by M. L. Briers
Debbie stood at the window looking out. She could feel Jake’s eyes upon her, and looking outside was better than meeting his gaze.
Her attention was snatched by something that caught her eye off to the right, and she was surprised to see Mia creeping across the garden towards the woods.
“What the…?” She muttered, confused, but when she clocked a movement off to her left and turned to see the alpha craning his head forward on his neck and staring at Mia in disbelief, a rush of dread went through her body like a hot flash, and she groaned inwardly.
“Oh…” Was the only word that she managed to get out before Mia took off on fast legs, and she pressed her fingertips against the glass as she snapped her attention back to Lewis. “No, no, no!”
But it didn’t matter what she said. The alpha was already in pursuit of her friend.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, as he padded from the other side of the room, where he’d been trying to give her a little space, and pulled up short when she spun around towards him.
Debbie’s eyes were wide with shock. She swallowed down hard as she lifted her hand and pointed back towards the window.
“Go get him!” She rushed out.
“Who?” Jake was confused.
“The alpha! The alpha!” She bounced up and down like a human version of Tigger.
“I don’t want him!” Jake tossed back.
“Mia’s just taken off into the woods, and your doofus brother is chasing her.” Debbie sidestepped the beta and started towards the door.
“Why would…?” Jake let his words die away as the sudden realization hit him right between the eyes. “Oh no!”
“Oh yes!” Debbie tossed back over her shoulder as she raced into the hallway. “Jules!” She yelled at the top of her lungs, making her mate grimace as the sound of her voice rattled his sensitive hearing.
“I don’t know about taming of the shrew — more taming of the banshee,” Jake muttered to himself as he followed on behind her.
“I heard that!” Debbie hissed back over her shoulder. “If you were where you were bloody supposed to be, out there, not here, then it wouldn’t have been so loud, would it?”
“Well, I’ll just get right on that,” Jake offered back on a grumbled growl and with as much sarcasm as he could manage.
“Well step to it then, aren’t you guys supposed to be fast?” Debbie hissed once more. “Wolf my backside — more sloth.” She grumbled.
“Where’s the bloody fire?” Jules demanded as she raced out into the hallway and almost collided with her friend. Both women pulled up and took a step back, colliding, instead with their mates who were behind them.
“Well honey, if you wanted a cuddle you just had to say,” Daniel grinned, but it was the sound of a hungry growl that rumbled through his chest that made Jules take a step forward and shoot a glare back over her shoulder at him.
“Keep your paws to yourself, Wolf man, before I kick you so hard in the gonads you’ll be wearing them as earmuffs.” It wasn’t what she said but the way that she’d said it that made Daniel swallow down a good portion of his tongue.
“Geez, you witches are mean,” Daniel scowled at her as if she’d just sprouted snakes from her hair and he couldn’t quite make out if that was a good look for her.
“Cry about it later, brother. Lewis’ mate just did a runner,” Jake growled back.
“Lewis doesn’t have a… Oh!” Daniel swallowed hard again. “And so not good.”
“We need to stop him before he does the unthinkable,” Jake informed his brother.
“Well, what the hell’s bells are you two doing standing here discussing it?” Jules demanded as she lifted her hand and pointed to the front door. “Fetch!”
“Dog humor is so not cool,” Daniel grumbled as his Wolf rumbled growl within him.
“Just go get him, or we’ll be holding you two responsible,” Debbie informed the betas.
“How is this our fault?” Jake grumbled back over his shoulder as he made haste towards the door.
“Guilt by association,” Jules informed them as she followed Daniel down toward the front door.
When he reached the door he turned back on his heels towards her.
“You’re staying here,” he said. From the look on his face it didn’t seem as if it was up for discussion.
“Oh, the hell we…” Debbie started, but Jules nudged her in the ribs with her elbow, cutting her short, and offering Daniel an innocent, sweet look.
“Whatever you say,” Jules offered back. That was enough to send Daniel out of the house on his brother’s heels.
“Are you insane?” Debbie grumbled while she rubbed the sore spot over her ribs.
“Sometimes, it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Her eyes were alive with mischief, and they matched the crooked smile that was forming on her lips.
“I like the way you think,” Debbie beamed a grin of collusion back at her friend, but then it fell from her lips, and she scowled. “Just watch the damn elbows.”
~
~
~
Mia wasn’t entirely sure why the hell she was running, but there it was, she was running, and she knew that the alpha was hard on her heels. That part wasn’t so good.
She couldn’t stop now, could she? Not without a game plan. Not without a way to shake the man off her trail, or blast him with her magic and knock some sense into him.
It wasn’t as if she’d meant to run. She’d wanted to get away from the house, to get away from the man, and see if that sinking feeling within the pit of her stomach would disappear with a little time and space.
Oh boy, had she done it now.
If the alpha wasn’t her mate, then he was doing a damn fine job of impersonating one.
Three witches.
Three shifters.
Three possible mates.
Bad move. But move I must before Satan’s beast catches up to me.
A Wolf, shifter mate. And an alpha to boot. And here’s me — I don’t even get on that well with dogs.
I’m more of a cat person.
It’s not that I don’t want to get on with dogs — they just don’t seem to want to get on with me.
But right now I have bigger problems. I’m a human, and he’s a Wolf shifter, and I can’t bloody well outrun him.
Goddess, why the heck do people run for fun?
Where’s the fun in not being able to breathe properly?
Where’s the fun in your muscles burning, feeling lightheaded, and wanting to throw up?
I need my bed!
I need to get rid of this damn alpha.
How do you shake a Wolf from your tail?
By giving it something else to chase.
Mia shot a look back over her shoulder. Gone was the man, and there was his beast.
Mia felt the rush of panic hitting trepidation inside of her. It wasn’t as if she didn’t like Wolves; she did, she just did not like one chasing her down as if she was his prey.
I’m a witch, not a meal!
Mia summoned her magic, and never having considered herself the snow white type, she pushed her magic out in every direction around her — calling all of the woodland mini beasts, birds, and anything else that she could put within his path to slow him down.
This was about self-preservation. This was about confusing the hell out of one bloody-minded alpha.
She could feel them coming even if she couldn’t hear them. All around her the woods were moving with life.
Damn fine idea if I do say so myself!
Mia gave herself a mental pat on the back as she pumped her arms through the air and somehow managed not to trip over every step that she took.
The alpha was in for one hell of a surprise.
CHAPTER TEN
~
“Which way?” Daniel growled out.
He’d had Lewis’ scent on the air since the moment that they’d left the house. They’ve been tracking him just fine, then all of a sudden, and as if from
nowhere, the woods just seemed to come to life around them, and there were a multitude of different animal scents swirling around the alpha’s scent and confusing the hell out of him.
“I’m glad it’s not just me,” Jake growled back.
He was matching his brother for speed and agility as they raced through the woods hard on the trail of Lewis’ beast. Now it was anyone’s guess where the alpha wolf had gone.
“Change of plan — track the witch,” Daniel tossed back.
“Tried that. I can’t pick her out either.”
“Where the hell are all these animals coming from?” Daniel growled.
His wolf wanted out to hunt and right then wasn’t the damn time for the Wolf to play silly buggers.
“If I were a betting man — which I am — my money is on the witch,” Jake growled.
In the same way as Daniel, Jake wasn’t just trying to track the alpha, he was trying to keep his beast caged within him. If he let his wolf out now, he had no clue as to where he might end up, which little furry woodland temptation his beast might decide to chase down or where it might end.
It might have been a losing battle, but for right then he’d have to do his best.
“There!” Daniel growled. He tossed up his hand in front of him and pointed toward Lewis’s Wolf that was off to the right of them.
“Got it. So let’s go get him!”
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the sight of the large grizzly bear charging toward Lewis caused Jake to choke out a growl of disbelief. That bear wasn’t just charging towards Lewis — he was on a collision course with the alpha.
“Oh, that’s gonna hurt!” Daniel bit out in disbelief.
A heartbeat later and the bear took the unsuspecting Alpha out like a freight train hitting a car. Lewis’ wolf went flying through the air with a yelp that Scooby Doo would have been proud to issue.
“What the…? Is that big Sam?” Jake growled as he raced with his brother toward the collision site.
“I think it was,” Daniel sounded as stunned as Jake felt.
“Did Lewis sound like Scooby Doo to you?” Jake couldn’t hold back the snigger.
“Hell yeah,” Daniel sniggered back.
By the time they reached the Wolf, who was lying on its back looking dazed and confused, big Sam had shifted back into his human form. Naked as the day is long, the big bear shifter looked just as confused as everyone else. So much so he was even scratching his head.
“What the hell, Sam?” Jake growled.
“Don’t look at me — one moment I was doing what bears do in the woods, and the next, I had a need, the urge, to race in this direction,” Sam growled as he shook his head on his neck in disbelief and grimaced at the alpha wolf.
“How you doing, Scooby?” Daniel asked as he leaned over his brother and grinned like a man that had just received his dying wish or at least ticked a box on his bucket list. “You doing okay?” He tried for concerned, but he couldn’t hold back the snigger.
It wasn’t every day that you witnessed your brother flying through the air after being shoulder-butted by a big old bear.
They all knew that Lewis’ Wolf was never going to see the funny side of it. The beast growled a long and hard warning at everyone that was standing around him.
The wolf struggled to roll over onto its stomach, waited a moment as it gave a good, hard shake of his head like it was trying to clear its mind before Lewis shifted back into his human form.
“What the hell hit me?” Lewis growled out with the sound of the wolf still embedded in his voice.
“That would be big Sam,” Daniel tried to keep the amusement out of his voice, but he still grinned like an idiot.
He was torn between enjoying the moment just a little too much and not wanting his brother to go Wolf-crazy on his backside.
“Well, why the hell did he do that?” Lewis bit out in disbelief.
The alpha was still pretty much seeing stars. He tried to shake it off once more.
“I’m kind of guessing — although, I’m nearly one hundred percent sure, but don’t quote me on that — that your witch had something to do with it,” Daniel offered back.
“My what?” Lewis shook his head again — still trying to shake off that fuzzy feeling.
“Your witch. You know the one that you haven’t scented yet and yet your beast seems adamant that it knows his mate already?” Daniel said as Lewis finally lifted his head up if only to glare at his brother with a look of confusion.
Lewis wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. He remembered spotting Mia leaving the house. He remembered starting forward toward her — breaking into a run — his Wolf bursting free, and then — Bam!
Lewis’s eyes snapped wide. His lower jaw sank downwards, and he glared back at his brother with the shock of realization on his face. It might have been pitiful if it wasn’t so damn funny.
“Oh! There it is! Welcome back to the wonderful world of — you’ve got a damn mate,” Daniel chuckled. He really couldn’t help enjoying the moment.
“That’s not…” Lewis growled long and hard. “Mia!”
“That would be the one.”
“No — Mia!” Lewis growled out as he pushed up to his feet. “Mia!”
The alpha sniffed the air as if he was a starving man searching for breakfast. He grunted to the left — he grunted to the right, and then he spun in the direction that he’d caught her scent, and he growled long and hard.
“Are we going to have to chase you again? Because if we are...” Daniel didn’t get any further than that. The alpha took off on fast feet on the hunt for his missing mate.
~
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~
“Which way?” Jules asked and got her snigger back in return from Debbie. She shot a questioning look back over her shoulder.
“Which way — which way to the witch?” Debbie sniggered harder. “That touched my funny bone.”
“You’ll have my foot touching your tailbone in a minute,” Jules hissed back. “This is no time to have a brain fart.”
“Well, you’re the expert on that one.” Debbie offered her a look of victory when her friend shot her a death glare before scowling long and hard at her.
“Can we just find Mia before the alpha does?” Jules grumbled.
“I’d say the odds of that are generally pretty slim, but we can try,” Debbie shrugged.
“Geez, it’s not like you give up on things before you even get started, or anything.”
“Well, all I’m saying is…”
Debbie didn’t get to finish as Mia raced into the clearing towards them. Her eyes widened with recognition, and she had a sudden look of relief on her face.
“Speak of the witch, and she appears as if by magic,” Jules offered Debbie a smug look. “Oh, ye of little faith.”
“Oh, ye of dumb bloody luck,” Debbie tossed back.
Mia didn’t just ground to a halt. It was as if her whole body just gave up all of a sudden, and all at once, and she collapsed onto her knees in a heap on the ground. She was panting and gasping like a wildling.
“Geez, how unfit can one witch be?” Jules chuckled.
Mia’s whole body felt like lead. It took most of the energy that she had left to raise her head and glared up at her friend in disbelief.
“I — just ran — a bloody — marathon,” she ground out in between gasping for air and grimacing. “You can — go fu…”
“It’s like watching paint dry,” Debbie shot a conspiratorial look towards Jules.
“Painfully slow,” Jules offered back with a smirk as she folded her arms, lifted a hand, and inspected her fingernails.
“You two — are pure — evil,” Mia tried to hiss out the venom in her voice, but it just wasn’t working for her, not when she was wheezing and gasping so much.
“Yes, yes that might be true,” Jules gave a slow nod of consideration before she shot a look towards Debbie.
“But we aren’t stupid enough to run from
our mate,” Debbie finished Jules’ sentence for her.
“Mate!” Mia spat out the word on what sounded like a choke of her breath and a portion of her tongue.
“Well, what did you think would happen when you ran from your mate?” Jules admonished her as she screwed up her face and wrinkled her nose.
“It’s not the smartest thing to do, is it?” Debbie gave a small shrug of her shoulders in return, and Mia twisted her head on her neck and looked roughly the same as she had on the night that Debbie had thrown up down the front of her.
“What — the hell — are you talking…?” Mia gave up the ghost of trying to speak and waved her hand in Debbie’s direction, urging her on.
“Alpha — mate — you — you the alpha’s mate, ringing any bells?” Debbie offered back as if the woman was insane.
“That’s…” Mia snorted a chuckle before she breathed out a hard breath and sucked one back in again. “He isn’t.” She turned her nose up at her friend’s idea.
“Then pray tell, why was he chasing you?” Jules asked.
“Because…” Mia lifted her hand and pointed her finger at her friend before the effort was too much and she dropped it to her lap again.
But she did narrow her eyes and considered her words. Then she groaned long and hard.
“Ding, ding, ding, ding-dong!” Debbie chuckled.
“Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no,” Mia groaned once more.
“By George! I think she’s got it!” Jules offered.
“It was painful to watch, but I think you’re right. It’s finally sinking in,” Debbie said, but she couldn’t enjoy the moment a second longer as the stark naked alpha burst into the clearing with a look that said he was running from the men in white coats and the padded cell.
“Hey, Mia, he’s here!” Jules offered before chuckling hard at the grimace that had taken over Mia’s face.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“What in the damn hell of all stupidity is going on out here?” Aggie demanded as she burst into the clearing from the opposite side to the alpha.
She gave a long hard look at all of the gathered witches. She snatched her head back on her neck at the sight of the naked alpha and raised just one perfectly arched eyebrow.