by M. L. Briers
Claudia grimaced, and Marilyn rolled her eyes. “It was a joke,” Marilyn called.
“She knows, she’s just worried,” Lottie informed her.
“About Amber?” Marilyn asked.
Lottie thought on it for a moment. “Sure, let’s go with that’s the only thing keeping her up at night since the vampire got back into town,” she said.
Marilyn opened and closed her mouth again; she shot a look at Claudia who tried to look as innocent as possible while trying to hide the victory lap she wanted to take. Marilyn narrowed her eyes on her friend.
“It’s just so obvious,” Claudia blurted out.
“I’m not having this conversation,” Marilyn said, somewhat put on the spot. She put down her glass and slid off the stool.
Strangely, the floor seemed like a longer drop than she remembered, but she was steady on her feet. She wasn’t sticking around for the other shoe to drop.
“And on that note, I’m off home,” Lottie said and offered Claudia a knowing smile. Claudia returned a thumbs up, but Marilyn caught her and huffed before heading out of the room.
“Conspirators everywhere I look,” she muttered to herself.
“Bye, Mrs Walker,” Sandy said.
“Oh, Sandy, call me Marilyn,” she said and headed to the stairs. “See you tomorrow,” she added over her shoulder as she started up the mountain, her hamstrings still protesting her every move.
When she got to the top, she headed straight for her bedroom, tossed the door closed behind her, and made a beeline for the bed where she promptly flopped down face-first onto the soft cover. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, blinking twice at the sight that greeted her.
“Oh – my – Goddess!” she screeched.
Downstairs in the hallway, Lottie, Claudia, and Sandy all looked up the stairs as Marilyn stomped to the railing and leaned over. “Claudia Michaels what the heck did you do?” she demanded, angrier than a beehive that someone had smacked with a stick.
Claudia placed her hands on her hips, twisting from side to side as a slow grin spread across her face.
“Sounds like it was a doozy whatever it was,” Lottie said like she was savouring that thought on her tongue.
Claudia’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I just thought it was time for you to upgrade your look and I cleaned out a little space in your closet,” she said like that was perfectly natural.
Marilyn’s hand snapped up, and her favourite little black dress dangled over the railing. “A little space?” Marilyn hissed. “This is all that’s left.”
Claudia raised her hands and shrugged. “Did I say a little space – I meant a little more than a little,” she said innocently, and was encouraged in her daring to challenge Marilyn’s wrath by the sound of Lottie chuckling.
“It’s never a dull event when you come home,” Lottie said and heard Marilyn snort her contempt from above. “Oh, Marilyn, unclench. Even I update my wardrobe every season…”
“Yes, but do you throw everything you have away and start again from scratch?” Marilyn demanded.
“I didn’t throw everything out,” Claudia said in her defence.
“Then where is it?”
“You’re holding it,” Claudia said and screwed up her face when Marilyn screeched, stomped her foot, turned on her heels and stormed away. She looked at Lottie with a shrug. “I’m going to drag her back to having a life if it kills me,” she informed her.
“And from the look on Marilyn’s face, she just might kill you,” Lottie said, but she had a wicked smile on her lips. She did love Claudia’s visits; it gave everyone a little pep in their step.
“She’s a witch, she’s not going to kill me, just make me feel bad for the next ten years,” Claudia said.
Lottie shook her head. “Good luck.”
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
~
“You know I could have stolen your clothes and run off leaving you naked,” Amber said, fully clothed. The water was dripping from her hair down onto her sundress that was already damp and clinging to her curves.
Josh thought she looked good enough to eat. Their kisses had been hot, almost too hot to handle, and he knew they needed to get out of the water before things went too far and he claimed her there and then on the riverbank. That wasn’t how he wanted their bonding to go.
“That would have been awkward,” Josh said and then offered her a wolfish grin. “If I wasn’t comfortable walking around naked.”
Amber mulled that one over. “True, but what if I’d run off to town…”
“I would have followed you…”
“Naked in front of the church ladies?” Amber asked, imagining the scandal that would cause.
Josh covered the short distance between them, wrapped a strong arm around her waist and hauled her against him. Her eyes flared and settled, but it wasn’t fear, it was better than that, and the little giggle told him so. “Maybe they’d secretly enjoy it.”
“They probably would, but that isn’t to say they wouldn’t get their fair share of your naked body and then condemn you for it.”
“Well, that’s the nature of the beast.”
“Yours?”
“Religion, you get to do bad things and then repent, and all is forgiven. While the rest of us…”
“Don’t give a hoot in the first place?” Amber’s lips curled upwards, and her eyes sparkled with amusement. He had to wonder just how wicked his witch could be.
Josh could feel the attraction between them. There was a connection that he’d felt the moment that she accepted him and let her guard down. He didn’t believe it had been magic that had kept her closed off from him, more her nature, just who she was. He was glad the curtain had now been drawn back, and he could see behind it.
Josh liked what he saw, and she did too. He could tell by the way she was looking up at him. The feel of her body as her soft curves fitted against his hard muscles, relaxed in his arms, in his care, and the way she was pulling in a breath and holding it a little before letting it go – that said she liked him a whole lot more than she had that morning.
“Josh!” He’d know that voice anywhere because he’d heard it every day of his life. He snapped a look at the man mountain that came from the cover of the bushes and angled his chin up as he stared back at his father. “That’s not the right sibling, but she’ll do.”
“What?” The word escaped Amber’s lips, but her mind was already racing. She didn’t understand – or maybe she did. She didn’t want to think that the man she’d just spent her kisses on was a fraud, a liar, but he was.
It had all been one big fat lie from start to finish. Josh wasn’t her mate, and he was after her brother.
Anger drew her magic tightly within her, and humiliation caused her to use it. She was nobody’s fool – and yet, he’d played her a thousand times worse than Drew ever had.
It was time to even the score.
~
“Is he still out there?” Claudia asked, walking into Marilyn’s bedroom and catching her in the act of peeking out the window looking through the nets at the garden below.
Marilyn knew she’d been busted, but she just didn’t give a hoot. Of course, she was going to check to see if the stalky vampire was still there. Until she could figure out what it was he wanted, she was going to continue to watch him like a hawk.
That wasn’t to say she was going to stalk him, because that would be wrong, but keeping tabs on his movements was clearly the right thing to do. “No, he’s gone,” she offered back over her shoulder.
When Marilyn turned to face her friend, she had a deep scowl on her forehead and one raised eyebrow that she thought contained everything she wanted to convey over the lack of clothes in her wardrobes. Claudia allowed a slow to boil smile to take her lips, and that did nothing to bring an air of forgiveness to Marilyn’s inner turmoil. “Truce?”
“Can I have my clothes back?” Marilyn asked, folding her arms and showing Claudia that all was not forgiven.
<
br /> Claudia made a show of considering her request. “No,” she said and watched in amusement as Marilyn pulled her body a little straighter and sighed.
“No truce.”
“I will allow you to wear your eighties costume,” she offered with a knowing grin.
“Gee, can’t wait,” Marilyn bit out with such a dry tone that Claudia couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Think of it as your first adventure…”
“I hate to think what the second one will be,” Marilyn tossed back and threw up her arms in frustration.
“I didn’t leave you naked…”
“I have what I’m wearing, some lingerie, a pair of sweats and a tee, and a short set for bed…”
“See, I was generous…”
“Pah! I will find it,” Marilyn warned. “I know every hiding spot in this house…”
“Who said it’s still in the house…?”
“You didn’t have time…”
“I’m a witch, how much time do I need?” Claudia tossed back with a smirk.
Marilyn’s mouth opened, and she eyed her friend with a hard glare. “If you turned my things to ashes…”
“Little ole me?” Claudia said with a wicked chuckle. “Perish the thought, but good will…”
“Isn’t open on a Sunday, apparently people only need give to charity on God’s day of rest, not receive it,” Marilyn said and huffed down into the chair by the window.
“Ouch! Now it’s God’s fault?”
“Still all you,” Marilyn said and grunted with frustration. “Can I please have my clothes back?”
“Nope, I’m dragging you into the real world, and in the real world we dress for success…”
“Success at what? I have everything I want.”
“But not everything you need,” Claudia informed her.
Marilyn took a moment to consider what her friend’s end game was. Who took someone’s entire wardrobe and hid it away, and why would they? “Well, right now, I need to know where Amber is.”
“Amber is a grown woman, and I’m sure she’s just fine. You’d feel it if something was wrong,” Claudia reminded her, tapping her temple. “A mother’s connection is…”
“Not helping,” Marilyn said and pushed up from the chair to start to pace. “What if she’s with the shifter…?”
“Then I’ll bet she’s having more fun than you or me,” Claudia said in a teasing tone that made Marilyn stop and offer her a curious look that questioned her sanity. “Oh, come on, young love with a hunky mate that will protect her with his life – what’s not to like?”
Marilyn twisted her head to one side and scowled at Claudia as she walked over to the bed and dive-bombed onto it like she was a teenager again, but had she ever really grown up? Marilyn had her doubts. “Fangs, fur, claws, pack politics,” Marilyn rallied at the thought. “And that’s another thing – will the caveman drag her off to go live in the mountains with his wolf people?”
Claudia rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin onto her upturned palms, and she looked as dreamy as a teenager in love with the newest pop star to grace MTV. “A whole pack of hunks,” she said and grinned. “Can we go visit?”
“Will you stop talking this so lightly, it’s not good news,” Marilyn scolded her.
“Will you stop fretting over every little detail in life…?”
“If not me then who?”
“Well, Louann does a pretty good job of it, and do you really want to morph into your mother?”
Marilyn paused for thought, her top lip twitched, and she looked pained. “Goddess no,” she whined and dropped her backside down to the chair, deflated, and looking miserable.
“Good, then let the chips stack up, and the cards fall where they may, fate has a plan that will play out quickly – one way or the other…”
“Which other?” Marilyn whined.
“Not the good other; unless it’s you, who is probably rooting for the shifter’s demise.”
“I am not,” Marilyn rushed out. In truth, she didn’t quite know what she was rooting for.
“Oh, no?” Claudia asked, and Marilyn rolled her eyes.
“I just want Amber to be happy…”
“Then let fate decide and let’s order takeout. It might be a long night waiting for that howl…”
“Howl!” Marilyn snapped upright once more.
“The mating howl, I hear it’s a doozy,” Claudia said with a teasing smile.
“Can we get poop-faced and throw up?” Marilyn muttered.
“Your wish is my command, but takeout first, we’ll need more than alcohol to throw up.”
“Deal.”
CHAPTER FORTY
~
In the heat of her anger, she had lashed out at Josh, and the last thing she saw before she’d turned and fled was the shifter flying backwards through the air. The sickening thud when he hit a tree snatched her attention, and her foot caught in a knot of weeds.
The tangled mess at Amber’s feet pitched her headfirst into the underbrush at the entrance to the darkened wood. She fell to her knees, but recovered quickly and kept going.
The wood sounded quiet to her ears, void of all animal life, but then her blood was rushing so loudly that she doubted she’d have heard the critters scurrying to avoid her. Small, sharp branches were whipping at her face and body and a few managed to snag her skin as she ran. They felt just like paper cuts not deep wounds, but they stung like hell.
Two to one wasn’t good odds in her book, magic or not. Wolves were fast, too fast, and born hunters, and there was only one of her. Strange that guilt over what she’d done to Josh was banging a drum in her mind that sounded like a heartbeat. Amber dismissed it, but it didn’t go away.
Dark shadows lurked everywhere within the wood. The thick canopy above blotting out most of the sun’s rays, and she’d never thought of the woods as dangerous or creepy – until now – until she was running from two shifters and their devious plot to use her against her brother.
Amber knew she’d been right and this confirmed it – men sucked. It didn’t matter if they were human or supernatural – they sucked, and she wanted nothing more to do with them, ever – or until a nice guy came along, but she was done with bad boy hunks – unless he was Mr Right. But really, what were the odds of that?
Amber’s foot hit a moss-covered rock that fate had put there just to make her damn life a little more complicated, and she slipped, pitching sideways towards the thick, gnarly tree trunk. Her hand hit the rough bark first, but she couldn’t stop the side of her head from making contact.
Amber felt the blow like a dizzying wave that washed over her, and to add insult to her injury, her hand slipped across the wood, and she ended up on her knees, a myriad of curse words spilling from her lips as she tried to shake off the knock that had momentarily rung her bell.
The crisp sound of a twig snapping underfoot made her look to her right. Amber’s heart lurched into her throat at the sight of the giant silhouette that made her feel like a child again. Amber’s magic reminded her that it was still locked and loaded, and she pushed up on her knees, lifted her hand, palm out, but she blinked twice at the absence of the bad guy.
“Damn it,” Amber spat out, twisting in place and throwing her back against the tree trunk. The impact caused more pain to her shoulder blade. Her gaze darted through the dark and light from the broken canopy looking for the bad guy and coming up empty.
It would have been impossible to hear him coming, between the rushing of blood in her ears and the sound of her heart pounding she was practically deaf to the danger around her. “Vampire Neal to the rescue,” his voice was whispered against her ear, and she bloody well heard that.
Amber drew in a harsh breath and turned to find him tucked behind the tree trunk, his fingertip at his lips to silence her, before he pointed into the near distance.
Amber turned to see another silhouette; not more than fifteen feet away, and she didn’t know whether to laugh at the vamp
ire’s timing or kill him for scaring the hell out of her – she decided that keeping him around was definitely worth her while.
“Be right back,” Neal said, and before she could answer, he was gone.
Alone again, Amber tried to still her breathing, and she slowly pushed up from her knees, pressing her palm against the tree for stability. It felt strange, rooting for a vampire, but she did it anyway, and she wasn’t going to feel guilty about that.
Amber shrieked when an arm wrapped around her body and snatched her into an unyielding embrace. Her eyes locked onto the shadowed figure who turned in her direction, but a second later that figure was hoisted into the air like he weighed nothing – his body dangling in a shaft of brilliant light from the sun.
It was Josh – and Amber’s heart leapt into her throat and lodged there, muting the unreasonable protest that shot through her brain.
“It would seem I have one of yours and you have one of mine,” Neal said, walking towards them with Josh still dangling from the hold he had on the young shifter’s throat. “What say we make a trade, go our separate ways and live to kill each other another day?”
That sounded reasonable to Amber – kind of – but then she would think that, wouldn’t she? What her captor thought was entirely a different matter as he squeezed her tighter with a vice-like grip around her body.
If she was a betting witch, which she wasn’t, that was entirely Claudia’s bag of tricks; then she’d have to say that the man holding her hostage didn’t much like that idea.
“You first, drop him.” The disturbingly deep, hard tone that whistled past her ear as he spat those words out made her want to kick him right where it hurt and hear him sing soprano.
“Your wish…” Neal didn’t finish that sentence; he just let go, with a small throw that saw Josh bounce on the ground and made Amber flinch at the sound of the contact.
It was certainly lucky that Josh was a shifter and his blood would heal him, she thought, the man had been bounced around more times that a football.