~

 

“You did what?” Doug growled.

“You wait your turn,” Natalie bit out as she held out her hand to silence the man. “How could you?” she scowled at Saffy.

“Quite easily,” Saffy tossed back.

“Hello? Is my volume turned down?” Doug grumbled.

“Unfortunately not,” Natalie snapped at him before she rallied to Saffy again. “What you fail to realize is that you just cut your nose off to spite your face.”

“How’s that then?” Saffy demanded.

“Because, we still don’t know which of us is his mate,” Natalie offered back as she tipped her chin up and offered a smug smile of her own.

Saffy mouth opened, but no words came out. Her lips did move, but Natalie had to wonder if that wasn’t due to the cold.

“Oh look, your goldfish impression,” Natalie said.

“I like a good catfight as much as the next guy, but I’m freezing my balls off,” Doug growled.

The witches turned to stare at him.

“And how would that be bad news for us?” Natalie asked.

“I haven’t forgotten that you’re the one who spelled me. I’m just choosing to ignore it until…” Doug growled.

“You have warm balls?” Natalie asked with a smug smile that he would have loved to have wiped off her face.

“We need to keep moving,” Doug growled. It was true, his naked body was starting to succumb to the weather, but he was always running hot, and if push came to shove then he could shift into his wolf – they weren’t so lucky. “I’m not going to be responsible for two witches that resemble frozen popsicles.”

“I have fur-lined boots,” Saffy announced with an air of one-upmanship on her friend. When the alpha did a double take on her, she realized her mistake. “Oh, not real fur. I would never wear real fur.” She assured him.

Doug gave a slow shake of his head in disbelief. He wasn’t sure which planet the witches had come from, but he was certain that he never wanted to pay it a visit.

“Let’s go!” Doug growled.

He’d had more than enough of them already. That didn’t bode well for the fact that one of them was his mate.

“I have fur-lined boots…” Natalie mimicked her friend.

“Well, one of us planned ahead,” Saffy shot back.

“Enough!” The alpha roared. “Pups aren’t as much trouble as you two.” He berated them. “When does it end?” He almost begged for the nightmare to be over.

“We are witches,” Saffy shrugged her shoulders. She looked to Natalie.

“It never ends,” Natalie offered as plainly and innocently as she knew how.

Doug grunted in annoyance. He lifted his hand and pointed, opened his mouth to speak, and then — gave up.

With another grunt, he turned on his heels and started to walk, muttering to himself all the way. He even considered burying his head in a snowdrift just so he couldn’t hear them bickering anymore, and with the added bonus of brain freeze.

Natalie and Saffy grinned at each other.

 

~

~

~

 

“Oh my god, its Santa’s grotto!” Natalie bit out.

They were standing on top of a steep ridge looking down into the valley below. A community of cabins nestled along the valley floor, covered in snow, smoke coming out of the chimney’s, and brightly colored fairy lights illuminating the scene.

“Now that’s Christmas!” Saffy beamed her friend a smile.

“Oh no, if it looks that bad on the outside…” Natalie groaned.

“Trust me, that’s nothing…” Doug growled.

“Yea! Christmas!” Saffy giggled like a schoolgirl.

She was the first to put one foot in front of the other and start down the hill. Her reluctance to go to pack land had vanished at the sight of the twinkling lights.

“Yea,” Doug grumbled.

“And you allow this?” Natalie berated the alpha. “Shame on you.”

“There are extenuating circumstances…” Doug offered back.

“There can be no excuse,” Natalie grumbled.

“It’s called booze and the Christmas feast.”

Natalie considered his words for a long moment. She chewed them over and then gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

“Meh.”

“And cake,” Doug said and watched as her interest was immediately piqued. “Lots of cake — chocolate…”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Natalie said starting off after Saffy.

The witch hesitated in her stride the instant that Saffy started to sing, deck the halls, at the top of her lungs, but the thought of chocolate cake spurred her on.

Natalie groaned at the song of choice and Saffy’s voice, and the alpha groaned from behind her.

 

~

~

~

 

“Witches!” Rex turned up his nose at the strangers that the alpha had brought with him.

“Oh trust me, it gets worse,” Doug grumbled in his misery.

“I can’t see how — unless one of them is your…”

“Don’t say it.” The alpha dropped his head forward on his neck and gave a slow shake.

“Oh boy!” Rex lifted his hand and ran it through his mop of unruly hair. He took in a long breath and puffed out his cheeks.

“Just don’t sniff,” the alpha warned him.

“I’m not that stupid…” He bit off his words at the sound of the alpha’s low, deep growl. “Not that you’re stupid…” He tried to backpedal, grimaced, and left it there.

“I know what I did.” The alpha nodded, looking morose.

“How could you sniff?” Rex asked in disbelief.

“I lost my head. Anger got the better of me…” The alpha grumbled.

“But…” Rex offered him a look of pure disbelief. “You sniffed!”

“I know — I know.”

“And they’re witches,” Rex offered back as he screwed up his face trying to understand how it could have happened, and to the alpha of all people.

“Don’t you think I know that? If anyone knows that — I know that!” Doug growled, berating himself more than the beta had.

“A ma…”

“Don’t say it,” the alpha implored him.

“And a witch one,” Rex grimaced once more at the thought of it. Then with a slow shake of his head, he turned and walked away.

“A witch for a mate!” Tom, the eldest of the pack elders, leaned in and whispered over the alpha shoulder.

Doug groaned and allowed his eyelids to close for a long moment. He was torn between ripping the elders head from his neck and presenting it back to his lifeless corpse – and walking outside to the nearest bank of snow and face planting it.

“This should prove interesting,” Tom added like it was a bat to beat over the alpha’s head.