by M. L. Briers
All fine there then, no need to panic…
She felt the rush of heat go through her body. Panic was sure to follow as her brain caught up with the initial reaction of her subconscious mind and her body…
“Don’t move an inch.” Shaun growled out.
Something was wrong. Something was very – very wrong.
He’d scented the air. He’d taken in the Fae essence that underlined her true feminine scent, and his body had reacted as if she’d sucker punched him in the gut with a sledgehammer.
His beast rose up within him. The predatory wolf stalking its prey… but as much as he disliked witches, he wasn’t prone to eating them when he came across them…
No. This was different.
This was like the earth had shifted beneath his feet and left him staring down into the deep, deep abyss of something more powerful, more potent, more devastating in magnitude than anything else he had ever experienced before in his entire…
“Do not tell me what to do.” Nessie bit out.
If she wanted to move – she’d move!
He might have been some big, tough, mean, strong, sexy shifter guy… But she didn’t sing along to his tune.
She was a witch, not a wolf. If she wanted to move – she would.
Hell fire. She’d dance a damn jig and do cartwheels if she wanted too…
“It’s for your own safety.” Shaun growled back.
He could see it in her eyes. They way that they flicked around her, looking for an out, looking to run… and right then – with his beast clawing and growling within him to burst free – that might have been very, very, oh so very bad for her.
“Now you’re threatening me?” She did that female thing where the hand went to her hip and her head moved about on her neck like one of those bobble head toys… he groaned inwardly.
“I’m just saying…”
“Well don’t.” She snapped back. “Don’t say. Don’t talk. Don’t – don’t – don’t, because I’m uncaring…” she offered the brazen air of being on top of it, in control… when that was far from the truth.
“I think you’ll care when my wolf…” Shaun started, but she was already backing away.
“I don’t think so…” She offered him her best sing-song, nothing’s wrong, voice when everything was very not right.
“I think you will.” He nodded as if to emphasise the point. Like she couldn’t understand his words on her own without direction.
“Gotta go…” She took more steps, but for each step that she made backwards so he made one towards her. That really wasn’t getting her anywhere…
“You really shouldn’t try.” He warned.
He shook his head, why? Because she was blonde – at least that was her guess…
“Don’t try to stop me…” She gave him her best steely determined voice. She might have to back it up with some magic if he went and got all rowdy on her, but that was okay too, because that would be self-defence and she felt well within her rights as a witch to do that.
“I really don’t think…” He started and she took a breath and sighed.
“Don’t think – good idea, just back away slowly…” she shooed him with her hands like a stray dog that threatened to pee up her leg. “Before the good witch turns into the evil witch and turns you into a crispy critter.”
There was a mocking, teasing look in her eyes, as she turned her head slightly and beamed him a wicked grin.
His wolf growled within him…
Mine…
And there it was – what he already knew. His wolf had finally staked its claim because little twinkle toes couldn’t keep her feet from moving. If she’d been the penguin from Happy Feet he might just have eaten her for her stupidity.
First Christmas.
Then a witch.
And now a mate…
He didn’t know whether to laugh like the world was a cruel and inhumane place or just throw himself off the nearest cliff… too bad there weren’t any close enough to get to before his damn wolf suspected anything untoward and stopped him.
“I wouldn’t try anything.” He warned her, but she didn’t look like she was paying much attention to his words, more the fact that his feet kept moving, and they kept moving in her direction.
“Okay!” She’d had enough.
She ground to a halt and he did the same. She tossed her hands up in the air and watched him snap his head back on his neck as if he expected to get blasted to kingdom come.
“I wouldn’t…” He warned and saw a glimmer of mischief within her eyes.
“That’s only because you can’t.”
Then she let him have it. Both barrels were locked and loaded as her magic finally found an outlet, and that outlet was the shifter’s groin…
His eyes went wide, pain etched onto his face, and his large hands grabbed for his balls… and all that time his muscles were quivering – barely able to hold his weigh up on his knees even though he’d locked them in place… locked everything in place…
His body looked to her like they were playing stiff as a board… as she watched, fascinated by his body’s reaction to what she’d done…
A magical kick in the balls…
Then he fell forwards like he was a statue being pushed from its plinth. The sound of the heavy thud as he face planted the ground made her grimace…
She might not have felt his pain, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t recognised that it must have hurt…
“A little too much oomph…” She told herself on a frown. “Less oomph more whoooosh!” She turned on her feet and started back the way that she had come – only a little faster and with a lot more awareness of her surroundings.
CHAPTER SIX
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“I thought you said your boy would win hands down.” Lucky’s eyes sparkled as she folded her arms and looked down at the alpha…
“It’s a minor setback.” Ernod bit down on the urge to break through the magical veil that hid the two of them from the earthly world and drag the stupid alpha up onto his feet – kick him up the backside, and point him back in the right direction of the witch.
“I think you’re in danger of losing those pointy little shoes of yours.” She pointed to the green clothe on his small feet and grinned with victory.
“I don’t think so.” The elf gave her the kind of grin that made her want to take a bath. “But I’ll be taking that tiara from you sometime soon.” Now he just looked smug.
“Never going to happen.” The faerie leaned in, taller and leaner than the elf, she had to bend at the waist to meet him face to face.
“Double or nothing.” Ernod’s eyes were focused down the dip of her dress that clung to her shapely breasts. He could see everything that he needed to…
“What are you willing to wager?” She had the sweetest of smiles on her lips, but Ernod wasn’t looking at her lips.
“My… belt.”
“Well – that’s disappointing.” She shot upwards and put one hand on her hip while she waved her wand around in the other…
“Very.” He was looking up at her again and he’d much rather be looking down her top. “What do you want?”
Lucky made a show of considering it. She knew what she wanted but she was slowly reeling him in. She bent forward, allowing him the view of her breasts once more…
“Your hat.”
His eyes snapped up to hers. His mouth opened and he gasped a shocked breath in.
“You know all the power of an elf lies in his hat. And you know that it would take me months of magic crafting to get a new one…” He eyed her. He didn’t trust this faerie as far as he could throw her, and at twice his size – that wasn’t far.
“Yes…” She said it like it was the most desirable thing in the world… and it was. If he lost his hat in a wager then he’d have to work non stop to garner a new one and that would leave the realm free and clear of him for a good long while…
His Ying to her yang… she would have free
reign to do as she pleased.
“Fine. Then if I win I want your wand!” Ernod eyed her for a long moment. Those sparkling faerie eyes of hers were locked and loaded on him, and he could almost see her brain ticking over…
He knew that she’d never risk it…
“Deal!” She snapped out, her eyes firing with mischief.
“What?” He snapped back. Unsure if he’d heard her right.
“Deal. No taking it back. My wand your hat – deal – deal – deal… Oh, there goes your boy.” She squealed in delight. “He finally managed to drag his pained self to his feet and we’re off!”
She took off in flight, leaving Ernod staring after her wondering if that had just happened… His eyes narrowed as he went back through the conversation in his head once more.
Yep. It happened alright.
“That devious little…” He grunted, taking off after her as fast as his legs could carry him.
That faerie had something not good up her sleeve.
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Rachel winced at the look of sheer pain on the wolfman’s face. Maybe she’d been a little hasty. It happened sometimes – she allowed her temper to get the better of her and wham-o, oops!
Only this wham-o, oops was different. She’d basically electrocuted a man who could end her with one swipe of his claws…
That was not good.
Magic was fine. Losing her temper was fine too, everyone needed a little release valve going off once in a while, but when you put the two of them together… Yeah – growly wolf guy with a really bad case of the fangs and claws, and he had both out now…
Whoops!
She snapped her magic off and turned back towards the house. He wasn’t a vampire and didn’t need inviting in, but he also needed to get through the door or window, and in broad daylight too…
By the time he’d figured that out she’d have some pretty meaty wards up around the house. Then he’d know what electrocution was!
Rachel heard the growl from somewhere behind her and knew that she didn’t have much time. She reached her hand out in front of her for the door handle and yanked it down without stopping to look back…
She wasn’t a horror movie scream queen, and this was real life. The heck was she going to lose concentration or time by looking back to see if he was following her… he was the bad guy – of course he was following her!
He wanted to taste her flesh on his fangs. It’s what wolfmen did. He wouldn’t have had his fangs out if he wasn’t planning on using them…
The door handle went down well enough… but that was as far as she got. The door didn’t move an inch and her body hit it hard.
She bounced back away from the wood and as her mind spun with disbelief, and her backside hit the ground with a hard thud to her pride…
Rachel groaned in pain. It wasn’t like she’d had a cushioned landing the way that Nessie would have with her curves… and as she pushed up to her elbows and considered trying to push up further… two big booted feet slammed down on the ground next to her, and one big, miffed off shifter with claws, fangs, and a lot of bad attitude growled down at her…
“Oh hell no!” She ground out, allowing her body to fall backwards against the ground as she pushed the palms of her hands out in front of her and pulled upon the magic within…
Two large hands clamped down around her wrists as his eyes went wide and he growled so hard, so deep, and so loudly that she felt it vibrate in the marrow of her bones…
“Not again, you don’t.” He growled out.
“Who are you, Yoda?” She snapped back.
Caleb yanked her up from the ground in one quick tug that saw every inch of her body leave the earth behind…
Rachel let out the kind of shriek that must have rattled the windows of the house, and yet she knew that Mary wasn’t about to come to her rescue. The woman was soaking in the tub with a bottle of wine and headphones in her ears blasting out her music…
An alien craft could have landed on the roof and Mary would be oblivious.
Caleb’s wolf was torn between showing the witch who was boss and nuzzling…
Nuzzling!
Caleb wasn’t so damn torn. He wanted to rip off her damn head and… kiss her from head to toe… lick… nibble…
He felt his claws slip back. He felt his fangs receding back into his jaws…
His wolf offered a gentler growl, and the man wanted to headbutt the nearest brick wall…
It couldn’t be…
Oh, but it could!
He’d caught her scent on the air before she’d zapped him, but now he had it good, and he liked what he could smell. She smelled like wild jasmine, and she felt soft against the hardness of his body…
Mine…
“Oh, you shouldn’t have done that.” Caleb growled gently.
His growl sounded hungry to her ears. His fangs and claws might have gone now, but for how long?
Then there was the fact that he had her in a death grip… well, a grip that she couldn’t twist out of at any rate – he did seem surprising gentle – but that was not the point. The point was…
He dipped his head and nuzzled between her neck and her shoulder, and she lost the point completely. She felt the pulled of air against her neck and knew what he was doing… sniffing! Scenting her like she was a bar of soap, a rasher of bacon…
“Can you not do that?!” She snapped out with a hiss like a rattlesnake in his voice.
Then he lifted his head and she saw the damnedest smile upon his lips. Gone was the aggressive posturing, gone was the look of hunger in his eyes to be replaced with… a different kind of a look of hunger…
“Oh hell no!” Rachel twisted and turned, turned and twisted.
She wanted out of his arms. She wanted to run… run as fast as she could… which wasn’t at all fast and nowhere near fast enough to escape him… but still – there was no way in damn hell that she wanted to hear a single word come from his grinning lips, because she had a damn feeling that she knew what that word was going to…
“Mine.” He growled out and every inch of her body gave up the will to live… or at least the fight, and her lips trembled as her lower jaw slacked and her eyes practically rolled back within her head.
“Yoooooou!” She huffed. Snapping her eyes open and giving him the kind of look that could start fires.
“Your mate.” His grin widened in absolute and unadulterated amusement. “Bet you weren’t expecting to hear that when you woke up this morning!” He chuckled, and she ground out a long winded moan of pure disbelief…
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“Quickly, quickly, rush, rush, he’s chasing you…” Lucky whispered on the wind as it started to pick up around her.
There was only so much magic that the faerie could get away with using before Ernod would sense her deception, but Mother Nature could be easily controlled without him suspecting too much.
Nessie felt a rush of a breeze that seemed to be trying to batter her into a change of direction. There was an anxious feeling that was welling up inside of her as her feet crunched against the ground. She picked up her step and moved faster…
“That wolf isn’t going to be happy with you…” Lucky whispered as she corralled her to where she wanted her to be.
“That wolf’s not going to be happy with me.” She muttered to herself as the sound of a rumble of an engine almost brought her up short…
“Keep going – you can get out of here…” Lucky whispered.
“Maybe I can catch a lift.” Nessie quickened her step once more as the bare branches reached for her clothing and clawed at the fabric, snagging it…
That’s my girl! Lucky chuckled. It was like taking candy from a baby, and soon, she’d have a pair of elf shoes and an elf hat to show her sisters… what treasures!
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Would you get you big, furry backside moving! Ernod grumbled as the a
lpha groaned out with the pain in his balls that each step brought him…
The elf wasn’t happy. He’d wagered his shoes and his damn hat and if this oaf didn’t get a move on then he’d lose both.
That couldn’t happen.
He wouldn’t allow that to happen.
There was nothing in the rules that said he couldn’t make suggestions… only that he couldn’t use magic.
“You’re going to lose her… she’s getting away and you’re never going to see her again…” He whispered on the winds that were gaining in strength…
Shaun growled at the thought of it. His mate the witch…
His mate running from him…
His mate getting away…
His beast growled a sorrowful tune, and then it rushed up inside of him, pushing forward without thought or consequence, bursting to life as the alpha’s clothes lay shredded against the frosty earth and the wolf took off on fast paws…
Now we’re getting somewhere. Ernod chuckled as he rubbed his hands together and took off after the alpha.
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“You made your point and its funny ha-ha, look, I’m even smiling…” Rachel stretched her lips wide in what looked like a grimace rather than a smile and watched him raise just one eyebrow back at her. “Now let me go. I learned my lesson and we can walk away from this if you…”
“Mine.” He offered, silencing her.
That amusement was still playing in his eyes and she pressed her lips together and bit down on a myriad of words that she’d love to offer to him and only him in that moment, but was just too polite to utter.
“Yeah. See, the first time was funny ha-ha, this time, not so much.” Rachel bit out.
She was trying her best to hold onto the annoyance within her, because having her little temper tantrum before hadn’t exactly worked out so well for her.
“Mine.” He said again and watched as she looked like she was chewing an imaginary wasp.