by M. L. Briers
“Sorry boys.” Sydney looked every inch the femme fatale. “It appears playtime is over.”
There was a damn collective sigh and I wanted to knock each and every one of their heads off the nearest wall.
“Come again soon…” Scott grinned and then gave her a drop dead sexy smile. I wished he would drop dead, but it wouldn’t have helped, he’d just bounce back again like the bad penny that he was. “Or for the first time…”
“Back off, bloodsucker.” I bit out.
“And the second, and third…” Scott was a damn tease and I could see Sydney getting hot under the collar. So, I did what any good self respecting with would do-I zapped his arse. He just tensed and groaned. But he did shut up as he flashed me a look of annoyance.
“Sounds good. Maybe it’s a date.” Sydney offered as she sauntered over towards me with her hips swinging from side to side. Anymore swinging and she’d be clearing tables as she went…
“Jesus, if I stuck a broom up your arse you could sweep the floor as you go.” I muttered.
“Jealous much?” Sydney beamed me a killer smile and I wanted to return the favour without the smile.
“Get in the damn car before I make you walk.” I hissed at her. All those horny little devils watched her saunter out.
“If I have to come back here tonight, so help me…” I didn’t finish that statement. I didn’t need too.
I turned and walked away without swinging my damned hips and Hawk had my rear as he followed me out. Literally, his hand was cupping the right cheek of my backside like he was stamping his claim on me. I liked it.
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It was nothing that I’d ever heard before and certainly didn’t want to again. The scream that rang out through the Cove rattled the windows in their frames and made me almost head-butt my mate as I shot up in bed, and subsequently rolled off the side and onto the floor with a loud thud.
I cursed out at the pain in my pride and slapped two hands against the mattress as I pulled myself up from the floor…
“What in the hell was that?” Hawk demanded as he shuffled over in the bed and went to reach down to help me back onto the bed.
“Sounds like my sister met a spider in the bathroom…” I groaned out just as the bedroom door was flung open and Sydney appeared in the shortest short set I had ever seen. Don’t even get me started on how low that plunging neckline delved…
She looked sleepy and confused. Not at all a challenge for my sister. She yawned.
“Don’t you knock?” I demanded. When she reached up and rapt her knuckles against the wooden door I wanted to growl like Hawk’s wolf. I hated that I couldn’t do that shifter stuff sometimes.
“Good enough?” She asked and I groaned as I counted to ten. Word to the wise… It doesn’t bloody well help…
“Not even close. We could have been…” I started to protest but the sarcastic little laugh on her lips made me stop.
“You’re an old married couple, what are the odds?” She shrugged her shoulders and I contemplated wringing her neck. It would have been a fair compromise. “Besides. Your bloody screaming woke me up and some of us care for our beauty sleep.” She gave me another of those sweet smiles, which reminded me I needed to shop for some poison for her coffee…
“And don’t you just need it.” I offered back as sweetly as I could when her words still grated against my brain.
“Looked in the mirror lately, sis?” She motioned towards the corner of her eye. “You got a little crow’s feet going on there.”
“The crows will be paying you a visit soon, but they’ll be here to take you to the damn after life…”
“Ladies, ladies…” Hawk growled out. It was probably the law enforcer in him that liked to keep the peace. Most men liked a cat fight, and my sister had her claws out now.
“I did not scream. We thought it was you…” I turned my nose up at her and turned the other cheek, for now. I might just take her to the Cove cliff’s in the morning and accidentally push her off.
“If I looked like you when I woke up I just might let out a belter like that, but no, not me.” Sydney was fast becoming the target of my to-kill list imaginings. I imagined ways and means by which to bump off all those people I didn’t like-and I had some really good ones for her.
The telephone at the side of the bed made me jump when it screeched to life and I couldn’t help but frown at it. The clock next to it said four AM and I didn’t much like the odds that it was Doug complaining about the squirrels again.
I kind of didn’t want to pick it up but I didn’t have much choice…
“Yeah…?” I barely got the word out of my mouth when Doug growled down the line.
“We have a problem.” Those were words I really didn’t want to hear. “I said we should have dealt with the damn break in and now…”
“Ok, slow down, back it up some, and then calmly tell me what happened.” The man was more than a little dramatic.
“You didn’t hear the Banshee scream?” Doug growled in disbelief.
“That’s what that was…?” I said and then my brain hit a brick wall with the sudden realisation of what he’d just said. “Wait! What damn Banshee?” I growled and it was a good one because Hawk growled too.
“Banshee!” Sydney balked at the mention of the thing, and I couldn’t blame her. “What the hell kind of town is this?” She demanded.
“One with a Banshee in it apparently.” I tossed back at her.
“Why would you have a damn Banshee?”
“I don’t have a Banshee…” I snapped back. I could hear Doug rambling on about something down the line but I had no idea what he was talking about because my darling sister wouldn’t shut the hell up.
“The town. Why would the town allow a Banshee to live here?” Sydney ground out.
“We don’t. We didn’t. Will you just shut the hell up?” I was done talking to her just as Doug yelled down the line.
“When you’re finished…”
“We’re finished.” My sister and I said in unison and she grinned as she mouthed the word Jinx.
“Very bloody funny. Joss. If the Banshee is screaming someone is dying.” Doug reminded me and I felt a small pang of guilt.
“Dead. But who?” I wondered aloud.
It was another mystery and I found that I didn’t like them so much when they weren’t in the pages of a book and they affected me live and in person. I scowled at Hawk.
“Well, we can’t go around canvassing the town and asking if anyone has a dead body.” Doug growled out what I already knew.
“I guess we’re going to have to wait for that body to turn up.” I offered back to him. He grunted. I guess he didn’t like that idea so much, but now that Hawk was based in the town we were certain to find out if the body was a supernatural one because he would be sent to investigate.
“Ew.” Sydney turned her nose up at that idea. “I’m going back to bed.” She sauntered off as Hawk watched her go and the man raised his eyebrows at the sway of her backside.
“Is that your sister I hear?” Doug asked as sweetly as a bear shifter could and I grunted down the line before I slammed the phone down. The thought of Doug and my sister creeped me out. But then the thought of Doug and anybody’s sister crept me out.
“I’m not up on Banshee’s.” Hawk offered that little titbit of information and I sighed. I wasn’t much help either. They were few and far between nowadays, thankfully…
“I’ll bet that Marmaduke has a book or two with Banshees in it.” I offered my mate a smile that was meant to win him over. But that deep frown on his forehead said it all.
“I know exactly which book you want to get your hands on and it’s not happening.” He growled at me.
Sure, I couldn’t look at the book that sucked witches inside it in person, but that didn’t mean that I might not be able to look at a picture of the pages without getting sucked away. I knew just the little Puss in Boots witch I wouldn’
t mind trying that theory out on. I grinned inwardly.
“You read that one and I’ll read the others.” I offered him with all the innocence that I could muster.
“What’s the betting we find that damn vampire skulking around in the darkness?” Hawk growled as he jumped out of the bed and landed with grace on his feet. I sure wish I’d done that, my backside was still throbbing for the thud against the floorboards.
When Hawk reached down and lifted me up onto my feet; I have to admit that I swooned. The man was not only a Sex God, but he was packed full of muscles that moved under his skin and made me want to drop my panties… I sighed inwardly.
“I said what’s the betting we find Scott…?” He started again and snapped me out of my third sexual fantasy about him in about that many minutes. There were things that Hawk and I still hadn’t done and boy was I eager to try them out, I just had to ask… and there lay the problem…
“I heard.” I snapped back feeling a rush of heat to my cheeks and watching as he narrowed his eyes on me and growled a good one that made my toes curl.
“I will make you tell me what you’re thinking one of these nights.” Hawk promised and I blushed harder. I sure hope he did. I was just too tongue tied to tell him under my own steam.
“I’ll hold you to that.” I chuckled at the thought. Then he wrapped one of those big muscled arms around my waist and yanked me against his hard body. I swooned double…
“Maybe we should go to the warlock’s house tomorrow morning.” He teased and I liked the wicked look in his eyes… Then my sister reappeared at the doorway… great bloody timing as usual.
“You’re going to that house you were talking about earlier.”
“No.” I said.
“Yes.” Hawk let slip and I wanted to groan aloud as my sister brightened.
“I’m going too.” She announced excitedly and the smile on my face didn’t move because it couldn’t. It was frozen there in horror. The horror of having to spend more time in my sister’s company.
Before I could say a word she turned on her heels and was gone. Her parting shot over her shoulder to me was the dreaded…
“Wait for me; I just need to get ready.” I groaned. That would take some time.
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Hawk was right, of course. It annoyed me how spot on the man could be sometimes, but I guess I’d known it to be true myself… Scott was indeed already at Marmaduke’s house when we got there.
Sydney purred as soon as she saw him and Scott shot her one of those-come to bed and I can do things too you that you’ve never dreamed possible-looks. I just wanted to find the nearest wall and head butt it a few times for the fun of it. It had to be more fun than watching the two of them drool over each other and flaunt their feathers like peacocks.
“Better late than never.” Scott offered me over his shoulder as he turned back towards the bookcase and started looking through Marmaduke’s collection.
“This is what happens when my sister needs to get ready. You should keep that in mind…” I snapped out the warning and Scott grinned.
“You forget that I have all the time in the world.” Yes he did. Big poops for him.
“Unless the Banshee screams in your direction.” I had to throw that one out there to him. Mr Superior wasn’t immune to the scream of a Banshee. He’d be just as dead as the rest of us, only this time he wouldn’t be the walking dead, but the dead-dead.
I’m not quite sure why that filled me with a sense of amusement. Maybe because the man had just as much to lose this time around as the rest of us. He certainly didn’t seem to like my observation as his upper lip twitched when he thought about it.
“I checked the book…” Scott changed the subject and well he might. His ego probably wouldn’t allow for such things as his mortality.
“The book?” Sydney asked and I scowled at her.
“Grown up’s are talking.” I snapped and she gave me a death glare. Score a point for little old me with the crow’s feet.
“I noted nothing in their about a Banshee. I could have missed it I suppose, but probably not.” Scott said as he went back to studying the books on the shelves.
“So, she didn’t escape from the book. At least says you.” I tossed back at him to see if he had his poker face on. He shot a look at me over his shoulder that implied that I was mad. He was probably right.
“Why would I release a Banshee that could kill me?” Scott asked. Hawk grunted.
“That’s true. The man loves himself far too much for that.” Score a point to my mate as Scott pulled in a deep breath before he dramatically sighed it back out again.
“Hello in the house!” Doug yelled from the front door and I wanted to groan out loud but held it back.
“In the back room.” Scott called back and I wanted to hit him with something hard for inviting the bear inside. Scott caught the look I gave him and shrugged. “Many hands make light work.” He gave me a smirk and I wanted to give him hives, over and over again…
“What’s this a party?” Doug rubbed his hands together as his eyes snapped towards Sydney and he smiled with glee.
“Now that you’re here…” Scott offered and Doug growled in warning. It wasn’t bad enough that we had a Banshee and my sister in town, now I had to listen to the alphas bickering? Quite frankly, I’d rather boil my head.
“Does anyone know who’s dead yet?” Doug sort of leaned in and whispered and then he straightened up. “Apart from him.” Doug sneered in Scott’s direction. Sydney didn’t help matters when she chuckled and Doug straightened even further as he stuck his broad chest out and claimed the victory.
CHAPTER FOUR
“If you two can’t play nice then be gone.” I snapped at them like a stressed out mother.
If they wanted to act like children then I was going to treat them like it. A mental image of Doug wearing a baby’s nappy and nothing else snapped into my mind and I shivered at the thought. I should have given him a damn dummy to keep his mouth shut.
As for Scott. Well, the man was a damn vampire and they made up their own rules as they went along. This one was particularly slippery and duplicitous at times, but he also saved the town from Marmaduke’s little surprises the last time around…
“Joss. Joss!” I heard the voice and groaned inwardly. Talk about turning into a damn party.
“Back here.” Scott called out. Doug growled long and hard as the sound of footsteps drew closer. I had to steel myself for the man and his ways.
Amos, the Goblin King’s right hand man appeared, and made a beeline for me. I guess it was the fact that he hadn’t seen my sister yet, but he got right up there and personal as usual, and of course he spoke to my breasts.
“Joss, something awful has happened.” Amos told my left breast and took some comfort in eyeing my right one. I grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head upwards. He had a strange sort of a spaced out look on his face before the pain kicked in. “Ow! Joss, I’m serious. You deal me a double blow. First I lose my King and now…”
“Wait.” Doug growled out. “Theseus is… dead?”
I let go of Amos’s hair and the man bowed his head in loss. He folded his hands in front of him and then slowly nodded. I was kind of waiting for the violins to play in the background and Amos to wipe away a tear in that moment.
“T’is sad news, no?” Amos sighed.
“No.” Doug grinned like he’d just won the lottery. His eyes met my death glare and he jolted out of it and snapped the smile right off his face. “I mean yes.” Doug growled.
Hmm, prime suspect number one in my book. Not that I had a book. I’d given up that folly when I’d met my mate. I was guessing that when the psychic said I would be something with books, she was talking about Marmaduke’s bloody books and not writing them. Ah, my literary career, over before I’d written a single word.
“You’re all heart, Doug.” Scott bit out and Doug growled again as he took to giving the vamp
ire the death glare that he’d borrowed from me.
“You can just take your head and…” Doug was pointing one stubby finger at the vampire and I was fast losing the miniscule bit of patience that I had left.
“Can we not?” I shot a glare in Doug’s direction and the bear readjusted his stance on a long, disapproving sigh.
“Fine.” Doug growled.
I noted the movement from Amos and I knew just what had taken his interest. My sister, Puss in Boots. Shocker. Well, she did have another one of those outfits on where her little breasts tried to reach for her neck.
“And who do we have here?” Amos brightened some as he walked towards Sydney and greeted her breasts.
It served her right.
“Hey! Get those eyes up here Mr or your sexual life will become a distant memory.” Sydney bit out and Amos’s head snapped upwards as a smirk spread across his lips.
“I’m Amos.” He announced as his eyes played ping pong between her breasts and her face. Scott reached out and hand and caught the Goblin by the scruff of the neck, a moment later and the little man was kicking his feet in mid-air as the vampire turned him to face the wall.
“If you want to act like a child…” Scott bit out with disdain.
I had to smile inwardly at that one. There wasn’t a male in this town that didn’t act like a damn child. Hormonal teenagers were everywhere.
“Hey, put me down.” Amos kicked harder until Scott just opened his fist and dropped him to his feet. The Goblin scowled and grumbled. I took to rolling my eyes, and Hawk bit off a snigger.
“So when you say dead?” I had to ask. “Was it natural causes?” I wasn’t hopeful.
“Not unless you call getting blasted by that damn Banshee’s scream natural.” Amos confirmed my worst fears while Doug clapped his hands before rubbing them together.
“Well, now we know who is dead I can get back to bed.” He announced with a big old stupid grin on his face.
Definitely prime suspect number one.
“What are we going to do about the Banshee?” Amos scowled at Doug’s demeanour. While it was true to say that Doug hated the Goblins-it was usually because of the business side of his life and not overly personal.