shot a look at Mari and saw her top lip twitch. Then she shrugged her shoulders and tipped her nose in the air.
“I for one don’t want to be anywhere near a damned witch,” she growled out, grabbing Tania’s arm and yanking her towards the cabin.
Justice snorted. There was always trouble brewing with that one. It was just what form it would take, and he’d be keeping his eye out – just in case it was witch related.
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Tyler stalked through the woods on fast, long, muscled legs that eat up the uneven ground. His barrelled chest that was packed with muscles rose and fell as he dragged the autumn air into his lungs and revelled in the scents all around him.
As a bear shifter with a cabin deep within the woods, he was grateful for the solitude of its location, but with easy access to the pack of shifters around him if he wished to partake in being sociable. Right now, as he whistled a merry tune, mating was in the air and he wished to be around happy people, and the pack would be happy – most of them anyway.
He’d heard the mate in question was another witch. One of the male wolf shifters that patrolled the woods and land, keeping the area safe for the pack, had been only to eager to share the news, and he was on his way to see Justice, maybe twist the knife a little at having two witches join the pack so suddenly.
Tyler chuckled to himself. The sound of crunching underfoot caught his attention and he stopped in place and turned towards it…
Vampire, and not one that he knew.
Tyler’s beast lifted it heavy head and roared within him, sensing the danger… a moment before pain tore through his head like a lightning bolt and the lights went out.
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“I still don’t see why we couldn’t fix my tyre,” Kiri grumbled as Rowan kicked the door to his cabin closed behind him and she whirled on her feet to scowl at it.
“I’ll send someone out to fix it,” Rowan assured her. “I wouldn’t want the heap rotting out there on pack land.” He added and watched her eyes narrow to slits in her head.
“Does my car offend your male hormone driven sensibilities?” She babied him, and he snorted.
“Your car offends anyone with an ounce of taste sensibilities,” he snorted as he stalked over to the kitchen area and dropped the keys to the flatbed down on the counter as he reached for the refrigerator and yanked open the door, reaching in for a couple of cold beers, and holding out on towards her.
Kiri shrugged her shoulders at the offering, but she hadn’t said no. When she didn’t make an attempt to move from near the front door, he slammed the fridge door closed and stalked back towards her. The bottle of beer held out in front of him so there could be no mistaking what he was doing this time.
“Nice, err, flatbed,” she shot back, mocking him.
“That’s the pack’s work truck. My pickup is-”
“Oh,” she snatched the beer by the very tip, not wanting to brush her fingers against his for fear he might take it as a come on. “A pickup, there’s a shocker.” She snorted her contempt.
“You have something against pickups?” His lips bowed upwards slightly, and his eyes certainly weren’t jet black as they had been when he was on his knees looking in her car window at her, amusement glinted there.
“Just take a look at the drivers is all I’m saying,” she shrugged her shoulders.
“Men,” he offered back.
“Testosterone fuelled men. I wouldn’t want to say that pickup trucks are driven by dicks, but draw your own conclusions.” She gave him an innocent grin which turned into something of a victory grin as he eyed her back.
“Hmm,” he sprung the lid on the top of the bottle with the pad of his thumb and it went shooting off somewhere. She’d lost it in mid-flight. “And you drive a girl car.”
He tipped the bottle to his lips and drank thirstily, tipping his head back on his neck as he drained the bottle.
“Newsflash,” she whispered and caught his attention as his ears pricked up to catch her words. He froze. “I have boobs. I’m a girl.”
Rowan almost choked on his beer at the word boobs. It wasn’t the word exactly, just the instant memory of looking down her glorious cleavage as she’d sat in her car…
His beast prowled within him as his length ached a little more than it had been since he’d got another boner on the way back to the cabin. He was grateful at the time that he’d managed to get one at all after what she’d done to him- now he kind of wished it wasn’t so attune to her.
“I know. I’ve seen them,” Rowan shot back, not wanting to be outdone by her. He reached out and flicked the top from her bottle, the cap flew away.
Kiri’s cheeks flushed like a stop light. He had to admit, it looked adorable on her. The scowl on her face was another matter entirely.
“Only because you’re a perv,” she muttered, turning away from him and stomping towards the counter to haul her short frame onto the stool that was set for his height…
Rowan followed her, and with a quick dip, he pressed the lever and the stool dropped downwards beneath her – just as she was tipping the bottle to her lips, and the jolt of the stool coupled with t
he way that she’d snapped her body against the shock of the sudden freefall - ended up with a loud screech coming from her lips that almost deafened him, and the beer down her front and in her lap…
“Whoops,” Rowan was just straightening back up when his eyes took it all in.
Her head snapped towards him and her eyes said death glare of the most painful kind as he held in place, eyes on her boobs once more. He couldn’t help himself… he sniggered…
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CHAPTER FIVE
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“Funny,” Kiri ground out between clenched teeth.
Rowan’s hand shot out as he was levelling up, and he snatched a towel from the side. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion of what came next…
“Let me…” He offered, just about to reach for her girls, and she hissed, clicking her fingers and giving him a sharp sting in his tail.
Rowan’s body shot upwards and snapped straight, and she snatched the towel from his hand.
“I got it,” she offered back with a grin of amusement that she couldn’t conceal even if she’d tried.
Rowan gave a small growl of annoyance. She eyed him for a moment and then… she growled right back at him – or – what passed for a growl at any rate.
The fact that she wasn’t a she-wolf didn’t matter one little bit to his beast; it liked her growl, pathetic little witchy growl that it was, and his beast pushed forward within him.
Rowan growled again, this time with a hunger that made her blink, not once, not twice, but three times in quick succession.
“If you had any idea of what you just asked my beast to do to you,” Rowan growled out - hunger within his eyes, and practically drooling down his chin at her as he leaned in, caging her within his arms as he palmed the counter on one side of her body with his hand, and rested the other one with the beer bottle in his closed fist against the back of her stool.
Kiri drew back on the stool slowly. Tipping her head back and looking up into his hungry eyes. She swallowed hard…
“What?” She asked, fearing the worst and berating herself for that growl.
“I have no idea, I don’t speak wolf,” he grinned at her then, a big, wide, predatory grin that was mixed with the teasing in his eyes and the chuckle rumbling through his chest.
Kiri let out a long breath of anticipation and expectation mixed with relief. Then she huffed.
“Jerk,” she bit out, trying to turn her attention away from him as she dabbed at the wet patches on her dress. He chuckled again.
“You deserved it for the magic trick,” he pushed away, giving her a little space to get used to him.
“You deserved that for the soaking and then the attempt to clean up the mess,” she muttered. Chin down as she continued to dab and scrub the beer from the material.
“You smell good, like a waitress’s apron, or a pub dishrag,” he teased and her eyes glared at him from under her brows. He chuckled again. “I’ve got a clean pair of jeans and tee if you want?”
“I don’t want anything from you,” she snapped back.
“Really, cos I thought we were getting along just fine,” he teased her again.
“Good to know you like a little pain along with your wooing,” she gave him a victory grin and he grunted as his smile dropped off.
“I like a little pleasure along with my pain, wanna dish that out?” he asked.
“Not really my life’s ambition, no.”
“You need to work on your life goals.” He shot back with another grin.
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“What the hell happened to you?” Justice growled out as he pushed to his feet at the sight of the bear shifter, and the scent of his blood.
“Not a damn clue,” Tyler growled out. Looking down at the blood stains from the wound he’d received to his head when he’d been knocked out cold. The wound had obviously been healed by his blood while he’d been sleeping, but the blood itself didn’t lie.
“Did you and Callum go at it again?” Justice bit down on his need to slam their heads together one more damn time.
“Nah, I caught the scent of vampire on the air, and then that’s all she wrote,” Tyler shook his head.
“Vampire, as in Connor?”
“Nah, that wasn’t Connor,” Tyler dropped his backside down on the nearest seat and grumbled a growl deep within his chest. “My bears pissed off, he wants to pound the crap outta someone.”
“Hulk, smash!” Connor, the resident vampire, swept into the room like a bad penny that was always turning up at an opportune moment. His announcement came with a chuckle at his own funny as he swept into the kitchen and went straight for the bottle of Scotch on the side.
“You’ll do, but I’d rather get the Vamp that did this to me,” Tyler growled.
“Vamp, you say?” Connor’s interest was more than piqued as his hand held just short of the neck of the bottle and his eyes shot a look at Justice; the alpha was in lockdown mode.
‘We’ve got a vampire on pack land,” he spoke to the pack through the link. ‘I want the females and pups protected and the males on alert.’
“Expecting anyone?” Justice turned to look at his friend and the vampire balked.
“Because I’m a vampire, I get the blame for this intrusion onto pack property,” Connor protested in his usual over the top manner. Justice sighed. “No.” Connor shrugged one shoulder.
“Time to hunt,” Justice made for the door and Connor was hard on his heels in the same amount of time it took for Tyler to get to his feet. The vampire was never one to miss a chase.
“Come on slow-bear,” Connor teased him, and Tyler growled in annoyance.
The vampire knew that Tyler took that moniker to heart. He wasn’t exactly the smartest bear in his clan, but then bear’s weren’t known for being the fastest on four paws either- and Tyler never had figured out how Connor meant his nickname, but he didn’t like it either way.
“One of these days my bear’s going to take a chunk out of you,” Tyler growled at him.
“He has to catch me first,” Connor teased, slamming the back door behind him in the man’s face, and pulling Tyler up short as the man sighed and then growled in annoyance.
“Hate damn vampires,” Tyler bit out to the sound of Connor’s laughter on the other side of that door.
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“Vampire, what Vampire?” Kiri dropped down from the stool and started towards the front door of the cabin, following Rowan as he made fast work of the distance to get there.
She’d thought she’d left all of her problems behind her, but if this was one of her past tormentors coming after her- then she needed to deal with it herself.
“Worried?” Rowan caught the look in her eye and the way that she carried herself as she started for the door.
He reached out his hand and snagged her wrist, closing his long fingers against her skin, and bringing her back towards him with a quick yank of his arm.
“What? No!” She turned her nose up at the idea, but she did look a little guilty.
“You know a vampire that might follow you out here?” Rowan asked, sensing her lack of truth.
“Several,” she shrugged. “But I doubt it.”
“But you’re not sure?” Rowan pressed the point.
“Who can be sure of anything when male ego’s and sensibilities are at stake?” She sidestepped the issue.
“That’s not an answer,” Rowan frowned.
“Then ask me a question that I know the damn answer too,” she shot back.
“Fair enough,” he sighed.
“We should go and-” she went to turn, but he yanked her to keep her in place.
“You shouldn’t go anywhere,” Rowan’s wolf was hyper active within him, pacing and snarling at just the mention of possible danger that lurked outside those walls.
“But I might know him,” she offered her logic and he grunted.
“And you might not,” he offered back.
She had him there. He didn’t do coincidences.
“Ha!” she announced and he grunted again.
“Still,” he started and she cut him off.
“What if it’s a friend?”
“Have many vampire friends, do you?” He asked on a deeper frown that was bordering on a scowl.
“Not so as… not – no,” she finally settled on an answer and he grunted once more.
“There you go then.”
Rowan knew one thing – the vampire couldn’t get into his cabin uninvited. She was safe, for the moment, and he would protect her with his life if he needed to. But he was one of the pack’s enforcers and what he needed to do was to know that she was safe so that he could protect the rest of the pack from a possible attack.
“Still, not the damn point.” She snatched her arm away from his grasp and folded her arms across her chest in defiance and annoyance, a pout formed on her lips.
“It’s my point, and I like the point.” Rowan tossed back at her.
“It’s my point and I’m childishly sticking to it.” She tried to emulate him, but she’d never get enough bass in her voice to do it.
“Woman, you can be so…” he left it there.
“Woman,” she muttered snorting her contempt for his pure unadulterated male-ness. “Me Tarzan, you Jane,” she rocked her head from side to side, still muttering, still giving him the evil eye from beneath her eyebrows.
“Would you stop pouting?” Rowan scowled.
“Would you stop being…?” She tossed up a hand in his direction, “you.”
“Sure,” he gave a slow nod of his head. “That’ll work.”
“Well, at this point – it can’t do any harm.” She tossed back and turned on her heels to stomp away from him, leaving Rowan to roll his eyes to the ceiling and mutter curses.
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Kiri had never been one to do as she was told, it was the told part that she had a problem with, so staying put inside the cabin wasn’t a script that she felt the need to follow. With Rowan out on the hunt for the vampire, she’d decided that now was the perfect time to dig her heels in and go on a hunt of her own.