I'll Be There, page 4
part #19 of His Mate - Brother Series
“Now, now, now,” he said, wagging a finger at her. “Is that any way to treat an old friend?” His smirked was annoying, his tone was teasing, and she had the urge to give him a real mouthful.
It wasn’t as if she could do that in her wolf form. No, she was going to have to shift into a human form, and he knew it — that was why he’d stolen the blanket — but what was it going to take to get it off him?
“I know what you’re thinking little she wolf,” Santino said, goading her into another snarl.
What female in their right mind wants a man to read their innermost thoughts? Not her — and not if that man was him.
He held out the blanket with a teasing grin and jiggled it about until she snarled again. “Well, somebody came prepared — and that somebody wasn’t you.”
Merry wasn’t playing his games. She turned on her paws and slowly started to pad away from him.
The sound of air whistled past her ears and made them prick up, but the feel of the soft blanket against her fur told her that she’d won that point. She pushed her wolf down and allowed her human side to burst free.
As she pushed up to her feet, Merry wrapped the blanket around her naked body like a towel after a shower and tucked it over at the top. “Don’t think giving me a blanket absolves you of…”
“I did nothing wrong,” he said, cutting her off, and protesting his innocence one more time.
“We were friends, and then…”
“And then you got a teenage crush, and I got banished, tell me, who got the raw end of the deal in that one?” Santino asked, waggling his eyebrows in a way that she fondly remembered.
“Well…” She left that thought there as she rolled her eyes to the night sky and grimaced just a little.
“Exactly!” he announced, taking a step toward her, but she held up her hand, palm facing him, to ward him off.
“I’m not done being mad at you yet.”
“Me?” he asked with so much surprise and innocence in his tone that she almost believed him and had to give him points for trying.
“You still led me on…”
“Can I help it that this…” He motioned down his body, up again, and circled his face before stretching his arms out to the sides to give her the best view. “Is so irresistible?”
It took a moment, but then Merry spat out a chuckle. That didn’t stop her from folding her arms and offering him an old-fashioned look. “Please — I’ve seen more appealing squid then what I’m looking at. I guess you became a vampire before you had a chance to grow a real body.”
“Ouch!” he said, pulling his head back and cocking just one eyebrow at her. “When did you become a mean girl?”
“I grew up — you weren’t here,” Merry said, in a tone that sounded more like an accusation. Then she turned on her heels and walked away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
“And whose fault is that?” Santino asked, not prepared to take the sole blame for what happened all those years ago.
“Apparently, and according to you, not mine — your irresistible, remember?” She tossed back over her shoulder, but she didn’t turn to look at him and couldn’t see the big grin on his face.
“I’m glad you agree,” he said, starting after her.
“I never said I agreed — just that you run away like a coward, fleeing the scene, and without saying goodbye.”
“I don’t do goodbyes — it’s a vampire thing,” he informed her.
“Well, I’m not a vampire, and the least you could have done is said goodbye.”
Santino caught her up and walked beside her. A heartbeat later and her fist shot out and caught him on the jaw. He’d expected no less of her. “Have you got it out of your system yet?”
“Not even close,” she said, raising her chin in defiance like she caught a bad smell on the breeze.
“Tell me what I did that was so bad?” he demanded. “Vampires leave — it’s what we do.”
“Exactly!”
“And — dot, dot, dot?”
Santino stopped when she stopped dead in her tracks. She turned toward him, narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to read his mind, but the look of disbelief on her face told him that he just wasn’t getting it. “Seriously?”
“Yes!”
“You left!”
“We covered that!”
“My friend — the one who told me he’d been there for me no matter what — left,” she snapped. “Do you have any idea how that felt?”
“I’m guessing…” He looked to the sky, lost for words, and stretched his arms out to the side. “Lonely?”
For the second time, a fist landed against his jaw, but that time she put more force behind it and needed to shake out the pain in her hand. It was worth it. “Betty was right — you are an asshole!”
“Now that we can agree on,” Santino said, testing his jaw and feeling it creek. “You learned to punch.”
“Not a girl any more.” Merry spun on her heels and stalked away from him.
There was no way he was going to let that be the end of it between them. He followed her. “I hear you found a mate,” he called after her, causing her to stop once more, but she didn’t turn to face him
“I did — you weren’t here — he died — you weren’t here,” she bit out.
Santino was in front of her a heartbeat later. “I’m sorry,” he said, and he looked like he meant it. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you became a woman, I’m sorry I wasn’t here you found a mate, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you lost your mate — I know how that feels,” he said, and for one long moment they just stared at each other.
“But look — I’m here now!” he said, his demeanour changing in a heartbeat to one of glee, and teasing her the way that he used to.
“Too little — too late,” she said, not with any real malice, just as a matter of fact.
“I’m a vampire — there’s always time,” he said, and then he winked.
Santino noted the way that she pulled her fist back for another shot and he started to run backwards. “I know I taught you one thing — nothing is for free — if you want another shot at me, you’re going to have to catch me.”
“I’m older now and faster,” she informed him.
Santino tipped his head to the side and looked her up and down. “Really?” he asked, grinning, and she saw the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “You look like you might be carrying a little extra weight on your hips.”
“Oh boy, are you going to regret that one?”
~
“In what world did you think this was a good idea?” Lorna hissed a whisper at the witch beside her.
“Do not lay this at my door,” Coleen said, snorting a chuckle of disbelief at the mess they had managed to get themselves into. “This is all Santino’s fault, and when I catch up to him – dot double bloody dot,” she hissed back.
“I think the mate is you,” Lorna said, jutting her chin out and giving her friend a little side-eye.
“Why me?” Coleen’s voice notched up a pitch or two.
“Well, it’s not me, and if it’s not bloody me, then it has to be you – you see? It’s as clear as day….”
“In your muddy little twisted mind,” Coleen said, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.
“Speaking of twisted – where is that vampire?” Lorna bit out, looking out of the window at the night around them. “And where is he taking us?”
“Should we zap him?” Coleen asked, and she was sure she noticed his ears twitch.
“He’s not going to kill his mate,” Lorna protested. “So, you’re safe…”
“Stop saying that it could just as easily be you.”
“Not in this lifetime,” Lorna chuckled and received a glare for her trouble. That only made her chuckle harder.
“But if we zap him then we could just get away…”
“And go where? Do you know where we are? Do you know where the road is? Cos I don’t,” Lorna said, scowling at the thought of being pitted against Mother Nature in the middle of nowhere, at night, and with Coleen as her unwitting guide.
That wasn’t a good thought. It would be the blind leading the stupid, and she wasn’t prepared to fight nature and run from a pack at the same time.
“How about we just knock him over the head with something and decide while he’s sleeping it off?”
“If you wanna hit him then go ahead and hit him, but let me point out something that should be blindingly obvious to you – he’s driving.”
“I can see that – and?”
“What happens when a driver falls asleep at the wheel?”
“They crash…”
“They crash and who is in the car with him?”
Coleen sighed. “We are…”
“There you go then, genius, you still wanna knock him out?”
“Well, obviously I’d get him to pull over first!”
“Oh sure – why didn’t I think of that?” Lorna said and leant forward in her seat. “Hey, Satan’s minion – you wanna pull over so my friend here can knock you out and we can discuss running off into the wilderness – possibly never to be seen again?”
Nash grumbled a growl and turned a hard glare on her. Lorna patted his shoulder and pushed back in her seat. “I think that was a no…”
“Well, way to go to warn him!” Coleen bit out.
“I think he kind of overheard it with his big ears and your big mouth, bright spark,” Lorna berated her. “What else you got? Maybe get him to burn down his house so that you’d have nowhere to live as mates…?”
“I’m not his mate!”
“Time will tell,” Lorna said, nodding to herself. Then she felt the hard zing of her friend’s magic and tensed her muscles against it as she bit down on a curse.
“You were annoying me,” Coleen said with a smirk.
“Oh boy, are you walking a fine line…”
“I get the feeling you got out of the wrong side of the coffin this morning, you’re grumpy,” Coleen said, smirking back.
“Coffin?” Nash growled from the front.
“Oh, don’t worry, not the vampire’s coffin, she has one of her own…”
“Huh?” he growled again.
“Just for decoration purposes, not for sleeping,” Lorna berated her.
“Worried that your mate will think you’re a loony tune?”
“Not my mate.” Lorna bit down on her annoyance.
“One of you is my mate, and right now…” Nash sighed to himself. “I’m not sure I want to know which one.”
“Rude!” Lorna berated him.
“Very!” Coleen added.
Nash’s eyebrows went down then up. “I’m an alpha, get used to it or…”
“Go home?” Lorna asked in her sweetest voice.
“No,” Nash grumbled.
“Because we can,” Coleen said.
“Given directions and a healthy start,” Lorna whispered.
“Maybe some food,” Coleen whispered back.
“A bottle of scotch would be good – for medicinal purposes,” she said, shrugging.
“Good idea,” Coleen agreed.
“Thanks, I have them all the time,” Lorna shot back.
“Really? I didn’t notice,” Coleen replied.
Nash rumbled a growl, rolled his eyes, rolled his shoulders and then bit down on a sigh.
Witches.
CHAPTER EIGHT
~
“Okay, out!” Nash growled, yanking open the back door to the pickup truck and getting that scent again. He thought he knew which witch was his mate, but he didn’t take anything for granted.
He snapped a look at Flint as the man ran towards them, panting like a beast and eyeing the alpha with suspicion. “Far enough, brother,” Nash growled.
Flint held up his hands before waving that warning away and folding over to brace his hands against his knees as he tried to slow his heart rate and pull in some much needed oxygen. “Just here for the show,” he managed to breathe out before sucking in again.
Nash grunted. That was the thing with the pack; everyone knew what everyone else was doing, most of the time. Right now, he wished that wasn’t the case.
“I don’t think so,” Coleen said, snorting a chuckle as she folded her arms to show him her resolve.
“That goes double,” Lorna said, mirroring her friend’s stance as she watched the alpha suck in a deep breath – that sculpted chest rising as his chin went down and he regarded them from beneath his dark eyebrows.
“I know you’re females and witches, so double trouble, but – let’s not make a thing of this,” Nash said, giving it his best authoritarian tone and mirroring the pair of them when he folded his large muscled arms across his chest.
Lorna hated that she noticed how his muscles moved under his clothes and how that movement seemed to thrill her. She hated it because she fancied him rotten. The man was sex-on-a-stick, and that didn’t bode well for who was his mate.
She didn’t know if she should feel a little appalled that the thought of Coleen being his mate sent a flash of jealousy through her – after all, Coleen was always the one who got the most attention when they went out, and the thought of snagging the alpha of the pack was appealing, on a purely competitive nature, of course.
“Doesn’t he look so cute when he's trying to be all alpha-ish?” Coleen said, and another flash of jealousy went through Lorna, but she knew what her friend was about, and she played along.
“Too cute for his own good,” Lorna said in a teasing voice. “He’s like one of those big soft bear cubs…”
Nash almost swallowed his tongue on a growl of annoyance at the insults. The sound of his brother laughing didn’t help matters either, and he felt his beast rise up within him. The wolf felt the need to show them that it was fierce and all alpha – and it tried his patience to have to force the beast back in its cage.
“I know what you’re doing…”
“He knows what we’re doing,” Coleen said, turning to look at Lorna.
“Paying him a compliment went down worse than I thought it would,” Lorna tossed back, and the witches snapped on big, beaming grins.
“A compliment?” Nash chewed on those words for a moment.
“Would you rather be the big bad wolf that goes around chasing his tail while trying to blow down a brick house?” Coleen asked, sounding innocent, but her eyes said differently.
“That would imply he was as dumb as two short planks, and you’re not that dumb, are you, Mr Wolf?” Lorna asked, showing the same traits as her friend, but still those words irked the alpha, and she could tell.
Nash replanted his feet, tightened his arms across his chest, took another deep, not-so calming breath in, and considered the witches in the back of his truck. “I’m not as dumb as you two would like me to be,” he said and heard Flint chuckle again. “What?” he demanded when the witches matched his brother’s laughter.
“So you are dumb – just not that dumb?” Flint said sniggering.
Nash could have kicked himself, but he’d rather kick his brother.
“Get out of the car!” He growled.
“I think I’ll stay,” Lorna said.
“I’m with her,” Coleen replied.
“Why can’t anything be easy with witches?” Nash mumbled to himself, but they caught his words anyway.
“Where would be the fun in that?” Coleen asked.
“This isn’t fun,” Nash said.
“Now you know how we feel,” Lorna added.
“They have a point,” Flint said and got a dark glare back from the alpha in return.
“Well, if I’d known they were coming, I would have arranged a tea party,” Nash growled.
Then he placed one hand on top of the truck, the other on the door, and leaned into the opening, scenting the air, and picking out his mate’s scent from what he found there.
“Nobody said you could sniff us,” Lorna said, scowling at the man with intent.
From the look on her face, Nash thought that her intent might be to try to find a way to neuter him. That wasn’t going to happen. “Nobody said I couldn’t either,” he informed her.
His beast wasn’t exactly happy about the way that things were going. The wolf wanted to push forward, identify their mate, and place the mark into her skin that would protect her from other supernatural beings.
Nash wasn’t about to let that happen. But to placate his beast, he needed the witches cooperation, and that was in short supply.
“Well, I say you can’t,” Lorna said.
“Ditto,” Coleen added.
“If a bear has to do what a bear has to do — a bee has to do what bees do — then a wolf is damn well going to sniff out his mate when he finds her — or, you could cooperate,” Nash said.
“Us?” Coleen asked, motioning between the witches. Then with a small chuckle, she elbowed her friend playfully in the ribs. “He’s funny.”
“A regular scream,” Lorna said, but she was still eyeing the alpha like she wanted to do him harm.
Nash knew why that was — he’d separated the witches scents — their very essence — and he’d come up with — his mate.
She must have felt it too, which was why she was looking at him with a death glare.
“I really only need one of you to get out of the car,” Nash growled, looking directly at Lorna.
“That’s not going…”
“Well, that sounds good to me,” Coleen said cheerfully.
Lorna turned that death glare onto her friend and topped it up with a look of pure disbelief. “You are throwing me to the wolves?”
Coleen nodded happily. “Rather, you than me.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you!”
“The hell you wouldn’t,” Coleen tossed back. Then she had little chuckle for good measure.
“Okay, maybe I would — but at least I wouldn’t make it so obvious,” Lorna said, folding her arms and pushing back against the seat as she pouted.
