by M. L. Briers
“So much for hacking…”Nadia’s voice was like a bucket of cold water poured over Natasha’s head as she pulled her lips from his and gasped in the air she had been so sweetly and passionately denied.
Colt didn’t move, although he did debate with himself snapping the annoying little Witch’s neck and returning to his mate to begin again where they had been so cruelly interrupted. But he had a sneaking suspicion that his mate might view him killing her sister as a step too far in their emerging relationship.
“Nadia, you’ll understand when I say that there are two words and the second is off…”Natasha bit out, much to the pure amusement of her mate. He rolled his forehead against hers for the briefest of moments before he pulled away. No matter how annoying Nadia was, he couldn’t help thinking that she was right. Now wasn’t the time to take his mate, no matter how hard a pill that was to swallow.
“Temper, temper, Sister.”Nadia’s footsteps away from the room only made Colt more aware of how he needed to put some distance between them before he didn’t give a damn about anyone else or anything, and took his mate back into his arms.
“We should continue the search for the Warlock…”Colt offered. One part of him hoped to hell she gave him the same answer that she’d given her sister and curl around him for more of what they had just shared, and the other part knew that lives depended on what they did or didn’t do here tonight.
“Score one for the Vampire not being a totally selfish pig then…”Natasha teased as her mate stepped back away from her.
“I can be, and when I have you alone after we settle this matter, there will be times when I may be…”Colts mind raced with a wealth of imagery of what he wanted to do with her, to her, and for her. But also for himself, and he couldn’t keep those thoughts from showing on his face as he stared back at her.
“I’ll just bet you can.”Natasha teased again. Making a mental note to get him to show her everything that just went through his mind, because she was certain she was going to like every moment of it when this was done.
“We’ve set up the patrols as you instructed. We’ve forsaken the outer perimeters and drawn back around the cabins and the community. And that smells damn good…”Blake couldn’t help his interest in the meat that Neve was basting and his feet instinctively took him closer towards her. He eyed it with the desire of his beast to tear into it.
“We still have a few hours before any likely attack takes place. Now we know there is a Warlock controlling them, if we can find him and kill him, we’ll just have some mindless Were beasts running around like headless chickens.”Nero eyed his Beta and his Beta eyed the dinner.
“Headless chicken’s with claws, fangs and a need to bite and tear flesh. Kind of like a rabid version of him.”Nadia motioned towards Blake who grunted his disapproval of her tone.
“Just remember that you’re not a mate, Nadia. That makes you expendable.”Blake gave her a wry smile, but his eyes told her he was teasing. At least that’s what she hoped his eyes were telling her. It could have been that he was squinting with the image of snapping her neck within his mind. Either way she wasn’t too perplexed.
“Just remember that my sister might not be a vet but she can still neuter you.”Nadia offered back with a sickly innocent smile to go with it. Blake turned his full attention back towards the little Witch and his nose twitched in amusement.
“I see your jaws flapping little Witch, but there’s no real substance behind your words.”Blake offered. Moving around the counter to take a slow walk towards where she sat at the table.
“Well, I pity you Blake. It must be awful for you to have to carry that ego around with you all the time.”Nadia watched him slowly lean down towards her. When he palmed the table and leaned in, she didn’t move a muscle, although plenty of them twitched in anticipation.
“Aren’t you just big and brave now that your sister’s are here to look after you?”She caught the laughter in Blake’s eyes and it gnawed at her pride. Living her whole life in the shadow of her sister’s hadn’t been easy and being accused of hiding behind her sister’s skirts wasn’t exactly palatable to her.
“Wanna step outside and see what I can do on my own?”Nadia wasn’t devoid of skills. Sure, she couldn’t have done the shake and toss thing that Natasha was so fond of. She also didn’t have the considerable power of her eldest sister, Neve, but all in all, she could deliver something that would make this Beta think twice before ragging on her again. She’d kept her head down for too long around this pack, settling for the quiet life, perhaps it was time to make her mark right on his backside.
“I wouldn’t want your sister to have to step in for you.”Blake shot back. He liked the little Fae. She could be annoying and trouble if given enough room to get up to tricks, but she wasn’t such a bad person. He’d only been doing his Alpha’s bidding when he harassed her off and on, just to keep her on the straight and narrow.
In a different world he would have willingly taken her as his mate, had the Fates seen fit. She was feisty and he liked feisty. But fate had given him his mate and taken her away again when they were still young. Too young to mate, too young to bond, and so he’d never felt the madness of the loss hit him as hard as an adult Lycan would have, and yet he still felt at loss, knowing his chance had been and gone.
“I think I can manage to kick your backside all on my own, after all, you’re only a Beta.”Nadia smiled up at him as sweetly as she could manage, and she could manage it really well. Her eyes were bright and playful, even if they did hold a note of annoyance whenever he mentioned her sister’s powers. He’d managed to find her Achilles heel and that was something he could pull out and dangle in front of her every time she was being a smartarse.
“As opposed to being only a kind of Witch with a few little powers?”Blake babied her and saw the rush to anger that flicked into her eyes. Now he’d found her sore spot, he could see right through that hard as nails act that she liked to carry like a shield around her. She wasn’t so damn tough.
Nadia slammed the palms of her hands down flat on the table in front of her as she sprung to her feet. Oh those laughing eyes of his made her want to send a bolt of something right up his backside and she’d be only too please to let loose with one, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Blake might have been an arsehole at times, but she didn’t think he ever really got off on the power rush of doing his Alpha’s bidding, unlike Alf. The Omega thrived on tormenting her when no one else was around.
“Face it Blake, you’re just the Alpha’s lapdog.”She sneered up at him, knowing that it pissed him off. The low rolling growl, the rush to anger in his eyes, the way his hands fisted slightly at his sides, it made her feel so warm inside. Home run.
Nadia didn’t wait long enough for him to come up with a retort. Fast on her heels she headed towards the back door and snatched it open. She was still stinging from his verbal attack on her abilities and while she was ahead, she was leaving. The trouble was Blake made it to the back door before she did. One large hand slammed down onto the wood beside the glass panel and the door itself shook, maybe even the foundations of the house.
“And where the hell do you think you’re going?”Blake growled against her ear as his body leaned in over hers. Trapping her between the door and his body and she gritted her teeth with the need to be outside in the cool night air. Confinement within four walls never suited her, and right now she felt very, very confined.
“To get some air. The smell of sweaty mutt it a little stifling, don’t you think?”She tossed her eyes up towards his for only a second and found that his eyes had turned black. As mad as hell, check, now all she had to do was get the hell out of there and let him cool off. She didn’t have a death wish, but she didn’t like to lose either.
“I think you’re trying to piss me off…”Blake stated the obvious and saw the gleam of confirmation in her eyes.
“You know, you’re only a Beta, perhaps you might want to check with your Alpha for confirmat
ion before you rush to judgement on that.” She delivered it with pitch perfect innocence and a just a hint of sympathy in the look that she gave him.
“Christ, it’s like a scene out of the Omen. I can just hear Gregory Peck say, ‘put the dog down, Damien.’” Colt announced from the opposite end of the room. Natasha and Neve tittered beside their mates as Blake shuffled on his feet. A part of him could quite easily kill the little Witch, while the other part wanted to keep up the banter that they were tossing back and forth between them. It may have annoyed the hell out of him, but it amused him too.
Nadia guessed she’d won the battle of wills when Blake took a long step back and motioned towards the back door. “You wanna go out there, you need an escort.” He informed her, folding his giant tree trunk arms over his abdomen and smirking down at her.
“Any of you tough guys wanna come with me to keep me safe?”Nadia poked her head around Blake’s double width body to give a rather smug look towards the two mates that would be her brother’s in law shortly and was rewarded by the deeply growled annoyance of the Lycan in front of her.
Nadia wasn’t so smug when she felt his hand on the collar of her jacket, hitching her up off the floor into the air with as much ease as she’d use for a cat she wanted to toss out of the house. Her eyes went wide in shock as she was held out at arm’s length from him, and when he yanked open the door and took a step towards the cold night air, she half expected to be ejected forcibly from the premises. The idea of landing on her backside or worse, her head, didn’t hold much appeal and she started to squirm, looking much like a fish on a hook, when her eyes caught sight of Blake’s face, beaming with grin of amusement.
“Don’t you dare…”She warned. Narrowing her eyes on the oaf and readying her magic to retaliate should the moment arise that she wished to do so.
“Try not to break her, Blake.”Nero’s voice sounded so far away to her as she swung, almost, helplessly from Blake’s outstretched hand.
“Just putting the cat out, boss. Although it may end up with a toe or three up its backside if it keeps on with the claws.”Blake informed him. Stepping out into the night and slamming the door shut after them.
“Aren’t you going to rush to your sister’s aid?”Nero looked down at Neve as she pushed her hands back into her oven gloves and lifted the hot pan back into the oven.
“Why, he isn’t going to hurt her. He finds her amusing, amongst other things.”Neve replied over her shoulder. Closing the oven, she shimmied her hands from the oven gloves, and turned back towards her mate expectantly.
“He does like to play cat and mouse with the little Wi…woman.”Nero bit off what was usually a derogatory term for the Fae, or at least when he delivered it, and rolled his shoulders. He guessed with a Fae mate he was going to have to think twice before he spoke.
“Besides, she’s not entirely helpless.”Natasha offered and right on cue the sound of a loud crash and something heavy hitting the ground outside made them all turn towards the door expectantly.
“Point made for you, love.”Colt offered with an amused grin, wondering what had befallen the Beta once he’d let Nadia down and hadn’t had the foresight to keep her at arm’s length.
Nero groaned, wondering for a long moment if he was going to have to rush to the little Witch’s defence from his own damn Beta. He was supposed to be protecting the little She-Devil and not from his own men. Although where Nadia was concerned nothing surprised him. But the sound of peacefulness from outside made him more concerned that she’d done more harm to his Beta than expected and he rushed to the back door, wrenching it open and growled long and hard at the sight of his Beta lying crumpled against the wall of the outbuilding.
“Blake!” Nero saw the man flinch in pain as he rushed to his side. Slow to rouse, the Beta shook himself back to reality.
“I was jumped. Where’s Nadia?” Blake pushed to his feet. Swayed and grabbed for his head. That was gonna hurt for a while, he could already feel a swelling against his skull, no need to feel out the egg that was surely there. But he was Lycan, he’d survived worse.
Nero was more than aware that the whole of the group had hastened outside as he scented the breeze and caught Nadia’s sweet fragrance mixed with the stench of the human Were’s. Damn it to hell. The woman had been taken right out from under his very nose and on pack land.
“They have her. Get the Fae inside and guard them.” Nero went to move off, but Blake’s large hand shot out and gripped his wrist.
“This is my mistake, allow me to fix it.”Blake growled long and hard. The beast was close to the surface and the man was as mad as hell. Nero couldn’t see as he had any choice. He couldn’t allow the beast to be caged when it was this riled up, that wouldn’t be good for any of them.
“Go.”Nero had barely issued the order when Blake was off and running. The sound of clothes shredding as the beast pushed forwards and claimed him registered with Nero, even through the chattering that was going on between the Witches. Colt had already disappeared, no doubt he had joined the hunt for the Were’s and that left Nero to calm the Fae. His day was just getting worse.
Colt saw the truck moving at a speed that none of the Lycans would ever take down the chewed up back road that led down through the woods and back to the main route through town. He knew Nero had ordered his pack to stay on their land to protect the community from being picked off one by one by the Were’s, and nobody would defy that order without a damn good reason.
Crouched in the overhanging bough of the large oak, he waited until the last possible moment to drop onto the bonnet of the truck. His feet put two large dents into the metal that gave him more stability as the truck swerved left, then right, and up and down, through the churned up pot holes of the makeshift roadway. Obviously the driver hadn’t expected a Vampire to appear like a ghoulish hood mantle right in front of him, but he recovered his shock quickly with a deep growled warning that Colt ignored.
Colt drew his hand back and punched a hole through the windscreen. The safety glass shattered around his fist, but he wasn’t letting that stop him from getting in. He wrenched the glass from its mouldings and tossed it aside. His attention wavering for the briefest of moments when Blake’s beast jumped onto the back of the truck, filling the large space and roaring his intent, but he reached into the cab and towards the passenger in the front seat. His large hand wrapped around the thick neck of the human Were and he wasted no time in using his claws to rip out the man’s throat. Job done his eyes flicked to Nadia’s unconscious body on the back seat beside another Were.
The commotion from the driver and the back seat passenger was no more than he expected. What he hadn’t expected was the damn gun that the second passenger produced. Three shots rang out in quick succession, as Blake used his giant paws to break through the back windscreen, each wooden bullet entering in a spread position around Colt’s heart. Each projectile ripped through him like molten lava. The pain was almost unbearable as it torn through his flesh rendering him more and more inactive from the pain until finally he couldn’t hold onto his stance any longer, falling from the moving vehicle without either grace or the ability to protect his body from the impact with the ground.
Blake’s attention didn’t waver. The Vampire had still been alive when he was thrown from the truck, of that he was certain, just incapacitated by whatever bullet’s had been fired into his chest. He reared up on his hind legs and smashed through the back screen, his giant paws ended up inside the back of the cab. Nadia’s scent made him angrier than hell and his beast wanted to feel the Were’s throats between its powerful jaws.
The first bullet tore through the side of his neck, opening the flesh, but not really causing any damage. Not silver, he didn’t feel the burn of silver as it entered his system, so he guessed the bullets were wooden in order to take Colt down the way they had. He pushed forward into the confined gap and snapped his jaws at the Were, missing by inches as the second bullet ripped through his chest. That one did more d
amage.
“Get it out of the damn truck…”The driver snarled a second before Blake felt the boot smash into his face. Half in and half out of the cab, he had nowhere to go, but the force of the blow to his face sent his beast further back from where he needed to be. Protecting Nadia was his only concern and he didn’t want to fail again. He roared with the pain and anger that tore through him when the Were kicked out again. Snapping his jaws around the guy’s ankle he pulled backwards with all of his might, wrenching the guy through the gap with him and into the flat bed at the back of the truck.
Now that Blake had his jaws around the guy, his fangs buried deep into his flesh, the constant boot in the face from the guys other foot didn’t bother him so much. The Were twisted and turned as he dragged him out into the open air, kicking out blindly against the pain that tore through his leg and up his body. Blake knew he had one shot at getting this guy where he wanted him and he let go of his ankle and lurched forwards, snapping his jaws towards the Were’s neck and going for the kill shot.
The human Were was strong, but not as strong as he would have been in beast form and Blake knew that the Were had no time in which he could physically change into his beast. It took too long for the transformation from Human to wolf for Were’s and by that time he would be dead. But that didn’t stop the Were from lunging at him. With his claws imbedded into Blake’s side the two men spun wildly and Blake felt the truck give way from beneath him and knew that the open the road was sure to make its impact shortly.