by M. L. Briers
“You don’t even know your mate’s name?” Connor said with a teasing tone, but Jacob wasn’t in a playful mood, and he snapped his head around on his neck and growled long and hard at the vampire.
“I was busy and she was unconscious…” Jacob growled.
“She’s been awake a whole fifteen minutes…” Connor shrugged and his mate elbowed him in the ribs.
“Play nice…” Vicky whispered.
“But, it’s male, mate squirming time, and you know how much I enjoy male, mate squirming time…” Connor offered with a pout.
“Lily,” she answered, bringing Jacob’s eyes back to her…
“Aren’t those flowers toxic to like … every living thing?” Connor offered and Vicky zapped him – just enough to make him bite the tip of his own tongue…
He offered her a questioning look and she gave an innocent little shrug off her shoulders back, but her eyes said mischief, and her lips gave him a wicked smile.
“I’m Jacob,” he said, and dared to take another step towards Lily, but the witch shook her head…
“Not so fast, shifter…” It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, more that she wasn’t inclined to trust anyone at that point.
If he was her mate, and she had to admit that it looked like he was, then he wouldn’t hurt her, because every instinct within him would be to protect her – unless he was nuts – but still, he was a shifter and they were the last people that she wanted to be around.
The flip side of the coin was him. If he was all gung-ho on protecting her then that would pit him up against Zane, and that would be bad.
That bear shifter was as crazy as they came, and he had been hunting her since blaming her for having something to do with the death of his mate.
It was anything but her fault.
Lulu, her sister, had taken it upon herself to go after the amulet, and she’d had to protect herself against the bears when she’d been caught – she’d killed the female and injured Zane, leaving him for dead, but that crazy bear had healed by sheer force of will to see the witch dead for what she’d done…
Lulu was missing and Zane seemed to think that Lily knew where she was – silly, crazy bear.
When Lulu didn’t want to be found, nobody, not even her sister could find her. Not that she’d ever lead danger towards her sister … but she’d sure like to kill her herself if she ever got her hands on her.
Now there was a crazy bear of the warpath intent on killing her for her sister’s crimes, and she’d found a mate – a shifter mate – how badly could one witch’s week have gone?
Lily knew that she needed to keep moving. She wasn’t going to drag anyone else into her problems.
She’d only gone to the mountain in order to get Chelsea’s help in healing, and hoping to find out if Chelsea had heard from Lulu – it was a necessity that had backfired, because that meant that she now had two shifters to get away from – one wanted to kill her, and the other one wanted to mate with her.
All in all, things had gone from bad to really, really bad in the blink of an eye.
“Lily…” Jacob savoured her name on his tongue. He liked it – liked the way that it sounded, especially with that little rumble within his voice… “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you and I meant it.”
“I can’t say the same right now – so just stay put, okay?” She needed to think things through…
Jacob’s wolf wasn’t exactly sure how to take her words. Neither man nor beast wanted to upset their mate, or make her fear them – and yet, the wolf wanted to get closer – much closer.
It wanted to take her scent at source, and it wanted her to let him do it.
Jacob on the other hand wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted this mate – his mate – and not because she was a witch, but because he wasn’t in the right place, time, or situation in his life to have a mate.
If he’d still been a part of his old pack – if none of the stuff that had sent him to Dexter’s pack had happened – then sure, he would have welcomed her with open arms and wooed the hell out of her to make her his, but things had changed …
He was a different man.
His wolf was a different beast …
“Lily…” he took another step – he hadn’t really meant to do it, but he’d done it all the same…
And that was when all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
“Oh geez, not again…” Connor watched the car crash unfolding practically in slow motion in front of him.
The wolf shifter had taken a step towards his mate and the witch had reacted to it on instinct. Hell, she’d warned him to stay put enough times, but no, he’d carried on walking and she’d zapped him a good one…
The only problem with that was the man’s wolf. From what Connor knew of Jacob; the man could have a hard time keeping his beast at bay, and now there it was – up front and centre as it burst from within – roaring like she’d fried it’s backside with a power cable.
“Guard the virgin mate and save the universe…” Vicky chuckled with a shake of her head to her mate. “It’s why you’re a handy vampire to have around.”
“Don’t bust my chops…” Connor tossed back over his shoulder as he started into the fray, “you wanna deal with the wicked witch of in-her-own-little-world?”
“Not really, no,” Vicky offered back.
In her book the witch hadn’t committed a crime. She’d warned the shifter more than once not to get any closer, and the big knucklehead hadn’t listened – or he had listened and hadn’t taken it on board – or he’d listened, taken it on board, and then decided to be an idiot anyway … his funeral.
“Nice little blocking spell wouldn’t go amiss…” Connor called back, deciding that drawing the wolf’s attention from the witch would be the best idea – for her, but obviously not for him.
He used his stealth mode – running really fast – at the wolf, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when he bopped the beast on the head and just kept going.
The beast had something of a Scooby Doo moment – even the sound that came from the beast reminded Connor of the cartoon dog as the wolf’s head spun around on his neck and he looked for what had hit him.
Connor made sure that once he was out of the range of the wolf’s jaws he slowed down enough so that the beast could easily track him…
“Didn’t see that coming, did you wolf?” Connor shouted back over his shoulder like a challenge, making himself the bait, and the moment that Vicky did as her mate asked and blocked Lily’s magic from hitting the wolf – it took off on fast paws after the vampire.
Connor figured that he’d give the beast a few laps around the damn cabin – not too far away so that the wolf turned and headed right back to protect his mate – but not to close that Connor couldn’t get between the beast and the other’s if it did make a run for it.
“The damn things I do for these people…” Connor bit out as he led the wolf on a merry chase.
~
~
~
“Let’s get you inside the cabin,” Isobel said; taking a step and stopping like she’d hit a glass wall when Lily’s magic reached out to ward her off.
“No offence,” Lily started with a small shake of her head, but she kept her eyes focused on the group. “But I don’t know you people.”
“None taken, and fair enough,” Isobel tossed back.
She pushed against the magical force field with her own energy and marvelled at its strength. The witch was certainly drawing on some potent force within her to be able to create something that complex, but it didn’t feel like dark magic to her.
“I was looking for Chelsea…” Lily said and Vicky answered her before she could finish.
“We can get her for you.”
“I don’t need her now…” Lily said as her eyes flicked around the area and she looked for signs of the vampire and her mate. “Now, all I need is to get out of here…”
“Not goin
g to happen,” Dexter said, sounding curtain about that. “Not until you and Jacob have…”
“Look, this isn’t up for debate,” Lily informed him.
“I think it is,” Dexter offered back as he took a couple of steps towards his mate, and a heartbeat later he had Isobel behind his back – offering his body as protection against the witch’s magic should she choose to use it…
“Well, you’re male. You would think that the world revolves around you, but here’s the wakeup call – I’m not a part of your pack…” Lily informed the alpha.
“You became that the moment that Jacob scented you and realised who you are,” Dexter hated to point out the obvious, but he’d hate for her to try to run as well.
“That guy…?” Lily nodded her head at the wolf doing laps behind the vampire. “Is as close to wolf crazy as I need to get right now. I have problems of my own and he’s the least of them.”
“And he’s your mate, lucky you…” Vicky’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Now, let’s talk bear…”
“Let’s not and say we had that conversation.” Lily shot back.
“Let’s have that conversation, kill the bear, and let your mate get down to wooing you,” Vicky countered in much the same tone that Lily had used.
“It’s not that simple…”
“Life never is…” Dexter growled.
The alpha knew that his new pack had meant all new problems and possible matings; he just never expected every damn new wolf to bring trouble to their door right away.
He was building a pack and that pack was for misfits – it probably figured that their mates wouldn’t be a walk in the park either, but he hated the fact that Isobel was always right in the middle of the danger…
She was his mate and he was her protector. He had to wonder if the way that he was building his pack was the right way to go about things where she was concerned.
Could he really counter having a pack with putting her in danger all the time?
“I don’t need that pointed out to me – I think I worked that one out for myself…” Lily hissed.
She felt the need to be on the move again. She didn’t know how long she’d stayed there, because she’d lost time when she’d blacked out, but she knew that the monster hunting her was damn good at following her trail and she needed to leave.
The pack, and even the vampire’s mate seemed like good people, and she’d hate to bring the kind of trouble that was following on her heels to their door.
She wasn’t totally heartless. She had to wonder about her mate.
The man seemed … a little crazy, even for a wolf shifter, but if she left then she knew that he’d get a hell of a lot crazier and out of control.
The guilt of knowing that pinged within her brain, but staying wasn’t an option that she wanted to explore for so many other reasons.
She knew packs and their dynamics, and that they would band together to protect her – which was exactly what she didn’t want to happen.
The bear was an alpha, and he was as crazy as they came. How could she unleash that on the pack?
~
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~
Connor had more than enough of the chase. If it had been the other way around and he was hunting the wolf then he might have felt some interest in continuing with it, but as it was he was just getting annoyed.
He turned fast, and a heartbeat later; he’d punched the wolf so hard that the beast just dropped like a lead balloon to the ground…
“Makes you wonder why you didn’t just do that at the start,” Vicky called to him with a mocking tone that made him sigh inwardly.
“Don’t bust my chops. I was giving the man time come to his senses, unfortunately, he doesn’t appear to have any.” Connor offered back.
“Says the big, bad, vampire that was playing kiss chase with the wolf,” Vicky muttered.
Connor was already stalking towards the group, and that time; he wasn’t about to take no for an answer when he fronted up to the witch.
“We’ve got five or ten minutes; depending on how thick his head really is. Spill – all the important parts.” Connor demanded to the kind of scowl on Lily’s face that he was used to seeing on his own mate.
It didn’t bother him one little bit.
“I’d rather not…”
“And I’d rather be at home in bed with my mate – doing … debauched things … but, we can’t always get what we want, now can we?” Connor offered back.
CHAPTER SIX
~
“I’m not stopping you…” Lily shrugged back to the vampire.
She wasn’t in the mood to share. Heck, she wasn’t in the mood for anything more than to be on her way.
Rightly or wrongly, she’d been healed by the vampire’s blood and she was ready to continue with her escape plan from Zane.
“But, in truth, you are…” Connor was on a long stroll back towards her.
He’d done with Jacob, and he doubted that the man would be blindsided so easily again, but he wanted this woman to say her piece and give him everything that he needed to know without the added hassle of her mate growling every few seconds…
“Give me the keys to the truck and I’ll be gone. No harm – no foul…” Lily said…
“Except to him…” Connor motioned back over his shoulder to the slumbering wolf.
He noted the way that Lily grimaced, and was glad of it. It meant that she had some feeling for the man and his predicament…
“He’ll be…”
“A crazy rogue wolf before you cross the county line…” Connor shot back. “You’ve also got the little matter of the bear that tried to kill you…” He was testing the waters to see just how deep they were.
Lily said nothing, but she was thinking hard – he could see it in her eyes. He knew women, and this one was having a serious crisis of conscience.
“I can’t stay…” Lily said; determined that she couldn’t put her own needs or even that of her mate ahead of everyone else – not where Zane was concerned.
The man was one crazy bear.
“And as has been said, you can’t leave – so where does that leave us?” Connor offered back. He withdrew his mobile from his back pocket and bit down on the lack of signal. “Isobel’s going inside to call Chelsea…”
“No. I should…”
“Stay and find out if you have a future here,” Dexter said as his mate went inside the cabin to make that phone call.
Lily’s eyes flicked towards Jacob’s wolf. The beast was still down, but it was stirring a little as one paw twitched…
A mate … of all the things to find when I’m on the run from a psycho bear…
And Lulu – I can’t leave her out there alone. If she’s still alive then I need to find her…
I can’t do any of that with a damn mate and in the middle of nowhere…
“There’s nothing to consider, witch,” Connor wasn’t giving her a choice in the matter anymore. He’d lay it on the line for her. “You’re staying because you’re a mate, and Chelsea will try to kick my backside up and down the mountain if I let you leave.”
He held out his hand to her and her eyes dropped downwards. She stared at it for a long moment, and then she heard the vampire give one, long dramatic sigh.
“Please don’t make me have to go to all the trouble of carrying you into the cabin, or hunting you down on the mountain and bringing you back home…”
“Home?”
“That’s what this is now – you’re home.”
“I’m not home,” Lily said with a small shake of her head.
“That’s your mate,” Connor nodded to the sleeping it off wolf, “this is your pack.” He circled his hand before holding it out to her again. “You’re home.”
Lily took one long moment to consider what he was telling her. Then she reached out her hand and was about to place her palm against his – when out of nowhere the stealthy wolf leapt through the air and took the vampire sideways with him �
� right down to the ground as the wolf stood with his front paws on Connor’s chest.
Jacob’s wolf pulled back its lips and snarled long and hard as the vampire groaned…
“Stealthy … and stinky breath…” Connor grumbled to another snarl.
Then he booted the wolf off of him. Jacob’s beast landed with a thud on the ground twenty or so feet away…
Connor bounded up to his feet, brushed his hands down, and offered one towards Lily. His eyes took in Jacob’s beast as it slowly drew itself up to all four paws…
“Are you mate enough to shift back to human and take care of your woman?” Connor challenged the beast…
“That’s not a…” Lily gave a small shake of her head, but Jacob had already shook off his beast, and as his human side pushed up to his full height – lily took in the tall, muscled, hard body of the very naked man… “Naked…” she breathed out, devouring every inch of him that she could see with a gaze that just wouldn’t look anywhere else…
“Get away from my mate!” Jacob growled out.
The shifter stalked towards Connor. His chin was dipped down towards his chest and his large hands were fisted at his sides as his black eyes glared at the vampire.
He was ready and willing to do Connor some damage if the vampire didn’t back off. Connor grinned as he held his hands up to his chest, palms out, in a show of surrender…
“Well, look who is back to being nearly normal…” Connor crowed.
“That’s not normal…” Lily said absently as she tipped her head to the side and regarded his long, thick length that stood proud and jutted out from his body as if it was pointing at her.
“Shifters are a little blessed with overstuffing…” Vicky chuckled.
“I’m jealous…” Connor shot his mate a look.
“Hey, he’s all yours if you want him,” Lily bit out.
“I’ll … pass, but thanks for the offer.” Connor chuckled. “He’s most definitely all yours.”
“But there’s just so much of him…” Lily shook her head again, this time in wonder.