by M. L. Briers
“You seemed to really want it,” she shrugged, “how was I to know you were all butterfingers?”
“Butter…” he growled long and hard as he dropped his foot to the ground and tried that stomping out the pain thing that men did when the stupidity took them over… “What makes you think I wanted it?” he ground out between clenched teeth.
The stomping wasn’t really helping, except to make the pain shoot up his leg, and yet he didn’t stop…
“Well…” She sounded slightly exasperated by his behaviour. “ You said; m….ine…”
That word finally registered within her mind – pushing everything else that was tossing and turning in there aside, and she stretched her head forward on her neck, and tried to swallow down the lump that had formed within her throat…
“O.” She said.
“Exactly.”
Jamie nodded as he watched her eyes widen and her mouth fall open. Then there was a long wheeze as her breath escaped her lungs, before something invisible must have slapped her on the back of the head, because she blinked once, gasp in a breath, snapped her jaws together, and practically tossed her body backwards away from him…
“Oh nooooo!” she shook her head fast in denial… “Nope, that is soooooo not happening here, shifter man…”
CHAPTER SIX
~
It was Fallon’s turn to wave her arms around like she was swatting bees, and somewhere inside of Jamie he had to laugh at the sight of her doing it. Even if that sound never reached his tongue…
“It’s Jamie, and yep – it’s happening.” He nodded with a strained smile that yanked his lips thin and made his eyes look like a madman…
“Ooooo … you can take your big, bad, sexy self – your wolf – your claim – your damn mine, and you can shove it all where the sun don’t shine!” Fallon’s eyes glared back at him like a sign that said; stay off the grass or I’ll mow you down with a steamroller.
“Love to … but…”
“No buts!” Fallon hissed back like a rattlesnake about to strike.
“But … it is what it is…” Jamie expanded his arms at his sides and shrugged those big, broad shoulders once more…
“What the hell does that mean? It is what it is…” She tried to mimic his deep voice, but there was no way that she was ever going to get that much bass in her tone…
“It means that fate has…”
“Oh, fate can kiss my grandmother!” Fallon waved a dismissive hand in his direction…
“Really?”
“Truly.”
“Somehow, I don’t think it works like that…”
“And there’s your problem, you’re trying to think, and we all know how well that works for men, and shifters, and men who are shifters stand no chance in hell of thinking rationally.” Fallon sneered back as she placed her hands on her hips in a defiant stand, and looked up at the behemoth with victory in her eyes…
Jamie tried to hold onto the growl that rumbled through his chest, but it was already in his throat by the time that he’d given it any real serious thought … She eyed him back with suspicion…
“Go ahead, take a bite – it’s not just metal bars that I can toss across the grass…” Fallon warned him, and she meant it.
Her magic was already at the ends of her fingertips just waiting to be unleashed, and right then and there, she felt the need to zap someone damn hard…
“Oh look – loves young dream…” Monty grinned, and he showed just a little of his vampire fangs as he stopped just behind Jamie’s right shoulder to take a look at what was going on …
Big mistake!
Fallon reacted to the sight of a vampire without thought or consequence. She lifted her hand and swept the vampire up in the air, before snapping her wrist sideways and depositing the man some thirty feet away into the top of the nearest tree…
Monty whooped all the way as he sailed through the air. He saw the tree coming, and there was nothing that he could do but hit it head on…
He was almost certain that he saw stars, or maybe some little illuminated cartoon birdies that briefly flew around his head, as he hit every damned branch on the way to the ground, and then with a loud thud – he face planted the earth…
“That had to hurt…” Jamie spluttered laughter as he watched the vampire press his hands against the earth and slowly push his upper body up from the ground…
“Almost as much as your face is about to,” Monty bit out…
“Hey … you’re the one who surprised her out of nowhere – my advice would be to be less vamp…” Jamie folded his thick muscled arms across his broad chest and regarded the man with a grin that stretched from one ear to the other…
“Witches…” Monty groaned…
“Monty meet ….” Jamie twisted his head on his neck and questioned her with his eyes…
“Fallon,” she bit out as if she had a sour taste on her tongue.
“Fallon meet Monty, our resident vampire, and all around fall guy,” Jamie chuckled at the man’s expense…
A heartbeat later and Monty was up on his feet, dusting himself down, and groaning slightly as his bones mended…
“Yes, very funny…” He sneered at the shifter, before he turned his attention towards Fallon… “I don’t think I like you.”
“That works for me,” Fallon sneered back.
“Friend of yours?” Monty eyed the witch, but he noted that the beta had suddenly become slightly fidgety on his feet. “Oh, yes, right. I remember now that my head injury is clearing … mate.”
“You know how to wound a girl deeply,” Fallon tossed back, and Monty couldn’t help but smile.
“Someone’s not impressed…” Monty snarked back with glee at the beta, and Jamie grumbled a growl.
“No, but at least she took it out on you,” he tossed back.
Monty grunted. It seemed the beta and his mate were winning in the points scored department, and he didn’t much like that.
“Well, I have a mate to leash…” Monty said, and without another word – he was gone…
Mine…
Jamie’s beast had evaluated the threat from Monty. Luckily for vampire he had a mate. But still, he’d stayed close to her. The need to protect her was paramount within him.
Now that the vampire was gone; he was back to the day job – wooing his mate. That thought didn’t fill the beta with joy.
Nathan had successfully wooed his mate, Sarah, and yet – he didn’t think it was going to be that easy with Fallon. The woman was wild, fiery, and definitely spirited, and she had a kickass, zap first, ask questions later approach to life that he knew he’d have to watch out for if he didn’t want to get his backside fried…
But he did have one advantage in the wooing her department that he couldn’t deny – her car wasn’t going anywhere soon; which meant that she was going to have to stick around for the time being.
He wasn’t sure how happy that made him, but his damn wolf was over the moon…
~
~
~
“Let me help you with…” Hank had caught up to Dorothy just as the woman was about to walk up the patio stairs. She slapped at his outstretched hand and scowled up at him, and he was certain that there was a painful death waiting for him in those eyes if she decided to just put a little magic behind that look…
“First I’m senile and now I can’t manage the damn stairs…?” Dorothy grumbled, and Hank groaned inwardly – he’d put his paw in his mouth again and he didn’t much like the taste of fur on his damn tongue…
“I didn’t say…”
“You didn’t have to say anything. Go annoy someone else,” Dorothy bit back.
She was still feeling the need to wallow in self pity for a while and the man wasn’t helping with that.
“Dot, he was just…” Angela started to offer the explanation from behind her, and she snorted her contempt for that as well.
“I don’t care what he was trying to do. Go find a senior citizen and help
them across a road or something, probably against their will…” Dorothy grumbled.
“I thought I’d found one already,” Hank grumbled back, mirroring the woman’s sour tones.
“What’s that?” Dorothy bit out as she turned her death glare on him once more.
Hank wasn’t about to repeat himself. She’d heard him well enough the first time.
“But obviously you don’t need me to be a gentleman – I’ll revert to pulling pigtails, farting at the dinner table, and generally being a slob…” Hank grumbled and growled.
Yep, finding his mate wasn’t exactly going to fit in with his rather enjoyable solitary lifestyle…
“You do that – but do it anywhere else…” Dorothy shot back, and Angela chuckled behind her hand.
Angela couldn’t wait for the moment when Dorothy found out that she was Hank’s mate, because the woman had given her an earful when she’d procrastinated about being with Lark. Although, she wasn’t quite sure if that exact moment in time was the right time to drop that particular bombshell – considering what had happened with her granddaughter.
“Yes, there might be a little problem with having that on your wish list,” Hank grumbled.
“You lost?” Dorothy snarked back as she climbed the staircase that suddenly felt as if she was climbing Mount Everest. She felt a little drained, a little strained, and a lot older since Fallon had arrived. “Lark, take the old guy home and get one of his pack to keep an eye on him so that he doesn’t wander off again.”
“Wander off?” Hank did take a little offence at that one.
Lark had said that Dorothy was a bright light of mischief – he didn’t see it himself…
I know women her age don’t have those feminine once a month mood swings, so maybe she’s just losing the plot…
I could be hunting that damn newbie vampire right about now and keeping an eye on her rather than having to deal with Miss Sour Puss, but nooooo – fate had to stick it me and give me a damn mate.
We’ll at least I have one and a half feet in the grave so I won’t have to deal with her for too many years…
“Nothing wrong with your hearing…” Dorothy shot back…
“Is she always like this…?” Hank bit down on his words, because there were so many to choose from, and not many of them could be called female friendly.
“No,” Angela put in quickly, but she wasn’t about to share her friend’s recent trouble, even with her mate, because it wasn’t Angela’s story to tell. Hell, she hadn’t even gotten to the bottom of it yet. “You just caught her at a bad time…”
“You don’t have to talk about me as if I was dead already…” Dorothy bit out.
“Bite your tongue,” Angela berated her. “A witch should know better than to tempt fate.”
“Should I now?” Dorothy hissed. She didn’t much care for anything at that moment, least of all fate.
“Well, you do the math.”
“Because Fate is such a friend of mine…” Dorothy bit out dryly with a flick of her eyes over her shoulder to where Hank was coming up the stairs behind her…
The man stopped in his tracks and squinted up at her…
He was caught a little by surprise by what she’d said.
And here I am treading on eggshells.
I’ve spent all of this time trying to figure out what is the best way to tell her that she’s my damn mate…
Wouldn’t you know it? That ship has sailed already.
“You know?” Hank growled, and his wolf yipped within him at the news.
It certainly made the claim easier…
Made his life a little easier…
If only he could say the same about having a mate.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“No – I’m senile…” Dorothy bit out with a roll of her eyes and a huff to boot…
“Damn, that takes all the fun out of it,” Angela muttered as she dropped her eyes and deflated a little. She was so looking forward to the surprised look on her friend’s face.
“Sorry to disappoint you – I seem to have done a lot of that in my life.” Dorothy snapped back.
Then the elder turned on her heels and set off for the back door of the Inn with the three of them following on in her wake like they were doing a muted conga…
“Now don’t go getting all morose,” Angela berated her.
“What’s going on?” Hank grumbled.
“Her granddaughter…” Lark informed him and received a sharp elbow in the ribs from his mate for his troubles.
“I have a granddaughter too?” Hank snapped his head back on his neck. “Geez, life moves fast when you’re not paying attention.”
“Paying attention now?” Dorothy asked, lifting her hand and her middle finger to the elder.
He grumbled another growl as he went back to chewing on that wasp once more…
“A sweetheart, you say?” Hank eyed Lark, and the man shrugged his broad shoulders.
“She likes me,” Lark offered back, lifting his hands at his sides with a helpless, but teasing shrug, and got a rumbling growl back for his trouble. He sniggered.
“Why don’t we have a nice cup of tea…?” Angela started and Dorothy turned to look at her. With one hand resting on the door handle, and one grey eyebrow raised – she gave her friend a look that said she was questioning the woman’s sanity.
“Yes, let’s…” Dorothy sounded a little more chipper, but then her faced dropped. “I’m sure that’ll make my granddaughter not hate me, my life somewhat bearable, my body revert back to its hour glass figure, and my mate vanish…” Dorothy’s dry tone had set Hank’s nerves jangling and the man groaned inwardly.
It wasn’t like he’d asked for a mate. Heck, he’d stopped doing that about twenty years earlier when he realised that it wasn’t to be.
He’d planned to enjoy the last years of his life by being a somewhat lazy old fart. It had been working quite nicely for him until Chloe had come back a vampire.
He’d felt a sense of responsibility to try to keep his old friend on the straight and narrow, but once Chloe was done with her newbie phase of trying to suck the witches dry – he’d planned on going back to his old ways of watching sports on the television all day, and watching pups frolic and cause mayhem when there wasn’t much on…
Sure, he’d grumble and growl at them, and say stupid stuff like; we were more respectful and better behaved in my day – but that was what elders were for…
Now, however, he had a cantankerous mate to deal with and pencil into his plans…
Hell, who was he kidding? He’d have to make all new plans.
It would have been better if I was gay … at least we could have slobbed it out together in front of the sports channels, showering might have been optional, but … no …
Now I’ll have to watch romance films, and say nice things about her backside and her hair…
She’s got a good backside … slipped a little, but nice and curvy, and a good size for my hands…
What am I saying? The woman’s probably doesn’t even like making out, making love, getting her groove on…
Groove on…? Hmm, do they still say that?
Oh hell, I don’t give a fart! I still say it.
“Anyone seen Monty?” Chloe appeared off to the left of them as if by magic, but they were all painfully aware that the woman didn’t have that anymore.
She had her backside perched on the railing of the porch, her arms folded, and her fangs were down just a smidge…
Lark groaned. Now wasn’t the time to deal with her…
Hank gave a deep warning growl as he put himself between Dorothy and the vampire, and Angela muttered something that nobody could hear, as she lifted her hand and flicked her wrist…
Chloe was tossed backwards over the railing, much to the vampire’s shock and Dorothy’s delight…
“Ouch!” Chloe grumbled, sight unseen from somewhere below the porch…
“Serves you right,” Ha
nk growled.
“It was just a question … Geez, you people are so touchy…” Chloe bit out as her head and shoulders appeared between the gaps on the other side of the railings…
“Now that’s how you should be, caged behind bars,” Angela eyed the vampire and Chloe eyed her right back…
“Is that so?” Chloe sneered, and the woman hadn’t learned much, because her fangs were still down.
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
“You look like a sour old witch that’s jealous of my youth and new found embrace of life…”
“Nice speech for a dead person.” Angela tossed back, and the vampire let out a long, slow breath of annoyance…
“I’ll remember that the next time you take an old person fall…” Chloe sneered just before she took off…
“Again…!” Monty grumbled as he stopped only briefly before taking off after his mate…
“We’re going to have an adventure, she said…” Dorothy muttered to herself with a flick of eyes at Angela and a condescending tone to her voice. “One last fling, she said … It’ll be fun, she said … should have stayed at the old Fart’s home…”
“Senior living facility…” Angela huffed. “And it is an adventure. Look, you found a mate!”
Dorothy eyed her friend for a long moment – she wasn’t sure if she wanted to zap her or slap her, but there were emotions spinning within her that wanted out…
“Wipe your damn feet!” Dorothy berated Hank as she yanked open the back door and walked inside…
“Well, aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine to brighten my day?” Hank grumbled back, and without warning, Dorothy used her magic to toss the door back into Hank’s face – unfortunately, he was walking inside at the time, and the thick glass thudded against his forehead…
With a growl of annoyance at the shock, rather than the pain, a curse that he didn’t care who heard, and a grumble … he tipped his chin down towards his chest and pushed the door back open.
The sound of muted sniggers from the two mates behind him did nothing for his mood…