by M. L. Briers
Tingles…
Warmth … heat … inside and out…
Those eyes of his make my legs feel weaker and my stomach flip like a pancake…
This is how fate tells you that you’ve met your mate?
Any other time I’d say bring it on … any other time but now.
Why now?
Why did fate have to throw us together like this?
I can’t…
I kind of wish I could…
What if Zane kills someone?
It’s my fault that bear is here…
“You’re not going anywhere, Lily,” Jacob growled at the thought and that sound underlined every word.
He meant it. She could see that as clearly as she could see the way his eyes tried to devour her soul.
“I can lead him away…” Lily stated her case and she didn’t, not for one second, see Jacob consider her words.
“Not happening,” he said. Adamant in his words, in his tone, and in his stance.
He took one step closer to her and she felt that too. She could feel his proximity as if it was a stamp on her psyche, a claim on her body, mind, and soul…
That’s not fair, fate…
It’s not just about me and him – there are others…
“George already got hurt…” Lily protested, but her mate just gave a slow shake of his head, not for one moment did he take his eyes off hers…
“George is always hurt,” Connor announced as he strolled into the room and eyed the mates.
Sure, he’d been listening from the other room, but he considered it a duty to his vampire nature to eavesdrop on everything that was within earshot. It would be rude not too.
“I do not need your interference…” Jacob offered his words without taking his eyes from his mate. She looked trapped, mesmerised by him, and in his book – that was a good thing.
“Oh, really?” Connor bitched with as much snark to his tone as he could add to his voice.
“Yes, really!” Jacob growled in annoyance.
He was trying to talk his mate down from trying to do something very stupid, and the last thing that he needed was a sarcastic vampire stirring the pot.
“You kind of needed my help to heal your mate, now didn’t you?” Connor’s voice had become lighter, more melodic…
“I didn’t ask…” Jacob grumbled.
“That makes you a bad mate!” Connor teased.
“Do not…!” Jacob wrestled his gaze away from his mate and growled at the vampire…
“One would think that a good mate would be grateful to have a fully healed, woo-able mate ready for mating, alive and kicking – no pain – no suffering, but noooo!” Connor grinned the moment that Jacob went to take a step towards him…
“You don’t really have a sense of humour, do you?” Lily asked, and when he snapped his eyes back down to hers – they were full of mirth, it looked as if the vampire could bring his mate to humour, make her happy, and he hated that he lacked those skills.
“I …” Jacob scowled… as he stopped to decide what to say next…
“It’s a yes or no answer… you don’t have to think long and hard about it,” Lily said, trying not to smile.
“When it’s needed…” Jacob offered back.
“Life needs a sense of humour up front and central – otherwise it’d be kind of boring…” Connor offered.
“I find nothing funny in Lily saying that she’s leaving to be bear bait!” Jacob growled back.
“So you decided to bore her into submission… I get it,” Connor tossed up his hands, “well, no actually I don’t, but each to his own.” He turned on his heels and left the room.
Jacob muttered something under his breath that Lily couldn’t hear, but the way that he bit it out, she kind of guessed what he was saying. The man rolled his eyes in his head, and then his shoulders as he turned his attention back down to her…
“He’s messing with you,” Lily said, and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
“I know, but still, the man is…” he grumbled another growl…
“Funny.”
“Funny?” he turned his nose up at that.
“Just as Chelsea said he was.” She gave a little shrug.
Jacob just snorted a grunt of annoyance.
“Bear bait?” She asked, after a moment of silence when neither of them spoke to fill the gap.
Jacob winced at the thought. It sounded so much worse when she said the words – he could actually image her out there running from the damn bear, and he didn’t like that thought one little bit…
It made his wolf try to push forwards once more to protect her…
We had this conversation, wolf…
If my fangs come down – do you really think that Lily will want us as her mate?
The beast rumbled a growl within his mind … Mine … It staked its claim once more.
Then show some control…
He berated his beast and the wolf became silent. It still sat just beneath his skin, but he didn’t feel the danger of the beast breaking free.
“I won’t allow you out there to face the bear,” Jacob informed her. “Call me a male chauvinist pig, a misogynist, hell, call me pig ignorant…”
“All of the above…” she shrugged…
“But, hear me when I say that I don’t care how you see me right now, because it’s my duty as your mate to protect you…”
“It’s not just you. George…”
“George is pack. You are pack. Any male in this pack would gladly give his life to protect you,” Jacob growled. “You may not like me right now. You may hate me … I don’t care. I will protect you, Lily. Even from yourself.”
“I don’t need protecting from anyone, least of all myself,” Lily dug her heels in…
She’d heard his words loud and clear, and there was a big part of her that had been bowled over by them.
Who wouldn’t want some big hunky shifter guy saying that they would die for them? Even if you didn’t want that, it was always good to hear that someone had your back.
She wanted to kick her feminist side into the long grass and swoon over Mr Muscles – and yet, there was still that nagging voice of guilt and doom in the back of her mind, and the more that she thought about it; the more that it pinged around in her brain.
“Sure you do…” Jacob said. Then his lips stretched in what she thought might have been an attempt of his body in a spontaneous smile. “You’re a witch, after all.”
“Oh…!” Connor shouted from the other room. “You went there!”
Lily dropped her head forward on her neck and giggled as she gave it a small shake. Then she took in a deep breath and lifted her head, meeting him eye to eye…
“For the record,” she said, and his eyes narrowed just a little; he was waiting for the punchline – the verbal kick to his manhood. “I don’t hate you…”
“Progress!” Connor shouted, and Lily chuckled hard.
“Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid,” Jacob said, and Lily chewed that over…
“She’s a witch, define stupid or she’ll dance around the edges and garner forgiveness later…” Connor called once more, and Lily frowned as her cheeks coloured just a little.
Jacob lifted his right eyebrow and gave her a look of disbelief. She looked damned guilty…
“You would have, wouldn’t you?” His tone was accusing as she grimaced, scrunching her shoulders upwards almost to her ears…
“Well….” She looked as guilty as sin…
“Wow!” He grumbled. “Witches are tricky.”
“You have no idea…” Connor groaned. “But now that you have a witch mate – you will.”
CHAPTER TEN
~
The wolf turned in place. There had been no sight and no sound in warning for his beast to what was coming.
That was unthinkable … He was still mulling that fleeting thought over the moment that the bear attacked.
Razor sharp c
laws ripped into him and he embraced the pain. His wolf didn’t go down without a fight.
The wolf relished every strike that he made against the bear. He could almost image that it was his brother, George, on the end of his claws and fangs, but the blood was all bear…
One crazy shifter bear whose eyes were rimmed with red and was as close to hell as he wanted to get.
He hadn’t finished what he’d gone to the mountain to do.
He hadn’t driven his brother to rogue. Although, he was driving him to distraction with every waking minute on the hunt to find him…
Paul felt the slash of the claws across his beast’s chest and he went down hard.
‘You win … brother…’
He bit the bitter words out into the mental link that he’d once had with his brother. A link that he hadn’t had cause to use for almost a year…
A link that he hadn’t expected to still work.
He would have thought that his brother would have cut off the link at the same time that he had cut him out of his life…
‘Paul…?’
There was a part of him – the part that knew he was dying – that relished the sound of his kin within his mind.
There was the other, larger part that despised his kin and wished that he was lying with his face in the dirt, about to meet the ancestors…
‘Where are you?’ George demanded…
‘Close … not close enough … to kill you.’
‘You’re injured…’
‘Dying. You got you’re … wish…’
‘The bear…?’
‘Bear…’
‘I’ll find you. Send you to the ancestors in the right way…’
‘It’s … more … than I … would have … done … for you… south outcrop…’
George disconnected his link to his brother. He felt a small kick in the pants about leaving him to die alone like that, but his pack needed any information that they could get on the bear…
‘Dexter, the bear is at the south outcrop.’ George informed his alpha.
He pulled himself up from the bed – the muscles in his legs felt stronger, more able to hold his weight now that the vampire’s blood was doing its job…
‘We’re on our way – stay in your cabin…’ Dexter growled back through the pack link.
The alpha didn’t need to know how he knew where the bear was for now, and he certainly didn’t need to an injured wolf out on the hunt. They would have enough to deal with in hunting and killing the bear.
‘My brother is out there dying … or he’s lying and he’s walking you right into a trap.’ George warned.
He still wouldn’t trust his brother as far as he could throw him. He didn’t know if his brother was for real, but he wouldn’t let Dexter and the pack walk into a trap blindly.
‘Got it. Stay put and that is an order…’
~
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~
“It’s a distraction…” Connor said.
They’d found George’s brother. The wolf was as close to death as the bear could leave him … but he had left him, and for that fact alone Connor was mistrustful of the situation.
It just didn’t sit right with him…
Connor bit down into his hand and fed the wolf his blood. Rightly or wrongly, he was going to give the wolf a fighting chance.
He didn’t want George thinking back on that moment in the future and regretting that Connor hadn’t saved his brother’s life.
If it turned out to be a damn big mistake then Connor figured that he could deal with that at another time. At least this way he would have the chance to undo his mistake.
“You think?” Dexter had shifted back into his human form and was studying the tracks that the bear hadn’t been able to cover up as they dug so deeply down into the earth…
“I’d bet his life on it…” Connor motioned to the dying wolf.
“Let’s go…” Dexter growled.
The alpha wasn’t big on conversation. A moment later and his wolf had burst free from within him.
“Warn the witches…” Connor called.
He was already in mid run when Connor shot right on by him. He never took that personally anymore, and right then; he was more than grateful for the vampire’s speed … it meant that the man would be back at the cabins protecting his pack a lot faster than the wolves…
~
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~
“You feel that?” Vicky sat forward in her chair and eyed Isobel.
The witch placed the glass of red wine that she had been cradling down onto the side table and nodded. It was Chelsea that pushed up to her feet, ready and willing to take on whatever was coming for them.
“There’s no reason for a witch to use a blocking spell unless somethings coming…” Chelsea said. She motioned towards Jacob as the man got to his feet. “Get her in the bathroom…”
“No, wait…” Lily started, but her mate was already reaching for her…
“Wards…” Vicky bit out, directing the others to follow her lead, but it was already too late – just as Dexter was reaching out to Jacob through the link to warn him – so the door was taken off its hinges as the bear crashed into the room…
Tyler’s bear burst from inside of him with a deafening roar, but Chelsea and Vicky had already moved beyond the defence stage.
With their magic already at their fingertips – they turned to offence – blasting the bear and ripping the beast backwards from the floor – it was swept out of the opening that had only moments earlier had a door attached, and out into the night…
~
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~
Tyler’s bear tore out of the cabin after the beast. His eyes searched the area as he sniffed the air – his beast grunted at the lack of a scent…
“Where the hell…?” Chelsea bit out as she stalked out into the night after her mate.
Tyler turned his head, momentarily blindsided at having his mate outside and in harm’s way … when he turned back; Connor was standing right in front of him…
His beast growled at the vampire…
“Hey, you snooze, you lose…” Connor offered back. The bear growled harder. “There’s no talking to you when you’re like a bear with a sore head…” he muttered, scoping the area for any sign of the attacker.
“It’s magic…” Chelsea bit out in annoyance. “That damn bear has a witch…”
“And we have a lot more…” Connor offered back. “Get back in there and do what witches do. Find her…”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
Dexter’s wolf came racing out of the darkness towards them. He’d spotted the inaction immediately and shifted back to his human form the moment that he stopped…
“Nothing?” He growled.
“We have an advantage. We know about his witch.” Connor offered back…
“You’re going after the witch?” Tyler asked as he shook off his bear…
“Take out the witch and he can’t hide.” Connor said, turning on his heels and starting back towards the cabin…
“My … door!” Dexter growled at the sight of the battered and splintered opening.
“Kind of lucky there’s no snow on the ground…” Tyler offered and Dexter gave the man a curious look.
“I have no damn door and that’s your tea and sympathy pitch?”
“No, just saying…” he shrugged.
“It’s not his fault…” Connor offered back over his shoulder. “He is … a bear.”
“Are you saying I’m dumb or something…?” Tyler growled back.
“I didn’t say that…” Connor shrugged back and Tyler kept walking away from him. “I insinuated it though.”
Tyler pulled up short and growled as he shot a look back over his shoulder at the man.
There really were times when he wanted to shake his bear loose and let it have at the vampire just for the poops and giggles of it.
That moment was one of those times.
~
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~
“If you don’t get your damn hands off me, so help me I will…”
Lily wasn’t best placed too actually do much of anything other than to but zap her mate. Hanging head first down his back, over one large shoulder, she had a great view of the man’s backside, and she knew that if she zapped him then she could have a great view of the flooring … right up close and personal as she face planted the carpet…
The only thing that she had managed to do was to throw out a ward and make all of the doors that still remained on their hinges inside the cabin sticky like glue.
The man was having a hard time trying to get into the bathroom that had been the nearest door to him when Chelsea had tossed out her good idea about getting Lily to a safe place…
Nobody would ever know just how much personal strength it had taken for him not to allow the shift and let his wolf burst from inside of his body when that crazy bear had knocked down the front door to the cabin and appeared inside.
He’d used his human body to protect his mate, turning her in place, and putting her behind his back, but until he’d heard Connor’s voice at the front of the house – he hadn’t stopped trying to get his mate to a safe room…
Even once his mind was certain that the bear wasn’t around anymore – his irrational need to get as many barriers between his mate and danger as he could was still foremost in his mind…
“Put me the hell down, Jacob…” Lily bit out.
She leveraged her hands against his back and pushed her upper body up so that she could, at least, see something more of what was happening than just the man’s backside…
“Let her down, Jacob,” Chelsea said, giving the man a curious look as she stalked back in through the opening with Connor following on close behind her.
Jacob knew that he should put the woman down, she was kicking up a fuss, and yet, he really didn’t want to let her go.
“She needs to be safe…” he bit out.