by M. L. Briers
“Yeah, real helpful, Caren.”Teri shot across to her friend. She was berating her with her words and her eyes as she grabbed hold of Kiera’s hand, now shaking within her hold, and tried to sooth her. “You’re in a safe place here.”
“Sure, it’s not like there are any wolves at the door…”Caren offered and Teri glared at her.
“Whe-where are they?”Kiera managed after a shaky start.
“Everywhere silly.”Caren offered again and Teri groaned at her. “Oh, well what do you want me to do, lie to her? I thought we were telling it as it is, not sugar coating the facts…” Caren bit out as she pushed up from the floor and picked her way around her friends to retrieve a bottle of vodka and three glasses.
“Ohh, the hairy guy that works in the corner shop near the college…”Kiera offered and both the others chuckled.
“No, he was just a hairy guy.”Teri assured her.
“Yeah, I mean they don’t all look like wolves when they are in human form.” Caren offered dropping back down and placing the glasses in front of her on the floor as she twisted the cap from the bottle. “Some of them are really good looking…”She shrugged as she poured out the first nip into the glass and Kiera’s hand shot out, her fingers wrapped around the crystal and she brought it to her lips, tossing the fiery liquid straight down her throat.
“Most of them are good looking…”Teri offered as she watched Kiera slap the glass back down and motion for another. “Especially the vampires.”
“Wonder which vampire that would be referring to…”Caren teased as she refilled Kiera’s glass. By the time she had poured a measure in the other two glasses, Kiera’s glass was back in place, empty.
“But the Lycans are gorgeous too. They’re built like a brick outhouse and…”
“What’s a Lycan?”Kiera asked as she nudged Caren’s elbow and motioned towards her glass for a refill.
“It’s a man who’s a wolf when he wants to be…”Caren offered.
“Or needs to be…”Teri supplied.
“So a werewolf…”Kiera snatched the glass away the moment she considered it enough to drink, not that her mind actually had any input into the decision, it was a more subconscious need to toss back another shot.
“Not really.”Teri shook her head as she looked to Caren.
“Not exactly, and they don’t like being compared to them either…”Caren cautioned and Kiera let her glass hover at her lips as she looked from one to the other.
“Why?”She asked before tipping the vodka down her throat. Teri suspected that the alcohol wasn’t even touching her tongue.
“Pride, ego, arrogance…”Caren was off in a world of her own.
“Because, werewolves are mindless mutts that eat people, or bite and turn them, Lycans don’t do that.”Teri offered. Not only was it true, but she thought championing Callum’s cause was probably a better stance to take than slating him. After all, Kiera was going to be mated to him.
“Ok, there’s that as well.”Caren shrugged.
“Oh.”Was all that Kiera had to offer to the conversation. The vodka was definitely soothing her nerves. In fact, right then she couldn’t really care less if a damn vampire came walking in through the door, or flew in through the window. “Cool.” She added when she noticed her friends staring back at her.
“Perhaps you should go easy on the vodka…”Teri offered.
“Yeah, you might want to remember this conversation at a later date.”Caren reasoned and Kiera giggled to herself.
“No. I’m kind of hoping I blot the whole thing out.”She assured them.
“No, I really think you need to know this…”Teri assured her and Kiera frowned.
“Why?”She tossed up her arms and let them fall back to her lap. In her mind this conversation was now more than pointless, it was verging on the insane. Yes, her friends were witches, and yes they could do magic, but werewolves, vampires and Lycans…please.
“Just…reasons.”Teri looked uncomfortable. More than uncomfortable she looked as if she’d sat on a damn drawing pin. If squirming was an Olympic event, she’d be certain to win gold.
“Oh, reasons.”Kiera gave a swift shrug of her shoulders as she reached for someone else’s vodka. Her supply seemed to have dried up and that wasn’t cool.
“Kiera…”Caren rested her hand on Kiera’s, the one holding the glass to stop her from taking another shot. Kiera twisted her head and regarded her friend with interest, a small smile played at the corners of her lips.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. The alcohol is very fine, and tomorrow I will consider everything you’ve said.”She nodded her head and then frowned. “If I remember it.”She sniggered.
“Drunk.”Caren looked to Teri.
“Very.” Teri shot back, getting to her feet and motioning for Caren to do the same. They both reached down and grabbed Kiera under her arms, unceremoniously yanking her to her feet and stabilizing her at the same time.
“No, no, no…”Kiera tried to make a grab for the bottle that still sat on the floor, but Teri and Caren dragged her along with them towards her bedroom. “But we didn’t finish the bottle…”She half pleaded, half sniggered and Teri shot a look over her head towards Caren.
“Your fault, you got the booze out.”Teri berated her and Caren rolled her eyes.
“A lush or a fruitcake, I’ll take the lush any day.”Caren shot back and Kiera snorted as she stumbled over her own feet, landing face down on the mattress. Teri groaned as she was yanked down with her, ending up on her knees beside the bed instead of on the mattress.
“Also your fault, you should have had a better grip on her.”Teri growled up at Caren.
“Sure, why don’t you blame me for the comet that’s hurtling towards us and going to wipe out the whole planet too?” Kiera’s head snapped up from the bed and she tried to push herself up with her arms, but it was a losing battle. She seemed to have lost any kind of coordination that she once possessed.
“There’s a comet?”Kiera asked. Her eyes were as wide as she could get them.
“Probably, and if there is, I’ll be sure to go down in history as the bringer of death.”
“No just the harbinger of doom…”Teri snapped back and then she turned her attention towards Kiera. “And you sleep it off.” She ordered and Kiera frowned.
“You can sleep off doom?” Kiera looked as confused as she felt. This whole evening had been just a little on the weird side.
“Oh, Goddess, I’m surrounded by idiots.”Teri groaned as she pushed herself up off the floor and onto her feet. Kiera grabbed a handful of her top and yanked her back down.
“Where?” Kiera eyes tried to focus on her, but whether they succeeded or not Teri couldn’t be sure.
“I’m looking at the biggest one right now.”Teri groaned out and Kiera turned her head slightly to look at the bed.
“Nope, just me.”She assured her and Teri yanked her top from Kiera’s grip and nodded.
“Yep.”She agreed as she swept past Caren and strolled out the door.
“Get some sleep, Kiera, we can talk again in the morning.” Caren informed her gently and Kiera dropped her face into the covers. “And it would probably be a good idea not to go outside.”She offered as she backed off for the door.
Kiera felt the drumming within her head and groaned at it. Rolling onto her back didn’t help, if anything it just seemed to make the drumming louder, plus there was a rushing within her ears as well now. She pushed off from the mattress and rolled over onto her side. Prying her eyes open in the semi darkness of the bedroom, she tried to listen for sounds from outside, any sign of life so she could beg for a coffee. There wasn’t anything, just the rushing in her ears…
“Oh Lord, kill me now…”She pleaded as she rolled off the edge of the bed and found herself on her knees. She’d been aiming for standing up, but that was good too, at least she was a step further towards getting coffee. She rested her arms on the mattress and pushed up with all of her might. The pounding in her he
ad increased and she used every curse word that she had ever heard, some more than once, as she wrestled with her legs to hold her up.
“Coffee or death…”She groaned out into the silence of the room and the rushing in her ears. Turning as slowly as she could so that the room wouldn’t spin again and gingerly made her way towards the kitchen. “Death or coffee.”She grumbled as she snapped on the overhead light and shrieked as the brightness assaulted her eyes and shot hot fiery bolts of pain straight into her brain. Hitting the light back off and repeating her trusty list of swear words while she felt her way around the kitchen.
“Just a damn taste of coffee before I die…”She mumbled. Hitting the button on the kettle and groaning as the offending item decided to hiss in the loudest way possible as it started boiling the water. “Who buys a damn kettle that’s louder than a bloody train?” She opened canisters until she found the coffee. The smell alone made her pull her head back as a wave of something like nausea hit her. It was a weird sensation, nausea and lust at the same time. Coffee was life, therefore coffee was good, and right now she lusted after the evil bean, but that didn’t mean the smell that came out of the canister was good too.
“Why no coffee machine? Hello, its 2014, not the middle ages…”She grumbled as she set about making her brew. Once her task was complete she eyed the backdoor. If she didn’t have to smell it she might be able to enjoy it more, she decided, slowly padding across the room and reaching for the locks. Flipping them off, she pulled down the handle and opened the door. The freezing cold air hit her in the face with an icy cold blast that made her catch her breath. Her body shivered against the frosty fingers in the air and she shivered uncontrollably.
“Air’s good, cold, but good. Get over it…”She muttered out on a groan as she threw the door back open on its hinges and stepped out onto the concrete slab that felt like pure ice, even through her thick socks. “Feck me…”She bit out, her teeth grinding against each other…
Her eyes locked on the movement right in front of her and she took a long moment to blink back the haze, trying to focus. It moved, forwards, towards her, one step, then another, coming out of the shadows until she could see exactly what it was. Kiera’s heart froze within her chest, the air caught in her lungs and she stared wide eyed at the beast, a squeak emanating from her parted lips.
Callum stopped in mid stride. He’d forgotten that he had shifted into his beast to stave off the cold of the night. Oh, crap! He bit out in his mind as his beast decided now was the time to introduce himself, yipping as it bounded up onto its back paws. No! He growled at the animal, pushing his will into the mind of his wolf and stilling the animal, but it was already too late…
CHAPTER SIX
The scream that tore from Kiera’s throat and out of her mouth could have woken the dead. In fact it did. Cyrus nearly fell out of the tree, startled from sleep and shocked into alertness, as his eyes took in the damn stupid Alpha prancing around like a bloody idiot in front of his mate. It appeared that the wolf and the man were torn between placating their mate, covering their damn ears from her wails, and getting the hell out of there.
“Holy Christ, but she’d make a great nuclear warning siren…”Cyrus covered his own ears and he tried to still the chuckle that rumbled through him at the sight of the alpha caught in mid rumba…The damn wolf had some moves, too bad disco was dead…
Teri and Caren shot out of their bedrooms at the same time. Slamming into each other they bounced back away, both growling out curses from the impromptu chest bump.
“What the fuc…?”Caren growled out.
“I guess she met her mate…”Teri growled back. Wishing to the Goddess that the screaming would stop.
“Or yours…”Caren snapped out as they both started across the living room for the kitchen. Both of them were vying for space to get through the door. They bumped and grinded against each other as they covered their ears and padded towards the back door where Kiera was still standing, cup in hand, but with coffee spilling from it onto the paving slab at her feet.
“For the love of the Goddess, shut the feck up!” Teri screamed above Kiera’s wailing, snapping the woman out of it and bringing her head around in a wide eyed stare of fear.
“W-wo-wol…”She couldn’t make it happen for her. The word just wouldn’t come.
“It’s the wool-uff. It’s the wooool-uff.” Caren couldn’t help but grin her amusement as Teri groaned loudly beside her.
“You just had to, didn’t you?” Teri ground out.
“Too damn right I did.”Caren snorted a chuckle back at her. She didn’t think this was going to be as enjoyable as it was turning out, but hey-ho.
Teri grabbed hold of Kiera’s top and yanked her back into the kitchen as she glared her contempt at the alpha. “Stealthy little bugger, you are not.” She informed him, half Yoda and half really peed off that she was going to have to deal with this now.
The wolf took a couple of strides towards the back door and Teri found herself growling at him. “Bad puppy.”She scolded before slamming the door closed. The sound of a low growl seemed to drift under the door and into the kitchen, and she thumbed her nose at him before she turned Kiera away from the window.
“It- it-it…” Kiera was still trying, but just not succeeding.
“Not hairy enough to be cousin Itt, but I see where you were going with that…”Caren assured her with a huge dollop of sarcasm and was rewarded with a dark glare from Teri. “Maybe now would be a good time to get the alcohol?” Teri growled at her and she shrugged as she tried to look as innocent as possible. “Or maybe not.” She yanked out one of the chairs from under the table as Teri steered Kiera towards it and pushed her down until she was curled over the empty coffee cup that she clutched to her stomach.
“Coffee?”Caren asked hopefully, and Kiera brought her eyes up towards her friend as well as the empty cup.
“Have- one.”Kiera bit out. Caren reached for the cup and had to pry Kiera’s fingers from around it. If the damn thing had been glass it would have shattered under such a death grip.
“Let me refresh that for you.”Caren offered, finally freeing the thing and strolling off towards the counter. Teri slipped onto the chair beside her.
“So, that’s a wolf…”Teri offered and watched Kiera slowly turn her head towards her. The woman looked as if she’d seen a ghost and not just a beautiful wild animal outside her door. “Be grateful it wasn’t a demon…”Teri offered and saw the last remaining colour drain from Kiera’s cheeks.
“Demons?”Kiera squeaked out and Teri pouted.
“No…”She lied with a shake of her head. “But, doesn’t it make you feel better about seeing the wolf?”Teri asked hopefully and saw Kiera give her a half sneer. “Or not.”
“So, werewolf?” Kiera was eyeing the back door, nervously waiting for the thing to appear inside, although it wasn’t what she expected when she thought werewolf. She expected a dark beast with enormous fangs, red eyes and baying for blood. That was a wolf…a bloody big wolf, but a wolf nonetheless.
“Lycan.”Teri said it in such a way that she thought she should feel assured by that statement, but she didn’t. Lycan meant a man as a wolf, a wolfman, and that wasn’t normal. How could it make her feel better to know that there were people who could become wolves?
“You know when people say a little knowledge is a bad thing? Well, they’re right.”Kiera pouted.
“Dangerous.”Caren offered and Kiera raised her hand and accepted that explanation as well.
“That too.”She agreed firmly, as if that made the most sense she’d heard all evening. “Why is he out there? Is it because you guys are witches…?”Her eyes went wide for a moment as she hit on an idea. “Oh, does he want to eat you or something? Drink your blood?” She tossed her head back and forth between Caren and Teri looking for answers, but both of them had a small smile and a whole heap on anxiety on their faces.
“Actually, he’s not here for us. Lycans are wolves and when wolves fi
nd their mate, they mate for life…” Kiera was listening intently, nodding constantly, but maybe not taking it all in.
“That’s kind of sweet. I guess…”Kiera shrugged one shoulder. Teri got the feeling that most of this was going over Kiera head, and yet she still had to try to deliver the knockout punch as gently as possible.
“He’s kind of your mate.” Caren called across the kitchen and Teri grimaced, so much for gently… Kiera didn’t move, not a muscle, not a blink, not an eyelash…
“Noooo…” She dropped her forehead to the table in front of her. Her palms came up and slapped down against the wood as she shook her head in a constant motion of denial. Her head snapped up on her neck and she pinned Caren with her eyes. “Wait…kind of?”
“I was trying to be gentle, he’s your mate.” Caren offered on a wince of regret for giving her false hope, but when Kiera dropped her forehead back to the table on a long squeak of disbelief, Caren was sure she’d failed, yet again.
Kiera slapped her palms down on the table top again and pushed up to turn and stare at Teri. “This is some kind of joke, right?” She demanded. “Lycans aren’t real. He’s just a stray wolf from a zoo, and you guys are winding me up, right?”Kiera stared back at Teri, demanding, but hopeful. But when Teri didn’t chuckle or burst into laughter, she just stared back straight faced, Kiera tried again. “Because, this isn’t right, right?” She demanded again, but when Teri still didn’t agree with her, she shot a look at Caren. “I mean werewolves…”
“Lycans…”Teri corrected.
“Those too. Vampires and wolfmen and witches, and what next…?”She was wide eyed and staring at Teri when her friend lifted her index finger and went to speak, but she cut her off.
“No! Don’t answer that, it’s rhetorical.” Kiera snapped back. Not wanting to hear what else could be out there in the big, wide, and now very scary world. A few hours ago all she had to worry about was getting mugged by a human, maybe more… But now, now there was a whole new way for the world to come along and kick her in the backside. She’d take a mugging any day of the week over…