by M. L. Briers
“On the contrary, if no magic is needed I would be very interested in learning what you used and how it is made.”
“I don’t have any supplies with me, but I can write down the instructions before I leave…”
Elijah dropped down onto the stool next to her. He angled his body towards hers, and he noted that her eyes flicked to his for just a moment.
“Leaving so soon?” He brought her attention around towards him.
“Yes, and we’re having a conversation here. It’s rude to interrupt.” Isabel offered as lightly as she could. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of him being the big bad wolf again, but she knew she needed to put him back in his place, if only for her own satisfaction.
She heard his soft chuckle as she turned her attention back towards his mother, who now had a slight frown on her face as her eyes flicked between the Alpha and back again to her.
“As I was saying…” Isabel continued as the older woman’s frown disappeared and was replaced with amusement.
‘It seems we have more than one mate among us.’
Elijah felt every muscle in his body tense at his mother’s words. Damn, the woman was knowing. Too knowing. She had also put that statement out there in the collective mind and now his whole pack would know that their Alpha had found his mate.
That was not what he had been hoping for.
‘How can you be so sure?’ He shot back, hoping to deflect her from the truth.
‘She’s tamed your heart already son.’
“I have a problem with that Isabel.” He ignored what his mother had said and kept his attention on the female in front of him. He watched her draw a long breath into her lungs, before she released it slowly on a slight huff, and turned her attention back towards him.
“Do tell?”
“When I was searching for Joshua, his scent led me to you, and your scent led me to your home…” She looked slightly taken aback by that statement. The thought of him being at her cottage gave her mixed feelings that she didn’t want to deal with right now.
“You were at my home?”
“I was. Nice… bed.” His comment threw her for a loop. He had not only been to her home, he had been inside her home. Damn it, but that thrilled her with excitement and grated on every nerve she had all in one go.
“You were in my home?” He saw the flick of anger in her eyes, and he gave her a little smirk to just stir the pot a little.
“I was…”
“What gives you the right…?” She had turned her body towards him in an instant. Her eyes weren’t just angry they were accusing him at the same time. She had dropped her shields for that moment in time and he felt the rush of her emotions sweep over him. It was as if he had been battered by a tidal wave.
It was the most exhilarating feeling he had ever had in his entire life.
“My brother’s life…”
“You’re brother was just fine…”She snapped back. Somewhat half heartedly as there was something else that had grabbed her attention, like an itch she needed to scratch but she couldn’t quite figure out where that damn itch was.
“I didn’t know that…”
“So not the point.”
“Exactly the point.” He shot back with all the innocence he could muster. He knew she was distracted, he could feel her practically riffling around within her own psyche to figure out what was happening.
“Anyway, little Fae. Answer me this. If I found you by scent, how long do you think it will take that Vampire to find you?”His words stilled her mind. Now she was focused on the problem at hand.
If the vampire was onto her scent, then she had led that vampire straight to Cynthia. Damn. That wasn’t good. She had believed that the only thing they had to worry about was getting back off pack land without becoming lunch. Now she had the feeling that this was going to be so much more complicated than she had foreseen.
“Isa?” Cynthia’s rather small voice grated along her nerves. What could she tell her friend? I screwed up and put your life in even more danger? Sorry?
“God, Cyn. I didn’t think…”She started to turn towards her friend when Elijah piped up beside her.
“Luckily I did. You can both stay here with us until the Vampire is located and dealt with.” Which will keep you both at hand for Joshua and I too get to know you both a little better, he told himself, more than satisfied with the whole outcome.
Both women physically balked at the idea. Not to mention the fact that a quick look to his mother, had her eyebrows reaching for her hairline and a rather annoying smirk on her lips.
“Are you insane?” Isabel couldn’t hold back her incredulity at what he was proposing.
“Do you want to be Vampire fodder?”He shot back, not willing to break it to her gently. He much preferred to hit her right between the eyes with it. Give her no chance to come up with a million reasons why they didn’t need to stay on pack land.
“No…” Cynthia shook her head adamantly, as she pouted her lips and balked at the very idea. Isabel knew that Cynthia had a thing against Vampires. They scared the hell out of her, so she knew she had lost her vote to leave.
“Look…”
“I’d say that’s two votes to one. Unless you want to leave your friend here all alone?” He’d got her again. What could she say to that?
He watched as she tried to come up with an answer. He could practically hear the wheels turning within her head as she sat there with a pensive expression on her face.
‘Nicely played son.’
Elijah raised one eyebrow towards his mother’s comment, but he didn’t take his eyes from Isabel as she mentally went through every option she had and one by one, dismissed them all.
“In case you’ve forgotten, we are Fae.”
“And in case you had forgotten, I told you that you wouldn’t be harmed.”
What did she say to that? Liar, liar, pants on fire? What she wanted to say was. Where’s the nearest exit, we’re out of here. But with the walking corpse out stalking people, would that be such a good idea?
At least here, with all of these Lycan’s around, he was liable to go for them and not her or Cynthia. Self preservation at its strongest form. But then, if he did come, would the Lycan’s dangle them as bait?
“Let’s just say, I trust you as far as I can throw you.” And she doubted very much if she could even lift him.
“You doubt my word?” Mr tall, dark and very handsome became Mr tall, handsome and very dark in a heartbeat.
“And there’s why I don’t trust you.” She shot back, pointing an accusing finger at him. This guy could go from nice to psychotic in a matter of seconds, what was there to trust?
She watched him rein his temper in. It took longer for him to pull back his anger than it did to unleash it. Sure, she had slurred his character, but then her back was to the wall here.
“This is a moot subject. You’re friend wants our protection and you are free to stay or go as you wish…” Although if she did leave, he would be patrolling outside her cottage until that damn Vampire was caught. “Vampire fodder or Lycan guest, the choice is yours.”
He pulled himself up from the stool. Right now she was giving him a headache the likes of which he had never known. He didn’t see why she just couldn’t do what he was telling her, without all of the drama. It would make life so much easier for everyone.
“Well gee, when you put it like that.” She bit out, unhappy with his attitude. The man blew hot one minute and cold the next, much like some human men she knew. The difference was she didn’t have to worry about human’s changing into wolves and having her for their dinner.
“Good. Settled. My mother will make up the guest rooms for you and your friend. Now if you’ll excuse me…”He was almost out of the door when he heard her mutter.
“Ogre.” He hesitated in his step for only a moment as he rolled his eyes and heard the muted chuckle from his mother’s lips. Fae were just so… undisciplined.
Isabel checked ove
r her shoulder to make sure he had left the room before she could actually take in a whole breath. There was something about that man that had her off kilter. Knocked her internal balance for six and left her with the feeling that she was being pulled towards his very aura.
That was probably why Fae and Lycan’s didn’t mix very well. It was probably the pull of their energy, and he was full of that. Dark and light, she had tasted it when she had inadvertently dropped her shields back in the office.
“Lycan men can be very…” Emily searched for the right way to put it.
“Pig headed, bullish, self absorbed, angry, illogical, irrational…” Isabel ground out each word as if she owed them all. When she felt the gaze of both women on her, she shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry.” She mumbled, dropping her eyes to the counter top and following the pattern in the marble with her gaze for want of something better to do.
“Don’t be. They can be all those things. But they can also be, loyal, loving, giving. They are protectors by design. It’s in their very blood. And Elijah doesn’t want to see either of you get hurt, especially after what you did for Joshua. But also because this fight is not your fight.” She left out the part that said ‘and because you are Lycan mates’. That wasn’t her information to share. They would have to come to it with their mates help.
Emily felt the rush of excitement at the very thought of both of her sons finding their mates. It didn’t matter to her that they were Fae. Fae and Lycan had always had a strong history of being mates. Although in recent years, with the troubles between the local circle and the pack, she wondered how many other mates had been kept apart.
But fate had been kind to her sons. They had found their mates now and she was sure that it would all work out for the best in the end. Kicking and screaming, or accepting of the fact that they were meant to be together. No-one fought the pull to bond for long.
“Well he doesn’t have to be so dogmatic about it.”
“Isa!” Cynthia groaned out. It took her a moment to realise her choice of word might not have been the best. She rolled her eyes and groaned as Emily chuckled to herself.
“Sorry. Bombastic.”
“How you feeling you moron?” Elijah announced his entry into Joshua’s bedroom the only way he felt appropriate at that moment in time.
“Great, thanks for asking, knucklehead.” Joshua shot back, still sore and totally peeved that his mate was somewhere in this house and he was laid up in bed.
“Trust you to bring trouble to our door.” Elijah flopped down in the armchair by the window. He eyed his brother for a long moment as he rested up and healed. His mother had been right, whatever that little Fae had stuck to his wounds seemed to be doing the trick and healing him faster than normal.
“That damn vampire came out of nowhere…” Joshua hadn’t gone out with the intention of tracking a vamp, hell, he didn’t even know there was one on their land until he picked up his scent and followed it for a way.
Elijah snorted his contempt as he pulled his eyes from his brother to stare out of the window at the woods that surrounded their house.
“Wasn’t talking about the vamp. That was just bad timing…” Elijah took a moment just to breathe in- and then out again- slowly.
Joshua rolled his eyes to the ceiling and thought about his mate. That was what had Elijah so worked up. It was having to deal with the fallout from his mate and the feisty Witch that had rescued him. Ha!
“I take it you kept the Witches-of-sarcasm here?” Joshua was grinning like a Cheshire cat when Elijah managed to tear his gaze away from the view.
“Oh yeah. They’re staying. Mum’s as pleased as punch you found your mate…” He watched the smile fade from Joshua’s lips in an instant. The hard frown of annoyance replaced it and he glared back at Elijah. If he could have dragged his backside out of the bed he would have planted his fist in his face.
“Damn it Elijah, you told her already?”
“Oh yeah.” Elijah seemed to be enjoying himself now, at his brother’s expense.
“Great, thanks. I really appreciate your help…”
“In fact the whole pack knows…”
He saw the pained expression etch itself onto Joshua features and he wanted to curl up with laughter. One dark curse after another rolled from his lips and coloured the air blue around him.
“You couldn’t just shut the hell up for once?” Joshua accused, the anger rolling from him, what else had he missed while he’d been sleeping?
“Nope…”
“What the hell did you do that for?” Joshua growled out, the need to make his brother feel what he was feeling right now was almost overwhelming.
“Why the hell should I be the one to suffer in silence, when you brought them to the door, you doofus?” Elijah spat out.
“So you have to broadcast that I have found my mate to the whole pack, and our mother? Christ, Elijah, you can be a real arse at times.” Joshua had wanted to get to know her a little better before the whole eyes of the pack were on her. She seemed like such a little Fae and he wanted to protect her from the worst of the ribbing that they would both endure, or at least warn her of it in advance.
“Well it would seem you are not alone in believing that brother.” Elijah thought about his little Fae, his mate, and how she had berated him on more than one occasion and he couldn’t help the upwards curl of his lips at the fire that had flashed in her eyes.
“So Isabel is giving you a hard time...?” Joshua grinned from ear to ear when his brother shifted uncomfortably in the chair.
“Something like that.” Elijah admitted. Biting down on his jaw and turning his attention back to the outside world.
“Ha! Serves you right. But I’ll tell you what, she might just be all front that one. Little miss bravado.” Joshua warned and when his brother seemed lost in thought again, he looked for something to throw at his head to wake him up. But the nearest things he could find were on the nightstand and he didn’t want to risk ripping his wounds open again.
He wanted to be up and about. He needed to get to know his mate.
“Hey, Mr lost-in-thought. Are they really that bad?” Joshua teased and saw the slight wince cross his brother’s face, before he pushed it away and turned his attention back to him.
“I’ll live, more importantly, so will they. We need to figure out if this vamp was just passing through our land, or if we need to hunt him down.”The deep growl that rolled through every word had Joshua wishing he wasn’t laid up in bed. He would have loved to have joined the hunt for that vampire. Payback for last night.
“How did you get Cynthia and Isabel to stay, or don’t I want to know?”He had visions of them tied to beds somewhere inside the house. But when as he couldn’t hear the screams or curses, he doubted his brother had needed to go that far.
“Charm brother…”
“Yeah…” Joshua smirked back at him and then became deadpan. “No serious, how did you?”
“I asked them if they wanted to be our guests or vampire fodder. They chose to stay. Your mate led the charge on that one…”
Joshua considered his explanation. He could imagine Isabel wanting to leave, not having felt the pull of a mate like Cynthia had, and the fact that she was as feisty as hell. She probably thought she could ward the vamp off.
“Smooth. So what do you think of my mate?”
Elijah rolled his eyes and went back to staring out of the window. Joshua didn’t like the non-answer he was getting and tried to push himself up in the bed.
“Hey Elijah, you just wait until you’re mate turns up and…”
“She already has you idiot. You led the woman right to my door.” Elijah growled out. Joshua eased himself back down again onto the pillow in almost stunned silence.
“Isabel is your…” That was as far as he got before the laughter tore from his lips. The sound of it echoed through the room and bounced over every one of Elijah’s nerves. Damn it, he couldn’t even put his fist in his brother’s face rig
ht now, not with him being injured.
Joshua was caught between laughter and the pain the laughter caused his injured body, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop.
“Thanks a lot, Josh…” Elijah pushed himself up to his feet and stared down at his brother menacingly. “Get better soon, so I can beat you right back into that bed again.” He growled as he tore open the bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him.
The thick wood did little to dull the sound of Joshua’s laughter.
“Stop!”
The sound of Elijah’s deep tones seemed to echo through the downstairs hallway, rattling the contents and Isabel’s nerves. Standing at the front door with her hand hovering over the knob, she physically jumped in place and then held deathly still. Her teeth practically grinding in her mouth with the effort not to turn and berate him for scaring the hell out of her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Elijah strolled over to her side. With his imposing height he stared down at her, but she refused to look up and meet his eyes.
“Out.” She answered in the simplest of terms. It was an answer, she told herself, maybe not the quality of answer that he was looking for…
“I can see that. Out where?” He planted his feet and crossed those thick muscled arms over his even thicker muscled torso, and she resisted the urge to watch him do it. But she noted there was a buzz that moved over her skin whenever he was beside her. It felt good. But she didn’t want to wallow in it.
“Out-side...” She gave it to him slowly, as if she was trying to make him understand. She saw him drop his arms to his sides and wondered if that was a good sign or a bad one.
“Are you trying to annoy me?”
“Not particularly, I’d just consider it a bonus…” She heard him breath heavily through his nose and found that it was a bonus to cause him some grief, in what she assumed was his well ordered life.
“You are under my protection…” He started, but she wasn’t too thrilled with that idea at the moment either. She had been railroaded into staying here and she wasn’t about to be dictated to by his Alpha-ness.