CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

~

 

It was a moment too long. A strong arm wrapped around Kelly’s waist and her feet were off the ground before she could let loose with her magic. Her brain kicked her backside into gear, and she kicked out to be set free of that vice-like grip.

Damn stupid alpha! Did the man have to get involved with absolutely everything and ruin her day all over again?

“Looks like you’ve caught yourself a witch — congratulations!” The vampire tossed back. “My work here is done.”

A second later and he’d vanished before her very eyes.

“What – wait – noooo!” Kelly shrieked in annoyance.

She wanted that vampire on the end of her magic — she would have vengeance. It might only have been a car to some people — but, that car was the oldest and longest relationship she’d ever had.

“Let me go so I can kill him!” She shrieked and heard the alpha groan.

“While I may applaud the sentiment — in reality…”

“Reality? How about the reality of my dead car?” She twisted, kicked out her feet, tried to elbow the alpha in any place that she could reach, squealed, cursed, and at one point she might even have growled — if she had then that should have been wolf speak that he could understand.

“Cars can be replaced…”

“Well, there’s more than enough vampires in the world,” she tossed back.

Mason groaned. “You’re being irrational…”

“Irrational this,” she said as she bought the heel of her boot back against his shin and heard him give a deep yelp of pain, but Mr. Arms-of-steel didn’t let go.

“Why the hell are you kicking me?” Mason growled.

“Because you’re the one stopping me from killing the vampire.”

“Do you see the vampire?” he growled back.

“Not the point!” she hissed in annoyance.

“No, of course not; it wouldn’t do to see things in a rational way, now would it?” Mason bit out — a heartbeat later, and he felt the hard sting of her magic shoot through his body like he’d gone and licked an electrical socket.

Mason felt every muscle in his body start to lock up — that wasn’t good — he was holding onto the witch and risked crushing her if he couldn’t control the amount of strength that he used to keep her from her madness.

He let go, and she fell the short distance to her feet on the ground. She stumbled sideways but recovered herself enough to whirl around to face him with the kind of death glare that said he should bend over and kiss his backside goodbye.

That would have been great if he’d been able to do anything other than stand there like he was glued in place, held taut by her magic.

“You’re really starting to miff me off!” Kelly bit out.

“That makes two of us,” Mason growled back.

The twisted look on his face said pain, and her brain kicked her backside into gear. She’d wrapped her rage up in her magic and had aimed it right at him.

Guilt twisted like a knife in her stomach, and she lifted her arms and dropped them in frustration as she shrieked once more.

“The pain is bad enough do you have to deafen me as well?” Mason growled as he tried to shake off her magic and regain his muscle strength and the ability to move.

“Yes!” She snapped back. “No!” She tossed up a hand again.

“I’m sensing a decision-making disorder…”

“Oooh, bite me!” she hissed out.

Then she turned on her heels and scanned the area for signs of the vampire. The coward was long gone.

“Be careful what you wish for — witch,” Mason growled out that word as if it was a deadly disease.

Kelly heard the tone of his voice and thought she might just give him a piece of her mind. When she spun back toward him, she found that the alpha had regained his senses and was right there in front of her.

His chin was angled down toward his broad chest, his big hands were fisted at his sides, and there was a deep, angry rumble of a growl that went through his chest.

Whoops!

Kelly lifted her hand, her palm faced the alpha, and she flicked up her index finger as she wagged it at him. “Do not take one step further…”

“Or what?” Mason growled back.

He’d had a bellyful of witches to last him a lifetime, and this one was nothing to do with his pack. Ergo, he didn’t have to be nice and reasonable a moment longer.

“I’ll hurt you…”

“You did that already — next?”

“Don’t you know not to challenge a witch…?”

“You challenged an alpha,” Mason growled back.

Kelly winced. She had — she’d done that — she’d challenged an alpha — whoops.

Still … “Not the point…”

“Feels like the point to me,” Mason said, and his beast grumbled a growl within him.

“The only point I want to make right now is the sharp, whittled piece of the wooden variety right through the vampire’s heart,” Kelly said, and she cocked an eyebrow and offered him a look that asked if it was wrong.

“That vampire — and I hate to admit it — is a friend of mine,” Mason informed her.

“Commiserations. It looks like you’ll be needing a new friend.”

“Normally, I’d be ok with that, but you’re a witch…”

“And you’re a butthead – do you have a point?”

Mason narrowed his eyes on her. He knew that this could go either one of two ways – bad – or really bad.

That was when things got worse. “Hey, misogynistic, ego-tripping, dweeb of epic proportions!” The familiar female voice was yelling at him from the car that was headed their way.

Mason wanted nothing more than to headbutt the nearest tree. Bree was back!

“Sounds like someone knows you well,” Kelly hissed, and the alpha groaned.

He just couldn’t catch a break.

 

 

~

 

 

“So, he ran you off the road?” Bree said, and she eyed the new witch as if the woman was about to sprout snakes in place of her hair and unleash an unholy plague upon the world.

Mason grumbled a growl of annoyance. “I did not…”

“Vampire,” Kelly tossed back.

“Annoying, isn’t he? But the bloodsucker is fun, and he dishes the dirt rather nicely.” Bree offered the alpha a smirk and saw the twitch start just under his right eye; she liked that twitch, it was a dead giveaway to his emotions.

“What dirt?” Mason growled.

“You’ll find out,” Bree said in a singsong tone that riled the man and his beast up. Then she absently waved a hand behind her at Kelly’s Jeep. “Well, that’s not going anywhere…”

Mason snapped to attention. “Oh, yes it is, and she’s going with it.” He lifted a hand and pointed at Kelly, just in case there was any confusion. Although, if he got rid of them both; it would be a bonus, and would make his day.

“And they say females are irrational,” Bree snorted a chuckle at the witch, but the woman was still fuming with anger and didn’t want to play along.

“Now, listen here…” Mason rallied towards her, and Bree dismissed him with another wave of her hand.

“Yes, yes – you’re big, you’re strong, and you’re the alpha, we get it. But, that car is dead…”

“Like the vampire,” Kelly bit out.

“Long since dead,” Bree chuckled. “No?” She looked for even a twitch of humor on the woman’s lips and was disappointed to find nothing. “Sense of humor meltdown. I understand, being around these men is enough to test any witch’s patience.”

Mason grumbled another growl. “Can we just get to the part where you offer the witch a lift, and you both go away?”

“Leave?” Bree made a show of considering it. “No, that won’t do. I have some of Maxi’s things in my car, and a woman really should have her things around her.”

“I’ll…”

“Now, I hope you’re not going to say that you’ll take those rather personal feminine things to your beta’s mate,” Bree cautioned him, “because that wouldn’t do, now would it?”

“Well…”

“Don’t strain a brain cell for an answer, alpha,” Bree teased him and offered him a wickedly evil grin.

Mason turned away and bit out a curse. It wasn’t just his day that had gone from bad to worse – it was his whole damn life.

“Good,” Bree announced. “Then she’s coming back to pack land with me.”