by M. L. Briers
That there was cause alone for every one of the bear clan at the table to get up at once. The sound of chair legs scraping against the wooden floor had quietened the crowd down, and people were starting to watch.
“Ok,” Janette’s voice piped up as she made a small space with her shoulders between Callum and Tyler and squeezed on through. “Enough!” She snapped, with fire in her eyes as they locked right onto her mate.
“Me?” Maverick pointed to his chest in disbelief and almost swallowed his own tongue. “He…” He pointed at Cole.
“The floor was wet, I slipped and ended up heading for the floor, and Cole caught me…” Janette told it like it happened, but Maverick’s dark eyebrows were dancing over his darker eyes.
“On his lap!” He growled in disbelief.
“And after you punched him – I’m sure the next time it happens he’ll just let me fall on my backside on the floor, maybe hit my head, give me concussion, brain bled…” she was on a roll and not about to stop until her mate backed down.
“Ok – ok!” Maverick held his hands up at his chest and growled some more. His mate could be headstrong when she wanted too, and it appeared now was one of those times…
“Now apologise,” She motioned towards Cole and Maverick practically stopped breathing as his jaw dropped open and he stared at her, unblinking for a long moment, right up to the point where Justice elbowed him in the ribs and he snapped out of it.
“I’m sorry?” Maverick’s eyes were wide open as he stared at her.
“Not to me, to Cole.” She placed her hands on her hips and glared up at him.
Maverick wasn’t a man to be pushed around. He was a mean assed beta when he wanted to be, and if him and Cole had of been alone, both men would have been ripping chunks off each other already… but they weren’t alone, and Maverick’s little witch mate was a feisty woman, and she had an acid tongue in her head to boot.
“To…?” Maverick pointed one thick finger at Cole and noted how the bear shifter was really enjoying this.
Cole folded two stocky, muscle packed arms across his barrelled chest as he watched the beta get a tongue lashing from his mate, and not in a good way. One side of his mouth lifted with the amusement that made his eyes sparkle, and that look really miffed Maverick.
“Me, man,” Cole chuckled. “Let’s hear it, Mav. Say it one time for your lady.”
Maverick went to take a step towards him but Justice gave a low, rumbling growl of warning that rolled through his chest. Maverick straightened, and even with his top lip twitching in annoyance, he did as his mate told him too. It was that or sleep on the damn couch tonight.
“I apologise, Cole,” Maverick bit out between clenched teeth.
“So you should,” Cole grinned wide. “Now let’s take it outside, one on one, I got a jaw that aches and a fist with your name on it.”
Justice looked to Janette who rolled her eyes in her head, but she knew better to intervene. She’d had her say and her way, now it was up to the boys to be boys.
Maverick took a step back and motioned for Cole to go first.
“Janette, you ok?” Tyler asked and she nodded.
“He’s gonna fight anyway, but he needed to apologise first because Cole did save my-”
“Well, look at you, since when did diplomacy become your specialty?” The female voice snatched her attention.
Callum had just been about to set one foot in front of the other to watch Maverick and Cole stand toe to toe and beat it out, but the sound of the soft whispered tones did something to his insides that called for his full attention.
There she was. Blondie with the crystal blue eyes that had been looking for the bears…
“Oh – my – God, you came!” Janette squealed and Callum winced at the shrewish sound that was enough to pierce his eardrums.
Maybe he’d got it all wrong. And as the blonde squealed back at the sight of Janette, and then they rushed at each other as females did, and did that bobbing up and down in place girlie hug… thing – he couldn’t have given a damn about the fist fight outside.
“You coming to watch?” Tyler nudged past him and motioned towards the group moving towards the front door.
“Maybe,” Callum wasn’t going anywhere right then. Someone else might move in on the blonde while he was watching his brother knock ten types of shading off that damn bear, and he couldn’t have that.
“Janette?” Tyler asked and she pulled a squish face before motioning to her friend.
“Wanna go watch my man do what he does second best, sex being the first, and you’re not invited to watch that?”
“Two men knocking bow bells out of each other?” The blonde made a show of considering it. “Hell yes!”
“Yeah, I’m coming, Tyler.” Callum called.
If she was going to be where all the shifters were – then he was going too. He just didn’t like the thought of anyone else trying it on with her tonight, and from the way that his beast was acting, he might be throwing some punches of his own if they did.
~
CHAPTER TWO
~
Every time that Cole swung for Maverick he said the same thing; you’re welcome. Every time that Maverick swung back he answered with; Thank you. It was kind of surreal to watch the two big, brawny men going at it – standing toe to toe and knocking the crap out of each other, but Morgan was kind of enjoying the spectacle.
If nothing else it took her mind off of her problems back home. She wasn’t stupid, she knew that she needed to keep going, keep her guard up, and that the time that she spent with Janette wasn’t limitless, but she also knew that she needed to savour moments like these when she could…
It was all that she had for now.
“You look like a cat on a hot tin roof,” Janette leaned in sideways towards her and called over the whooping and rooting on either side for their preferred victor. “Relax, you’re making me nervous.”
“That obvious?” Morgan mentally berated herself.
“If it’s a problem with shifters…” Janette let that question hang to see what the witch would do.
“It’s not,” Morgan offered no more than that and Janette didn’t push. Now wasn’t the time. There were too many ears in the crowd, big ears that could easily overhear something, even over the noise of the crowd baying for blood, but she knew it had to be something because the witch had contacted her out of nowhere after over four years of silence…
Janette had to wonder what it was that Morgan was running away from. Or maybe she was running towards something. Either way, the woman didn’t look as if she’d be around for long.
There was a nervous tension about her that Janette had noticed from the moment that she laid eyes on her. All the makeup in the world couldn’t cover the dark circles around her eyes that came from worry, a lack of sleep, or both.
Morgan’s magic was pulled tightly around her. Janette could feel the repelling spell that clung to Morgan’s body, and you only did that kind of a spell when you were trying to ward off magic.
“How long are you here for?” Janette asked and watched Morgan’s frame stiffen just a little more. If her muscles got any tighter they were in danger of snapping.
“Just a few.” Morgan shrugged a shoulder, not committing to anything, but even that looked artificial with the tension locking her muscles. “Passing through.”
Morgan’s eyes scanned the crowd again. It was as if she was suddenly expecting to find a familiar face in the gathering or making sure that there wasn’t one.
What Morgan found was Callum’s bright eyes starring right back at her. She’d seen him before – noted him when she’d walked into the bar looking for Janette. And she wasn’t sure she liked the way that he was staring at her now from across the way… she leaned in towards Janette and whispered.
“Who’s the guy in the black leather jacket, ten o’clock-ish, staring over here?”
Janette’s eyes scanned the crowd until she came across the shifter stari
ng right back at Morgan. His eyes darted towards her and then back to Morgan again as if he was sizing her up.
“That’s Callum, he’s one of the pack’s enforcers,” Janette said. “He’s probably trying to figure out if you’re a danger to the pack.”
“Only to him if he keeps on staring at me,” Morgan raised her voice a little to see if he’d picked it up. When he tore his eyes away to watch the fight, she knew that he had.
“Be nice,” Janette giggled. “He’s just doing his job.”
“Yeah, well – I’m not a piece of meat or a tasty bunny for his wolf to chase.” Morgan snorted. She’d had enough of being chased, she didn’t need a shifter to join in the hunt.
Callum eyed the two witches standing together like conspirators in some crime against humanity. Witches were devious creatures, and he didn’t think they were plotting to overthrow the alpha and harm the pack, but they were whispering to each other, and over the continued roars and grunts of the gathering, even his ears couldn’t quite pick up on everything that was being said.
Those crystal blue eyes of hers did keep flicking his way to see if he was still looking at her, and heaven help him, but he couldn’t seem to not look.
What he hadn’t been able to do yet was identify her scent. With a crowd full of sweaty shifters, inside the bar and out of it, it was hard to isolate her essence from all of the nasty smells around him.
He’d rather not sniff at the moment – wedged between Tyler on one side and Justice on the other – there was enough testosterone fuelled sweat in the air for his liking. Add to that another dozen or so shifters, between the clan and the pack, and he wanted to keep his nose well out of it.
But he did want to take her scent. That thought gnawed at him, and his beast was showing some interest in her too.
His length might have been at half mast, but every time his eyes met hers it sprung back to life. He was more than damn horny, he needed to work off some of the tension that the atmosphere had created within him.
The trouble with being an enforcer was the almost constant need within him to brawl. Cracking heads was just a by-product of his nature, and the excitement that the fight was creating within the male shifters was like a red rage to a bull… or a wolf for that matter.
It didn’t matter if you were a wolf shifter or a bear shifter – when you got in that frame of mind it was either hit something or fuck it – and he’d much rather be taking the blonde witch down his hard length and losing himself in the moment than beating heads.
That was an unusual thought for him. It was usually a fifty-fifty split, but she was fully loaded for a man’s appetites, with those large breasts, curvy hips, and a backside that a man could sink his fingers into as he got between her inner thighs and held her up against a wall, while he thrust so damn deep that he could lose his mind…
Callum felt the rumble within his chest and tried to silence it. The woman made him hungry for loving, and he tried to shake it off, but he guessed he’d gone too long without a female on the end of his length.
He’d just settled those feelings again when her eyes flicked back to his and locked there. He growled again…
“What the hell man?” Tyler leaned in towards him. “You’re making my damn bear antsy with your growling.”
“I need a drink,” Callum scowled. “All this fighting is getting to me.”
“You wanna break some noses, there’s half a damn clan here tonight, have at it.” Tyler chuckled.
Tyler’s old clan was out in force. Each and every one of them up for two things, fighting and fucking, and he was staying well clear of them unless they wanted to press the point.
He was just after the quiet life. He’d done his share of breaking heads, of blooding, and he might have been enjoying the fight, his bear perking up a little within him, and yet his fists weren’t clenched tightly at his sides desperate for the thrill of punching someone in the face.
Callum’s strange mood was making him antsy though. He wasn’t sure what it was that was resonating from the wolf shifter, but his bear was particularly tuned to it.
“Not right now, but I might revisit that thought a while later,” Callum chuckled. He would too, if he couldn’t persuade the new female witch friend of Janette’s to spend some alone time with him.
When Cole flicked out his claws and the deep rumble echoed through his chest – Justice and the clan’s alpha, Landon, both stepped forward as one. It was time to end the fight before things went too far.
“Honour satisfied,” Landon announced and Cole’s top lip curled backwards as his bear wanted nothing more than to take the fight to the next level… “It’s a tie.”
“Damn it, Landon I was just getting started.” Cole bit back.
“Rein it in, Cole.” Landon warned.
“Let’s get a drink,” Justice announced. “Beers are on me.”
A whoop went up through the shifter crowd. People started to peel off and head back from the woods and into the bar.
“Go get cleaned up,” Justice told Maverick. His time at the bar was done for the night. Bloodied and bruised, there was no way the man could have gone back inside with the humans noticing him healing right in front of their eyes.
“Take your bear home,” Landon fronted up to Cole. He could sense that the man’s bear didn’t want to let go, pushing, clawing to be set free. “Now.” He growled the warning to his number two.
Cole grunted in annoyance. Turning on his heels; he stalked away towards the car pack.
“Next time, wolf.” Cole tossed back over his shoulder.
“Anytime, bear.” Maverick called back just as Janette launched herself at him and he caught her and swept her up into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his hips and he liked the feel of that.
“My big, bad wolf,” Janette teased.
“My beautiful, sexy witch,” Maverick growled at the thought of what he’d like to do to her right then.
“Speaking of which, do you know how hard it was for me not to zap that guy’s backside?” Janette grinned, but it was the sparkle of mischief within her eyes that Maverick liked best.
“I can only image, sweetheart.” He grinned, wincing slightly as the cuts at his top and bottom lip pulled back open from where they’d already started knitting back together.
“Go home, wash up, rest up, and I’ll be home after my shift to give you some TLC.”
“You know I’m gonna be all healed up by then, right?” He grinned and winced again.
“Good, because that wasn’t the kind of taking care of you that I had in mind,” her giggle was pure sex, and she ground herself against his hard length just in case he didn’t get her verbal point.
The growl that rumbled through his chest said he wanted anything but to go home without her right then, but she’d only had her job for a few weeks, and there was no way that she was going to risk not having it tomorrow morning.
“Tease,” Maverick growled.
“We’ll make sure she gets home,” Justice patted Maverick on the back and the shifter snorted. He reluctantly put her down onto her feet.
“And, Morgan is staying with us for a few too.” Janette motioned towards the blonde and Callum’s ears pricked up again.
Morgan. He liked the sound of her name. He could imagine growling that out as he ground into her…
Damn, I need to get a damn grip… A grip on those curvy hips… His beast growled within him.
“We’ll make sure Morgan gets home too,” Callum said, bringing her eyes towards him once more and feeling his length harden as all of the blood rushed there from his brain.
“I can take care of myself,” Morgan assured him, and one side of Callum’s lips lifted into an odd sort of a smile that sent a shot of electricity straight through her and made her stomach flip over.
“I bet you can.” The other side of his mouth rose upwards and he gave her his best, female enticing, panty dropping smile.
Morgan felt that smile deep within her. Her stomach pitche
d and rolled, and not in a bad way, but she tried her best to ignore it as she lifted her hand to her mouth and signalled to her teeth.
“I think you got a bit of fur or bunny stuck right in your front teeth there,” she teased and Callum’s hand shot up to his mouth as his smile dropped. The others chuckled, and Callum snorted.
“Funny,” he growled a little.
She’d got him. But then what did he expect, she was a witch, she was going to be feisty and sarcastic, mischievous, and a little out of hand.
He liked a challenge.
“Well, look at the material I have to work with. You make it so easy for me,” Morgan offered back. Not wanting to string the bow of his pride too tightly, but letting him know where he stood.
Morgan wasn’t interested in a one night stand, even with a man that looked like him and had a body for sin. Anything else wasn’t on the cards with a shifter – they were saving something more intimate for their mate when they found her. And Morgan was out of there in a couple of days anyway.
“Well, I’ll remember to try harder next time,” Callum felt as if she’d run her hands up his wolf’s fur the wrong way.
He could take rejection as well as most men, but there was just something about her that made it feel particularly cutting when she did it. His beast grumbled out a low, deep growl, and he had to check that crap at the door.
“Don’t try at all. It’s kind of painful to watch a grown man fail.” Morgan turned and started back towards the bar. She needed a drink, at least seventy percent proof.
“Then I’ll make it a point not to fail,” Callum called after her and heard her snort a chuckle.
“Good luck with that,” she called back over her shoulder, and Justice patted his brother on the shoulder with a hard slap.
“You’re losing your touch, brother.” The alpha chuckle.
“We’ll see about that,” Callum shot back.
“No, we won’t,” Janette scolded her pack brother and Callum turned his eyes back on her.
“I’m just playing, Jan,” Callum assured her.