by M. L. Briers
Kerry was wide awake and staring up at him with surprise by the time he was pushing away from her. Jumping from the bed, Isaac tore from the bed room. Leaving his mate and his clothes behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Isaac heard the sounds of a panic that came mainly from his brother. Olivia’s voice was less panicked and more reassuring by its nature, and she was reassuring her mate. The first thing that was damn hard to miss was the tree in the living room, or most of it at any rate. Uprooted and tossed by Mother Nature in through the window. The second thing was the two men working together to get a not so visible witch out from under the branches.
Isaac slapped his brother on the shoulder to signify his presence. They didn’t have time for niceties. Although Olivia was calm and reasoned, she could have been suffering from shock from her injuries. Until she was pulled out nobody would know what those injuries were, but he could scent her blood in the air.
“I’ll take your place lifting, you get your mate out.” Isaac took the weight of the large branch and hoisted it onto his naked shoulder. The jagged branch punctured in through his flesh, a cross between a roar and a growl escaped his lips as his eyes turned black and his fangs descended with the unexpected pain of it.
He hefted the branch over, moving his shoulder down the branch until he found the perfect spot with which to lift. “Slowly, in case any branches have punctured her skin.” Isaac warned. It wasn’t rational to believe that it had been his bad luck to find the only jagged branch on the whole damn tree. Slowly, he and Tobin lifted the weight away from Olivia as Joel scooted down under the branches and reached for his mate.
Joel could scent her blood and his beast reacted, protectively shielding her with his body as he lifted her to his chest and eased her out into the open. He laid her back against the rug and immediately started to search her body with his hands and eyes looking for injuries.
“I’m fine. It’s just scratches…” Olivia assured him. His black eyes came up to hers accusingly as his hand found the blood at her waist. He went to speak and she noted how his fangs had elongated, her heart raced at the sight. He was close to his beast and he looked amazing. “And a cut or two, but I’m fine.” She protested.
“Tobin. Heal her.” Joel saw the Vampire’s eyes flick towards Olivia. He and Isaac lowered the tree back downwards and he eyed the Beta suspiciously.
“She can’t be that badly injured otherwise you’d be tearing my throat out to keep me away.” Tobin reasoned and Olivia couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped her lips.
“He got you there.” Olivia snorted and watched her mate’s deep frown over dark eyes as he twisted his head on his neck and stared back at her. There was certainly no amusement on his face.
“I still want you healed.” Joel growled out.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. We can do this the old fashioned way with water and sticky plasters.” Olivia looked up at Tobin as he grinned down at her with a devilish smile that lit his darkening eyes. In a heartbeat his fangs were down and he was bringing his wrist towards his lips.
“Are you sure, because I’ve got plenty of blood…?” Tobin teased and she rolled her eyes at him. Stopping in mid thought as she took in the sight of Kerry, standing just inside the room, wrapped in a blanket and staring wide eyed at the Vampires antics.
“Isaac, your mate.” Olivia warned and every pair of eyes turned towards her as her jaw slowly sagged open.
Isaac’s low growl of annoyance reverberated around the silence of the room. Isaac went to speak but Tobin got there first. “Time for groundhog day…” The Vampire was at her side in the blink of an eye. Not that she was blinking much, if at all really since she’d walked into the room and seen fangs everywhere. But still her head snapped around towards him and her neck snapped backwards, it was the only part of her that seemed to be able to move away from him.
“No! Wait.” Isaac growled out. Kerry’s head snapped around to see the naked man she’d just been in bed with walk slowly towards her. Her eyes wanted to drop to take in his nakedness, like an itch or urge that wouldn’t be dismissed and yet her eyes fixed on his fangs and stayed there. He pushed his beast back, the fangs disappearing. She turned to look at Tobin, his had gone too, and Joel was smiling up at her in a smirky sort of a way and yet there were no fangs there either.
“Yeah, we haven’t got to the screaming and running part yet, she looks kind of docile.” Joel added.
“There were fangs and claws, or are you going to tell me I was seeing things?” She didn’t look like she was going to freak out, but looks could be deceptive, Isaac told himself as he edged closer.
“You weren’t. There were.” Isaac thought it was past trying to sugar coat anything. She’d seen it with her own eyes and yet she wasn’t running, but there was still time and he still had the advantage of the Vampire to reset her memory should this go south quickly.
“You’re all vampires?” Her voice went up from feminine to slightly squeaky and she swallowed down the need to clear her throat.
“So starts the insults.” Tobin rolled his eyes as her head snapped to look at him. He was the closest to her, therefore he posed the most danger, or at least in her mind he did. “I’m a Vampire.”
“So you’re…?” She twisted her head on her neck and looked at Isaac, giving him what he could only describe as a blank, curious look, not like curiosity exactly, more like trying to work out what else had fangs and claws… “What are you?” She said on what was almost a whisper, as if it was a secret, which of course it was, just not to anyone in the room.
“Wolf.” He answered honestly, checking to feel her emotions, they were quite benign, and a little flicker of excitement, but nothing to indicate that she was going to start screaming.
“Am I on the menu?” Fear, a flicker of fear gripped her and she felt the Vampire at her side move slightly. Her eyes flicked to him and he stopped in place, holding his hands out at his chest to show her that he wasn’t going anywhere. Satisfied, she turned her attention back to her mate.
“Not ever.” Isaac assured her. It wasn’t what he said but the way that he said it.
“So wolf...?” She considers it. Part of her wanted to snort with laughter, or maybe a good rip roaring heartfelt psychotic break, and the another part wanted to turn the clock back ten minutes to when she didn’t know. And then there was the little part of her that was secretly thrilled… and back to the psychotic break, she thought. “That’d explain the growling.” She dropped into the nearest chair that just so happened to be behind her. Even if it hadn’t been there, her body was determined to sit down as her legs shook beneath her.
“She’s not freaking out.” Tobin crowed at the Alpha.
“So why am I here?” It suddenly occurred to her that this wasn’t normal…well not suddenly, more of an underlying surreal quality that plagued everything about the last ten minutes.
“Do you know anything about wolves?” Tobin started with a smug look on his face and the Alpha growled. Her heart rate went up a few beats as she stared up at him, and he bit of the growl, sensing her uneasiness.
“They attack humans.” Her voice was placid, although he noted the way her eyes flared with the thought. She was back to thinking she was on the menu again, he was almost certain.
“We don’t…” Isaac used the best of his abilities to make his voice as soothing as possible. Even if he was standing there naked, even if she had seen fangs everywhere, she still seemed to be handling this better than he ever could have hoped for.
“Good to know.” She went to get to her feet but her body seemed to have lost some of its will to... well do anything but sit like an idiot in a chair in a room full of supernatural beings. “Can I go home now?” The thought occurred to her. She was in a strange house, in a strange land with very strange people. What she’d really like to do was curl up in the centre of her bed at home and tell herself that this was all a dream. She’d eaten some funky chicken from the local takeaway was all. Throw
it up, hope she didn’t have anything serious and hey presto, back to life as normal.
“Home?” How did he tell her she was home? Isaac moved another step closer, like a wolf stalking its prey.
“Away from this very strange Isle. I don’t think it likes me. It’s tried to eat me, drown me and pummel me with a tree, and now I find out it’s inhabited by creatures that only exist in popular culture, and I kind of don’t like it here because they don’t even have decent coffee…” She stopped, but only because she needed to breathe. Her voice had become more strained with her need to take in some oxygen with every word, and yet she’d ploughed on. The sound of her own voice the only real normal that she had.
“We have coffee…” Her mate put in quickly in the hopes that she wouldn’t start up again. She seemed to be winding up for another long torrent to spill from her lips. Her heart was getting more excited by the minute, perhaps coffee wasn’t the best idea, she may end up going around in circles clashing imaginary symbols together like the battery bunny in the advert, and yet, she seemed to perk up somewhat at the idea.
“You do?” Her eyes sparkled at the thought, a vacant sparkle, as if her mind was torn in different directions, like she was trying to remember something… Wolf guy has coffee…
“Coffee machine.” He slowly moved towards her offering his hand, palm upwards, for her to take. Kerry looked down at it.
No claws, no fur… fur, he didn’t have fur. He hadn’t had any fur when he was naked…naked and making love to her… She swallowed hard. The memory flashed into her mind and caused a rush of panic within her…
“Oh-oh.” Was all that Tobin said. He’d been reading her thoughts.
I had sex with a wolf! Kerry rushed to her feet, knocking his hand away and glaring at him indignantly. Isaac’s head snapped towards Tobin and then back towards her.
“At the risk of being eaten, drained of blood or ripped to shreds, you should tell a girl you’re a wolf guy before you have sex with her!” Her eyes flared with anger, her hands went to her hips in defiance and she glared at the Alpha.
Nobody moved a muscle as Isaac stared back at her. Then he tossed his head back on his neck and gave a deep belly laugh. Kerry blinked, then again as she stared at him.
“You’re probably right. But circumstances were a little difficult at the time.”
“That’s a damn cop out if ever I heard one.” Tobin smirked when the alpha’s eyes turned towards him and a low growl filled the air around them.
“And who are you?” She turned her glare on Tobin and he lost a little of his smirk.
“I’m the Vampire, remember?”
“You’re sarcastic.”She snapped back accusingly.
“You can’t live as long as I have and not be sarcastic. If there wasn’t sarcasm I’d be insane, or monsterish, or monsterish and insane…”
“We get the point.” Isaac growled at him, trying to keep his attention on his mate to judge her mood, whilst trying to defuse the situation that was Tobin.
“Just as long as the point isn’t aimed at me, it makes me jumpy.” Kerry turned her head slowly to take the Vampire in and he couldn’t help the devilish grin he returned to her.
“I think vampires are slightly strange.” She didn’t know where that came from, it just seemed to spill from her lips without even forming a thought in her brain, if she even had what one could consider a brain anymore…
“Sweetheart, don’t judge a book by the cover, wait til you’ve seen what’s inside. I’m not slightly strange, I’m deranged…” He leaned towards her menacingly for added effect. Isaac growled a warning.
“He’s just trying to scare you.” Isaac assured her.
“It’s working.” It wasn’t Kerry’s intention to pull her body back away from him, it just seemed like the right thing to do.
“Never show fear. That’s another thing sarcasm is good for.” His mood changed in a heartbeat, now he was just grinning, like he thought he was somehow amusing.
“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” Kerry didn’t agree with that statement, she kind of liked sarcasm. It was the Vampire that she wasn’t sure of. God, but that sounded weird, how could anyone like a Vampire?
“Says the people with no sense of humour or the ability to use sarcasm.” Tobin could sense her deceit, but he gave her brownie points for having a backbone. The little human had surprised him.
“He likes to have his feet tickled.” Olivia announced out of the blue and threw them all for a loop. Joel growled and Tobin rolled his eyes as she pushed up to a sitting position on the floor. Her mate’s arms wrapped around her body and he gently lifted her to him, resting her body against his for support.
“Now what’d you go and say that for?” Tobin tossed his hands up in the air theatrically.
“It makes you more human, less scary.” Olivia’s eyes flickered with mischief and humour.
“The only thing that’ll make him more human is a stake through the heart.” Joel growled out.
“Is that an option?” Kerry asked the question without filtering. For a long second she cringed inside, her eyes turning towards the Vampire. I really need to bit my tongue, especially if I don’t want to be bitten by something myself.
“I don’t think the human likes me.” Tobin announced with a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Yep, he liked her. She had spirit and she wasn’t screaming, that was always a bonus when dealing with humans.
“I don’t think anyone likes you. But you’ve been around longer than the standing stones. You’re like a fixture we put up with…” Joel bit out. Still annoyed that his mate knew he liked his damn Vampire feet tickled.
“You’re hurting my feelings.” Tobin protested with all the theatrics he could muster.
“Do vampires have feelings?” Kerry eyed him curiously.
“Let’s stake him and see if he cries.” Joel offered, this time with a little more glee.
“Let’s forget about me and go back to talking about the fact that you had sex with a wolf guy.” Tobin announced with as much sympathy for her predicament as possible. Kerry had forgotten that part. She turned her attention back towards her mate and he frowned.
“Thanks a lot.” He growled at the now amused Vampire.
“What are friends for?” Tobin waved a dismissive hand in the air.
“So you have friends?” Kerry shot him another curious look and Tobin couldn’t help but roll his eyes as Olivia snorted a chuckle and the Alpha grinned towards him.
“Hello. I wasn’t the one that had sex with you without full disclosure.” Tobin pointed an accusing finger towards her mate and she turned her attention back towards Isaac.
“She’s my mate and you know it, besides when was the last time you disclosed what you were to…”
“Mate?” Kerry piped up, a day late and a dollar short to the conversation. Isaac sighed. He could have walked over to the damn tree in the living room and slammed his forehead into it repeatedly. He’d just defused the situation and now he’d reignited it, and all because of the dead guy.
CHAPTER NINE
“Perhaps groundhog day would be a good idea.” He bit out and Tobin waged a finger at him.
“Now, now, there’s no screaming or running. I think we’re doing just fine.” He couldn’t conceal the amusement within him. Hell, he didn’t want too. He was enjoying this at the Alpha’s expense. “You seem pretty calm for a woman who just discovered that Vampires and wolf people are real.” He added on an afterthought, his eyes flaring with the amusement he felt.
“He said I wasn’t on the menu.” Kerry offered back to him. She didn’t know why she believed him, but she had. Did.
“FYI. Superior beings lie too.” Tobin made a show of whispering to her.
“Did you lie?” She turned her eyes on her mate and watched him hold out his hand for her again. She stared down at it.
“No. Let’s get that coffee.” He watched her eyes flick to his, then back down to his hand, as if she was considering
it, mulling over the alternatives. Would she run? Freak out?
“Does he have to come too?” She tossed her head towards Tobin and heard the Vampire sigh.
“Why do I get the snide comments? I didn’t have sex with you.” Tobin protested and Kerry rolled her eyes.
“Because you’re annoying me.” There were more sniggers from everyone in the room, except Tobin who took a moment to show he was considering her words.
“Fair enough.”He offered, turning on his heels and stalking towards the nearest chair to him that she wasn’t standing in front of and dropping down into it.
Kerry lifted her hand and reached for Isaac’s. For one long moment, probably the longest of his life to date, he waited, holding his breath, saying a silent prayer to the spirits, and then her hand slid along his palm and he bit down on the urge to snap-close his fingers around it, giving her a moment to remember the feeling of her skin on his and all that it entailed.
Kerry felt the warmth, the spark between them. She’d been laid in his arms. He’d made love to her, a little hand holding wasn’t going to kill her was it?
“Coffee?” His deep tone made her jump. She’d been lost in thought. Thoughts of him and her together, thoughts of making love. Now she was staring up into his eyes as if she’d never seen him before. She snapped out of it with a small shake of her head.
Coffee sounded good. Perhaps coffee with a nip of something stronger? Perhaps a heap of something stronger with a nip of coffee in it?
“Clothes might be a good idea too. Just saying.” She offered with a small shrug off her shoulders. Although, he did look damn good without clothes, if this was how he liked to go around, who was she to argue?