by M. L. Briers
“Perish the thought…” Connor said, following on behind him. “Now, tell me that you have ketchup so I can at least pretend that it’s vampire food…” the last word was lost to the sound of the alpha’s angry growl.
“Don’t push it,” Dexter grumbled.
“Nice butt, and a generous offer … but you’re not my type.” Connor grinned to himself as the alpha muttered and spluttered curses under his breath.
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“We’ll leave if you need us too…” Brody said to the unconventional meeting of the pack that saw Connor present.
Isobel and Eden sat at on the sofa like conspirators, not hard to see why considering they were probably deciding between them how best to handle the one remaining vampire that was threatening the pack.
Connor stood by the front door, his arms were folded across his chest and his shoulder was propping up the wall in his typical stance. George was seated in a comfortable chair by the fireplace. His leg was still giving him small tugs of pain from where his body was finishing off the healing process, but he was more than ready to do his duty to his pack.
Dexter was sitting on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. His arms were folded over his broad muscled chest, mirroring the vampire’s stance. He was eyeing Brody as the man spoke…
“Nobody said anything about leaving,” Dexter offered back as both Isobel and Eden’s heads came around towards him…
“You’re a part of this pack now,” Isobel frowned at the thought of them leaving.
It wasn’t happening, she liked Eden, and she could certainly use some witchy female company…
“Pack means family, and this family is going to fight for our own,” Dexter growled at the thought of that vampire out there somewhere, threatening his people… “But you should have told me that you were an alpha.” He added, and Brody’s head raised as his eyes locked with his.
That dominant challenge alone should have told Dexter the truth of it.
“It’s not relevant,” Brody bit out.
He’d offered to leave and Dexter had said no, and yet, he knew what Brody had been hiding deep within him. His beast was an alpha, but the man had no taste for it.
“Kind of is to me if your wolf decides to challenge…” Dexter started, but Brody bit out a long, hard growl of annoyance. He lifted his hand and run frustrated fingers through his hair.
“This is why I had to leave my last damn pack. I didn’t think it would be an issue here,” Brody growled.
“Two alpha’s – one pack. It kind of never works out well for one of those wolves…” Connor offered.
“I don’t want to be a damn alpha!” Brody growled out. “Why can’t people just accept the fact that I know my limits, and being an alpha doesn’t come close to what I want…?”
“What happened at your last pack?” Dexter needed to know the ins and outs of it. He needed to know where the man stood in the grand scheme of it all.
His pack’s lives might just depend on it and so might his. He’d felt the strength coming from the man during the fight … he knew what he was capable of, and he didn’t need to be facing a challenge within his pack so soon…
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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“They knew I was alpha material. It started small, some of the pack weren’t happy with the alpha and wanted me to challenge.” Brody admitted, remembering how things had spiralled so out of control so damn quickly. “I didn’t want it. I still don’t want it.” He growled hard, trying to make sure that Dexter got the message.
“The alpha was worried that I’d challenge, things were happening behind the scene that I had no knowledge of…” Brody bit out a curse. “It came to the point where there was no option but to challenge or leave.”
“So you challenged?” Connor asked.
“So I left,” Brody shot back.
“Explain that to me again?” Dexter asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise at the man.
“I do not want to be an alpha. I will not challenge to be an alpha. I might be alpha, but it’s not in me to lead a pack.” Brody was no threat to Dexter’s authority. He needed the man to know that.
“Hmm,” Connor said, eyeing Dexter to see what the man was thinking, but Dexter was keeping his own counsel with a blank expression.
“Good to know,” Dexter finally said, and he’d watched Brody’s body language carefully the whole time.
The man had practically sighed with relief … the weight of the world looked as if it had been lifted from his shoulders … none of that could be faked unless the man had a career that Dexter didn’t know about.
“So, now we have a vampire to kill…” Connor piped up and everyone turned to look at him. “Not me, before there’s any smartass remarks to that effect.” He added on a frown.
“How about you just volunteer for the practice run?” George offered back.
“Oh, look who joined the conversation with a lively contribution to the debate,” Connor sneered.
“You think he’ll come again tonight?” Brody growled at the thought…
“I think he will,” Eden offered, and Connor nodded.
“I think you’re mate is right.” Connor added.
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Brody wasn’t in the best frame of mind imaginable to do what had to be done. He wanted the vampire dead so that he could get back to his mate…
The rest of his life had started that morning … his new family had been bonded together, and he was more than eager to be mating and not trudging through the snow waiting for some vampire to try to have his revenge on the pack.
They hadn’t even spoken of pups yet, and he was more than eager to have that conversation. Whatever switch had been triggered within him when Eden had walked into his life was the best gift that any man could receive barring one – the gift of pups…
If she didn’t want them, he guessed he’d have to swallow that loss, but he hoped that with a little gentle persuasion anything was possible. Mates were apparently getting pregnant all over the mountain and maybe that would make her broody for her own … maybe not …
Brody grunted at his own chain of thought. All of that could wait. Right then and there he was hunting a vampire that was trying to end his mate … and that was a damn good reason to try to keep his mind on the job at hand.
He wasn’t alone in his pursuit of the bloodsucker. Dexter and George were out running the land too, trying to pick up a clue, a scent, anything that pointed to the bloodsuckers return to the upper mountain …
Connor was out too. He owed that man a lot, and he was more than grateful for him, even if the man was a sarcastic bloodsucker in his own right.
He’d killed one vampire, and was hunting another, all for Eden.
He was more than grateful to have found this mountain and the people on it. Without them Eden might just have died…
He couldn’t stomach that thought…
Pull it together…
You’ll die if you don’t keep your mind on the matter at hand.
You’re on the hunt, man, concentrate.
Pups and mating can wait until you know that Eden’s safe…
Then you can mate…
The quicker you find the vamp and kill it, the faster you get back to the cabin and her…
Concentrate!
The shout went up into the frosty night air … a howl of pain struck a chord within him, and he didn’t waste any time in putting one paw in front of the other and heading in the general direction of that sound…
The witches had protected the cabins. They had wards up that he’d never even heard of, and he had to trust that they knew their own magic well enough to protect themselves.
Now he needed to play his part. His beast panted and growled at the thought of one of their own injured once more. He already owed a debt of gratitude to George for the first time that the man had raised the alarm, had been injured doing it…
His wolf s
cented the air, but the sight of Connor speeding across the land gave him the edge that he needed to run and not have to worry about tracking the scent. Connor would lead him right into the fight, of that he was sure…
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Dexter felt the fire from the claws as they embedded deep within his skin and he knew that he was in trouble the moment that he was snared by the vampire. His wolf rallied, knowing that to twist away would open up his flesh, and yet he did it anyway.
Better that his skin was ripped and torn than his throat torn out…
The wolf turned on fast paws and caught the man’s eyes, jet black with rage and madness, and as angry as hell. He sought revenge for his brother alright, and he was determined to get it.
“Was it worth protecting the witch when your whole pack are about to die at my hands…?” The bloodsucker ground out.
Dexter knew the man wasn’t expecting an answer from his wolf. He knew the vampire was playing mind games, trying to rile Dexter up so that he would make another mistake …
Well, he’d made one already and he wasn’t about to compound that now.
His beast knew better than to show the vampire his underbelly, even if he had the urge to rear up and use his claws against him – that wasn’t the way to go.
“Got your back,” Connor yelled over the roar of the alpha wolf, and Dexter heard and acknowledged it within his mind.
“Do you, vampire…?” Marcus turned his attention towards the one who had slain his brother. “I’ll kill you, him, the witch, and then I’ll take the book from her cold dead hand…”
“Because you couldn’t just go to a library like a normal person,” Connor shot back, stalking towards the man, claws down, fangs out and ready to put this bloodsucker in the ground where he belonged.
Connor didn’t believe in doing any fancy moves. He wasn’t about spinning over people’s head and playing at being a Kung Fu star unless it served a purpose … no, he stalked right up to the man and met him eye to eye…
“Time to die,” Marcus ground out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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“Not my time,” Connor offered back.
The vampire had already made his first move, and he was fast, but Connor was older, faster, and a lot wiser.
In six hundred years he’d probably seen everything there was and some things that he’d even forgotten. He sidestepped the enthusiastic swipe of the man’s claws with his left arm, blocked the return swing from his right, and capturing Marcus’s arm between his arm and the side of his body, he used his other hand to lock around his flesh, just below the wrist, and he snapped the man’s elbow clean out of joint…
“That’s gotta hurt…” Connor said, releasing his arm as his enemy roared in pain, and turning his body enough to be able to bring his own elbow up and into the man’s face…
“See what someone can do when they have two working elbows?” Connor ground out, as he turned in towards the vampire and went to make another strike…
That was when Brody’s beast appeared, snarling like a crazy wolf, and demanding to take Connor’s place in the fight…
“Just when I was having some fun…” Connor bit out, and sidestepped Marcus’s attempt to blindside him with a blow from his good hand, the one that wasn’t hanging limp down at his side as the bloodsucker’s body worked overtime to heal the elbow…
Dexter’s wolf growled in solidarity with Brody.
“Fine,” Connor held up his hands and backed away from the fight as Marcus sneered – he’d fight them all – and the longer they took to attack the better for his body with the healing process.
“Come dance with me, wolf…” Marcus bit out…
“I don’t think you’re his type,” Connor offered back.
He was mindful that the vampire was healing, and doubly mindful that he might have to step in and finish the job if things started to go south, whether Brody like it or not. He had a mountain community to protect and hurt feelings and ego’s wasn’t high on his list of priorities.
He’d give the wolf his shot – it was, after all, his mate that they were defending.
Dexter grunted in pain, and Connor dropped his hand to his side and turned his wrist towards the alpha. He got a grunt back in reply…
“Gratitude, always so much gratitude.” Connor offered back and got another grunt from the alpha for his trouble.
George’s wolf came around the back of the vampire, as Brody slowly stalked into place.
“What are you waiting for?” Marcus ground out…
“Yes, the vampire is eager to be dispatched to hell,” Connor tossed that in for good measure. He could play mind games too, and after six hundred years; he thought himself pretty good at it.
Brody waited. Took his time. He wasn’t about to do this wrong because he had too much to lose.
Anger wasn’t anyone’s friend when they went into battle and he wasn’t about to let this bloodsucker rile him up. He circled the vampire like he had him just where he wanted him…
His wolf growled and snarled as he made the man wait. He knew the vampire was healing, and yet, he could see that the man was still eager for battle … the longer he waited – the more the vampire got riled up…
It wasn’t Brody who launched the attack. The vampire was done with waiting and he launched himself at the wolf … anger had overridden the vampires brain, and Brody had no problem with that whatsoever.
The man’s eyes were wide and his jaws were open to show off his fangs, but Brody’s were more impressive…
Running forward towards the wolf put the vampire at an immediate disadvantage. His only weapons were his claws and his fangs, and Brody dug his back claws into the frozen earth through the snow and was ready to rear up as the man got closer, or move like the wind if he lunged at him…
There were so many choices to be had … whereas the vampire’s were limited because he’d committed everything to that attack.
Marcus’s arms came out at his sides and he pushed hard against the ground and lunged for the wolf, but Brody was already moving to the right, not enough that the vampire went on by, just enough to twist his body and swipe out at the man, knocking him sideways, and causing him to stumble over the uneven terrain…
That was his in. Brody launched himself towards the vampire and used his weight, and then the strength contained within his back legs to take him down…
He’d opened his body up to the bloodsucker’s claws, but the pain was worth it as he snapped his jaws closed against Marcus’s shoulder and gave a hard shake of his head, ripping out his flesh and opening a wound that wouldn’t heal so easily.
Brody torn his body away from those claws … as he twisted around, he brought his own set of claws down and through the man’s face, neck, and chest, deep gouges that sent the scent of blood into the air and made the other two beasts snarl…
Marcus tried to push up, but another swipe from Brody’s claws and he was knocked sideways across the snow instead. The vampire slammed his palms down against the ground, pain from his partially healed elbow making him yell out, as he wrenched his head upwards and started to push to his feet…
Too late. He’d made his final mistake as Brody’s wolf snapped his jaws closed around the man’s throat and gave one powerful shake of his head… ending him there on the frozen ground of his new pack’s land…
Two victory howls signalled the end of the vampire’s life, and as Brody took a step back from the corpse, he tossed his head back on his neck and joined them.
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“A funeral pyre over there, barbecue over here … I have to admit, you top of the mountain dwellers have the good times on a roll,” Connor grinned from the double take that Eden gave him.
“You’ll learn the man has a twisted sense of humour,” Dexter said, leaning towards Brody’s mate and tossing a steak onto her plate.
“I think it’s called insanity,” Eden offered back.
“Be nice or I’ll bring up the book,” Connor shot back and Eden’s head snapped around on her neck as she shot a questioning look at her mate… “Oh not him, the vampire let it slip.”
He’d been tempted to watch the fur fly between the mates by not saying a word, but now that they were mated it was unlikely that she would do Brody any real damage, so he cut out the middle man. His interest was piqued by what she appeared to be hiding and that which the vampires were seeking though.
“It’s just a book with a spell that they wanted,” Eden lied, and every male there picked up on it.
“A Book of Shadows?” Isobel asked, interested in anything that held the craft.
“Yes,” Eden replied, but she didn’t offer any more…
“Worth dying for…?” Connor offered, and she knew that the game was well and truly up.
“Very,” Eden offered back. Now everyone was interested.
“A powerful witch and a book of spells worth dying for… hmm…” Connor offered, and watched her fidget in place. It was her tell, and he liked that she had one. “Must be old.”
“Yes,” she almost sighed.
Isobel leant in and gave her the heads up.
“He’s nosy, and he probably won’t stop until you fess up,” she offered.
“He’s also a vampire,” Eden offered back,
“Everyone’s a critic,” Connor groaned. “I’m assuming the spell is therefore against vampires…” he expanded his hands and watched her bring her eyes up to his. They told him everything that he needed to know.
“Something like that,” Eden offered back.
“Like that or that?” Connor asked.
“That,” she replied.
“May I take a look?” Connor asked.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Eden offered back.
“You’d be surprised,” Connor shrugged.
“It’s not written in words,” Eden sighed, and that piqued Isobel’s interest even more.