by M. L. Briers
“Ooo, tempting,” Slade said, mulling it over for a long moment. “But, no. What say I just wait and watch what happens when the bad mood brother of the three stops being distracted holding his balls and gets his manly strength back.”
“Sounds … boring – but I guess at your age…” she let him mull that one over as well.
“With age comes wisdom, and I can see your future, want me to give you a clue?” he teased.
“Sure, I’m not doing anything right now,” Darlene offered back, but her brain was still tossing over the problem of how best to get out from under the beta, who now had a firm grip on her other hand to ensure that her magic was practically useless.
If she used magic to toss him away, then she would surely go with him – that wasn’t something she wanted to risk.
“Just lying about like a duvet day, I’d say take a load off, but I see your dilemma…”
“Do not read my mind…” she snapped back.
“And give up all that good intel on the enemy – ha!” he snorted a chuckle just to rub salt in the wounds of her misery.
“Butthead,” she muttered.
“Oh yes, your future,” he said with glee as he lifted his arms and rocked an imaginary baby.
Darlene sneered at the thought of it. Mated to a wolf shifter.
“Pah! Not in his wildest dreams…” she bit out.
“Little wolf pups,” Slade said with so much faux enthusiasm that she wrinkled her nose with disdain.
“Bite me,” she hissed, and Nick growled again. She noted the deeper, more forceful sound and knew that he was on the mend.
“Thanks for the offer, but I have a mate,” he said as much to her as to remind Nick that he was no threat to the woman.
“I pity her luck,” Darlene bit out.
“As you seem to be the ineffectual rescue party; I’m guessing that she’s a friend of yours.”
“What now?” Darlene’s ears pricked up at that tasty morsel of information.
“Surprise, looks like you and I are going to be bosom buddies,” Slade said with a cocky grin of pure enjoyment at delivering the news.
“Not in this lifetime we’re not,” she bit out and Nick grumbled another growl as he lifted his head and nestled his cheek between her breasts. “Hey!” She hissed, grabbing a handful of his hair and wrenching his head up.
Nick finally met her gaze, and it was a hell of a death glare that she was offering him. He wished his balls would hurry up and mend and that he didn’t have that fiery pain within him or the feeling of nausea, but that might have been due to the fact that he’d found his mate and she was a witch.
“I will hurt you,” Darlene hissed at her mate, and he rolled his eyes back in his head and grumbled another growl deep within his chest.
“Newsflash, getting kicked in the balls isn’t pretty,” Slade offered, and she heard Nick mutter a curse or two in agreement.
“Well, he shouldn’t have threatened me,” she tossed back to another muttered curse from the beta.
“Neither is getting zapped,” Carson said, shaking off the paralysis that had rendered him muted and dazed before he dragged his aching body back to his feet. “Damn, but she’s a mean one.”
“Well suited to your brother then,” Slade said.
“What goes around comes around,” Carson grumbled.
“Oh, man up,” Nick growled.
“Look who came back from his fiery hell,” Slade chuckled.
“Can you get your big ass-self off me now,” Darlene bit out, releasing his hair from her grip and his head dropped back to her breast. “Hey!”
“You owe me a little damn comfort after what you did,” he grumbled.
“Do my breasts look like pillows to you?”
“Yes,” he growled back.
“Careful, she’s a mean one,” Slade teased her, and she glared at him, debating whether to zap him or the beta.
“Like I need telling,” Nick groaned, trying to push up but hating the effort that it took and the pain it caused. “I’m just gonna stay here for a minute more.”
“Don’t push your luck,” Darlene hissed.
“Luck,” Nick bit out. “Gee, I feel so damn blessed.”
“That’s it,” Darlene hissed, and she was more than ready to cut her nose off to spite her face.
~
~
“Drowning a witch, now there’s a cliché if ever I saw one,” Martha chuckled, and watched as the alpha snapped his body upwards as soon as he was released from the witch’s magic, and with it he pulled Piper's head from the water.
Piper coughed and spluttered as her mind came back to her after the unexpected dunking that she’d taken in the freezing cold water. She gasped in a breath and spat out a few good curse words.
“Idiot woman,” Den growled, spinning her down from his shoulder and into his arms as he scowled at her with a look that was half-baked with concern.
“You … muppet!” Piper bit out, madder than hell as she raised her hand and zapped him a good one.
Den felt his muscles locking up, and he knew one thing, if he didn’t let go of her then he’d break her with his strength. He dumped her from his arms, and she hit the water with a loud shriek. He wasn’t sure what hurt more, the zap that she’d given him or his ears from her squeals.
A heartbeat later and she was submerged in the water again.
“Told you it’d be good,” Lulu chuckled, taking the opportunity to zap the alpha in retaliation for her friend’s soaking.
A heartbeat later, and just as Piper launched her body up from the water gasping in air, so the alpha went under.
“I’ll kill you,” Piper bit out, rubbing the water from her eyes and looking around for the alpha, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where’d that numpty go?” she demanded.
Lulu pointed downwards with a wicked grin on her lips.
“You can’t escape me that easily,” Piper bit out as she reached for the man’s hair that was floating on the surface, gripped it in a tight fist and wrenched upwards, only to get a blast of water in her face as he surfaced and coughed it out. “You…” she bit down on a curse and eyed him with the fire of a thousand supernovas.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
~
“Either get off me, or I’ll get you off,” Darlene bit out.
Nick twisted his head on his neck and eyed her with disbelief. She might not have meant that as it sounded, she probably didn’t, but that didn’t stop his mind racing to X-rated images, and his beast jumping up and down within him like a pup.
Mine…
“Now, if you really think about it for a moment, you might want to rephrase that,” Slade chuckled.
By the time that Darlene had rethought her words, Nick was already grumbling a growl within his broad chest, and now it was her turn to look at her mate with disbelief.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she warned him.
“Then try really hard not to put them in my head,” Nick growled back.
“While this is fun and all, I have a mate to woo,” Carson said, and Slade couldn’t help but rub it in a little more.
“And that mate would be another of your friends,” the vampire offered with a certain amount of glee.
“Two mates?” Darlene breathed out in disbelief.
“Three.” Slade held up that amount of fingers for her because he could see that she wasn’t taking the news to well.
“Three!” She bit back.
“Four,” Nick said, and she snapped her gaze back to him. “Counting you.”
“Don’t say that,” she bit out, even shaking her head a little at the thought of having him as a mate.
“Truth doesn’t just hurt — it sucks,” Slade added, grinning from ear to ear and enjoying her moment of misery.
“Well, I’m going to go and win me my mate,” Carson said putting his best foot forward and heading back toward home.
While the thought of karma biting his brother in the backside sort of made him want to st
ick around to see how things played out, he did have a mate of his own to woo, and she was just as feisty a witch as his brother’s mate. He just hoped that she wasn’t as fast with her knee, but he’d make sure to keep that in mind as he wooed her.
Carson picked up his speed, and as he gained on home; he heard the squeal of disbelief that was followed by a hefty yelp of pain that sounded as if it came from his alpha. He chuckled to himself at the thought that neither brother’s attempt at wooing their mates seemed to be going very well.
He was determined that his mating would be different. He was going to woo her socks, and other things, right off.
She was his mate, and he was determined to get things right. They may have got off to a rocky start, but that was before he knew that she was his. Now things were different, now he needed to go about things in an entire new way.
Mine…
The moment that Carson cleared the woods and hit the clearing his attention was on the burned out structure of the large shed, but the gathering of the pack at the edge of the lake drew his attention in that direction. It took a few more strides to be able to see what was going on, but when he got that view, boy was he confused.
He almost tripped over his own feet at the sight of his truck in the water with his mate sitting at the open driver’s door with her fist clenched and as animated as hell.
Carson didn’t know what she was rallying at because the gathered crowd was still blocking most of his view, but as he picked up speed and raced toward her; he couldn’t quite believe his eyes — there was Den in the water, being bobbed up and down beneath the surface, presumably by his mate’s magic, because Carson didn’t think the alpha would have been trying to drown himself.
“How does that feel?” Piper asked as the alpha broke the surface one more time and gasped for air. “Is that fun for you?” She dunked him once more before bringing him back to the surface where he gasped at the air again. “Because I didn’t enjoy it much, but, I’m guessing you thought it was a bloody good idea.”
“What did I miss?” Carson demanded as he stood beside Martha as watched his brother’s plight.
“Oh, you missed a good one,” Martha chuckled as she folded her arms and nodded her head with a certain amount of amused satisfaction at the way things were going.
“How did my truck get in the damn lake?” Carson grumbled.
“The alpha’s mate drives like a girl,” Seth said.
It didn’t quite explain things to Carson, but he understood the concept and nodded accordingly.
“Sounds about right,” he shrugged.
Then it dawned on him that the mates must have been attempting to escape pack land. He didn’t like that idea much.
“But this…” Martha nodded towards where the alpha was still being dunked under the water. “Well, this came about because the alpha tossed his mate over his shoulder and dunked her head in the water — kind of a tit for tat scenario.” She chuckled.
“How long has it been going on?”
“About five minutes.”
“And nobody has tried to intervene yet?” Carson growled.
While it was amusing to see his brother at the mercy of the witch’s magic, he was still the alpha of the pack, and although he probably wouldn’t live this one down for a while — Carson thought it was time to call a stop to it.
“Nope.” Martha chuckled again.
“Okay, come on, you’ve had your fun,” Carson called to Piper, and she snorted in contempt.
“This isn’t fun…” Piper snapped back at him.
“It looks like fun…”
“He tried to drown me,” Piper snapped back.
“And I’m sure that he’s sorry,” Carson said. He wasn’t much for diplomacy, but when she took a moment to think about it and then gave a hefty sigh, he thought his argument had won the day.
“Fine,” she bit out begrudgingly and snatched her magic back as the alpha reared up above the water once again.
Den gasped in as much air as humanly possible and took the opportunity to rub at his face with his hands. He was waiting to be plunged back under the water once more, but when that didn’t happen, he rolled out a long, deep, hearty growl in his mate’s direction as he glared at her.
Then he lifted one large hand and pointed a finger right at her. “One more time and…”
“Okay,” Piper said with a small shrug and used her magic to plunge him back under again.
She relinquished her magic and allowed him to surface almost immediately. When his gaze settled on hers again; he was glowering at her in anger and disbelief.
“Witches,” Den growled, his top lip curling in anger.
“Yes, the life and soul of any party,” Lulu said with a totally straight face and an edge of a challenge in her tone as she raised her eyebrows high and practically dared him to disagree with her.
“That’s not what I was going for,” the alpha grumbled back.
“Then aren’t you glad I saved your bacon?” Lulu said. “In case you didn’t notice, Piper gets a little agitated at times.”
“I think I got that, but thanks,” Den grumbled as he rubbed his hands over his face again to get rid of the excess water; it also offered him the opportunity to assess the situation and calm his anger to a more manageable level.
Most of his pack was gathered on the lakeside, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to handle his mate’s aggression. He was supposed to be wooing the damn woman not going to war with her.
What kind of a message was that sending out to his pack?
“About my truck…” Carson said, but Lulu cut him off before he could go any further.
“A casualty of war…” She offered a small shrug.
“War?” Carson narrowed his eyes on her as he tried to evaluate her mood. He didn’t like the sound of that — it didn’t bode well for wooing and mating.
“You see things differently?” She asked.
“Ya think?” He tossed back. If she saw this as war then he needed to rethink his strategy and devise another way to woo his mate rather than just with charm and his natural animal magnetism.
“Looks a lot like war to me,” Lulu shrugged. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear, but at least now he was forewarned.
“Let’s get you out of there,” Carson said, and he was about to take a step into the water when she held her hands up and made him pause in place.
“No thanks, I saw the way your brother helped Piper, and I think I’ll be better off on my own,” she said.
Carson turned a look of disbelief on the alpha. “See what you did now?” He grumbled.
“Oh, shut up,” Den growled back.
“Oh, by the way — Nick found his mate.”
“What?” Den growled.
That news hit the alpha hard. Piper shot a look at Lulu, and her friend was scowling back at her.
“That’s not…” Lulu bit out before she snatched a look at the beta then back at Piper and shrugged on a grimace of disbelief.
“A witch mate,” Carson offered back with a certain amount of glee. The sound of his brother groaning only made the moment sweeter.
CHAPTER EIGHTTEEN
~
“Oh no!” Lulu slapped her hand over her mouth and grimaced at the thought of Darlene being a mate.
“Oh yes,” Piper offered back with an accusing tone. “And you did this — all of this.”
“How is any of this my fault? We had to come up here and rescue Karen,” Lulu tossed back.
“I told you she didn’t need rescuing,” Piper snapped back.
“We didn’t know that for sure,” Lulu hissed in annoyance.
“So this is your fault,” Piper said, tossing her hands onto her hips and nodding her head for good measure.
“Who was it that told Karen about this place in the first instance?” Lulu demanded. She watched as Piper opened her mouth ready to defend her actions, and then closed it again on a huff. “Exactly!”
“It’s Karen’s fault,” Pip
er said, lifting her hand and pointing at their friend who gasped in disbelief.
“How was I to know they were werewolves?” Karen protested. “Maybe if you two had shared the information…”
“First rule of fright club — don’t talk about fright club,” Piper said folding her arms and snorting her contempt for Karen’s protest. She wasn’t going to take the blame for everybody finding a mate.
“So, you were the one going around telling everybody about us?” The alpha asked, and she shot him an apologetic look.
“I was drunk, okay?” She snapped in defense of her actions.
“Some people can’t hold their drink,” Lulu tossed out with a small shrug.
“And some people yap too much,” Piper tossed back. Then she turned away from the group and started to wade back through the water towards the bank.
“And some people can’t drive,” Lulu called after her.
“And some people have a thing for vampires,” Piper shot back over her shoulder.
She noted the way that Carson snapped to attention and she also knew that the man had sniffed them and picked up a scent; putting two and two together, she had a pretty good idea of what that meant for her.
“What?” He demanded, turning his attention straight toward his mate.
“I do not!” Lulu bit back. That was a barefaced lie and Piper was meddling.
“Love’s them,” Piper informed him and was rewarded with a low grumble of a growl as he turned his attention back to Lulu. Yep, she knew she was right about him.
“Does she now?” Carson eyed his mate like she’d done him wrong.
Lulu scowled back at the beta, turning her nose up at his accusing stare, and it took her a moment or two to give up the ghost of what she’d been denying to herself and just accept fate’s cruel knife in the back.
When it clicked inside her mind, and all the pieces fell into place, she felt the rush of excitement as it met with the feeling of foreboding for what that meant.
A mate.
A wolf shifter mate.
“O-kay,” she muttered.