by M. L. Briers
She’d never really been one to settle in one place for long, have a home like a normal person because she didn’t consider herself normal, not in conventional terms at any rate.
Now she’d stumbled onto a place that was populated with her kind – witches – but there were also shifters too … not to mention a friendly vampire, and that was something that you didn’t exactly run into every day of the damn week.
Before she could even consider the question of whether she could actually wrap her head around the thought of a home and a family of her own, she needed to make sure that people didn’t die due to Kal’s thirst for power over the shifter realm and his need for vengeance.
The man had an axe to grind. His sister had been killed by shifters, and she got that he wanted vengeance, but this was taking things too far.
He’d had his revenge on those that had participated in his sister’s death, but that power had gone to his head. Now he believed that every shifter was a danger to the human world, and he’d sought to find a way to separate the man from the beast, but at what cost to both?
She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t be a part of something so wrong as to wipe out an entire species, albeit a supernatural one…
“I think we have it…” Vicky announced to the room that was full of her kind – her brethren – her kin, and she’d never seen so many witches in one room.
It was practically a convention.
“Thinking is not good enough,” Eva offered back. “You need to be sure before you send anyone out after Kal that this protection spell is going to work. Kal won’t think twice about killing a shifter – it’s what motivates his every waking, and maybe even sleeping, moment now.”
That was the truth of it. He’d delved into dark magic to achieve his goal and pulled her in with him. That magic had got a foothold in his soul. She could only hope that it wasn’t in hers as well.
“We’re good to go.”
Vicky didn’t like the negativity that came from the new witch’s aura, but she understood it. When she’d first arrived on the mountain she was being hunted by vampires, and her mate, Connor, had saved her, along with some help from the pack and the clan.
“Whoever you send out there is only going to get one shot at this before Kal either kills them or succeeds in separating them from their beast…” Eva reminded her. “I know you have a vampire mate, but…”
“You think I’d risk someone else on a maybe?” Vicky was fast taking a dislike to the new witch.
“That’s not what she’s saying…” Isobel offered back.
She knew that Vicky could be a little highly strung sometimes and she didn’t want this whole endeavour to end up dead in the water before it had begun.
She didn’t fancy the idea of spending the rest of her life in the castle for protection.
“The wards around the castle are holding…” Vicky offered.
“Appear to be holding…” Eva corrected her. There were too many witches building that supernatural barrier between Kal and the inside world, and without tapping into the dark magic inside of her; she couldn’t tell if there was any kind of an attack on those wards.
“Well, Miss Pessimistic, when someone says ouch, we’ll know for sure,” Vicky offered back.
“That’s…” Eva shook her head in disbelief.
“She’s joking…” Isobel assured her. “Vicky has … a strange sense of humour.”
“I guess that’s what comes from living with a vampire…” Eva offered back.
She wasn’t sure if she liked Vicky. She wasn’t entirely sure if any of this would work, and she didn’t want to bring carnage to a peaceful mountain.
“Yeah well, we’ll see how you get on once you’ve lived with your mate for a while,” Vicky offered back with a smug smile.
“That’s not…” Eva bit off her words right there.
She couldn’t even conceive of that idea at that very moment in time. There were other, more pressing matters to attend to.
“Come on,” Isobel chuckled at the look of the woman who was floundering within a sea of uncertainty at that moment. “Let’s kick some Warlock backside, and then we can worry about your mate, wooing, and all that follows.”
Wooing … what a stupid damn name for it.
I don’t want to be wooed. I don’t want to be…
I don’t know what I do or don’t want to be … but wooing? That sounds archaic.
But what did you call it?
It sure wasn’t dating … maybe speed dating … but then the outcome in respect of suitability was already a dead cert.
Wooing … damn!
~
~
~
Isobel yanked open the door to the outer hallway and her eyes quickly scanned the expectant looking faces that stared back at her until she found the one that she was looking for.
“You.” She pointed at Shawn, and the man’s body snapped even more rigid than it already had been. He was already wound up tighter than a spinning top. “Your mate needs to eat and sleep and she’s refusing to do it…” Isobel eyed him from head to toe like she was about to offer up a challenge to his beast…
Shawn started towards her. Eva had needed both of those things from the first moment that he’d laid eyes on her, and aside from the short sleep that she’d had in the back of his truck, she’d refused anything more.
“Let’s see you do that whole tosses his mate over his shoulder and stalks off with her thing,” Isobel’s eyes were laughing even if she appeared deadly serious.
“Prepare to get your backside handed to you,” Landon chuckled.
“I think I can handle my mate,” Shawn offered back on a low growl of annoyance.
“If I had a castle for every time I’d heard that one…” Connor said.
“You’d have some damn explaining to do, leech,” Vicky said as she stalked out of the room and eyed her mate. “Why do you look guilty?”
“You bring out the worst in me…” Connor offered back.
“Are you hiding a castle that I don’t know about?” Vicky’s hands went to her hips.
“Yes, I got an alien to cloak it, shrink it, and I shoved it up my backside…” Connor offered back in a dry tone.
“I’d say bend over, but maybe we should save that for later…” Vicky tossed back with the kind of wicked look in her eyes that made her mate hard for her.
“I’m game if you are…” Connor grinned with his own brand of wicked that bordered on the most devilish of grins.
“I think I’m going to throw up…” Justice grumbled at the images that had taken front and centre in his mind. The last thing he wanted to do was imagine the vampire naked and in a compromising position.
“Such a prude. How does your mate cope?” Connor chuckled to the sound of the man’s grunt of annoyance.
Just at that very moment there was a long, deep, hard growl of warning that was tinged with pain that came from inside the room, and then Shawn stalked out, limping just a little, and carrying Eva over one broad shoulder.
“On the plus side; he still appears to have his balls…” Landon chuckled and Shawn’s frustrated, angry eyes snapped towards him. “Hey, just calling it like I see it.” Landon chuckled harder.
“Bedroom?” Shawn growled at the vampire and Connor took a moment to consider it.
“Put me the hell down … you…” Eva bit out, wiggling and wriggling to try to gain her freedom.
“Let’s put you right at the top of the castle, any room will do…” Connor grinned.
Shawn grumbled and growled as he felt the sting of her magic hit his backside. It wasn’t all that strong and he wondered if that was because she didn’t want to inflict too much pain on him, or if she was as weak as she appeared.
With a grunt; he took off on fast feet in the hope that she would think twice about doing anything stupid that might land her on her head.
“Ain’t love a bitch…?” Connor chuckled.
“I know I am.” Vicky shrugged
just one shoulder happily.
“You’ll get no argument from me, love.” Connor offered back and the wicked look in her eyes was ratcheted up to the point where he was sure that he could feel them on his body…
“A man who knows when to shut up. I like that about you.” Vicky offered back.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“Shawn, put me the hell down, there is work to be done,” Eva bit out as she hung down the man’s back with a great view of his taut backside as it moved beneath his jeans.
The one thing she couldn’t say about him was that she was unimpressed. The man was sex personified. His body was hard and oozed sex appeal, and those damn eyes of his, especially when they darkened, made her think of doing things that she hadn’t done in a long time…
“Isobel says you need to rest…” Shawn growled out, but she talked right over the top of him.
“Isobel’s wrong. I’m…”
“Tired. Hungry. Worn out from the hunt and in need of rest…” Shawn growled right back over the top of her protests.
He wasn’t wrong. Isobel wasn’t wrong, but she had work to do and sleeping now wouldn’t get that work done…
She’d sleep when they killed Kal or took the man’s ability to do magic and bound his powers – either way didn’t much matter to her. Then and only then would be the time to rest, assuming that she wasn’t dead, but that in itself would give her an eternal slumber.
“I’ll sleep when I’m done, one way or the other…” she said and got a long, deep, hard growl back in return.
“You’re running on empty, and that means that you’re no good to anyone like this…” He couldn’t seem to stop that growl from continuing to underline his words.
He’d known what she meant by being done one way or the other and it was his job to make sure that she came out of this alive. Otherwise, what the hell was it all for?”
There were enough shifters on the mountain to protect themselves and hunt that Warlock into oblivion – but without her…
Eva heard those words and they actually did sink in. He was right, of course; her magic had been depleted long before she’d set foot on the mountain, and then she’d drawn on the extra powers that she’d needed to provide that shield around so many people …
She was running on empty, and perhaps common sense should have told her to rest, but she felt responsible for the situation that they were in.
One moment she was hanging down his back and the next he was sliding her gently down the length of his body to stand before him, pressed up against him everywhere that mattered.
She felt the rush of awareness at just how potent his touch was to her. A shot of excitement hit all the good spots inside her, and she craned her head back on her neck to look up into those dark, sexy eyes of his…
“Sleep.” He offered down to her, and even the depth of his tone reached and awakened parts that had been dormant for so long. “Sleep and I’ll wake you when we need your help.”
“I don’t even know if I can sleep…”
“You can. You’re bone tired,” Shawn knew it. He could sense how weak she had become even since their first meeting earlier that evening.
Eva bit back the need to argue. There was a need to feel as if she was doing something to stop Kal in his tracks.
Sure, she’d helped with what she knew of Kal’s particular brand of magic so that they could craft a spell, and she’d offered just a small taste of the dark magic for the witches to feel it’s potency so that they knew what they were dealing with, but still … it didn’t feel like enough.
“I guess I could toss you on the bed and cage you in with my body until you fell asleep…”
Shawn wanted that. It was the strangest sensation, but just the semblance of closeness to her, even if he wasn’t actually touching her … but then he wanted that too, to touch, to taste, to know her as his…
“And I guess I could blast you through a wall or two…” She offered back with the kind of scowl that said she was contemplating all of the ways to do just that…
“And I guess we can stand here like this for an hour or two…” Shawn growled.
He wasn’t going to back down. No matter what his witch mate threw his way there was no way in hell that she was going to win this battle.
“Damn, but you’re stubborn…” she grumbled.
“Then I’d say that we’re perfectly matched in that department.”
“I’m not…”
“Get on the damn bed, Eva.” Shawn growled.
With a resigned huff she decided that just this once she’d comply with his demands, and they were demands … but the truth of it was that she was just too damn tired to fight him and the rest of the world.
Eva made a point of not looking happy about it. She didn’t want him to think that she was weak and would cave to his every demand.
She pushed backwards and it was like pushing back against a mountain in the hopes of moving it.
“You kind of need to let me go…” Eva said.
“That’s the last thing in the damn world I want to do.” Shawn said, and it was like a wakeup call to his brain.
Until that very moment he’d still been procrastinating and waging a war within himself over whether he was mate material … right then, he knew that he could never let her walk away from him...
Shawn’s lips came down on hers. One large hand palmed the back of her head and the other spanned the small of her back. Letting her go was the last thing that he wanted to do.
For what had to be the longest moments of his life to date; he waited to see if she would respond to him … he felt her body tense against his, felt her hands splay against his chest. He instinctively knew that she had a mind to ease herself away from him, and he held his breath in anticipation…
But then she melted like ice held against the flame. Her body became soft, her lips softer still as she opened to let him taste her…
Shawn’s beast roared at her acceptance of them. It clawed to push forwards, to claim her as theirs, and he fought the urge to allow that to happen.
She wasn’t his … not yet … not by a long way.
But he’d woo her. Maybe he’d damn well die trying, but he was determined to win her for his mate.
~
~
~
“It’s pretty damn obvious that the witch is the key…” Landon shrugged his broad shoulders and eyed Justice across the way; the man was nodding his agreement.
“She’s got a name,” Dexter put in.
“Eva.” Landon offered back. He sighed inwardly at Dexter’s need to always make something out of anything that he could find. “Eva is the key.”
“So, you’re saying that we should throw Eva under the bus to get at the Warlock…?” Dexter tossed back.
“I’m saying …” Landon knew what he’d started out thinking … bait … but now that Dexter had put it like that it seemed a lot less palatable, and he had to admit that he wouldn’t use a female member of his own clan in that way…
“He’s saying bait…” Connor said and Landon scowled.
“I never said…” Landon started to back pedal. He didn’t like the idea anymore than the next man.
“But you were thinking it…” Connor gave him a knowing grin and Landon straightened up.
“Stop reading my damn mind,” he growled.
“So, you were thinking it…” Dexter offered back.
“I was, but since the actual word bait has been put out there, I’m not thinking it anymore…” he grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and scowling at the vampire.
“That’s good, because it’s never going to happen,” Dexter said. “And I wouldn’t want anyone to think you were a cold, heartless, evil, monster to boot…”
“Now hold on there a minute…” Landon pushed up to his full height. His arms dropped to his sides and he looked like a man that was spoiling for a fight…
Connor groaned.
“Can we not do th
e whole my fist is bigger than your fist, have a closer inspection, thud … thing?” Connor grumbled.
“My fist is bigger than his fist…” Landon grumbled a growl.
“It’s like being in a playground around you shifters sometimes, and I’m not a damn teacher…” Connor offered back.
“Sexy, dangerous, substitute teacher…” Vicky considered that for a long moment and Justice had to chuckle…
“And there goes my chain of thought…” Connor admitted.
“We’d agreed that Eva has a name and that she isn’t bait…” Justice offered and the other two shifters sneered at him.
“Fine, so game plan…?” Landon grumbled.
Hell, he just wanted to kill the warlock and protect his clan and the others on the mountain. He didn’t much care how that happened, he wouldn’t even mind it if a damn alien came down in his spaceship and teleported him right in front of the warlock …
CHAPTER TWELVE
~
“We’re still working on a more personal spell that will give you individual wards of protection against being forced to shift in or out of your wolf, and not having your beast stripped out of you…” Isobel offered.
“Sounds good…” Landon said with a nod. “And when can we expect to take delivery?” His mate, Gemma, sighed.
“Yeah, he still hasn’t learned a damn thing about magic…” she said.
“I learned I don’t like it when it’s zapping my ass,” Landon offered back.
“Your sexual exploits are not high on my agenda of things…” Connor started and Landon growled a long hard warning back at the man.
“That is not…” the bear shifter started.
“Exactly, that’s what I’m saying … it’s not … so stop,” Connor shot back, and Justice and Dexter couldn’t help but laugh at the alpha’s expense.
“Oh, I see, so were all ganging up on the bear shifter now…” Landon grumbled.
“Victim here …” Connor said pointing to Landon and the big man grumbled some more. “I pick on everyone.” He offered. “I don’t care if you’ve got fur or not. I don’t care if you howl at the moon or crap in the woods … you’re all fair game…”