by M. L. Briers
The man was just too big of a catch to throw back in, in more ways than one.
A wolf shifter…
A growly, scowly, wolf shifter by the name of Liam…
A sexy as hell wolf shifter that would always do his best to make her happy, keep her safe, and love her until the day that she died.
She guessed she’d hit the jackpot in so many ways, but it still made her nervous. Committing to one man for the rest of her life, starting immediately, and no option for retreat or even a sideways step for fear that he would go rogue.
“Maybe I’m hearing what I want to hear,” she sidestepped the lie that she’d told…
“You want to hear me growl?”
Agatha rolled her eyes to the darkened ceiling and grimaced once more. She guess she’d walked into that one.
No lie, even a good one, goes unpunished…
“Yes – no – I … don’t know.” She sighed inwardly and mentally kicked her own backside.
It didn’t help that his voice sounded deeper, sexier than hell in the darkness of the room – maybe that was her imagination too. Whatever it was it was having an effect on her body and mind…
She was certain that her skin still buzzed from where he’d touched her. Almost certain that her lips still tingled from his kiss, but maybe that was wishful thinking as well…
All she knew for sure was that her body recognised his presence – so close, yet so far away in terms of the way her fingers itched to touch him once more.
She’d copped a feel of his muscles when they’d been lip locked. She wasn’t exactly sure which muscles, because her mind had been elsewhere, but wherever they were on his body – they were hard and tempting, and she didn’t imagine that the rest of him wouldn’t be the same.
“I like how you know your own mind,” he gave a low, deep chuckle.
“I like how you’re the strong, silent type – emphasis on the silent,” she offered back.
“Point made.”
“Good.”
“You just want me for my body and have no interest in my mind,” Liam shot back…
“Let’s go with that for now and revisit it later, maybe.”
“So,” he let that word hang there for the longest moment, and she listened intently to hear what came next… “You want my body.”
Agatha groaned. She guessed she’d asked for that.
“I can live with that…” he teased and heard her groan again. “Because we can revisit that one later as well.”
“Once we’re mated?” She sneered back, but that thought warmed her, and the sound of his deep, hungry growl sent a shiver racing her spine and a rush of excitement through her body…
“Anytime you’re ready, sweetheart.”
“I’ll get back to you.” She mentally kicked her own backside as she tossed her body over on the bed, turning away from him, and stared out at the pale moon that hung in the sky outside of her window.
Oh how she wished she could howl at that damn moon.
~
~
~
“Raul hasn’t heard from Marco…” Kent offered the vampire his phone back and the man took it – Connor’s mind was already working on the conversation that he’d overheard play out between the alpha and the beta…
It wasn’t good. He kind of liked Kent – the man seemed reluctant to join his clan’s insane need to kill the witch for not helping the crazy damn alpha – but his priority was Agatha, and keeping her safe, and now that the witch was a mate…
“It would seem that you and I stand on opposite sides of this fight,” Connor offered back.
His body was locked and loaded for the shifter to make the first move. He didn’t relish what he had to do, but he’d kill the man where he stood when that move came.
“Now, I wouldn’t say that, exactly.”
“What would you say – and make it as exact and truthful as possible, because your very life might just depend on it.”
“Stop being so damn vampire…”
“I could be the Queen of the Faeries, but I don’t think I could get a little tutu to fit me,” Connor shot back.
“Less vampire, not more…” Kent grumbled.
“It’s just not in me to ham it up,” Connor would have folded his arms across his chest if he hadn’t of been waiting for the other shoe to drop and the need to severe the man’s head from his body played in the darkest recesses of an equally dark mind…
His people came first.
His mountain community…
His family.
Nothing could be allowed to mess with that and live.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
“We need to find Marco…” Kent growled.
“Correction. I need to find Marco and you need to…?”
Connor couldn’t say that he wasn’t giving the man the chance to come to his senses before he killed him – he was. Whether the bear shifter would take that opportunity at life remained to be seen…
Kent took a deep breath and held it for a long moment as his mind went into overdrive.
“I guess I need to damn well help you…” Kent grumbled. He didn’t like going against his own clan, but Killing Agatha was wrong in anyone’s book. “But, I’m not going to kill a member of my own clan – that’s why; I can’t in good conscience kill the witch.”
“Loud and clear,” Connor felt a moment’s relief.
If the man was as good as his word then he could rest easier.
He kind of liked Kent, and he thought the man would have made a good addition to Landon’s clan – had he not been a natural alpha…
For one long moment; he toyed with the idea of allowing Kent to do what Dexter had done, and start a clan of his own on the mountain, but then, he dismissed that thought and tried to concentrate on the matter at hand … killing Marco.
~
~
~
“I can’t do it…” Agatha announced completely out of nowhere as she pushed up to her elbows in the bed once more.
“Do what?” Liam asked, hoping to hell that he wasn’t back at square one with her again in the wooing stakes…
“Just lie here…”
“I’ll be right up…” Liam chuckled, and when his head and shoulders appeared as a big dark mass at the bottom of the bed, Agatha used her magic to give him a little jolt or reality… “Or not.” He grumbled.
“I should be out there trying to find Marco…”
“That’s not going to happen,” Liam growled.
“It’s my fault we’re in this mess…” Agatha tossed back.
“Not … totally,” Liam offered, trying for once in his life to be diplomatic.
“I should never have gone with Zane…”
“True…”
“I should never have allowed him to attack the witch…”
“Also true…”
“I should have zapped him and left the clan to deal with him at home…” she mused to herself.
“And then we would never have met…”
“That’s…” she didn’t want to say that it was unimportant in the grand scheme of things, because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings… “I’m sure fate would have led us down a path somewhere along life’s road.”
“Just not now,” Liam offered back.
In truth, she was his salvation. He was a man who didn’t want to be an alpha, but was one. His beast was fighting him over the last year or so to assert that dominant gene, and yet, he didn’t want it…
If anything, he’d been skirting rogue for a while, and if they hadn’t met when they had then it was probably fair to say that he might have been heading for Zane’s fate…
No, he’d needed her and fate had did what it needed to do to bring her to him – just as fate had brought his pack mates together. If Zane hadn’t of come to the pack then it would have been two matings that might not ever have happened…
“Maybe never,” he added.
“I can’t just sit here
in all good conscience and let someone else fight my battles for me…” Agatha sighed inwardly. It wasn’t her way, and it never would be…
“You’re telling me that you want me to allow you to put yourself in harm’s way…”
“Allow, such a funny word, don’t you think?” She bit out as he stomped on her last nerve.
“No games, Agatha…” he pushed up to his feet and became a large shaded block against the darkened landscape of the room.
“I’m not playing any…”
“You know what I mean when I say allow…”
“Fine.” She pushed to a sitting position and tossed up her hands in frustration. “But, do you understand what I’m saying here, Liam?”
“I do.” Liam growled in annoyance. He felt much the same way. “You don’t think it irks me and my wolf to take a back seat while people are out there hunting the man who is hunting my mate?”
“Then…?”
Liam weighed up the options. He couldn’t leave her behind, not unprotected and not unmated, his wolf would never have gone for it, and he didn’t want her out there with Marco out for her blood … but, those were his options…
“You’ll stay by my side unless I tell you otherwise?” Liam didn’t like it, but she was right, they needed to be doing something…
“I will…” she said, crossing her fingers and muttering a get out of that clause, just in case…
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“Where ya going?” Vicky’s voice was so unexpected in the silence of the large hallway as Liam and Agatha made their way towards the front door of the castle that they both jumped in place.
Liam had already wrapped a hand around his mate’s wrist and yanked her behind the safety of his body by the time he rumbled his first warning growl…
“None of that, puppy…” Vicky admonished him, but there was a whole heap of amusement within her eyes. “Use your words, and don’t poop on the floor.”
“You and Connor as well suited,” Liam offered back to the witch with a certain amount of disbelief…
“Really? I was thinking Prince Charming might have been a better match, but, hey-ho, you can’t have everything, but at least I got the castle.” She grinned.
“I’d say you were separated at birth…” Liam grumbled, and his mate chuckled behind him…
“How old do you think I am?” Vicky scowled.
“I’m not going to answer that question…” Liam was well aware of the pitfalls of even mentioning a female’s age.
“Smart wolf. You might live to see your next birthday yet.” Vicky lifted her hand and motioned between the pair and the front door. “Romantic moonlight stroll?”
“Bear hunting,” Agatha offered as she sidestepped her mate.
“Ooo, sounds like fun. Mind if I join you, or is this a wooing thing – kill the bear – get the girl?” She teased.
“I’m sure your mate would have something to say about that…” Liam offered back.
“Oh, I’m sure, which makes it all the more fun, don’t you think?” Vicky offered back with a sly smile.
“If anything happens to you, Connor is…”
“Going to flay you alive? Yeah, possibly…” Vicky said, and then she shrugged her shoulders. “I say we live dangerously.”
“That’s because you wouldn’t be the one being flayed…”
“You got me there. Bonus.” Vicky grinned.
Agatha covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled behind it as her mate shook his head in disbelief.
“Witches.”
“Wolves.” Vicky tossed back as she started for the door…
~
~
~
Connor picked up the stray scent in the air of that damn wolf, George’s brother, and he had half a mind to be done with that man once and for all, but right then, he had bigger problems to worry about.
He’d also picked up a few other scents in the air, that of his mate, and Liam and Agatha …
“It’s turning into a damn party…” he muttered as he swung from one thick branch to the next and landed effortlessly in a silent stance that meant that he could listen intently to what was going on around him…
Kent was to his left and a good fifty feet or so away. Liam, Agatha, and Vicky were to his right and heading away from the castle.
George’s brother was stalking in Kent’s direction, and there … on the breeze … he could just pick out Marco as the man picked his way, almost silently, towards the group…
Connor didn’t like how things were playing out and now his own mate had put herself in the firing line...
Vicky wasn’t going to like what he had to say to her later, but right then and there, he was more concerned with keeping her alive.
Kent made the first move – scenting the wolf that was closing in on him – he didn’t have time to find out the beast’s intentions, he’d been on the mountain long enough to know that the wolf wasn’t joined to any pack or even the clan, and in his book that left the rules of engagement open to interpretation.
He preferred to attack first and ask questions later…
~
~
~
The sound of fighting took Liam’s attention off of his surroundings and towards the danger that had appeared off to his right. He scented the air and found Kent’s bear on it … and that was good enough for him…
“Stay there…” he growled at the witches, and without a backwards glance he was off and running towards the fight.
“I do love a man of authority…” Vicky offered, with a roll of her eyes and sarcasm in her tone.
“We could sneak a look…” Agatha tried to make it sound as if she was uninterested, when she was damn well chaffing at the bit to find out what was going on…
“Or we could go and zap some furry butt…” Vicky had already turned towards the sound of fighting when Marco rushed from the cover of the dense foliage towards them…
By the time that Agatha had made her first sound and Vicky had turned back towards the witch, Marco had his hand locked around Agatha’s wrist and was yanking her towards him…
The shifter’s claws were out and his fangs were down, and Vicky’s heart leapt into her throat at the threat to her friend…
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
Vicky’s magic was already right at the end of her fingertips – she didn’t need a moment to gather her powers – she lifted her hands and forced her magic outwards towards the shifter, just as Connor landed upon his feet at Marco’s side and reached out for him…
Vicky cursed and snatched her magic back, but it was already too late – the shifter and her mate had been wrenched up from the ground and were flying backwards through the air, as Agatha was yanked forwards and hit the earth face down…
“Whoops…” Vicky bit out on a small grimace.
She couldn’t take her eyes from Connor’s body that had been blasted away. There was a small pang of guilt when his back hit the tree trunk with a loud thud that made her screw her face up in another grimace, and he rebounded, face down onto the ground.
She had a moment’s reflection on how that could have been better and how badly that was going to play out later between them…
“Thanks, love…” Connor bit out as he slapped his palms down against the earth and pushed his torso upwards…
“You got in my way…” Vicky shot back, defiant and defensive, as she turned her attention back towards Marco…
The man was back on his feet and stalking towards his intended target. The rage within his eyes told her everything that she needed to know – the man wasn’t about to turn tail and run – his bloodlust was up front and centre and he fully intended to claim his kill…
Connor felt that something was broken – he just wasn’t entirely sure what it was, not with pain screaming through him from all directions.
His body would heal, that was a given – it was just a question of
if it would heal in time…
Agatha pushed up and rolled her body onto her hands and knees. Her head snapped up at the deep, angry growl that sounded as if it was all around her, and her eyes locked onto Marco as the came right at her…
“Not happening…” Vicky bit out as she raised her hands once more, she was determined to do the job right that time and finished the man off…
“Traitor…” Marco growled out.
His black, rage filled eyes were locked onto his prey, and he wasn’t about to stop until he’d done his duty to his clan and his alpha … both of them – Raul and Zane.
He lifted one large hand – his claws drawn down – and he knew what he was doing was right…
Liam’s wolf tore through the foliage on fast paws that churched up the ground behind him…
Vicky’s attention snapped towards the majestic beast, and she pulled back on her magic a split second before it could have gone very badly wrong for the wolf as it had for her own mate…
The beast’s whole body left the ground as he pushed off from his back paws and sailed towards Marco … but the bear shifter wasn’t going down without a fight, and he had a lot of fight left in him…
Liam’s wolf crashed into the man, knocking him backwards, but Marco’s arms had come around the beast and his claws had pierced into his flesh like a hot knife through butter.
There was one certainty in the fight that ensued, neither man nor beast were getting out of it unscathed…
Marco released his claws and used his strength to toss Liam’s wolf away from him – a heartbeat later and the bear burst from inside of the man – with a roar that was like a starter’s pistol for Liam’s beast…
“I do like to be surplus to requirements…” Connor bit out, snatching Vicky’s attention for just a moment, and she screwed up her face in guilt, and moved quickly across to where the vampire was practically willing himself to heal faster…
“Here, take my blood…” Vicky held her arm downwards towards her mate, but her eyes stayed firmly locked on the fighting in front of her…