by M. L. Briers
“We’ve had a busy day,” Eliza grumbled from her perch on the edge of the bed.
“Did I miss anything?” Nancy asked.
“Nope, I think you’ve covered everything,” Ashley offered back as she peered out of the window into the bright snowy surroundings.
“Now what?” Nancy asked.
“I could really use a drink,” Eliza grumbled.
“That’s what got us into this mess,” Nancy huffed. “We were drunk and stupid.”
“Agreed. If we hadn’t of been a little bit tipsy then we could have escaped the first time,” Ashley said.
“Escape?” Eliza gave a small shake of her head in dismay. “Those shifters are going to hunt us to the ends of the earth.”
“Not if we kill them first,” Nancy shrugged.
She didn’t much care for the idea. Jeff was growing on her, but that was the mating pull, and she couldn’t really do anything about that.
“We can’t kill our mates,” Ashley tossed back.
“Maybe you can’t,” Nancy offered.
“I don’t want to kill my mate,” Eliza scowled at the idea. “Drake doesn’t appear to be a bad person.”
“He has a wolf beast inside of him that could break free at any moment and go insane — killing people…” Nancy offered back with a small chuckle of disbelief at the look on Eliza’s face.
“But, that still doesn’t make him a bad person, and that would probably happen if we disappear on them, don’t you think?” Eliza reminded them.
“So, what you’re saying is that we should just put our head between her legs and kiss our backsides goodbye?” Nancy asked.
“No,” Eliza scowled up at her friend.
“Okay, I’m not sensing a happy medium with you,” Nancy offered back.
“Maybe, being a mate isn’t such a bad thing, after all?” Eliza grimaced as she said it.
“Oh boy, she’s lost to the mating pull,” Nancy grumbled as she tossed up a hand in Eliza’s direction.
“No, no I’m not,” Eliza rushed to defend her actions.
“Yes, yes you are,” Nancy tossed back.
“Look,” Ashley turned towards them. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. We have to come up with a definite plan of action. Are we staying? Are we leaving? Are we killing our mates?”
“Killing,” Nancy said as she held up her hand and placed her vote.
“Staying,” Eliza said with a small shrug.
“Leaving,” Ashley added. Then she sighed. “It appears that as a group we have a decision-making disorder.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
All three witches sat at the dinner table, boy girl, boy girl, boy girl with Jackie and Amy looking around the solemn group, and offering each other glares in the hope that they’d prompt a conversation.
None of the witches looked happy to be there, but the mates had done things right, and they’d sent their sisters to invite the witches to dinner. How could they refuse?
A cloud of doom hung over the table, silence reigned, and each witch shot the other a glare whenever possible. An uneasy truce hung in the air between everyone present.
“Magic,” Amy rushed out, and the alpha grumbled a growl of annoyance.
“Talk about something else,” Kiel growled.
“Holidays,” Jackie offered, and the alpha grunted.
“Pick a different subject,” he grumbled.
“Well, why don’t you start the conversation?” Amy shot back in annoyance.
“Well,” he struggled for his next word, as everyone turned to look at him. “That snow is really piling up outside.” He rushed out.
His sisters sniggered. It was contagious, his brothers sniggered, and then the witches sniggered. The alpha grumbled another growl.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Kiel tossed up a hand in disbelief. He couldn’t understand why it was so hard for him to strike up a conversation with his mate and get the ball rolling.
“We have nothing in common,” Ashley offered back.
“That’s not true,” the alpha said, then struggled to find something that they could possibly have in common.
“Go ahead then, tell me what we have in common,” Ashley asked, and watched with amusement as her mate fidgeted in his seat, and struggled for something to say. “See.”
“There has to be something,” Amy shrugged.
“I wouldn’t bet the farm on it,” Jeff grumbled.
“We don’t have a farm,” Amy shot back.
“Which is lucky for the farm animals,” Nancy muttered, but Eliza caught her words and sniggered.
“It’s just a saying,” Jeff grumbled.
“Stupid saying,” Amy tossed back.
“Stupid man,” Nancy offered with a shrug.
“Can we eat without the sniping at each other?” Kiel grumbled.
“No.” Everyone said in unison.
“Ah, a family dinner around the Christmas tree,” Arthur called from the other room.
“There isn’t a Christmas tree,” Amy scowled.
“Maybe there is your problem,” the vampire called back. “Humans are always nicer at Christmas.”
“They’re not human, they’re witches,” Drake said, and Eliza did a double take of her mate, and then she grumbled something that he couldn’t hear, but he could guess the sentiment behind it.
“Still human, butthead,” Jeff offered back.
“Boy, you need to ask Santa for brains this Christmas,” Nancy said, as she offered him the evil eye.
“Fine, we’ll put up a tree,” Kiel announced as he slammed his palms down on the table and got to his feet.
“But, we’re witches, we don’t do Christmas,” Ashley scowled at the thought of it.
“A new life, a new tradition, a new start,” Kiel announced.
“I think someone is putting the cart before the horse,” Nancy offered to Ashley.
“I thought they didn’t have animals,” Eliza said, confused.
“You know,” Nancy leaned her elbows on the table and leaned over towards Eliza as if she was about to share a secret. “I think you and Drake are perfectly matched.”
“Bite me,” Eliza hissed back, and a deep, hungry growl came from her mate beside her. She reached out and snatched up a plate of cooked chicken, “The only thing you’re biting is this.” She hissed as she thrust the plate at him.
~
~
~
“Let it snow, let it snow, let it…”
“Fall from the sky in one big lump and land on your head,” Ashley tossed back to the vampire, as Arthur stood at the doorway to the kitchen and watched the witch stack the plates inside the dishwasher.
“How very – witchy of you,” Arthur offered back.
“What do you want, vampire? If it’s a tasty snack, then you’ll have to do without real blood. Although, I guess if push comes to shove there are a few raw steaks in the fridge, maybe you could suck on them.”
“That’s not very seasonally giving of you,” Arthur offered back.
The man was trying to decide what kind of witches had invaded his friend’s lives, and the jury was still out on that one.
Mates were always good for a pack, but witches? One could never truly tell.
“You know that there’s no getting away from the fact that you’re a mate, right?”
“You know, there’s no getting away from the fact that you’re dead, right?” She tossed back over her shoulder, but as any good witch would, she kept an eye on him using the reflection in the window.
“I’m well aware.”
“Me too.”
“Just so we’re clear.”
“As mud.”
“Don’t run,” he told it like it was an order, a dictate, and she didn’t do well with orders.
The alpha and his pack were friends of his. He’d hate to have to kill the alpha because the witch had skipped out on him and caused him to turn into a damn rogue.
“Can I walk really fa
st?” Ashley didn’t need some bloodsucker telling her what to do.
“Funny…”
“Why are you hanging around my mate?” Kiel demanded as he stalked in through the back door, wrestling with a freshly cut pine tree before he allowed it to collapse on the tiled floor like he was done with the kill.
Then the alpha shook his clothes free of snow and stomped his boots against the rug. Ashley berated him with just a look.
“Just keeping her honest,” Arthur said.
“Yes, I was contemplating climbing into the dishwasher and flowing down the drain to get away. All drains lead to the ocean, apparently.” She offered the vampire a scathing look.
“Okay, Nemo,” Arthur tossed back, before turning and starting down the hallway away from them. “I’ll leave you in peace with your mate.”
“If I open a vein will you come back?” Ashley called, but the sound of the alpha’s low warning growl told her that the man had no sense of humor.
Something else that they didn’t have in common.
“That’s not funny,” Kiel growled out.
“Was I joking?”
“Were you?” he scowled at the thought that his mate might like to feel the vampire’s bite.
“Did I stutter?” Ashley turned away from her mate and ducked her head so that he couldn’t see the grin on her lips.
The only problem was that the alpha caught sight of her smug grin in the reflection in the window. Mischievous little witch.
Kiel pressed his lips together and bit off a few choice words that he’d like to offer his mate. He was supposed to be wooing her, not constantly going head-to-head with her.
“I suppose, as we’re stuck here altogether, and the vampire will need blood at some point…” he left those words hanging in the air between them like a possible noose of his own making.
“What are you nuts?” Ashley hissed, turning back towards him with a look that said he must be.
“Yes.” He shrugged but somehow managed to keep a straight face, even when she was staring at him as if he’d just lifted the ax that he’d used to chop down the tree and was about to swing it at her.
“Feed the vampire?”
“Yes.” He shrugged those broad shoulders once more.
“My blood?” She cocked her head to one side and eyed the man.
“Did I stutter?”
“Your mate?”
“Well, there is that.” He reached up and stroked his fingers over a day’s stubble that was wrapped around his chin. “But, I have known him longer than I’ve known you, and the man has to eat…”
“Then bend over and let him sink his fangs into your backside. I’ve seen it naked, and I have to say, you’ve got more junk in your trunk than the average … wolfman.” She snorted her contempt for him, raised her chin in defiance, and started for the kitchen door.
“Is that a no?” he called after her.
“Do your own damn dishes,” she grumbled.
Kiel could finally crack a smile, but it had been raging inside of him for so long that he ended up tossing his head back on his neck and roaring with laughter.
“Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas,” Arthur called back. He’d, of course, overheard the whole thing.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
~
“No,” Drake was adamant in his words.
“Yes,” Eliza was equally adamant in her words and her stance. She tossed her hands onto her hips, craned her head toward him, and scowled back at her mate.
“No,” Drake grumbled a growl.
“Well, then can I have a glass of water?”
“Yes.” Drake went to turn towards the door.
“Good. It’s Christmas — maybe I can turn water into wine,” she sniped back.
Drake turned back towards her and eyed his mate with a whole heap of suspicion.
“Can a witch do that?” he demanded.
Eliza removed her hands from her hips and folded her arms. It now appeared that she had the upper hand, and she was going to enjoy it.
“Yes, yes we can,” she offered back with the kind of superior tone that grated over his nerves and sent his wolf a little nuts.
“Then you’re not getting water either.”
“So, how long do you think I can last without a drink?” She demanded and watched as the man’s eyes rolled in his head as he considered it.
“That’s…” He hesitated. “Can a witch turn orange juice into wine?”
“It’s fruit, isn’t it?” She tossed back.
Eliza was trying really hard not to laugh, but his face was just a picture of puzzlement and wonder that it was getting harder by the second. She wished she had a camera to hand so that she could capture that moment.
“But…”
“She’s pulling your chain,” Arthur said as he strolled past the door to the room and kept on going.
Drake’s eyes flicked toward the doorway before they flicked right back to his mate. He grunted in annoyance and narrowed his eyes.
“Well,” Eliza started as she dropped her arms to her sides and regarded the floor, the ceiling, the wall, the chair, anything but him. “A girl’s got to do what those darn girlies have to do.” She offered with an innocent singsong voice.
“Oh, does she?” His dry, accusing tone made her grimace.
“It’s just a little wine.” She lifted her hands and shrugged.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
“You can never have too much wine,” she offered back, as she tipped her chin up in defiance, and scowled at the very thought of it.
“Obviously — you can. Unless, of course, you’re telling me that the insanity of running out of a perfectly good cabin and into a blizzard was not alcohol induced, and you did it for fun.”
“Well…” She shrugged again. “Maybe, not entirely – actually, skip that. Yes, probably.” She admitted at last.
“Do you have a problem with alcohol?” Drake hated to ask, but she did seem hellbent on getting more of it.
“No, no problem. I see it, I drink it, not a problem there.” She grinned.
“You know — there are places we can get you help,” Drake offered back.
“Yes, they’re called supermarkets, and they have a wine aisle.” She offered him a smug smile.
“I think I’m going to have to lock the liquor cabinet,” Drake growled.
“Oh, I have a spell that will unlock that thing right open.” Eliza offered back with the brightest grin that he’d ever seen.
~
~
~
“Are you going to follow me around like a puppy all night?” Nancy demanded when she turned to find that her mate was hard on her heels again.
“Yes.” Jeff offered her a cheeky grin.
“Then, if I’m going to have to walk the puppy, the puppy is going to have to go on a leash,” Nancy offered back as she tipped her chin down and looked at him with teasing eyes.
“And if I’m going to have a witch for a mate then she had better act according,” he offered back.
Jeff was sorry he’d said anything the moment that she snapped her fingers and the magic took his feet right out from under him. His backside hit the hardwood flooring, and he grumbled a growl.
“Witch enough for you?” She snapped a beaming smile on her face.
“Don’t push your luck,” Jeff growled, and he was up on his feet and heading towards her a heartbeat later.
“Oh, it’s not luck, it’s skill.” She snapped her fingers again, and again he was down on his backside before he knew it.
“I’m warning you, witch.” Jeff slapped his hands down against the wood flooring and eyed her from beneath his dark brows.
When he allowed a warning growl to roll through his chest, his beast growled back at him.
Mine…
“Am I supposed to be scared?” She folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him.
“Of a wolf shifter…?”
“Of my mate?”
Oh, s
he looked just too smug for her own good. Jeff wanted to wipe that smile right off her face. But she was right; he wouldn’t harm any female, but more importantly, he’d die before he hurt her.
“I hear there are some things that are worse than death,” Jeff said.
He was walking towards her again. Nancy took a long moment to consider her options. The man was getting closer, and she was running out of time to act.
“You mean like being mated to you?” She offered back, trying to rile him up enough to put him off his game.
“Yep.” He offered her a wolfish grin.
Nancy grimaced inwardly. Her plan hadn’t worked. He was almost toe to toe with her, and she was running out of time and options.
Just as she lifted her hand and contemplated using magic, so his large hand wrapped around her wrist and snagged it. He reached around her with the other arm and wrapped it around her waist, and then he yanked her body against his.
She couldn’t put her hand on her heart and say she hated the feelings that rushed through her. They were good, feminine-ly good, tingly good, but that wasn’t the point.
She was trying to keep him at arm’s length. Not invite the damn man closer.
“You’re right — there are things worse than death,” she bit out. “Your breath, your…” she sniffed the air, “is that your armpits or do you just naturally smell like that?”
His dark eyes were locked and loaded on her, and if she wasn’t mistaken; there was a very hungry look in them.
Her heart was beating a tune that she thought sounded familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. One moment of distraction and his lips came down on hers.
Heat rushed through her body and excitement chased after it. Her stomach rose and fell, the very feminine parts of her sprung to life, and that was the moment that her womb decided that was the time to do a happy dance.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
“Are you going to help me put up the Christmas tree?” The alpha asked as he walked into the living room and found his mate standing by the window staring out.
“Oh, sure, call me when hell freezes over, and I’ll be right on it.”