by M. L. Briers
“I’m sure I can persuade you,” Griffin also leaned in, almost touching her nose with his.
Keri lifted her hand and slapped her palm against the hard muscles of his chest – she had the urge to test those muscles once more with her fingers, but she managed to resist that temptation.
“Let’s say we don’t test that theory.”
“Just yet,” Griffin offered back.
Then he pulled back slightly and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her body closer, but not touching.
“Thought we were waiting?”
“Doesn’t mean we can’t do a little recognizance along the way.”
~
~
~
Penny had never worked so damn hard on a holiday weekend before in her life. She preferred the easy life of slumming it on a nice beach with cold and icy drinks at her every whim, and a suntan at the end of it.
She’d get her suntan, but it was only because she’d been laboring away in the heat all day. As for the cold and icy beers on tap, or the copious amounts of wine to sip as she lazed the day away, well, none of that had materialized so far.
She guessed that she couldn’t bemoan the good Father wanting his church roof fixed, or whatever the proceeds of the summer fair were going towards, and she certainly didn’t hold with Keri’s plan of a walking holiday, so she decided that she’d kind of got the best of a bad situation – that was if you didn’t count the growly – stalky – sexy mate that she’d picked up along the way.
How could she not count him?
The man’s presence alone made it painfully clear that she was on the losing end of the mating pull. Sure, she might have been trying to fight it and get some wriggle room – not to be confused with wriggling against him, because that would be bad – or good – depending on which angle you looked at it from. But, she knew deep down that consigning her mate to her rear view mirror just wasn’t something that she could truly consider either.
Yes, it was true that she was doomed.
Doomed to have a mate that would love her forever.
Doomed to have a sex God for a mate.
Doomed to be put on a pedestal and worshiped like the be all and end all of life – she wasn’t sure she liked that idea much. Sure, she could sit on that pedestal, but she was damn sure that she’d fall off, and end up face down in the dirt at some point.
Doomed to succumb to fate’s whim and fancy.
And doomed to spend her life with a man that she could love and trust never to hurt her deliberately.
Doomed.
Penny had to admit that she was coming around to the idea of being doomed within Neal’s arms. Strong arms.
The man might have been a Neanderthal butthead, but he was her Neanderthal butthead, and that felt kind of good.
No more first dates.
No more disastrous first dates where the best outcome was to escape out of the fire exit when he wasn’t looking.
No more wondering what Mr. Wonderful looked like. Because he looked pretty damn good from where she stood to watch him trying to win her a fluffy rabbit – not that she’d asked him to win her anything – she’d framed it more of a challenge.
There he was; Mr Muscles on show, doing his best to throw darts through a dartboard instead of at the dart board – which annoyed the heck out of Jane who had to try to wrench them back out again…
“Winner,” Jane groaned as she eyed the dart board and rolled her eyes.
Those darts were lodged in there like he’d hammered them in.
“How many more wins for the rabbit?” Neal asked as casually as he could with a satisfied look of victory towards his mate.
Penny raised her eyebrows and inspected her nails as though she were bored.
“If I give you the bunny will you go somewhere else?” Jane’s voice was full of exasperation.
“Isn’t that cheating?” Neal asked her, and she frowned.
“Look, muscles.” The older woman narrowed her eyes at him before she grabbed one of the large rabbits by the scruff of the neck and tipped her chin down towards her chest. “You want Thumper or not? Because I’m getting muscles of my own trying to get those damn darts out of the board.”
Penny silently chuckled.
“Did I still win?” Neal looked to his mate for confirmation, and Penny looked towards Jane. She wanted to say no and make him work for it, but she took pity on the older woman with the pleading eyes that were begging her to just give in.
“Fine, winner – winner – not a chicken dinner,” She said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Jane tossed the rabbit at the man and hit him in the face with it. He snatched it downwards and grinned at the older woman.
“Thank you – come again,” Jane offered sarcastically, and Neal lifted his hand and opened his mouth to speak. “But not when I’m working the damn stall.”
“Got it,” Neal offer her one hell of a sexy grin, and she snorted her contempt for him. He was now out of favor.
“See, Jane started with a swoon and then she got to know the real you, and now she’s sneering – that doesn’t bode well,” Penny said as she turned on her heels and stalked away with her mate in tow.
“Here’s your rabbit.” Neal’s smile, and the tone of his voice said victory. Penny snatched a quick look at him as he fell in beside her.
“But, you two look so darn cute together. I’d hate to separate you,” she smiled with glee as Neal gave her an old fashioned look.
“I won it for you,” he said, offering the toy out to her.
“What’s the matter? Wolf getting frisky at the sight of a rabbit?” She teased back.
“You stalked, you hunted, and you snared the… pink bunny,” Percival teased as he walked towards them. “I’m so proud.”
“Bite me,” Neal growled.
“Not right now, maybe later.” Percival grinned as he strolled on by them, and Penny couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Take the damn rabbit,” Neal grumbled.
“Pink’s not my color, but it does suit you.”
“You don’t want the bunny?” Neal sighed.
“Not really, no. But I’m sure you two will be perfectly happy together…” she giggled as Neal took in a deep breath and sighed it out. “Make a kids day – give it away and show what a caring, sharing guy you are.”
Neal stuck his chest out with pride and nodded. Then he stalked up to the nearest small child that he saw and held out the rabbit.
“Mummy…” the child looked horrified.
“Can I help you?” The mother turned to look the big shifter up and down as if he’d just unleashed his fangs and his claws.
“She doesn’t like pink…” Neal offered quickly, lifting his free hand and pointing back at Penny.
“Oh, o-k…?” The woman shrugged her shoulders.
“Here,” he thrust the stuffed toy at the woman, wanting only to get away from the small child before there was the possibility that she would burst into tears.
He turned on his heels and fled.
“Wow, way to go to terrorize a small child,” Penny said with a chuckle as she strolled off with her mate in hot pursuit.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
“I want to take you home with me,” Lucas said as he backed his mate up against the side railing of a children’s ride and leaned his upper body in towards her. All but caging her in.
“Like a stray puppy?” Isla’s mischievous grin bewitched him.
Lucas wanted to growl like he’d never growled before. He was hungry, but his belly was full. It was his arms that felt empty.
A smack on the back of the head made him jump in place and snap his head around on his neck to eye the smug perpetrator… Griffin grinned back at him.
“Funny, not,” Lucas grumbled at his brother.
“Home will have to wait,” Griffin informed him, and his mate took the opportunity to sidestep him while his attention was elsewhere.
“What? Why?” Luc
as noted the sudden movement of his mate, but by the time that he’d realized what was happening, she was standing beside her friends.
He turned back towards Griffin to find Neal standing beside him.
“Our alpha, brother, and general all round good deeds for the day junkie signed us up to help take down the fair and load it into the trucks,” Neal informed him.
“Yeah, well, you try saying no to Father Ted,” Griffin grumbled. “I’d rather face a crowd of angry vampires. At least they wouldn’t be going on about the little old ladies lugging heavy wooden frames to the trucks on their little-crooked backs.”
“Soft touch,” Neal muttered.
“Very,” Lucas bit out.
“Well, I like a man with a softer side,” Keri said, and her mate locked eyes with her, a slow to boil grin spreading across his face.
“Me too,” Penny piped up. “It’s a shame you have a cold dead heart.” She berated Neal.
“Do not.” He grumbled.
“Do too…” she teased back.
“I just gave a kid a damn rabbit I won for you.”
“And scared the poor little mite half to death!” Penny reminded him.
“That wasn’t my fault,” Neal shrugged.
“Well, it wasn’t mine,” she hissed back.
“Lucas has a softer side…” Isla said, and the beta frowned.
“I do?”
“You don’t?” She asked, raising her eyebrows towards her hairline.
“No-no, I do.” Lucas wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but if it made her like him more than he was all in. “Do I?” He bit out the side of his mouth towards his alpha.
“In the head, sure,” Griffin said.
“There’s an old saying that applies to you,” Percival said as he strolled up to join the group. “If brains were dynamite, then you couldn’t blow your nose.”
“I…?” Lucas thought about that one, which sent the group into muffled chuckles.
“Be nice,” Isla scowled at the vampire.
“Don’t want to,” Percival shot back.
“There’s a shocker,” Penny offered.
“Hey!” Lucas said, finally getting the joke, and everyone started to chuckle again. “That’s not funny.”
“No, what’s not funny is the amount of time it took you to get it. It proved my point without any real effort on my part.” Percival said before he lifted his hand and slapped it down on the alpha’s shoulder. “Enjoy packing up. I’ll see you back on pack land.”
“Why doesn’t he have to help?” Lucas bit out.
“Maybe Father Ted has a natural inbuilt dislike for the man?” Neal offered, and Percival snorted.
“I’m well loved,” he lied.
“Sloth,” Penny muttered.
“I like breaking lots of sins, but that one doesn’t apply to me,” Percival offered back.
“Whatever you say, Percy,” Keri said with a small shrug. She saw the vampire grimace.
“That isn’t my name.”
“It is now,” Isla wiggled her eyebrows at him.
“No… really… not a name that I’m going to answer to.”
“We don’t need you to answer to it,” Penny shrugged too.
“We’ll just use it as a pet name,” Keri informed him and watched the man roll his head on his neck and then his shoulders as he considered the three witches.
“Fine,” he snapped out. “I’ll help. This time, and it’ll only work once.” Percival offered back, turning fast on his feet, and stalking away.
“Oooh, someone has a wee little button that can be pushed,” Penny sniggered.
“And we fully intend to use that to our advantage whenever possible,” Keri grinned.
“They are truly evil,” Lucas whispered to Neal, and his brother tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter.
“Oh, trust me, Larry the Lamb, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Penny assured him.
“Wolf.” Lucas scowled back at her.
“In sheep’s clothing,” Keri teased.
“Nope, just a wolf,” Lucas offered with a small shake of his head.
“Come on, Larry,” Isla giggled, “we’ve got work to do.”
“Hey, Lucas,” Neal said as the beta started to move off after his mate. The man turned to look at his brother. “Baaahhh…”
“Yeah, let’s see how funny you think that is with my fist in your face,” Lucas grumbled back.
“Oooh – kkkk, baaahhh,” Neal said before sniggering.
“Why couldn’t I have had sisters?” Lucas growled, and Griffin reached out and slapped him around the back of the head again.
“Stop growling,” the alpha berated him.
He wasn’t sure how many times he would need to tell his siblings the same damn thing. He would have thought that at their age they knew to keep their wild side hidden around humans.
“Tell him to stop bleating then,” Lucas tossed back. He glared at Neal as the man offered him a teasing smile.
“Meee? Baaahhh didn’t do a thing, baaahhh,” Neal said before he chuckled again.
He kept on chuckling; right up to the point where Griffin smacked him around the back of the head.
“It’s not play school. Stop winding your brother up. You know he’s … sensitive.” Griffin chuckled as Lucas snapped his head around on his neck to glare at the pair of them.
He’d more than had enough of his family for one day.
“Ah, bite me!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
~
“What are we doing?” Penny whispered, joining in with her friends as they bagged the left over toys back up into the black sacks and made them ready for the trucks.
“Working for God’s reward, apparently,” Isla shot back.
“Funny,” Penny hissed back.
“Not so much when you think of the irony of it all,” Keri offered her two pence worth.
“I meant about our car,” Penny whispered.
“It’s still blocked in,” Keri shrugged.
“When it’s not?” Penny hissed.
All three witches stayed silent. It was as if they had all suddenly been struck dumb at the thought of leaving.
“Well?” Penny snapped out of their malaise first.
“We … should … leave…” Keri said slowly as if she was still considering all of the options on the table and none of the filled her with joy.
“In which direction? Home or their house?” Isla said, and Keri frowned at her friend's words. “You just don’t sound too sure.”
“And you are?” Keri challenged her.
“I’m, not saying I am,” Isla shot back. She didn’t feel too comfortable with their situation.
“But then you’re not really saying much of…” Penny stopped talking when Lucas walked on by carrying a large A frame. “Not saying much of anything, are you?”
She finished when he was about as far out of ear shot as he was likely to get, considering those big ears.
“Ok, smarty pants,” Isla shoved a small squishy fox into the sack with a little too much venom. “Why don’t you tell us what you have planned, as you seem to know it all.”
“I…” Penny huffed, lost for words.
“Exactly!” Keri wagged a toy snake at her friend.
“So how are we supposed to know?” Isla exclaimed.
“I’ve heard of whistle while you work ladies, but whisper while you work?” Father Ted announced, and all three witches looked guilty of something. He just had no idea what it was that they were guilty of. “Gossiping?” He asked.
“Nope,” Keri gave a small shake of her head as her cheeks colored a nice bright red.
“Nooo?” Father Ted eyed them with interest. “Plotting?”
“Perish the thought, Father,” Penny offered back.
“Ahh! I know what it is,” Father Ted announced, and all three women looked at each other.
“I hope not,” Keri muttered.
“Men troubles.” He gave the
m a knowing look.
“Busted,” Keri nodded.
“You caught us,” Penny giggled.
“Those darn men,” Isla said, and Penny nudged her in the ribs. “What?” she hissed.
“Don’t swear in front of the priest,” Penny hissed back.
“I heard him say three kinds of poop when he hit his thumb with the hammer earlier!” Isla hissed back.
“I can assure you,” Father Ted whispered as he leaned in towards them. “I said my penance for those.”
Keri chuckled, and the others joined in.
“Good to know that you practice what you preach, Father,” Keri said with a sly grin.
“Oh, yes, well, you have to.” He offered back with a small roll of his eyes. “But, I came over to thank you all for your hard work today. Strangers to the flock, but you all jumped right in and lent a hand.”
“A little hard work never hurt anyone. Besides, it was fun,” Keri said as her eyes strayed towards Griffin as he stalked on by with a big wooden plinth over his shoulder and his muscles of parade.
“Yes, fun,” Father Ted teased, and she snapped her eyes back towards the man – her cheeks coloring again. “Well, soon be done. Keep up the good work.” He rubbed his hands together and sauntered off.
“So?” Penny leaned in and whispered, back to her conspiratorial tone once again.
“Buttons,” Keri sighed. “You want an honest answer, well, here it is. I don’t know.”
“Me either,” Isla agreed.
“Me three,” Penny sighed.
~
~
~
Griffin thumped the back of the last truck with the side of his fist, and it grated through the gears as it pulled away. The pack pickup truck still sat behind the witches’ car, boxing it in, but Griffin didn’t think that the three of them were in any hurry to be gone.
They’d taken refuge inside their pods. Mumbling and muttering about needing showers, which made all three men growl at the thought of their mates being naked on the other side of those wooden doors. But at least they were contained in one place while the brothers had a chance to figure out what to do next.