CHAPTER NINE

 

 

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“There’s no saying I’m his mate,” Emily offered back with something of a song of desperation in her voice.

“How quickly they rushed to denial,” Jai grinned, but his fangs were partially down, and Emily yanked her head back on her neck, her eyes wide open at the sight, and swallowed down hard.

“You bet your fangs I do,” she hissed back.

Bree rolled her shoulders, then her head on her neck, and started toward her house. “Well, my job here is done.”

“Done!” Emily snapped. She stood in the doorway, put her hands on her hips, and eyed the witch with anger and disbelief.

“What more would you like me to do?” Bree said with a small wave of her hand in dismissal of the witch’s attitude. “Now nature has to take its course.”

“Oh no, it doesn’t,” Emily hissed back.

“If I were a betting man…” The vampire announced, and his mate snapped a glare at him that made him stop talking. He couldn’t woo his mate if he was ashes.

“Not another word from you,” Emily snapped out and watched as he held his hands up to his chest in mock surrender. Then she turned her attention back to Bree. “You’re not coming back in this house until you undo your spell.”

“Even if I could undo my spell; it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference — you’ve already met your vampire mate — do you really think he’s not going to hunt you to the ends of the earth and the last of your days?” Bree said and watched the witch snap her head back on her neck again as the realization slapped her in the face.

“I’m doomed,” Emily bit out.

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Bree chuckled and bit that sound off when she received another glare for her trouble. “That is to say — the vampire isn’t such a bad catch, he…”

“Thank you,” Jai grinned.

“Shut up,” Bree snapped at him. Then she turned her attention back to Emily. “At least, he isn’t all bad.”

“Oh,” Emily tossed up her hands and let them fall back to her sides with a slap. “If he isn’t that bad.” She muttered dark curses under her breath as she rolled her eyes and considered zapping the witch with absolutely everything that she had.

She didn’t know how — she didn’t know why — but that wicked witch had brought her to the town where her vampire mate was — that was good enough for her.

“Bree,” Mason growled. “What did I say about magic…?”

Bree offered him a look of surprise. “I remember you saying something about me being banished from pack land – but magic? Not so much.”

Mason grumbled another growl. Thorn grunted in annoyance at the elder witch that was still standing in front of him, offering him a dark, expectant glare until he couldn’t take the suspense a moment longer. “What?”

“Are you rooted to the spot? Move your sagging buns out of my way, Mr seen-better-days.” Martha grumbled back.

“You wanna talk about sagging…?” he got no further because the elder witch dealt him a hard magical blow to the pit of his stomach that caused all of the air to escape his lungs as he folded in on himself and knocked foreheads with the witch on his way down. “Thick headed…” she muttered another curse as she reached up and rubbed her head.

Thorns lungs needed air, and even with the pain in his gut; he dragged a whole lot in.

That was when it hit him — a scent — the pesky, devious, underhanded, mischievous, annoying, witch’s scent — and she … was his mate.

Thorn couldn’t move through the pain that gripped his stomach, but if he could have, then he would have run at full speed and head-butted the nearest tree.

Mine…

“Holy — damn — hell,” Thorn bit out as best he could through the pain and the fog of remorse for sniffing the air without thinking.

Martha reached up and cupped her ear. The sight of the man in a little pain was somewhat satisfying. Now all she needed to do was add insult to injury. “Huh?” She chuckled.

Thorn grumbled a growl as best he could in his chest, and it got stuck in the back of his throat as he raised his head, his jet black eyes locked onto her, and his top lip curled just before he bit out the word he never wanted to say to a witch. “Mine,” he growled.

And Martha felt as if she’d been hit by a brick wall at high speed.

“That’s it,” she announced. “Bree, I’m going to kill you!”

“I’ll help!” Emily bit out.

Bree’s mouth opened and closed for a long moment. Then she raised her hand and pointed an index finger at the sky. “Technically, this is not my fault.”

 

 

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Mason folded his large arms across his broad chest and raised one eyebrow at Bree. The witch looked at Jon, and the man drew in a deep breath and sighed it back out.

When she turned to look at the vampire, he grinned and exposed his fangs, and she grimaced a little. She bypassed looking at the elder wolf completely and made puppy dog eyes at Martha, but the elder witch just tipped her chin down and glared at her from beneath her lashes.

Bree finally turned a look to the new witch in town, and she got a sneer back in return. Then she offered a small, helpless shrug. “Okay, completely my fault,” she admitted. “And fate’s.” There were quite a few rumbled growls. “But, I started the ball rolling.” She looked downcast.

Silence greeted her ears, and she sighed inwardly. “But, who doesn’t want to find their mate?” she asked, and Emily and Martha held up their hands. “Which – male doesn’t want to find their mate?”

Thorn raised his hand and lowered the depth of his growl. Martha tossed a steely glare at him. “Don’t say a word,” she cautioned the elder.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Bree shrugged. “But, I can’t undo it. I tried, and it’s still happening!” she admitted, and she had tried, but fate had other ideas.

“What’s done is done,” Jai said, quite happy with the outcome.

“That’s easy for you to say,” Martha and Emily bit out together.

“What they said,” Thorn growled.

Martha turned a scowl on him. “What, you’re that old you can’t think for yourself?”

“Do not get me started,” Thorn grumbled.

“Fine, maybe I’ll just roll you to the nearest cliff and push you off,” she muttered.

“With what lies ahead of me. I might just appreciate the gesture,” he growled back.

“Mutley,” Martha muttered as she offered him the stink eye.

“Way to get the wooing underway,” Jai grinned at Thorn, and the man sneered back.

“Says the vampire that couldn’t control his bloodlust and wanted to feast on his mate,” Thorn tossed back.

“Slight mishap,” Jai admitted. “But, I now have everything under control.”

Bree made a point of clearing her throat, and when Jai questioned her with just a look, she reached up and tapped her canines with her fingernail. The vampire looked surprised and ran his tongue over the half elongated fangs.

“Whoops,” he offered his mate an apologetic smile. “My bad.”

“Ugh!” Emily bit out and turned on her heels, slamming the door closed behind her.

“Smooth move, vamp,” Bree chuckled. “What do you do for an encore, bite the head off a live puppy?”

“How about snap a witch’s neck?”

“That works,” Bree said. Then motioned toward the cottage. “I’m just going to…” she didn’t finish but shot away from him as fast as her legs would carry her.

“You wanna go too?” Thorn growled down at his mate.

“Not really, but anything to get away from you,” Martha grumbled and started towards the cottage, and she muttered a long list of curse words to herself the whole way.