by M. L. Briers
“That’s right,” Aggie piped up. “It’s his hands — these guys have more hands than an octopus — if an octopus had hands.” She offered the Alpha steely gaze.
“And you know this because…?” Jules asked, on the muted sound of a chuckle that she was trying to keep in.
“I haven’t always been old,” Aggie admonished.
“But have you always been annoying and superior?” Koren snorted his contempt for her.
“Where you’re concerned, definitely.” Aggie offered him the kind of glare that he was glad didn’t come with magic attached.
“We need some alone time,” Jake said, startling his mate with his deep tones and sudden words.
“Alone time?” Debbie looked at him as if he just gone and thrown up on her shoes.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Jules said, and when Debbie’s eyes snapped sideways towards her, she offered her an over exaggerated beaming smile of amusement and glee.
“You spend time with him then,” Debbie bit out. She couldn’t believe that her friend was trying to throw her under the mating bus.
“Or you could just spend time with me,” Daniel leaned in towards Jules and offered, and the smile dropped from her face faster than a Brussel sprout could cause gas.
“If you’re feeling left out then go buy a puppy,” Jules snapped at him.
The sudden realization that she was in the same boat as Mia dawned on her, and she didn’t much like it. She reinforced the magic to her shields and tried to think of a timely ward that might help.
“Where’s the fun in that?” Daniel shot back.
The beta folded his muscled arms across his broad chest and made his biceps twice as big. She noticed.
The other thing she couldn’t help to notice was the slow to boil grin that spread across his face. It had kept her bewitched there for a moment.
“Well, your Wolf could have hours of fun frolicking across pack land with a little puppy sidekick.” She sneered back.
“If it didn’t eat it first,” Aggie grumbled.
“Well, aren’t you just the barrel of fun and laughter?” Koren eyed the elder witch as if he expected the woman to attack at any moment.
“Don’t you have a blood bag to suck on?” Aggie sneered at the bloodsucker.
The man was jumping up and down on the elder’s very last nerve. If he wasn’t careful that nerve was going to snap.
“I prefer the real thing. I’d ask if you’d like to open a vein, but then we both know that most of your blood is venom with the rest being acid.” Koren said.
“It can be. Why don’t you give me a small while to make that happen and then we’ll do lunch,” Aggie sneered back at the man.
“Tempting — not. I wouldn’t feed from you if you were the last vessel on earth.”
“Sure you would, that little self-preservation gene of yours would switch right on.”
“Would you two like some privacy?” Lewis growled.
At any other time the banter between the witch and the vampire would be annoying, but right then, the alpha was desperately fighting a war of willpower between himself and himself — it was just a question of which one would win.
“I think that’s the diplomatic way of saying — get a room,” Jules chuckled.
“Well, look at you,” Aggie turned her steely gaze towards the younger witch. “Little Miss Chuckles. Has anyone sniffed you yet?”
“Don’t even go there, Aggie,” Jules said, folding her arms and scowling back at the elder.
When Daniel shuffled on his feet beside her, Jules weighed the measure of the man from head to toe with one hard stare.
“What?” Daniel frowned at her.
“Just one more step and you’ll be picking up your balls from the floor,” Jules warned.
“I was shifting my weight,” Daniel protested.
“Just so long as that’s all you’re shifting, shifty,” Jules grumbled.
“Shouldn’t we be preparing this spell so that we can do it and get out of here?” Mia asked.
“Hello,” Debbie raised her hand and waved it over Jake’s shoulder again. “Aren’t you forgetting something really important — like me?”
“Lost and cause comes to mind,” Aggie reasoned with a small shrug of her shoulders, and a glint of mischief in her eyes.
“I don’t have to be a mate,” Debbie rushed out without even thinking about her words.
“And the moon could take a night off,” Aggie shot back.
The sound of the loan, deep growl that rumbled in Jake’s chest snatched Debbie’s gaze right back to the man. As the vibrations from that continuous growl traveled over her body, she had to swallow down hard against the wave of guilt that rushed up on her.
“No offense.” Debbie winced slightly when Jake narrowed his eyes on her.
“It happens all the time,” Jake offered back as the sound of his beast rumbled under his words.
“Really,” Debbie asked, tipping her head to one side like a curious beast.
“No!” Jake bit out in disbelief. “How many mates do you think a man gets?”
Debbie opened her mouth as if to speak. She paused and rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling, and her brain kicked her backside into gear.
She decided that her best defense was to say nothing, and yet, when she looked at him again, he was still questioning her sanity with just a look. She huffed inside.
“I see your point,” she muttered so quietly that he had to strain his Wolf’s hearing just to pick up her words.
“About that spell,” Mia tried again.
She wanted to be out from under the Alpha's gaze. As far away as she could get from the man — Barbados would have been her number one destination, but closer to home, her home, would have been fine too.
After all, she didn’t want him sniffing. Sniffing was the enemy. The enemy that threatened her future freedom from all things mates related.
“I can take care of the preparations,” Aggie said waving a dismissive hand in the air, and Mia’s heart sank into her stomach.
“No, no you can’t,” Mia offered back quickly, pleading with the witch with her whole being and especially her eyes.
“Sure I can.” Aggie brightened considerably. The big beaming smile lodged on her face, and her eyes were alive with mischief.
“But… You don’t want to,” Mia’s stare turned from pleading to desperation.
“Sure I do. I like me some alone time.”
The wickedly evil chuckle that escaped Aggie’s lips practically slapped Mia right between the eyeballs. She groaned inwardly.
“And that will give the alpha some you time,” Koren offered the younger witch with a toothy grin and a need not to be outdone in wickedness and the stirring of the proverbial pot by the elder witch.
“Look, if I were going to have a mate, it wouldn’t be a Wolf, it would be a unicorn,” Mia bit back.
“There aren’t any unicorn shifters anymore,” Daniel chuckled at the thought of it.
“Don’t tell that to the unicorn shifters,” Jules snorted at the man’s ignorance.
“What is this, My Little Pony?” Daniel wasn’t about to be tricked into looking stupid again.
“How the hell do you know about My Little Pony?” Jules looked the man up and down as if he just peed on her shoe.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Daniel grumbled back. He’d made a rod for his own back, and he wasn’t happy about it.
“He’s a closet Brony,” Jake offered back over his shoulder with a grin that Daniel felt the urge to plant his fist on.
“Am not!” Daniel growled with annoyance.
“What’s a damn Brony?” Aggie demanded. She didn’t like to come up short in a conversation.
“It’s a male fan of the ponies show,” Jake snorted a chuckle at his brother’s expense.
“I am so going to…” The hard growl rumbled in Daniel’s chest.
“Sing the My Little Pony song?” A snort of laughter escaped Jul
es' lips. “You do know it, right?”
Daniel dragged his hard gaze away from the back of Jake’s head and turned it towards Jules. His eyes narrowed, he looked as if he was chewing a wasp, and he drew in a long, deep breath into his lungs and puffed out his impressive chest.
“Yes,” Daniel bit out the word as if it was a sour taste on his tongue. “Would you like to sing it with me?” He offered back with a dry tone and a no nonsense look.
“Sorry, I’m not into cartoons. I prefer to live in the real world.” Jules offered him a wicked grin of victory. But when the man took one long step towards her that victory felt very hollow. “Back off.”
“Why? Did the real world just get scary?” Daniel snatched her victory from her and grasped it with his hands. “What say I give you just a little sniff?”
Jules didn’t wait for the man’s next move as haste seemed to be her best friend right about then. Her magic was already at her fingertips, and she didn’t think twice as she balled a fist and launched it at his nose, backing up the blow with just a dollop of magic.
Daniel’s head snapped back on his neck from the strength of her magical punch, but his feet didn’t move an inch against the ground. He slapped his hands over his nose as the pain shot through him, a hearty growl rumbled within his chest, and his eyes narrowed in disbelief and shock as they welled up with tears.
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
“You hit me!” Daniel growled in disbelief.
“Sure bloody did,” Jules hissed back. “You were going to sniff!”
“That hurt!” Daniel growled back. He still couldn’t believe the power that she’d put into that punch.
“Maybe we should call her Bam-Bam,” Jake said.
He didn’t want to turn away from his mate, but he couldn’t resist the fact that his brother had been punched in the face by a girl. Let alone the fact that he was complaining about.
“How did you do that?” Daniel demanded as he dropped his hands to his hips and craned his neck towards her, eyeing her with suspicion.
Jules did it again. She aimed a punch right at his nose, and by the time that he lifted his hand to catch her wrist, his nose was already screaming in pain.
“Well, you did ask?” Jake could barely get the words out through the laughter. There was no end of enjoyment within him for his younger brother’s misery.
Daniel had heard the crunch of his nose that time. He reached up with both hands on either side of his nose and snapped it back into place. Jules winced at the sound.
“I wasn’t expecting a damn demonstration,” the beta growled out in annoyance.
“Ask a stupid question…” Aggie chuckled.
“He certainly did,” Jake chuckled hard at the look on his brother’s face. Pure disbelief mixed with annoyance, and it was topped off with what looked like the urge to get even. Jules caught that look too.
“Oh, don’t you even think about,” she bit out.
“Oh,” Daniel’s eyes flashed with murderous intent. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Careful, brother, she might hit you again and make you cry,” Jake was in his element. The fact that his brother was now acting without thinking it through was just the icing on the cake.
What were the odds that the witch was his mate? Pretty damn slim from where Jake was standing, but still, he actually did relish the thought.
Daniel was known for one thing, acting without thinking it through. Jake thought it would be pretty sweet for his brother to come unstuck. Especially as it would be a mess that nobody could clear up for him.
“I’m warning you.” Jules didn’t want to take a step back and show weakness, but it was in voluntary.
“Hit him again!” Mia squealed out as if she was front row and center at a boxing match.
Her heart was pounding in her chest at her friend’s predicament, and she only realized how excited she had become when the alpha gave her a double look — the first look was one of surprise, the second look was filled with disbelief.
“Too late,” Daniel growled like the Wolf that had its prey exactly where he wanted it.
His dark eyes were locked and loaded on Jules. One strong arm shot around her body, and he yanked her towards him, dipping his head at the same time, and he took a long, deep, sniff in — just to prove that he could.
Daniel had a Scooby Doo moment. He yanked his head back on his neck, and his eyes went as wide as they could possibly go.
He made some kind of whining noise that caught in the back of his throat, as his jaw sank downwards.
“Oh no,” Jules groaned.
She could feel the blood draining from the top of her head, all the way down her body, and it pooled in her legs. They felt heavy and immovable.
“I saw that coming!” Aggie chuckled.
“This is so not happening to me.” Jules groaned.
“Well, it better not be bloody happening to me!” Mia exclaimed with a sideways glance towards the alpha that held as much of a warning as a look ever could.
“Sure, let’s go for three for three. Who doesn’t love a full house?” Aggie was enjoying herself at the younger witches’ expense.
In truth, she enjoyed a good love story — just so long as she didn’t have a starring role in it. She considers herself too old, too smart, and too set in her ways to dally with the likes of a shifter.
But she was more than happy to throw the younger witches under the mating bus.
“Right here. This witch says let’s not go for three for three,” Mia muttered to herself.
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” The vampire asked.
“Right beside that pointy stick that Aggie has whittled for you,” Mia hissed back. “Maybe I should go get it.”
“Stay right there,” Lewis growled, and she shot him a worried look as she took one step sideways away from him, it was more symbolic than actual distance.
“Don’t give me an order.” Mia snorted her contempt for the alpha and his belief that she would ever do as he told her.
“Mine…” Daniel growled.
He hadn’t really wanted to believe that it was true, but his Wolf was doing a mating dance within him, and his body was on fire with the fever of knowing that truth. He felt like an idiot of epic proportion.
“I hate you,” Jules grumbled on a slow shake of her head as she looked anywhere but at her mate.
~
~
~
The alpha paced back and forth in the back garden. He wanted nothing more than to shift into his Wolf and run wild and free. But he just couldn’t manage to drag himself away from where the witch was.
Two brothers. Two witch mates.
Double fate. Double trouble.
Lewis wasn’t happy at the thought that Mia could be his mate. He was even less happy at the thought that she wasn’t.
There was definitely an attraction there. From the moment that he’d swept her away from the burning car, he’d felt something for her.
He’d put it down to his overprotective gene kicking in, but what if he’d been wrong?
But what if he was right? His mind was coming around to the idea that he may have found his mate.
If he took her scent and found that wasn’t the case, what then?
Lewis mentally kicked himself in the backside. He hadn’t had a mate when he woke up that morning — so what did it matter if he didn’t have one when he went to bed that night?
His brothers had found their mates. That was like a pickaxe tapping away inside his subconscious.
Witch or not — he needed to know the truth.
Lewis turned on his heels with a new-found determination to man up, sniff the damn witch, and find out just how cruel or how kind fate had been to him.
And there she was — Mia — creeping away towards the woods like a thief in the night.
The alpha wolf didn’t just raise its head within him, it growled, clawed, and tried its damnedest to break free from its human cage.
�
��Mia!” Lewis growled long and hard as the witch hesitated in step, shot him a guilty look, and then took off as fast as her legs could carry her. “No, no, no, no, no!”
Lewis stomped his foot in anger, balled his fists in annoyance, and spat out one curse after another in disbelief.
Why would she do that?
She was a witch — she should know better than to run from her mate.
That thought knocked Lewis upside the head.
Mate? I haven’t even taken her scent yet.
It’s just wishful thinking — wait — why would it be wishful thinking? I don’t want a witch mate.
Lewis was trying to hold himself back from following on after her. From doing what mates did and chasing her down, asking her what the hell she thought she was doing. Although, asking questions might not have been at the top of his Wolf’s agenda.
It didn’t work anyway. His feet were already moving, independently of what he was telling himself, but moving they were.
Go back.
Turn around.
You’re acting like a damn fool!
She’s not your mate — I don’t think.
Don’t think; there’s a good idea.
Don’t think, don’t breathe, no, okay, breathe, just don’t sniff.
Sniffing would be bad.
Sniffing would be very bad if she turned out to be my mate.
A running mate, and not in the good sense.
Dammit, now I’m running — why am I running?
Who told my body to run?
Lewis’s Wolf growled within him. The beast had a mind of its own, but that didn’t mean that when he wasn’t paying close enough attention that the Wolf couldn’t influence the man.
Dammit, Wolf!
Stupid silly witch.
The alpha was in the hunt now. The chase. The witch was human and stood no chance at all of outrunning him.
She was caught, and she didn’t even know it yet.
Done.
Dusted.
A foregone conclusion. The witch was toast.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard his evil self give a dastardly chuckle.
CHAPTER NINE
~