by M. L. Briers
Look at him. Why is it that men get better with age?
Why does the silver hair at his temples make him look like a sex God, but when a woman does it she looks like Cruella De Ville?
It’s not fair. It’s not bloody right. And why can’t they invent a hair dye that doesn’t smell as if you’ve had your head stuck down the toilet for half an hour?
Bloody men get away with everything!
And him — him — he gets away was more than most.
He’s just so damn lick-able!
Oh, is that wrong? It sounded wrong to my ears… Or so very right that I might just be going out of my mind.
He’s not a bloody ice cream.
He’s — what is he?
Mine! Oh yeah, mine, all mine. Oh — say it again, because I can, because he is — mine!
He’s not going to run off with a twenty-year-old bimbo with perky breasts and hips that can clear tables when she walks down the aisle.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine…
“Mine,” Elizabeth said and gave a small chuckle at the thought.
That was until the deepest growl yet rumbled through him and vibrated against her skin. His eyes turned jet black and flared as he drew a deep breath in through his nose, and he had a hungry look on his face — positively bloody ravenous.
Mine… His beast growled.
“I’m guessing I said that out loud,” Elizabeth said as she swallowed hard — twice.
“Oh, you did,” Rick growled.
Every muscle within his body had tightened as he held his beast back from breaking free. His wolf was clawing just beneath the surface of his skin, desperate to claim her as their mate.
Rick wasn’t doing much better. He was barely holding himself back from doing what came naturally.
Thoughts ran through Elizabeth’s mind like a streaker at a football match. A part of her wanted to embrace the situation, and another part wanted to turn away from the spectacle.
I did it. I said it. I own it.
“How do you feel about — Whoops!?” She offered him a look that was part hopeful, part guilty, and part grimace.
“Whoops would be you sneezing and accidentally zapping me. Whoops, might even be if you ran over me with your car. Whoops, can never be stating your claim on me.”
“I get that. I do. But…” She held up her index finger on another grimace.
“But…” Rick gave a small shake of his head at the same time as his arm was absently reaching out to encircle the body. His other hand was busy snagging her wrist and moving her arm aside so that when he wrenched her body towards his, they fit together just perfectly.
“W-ait just…” She rushed out in surprise.
“Too late. Time’s up,” Rick growled. Then he brought his lips down hers in the hope that she wouldn’t protest a moment longer.
Elizabeth’s world was turned upside down. Just the touch of his lips against hers, soft lips, warm, but with a firmness that told her he wasn’t taking any prisoners, made a rush of excitement turn her whole body to mush.
Mush felt good. He felt good.
Those hard muscles that were stacked inside of him that she’d been curious about, itched to touch, to poke, to see just how real they were flattened her squishy bits, and made their bodies fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
She liked puzzles. She liked him.
She liked the feel of their bodies meeting and molding together – and she certainly liked the way that he kissed her.
Then there was the growl. Oh boy, did she like that growl? It was so much more potent when they were up close and personal.
If she wasn’t a careful at that moment in time, then she just might agree to anything. Or did she already do that?
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
~
Valerie couldn’t sleep, but that wasn’t unusual. Back home in her own bed she could toss and turn for hours. Usually, she just gave up trying and went to the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate.
But she wasn’t at home and what had been keeping her awake was very unusual circumstances. The thought of being Quinn’s mate kept circling her mind like the four winds being whipped up into a twister and gathering all other thoughts in its path.
Then there was the sound that reminded her of someone trying to start a lawnmower, over and over again. She didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that sound came from her mate.
Quinn was obviously somewhere outside of the bedroom door. That sound was obviously him snoring.
Not exactly a selling point as a mate. She might just need earplugs.
Valerie tossed the covers back on the bed and rolled over to the edge. She pushed to a sitting position and dangled her feet.
With a tired mutter of annoyance for the man and his snoring ways, she stood up, pushed her feet into her slippers, and started for the door.
She unlocked it the same way that she had locked him outside — with her magic — and she was ready to give him a piece of her mind when she pulled the door open and saw him curled up on the floor, sleeping like a baby.
Valerie wasn’t sure why she didn’t have the heart to zap him, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. With a roll of her eyes and a grumble on her lips, she gave a small shake of her head as she tiptoed by him.
She might not have been able to zap him, but that was probably a good thing because he would only have followed her downstairs like a lost puppy, and all she wanted was to make a cup of hot chocolate in peace. She didn’t think Sarah would mind.
“No, no, no. You go right ahead and sleep like a baby, you old fart, while I prowl the halls in search of hot chocolate.” She muttered under her breath, but there was a smile on her lips at the memory of her mate all curled up on the floor.
~
~
~
Elizabeth couldn’t breathe. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She could breathe if she could just remember how to do it.
He’d kissed her to oblivion and then snatched those lips away again leaving her high and dry and clinging to him so that she didn’t collapse in a heap at his feet.
“Why’d you stop?” Elizabeth wanted to kick herself for the fact that those were the first words out of her mouth.
“Right now — I’m asking myself the same damn question.” Rick offered a hungry growl.
“Brownie points for the answer.”
“This isn’t my cabin — this isn’t even a bedroom,” Rick said and noted the way that she dragged her eyes away from him to flick around the room.
“Well, would you look at that?” She gave a small chuckle that sounded rather dirty to his ears. He growled again.
“Let me show you my cabin,” Rick said and frowned in the process. “That didn’t sound right.”
“I don’t know — it sounded pretty good to me.” She offered him a grin that was both mischievous and full of glee.
There was another long, deep, very hungry growl that rolled through his chest and caught in his throat, and she liked the sound of that. It was kind of like a promise of things to come.
Rick took the smallest step back, growled, bent at the waist and tossed her right over his left shoulder. She gave a small squeal of surprise — but that was nothing compared to the sound of a haunting screen that went up from somewhere in the inn.
Rick had been about turn towards the back door. He froze in place, listened hard, and was about to start off for the internal door when he remembered that Elizabeth was still hanging over his shoulder.
“Mother!” Elizabeth bit out.
Rick couldn’t lower her to her feet on the floor fast enough as she struggled to get away.
“Elizabeth, stay behind me,” Rick growled as he wrapped his hand around her wrist and tugged her body behind the safety of his back.
~
~
~
All hell had broken loose at the inn. Elder witches tried their best to scramble out of their beds at the sound of the screen. Rushing to do anything at thei
r age wasn’t an easy task.
Dorothy and Angela bickered with their respective mates about who should take point as they made their way onto the landing, and both women looked relieved to know that the scream hadn’t come from either of them.
“Sarah?” Dorothy hissed.
“Better not be!” Angela bit out as they started towards the staircase with their mates in front of them like human shields.
The chatter from the landing above as the elder witches gathered to see what was happening and talk among themselves sounded like a gaggle of geese. Hank hushed them.
“I can’t hear myself think.” He grumbled.
“Just follow the scent of blood in the air,” Lark mumbled back. He didn’t want their mates, or the elders to hear what he had to say.
~
~
~
Sarah raced from the kitchen into the back hallway. Her eyes took in the scene of Valerie lying unconscious on the floor. There was blood gushing from a wound to her head, and Robert was backing away from Valerie’s broken body.
“She just wouldn’t stop interfering,” Robert bit out.
The man looked somewhat surprised to see Valerie lying there. Maybe even shocked by what he’d done.
“Chloe! Get in here now!” Sarah didn’t need to think twice about inviting the vampire into the inn. It was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do.
If it wasn’t already too late, then it would be Valerie’s only chance.
“She — she — shouldn’t have medalled.” Robert bit out. His top lip twitched with the rage that still burned inside of him.
Sarah reached for her magic as Chloe appeared beside her.
“What about him?” Chloe asked, and Sarah knew why. He was human and if they needed to wipe his memory and it didn’t work — there was only one outcome.
“He’s dead either way,” Sarah bit out.
Robert’s cold, hard eyes met hers. His brain took a moment to process what she had said, but when it did, he made his first move towards her.
“Mother!” Elizabeth exclaimed as she raced down the hallway to be by her mother’s side as Chloe bent onto one knee.
“No!” Rick growled as his mate put herself between him and Robert.
Robert turned towards Elizabeth, and in one fast movement, he’d snatched her from her path, against his body, as he wrapped an arm around her neck and breathed hard against her ear.
“Now we can be together,” Robert said.
Rick growled hard at the sight of the man’s hands on his mate. His wolf clawed to be set free — but he wanted the kill for himself. His only problem was how to get Elizabeth to safety first.
Chloe released her fangs and hissed at the man like a coiled snake ready to strike. She snatched Robert’s attention away from everything else as the look of horror, and sheer disbelief was etched onto his face. She lifted her hand and sunk her fangs into her own flesh.
“Not bloody likely, you psycho,” Elizabeth ground out as she unleashed her magic from every inch of her body and the pain screamed through his.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
“Holy hell’s bloody bells!” Dorothy bit out as she got to the top of the hallway and took in the scene.
“Son of a…” Angela’s magic was already at her fingertips, and she zapped Robert as hard and as painfully as she could muster.
Chloe was feeding Valerie her blood, and the human could barely take his eyes off the macabre scene in front of him. Even as the pain screamed through his body, he couldn’t drag his eyes away. That pain didn’t too last much longer as Rick’s claws tore through his throat and ended the man there and then.
Elizabeth was already at her mother’s side as Robert’s body hit the floor. She paid the man no mind as Quinn battered Hank and Lark out of the way as he started to dash down the hallway and toward his mate.
“Valerie!” He growled out as he tried to hold onto the beast within him that wanted to burst forward and defend her against everyone present.
Sarah, Dorothy, and Angela all reached for their magic at once, holding the man in place as if he’d hit an invisible wall.
“Oh goody,” Monty announced as he swept into the hallway and looked on in disbelief. “A body to dispose of. I guess I know what I’m doing tonight.” He offered in a deadpan voice.
“Yes, but doesn’t it feel good to be useful?” Angela said.
“Tell me you were in time?” Elizabeth demanded the answer from Chloe and the vampire bit down on her urge to shrug and offer back a sarcastic remark.
“There’s life in the old bat yet,” Chloe didn’t quite have a handle on willpower, just yet.
“And look at you,” Monty announced to his mate. “Somebody got invited in.”
“And no nefarious plan needed,” Chloe smirked.
“Naturally, you’re going to behave…” Dorothy said.
“Yes, I’m going to behave naturally,” Chloe offered back with a smirk.
Sarah groaned inwardly. Even if she’d had time to think about her decision, she wouldn’t have done anything differently.
Nobody noticed as Rick backed out the hallway through a side door. His anger had gotten the better of him, and he’d killed a human.
How could his mate ever look at him the same way again?
~
~
~
“I’m fine!” Valerie tossed up a hand in frustration and allowed it to fall back to the bed covers. She hated fussing — and they were fussing.
“This is so déjà vu,” Angela said as she rolled her eyes.
“Yes, you witches do seem to attract trouble,” Quinn growled at the thought of what his mate had gone through.
He was standing in front of the window with his arms folded and his backside resting against the frame. He was having to restrain himself as four witches tended to his mate. That was his job, but every time that he got close to his mate someone would reach out and slap his hand away.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Sarah chuckled. “Perhaps we’re just doing the world a service in getting rid of bad rubbish.”
“Sure, that’s it,” Quinn growled.
“Again, I’m fine. Everyone should just leave,” Valerie said. “Except for him.
All of the witches turned a slow stare towards Quinn. The man straightened, dropped his arms to his sides, and puffed out his chest as he lifted his chin in triumph.
“Someone’s gonna get a little something before dawn, methinks,” Dorothy offered a rather dirty sounding chuckle and got an elbow in her ribs from Angela in reply.
“Behave, woman,” Angela grumbled.
“I’m too old to behave. I intend to live the rest of my life disgracefully,” Dorothy offered a mischievous grin that spread from ear to ear.
“Nothing new there then,” Angela muttered.
“Are you sure, mother?” Elizabeth asked.
“No — I’m senile,” Valerie huffed back.
“And somebody has their panties in a tangle,” Dorothy said with a chuckle.
“Don’t you worry about her panties,” Quinn growled. “That’s my job.”
“Well, if you’re going camping then I guess you could use them as a tent,” Angela said on a shrug.
“That might be your panties — but it’s not mine,” Valerie offered back and got another growl from Quinn in return.
“Please, can we not talk about my mother’s panties?” Elizabeth grumbled. She was happy that her mother had found a mate, she just didn’t need to know the intricate details.
“Well, dear, you know where the door is.” Valerie lifted her hand and motioned for Elizabeth to leave.
“Someone’s eager,” Dorothy chuckled.
“Oh, don’t project yourself on others,” Angela said with a small shake of her head as she nudged Dorothy towards the door.
~
~
~
Elizabeth tipped her head back on her neck and swallowed down the shot
of Scotch in one gulp. It burnt a path all the way down the back of her throat and into her chest. She gasped in a breath and slapped the glass down on the counter in front of her.
“It’s good, right?” Sarah grinned.
“Good. Right.” Her words were breathed out on a fiery breath.
“What the hell happened?” Nathan growled as he stalked into the kitchen and right up to his mate’s side.
“Just another day at the inn, honey,” Sarah offered back with a smile.
“Rick said…” Nathan started, but he never got to finish as Elizabeth gasped again.
“Rick!” It wasn’t as if she’d forgotten about him — how could she? But until that moment her mind and body hadn’t registered the loss that she suddenly felt when she’d heard his name.
“He’s down in his cabin talking about leaving and dead humans,” Nathan said.
He was somewhat bewildered by the rushed story that Rick had offered him. He couldn’t get much sense out of the man.
“Cabin?” Elizabeth’s eyes questioned Sarah.
“Pack-land. Nathan can show you where.” Sarah offered back, and Nathan did a double take of his mate in surprise.
“Someone tell me what happened?” He demanded.
“Elizabeth can tell you on the way to Rick’s cabin,” Sarah rushed out as she started to nudge her mate backward towards the door.
“I’m the alpha!” He said in disbelief. “I’d like to know what the hell is going on with my pack.”
“Well, honey. Unfortunately, if you’re going to be absent then you’re going to miss a few mini-dramas.” Sarah offered him a small shrug off her shoulders and a big grin of amusement.
“Witches,” Nathan grumbled to himself.
“I heard that!” Sarah berated him.
“And they say wolves have big ears,” Nathan tossed back over his shoulder as he continued towards the back door.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
~
“What are we going to do for Christmas this year? It’s not that far away. Time to start thinking about it,” Monty offered to his mate as he shoveled more earth from the ground.