by M. L. Briers
M-i-n-e…
Wait your bloody turn – or the next time you shift, you’ll find that I’ve had your balls cut off at the damn vet!
His wolf had a Scooby Doo moment. The sound that it made would have been comical had it not been for the screaming agony between Neal’s legs.
He was in no mood to deal with a wicked witch – or a deranged wolf.
He just wanted an ice pack until his blood took care of his little pain problem.
~
~
~
Lucas surfaced first. It might have only been an instant before his mate, and yet he felt the panic within her body as she fought against him, and that made him and his beast anxious too.
The moment that Isla’s head broke through the surface of the water; so she sprayed a mouthful of water right in his face.
The man had something of a death grip around her body, and she’d been struggling to break free of it from the moment that they’d hit the water, but now she tried again in earnest.
“Muppet! Moron! Idiot! Psycho!” She bit out every word that came to mind.
“Geez, don’t filter on my account,” Lucas offered back, with the kind of smirk that usually sent the woman wild for him.
Now that she was safely in his arms – he could relax a little – more than a little, in fact, he was kind of enjoying having her pressed up against him like that.
His mate looked less than pleased. Her top lip was twitching in anger, and the death glare that she was offering him with all the promise of backing it up with her magic made him think twice, and he snapped off that smirk.
“Y-o-u…” She hissed out like a snake, and for a long moment; he had to wonder if she was Medusa reincarnated.
“Seeing as this water is kind of cold, can we save the recriminations until we’re back on land?” Lucas had already started to move them through the water and towards the river bank.
“I should skin you alive…” Isla hissed out between chattering teeth – the sound echoed within her ears, and her need to kill the Wolfman was burning inside of her.
“While that sounds… delightful, for you – I’d much prefer that we…”
He never got any further than that, because she hit him with the kind of zap that his future grand-pups were sure to feel. Instinctively, as his whole body started to lock up, he wanted to make sure that he didn’t let go of her, but he knew the danger in that theory.
His grip around her body was strong, and he didn’t want to break her – so he knew that, however reluctantly, he had to let her go. He forced himself to do just that; a moment before she used her magic to blast him across the water … away from her, and off into the darkness.
“W…a…i…t...” his deep tone got quieter the further that he went.
Isla felt the pull of the water on her body as he was torn away, and she kicked out against it so that she didn’t being dragged along with him.
“Wait my… grandmother,” she bit out.
She turned to look at the riverbank, it seemed like a million miles away, but she started for it anyway. Her body was cold, and her clothes were waterlogged and heavy, and each stroke felt like she was paddling against a raging sea with a weight around each arm.
She felt the panic rise within her. Telling herself that it wasn’t that far, that the only person that could get her there was her, because nobody was going to rush to her rescue.
She felt the calm return, and then she drew on her magic and used it to push herself along. All she needed to do was to keep her head above the water and not freak out.
She heard the grunt of annoyance from somewhere behind her and the ominous sound of splashing. She’d turned her magic on her escape plan, and away from the shifter – and she knew that she needed to get out of the water because she was sure that he was heading right for her.
And that could be bad.
The moment that her fingers touched the wet mud, she dug them into the earth and tried to pull herself upwards. Chunks of the river bank came away with her clawing hands, and she slipped back down into the water just as fast as she tried climbing out.
Come on… come on… come on…
Give me a break!
She felt the warmth of his hand on her backside and her eyes went wide at the feel of it.
“What are you damn well…?” She bit out, but the fact that he was pushing her up into the air and allowing her the chance to climb out, made her bite down on the embarrassment and shock of his touch.
She scampered up into the mud, crawling forwards on her hands and knees as she panted and tried to catch her breath.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
His teasing voice was like a red rag to a bull, and she turned to find the muscle man half in and half out of the water.
With a thrust of her palm towards him; she watched him sail away through the air on a yelp of surprise. That sound was music to her ears, and so was the sound of a big splash that felt oh-so satisfying.
“Don’t you sweetheart me, you mutt!”
~
~
~
Keri was already off and running. She’d hit the vampire with an orb and throw him a good thirty feet or so away – not far in vampire terms, but it would still take a few minutes to recover from her magic.
It was the other one that she knew she needed to worry about. He was missing, presumed lurky, and he could have been anywhere just waiting to jump out on her and attack.
She would like to have thought that she was ready for anything, but deep down inside she knew that she wasn’t. You could only train so hard, with kickboxing or with magic.
The actual proof was in the pudding when it came to testing out that theory, and she wished she didn’t have to, but it didn’t look like they were going to give her that chance to walk away.
The moment that she hit the tree line she knew that she was really treading on his turf, but if the trees were that close together, then she hoped to slow him down just a little. Of course, it would slow her down too, but she was smaller, hopefully, a lot more agile through the thick clusters of the trunks, and she was hoping that would offset the fact that she was a lot slower than he was anyway.
Keri scanned the area as best she could while the light of the moon sneaked a peek out of the clouds, and the new foliage on the trees gave a little shelter from the rain. It didn’t help much – everywhere that she looked she could see a big bulky shadow that could have been him.
She tried to stop her heart from racing as she picked her way through the maze of tree trunks, but that was like asking nicely for chocolate to have no calories and be a recommended food group – possibly one where it was your solemn duty to eat at least five bars a day.
The sound of a very feminine shriek made her ears prick up, and she stopped in place, palming the rough bark in front of her, and listening for a direction to follow.
“Let’s talk…” Griffin’s deep voice almost made her jump out of her skin – she turned towards the sound and followed through with her closed fist adding a little magical bolster to that punch as it landed on his solid jaw.
She’d cheated – she knew that, and she was paying for it when she felt the pain shoot through her hand and up her arm. She’d remembered to add a little magic to the force, but had forgotten to try and protect herself against any damage that punching a shifter brick wall would cause her.
Son of a mother…
“Yee-ouch!” She bit out, along with a few choice curse words followed, but then so did her boot, catching him on the kneecap and getting a grunt from him in return.
She was more than glad that one of her moves might have given him pause for thought.
“Maybe if it hurts, don’t do it,” Griffin growled out.
Both blows had been unexpected by the alpha. The little witch was a mean one, and she packed a powerful punch that he suspected was backed up by her magic.
Still, she was a fighter and that was what counted. He could respect that,
but he still didn’t want to see her hurt – it tweaked his guilt button, and he wasn’t sure why.
The hard boot to the kneecap that she’d delivered had sent his upper body forward, and when she rallied with a left-hand punch to his nose – he saw stars – watery ones as they glazed over with man tears.
“Ouch!” Keri bit out the instant the pain shot through her hand, but the man’s hand reached for his face, and that was a welcome sight.
“Damn it, witch!” He growled.
Griffin might have been rethinking that whole guilt thing as his nose stung like a bitch.
Then she was off and running; while he was momentarily stunned like a deer caught in the headlights of a fast approaching truck. In truth, he hadn’t expected her to attack the first time – let alone the second and third. The woman was either insane or – no, there wasn’t a substitute for that thought; he thought she was probably insane.
Griffin grumbled a growl. He snapped his nose back into joint and took a hard, deep breath in to still his need to punch someone back – anyone – anyone but a helpless female.
Not that she was in anyway helpless.
That was when it hit him.
Her scent in the air. So very Fae, so very sweet, and so very – his.
Mine…
CHAPTER SIX
~
Penny ran as fast as she could, and with every slippery step on the soaking wet ground, with her soaking wet boots, she cursed Keri’s stupid decision to bring them to the countryside.
She could hear the sound of heavy panting from all around her, but she couldn’t pinpoint which way it was coming from as the winds picked up and rustled the foliage above her.
She broke from the main bulk of the woods and spotted the three big structures in the field not too far away, and her heart hit her ribs in the hope that she’d discovered her temporary home.
She was dog tired and running on nothing but adrenaline, but with a last ditch blast of everything that she still had left inside of her; she pumped her arms through the air, and made a beeline for those darkened shadows.
A heartbeat later and something hit her hard. With a shriek of the breath that was knocked out of her lungs.
She flew sideways through the air; hit the mud face down, and momentum made her roll over the wet, soggy ground. When she finally came to a stop, she was laying on her back looking up at the emergence of the stars in the night sky as the clouds rolled back, and cursing a whole list of things that had miffed her off.
“I hate damn mud!”
She slapped the palm of her hands down into the squelchy goo.
“I hate the countryside!”
She pushed upwards with everything that she had. She dragged and rolled her body around onto her knees, and lifted her hands – readying her magic at her fingertips.
“And I hate shifters!” She said with a throaty growl.
She twisted her body around and was more than ready to zap the figure that was pushing upward.
“You and me both!” Isla ground out.
“Isla!”
“You make a great brick wall,” Isla grumbled back.
Penny had never been happier to see anyone in her life before. Her body fired up with adrenaline and excitement, and she thrust upwards, slipping and sliding in the mud to get to her feet as she stumbled forwards and reached down for her friend.
“Stop messing about and move it!” Keri bit out as she ran towards them as fast as her legs would carry her.
Both women turned at the sound of her voice.
“Where the hell…?”
“No time to explain. To the pods!” Keri panted, as she ground to a halt and helped yank Isla to her feet, shoving Penny in front of her.
“Shifters…” Penny panted back.
“Noticed.” Keri bit out. “Move it…”
All three witches felt a new lease of life. They were emboldened by each other’s presence as they raced towards the wooden structures.
“This one!” They all said together – each witch reaching out with their magic to open the doors, and each one heading for different pods.
“Witch!” Griffin yelled.
“Get inside!” Keri called as she tripped over the doorstep and pitched head first into the darkness, turning and slamming the door closed with her magic.
Isla screeched at the sight of the looming shadow that was coming towards the open door, and she flicked her hand, slamming it shut and hearing a hard thud and a deep grunt from the other side.
She slammed on a locking spell and collapsed down onto the floor, panting in an out like a wildling.
Penny snapped on the lights and stared hard at the closed door of her little haven from the outside world. From the shifters. She had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy to shake the wolves off now that they had a mind to chase them.
She didn’t know what they’d done to deserve being hunted like fodder, but she just had to hope that the little pod that she collapsed down onto her backside inside, exhausted, wet, and freaking miffed off, didn’t become her damn coffin.
~
~
~
Griffin eyed his brother as Lucas grumbled and growled outside the middle pod. He was madder than hell, and yet as excited as he could ever remember himself being.
Even Christmas morning and presents hadn’t given him that much of a buzz.
A mate – a witch one – but still a mate.
He’d wanted it for so long that now that she was actually on his land, so close that he could have reached out and touched her – if the damn pod wasn’t there – it felt somehow surreal.
That wasn’t the best introduction I could have hoped for.
Now what?
“For witches…” his brother panted, “they’re speedy little suckers.”
Griffin lifted his hand and pointed his index finger at his brother. He opened his mouth to speak; when the sound of Neal, grumbling, growling, and with a strange kind of a limb came stalking towards them.
The beta’s chin was down almost to his broad chest. The man’s eyes were jet black and full of anger, and the beta looked as if he should have had steam coming from his ears like a cartoon character.
“I’m… pissed,” Neal growled.
“Join the club,” Lucas offered back.
His witch was certainly feisty and damned annoying when she’d cheated and used her magic on him.
“Mate of not, I might just damn well eat her…” Neal growled.
“Mate!” Lucas’s eyes widened at the unexpected turn of events.
“You heard me!” Neal’s head snapped around, and his eyes narrowed on his brother, “and this is all your doing!”
Lucas leaned forwards and braced his hands against his knees as the laughter took what little breath he still had away from him.
“Three damn witches…” Griffin growled, “three damn mates!”
“Three!” Neal’s head snapped around in surprise.
“No… I’m lying because it’s fun.” Griffin growled back.
“Is that blood under your nose?” Neal asked, craning his head forwards to get a better look at the alpha, as Lucas fell backward onto his backside in the mud – silent laughter bursting into a good hard roar before he dragged in a breath and did it all again.
Griffin’s fist shot out and caught Neal on the bridge of the nose. The beta reared back on his heels.
“What was that for?” Neal growled, covering his nose with his hand.
“Asking stupid questions, but hey look, now you have blood under your damn nose,” Griffin growled back. Then he turned his fist on the door and pounded hard against the wood. “Open up!”
“Do one and vanish!” Keri yelled back, and the alpha shot a dark glance at his brother.
“Not a word…” he warned the man.
“You could try huffing and puffing. I hear it works,” Neal said, but he was already jumping back from the second fist that his brother launched in his direction.
> “You’re so damn smart, let’s see you get your mate to open the door!” Griffin growled.
“Fine!” Neal growled, stalking towards his mate’s pod and lifting his fist towards the wood.
He paused, hesitating, and recalling that his brother had tried the same thing and that hadn’t worked. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake.
With a smug look on his lips; he gave a gentle tap.
“I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk,” Neal offered through the barrier of the door that he’d really like to rip from its hinges but knew deep down that he couldn’t.
Lucas spluttered laughter from the ground behind him.
“I just want to talk…” Griffin mimicked his younger brother, and the beta’s head snapped around on his neck, and his dark eyes narrowed on the alpha.
He growled long and hard – hard enough to make the door rattle against the frame.
“Sounds like it. Go growl at a bunny!” Penny yelled back.
“That worked,” Griffin tossed out, and the beta growled harder.
“That … was your fault,” Neal grumbled back.
“I wasn’t the one growling,” Griffin offered a smug smile.
“You made me growl.”
“What’d I do, pull your damn tail?” Griffin’s chin went down towards his chest, and he offered his brother a death glare.
The beta grumbled as he looked away.
“The older generation!” Lucas chuckled.
“You’re not that much younger, pup.” Neal sneered as he shot his brother a look that he hoped matched his alpha’s steel glare.
“Watching you two Casanova’s at work. I feel it.” Lucas pulled his body up to his full height and stalked towards his mate’s pod, then he lifted his hand and reached for the door handle. “First, try the obvious.” As his hand wrapped around the handle; a spark of magic shot up his arm and through his body.
Every inch of him went rigid. His eyes went wide in pain and shock, and he tried to let go, but his fingers were gripping the metal as his muscles locked up, even without his conscious consent.
Griffin groaned and rolled his eyes.