by M. L. Briers
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t drop it…” Dexter growled at the other three…
“Well, der…” Connor bit out and then he winced. “I think I might be chewing on it…”
“I feel like I need a bath…” Justice groaned.
“I think I wanna bleach my nose…” Landon added, wincing a look back at the mates.
Liam was still standing right there with Agatha, still scenting her…
“How can he not smell it?” Dexter grumbled.
“Love conquers … the bog of stench.” Connor shrugged.
“Will you get the hell off of me!” Agatha protested, and with that Liam lifted his head, and then he caught the scent that was thick on the air around them…
Mine…
His beast’s inopportune claim made him chuckle, but the scent gave him little to smile about…
“That’s disgusting,” he growled.
“Years of living with bear shifters gives you an appreciation for clean air and what disgusting truly smells like,” she informed him.
“You … lived with their clan?” Liam scowled down at her.
“Not like that …” Agatha turned up her nose at the idea. Then she cocked her eyebrows at him. “Unless, that’s a deal breaker?”
She tried to look innocent, but that scent in the air said she was anything but innocent in his eyes.
“Nice try,” Liam shot back. “And the fart smell, but you can drape yourself in that scent and it still wouldn’t put me off, because I can pick out your true scent from every other smell in the air and hone in on just that.”
“That’s true, he can,” Connor shrugged. “Lucky bast…”
“We need to get back to our respective packs, and clan…” Justice nodded towards Landon, “and tell them what’s happening with those bears from Zane’s clan.”
“Sounds like a plan, and the plus side is; I don’t have to smell that anymore,” Landon slapped Dexter on the back. “Good luck with your new witch.”
The alpha bear grinned wider than he thought he ever could after scenting what Agatha had tossed out in the air with her magic.
“Gee, thanks…” Dexter grumbled back.
~
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~
“I still don’t see why we need to be here and not back home,” Liam paced on the ancient stone flooring.
It was true to say that if a man ever felt uncomfortable in his surroundings, he did. It was bad enough that it was the vampire’s home, but who the hell lived in a castle anyway?
“This kind of is my home,” Agatha said, frowning.
She didn’t like it much more than her mate did. The castle seemed, big, cold, and impersonal.
But Connor and Vicky had opened up their home and given her somewhere to live when she’d needed it, and for that she would always be grateful.
Liam had argued with Connor over taking her back to pack land, but there was the little matter of Lily being there, and maybe the witch still wasn’t over the fact that she’d helped Zane to find and almost kill her.
Then she’d had to consider the fact that by being there she would have been putting every other member of the pack in harm’s way if Kent and Marco got the order to kill her, and she thought that she’d already endangered the pack more than enough for one year.
Add to that the fact that the cabin was Liam’s home. A two bedroom, cosy, small place where she couldn’t really do anything without being right there in the man’s personal space, and him in hers.
That felt like a lot of pressure, especially with the whole – will they or won’t they attack – thing hanging over her heads.
“And Vicky would have killed me if I’d let Agatha go off to pack land with bears on the warpath,” Connor grumbled. “Be nice to Vicky or she’ll toast you into a furry little crispy critter.” He warned.
Liam raised just one eyebrow back at the vampire, and he had to wonder exactly how bad the dragon lady of the house was.
He didn’t have long to find out as Vicky strolled into the room and stopped short of the seating area where his mate was perched on a couch. She took a long moment to eye him…
“Hmm,” she finally offered her verdict, and Liam scowled.
“Meaning?” He couldn’t help but ask.
“You’ll do,” Vicky said with a small shrug off her shoulders.
Liam had to wonder why Connor had built the woman up to be some badass, mad witch, when she seemed pretty timid.
“Gee, thanks,” Liam offered back. He was more than a little confused by her attitude. She was more like a mother hen than a threat to his safety.
“But if one hair on Agatha’s head is bent, broken, or pulled out by one of those bears…” Vicky’s whole attitude changed in a heartbeat. Her eyes fired with anger and Connor gave Liam a smug grin…
“Told you – she’s a viper when she’s miffed,” Connor grinned.
“Miffed?” Vicky said turning towards her mate, and Connor had that long moment of reflection when he knew he should have kept his mouth firmly shut. “Miffed is waking up next to you each morning and realising that I didn’t accidentally on purpose stake you in your sleep…”
CHAPTER SIX
~
“Noted,” Connor tossed back to his mate. He could see that she was only just getting started.
He’d found that letting her have her rant and burning herself out was better than trying to extinguish the flames of her wrath.
“Miffed is hearing you tell people that this is your castle – when you know you’re just a hop, skip, and a jump from being tied to a stake and burned alive, by yours truly…”
“Noted,” Connor offered.
“Miffed is not being able to go on a mass spending spree on the internet today because you’ve hidden all of the credit cards…” Vicky turned her whole body towards him and Connor winced…
“Hidden isn’t exactly the word I would choose,” Connor offered back…
“Is it not?”
“No.”
“Go ahead, pitch me a word, you tight fisted, ancient, bloodsucking, leech…”
“My, but you have so many of your own.”
“I’ve been googling them, as I had nothing better to do on the internet,” Vicky bit back.
“Look, if you bought something useful, like a new personality…” Connor heard her gargle something in the back of her throat, and he had to take a second to wonder if his backside was going to be toast then and there, or if she’d save it for later … Sort of like personal torture…
“You’ll pay for that,” Vicky bit out, and he had his answer. Private torture, the very best kind.
“You’re still not getting another castle.” Connor muttered on a grin.
“You!” Vicky said, turning her attention towards Liam and watching the man eye her back, a little more sheepishly this time – she liked that – the man learned fast. “I put you in the bedroom next to your mate.”
“Please don’t say that word…” Agatha muttered.
“You’ll get used to it. I did,” Vicky offered her a warm smile. Then she turned a cold glare onto Connor. “And look who I got for a damn mate!”
“Love you too, Baby,” Connor offered back to a huff.
“Are you hungry?” Vicky turned her attention back towards Liam.
“I know I am,” Connor grinned, and his mate ignored him.
“No…” Liam started to reply, but she cut him off.
“Thirsty?” She demanded.
“Not that I know of…”
“Good, then my job here is done,” Vicky said, expanding her hands, and turning away.
“You’re leaving…” Agatha said in a rush, “now?” She added, slowly as she flicked her eyes to Liam and back again.
“You’re a witch, you have the power to zap. He’s your mate – it’s not like he’s going to hurt you,” Vicky shrugged.
“I would never hurt her…” Liam growled…
“Keep up, Flash. I just said that,” Vicky
looked to Connor. “I said that, right?”
“Sorry,” Connor offered back, “Your jaws start flapping and my brain naturally turns off my hearing.”
“That’s strike two, keep it up and you’ll be swinging from your bat feet in the barn tonight…”
“We don’t have a barn,” Connor offered back.
“I don’t care whose barn,” Vicky shrugged, and Agatha couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Being a mate is so much fun,” Connor offered, dryly.
“You should be grateful that I invited you into my castle in the first place,” Vicky gave him a smug smile, and he narrowed his eyes on her.
“Not that again,” he groaned.
“Truth hurts, Baby,” she offered back, thumbing her nose at him and stalking towards the door.
“I see what you mean now,” Liam offered to Connor and the vampire winced as his mate turned back towards him.
“Oh, third strike, Connor,” Vicky said, placing her hands on her hips. “Badly played.”
Connor groaned and reminded himself to trip the shifter down a flight of hard stone stairs at his earliest convenience.
“You don’t know what I said…”
“I don’t have to know what you said only that you said something.”
“True…” Connor offered back.
“Busted.”
“But you love me anyway…” Connor offered smugly.
“Ever heard the saying; you always hurt the ones you love?”
“Oh,” Connor considered it for a long moment, and then a wicked smile spread across his lips. “Yes please.”
~
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~
Agatha stood at the window in her room and looked down on the darkness of the grounds. It was at times like those that she wouldn’t have minded being able to see what the shifters and the vampire saw with their supernatural vision.
She had a feeling that Marco and Kent were out there somewhere in the night, and she knew that they could very well be looking right back at her in that moment – only they would ever know.
A mate – shifter – wolf – what the heck am I supposed to do with that?
Why now?
Why, when I have the clan after me for Zane?
It’s not right.
I shouldn’t be dragging other people into my battles.
I have magic. I can take Marco on in a fair fight…
It’s Kent that I’m not so sure about.
Zane always said he was alpha material, and he is…
That’s not really the point though, be honest with yourself … you just don’t want to fight Kent because you kind of like the guy.
He never did me any harm. Never sneered because I was a witch and not a shifter. Never looked at me the wrong way…
I hate this.
I hate the uncertainty.
I hate that I have a mate and if the clan attack then he’s in the firing line…
And what about Liam?
Geez, the man is as sexy as hell…
I’ve never drooled over muscles, but his look good on him…
Those eyes…
Two loud thuds on the door sent her spinning around in surprise. Her body flushed with shock and excitement at the thought of her mate … and she felt the irrational sense of guilt at her thoughts – as if he was right there ad could read her mind…
“Speak of the Devil,” she muttered.
“I heard that,” Liam said. The depth of his voice carried through the thick wood, but the sound didn’t come from the bedroom door, but from the adjoining door right next to her.
“Well, nobody told you to eavesdrop,” Agatha grimaced and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.
Busted twice – she didn’t want to go for a third time.
“You have to open the door on your side…” Liam said, and her eyes snapped back down from the ceiling to the door on a frown…
“Now, how would you know that unless you already tried it?”
“I gave it a little twist…” he admitted.
“What you do in the privacy of your bathroom is no concern to me,” Agatha scoffed, and heard a low grumbled from the other side.
“Open the door. We should talk.”
“We are talking, and the door is closed. If it ain’t broke…”
“It’s always better face to face,” Liam reasoned…
His wolf was lonesome for the sight of her. She’d only been in her room for about half an hour and already the beast missed having her around.
Liam wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
Finding his mate had been overwhelming. It wasn’t that he didn’t want it – he did. It wasn’t that his beast didn’t need it – it did. He just wasn’t sure that he could be the mate to her that he should be.
He had a need to protect females. His mate was certainly giving him that opportunity with the clan around…
But would that be enough?
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
After Marco’s impromptu attack on Agatha outside the bar, Kent, didn’t trust the shifter as far as he could throw him. The man could have gotten them both killed, and as far as he knew, nobody had given the kill order on the little witch.
They’d followed them, Agatha included, back to the castle where she’d been hold up for the past few weeks, and now Marco was scenting the air and testing for all the ways that he could gain entry without alerting the vampire that he was there.
Marco had been doing the exact same thing since he’d arrived as backup a week ago, but that was only because Agatha didn’t really leave the castle grounds much. The man said he was being prepared – now, Kent had to wonder if that damn order to kill her had already been given by the alpha of the clan, and he just wasn’t in the loop.
If Raul didn’t trust him to carry out orders then that didn’t bode well for his standing within the clan.
‘Don’t you think you would have found secret tunnels by now?’ Kent had to wonder what the man was really up to.
‘The only other way in, beside the front door that I can figure is via the tree and the roof – and I don’t like heights.’
‘Well, good luck with that, because if I was the vampire… I would certainly had sealed up any tunnels…’
‘I really don’t want to go in through the old sewer runaways if I can help it…’
‘Nobody is going in yet. We haven’t had the order…’ Kent said, but the quick flick of the shifter’s eyes towards him said that he might have been wrong about that.
That didn’t bode well for Agatha.
~
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~
Agatha pulled open the door that separated the two rooms, and her eyes took him in.
Liam stood there, one hand on either side of the door frame, leaning his upper body towards her, and looking every inch the alpha male. Her heart skipped a couple of beats and lodged firmly in her throat.
The fact that she was standing in her bedroom, with a large four poster bed behind her, and all that implied wasn’t lost on her. That was what made the sight of him all the more imposing.
His chin was tipped down towards his broad muscled chest, and rather uncharacteristically, she felt an urge to reach out and prod it with her forefinger, just to see how hard those muscles really were. She guessed it didn’t help matters that he was looking at her with jet black eyes from under his dark eyebrows…
That was as sexy as hell.
The sight of him didn’t exactly make her panties drop, but it did set off her feminine alarm bells to the possibility that they might be in danger of sliding.
She couldn’t help it when she pictured him standing there like that butt naked – it wasn’t something that her mind usually rushed to imagine – and yet, she had to mentally drag herself from that happy thought as her pulse sped up, and her cheeks coloured a nice red hue.
“Face to face is better, is it?” Agatha finally said and her tone was a little begrudging of how her mind had wandered.
Agatha had to guess that he didn’t have much of a clue of how to act around her either. Being his mate didn’t appear to just be a daunting prospect for her…
“What do you want, Liam?” Agatha asked, and the low rumble of a thunder-like growl rolled through his chest … “Aside from the obvious…” She offered him frown.
Liam berated himself and his beast for letting that growl slip out. He’d learned to control his wolf side a long time ago when he was around humans – but his mate was more than just human, and his defences were down as he tried to concentrate on not taking just the few steps forward that he would need to be able to scoop her up against him, and let nature take its course as he kissed her senseless…
Geez, stupid witch – I walked right into that one… She berated herself…
Why didn’t I just strip naked and yell for him to take me now?
I can’t really berate him for growling, for his mind wandering at my question – I did sort of paint the picture for him…
And it’s not like I didn’t think about him naked…
I’m not going to admit that thought, am I?
Nope. I can honestly say that at this point in time I’d rather crawl over broken glass…
“To get to know you,” Liam offered back, and that sounded genuine to her ears.
She did have to wonder if, in the back of his mind, he had meant it in the biblical sense…
“I’m tired…” Agatha didn’t lie. She felt a little drained, but only because her mind wouldn’t be still for longer than a few seconds before it swirled with this thought or that…
A mate and a death threat…
A pack and a clan…
Staying or going…
Him naked or clothed…
Not that again … get off the naked and back to thinking of him as a dangerous beast…
“We could … sit on the bed?” Liam’s eyes flashed with hunger at that thought, and there was no mistaking the small wolfish grin that he offered her along with a heap load of new thoughts that swirled into the tsunami inside of her head…