I'll Be There, page 5
part #19 of His Mate - Brother Series
“You,” Nash said, pointing his finger at Lorna before hooking it over and beckoning for her to come to him — at least until she zapped his finger and he snapped it back into a tight fist.
“I have other plans,” Lorna said, tipping her chin up in the air in defiance.
The hell was she a mate! That wasn’t going to happen.
Nobody said anything about going out tonight and finding a mate for life! Especially a shifty shifter to boot.
Maybe that was somebody’s idea of fun — but it wasn’t hers.
An alpha for a mate? Why didn’t someone just grab a ball and chain wrap it around her leg and stick her in front of the kitchen sink?
He could take his finger and shove it — and while he was at it; he could shove the rest of him as well.
She was a witch, and witches and wolves just didn’t mix — it was the way of the world, and just because she was a mate that shouldn’t change anything, should it?
Wolves and a pack. An alpha and a witch. Life had certainly turned upside down and planted her on her head, and that wasn’t a good thing in anyone’s book.
At least if she’d found a human mate she’d have a couple of years to get used to the idea of being less selfish with her own time as they dated, then got engaged, then planned to marry. But this? This was speed dating on speed.
She knew that once a wolf shifter had found a mate then it was all guns blazing until he’d wooed her — marked her — bonded with her, and even if the bonding thing didn’t sound a little tempting, what came after that certainly wasn’t.
Oh, how she wished that Santino was there — so that she could zap him to within an inch of his undead life.
Pesky little vampire and his stupid challenging games. He’d dropped her right in the poop — and when she found him, she was going to kill him — over, and over, and over again.
CHAPTER NINE
~
“Get out of the truck,” Nash said.
“I’m not getting out of the truck.” Lorna was adamant.
“Get out of the truck,” Nash growled.
“I’m not getting out of the truck,” Lorna bit down on her anger.
“Be careful,” Coleen said. “He might huff, puff, and blow the truck down.”
Nash offered Coleen a dark glare. “Fine, then I’m coming in the truck.”
“Then that’s my cue to leave,” Coleen said, turning to the door and placing her hand on the lock before Lorna slapped at her hand and knocked it away.
“You will not leave me,” Lorna bit out at her friend. “You — you’re not coming in!” she snapped at the alpha.
“Oh, yes I am,” Nash informed her.
“Well if he’s coming in — I need to get out — there’s no room,” Coleen said, turning back to the door and this time managing to pop the lock before Lorna grabbed a handful of her sleeve, and pinched her skin beneath.
Coleen let out a screech of pain, at the same time that Nash was climbing in one side, and Flint was reaching for Coleen’s door to open it — she flicked a glare over her shoulder at Lorna, and booted the door open with as much force as she had anger inside of her.
With a hard thud and a manly yelp, the door bounced off Flint’s forehead and came back at Coleen as she was about to throw herself out into the open. The window hit her on the forehead, and she tossed herself back, slamming into Lorna, who was shifting in her seat to get away from the alpha.
Lorna felt the full force of Coleen’s weight in her back as was propelled forward, where she promptly smacked her forehead onto the bridge of Nash’s nose. With a loud yelp of pain and a curse only a sailor should deliver, she threw herself back in her seat.
Nash felt the blood gushing from his nose and stumbled back out of the truck, covering his nose with his hand as his foot found a pothole. A little woozy and a lot distracted, he ended up on his pride in the dirt, grumbling to himself about witches.
“Thick headed numpty!” Lorna bit out. “Don’t you blame me for that…”
“Us!” Coleen said.
“Us for that!” Lorna corrected herself as she rubbed the sore spot on her forehead.
“Muppets!” Coleen bit out, rubbing her own sore spot as she glared at the beta.
“That was not my fault,” Flint grumbled, holding his nose.
“Well, it was your stupid arse that was in the way of the door!” she snapped.
“Flint!” Nash growled, but the beta held up one hand in mock surrender.
“She kicked the door at me – I was being nice and trying to open it for her,” he protested.
“Because I don’t have the means to do it myself?” Coleen said, waving her hands at him.
“Because I’m a gentlem…”
“Misogynistic butthead,” Coleen bit out.
“That works too,” Nash growled, pushing up to his feet. “Are you hurt?” he asked Lorna. “Do you need the vampire’s blood?”
“Yes and yes,” Lorna bit back. “But I want his blood for a totally different reason,” she grumbled.
“Huh?” Nash looked confused.
“I’m looking at that bloody reason right now,” she said, eyeing him with contempt.
Nash growled again. Things weren’t exactly going to plan in the wonderful world of wooing – not that he had a plan – but if he had one then he was sure the witches would cause that to go off track as well.
“Well, maybe if you’d just got out of the truck…”
“Yeah, look how well that worked out for Coleen!” Lorna snapped back. “Maybe if you didn’t try to push your way in…!” she snapped and left the words hanging in the air.
Coleen looked at Flint and narrowed her eyes. “You have no excuse, so don’t even try.”
Flint took in a deep breath and held it for a long moment. “I hate to say this…”
“Then don’t,” Coleen snapped. “Better to look stupid than actually sound like a total idiot.”
Flint couldn’t help but grin. The pain to his nose was gone, and her sour mood amused him, but there was one thing that could make it even more sour.
He leant an arm on the truck door and leaned in. “Mine,” he growled and noted that it took her a long moment to register exactly what he meant by that, but when she got it – her eyebrows shot up, her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth hung open like she was catching flies.
Then Lorna sniggered beside her, and she snapped her mouth shut and swallowed down hard.
“Oh, wonderful – two witches in the pack,” Nash grumbled, but he was back down on the ground on his backside a heartbeat later – the feeling of magic that had taken his legs from beneath him was unmistakable.
“Live by the stupid remark, die by the stupid remark,” Lorna informed him. “Like she said; if you don’t have anything sensible to say, then it’s best to say nothing.”
“Not exactly what I said,” Coleen said, wincing at the thought of being a mate to a wolf shifter.
It had been kind of funny when it was Lorna, and she was even prepared to visit her friend on pack land – now – not so funny anymore, and that wasn’t a shocker.
“I’m adlibbing,” Lorna bit out.
“Well can you get out of the damn truck while doing it?” Nash grumbled, pulling himself up once more.
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Coleen said.
“We could steal the truck and…”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Nash grumbled a growl as he stalked to the driver’s door, yanked it open and snatched the keys from the ignition.
“Boy, does he not know witches,” Lorna said, tossing a smirk at Coleen.
“Then perhaps we should give him a lesson in all things witchy-dom,” Coleen offered back, and they both turned to offer him bright, scary grins that made him scowl back at them.
“New rule, no witching on pack land,” Nash growled.
“Better take us home then,” Coleen said.
“Or back to the bar,” Lorna offered her friend, and they both nodded enthusiastically together.
“Fat chance and no hope,” Nash growled.
“Are they their new nicknames?” Flint asked, chuckling – until they turned an evil glare on him and those chuckles died on his lips. “Witches, no sense of humour.”
“I find this funny,” Coleen said, drawing on her magic and using it to flip him in midair and plant him on his backside on the ground.
The sound of the alpha’s hearty roar of laughter filled the air and Coleen pushed up from her seat and leaned out the door. “See – funny,” she said and shrugged.
Flint just sat there grumbling to himself, until she stepped out of the truck and he pushed up to his feet. “Down boy!” she said and used her magic to drop him back in the dirt.
CHAPTER TEN
~
Merry knew where he was going, but she couldn’t catch him to save her life. It irked her that she was slower, but he was a vampire so she should expect nothing less. Give him his due, he had slowed down and allowed her to catch up, but she was panting like her beast when she stomped up the path to her cabin and him, standing at the front door looking as fresh as a daisy.
Ugh!
“Get the hell away from my door,” she pushed out on one long breath before gulping in more air.
“Well, that’s not very hospitable for a long-lost friend that’s come to visit,” he shot back, wiggling his eyebrows at her and smirking like he’d won that argument.
“You should have stayed long-lost, and I might have thought of you fondly – on occasion, but now that you’re back…”
“Admit it, you missed me,” he said, mocking her with his tone as she offered a hard nudge in his ribs to move him out of the way.
Merry gripped the top of the blanket that was covering her naked body in one fisted hand, and with the other, she tossed open the front door to her cabin. Then she turned to offer him a hard stare. “In what world would I ever miss you? Your fantasy land, perhaps?”
“Harsh and unwelcoming,” he teased.
“Oh, look at that – the message is finally sinking in,” she hissed and trudged inside.
Her legs had felt like lead on the last straight to her door, but now that they were healing she knew she could kick his butt – that was if he stayed still for long enough for her to catch him.
“But … but … but…” he pouted. “I thought you might have missed me as much as I missed you.”
“Nope,” Merry said, turning in the doorway and resting her hand against the door.
“How about a little?”
“Not even a smidge,” she said, and eyed him down and then up again, only to find him smirking once more.
“How could you not have missed this?” he said, motioning down his body like he was a prize instead of a nightmare.
“I’ll show you,” she said, and then tossed the door closed on him. “Out of sight, out of mind,” she called from inside.
Santino chuckled to himself and waited a long minute with his forehead pressed to the door as he listened for her movements inside. “I know you’re still thinking about me,” he called.
“And when I run through the farmer’s field I think of cow poop too, doesn’t mean I want to step in one,” she called back.
“I see what you did there – equating me with poop…”
“Get the message and move on,” she yelled back, before slamming the bathroom door shut behind her and turning on the shower.
Santino turned his back against the door and rolled his eyes to the stars above. “She missed me really,” he muttered, determined to make it right between them.
They’d been friends once, and they would be again. Even if it killed him.
He hated to walk away from anything unfinished – it had annoyed him for the last ten years – but now the old alpha was dead, he was back, and he wasn’t going anywhere, and she’d just have to deal with that.
~
Lorna folded her arms and shot a glare at Coleen from beneath her long lashes. Sitting in the alpha’s kitchen wasn’t the worst place in the world that she could imagine herself, but it ran a close second to Hell.
She couldn’t believe Coleen had got out of the truck – who did that? Who took an executive decision without conferring with their friend on a matter of importance?
It wasn’t like she was choosing what to have for breakfast, or what wine they were going to consume while reading in front of an open fire – no, this was life or death – her life and the alpha’s death if he made a wrong move, and she had a right to be consulted.
Now they had lost their small advantage, and the alpha was shooting her glances while making coffee. She guessed she should be grateful he knew how to boil a kettle and hadn’t expected the females to do it for him.
“Stop pouting,” Coleen said, and Lorna shot her a glare. “You’ll get those little lines around your mouth,” she whispered and touched her fingers to her lips. “Not a good look on you – like you got your lips stuck in a vacuum cleaner on high power or something.”
“Bite me,” Lorna hissed back on a whisper and heard the low, deep rumble of a growl and shot a look at the alpha; who was looking back with interest. “Not you,” she grumbled.
“You know, life’s too short to live it in a bad mood,” Nash informed her and watched her eyebrows try to reach for her hairline as she snorted her contempt for him.
“Says Mr Growly,” she tossed back. “You’re a bundle of happy times and laughter, right?”
“She’s not wrong,” Flint said and caught the double-take his brother did before offering him a resting glare. “You were more fun before you became the alpha.”
“Some of us have responsibilities,” Nash growled back.
“But would it hurt you to see them out with a smile?” Flint mocked him and got a warning growl in return.
“Yeah, it would pain the hell out of me,” Nash growled, knowing just how much he’d had to change when he took on the responsibilities of leading the pack.
Nash couldn’t see himself bitching about it. He’d always been an alpha, and he knew one day he’d lead his pack, everyone had told him so, and he’d gone for it when the old alpha had died.
But with responsibility there was a heavy weight to carry – it was like being a first-time parent trying to keep your infant alive, only worse because these were grown-ups doing stupid stuff, and there were so many of them that he couldn’t be everywhere all at once.
“See,” Lorna said, motioning to Nash with an absent wave of her hand. “The man is …”
“Tall, dark, and handsome?” Coleen whispered, knowing full well the shifters had better than perfect hearing.
As Flint grumbled a growl at his mate’s words, Lorna looked pig sick. “Stop trying to throw me to the big bad wolf,” she hissed, snapping a hard glare at her friend to match the words.
Coleen grinned. “I don’t need to, the mating pull is going to take care of that,” she informed her and noted the way that Lorna’s shoulders sagged. “But I see you didn’t deny it.”
“What?” Lorna asked, somewhat confused about what she was supposed to be denying.
“That your mate is tall, dark, and handsome,” Coleen said, a light of mischief dancing in her eyes.
“And what of your mate? If you think Nash is good looking – they are brothers,” Lorna tossed back, shooting a look at Flint as he pulled his shoulders back and stuck out his muscled chest. He was no alpha, but he was still something to behold.
“Deflecting,” Coleen said in a singsong tone.
“Can’t answer the question, can you?” Lorna sung back.
Coleen snapped a look at Flint, and the man snapped his backbone rigid. She eyed him down and then up again, and she had to admit that she liked what she saw. She just didn’t need to admit it in front of him. “Passable,” she said and noted his sudden furrowed brow and the fact that he deflated just a little bit.
“Wait, you like my brother more than you like me?” Flint asked, a rumble of a growl underlying his words.
Coleen saw an opportunity to knock him down a peg or two, maybe put him on full tilt, and jumped in with both feet. “Well, put aside the fact that he is the alpha of the pack and power is very attractive on a man,” she lied. “He did get all the best genes, now didn’t he?”
Flint opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t have a damn clue what to say. The sound of his brother chuckling made him grumble another growl as he eyed the man from beneath his dark eyebrows. “It’s not funny.”
Nash grinned from ear to ear. “Just think of it as being the carbon copy, you’re never going to be this perfect.”
Lorna snorted her contempt. “Big muscles, big ego, up his own backside – sure, what’s not to like?”
“Thank you,” Flint said, motioning to the witch. “Your woman speaks sense…”
“Gee, I’m so glad you found what the little woman had to say to your liking,” Coleen snapped, eyeing him like something she’d stepped in. “I’m sure she would have been ignored if you hadn’t.”
Flint bit down on a curse. He’d obviously said something wrong, and now he needed to backpedal. “That’s not…”
“Sexist?” Lorna asked, all bright and gleeful.
“Exactly,” Flint said, motioning to Lorna like she was exhibit one.
“How wrong can a dweeb be?” Coleen asked, turning to her friend.
Lorna nodded. “Well, he does come from a bygone age where men ruled the world and the little woman was dragged by the hair everywhere she went.”
“And woolly mammoths fought sabre tooth tigers,” Coleen added.
“While running from the ice age,” Lorna said, shrugging.
“That’s a movie,” Flint growled, narrowing his eyes on them.
“And now we know how he spends the other ten per cent of his time,” Coleen said, enjoying the fact that the beta seemed more intent on trying to figure out what they were up to, and not liking that they were up to something, than defending himself.
If she got the man turned around enough then he might never suspect her of anything, even a dastardly plan of action that would end up with them escaping into the night never to be seen or heard from again. Or, that was the hope, but she needed a little time to figure things out.
