~

 

“Robert!” Elizabeth couldn’t believe her eyes.

It wasn’t as if she had just popped out to the corner shop and had run into him. That wouldn’t have felt so surreal; it happened all the time. But they were miles from home, and he was there — coincidence?

“Elizabeth?” Robert sounded both surprised and unsure.

“Robert?” Rick had the good sense to scent the air before he unleashed a growl. It was lucky that he had because the man was human.

“What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked.

Rick was torn. He was mindful that he was still naked and that it might have seemed odd to the human, and yet the overriding urge that he had wasn’t to get dressed but to grab the man by the scruff of the neck and escort him off pack land.

“I’m looking for a room…” Robert started to reply, but Rick couldn’t stop himself from jumping in with both feet.

“We’re full,” Rick said, and he wasn’t sure how he had the willpower to hold back another growl.

Robert turned his steely gaze onto Rick, and for one long moment, both men eyed each other. Rick noted the slight twitch of the man’s upper lip and the way his dark eyes narrowed on him.

“Is this how you greet all your guests?” Robert asked motioning with his hand to Rick’s naked body.

“I was in the tub,” Rick offered back.

It wasn’t a lie, he — sort of — had been, if only briefly and the wrong way up.

“More importantly,” Robert dismissed the man and returned his attention back towards Elizabeth. “What are you doing here?”

“Mother!” For one long moment, Elizabeth looked as if she had swallowed a wasp. “She likes it here.”

Elizabeth looked guilty. But she couldn’t exactly tell Robert that they were witches on shifter land and that she had brought her mother to a mating weekend, now could she?

“I can see why — it’s beautiful,” Robert didn’t take his eyes from Elizabeth, and that annoyed Rick even more.

“And we’re very busy,” Rick offered. “Booked up for the next couple of months.” He lied.

“Can you recommend anywhere else locally that I could get a room?” Robert asked.

“No.”

Elizabeth could have cut the atmosphere with a knife.

“I don’t suppose I could bunk on your floor?” Robert asked Elizabeth, and she swallowed down hard at the sound of a low growl that came from Rick’s direction.

“I’m in with mother.” She lied again. She hated lying, but needs must, and the need to get Robert away from Rick offered her an incentive to do so.

“Three’s a crowd,” Robert chuckled.

Rick berated himself for allowing a growl out the first time. But the sound of the man’s deep chuckle’s annoyed him to the point where he had to bite down on another growl of annoyance.

His beast was close to the surface. The wolf didn’t like the human any more than he did.

Sure, it could have been jealousy raising its ugly head, and it probably was, but that didn’t stop his wolf from wanting to burst free and chase the man clean across pack land. That wouldn’t go down well with anyone, least of all his mate.

The pair seemed friendly. Even if Elizabeth did look as if she was a rabbit caught in the man’s headlights.

If Rick had to hazard a guess, then he would have said that she was reacting to the situation that she found herself in. The man was human — he very much doubted that he knew of witches and shifters — and all the things that went bump in the night.

“Something like that,” Rick offered back.

“I’m sorry, do you two know each other?” Robert asked as he motioned between the mates.

“Something like that,” Elizabeth offered before Rick had a chance to reply. She grimaced just a little at the thought of ever being able to explain her situation to a regular human.

“Internet dating?” Robert grinned. But that grin looked forced and fake to Rick.

“Oh — what? No!” Elizabeth rushed out the words before her brain had a chance to catch up. When both men turned their attention towards her Elizabeth grimaced once more. “Awkward.” She muttered.

“You should go,” Rick bit out and drew Robert’s attention back towards him. “It’s a long drive to the next inn, and you don’t want to tackle these roads in the dark.”

“It really is,” Elizabeth offered.

“Right – well…” Robert hesitated.

In Rick’s opinion, the man didn’t look as if he wanted to go anywhere. That didn’t work for the enforcer, and he hated the fact that he needed to hold himself in check rather than running the man off.

Whoever the guy was, and whatever his relationship to Elizabeth, Rick didn’t like him one little bit, and he didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. But distance was a relative thing, and Rick had a mind to stand on top of a cliff and toss the guy into the sea.

 

~

~

~

 

“Would you slow down?” Angela grumbled as she followed Dorothy through the hallway and into the kitchen.

“There’s one I haven’t heard in a while,” Dorothy shot a look back over her shoulder in surprise, but when she turned back to look into the kitchen, she saw Quinn at the stove and Valerie sitting on one of the stools at the countertop.

Dorothy unexpectedly hit the brakes, and Angela slammed into her back.

“I said slow down not dead stop,” Angela grumbled.

“Lovebirds at six o’clock,” Dorothy hissed out in a whisper that was so loud that the mates heard her.

“Lovebirds…” Valerie scoffed at the very idea.

“What’s wrong with that?” Quinn asked, raising his eyebrows in a playful challenge to his mate.

“Apart from the fact it’s Quinn?” Angela whispered in Dorothy’s ear, and the woman swatted her head like she was an annoying fly.

“Go heavy breathe in your mate’s ear,” Dorothy hissed back on a hard shiver.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Angela tossed back.

“Should we subtly retreat?” Dorothy hissed.

“You do subtle now?” Angela shot back.

“I do; don’t bust my chops or I’ll zap you,” Dorothy hissed. “How’s that sound?”

“Like you’re having a senior moment again. We don’t zap family – except our mates because they’re male – and Monty – and Chloe…”

“So, basically everyone?” Dorothy whispered.

“Well…?” Angela paused for thought. “Sure…”

“So, I can zap you.” Dorothy smiled back over her shoulder and Angela groaned inwardly.

“Come in, ladies. The more, the merrier,” Valerie said.

“I think three’s a crowd and that’ll make four, so…” Quinn said.

“So, I vote Quinn leaves,” Angela said.

“Seconded,” Dorothy added with enthusiasm.

“Fine,” Quinn growled. “Come in.”

“Never fails,” Dorothy informed Valerie, and the witch chuckled.