~

 

“So, how do you think this weekend is going so far?” Angela sighed as she lowered herself down into the comfortable chair beside the fire. She eyed Dorothy across the way from her, and the woman gave her something of a suspicious look.

“No!” Dorothy offered back.

“No – what?” Angela was confused, or maybe Dorothy was having a senior moment and had been talking to herself.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

“Don’t accuse me of thinking.”

“That’s your trouble, you know?”

“Thinking?”

“Yes,” Dorothy said, but she didn’t elaborate on her point.

“Perish the thought that one of us should do more than just fart out words without putting our brain into gear first,” Angela challenged her with just a look.

“You know what I mean,” Dorothy bit out the words as she narrowed her eyes on her friend.

“I do?” Angela looked a little perplexed as she clasped her hands in her lap and waited for Dorothy’s chain of thought to catch up with her mouth. It sometimes took a while, and she could be patient when she had to be.

“Vampire blood indeed!” Dorothy huffed at the thought of it.

“I thought that was a very good idea,” Angela tossed back. In truth, she hadn’t really thought about it since pitching the idea earlier.

“Well, we all know what thought – thought.”

“Do we?”

“Thought – thought he’d farted, but he’d really pooped himself,” Dorothy looked smug at that comparison with Angela’s idea.

“So you’re comparing my idea of giving elder witches a — not un-tasty sip or two — of vampire blood to cure what ails them with pooping your panties?”

“Basically — yes.”

“I’m not sure which is stupider…”

“More stupid…”

“Exactly — that too. Your analogy, or just how smug you look right now.”

“And tell me what happens when something goes wrong, and we end up making a dozen or so Chloe’s?” Dorothy challenged her.

Angela considered that for a long moment. It was true that she hadn’t thought that part through.

“Well…” She had to consider it for a moment more.

“It’s not like elders don’t drop dead every day of the week,” Dorothy shrugged.

“Okay, there is that.” Angela conceded that point.

“And with the best will in the world, I don’t think Monty would want to round up twelve newbie vampires like cats in a sack.” She pressed on.

“Sure, I can see your point,” Angela admitted as she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling and considered her plan some more.

“Good. Then you’ll drop it?”

“Maybe,” Angela offered back. She sat forward in her chair and eyed her friend with excitement. “But for now I had a different idea.”

Dorothy groaned.

Head, wall — ouch!

Head, wall — ouch!

 

~

~

~

 

“That’s not how this is supposed to go,” Elizabeth whined a little.

“What?” Rick asked.

“Life,” she bit back.

“It’s full of surprises!” he chuckled, and that sound grabbed her attention as the deep vibes ran over her skin and made her scowl harder.

“Don’t throw cliches at me when I’m having a mini-meltdown.”

“If this were a mini meltdown I’d hate to see the nuclear one.”

“Yes, it may see you upside down in a hot tub again doing the funky chicken.” She lifted her chin in defiance and eyed him down the bridge of her nose.

“I don’t do the funky chicken,” Rick growled, just a little, but it was more than enough to make the fine hairs on her body stand to attention.

“No? Are you more the monster mash kind of a guy?”

“You think I’m a monster?” Rick didn’t like the thought of that. His mate had to know that he would never deliberately hurt her.

“Did I say that?”

“That’s not an answer. And yes, reading between the lines…”

“And men are so good at reading between the lines,” she snorted a chuckle of contempt for him.

“It’s my job to know what people are thinking before they are thinking it,” Rick offered back.

“And what is your job?”

“Enforcer.”

“Then isn’t your job to go around punching people?” She asked and watched the man hesitate slightly as he redistributed his weight, shuffled his feet, and folded his large arms across his chest as he considered her words.

“That might be a part of it,” he admitted. “But my job doesn’t define me. I would never…”

“Hurt anyone?” She lifted her eyebrows and challenged him to deny it. Of course, he couldn’t.

“They deserve it,” Rick shot back.

“So, violence is the answer to everything in your book?”

“Says the witch that just zapped me!”

“That’s different!”

“Different because it’s you?” Rick tossed back.

The look on her face was a cross between sucking a very bitter lemon and shocked annoyance.

“Different because…” She had an answer, she really did, but she just couldn’t give it to him at that moment in time. That annoyed her even more.

“I’m patiently waiting,” Rick offered as a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“I’m thinking!” She snapped back.

“Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick...”

“Give me a moment!” She snapped back. There was a hiss to her tone that sounded like a really miffed off rattlesnake that had been stepped on by an elephant.

“Well, if you can’t even come up with a simple answer…”

She zapped him a second later. It wasn’t just any zap; it felt like an elephant stomping on his foot, and Rick yelped as he reached down for his painful toes and grasped them.

The man was jumping up and down on his other foot, and he did look somewhat amusing to her, stark naked and hopping in place, it tickled her funny bone.

“Not exactly the monster mash — and no points for style and grace.”

Elizabeth bit down on her lower lip as she tried to stop the laughter from reaching his ears. It didn’t work.

“I’m glad I could amuse you again,” Rick growled.

“Do you want to hit me now?” Elizabeth demanded.

“No! Well…” He had to think on that for a moment. But it was only a moment, and it was a moment when his wolf growl at him.

“See!” She lifted a finger of accusation and pointed it at his chest. Her eyes narrowed on him.

“I said no!” Rick growled.

“Yes, you did — but, you meant yes,” she tossed back.

“I might if you don’t drop it,” Rick growled.

“See, you can’t help yourself,” she said as she offered him a shrug of her shoulders.

“That’s not…” Rick grumbled another growl. The woman was annoying to the point where what he really wanted to do was head-butt the nearest tree trunk.

He had to wonder what fate was actually thinking by putting them together as mates. He had the rest of his life to spend with her, and he wondered how long it would take for him to go insane.

“No?” She asked; piercing him with a steely gaze. He felt guilty — although, he wasn’t sure why.

“Well, I…” He thought long and hard about it.

“Yes?” She asked, and he felt another rush of guilt again.

“I don’t know.” Rick wasn’t sure of anything anymore. The woman had driven him around in circles and was already starting to drive him insane.