by M. L. Briers
“Aren’t you just the charmer?”
“I can be,” Luke said.
“You gonna throw me a line?” She said. “Because, I have to warn you fishing with a witch can be entering dangerous territory. You saw what happened to Dane.”
“Ouch.” He grimaced. “But I suspect Dane wasn’t just throwing out a line.”
“Still, you can never be too careful.”
“Sure-sure, I get that, but I don’t think you have it in you to do that to me.” When she raised just one eyebrow, tipped her head to the side, and gave him a wicked grin … He had to wonder if he’d misjudged her. “… Maybe I’m wrong.”
“Do you really want to take that chance?”
“Now that you mention it…” Luke chuckled. “I feel it’s time to get a drink. Do you partake?”
“Does a hippo like mud?” She grinned, but Luke made a show of pulling back away from her to give her a little space.
“Do I look crazy to you? Making a hippo comment is like juggling live grenades, and sweetheart, I like my balls right where they are.”
“I take your point, and I’ll take that drink,” she chuckled.
~
~
~
Sarah was looking for Jessica, but instead, when she turned the corner, she ran headfirst into Rory. She’d managed to shake Paul off of her tail, or at least she thought she had. Either way, she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of him in about twenty minutes.
“Have you got a hot date or are you running from one?” Sarah scoffed, but the look on Rory’s face said she’d hit a bum note.
“Don’t even get me started!” Rory bit back.
“That bad?”
“Oh – my - sainted aunt!” Rory rolled her eyes up into her head, lifted her hand, and then she slapped herself on the forehead.
“He can’t be that bad!” Sarah giggled like a schoolgirl, but Rory just shook her head in disbelief.
“Don’t count on it.”
“Well, I think I’m being stalked,” Sarah leaned in and whispered.
“I take it this is your mate we’re talking about?” Rory chuckled.
“Some would say,” Sarah gave a small helpless shrug off her shoulders and then sighed.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Rory leaned in and whispered.
“Maybe we should take a leaf out of their book and pounce on them when they least expect it.”
“No need for me to do that. I‘ve already made sure that my mate knows where he stands … or rather kneels with his balls in his hands.”
“Oh no, you didn’t?” Sarah scowled back at her sister. “That’s just mean.”
“He accused me of flirting,” Rory scowled back. “I thought I’d make my point.”
“And I’m sure he got it!”
“Oh, he got it alright,” Rory placed her hands on her hips and gave a little nod of satisfaction.
She felt no guilt … or maybe just a little, but the way that she saw it, it was definitely all his fault. He had been the architect of his own doom.
She knew that mates were jealous and possessive … but the man was on another planet. She didn’t flutter her damn eyelashes at any man, and that included him.
The big oaf in wolf’s clothing!
Just as she was about to elaborate and tell Sarah so, Rory caught sight of Paul as he poked his head around the corner and snatched it back again real fast when he knew he’d been spotted.
“Stalky mate behind you,” she whispered to Sarah, and her sister sighed once more. “Maybe you should let him catch you.”
“Says you,” Sarah scoffed.
“Well you know what they say; don’t do as I do…”
“I think I’ll pass on that one and keep my own counsel on this, but thanks for the talk,” Sarah offered back with a small scowl of disapproval that her sister was all gung-ho about pushing her under the bus, and yet, there she was crowing about doing mischief to her own mate.
“So, do you like him?” Rory teased and watched as her sister’s cheeks turned a nice red hue.
“Go away!” Sarah hissed back.
“Ah, come on, Sarah … what’s not to like?” Rory teased some more.
“I will do you harm…” She warned.
“First do no harm,” Rory shot back, using the witches creed against her sibling.
“Says you, and what did you do to your mate?”
“Taught him a valuable life lesson, and besides, he’s not a witch,” Rory offered back with a wicked grin.
Outwardly she projected just what she wanted her sister to see, but inside she was cringing. That little tap – tap – tap on her shoulder from the hand of guilt was getting rather annoying, and she wished it would just go away.
“So that makes it better?”
“That makes it …” Rory stopped talking and took in a long, steadying, thoughtful breath as she tried once more to shake that guilty feeling. “Oh, fine! I’ll go apologise.” She bit out begrudgingly. Then she abruptly turned on her heels and walked away from Sarah as her sister chuckled.
“Maybe offer to rub them better,” she called after her on a snort of another chuckle.
Then Sarah remembered that her mate was lurking somewhere behind her and that smile dropped from her lips.
“Hey! Wait for me,” she snapped out, setting off on fast feet after her sibling.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“What do you take in your Scotch?” Luke asked as he finished pouring in the fiery liquid and went to replace the bottle on the side.
“Scotch – keep pouring!” Abi said as she motioned with her hand for the size of the drink that she felt she needed. Luke gave a low chuckle and a slow nod of his head.
“Is there something that you want to tell me?” He asked, teasing once more.
“Yes, my family drive me to drink, and now yours does too,” she scoffed back.
“Well, I hear Scotch is good for what ails you,” Luke handed her the glass and she scoffed at his words.
“Well then, you’d better take the glass and I’ll just take the bottle,” she offered back.
“I think that now we have a little alone time, we should be thinking of ourselves,” Luke tested the waters.
“Alone time? With four witches in the house,” she snorted a chuckle, “that’ll never happen.” Abi turned and went to park her backside on the nearest chair when a loud yelp sounded through the house and jarred her right back up to her full height again. “See!” She tossed up a hand towards the door and started off on fast feet in the direction of that sound.
Luke was in front of her in a heartbeat. His large frame blocked the doorway and she had to pull up short or risk spilling her drink as she crashed into him … and she really, really needed that drink.
“Now hold on there a minute!” Luke cautioned her. “If one of your girls was in danger then I’d be the first one out of that door, but that was a male, pained yelp … if anything, one of your girls probably just did a Rory and used their knee or their magic.”
“Yep, I agree that was definitely one of my girls that caused that … and here’s the thing, if I’m not there to stop them…”
“They have mates now,” Luke offered back, trying to make her see reason. “Those boys have got to learn their lesson, and they’ve got to woo their women.”
Abi frowned at his words. Then she sighed and took to worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Oh how he’d like to do that for her. His hard length twitched inside of the fabric restraint.
“I suppose in some sense …” she gave a little shrug, “but Rory is zap happy, Jessica’s not happy, and Sarah’s…”
“Hey, I know their mum … I’m sure they all have a good head on their shoulders, even if they are a little … headstrong.”
Abi thought about that too. Luke’s argument was logical, and yet she couldn’t help but be worried, and worrying led to guilt, and guilt led to rolling up her sleeves and diving into their problems…
> “Ya think?” She grimaced a little at the thought of letting them fend for themselves for once.
“I know,” Luke offered back.
“And what qualifies you to be Yoda?” Abi was back to playful, and he liked that.
He expected that between her mother and her girls that Abi had carried the weight of the world upon on her shoulders … well, that wasn’t going to happen any longer because that was his job now.
“Age and street smarts,” he offered back. “Besides, I know my pack, and those three are good men.” He assured her and she huffed a little.
“Well, I do really want this Scotch,” she gave another little shrug.
“Oh, it’s a good Scotch … nice and smooth, and best to drink it sitting down in a comfortable chair.” He gave her a devilish grin, and she turned on her heels and breezed back across the room.
~
~
~
“That was uncalled for,” Scott grumbled out a long, deep growl as he hopped on one foot and pressed and rubbed hard over the toecap of his boot trying to get to the five throbbing digits inside.
“I don’t know …” Jessica wrinkled her nose and gave a small shake of her head. “You did kind of ask for it with the whole lip locking thing.”
“I kissed you,” Scott growled. “That did not warrant you stamping on my foot!” He grumbled back as his lip curled in annoyance.
If she had been one of his brothers then he would have decked her already, but she was female, and his mate, and he would never raise his hand to either.
“It didn’t?” She offered him a wide eyed look of pure innocence. “Whoops! My bad.”
Jessica raised a hand to her chest and grimaced for his benefit, but she could feign innocence and an apologetic look all she liked … he could see the truth of it in the glint of amusement within her eyes.
“And you liked it!” He said it as if it was an accusation, which, in a way, it was.
He couldn’t understand why she’d turned all she-devil on him.
“What? Stamping on your toes? Well, yeah, it was kind of satisfying…” she admitted.
“The stamping, sure, but the kissing – you liked the kissing.”
“Says you!” She snorted a chuckle of disbelief, but even that fell on deaf ears…
He’d felt the way that her body had responded to him. She could say what she liked, but they both knew the truth of it.
“There were two people in that kiss.” Scott declared.
“One slobbering and drooling, and the other trying to escape … hence – the foot!” She motioned with both hands to his aching digits like a model at a car show, and he snorted his contempt for her protest.
“Tell it someone who wasn’t a part of that kiss,” Scott growled back, as he finally let go of his foot and stood upright again.
“Fine… there you go, I just told myself…” she sneered and he grunted back. “Maybe if you had more experience with the female sex…” she gave an innocent little shrug…
“More experience?” he growled.
He took a step towards her and she wondered if she’d gone a little too far in wounding his pride and his manhood all in one fail swoop. He gave another grunt of annoyance, and she caught her bottom lip with her front teeth and tried not to grin up at him … maybe she’d not gone not far enough…
“Are you going to list your conquests?” She snarked back.
“A gentleman never tells,” he bit out.
“Nothing stopping you then,” she rallied right back at him and folded her arms across her chest.
“I have honour,” Scott growled. Now she really was going too far.
“Okay, Mr Fancy Pants,” she wiggled her head on her neck and dismissed his protests with a wave of her hand. “Just don’t try that again.” She warned him.
“Like ever?” Scott scoffed at that idea.
His mate might have been a she-devil, but he was damned well going to woo her if it was the last thing that he ever did … and judging by the look in her eyes when she’d wounded him … it just might be the last thing he ever did.
~
~
~
“I suppose this is all you do all day, rocking back and forth on your silly chair,” Celine scoffed and Richard groaned inwardly.
Every word out of his mate’s mouth was either a snide remark or absurd, sometimes both together. He didn’t know how her family hadn’t sent her off to a retirement home already…
“Well, now you’re here…” he offered back, and muttered something unmentionable in polite society under his breath … not that she was polite, but he was still old school.
“Oh, I don’t think so!” Celine shot back. “You can think again if you believe that I want anything to do with you, you ratty old dog.”
“Batty old fruitcake,” he grumbled back… and scowled up at Rory as she swept into the room. “Another one!” he exclaimed. “Please tell me you’ve come for your grandmother.”
“Sorry,” Rory had to grin.
She’d spent years trying to escape her Gran’s snarkiness and she was only too happy that the woman finally had someone else to aim it at.
“Well, don’t just stand there, Rory, you’re making the place look untidy … what is it that you want?” Celine asked.
“Dane,” Rory said, and then frowned hard, “well, I don’t want Dane…” she rolled her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head at the thought. She needed to remember to filter…
“Haven’t seen the growly one from the petrol station since we were all in here together earlier,” Celine offered back, and Rory raised her eyebrow on her head and gave one big nod.
“Okey-dokey,” she turned on her heels to make a quick exit, not wanting to get dragged into the old people’s squabbles.
“Wait!” Richard called after her. “Don’t leave the old boot here take her with you and allow me some peace!”
But Rory was already gone.
“Mutt!” Celine grumbled and Richard couldn’t help but chuckle to himself at her expense.
~
~
~
Sarah had run out of corridors to walk down. She’d turned and found herself at a dead end. Well, not dead exactly … there was a broom closet, and she didn’t much feel like hiding out in there to escape her stalky mate.
She grimaced as she turned on her heels and made a dash back the way that she’d come in the hopes that she could make it in time before he got to the top of the corridor, but with only a few feet to go … there he was, and he looked mighty pleased with himself.
“You are a very nosy witch,” Paul said with a teasing smile and playful eyes, as she pulled up short.
“I’m not nosy!” Sarah protested.
“Is there an inch of the downstairs of this house that you haven’t covered yet?”
“I … well, that’s not being nosy…” she turned her nose up at that idea.
“No?” he teased.
“No.” she shot back on a frown.
“Then you felt you needed some exercise?”
“I … was being thorough, learning all the exits…” she offered back on the hop.
“I didn’t realise that we were on a plane – or is it for when the pixies attack and we all have to make our escape?”
Sarah stopped trying to come up with excuses and scowled at his teasing. She didn’t need to explain herself to him. Especially when he was stalking her like a wolf with its prey.
“For when I needed to get away from you,” she snapped back.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“So you were planning your escape,” Paul grinned, teasing her once more because he liked the way that her nose got a little wrinkly when she got all flummoxed.
“I was …” she paused for thought, but little came to mind.
She remembered the conversation that she’d had a little earlier with Jessica in the kitchen, and the thing about a mate going rogue if he couldn’t woo his one true love, and
she had to ask herself if she really wanted to be responsible for that annoying man turning into a mindless beast and eating innocent people?
He’s got nice eyes … and okay, so he’s not a wolf at the moment, but I still hate to think of them being all roguish and insane…
I’m a witch and fate has seen fit to give me a mate … even if I don’t want one … so what am I supposed to do about that?
Let him go rogue?
Let him eat people?
Let him lose his soul…?
Geez… fate sucks the big one!
“Looking for me?” He grinned, and it wasn’t just any grin, it was a sexy, wicked grin that made her feel all funny inside. None of her other boyfriends to date could have pulled that off.
“In your dreams,” she scoffed.
One thing that she’d learned from dating so far, not that she was very experienced in that field, but still, was that you didn’t have to fall over yourself to make life easy for them … they needed to earn it to appreciate it … they needed to work for it.
She didn’t see why that shouldn’t apply to a mate too.
“Oh, you will be,” he assured her, and Sarah frowned back hard at him as she curled her top lip with disdain.
“Yuck!” She turned her nose up at that idea. She could just image where his dreams would lead him.
“True, there’s nothing like the real thing,” he teased and watched her cheeks pink up.
“Aren’t you supposed to woo me, not repel me?” Sarah ground out.
“This is wooing,” he assured her.
“This is wooing?” she snorted back.
“I think you’ll find that I’m going to grow on you…”
“Like fungus?”
“Like …” he nodded and she spat out a chuckle. Then he shook his head on a frown, “not fungus.” He grumbled. “More like a flower in the garden that you don’t think you’ll like, but then it blossoms…” he was trying for poetic…