Brothers - Pack Special- Complete Set (Books 1 - 8)

by M. L. Briers

  When Justice roared in pain and flew through the air right by him – Connor had the feeling that his services were needed elsewhere.

  Justice pushed back up onto his paws and started back into the fight. His front paw was damaged and the vampire’s claws had opened up a wound on his side quite nicely, but he wasn’t about to leave Maverick to battle the bloodsucker alone.

  “Tag – You’re it,” Connor offered to a snarling Rowan as he shot to his feet and away from the enforcers mate, heading back towards the fight as Tyler’s bear took off and Callum’s wolf shot away in the other direction from Rowan and let the man have his way.

  Rowan scampered on his hands and feet over towards Kiri and slowly, gently brought her onto his lap. He was determined not to let her out of his arms again – no matter what and he’d kill anyone that got in his way.

  Maverick roared as the razor sharp claws cut into his flank. He turned and swiped a set of claws at Vega, catching across the backs of his legs, as Justice reared up and swiped from the other side.

  The alpha’s claws bit deeply into the man’s face and opened his flesh up down his neck and across his chest before they were torn free. That act gave Connor the time that he needed to step in behind the vampire. With one punch; Connor had Vega’s heart within his fist – he twisted and yanked it clean out of his body.

  Vega seemed to hover in place for a long minute as the wolves sensed that the fight was over. By the time that Vega’s body crashed face down into the dirt, both wolves had tipped their heads back and howled in victory, signalling to the pack that the danger was over.

  “You’re entirely welcome,” Connor beamed as he tossed the heart away over his shoulder and turned his attention towards the mates.

  Rowan snarled up at him, a warning to keep away, and signalling his rage that the vampire had touched his mate. Had given her his blood.

  “You are especially welcome,” Connor had a very special smug smile just for the man. “Don’t say I never gave you anything. She has to be all your Christmases in one.” Connor turned on his heels and vanished before Rowan could say something that he’d later regret.

  “I need to get her home,” Rowan’s beast clawed at his voice. He wrapped Kiri in his arms and pushed up to his feet. With a wolf on either side of him, he started for home.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “I told you witches meant trouble,” Mari wrapped her arms around her chest and looked at Justice as he sat beside the waterfall.

  His body was a patchwork of bruises and angry red slashes that his blood was healing. He grunted back at her.

  “A mate is a mate,” Justice offered. Wincing in pain as he lifted his shirt up over his head and eased it down his battered body.

  “Not when she’s a witch,” Mari shot back, disgruntled and miffed that they now had two in their pack.

  “Get over it, Mari. I don’t want to hear it.” Justice pushed up to his feet and grunted at the pain that action caused to his ribs.

  “She could have gotten someone killed,” Mari growled deep within her throat.

  “She nearly did – herself,” Justice’s eyes locked on hers. Anger flared deep within the depths as he stared down at the she-wolf that was sorely testing his last nerve.

  “What are you-?” Mari dropped her arms to her sides and faced him head on.

  “She saw Maverick coming to attack the vampire and used her magic to take the vampire down, knowing full well that she would go with him.” Justice growled out. He didn’t need to explain any of this to her, and yet, if Mari was going to keep on with her vendetta against the witches it might ease the way for them for her to know the truth of it.

  “And she saved herself,” Mari tossed up a hand and shrugged her shoulders.

  “The vampire was going full speed. Kiri was tossed across the floor and it took Connor’s blood to save her life, or is nobody gossiping about that part?” Justice growled down. He was done explaining.

  Mari watched as the alpha turned on his heels and stalked away from her. She bit down on her annoyance and gave a small shake of her head.

  “If the damn witch wasn’t here in the first place then none of that would have happened.” She muttered to herself.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Kiri felt the heat of the body that was gently wrapped around hers and it dragged her from sleep and back into the real world… The real world where she didn’t recognise the room that she woke up in, but she certainly knew whose body was pressed against hers, wrapped all around her protectively – possessively.

  Naked. The man was naked and it called to her body to respond.

  “Welcome back,” Rowan’s beast clung to his voice.

  Until they were mated, until she was his forever, he couldn’t see a way to let anyone within a foot of her again. His wolf was in full protection mode.

  “How long was I out?” Kiri tried to push herself away from him but he seemed reluctant to let her go.

  “A few hours, Connor’s blood has healed you,” Rowan allowed her a little room, but his beast didn’t like it.

  “The other vampire,” Kiri nodded.

  “What did he want from you?” Rowan asked. He was still the enforcer of the pack and he needed to do his job, mate or not, she still needed to give him answers.

  “Vega?” She asked and Rowan nodded. “An artefact that belonged with a witch and not a vampire. I… err, liberated it from him before I set off for pastures new.”

  “So he hunted you here. Should we be expecting any more vampires or supernatural beings that you’ve liberated anything from?” Rowan’s tone was cold.

  His mate was a thief and he didn’t know what to do with that knowledge. It wasn’t like she’d killed anybody…

  “No,” She pressed her palms against his bare chest and pushed back.

  Rowan let her have a little more space, even as his body begged her to get closer not further away from him.

  “I don’t make a habit of taking things that aren’t mine, although, technically the artefact should be with a witch and therefore didn’t belong to him anyway, so I made an exception.”

  Kiri didn’t like the way that this conversation had gone. He wasn’t looking at her like a hungry mate anymore, even if his hard body felt like one, he was eyeing her, trying to figure her out and sense if she was telling him the truth.

  That felt wrong on a level that was bone deep. She wasn’t a bad person – she just didn’t trust the vampire with anything containing magic.

  Vampire’s didn’t possess magic and might not be able to use the artefact, but he’d brought it to her to find out its power and to see what it was worth to him. That in itself had rubbed her up the wrong way and it wouldn’t have taken him long to find a witch that wouldn’t mind helping out a vamp in need or being persuaded into doing so.

  Rowan could judge her all that he liked, and it sounded as if he was, but she’d do the same damn thing again if it came to it.

  ~

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ~

  “You almost got yourself killed.”

  Rowan’s beast roared at the thought of losing her. He wasn’t best pleased with the notion either. He was still more than pissed off that she’d put herself in danger.

  “My mistake to clean up,” she offered with a small shrug off just one shoulder. And it had been.

  It was she who had brought trouble to the pack’s door, and the sight of the wolf that had come to her rescue had stirred a need within her to act, no matter what the personal cost to herself. She couldn’t let someone else get hurt for her mistakes that wasn’t who she was.

  “You didn’t think Maverick’s wolf could handle the vampire?” Rowan’s eyebrows dance on his forehead.

  “I didn’t think he would attack if I was with the vampire, and the only way to break free was to zap us both.” She narrowed her eyes on him. “What would you have done differently?”

  “Nothing,” Rowan offered bac
k, giving her that one, but still angry that she’d put herself in that position in the first place. “Maverick said that was the way that it seemed to go down.”

  “So glad I had someone there to back up my side of events.”

  It was her turn to sound miffed, and he didn’t like it. But the fact that she’d put herself in harm’s way like that was something that he liked even less.

  “I told you to stay in the cabin.”

  Rowan was all about the chain of command. It was the way the pack worked. It was the way the pack kept their own as safe as they could, and that chain couldn’t be broken, not for her, not for anyone.

  She needed to learn that rules had to be followed.

  “I did. I opened the door and there he was, snatched me up before I could even zap him.” Now she was actively trying to push up and get a little more distance between them. Her eyebrows were knitted together in annoyance at all of the questioning and accusations.

  “Sure?” He asked and she twisted her head to one side and let her mouth fall open before she spoke.

  “No, I’m lying,” she snapped out and angrily slapped his hand from where it rested against her hip.

  Rowan could have pushed the point, kept her close the way that he wanted to do, but he could see that he’d pushed her buttons. He reluctantly let her go.

  Kiri scurried to the side of the bed. Her body felt a lot damn better than it had the last time that she’d been awake, but it still ached a little – part of that, she was sure, was being close to him.

  That was a different kind of ache altogether, and she hated to admit it to herself right then, but it was one that she liked. It was just the man that was annoying her.

  “I’m also a world renowned jewel thief and a total kleptomaniac, better hide the family silver.” She bit out, turning to glare at him over her shoulder.

  “Oh that’s right…” She narrowed her eyes on him and he knew there was going to be a punch line. “You guys don’t do silver.”

  Kiri pushed up to her feet and Rowan was off of the bed and around at her side before she even took a step away. Speedy little… she sighed in annoyance.

  “Where are you going?” He growled down at her.

  His beast was wary. He’d right royally pissed his mate off and that could never be a good thing.

  Females in good moods bestowed such joy – females in bad moods could be like a tsunami meeting a twister, and if she decided that she was leaving, then there would be a problem.

  A big problem.

  “Bathroom, unless you want me to do the when in Rome thing and pee on your rug.” She sidestepped him, but he reached out and snagged her wrist, locking her body in place and bringing her eyes back up to his.

  Those beautiful eyes of hers felt to him as if she could just look right into his soul. Right now they were angry, and he guessed rightly so. He’d practically welcomed her back to life with an interrogation.

  He needed to remember that he couldn’t be the enforcer around her all of the time. He’d needed answers and she’d given them, and he hadn’t sensed a lie, not once.

  Now it was done, now it over, and he wished that he could have those last ten minutes back to greet her properly when she’d come back to him, because the whole time that she was sleeping, he’d thought of a million things that he wanted to say to her.

  He guessed that he’d just been set in his way too long.

  “I had to ask. This isn’t just me, this is my pack.” Rowan offered her that explanation and watched as she took it in.

  “Fine by me, ask anything you like.” She still sounded miffed and that sweet and yet oh-so sour smile on her lips made him wary.

  “Bathroom’s there.” Rowan motioned to the door on the other side of the room and she yanked her wrist from his hand and started for it.

  When she closed the door behind her; he sighed and reached for a pair of jeans that he’d tossed over the back of a chair. Climbing into them as he listened to the sounds of her moving about in the bathroom, he knew that he might have overplayed his hand with her, and it might take some soothing to settle her ruffled feathers.

  She was human, a witch, not a she-wolf who understood the hierarchy and workings of a pack. He’d come on a little too strong and sounded like he’d been interrogating her… he got that. But he couldn’t allow anyone, even his own mate, to hurt his pack.

  Rowan lifted his hands and rubbed them down his face; trying to rub away the tension that still lingered within his bones, within the very heart and soul of him.

  He’d seen her battered and broken. If it wasn’t for Connor then she would never have survived her injuries. He had a damned lot to thank the vampire for.

  He had to wonder if she knew just how close she had come to dying in that field today. He had to wonder if she even cared. He cared. He never wanted to see her like that ever again, and he’d make damn sure that he put himself in between her and someone that could hurt her every time, over and over for the rest of his life from that moment on.

  He’d die to keep her safe. That was his pledge to her, but did she know that?

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Kiri,” Rowan called as she pulled open the front door to the cabin intending to get some fresh air.

  She’d come out of the bedroom and stalked across the room without even looking at him. Her eyes had flicked in his direction – not quite reaching him, but in a way that assured her knowing exactly where he was.

  Her dress was a mess, but she’d tried to straight her hair, and she’d washed the dirt from her face and body. She needed her clothes and he made a mental note to get them from her car or to send someone to do it.

  Every inch of his body was on alert. He couldn’t allow her to leave like this, not without having a chance to tell her how he felt about her.

  She was already engrained within his heart, etched into his soul…

  “Wanna accuse me of something else?” She shot a look back at him as he stood at the kitchen counter cutting up vegetables for their dinner. A large kitchen knife in his hand hovered above the chopping block.

  “No-” He started, but she cut him off.

  “Think I’m going to run off?” She demanded, yanking open the cabin door.

  “No,” he shook his head. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he damn well hoped and prayed not.

  “Wanna check me for stolen forks?” She lifted her hands as if she was ready to be patted down and body searched.

  Rowan sighed, even as his very vivid imagination conjured up an X-rated version of how that would go. He needed to lighten her mood…

  “Is that your way of inviting me to touch you?” He growled deep within his chest at the thought. “I wouldn’t mind running my hands all over your body, but not for the reason you’ve just given,” Rowan tried a smile to ease the tension between them.

  Kiri snorted her contempt for him and strolled off out of the door, slamming it shut behind her, and making him flinch with the sound of wood on wood. He listened for her footsteps, ready to follow her, but they ended as fast as they had begun.

  “Guess not,” Rowan’s grin widened.

  “You should leave while you still can.”

  Rowan heard Mari’s voice on the other side of that closed door and groaned inwardly. He dumped the knife down on the block and started for the door.

  The whole pack knew about Mari’s run in with Maverick’s mate. It wasn’t the best kept secret, but then in a wolf pack you couldn’t hide much from sensitive ears and gossiping tongues.

  “Thanks for the advice - I’ll take it under consideration.” He heard Kiri’s reply as he made his way towards the front door and wrenched it open.

  He didn’t have to look far for Mari as she stood with her shoulder resting against a tree, arms folded, and dark eyes that snatched from his mate and locked with his.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Rowan growled out the warning.

  ~

  CHAPTER NINE

&n
bsp; ~

  “Just some friendly advice for the witch.” Mari shot back.

  “Since when did you become friendly towards witches?” Rowan took a couple of long paced steps out of the cabin and put his body between Mari and his mate.

  This wasn’t happening, not here and not now. He’d put the damn she-wolf down if he had too and he wouldn’t be none too gentle about it either, judging from the way his beast was clawing within him.

  It was way too soon for anyone to get near to his mate after what she’d already been through. He didn’t much like Mari’s chances if she tried.

  “Since this one hurt herself to help Maverick out.” Mari offered before she turned on her heels and started into the woods. “She still shouldn’t be here.” She tossed back over her shoulder.

  “Get used to it,” Rowan growled out after her.

  “No pressure then,” Kiri said, snapping him out of staring after the she-wolf, and waiting for the other shoe to drop where she was concerned. He turned his attention back towards Kiri.

  “Pressure?”

  “To stay,” Kiri offered back.

  “I thought we’d covered that?” Rowan lied. Pressure was the last thing that either of them needed.

  “N-o-o-o-o,” Kiri offered slowly.

  “You’re my mate,” Rowan started a slow move towards her and she didn’t move a muscle. “I thought it was obvious that you weren’t going anywhere.”

  His voice was playful, teasing, and yet, there was a steely look in his eyes that told her he meant every word of it.

  “As in, I don’t have a choice?” Kiri asked, folding her arms under her breasts and pushing them upwards for his viewing pleasure – in the way that you did when you knew a guy just couldn’t resist and you wanted to call him on it.