by M. L. Briers
“Repulsed, but we can go with cold if it makes you feel better.” She snapped, and she was back to her old self again.
“Pass, but thanks for thinking of my feelings.” He said in a voice that sounded candy cane sweet.
Rachel shot a look towards Nessie and her friend rolled her eyes in her head and stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth. It was her polite way of saying that he’d got her number, and Rachel knew that look well.
“Oh shut up.” She hissed at Nessie and the woman chuckled to herself.
“When I said if we wanted to make it back to pack lands that wasn’t an either or, we are going.” Shaun informed the woman and got three scowls back for his troubles.
“We, as in us…” Rachel motioned between the women with her hand, “live in a d-e-m-o-c-r-a-c-y. Now I know that’s probably a scary word for you right now, and I don’t want to upset your equilibrium…” She spoke quietly and in the same way that she would if she was talking to a five year old. “But you need to come to terms with that, and the sooner the better.” She gave him a knowing smile as he tried hard to bite off the growl of annoyance that rumbled within his chest.
It didn’t work – he growled. Then Caleb growled because the alpha was growling at his mate.
“You,” Shaun motioned around the witches, “live in the illusion of democracy.”
“Huh?” Rachel twisted her head to the side and shot him a look.
“You,” he motioned to them again, “have your vote and choose your leaders based on whatever pile of horse crap they want to sell you, but in the end they do what they want. We,” he motioned to his brothers, “have this thing called a chain of command, but ultimately, I,” he pointed to his chest, “say what, where, how, and when.”
“Ha!” She bit out. “So it’s your way or the highway?” She nodded.
“That’s right.” He gave an affirmative nod of his head.
“Sounds good.” She said. “I vote highway.” She held up her hand and Nessie followed suit.
“Highway!” Nessie shrugged at the alpha as he rumbled a groan.
“Highway.” Mary bit out, even if she could barely drag her eyes from her mate to see what all the fuss was about.
“Nice try, want to go for a third round of the; I don’t care, you’re all coming home with us, game?” Shaun growled. Rachel narrowed her eyes on him and made a point of considering his words.
“Not really, no.”
“Good.” Shaun snapped. “Let’s go.” He motioned towards the kitchen door but not one of the women moved. “And we’re off.” He tried again.
“Ok,” Rachel snapped to attention as she folded her arms. “Here’s the problem – for you.” She lifted her hand and offered him a pointy finger. “We don’t want to go with you.” She grinned like a lunatic under a full gaze of super moon.
Shaun took another one of those deep breaths and shook his head.
“And you can’t make us.” Rachel opened her mouth in a wide smirk, eyes flashing amusement, and he grumbled another growl.
“Well, we’re not staying here with a busted front door.” Shaun informed them. “Gentlemen, toss your mate’s over your shoulder and let’s get going.”
Three females panicked at the sound of his words and what they implied. Mary’s eyes went wide as Ned turned towards her with a big old wolfish grin…
“Nooooo!” She started low and shrieked to the end when he reached down and tossed her up and over his shoulder. He started for the kitchen door on strong, long legs that eat up the distance.
“Don’t you even…” Rachel cautioned Caleb, but to no avail, she ended up over his shoulder looking down at his backside before she could even finish protesting.
Shaun took two big steps towards Nessie and she held up her hand, palm out towards him to make him think twice.
“I hear you. I’m going. You toss me over your shoulder and I’ll fight you to hell and back.” She rushed out.
Shaun stopped in his tracks, toe to toe, he eyed her as she fronted up to him. The woman was strong willed, and he had no doubt that she’d fight him – and he did owe her one since he’d killed her damn reindeer…
There was a long pregnant pause between them… and then she saw the slow to boil, mischievous grin spread across his face that flooded his eyes with playfulness, and that grin spread his lips wider until it had her spellbound…
She straightened. She knew a look a lot like that and it normally meant trouble.
“And yet…” He whispered and made her ears prick up and her eyes go to his lips to make sure that she was picking out his words correctly. “It’s just so damn tempting.” He gave a hard, deep chuckle that her womb responded too.
A heartbeat later and she was hanging down his back like a big old sack of potatoes.
“Damn it.” She bit out. She really hadn’t expected that.
She guessed that he was all alpha and all up for a challenge.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“I did not need to be carried like a child or a bag of coal!” Nessie folded her arms and pushed back against the passenger seat. She kept her eyes front and centre, looking out through the snow that was coming down thick and fast, at the tail lights up ahead in the distance.
They had something of a convoy going on. Two trucks and the witches car, and she was miffed that she wasn’t driving, but apparently male – chauvinistic alpha’s had a problem with that too.
“It was faster.” Shaun smiled inwardly at the memory of carrying her off the way mates used to in the old days. It was somehow symbolic, and a lot faster than having her procrastinate and argue all the way to the car.
Now they were travelling back to pack land where the mates belonged, and the road was getting bogged down in the first good snow of the season, and at Christmas too. He would have thought that she would have been cooing at the wintery scene, instead of being grumpy and sullen.
“And now you’re driving like Miss Daisy.” She snorted.
“Who’s Miss Daisy?” He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye – Still sulking, and then she huffed.
“Can’t you go faster?” She frowned at being inside the small confines of the car with him. It might have been better if her friends had been in there too, but, oh no, one set of mates per vehicle… apparently it was a temperament thing because they were unmated.
Now she had to spend the journey, and however long that was going to take, alone with him. Alone with her shields being bombarded with the warning signs of the supernatural that pinged and pushed against her magic, warning her that trouble was afoot.
She already knew that, damn it. Trouble was sitting right next to her. Trouble was making her skin tingle and her womb pique with interest in his manly, sexier – than – hell self.
The problem with that was that it was annoying the hell out of her, because she couldn’t escape it. There seemed to be no way of escaping him, in every sense of the dam word that she could figure out, and now they were heading off to pack land – what damn chance would there be when they got there?
“Faster?” he snorted, “not if you want to live.” Shaun tossed her a curious look and she grumbled something too low for even his ears to pick up, pushed back a little more into her seat, as those tail lights started to get further away from them, and did her best impression of sulking.
He knew that look well, his sister was an expert.
“You’re losing them.” She waved a hand at the disappearing trucks ahead.
“You don’t say?” Shaun shook his head.
“Then catch up.” She bit out, exasperated by his attitude.
Nessie was a firm believer in the old saying – safety in numbers – she’d like to feel safe from Mr. Smokin’ Hot.
“Well if this was a pickup truck with nice meaty deep tread on the tyres, then sure, I could do that, but this is a girlie car, with girlie wheels, and no damn traction to it…” He grumbled.
He felt a strange sense of disappointment
within himself. His mate wanted something that he couldn’t give to her, because the need to protect her and keep her safe overrode the need that she had to be up there with her friends.
He couldn’t risk spinning off the road. Not with her in the car. She was precious cargo that he would die to protect – even if she didn’t understand that fact – it was ingrained within him and that was all that mattered.
It wasn’t as if he could turn it off like a faucet. He was programmed that way, and it would stay like that until his dying day.
“Oh, how like a man to blame his tools…” She raised her eyebrows and gave him a superior look, and it grated on his nerves.
“That’s not what this is. These roads are dangerous at the best of times, but in this hunk of only for city driving - junk that has no right to be out in the countryside…”
“Do not disrespect my car.” She snorted back.
She loved her car, not as much as she loved Christmas and her reindeer collection, now missing one reindeer thanks to Mr Shifty, but he seemed to be picking a fight with everything that she owned, everything that she was. At least, that was how it felt.
“You’d do better with a sleigh.” He grumbled.
“Minus one reindeer.” She bit back and saw him grimace. Point awarded to her – it didn’t feel like it though.
“I apologised for that.” Shaun grumbled on a frown that drew his eyebrows down over his eyes as he battled against the steering wheel in his grip to try to keep the back end of the car from sliding out.
“I’m sure that’s a comfort to the reindeer.” She snorted back her contempt. “I hate to think what you’d do to real live animals.”
“I…” he grumbled to a growl, bit down on his words, and refrained from rolling his eyes within his head.
“You’ve lost them completely now.” She reasoned, tossing her hand up at the windscreen again as he festered in annoyance beside her.
One part of him had the urge to slam his foot down on the accelerator and try to catch up to his brothers, but the reasoned side of his brain told him not to even dare it with her by his side.
“I can see that.” Shaun held onto the urge to growl again. The woman was a back seat driver and boy did he hate those.
‘Brothers, I’ve lost sight of you. Keep going, we’ll catch you up at the house.’
‘You sure you don’t want us to pull over. You could leave the clown car and we could ride in together?’ Ned offered.
‘We’re good. We’ll make it back one way or the other.’ Shaun assured him.
Although, he might have killed his mate by then.
“Watch out for that…!” Nessie bit down on a small shriek at the sight of the rabbit hopping out into their path – the animal panicked, about faced, and hopped back out from glare of their headlights – but the damage was already done…
Shaun had reacted to her shriek. He’d pulled on the steering wheel and the back end had done exactly what he’d been afraid would happen the whole journey, the tyres slipped against the icy surface of the road causing the back end to flare out…
She squealed as they started to spin. Shaun steered into it, but it was no use – the wheels couldn’t find a grip against the roadway.
Around and around they went, with her squealing the whole time. Her hand had slapped down on his forearm and her fingers were gripping against him for dear life as he battled to keep the car on its axel and not flip…
When they finally stopped moving, with a thud against the back bumper… Nessie didn’t move a muscle, couldn’t speak, didn’t blink…
“And that’s why we were going so damn slowly.” Shaun growled out in annoyance.
Annoyance for the damn rabbit.
Annoyance that her presence was distracting him.
Annoyance that she’d scared him half to death with her shriek.
Annoyance that he was driving a car that wasn’t fit for purpose…
Then he turned his head to snatch a look at her and found her frozen in place. He moved fast, turning in his seat towards her, cupping her face in both of his large hands and bringing her eyes to his…
She was ashen.
“Breath, Nessie…” His gentle tone seemed to climb right inside of her mind and draw her back to him…
She gasped in a breath and almost jumped back in panic…
“Holy – hell!” She managed to get out as she gasped and puffed her breaths in and out…
“Calm down. I have you. You’re ok.” Shaun’s voice soothed her while his tone assured her that they’d finally stopped spinning and she was still in one piece.
She’d never been in a car accident in her life, and although they hadn’t done any major damage to anything, including themselves, she still hadn’t liked that feeling of lost control as the world had spun around her and she was powerless to act.
The first thought that went through her mind was that if she’d been driving things would probably have been so much worse. She’d frozen up in shock and fear, and behind the wheel… that was deadly.
“Just keep looking at me. Just keep breathing. We’re good.” Shaun watched and waited as she slowly calmed down…
“Speed demon.” She half whispered and Shaun’s head snapped back on his neck a little as he regarded her with a look of total disbelief…
“I…” He was lost for words.
First the accident. Then her panic. Now that…?
His mouth was moving but no words came out. Then he saw the sparkle of amusement in her eyes and narrowed his own…
“You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” Shaun hoped to hell that the mischievous look that she had about her was confirmation of that, otherwise he might have just needed to headbutt the nearest tree…
“Yes.” She nodded, still not completely trusting her voice.
His grin was epic.
Epically sexy.
Epically special.
Epically moreish…
“Damn it woman.” He growled, but it was good natured and it made her smile, and she chuckled.
Shaun still held her face in his hands and he had the urge not to let her go. When the car had started to spin out the only thing that he could think about was her. He slowly pulled back from her, turning back towards the steering wheel…
“Just so you know…” Nessie said, and he felt the other shoe about to drop. “I like to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong. I won’t harass you when you’re driving again.”
Shaun turned his head to look at her. She looked a little sheepish and he didn’t think that she was pulling his chain.
“A woman who admits she’s wrong…” He took a moment to consider it. “You’re definitely a keeper.”
Nessie opened her mouth to give him what for, but it was the sight of the grin that was trying to burst free on his lips that kept her from saying a word. Then he tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter, and she couldn’t help herself… she started to laugh too.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“Are you serious?” Rachel looked at the picturesque cabin as it sat between the snow dipped trees. All the lights were blazing out – including the twinkling fairy lights that cling to the bottom of the roof horning and reached down for the snow on the ground. “Wolves do Christmas?” She curled her top lip in disdain.
Caleb groaned beside her. It looked to him like their sister had been adding some finishing touches to her Christmas decorations since they’d left… Shaun was not going to be pleased.
“Not so as you’d notice.” Caleb assured her and she cocked an eyebrow back at him.
“I think I noticed.” She turned her gaze back on the house and shook her head. “Christmas with the wolf pack. This should be… interesting.” She muttered.
“I like to think of it like this… a witch isn’t just for Christmas – she’s for life.” Caleb saw her snap her head towards him and turned to meet her frosty gaze…
He gave her one hell of a wolfish grin.
“Muppet.” She grumbled, snatching her gaze away to stare out of the passenger window, but she couldn’t help but chuckle, just a little…
“Come on, Baby, let’s go meet the family!” Caleb enthused and she groaned outwardly, but inside – there was just a spark of excitement within her at his words.
One thing that she’d never had before – was a family. Sure, she had Nessie and Mary, and they were like sisters to her, but a real, honest to goodness family… that had been a childhood Christmas wish that had never come true.
Other kids came and went from the orphanage, but she was always the one left behind. Hell, the closest thing she probably had to family were the staff that worked there, but they came and went too…
“I’m not exactly dressed for it.” Rachel shrugged her shoulders. Her childhood insecurities were rushing back on a flood of memories that she’d buried deep inside of her under that hard frosty shell that she’d carved out for herself in adolescence and carried with her for most of her adult life.
“That’s fine – most of us are more comfortable out of our clothes, so…” Caleb watched her head snap around and her nose wrinkle as she stared at him as if he had two heads.
“That’s so never going to damn well happen.” She bit out to the sound of his chuckle.
“In your own time.” He assured her, and then gave her another teasing grin.
“Muppet.” She muttered again. Hurriedly unclicking her seat belt as the icy chill blasted in through the driver’s door when he pushed it open.
A heartbeat later, and just as she was reaching for the door handle, the door opened and more frosty air greeted her. The snow was easing now, but it still fluttered down around him, making him seem somehow less daunting in his size and appearance.
Caleb held out his hand to her and saw her eyebrows twitch, but there wasn’t a rush to a full blown frown.
“I think I can managed to get out of the truck…” Rachel said… but the sound of a loud squeal took her attention across the way to where Mary was doing her best impression of running on the spot as her slipper clad feet skidded on the ice…