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

by M. L. Briers

  “You have a mate, yes?” Connor offered and she offered him a sigh. “So go play… mate things.”

  “He gets sleepy when the snows out.” She shrugged.

  “And you want to cause trouble while the bear dozes. How very… witch of you.” Connor grinned.

  “Stop pouting, you’re starting to look like the alpha.”

  “Stop making the alpha pout before he takes a chunk out of you or your mate.” Connor shot back and she snorted. “If you’re that bored why don’t you take a stroll off to clan land, pick a fight with Mari, and start world war three?”

  “Thought about it.” Chelsea shrugged again.

  “And what does your little witchy heart desire?” Connor asked on an internal sigh.

  “Not to be bored.” She whispered back, as if he was five.

  “Well why don’t you go and force Tyler to wake up? Even a sleepy bear shifter will get all rowdy for a naked mate.”

  “But he won’t fight me,” she admitted and Connor frowned.

  “Your sex life is no concern of mine.” He grinned and she pouted.

  “And I do need to keep my hand in, which is where you come in.”

  “Oh, no.” Connor shook his head. The one thing that he really didn’t need was an angry bear stalking his backside. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, have I made my point clear enough?”

  “He doesn’t have to know and if you damage me too much you can give me your blood.”

  “Because he wouldn’t scent my blood in your veins.” Connor raised both eyebrows and she sighed.

  “Okay, hadn’t thought of that.” She snarked back.

  “Well, it’s lucky one of has a brain that isn’t in their fists.” Connor offered back.

  “But I want to hit something,” Chelsea groaned out.

  “Again, what you have a bear shifter mate for.” Connor offered.

  “He doesn’t want to damage me,” Chelsea sighed.

  “But that’s what vampire blood is for.” Connor offered back with a smirk.

  “You’d think.” She huffed.

  “Ah, I see your dilemma. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” Connor nodded as if thinking that through. “And it sounds as if I’d be damned either way, so – no. Find another patsy.” He turned on his heels.

  “But, you’re the only sucker that might have fallen for it.” Chelsea sniggered and Connor tossed her a look back over his shoulder.

  “Not in this lifetime, little witch.”

  “Come on, Connor!” She grumbled. “From the last time I saw you fight you could use a little training and workout yourself.” She called as he trudged away from her.

  “Not going to work. I don’t have an ego…” that big…ish…

  The next snowball caught him right on the back of his head, and there was a little witch magic behind it. He face planted the snow…

  Connor lay there, face buried down in the icy chill of the white stuff that he hated so much and he groaned in annoyance. He had to admit to himself that he hadn’t expected that.

  “I gotcha ya good.” She teased as she stalked towards him, teasing and baiting him.

  Connor didn’t move. He was in two minds about killing her and making it look like an accident, but Tyler would be broken hearted and he’d seen the big man that way before. He couldn’t do that to slow-bear… not that easily provoked at any rate.

  The second that she got too close, he kicked out with one leg and spun over onto his side, sweeping her feet out from under her and dropping her down onto her backside in the snow.

  Her hands disappeared into the deep snow as she propped herself up and grimaced. Then she wrinkled her nose.

  “Okay, so I got too close.” She grumbled and he snorted a chuckle.

  “Yes, you did. Complacency is the mother of all stupidity.” Connor agreed.

  “When you put it like that,” she huffed, turning up her nose at him. “This is why I need-”

  “N-oooo.” Connor groaned in her direction. “A one off to heal my pride and ego, that I don’t have.”

  “Which don’t you have?”

  “Either-”

  “Good to know.” She smiled.

  “Ohhh, fine!” He bit out and then grumbled something under his breath. “But when the bear finds out, you’d better give him some extra honey.” He pushed up to his feet and offered her his hand.

  Her grin was one of triumph, and instead of taking his offer of an outstretched hand, she blasted him through the air and half buried his body in a snowbank. He groaned.

  “I didn’t know we’d started.” He grumbled.

  “Complacency is the mother of all stupidity.” She offered back, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

  “Good to know, and be sure – I won’t make that mistake again.”

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Eat.” Justice put the plate down on the countertop and watched as she eyed it from a short distance away. A frown still played on her forehead and it only got deeper the longer that she looked at his offering.

  “What is that?” She asked.

  “In loose terms, a stew. With the generator down the frozen food and meat were lost, so until I can hunt, that is made up from tinned goods that were in the cupboards.”

  “Stew?” She brought her eyes up to his, questioning him.

  “I did say in loose terms.” Justice growled a little, and then caught it when he watched her eyes narrow on his.

  “I’m-”

  “Don’t say not hungry. You must be. Just try it – it actually tastes better than it looks.” He lied, he hadn’t tasted the damn thing yet, but it smelled halfway decent.

  “It would have to.” She sniffed the air, as if the scent of food wasn’t all around them all ready, and he had to smile.

  “Just…” he shot a fork along the countertop with perfect aim, it stopped its travels right in front of her. She grimaced.

  “Waste not – and all that,” she was still grimacing when she picked up the fork and edged closer to the bowl as if the contents were going to jump out at her.

  “It’s not a live squid, I think you’re safe to approach, and the harpoon fork is unnecessary, it’s dead.” Justice chuckled. “Here, look.” He picked up his fork and scooped from his bowl straight into his mouth, then he chewed a little and his eyes narrowed before his face twisted.

  He swallowed hard.

  “God, that’s vile.” He snatched up both bowls and turned them towards he sink. A small snigger sounded in the air around him and he turned back to see a small grin of amusement on her face and victory in her eyes. “In an ideal world I’d go get us some fish.”

  “In an ideal world I’d order take-away pizza.”

  “On the mountain? Good luck with that.” He chuckled again.

  “What? Did you eat all the delivery boys?” She shot back and Justice was dumbfounded. His mouth opened but nothing came out. Then he slowly twisted his head to one side and just stared at her in disbelief.

  ~

  CHAPTER SIX

  ~

  Justice tossed his head back and roared with laughter. Sophia tried to fight the urge, but there was no way that it would be denied, small chuckles escaped her lips like machine gun fire, until she just gave in and let it go.

  Then Justice bit down on the laughter and tried to look a little guilty as she eyed him.

  “It was the paperboys, and now the pizza drivers refuse to deliver.” He offered and watched her eyebrows climb up her forehead before she started to laugh in earnest again. “I blame the bears.”

  “There are bears on the mountain?” She grew a little more serious and Justice wondered if he’d said something wrong, put his foot in his mouth now that she’d relaxed a little more.

  “A clan, just down a way,” He offered as he tried to judge her mood now.

  “Bears don’t stay long around a tyrant pack of wolves.” Sophia said, as if to herself.

  “I’m no tyrant, although, I gues
s I have my off days.” Justice tried to keep it light, and when her eyes flicked back towards him they seemed brighter.

  “So witches in your pack, bears next door… do you have a hobgoblin I should be aware of?” Sophia climbed up onto the stool that was raised to high for her height, and Justice would have offered to fix that for her, but he decided that keeping his distance would be a better option for now.

  “How do you feel about Vampires?” He asked as he lowered his chin and regarded her from under long, black lashes.

  “Plural?”

  “One.”

  “Friendly?”

  “Too damn friendly.” Justice bit out.

  “Depends of the vampire. I find they are an acquired taste – no pun intended.” She gave a small shrug. Justice grinned.

  “Connor certainly is that.” Justice offered back.

  “Sarcastic, annoying, busybody?”

  “All of the above and more.” He groaned.

  “The best one’s usually are. They’re usually the oldest too.”

  “I never have managed to find out how old.” Justice informed her, but it hadn’t been for want of trying.

  “Faeries? Trolls under a bridge?” She eased a little more. He noted that her shoulders had lost a little more tension.

  “Not so I’ve noticed.”

  “No little piglets around hiding inside straw houses?”

  Justice opened his mouth again but just chuckled and shock his head. Then he leaned his palms onto the counter top that ran between them and leaned his upper body weight on his hands. He didn’t lean in too far towards her, not wanting to push his luck, but he got a little closer to test the waters.

  “If I’m the big bad wolf in that scenario, then there isn’t much to worry about.” His eyes locked with hers and she never dropped her gaze.

  “That would kind of depend on who the piglet in the story was, no?” Her words spread a wide smile across his face, and for the life of her she couldn’t take her eyes on him. He dazzled, he mesmerised, and she felt the slightest of tingles against her shields…

  Sophia gave a little gasp in as that feeling washed over and then was gone. Justice’s eyebrows drew down.

  “Are you alright?”

  “I think your spell is starting to wear off. I felt the alarm bells against my shields.” She pulled her eyes away from his and searched for answers on the counter in front of her, trying to latch onto that feeling again, waiting to see if it would come back.

  “That’s a good thing.” Justice informed her and her eyes flicked back up to his. She didn’t say a word, but her eyebrows were practically dancing, alternating between a frown and surprise.

  “Soon I’ll know if you were lying or not.” She’d become serious once more and Justice felt a low growl rumble inside of his chest and quashed it.

  “Soon you’ll know that I’m your mate.”

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Wait!” The word shot out of Connor’s mouth, but the snow was already headed in his direction. Whipped up by Chelsea’s unseen hand and her magic, and deposited down on top of him in such bulk that it knocked him to the frozen ground and buried him.

  Connor groaned at the heavy weight that pressed down on every inch of his body. He started to dig, and dig, and dig, until finally his hand found the air above. Then he literally clawed to the surface.

  “Dracula has arisen from the dead!” Chelsea called just before she bent in half and let the laughter at the sight of him emerging from the chilly white stuff roll out of her.

  “That was an unfamiliar feeling. I did say wait,” Connor bit out.

  Snow clung to every inch of him, even the ends of his eyelashes that he batted up and down to clear as he yanked himself fully out of the drift and grumbled some inconvenient truths about having a witch in the pack.

  “Never take a witch to a snow fight.” Chelsea chuckled as he tossed her the evil eye and started to brush down his clothes.

  “I wasn’t aware we having snow wars,” Connor grumbled and she chuckled some more.

  “Where’s that sense of humour now, Vampy?” She teased.

  “Oh, let me see…” Connor made a meal of looking around him. “Possibly still buried in that.” He pointed downwards to the snow hill that he was still standing on.

  “Well, dive back in and get it, why don’t ya?” Chelsea tossed back at him, along with another snowball that caught him upside the head. He closed his eyes and tried counting to ten… it didn’t help.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you are a horrible person?” Connor sneered.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh,” Connor frowned. “Well, I concur.” He straightened his jacket and with gentle grace; dropped the fifteen foot or so to the ground. An almost silent landing in the world of stillness.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “So you should be.” Connor tossed back, but Chelsea looked innocent, too innocent for his liking, and he narrowed his eyes on her expecting more. “For what exactly?”

  “I didn’t realise you’d land on a big stick, maybe you should reach around and pull it from out of your ass.”

  Connor groaned once more as her eyes fired with amusement again. That innocent façade long since gone. He huffed.

  “I’d say that you could do it for me, but I think your mate will have a problem with that.” Connor shrugged.

  “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him…” she went to continue, but the sound of a deep rumble from behind her that resembled distant thunder rolled over her skin like a lover’s touch, like her lover’s touch, and she grimaced.

  “You walked me right into that one,” she hissed towards Connor, who grinned back at her.

  “And you threw two snowballs and an avalanche at me,” His grin widened. “Witches be bitches, love, but payback always a bigger bitch, and my life’s work.”

  “What I don’t know won’t hurt me?” Tyler’s growl rolled deep within his chest and she grimaced, then shot Connor the evil eye, before she wiped all expression from her face and turned to face Tyler.

  “Well,” she started then stopped. “The thing is,” she paused again and rolled her eyes to the sky to try to think fast on her feet. “Funny story-”

  “Chelsea was bored so she goaded me into fighting with her. Then she used her magic to try to kill me…” Connor got out in one long breath against Tyler’s growl. Chelsea’s head spun on her neck like an owl and she hissed at him…

  ~

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ~

  “You’ll pay for that,” Chelsea ground out.

  “You first,” Connor chuckled in a sing-song voice that riled her to the bone.

  “Bored?” Tyler asked, and her head snapped back around towards him. She flustered.

  “Well – not – bored – soooo much, as a lack of things to do.” She offered and Tyler scowled at her.

  “So, you thought you’d seek the vampire’s company?” Tyler demanded, with his hands going to his hips like a fussy witch.

  “Not so much,” Chelsea denied. “I tossed a snowball at the alpha first, but he didn’t want to play.” She shrugged.

  “So, the alpha then the vampire?” Tyler’s eyebrows took to trying to meet his hairline.

  “I… caused Callum to fall down a hill when I accidentally…” He dropped one eyebrow, “On purpose,” she swallowed. “Dislodged a snowbank he was running on.” She gave Tyler a sweet look of innocence. He snorted.

  “You’ve had a busy day,” Connor chuckled and she hissed at him over her shoulder.

  “And you did the washing,” Tyler offered and Connor saw the witch practically shrink in place.

  “Just trying to be… err… helpful.” Her voice had become a lot quieter now.

  “And dyed all of my shirts pink,” Tyler growled.

  “Bra,” she offered; her face looking pinched as she looked anywhere but at him. Connor chuckled again. Tyler swallowed a growl.

  “The one with the…?” He mot
ioned to his chest where he would have had breasts if he was lucky enough, because Tyler could spend hours just playing with hers.

  “Black embroidery,” she nodded.

  “Liar, liar, bra on fire.” Connor whispered and she spun and hissed at him, but time when she looked back at Tyler the man’s one eyebrow was up again.

  “Fine, it was a sock!” Chelsea ground out in exasperation. She shot a look back at Connor. “Happy? Snitch!” She practically growled.

  “One should never lie to one’s mate.” Connor teased and her eyes narrowed on him.

  “Some lies are good lies.” She offered back.

  “How so?” Connor demanded.

  “Well, if Tyler told me my ass looked big in my favourite jeans I would fry his backside. That is a good lie.” She looked triumphant.

  “So how is a red bra rather than a red sock a good lie?” Connor asked to the sound of Tyler’s deep growl once more.

  “Hear that?” Chelsea motioned towards Tyler as if he was on display.

  “No,” Connor shot back and she sighed.

  “Wait for it,” she offered and Connor folded his arms across his chest and shrugged his shoulders. “Red bra.” She offered to her mate and the sound of another growl rolled through Tyler.

  Connor twisted his head on his neck and eyed the man.

  “Black bra red trim…” She said and Tyler growled again. “Black lace push up bra.” She purred and Tyler’s growl deepened and went on for longer.

  “The man likes lingerie,” Connor tossed up a hand.

  “It puts him in a happy place. Good lie.”

  “Ah, so you are using Tyler’s weakness against him,” Connor grinned at her and she narrowed her eyes on him and hissed.

  “Huh?” Tyler scowled. “What weakness?”

  “Sex.” Connor said and Tyler brightened at the thought, another growl rolling through his chest. “You’re really not my type slow-bear.”

  Tyler growled differently this time. His big hand came up and he pointed a finger of warning at the Vampire.