by M. L. Briers
“Why don’t you just throw me into the dump along with my suitcase and be done with it,” Celine huffed, before she turned on her heels and swanned off into the master bedroom, using her magic to slam the door shut behind her as she went.
“That is just so damn tempting a thought!” Abi hissed on a whisper, and all three of her daughters sniggered at her words.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“Am I coming in or are you coming out?” Luke’s deep tone made the door rattle against the frame and more than reminded Abi that she wasn’t exactly alone in dealing with this mate thing.
“You should go out,” Rory rushed out the words.
“Throwing your own mother to the wolves,” Sarah said as she shook her head and berated her sister’s selfishness.
“I was not,” Rory shot back on a scowl, and a flash of guilt pinged through her mind as she turned her nose up at the idea that her sister had seen right through her. “But if I was … then it’s only because she seems to like her mate.” She said trying to defend her actions and shelve that feeling of guilt...
“She likes me,” Luke’s deep tone drifted into the room from outside and Dane grumbled something unintelligible back.
“The verdict’s still out on that one,” Abi called back on a frown that soon turned into a wicked little grin as she chuckled to herself.
“Ha! Don’t count your chickens…” Dane chuckled.
“Shut up, pup.” Luke growled back.
“Pup my…”
“Grandmother,” Luke growled over the top of Dane’s cursing.
“Hey, there’s a grandmother right here and you can have her if you like,” Jessica tossed out another chuckle and was rewarded with the sound of two deep growls.
“Thanks, we’ve already got a few cantankerous elders in the pack…” Dane grumbled back.
“I’m not cantankerous. I’m opinionated!” Celine yelled from her room, and Abi wondered if her mother was standing at the bedroom door with her ear pressed to it so that she could still hear what was going on.
“We should go out for dinner,” Luke called back.
“Dinner?” Celine yelled back.
“Good idea, take Gran to dinner!” Sarah spluttered laughter as Abi grimaced at the thought of the man alone with her mother for any length time.
The woman was enough to try the patience of a saint, and a wolf shifter certainly didn’t have that kind of patience.
Mate or not. The possibility of going rogue or not – an hour alone with her mother and that man would be running for the hills as fast as his legs could carry him, and he wouldn’t be looking back.
“I was thinking just your daughter and me, but…” Luke bit down on a grumbled growl.
He really didn’t like the idea of that woman tagging along, but needs must, and his beast was scratching and clawing within him to spend time, any time at all, with their mate.
Dane pointed a finger at the enforcer and cracked up laughing … Luke’s fist in his face made that stop as the beta rounded backwards on his heels and came back growling like a Demon Wolf…
“Not so damn funny now, is it?” Luke growled.
“You blindsided me,” Dane growled back.
“I think dinner is a great idea,” Abi said and Luke’s head whipped around on his neck as his ears pricked up.
“It is?” Jessica said wincing at the thought of it.
“Seriously?” Rory sneered.
“Well, mum’s got the hots for the hot guy,” Sarah chuckled like a schoolgirl.
“Oh goddess,” Celine grumbled.
“You’re drooling on yourself,” Dane bit out, and Luke bit down on a curse and shot a glare at the beta.
“You want to be blindsided again?” Luke growled.
“If we can all go…” Abi called.
Luke’s jaw drop downward at the thought of taking five witches out to dinner…
“Talk about being blindsided…” Dane cracked up at Luke’s expression, and Luke’s fist shot out again, but the beta was faster that time, half expecting it, and he ducked out of the way.
“Missed…” Dane chuckled, but Luke wasn’t done, and he threw his left fist and connected with Dane’s jaw, sending the man reeling backwards once more.
“You’ve gotto stop putting your face on the end of my fist,” Luke growled.
“That’s getting old real fast,” Dane growled back. “Just like you.”
“Fine,” he Luke called back through the door, and growled just a little at the beta. “We can all go.”
“I can come too, right?” Dane growled, sounding like a lovesick pup.
“Yeah, Dane. You can come too,” Luke sighed.
~
~
~
“I’m guessing this wasn’t exactly what you had in mind.” Rory hissed out on a whisper as she stood beside her mother with her arms folded and chewed an imaginary wasp while she took in the lay of the land.
They’d all decided to stick with their mother in a show of solidarity. All except Rory who had said that she wasn’t going, but she’d suddenly changed her mind when Dane had announced that he would stay with her.
“He cheated,” Abi whispered back.
“That’s men for you,” Sarah said as she leaned in and chuckled to herself.
“It’s not funny. I’m not laughing…” Rory bit out.
“God, I am, on the inside and the outside,” Jessica grinned.
“Well, Abigail, what have you gotten us into this time?” Celine offered from the back seat of the SUV, and Abi winced at the condescending tone of her mother’s voice.
“Not exactly my fault,” Abi groaned as she snapped a look at the man who had tricked her.
Luke was sauntering over in her direction and she felt like zapping him there and then.
“We’ll barbecue tonight,” Luke gave her one hell of a sexy grin as his eyes locked with hers, and just that one look raised the internal temperature of her body … she wasn’t having hot flashes yet, but she imagined they felt a little like that.
“Who are we barbecuing?” Sarah chuckled, jabbing her elbow into Jessica’s ribs and causing the woman to groan.
“I’ve got a vote right here for you,” Jessica bit back. “You’ve always been surplus to requirements.”
“The power of three, sister, without me, you’d be just be a plain old two.” Sarah hit back.
“Don’t start with me or I’ll zap you,” Jessica grumbled.
“Hey, Luke, who are they?” Janet asked.
Everyone’s attention was drawn towards the three young pups that sat on top of a wooden fence not ten feet away.
The girl in the middle with the long brown hair and the softest coffee coloured eyes that Abi had ever seen eyed them with suspicion. Abi judged her to be about seven or eight years of age, and her compatriots, two boys, to be of a similar age.
“Witches,” Luke offered back with a softer tone to his voice than Abi had witnessed so far, and an air of playfulness about him. That whole change in his attitude didn’t go unnoticed where Abi was concerned.
“You can’t bring witches is here.” Link snorted a chuckle, disbelief echoing within his voice.
“Boy are you gonna get it from the alpha,” Max’s laughter filled the air.
“Don’t say that. Luke can do what he wants, he’s an enforcer.” Janet scowled at Max, and Abi thought she detected a little soft spot in the young girl’s tone for Luke.
It was good to know that he didn’t go around frightening small children. You could tell a lot about a man by kids reacted to them, and so far, it was all positive.
“Well, we all live by rules, Janet,” Luke offered back.
He knew that when those three pups were all grown up they were going to be trouble – he kind of hoped that he wasn’t going to be the one to have to deal with them.
“Seee…” Max sneered back, lifting his hand and pinching her arm.
Janet jumped in place, and then she slowly tu
rned angry eyes on him. Then without a word of warning; she swung a punch at him as hard as she could…
Max toppled backwards from the fence and landed in the soft uncut grass with a grunt that was quickly followed up with a groan.
“Be nice,” Luke growled out, and Janet turned innocent eyes towards him.
“I was nice, I was helping him down,” Janet offered back, and it wasn’t hard to see how those eyes of hers could wrap an adult around her little finger.
“She reminds me of you,” Jessica whispered towards Sarah.
“Bite me,” Sarah hissed back, just as Max jumped back up to his feet, tipped his head back on his neck, and then he let out a loud, childlike howl…
“I’m guessing he liked that idea,” Jessica offered back to her and she snorted her contempt.
“Max, stop howling,” Luke grumbled a growl and the boy immediately snapped it off.
“It’s getting better, though, Luke, right?” Max’s wide grin made Abi chuckle. The boy obviously looked up to Luke.
“A little bit more bass and you’ll be good to go,” Luke chuckled.
“Told ya!” Max reached up and pinched Janet again, and she squirmed sideways on the fence, getting close to Link, and pressed her lips together in annoyance.
Then she lifted her hand and tossed her closed fist back behind her; powering up for another swing. This time she caught Link in the face as he leaned in towards her to get a better look, and the boy reeled backwards with a grunt, but Janet paid him no mind as she brought her fist down onto Max’s head.
“Two birds – one stone,” Rory offered, impressed with the child’s fiery temperament and the way that she stood up for herself.
“She’s a brawler,” Abi chuckled behind her hand, trying not to offer the child any more encouragement. “Kind of reminds me of you when you were little.”
“Well, you did give me two annoying sisters that liked to steal my toys,” Rory shrugged. “And nothing changes.”
“I’ll still take your toys,” Sarah offered back. “But you can keep your mate.” The smirk on her face was like a red rag to a bull, and Rory zapped her again just for the fun of hearing her squeal.
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
“Wow, can you teach me how to do that!” Janet’s eyes were alive with mischief and glee at the thought of being able to zap Max and Link any time that she wanted.
“Alas, no,” Rory offered back, and Janet looked both deflated and disappointed.
“But why not?” She asked, and those cute puppy dog eyes that were going to get her in a whole heap of trouble in later life – or were going to get her exactly what she wanted and when she wanted it – made Rory wish that she could grant her request.
“Because you’re not a witch. You don’t possess the right kind of magic needed to cast a spell to zap somebody,” Rory explained, and Luke folded his arms and watched the interaction between the pup and the witch.
He grinned to himself. He’d done the right thing in bringing the women to pack land. They were female, and pups were always a great icebreaker.
How could anyone resist cute?
“I don’t have any magic,” Janet sighed as if her heart was breaking.
“Sure you do,” Abi offered back, and Janet frowned long and hard at the thought of it, confused.
“I do?” She asked.
“You’ve got a wolf inside of you – that’s real powerful magic right there,” Abi offered back, and the little girl considered it again. Then a big grin spread across her face and she beamed happily.
“I’m magic,” she lifted her chin and said proudly.
“You are girl,” Link sneered, and Janet unleashed another punch that sent him flying forwards off the fence.
“Hey, girl, be nice,” Max gave a little growl.
“You be nice,” Janet sneered back.
“No, you be nice,” Link grumbled as he picked himself up off the ground and scowled up at her.
“Don’t have too,” Janet shot back.
“Sounds like Sunday dinner at home,” Celine offered with a snort of amusement, and the three sisters all grinned at each other.
~
~
~
“He brought them here?” Scott growled in annoyance at the thought of having five witches on his land.
The mischief that they could cause…
“Send an enforcer to do a man’s job,” Richard snorted as he rocked out in the chair at the doorway to the outside world. “Better than him ripping their heads off though, I suppose…” The elder grumbled, and Scott tossed him a look of pure disbelief, before he shook his head and returned his attention towards his brother Paul…
“Why would he do that?” Scott growled.
“Something about a barbecue…” Paul shrugged.
He’d seen them all getting out of their vehicle, overheard a little, and thought that he’d better give the alpha the heads up before something went wrong…
“We’re feeding them?” Scott grumbled.
“Look, the last place I want to be is around witches…” Paul shrugged. “But I’d stay close if I were you just in case they get all rowdy.”
“Oh, joy.” Richard snorted.
“Not so damn fast…” Scott growled out as Paul made a fast stroll towards the door like he was trying out for the Olympics. His bid for freedom was thwarted. “Go find out what he’s playing at.”
“Me?” Paul scoffed at the idea. “Why’d I get to…?”
“Because the Alpha said so,” Richard bit out on a frown.
“Yeah, but it’s not like…” Paul started to protest, but both the elder and the Alpha growled… “Oh, fine!” Paul bit out. “But I don’t have to play nice.” He grumbled as he shoved his hand into the front pockets of his jeans and his head went down as he carried on out of the barn, muttering to himself as he went.
Richard snorted another chuckle, but Scott rolled his eyes.
“Why the hell would he bring witches here?” Scott growled.
“I think that has something to do with Dane,” Richard muttered and Scott tossed him a frown.
“Dane?”
“He was mighty twitchy when he came back earlier,” Richard lifted just one eyebrow towards the Alpha and Scott’s frown turned into a full-blown scowl… Then he snatched his head back on his neck as realisation took a hold of him.
“Ya think?” He was scowling again.
“I’m just saying – the man was like a wolf at a bear convention,” Richard tossed back.
“Ohhh … nooo!” Scott slowly shook his head on his neck.
A witch mate … That wasn’t good at all.
~
~
~
By the time that Paul got back to the group again they were further into pack land and heading for the community area where the pack held all of its celebrations and events.
Luke knew that there was nothing better than a barbecue to bring out most of the pack, and Paul wasn’t sure that was such a good idea considering that he’d brought witches into the fold with them.
“You tricked me. I’m going to have to watch you in future,” Abi said as she watched Luke lift a large, solid wood garden chair as if it weighed nothing, and he placed it where he wanted her to sit, brushing off the seat with one large hand for her.
“I wanted you on pack land,” Luke’s eyes held the amusement that ran through him.
He’d tricked her all right, but if he’d flat out suggested that they go to pack land then he was sure that someone would have objected, probably the old woman, maybe the other witch mate.
Luke wasn’t about to take that chance. He wanted her on his land, on his terms, and now that she was there his only objective was to woo her. Nothing else mattered.
If she was as mad as hell at him then he’d try his best to soothe her, but she was there and he wasn’t about to let her get away from him.
“Sit,” Luke offered, but with his gravelly voice it had sounded more like a de
mand, maybe even a command, and Abi twisted her head on her neck and raised her eyebrows back at him… “Err…” He scowled, momentarily lost for what to do next.
In truth, he wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong.
“The word is please,” Celine offered in a crisp clear tone.
“Yeah, I knew that,” Luke tossed the old woman a look of annoyance. “Please.” He added.
Abi had to press her lips together so as not to smile too brightly, but the amusement was still there in her eyes when she looked at him.
Luke grumbled a growl to himself. He was middle-aged and set in his ways.
He wasn’t used to the please and thank you’s of life. He was an enforcer, and those words very rarely came up in his job.
Unless the females in the pack were claws out and brawling with each other and then they tended to offer him innocent eyes, or ones filled with remorse when he had a reason to come calling. He needed to up his game where his mate was concerned.
Not only did he need to woo her, but he needed to remember that she was a human… He was momentarily caught offguard as his Wolf raised its head within him when he caught Paul’s scent in the air.
Luke’s head snapped around in the man’s direction and he growled a long, hard warning at the unmated male and the perceived threat from the beta as he walked towards his mate.
Paul pulled up short and lifted his hands to his chest in surprise…
“Whoa, Luke … What’s up with that?” Paul demanded, but the sound of Dane growling from the other side of the group made him pause for thought…
“Stay away from my mate,” Luke growled.
Paul’s lower jaw fell downwards and his lips parted in shock. He looked at AbI and twisted his head on his neck. His hands were still at his chest and he eased his index finger downwards to point at her…
“Mate?” Paul asked.
“Not right now, thanks,” Abi shot back and he twisted his head on his neck in the other direction, looking somewhat surprised.
“You wanna rephrase that?” Luke growled long and hard at the man, and irrational or not, he really wanted to plant his fist right in the beta’s face, over and over, until both he and his wolf were satisfied.