CHAPTER TEN

 

 

~

 

Mason glared back at his mate. She was panting like she’d never broken a sweat before. She was offering him the evil eye like she wanted to reach out with her magic and snap his neck, and she truly looked like she meant it.

He could live with that.

What he couldn’t live with was his beast bursting free from within him and hunting their mate down to claim her before she could take off again. That wasn’t going to happen — he’d make damn sure of it.

What he couldn’t be sure of was his mate. The woman had already run away once, how could he trust that she wouldn’t do it again?

He had a choice to make — woo her — or — hell, woo her.

It was a new plan of action. He needed to woo a witch, but not just any witch — his witch.

Mason knew from his beta’s experience that wooing a witch wasn’t as easy as you might think. Especially, when Bree was around — he needed to get rid of Bree, and the vampire, and maybe everyone else within a fifty-mile radius.

No, just Bree.

That wasn’t going to be easy — and that witch was like glue, and she was sticking to her friend. But, if he was to woo his witch, then he needed an even playing field. He very much doubted that Maxi would get in the way, or the others — that just left Bree.

He could sense that his mate was skittish — her gaze was dancing around the woods as if she was looking for the path by which she could escape. She wasn’t Alice, and this wasn’t Wonderland. There would be no escaping him; he couldn’t allow that to happen — not with his beast on guard and acting the way it was.

He couldn’t take that chance.

Mason supposed that he should break the silence between them and offer her some sort of reassurance. “I will hunt you to the end of the earth if you try to escape me again.”

Mason heard his own words and groaned inwardly. It might have been reassuring to him and his wolf, but now she looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a fast moving truck. That wasn’t good.

Perhaps he should try again?

“I will kill you where you stand if you take one step further towards me,” Kelly offered back in a tone that impressed even her.

Yes, she’d just stolen that line from Mr. Worf in Star Trek — but, he hadn’t taken a step toward her, and that was the main thing.

Yea for the Klingons!

Mason was thinking her words over carefully. While she did offer something of a challenge to him and his beast — neither he nor his wolf wanted to test her resolve.

Thanks to Bree and Maxi, he knew exactly what a witch could do in the pain department, and he didn’t need a repeat performance with his mate that could have put him out of action and allowed her to escape.

“You’re my mate…” Mason growled out as if that explained everything.

“And a witch…”

“But my mate…”

“Stop saying that or I’ll kill you,” Kelly bit back.

“There really is no other way to say it…”

“Have you never heard the saying that if you can’t say nothing nice then say nothing at all?” she tossed back in frustration and annoyance. She even rolled her eyes to the darkening sky above the treetops and used valuable energy to shrug her shoulders.

Mason narrowed his eyes at her. “Of course…”

“I rest my case.”

“Huh?” Mason knew that females talked in riddles, it was how they managed to elude being figured out by men, and she certainly had him on that one.

“Do you really need to keep saying that I’m your mate?” she grumbled back.

“But you are my…”

“No!” She bit out, and she even raised her hand and wagged a finger at him as if he was a bad dog that had just disobeyed her command. That got his wolf’s back up.

“Yes,” Mason growled back.

He even sniffed the air again to take in her scent — there it was, the sweetest thing he’d ever sniffed — his beast rallied once more within him. How quickly it rushed to forgive her.

Mine! Proof positive!

Mason opened his mouth to speak, and she stomped her foot.

“No, no,” she wagged that annoying finger again. “Stop bloody well saying it!”

“Well, what do you want me to call you?”

“A cab!” she shouted back.

That was when the vampire appeared, and the alpha groaned inwardly at the sight of him. “Oh good, nobody died — yet.”

“Does he have to be here?” Kelly bit out. She still had the need to kill the man.

“No,” Mason growled. “Leave.”

“How about you to stay and I’ll leave,” Kelly tossed back.

There was a low rumble of a warning growl, and Kelly offered him a death glare back. “It’s not like I can help it,” Mason winced.

“Try,” she snapped back. “Really hard.”

“Yes, be a good puppy,” Jai chuckled.

“I know he’s your friend, but can I kill him now?” Kelly hissed out, not really at the alpha at all, but at the vampire like it was a warning shot across his bow.

“Damn, that’s tempting,” Mason growled back.

“When did this become all about me?” The vampire asked with a small shrug of his shoulders. “The beta’s here too.” He tossed up a hand and pointed toward Jon as the man stepped out from the bushes where he’d been hiding — observing the proceedings.

The beta hadn’t planned to get involved unless the alpha’s beast became unruly. Now the vampire had dropped him in it.

“Oh good,” Kelly bit out. “It’s the Addams family party.”

“I guess that makes Bree Morticia,” Maxi said as she panted into the clearing before her friend, bent at the waist, and braced her hands against her knees, begging for breath for her burning lungs.

“I…” Bree sucked in as much oxygen as she could claim. “Don’t — appreciate…” She waved a hand and left it there. Talking was just too much effort.

“So, that’s how we get Bree to shut up,” the vampire chuckled. “Every time she visits we should make her go for a run with one of our wolves.”

“Our wolves?” Mason growled.

“Oh, stop being territorial — next you’ll be peeing up a tree,” the vampire’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but the alpha didn’t appreciate it.

“Can — I — just — say…” Bree bit out as she sucked in gulps of air.

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Maxi tossed back, and when her friend turned a glare upon her, she shrugged. “Say it ain’t so — oh, that’s right — you can’t.”

Bree groaned. “I don’t – always – like you.”

“It takes two to tango,” Maxi shrugged.

“Unless, like the vampire, you’re all alone,” Jon tossed back with a big smirk.

“I’d like to take — the credit — for bringing the mates together,” Bree said.

Mason and Kelly snapped a look of disbelief in her direction. Bree winced.

“Good luck with that,” Maxi chuckled and took a step to one side, Bree noticed and scowled at her. “I’m not getting the fallout.”