by M. L. Briers
“And which one of us is Shaggy?” Carson demanded, folding his arms across his broad chest, and eyeing the vampire with disdain.
“You figure it out,” Slade tossed back.
“That’s all you got from that? Which one is Shaggy?” Nick tossed back. “Damn, those females have already sent you soft.”
“The green-eyed mean one speaks,” Carson snorted his contempt for his brother.
“Jealous? Of finding my witch mate?” Nick grunted.
“Witch what?” Carson inclined his head like he hadn’t heard his brother’s words, but in truth, he’d heard that one word, and it was playing ping-pong in his brain.
“Oh,” Nick’s eyes lit up with amusement. “You didn’t realize…”
“Realize?”
“You didn’t sniff…”
“Sniff?”
“You haven’t taken her fae scent yet,” Nick chuckled.
“I…” Carson floundered for a moment. “What?” He craned his neck forward and narrowed his eyes on his brother as if he couldn’t quite recognize the man.
“Surprise!” Nick yelled, and his brother wrenched his head back.
“That’s not even good conversation, brother,” Carson growled out in annoyance.
“Go ahead, take – a – sniff.” Nick tossed that out there like the mother of all challenges and watched as Carson’s top lip twitched, his hands fisted at his sides, and he tried to resist that damn challenge.
But it was like a red rag to a bull. No self-respecting beta could resist the temptation of a challenge like that, not when it came from his sibling.
“Maybe that’s not such a good…” Den started, but he never got to finish as Carson took a long, deep breath in through his nose as his chest expanded and his beast waited with curiosity to see what they would find.
“O-oo-ohhhh,” Carson’s deep voice just got a whole lot more depth to it as his breast rose up within in, pushing forward, and Nick stared at the man willing him to do what came next.
“Go ahead, make my millennium,” Nick teased.
“Mine…” Carson growled out. Then he put one foot in front of the other and started towards Nick with his chin practically down on his chest, and the man had murder in mind. “I’m going to kill you.”
“Go ahead, shoot the messenger,” Nick chuckled, dropping his arms to his sides and getting ready to meet his brother head-on.
CHAPTER NINE
~
“Okay, that’s enough — don’t you think we’ve got enough problems right now?” Den growled as he started up the hallway to where his brothers were aiming to beat each other senseless.
“You do,” Nick tossed out as he peered over Carson’s shoulder at the alpha.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Den growled back.
“What? You think you’re looking at the other witch like she’s an ice cream sundae for the fun of it?” Nick growled back.
“Which witch?”
Den wasn’t entirely lost to what Nick was talking about. He did seem to have a problem with taking his eyes off one particular witch, but he didn’t think he had the same kind of problem that Carson did.
“Well, not his witch,” Nick pointed a finger at Carson.
“This isn’t a game…” Carson growled.
“I never said it was,” Nick growled back.
The two betas were still on a collision course with each other. The air was thick with the need for them to fist up and release some of the tension that they were holding inside.
“Well, isn’t this getting interesting?” Slade said with a chuckle that annoyed the alpha.
“Shut up!” Den growled back over his shoulder. He was more interested in keeping his brothers from beating the hell out of each other than dealing with the vampire.
“He needs to be stopped,” Carson growled, pointing a thick finger at his sibling, and the amusement on Nick’s face was evident.
He was enjoying the fact that his brother was up a creek without a paddle, and sure, they might have just got a couple of witches in the pack, but he was more than grateful that one of them wasn’t his mate.
“You sniffed yet, alpha?” Nick chuckled.
“It’s gone awfully quiet in there…” Slade said pressing his ear to the door.
“They’re probably listening to these two jerks making asses out of themselves,” Den grumbled.
“Or maybe they’re escaping out the window,” Nick offered back, and Carson’s ears certainly pricked up at that one.
“I’ll go check.” The beta said and he nudged past Nick and carried on down the hallway. When Nick let a low chuckle escape his lips, Den grunted in annoyance.
“Just remember that Karma’s a bitch.”
“Yeah, but we’re all out of witches,” Nick grinned.
~
~
“She looks a little – deflated,” Lulu said to Piper as they stared at Karen; who was slouched in the chair with a scowl and a far-off look in her eyes.
“I guess finding out about vampires, werewolves and bears – oh-my – is a lot to take in…” Piper shrugged.
“Bears?” Karen’s hard tone alerted them to the fact that their friend wasn’t quite as zombie-fied as she appeared.
“Not here,” Lulu lifted her hand and waved that away. “At least, I don’t think…”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Karen ground out, pushing up to her feet again and turning her scowl on her friends.
“Life’s too short to worry about the little things?” Piper said with a small, apologetic grimace.
“Bloody well looks like a big thing to me,” Karen snapped back. “Have you seen the size of those … people?” She tossed an absent hand towards the door, but something caught her eye outside the window. “Vampire!” she announced, pointing outside.
Piper and Lulu turned in the direction that she was pointing, only to see Carson looking around him for the vampire that Karen had claimed was there. Then he stared back in at them with a curious look.
“Not a vampire,” Piper bit out.
“Werewolf!” Karen exclaimed again, bouncing on the spot like a jumping bean. “Make it go away.”
“A little harsh,” Lulu said, and she couldn’t help grinning at her friend’s reaction.
“It is his house,” Piper offered.
“We need to go, escape. I don’t want to be a werewolf,” Karen said, shaking her head to back up her words.
“I don’t know, maybe a little fur would suit you,” Lulu chuckled at the immediate look of disbelief that appeared on Karen’s face.
“You’re saying I’d look good as a dog?”
“Wolf…” Piper corrected her.
“So, who’s the vampire?” Karen narrowed her eyes in thought.
“None of the guy’s that we came in with…”
“W-ha… Slade is a vampire?” Karen was back to looking shell-shocked.
“His name’s Slade?” Lulu chuckled.
“And he’s a vampire?” Karen tossed back. “I was having cake with a bloodsucking nightwalker?”
“Okay, focusing on the big picture,” Piper said, “it doesn’t make him a bad person.”
“It doesn’t make him a person,” Karen hissed back, annoyed that they could be so calm about everything when her mind was in freefall.
“Harsh,” Slade’s melodic tone entered the room and was in no way muted by the closed door.
“Hello!” Karen snapped at her friends.
“Hello,” Slade offered back, and Lulu sniggered while Piper pressed her lips together and tried to hold onto her mirth.
“This is not funny,” Karen berated them, “this is funny to you?” she demanded.
“Nooo,” Piper said, slowly shaking her head from side to side.
“If I say yes, does that make me a bad person?” Lulu spat out another chuckle. “Well, you should see your face.” She shrugged.
“You do look like someone just pooped on your shoes,” Piper offered, and the amusement was more t
han evident in her eyes.
“I want …” Karen stopped as Carson snatched her attention once more. The man was prowling back and forth at the large picture window, and she scowled at him. “Make him go away!”
Piper lifted her hand, snapped her fingers, and the blind dropped down over the window. “Done.”
“Feel better?” Lulu asked.
“About being in a goldfish bowl with a weird guy gawking in, or the fact that there are real-life vampires and werewolves?” Karen sniped back.
“Tough choices,” Lulu made an effort to chew that one over.
“Maybe what you need to do is see things from another angle…” Piper offered back.
“Yes, a distance, a really, really long distance,” Karen tossed back.
“It’s all relative…” Lulu tried to be helpful, but Karen wasn’t giving any ground.
“Well, relatively speaking, we’re screwed,” Karen bit back.
“We?” Piper chuckled, and Karen slowly dragged her head back on her neck until she had more chins than Jabba the Hutt. “Oh, that’s not a good look for you.”
CHAPTER TEN
~
“You’re witches, you’re going to do something, right? I mean, come on, what’s the point in having magic if you can’t kill a few … people?”
Karen twisted her head on her neck and narrowed her eyes as she waited for an answer from her friends. They were busy tossing looks back and forth between them, and she noted the little grimaces, and subtle nods as they urged each other to say something.
“It’s … complicated,” Lulu finally announced.
“Witches just don’t go around killing people for no good reason,” Piper added.
“Vampire! Good reason!” Karen was emphatic.
“I’m feeling unloved and somewhat persecuted,” Slade said.
Karen opened her mouth to speak but took to chewing the inside of her cheek instead as she rolled her gaze to the ceiling and tried her best to count to ten before her head exploded.
“No!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. “It’s not right. Vampires are just made up characters from some weird person’s warped mind.”
“And we all know how many of those books you’ve read,” Lulu tossed back and watched her squirm in place.
“Not the point,” she snapped back. “I’ve read about aliens, but I don’t want one to actually land in my front garden.”
“That would be unnerving,” Piper said.
“Ya think?” Karen snapped back.
“Not often, and when she does, it doesn’t end well,” Lulu chuckled and got the stink eye from both of her friends. “Okay.” She held up her hands in surrender. “We’ll kill the poor, helpless, unsuspecting vampire for you.”
“You will?” Karen asked, but she didn’t look so certain about things now.
“What are friends for?” Piper offered back.
“Apparently to kill the guy that just spent however long entertaining her with, tea, cake, and charm,” Lulu shot back.
“Well,” Karen scowled at the thought of it.
“I mean, the guy seemed – nice – to me,” Piper said.
“Good looking,” Lulu offered.
“Sexy…” Piper said.
“Not a threat that I could see,” Lulu added.
“But, a death sentence it is,” Piper said, nodding enthusiastically before they both turned towards the door.
“But I …” Karen started, and they slowly turned their heads to look at her over their shoulders.
“Yes?” Piper asked.
“Do you want a slow, painful kill, or just…” Lulu clapped her hands and made Karen jump in place. “Wham!”
“Wham?” Karen looked unsure.
“Not the group,” Lulu said, and Piper lifted her hand and slowly drew it across her throat before rolling her eyes to the ceiling, poking her tongue out the corner of her mouth and offering a dead stare.
“That’s…” Karen swallowed at the thought. He hadn’t hurt her. He was kind of nice, charming, and as sexy as hell. “Fast. Don’t let him suffer.”
“Well, that didn’t go as I’d expected,” Lulu said, tossing up her hands and eyeing Piper with a grin.
~
~
“Looks like you’ve got a real dreamy one there,” Nick chuckled as Slade rolled his eyes back in his head and groaned inwardly at his mate’s words.
“At least I have a mate,” the vampire bit out. He was still a little shell-shocked from his mate’s bloodthirsty ways to give the beta a run for his money.
“You say that like it’s a good thing,” Nick snorted his amusement at the vampire’s words of denial. “Sounds like she’s worse than a witch.”
“Your point?” Slade bit out.
“Hey, it’s your funeral – again.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Slade sneered back.
“Sounds like it,” Nick said, grinning widely, and enjoying the clarity of the moment at not having a mate to mess with his brain, either of them, the big one or the little one.
“I’ve come to the conclusion, alpha, that you have one too many brothers,” Slade bit out, but far from taking it as a threat to his sibling's safety, Den knew better, and he chuckled at the vampire’s suddenly sour mood. Only Nick could ruin your day like that.
“Don’t look at me; I didn’t ask my parents to have more pups and ruin the good thing they had going with me,” Den tossed back.
“I think you’re thinking of Carson,” Nick tossed back, souring a little himself.
“They aren’t escaping out the window, but they did close the blinds,” Carson grumbled, stalking up the hallway, and tossing up a hand in frustration. He wanted in that room, or he wanted them out, but either way, his wolf was getting antsy.
Mine…
“Speak of the wombat,” Slade muttered.
“Why don’t you take charge, go get those witches?” Nick offered up another challenge for the beta to get his fangs into, and watched his brother think that one over.
“Where’s the harm?” Slade muttered again, chuckling to himself at the sight of the beta struggling with the dilemma that it posed.
“I think I will,” Carson said, with a big, smug, somewhat dopey grin that spread his lips wide.
“That’s the way. The alpha can just stand back and play it safe,” Slade tossed out the challenge and watched with amusement as Den straightened, pulling his shoulders back, and tightening his hands into fists at his sides.
“Safe?” A grumble of a growl rolled in his chest.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Slade said, shrugging, “I know you’re not scared of a little witch…”
“Scared?” He growled again.
“Big bad alpha afraid of a witch – that’s like an elephant being afraid of a mouse – oh no, wait, an elephant is afraid of a mouse.” Slade took a long moment to ponder that one, but Den’s top lip twitched in annoyance, and he started for the door.
“Elephant – witch – scared…” he muttered, reaching for the door handle, twisting until the lock snapped off, and thrusting the door open.
“Vampire!” Karen shrieked out, hurting his ears and causing him to hesitate instep.
“Busy!” Piper snapped, lifting her hand and using her magic to toss the door closed with so much power that when it cracked back against Den’s forehead, it knocked him backward and almost put him on his backside.
Nick chuckled with laughter at his brother’s mishap, the vampire was a little more graceful as he sniggered into the palm of his hand, but it was Carson’s reaction, as he roared with laughter that really jumped up and down on Den’s last nerve.
“Witches two – alpha nil,” Nick chuckled.
“We’ll just see about that,” Den growled, shaking off the blow, and drawing his body up to his full height again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
~
“I have a sudden craving for popcorn,” Nick chuckled. “Anyone else feel like this is a popcorn moment?”
&
nbsp; “Don’t push it; I will hurt you,” Den growled a warning to his brother.
The man was fast becoming a royal pain in the butt, not that he hadn’t always been an idiot of epic proportion, but if this was the alpha’s chance to meet his mate, then that beta needed to back off.
Since Nick had opened his big mouth; all that the alpha’s wolf was doing was clawing within him, urging him to scent the air and see if the beta’s words were true.
Could they have a mate in that room? The wolf certainly wanted to know the answer to that one, and the man was getting mighty curious himself.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Nick urged him on.
“It’s the alpha, and I’m coming in on,” Den announced.
“Are you sure you don’t want to knock first?” Nick chuckled.
Den cut him a dark glare as he twisted the handle and found that the door wouldn’t budge. Den sighed inwardly. He had already snapped the lock, so the witches must have been using their magic.
That wasn’t good.
The fact that he fisted his hand and lifted it to the wood preparing to knock wasn’t good either, he heard Nick chuckle from behind him, and he had the urge to use that fist to plant it against Nick’s nose.
“Not a damn word,” Den warned his brother, and when he tossed him another look, the beta mimicked locking his lips and tossing the key back over his shoulder. Jackass. “There are days…” He growled.
“I said nothing.” Nick held his hands up to his chest in surrender, but it was the amusement on his face that jumped up and down on the alpha’s last nerve.
Den rapped his knuckles against the door.
“Who is it?” An innocent voice called from inside, but the alpha knew better, those witches were anything but innocent.
“Open the door…” Den called.
“I’m sorry — Little Red Riding Hood isn’t here at the moment, come back later,” Piper called.
He knew that voice. He knew exactly which witch that was and his wolf’s ears pricked up.
Sniffing wasn’t going to do him any good, not now. He needed to be up close and personal with the witches, so he could tell whose scent belonged to whom, and then, if one of them were his mate, he’d know it and do what he needed to do.