by M. L. Briers
“If! Bloody well — if, if, if, if, if, if, if, how many bloomin’ – if’s – do you need?” She demanded as she tossed her hands up in the air in frustration and she would have growled if she could have.
Doug stopped in place and twisted his head on his neck as he stared at her. Then he slowly lifted his hand up in front of him, and his index finger sprung upward.
“One more should do it,” he teased her.
If it was even entirely possible, his grin widened, and she swore to herself that if she saw just one little, itty, bitty hint of a fang, she was going to zap him with the power of thousand suns, or as close as she could get with her limited magic.
“I-ffff…” She hissed back slowly.
“Well, that should do it.” Doug drew himself up as straight as an arrow and thrust his hands into his front pockets. He gave a small shrug of his broad shoulders.
“Really?” Saffy didn’t look convinced as she frowned and eyed him back with suspicion.
“No!” Doug rushed out as he also rushed right at her.
Saffy jumped in place, startled by the speed and new direction of the man. He was heading right for her.
‘Brother,’ Rex used the pack’s mental link and stopped Doug dead in his tracks. ‘We’ve got a problem.’
‘Do you want to tell me what it is, or am I supposed to guess?’ Doug bit back.
He didn’t need the intrusion. He was wearing his mate down — and from what he could tell – he was doing a damn fine job of it.
Why would fate throw up an obstacle now? Maybe his brother’s mate had just dumped his backside in a snowdrift, and the man couldn’t get out — he could only hope that was the case.
‘Truth is — I have no idea,’ Rex offered the cryptic clue back to him, and the alpha growled in annoyance.
Only one of his brothers could be that stupid.
‘Fine,’ Doug grumbled.
There were times when he wished he was not the alpha.
There were also times when he wished he was an only child.
“You appear to have a little…” Saffy reached up and tapped her left temple. She could tell by the way the alpha’s facial reactions were changing that someone was talking to him and he wasn’t best pleased about it. “Going on.”
“It’s just Rex — I’ll be right back,” Doug growled.
He didn’t want to turn on his heels and walk away from his mate. Hell, that was the last thing he wanted.
If his brother had him on a wild goose chase, he was going to kill the man that was a foregone conclusion.
“Need any help?” Saffy chuckled when the alpha almost tripped over his own feet on the way out the door.
“Not from a…” Doug caught himself before he said the word.
“Witch?” Saffy asked as she folded her arms and tossed daggers at him from her eyes. He felt grateful that she didn’t have any real ones.
“I was actually going to say, mate,” Doug growled.
He really didn’t need to undo all of the goodwill that he’d been building with his mate so far.
“I’m sure you were,” Saffy babied him. “Perish the thought that a woman could help you.”
“I really don’t think you’re going to win that argument, either way,” Jake chuckled.
“Tell me about it,” Doug growled.
Jake started towards the alpha and Doug frowned.
“Tell you about it on the way,” Jake grinned.
‘Brother?’ Jonathon asked.
‘Stay here and guard the mates.’
“Why do I get the feeling today is not my day?” Doug grumbled as he turned and stalked the front door and out into the storm.
He liked the storm. It was cold, chilling to the bone, but the snowfall was peaceful. He liked peaceful.
“So, way I see it is…” The vampire started, and Doug groaned.
It had been peaceful.
~
~
~
“Aren’t you going with them?” Natalie turned her attention onto her mate, and Jonathan gave a slow shake of his head.
“Someone needs to stay here and guard the mates,” Jonathan said. “And the mates would be you.”
“And that had to be you?” Natalie sighed.
“He’s good at babysitting duty,” Tom chuckled to himself.
“Babysitting?” Saffy turned a dark glare onto the elder, but he wasn’t impressed.
They might have got him once with their magic, but he enjoyed his nap, felt fully refreshed, and it had been a long time since he’d felt that way. Hell, he might even ask them to do it on a regular basis if they stuck around the pack.
“Oh, the irony,” Tom chuckled.
“So, you’re the babysitting beta,” Natalie chuckled. Her mate didn’t.
“I’m the one most trusted to watch over you,” Jonathan assured her.
His mate could say what she wanted to try and elicit a response from him, but he wasn’t taking the bait. It just wasn’t going to happen. He had his eye firmly on the damn ball.
“Just not the one most trusted to be out there in the thick of the fight,” Natalie muttered to herself. Of course, she’d muttered loud enough so that he could hear her.
“Who said there’s fighting?” Jonathan tossed back.
“Why would the alpha leave with the vampire if it was just a picnic?” His mate offered back.
That got him thinking. Perhaps he should be on the outside of the cabin, patrolling the area to make sure that nobody got inside it would probably make more sense.
‘Doug, what’s going on?’ Jonathan growled into the link.
‘I’m not there yet — I’ll tell you when I arrive,’ the alpha offered back, but it was little comfort to the beta.
His wolf was already getting antsy. The beast needed to protect the witches with every fiber of its DNA, and without knowing what he was preparing for that need just clawed within him.
~
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~
“I said don’t come a step further,” Rex growled.
His mate was behind his back. He’d protect her with his life.
He didn’t know what kind of a shifter he was facing down — that didn’t matter to wolf or man — they’d die trying if necessary.
“I just came for the witch,” he said. His dark eyes flicked toward Christie, and that riled up Rex’s beast even more.
“What the hell is this?” Doug growled as he came at the stand-off from the right of Rex. His brother was in full protection mode.
“I still don’t have a clue,” Rex growled.
“It’s a shifter,” Jake offered.
“Your superior vampire nose told you that, did it?” Rex would have rolled his eyes at the vampire, but he was keeping them firmly locked on the shifter just in case.
“Someone’s touchy,” Jake offered back.
“I just came for the witch,” the shifter said again.
“He keeps saying that — I think he’s stuck on repeat or something,” Rex growled.
“Just give me the witch, and I’ll leave,” the shifter demanded action, but the only action that he got was another warning growl from Rex.
“How about you leave and we don’t kill you?” Doug offered.
“Oh, Checkmate,” Jake chuckled.
“We don’t want to fight you — we just want the witch,” the shifter said.
“We?” That was a new one on Rex. He’d thought the man was alone.
“Are you picking up the scent of a we there, Jake?” The alpha asked somewhat smugly.
“No. But I’d appreciate it if Rex took a bath,” Jake offered back.
“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” The alpha looked at Christie.
“It’s complicated,” Christie offered back with a small guilt-ridden smile that didn’t touch her eyes.
“I have time — make it uncomplicated,” Doug growled.
“I don’t have time. I need the witch,” the shifter said.
�
�For what, exactly?” Doug demanded.
“He’s not getting Christie,” Rex growled. He couldn’t understand how or why his brother would even contemplate it.
“To lift the spell,” the shifter said.
“What spell?” Doug demanded.
“The one that she put on my herd.”
“Herd?” Doug frowned. “What the hell kind of a shifter are you?”
“Reindeer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
~
“Rudolph?” Jake chuckled.
“Yeah, I haven’t heard that one before,” the shifter grumbled.
“His name is Grundig,” Christie winced when her mate shot a look over his shoulder at her.
“So, you do know this guy?” Rex demanded.
“What kind of a spell was it? Something that would give you a big red nose?” Jake found it highly amusing. Unfortunately, the reindeer shifter didn’t feel the same.
“Look, we get one night a year when we can fly…”
“Seriously…?” Jake almost choked on his own tongue.
“It’s the only night of the year when the curse is lifted…” Grundig started to explain.
“Tell me this… Is there really a Santa?” Jake grinned from ear to ear.
“What are you — five?” Grundig folded his big arms across his strapping chest and glared at the vampire.
“A few hundred years ago and counting,” Jake sneered back.
“The witch needs to lift the spell,” Grundig grunted and was back to demanding again.
“She’s going anywhere with you,” Rex growled.
He didn’t care what the shifter was, or what his problem was, his mate was staying put.
“A little harsh,” Jake offered to Rex.
“Where are your people now?” Doug asked.
“Gathered all around the top of the valley,” Grundig said. But it was the way that he’d said it — like a warning — that put Doug’s wolf on high alert.
“I’ll be right back,” Jake said before he took off into the snowstorm.
Doug only needed to look at the shifter’s face to know that the man was not bluffing.
“Witches and trouble — hand in hand,” Doug grumbled to himself.
~
~
~
“I’m sorry — I think my brain farted and I misheard you — did you say reindeer shifter?” Tom grumbled a growl as his salt and pepper eyebrows drew down low over his eyes before shooting up again.
“That’s what the alpha said.” Jonathan shrugged his shoulders.
“Imagine that — reindeer shifters — who’d have thought it?” Tom chuckled.
“You didn’t know that there were reindeer shifters?” Natalie looked surprised.
“You did?” Jonathan thought that was a little off. If anyone should have known about other shifters, surely it would be a shifter and not a witch.
“Well, der!” Natalie tossed back at the man she looked to him as if he had a screw loose. “Or maybe that should have been, well, deer.”
“They’re very withdrawn from society,” Saffy explained. “Friendly — unless you get on the wrong side of them.”
“Obviously the witch did,” Jonathan grumbled.
“Meaning?” Natalie placed her hands on her hips and glared at her mate as she cocked an eyebrow.
“Meaning, the witch obviously did something to the shifters — I don’t know what yet,” Jonathan shrugged back.
“Sure, blame the witch,” Natalie snorted her contempt for him.
“I just did,” Jonathan growled back.
“Butthead,” Natalie hissed.
“Shrew,” Jonathan grumbled.
“I heard that!” Natalie hissed back at him.
“Good — maybe you can take it onboard and change that part of your personality,” Jonathan offered her a smug grin that was wiped off his face the moment that she threw a zap in his direction.
He growled long and hard.
“At least I have a personality,” Natalie sneered at him again.
“You say that like it’s a good thing.” He shrugged his large shoulders. He was unimpressed by her zap, or her attitude.
“I really don’t like you right now,” Natalie tossed back.
“Right now? I thought you didn’t like me all the time — progress,” Jonathan growled.
“Only in your mind,” Natalie tipped her chin up in the air and tried her best to ignore him.
“I like a good catfight. But don’t you think it’s time we considered what the reindeer shifter wants?” Tom berated the beta.
“The alpha will get back to me when…” Jonathan stopped in mid-sentence as the alpha’s voice entered his mind.
‘It appears the witch has spelled the reindeer’s heard. It also appears that reindeers actually can fly on Christmas Eve. And to add insult to injury — it also appears that the valley is surrounded by the reindeer’s herd.’
“What the hell…?” Jonathan bit out in surprise.
“What’s going on?” Saffy asked.
“Witches!” Jonathan growled.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Natalie offered back with a smug smile for her mate.
~
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“Let me at the little witch.” The female vampire was at Grundig’s side in the blink of an eye.
Jake moved closer to Rex and his mate, countering the vampire’s position like chess pieces on the board. He eyed the woman from head to toe, and she looked good — good enough to eat.
“It’s Santa’s little helper,” Jake offered his opening rally.
“I see your vampire, and I raise you mine,” Grundig said. “Mine is older…”
“Talking about a woman’s age never ends well,” Jake berated the shifter.
“Neither does stealing a shifter’s power — something your witch needs to understand,” Katrina offered her counterpart.
She didn’t care about age, the witch, or any of the shifters that didn’t belong to her herd. What she did care about was getting the spell lifted so that her people could revel in their one night a year.
“She’s not his witch, she is mine,” Rex growled long and hard at the female vampire, giving her fair warning to stay away from his mate.
“A mate,” Grundig said to Katrina.
His options had just become limited with that new piece of information. Mates were sacred to reindeer shifters, as they were to any shifter, but more so to the reindeers, because for them they were harder to find.
Living up in the Arctic Circle didn’t exactly give them a constant supply of visitors to the area. If they couldn’t find their mate between the herds that lived there, then it was unlikely that even fate could come up with a reason to send a mate in their direction.
There had been a time when the herds were dying out through a lack of mates. It had been decided that if they couldn’t find a mate between the herds, then lifelong companions were the next best thing to keep their species from dying out.
One night a year, the reindeer that chose to could take to flight, go further afield, and perhaps find their one true mate in another herd. Some shifters had left in other ways in search of their mates, but that had just weakened their herd.
“Awkward,” Katrina offered back with a small shrug of her shoulders.
She knew the stance of the reindeer on mates — but she’d be damned if the witch’s spell was going to stand. She’d do what needed to be done to ensure the reindeer took to flight.
“Look,” Christie tried to sidestep her mate, but Rex was stubborn and moved with her. “Yes, you make a great a brick wall, but I’m trying to have a conversation here.”
“I think you’ve probably done enough damage already,” Rex growled back over his shoulder.
“Of course this is my fault,” Christie sighed. “It’s not like that big jerk was to blame at all.”
“I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t a mate to anyone in my herd,
” Grundig offered back. “I explained that to you. I didn’t know you were already a mate.”
“You tried to play a witchy game of pass the parcel. I’m not a parcel, and I don’t like to be sniffed,” Christie tossed the man a look of pure contempt.
“I’m sure you’ll like being dead a lot less,” Katrina warned.
“I don’t know — I quite enjoy it myself,” Jake offered the vampire a smug smile.
“It would be somewhat more permanent for the witch,” Katrina said. “Unless the witch has vampire blood in her veins?”
“Yes, yes she does,” Jake offered back.
“Liar,” Katrina bit out.
“Yes, yes I am,” Jake grinned from ear to ear with a teasing smile that didn’t impress the woman one little bit.
“So, kill the witch — break the spell — that works for me,” Katrina offered up the idea to Grundig, and the man grunted at her words.
“You have to go through me first,” Rex growled.
He flicked out his claws and his fangs elongated. His wolf was just beneath his skin, baying to be released, and Rex was having a hard time holding the beast within him.
One wrong move and his beast would break free.
His wolf was ready to do its worst.
His beast was ready to kill.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
~
“Alright, let the wolf see the deer,” Tom growled long and hard, making his presence known as he made his way through the snow and into the center ground between his pack and the newcomers.
“Elder,” Grundig nodded his head with respect.
“Hmm,” Tom eyed the man for a long moment, and then he gave a small grant as he turned to look at his alpha. “Respectful — I like that.” He offered the veiled dig to Doug.
Doug just grunted.
“He lives with Santa at the North Pole — he’s going to have a thing for older people,” Jake chuckled.
“Here’s the problem as I see it,” Tom said. “You want to fly.” He expanded his arms at his sides and shrugged his shoulders.
“His wisdom knows no bounds,” Jake chuckled again.