by M. L. Briers
“I’m not leaving you, not yet. Shawn’s wolf is an unknown quantity…”
“Over here!” Brody growled out into the darkness.
He’d heard George’s call to arms about the runaway mate and he’d decided it was payback time for everything that his pack had done for him with his mate, Eden.
“See, Brody’s here with me, you go…” Isobel said and Dexter shot her an impatient look back over his shoulder.
“Just see how the land lies first with Shawn … George is tracking the witch…” Dexter growled.
“The witch … is that how we talk about mates now?” Isobel teased and Dexter caught the fact in her tone.
“She’s a witch who is nameless – what do you want me to call her – twinkletoes?” He growled back.
Isobel sped past him as she rushed to Shawn’s side, and Dexter grumbled as he sped up to have to catch her. The woman never listened to a word that he said, sometimes that worked in his favour, especially in the bedroom, but other times, like now, it annoyed him so damn much.
“So much for seeing how the land lies…” He growled.
“I’m more interested in seeing how the man lies…” Isobel said as she knelt down beside Shawn and reached out to him with the flat of her palms above his body, and her magic…
Dexter stood right behind her. The man had every intention of yanking his mate out of the way should Shawn arise and fancy taking a bite out of someone.
Brody could take care of himself – maybe a well placed fist in the man’s face, maybe jumping out of the way … but Isobel was his concern now, not a big ass shifter that could more than fight his own battles should it come to it.
“Yep, there be magic here,” Isobel said.
“Can you unlock it?” Brody asked.
“You wanna hand me the key?” Isobel shot back.
“I…” Brody had no idea what she meant by that, and he looked to Dexter, who just shook his head on his neck.
“Witch humour,” Dexter growled and heard his mate chuckle as she went to work to see if there was some way that she could counteract the spell that the other witch had placed on her mate. She couldn’t undo it, but maybe there was a workaround that would bring him out of it.
She had the feeling that the magic wasn’t meant to last long. After all, it would take a callous witch to sentence someone to a deep slumber on a cold mountainside. The man was a shifter, but given long enough, even he could freeze to death.
“Okay, I think I know how to wake Sleeping Beauty,” Isobel said as she pushed her magic deep into his body…
“Just so long as you don’t kiss him,” Dexter growled. He’d rip the man’s head off himself and give him an eternal sleep…
‘How’s it going, George?’ Dexter asked.
He was itching to get to the hunt and save that witch from her own stupidity, but he wasn’t leaving Isobel, especially now that she was about to wake the beast from his slumber.
‘She’s headed towards Connor’s. It’ll take a while though – she’s not exactly speedy.’ George offered back. ‘You want me to bring her back?’
‘No. Who knows what kind of a spell she’d hit you with. I need you to keep tracking her until we get there…’
‘Done.’
“And Abracadabra!” Isobel offered as she moved her palms over Shawn…
“You guy’s actually say that?” Brody grinned.
“No…” Isobel looked up at the man as if he’d lost his mind…
Shawn yanked his body upwards on an angry growl. His eyes were pitch black and scanning the people around him in search of his mate as he scented the air…
Dexter’s arm was already around Isobel’s waist and he hoisted her up in the air and spun her around behind his back for safety – as Brody jumped backwards away from the mate…
“Where the hell is she?” Shawn growled as he pushed right up onto his feet.
“Running…” Brody offered.
“Not helpful…” Dexter growled out.
“Warlock…” Shawn’s mind spun with everything that could happen to his mate out there in the dark alone…
“She’s a Warlock?” Brody scowled at the thought…
“Men are Warlocks…” Isobel berated him, and then realisation dawned on her. “Oh no, not a damn Warlock … you need to warn George!”
‘George, she’s being hunter by a Warlock … keep your distance until we get there.’
But there was no reply.
“You’d better call Connor and the Vampire can alert Maverick’s Pack and the Clan.” Dexter told Isobel, but she was already starting for home, and Shawn was already starting off on fast legs after his mate’s scent…
“Make sure Isobel gets home then guard our mates…” Dexter growled as he started off after Shawn.
This night had just gone from bad to a lot damn worse.
CHAPTER SIX
~
“I don’t need to tell you that if you shift it’s gonna go a lot faster…” Dexter offered to the man beside him as they ran across the land on human legs instead of wolf paws.
“I can’t risk it, not now – the beast wants to hunt and I need for that not to happen,” Shawn growled back.
Dexter got that. Letting the wolf lose was a risk, but so was leaving George out there alone without back up. The man had gone silent and that was a sign that he’d probably walked right into trouble.
George seemed to have a habit of that – finding trouble wherever he went. That was if he wasn’t creating it himself.
Another mate.
Another witch.
It seemed like the mountain was cursed, or blessed, whichever way you wanted to look at it, as some kind of a witch magnet for the males.
He loved Isobel and he was more than grateful for her, but how many witches would be drawn to his pack? He already had two with Brody’s mate – he guessed that another one wouldn’t hurt too much…
Maybe he could start to look into building his pack with wolves that already had a she-wolf mate to even things up a little…? But then there was the whole butting heads thing like there was in his brother, Justice’s pack with Mari…
Fate would have out. He couldn’t choose for his pack, and he didn’t want to stop a good man joining his ranks for the sake of having less witches.
Besides, Isobel liked the company…
“How you holding in there?” Dexter asked as he took in the man’s body language. He was wound up tighter than a damn spinning top.
“Just don’t let me hurt her…” Shawn growled back, and he meant every word of it.
The thought of hurting his mate sent a cold rinse through his blood. He’d never want to hurt a female, but his own mate … he couldn’t live with the shame or knowledge of what he’d done.
His wolf might have been closer to rogue than he’d like, but he was sure that even the beast didn’t want to hurt her. It was in built within them to protect their mate, and yet, when a mate ran …
Damn, he did not want to think on that. His beast grumbled and growled inside of him, wanting out, wanting to run like the wind, track and hunt down their mate, and when it found her – it wanted to claim her by whatever means necessary…
That he couldn’t allow that to happen.
“You’ve got my word. I’ll put you down myself,” Dexter growled at the thought of it.
He’d honour his word – sure, he’d do whatever he could to try not to kill the man or his beast, but if push came to shove then he’d kill the man dead in his tracks if need be.
~
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~
Eva had felt the wolf on her heels and she didn’t think that it was her mate, but she couldn’t be entirely certain. She’d crafted a spell and it had taken her a while to do it, but now she had the wolf right where she wanted him and she was trying to force the change.
She wasn’t Kal. She wasn’t trying to strip the man of his wolf, because that was wrong.
It was stupid to waste time on such
frivolities and she knew it, but it was a lot damn easier to be mean to a human male than it was to an animal for her. Kick a puppy? That wasn’t her.
While the wolf hung in the air, snarling and flaying around like he thought he could actually get out of the little bubble that she’d created for him, she couldn’t exactly equate this vicious beast with a puppy, but the sentiment was still the same.
After all, it wasn’t as if he’d tried to attack her. He’d been stalking her and she’d reasoned that he was probably a part of her mate’s pack, hunting her for the time when her mate could come and claim her – take her back to his cabin … she couldn’t allow that either.
“Shift,” Eva demanded, trying to squeeze the man back out of the wolf with her magic.
She was actually surprised at how much this shifter’s beast tried to hold on. At just how strong a grip the wolf had on the man.
She had to wonder if he was a rogue. Although, if that was the case why had he not attacked her?
She was more than confused, she was downright perplexed by the whole situation…
“I have to admit…” The sound of Connor’s melodic tones startled her into the realisation that they were not alone, and now she had a night-stalker to deal with.
Wolf or vampire? She wasn’t sure that she could handle both at once without hurting someone, and she didn’t know the lay of the land around these parts…
“That’s a good look for you, George…” Connor continued as he stood back and allowed the newest witch on the mountain to take him in.
He could see just how her brain was working overtime as she desperately tried to get a grip on the situation at hand. She had a choice to make – to attack or to wait and see what happened…
“I hear you ran out on a perfectly good mate.” Connor offered and watched a frown turn into a scowl on her face. Now she knew how he fitted into the picture, or he hoped that she was catching up.
“What’s it to you?” Eva asked, eyeing him with a whole lot of suspicion and a great deal of uncertainty about how to handle him.
“I live around here, and a witch leaving a mess behind her is something I absolutely hate…” he shook his head, but aside from that he didn’t move a muscle, didn’t want to force her hand into doing him harm.
Connor hoped that she could be reasoned with. Shown the error of her ways…
“There’s a Warlock coming for me – are you sure you want to stand this close?” Eva offered back – telling rather than having to show him the error of his ways.
If he let her go then nobody would have to get hurt, either through her magic or from Kal’s.
“So I heard…” Connor offered back and saw the little glimmer of hope within her eyes slowly die.
That wasn’t good – without hope her back was against the wall and she might just come out fighting, and he did so hate to be zapped. Not that he wasn’t used to it with the mate that he had.
“But let’s not rush ahead of ourselves just yet…” Connor offered, trying to circumvent the obvious pain that she was thinking about inflicting on him. “Drop the wolf and let’s talk rationally about this…”
Eva didn’t see that as an option. She had the wolf where she wanted him and all she needed to do was dispose of the vampire…
Connor never saw it coming … his head was wrenched around and his neck snapped in a sickening sound that made her wince.
Then he fell to the frosty ground. Dead … again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
George saw Connor hit the ground and his beast went wild. The wolf didn’t much care for the vampire, but the man wasn’t exactly Satan personified.
He’d heard the Vampire’s neck snap and he knew that wasn’t the end of him … but that was assuming that she didn’t set fire to the man or do something equally as distasteful to kill him off before his blood had healed him…
Eva gasped in a breath and bit down on her need to kill someone. She’d rather it be Kal, but right then she didn’t think she’d be too fussed…
She could feel the dark magic in the air. It swirled around like the wind, and she reinforced her shields to defend herself against it … defend the wolf caught in her magic.
She needed to leave. She needed the wolf to leave and not try to follow her, and yet she had to wonder if the beast would take the damn hint…
“Run and don’t look back…” Eva hissed the words out on her magic and sent it straight into George’s mind so that the man understood. “He’ll kill you without thinking and you don’t have a second life….”
Eva wasn’t nice about letting the beast down easy. She tossed George away on the winds in the hope that Kal would think twice about harming the shifter. Then she took off in the other direction, giving Kal no choice if he wanted her that badly than to follow her…
She heard the heavy thud of the wolf hitting the ground and the snarl of anger that landing caused. She hoped that the beast would take the hint and get the hell out of there, but she’d delivered the warning and it was up to the shifter what he did with it.
The magic that she’d used to create a bubble around the wolf had drained her energy a little, and it was energy that she could ill afford to lose. She was already running low by constantly keeping a tight shield around herself, and without having the down time to replenish her magic.
As she ran through the dark of night, she reached out to Mother Nature all around her to draw on the magic that all witches could access.
Then she saw it ahead in the distance … eyes of the beast … more than one, and they were coming at her fast…
Oh, that’s not good!
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~
‘Dexter…’ That familiar voice growled out into Dexter’s mind, pushing through his own link with his pack and overriding the new pathways that he’d created…
‘Justice … what the hell?’ Dexter growled back in annoyance.
Only his brother, the great alpha of the white wolf pack, could be so damn arrogant as to take such liberties.
‘Connor’s down – the witch is running – and there is dark magic in the air. I can feel it in my fur, brother…’ Justice offered back, and Dexter growled long and hard.
‘Where are you slow-mo?’ Maverick bit out, piggybacking on Justice’s link.
Now they had no choice. Now Shawn was going to have to shift into his beast whether he liked it or not.
“The Warlock’s attacking. Our vampire’s down, and my brothers are in the area. Shift and be damned if you want to defend your mate, Shawn.”
Dexter gave it to the man straight. There was no time and little point in sugar coating it for him.
His mate was in danger and that should circumvent any idea that the wolf had to chase down the witch and claim her. The beast would be too concerned about defending his mate, and attacking the Warlock, at least in theory.
Shawn needed no more incentive than that to allow his beast to break free of the cage that he’d been holding him in. The wolf burst from inside of the man and his paws hit the ground running.
Now the hunt really was on, but not for Shawn’s mate, for the man that wanted to harm her.
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George had no intention in leaving the mate behind. He could feel the magic in the air and it felt different to hers.
He’d been wrong when he’d though that she had attacked the vampire, and she’d thrown him to protect him. He got that, but he didn’t need protecting – he needed to protect her.
He snorted at the Vampire as he ran by his lifeless body. He’d heard the man’s neck snap and he wasn’t sure how long it took for a vampire to heal from being dead rather than just injured, but he was kind of hopeful that it wouldn’t be too long.
Whatever he thought of Connor, the man was handy in a fight, and if the mate needed healing then he’d rather not have to carry her all the way to Connor and open a vein to do it.
He might have been in th
e thick of it, but he couldn’t sense the Warlock himself, just his magic, and that wasn’t a good thing. The man was obviously protecting himself with shields, and to track magic you needed a witch and she was off and running once more.
He knew that it wasn’t going to take him long to get to her, but the scent that filled the air said he probably didn’t need to worry too much … Justice and his brother Maverick were already there … he’d know the other packs scents anywhere, and now he could hear the heavy pads of his own pack coming up behind him.
He just hoped that they could get to the Warlock before the man did to them what he had done to the vampire.
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Eva looked into the eyes of the wolves that were in front of her. They weren’t rogues, and they hadn’t made a move to indicate that they meant her any harm.
She had to assume that they were part of the same Wolf pack as her mate, even though she knew that assumptions could be deadly. She turned at the sound of the beasts as they thundered up behind her … Five Wolves … Five chances for Kal to perfect his spell.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Eva reached deep within herself for the very magic that she was trying to fight against. Dark magic, the true epitome of evil, and the way to open the door to allow in the dark forces that created it, sustained it, and fed on it.
She was already weakened by lack of sleep, food, and having to draw on her magical energy as she tried to keep one step ahead of Kal. But dark magic was different; it came from a place that would feed on your very life force.
One Wolf; the largest of the two whites that stood in front of her, drew back its lips and snarled at the pain that coursed through its body. It was happening – Kal was attacking.
The beast started to twist as though the pain was all-encompassing. Right there in front of a very eyes: she could see the man inside the wolf as Kal used his magic to try to separate man and beast.