by M. L. Briers
Agatha was a good person and had always helped his clan out when they’d needed it – sure, some didn’t like having the witch around much, but they had faith in Zane’s choices.
Now people were saying that she’d betrayed Zane, betrayed the clan, and had sided with the wolves over her own…
Kent thought that was pure BS. When Marco had arrived as backup, he’d made his feelings know about it, but Marco had never liked the witch from the moment that she’d rejected his advances, and the man relished the chance to get rid of her once and for all.
But banishing her seemed a better option to death, obviously Marco didn’t feel the same way.
“So much for wait and damn watch…” Kent growled out as Marco rushed towards the wolf shifter and attacked.
He’d had no choice but to go with him and back him up. If only because he was clan and he needed to make sure that the wolf didn’t hand him his backside…
Not that the man didn’t deserve it. He did.
What made it worse was that Marco was doing it within full sight of the humans bar. That was just so damned dangerous for everybody that it wasn’t even funny.
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Liam had put his mate behind his back and he had every intention to defend her with his life as the first bear shifter came rushing at him.
Mine…
The bear shifter’s claws were drawn, his fangs were out, and in return; Liam wanted blood.
He’d only taken one step forwards to meet the man head on when he saw the second shifter, two to one; he knew that he needed to hold his ground … defend what he had.
He had to protect his mate at all costs.
“Marco!” The sound of his mate’s startled recognition of the bear shifter didn’t help centre his concentration on the matter at hand, but it did fill him with a sense of understanding as to why the shifters were attacking.
‘Dexter … bears attacking the witch…’ Liam said into the pack link, and he knew two things…
He needed to protect his mate, and he needed Dexter to keep the humans inside the bar by whatever means necessary…
He heard the alpha curse within his mind. He knew the man would protect his mate should he fail to do his job and protect her himself … and that was good enough for him.
He took the first shifter head on.
His claws were down and his fangs were out; just as the bear’s were, and he had one hell of a job in keeping his wolf caged in under his skin … the beast was baying for blood…
“Hello…” Connor’s melodic tone rang in Agatha’s ears, and much to her annoyance, she was lifted, turned, and deposited back down on her feet behind the vampire’s back…
“I like pass the parcel as much as the next four year old, but this is…” Agatha bit out in annoyance, but she was silenced in disbelief as it happened again…
Two big hands slapped against her waist and she found herself being lifted and turned into the waiting solidity of Justice’s chest by Landon…
At least the alpha bear had the good graces to apologise for it on her way through the air…
“Can we not protect the poor, helpless, damn witch so annoyingly…?” Agatha bit out, glaring up at Justice’s grin of amusement…
“Sorry, little witch – but you’re Connor’s ward while you live at the castle, so everybody is going to be looking out for you…” Justice informed her, and she didn’t know whether to feel honoured by that – or just really miffed off and insulted…
“What the hell is a ward?” She bit out as she slapped the alpha’s hands away and turned back towards the fighting…
“He did explain it … but who listens when Connor starts flapping his lips?” Justice said, and Connor shot him a dark glare over his shoulder…
“Seriously? I’m right here, damn it.” Connor bit out to the sound of Justice and Landon both chuckling…
“This is not funny,” Agatha hissed. “They are attacking one of your own and…”
“He’s not one of mine…” Justice said with a grin for Dexter as the alpha grunted in annoyance.
“And at the moment it appears to be a fair fight – one on one – the other one looks surplus to requirements…” Connor offered.
“Let me at ‘em…” Agatha ground out, using her elbows to get between Dexter and Connor to see what was happening.
“My God, do you sit in your room sharpening those elbows of a night?” Connor bit out…
“Kent!” Agatha snapped, ignoring the vampire, and trying to take a step forward as both men closed ranks in front of her once more.
Not to be outdone; she decided to push up on tiptoes to peer through the gap between their broad shoulders…
“This…” Kent growled in annoyance as he turned most of his attention towards the witch, but kept an eye in his clan brother. “It isn’t sanctioned, Agatha. The alpha hasn’t made a decision about you yet.”
Agatha felt the icy chill run through her veins. She was well aware of what that meant.
She was a traitor – she’d known it the moment that she’d dropped her shields from around Zane and allowed the pack to find him…
There was no going back – ever.
“You might want to tell your alpha that the witch is under my protection, and if he’s going to send someone to kill her – then he’d better be prepared to lose clan members.” Connor tossed back.
“I don’t want that…” Agatha bit out…
“You were under the impression that this was a democracy?” Connor tossed back over his shoulder.
“I am well within my rights to leave here…” Agatha bit out…
The sound of a pained curse brought her attention right back to the fight, and Agatha bit down on the need within her to do something to stop it.
She had no idea why the wolf shifter was the one fighting her corner, and she didn’t like it one little bit.
She’d brought this on herself by helping the pack and saving the witch. She should be fighting her own damn battles.
She pushed her magic to her fingertips and lifted her hands, snapping them in two different directions, and sending the shifters, bear and wolf, flying through the air away from each other…
“I fear magic is afoot…” Connor teased and Agatha scowled back at man…
“Go suck on a lemon…” she bit out. “I’m not going to stand by and watch those two knock chunks out of each other.”
“Marco, stand down…” Kent growled at his clan brother as the man rebounded from the ground and started back towards them. His chin was angled down near his chest, his hands fisted at his sides, and he was more than eager to continue where he’d left off…
“They’ve got nothing to do with this, your fight is with me,” Agatha said, still trying to nudge her way through the supernatural wall of bodies in front of her, but coming up short in more ways than one…
“They killed Zane…” Marco growled…
“Oh, we’re sorry we killed the crazy ass bear that your clan should have taken care off when he went fruit loopy…” Connor offered back with a sneer on his face and in his tone.
The bear shifter turned his dark glare onto the vampire as his top lip twitch in anger…
CHAPTER FOUR
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“He’s got a point, Marco…” Kent took a long step towards his clan brother.
“You’re siding with them?” Marco growled out – anger flashing in his eyes as his hands clenched and released at his sides, and his claws embedded within his own flesh.
The pain only reminded him of what he needed to do…
“Don’t be a damn idiot,” Kent growled out. “This isn’t about them and us, and you know it. Zane needed to be put down and they did what needed to be done…”
“She all but killed him,” Marco lifted a hand and pointed an accusing finger at Agatha.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Agatha snapped back.
“Zane trusted you,” Ma
rco growled … he was disgusted that the woman the alpha had put his faith in had all but stabbed him in the back herself.
“Zane was too far gone to even bother with trust,” she hissed back. “The man didn’t know right from wrong and he went too far.”
“Let’s go, Marco,” Kent growled.
He knew that even if Marco picked up the fight again – right then and there, they were outnumbered, and with the vampire protecting Agatha – they wouldn’t get anywhere near her.
Not that he wanted that. He was dreading that damn order coming down from Raul.
“I’d listen to your friend.” Connor put out the warning, and he was kind of rooting for the shifter to take heed, because the other guy seemed reasonable, and he didn’t want to mess up his new shirt with shifter blood…
“And if you come at her again, prepare to take your last breath,” Liam growled, and he meant every word.
“Not helping with the diplomacy thing, wolf,” Connor would have rolled his eyes in his head, but he was keeping them firmly fixed on Marco.
Kent eyed Liam for a long moment. He had the feeling that something was definitely off with the guy, and he couldn’t be sure, but he thought that he knew exactly what it was.
“We’re leaving,” Kent assured them.
“You don’t speak for me,” Marco sneered.
He flashed a glare at his clan brother, but he took a long step back away from group.
Kent nodded towards Connor. In his mind things could have gone a lot worse.
They were walking away with their lives and that seemed like the best outcome for what Marco had done, what had been started, and he was almost certain that Liam had the right to be pissed off – especially if Agatha was his mate…
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Agatha took a long breath in and blew it back out again on a hum of annoyance.
She got it that the vampire seemed to think that he needed to protect her – but she didn’t have to like it.
She had no idea what was with the wolf shifter fighting Marco like that? Let alone issuing that last threat…
“So, that happened,” Connor offered into the relative silence of the group once the bears had withdrawn, and Landon chuckled.
That sound was deep and gravelly, and it reminded Agatha once more of Zane in better times. In turn that only served to remind her that she’d done what she’d been accused of, and she’d all but stabbed her friend in the back.
Rightly or wrongly, she’d betrayed his trust.
It didn’t matter that the man was a crazy bear.
It didn’t matter that the witch that he’d attacked was an innocent.
It still felt wrong.
“I need to leave,” Agatha announced…
“That would be bad timing, don’t you think?” Connor offered back, but it was the low, deep growl that was coming from the new wolf to Dexter’s pack that held Connor’s interest…
“You say potato…” Agatha tossed back with a small shrug.
“I didn’t say potato, but I think that he has something of interest to say,” Connor pointed at Liam, and everyone turned their heads to look at the battered and bloodied shifter as the man stood there with his chin practically down on his broad, muscled chest, and his jet black, brooding gaze locked onto Agatha…
“Oh…” Dexter groaned.
Landon let out a snatch of laughter that he managed to catch behind one large hand as he bit down on it …
Justice scowled… “Someone wanna let me in on…?” He never got to finish…
“Mine…” Liam growled…
“Ha!” Agatha spluttered shocked laughter that didn’t resonate within her eyes.
Liam certainly wasn’t smiling – he wasn’t doing much of anything but standing there and staring at her with so much intensity in his gaze that she snapped off that laugh if disbelief and eyed him for a long moment…
“I don’t think that he sees the funny side of finding his mate,” Connor offered on muted tones, “I could be wrong…” he shrugged.
“He’s kidding, right?” Agatha scowled. She dragged her eyes away from the man and towards Connor… “Right?” She demanded a little more forcefully…
“Sorry, no,” Connor offered back with a little too much glee in his eyes, and in his tone for her liking…
“Noooo…” She shook her head and made her mouth turn down at the corners as she considered the poop that she’d just landed herself in.
A mate?
A shifter!
A shifter mate!
That’s so not happening to me…
How many damn shifters have I been around?
Not one of those was my mate, and now this…
A wolf shifter…
Not even a bear…
I know bears. Wolves … not so much.
What the heck am I supposed to do now?
Oh, I know what I’m supposed to do. What fate wants me to do…
Allow myself to be wooed…
Wooed. Ha!
Chased.
Tempted.
Mercilessly hounded by the mating pull until I’m his and he’s mine…
A wolf…?
Come on!
“I’m standing right here, please, tell me how you feel, don’t sugar coat it,” Liam said, but it wasn’t what she’d said, it was more what was written all over her face…
“Witches,” Connor shrugged, “so judgemental.”
“I’m not …” Agatha scowled at the vampire and he raised his eyebrows back at her, making her think twice.
She swallowed, pressed her lips together, and then hummed for a second or two…
“Ok, maybe just a little judgemental … at times, but this is not one of those times…” she rushed out.
“Isn’t it?” Connor tipped his head to one side and his eyes flashed with amusement, shortly before a slow to boil, annoyingly teasing smile appeared on his lips…
“Bite me…” Agatha bit out.
The deep, hard growl that rolled from Liam, through the air towards the group, had all the males take one long step away from Agatha, and she looked around and scowled…
“Did I fart or something?” She bit out, annoyed with the big, strong, claws and fangs brigade for bailing on her when one of their own grumbled a little warning growl…
“That would be preferable to having his wolf burst out uncontrollably in the middle of town,” Connor chuckled.
“Big, fecking shifter alphas…” she grumbled, “and you, a vampire and all. All he did was growl…”
“Well, this vampire likes his backside without fangs buried in it,” he said, eyeing her for a long moment when she cut him a look that said she wasn’t impressed. “Just saying.”
“Says the cowardly lion…” she muttered.
The moment that Liam moved; her head snapped around on her neck and she swallowed hard at the sight of the man stalking towards her.
The males all took another step backwards…
“You’re on your own…” Landon teased her from somewhere a few steps behind, and she bit down on a string of curses, rolling her eyes in her head for a second, before she decided on a course of action…
She tossed up her hand in front of her. Her palm was held outwards towards Liam…
“That’s close enough,” she warned, but the man wasn’t showing any signs of stopping.
That wasn’t good in anyone’s book, and Agatha snapped her head back on her neck and tried to weigh up her options. Not that she appeared to have that many, but still, she needed to come up with a solution before the man got any closer…
He was already too close for comfort.
CHAPTER FIVE
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Liam’s large hand closed around her wrist before she could truly decide what to do next, and he yanked her towards him …
A squeal escaped Agatha’s lips as she crashed into the hard muscles of his chest. With a rush of annoyance, she regretted not acting sooner.
Her head snapped back on her neck and she glared up at him.
Agatha tried to twist out of his hold, but he’d eased her arm behind her back with his own, and she knew that she was trapped. The man was holding her in a gentle death grip, and right then, there didn’t seem to be much that she could do about it.
Except zap him.
“Not close enough…” Liam growled out as he dipped his head in towards her neck, and she tried, and failed, to tip her head to that side to guard her neck from him getting in any closer.
Agatha felt his hot breath against her neck and squirmed a little … it felt so wrong, and yet, so right at the same time.
She wasn’t daft to the ways of shifters and she was more than aware of what was coming next, and once it came … there would be no going back.
Not that there really was any going back for him. Liam already knew what she was to him…
His beast certainly knew what she was to him – and he’d already stated his claim on her.
Not the neck … not the damn neck…
Bugger!
Don’t sniff …
Do not sniff…
Bugger!
Agatha felt the rush of air against her skin and even though the tingles of recognition for her mate were already at work over her body; from the skin on skin contact that he had against her arm – she flatly refused to acknowledge them.
They were pretty damn hard to ignore … but that sniffing thing, well that just miffed her off…
Agatha called on her magic and created what she thought he deserved…
She’d warned him off.
She’d told him no…
“Oh, wow…” Justice bit out in disgust.
Everyone, but her mate, moved away from them.
“Damn, that smells like one of your pup’s green nappies…” Connor was across the parking lot in a heartbeat as he wafted some fresh air in front of his nose with his hand, and watched the three alphas stalking towards him at speed…
“I think my eyes are watering…” Landon growled.
“I’m sort of praying that I lose my sense of smell – like right now…” Justice grumbled.