by M. L. Briers
“The wolf’s mate,” he offered back and got a sting in the tail for his trouble as she unleashed her magic on him. He grunted in annoyance.
“See, all fighter,” he bit down on his anger. “Run along and play with your mate.”
“Want another one?” Harley hissed. She wasn’t ready to accept a mate- especially a wolf mate- maybe if it had been a vampire…?
“Let me the hell go,” Colin growled out. His beast was calming within in, soothed by the fact that she was right there in front of him and showing no signs of taking off again.
Harley eyed him for a moment before she started a slow walk towards him. Her eyes never left his. The way that she walked- that look in her eye- it was like she was sizing him up- and he noted that in that moment she was more like the hunter than the prey…
Colin swallowed down hard, resisting the urge to go to her and drag Ross along with him. He wanted to see what she would do- wanted to scent her at source- wanted to know her…
Then Harley made a show of looking around him to where Ross was clamped onto his jeans.
“Fashion statement?” Harley’s eyes flicked back to Colin.
“You ran from me,” Colin’s words accused and berated her at the same time.
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Harley folded her arms across her chest and strummed her fingertips against her becep as she watched him twist his head to one side and he narrow his eyes on her.
“Not your type?” Colin’s eyes flicked towards Barker and his beast growled at the thought that went through his mind. Barker caught that look and held up his hands in surrender.
“Just friends,” he offered. “Let’s not play a game of tag with the vampire.”
Colin snorted and turned his attention back to Harley. She was a pint sized bundle of trouble, and his mate- What the hell was he going to do with that?
“A pup with wolf issues? Hardly my type.” Harley tried her best to look unimpressed, even if her body tingled with recognition the closer that she got, even if her feminine interest was starting to pique, and even if he had soulful eyes that held her attention more than they should have.
“Wolf issues? What wolf issues?” Colin shot back.
“You mean apart from the one attached to your ass?” Harley smirked.
Colin grunted in annoyance. He turned his upper body around and his fist closed… Ross’s eyes went wide, and never the martyr to the cause, he immediately released his jaws, shooting back on his paws a couple of steps, out of reach of the angry beta.
“Solved,” Colin bit out as he turned back towards Harley with a smirk.
“You might have the wolf off your butt, but I’m sure you’ve still got a stick up your ass,” Harley snorted her contempt for him.
“Well as his mate- maybe you can pull it out?” Barker chuckled to himself.
“Then what?” Harley said with only a glance at Barker before she turned her attention back to Colin. “Play fetch with it?”
“Did I mention her sharp tongue?” Barker snorted another chuckle, but Colin didn’t look impressed.
“She’s Fae- I guess I could have expected nothing less,” Colin shot back.
“Someone likes getting zapped,” Harley muttered.
‘Maybe you should try wooing your mate…’ Ross offered.
‘Maybe you should butt out,’ Colin snapped back.
‘Maybe I should sink my fangs back into your backside…’ Ross growled back.
‘When you two are done acting like Tom and Jerry, I’d like to get back to my mate,’ Benjamin growled.
“Go ahead, I’m not stopping you,” Colin waved an absent hand at his brother, but practically convulsed when his mate hit him with another bolt of magic that locked his muscles up and made his knees weak… It felt like an eternity until she finally let him go, but when she did; he growled long and hard in annoyance.
CHAPTER FOUR
~
“What the hell was that for?” Colin growled out in disbelief.
“You said go ahead,” Harley shrugged, “I’ve never been one to turn down the chance to zap an idiot.” She beamed him a smug smile.
“I was talking to my brother,” Colin growled out, shaking off the residue magic that clung to him and made a few muscles twitch here and there.
“Well,” Harley started with a small shake of her head and a little shrug off her shoulders, “You should have been more specific.”
“I’ll hold up sign cards with people’s names on for you, shall I?” Colin bit down on his annoyance.
“Don’t be facetious,” Harley snorted.
“I don’t even know what that means,” Colin sneered back.
“I’ll buy you a dictionary. You can read, right?” Harley dismissed him with a wave of her hand, and she turned on her heels and went to take a step back towards Barker, but Colin’s hand snagged her wrist and he spun her back towards him.
‘Oooo, below the belt,’ Ross sniggered.
“I can read your intentions and you need to stay where I can see you,” he offered.
“Short-sighed- in every sense of the word. If I wanted to run- you couldn’t stop me.” Harley smiled sweetly, but his eyes narrowed on her, taking her in, and trying to decide what to do about her.
He’d found his mate and there was no getting away from that, but did he want her? He had the distinct impression that she could try the patience of a saint, and he certainly wasn’t one of those.
“I’m sure the three of us could manage to keep you here,” Colin offered back, knowing that his brothers wouldn’t allow her to get away from him again. Running from a mate was like playing Russian roulette, and the odds were never in the female’s favour.
“Four,” Barker offered with a small smirk and a slight raise of his hand like he was asking to use the toilet. Harley turned to offer the vampire a death glare.
“You’re on their side?” She bit out with quiet disbelief- so much for friendship, she thought.
“I’m on the side of true love, soul mates, fate, and happily ever after,” he shrugged his shoulders, but the look in his eyes told her that he was enjoying himself.
“Then you’re living in la-la-land,” Harley snorted her contempt for him as she tried to break the hold that Colin had on her wrist- without magic it wasn’t going to happen…
So she zapped him again.
“It appears we all are,” Barker grinned, “enjoy.”
“Would you stop doing that?” Colin growled out, but he still hadn’t released her, if anything, his grip had tightened as his muscles had tensed from the pain of her magic.
“I’m a witch, its second nature,” Harley gave him an innocent smile, but that smile didn’t reach her eyes.
“And I’m a wolf, should I bite you every two minutes?” Colin growled back.
“Only if you want to lose your fangs down the back of your throat,” Harley hissed. Her eyes flashed with a challenge that his beast wasn’t entirely sure it wanted to rise too.
With one quick yank of his arm; her body was against his, and when his other arm came around her waist he locked her in place. Harley’s head snapped back on her neck and her fiery eyes locked with his blue ones. She felt the flash of awakening within her- a warmth deep down inside the very depths of her womanhood that swept through her body and ignited every inch…
“Do not zap me,” Colin warned. His eyes started to darken as he stared down at her, mesmerising her as she watched his emotions reflected there- from bright blue to black.
“But it’s just so tempting,” Harley’s eyes flashed with amusement, but there was something beneath the smile on her lips, a nervousness that he was picking up on.
“Drop your shields and let me scent you,” Colin growled.
“I think not,” Harley offered back. She was more than conscious of another three pairs of eyes on them at that moment in time.
Colin wasn’t about to argue the toss with her. He had a need to scent her up close and personal, and being her
mate, he was sure that he could still pick up her true essence in the same way that he had in the clearing. It might not be as potent, but it was still there.
Colin dipped his head towards her neck and felt her body tense in his arms, he’d expected nothing less. Brushing his cheek against hers seemed to loosen her stance a little, as the connection of skin on skin buzzed through them, but as he nuzzled between her neck and her shoulder, ready to take her scent, she tensed once more.
“I’m not going to bite- just yet,” he whispered against her ear and felt her body melting just a little more. The soft curves of her body fitting smugly against his hard ones, yielding in places, and make him hotter than hell.
Harley felt his hot breath against her ear like a caress, and there was little that she could do to keep her body on high alert when that touch sent a wave of tingles over her skin.
She knew about the mating pull, fate’s little joke that ensured mates mated, and she wasn’t conceited enough to believe that she could deny it, but she didn’t have to welcome it with open arms either.
Every hair on her body stood to attention when his nose brushed against her skin. Every inch of her body was primed and on alert for more, and when he drew a breath in, taking her scent, she felt that too.
Harley’s mind was elsewhere- running down routes that she would have dismissed, had it not happened so suddenly that she’d been taken unawares by it, but the sound of a deep rumble, like distant thunder, brought her right back to him as that rumble entered his throat and caught there on a long growl of knowing her.
“Can you not?” Harley bit out- trying to fight against the logical conclusion that was staring her right in the face, and then he was… practically nose to nose with those dark eyes of his somewhat hungry.
“I think we both know that I’m not going to be able to help myself,” Colin growled with the beast in his voice.
“Then let me give you a hand,” Harley wasted no time in bringing her knee up to his balls, but just before she’d managed to make the connection, he’d spun her around in his arms and locked her back against his chest.
Caught off guard, she should have been grateful that his strong arms were there to stabilise her, but she wasn’t, just miffed that she’d missed her intended target and the opportunity to disable him. Now trapped against him.
When her eyes found the smirk on Barker’s lips, she had the urge to zap the vampire, if she couldn’t let her frustration out on her mate- then he seemed the next best thing…
“Uh-uh, play nice, Harley,” Barker warned her.
“Harley,” Colin growled at the feel of her name on his tongue. He liked it. “Like the bike-”
“Like the hare’s meadow,” she snapped back.
That was a new one on Colin. He frowned for a moment, but then a smirk spread across his lips.
“Hare as in rabbit?” he chuckled, “guess that’s fitting as I caught you.”
“Oh look, the wolf made a funny,” she hissed out. But she was done playing nice and being teased.
Sending out a magical shockwave through her body, one that he couldn’t defend against, made him grunt with annoyance, and made her feel a whole lot better about thing, especially when he released her.
Harley stepped away from him the moment that his arms dropped away. She turned back towards him and eyed him with mistrust and annoyance, and he eyed her right back.
“You need to stop doing that before you really piss me off,” Colin warned her.
“I’m quaking in my boots,” Harley offered back with a mock shiver.
‘I’m kinda liking this one,’ Ross chuckled and Colin grunted in his direction.
‘You would,’ Colin growled back.
‘Your mate not to your liking, brother?’ Ross chuckled again. It wasn’t his backside that kept getting fried, and he’d done his time in the mating arena, it was kind of fun to watch it from the stands.
‘Like you were happy that your mate was a witch,’ Colin growled out.
Harley watched Colin and the wolf with interest. She could tell that something was being said between them because of all the looks that they were giving each other, not exactly stealthy…
“You two need a minute?” She asked.
“Why, you got something else in mind?” Colin shot back.
“Castration,” she gave him a mischievous smile, and for one long moment he was sure that he saw glee within her eyes.
“I think she meant that,” Benjamin chuckled.
“She did,” Barker met her glare with just one raised eyebrow, baiting her to deny it.
“Better sleep with one eye open, brother,” Benjamin chuckled as he turned to leave. On an afterthought, he turned to look back at the vampire, “you’re welcome to come with us.”
“Thank-”
“I’m not going anywhere with him,” Harley pointed a finger at Colin and turned her nose up at the thought- she wasn’t yet done with taking a stance and letting her so-called mate exactly where she stood.
“Hard way it is then,” Colin took a step towards her.
“You really wanna lose your balls, wolf?” Harley slowly wagged her finger towards him.
“Tandy’s the alpha’s mate,” Barker offered as if out of nowhere, and Harley frowned hard. One muttered curse later and she sighed hard.
“Fine,” she bit out. “Looks like I am coming home with you.”
Colin wasn’t sure if he was all that relieved by her change of heart. While he wasn’t overly fond of being zapped, and he had to guess that there would be zapping if he’d tossed her over his shoulder to carry her home, he’d also been kind of looking forward to the whole- caveman carrying off his mate- thing.
“After you,” he motioned for her to go before him.
“At least he’s a gentleman,” Barker leaned in and whispered when Harley didn’t move.
“Nah, he just wants to keep one of those beady wolf eyes on me,” she snorted.
~
~
~
Meredith was mentally rubbing her hands together at the thought of another mate turning up. The reality, when the hunting party finally returned, had been a different matter entirely when her eyes locked onto the vampire that strolled to the threshold and stopped to wait while he was invited in. Benjamin opened his mouth to speak, but Meredith got there first…
“You!” she hissed, turning a paler shade of white at the sight of him.
For a long moment Barker just stared at her- his eyes taking her in. Of course, she knew that the years had not been as kind to her as they had to him, and she cursed herself for saying anything…
“M-e-r-e-d-i-t-h?” Barker said slowly as if he was testing her name on his tongue.
“Yooooou!” she managed to hiss out once more, before lifting her hands and unleashing the power of her magic…
Barker felt the blast hit him in the chest before he’d even considered what it was that she was doing or had a chance to sidestep it. The pain seared through his whole body a heartbeat before he was shot backwards… he groaned inwardly at the thought of the impact that was to come…
CHAPTER FIVE
~
“Meredith?” Tandy questioned her as the old witch started towards the door…
This time; Barker missed Ross’s truck completely, flying over the top of it and landing unceremoniously on his backside, making a slight vampire butt sized hole in the earth, before flipping over, and he ended up face down on the ground in an untidy heap with his face against the grass and a loud groan of pain escaping his lips.
“I’ll kill you before you get me,” Meredith bit out, sounding a little insane as she raised her hands once more, fixing to blast him again for the fun of it… Tandy acted quickly and knocked her hands down before she had the chance to unleash another bolt.
“What’d he do?” the younger witch rushed out.
“Him and his damn cousin are the reason I ended up here in the first place,” Meredith sneered with anger.
“That was all Claude…” Barker bit out- he tried to shake off the sting in the tail, and yet she’d hit him hard enough to ring his damn bells that he could have sworn that they were actually ringing inside his head.
“You were hunting me,” Meredith called back.
“Tandy?” Benjamin looked to him mate.
The vampire was her friend and that was the only reason the man was still on pack land. She shrugged her shoulders, unsure what to say…
“He’s always been a friend,” she offered, knowing that her word would be considered that she was vouching for his character.
“I was trying to get you out of town,” Barker jumped to his feet, not looking too stable, and testing his limbs just to make sure they were still attached.
“I’m supposed to believe that?” Meredith scowled at him.
“Frankly, your beliefs are not my concern.” He wasn’t about to argue with the woman. His cousin had hunted and hounded her until she’d managed to disappear, and from her aged appearance, he assumed that was some decades ago- he’d thought her dead, so it wasn’t as if he’d been counting the days.
He’d believed that she’d been slain by his cousin’s hand. Had cut his kin off and hadn’t seen him since under the presumption that he’d killed her. Now here she was, half a lifetime later, and fitting to end him. Boy, had he not seen that coming!
“You’re not helping yourself, vampire,” Benjamin growled out.
The alpha had taken up a protective position near his mate and Meredith. Ross, still in his wolf form, had circled to one side of the bloodsucker. While Colin had moved into position of the other side of the man.
“I have no need to defend my actions to you,” Barker bit out.
“Barker, just tell it how it is before something kicks off,” Tandy pleaded and watched him roll his eyes in annoyance.
If he didn’t like Tandy that much then he’d tell them all to go to hell. He wasn’t prone to having to defend his actions, certainly not to a wolf pack. But that pleading look in his friend’s eyes managed to hit the damn guilt button inside of him every time.