by M. L. Briers
Silver fox be damned – the man was definitely all wolf.
Meredith’s reaction was identical to what Jasmine’s had been, and Caroline really couldn’t miss out on the opportunity that presented itself to her.
“Meredith, are you drooling? Because, it looks like you are drooling…” Caroline said with glee.
If Meredith’s brain wasn’t otherwise occupied then she may have had a comeback line for her mother, but right then and there …
There are no words… She thought…
~
~
~
Travis’ attention wavered from the task at hand. No matter how hard he tried; he couldn’t seem to manage to keep his eyes from witnessing Kara’s slow, painful transformation into one of them.
He knew that killing the alpha should end it. End her suffering, and banish the curse of the were-beast’s bite, and yet...
The truth was that Travis wasn’t prepared to deal with what came next if it didn’t work. He’d already hesitated once when he could have killed the alpha, the beast was done, barely alive, and yet; still he hesitated.
Still he waited.
Kill the beast and cut off the head of the pack. He owed that much to Wade and the pack…
With something of an anguished roar; Travis reluctantly unleashed the final blow. His razor sharp claws cut through the alpha’s throat and dropped the beast to the ground at his feet.
He held the breath that he didn’t need to take and offered up a silent prayer to whatever deity or devil that would hear his words.
Kara was still writhing in agony. It hadn’t worked.
The alpha was dead and she was still changing, shifting into one of them…
He’d failed.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
~
“I’m guessing that your lack of words and the caught in the headlights, cute as hell, doe expression on your face means that you like what you see?” Wade asked.
His mate was still staring at him like he was the best present that she’d ever opened, and he had to admit, if only to himself, that he really did like that look on her.
“Hell – yeah. What’s not to like?” Meredith chuckled.
But it was the look of sheer glee on her face, and the wide wicked smile on her lips that made his heart thump, and really touched a part of him that rose to the occasion.
Wade didn’t stop until he was right there with her. He wrapped one strong arm around her waist and yanked her towards him, bringing her into his arms and holding her close.
The thought of any harm coming to her had shaken him to the very core and clawed at his soul.
“You do know you’re naked, right?” Meredith giggled like a schoolgirl at the press of his hard length between them. Not to mention the ever so slight embarrassment at having her naked mate wrapped around her like that in front of her mother…
“I don’t give a damn because you’re safe…” Wade’s gravelly tones sent a shiver running her spine…
“Ok, me either…” She shot a quick look at her mother, and the elder witch was smirking like the cat that got the cream.
“Well, that was interesting…” Jared offered.
Meredith noted the way that her mother stiffened just a little as the matriarch sort of sneaked a look at him out of the corner of her eye. Her eyebrows shot up on her head and her mouth was gaping like a fish out of water…
“Oh look, Jasmine, I think your gran’s drooling,” Meredith teased, getting her own back on her mother in one fail swoop.
Caroline snapped to attention; her body going ramrod straight for the first time in years. She snapped her jaw closed and dragged her eyes away from her naked mate to offer her daughter a death glare to rival any that she’d ever given her before.
“That’s why you’re not my favourite daughter!” Caroline hissed.
“I’m your only daughter.”
“Well, that should tell you something then.” Caroline snapped back, before she turned on her feet and started off for the house.
“You wanna tell me why you put yourself in danger like that?” Sam growled as Jasmine turned on her heels and went to follow her grandmother inside.
“You’re welcome,” Jasmine tossed back over her shoulder. “And thanks for the save.” She offered, but she didn’t stop walking away from him.
Sam dragged his eyes away from his mate and offered a look of pure disbelief to her mother. Meredith couldn’t help but feel some sympathy for the man – Jasmine was her daughter, and she loved her to bits, but the woman could be stubborn – hell, they all could.
“She … is …” Sam bit down on the growl that rumbled through his chest as Meredith nodded in understanding.
“Yeah…” she agreed.
“I just…” Sam lifted his hands in pure frustration and dropped them back against his naked thighs.
“Come back to me and tell me that again after twenty three years of living with her.” Meredith shrugged.
Sam grunted and shook his head.
“My sympathies.” He grumbled, before turning and following his mate into the house.
“I need to run the land with my pack and make sure that there aren’t any stragglers out there.” Wade said.
He was reluctant to leave her side now that he had her right where he wanted her. Now that she was in his arms, he wanted to woo her right into his bed and his life forever.
“Where’s Travis?” Meredith asked, looking around for a sign of the annoying vampire that had started to grow on her.
“Taking care of the alpha…” Wade felt a twinge of guilt at not remembering the man sooner.
“And the girl?”
“Don’t know yet.” Wade admitted.
“Well, go and find out…” Meredith frowned up at him.
“Yes, dear.” He offered back with something of a lopsided grin on his lips, and she felt her heart slam her ribs once more…
The man was potent.
~
~
~
Travis knew what he had to do. It wasn’t the end that he’d hoped for, but he couldn’t see a way out of it.
Kara would continue to go through her first change until the sun rose and then she would be one of them … the last one, because if the pack had done its job correctly then the rest would already be dead or dying.
He needed to change her, but not into a werewolf, into a vampire.
He’d never done that without the human’s consent before, but she wasn’t exactly human anymore. Be that as it may, he still couldn’t shake that tight knot of guilt that had gripped his stomach and his heart.
He’d have to leave and take her with him. She couldn’t around anyone as a newly turned, and that only increased his guilt more.
“Travis…” Kara bit out and he was by her side in a heartbeat.
Her claws didn’t bother him. Even if she lashed out at him then he would heal, and maybe he deserved it – considering what he was about to do – take away her humanity forever.
“I’ve got you, Kara … I’ll never leave your side again.”
He swore that oath to her there and then. It had been the one that he’d longed to say for so long – since the first time that he’d recognised the pull that her blood had upon him.
His mate.
He’d been a fool not to sit her down and explain to her about the supernatural that very first minute that he knew. To swear his undying love and allegiance to her from that moment on.
He could have kept her safe from harm.
He should have kept her safe from harm.
Now she was a beast of nightmares.
Now she would have to become a monster until she learned to control her bloodlust.
“The pain…” she bit out as she felt his strong arms wrap around her body, drawing her against his chest…
“I know…”
“I don’t want to be like him…” she cried out with desperation and fear battling for supremacy inside of her.
“I promise, you won’t be…” Travis twisted his head at the sound of paws coming towards him … and when Wade’s wolf appeared; he could scent the fear that rose from his mate. “He’s not one of them…” he whispered against her ear…
Wade shifted before her eyes and Kara made herself smaller against Travis. Her body was already shaking from the change that was firing up her body and running through her veins, but now she couldn’t get close enough to her mate…
“It didn’t work…” Wade growled as his eyes took Kara in…
“Wade…?” Kara didn’t understand. Too much was happening all at once to be able to sort it within her mind.
“Kara…” Wade took a slow walk towards her.
It wasn’t her fault that she was a mutt – he couldn’t hate her for it, not her. He’d watch her grow into the woman that she was before the alpha had bitten her.
He felt the guilt within him. He regretted that he couldn’t have killed the alpha before she’d been tainted…
“You had claws and fangs too…” she shot a look up at Travis, accusing eyes did as much to hit him in the gut as having to answer her obvious question. “You’re like him?”
“Not … exactly…” Travis held onto it as long as he could.
Even then – even knowing what she was and her knowing about the supernatural world around her – it was still so damn hard to say the words that he’d guarded with his life.
“He’s a vampire,” Wade offered, and Travis groaned inwardly as his mate started to pull away from him…
“I’ve never hurt you and I never will…” Travis rushed out with a silent curse for the alpha and the way that he just spat that out. “Think about it, Kara … the years we’ve known each other … not once have I hurt you…”
“You need to have the talk…” Wade offered.
“State the damn obvious, why don’t you? I am having the talk…” Travis bit back, annoyed on so many levels with the man right then that he could willingly have ripped his arms off and beaten him with them.
“I …” Kara couldn’t seem to find the words…
“Not that talk…” Wade offered back. “The mate talk.”
Travis’ head snapped up and his eyes locked with the alpha’s.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
~
“I didn’t think…” Travis started, but Wade waved it away.
“There was only one damn reason that you’d fight so hard to get her back, Travis…” Wade shrugged a shoulder. “Have the damn talk…” he said before shifting into his wolf once more.
Kara gasped in a breath at the sight of the alpha’s beast. The wolf made a slow walk forwards towards them and Kara cowered more against Travis, forgetting in that moment what he was…
“He won’t hurt you either…” Travis assured her. His voice was melodic and calming against her ear.
When Wade’s wolf stopped right in front of her, he craned his neck forwards and brushed the side of his head against her hand as it shook against her thigh … it took a long moment for Kara to gather the courage to turn her hand and let her fingers run through his fur…
“See, just a big old puppy dog…” Travis said.
Wade lifted his head and bit down on the need to growl like a wildling at the vampire. If his intention hadn’t of been to calm the woman then he would have done just that, but she looked calmer now and he didn’t want to jeopardise that…
Wade’s beast turned on its heels and strolled away. Then he shifted back into his human form as he started for the trees.
“Her transformation has stopped … she’s becoming human once more,” Wade offered back over his shoulder.
He didn’t turn his head to look back at the mates. His time there was done…
“Human?” Kara latched onto that one word and so did Travis.
He felt the weight lifting from his shoulders a moment before it came crashing down again. He might not have to sentence her to an eternity of being a vampire, just yet, but he still needed to have the damn mate talk.
~
~
~
With the sun rising and the pack returning to their homes, two children were unaccounted for. It didn’t take more than a moment for Wade to hunt their scent, and with Meredith in tow; they made the discovery in the small nook at the side of the living room. Caroline was sleeping in the comfy chair with Tempi fast asleep on one side of her and Melody’s toddler snuggled on the other.
Jared was sitting with his back to the wall watching them sleep … and guarding over them.
“Your mother looks peaceful, doesn’t she?” Jared whispered up to them…
“Almost human when she’s sleeping…” Meredith offered back, with a big old grin on her lips.
“She’s an amazingly extraordinary woman…” Jared said, sticking out his chest with pride in his mate.
“She raised me single handed. That deserves a medal right there,” Meredith offered back.
“Let’s get the pups back to their parents…” Wade whispered, leaning in over Tempi and reaching down for her…
Caroline’s eyes snapped open, and she might not have been able to make out much through her sleep filled eyes, but the big looming figure that she saw was enough for her to unleash her magic…
Every inch of Wade’s body ceased up … his muscles burned as they strained to snapping point, and his legs shook beneath his weight, forcing him to collapse downwards…
“Whoops…” Meredith couldn’t help but chuckle…
“Little … help…” Wade bit out between clenched teeth, and that wasn’t done on purpose, but caused by the magic that gripped him…
“That looks like it hurts…” Jared chuckled.
“You have no idea…” Meredith shook her head.
She’d been zapped by her mother a few times upon waking her unexpectedly, and she more than understood the alpha’s pain…
“I … do!” Wade growled…
“Did I mention that mother gets a little zap happy if you scare her?” Meredith asked, as she folded her arms, and lifted one hand to cover the amusement on her lips…
“No … nope, you … really didn’t…” Wade growled.
“Future reference then…” Meredith offered back.
“I … got … it…” Wade grumbled…
Caroline snapped her magic off. Her eyes were clearing along with her sleep filled mind, and she could hear Meredith … her daughter’s voice eased her fears that someone was going to harm the pups…
“Never sneak up on a witch, silly boy,” Caroline admonished the alpha, and he held onto the need that he had to growl back at her.
“Can’t think why…” Wade bit out. His jaw had slacked a little and his muscles were returning to normal, but he still wanted to kill someone…
“Bet you can…” Meredith offered on a chuckle.
“Want me to remind you?” Caroline hissed on a whisper.
“Nope … I’ll pass, but thanks for thinking of me.” Wade grumbled as he pushed up to his feet. “I just wanted the pups…” Wade leaned forwards and Caroline pretended not to have noticed the two children next to her.
“How’d they get here?” She grumbled on a deep frown…
“I’m guessing someone was in super protective mode,” Meredith offered back.
“Rubbish!” Caroline grumbled, but she couldn’t help but eye the children as Wade lifted Tempi first into one large arm, cradling her body against his chest as she curled into him, content at his scent, and then he reached down for Melody’s toddler…
“Be careful!” Caroline hissed at him, and Wade lifted one eyebrow back at the matriarch.
“I’ve got this…” he assured her.
“Meredith, help him out or he’s liable to drop one of both of them,” she admonished him.
“Would not!” Wade grumbled back.
“Says the man…” Caroline sneered.
“I’m perfectly capable of…”
“Dropping them on the
ir heads, yes, I know!” Caroline wasn’t giving up without a fight.
“I got it…” Meredith said, sidestepping the alpha and reaching down for the toddler. She brought him up into her arms and he grumbled for just one moment before settling against her.
“Looks good on you…” Wade grinned.
“She’s too old for all that…” Caroline snorted.
“Says who?” Meredith snapped back on a hissed whisper.
The sound of a gentle growl that rolled through Wade’s chest made Meredith’s eyes snap back towards him. Her cheeks coloured a deep red and she suddenly became flustered…
“That’s not to say…” she rushed out…
“Let’s let fate decided that one…” Wade offered back.
“I … we’re …” Meredith looked a little shell-shocked. “Not even mated…”
“Yet,” Wade said on a deep growl. “But there’s no way in hell I’m letting you go, woman.”
Meredith was lost for words as her heart jumped into her throat. She found herself lost somewhere within the promise in his eyes for a long moment until the pup in her arms jumped on a sneeze…
“Hmm, I guess I’ll be catching that cold sooner rather than later…” Caroline offered of a huff…
“Listen, Grandma…” Jared lifted his hand and wagged a finger at her. “I can see right through that gruff snooty exterior of yours…”
“No you can’t…” Caroline scowled at him and when he twisted his head on his neck and a smirk grew on his lips; she thought about her words. “Because there’s nothing to see. What you see is what you get. This is me…” she protested.
“I think the lady protests too damn much,” Jared offered back.
“Just you remember that I am a lady…” Caroline admonished him.
“Would that be in the bedroom too?” The elder asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her…
“I didn’t want to hear that.” Wade grumbled. “Let’s get these two back…”