by M. L. Briers
“I have never been naked around a bonfire.” She hissed.
“I’m not surprised the ghost took off with the sound of the scream you let out.” Elizabeth snorted at her sister and Belle frowned harder.
“Seriously? I opened the damn door to find it there and all you can do is berate me for screaming?” Belle shot back.
“I’m just saying-” Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders.
“Well I’m sorry I didn’t alert the media before I had a heart attack. My bad.” Belle snapped back.
“Now you’re just being stroppy.” Elizabeth offered and Belle’s mouth dropped open.
“Maybe we should just let your sister have a moment or two to-” Jake strolled into the room and wrapped an arm around Elizabeth’s waist, ushering her towards the door.
“Rooster got away.” Mitchell announced from behind Melody and she shrieked and jumped in place.
“Does every damn ghoul around here want to give a witch a heart attack today?” Melody hissed as her mate growled a warning at the vampire.
“If you weren’t wound up so tightly…” Mitchell offered and then eyed her mate. “Perhaps you could help with that.”
“Back off, Mitchell.” Richie growled.
“Touchy.” Mitchell shrugged. “Or not in the case of your mate.” He chuckled and Richie’s top lip twitched in annoyance.
“Look, let’s just go have breakfast…” Jake started.
“Who can eat with all of these things appearing?” Melody scowled up at Mitchell and he grinned down at her. He would have shown a little fang had her mate not been so tetchy.
“I can.” Jake assured her.
“Me too.” Elizabeth nodded.
“I can always eat.” Ed shrugged.
“I’m kind of hungry myself.” Belle gave her friend an apologetic look.
“It’s all that energy that you used up last night.” Ed teased his mate. She jabbed an elbow at his ribs and he groaned as it connected.
“Let’s eat.” Jake announced like it was a plan of action. “Melody, I’m sure you could use the company and a coffee.” He offered and she frowned harder.
“Are clothes an optional extra?” She bit out.
“If you want to go naked that’s fine.” Jake offered with a smirk and Elizabeth bit back on a chuckle. Then she looked up at him.
“You’re still in a timeout.” She said, remembering why she was mad at him and shucking off his arm from around her. Jake groaned inwardly. “And you didn’t even get the rooster.”
“I did. He let it go!” Jake growled out, pointing an accusing finger at the vampire.
“You hand a live rooster to a vampire – what did you think was going to happen? It was breakfast or release.” Mitchell offered, stirring the pot and enjoying the mischief that he caused. Jake growled a long hard warning just as his mate turned accusing eyes on him.
“Poor rooster.” She gave a small shake of her head as she walked away, leaving Jake to groan inwardly again, and growl outwardly at the vampire.
At least he’d found his mate’s soft spot. She liked animals enough not to let him harm a damned annoying bird. He added that to the list of things he knew about her.
~
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~
“Do we have any chicken?” Richie asked as he wrenched open the fridge door and peered inside.
“For breakfast?” Melody shook her head.
“No, but there’s a rooster out there somewhere with your name on it if you can catch it.” Mitchell offered with a grin towards Jake as the man stood at the hob and scooped out the scrambled eggs that he’d just finished cooking into a bowl.
“That’s funny.” Jake growled out, eyeing him with another death glare.
“Oh give it a decade or so and you’ll see the funny side of things.” Mitchell offered back.
“Unlikely.” Jake growled.
“Wow, you know, I often wondered what those things did.” Elizabeth said as she eyed the hob – a small smirk on her lips.
“Is this your way of telling me that you don’t cook?” Jake offered her a smile.
“She doesn’t even own a frying pan.” Belle snorted her contempt for her sister’s lack of anything domesticated.
“I live in the city, who needs to cook?” Elizabeth snorted her contempt for that idea as she turned on her stool, coffee mug in hand, and eyed her sister sitting at the table. “Your idea of cooking is anything that goes in the microwave – so you can’t crow.”
“At lease I can be self-sufficient.” Belle offered back.
“Sure, so it’s the end of civilisation as we know it, and there are no more microwave meals – what you gonna do then?” Elizabeth challenged her and she frowned – then her eyes lit up.
“Move in with Melody, because she can cook.” Belle announced.
“Too bad, Melody got eaten by Zombies – you’re on your own. Next brainwave?” Elizabeth crowed.
“Why’d I get eaten by zombies?” Melody asked absently.
“For asking too many stupid questions.” Elizabeth shot back and Melody nodded her head before she realised what Elizabeth was saying – then when her words hit home; she frowned and hissed at her like a rattle snake.
“You can be such a-” Melody scowled.
“Witch, sometimes.” Belle finished it for her. If Elizabeth was going to zap anyone, it might as well be her.
“Can’t I though.” Elizabeth crowed with a smirk.
“You really can’t cook?” Jake frowned as he thought that one through and she slowly shook her head. “I’ve never met anyone who can’t cook before.”
“You’ve never met your mate before either. Two surprises in as many days.” Ed grinned. “Bet you never thought I’d woo my mate before you either.” He crowed and Jake just grunted.
“But look who your mate is.” Elizabeth grinned at Belle and the woman shot her a death glare.
“Just because I don’t analyse and procrastinate over every little detail in life-” Belle offered with a half shrug off her shoulders.
“It’s called taking responsibility for your actions.” Elizabeth questioned her with just a look.
“I don’t see the point in waiting to mate when you know that he’s the one – what’s there to think about? It’s preordained – written in the stars…”
“Oh, God I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.” Elizabeth groaned and Jake chuckled.
“Well, alpha, you’ll find out that romance is dead with this one.” Belle nodded towards her sister and Elizabeth sneered back at her. “Her idea of a romantic evening would be balancing your cheque books together.”
Jake’s lips pulled up at the corners. The more he heard the more he liked his mate.
“That makes them perfect for each other then.” Richie chuckled.
“Someone’s got to take care of the pack’s spending. Left to you and Ed we’d be selling off parts of our lands.” He growled.
“What I don’t get is why you choose not to practice the craft.” Melody piped up.
“I don’t flaunt my magic. It doesn’t mean I don’t have any.” Elizabeth shot back.
She’d heard the coven witches talking, assuming that her magic was weak or non-existent, and she liked it that way. Only Belle knew the truth of it – just how powerful a witch she had become.
“Well, it’s All Hallows Eve…” Belle changed the subject. “Tonight is the night that we might get answers from the ghost, so what are we going to do about it?”
“We aren’t going to do anything. I’ll deal with it.” Elizabeth announced and that set Jake’s beast off within him. He didn’t like that idea.
“Three witches are better than one.” He said, snapping off the heat to the hob and palming the sides as he leaned in towards her slightly.
“Not in this instance.” Elizabeth shot back, grabbing two of the platters piled high with food and walking them over to the table.
“What does that mean?” Jake growled.
“It
means Elizabeth’s magic doesn’t play well with others.” Belle shot back as her sister met her eyes and they held for a long minute. “You should tell them.”
“Tell us what?” Jake growled. He didn’t like the sound of that and he didn’t like secrets – not in his pack and certainly not in his mate.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes away from Belle and turned back towards the counter, a few steps and she was reaching for more plates. Jake’s hand shot out and before she could pull away – his long fingers wrapped around her wrist leaving her with no choice but to meet his questioning gaze.
“Tell us what?” He repeated again to the sound of Elizabeth’s small sigh. She guessed it was time to tell the truth.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“When I was young and stupid I toyed with something that I shouldn’t have.” She cocked a shoulder and slowly let it drop. Jake waited. “Dark magic…”
“Oooo, that’s not good.” Melody muttered.
“No, it wasn’t. I don’t use real magic often, and when I do there’s usually a very good reason for it.” She informed Jake to the sight of a deep frown etching its way onto his forehead.
“But you zapped me…?” He offered thoughtfully.
“A parlour trick, anyone can zap someone. It doesn’t take much magic to do that. I’m talking about the kind of magic where you have to dig deep for it – draw it from the depths of your soul…” She paused, winced, and he didn’t like that one little bit. “That’s where the dark magic is buried.”
“Is it dangerous?” Jake needed to know what his pack was letting itself in for.
She was his mate and he had a duty of care for her, but he also had a duty to his pack to keep them from harm’s way. If her magic was dangerous… hell, he didn’t know what he’d do.
“No more so than if your beast took a hold of you and you went rogue…” Elizabeth offered, but Belle’s sigh took his attention for a moment.
“Now ask her if it’s dangerous for herself.” She offered, folding her arms across her chest and pushing back in her seat as her sister shot her a glare.
“Is it, Elizabeth?” Jake asked, absently rubbing the pad of his thumb against her wrist and bringing her attention back towards him.
“Just like that rogue in you, my magic can consume me if I’m not strong enough to fight it off.” She admitted. She hadn’t wanted to, but she figured that he had a right to know – just in case the worst happened and they needed to end her.
“But we have to kill rogues.” Ed said and felt his mate tense beside him.
“Exactly.” Elizabeth said quietly, not dropping her gaze from Jake’s for an instant. She saw the light of understanding in his eyes – watched him wince – and then he slowly nodded. “Let’s eat.”
“I lost my appetite.” Melody said quietly as a hush went around the room.
~
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~
“Belle!” Jake called out as the witch walked through the downstairs hallway on her way to the stairs. She stopped and turned back to see the alpha stalking towards her.
“What I do?” She said already on the defensive.
“I need to talk to you about Elizabeth.” The frown etched onto his face told her exactly what he was thinking.
“She won’t listen.” She offered with a small shrug. “She knows her magic alone is stronger than mine and Melody’s put together.”
“But you and Melody could take care of this spectre by yourselves?” Jake asked, eager to protect his mate, but not willing to put either of the other witches in harm’s way.
“Possibly. Probably. But try telling that to Elizabeth.”
“That’s what I was planning on doing.”
“And we’re back to she won’t listen again.” Belle shook her head – defeated before they had explored every possibility.
“If her magic is so powerful why isn’t the spectre drawn to Elizabeth? It seems to go after you and Melody, but not her.”
“Because the thing knows just how powerful she is and what she can do to it. I’m guessing the thing has a message, or a reason, or a mission that it wants to take care of, and it doesn’t want to be banished before it’s done that.”
It wasn’t what Jake wanted to hear but he accepted it anyway. If a spectre was afraid of his mate then that said more than words alone could.
“So what can we do about it?” Jake asked and Belle snorted a chuckle.
“Nothing. Elizabeth won’t stop until she’s done what she’s set out to do. She has this protectionist thing going on, just like you do. Just sit back and let her do her thing.” Belle knew better than to try to stop Elizabeth once she’d made up her mind about something.
“That doesn’t sit well with me.” Jake growled.
“Welcome to my world.” Belle shrugged.
~
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~
“I think you should let the others deal with this problem.” Jake’s deep tone made Elizabeth jump slightly as she stood gazing out of the living room window, but she’d settled herself by the time that he’d covered the distance towards her.
“By others you mean Belle and Melody.” Elizabeth kept her eyes on the view and not on the man that had closed in behind her.
She could feel his heat against her back and she had the urge to lean her body back into him – feel that heat up close and personal, but she resisted the urge.
“Yes.”
“No.”
“You’re being unreasonable.” Jake growled.
He lifted his hand and curled his fingers around her upper arm, and he felt that touch like a flash of knowing that ran through his body. His beast rallied inside of him – wanting out, wanting more, but Jake pushed against it, holding it back.
“Well, I’m female and that’s what we do, no?” She shot him a look over her shoulder and regretted it instantly. Just the sight of him now was like a red rage to her mating bull, and she felt that kick to her womb and her stomach pitch up and flop back down again.
“Yes.” Jake said, and her eyes locked with his again as she shot him a look of amusement. “No.” He offered. “Some females can be very reasonable.”
“Unlucky for you that I’m not one of them.” Elizabeth grinned. The light of mischief was full on in her eyes and she looked so damn good to him that he had the urge to take her down to the carpet right there and then and lick her from head to toe…
“Your sister and Melody-”
“It wants them, Jake. Which means it knows it can get a foothold inside of them – whereas it doesn’t sense that in me.”
Jake saw the reason in that. He understood what she was telling him and he hated to admit it, but she was right. Like it or not – she was the better witch for the job.
“What can I do?”
“Just point me in the right direction and stand the hell back.” Elizabeth said, and she felt him tug against her arm, bringing her back against his chest as the feeling of a connection between them ran over her skin and warmed her from the inside out.
Elizabeth knew that she should pull away, sever the connection between them in case something should happen to her, but she also knew that it was too late. She could feel that mating pull working deep within her psyche, and if she could feel it then it would be stronger within him and his wolf.
There was nothing that she could do to protect him from what could happen to him should something untoward happen to her tonight. It was already too late for that.
So now she had something more to fight for – because the thought of Jake going rogue was eating her up inside.
~
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~
Melody yanked open the door to the bathroom like the hounds of hell were behind her, and was more than eager to get out of there in case the ghost appeared. She rushed out of the room and into the bedroom, pulling up short with a pitiful shriek when she spotted Richie… Zapping him with her magic before it even registered in her brain who he was…
Ri
chie felt the hard sting go through each and every muscle of his body and groaned at the burning sensation that locked them tightly in place.
“Giving me a heart attack is not the way to get a mate!” She snapped at him, and only just remembered to release her magic as she watched him visibly sag.
“Stop lurking!” She hissed, unrepentant in her words, but the look on her face said that she’d felt that zap for him as she winced.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Richie’s gravelly tone told her that his beast was just under the surface, and no wonder, she’d hit him with a pretty good blast. He looked miffed, and those black eyes were locked onto her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
“Better than you now.” Melody scowled and she warmed a little to the sound of an unexpected chuckle that rumbled out of him.
“Look, I know that in the grand scheme of things I can’t protect you from this spectre, but I want you to stay close to me today until this thing is toast.” He said.
Richie’s scowl told her that he wasn’t happy about the first part of that statement. He was a protector by nature, and she guessed that having something that he couldn’t fight against was rubbing him and his wolf up the wrong way.
“I can take care of myself.” She scowled back at him.
Heaven only knew she didn’t want to face the ghost alone – she hated all things dead, vampires included, although she was warming slightly towards Mitchell. Not that she’d tell the bloodsucker that.
Melody blinked fast when Richie stalked across the room and closed the distance between them. Her mind told her to back away from him but her body might as well have been doused with quick drying cement, because she couldn’t seem to step away, even if her life had depended on it.
“I’m your mate, Melody. It’s my duty to put myself between you and danger.” He growled a little with each and every word.
“I know.” She rushed out, swallowing hard at just how close he was too her, and how good that made her feel.