I'll Be There, page 9
part #19 of His Mate - Brother Series
“Not my fault!” Coleen bit out, annoyed with the road, the darkness, the elder, and the beta, and all on the back of a sense of guilt.
“I think I broke something,” Flint growled.
“Well, give it a minute,” Betty said. “It’ll come good.”
Coleen knew the shifter would heal because that’s what they did, but she rallied against the elder anyway. “You have headlights for a reason, use them.”
“Why would I need to waste perfectly good lights when I can see better than you?” Betty grumbled.
“To avoid this,” Coleen bit out, motioning to the downed beta with both hands like he was a spectacle to behold instead of a man lying on his back in the dirt.
Flint was about to say something, but the little devil on his shoulder whispered in his brain that he should just let them squabble it out. After all, it wasn’t every day of the week that his mate got all riled up and defended him – he sort of liked it – but then, it wasn’t every day of the week that he had a mate.
“He shouldn’t have been in the back, and you should have been driving slower on these roads,” Betty berated her.
“So, this is our fault?” Coleen snapped back, and his ears pricked up – now they were an ‘our’ – like a real couple – he liked that as well.
“Yes,” Betty tossed back, looking innocent of all wrongdoing.
Coleen stopped motioning down at the beta and turned her hand to magic, flicking on the lights on the woman’s car. “And then there was light!” she announced.
Betty flicked them off again. “Don’t need them.”
“Yes, you do!” Coleen snapped them back on.
“No, I don’t!” Betty bit out and angrily snapped them off.
“Do!” Coleen snapped them on again.
“Just because your eyes are defective,” Betty said with a sneer and snapped them off.
“Exactly,” Coleen snapped, switching them on.
“Well, that’s not my problem,” the elder grumbled and snapped them off once more.
“But it is when I can’t see you coming,” Coleen argued, turning them on, and she expected the elder to snap them right back off again, but the elder seemed to ponder that thought for a long moment.
“Good point.”
“I know,” Coleen tossed back.
“But, I’m on pack land so…” she snapped them off and revved the engine. “I don’t need them here,” she added with a sickly sweet smile of victory as the car started on its way once more.
Coleen growled long and hard as she fisted her hands and bit down on a curse or ten – she had a list. The answering growl that came from down at her feet made her think twice as she realised it was coming from Flint. “Stop bloody growling and get up!” she snapped.
“I’m working on both parts,” Flint informed her, and she tossed her hands up in the air and turned on her heels back towards the truck.
“Bloody elders,” she grumbled. “Bloody men,” she added, and then remembered why she’d been driving that road in the first place. Escape – freedom – him.
She eyed the truck, the two right wheels wedged in a ditch and leaning to one side, and wondered if she could rock it free, either by herself or with magic. That didn’t seem likely.
Coleen closed her eyes and tipped her head back on her neck as she sighed inwardly.
Dang it!
“I could use a hand,” he lied.
With another sigh, Coleen turned back to him, planted her feet and offered him a slow clap. “A little needy, but well done.”
“Gee, that’s a scream,” he said, but he was trying not to laugh.
It was nothing he wouldn’t have done to one of the guys in the pack, and his body was healing just fine, he just wondered if he was going to get a little sympathy. He guessed not.
The upside was that he didn’t have to worry about her driving off without him. Nash’s truck looked stuck fast, and it wasn’t going anywhere, and if she did decide to go on foot, well, she wouldn’t be hard to catch.
~
Lorna was grateful for one thing – the alpha knew how to cook, and the pizza was delicious. In a way, she felt sorry for Coleen for missing the tasty treat, in another, she wondered if she’d made her great escape and frowned at the thought.
Maybe she should have gone with her. Maybe this whole curiosity thing would be the death of her. Nah, the alpha wasn’t going to hurt his mate, but was she leading him on?
Lorna was still undecided as to what to do about having a mate, not that she could change having one. On the one hand, there he was, all sexy and full of muscles and as good-looking as any male model from a glossy magazine, on the other, he was a shifter and an alpha.
But if she’d had a third hand then she’d argue that he was offering her a lifetime of love and devotion, and she’d never have to question his loyalty to her or wonder if he’d take off with a younger model when she got that middle-age inflatable around her waist and her breasts went south.
But then again, on the other hand, he was the alpha, and he could be challenged, murdered, killed in battle, or just plain unlucky and get run over by a truck when his wolf was out on the hunt. But, what were the odds of that?
One thing she did know was that she had suddenly developed a lot of hands but still had no real answers.
“What’s wrong? You don’t like the pizza?” Nash asked, and he doubted that was the case because she’d already wolfed down three slices.
Lorna realised that she was scowling at the slice in her hand as she had thought things through. “I was wondering if Coleen was – you know?”
“Free and clear?” Nash asked, teasing her, and a bright smile lit up his eyes and made him appear even more edible than the pizza.
“That too,” she said, losing her chain of thought as her mind went to the wild and whacky place of an all you could eat alpha.
Nash tapped his temple to let her know what he was doing and used the link that ran through the pack to see if they were still in the area. For all he knew the witch could have been halfway to a major city by now.
Nash snorted a chuckle and then frowned. There was a low-level rumble of a growl, and he dropped his chin towards his chest as his brother informed him that his truck was in a ditch.
“That sounds like Coleen,” Lorna muttered to herself.
Only her friend could miff off anyone like that and did on a regular basis, her included. She had to wonder what wickedly mischievous thing Coleen had been up to now.
Nash brought his attention back to his mate. Lorna thought he looked a little miffed and a little constipated all in one, but she didn’t want to point that out until she knew what had happened.
After all, it could have been serious.
Nash sighed. “She’s fine, but my truck is in a ditch,” he said, relaying what had happened.
Not serious then. “Yep, definitely sounds like Coleen,” she muttered again. “But he caught her?”
“He caught her,” Nash informed her.
Now Lorna knew that she’d been right not to leave, but even if Coleen had managed to escape, she had a feeling that she might have made the right decision to stay anyway.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
~
“What’s he doing here?” Betty growled as she rested her arm on the open car window and eyed the vampire on Merry’s porch like he was an infestation of black mold.
“Says he’s not leaving until I forgive him or something equally as moronic,” Merry tossed back.
“Then lie and send him on his way,” Betty grumbled. “What’s it with you young ones? It’s not rocket science.”
Santino eyed the elder. “That would be dishonest…”
“Says the vampire,” Betty snorted.
Santino tried again. “And a lie is…”
“Worth it to get rid of a bloodsucking leech,” Betty informed him.
“You always were a sweet-talking sexpot that had an eye on me for your own nefarious debauchery,” Santino said, folding his arms and leaning his hip against the rail that wrapped around the porch.
Betty grunted. “The only thing I wanted to do to you was stake you in the heart and use your body as kindling for a nice big bonfire, but we can’t always get what we want.”
“I wonder if it’s that sweet nature of yours that has kept you alive all these years? Like being pickled in your own salty sweetness.” He made a show of considering it before he hit her with a bright grin.
“How nobody has killed you yet, vampire, I’ll never understand…”
“I’m speedy,” he teased her. “Not to mention lovable…”
“Like a cactus,” she growled back.
Santino turned his attention to Merry who was chuckling happily at the pair of them. “You can step in here anytime,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her and getting a snort of a chuckle in return.
“I think Betty is doing well enough on her own,” she said and offered him a big, bright grin designed to mock him.
“So, that’s how it is?” he said and gave a dramatic sigh. “I come back to see my two favourite girls…”
“What about those witches?” Betty asked, and he frowned.
“Two of my four favourite girls in the world,” he corrected. “And I’m subjected to this.”
“He’s right,” Betty said.
“I am?” Santino asked, frowning. “I am!” he announced, smirking at Merry like he’d won, but he knew there was going to be a punchline. There was always a punchline.
“We should have just shot him,” Betty said, shrugging. “I’m sure I’ve got some wooden bullets somewhere.”
“Uncalled for,” he said, waving an absent hand in her direction. “And after you cooked me steak…”
“I poisoned it,” Betty lied, but he did a double-take anyway.
“You did not…”
“Sure I did – oh, but you can’t be sure, can you?” Betty said, cackling to herself as she put the car into gear and started off again. “Drop by tomorrow, I make a great peppered steak I want you to try,” she called out of the window and offered him her middle finger.
Santino frowned as he turned to Merry. In return, Merry shrugged. “She is getting a little…” She paused for thought.
“Murderous in her old age?”
“We can only hope where you’re concerned that’s true,” Merry said, pushing up to her feet.
Santino stepped in front of her. “We haven’t finished talking…”
“You haven’t finished talking – I’m going to bed,” she lied. She still had work to do, she’d dropped everything when Betty had called her from the bar to say he was back, but life didn’t just stop because he was back in town.
In truth, she didn’t regret going to the bar and seeing him again. She had got to punch him, several times, which was a bonus on a bonus, but she realised that her thoughts hadn’t been centred on doom and gloom all night long like a big black cloud that hung over her head.
It wasn’t strange that the nights were the worst time. The daytime never seemed as bleak, but at night in the peace and quiet of her cabin, she felt adrift on loneliness. The people that she wanted in her life just weren’t there anymore – now, at least one had come back.
Sadly, her mate never would. She thought she’d made peace with that until she saw Santino again, then for some reason that wound felt like it was reopened.
“I’m still not leaving,” he said, and she motioned to the deck chair.
“Have at it,” she said, and tried to sidestep him, but he blocked her way once more. That was getting old, and she felt like she was entitled to put him on his backside if he kept doing it.
“You’re going to make me sleep outside like a dog?” he asked, and the rumble of a growl in her throat made him grimace. “Like a cat?” he asked with a devilish grin.
“There’s a tree, go hang from the branch like a bat for all I care, you’re not sleeping on my sofa,” she said.
“Fine, I get the bed, you get the sofa,” he said, and sidestepped her to get to the back door first.
He pushed down on the handle and tossed the door open, but knew he couldn’t take a step inside without an invite from her, and he didn’t think that was going to be forthcoming any time soon.
Then he felt her at his back, and her warm breath caressed his cheek as she leaned in and whispered to him. “Such a shame you haven’t been invited in.” There was just a hint of a chuckle in her voice, and he was glad to finally hear it.
“But you did invite me in…”
“Oh, no, I didn’t,” she said with a small chuckle and a shake of her head. She might have been living in some sort of foggy existence these last few months, but she knew what she knew – and he hadn’t been invited to cross the threshold.
When he turned to look at her, she stepped back just a little, and it wasn’t through weakness or worry that he was going to hurt her, she just liked to be prepared for every eventuality. There was also the little matter of getting a good swing if she felt like punching him in the kisser again.
“Yes, you did,” he said, adamantly, and yet, she didn’t second guess her answer.
“Nope.”
“You said, and I quote; you can come in…”
“Can’t – I said can’t come in…”
“No, it was can.”
Merry placed her hands on her hips and tried to remember the conversation they’d had before Greg had arrived. It felt like forever ago, and she couldn’t remember it now word for word when he was putting pressure on her to do it. “I said; you can come in?”
“Yes,” he announced with a certain amount of glee.
“When did I say it?” she demanded.
“Just now.”
“Huh?”
“You just said; you can come in…”
“No, I didn’t, I said, you can come in? Not, you can come in like it was an invite,” she said frowning.
“No, you’re right, it was more of a question the first time, but the second time…” He left the words hanging in the air between them, and she narrowed her eyes and twisted her head as he made a show of lifting his foot by the threshold and allowing it to hover there.
Merry panicked a little. “That’s not right,” she rushed out, but he placed his foot down over the threshold and grinned like all his Christmases had come at once. “That’s cheating – you tricked me!”
“It doesn’t matter how you said it, only that you said it,” he informed her, stepping inside and turning to look back over his shoulder at her with a devilish grin.
“That’s not fair!”
Santino shrugged. “I didn’t make up the rules, I’m the victim in all of this barred from entering thing,” he said, teasing her with a smile.
“But…”
“Merry, you can come in,” he said, mocking her, and she pressed her lips together and offered him a long hard growl.
Then she did the only thing she could – she punched him right on the nose and put him on his backside on the floor. Just like she’d thought, a little distance equalled a better swing.
“Now I can come in,” she bit out, walking over him – literally – as she stepped on his hand and then on his shoulder with her other foot as she entered the cabin and slammed the door shut behind her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
~
“You don’t even know where you’re going,” Flint said with a teasing note to his voice, and Coleen huffed inwardly as she stalked down the road to nowhere, hoping it was the right way back to the bar with Flint still hobbling a little behind her.
“It’s a road; it has to lead somewhere,” she tossed back over her shoulder. She wasn’t going to be dissuaded by him. It was in the opposite direction to where she’d come from, so that was all she needed to know.
She did feel a little guilty about leaving Lorna with the big, bad alpha wolf, but her friend was a grown-up and she’d chosen to stay. Besides, she had bigger problems, namely the beta on her tail.
If she could get back to the bar then she was going to hotwire the vampire’s car with her magic and leave the beta in the dust behind her, assuming she could figure out the stick shift in his stupid sporty car – she might just bunny hop all the way home.
“The road leads somewhere, but I don’t think you’re going to like it,” Flint said, smiling to himself.
The thing was; she’d been so intent on telling him to go away that she’d missed the turnoff in the darkness and she wasn’t headed towards the bar, she was headed toward his cabin.
If he was being truthful, which he wasn’t, then he would have said that he’d deliberately distracted her, but what good would that do? She was already adamant that he was the devil and he didn’t need to back it up with his wicked ways.
Coleen thought he sounded a little too truthful with that statement, there was maybe even a little catch of victory in his voice, but she had to trust that he was just trying to lead her astray because he didn’t want her to get to the bar and salvation from him and pack land.
Well, she wasn’t about to believe him. That would make her gullible, and she was anything but gullible. She was sticking to her guns.
The man had an agenda, and she knew exactly what that was, and every time she thought about it, it gave her sweaty palms. His whole presence gave her sweaty palm syndrome and the sooner he wasn’t around the better.
“Stop talking,” Coleen shot back over her shoulder.
“Why? Is the sound of my voice just too tempting for…?” Flint felt her magic and tripped over nothing but air.
“That’s the warning, I don’t think you’ll like the main event,” she said sweetly, smiling to herself.
“You know my leg’s still healing, right?” he asked.
It didn’t hurt that badly, he’d had worse, but flicking on her guilt gene might not have been a bad idea.
“Oh, poor baby,” she said in a tone that made him feel five again. That didn’t help his pride.
