by M L Briers
“I think you like to answer a question with a question because you were in the military as a spy.” He narrowed his eyes on her as he teased her.
“That would explain a lot.” Wendy offered back giving nothing away.
Jethro eyeballed Dexter as he stalked into the room. His other enforcer, Alex, was already out bringing the pack to the main cabin with the male wolves guarding the area, and he’d called Dexter in to formulate the basis of a plan of action. Soon the pack would all be assembled between the two main buildings and his two betas and other enforcer would be joining them, but for right now he needed to get things started.
“So Dale is bringing the witch in, do we know anything about this vamp yet?” Dexter asked and Jethro shook his head.
“No. All I know is Dale’s witch…” Jethro started and Dexter frowned.
“Dale’s…witch?” He asked and Jethro couldn’t contain his growl.
“It was in the man’s voice. She’s his damn mate.” He tossed a map down onto the desk and rolled it out. Slamming objects down onto the four corners to keep them down. “Damn it…” He growled as Dexter stroked his beard.
“That makes three…” He said as if to himself.
“I know that…” Jethro growled out.
“Three is a potent number for witches, or so I’m told.” Dexter offered and Jethro growled louder.
“I damn well know that too.” His palms slapped down onto the map as his eyes roamed over it. “But she’s Dale’s mate and we have to respect that…”
“And protect her from the vampire.” Dexter offered and Jethro shot him a dark glare. “So what’s the plan?”
Eloise wasn’t happy to know there was another vampire on the loose and according to her mate; this one couldn’t be trusted as he was after a witch. While she liked the thought of another witch being around, what she didn’t like was the thought of another damn vampire. She stood on the threshold of the main cabin where her mate was holding some kind of war council and looked for the new witch.
When Dale’s truck rolled up onto the drive she spotted Caleb in the back with Wendy and groaned to herself, but her attention was taken by the sight of the new witch giving Dale a hard time. When he went to open the passenger door for her; she slammed it back into his hands, and he grunted as he caught it before it hit him. She dropped down to her pointy heels on the ground and placed both of her tiny hands on her curvy hips.
“Told you I could open it, and you know what? I can walk to the damn house without the need to be hanging over your shoulder, so back up and back off, and go do whatever it is your do.” She berated him as he growled and muttered under his breath. Eloise chuckled at the sight. It wasn’t that long ago she’d been berating her own mate.
“Well I thought as you were acting so precious that you needed to be treated like royalty.” Dale gave a curt bow and she seethed inside.
“Go away…” She shooed him, but he wrapped a hand around her upper arm and started towards the cabin with her in tow as she tried to keep up with his long legs in her high heels. It wasn’t going so well…
“We need some information on the vampire and you have it…” Dale informed her over his shoulder. Truth be told; he wasn’t about to leave her side until she was safely in the house. She could hiss and holler all she liked, but the fact remained that she was his mate and he’d lay down his life to protect her.
“I’m not Speedy Gonzales, and I’m wearing heels.” She bit out as her short legs tried to keep up with him. Dale stopped in his tracks and turned to her. She snapped her head back on her neck and glared up at him.
“Hence the whole carrying thing…” He growled down.
“Don’t even think…” She got that far before he reached down and tossed her up and over his shoulder. She shrieked in annoyance and Eloise chuckled as she covered her grin with her hand. The sound of her laughter made Annabeth raise her head.
“Witch…” Annabeth bit out as he stomped into the house right on by the woman.
“We’ll talk later.” Eloise called after her with a certain amount of glee at Dale’s actions. It was good to know she wasn’t the only new witch in town, and the only witch mated to one of the pack. She spotted Wendy and waved her hellos, it was time to get up close and personal with the woman who didn’t like to give much away.
“We all have those little voices in our heads that steer us along a certain path. Sometimes those voices are benevolent and sometimes they just make mischief, it’s our job to sort the wheat from the chaff.” Wendy sat back and viewed the comings and goings of the pack around her. She wasn’t overly comfortable being in the heart of a pack, and yet she wasn’t freaked out by it either.
“And you couldn’t have been this talkative when I first arrived?” Eloise shot her a look of rebuke. Wendy didn’t look at her as that serene smile filled her face with a certain glow of knowing.
“And what would you have done if I’d just thrown you to the wolves?” Wendy asked.
“Got the hell out of dodge.” Eloise admitted.
“And now?” Wendy turned those knowing eyes on Eloise and she smiled back.
“Not in a million years. I’m happy.” Eloise admitted. Wendy gave a small shrug off her shoulders.
“Then it all worked out as fate intended.” Wendy offered and Eloise grunted.
“What about Annabeth?”
“Annabeth has her own little voice in her head that will tell her what’s right, lead her down the right path…”
“But what about this new vampire?” For the first time Wendy looked uneasy, and then that look was gone. Eloise was about to question her on it when Alex stalked into the room and headed straight for her.
“I’m going out to patrol; you’ll stay in the house.” Alex growled every word; it wasn’t a question or a request, and Eloise felt her irk gene kicking in but she held her tongue. She was getting used to his protective ways and that was all this was.
“Of course.” Eloise assured him and he nodded as his eyes flicked towards Wendy.
“Good to see you again, Wendy.” He didn’t wait for an answer from the older witch; turning on his heels, he headed towards the nearest exit.
“Oh I doubt that.” Wendy chuckled under her breath.
Rebecca watched the scene play out from the corner of the room. The She-wolf had been Alex’s go to girl when he needed a little fun and games that he could only get with a female of his own kind, but that had ended the moment he’d found his mate. She shouldn’t feel irked by it, they’d had an agreement, but she couldn’t help but feel put out by the fact that Alex’s mate was a human witch.
He looked happy with her, or as happy as a wolf could be with a human mate, but it wouldn’t be the same for him knowing he had to be gentle to the extreme so as not to break the fragile female. Rebecca’s wolf growled at the intruder. If she hadn’t of shown up then Alex would still be hers and their wolves would still be company for each other.
Now she had to look on as he moved on with his mate and she was left alone. She thought it unfair that fate had seen fit to offer him his mate and hers was nowhere to be seen. She felt horny and hard done by all in one roll of the dice.
She’d expected to keep Alex in her life for a little while longer. She knew in her heart that she needed to let go and be happy for him finding his mate, and yet it was a bitter pill to swallow. She wished the damn witch had never shown up because she wasn’t ready to let Alex go yet, but he only had eyes for the Fae.
CHAPTER FIVE
“And that’s everything?” Jethro demanded. It wasn’t Annabeth that he was mad at. Vampires came and went along with other threats to his pack. It was a fact of life for the supernatural that there would always be something lurking in the background that they needed to deal with, it was just how it was for them. But he needed to know the whole story and he wanted the witch to hold nothing back.
Annabeth nodded her assurances. She’d told them everything she knew about the damn bloodsucker that had stal
ked her across the countryside. It wasn’t like she was trying to protect the man; he was her enemy as much as the packs now, and she’d like nothing better than to see him as ashes. The feel of Dale’s hand on the small of her back was reassuring, and it also made her more than aware of the mating pull between them.
Jethro groaned inwardly at the sight of his beta’s looking at the witch as if he could eat her up. He’d never known the touch of a mate and yet he wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to either. For now he had too much on his plate with the everyday running of the pack, and times like these were a natural occurrence that he couldn’t blame the witch entirely for, but to add a mate and all that entailed on top of everything else might have sent him as loopy as Wendy the Witch.
“Dale, I need you out on the land, your mate will stay in the house with the other females.” Jethro informed him and his beta gave a small grunt and a curt nod. He knew the protective nature of the man and beast together would want to keep an unmated female close, but now wasn’t the time. Better to be separated than have a dead mate on his hands, and the vampire was coming for her.
“I don’t get a say?” Annabeth didn’t relish the thought of being out there and yet she’d like the chance to decline.
“You obviously don’t think that your magic is strong enough to take on the vampire or you wouldn’t have been running in the first place.” Jethro informed her. In his mind it was the easiest way to close down the conversation, and it worked. She folded her arms across her ample chest and pouted, but she didn’t offer up a response.
“Come on, Annabeth, it’s time you met the rest of the pack.” Dale growled at the knowledge that he was going to have to leave her behind. But he’d make damn sure that she was safe inside the house, having one of the other females watch her, and then the pack could slay the vampire that had been hunting her. Nothing filled him with more pleasure at the thought, except maybe the images that kept popping into his mind of them mating.
“Eduardo DeLusia.” Annabeth hissed the name of the vampire that had been trailing her with all the venom of a rattlesnake. She was too busy caught up in her own little world of hate to notice that fact that Eloise had gone a deathly shade of pale beside her.
For one long moment Eloise thought that she was going to throw up the hearty breakfast that Alex had cooked that morning. Her stomach clenched as the room spun. Sweat broke out across her body and Annabeth couldn’t have dealt her anymore of a body blow had she put some magic behind it and let it rip.
“Eloise…?” Wendy did notice the younger witch’s reaction, but then she’d been half expecting something like it. Eloise pushed up on shaking legs…
“I just need to use the bathroom…” Eloise took flight out of the room and away from them. Annabeth frowned.
“Maybe we’re going to hear the pitter-patter of tiny paws before long.” She grinned to herself. Wendy forced that sterile smile onto her lips and sat back in her chair. She didn’t like it.
“Could be.” She offered, knowing in her heart that wasn’t what ailed their new friend. “I’m just going to go and…” She excused herself and waked from the room. She knew that there was nothing that she could do to ease the torment inside Eloise, and she headed for a quiet space in the madness of the large home. Her hand reached for the talisman that hung low down between her breasts and she gripped it as she closed her eyes and reached out to the spirit that was guiding her.
“Tell me how I can stand by and let this one play out without being sure that the outcome is the right one for Eloise?” She demanded. It didn’t feel right inside her. There was an ache just below her ribs and that was never a good sign. She wanted to help these women, not stand by and watch them suffer in the face of adversity, not when she possessed the magic to be able to join their powers together into a formidable force.
‘You know better than most, Wendy, that everyone has their demons to slay.’ The voice comforted her as much as it annoyed her. It had led her to this land and helped her to prepared the sacred ground for the foundation of what was to be a formidable Coven, and yet now that the wheels were in motion and the witches were being drawn here she was less certain of the course that things were taking.
“Yes. I accept that, but why does she have to do it alone?” Wendy tried to access the vision of how this would play out and yet she was kept from it. “What are you not telling me?” Wendy demanded. “I won’t put the Coven in danger…”
‘Trust that a Coven forged in fire and heartache will have the strength to overcome any and all who oppose it.’
“You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs?” Wendy offered back, but the voice was silent. She mentally cursed the powers that led her so far and then closed the way to her. “Answer me.” She demanded.
‘This is as much a rite of passage for you as for the rest. Your strength builds with each new obstacle that is overcome. Fighting battles is the easy part, watching your sisters fight their own takes more strength.’
“Then this will be overcome?” The answer wasn’t forthcoming and she bit down on the need to see where this day would lead them. As usual her powers only went so far and showed the fringes of what was to be and not the detail that she longed for.
Eloise had paced back and forth across the bathroom tiles until she had full control over her emotions again. Drawing them down like a big black cloak that she wrapped around her body to keep them inside, she used her magic to cast them out of her and into the four corners of the room. She’d have to do a cleansing spell soon to banish them for good, but right now she could breathe again without the sick feeling within the pit of her stomach.
Eduardo. Eddie; the bastard vampire that had killed her mother, while all that she could do as a helpless child was watch. Revenge would taste sweet to her now. If the pack killed him then she could finally put her past behind her where it belonged.
She reached for the door and wrenched it open. The need to join the hunt for the vampire was like a fire within her blood. Alex had warned her to stay in the house and yet he didn’t have all of the information that he needed to ask that from her.
She practically barrelled into the tall She-wolf that was striding down the corridor. With a grunt of awareness of who she was and a muttered apology, Eloise carried on in her need to be anywhere but inside. The long fingers that wrapped around her lower arm snapped her attention back to the woman and she brought her head around and her eyes up to meet Rebecca’s.
“I was looking for you…” The woman delivered her words with a cool air that she’d adopted since Alex had introduced them days ago. “It’s Alex, he’s hurt…” Eloise heard those words and her mind spun.
“Where is he?” Eloise demanded. She could use her healing on him and then she would hunt down the vampire and put an end to him once and for all. He’d taken her family from her once; it wasn’t going to happen again.
“I can show you, but you shouldn’t really leave…” Rebecca started and Eloise snatched her arm back and broke the hold the woman had one her.
“Take me to my mate.” She demanded. Rebecca made small change of thinking it over, before she nodded and motioned for her to follow. Today was going to be a good day for revenge…
Annabeth’s eyes locked onto the movement outside the window and she pushed up onto her feet. Moving to the window she noted Eloise and a She-wolf slipping behind the shed at the back of the house and she turned back towards Wendy. The older witch dropped her eyes and looked away, but Annabeth knew that they’d both seen the same thing.
“It’s Eloise…” Annabeth motioned and Wendy sighed.
“It’s not our place to get involved…” Wendy started but Annabeth scoffed at that idea. If Eloise was out there then she couldn’t sit about and do nothing while another witch hunted the vampire that she had brought to the pack. Male wolves might have had the upper hand in the hunting department, but if Eloise was putting herself in danger then she felt an obligation to help.
“Maybe not y
ours.” Annabeth informed her and started for the back door. One of the She-wolves that had been eyeing her ever since her mate left made it there first.
“You’re supposed to stay inside.” Gina informed her. Annabeth considered that for a long moment. Tossing up a hand with a shrug of her shoulders she gave a small chuckle as she drew her magic to her.
“Silly me, I forgot about…” Annabeth reached up fast and brushed her thumb against the Lycan’s forehead. “Sleep…” She bade the woman and tried her level best to catch her as she half fell-half crumpled against her. She eased her down to the ground as best she could before pulling open the door and disappearing into the night.
Wendy looked at the prone body of the she-wolf on the floor and the guilt rode her hard. With a roll of her eyes and a grunt of annoyance she headed for the back door. Spirits or not, she couldn’t sit by and allow her Coven to fight without her involvement.
Annabeth followed the magic before her. With Eloise’s shields in place she found she could use it like a trail of breadcrumbs to keep up with the women as they went. Silence seemed to be all around her once she’d entered the woods and an eerie chill reached out to surround her.
Deciding it was probably more to do with her imagination and knowing that a creepy vampire might be lurking somewhere. Not to mention the fact that she’d done what she’d told her mate she wouldn’t do and left the relative safety of the pack house. Guilt niggled and bit at her heels with every step that she pushed further away from the house. Dale wouldn’t be best pleased if he found out, and by her hand there was a sleeping she-wolf lying on the kitchen floor, how could he not find out?
She hadn’t asked to find a mate. She wasn’t even sure that she wanted one, and yet she still felt a sense of shame at letting him down and venturing outside. She knew within her bones that she would feel a lot more than shame if Eloise came to harm and she hadn’t done anything to stop it.