~
“I will hurt you!” Saffy grumbled.
“Don’t antagonize them!” Natalie warned.
“They started it!” Saffy ground out between clenched teeth.
Now was not the time to play silly buggers. It was one of the downsides of Christmas, and probably why most witches refused to celebrate in the human fashion.
“Then we should be big enough to walk away — and by big enough, I mean taller than a thumb,” Natalie said with an air of superiority.
“Now who’s agonizing them?” Saffy shot back.
“Well, they deserve it.”
‘You picked the wrong place and the wrong time — witches. Now we can have some fun.’ The sickly sweet voice sounded as if it came from all around them.
“Oh, you little thimble dwellers need to fly the heck out of here,” Natalie warned.
“Go back to your toadstools and let the grown-ups, and by grown-ups, I also mean tall people, perform mischief,” Saffy said.
“We do it so much better,” Natalie added.
‘Looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson in manners.’
A moment later and both witches were covered in the rush of snow that came off of the cabin roof and the tree that stood just behind them. Saffy shrieked in shock and annoyance.
“That’s it!” Saffy bit out.
“Let me at them!” Natalie grumbled as both witches shook themselves down as best they could, but the snow still clung to their clothes.
“I hate fairies!” Saffy would gladly wring their little necks.
“This is exactly the reason why you don’t do Christmas!” Natalie grumbled.
“This isn’t my Christmas — it’s the shifters Christmas. Why don’t they just take their annoying little selves off and ruin someone else’s day?”
“I see you’ve met our uninvited guests,” Rex growled.
The witches turned in unison to see the beta standing there with his arms folded across his chest and a very menacing look on his face. The time to escape had been and gone.
Unless they spelled the beta too.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking,” Rex growled.
He’d fallen for their tracks once already; it wasn’t going to happen again. Witches and fairies — what else could go wrong?
“I very much doubt that,” Natalie offered him a small smug smile.
“Oh, we’ve had years of dealing with your type…” Rex grumbled back.
“Our type?” Saffy asked.
“We’ve had to put up with the damn fairies!” Rex grumbled. Then he felt the sting to his backside and offered a long hard growl of annoyance.
“Well, doh. What do you expect?” Natalie tossed up her hands and rolled her eyes to the snow filled sky.
“What does that mean?” Rex asked.
“Your houses are lit up like the North Pole. All that’s missing is Father Christmas, some reindeer, and a sleigh.” Saffy expanded her hands and shrugged her shoulders.
“Your point?” Rex asked.
“Oh dear,” Natalie slapped her hand against her forehead in dismay.
“He really can’t be that stupid,” Saffy offered her friend.
‘He really is.’ Came the sickly sweet voice with an even more sickly sweet chuckle just to be extra-specially annoying.
“I heard that!” Rex growled.
‘Told you. Point made.’
Neither witch could help but chuckle as Rex growled.
“Damn fairies!” He grumbled.
“She has a point,” Natalie grinned from ear to ear.
“Well, would somebody make it?” Rex was fast running out of patience. In fact, he might have left his patience back at the cabin.
“You invited them in,” Natalie said.
“They’re not vampires — they’re fairies,” Rex growled back.
“Well — I have no words,” Saffy tossed up her hands in dismay at the beta lack of understanding the magical, mystical world of the fairies.
“Okay, follow me here, can you?” Natalie asked, but it was a rhetorical question, so she kept going before the beta said anything. “Twinkling lights — pretty — sparkly — why do you think they call them f-a-i-r-y lights?”
She raised her eyebrows and waited.
And waited.
“Oh.” The penny finally dropped in Rex’s brain. “Oh!” Really dropped. His eyes widened as realization took hold.
“Ker-ching!” Saffy said with a small shake of her head.
“Damn!” Rex grumbled and then grimaced. And they’d be putting up with the fairies and their mischievous antics for years.
“You brought it on yourself,” Natalie showed him no sympathy.
“You two are coming home with me!” Rex growled.
“Dream on,” Saffy snorted a chuckle.
Natalie raised her hand, but before she could recite a spell, she noted two shifters coming out of the snow toward them.
“Oh poop!” Natalie grumbled.
“Don’t let her get the better of you, brother,” the alpha growled a warning.
“I’m smarter than that,” Rex tossed back over his shoulder with something of a little chuckle at his brothers earlier predicament.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Natalie snorted her contempt for the man.
“Seconded,” Saffy added.
“Home. Now!” The alpha growled.
“You scratch our back, and we’ll scratch yours,” Natalie whispered into the snow. “We’ll leave a window open, so you can get indoors.” She informed the fairies.
~
~
~
“No more trickery — no more spells — and no more rhyming!” The alpha growled.
“You have no appreciation for good spell work,” Natalie huffed.
“She’s very good at her job,” Saffy offered, mocking the man.
“We noticed,” Jonathan grumbled and then sneezed. “Damn it, make this stop!” He sneezed again.
Natalie folded her arms and lifted her chin in defiance. Then Saffy mimicked her friend and did the same. Not that she could undo another witch’s spell, she couldn’t, but she could show unity, solidarity with Natalie’s stance.
“Don’t waste your breath, brother. It’ll wear off sooner or later,” the alpha informed him.
“I’d rather it was sooner than later,” Jonathan said and sneezed once more. He grumbled a growl at the elder and Rex when they both sniggered at his expense.
“Just stop talking — and you’ll stop sneezing,” Natalie said.
“Hey, Jonathan,” one of the she-wolves said in passing.
“Hey, Tia,” Jonathan offered back and then sneezed once more. “Kind of hard not to talk at a party,” Jonathan growled and sneezed again. He tossed his hands up in annoyance and let them fall to his sides in frustration and hopelessness.
The witches sniggered.
Jonathan knew one thing — if you killed the spell giver, then the spell was broken. That was tempting. The only problem with that was, he’d rather not kill his mate.