by M. L. Briers
“I do not have…” He started, but his mate cut him short.
“I think you might look good in glitter,” Saffy challenged him and stroked his ego at the same time.
“Glitter…” The alpha scowled so hard that his eyebrows practically covered up his eyes.
“But, whether your man enough to face the fairies is something that I just can’t answer — yet,” Saffy added, and then offered him a small, innocent smile.
Doug growled. There was nothing innocent about that smile, and they all knew it. All except his beast — who rose up within him and demanded that they protect their mate and defend their honor.
“Devious little…” The rest of the alpha’s words vanished in a grumble and a growl.
“Settled then!” Natalie beamed the alpha a wicked smile. “We all go inside.”
“I was going anyway,” Doug growled.
“Of course you were,” Saffy’s teasing voice taunted his honor once more.
“If I said I was — I was,” Doug growled.
“I’ll take your word for it – this time.” Saffy folded her arms, lifted her chin, and looked away from him.
“A trusting little…” The alpha grumbled once more.
“Well, prove it. You can go in first,” Natalie said. “Lead the troops, as it were.” She grinned.
“Mischievous little…” Doug grumbled.
“Does anyone else get the feeling that the alpha doesn’t like witches?” Jake asked from the back of the group.
“Nobody invited you here,” the alpha growled.
“No. But your mates ruined my quite Christmas — think of this as payback,” Jake offered.
“Mixing — stirring — devious — pesky — mischievous little…” Doug grumbled into his chest as he dropped his chin down, eyed the front door, and reached for the handle.
He wasn’t looking forward to going in with the faeries, but it was his duty to lead his pack.
All of his pack — including the witches.
Even if he did have the sudden urge to toss open the door and shove them inside so that they could clear up their own damn mess that they’d created.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“Make it right, make it bright, light up their aura’s here tonight,” Natalie said from just over the alpha’s shoulder as they stepped into the large, silent room.
At the same time, Saffy clicked her fingers and turned on the overhead lights.
“Does it have to rhyme?” Jonathan asked with a frown.
His eyes took in the room before him. The Christmas tree at the far end was still strung with lights that were still twinkling brightly, and all around the room what looked like little fireflies with bright blue and luminous pink aura’s ground to a halt in mid-flight.
“It just sounds better, don’t you think?” Natalie offered within the silence of the room.
“I can’t tell if they’re staring at us,” Rex growled.
“Not us, brother. You,” Jonathan offered as he flicked the back of the beta’s his neck, and chuckled when his brother jumped and swatted his own skin.
“Not funny,” Rex growled.
He was fast losing patience with his brother’s antics. He didn’t like faeries at the best of times, but being trapped inside a house with them didn’t seem like the way he wanted to go.
“Pretty funny,” Jonathan chuckled.
“So, what’s the plan?” Natalie leaned in towards the alpha a little and asked.
From behind her Jonathan offered a warning growl to the alpha for being that close to his mate.
“Don’t have one,” the alpha admitted. Then he shot a dark glare back over his shoulder at Jonathan. “She leaned in towards me.” He growled at the man.
“I know — don’t shoot the messenger, it was just a gut reaction,” Jonathan admitted.
“Then tell your damn gut to get over itself and shut the hell up,” Doug growled.
“How can you not have a plan?” Natalie sighed. “Fine. As always — leave it to the witches.”
“You did let them in,” the alpha reminded her.
Natalie screwed up her face and grimaced at his accusation. She felt the twinge of guilt and tried to dismiss it, but it wasn’t going anywhere.
There was something about having his dark, beady eyes glaring at her that seemed to ramp up that guilty feeling inside of her.
It wasn’t right — she’d enjoyed a practically guilt-free life so far, and the thought of not having that again annoyed her. And all because of a beady-eyed alpha.
“I was acting in self-defense,” she offered back with an air of knowing that she’d been busted.
“Well, you shouldn’t mind acting in self-defense now,” the alpha offered back.
“What does that mean?” Natalie didn’t like the sound of that.
“You did it – you undo it,” the alpha offered her a smug smile.
“I said I would,” Natalie hissed out as she lifted her chin in defiance and snorted her contempt for the man.
“Great, have at it,” Doug motioned towards the faeries.
Natalie attention turned towards the little pink and blue aura’s, and her mate was right; those pesky little faeries were staring at them. She wasn’t feeling particularly emboldened by her magic because faeries had magic too and there were more of them.
Life would have been so much easier if she was dealing with vampires or shifters, but she’d made a rod for her own back, and she was going to have to live with that. She took a moment to consider what spell she might use to vanquish the faeries from the cabin.
Natalie didn’t want to hurt them. After all, they’d been her ally when she’d made her devious plan to get away from shifters, and it had worked — if only temporarily.
She didn’t much fancy the idea of sharing the cabin with faeries — but the thought of sharing it with shifters didn’t thrill her much either. But it was the lesser of the two evils — and compared to the faeries Jonathan didn’t feel so evil anymore.
Oh no, please don’t tell me that the man is growing on me.
It’s like I stood still for too long and the fungus got me.
Not that he’s fungus — more… I don’t know.
Is fungus sexy? No. But he is.
I know his growly in his misogynistic way – there’s a downside — one point to me.
But his voice is like velvet over gravel and boy is that a point to him.
Don’t even get me started on that body — oops I’m objectifying him — oh well, I guess I can because he’s my mate.
And then there’s those eyes — puppy dog with a hint of sex on a stick — damn, another point to him.
Wasn’t I supposed to be doing something that didn’t involve thinking about my mate?
Oops — too late!
Natalie recoiled at the sight of the faeries in flight. They were heading straight towards the group, and for the life of her, she couldn’t think of one little itsy spell to stop them.
~
~
~
It reminded Doug of a bumblebee hitting a window in mid-flight and dropping to the ground. Little splats of bright aura’s signaled that the faeries had somehow hit an invisible wall and were falling to the floor, dazed and confused, and very much off their game.
“That’s kind of pretty — although, I’m sure the faeries aren’t enjoying it,” Saffy said.
“Christmas come early, it’s a win-win,” Natalie agreed.
“You were a little off your game there,” Christie said as she stood her ground and projected her magic out in front of the group to protect them from the faeries. “You didn’t mind me stepping in?”
“Any witch will do,” the alpha said, pleased with the initial outcome of the witch’s spell.
“Excuse me?” Saffy tossed her hands onto her hips and gave her mate the equivalent of a death glare.
“I said any witch will do,” the alpha offered, but as he tossed a look at his mate, he felt a sto
ne slab drop inside his stomach.
He quickly revisited his words as he offered her a double take, just to make sure that her head wasn’t about to spin completely around on her neck and fire shoot out from her eyes.
“I heard you,” Saffy grumbled as she snatched her hands away from hips and folded her arms. That death glare had turned into the evil eye.
Doug had a feeling that if his mate put any kind of magic behind that look, then he would be dropping like a stone. Just like those damn faeries.
“I was talking about the spell.” A hard frown settled on Doug’s forehead as he quickly tried to backpedal and explain himself.
“I’m sure you were,” Saffy didn’t sound too sure. At least, not to his ears.
“What do we do with the faeries now?” Doug turned his attention towards Christie. It felt somehow safer than looking at Saffy just then.
“The ones on the ground you can sweep up and put out the door. But those other ones…” Christie nodded her head in the direction of the group of faeries that hadn’t made it as far as the invisible wall.
“Grab a broom,” Saffy said as she offered the alpha another death glare. “You do have a broom, don’t you?”
“That’s not really my area of expertise,” the alpha offered back.
Saffy twisted her head on her neck and looked at him as if he was a Martian.
“You’re just so…”
“Male,” Natalie finished for her.
“And that’s a good thing, right?” Doug offered back with a small flare of amusement that touched his eyes and his lips.
“We can discuss your lack of…everything, later,” Saffy offered back. She looked unimpressed by her mate’s attempt at humor.
“Oh good — looking forward to it.” Doug lied.
“Someone’s in trouble,” the vampire announced from the back of the group.
“Still not invited in,” the alpha growled back.
“Me either.” The elder announced as he walked into the room from the kitchen, and snorted his contempt at the sight of the faeries that were laying on the floor.
“Yes, and with good reason,” Jake offered back. “I, on the other hand, have a purpose in life.”
“You’re a mosquito,” the elder growled. “An annoying bloodsucking leech.”
“Make yourself useful, elder, and grab a couple of brooms,” Jake said with the kind of smug grin that the elder would have loved to have wiped right from his face.
“Are the witches leaving already?” The elder offered back.
All three witches turned to glare at the elder. He felt a sense of achievement. Miffing off so many witches in one easy strike was a gift that he would treasure.
Then he turned on his heels and strolled back into the kitchen to get the brooms. A small, deep, satisfied chuckle rumbled back towards the group, taunting the witches.
“He’s so funny — I just want to adopt him,” Natalie hissed, shooting a glare of annoyance towards her mate.
“Not my fault,” Jonathan said as he held up his hands in surrender once more.
“Don’t blame me when I zap the guy,” Natalie grumbled.
“Oh, can I watch?” Jake grinned at the prospect.
“Your transportation awaits,” the elder announced as he stalked back out of the kitchen carrying two brooms.
“I can feel it coming on — it’s going to happen sooner rather than later,” Natalie warned them.
“I say make it sooner,” Jake shrugged.
“How like a vampire to stir the pot,” Natalie turned up her nose at the man.
“How like a witch to procrastinate,” Jake offered back.
“Someone wanna take these brooms – housework is not my thing,” the elder grumbled.
“Gee, there’s a shocker,” Natalie sniped. “A man that doesn’t do housework – how unrefreshing.”
“Stop your bellyaching, and starts weeping,” the elder grumbled.
“He’s right — can we keep our mind on the task at hand?” Christie said as she pushed back the magic boundary to allow access to the faeries that were on the floor.
The elder held out a broom in each hand, and Natalie and Saffy both offered him the evil eye as they snatched the brooms and started to sweep.
“Well would you look at that — a woman’s work is never done,” the elder chuckled.
“What about the others?” Doug growled at the group of faeries that were huddled together like conspirators in a plot.
“They can leave of their own accord, unharmed, or we can get them out,” Christie warned the faeries.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
‘Fine. We are leaving — but we’ll be back.’
As the witches swept fast and furious the front door, so the faeries whizzed around the group, heading towards the door, but with a few short, sharp stings of magic aimed at any victim that was handy.
“And good riddance to bad rubbish,” the elder growled as Saffy tossed the front door closed behind the last of the faeries.
“Leaving so soon?” Jake grinned at the elder and got a long, deep growl of warning in return.
“What happened to the party?” The alpha asked the elder.
“After trying with minimal amounts of success to toss out however many faeries they could, it was decided that with you three out on the hunt — the party was over. But they said to give them a hollow if you needed them.”
The elder stalked towards his comfortable chair beside the open fire and eased himself down into it with a small huff that was full to the brim with satisfaction.
“Talk about when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” Jake sniggered.
“They just had the brains to figure out that the witches would be better placed to get rid of the faeries them they were. We just had to wait and see if the alpha could find them and bring them back,” the elder offered back.
His salt and pepper eyebrows were drawn down virtually covering his eyes as he glared back at the vampire with equal amounts of annoyance and disdain.
“Do you have a bone to pick with me old man?” Jake asked.
“I doubt he’d waste a good bone on you,” Natalie tossed back at the vampire over her shoulder.
“Oh, look who it is that’s sticking up for the elder, and after he insulted you and all,” Jake chuckled. “I guess that it’s true that the pack does stick together.”
“Saffy, control your vampire before I do him harm,” Natalie threw the warning towards Jake, and the man drew back in mock horror.
“Why is he my vampire?” Saffy tossed back.
The sound of the alpha’s hungry growl rumbled through the air, and Jake turned his attention towards Doug. It took a moment for the penny to drop with the vampire.
“When she says my – she doesn’t mean it in a literal sense,” the vampire offered, but when the alpha turned his whole body and one hell of a dark glare toward Jake – the vampire held up his hands and took one long step back from the group. “Happy?”
“No,” Doug growled.
“Happier?” Jake teased.
“I’d sink my fangs into his leech backside,” Tom offered with a shrug. “But that’s just me.” He offered the vampire a smug smile.
“I’d say go for it,” Natalie offered the alpha and innocent smile, but when she turned it towards the vampire, it turned into a smirk.
“I’ll remember you said that,” Jake offered back.
“Just like I’ll remember how you helped us back at your house,” Natalie offered back. “Oh, wait…”
“That’s because I don’t get involved between mates,” Jake offered those words of wisdom directly to the alpha.
“Well, our work here is done. I guess it’s time to head off,” Christie turned on her heels and started for the door.
She found Rex standing right in front of it, his big muscled arms were folded across his broad chest, making both look bigger, and he had a slow to boil smile upon his face that distracted her brain until it was
complete.
“You could give it your best shot,” Rex grinned.
Christie took a moment to think about it. It was tempting — very, very tempting. Then she hit him with a jolt of her magic that made his body fold in on itself as he collapsed to his knees on the floor.
“Okay,” Christie declared on a snort of laughter as she sidestepped her mate and reached for the handle of the door.
“Nice try. That’s as far as you go,” the alpha informed her.
“Yes, we tried the direct approach — we found that it’s much better to go down the devilishly devious route,” Natalie chuckled at the witch’s attempt to leave.
“It worked out so well,” Saffy muttered.
“Ouch!” Rex bit out between clenched teeth. “Boy, does that have a sting in the tail,” he grumbled.
“I was gentle — and here I was thinking you were a big, bad beta wolf shifter,” Christie offered down to him like a challenge to his manhood that neither he nor his beast could deny.
Rex pushed up to his feet. It might have taken quite an effort to battle against the remnants of the magic that still twanged throughout his body, but he damn well did it.
She’d offered him a challenge.
He liked challenges.
“I’d be very careful what you wish for,” Rex growled.
He wasn’t the only one that liked challenges — his beast loved them, and a witch mate was certainly a challenge.
“Yes, Rex might throw a tantrum and toss his toys out of the cradle,” Jonathan chuckled.
Rex growled a warning to his brother. He was already trying to hold on to his beast from the challenge that his mate had offered him. He really didn’t need his brother trying to wind up his wolf because things could get ugly and he had a mate to woo.
“Can you two behave like grown-ups, at least until you’ve actually wooed your mates?” The alpha growled, echoing his brother’s thoughts on the situation at hand.
“Probably not,” Rex grumbled as he shot a glare at Jonathan.
“Yeah, I really don’t see that happening,” Jonathon sneered back at his brother.