by M. L. Briers
HIS MATE
BROTHERS
COLIN
BY
M.L. BRIERS
Copyright © 2016, M L Briers
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced whatsoever without written permission of the author, except for brief exerts in reviews. Any unauthorised reproduction or distribution of the material herein is illegal and may result in criminal proceedings. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to the internet or distributed via electronic or print without prior consent.
Note from the Author;
All names, places, and incidents contained herein are purely fictional and have no basis in actual events or linked to actual Humans, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Lycans, Werebears or persons living, dead or undead.
Copyright © 2016, Cover Design by Clarissa at Yocla Designs.
Table of Contents
HIS MATE
BROTHERS
COLIN
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A note from the Author;
Books you might enjoy by ML Briers:
Other books you might enjoy in the A B Lee and M L Briers series are:
CHAPTER ONE
~
Colin had kept his head down for almost a month. He did what he needed to do around pack land, and he certainly didn’t volunteer for any trips down into the village where he could have run into a mate.
At the first sound of a car, he was off like a rocket on fast paws or legs in the other direction, and that was working out for him- he was thwarting Meredith’s evil little plan to call his mate to him, and finally, he wasn’t feeling the need to sleep with one eye open…
But it was wrecking his social life.
Whenever he ran into Meredith, she had a look on pure amusement on her lips, and mischief within her eyes. He wanted to wring her neck, and he hated that he loved her like a second mother- or he just might have.
“You know, boy, it doesn’t matter how much you hide, fate will still find you.” Meredith called out to him in her bright and breezy tone as she strolled towards the main house.
She’d taken to guiding Ross’s mate, Leanne, in all things magic, and the woman was better able to control her magic now- at least, people weren’t getting zapped on a regular basis anymore. At least, not by accident.
Even with two new mates, and witches to boot, things were kind of returning to normal around the pack. Except for the drooling from his brothers- but then he guessed that a new mate made a guy kind of horny, to say the least.
“You know I hate you, right?” He offered back in a sing-song voice that made the old woman snigger.
“Then I’m not repentant,” she shot back.
“You were never repentant,” he eyed her with disbelief.
“True,” Meredith nodded to herself, “but with age comes wisdom, and you’ll see, your mate will be a blessing.”
“A damn curse,” he muttered. Turning back to his truck and dismissing the old woman’s folly.
It was true that he felt a little envious of his brothers. They looked happy, they seemed settled, and having mates agreed with them. But he wasn’t envious enough to throw himself into the path of an oncoming bus that- once it hit you- there was no recovering from.
The sound of a car speeding up the long dirt road that led to the main house made his head snap up and his eyes narrow on the occupants… with the spring sun on the windscreen, he couldn’t make out who was inside, but he didn’t recognise the car itself.
A heartbeat later and he was off- disappearing around the side of the house and across the back garden in the general direction of the woods.
Just in case was now the mantra that he lived by.
~
~
~
“Colin just took off like a bat outta hell- guess company’s coming,” Tandy chuckled from her vantage point in front of the kitchen sink at the back window. Just at that moment the broom that was propped up beside the back door fell to the tiled floor with a loud clatter.
“Company certainly is,” Meredith chuckled at the thought of the young beta trying to outrun his fate.
“I can’t believe you called his mate,” Leanne shook her head. “Perhaps giving him another year or two and letting nature takes its course would have been fairer.”
“After all, there are a couple of year’s difference between the brother’s ages, so he gets less time to sow his wild oats,” Tandy agreed.
“But more time to have lots of pups,” Meredith chuckled again, and her eyes flashed with glee at the thought of all of those babies that would soon fill the house.
“Broody much?” Tandy shot back, and noted Leanne as she practically groaned and dropped her head to regard her hands in her lap.
Tandy eyed Meredith, and the old woman raised her eyebrows up on her forehead and wiggled them, a smug smile stretching her lips.
“Something you want to share?”
“Me?” Leanne looked a little taken aback, “nope.”
“Oh, spit it out. I can feel it from here,” Meredith urged her.
“You can?” Leanne’s eyes widened.
“Nope,” Meredith chuckled. Leanne practically growled at her.
“That’s not fair,” she snapped.
“I cheated, but I’m getting older by the minute, and at my age that’s a lot.” Meredith shrugged innocent shoulders.
“You’re pregnant?” Tandy asked and Leanne shushed her on a deep scowl.
Tandy gave her an expectant look and Meredith chuckled excitedly, more than happy at the prospect of the first pup. She wasn’t getting any younger and she wanted to see the house filled with mischief makers before she went boots up.
“I might be… I’m… late,” Leanne whispered back.
“What are you late for?” Benjamin asked as he strolled into the kitchen and snatched up an apple from the bowl, before strolling towards Tandy and wrapping his arms around her to the deafening sounds of silence.
Each witch looked guilty of something as he eyed them in turn.
“An appointment in town,” Tandy finally offered. “And I’m going with her.”
“The keys to my truck are by the front door,” he said as Leanne pushed up to her feet and gave Tandy a quizzical look. Wondering if they were really going to have to drive all the way to town just to cover her tracks.
“Let’s… go then.” Tandy said, looking as if she’d backed herself into a corner that she couldn’t get out of.
What was done was done. Tandy couldn’t come up with any kind of reason not to go through with it now. She motioned with her eyes for Leanne to set off, and luckily the witch took the hint. Following on after her…
“You know how much I hate driving this mountain,” Leanne whispered as they neared the front door.
“You want me to explain why we’re not going?” Tandy gave her a poignant look back.
“Not… right this moment in time, no.”
“Then grin and bear it. Besides, we can get you a test while we’re down there,” Tandy whispered back.
“Test for what?” Ross asked as he came down the staircase and eyed the two of them at the front door.
Tandy’s hand stopped in
mid reach for the bunch of keys on the side table, and Leanne’s hand hovered over the door handle. Nobody said a word…
“Gotta go!” Tandy announced loudly, snatching up the keys with one hand and slamming her other hand down over Leanne’s to a startled yelp from the witch as the door sprung open and tried to hit her in the side…
“Hold on, what’s…?” Ross started to ask, but just as he did; Leanne turned towards the open door and the sight of the man who was stalking towards her…
“Vampire!” She screeched… the pain in one hand forgotten, and she thrust the other hand outwards and launched her magic towards the bloodsucker…
Unfettered by restraint; Leanne’s magic blasted him in the chest like he’d just walked into the path of a cannonball. His arms and legs were thrust out in front of him as his body caved in on itself…
“Nooooo…” Tandy realised too late to try to block Leanne’s magic from taking the man clean off his feet and blasting him through the air.
Her eyes snapped wide at the sight of her friend, Barker, being propelled a good forty feet away from them- the look of pure shock on his face would have been laughable had it been under different circumstances…
“That’s gonna hurt….” Tandy managed to get out before the vampire started to come down to earth with a loud, sickening thud against the roof of Ross’s truck- the metal caved in under the force of the blow from the man’s body…
Ross was at Leanne’s side in a heartbeat. He’d already wrapped his hand around her wrist and had pulled her behind the safety of his body, a growled warning for the unknown bloodsucker on his lips, as his eyes looked on in disbelief at the fate of his truck…
There was a distinct groan that went up from Barker’s lips as he lay in the dipped roof and counted how many bones he thought might have been broken by the fall. The pain was better than death, but only marginally…
“That’s what happens when you don’t call ahead,” Tandy called to him and heard another groan in response… She couldn’t help but snort a chuckle as she slapped Ross on the shoulder… “Stand down, I know this one and he’s relatively harmless.”
“Harmless?” Leanne’s voice screeched against Ross’s sensitive hearing.
“Right at this moment I am,” Barker groaned.
“He’s a friend,” Tandy offered, “kind of.” She shrugged one shoulder. It had been Barker’s cabin that she’d been heading towards on the day that she’d met Benjamin.
“Whoops,” Leanne shrunk down behind Ross’s back.
“You really hate my truck,” Ross grunted as he eyed his ride. It was the second time in a month that she’d managed to kill the damn thing.
“I…” Leanne started to protest and then gave up, “sorry.” She ground out.
“Not as sorry as I,” Barker tested his limbs with another groan.
“You’ll live,” Tandy called to the vampire with another snort of laughter. Then she turned towards Leanne- the woman was part ashen and part red-cheeked from embarrassment. “You look in need of a chair.”
“I’m fine,” Leanne scowled, distracted eyes taking in the vampire.
“In your condition…” Tandy started and the sound of a snap as Ross’s neck protested the way his head shot towards her was like a wakeup slap to her senses, and she grimaced…
“Condition?” He growled, turning towards his mate fast. “You have a condition?”
“I…” Leanne’s eyes shot towards Tandy, hoping that the witch could dig her out of another hole… Tandy grimaced again, following it up with an apologetic look towards Leanne. “Guess I do.”
Leanne gave up and gave in. In the month that she’d known Ross, she’d come to learn one very valuable thing about him- he could be like a dog with a bone- and this wasn’t going to be the exception to the rule.
“What condition?” Ross’s deep growl underlined his words. His eyes narrowed on his mate’s…
“When a woman says condition, it can usually only mean one damn thing,” Barker groaned as he slowly eased his upper body to a sitting position and groaned again at the feel of his bones mending. “Ergo, I forgive you for zapping me. I’ll put it down to hormones- this time.” He bit out.
Ross’s eyes snapped to the vampire and back to his mate. Leanne looked decidedly guilty of something- he scented the air, once, twice- his beast yipped within him, and Ross came to the sudden realisation… that his mate just made him the happiest damn man on the planet…
“Seriously!” He beamed her a smile that brightened her mood.
“Well…” she started, but before she could get another word out of her mouth, Ross had snatched her up into his arms and they were stalking off down the hallway…
“You should sit!” Ross growled protectively.
“Sit?” Leanne scowled.
“Rest,” Ross nodded to himself, “Zapping bloodsuckers must take it out of you.” Now he was talking to himself and Leanne shot a look over his shoulder at Tandy…
“Gee, that sounds like a good idea,” Leanne bit out, and if looks could kill, Tandy thought she might just have ended up on Barker’s lap. She offered her friend a small, helpless shrug.
“What a welcome, nice to see you too, Tandy.” Barker grunted in annoyance and brought the witch’s attention back around towards him…
“This is what happens when you arrive at a witch’s house unannounced,” Tandy mocked him and he snorted his contempt for her.
“You didn’t call. You didn’t even write… I was- worried.” He offered and she snorted her contempt right back at him. Her hands went to her hips and she gave him an old fashioned look.
“And yet it took you a month to come find me,” she offered back.
Barker slapped his palms down on the roof and vaulted down to his feet. He took a moment to smooth out his clothes and readjust himself.
“I dropped by your place and found everything gone.” He admitted.
“So you knew I wasn’t dead and buried on the mountain,” Tandy folded her arms across her chest and regarded him with a smirk.
“True,” he started towards her, but the sound of another deep warning growl halted him in place. His eyes locked on Benjamin as he came up the hallway towards his mate. “And I was in the area.”
“And you can leave again,” Benjamin growled out.
“I’m thinking the hospitality around here… kinda sucks.” Barker offered towards Tandy and she couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Barker, meet my mate, Benjamin. Alpha, my friend, Barker.” Tandy stood between them like the last line of defence from all out war.
“Wonderful,” Benjamin growled. The thought of a vampire on his lands didn’t bring him immediate joy and a warm fuzzy feeling within.
“Right back at ya, Yappy.” Barker grinned.
“Play nice,” Tandy warned the two of them.
“I did nothing,” Barker expanded his arms and shrugged innocent shoulders towards her, but the smirk on his lips said it all, and Tandy couldn’t help but sigh inwardly… this wasn’t going to be a picnic in the park.
~
~
~
Colin slowed to a brisk walk. He might have overdone the distance that he’d put between himself and the unknown occupants of the car, but in his mind- it was better to be safe than sorry.
He started down the steady incline towards the wreckage of Tandy’s car and consoled himself that he’d at least get this task finished today. Removing the tree that had been felled on top of her vehicle, not by lightening as once thought, but by Meredith in her bid to keep Tandy from getting away, had become something of a chore, but one he was glad to undertake now as he retreated from any possible threat of meeting his mate.
Colin grumbled, growled, grunted, and mumbled his way down to the uneven track that served as a roadway for the cabin at the top, and then he froze in place at the sound of the footsteps coming from his right. His head snapped around and his eyes searched for the intruder… female, by the lightness of the step�
�
His muscles tensed in readiness to take off as fast as his legs could carry him- a female was a danger that he didn’t want to meet head on, not considering he was on borrowed time after Meredith’s meddling- when the scent of jasmine and vanilla caught his attention, and try as he might to resist the urge to take in that scent, he breathed in deeply…
Harley’s eyes took in the tousled mop of dark hair and the few days old stubble that clung to the strangers face, and she stopped in her tracks. His dark eyes were locked and loaded on her and she saw the way that tension held his body.
She wasn’t sure if he meant to run away from her or at her, and she wasn’t about to take any chances with Barker’s warning still ringing in her ears- that there were both Lycans and werewolves in these parts. She pulled her shields close and her magic closer.
Neither one spoke as they stared across the wreckage of the car. Neither one moved a muscle. Both held spellbound by their mistrust of the other…
Colin could feel the magic in the air. Her Fae scent reached out to him like the hand of fate, and he wanted to howl at the injustice of it all… Was this witch his mate?
He eyed his escape route out of there, but a slight movement from the woman made him snap his eyes back towards her. He saw her eyes narrow, saw her top lip quiver as she gave him a look of mistrust, and his beast stirred within him- curious.
“You have a problem with me?” Harley was done waiting. The man looked shifty, guilty, and she recognised the warning bells that rung from the supernatural attack on her shields that came from being in his presence.
“I…” Colin was momentarily lost for words. Yes, if she was his mate. No, if she was just a witch that was happening by… “Don’t know…” he admitted.
Right then, he wasn’t sure which way was up. She was close enough for him to take in her scent properly, to find out if she truly was his mate, and yet, he resisted that urge, that need to know the truth.