~

“You two too?” Ava shrieked. Ray groaned at the high pitched sound. He was certainly going to need a pair of really good earplugs.

“Woman, please,” he begged.

“Then put me down, you numpty,” Ava snapped back.

“Fine,” Ray growled as he stopped walking, and bent at the waist to place her on her feet.

“Whoa,” Ava grumbled at the feeling like her legs didn’t feel as if they belonged to her at that moment, and she made a grab for his shirt, fisting it in her hands, and pinched his skin at the same time. It was his turn to shriek. “That’s a girly shriek you’ve got going on there, shifter.”

Ray bit down on his annoyance. The woman had taken him by surprise when she’d tried to flay his damn skin from his body.

“Who knew witches had claws?” He bit out in annoyance, and the fact that his brothers were chuckling didn’t help matters.

“And by the way — woman?” Ava narrowed her eyes at him and offered him a steely glare.

“It’s not like we’ve been introduced,” Ray growled back.

 “I don’t know your name either…” Ava sneered.

“Oh, here comes that can of worms,” Cary chuckled.

“It’s Ray,” he said and turned a death glare upon his brother as he motioned to his mate to walk on. “Keep walking; you might as well join your brethren.”

Ava snorted her contempt for him, but he was right, three witches were better than one lone one.

“She’s your mate — she’s going to find out your real name sooner or later,” Cary chuckled back.

“Real name?” Ava asked.

“It’s Ray…”

“Humph-Ray…” Rock chuckled.

“Humph-Ray,” Ava looked confused and shrugged her shoulders.

“Humphrey! Oh — my — goddess — your name is Humphrey!” Lana chuckled.

“I shortened it,” Ray grumbled as he folded his large arms across his chest and huffed another death glare at his brother.

“Then shouldn’t it be Rey rather than Ray?” Frankie asked.

“Who’s called Rey?” The beta shrugged.

“Who’s called Humphrey?” Ava sniggered.

“Wait a minute!” Frankie grinned. “Rock — Cary — Humphrey — did your mother just not like you guys or did she watch way too many old movies?”

“Oh, I get it,” Lana said. “Rock Hudson — Cary Grant — Humphrey Bogart.”

“It’s kind of lucky that she didn’t like old vampire movies or one of you could be called Bela Lugosi,” Ava giggled.

“Thing – Itt – and Fester,” Frankie snorted.

“Okay, Ava, as in Ava Gardner,” Ray offered back.

“Sure, but that’s not my name,” Ava said planting her hands on her hips and giving him a smug look.

“Nope, her name is Avery, ha! Make something out of that,” Frankie said with a victory smile. Ray looked stumped.

“Sisko!” Cary announced feeling rather pleased with himself, and Ray jumped all over it.

“That’s right! Benjamin Sisko…” Ray nodded with satisfaction.

“A-v-e-r-y,” Lana offered back, oh so slowly as if he was a five-year-old.

“Benjamin Sisko, Star Trek — deep space nine — played by, Avery Brooks,” Ray offered back, and the smile of satisfaction turned into a victory grin.

“Frankie?” Ava demanded as she and Lana gave way to Frankie’s love of everything Science Fiction.

“There’s a guy I wouldn’t mind taking orders from,” Frankie shrugged with an apologetic look for her friends.

“Lana — Turner,” Cary offered to his mate, and she snorted back at him.

“You’d be hard-pressed not to find an actor or actress with one of our names,” she said.

“Frankie Valli…” Ray announced.

“Frankie Avalon…” Cary piped up.

“Who, and who?” Ava said.

“They were singers…” Ray said.

“Singers don’t count,” Lana sneered.

“Did you never see Grease?” Cary asked.

“Fine, well, whatever,” Ava shrugged, dismissing their arguments. “It’s still a little weird.”

“It’s not weird,” Ray shrugged back at her.

“You like being called Humphrey Bogart?” she asked.

“Well…” He paused for a few seconds, and she jumped all over it.

“Humpty Dumpty?” Ava watched him slowly raise his left eyebrow upward toward his hairline, and she knew she was onto a winner. “Oh, I like that, Humpty — I think I shall call you that, it’s so much nicer than Ray.” She teased and watched him squirm on the spot.

“That’s…” he started, but she jumped all over it again.

“So cute, couldn’t you just eat that up?” She turned a look of encouragement on her friends.

“I could,” Frankie piped up with a look of glee in her eyes.

“Great name,” Lana nodded in appreciation. “And you’ll always have a timely reminder to eat breakfast,” Ava questioned her sanity with just a look, and she shrugged back. She was thinking on the fly, what did her friend expect?

“Not to juggle eggs?” Frankie offered.

“Okay, I get it, my name is funny, can we move on?” Ray grumbled.

“Sure, Humpty, move on, or do you need a little push to get you going?” Ava chuckled.

“Watch that first step,” Lana grinned. “We don’t have all the King’s horses and all the King’s men to put you back together again.”

“A little help here guys,” Ray shot a look at the alpha, but the man was chuckling into the palm of his hand. “Why don’t you pick on him? He’s named after a stone.”

“Well, I like Rock Hudson and The Rock…” Ava shrugged.

“The Rock — Yum!” Lana added with a wicked giggle that made her mate snap to attention at the sound of it. He grumbled a growl within his chest.

“You’re going to get jealous of somebody who isn’t even here?” Frankie said, her tone was full of disbelief, and the look that she gave him matched it.

“That’s not my fault,” Cary grumbled. “How would you like it if your mate said that he thought Sandra Bullock was yum?” He nodded his approval at the choice that he’d made.

“I’d say if I were going to have a hot lesbian one night thing then she would be up there with my first choices,” Frankie tossed back, and all three of the men’s heads went back on their necks and gave them double chins, all three twisted their heads to the left, and offered her an open mouth stare, Rock was the only one to grumble a growl, but even he was intrigued by the prospect.

“Men!” Ava rolled her eyes.

“You can’t live with them,” Lana said, “and you really don’t want to.”

“Amen to that,” Ava offered back.

“Amen? I didn’t know witches could be religious,” Cary looked confused.

“Oh sure, I was thinking of joining a nunnery,” Ava offered back. “Might just up the timescale on that one – considering.” She eyed her mate.

“There’s one down the road — go for it,” Ray chuckled.

“Don’t give them ideas,” Rock warned his brother.

Women were unpredictable, too unpredictable for the alpha’s liking, and he didn’t need to be dealing with the nuns and the witches. He could be charming when he wanted to be, but how did you charm a nun?

“Sanctuary!” Lana exclaimed with a small chuckle, and Rock’s growl changed to one of annoyance as he turned a death glare on his brother.

“Who knew?” Ray shrugged. “Witches and nuns don’t really go together.” He protested.

“They’d better not, or you’ll be the one dealing with Sister Mary Kate,” Rock growled back, and watched his brother’s small wince turn into a look that resembled horror.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Ava said, turning towards her mate, and boy did she zap him a good one. The beta bit down hard as every muscle tensed under the power of her magic. “Don’t ever toss me over your damn shoulder again, you big yeti.”