by M. L. Briers
“Why, is there a bear who can take me around here?” Ash shot back, looking around him for effect.
Ben didn’t wait another second. He tossed the bottle away as he stalked towards Ash with a curl of his top lip as he growled out a warning, and Ash immediately snapped to attention – going from laid back and grinning to ready to fight in a heartbeat…
“What’s your problem, man?” Ben growled out…
“I somehow don’t think it’s my problem,” Ash growled back. His bear was rearing up within him, ready for the fight that Ben’s trek across the open ground promised…
“What the hell?” Landon growled out – coming from behind a clump of trees as he zipped up his fly and eyed the two men. “I can’t go for a piss without the two of you getting at each other?”
Ben pulled up short. He bit down on the fiery need within his blood that clawed at him. He felt as if he had insects crawling over and under his skin, and no matter how he scratched, that feeling wouldn’t go away.
“Ben needs to get laid,” Ash bit out, and Ben rallied towards him again.
“Don’t talk about my business like you know my mind…” He growled, tossing up a hand in Ash’s direction as Landon eyed him.
“What’s wrong with you?” The alpha growled. “If I didn’t know you were a bear I’d say you were part cat on a hot tin roof.”
Ben opened his mouth to speak, but then he closed it again with a grunt, tossing up one big hand and dropping it to his side.
“He got put in his place by a witch today.” Ash chuckled and Ben growled some more. He really had a need to shove the man’s head right up his backside…
“A witch?” Landon eyed the big man as he started to pace.
They’d had enough witch’s coming to the mountain lately, but Landon had to wonder which of those had crossed Ben’s path and rubbed his fur up the wrong way. The man was usually all grins where the ladies were concerned, and he had to wonder what Ben had done to get a witch’s wrath.
“Yeah, little thing, not more than five one, five two. He’s giving her that big old Ben smile, and she’s telling him where to get off.” Ash chuckled again and the beast within Ben roared…
Ben followed his beast’s lead. He couldn’t help himself – his fangs pushed down and his claws flicked out, and then he tossed his head back on his neck as every muscle in his body tensed hard and he roared like there was no tomorrow…
“Jesus H Christ…!” Landon growled out.
The alpha eyed the area for sight of any tourists. While it was true that most didn’t come to this part of the mountain, some were known to wander off track and get lost, and he didn’t want to have to deal with that kind of bad karma that eating a human would give him…
“What the hell?” Ash looked confused.
If it had been Ethan’s beast going into meltdown then that would have been one thing, but Ben? He was as much a misfit as the rest of them, but he could usually hold it together.
Landon covered the distance between him and Ben in a heartbeat – with one punch that blindsided the man and knocked him clean out – the alpha bit down on curse, after curse, after curse…
“That witch… you know where to find her?” Landon asked as he eyed Ash. The man shrugged his shoulders.
“Looked to me like she was about to re-open the bakery-”
“Still in town then. Thank the spirits.” Landon bit out. “Go get me that witch.” Landon growled as he reached into his back pocket and started to swipe at the screen of his mobile.
“Who you calling?” Ash shot the question over his shoulder as he started for the truck.
“Connor. Until you get me that witch I might need a little help.” Landon bit out. He didn’t like this one little bit…
“When you say get the witch?” Ash asked as he pulled open the driver’s door of his truck and climbed inside.
“By whatever means you have to, but don’t break her.” He warned.
~
~
~
“How many times have you put him back to sleep?” Connor looked down at Ben as he lay on the ground. His face showed signs of a beating that was fast healing thanks to his shifter DNA…
“Let’s just say, if he wasn’t a shifter then he’d probably have brain damage by now.” Landon growled out.
The alpha’s bear was close to the surface… too close. He liked to keep it caged as much as possible, but Ben was making that hard to do… Every time the man woke up he went to roar, and Landon couldn’t let that happen.
Connor snorted a chuckle. He’d always considered Ben one of the more stable of the clan, but not if what Landon said was true…
“So this witch…” Connor asked, and Landon shrugged his shoulders.
“No idea. All I know is he met her today and she put him in his place. I’m guessing here that she’s the cause of his problems.” Landon reached up and scratched his head.
He was kind of hoping that Ash would turn up any minute with the witch in tow and then they could see for themselves, but he couldn’t hear the truck coming yet, and night was starting to settle in on the mountain. If Ash couldn’t find her, or she wasn’t the cure to what ailed Ben – then he didn’t know what to do next, except maybe put the man down… permanently.
“You think she’s spelled him?” Connor’s ears picked up the change in Ben’s breathing, and he knew that the man was a few heartbeats away from waking up. He reached out with one punch and put him under again…
“Thanks.” Landon said.
“None needed. I enjoyed it.” Connor offered back and Landon bit down on a chuckle.
“Don’t know what she’s done.” Landon said, answering Connor’s previous question. “But something up.”
“Maybe she’s his mate.”
“I think she needs to be the solution to what ails him or Ben’s bear might just be a problem.” Landon’s ears pricked up at the sound of a truck.
“You think he found the witch?” Connor stared off into the distance, but even he couldn’t see into the truck yet.
“Hope so.” Landon growled back…
~
~
~
“Damn it, woman – behave your damn self.” Ash growled out as the truck kangarooed again. She’d been using her magic since the moment that he’d put her in the truck, and now it was becoming annoying.
He’d done his best to be nice to her. He’d found her coming out of the local grocery store, bag in hand, and he’d been polite… told her that he wanted to talk, and she’d told him exactly where to get off…
He’d bit his tongue and tried to appeal to her better nature – the trouble was, as he found out to his cost with three hard zaps later, that she didn’t have a better nature. The one you saw was the one you got, and she was mean – hell, she was meaner than the rattlesnake that she was trying to imitate as she’d hissed out curse words left, right, and centre…
Ash decided that actions spoke louder than words. He’d made sure that nobody was looking when he’d bundled her into his truck and took off out of town…
He supposed that he could have tried harder to reason with her, but the alpha had said to get the witch, and Ben needed her. So he’d done what he thought was right for his clan.
But she didn’t sound too happy, and he guessed that he wouldn’t be either if he was bouncing around in the covered section of his flatbed.
“Truck trouble?” Landon growled as he stalked towards the truck and eyed the darkness inside… empty.
“Witch trouble.” Ash growled. Kicking open the driver’s door with his booted foot and holding it open as he unfolded his large frame from inside.
“I’m not seeing a witch…” Landon scowled at the sound of muttered curses that were now coming from the back… the very back. “Oh hell, man, tell me you did not stuff the witch into the damn…” he down on what he knew to be true.
Already stalking around the back of the truck, muttering his own curses for the lack of good sense that some of
his clan possessed, and with Ash was hard on his heels – he shot the man a glare over his shoulder.
“She wouldn’t cooperate. What was I supposed to do?” Ash shrugged those broad shoulders, and he looked more than sheepish.
“This is what happens when you send an idiot out into the world.” Connor offered his two pence worth as he stood over Ben.
“I should bounce your ass all the way down the damn mountain.” Landon growled, lifting the back cover, and feeling the full force of her wrath; blasted backwards through the air and coming down onto his backside a good twenty feet from where he started.
CHAPTER THREE
~
“Oh, and she’s a mean one.” Ash folded his arms across his chest and eyed his alpha with just a little amusement as the man started to pull himself upright on the ground.
“You’re not the one…” Andi hissed out, as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the night, and the sight of the wrong shifter that she’d hit with her magic…
“Where is he?” She pushed out of the back of the truck and almost face planted to ground. Her legs felt unsteady and her high heels sunk into the dirt… She tossed a look at Ash and the big man held up his hands to his chest in a partial surrender…
“It’s not me.” He said. “He wanted you here and I was just obeying orders.” Ash informed her motioning towards the alpha with a nod of his head. Ash had already sampled her magic and he didn’t want another round of her wrath.
“Y-o-u…” She dragged out that one word like it was his very lifeline. It felt to Ash like a warning of things to come…
“If I may, having had no part whatsoever in this…” Connor offered and Andi’s head snapped around on her neck as her eyes took him in.
“Vampire.” She curled her top lip with disdain and turned her nose up at the sight of him.
“Why do I have that effect on witches?” Connor grinned, but he wasn’t grinning when she lifted her hands and made ready with her magic.
“Now hold on and hear us out, we need your help.” Connor offered.
“And you couldn’t just ask?” She snapped back.
“I tried, she zapped.” Ash rushed out in his own defence.
“That’s not…” Andi went to deny it, and yet, something inside of her pinged with guilt. “Entirely true.” She added, flicking her eyes down to the body on the floor and scowling as she tried to get a better look at him. “Is he dead?”
“Not yet, but he’s trying real hard.” Landon growled out as he picked himself up and dusted off his hands, more for show than because he needed too. He hadn’t landed on his hands, more his backside and that jolt to his pride wasn’t helping matters much where his bear was concerned…
“Why did you send this… this…” she bit down on every curse word that she knew as she pulled her head back on her neck and eyed Ash with contempt.
“Shifter.” Landon offered.
“Idiot.” Connor said with a little more glee than was needed.
“Neanderthal.” She hissed at Ash and the man frowned hard.
“Tamer than I would have expected.” Connor chuckled and drew her attention back towards him. “This is why.” He pointed a finger down at Ben.
“You’re a vampire, you fix him.” She snapped.
“I did this to him. Let’s just say, what he needs I can’t give him.” Connor offered.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She tossed up a hand in frustration – holding onto the urge to zap each and every one of them, and yet she recognised the problem that she faced in being in the middle of nowhere with three shifters and a vampire… and no means of escape other than her feet, and they wouldn’t get her far.
“He met you earlier,” Landon offered, folding his large muscled arms across his chest to show her that he meant her no harm. “Then he went a little nuts.”
“That’s not my…” She rushed out, looking like a doe caught in the full glare of some headlights. “I didn’t do…” she shook her head and scoffed at the idea that this was somehow her fault.
“Think about it.” Connor’s melodic tones were teasing, and she turned to look at him, a deeper scowl upon her face. Then she shrugged her shoulders…
“You think she’s his mate!” Ash exclaimed, finally catching up and delivering the news with gusto…
The trouble was Andi was completely blindsided. She stared at Ash, mouth falling open, eyes practically bulging from her head, and with something of a small wheeze that caught in her throat as the air was let out of her lungs like a deflating balloon…
“Oh no! Uh-uh!” She started to move backwards, one step at a time over the uneven ground as she shook her head. “That’s not…” Then she stopped and stood her ground, hands going to her hips in defiance. “You can’t be seriously…” she hissed.
She lifted a hand and wagged a finger towards Landon. “I am not…” She bit down on the insanity of Ash’s words. “You can’t expect me to…” She scowled long and hard. “No way!” She felt the rush of anger at her predicament. Then she choked out a laugh… “Damn it to hell!” She stomped her foot.
“Is this like the five stages of grief and are you done?” Connor asked and she rallied at him, offering him several curse words on a muted grumble of bewilderment and anger.
“I can’t believe you brought me here for…” She finished with a squeal of anger that made Ash grimace as it cut through his ears like nails down a chalkboard.
“Look, we don’t know for sure until he wakes up,” Landon offered her that lifeline and she found herself clinging to it like it was a miracle cure for what ailed her. She settled a little.
“Then, if he doesn’t eat you, we can guess he’s your mate.” Connor offered with a hearty chuckle and a grin that she wanted to zap right off his face and she was back to being thrown in at the deep end again.
“But I don’t want a mate.” She bit out between clenched teeth in annoyance that was mixed with a little bit of panic at the thought of having a big shifter bear as a mate.
“I’m sure the feeling is mutual.” Ash muttered back and she rounded on him.
“Then take me home!” She tossed up her hand again.
“You’re a witch, you know how this works.” Landon offered back with a small shake of his head.
“So, I’m to be what? The sacrificial lamb?” She placed her hands on her hips again and regarded him with sceptical disbelief.
“I hear humans taste more like chicken…” Connor started and grinned when she snapped her glare towards him. “So I’m told, never having eaten anyone before. That’s more a bear thing…” He mused and Landon groaned.
“Nobody is eating anybody.” Landon growled out.
“Tell that to Ben when he wakes up,” Ash chuckled.
“Look, I’d love to stay and shoot the breeze, or even the bear…” she motioned towards Ben, and Landon groaned inwardly. “But, I have a life to get back to that doesn’t involve cooking and cleaning, and clearing up after his big… backside.”
“Oh, he’s housetrained. He can use a toilet and everything.” Connor offered with a straight face, but Ash chuckled.
“That’s…” She stopped, lifting her hand, and then she shook her head in disbelief. “So not… can we get back to the fact that I have a life?”
“Sure,” Landon nodded. “Maybe with him.” He nodded in Ben’s direction and she pouted as she let her lids close over her eyes for a long moment and tried to get her sanity back.
This was all happening too fast. It was too much to take in, and she’d been blindsided when she’d been kidnapped, but now… now she was drowning in disbelief and denial.
“Ok.” She started, snapping her eyes open and glaring back at Landon. “This is not…” She stopped and shook her head again.
“Happening.” Connor offered. “Yes it is. No it’s not. Yes it is. No it’s not… we can do this for a while, but until he wakes up, none of us know for sure.”
“So wake him up already!” She bit
out and then changed her mind. “No, don’t.” she pushed out her hand to wipe that request from the slate.
“Look, you just need to calm down.” Landon offered as kindly as he could.
She’d freaked out and that was ok, but he needed her to calm down a little now. He could hear Ben starting to stir, and it wouldn’t do any of them any good if she was panicking and squirrelly when he woke up.
“Calm down?” She snorted her contempt for him. “Yeah, why don’t I do that?” She hissed.
“It’s not like you can do anything about it if you are his mate.” Ash said, trying to be helpful and getting a death glare for his trouble.
“I can kill him.” Andi offered, drawing her head back on her neck and eyeing the shifter.
“Sounds…” Landon shrugged his shoulders. “A little unreasonable.” He offered and Connor choked off a laugh.
“Unreasonable my Aunt Sally.” She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and eyeing the man on the ground as he started to come to. Then she dropped her arms at the first sight of him stirring.
“Hit him!” She rushed out towards Connor. “Hit him again, put him back out.”
“Witches…” Connor mused with a small shake of his head. “So… prone to violence.”
“I am?!” She exclaimed on a frown that took her eyebrows down low over her eyes as she stared back at the vampire in disbelief.
Ben growled long and hard – it took him all of a few seconds to remember where he was and what was happening, and he rolled away on the ground from the fist that he was expecting from Connor, pushing up onto his hands and knees fast, as he growled at warning at the vampire…
“Don’t do that again!” He growled out, eyeing the vampire, before the sweet scent hit his nose and he found himself sniffing the air, and liking what he found. His bear rose within him, clawing at his skin to be set free… “What the hell…?” His eyes snapped towards Andi and he took her in, a deep frown cutting into his forehead… “Witch…” he muttered.
“State the obvious.” Connor offered. “Yes, but is she your witch?” He added and Ben scowled at her harder… a low growl rumbling deep within his chest. He gave a small shake of his head…