by M. L. Briers
“Maybe you could huff and puff…” Nick chuckled.
“I’m warning you,” Den growled as he lifted his hand and pointed a thick index finger at his sibling.
“Warn away, you big oaf, you’re still not getting in,” Piper hissed back.
Den allowed his eyes to close for a moment as he turned back toward the door. That was it — he wanted in — he had to know the truth, and being outside with his meddlesome brother wasn’t going to get him anywhere. It might get his brother boots up six feet under the ground, but that still didn’t help him with his possible mate.
Magic or not he was getting through that door.
“Get away from the door,” Den growled.
“Could you just…?” Piper swallowed the rest of that sentence when the door was booted open. The sound of the hinges trying to rip from the wood surround echoed through the room, and the crack of splintering wood made her ears hurt.
She might have spelled the door closed, but there was nothing that she could do for sheer stupidity and brute force. There he stood — Mr stupid and brute force himself – he was practically as big as the doorway, his chin down, his dark eyes glaring in at her, and his hands were fisted at his sides.
“Kill him, Piper!” Karen shrieked out.
“Geez, how many people do you want us to kill?” Lulu chuckled. “Talk about your crimes against humanity.”
“He’s a wolf,” Karen said lifting her hand and pointing her finger right at the alpha.
“Not right now he’s not,” Lulu tossed back.
“And you’d better hope that you don’t miff my wolf off enough to come out and say hi,” the alpha warned.
Perhaps that wasn’t exactly the way to go, threatening a half-hysterical human, but he was miffed. His brother was acting like an idiot, one of those witches might have been his mate, and they weren’t making things easy for him to find out which one.
Then there was the human who wanted his head mounted on a wooden plaque — probably beside the vampire’s.
He couldn’t say it was just another day – because he’d never had a day like it before. His beast rallied him on, urged him to take a big whiff of the air around them, and find out if one of those witches truly was his mate.
“Don’t threaten her,” Piper said, tossing her hands onto her hips, and offering him what he could only assume was her version of the evil eye — she did it well.
“I wasn’t threatening her,” he rushed to denial.
“Actually…” The vampire piped up from behind him.
“Shut up,” Den tossed back over his shoulder.
“See!” Karen said as she pointed to Slade even though she couldn’t see him.
“It sounded like a threat to me,” Nick called.
“Everyone’s a critic,” the alpha growled. Then he took one large step into the room and watched as all three women snapped to attention.
“I will hurt you,” both witches said together.
“I would too if I could,” Karen added.
“Good to know,” the alpha said, offering Karen the kind of look that he would give to a pup.
“Can’t the vampire do his own dirty work?” Lulu said.
Den took a moment to consider her words. She’d confused him, between the females stance, his beast clawing within him, and his brother trying to wind him up, it was little wonder that his brain wasn’t working properly.
“He’s shy,” the alpha’s tone was dripping with sarcasm.
“Bet he’s not shy when it comes to lunch,” Piper tossed back, but the sound of Karen’s small whimper made her grimace, and she regretted bringing it up.
“Now, now — do it now, when they’re not expecting it,” Karen urged her friends to take action.
“Oh, I think they’re expecting it now you’ve said it,” Lulu offered back with a small chuckle of disbelief.
“Sorry!” Karen bit out. “How about now?” She rushed out.
“I knew humans could be bloodthirsty, but you just about take the biscuit,” Den said.
“Bloodthirsty!” Karen tossed back, but it did make her think for a moment, she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and grimaced slightly.
“Much,” Lulu chuckled.
“He’s a vampire,” Karen said, bringing her eyes back down on Lulu and practically begging her to agree.
“I know, honey, but it’s going to be okay,” Lulu chuckled, making sure she put just enough sympathy in her voice to calm her friend down.
“I’m really not that bad,” Slade said, still sight unseen from somewhere behind the alpha.
“Says you,” Karen muttered.
“This is all well and good, but there’s something that I need to do,” Den said, taking another step.
Piper lifted her hand and held her index finger out in front of her to stop him in his tracks. He did just that. They eyed each other for a long moment.
“And what would that be?” Piper demanded.
“The sniff test,” Nick called from outside, and the alpha could have kill his brother because both witches snapped to attention.
“Sniff test?” Lulu rushed out.
“No sniffing,” Piper said.
“Oh, it’s way too late for that kind of a protest,” Nick called out with a wicked chuckle that grated over their nerves.
CHAPTER TWELVE
~
“How is it too late? If you need to sniff now then obviously you didn’t sniff earlier?” Piper reasoned.
“He wasn’t the one that sniffed,” Nick called.
“Can you shut the hell up?” Den growled.
“Well, if you’d speak up for yourselves, then maybe — sure,” Nick called back.
“Who sniffed?” Piper demanded.
“Oh, tell me it wasn’t the mean one,” Lulu groaned.
“It was me, the nice one,” Carson called.
“A wolf is a wolf, is a wolf, you can dress it up in a skirt and pigtails, but it’s still going to be a wolf,” Piper looked at her friend as if she’d just grown another head.
“You’re right,” Lulu shrugged. “I know you’re right, but still — that mean one with his beady little eyes.” She offered a small fake shiver.
“You’re going to have to leave, we’re in the middle of something,” Piper said, turning her attention back towards the alpha and catching him looking at her funny, almost as if he was trying to hold back a sneeze. “Don’t you sniff,” she warned.
“I…”
The alpha didn’t get any further; a deafening sound like thunder echoed through the room as if someone had set off a firecracker in their midst. Den stalked towards the window. His long legs made short work of the distance, and when he yanked on the cord for the blind, sending it upward and revealing a blazing fire outside.
Piper moved towards the window, curiosity mixed with disbelief at the sight of the flames that were reaching skywards and devouring the wooden structure. She noted the alpha turning to eye her and did a double take in his direction.
“I know we’re witches, but that’s taking the welcome a little too far, don’t you think?” she asked, folding her arms, raising her eyebrows at him, and tipping her chin up.
“It’s warm, what more do you want?” Nick growled, from the hallway as he turned on his heels and started towards the nearest exit.
“That man needs neutering, so he doesn’t make any mini-him’s,” Piper muttered with a small sneer.
“I’ll take that under advisement,” Den growled as he started for the door. “All hands to the pump, we don’t want any firemen turning up.”
“Worried about competition,” Lulu chuckled.
“Wouldn’t want to eat them,” Carson muttered before he turned to follow the others from the room.
Lulu hadn’t much like the way that man had been eyeing her and she had the horrible feeling that she knew why.
~
~
Darlene scowled at the sight of the shed blazing away as if she’d poured a vat of Scotc
h over the stupid thing. Sure, she’d meant to cause a distraction, but she wasn’t going for the whole scorched earth thing. She grimaced as she watched the damn thing burn and the pack rally to do something about stopping it.
“Memo to self, next time I set something on fire, check the bloody contents first,” she berated herself.
Darlene pulled her magic tightly around her, bolstering her shields to hide her fae scent, and she almost took a header when her boots got caught in the hem of her long white dress as it became tangled around her ankles.
How stupid did she feel? Even more stupid if they caught her.
Jackboots and a wedding dress; it wasn’t exactly the height of fashion, and she wasn’t making any fashion statements either, but when she’d got the call from Piper, well, she’d come running – or driving.
It wasn’t exactly the best outfit to maintain super-stealthy status, but it was all she had to work with right then, and she wasn’t going home to change. It had just been one of those fate was a witch moment’s that she’d been trying on the damn thing when the SOS had gone up from her friend.
She had a plan of action, rescue her friends, kill off any problems that reared their ugly wolf head along the way, and get the hell out of there. It sounded good to her on the drive there; now as she watched the commotion that ensued around the large storage shed, she wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed.
That was when she saw the three idiots sneaking out of the house. Lulu was in front, Karen in the middle, and Piper being Piper; she was bringing up the rear, looking around to see if they were being followed or even noticed over the fracas that was going on.
Darlene pushed back through the foliage, slipping into the darkness of the night as she tried not to stand out like a sore thumb in her wedding dress. Wolves had great eyesight, and it wasn’t as if she’d be hard to spot. The last thing that any of them needed was for her to be caught just as her friends were leaving.
Who was going to come to her rescue? There was only one person that she’d be likely to call, and that was never going to happen.
~
~
“Which way to our car?” Lulu hissed back over her shoulder, as she crouched down beside a pickup truck and made sure that the others were with her before she made another stealthy mad dash for freedom.
“I don’t know,” Piper said, squatting down beside her friends and catching her breath for a moment as she sneaked a look past the bumper to where the pack was frantically fighting the flames.
“Wonderful,” Lulu grumbled.
“Lucky break with that fire,” Karen hissed on a low whisper.
“Nothing lucky about it. I feel the magic in the air, and I’m guessing Darlene is around here…” Piper narrowed her eyes on the flash of white that was moving through the bushes to the left of them. “I see her.”
“Darlene’s here?” Karen started to push up to get a better look, but Lulu grabbed a handful of her sweater and yanked her back down.
“You called Darlene?” Lulu hissed in disbelief. “No wonder the shed looks like the Devil had a field day. That witch is nuts!”
“And you’re not?” Piper snorted a chuckle.
“Compared to Darlene?” Lulu tossed back.
“Okay, I’ll give you that, but who was I going to call?”
“Ghostbusters,” Karen chuckled.
“Wolfbusters,” Lulu grumbled.
“Hey, she got the job done, didn’t she? Now pick a direction and let’s get out of here.” Piper snuck another look across the open space.
“Why don’t we just take their truck?” Karen said with a small shrug. “I can hotwire it if I had…”
“Magic,” Lulu grinned.
“Love some,” Karen snorted.
“I can start it with magic, no hotwiring needed,” Lulu said.
“Cool,” Karen liked that idea, and it only gave her another reason to wish that she had magic of her own.
Lulu reached up and wrapped her hand around the handle…
“Lights,” Piper bit out as Lulu opened the door, and she zapped the interior light off just as it flashed on.
“Hey!” A deep voice made them freeze in place, and Lulu grimaced.
She berated herself for screwing up and drawing attention towards them. So much for their escape plan.
“Damn it,” she hissed, offering Piper an apologetic look.
“Over there in the bushes!” The guy shouted, and Piper gasped.
It wasn’t them who had been discovered at all. That was good for them; it still gave them a chance to escape, but bad for their friend, and Piper pitied the poor shifter that went up against that wickedly crazy witch.
“Darlene!” she hissed at her friends.
“Oh boy, now all hell’s going to break loose around here,” Lulu hissed back.
“How bad can it be?” Karen shrugged. When Piper and Lulu winced in unison, she got the message. “Oh, that bad.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
“Oh crap!” Darlene bit out as she turned her head and noted the shifter pointing in her direction. So much for a stealthy escape.
Should she stay or should she go?
She didn’t want to run out on her friends, but she’d been discovered and it wasn’t as if she could hide and blend into her surrounding with what she was wearing. Now they were all in the same boat — except Karen, who was up a creek without a paddle in her reckoning, but still, three witches were better than two in any attempted rescue.
When she snapped a look toward the truck where Piper and the others were hiding, trying to decide what was best for all of them, Piper lifted her hands and motioned for her to leave and she sprung into action and took off like a cat on a hot plate. She didn’t need telling twice.
“Those that run away live to rescue their friends another day,” she muttered to herself, as she gathered the heavy skirt of the wedding dress up around her thighs and took off.
Darlene pitied runaway brides that escaped their fate at the altar, escaping in a wedding dress was a tough ask. Admittedly, they probably weren’t wearing heavy walking boots and weren’t encumbered by Bracken and debris over the woodland ground, but she knew that stilettos came with their own set of problems.
“Nick, Carson, go hunt that female down,” Den growled before turning his attention back to the burning structure, and Darlene’s racing heart jumped into her throat at that command.
How she would love to rip off that wedding dress and take off like a bat out of hell. It probably wouldn’t have done her much good, they were always going to be faster than her, but at least she could try.
Out in the open and exposed the way she was, the only thing she had to rely on was her magic, and she was definitely going to use it. It was hard enough trying to keep the stupid skirts up around her thighs, but she needed at least one hand free to be able to zap branches along the way to toss into their path.
“Why would anyone wear one of these damn dresses?” Darlene bit out as the lacy material escaped her grip and flowed down on her right side, managing to snag every branch and piece of Bracken along the way, trying to trip her and yank her off balance at every opportunity.
She could hear them coming from behind. The sound of broken twigs and debris underfoot mixed with the crack of branches that she managed to hit with her magic, and the growls and curses that they threw out all warned her that they were getting way too close for comfort.
She needed to do something, and she needed to do it now.
~
~
“What the hell is she wearing?” Carson bit out.
The woman would have been an easy catch if it wasn’t for the fact that she was tossing branches in their direction every time she flicked a look back over her shoulder at them. There was no mistaking the fact that she was a witch, but a witch in a wedding dress?
“I’m less concerned with what she’s wearing and more concerned that it’s another damn witch on pack land,” Nick growled as he hu
rdled over a branch that came at him from the left, narrowly missing taking out his shin as it hurtled towards the ground.
“Do you think fate is stalking you?” Carson chuckled, before letting out a small yelp of alarm at the path of a rather large branch that narrowly missed his head. The witch wasn’t fast, but she was damn mean, and not a bad aim with her magic either considering she was doing it on the run.
“Too bad that didn’t get you,” Nick growled. “Put some distance between you and me, because she seems to be aiming more stuff in your direction and I don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Well, it’s nice to know you care, brother,” Carson grumbled with a sneer. “You go left, and I’ll go right. Hopefully, we’ll catch her in the middle.”
“Hopefully, all of her attention will be centered on you, and I won’t have to worry about her magic,” Nick chuckled, and before his brother could answer he took off in a different direction.
~
~
“Do you think Darlene is going to get caught?” Karen whispered as Lulu carefully pulled open the truck door.
“I think we’re going to get caught if you don’t shut your yapping,” Piper said, manhandling her friend around the open door and shoving her up into the truck. “Move over so the rest of us can get in. I’m driving.”
“I don’t really think we can call what you do driving,” Lulu said as Karen slid across the seats.
“And you’re so much better at it?” Piper scoffed.
“Can anyone really the worst thing you?”
“Will you two stop arguing?” Karen hissed. “Arguing isn’t escaping, and I don’t want to be the bride of a vampire.”
“She’s right,” Piper turned her attention back to Lulu.
“She is right – I’m still driving,” Lulu said.
“Because that went so well on the way here,” Piper hissed.
“We got here, didn’t we?”