by M. L. Briers
“That’s just payback for what I said to you earlier,” Sam said and watched as her eyebrows quirked and she looked at him as if he’d grown another head.
“Are you sure about that?” She asked.
“I’m…” Sam wavered…
“I think he’s just a little upset about being hit by a door…” Travis offered.
“And a breadbin,” Jared sniggered.
“And a broom,” Wade chipped in.
“That was all magic. I could take her in a fair fight!” Sam protested…
The three witches stared back at him in disbelief, while the others sniggered at his expense as just what he’d said slowly dawned on the beta, and his wolf growled a long, hard warning at him…
“I mean…” He tried to backpedal.
“Try me, junior,” Caroline announced; and all three men behind him chuckled uncontrollably.
“Good luck with that one,” Jared grinned, but there was also a low warning growl coming from the elder for the beta not to even think about it.
“I wouldn’t advise it…” Travis leaned in and whispered. “If you can’t even take Jasmine what hope do you have against Grandma?”
“Look…” Sam growled.
“Geez, betas have no sense of humour,” Jasmine announced as she turned on her toes and strolled away from them.
Sam rolled his head on his neck and grumbled another growl. He couldn’t do right for doing wrong with her.
“I’m not sure that I’d follow your playbook on wooing…” Travis whispered.
“Some witches just don’t want to be wooed…” Sam said, stalking off in the opposite direction to his mate.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
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With the warning from one of the pack; who was already out running the perimeter of the property that a werewolf had been sighted, Wade and Travis left the house. The alpha stripped down, running to follow the direction that the vampire had taken, and shifting into his wolf in midair.
Wooing aside; the most important thing now was to keep the pack safe and to find the alpha and kill him before the sun came up. Any mutts that they killed in the meantime would just be the gravy on the plate.
News was coming in thick and fast from the outlying patrols of werewolf sightings, and Sam bit down on his need to be out there fighting rather than guarding the home front.
He knew why Wade had given him the order to stay, as the beta, he was second in command, and if the alpha fell then it was his job to lead the pack. He was also the last line of defence against any werewolves that might slip through the net and try to attack the females and pups.
It didn’t make it any easier for him, or for his beast, not be out on the front line. His wolf was already touchy due of his mate’s attitude, and it clawed within him for many different reasons.
He knew one thing; he needed to get a handle on that.
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“So this was your bright idea…?” Caroline tossed a look at Meredith as her daughter yanked off the large back cushions from the sofa’s and tossed them down onto the floor in front of the Television for the pups that had started to arrive.
“You have a problem with that?” Meredith offered back; waiting for the snide remarks that she was sure was about to follow.
“No, it was a good one…” Caroline admitted, and Meredith’s eyes snapped towards her mother.
That can’t be it … Meredith frowned, wondering where the punch line was, but it never came. Her mother just continued about her work.
“Hi!” One exuberant pup, about six years old, bounded up to Caroline, and Meredith felt the irrational urge to snatch the youngster away from her mother and protect her from the sure to follow icy stare and snide comment that her mother usually dished out…
“Hello…” Caroline’s eyes swept up and down the child as if she was inspecting her for faults.
Meredith groaned inwardly.
“You’re a witch…” the child said on a hushed voice, as if she was sharing the secret.
Caroline leaned down … she held out a closed fist, and then when she opened her palm, a small glowing flame danced just above her skin…
“What makes you think that?” Caroline asked, and Meredith frowned as the child giggled at the sight of it.
Damn vampire must have compelled my mother to be … nice…
“What else can you do?” The child asked, all bright eyed and excited. Caroline snapped her palm closed and the flame died…
“Nothing…” she offered back and the child deflated.
“Nothing?”
“Magic only responds when it knows your name…” Caroline said, pulling up to her full height and placing her hands on her hips as she stared down at the child.
“I’m Tempi,” the child announced, seemingly unafraid of the scary woman.
“Good name,” Caroline nodded thoughtfully – then her hands came up and she swirled them from left to right – tiny flakes of snow started to fall downwards, as the child gasped in delight and jumped up and down excitedly … that was all it took for the other pups to make a beeline for her mother.
“There’s something I’ve never seen before…” Jared said as he stood beside Meredith and watched his mate with the pups.
“You and me both, my mother being nice to children…? She usually prefers to bite their heads off and snatch their hope away…” Meredith folded her arms and watched her mother perform … then she did a double take of the elder as he grunted.
“Oh, you were talking about the snow…” Meredith teased, before she chuckled and strolled off.
“Witches have a strange sense of humour…” Jared said as he slowly shook his head.
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“Watch it, witch…”
Jasmine felt the hands at her back and was shoved away from the back door, almost pitching face first onto the tile. If it wasn’t for Sam putting out an arm and catching her then she would have gone all the way down.
The sound of his deeply growled warning made her tremble inside, but she was way too mad to pay it much attention as she turned towards the female shifter that was still standing at the door and considered handing her- her backside…
“Sia…” Sam growled and the woman dropped her eyes to the floor, submitting to his authority.
“Well, she’s a witch. She doesn’t belong…” Sia bit out fast, but Jasmine wasn’t about to let a man speak for her…
“Any time or place you wanna take this further…” Jasmine snapped back and the woman’s eyes darted up to hers. She saw the flare of recognition from the challenge that she’d offered and welcomed it.
“That’s enough,” Sam growled at both of them. “We’re fighting werewolves not each other.” He reminded them, and was slightly surprised when both women, but especially his mate, looked more than contrite.
Sia brushed Jasmine’s shoulder as she walked by, but her eyes were definitely averted, and Jasmine let that one slide. Then she turned her attention back towards Sam…
“I can take care of myself.”
She felt the need to let him know that. She didn’t want him thinking of her as some weak human that couldn’t stick up for herself.
“Jasmine, if anyone knows that here then I do,” Sam offered back, the corners of his lips had quirked upwards, and his eyes were smiling at her once more.
It was a strange sensation as her stomach flipped and her womb did a dance. Excitement sprang up within her and she tried hard to dampen those responses, but they just seemed to spring up again.
“Sorry about the cupboard door…” She muttered, feeling the need to ease the guilt that had been niggling at her since it had happened.
“How about the bread bin and the broom?” Sam asked, still smiling.
“Not so much…” She narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips together.
She didn’t want to smirk and put him back into a bad mood … in fact, she liked his eyes
when they held laughter within them.
“We’ll work on your apologies…” Sam teased.
“And technically, the broom was all you and those big feet…” she offered as she turned to walk away.
She found that being around him was just too distracting for the inner workings of her body … and her imagination.
“Big feet, big…”
“Ego…” she cut him off and disappeared out of the kitchen before he could reply.
His eyes locked onto the she-wolf that sat at the table. The woman was bouncing a pup on her knee, but it was the amusement in her eyes that caught his attention and held it. He’d known Melody all of his life; they’d been pups together…
“What?” He grumbled on a frown.
“You know what…” she tossed back at him with a big dopey grin on her face.
“I’m not a mind reader…” he frowned harder.
He knew what alright…
“Wooing your mate…” if it was at all possible; her grin widened.
“Bite me…” he grumbled, starting to stalk after his mate…
“Did that when we were pups!” She called out. “Hey, Sam…”
He stopped at the kitchen door and turned his head to look back over his shoulder at her.
“Yeah?”
“Go chase that tail!” She called, stretching that grin from ear to ear as the other she-wolves in the kitchen giggled at his expense.
“That’s just…” he shook his head in disbelief…
“I’m just pulling your leash…” Melody tossed back chuckling at her own funny as he grunted in annoyance. “Hey, think … nine months from now…” she said looking down at the pup on her knee and he groaned, rolling his eyes back in his head, and his body out of the door as the females chuckled.
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“We’ve got incoming…” Travis offered down to the alpha as he suddenly appeared in front of the wolf, making the beast pull up short, and the wolf drew its lips back and snarled at the vampire in annoyance…
“We need to have a talk about your breath…” Travis offered and got another snarl for his inability to keep his sarcasm to himself.
If they hadn’t of been hunting werewolves and searching for the alpha then Wade might just have chased the damn vampire all over pack land until he caught the man … but they were in the hunt, and he’d picked up that scent of mutt on the air as well…
“I’ll go high and you go low. In case you didn’t get it – that makes you the bait in the trap,” Travis offered quickly and then he was gone.
The vampire had pushed up into the trees above the alpha, and there really was no time for the wolf to think of how he was going to deliver payback to the vampire before that scent grew stronger and the sound of paws on the earth kicked the alpha’s backside into fight mode.
But he’d get him, and he’d get him good.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
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Caroline turned at the sound of the heavy thud as one of the older boys knocked over a large planter to the floor, spilling earth everywhere. He turned at the sound, and his eyes locked onto Caroline’s. The woman dipped her chin and raised just one eyebrow at him, and he balked at the sight of her…
“Sorry! I’ll stop running,” he offered back quickly, before shooting off in the other direction and leaving her there to chuckle to herself as she bent at the waist and tried to lift the heavy pot…
She was just about to draw on her magic to help her lift it; when the weathered hand of her mate reached down and righted the pot without much effort at all on his part. Caroline straightened up and cursed her hip as it twanged a little.
“Thank you,” she offered to him.
Jared didn’t know if he was just getting used to her ways, or if she seemed a little softer around the edges now, and not so hostile and lofty towards him.
“You’re entirely welcome,” Jared offered back, giving a small tip of his head, and he watched as the corners of her lips rose slightly, but she never cracked a whole smile.
“So many pups…” she said, slightly aghast.
“I’m not sure if they keep you young or if they wear you out so much that you just don’t care how old you’re getting…” he said, a glint of amusement in his eyes at the thought of it.
“I wouldn’t know. Meredith only gave me one grandchild, and Jasmine hasn’t gotten around to …” she stopped and considered it. “Well, now I know why – she was waiting for Sam.”
“Which is why we never met until now,” he said, sounding more than a little wistful.
“You don’t have children?” She asked.
“Are you kidding me?” He grumbled back, those frosted eyebrows of his drawing down over his eyes. “All of these are mine, maybe not physically, but it takes a pack to raise a pup…” He nodded in agreement with himself.
“I wish I’d had a pack when Meredith was growing up. That child ran me ragged!” She snorted a chuckle and shook her head.
“I wish you did too,” Jared said, but then he caught himself, frowned harder as he shot a look at her from under those busy brows, and stalked off in the other direction…
Caroline watched him go with a frown of her own on her forehead, but the moment that he shot a look back over his shoulder, got snagged in her eyes, and almost walked into a pillar – she could help but chuckle.
Hmm, maybe not such an old buzzard after all…
He is a gentleman – ish – as much as a gruff old shifter could be, I suppose … and he’s not altogether uneasy on the eyes – not that my eyes are exactly twenty-twenty, but still…
His still got a nice backside on him…
She folded her arms and raised a hand, tapping her index finger against her lips as she watched him curse at the pillar, sidestep it, and carry on about his business.
He’s not all bad … definitely not all good…
Wouldn’t mind seeing him naked … just out of curiosity … just to see if he still has a few good muscles on him…
“Penny for them!” Meredith boomed out in her right ear and she almost jumped out of her skin – a mixture of guilt and shock.
“You were a pain in the backside to give birth to, and you’re still trying to kill me off all these years later…” Caroline huffed as she shot a glare at her daughter.
“Ah, mum, if I truly meant you harm – I would have pushed you under a bus years ago,” Meredith offered back, deadpan, and her mother twisted her head on her neck and huffed once more.
“There are times, Meredith, when I have to wonder if you’re joking or not.” Caroline hissed in annoyance.
“Yeah, keep ‘em guessing…” Meredith grinned, before she turned and went off with something of a skip in her step.
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“Wait for it…” Travis announced, a moment before the lifeless body of the mutt hit the ground, and then he nodded with a certain amount of satisfaction.
Wade’s wolf breathed out a rumbled sigh that sounded an awful lot like a growl. Travis took a moment to eye the alpha…
“You know, it would be so much easier if your wolf could talk. Perhaps the witches can work on that…” he offered with a certain amount of glee at the thought of a talking beast, but the wolf pulled back his lips and growled at the man’s words.
“Don’t like that idea, ok. Then shift, because we need to talk…” Travis said, folding his arms and waiting for the man to burst out of his beast.
“Make it fast…” Wade growled with his wolf definitely still wedged within the deep gravelly tone of his voice.
“You get the same feeling that I do that these mutts are either getting more brazenly close to the pack – or…”
“Or they are heading that way on purpose,” Wade nodded. “Yeah, I think the alpha might be using them to distract us from hunting him.”
“What do you wanna do, fall back and defend the females, or keep tracking the alpha?” Travis hated to ask
, and yet, he had his reasons to find the alpha before the sun came up.
One more mutt to kill if they didn’t make it on time and she completed her transition shouldn’t have really mattered in the grand scheme of things one way or another, but he didn’t want to lose this fight.
It was personal.
“Or maybe you should fall back with the rest of the pack and I’ll go after the alpha alone…” Travis hadn’t even given Wade a chance to consider his first question.
“For the moment, I think we have enough of the pack out hunting that we can afford to go a little bit further afield. The alpha’s out here somewhere … I can feel it…”
“Great, shift and catch me up.” Travis offered over his shoulder as he started away from Wade, and the alpha rolled his eyes in his head and grumbled a growl.
It hadn’t even been his choice to shift back in the first damn place.
Wade allowed his beast to burst from within him once more. He lifted his head and scented the winds, following on behind the vampire.
‘I need everyone to tighten up the patrol. Get a little closer together on the crossover – we don’t want any mutts getting through to the females.’
He issued his orders into the pack’s link, and just knew that Sam was going to be chaffing at the bit to reply.
‘I should come out there and…’ Right on cue; there he was.
‘Sam, I need you to stay with the pups now more than ever. I get the feeling that the mutts are testing our weak spots and making a play for the very heart of the pack…’
Wade didn’t like it – he didn’t like it one bit, and he would much rather have turned his paws back home and bolstered the defences there, but the alpha mutt wasn’t going to stop. He’d just bite more humans to replace the soldiers that he was losing in battle.
He couldn’t let that happen.
‘You’re saying that they are deliberately coming this way?’
‘Yeah, if any of us fall – I think you might be in for an attack on the very heart of us.’