by M. L. Briers
“Look outside the window, I think it just did,” Arthur offered from a comfortable chair by the fireplace.
“Why do you keep sniffing around my mate?” Kiel asked as he turned toward the vampire and offered him a dark glare.
“Oh, let me see — I guess, I’m just a glutton for punishment,” Arthur tossed back.
“If you like punishment that much then go and grab me something wooden and pointy,” Ashley tossed back over her shoulder.
“Did you realize that your mate was psychotic when you brought her here?” Arthur asked the alpha and got a growl of warning in reply.
“You can leave,” the alpha growled at his friend.
“Love too,” Ashley announced, turning back toward them, and she started off across the room.
“Not you,” the alpha growled.
“You can’t take it back now,” Ashley said with a small shrug, but her feet were still heading to the door no matter what he said.
The alpha closed his eyes briefly. Then he took a moment to roll his head on his neck, and he was still fast enough to block the doorway before she got there.
Ashley pulled up short; she had no choice; it was either that or run into the man mountain that was doing a really good job of impersonating a brick wall.
“Don’t tell me, I have to get by you first,” Ashley said, but it was the look in her eye that worried the alpha the most. She looked like she was relishing that thought.
“Help me put the tree up,” Kiel demanded.
“And then I can leave?” She said with glee.
“I’m not even going to grace that with an answer,” he growled.
“Spoilsport,” Ashley tossed back.
She turned on her heels and headed back over to the window.
“That’s the trouble with snow,” the vampire offered. “You have to keep your eye on it every moment, so that doesn’t do something stupid.”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” The alpha demanded.
“Me?” Arthur shot back.
“You.”
“Why — no,” he said with a devilish grin that spread from ear to ear.
“Out,” Kiel growled.
“Putting the vampire out in the snow like an alleycat,” Ashley considered that image for a moment. “I can get behind that one.”
“He’s not putting me out of the cabin, just the room. He wants a little alone time with his mate,” Arthur said as he pushed up from the chair and started toward the door. The alpha sidestepped to let him pass.
Ashley muttered something under her breath that neither man could hear no matter how sensitive their hearing might be. Both men could imagine what it was.
“Good luck with that.” Arthur chuckled as he headed down the hallway.
“Tree, please,” Kiel asked nicely, and Ashley would have kicked out at something if she could.
The man had the absolute nerve to ask nicely. What damn alpha did that?
What was she going to say? I don’t want to.
Damn, but he’d got her there alright – Mr. Shifty shifting up a gear to Mr. Nice.
“Fine,” she grumbled, thinking that it was okay to help him as long as she did it begrudgingly.
But she wasn’t falling for his sexy charm and nice eyes – or his smoking hot body – no sir, no way. She was still biding her time until she could escape his evil clutches.
Christmas tree in a shifter house with witches – Pah!
~
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~
Jeff hated to think that he might just have got carried away, but he might have just got carried away. That thought dawned on him the moment that the pain shot through his foot and up his leg.
One moment; he was kissing his mate with abandon, and she was kissing him back — and the next moment, he was hopping on the spot, gripping his toes in his closed fist, and trying to make the pain go away.
His mate — the she-demon — took one step back, crossed her arms, and challenged him with just a look. Normally, he liked a challenge, and if it was his brother that had done something like that — not that he would have been kissing his brother — then his fist would already have been flying toward its intended target.
But it wasn’t his brother, it was his mate, and there wasn’t a damn thing that he could do about it.
“She-Demon,” he growled.
“No, just a regular witch, and I’m telling you to keep your grubby little paws to yourself,” she hissed back.
“This is telling me?” He growled.
“Well, considering you act like a five-year-old, I thought I might just draw you a picture.”
“I think I got the message,” Jeff growled.
“Good. Then the lesson does not have to be repeated,” Nancy said before she turned on her heels and stalked to the door.
“I’m a catch!” Jeff snapped.
“If I was fishing — which I wasn’t — I’d throw you back over the side,” Nancy said just before she disappeared out the room and down the hallway.
Jeff grumbled a growl. He’d had the upper hand with her for all of a few minutes.
The woman was insane. But, boy could she kiss?
“You’ll be mine this Christmas. Just you wait and see,” he grumbled. It was his mission in life, and nothing else mattered.
Woo his stubborn, devious, mischievous, evil, she-demon of a mate.
~
~
~
“Oh, look, the Christmas tree is up,” Eliza said as she ground to a sudden halt just outside the living room door to get a better look, and Drake had to hit the brakes rather than steamroller over the top of her.
“Oh — good,” Drake wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that. He followed his mate’s gaze and looked at the large pine with the haphazard, still dark fairy lights that his brother and mate had thrown at it.
“Shouldn’t those lights go around in circles?” Eliza asked and drew hard stares from the mates at the Christmas tree.
“You think you can do better?” Ashley demanded.
She’d tried to place those lights nicely, but the tree had grasped them, tried to play a game of pull and tug with her, and she’d given up the ghost and just thrown them at the branches after that. It was safer for her sanity that way.
“Well, I don’t think I can do much worse,” Eliza chuckled.
“Have at it then,” Ashley motioned to the tree as if it was a prime exhibit.
“I’ll give it a shot,” Eliza said as she clapped her hands together with glee.
She did like a challenge, and that big tree looked like a challenge to her.
“We’re decorating the tree now?” Drake asked as his mate shot off into the room and left him standing alone in the hallway.
“And I need a drink,” Ashley sighed.
“Oh, can I get one of those?” Eliza beamed the alpha a cheeky grin.
“Sure,” Kiel shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’m not sure why your mate didn’t get you one already?”
“Don’t ask,” Drake grumbled, but as the alpha drew alongside him, Drake leaned in and whispered. “Did you know that witches can turn water into wine?”
Kiel turned to look at his brother, but only because he couldn’t believe what the man was asking him. He needed to make sure that Drake wasn’t just pulling his chain.
“Have you been drinking?” The alpha asked.
“No, and that’s a sore point,” Drake grumbled.
“Well, I think you might need to start,” Kiel said as he shook his head in dismay.
“I think you’re right,” Drake said as he eyed his mate at the Christmas tree. She was bubbling with excitement as she yanked the fairy lights from the branches, and started to rearrange them.
Witches were — strange.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“You know, this whole Christmas tree thing won’t be so funny, cute, or smart if you end up inviting faeries into the house,” Ashley said, as she noted her mate’s presence bes
ide her just from the tingling that raced over her skin when he got close, and then she felt the heat of his body.
“I think I can handle a fairy,” the alpha said with a small growl that underlined his words.
“I’d say don’t tempt fate, but — you know?” She shot him a teasing look.
“I’m an alpha.” He said no more. He thought that pretty much explained everything there was to explain.
Kiel’s eyes widened when he felt the sharp sting against his backside; it was almost like a bee had gotten him. He cleared his throat and tried to be subtle as he eyed the area.
When it happened for the second time, he jumped in place, but he didn’t need to hear the sniggers of his mate to know where those stings were coming from. He turned a slow, accusing look on her.
“You know,” she shrugged. “You’re an alpha, right?”
“You’re no fairy, but just as mischievous.” he berated her with a look, and she tried to suppress the laughter, but it snuck out anyway.
“Pouting never looks good on a man,” she leaned in and whispered. “Especially an alpha.”
That close proximity, coupled with the fact that she’d lied, he looked good no matter what, sent a rush of awareness through her body, and when her gaze flicked up to meet his, it was followed by a sweep of heat that went from head to toe, and a jolt of excitement that headed straight for her stupid, traitorous womb.
“I’m not pouting, I’m thinking…”
“With your lips?”
“Yes—no,” he rushed to correct his slip-up with a frown that pinched his eyebrows together.
“For an alpha, you’re very – indecisive.”
Her eyes were laughing, and her lips were twitching as if she was trying to resist smiling, but it wasn’t quite working for her. He wished she’d just let it happen; he liked her smile.
“I’ve taken it on board. You want me to be more forceful, determined, take charge, bloody-minded…”
“Wait, what?” Her urge to smile turned into a frown of confusion.
“You want to be swept off your feet…”
“That’s … Huh?” She cocked her head to the side and screwed up her face.
“Wooed…”
“Woo-hoo-ed?”
Kiel puffed out his chest and nodded thoughtfully as he slapped a big, wolfish grin on his face.
“Got it,” he proclaimed.
“Got it? Got what?” she demanded.
Her brain was still trying to play catch-up because she was still trying to figure out where she’d gone so horribly wrong.
“No time like the present,” he announced, and she jumped in place.
“Future’s always brighter,” she rushed out, unsure of him, her, or what the hell was going on.
She did know that if he was grinning like the wolf that got its prey, then she probably wasn’t going to like it.
The next moment the alpha was sweeping her up into his arms with a growl that told her he was hungry for more than food, and she squealed in surprise, but that didn’t stop the rush of excitement from shooting through her.
“But…” she squeaked out.
“Your wish is my…”
“Put me down, you big oaf,” she hissed.
“Playing hard to get? I like it.” He grinned as he started off across the room on fast feet. Out the door, down the hallway, and he was headed toward his bedroom.
“Playing…?” she snapped.
“If that’s your thing, sweetheart…”
“Thing … sweetheart?” She didn’t just look stunned; she felt as if she’d been hit upside the head by some really potent fairy dust. “Now just you bloody well hold on…”
“To you, of course. Trust me; I won’t drop you,” Kiel offered back.
“Drop me!” she hissed.
“No problem,” he growled, and then he let go of her.
Ashley screeched and made a desperate grab for him, but all she managed to do was fist his shirt and tear it clean down the middle as she fell. Her backside hit the mattress first, and she bounced – then she kind of growled in annoyance.
It wasn’t as good as a she-wolf, but it sent his beast wild, and he found it attractive as well.
“You are just so…” she ground out between clenched teeth as she scrambled to her knees on the bed.
“Forceful, manly, decisive?”
Ashley huffed as she offered him her version of the evil eye. She was still debating whether she should put any magic behind it.
“Butthead,” she bit out.
“Alpha,” he offered back with a teasing grin that made her stomach flop even though she was still running on angry.
“The alpha butthead,” she grumbled.
“I think we’re perfect for each other.” He chuckled.
“A delusional alpha butthead,” she hissed between clenched teeth.
She was desperately trying to stay mad at him, and she didn’t dare snatch a glance at him for fear that would crumble her resolve. Only, she did sneak a look, and his laughing eyes made her stomach flip again.
Damn, flip-flopping stomach, heat rushes, and waves of excitement. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought she was a teen again experiencing her first crush on a member of a boy band.
“I’m just giving you what you asked for, sweetheart.”
“I did not ask for you to turn into a caveman.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Just an alpha male hell-bent on wooing his mate?”
“All I said was that you were…” she stopped and pressed her lips together. The truth was, she still didn’t know what had truly set him off on the rampage of a bad black and white B-movie.
“Yes?”
“Go – boil your big butthead,” she grumbled.
“Well, somebody needs to make up their mind,” he offered back, and her mouth opened in surprise, but he turned on his heels and stalked to the bedroom door. “I’ll leave you to consider it.” He tossed back over his shoulder.
Ashley opened her mouth again and lifted her hand to tell him exactly what she’d decided, but he slammed the door closed behind him, and frustration welled inside of her.
She huffed as she tossed herself back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling as if it had wronged her in some way.
“Butthead.”
~
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~
“And where do you think you’re going?” Jeff demanded as he followed his mate down the road.
“Out,” Natalie tossed back over her shoulder without bothering to turn around to look at him.
“Out where?” Jeff thought she might just have lost her mind. It was a full-on blizzard outside, and she thought she was going out in it.
“Outside.” She did toss him a look that time, and the look said she thought he was the one that was insane.
“No, you’re not…”
“Yes, I am…”
“No, you’re not…”
“Yes, I am…”
“No, you’re not…”
“Yes, I am — yes, I am — yes, I am!” Arthur sang out, with dramatic flair as he appeared at the top of the hallway. “I thought it was sound better if I set it to music.” He chuckled before he carried on walking away.
“No, you’re not!” Jeff growled, ignoring the vampire’s appearance and getting back down to the issue at hand.
“I will hurt you.” Nancy tossed her hands onto her hips and glared up at her mate.
Jeff stared back at the witch. He knew that she meant it, she’d already done him harm, now, he needed to figure out just how to handle her.
He was so damn tempted to kiss her again — but, there was another part of him that really wanted to kill her.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“Okay, that’s it, you and me are doing this,” Jeff growled out.
“Doing what?” Nancy demanded as she glared at her mate.
“This!” He growled.
“Gee, tha
t’s so descriptive,” Nancy tossed up a hand, rolled her eyes, and huffed.
“You know — you really are…” he lifted his hand and wagged a finger in her direction.
She snapped her head back on her neck like he’d slapped her, and raised just one eyebrow, questioning his sanity and that wagging finger, and then she raised a finger of her own.
It wasn’t her index finger; it was the middle one.
“Right back at you.” She offered him a sickly sweet smile.
“That’s it!” He growled again.
“That’s a lot of it,” Nancy offered back with a smug grin. “How much it can one man take?”
“It is not funny,” Jeff growled.
“Well, to better judge that then I’d have to know what it is, wouldn’t I?” She looked smug — too smug for her own good, he decided to act on it. Not that he knew what it was either — just that he’d had enough of it.
The woman had a way of winding him up to the point of distraction — frustration — and to the point where – he couldn’t even remember his damn name.
“Okay — you’re coming with me,” Jeff growled out, as he bent at the waist and tossed her right over his shoulder.
“I do not believe you just did that!” Nancy grumbled as she hung down his back like a sack of coal.
He wasn’t Santa, and she was in no mood to be messed with.
“Get used to it.”
“I will not!”
“Yes, you will!”
“I will not!”
“Yes, you will!”
“Yes, you will — yes, you will — yes, you will!” Arthur sang out from an unseen room somewhere off the hallway.
“Shut up, vampire!” The mates said in unison.
“Look, you’re on the same page for once. Well done.” Arthur’s dry tone came back at them.
“Let me down,” Nancy demanded as she wriggled against his shoulder and nudged his head with her hip a few times.
“I will not!”
“Could you two not?” The vampire demanded as he appeared in the hallway in front of Jeff, causing the man to pull up short, and growl hard.
“Well, he needs to put me down.”