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

by M. L. Briers

  “See,” Connor offered and then sighed. “Well, you did ask.”

  “Will you kill him for me?” She shot a look at Connor who looked positively gobsmacked, and so very desperate not to fall out of the tree laughing. He would have raised his hands if he wasn’t holding her.

  “Don’t drag me into this lovers tiff,” He chuckled.

  “Lover’s tiff. The man probably goes at a woman like a bull in a china shop.” She snorted her contempt again.

  “I can be gentle,” Cole growled back. He didn’t think there was going to be much gentle when he finally got his damn hands on her tonight, but he could be gentle…

  “You’re – a – b-e-a-r.” Mari tossed back at him.

  “I’m a man too, you…” he bit off the rest on growls and mutterings, and try as she might, she couldn’t overhear what he was saying.

  “Go ahead,” she announced and brought his attention back up to her as his black eyes were ablaze with anger. “Dig your own damn grave, I dare ya!”

  “It sounds preferable than a life with…” he muttered again and she growled. She could put the last word in that damned puzzle without his help.

  “Then run back to your clan and-”

  “Your clan too,” he ground out and Mari’s mouth fell open in surprise.

  “No it’s bloody well not!” she growled harder, louder, and deeper than before.

  “There’s no way in hell I’m joining this pack,” he snapped back.

  “And I’m not joining your clan!” she snapped.

  “Ah, it sounds like a divorce, but in reverse.” Connor chuckled.

  “Stay out of this, vampire.” Cole growled, almost running into what was left of a stubby gnawed tree stump sticking out of the ground but was being shielded by the undergrowth. He jumped it at the last moment and Mari couldn’t take her eyes off him as his muscles rippled and his erection waved at her.

  “I wouldn’t dream of getting involved,” Connor announced. He made it to the back of Mari’s cabin and pondered what came next…

  “You already have.” Cole planted his feet and eyed the man that had his mate in his arms. There was nothing more that his bear wanted to do than rearrange the vampire’s limbs, but the man himself wanted something more – he wanted Mari.

  “You mean when I saved your mate from your clan that wanted to-”

  “Don’t – even – say – it.” Cole growled out.

  His bear had a special place for each and every one of his bear clan within the unwritten pages of his little black book. It might not have been entirely their fault that they’d gone after Mari in the way that they had, and on another day, with another woman, his mind might even have been warped, swayed for the same reasons, but he still needed to settle a score with each and every one of them that had been there.

  It was a sense of honour and pride within him.

  Right then, he had a more pressing need. Like wooing his mate and making sure that the female didn’t try killing herself for the third time that day, and those were the instances that he knew about.

  “You’ve got to come down at some point, Mari.” Cole turned his attention to his mate.

  “He’s right, you do.” Connor offered on a whisper that he was sure Cole heard too.

  “He’s just so…” Mari took a breath and a moment to think.

  “Big?” Connor offered.

  “Bombastic, arrogant, mean,” Mari snorted downwards.

  “I’m none of those things,” Cole lied. He might have been a little of each, but not with her… not now that he knew she was his mate.

  “Actually,” Connor started and Cole growled.

  “Stay out of this,” Cole snarled back.

  “See…” Mari pointed to him as if he’d just made her point for her, and Cole snapped his head back on his neck as if a mirror had just popped up in front of him and he’d caught sight of his reflection.

  “The vampire is annoying!” Cole growled.

  “You’re annoying. Connor has saved my life twice, what have you done? Run me off the damn road,” Mari tossed back.

  “No, I didn’t,” Cole shot back.

  “Yes, you did,” Mari tossed back at him and Connor groaned.

  “Are we back to that again?” He offered.

  “No, we’re not, Cole’s leaving,” Mari snapped and Cole had a look of pure disbelief and disgust on his face as if he’d sucked on his first lemon.

  “I’m not leaving,” Cole growled.

  “He’s not leaving,” Connor offered with a small chuckle.

  “Well then I am,” Mari snorted her contempt for her mate.

  “You really want me to carry you somewhere else, because immortality only goes so far…” Connor offered.

  “Put her down or I’m coming up,” Cole growled.

  “Hold onto your damn bear, we’re talking here,” Connor snapped down.

  “Don’t you dare,” Mari growled the warning down at her mate.

  “That’s it,” Cole growled stalking towards the base of the trunk and flicking out his claws…

  “We can be ten trees away by the time it takes you to lift those big feet of yours off the ground,” Connor warned him, and Cole’s chest rose and fell with the breath that he sucked in and forced back out again. “And trust me when I say that your bare ass stuck up a tree trunk would be in no way as cute as a bear cub.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mari growled at the thought. It sounded a little hungry to both men’s ears and Cole growl back.

  “Ok, that’s it. I’m getting the hell out of here,” Connor said and Mari panicked.

  “Wait, what? No,” she wrapped her arms tightly around Conner’s neck, and he sighed, detaching her from him was going to take just a little effort.

  “Let go,” Connor warned and Mari shook her head, a look of stubborn determination on her face.

  “You can’t leave me yet, with him,” She practically hissed like a witch.

  “I think you’ll do just fine,” Connor assured her, raising just one dark eyebrow and grinning back at her.

  “Connor,” Mari started, but Connor looked down towards Cole.

  “I only hope you don’t have butter fingers.” Connor chuckled and Cole’s eyes went wide as Mari practically shrieked in understanding of what Connor was planning to do.

  “Don’t you…” Mari said, but Connor had already let go of her body, and she was hanging by her arms around his neck, swinging helplessly as she tried to get her feet onto the branch that Connor was standing on.

  “Let go,” Connor bit out as he tried to keep his balance with the little she-wolf swinging from his neck.

  “Pull me back up,” Mari hissed out in panic.

  “Let go or your mate will be catching both of us,” Connor reached up and tried to pry her hands from his neck, but the woman had a grip like superglue and she wasn’t letting go. Connor groaned in annoyance.

  “If you drop me, so help me I will…” Mari’s eyes fired with every single evil thought that she’d ever had.

  “Too late,” Connor tickled her under the arms, and with one hell of a scream that had him groaning as his ears rang ten kinds of bells and whistles, she released him, dropping like a stone into the waiting arms of her mate.

  Cole grunted as her elbow caught him square in the face, and he stumbled backwards, ending up on his backside on the ground with his mate sprawled out over him… Mari tried to shake his arms free from around her body, but he had her in a death grip…

  Then, as the feel of her naked body lying over his took a hold, he growled like a hungry bear at a honey pot. Mari’s head snapped up and her eyes locked with his. She felt the grip of the mating pull, but not as tightly as she felt the grip of her breeding cycle kicking up a gear or two inside of her.

  “Score one for the bear with the bad attitude,” Connor chuckled. He should have taken off, but he was still unsure as to what Cole’s damn bear was thinking… well, not entirely unsure, he knew exactly what the bear wanted, but it was
more a case of how he was likely to go about it that worried Connor.

  “Don’t you growl at me like that,” Mari felt the rush of excitement inside of her. Her mate sounded just as damn good to her ears as he felt beneath her body.

  “I don’t mind a woman on top,” Cole grinned, and right then and there, Connor knew that Mari was going to be just fine.

  “Probably better get used to it, Mari likes to wear the trousers,” Connor bit out before he hopped to the next tree.

  “I like her out of her trousers,” Cole’s eyes didn’t leave his mate’s. But hers snapped down towards a Cheshire Cat grin that was slowly forming on his lips, complete with a little fang, and she gasped in annoyance.

  “Damn oversexed bears,” Mari snorted, still trying to wriggle free of the hold that he had on her. The sound of a groan that caught in his throat thrilled her wolf and made ears pick up. “As for you, vampire. This won’t be forgotten.” Mari growled.

  “From you, Mari, I’d expect nothing less and will expect a kick in the balls at your earliest opportunity.” Connor teased, but that gave Mari pause for thought, and a moment latter Cole’s eyes almost bulged out of his head as she brought her knee up into his groin…

  ~

  CHAPTER NINE

  ~

  Mari scampered back away from the big man as soon as his arms released her, and Cole rolled onto his side, his hands cupping his balls, and a glazed look in his teary eyes. As she brushed her hands off and turned to look up at Connor there was an evil look of victory in those big brown eyes of hers.

  “Thanks for the wakeup call,” Mari grinned, before she started towards her cabin with something of a spring in her step.

  Connor winced at the sight of the downed bear shifter. He knew that pain well, as most men did.

  “Bony elbows and knees,” Connor called down, before chuckling as he started away from the cabin.

  He had a feeling that Mari was going to handle her bear mate just fine. He couldn’t say the same for Cole with that feisty little wolf.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Tania rushed towards Mari just as she tossed open the door to the cabin. Excitement in her eyes and a big grin on her lips as she shot a look at Cole who was writhing in agony on the ground.

  “He’s a big one,” Tania rushed out and Mari tossed a look back over her shoulder.

  “It’s not like you haven’t seen him before,” Mari shrugged.

  “Not… naked!” A chuckle burst out from her lips and Mari snorted.

  “I’ve seen bigger,” she called, making sure that Cole could hear her through the rushing of blood within his ears and the sound of his heart beating loudly.

  “W-w-ho-se…?” Cole managed to push out, although not in one whole breath.

  “Never you mind,” Mari grinned as she turned back to look at Tania with a victory smile.

  “You’ll make him paranoid,” Tania leaned in and whispered.

  “Good, he might work harder,” Mari chuckled back, equally as quietly.

  “I – h-heard – t-that,” Cole growled in between snatched breaths.

  “Not deaf then, just daft,” Mari didn’t turn to look back at him this time.

  “So, it’s true, he is your mate?” Tania asked and Mari snorted in annoyance.

  “Fate seems to think so,” Mari growled. “Although why it would give me a bad mood, bombastic, arrogant, rude, brawly bear, I don’t know.”

  “I wonder,” Tania shot back sarcastically and Mari frowned. “Sounds like a good match.”

  “With him?” Mari turned to point a finger of contempt at Cole, just as he was dragging himself to his knees, his hands still cupping his balls, red faced, fire in those glazed eyes, and breathing in short pants. “Ha!” She snorted.

  “Look at him,” Mari scowled. “He’s a knuckle dragger.”

  Tania chuckled. The sight of Cole brought down a peg or two to his knees was amusing.

  “But earlier you said…” Tania reminded her and Mari cut her off fast.

  “That was the breeding cycle talking,” Mari announced and heard the low, deep rumble of a hungry growl come from Cole’s direction.

  “Well, be careful what you wish for,” Tania chuckled again at the sight of Cole trying his damnedest to pull himself up to his feet, grunting, growling, and cursing as he blew out pained breaths.

  “I didn’t wish for him. He ran me off the damn road,” Mari tossed back.

  “I did – not run – you – off the road!” Cole growled out, pushing up to his feet and rolling his eyes in his head as the pain shot through him. He groaned, Tania snorted a chuckle, and Mari’s eyes grew wide as she realised he was healing fast.

  “Gotta go!” Mari bit out as shot inside and slammed the door behind her. Tania stalked towards Cole and tilted her head to one side taking him in from his toes to the top of his head and everywhere in between.

  “You’ll learn not to piss her off,” Tania snorted and Cole narrowed his eyes on the she-wolf.

  “I did not run her – off the road,” Cole offered as he bit down on his annoyance, and Tania snorted another chuckle.

  “Don’t tell me, tell her.” Tania grinned

  “I tried,” Cole growled.

  “Think of her as the female version of you, and you’ll be halfway to understanding her moods.”

  “I don’t like this mood,” Cole growled out as his eyes snapped towards the cabin and the challenge that waited behind that door.

  “This isn’t a mood, this is normal.” Tania lied, but the grin that she offered him said otherwise.

  Cole groaned long and hard. Wooing his mate was going to be painful.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Justice drove up the muddy roadway cut into the earth towards the clan’s settlement. He wasn’t thrilled about being on the bears land, and his brothers weren’t thrilled about him going alone, but it had to be done.

  A courtesy call from one alpha to another over the snafu that had taken place earlier. It was only right.

  Justice didn’t know where the hell he was going. He assumed that one of the cabins belonged to Landon, and yet he didn’t know which one. It wasn’t as if the clan had the pack over for barbecue or likewise the other way around.

  But the sound of the squeaking door to his right caught his attention as he ambled on down the road. Landon’s striking frame sauntered out onto the wooden porch, and Justice pulled his truck over.

  By the time he was out of the vehicle and heading towards Landon, the big bear had taken up an easy stance with his foot wedged onto the first stair up and his big arms folded over his barrel chest. Justice could sense the eyes of the other bears on him from all around.

  There was no immediate posturing involved, but Justice was still on alert for any sign of trouble brewing.

  “Justice,” Landon nodded a head in welcome.

  “Came by to make good for what happened earlier with my brothers and the she-wolf.” Justice sauntered towards Landon at an easy pace. He didn’t want to give the bear any reason to go into bad mood mode.

  “I hear we’ve got a mating going on,” Landon sighed. Things were certainly going to have to change around his clan with a mate and possible cubs on the horizon.

  “Who’d have thought it, our people joined by blood?” Justice wanted to point that out to the bear just in case the man hadn’t already considered it.

  Landon stared off into the distance, but Justice knew that every inch of him was prone and ready to fight should he need to.

  “Yep,” Landon didn’t sound overly happy.

  “Problem?” Justice asked as he stopped a good ten feet from Landon’s porch, giving him enough time to react should the bear come at him.

  “With the bunch of screwy misfits in this clan, I just never really saw it happening.” Landon narrowed his eyes on nothing at all, but it saved him meeting Justice’s.

  “Better get used to it,” Justice said and Landon dragged his gaze
towards the wolf.

  “Meaning?” He demanded. His gravelly voice getting deeper.

  “Meaning, your crew are getting to that age,” Justice gave him an easy smile. “Even you.”

  “You first, wolf.” Landon shot back. He didn’t like the idea of finding his mate. His clan weren’t exactly the easiest bunch to get on with, him included, and it would take some strong women to keep his boys in line.

  “Yeah,” Justice sighed inwardly, but he guessed the bear caught a look or a mannerism.

  “She’ll turn up,” Landon offered and Justice’s eyebrows met over his nose. “Seems like your pack are all finding their mates lately.” He offered. Noting the look in the wolf’s eyes. Unlike Landon, it seemed that Justice longed for a mate of his own just like Tyler had.

  “Kind of busy at the moment keeping everyone else’s mate in line.” Justice lied. It had gone surprisingly smoothly so far, he just hoped it would continue in the same vein.

  “You got yourself some witches,” Landon snorted a chuckle.

  “That we do,” Justice offered back.

  “Hmm, let’s hope my crew aren’t as… blessed.” Landon offered and Justice chuckled.

  “Tyler’s not complaining,” Justice saw Landon’s eyes flick downwards and then back up again at the mention of one his own.

  “Tyler’s a different kind of personality compared to the rest of us,” Landon knew that to be true. He didn’t think any other member of his crew wanted to find their mate just yet.

  “He’s a good man.” Justice offered and Landon nodded. “I trust the mates will be part of your clan.”

  “Kind of depends on who wears the trousers in that coupling,” Landon had heard of Mari, she was trouble, a hothead, and he was sure that she’d been the one waging a one wolf vendetta against his clan.

  “I think Cole will win out, eventually.” Justice informed him.

  “I hope so or that boy will get his share of ribbing around here.”

  “Mari needs a firm hand, but not too firm, or she’ll bite.” Justice informed Landon and the man nodded again.