by M. L. Briers
Chloe was gone from outside – the males were occupied – Angela wasn’t there to talk her out of it, or worse still, follow on her heels as the stubborn, obstinate woman was likely to do…
She headed towards the back door of the sun room and used her magic to open it – guaranteeing that she was as silent as possible – and then she slipped out the back…
If the alpha was in trouble, and Monty wasn’t on his game – then she needed to be the last line of defence for her granddaughter.
That was how it should be.
She hadn’t been allowed to be there for all of those years for Fallon, but things were different now.
Now she had the chance to make it up to her.
~
~
~
Fallon felt the tapping of the guilt that felt like a woodpecker against her soul for dragging the pack into her problems.
If she’d never tried to find her grandmother…
If she’d never found her mate…
If Sarah hadn’t of zapped out her car tyre then she would have been home and still at the vampire’s beck and call.
She should have waited to find Dorothy, but something had pulled her to where her grandmother was, and now she knew what that thing was … fate.
Jamie.
Knowing that fate had played a hand in her decisions didn’t make them any easier to live with.
What if Nathan died?
What if Monty was dead?
Jaxon wouldn’t stop until he had her, or until she killed him – either way – she needed to get where she was going and fast.
She’d called on her magic to guide her towards her mate, because the man had the nose to find his kin – to find the fight – and if Jaxon wanted a fight then she’d be the one to give it to him.
Jamie might have wanted to be the big bad wolf and protect her from the ills of the world, but she knew that it wasn’t necessary.
The whole reason that they were in this mess was because her magic was strong – so much stronger now that she had her father’s magic inside of her as well.
That wasn’t entirely her fault either. The amulet that he’d left for her had come with one special gift – his magic – and that magic flowed through her veins and mixed with her own just as much as if she had been siphoning from a coven…
Jaxon knew it. Hell, she wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that the vampire had something to do with it…
But now he would pay the ultimate price.
Nobody threatened her family. Not anymore.
~
~
~
Chloe swooped.
She’d seen an opening and she went for it.
The alpha was down and Monty and Jaxon were going at it like they were trying to use each other as battering rams to knock over the trees in the small clearing…
Jaxon had managed to somehow outmanoeuvre her mate. With two fistfuls of the Monty’s shirt, he spin him around fast, and instead of hitting his back against the tree trunk, he kept the momentum going and tossed him clean across the clearing…
That was when Chloe had swooped down from the trees above them. Landing on her feet in front of the vampire with a little less grace than Monty would have had, she got in one good swipe of her claws, across Jaxon’s face and down his neck…
Her razor sharp talons got locked in his collarbone, and a moment later, she had her back against his chest, a death grip around her body, locking her in place, and she could feel his hot breath against her neck that was open to his attack…
Her eyes flicked to Monty as her mate rebounded to his feet. She saw the panic that rushed through him – saw the fear within his very soul for her safety.
It was in that moment that she knew that he had been right all along … not only was she not ready to take on the world, but she’d also put Monty in danger by his sheer panic at having her in harm’s way.
A heartbeat later, a scream of pain that was torn from her lips, and the lights went out…
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
Monty knew one thing – Chloe wasn’t yet dead – not in the normal, human sense of the word.
Oh, she’d had her neck broken and was technically dead, but it wasn’t the kind of dead-dead that a vampire couldn’t come back from…
Now, he needed to keep it that way.
Whatever the vampire wanted in return for Chloe’s life he’d willingly give. He had to give it, because he couldn’t imagine going through another minute of life without her, not living with the knowledge that she was never coming back.
He’d rather die himself than lose his mate.
They’d been together for so many decades that she was an extension of him. She was buried so deeply within his heart and in his soul that to lose her would end him anyway.
“You have a dilemma…” Jaxon sneered.
The vampire’s bloodlust had been activated and he was more dangerous in that moment than a pack of rabid wolves…
“No, I don’t,” Monty offered back.
“A mate, I believe … more importantly, your mate…” Jaxon held the one person within his arms that Monty would move heaven and earth for – they both knew it – so he didn’t understand why the vampire was playing games. Showmanship perhaps?
“Just tell me what you want and let’s do away with the theatrics…”
Monty wanted to rip the man limb from limb – kill him over and over again – just for daring to touch his mate, let alone snapping her neck…
“I thought you liked theatrics, Monty…” Dorothy said, walking out into the clearing with her hands down at her sides and her magic tingling in her fingers like hot pins and needles…
“Get out of here, Dorothy…” Monty bit out – now he knew what the vampire was waiting for – all the players were obviously yet to make themselves known.
Jaxon had his ace in the hole in Chloe, and that was why he hadn’t killed her. She was his hostage … but Monty knew that she was only valuable to him and that left him with something of a dilemma…
He guessed that Jaxon had been right…
“I’m not allowing my granddaughter to be the deliverer of his wicked ways…” Dorothy kept her eyes firmly on Jaxon, and the man returned that favour.
“Kin. How … tasty a thought,” Jaxon sneered at the elder, but he wasn’t stupid enough to dismiss her out of hand. “Now, we’re just waiting for the wolf…”
Jamie appeared at breakneck speed at the edge of the clearing. His beast snarled as he took in Nathan. The alpha was lying broken and unconscious against a tree trunk…
That sight gave him enough reason to rip the vampire limb from limb, but from the look of things, Monty had reason enough to want to bloodsucker dead as well.
He cursed the fact that he’d been put off by the scent of the old witch as he’d made his way to the fight, and he’d doubled back to try to head her off … if he’d gotten there sooner then Chloe might not have been in the precarious position that she was in, and Monty might not have been held to ransom.
Now he was caught in the same vicious circle as Monty. If he attacked; then Chloe was probably dead, and he couldn’t do that to the woman or her mate…
He just thanked the spirits that his own mate was safe and out of harm’s way back at the Inn.
~
~
~
“Fallon’s gone!” Lark growled out in annoyance that he’d let the witch slip through his fingers like that.
He stalked back down the staircase and met his mate and Hank coming back along the corridor from the sun room.
“Like grandma, like granddaughter – Sarah too – stupid…” Angela bit out as Hank kept on stalking right towards the front door.
“Guard your mate,” he growled back over his shoulder as he wrenched open the door and raced out into the sunshine that taunted his dark mood…
“That’s not happening,” Angela said, following on the man’s heels as he went after his mate.
Lark caught up to her in a few long strides. When his mate was all fired up like that, she could move pretty fast for an elder.
“I know there’s no way in hell to talk you out of going after Dorothy…” Lark growled at the thought of the danger that his mate was willing to put herself in by leaving the Inn.
“You know me so well,” Angela offered the man that was matching her step for step…
“What is it with you witches?” Lark grumbled.
“We’re pacifists … until you mess with our family – then we’ll send you to hell in a handbasket.” Angela bit out as she drew her magic into a tight hot knot within her that was practically begging to explode out of her fingertips … and if she had her way then it would do just that.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Your zips down on your jeans.”
~
~
~
“You’re not leaving?” Monty eyed Dorothy, while keeping one eye on the vampire, and the elder snorted her contempt for him.
“If he kills Chloe. I kill him. Job done…”
Dorothy was bluffing – almost – while she didn’t want to see the vampire lose his mate, and she was developing a little soft spot for the newbie vampire herself – not that she’d ever let that be known this side of hell – if the vampire that was stalking her granddaughter did kill Chloe, then she’d relish crushing the life out of the bloodsucker…
Otherwise, she had to play the wait and see game; just like Monty.
“Checkmate,” Monty offered his nemesis and the man sneered his contempt for that scenario.
“What if I kill the vampire, kill the witch, and then kill you?” Jaxon offered back.
“We could try it that way, but I think one of us will get you in the process, and you’re forgetting something.”
“Am I?” Jaxon shrugged.
“The wolf.” Monty nodded in Jamie’s direction without taking his eyes from the man and his mate.
“No, I’m not,” Jaxon dismissed the beast.
Jamie’s wolf took offence to that, but if the vampire was so sure that he wasn’t a threat to him – that was a plus in his book. Better to be underestimated and win than to be thought of as a threat and be guarded against.
“Hmm, three to one – it seems that you are the one who now has the dilemma,” Monty offered his take on what was happening to the vampire and the man sneered.
“You’re not seeing things clearly,” Jaxon believed that he had the stronger hand.
But in truth he knew that all of that advantage could be lost, because in a few more moments Chloe could snap back to life. Then there was the elder witch who could attack. The vampire’s mate could overplay his hand, or the wolf could get antsy…
None of that was in his favour.
He guessed that he hadn’t thought everything through to completion. But then, he hadn’t thought that Fallon would stay in hiding…
And he’d been right…
The instant that he felt her magic behind him; he knew that he’d lost, but he wouldn’t go down without taking some of them with him…
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
~
Fallon knew that she had only one shot at Jaxon and only one shot to get it right.
She’d covered her tracks well on her route to the standoff – staying upwind from the vampire – using her magic to dull the sound of her approach – to hide her presence in every way shape and form that she could, and she’d used the distraction of the others to get into a good position right behind the man…
Now, she needed to do something that was alien to her – work as a team to take the bloodsucker down, because it wasn’t just herself that she needed to think about, she needed to make sure that everyone walked away from this but Jaxon.
Her magic was practically begging to be unleashed, and she didn’t disappoint it.
She used her magic to rip the vampire’s arm down and then backwards, taking his razor sharp claws away from Chloe’s throat. She heard the satisfying crunch of bone breaking and she unleashed a blast against the man’s back that propelled both of the vampires forward.
Raising her hands; she used her magic to lift them from the ground in a whirlwind of her own making, tossing them around and around until he lost his grip on the female, and then she tossed them apart in two different directions…
Chloe’s lifeless body hit the ground first with a sickening thud that made her mate wince, and Monty was torn between rushing to his mate and protecting the others that were there…
The fever within his blood said kill the damn vampire, but his heart and soul told him to protect his mate…
Jamie moved fast, rushing towards his mate to put his beast’s body between Jaxon and Fallon, and in doing so; he blocked her line of sight of the vampire. There was little that Fallon could do, because she couldn’t unleash her magic for fear of hitting the wolf.
Monty headed towards Dorothy to protect her, but it was too late – Jaxon had already rebounded from his landing place, and his position was closer to the elder witch than Monty was. He knew that he stood no chance of getting to her first.
Dorothy let her magic loose on the vampire as he came at her, but it wasn’t enough.
Jaxon had seen the attack coming and had dived right, tossing his body down against the hard ground, spinning over and over, and had sprung back up onto his feet as her magic tore through the air and exploded against the trunk of a tree, tearing through the hard wood and sending shards of light and splinters flying…
Jaxon was on her in a heartbeat.
Dorothy saw the bloodlust in his eyes a moment before his claws embedded in her flesh and he swiped hard, taking her body sideways with the motion, and the pain screamed through her as she dropped to the hard ground under her own weight.
“No!” Fallon screamed.
There was no way back from what he had done.
Her kin – her flesh – her blood was lying there on the hard ground of the woods.
Fallon reached deep for the anger fuelled energy that had rushed to being inside of her. It wasn’t hard to find – it bubble and boiled and waited for an exit.
“Move…!” Fallon yelled at Jamie’s wolf as she stalked forward.
She raised her hands up in front of her as the beast moved aside and called her magic to her fingertips. The wolf was matching her step for step – ever vigilant against the vampire that threatened her safety…
The pain started as a white hot burn within Jaxon’s body, drowning out thought, reason, or a sense of anything other than the urge to flay his own skin off his body to cool it down – but that was not possible.
His body was wrenched upwards from the ground, suspended in the air high above the earth, as his blood boiled and fire raged inside of him …
Monty’s eye were fixed on the vampire and it was hard to tear them away from the macabre scene that was unfolding in front of him – but his brain kicked his backside in to gear and he knew that Dorothy needed him.
At least, he hoped that she still did. Hoped she still clung to life.
He forced himself to look away, but what he found was even more unbelievable. Chloe, sitting there cradling the elder on her lap and feeding her vampire blood…
“She’s not such a bad old bag, but if you tell her I said that I’ll kill you,” Chloe grumbled.
It was taking a lot of her willpower not the have the favour returned by the elder, not to take a little bite of the fae blood – and yet, somewhere deep within Chloe a switch had been flipped, and the woman knew that after the events of the day, things were never going to be the same for her ever again.
“Well, I sure as hell heard it,” Angela announced – dragging her eyes from the flaying vampire that was writhing in agony, down towards her friend lying in the vampire’s lap.
Dorothy’s eyes were closed, her blood covered her skin and clothing, and it hurt Angela’s heart to see her like that … and yet, there was something fightin
g back that pain within her – hope – hope for Chloe after what she had done for Dorothy.
“You, I’d gladly kill,” Chloe flicked a dark glare at the elder and Angela raised just one eyebrow back at the newbie vampire.
“Sure you would…” she offered dryly. Not offering anything more than that…
“Remind me never to piss off my granddaughter…” Hank said as he tore out of the woods and came to a screeching halt at the sight that befell him.
He eyed the tortured body of the vampire a moment before Jaxon’s body exploded outwards … then he caught the scent of fae blood in the air, and snapped his head around to where his mate was lying.
The elder growled a long hard warning at Chloe…
“Hey – hey, this is a new shirt,” Monty grumbled, rolling his eyes back towards his mate as she dropped Dorothy to the ground without ceremony and got the hell away from her before the elder wolf decided to take go all fang-crazy and try to take a bite…
She was being a good Samaritan, but she wasn’t a saint.
“I didn’t like that shirt anyway,” Chloe whispered as she leaned in towards her mate. Then her eyes brightened… “Do we get to play hide and seek now?” She grinned, a fangy grin that made Monty want to growl like one of the pack…
“Oh, Crap!” Monty bit out. “The alpha…”
“He’ll heal on his own,” Chloe snorted with an absent wave of her hand in the man’s direction.
“Be nice, because I now know that you can be,” Monty sang back.
“I think it was just a brain fart and I’m back to normal now,” Chloe assured him, but they both knew differently – something had changed inside of her and she couldn’t say if it was for the better or not until she got used to it a little more.
Fallon stalked across the grass towards Dorothy, and Chloe sidestepped the witch in order for her to pass…
“I don’t have call to say this to vampires often,” Fallon bit out, “thank you.”
“Oh, don’t thank me – feed me,” Chloe grinned and Fallon snorted her contempt.