by M. L. Briers
“O- k,” Ginny released her magic, and the first thing that she heard was the bear hugger gasping in a deep breath… then the pressure around her body eased and she drew a gasp of air for herself…
“Mine…” Michael growled out, and she didn’t need his bear hug to stop her breathing, that word did the job quite nicely as she tried to hold everything in… keep her scent to herself, as she slowly raised her eyes and stared up into jet black, hungry ones…
“Breathe,” Michael urged, and she found herself pushing out the breath only to gasp in another, before holding onto it… “And again,” Michael’s eyes shone with amusement, especially when she shook her head.
“He’s a little rough around the edges, but as mates go, he’s a keeper.” Ross chuckled harder when her eyes snapped to his and screamed ‘help me’, before they shot back to Michael’s.
She looked like a woman in the clutches of a rabid bear.
“Well, my work here is done. I’m heading back to my mate.” Ross said, before he strolled over to the wreck of Tandy’s car and snatched up the chainsaw. “I really don’t think you’ll be needing this.” He angled it against his shoulder like a pumped up, inflated version of one of the seven dwarfs.
“I might!” Ginny rushed out on the breath that she’d been holding, but the sound of a deep growl that rumbled through Michael’s chest made her suck in another breath to hold onto like a comfort blanket.
“Relax, little witch,” Michael drawled, “I’m not the big bad wolf.” He teased and her cheeks puffed out from the breath that she was holding.
“His cousin?” She breathed out.
“Not today,” Michael assured her. “What’s your name?”
“Ginny,” she looked about as trusting as a baby crocodile. “I came see my sister, not find a… a, hmm.”
“Can’t say the word?” Michael teased. She shook her head. “Who’s your sister?”
“Harley,” she offered and then frowned hard. “Did you eat her?”
Michael tossed his head back on his neck and chuckled hard. Ross had stopped in his tracks at the sound of his brother’s mate’s name.
“Nope, she’s not my type,” Michael offered.
“How the hell am I?” Ginny screwed up her face at that thought.
“Oh, sweetheart- I just love a curvy woman, and your curves are perfect,” Michael turned on the charm and Ginny eyed him with suspicion for a long moment, her cheeks blushing a deeper red with every second that ticked by.
“They are?” she dropped her chin and eyed him shyly from beneath her long black eyelashes.
“Oh yeah,” Michael wiggled his eyebrows on his forehead and was rewarded with her giggles, that was the dirtiest laugh that he had ever heard in his life to date.
“Wait, no…” she remembered that she was on a mission here, and sweet talk, no matter how good it sounded in his deep, gravely tone, was going to have to wait. “I have to get to my sister, now, before she does the unthinkable.”
Ginny shook her head and nodded it at the same time, and it rolled around on her neck like she couldn’t quite make up her mind. The same emotions were playing within her. She liked being up close and personal with a hunky, sexy, drop dead gorgeous shifter… but she also needed to get to her sister before she enacted her devious and dastardly plan.
“You’re in luck, baby,” Michael gave her an easy grin. “I know where she is.”
Ginny’s eyes lit up with glee, and for a long moment he was lost inside of them.
“Ok,” Ginny wondered why they hadn’t moved yet. Her eyes flicked around her. “Can we go or are we going to wish ourselves there?” she asked to another chuckle from the second wolfman.
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~
“Why are you here, Harley?” Tandy asked as she pushed a steaming cup, full to the brim with Harley’s favourite brew across the counter top.
Harley sat on the stool and reached with gratitude for the cup of coffee. The scent alone was worth more to her than gold. After the day that she’d had so far she could probably use something stronger, but this was good too.
“It’s a delicate matter that needs your undivided attention,” Harley started to skate around the edges, finding it easier to give her the pitch that way. The look on Tandy’s face said that she’d already lost that battle.
“Spit it out, you can only get a no,” Tandy placed her hands on her hips and gave her an expectant look. Harley sighed.
“I need a spell from you,” Harley started on a small wince that Tandy guessed she wasn’t supposed to pick up on.
“Go on,” Tandy urged her.
“I need to bind a witch’s magic to mine,” Harley’s eyes couldn’t meet Tandy’s.
“Absolutely not,” Tandy snapped back, and then Harley’s eyes were locked and loaded.
“It’s Ginny,” Harley said with an absent wave of her hand. Tandy groaned.
“Come on, Harley-”
“No, I’m serious.” Harley had always looked out for her younger sister, now she needed to stop her meddling in things that could get her killed. “She’s being… taken advantage of by every damn vampire that walks the planet. She might as well have a big neon sign above her head that says sucker here.” Harley protested.
Tandy knew that Ginny was easily trusting and even easier led. She sighed at the thought of anyone taking advantage of Ginny- it was akin to kicking a puppy.
“But to take away her magic? Harley, that’s like stealing her soul and watching the lights go out in her eyes,” Tandy shook her head.
“I know,” Harley winced at the thought.
“Well then?”
“I know, I know, but I can’t stand by and watch those sleazy damn vamps run rings around her either.” Harley scowled into her coffee cup. The brew had suddenly lost its appeal.
“Maybe you could ask Benjamin about bringing her up here and letting her live on pack land?” Tandy shrugged her shoulders when Harley’s eyes snap to hers and devoured her with disbelief.
“So the shifters can take advantage of her instead?” Harley shot back.
“They won’t, and even if they did, what’s worse, vampire or shifter?” Tandy shot back.
“Depends on the vampire,” Harley offered back.
She’d grown up knowing vampires, not shifters, and men like Barker were the exception to the rule, but they were out there. Shifters were an unknown quantity to her, and mate or not, she wouldn’t trust them as far as she could throw them- with or without her magic- where her sister was concerned.
“You have a shifter mate,” Tandy leaned in and whispered.
“Don’t remind me,” Harley hissed back.
“You’re going to be living up here anyway,” Tandy urged.
“That’s…” Harley scowled harder. “Possible.”
“Pah!” Tandy sneered.
“I’m… thinking on it.”
“Don’t waste the few brain cells that you have left debating that one too hard. You know the ultimate outcome,” Tandy teased her and she rolled her eyes on a snort of contempt.
“I hate all things fate,” she bit out, cupping her hand around the cup and clawing it towards her as if it were as valuable as treasure.
“Behind my back…” Ginny’s voice sounded more than accusing, it sounded slightly acidic, and Harley grimaced at the sound of it.
“Now don’t go getting your thong in a twirl,” she didn’t turn around, but she did raise her eyes towards Tandy, and the woman looked more than amused.
“I knew you’d come running to Tandy,” Ginny said, “and from what I hear you got your comeuppance. Mate.”
Harley raised her eyes to the ceiling and she wrinkled up her nose at the sound of that moniker, and her shoulders slumped. She took a moment to steel herself, and then took in a deep breath, before she planted her hands against the counter top and swivelled her stool around to meet her sister’s eyes…
Harley went to speak, but there was something about the way the
big shifter standing next to her sister was looking down at her that sent the alarm bells ringing within her mind… Then, with a rush of awareness, Harley snorted a chuckle.
“Looks like you’ve got some issues of your own to work out,” Harley felt relieved. Tandy might have to reconsider her psychic abilities, because from the looks of things, the witch seemed to have the power of precognition where Ginny was concerned.
“What, Michael?” The little witch hooked a thumb in his direction. “He’s not an issue, he’s fate.”
“Well, you’re entirely welcome for me leading you here then,” Harley snarked back at her.
She was more than a little bemused with how easy it was for her sister to go with the flow and embrace life, even the bumps in the road like a mate.
“Oh no you don’t,” Ginny shook her head, “you came here with bad intentions in mind, not my best interests.”
“Your best interests are to stop letting vampires walk all over you, and if losing your magic is the price-”
“Losing my magic?” Ginny asked, looking like a puppy that had been kicked more than once.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“It was for your own good,” Harley shook her head, not wanting to hear the hurt in her sister’s voice, not wanting to recognise the look of betrayal in her eyes.
“My own sister,” Ginny said. There was a catch in her voice that Harley knew well. Her sister had more connections with her emotions than Harley could ever hope to achieve, and right now, she was tapped into each and every one of them.
“Whoa there, little witch,” Michael reached out a soothing hand and brushed the backs of his knuckles against her flushed cheek. Ginny’s shoulders slumped, but he could still feel the waves of emotions that rushed towards him like a tidal wave.
“I hate you sometimes,” Ginny announced, and without giving Harley time to answer, she turned on her heels and fled the room with Michael right on her trail.
Harley sighed. There was a rush of guilt inside of her that she knew couldn’t be dampened by anything. She hated herself sometimes too.
“She’ll come around,” Tandy offered. “It’s Ginny.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I really have overstepped the line this time. She’s never hated anyone in her life before.”
“She doesn’t hate you, she’s just miffed.” Tandy eyed the empty spot where Ginny had stood. “Besides, she’s going to be too occupied with Michael to stew on anything much, and he’s as laid back as they come- for a shifter.”
“Well, maybe he’ll put in a good word for me.” Harley bit out, strumming her fingernails against the counter top and wondering if everything in her life was going to hell in a handbasket for a damned reason.
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“Hey, hey, hey,” Michael reached out his hand and wrapped his fingers around Ginny’s wrist, bringing her sudden flight away from her sister to a grinding halt.
“I’m sorry, but she’s out of line,” Ginny shook her head.
She hated to feel this way, hated to be this person. It didn’t suit her to be mad, and she wanted to hold on to that alien feeling and yet push it away at the same time.
Michael placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her back towards him. Her head was down and he couldn’t see her eyes. It felt like a loss, so he hooked his finger under her chin and tipped her head back. Ginny didn’t resist him, although for a moment, she did try to look anywhere but at him.
“She’s your sister, and I guess she was doing what she thought was best…” he saw her suck in a big breath and cut her off before she got started. “What people think is best isn’t always the right thing, but it’s meant with the right intentions.” He offered in those gravelly tones that made her ears prick up and her skin tingle.
“I guess,” Ginny didn’t like to think the worst of people, but Harley could be mean sometimes.
“You don’t have to rush to forgive her, or even understand her, but you shouldn’t let it eat you up inside either, Ginny.” Michael offered.
He could see just how torn up she was by her sister’s actions and he didn’t like it. He wasn’t one to give anybody a piece of his mind, but he did feel like fighting her corner now.
“I know,” she seemed to brighten a little within herself, and he was grateful for it. “But taking my magic?” she shrugged her shoulders. “That’s like someone stealing your wolf. It’s a big part of who I am, Michael.”
“I’d sure miss my wolf, but it’s not the end of the world,” Michael wanted to chuckle when his beast whimpered within him. He’d be lost without his wolf, the beast could be a royal pain in the butt at times, but his mate was right- the wolf was a part of him.
“True,” Ginny brightened a little more, then she half-whispered up at him, “but now I know her plan, I’ll be sure to block her magic from achieving it.” Ginny grinned at him and her eyes lit up, and right there and then, the sun came out as he gazed down at her.
“There you go, plan in place, problem solved, and now you and I can get to know each other a little better,” Michael’s grin was both predatory and hungry looking, and Ginny giggled at the sight of it.
“How much better?” she turned her head and eyed him with mock suspicion. His grin widened.
“Just as much as you’re willing to find out, little witch,” he teased back, more than playfully- he had a mind to fold her within his arms and kiss her into submission right there and then, but this wasn’t his place, and he wanted her in his own bed.
“Hmm, there’s an interesting proposition,” Ginny giggled again, and it was certainly a damned dirty little laugh that she had going on- it made him harder than hell for her.
“Let me make you lunch,” Michael turned her body, and brought a protective arm around her as he started off down the hallway, taking her with him.
“Making me lunch or make me lunch?” Ginny giggled again, and was rewarded with the deep rumble of a growl that rolled through him.
“As I said, Ginny, that’s up to you.”
~
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~
“We need to talk,” Colin said as he rounded a corner and practically steamrollered his mate. His hands came up to her shoulders, but she immediately shucked him off.
“I’m all talked out,” Harley was still smarting from her run in with her sister, and she didn’t have the will to do it all again with him.
“Harley,” Colin started, but she held up her hand and bit down on her need to growl. She now understood the appeal of it.
“If you are hoping for a favourable hearing and not a dog fight,” she offered and saw him give her an old fashioned look, “excuse the pun, then you need to back off now.”
“I heard that your sister is here,” Colin stated and she sighed inwardly.
“What part of back off don’t you understand, wolf?” Harley certainly didn’t want to talk about Ginny with him.
“I can’t seem to win with you, Harley.”
“Sure you can, walk away,” Harley was in no mood for this.
“I’ll just toddle off and quietly go rogue, shall I?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” she bit out.
“No-no. It’s fine. I look good in fur, claws, and fangs,” he grinned down at her and for a long moment she was just glaring up at him. Then her shoulders sagged and she closed her eyes as a small smile touched her lips.
“Funny,” she offered, looking up at him once more.
“Glad you approve,” Colin wiggled his eyebrows to get a bigger smile from her.
“I don’t,” she said, but her smile grew anyway. Colin leaned in slightly and half whispered down to her.
“But you’re smiling instead of scowling, so I’ll call it a win.”
“You know I’m a bitch, right?” Harley placed her hands on her hips and adopted a look that had scared a few men in her time, of course, none of them were her mate. This was all new territory for her.
“I know that’
s what you want people to think, to see,” Colin offered thoughtfully. “I think you’re hiding the real you in there somewhere and I’m intent on finding it, getting right to the heart of it.”
“That sounds…” she took in a long slow breath, “intrusive.”
“You betcha,” this time his grin was just drop dead sexy as hell and her body noticed- a small shiver chased another along her spine.
“Be careful what you wish for wolf, you may not like what you find.”
“That’s one of those standard witch warnings that they teach you guys at birth,” he poured scorn on her warning and saw her eyebrows try to meet in the middle over her nose. He leaned in again, and this time, she swayed in to meet him.
“They teach us that- when we find our mate we should move heaven and earth to woo them,” his eyes were locked onto hers, holding her spellbound.
Harley felt that pull towards him. It wasn’t just a pull on her body but one that was buried deep within her psyche. His eyes were like magnets, attracting hers and holding her there, unable to break away… and if she couldn’t seem to break away- then there was only one thing for it- he needed to break away.
So she zapped him a good one!
“Ohhhhhh, geeeeeezzzz,” Colin bit down on the pain that shot through his body. His eyes rolled up towards the ceiling and he immediately felt her magic release him.
“Good luck with that,” Harley whispered. She lifted her hand and patted his chest as she started to sidestep him.
A heartbeat later and her back was against the wall, as he snagged her wrist within one large hand, spun her against him, and caged her in with his hard body.
He was panting hard, still trying to regain his breath and even out his breathing after her attack, but he wasn’t about to let her get away with using her magic to side track him.
“That was uncalled for,” his beast was in his voice, a side effect of being attacked- the wolf wanted to come out to play, and the underlying growl that rumbled through his chest made her ears prick up as her brain take notice of just how appealing a sound that truly was.