~

 

 

“Oh geez, not again…” Connor watched the car crash unfolding practically in slow motion in front of him.

The wolf shifter had taken a step towards his mate and the witch had reacted to it on instinct. Hell, she’d warned him to stay put enough times, but no, he’d carried on walking and she’d zapped him a good one…

The only problem with that was the man’s wolf. From what Connor knew of Jacob; the man could have a hard time keeping his beast at bay, and now there it was – up front and centre as it burst from within – roaring like she’d fried it’s backside with a power cable.

“Guard the virgin mate and save the universe…” Vicky chuckled with a shake of her head to her mate. “It’s why you’re a handy vampire to have around.”

“Don’t bust my chops…” Connor tossed back over his shoulder as he started into the fray, “you wanna deal with the wicked witch of in-her-own-little-world?”

“Not really, no,” Vicky offered back.

In her book the witch hadn’t committed a crime. She’d warned the shifter more than once not to get any closer, and the big knucklehead hadn’t listened – or he had listened and hadn’t taken it on board – or he’d listened, taken it on board, and then decided to be an idiot anyway … his funeral.

“Nice little blocking spell wouldn’t go amiss…” Connor called back, deciding that drawing the wolf’s attention from the witch would be the best idea – for her, but obviously not for him.

He used his stealth mode – running really fast – at the wolf, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when he bopped the beast on the head and just kept going.

The beast had something of a Scooby Doo moment – even the sound that came from the beast reminded Connor of the cartoon dog as the wolf’s head spun around on his neck and he looked for what had hit him.

Connor made sure that once he was out of the range of the wolf’s jaws he slowed down enough so that the beast could easily track him…

“Didn’t see that coming, did you wolf?” Connor shouted back over his shoulder like a challenge, making himself the bait, and the moment that Vicky did as her mate asked and blocked Lily’s magic from hitting the wolf – it took off on fast paws after the vampire.

Connor figured that he’d give the beast a few laps around the damn cabin – not too far away so that the wolf turned and headed right back to protect his mate – but not to close that Connor couldn’t get between the beast and the other’s if it did make a run for it.

“The damn things I do for these people…” Connor bit out as he led the wolf on a merry chase.

 

~

~

~

 

“Let’s get you inside the cabin,” Isobel said; taking a step and stopping like she’d hit a glass wall when Lily’s magic reached out to ward her off.

“No offence,” Lily started with a small shake of her head, but she kept her eyes focused on the group. “But I don’t know you people.”

“None taken, and fair enough,” Isobel tossed back.

She pushed against the magical force field with her own energy and marvelled at its strength. The witch was certainly drawing on some potent force within her to be able to create something that complex, but it didn’t feel like dark magic to her.

“I was looking for Chelsea…” Lily said and Vicky answered her before she could finish.

“We can get her for you.”

“I don’t need her now…” Lily said as her eyes flicked around the area and she looked for signs of the vampire and her mate. “Now, all I need is to get out of here…”

“Not going to happen,” Dexter said, sounding curtain about that. “Not until you and Jacob have…”

“Look, this isn’t up for debate,” Lily informed him.

“I think it is,” Dexter offered back as he took a couple of steps towards his mate, and a heartbeat later he had Isobel behind his back – offering his body as protection against the witch’s magic should she choose to use it…

“Well, you’re male. You would think that the world revolves around you, but here’s the wakeup call – I’m not a part of your pack…” Lily informed the alpha.

“You became that the moment that Jacob scented you and realised who you are,” Dexter hated to point out the obvious, but he’d hate for her to try to run as well.

“That guy…?” Lily nodded her head at the wolf doing laps behind the vampire. “Is as close to wolf crazy as I need to get right now. I have problems of my own and he’s the least of them.”

“And he’s your mate, lucky you…” Vicky’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Now, let’s talk bear…”

“Let’s not and say we had that conversation.” Lily shot back.

“Let’s have that conversation, kill the bear, and let your mate get down to wooing you,” Vicky countered in much the same tone that Lily had used.

“It’s not that simple…”

“Life never is…” Dexter growled.

The alpha knew that his new pack had meant all new problems and possible matings; he just never expected every damn new wolf to bring trouble to their door right away.

He was building a pack and that pack was for misfits – it probably figured that their mates wouldn’t be a walk in the park either, but he hated the fact that Isobel was always right in the middle of the danger…

She was his mate and he was her protector. He had to wonder if the way that he was building his pack was the right way to go about things where she was concerned.

Could he really counter having a pack with putting her in danger all the time?

“I don’t need that pointed out to me – I think I worked that one out for myself…” Lily hissed.

She felt the need to be on the move again. She didn’t know how long she’d stayed there, because she’d lost time when she’d blacked out, but she knew that the monster hunting her was damn good at following her trail and she needed to leave.

The pack, and even the vampire’s mate seemed like good people, and she’d hate to bring the kind of trouble that was following on her heels to their door.

She wasn’t totally heartless. She had to wonder about her mate.

The man seemed … a little crazy, even for a wolf shifter, but if she left then she knew that he’d get a hell of a lot crazier and out of control.

The guilt of knowing that pinged within her brain, but staying wasn’t an option that she wanted to explore for so many other reasons.

She knew packs and their dynamics, and that they would band together to protect her – which was exactly what she didn’t want to happen.

The bear was an alpha, and he was as crazy as they came. How could she unleash that on the pack?

 

~

~

~

 

Connor had more than enough of the chase. If it had been the other way around and he was hunting the wolf then he might have felt some interest in continuing with it, but as it was he was just getting annoyed.

He turned fast, and a heartbeat later; he’d punched the wolf so hard that the beast just dropped like a lead balloon to the ground…

“Makes you wonder why you didn’t just do that at the start,” Vicky called to him with a mocking tone that made him sigh inwardly.

“Don’t bust my chops. I was giving the man time come to his senses, unfortunately, he doesn’t appear to have any.” Connor offered back.

“Says the big, bad, vampire that was playing kiss chase with the wolf,” Vicky muttered.

Connor was already stalking towards the group, and that time; he wasn’t about to take no for an answer when he fronted up to the witch.

“We’ve got five or ten minutes; depending on how thick his head really is. Spill – all the important parts.” Connor demanded to the kind of scowl on Lily’s face that he was used to seeing on his own mate.

It didn’t bother him one little bit.

“I’d rather not…”

“And I’d rather be at home in bed with my mate – doing … debauched things … but, we can’t always get what we want, now can we?” Connor offered back.