~

 

“You…” Tom considered that for a long moment. “When you say anything?”

“Bacon fat!” Doug grumbled and then growled out a long series of dark words.

“Bacon…” Jonathan slapped his hand over his mouth and laughed against his palm.

“Oh, trust me,” the alpha said. “You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face when you meet them.”

“They’re just peachy,” Tom chuckled.

“Peachy?” Jonathan asked, amusement still lit up his eyes.

“Real sweethearts,” Doug said. His eyes were just as full of amusement as his brothers at the thought of the man sharing his misery.

“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Jonathan grumbled, all the humor had died within him.

“Suck it up, boy,” Tom growled. “Don’t you want to meet your forever mate?”

“I…” He rolled his eyes to the ceiling once more.

“Come on!” Doug growled.

“I’m thinking,” Jonathan growled.

“What’s there to think about?” Doug demanded.

“Oh, you know. Death — rogue — death — rogue…”

“You’ll wish you were dead,” Tom chuckled.

“Yeah, that makes me want to run head first into the lion’s den.”

“Lion’s Den?” Doug asked.

“Witches lair?” Jonathan tossed back.

“Like a fly to the spider,” Tom said.

“Shouldn’t that be like the spider to the fly?” Jonathan asked.

“You’re the fly.” Tom chuckled again.

“Now see, that doesn’t fill me with a warm fuzzy feeling,” Jonathan growled.

“What are you a beta or an omega?” The alpha growled.

“A fly — apparently,” Jonathan said as he tossed his hands up in the air again.

“Warm fuzzy feeling my backside,” the alpha growled.

“Not even if you paid me,” Jonathan grumbled.

“What’s going on?” Rex demanded as he strolled into the living room munching on a chicken leg.

“Now the other one has found his mate,” Tom chuckled.

Rex ground to a halt. He even stopped chewing, which was a miracle all in itself. He swallowed hard.

“Oh thank God — now I can breathe through my nose again,” Rex said with a big rush of relief.

“Thanks for throwing me under the bus, brother,” Jonathan growled.

“No problem. And hey, better you than me,” Rex chuckled.

“They were just going upstairs to see their mates,” Tom said.

“Hey, enjoy,” Rex stalked across the room, took the chicken leg between his teeth, reached out and turned a chair around to face the stairs. Then he sat down and snatched the chicken leg out of his mouth. “You go right ahead. I’m ready.” He grinned.

“You’re as bad as the elder,” the alpha growled.

“Would you pass up front row seats to the end of the world?” Rex asked ripping the last of the meat from the chicken leg and tossing the bone over his shoulder. He chewed happily.

“I’m getting a really bad feeling about…” Jonathan growled.

“Tough!” The alpha growled at his brother. “I told you — suck it up.”

“Oh yes,” Tom grinned from ear to ear as he turned his attention towards Rex. “You missed a bit — the alpha has been spelled. He can’t smell a thing…”

“That’s not true!” Doug growled. “I can smell bacon fat.”

The deep rumbling chuckle that started in Rex’s chest rolled up to his throat and burst out of his mouth. He slapped his large hands down on his knees, tossed his head back, and roared with laughter.

Doug bit out a stream of curse words. Then he turned on his heels and stomped up the staircase.

It was that or kill his sibling.

“Get your backside up the stairs, brother,” he growled over his shoulder.

Jonathan added his own curse words to the alpha’s list as he rolled his eyes and dutifully followed on after him.

“I hate witches,” Jonathan grumbled. “I tell you, this will only end badly.”

“Yep, for you.” Rex chuckled.

 

 

~

~

~

 

“We could climb out of the window,” Natalie said.

She knew that it was a bad idea to start off with. But the look on Saffy’s face just confirmed it.

“Why don’t we just borrow broomsticks and fly away?” Saffy offered back, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“If you’re just going to be silly…”

“Oh, I’m being silly? You just said we could jump out of the window,” Saffy stalked towards the window, lifted her hands, and motioned to the outside world. “Good luck with that.”

“I’m just trying to come up with a plan,” Natalie offered back.

“Well, could you make it a plan where we both don’t break our legs?” Saffy said. “Because we might escape the house, but we’re not going to get very far from the tangled heap in the snow, are we?”

“Okay, you come up with the plan,” Natalie tossed back the challenge.

“You mean since I got us into this in the first place?”

“I wasn’t going to say it…”

“Again.”

“But as you mentioned it…”

“Before you did — this time,” Saffy said as she folded her arms, tipped her head to one side, and raised her eyebrows at her friend. Natalie sighed.

“Look, one of us is his mate — so let’s just put our heads together and…” The hard thump of something hitting the bedroom door made Natalie freeze in place. She grimaced.

“Don’t answer and they may go away,” Saffy hissed out in a whisper of breath.

“What are the odds?” Natalie’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Well…” Then something hit the door again and made her grimace. “Not good.” She shrugged.

“I am betting that window is looking pretty good to you now, isn’t it?” Natalie whispered back.

“Still — not so much,” Saffy admitted.

“No?”

“I sort of like my legs in one piece, and I know I could use losing a few pounds from my hips — but I’d still rather they were in one piece as well,” Saffy offered back.

“Point taken,” Natalie shrugged. Then the pounding on the door started, and she screwed up her face in annoyance. “Persistent little bugger, isn’t he?”

“Positively dog – matic,” Saffy offered back.

“Open up — I want my nose back,” the alpha growled.

“What are you — five? Nobody stole your nose,” Saffy said.

“You know what I mean,” the alpha growled again.

“I bet he falls for the thumb trick all the time,” Natalie chuckled.

“I heard that,” the alpha grumbled.

“Wolf — ears — shocker!” Natalie chuckled.

“Is that like pot — kettle — black?” Saffy grinned at her friend.

What was the point in being in a perilous situation if they couldn’t have a little fun at the alpha’s expense?

“It’s more like — doh!” Natalie said. The witches offered each other almost silent chuckles.

“If you don’t open this door I’ll…”

“Huff and puff and…” Natalie started, but Saffy cut her off.

“Wrong fairytale and its Christmas to boot,” Saffy reminded her.

“Open the damn door, or I’ll break it down,” Doug growled.