by M. L. Briers
“Sorry, maybe later.” Keri nudged Isla into Penny, and Penny tripped over her own feet.
Neal swooped in and steadied his mate with one large hand on each curvy hip. A low, deep growl rumbled within his chest as her eyes snapped upwards to meet his.
She gave a low, barely audible squeal when she realized who it was that had saved her, and slapped his hands away from her hips as she jumped backward into Isla. When the heel of her sandal came down on the naked toes of Isla’s foot, the woman squealed like a banshee.
Isla reached up with both hands against Penny’s back and launched the woman forwards to get her off of her foot. Penny shot back towards Neal, and the shifter was only too welcoming.
Neal’s caught his mate within his arms and pulled her towards the relative safety of his broad chest. Penny’s cheek was flattened against one hard muscle, and her eyes went wide as she took a moment to consider what had just happened.
“Pass the parcel,” Father Ted announced. “Nice catch.”
“Let me go!” Penny hissed out; as she squeezed her arms up through the lock of his and pressed her palms against his chest to try to push him away from her, or her away from him – either way, she wanted that rush of tingles that was racing over her body to be gone.
“It’s for your own good,” Neal’s deep tones were taunting. “Who knows what damage you could actually do to yourself, or others, if I were to release you.”
Penny heard that deep rumble of chuckles within his chest and stomped down hard on his foot. The beta grunted in pain, and she got what she wanted – he dropped his arms; she spun away from him, and then she collided with Isla once more, and all while the shifter hopped on one foot, cursing, and nursing his dented toes with his other hand.
“Whoops!” Father Ted announced. “That’s taking it like a gentleman,” the priest grinned.
Neal wasn’t grinning. His chin was down near his chest, and his dark eyes were locked and loaded on the witch.
His witch.
His mate.
“That was deliberate,” Neal grumbled.
“Ya think?” Penny shot back as Isla pushed her once more, but this time the savvy witch dug her feet in and didn’t take a solitary step towards her mate.
“We really should be…” Keri wasn’t subtle about nodding towards their car, but as her eyes followed where her head was telling them to go. She suddenly felt the desire to spew out a list of curse words of her own.
“Oh, God, nooo!” Isla bit out, as she too noted that their car was well and truly blocked in.
Father Ted cleared his throat and Keri was the first to respond, she nudged Isla in the back, and the woman’s head shot around, and her eyes glared back at her.
“Stop doing that!” She bit out. “Pushed, pulled, nudged and stomped on – what am I here? A human version of Bop it?”
Now Keri was nodding her head towards the priest, and it took Isla a long moment to realize why.
“Sorry, Father,” Isla said on a grimace that twisted her face.
“God is forgiving,” Father Ted assured her.
“Tell that the witch trials,” Keri whispered towards Isla, and the woman spat out a chuckle, and then looked very contrite once more under the priest’s stare.
“Where did you want those?” Isla asked, reaching out and snatching the black sacks from his hands.
“How very kind of you,” Father Ted grinned.
“Shoot me now…” Isla whispered to Keri as she turned away from the priest and tossed a sack over each shoulder, like a repenting Christmas elf.
~
~
~
Keri couldn’t take her eyes off of Griffin. It wasn’t her fault, or so she told herself – the man was stripped naked to the waist and he was flaunting those damn hard muscles like a living, breathing Greek God.
It wasn’t as if she was the only one. Everybody was staring at him. Everybody that was female and had a pulse – and that included the old church ladies, so, she felt it wasn’t really a bad thing that her eyes were drawn in his direction, it wasn’t just a mate thing.
The man’s like a magnet.
Stop looking! She berated herself and snapped her eyes back to the fluffy toys that were grinning up at her as if they were mocking her lack of willpower to ignore him.
Don’t you judge me… She berated the cutest stuffed puppy dog with the folded over long ears.
It’s not your mate that looks good enough to eat.
Look who I am talking too… He’s probably a long lost relative of yours or something.
“Yeeeooowwwlll!”
Keri’s body snapped to attention at the sound that was a cross between a yelp and a howl. Her head whipped around on her neck, and her eyes took in the sight of Lucas doing what looked like a rain dance, bending forwards, snapping upright, hands up in the air, hands down towards his feet.
Then the man started hopping on one leg and grasping at his toes, and she couldn’t stifle the grin on her lips at the sight of him.
“What is it with you and hammers?” Lucas almost growled on each and every word towards the human that was perched up a ladder, looking somewhat in fear for his life, and with the discarded hammer that lay on the grass beside the beta shifter doing the hop dance, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together.
“Sorry…” The young guy bit out.
“That’s what you said the last time…” Lucas grumbled, dropping his injured foot to the grass and trying to stomp away the pain. “Perhaps not throwing hammers at me would serve you better.”
Bad mood wolf … picking on someone he knows that he can beat to a pulp.
Maybe you should try picking on someone with a little more sting in the tail.
Keri reached for her magic, snapped her hand on her wrist, and the top plank from the structure whipped loose and thudded on the shifter’s head – not hard, just like a wakeup call to be nicer.
Lucas ducked against the sudden impact and growled inwardly – then his eyes snapped up towards the human male, and he caught the start of a grin on the man’s face.
“Really?” Lucas grumbled.
“Not my fault,” the guy held up his hands in surrender, as Lucas snapped his eyes around the area and found Keri grinning at him.
He dropped his head to his chest and narrowed his eyes at her, and in return Keri just gave him a little shrug off her shoulders.
“Oops,” she muttered, shaking the fluffy dog in her hand and taunting him as she gave a little growl.
‘Griffin, your mate is out of line,’ Lucas growled through the link.
‘I’d say heads up, but I’ve got this,’ Griffin informed him as he skirted behind his mate, and leaned his upper body in towards her as he whispered in her ear.
“Play nice with others.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
~
Keri’s shields had felt the closeness of the shifter behind her, but before she could react – that man was whispering in her ear with his deep, soothing tones, his hot breath caressing her skin, and making her body tell her more in a few seconds than just his proximity.
She spun in place and there he was. The man that she couldn’t help but ogle for the last however long, as he’d flaunted those muscles all around the area – the alpha – her mate.
“I could say the same for your wolf over there.”
Keri held her ground. She didn’t want to do it, oh no. What she actually wanted to do was to throw herself away from him and end the sexy tingles that ran over her skin; the ones that were making her nipples hard as they tried to reach out and touch his muscle clad chest.
“That’s Lucas, my brother, and the other one is Neal, and I’m…”
“Leaving…” Keri offered back, although, she couldn’t deny that there was a certain feminine curiosity within her to know the name of her supposed life mate.
“Not yet, I’m not. And neither are you,” Griffin’s smile was like sex on a stick.
His dark eyes held her gaze, and
his body certainly had her attention, and all because of fate.
I curse fate.
I’m damned… I’m doomed… I’m lost in those stupid puppy dog eyes of his.
Save me from a fate worse than death.
“You need to know something,” Griffin needed to tell the woman that she was his mate, but from the mistrustful look in her eye – he wasn’t sure that she’d take it lightly.
What if she ran? That would be so much worse.
His beast would take matters into its own paws and hunt her down, try to claim her as theirs before she could get away again.
That would be his shame. His failing as a mate, as an alpha, and as a man.
His deep tones reeled her in like a fish on a line, and she was sure that she swooned, just a little, just enough to make her mentally slap herself silly and grab some semblance of pride back.
“You’re a…” She held up the fluffy dog between them, and Griffin’s eyes snapped downwards. She saw the muscles in his jaw clench and release, and the frown that took his dark eyebrows downwards over his eyes. “Ooh, hit a nerve?” she asked, trying to make her voice sound less breathless and more kick-ass witch.
Griffin’s eyes flicked back up to hers, and she was lost in them again. She didn’t want that – she wanted to be in full control of her body, mind, and soul, but when he looked at her – really – really looked at her like that, well, she knew that it was fate in control.
“Not exactly, no,” he said, sounding a little cheesed off.
“No, not a nerve, or no, not a dog?” Keri felt a little more in control.
Mr. Smooth had become Mr. Annoyed, and she could use that to her advantage – because that little edge to his voice was like an alarm bell ringing inside of her mind.
Oh, she might have been predisposed to him as a mate, but her little witchy senses were on high alert to him as a wolf shifter. If she could just tweak that response up a little more, she felt as if she could keep the rest at bay.
“Both,” Griffin offered back, twisting his head on his neck and narrowing his eyes on hers.
He liked that. He liked looking into her eyes and seeing that spark of fire and a whole lot of backbone that this woman – his woman – had.
She might have blindsided him the night before, got in a few good hits, but that only made the wooing sweeter.
He didn’t doubt that he’d make her his, but he would need to tame the wildling inside of her first.
He could live with that. He liked a challenge, and his little witch was certainly that – challenging.
“I’m Griffin, and you are my mate.” He put it out there and waited for the big black clouds to roll in with the storm that was sure to follow.
Nothing.
She didn’t even blink to show that she’d actually acknowledged what he’d said.
“Did you hear me?” Griffin frowned.
“No, I go deaf on occasion,” Keri tossed back, trying to sound both bored and sarcastic at the same time.
“Do you need me to repeat it?” Griffin twisted his head on his neck and regarded her with something close to disbelief. He couldn’t see how she was so calm about it.
Wasn’t there supposed to be witchy squeals and protests? He had to wonder why she didn’t look in shock.
Isn’t there supposed to be a rush to denial and all that entails?
She looks like I just offered her a menu.
“Maybe you could draw me a picture,” Keri tossed back.
“Maybe I shoul,…” Griffin took one solitary step towards her, and she didn’t move, didn’t flinch. That, he decided, wasn’t normal. “You already knew…”
“Ya think?” She offered back. She twisted her head on her neck and stared up at him. “Walls have ears…”
“Of course wolves have ears,” Griffin shot back.
“Not wolves – walls – I heard you talking last night.”
“And the others?” He dragged his gaze away from her and eyed the area, locating the other two witches in turn. Both were offering him the evil eye in defense of their friend.
“Oh, they know as well, well, one definitely does.”
“And yet…” he considered it for a long moment. “You tried to leave.”
“Again … ya think?” Keri tossed back, folding her arms across her chest and propping her breasts up with her arms with the stuffed dog sticking out from under her armpit. It wasn’t the ideal look for her, but she thought it established her point.
Griffin’s eyes dropped down to the swell of her breasts, and that was one growl that he could do absolutely nothing about.
“Bloody fascinating, aren’t they?” Keri bit out, and he snapped his eyes back up to hers.
“I was… thinking,” he lied … he was staring. there might have even been a little drooling going on, and one thing was for sure – his length felt so damn hard against the confines of his jeans that he was sure he could use it to hammer nails into the wooden frames.
“Little brain took over big brain’s work?” Keri babied him and got a scowl in return.
“You did offer them up…”
“Did not.” She snorted her contempt for his answer.
“Kind of did.”
“Don’t blame me for your lack of control and manners.”
“Don’t blame me for looking when you thrust them into my face…”
“Thrust?” She dropped her arms and planted her hands on her hips that toy dog still clutched in one hand.
“Push,” he offered, craning his head on his neck and meeting her steely stare that was as frosty as a hard winter.
“Backpedalling like a champ now.”
“Am not,” Griffin scoffed.
“Sure you are, Alpha,” she snorted right back.
“You’re a feisty little witch,” Griffin bit out.
“Boy, do you not know the half of it.”
“I think I got that message last night.”
“Ha! Not even close,” she said and folded her arms again. It was a natural defensive posture to her, but his eyes dropped back down once more, and she snorted her contempt for him. “Again, seriously?”
“Stop teasing me then.” he gave a small growl.
“Stop acting like a…” she swung the stuffed dog at his chest, and one thick, muscled arm came up as he grabbed it and held it against his chest.“Dog.”
“Don’t test my patience.” Griffin growled.
“Don’t you just look the cutest?” she teased, taking a step back from him and turning her back to dismiss his presence.
Not that his presence could be dismissed. She could still feel him there – his heat warmed her back like the summer sun, and her shields were still tingling with his proximity.
Griffin leaned his upper body in towards her. He wrapped one arm around her body, and in his large hand, he held that stuffed dog with the stupid look on its face that mocked her.
He could scent her so clearly, and he drank it in.
“Welcome to the pack,” he growled.
His deep tones and smooth words seeped straight into her very soul, and she wanted to groan in annoyance – but then she also wanted to jab her pointy little elbow back in his ribs to get her message across too – but she didn’t because, with an even deeper chuckle, he dropped the dog onto the counter in front of her and was gone.
That’s just… so not cool.
Keri flicked her eyes around and locked onto the amusement in Penny’s eyes. Her friend might have been hiding the grin on her lips with her hand, but it was written as clear as day in those shining eyes.
Oh, funny ha-bloody-ha!
Well, Miss Smarty Pants, let’s just see how much you like it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
The look on Keri’s face told Penny that she had been busted enjoying the spectacle of the alpha trying to woo her friend. Sure, she felt a pang of guilt for her amusement, but she also thought it served the woman right for bringing them out into the wilds of the countrysid
e in the first place.
Penny quickly turned away and put just one foot in front of the other before she noted that Neal was headed in her direction. The beta was walking fast, and for one long moment, she stood stock still – caught in the headlights of his dark, sexy eyes as equal amounts of panic and attraction played ping-pong within her mind.
Penny’s brain finally kicked her backside into gear, and she turned sharply, meaning to stalk in any other direction than the one her mate was in, but something – that felt an awful lot like magic – snagged around her ankle and pitched her downwards.
With a heart that was beating wildly as it had tried to escape her chest and thudded against her ribs – she was literally collected up into strong arms a moment before she hit the ground.
Penny’s head spun. It seemed that her heart was done trying to batter its way through her ribs and it lurched into her throat.
Her body was invaded and encased with the heat from a hot flush, and tingles raced across every inch of her skin, and all before she could even decide which way was up, or how she hadn’t face planted the ground.
“I’ve got you.” Those deep comforting words only soothed her for a moment, and then, they too, fired everything right back through her again as she realized just who it was that had her.
“I’m good. I’m fine. Let me go, Satan’s minion!” She hissed out on a whisper of desperation to be out of his arms.
“Satan’s minion?” There was a deep chuckle that followed his words and stomped on her nerves like he was doing a jig.
In turn, Penny tried her damnedest to do the hot shoe shuffle away from him, twisting her body, this way and that, but the man had arms of steel and a magnetic personality, and she was well and truly stuck to him like glue.
“Nice catch, son,” Father Ted said as he offered Neal a solid pat on the back on his way by, and the ladies from the church clapped his heroics.
Neal knew that he had one choice and one choice only. He had to do her bidding and set her away from him. With so many humans looking on, anything else would have seemed a little strange.