~

 

 

With a minor pack emergency that had taken Nathan away from the inn, Sarah was at a loose end as to what to do with herself. She reveled in the quiet and stillness of the late hour when all the madness of the day had been put to bed.

She didn’t regret moving to the inn. She certainly didn’t regret meeting Dorothy and Angela. Without all of that, she would never have met Nathan, and she was more than grateful for him.

“Look who’s up at the witching hour,” Chloe said from her perch on the outside of the windowsill.

Her aunt, however, was one of the headaches that she could probably do without.

“Don’t you need your beauty sleep?” Sarah tossed back as she flicked the kettle on and reached for the hot chocolate.

“Hardly.”

“Well from where I stand it looks like you do,” Sarah offered back as a small smile played at the corners of her lips.

“Come to the dark side and not have to worry about aging.”

“I don’t worry about aging. And here’s the bonus — I don’t have to worry about controlling my bloodlust.” Sarah shot her a quick look over her shoulder, and she noted that Chloe didn’t look impressed.

“I don’t have to worry about controlling my bloodlust if I don’t want to.”

“You do if you want to come in.”

“I told you — there are ways around that,” Chloe sounded smug.

“Which would see you in your grave not long after me — and it would be permanent this time,” Sarah warned.

“From your wolves?” Chloe snorted a chuckle.

“They’re your pack too, or did you leave everything behind when you changed into a bloodsucking leech?” Sarah asked, but Chloe chose not to answer her.

“Superior attitudes are meant for superior people — ergo, watch the attitude,” Chloe offered back.

“Do you want me to dump you on your backside on the ground again?”

“Do you want me to sample from the menu that would be your guests?” Chloe tossed back.

“You’ve got to get in first.”

“They have to come out sometime.”

“Can we – stop doing this?” Sarah grumbled.

“You mean for tonight or entirely?”

“I just want my hot chocolate…”

“Bad day?” Chloe offered her a smug grin.

“Just another day…”

“Oh, paradise not working out the way you’d hoped?” Chloe was intrigued.

“Bite me,” Sarah grumbled.

“Be careful what you wish for, little witch…”

“Don’t — little witch – me. You’d be a crone if you hadn’t of died.” Sarah hissed.

“There is that,” Chloe admitted. “But now look at me…”

“Yes, all fangs and an insatiable bloodlust, and no magic. I don’t envy you, and I don’t want to be you, and yes, I’m happy with my life. Nobody’s life can ever be paradise all the time, and just wishing for it makes you unhappy that you can’t have it.”

“Oh no — someone in the family spat out a philosopher,” Chloe offered back.

“Yes, you might be pretty and young — but everyone’s life is still a trade-off — even yours.”

“I just want to get in my house, not be lectured,” Chloe grumbled back. She didn’t want to admit that what Sarah was saying was true.

“My house.”

“Our – house.”

“Nope — it’s definitely my house.” Sarah smiled to herself.

Maybe having Chloe around was a good thing. It took Sarah’s mind off other problems.

 

~

~

~

 

Elizabeth sat in the sunroom and stared out into the blackness of night. Her eyes were naturally drawn to the twinkling stars in the sky, but she wasn’t really paying attention. She had too much on her mind.

She knew that everything that had happened was some form of karma. She’d dragged her mother out into the middle of nowhere under false pretenses, and it had come back to bite her in the backside.

A mate. Not just one for her mother but for herself.

She loved that life was an unpredictable rollercoaster ride. Normally, she saw it as a challenge. Rick was certainly a challenge.

She supposed that what was good for the goose was good for the gander. She’d expected her mother to uproot her life and move to the middle of nowhere on a whim — how could she not do the same?

Elizabeth knew that being a mate came with responsibilities. Rick was sure to feel the full effects of the mating pull that fate had designed so well. But the sting in the tail was that if she walked away, then the enforcer was almost certain to go rogue.

The man was an enforcer by nature — he was probably closer than most shifters to becoming a rogue. She couldn’t imagine Rick as a mindless beast with no soul, trying to chew through the population of the area.

The thought of it was enough to wedge a scowl on her forehead as her mate watched curiously from the doorway. He’d wanted to give her a little space, even if it had been clawing inside of him like an elder desperate for gossip, to know what she was thinking.

“I’d give you a penny for them, but I feel they’re worth more than that,” Rick said and nudged her from her thoughts back to reality.

“What?” She turned her head, and her eyes took him in. She felt the rush of excitement go through her body at just the sight of him.

“Your thoughts…”

“Just like a man to assume a woman is thinking…”

“So you’re blank?” Rick hadn’t let her finish. She looked far too serious, and he wanted to lighten the moment.

“Huh?”

“Guess so.” He grinned.

Elizabeth was bewitched. She couldn’t stop looking at him.

If she had to guess, then that smile was designed, either by him or by nature, to lure her in. The man certainly was a woman magnet, and she was that woman. It worked in all the right places.

“I was going to say; to assume that I was thinking about you.”

“Were you?”

“No.” She lied.

“When you lie you get a little glint of something in your eyes.” He lied right back.

The fact that he’d lied didn’t stop Elizabeth from instinctively raising her fingertips towards her eye. When his grin widened, she caught herself doing it and snapped her hand back to her lap.

“Liar.”

“Maybe — but you’ll never really know, will you?” He teased her once more.

“Perhaps the truth spell will loosen your tongue.”

“Now you have designs on my tongue — I can live with that.” Rick knew exactly what he wanted to do with his tongue, and those thoughts made a low, deep, hungry growl roll through his broad chest.

“I don’t know where that tongues been. I mean, as your wolf…”

“Let’s not go there.” Rick pushed off from the door frame and started a slow walk towards her.

He noted the way that she shifted in her seat, just a little, just enough to tell him that a flash of nervousness had gone through her mind and body.

It didn’t stop his approach. He didn’t want to be on the other side of the room from her. She was his mate, and he wanted to be as close as possible at all times.

It was definitely one of those times. His beast was eager for the man to woo her. The wolf wanted nothing more than to claim their mate.

Just being close to her would feel like hope in an uncertain future. He’d yet to win his mate, and that was weighing on his mind.