~
“You can try to get a handle on it yourself, Ross, or worse; you can let the elder witch school you in your heritage. Or you could do the smart thing and come take your place in the pack with us.”
I stood with my magic offering me a protective bubble so that Mr – what big ears you have – Lachlan MacNabbie, couldn’t pick up on the sound of my racing heart as I eavesdropped … hmm, inadvertently overheard, and not in a nosy, gossipy kind of way. Well, they were out the back of the bistro, if they’d wanted complete privacy, then they should have been talking behind closed doors.
“What’s Fiona got to do with…?” Ross asked, and from the sound of his tone, he was getting a little angrier as time went on.
“See sense, man,” Fraser said, and my nose twitched like it had an itch that needed scratching. It tended to do that when someone rubbed me up the wrong way, those two did.
“My life is here,” Ross protested.
“You’d have a better life with us. With your own kind where you’ll be accepted for what you are.”
Chasing rabbits and howling at the moon. There was a reason you didn’t go into some highland areas of a night, and now I knew why.
Lachlan really was trying to sell it to Ross, and I had to wonder why. As Gran had said, Fraser was his son, why was he trying to rope Ross into joining his merry bunch of howlers?
“Look, Uncle, I’m grateful for the offer, but…”
“T’is the witch then?” Fraser said and my ears pricked up. As kids, Ross had always pulled Moira’s pigtail, but he’d done it in a playful way, Fraser had done it out of spite. “I can scent her on you.”
That sooo didn’t sound right. Not to mention that I didn’t like the tone of voice that either of the men had.
“Maybe you should shove your nose elsewhere if it offends you,” Ross said, and my inner cheerleader waved her pompoms. Aye, Ross told him where to shove it.
“Come now, lad, be charitable,” Lachlan said. “Moira has her charms, and they could turn any man’s head.”
It wasn’t necessarily what he said because that could have been taken as a compliment. Men were men, after all, and they couldn’t be expected to wax lyrical, no, not what he said, but the way that he said it that made me want to go outside and dump him on his backside.
“I’ll ask you to watch your tongue, Uncle,” Ross’ tone had a depth of warning to it that made me want to hug him – in a purely brotherly way.
“You’re fond of the lass, I get that, but getting tangled up with witches is dangerous,” Fraser warned, and I almost snorted in contempt for the sneering tone of his voice.
It was laughable. It was no more dangerous to be around us than be tangled up with a hungry pack of wolves – literally.
“Perhaps someone should take the temptation away,” Lachlan said, and just as I heard Ross growl, so that same urge took over me as well. I might not have had physical fangs and claws, but I was sure I could come up with some magic to rip that man’s head from his body.
“Take one step too close to Moira, and I’ll tear out your heart and hand it to you,” Ross growled, and when I say growled, I mean exactly that.
“Ross,” Fraser’s tone held a warning. “You don’t challenge the alpha, man.”
“If you want to take me on, lad, you’re welcome to try, but I warn ye, T’is a fight to the death and the last you’ll have,” Lachlan growled, and his tone was chilling. I felt it down to my bones.
Two sets of feet thumped against the outside decking, and I could breathe again. Family could be a pain in the backside at times, but Ross’ was on another level. There was a low, deep hearty growl that I had to assume came from Ross, and then his footsteps faded away as well, and I started to relax. I still wanted to kick Lachlan’s furry butt back where he came from, but at least I could loosen the magic that I held tightly around me.
The one question that was front and center in my mind was a kick in the backside. Did I tell Moira what I’d overheard?
~
“Well, look if it isn’t my girlfriend.”
I tossed a death glare over my shoulder at the annoyance that was Malachi, but I kept on walking. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of rising to the bait that he so obviously threw out there to hook me in.
“Wouldn’t it be great if sunlight really did make you go puff into ashes?” Epic fail. I snapped at the hook, and I could wriggle all I liked, but the man seemed to know how to push my buttons.
“You know, you can act as if you don’t like me, but you forget I can read minds and body language.”
“I’ll make it easy for you.” I offered him my middle finger and heard his deep chuckle fill the air around me. It sounded like he was everywhere all at once.
How did he do that? Projection spell? No, vampires didn’t have magic. Perhaps that was all part of their spider web effect to lure you in.
“Come on, why fight the inevitable? You’re going to end up giving in before long…”
“Am I now?” I hit my internal brakes and spun back towards him, but even that didn’t catch him by surprise. He was already standing still, his arms folded over his chest, and a small smug smile of victory on his lips. “And what would I be waving the white flag for?”
“Me…” he spread his arms like he was a catch.
“Yeah!” I chuckled at the irony of that statement. Snuggle up with a vampire, that was Eileen’s thing. I’d rather someone cut my heart out with a spoon.
“Ouch,” he tried to look hurt, and he wasn’t a bad actor, but I could see that there was a great showman beneath his façade.
“Live with it. Oh, that’s right…” I grimaced, and he wagged a finger at me as he shook his head.
“Be nice…”
“Already dead,” I shrugged, turned, and kept walking until I reached my car.
“We always seem to be parting ways,” he sighed.
“And you say that like it’s a bad thing.” I yanked open the door and dropped inside, physically and mentally tired after the day I’d had.
“You know, my blood will perk you right up if…”
“Someone was to spill it on the street right now,” I offered back, trying, and failing to yank the car door closed because Satan Claws had a hold on it. “You’re probably right, but I don’t need the hassle of cleaning up the body.” I gave him my best, sweetly innocent look, and hoped that he could see the lightly veiled daggers in my eyes.
“You really are just like your grandmother,” he chuckled.
“Thank you,” I yanked the door, and yet it stayed firmly in place.
“That might have sounded like a compliment, but it really wasn’t,” he whispered as if telling me a secret, and there was that projection, and a pull on my psyche at the same time that made my witchy alarm bells go off.
“You might think you’re alive, but you really aren’t,” I whispered back, zapped him hard, and yanked the door closed when he let go.
“Parlour tricks,” he called after me as I drove away.
“Right back at ya!”
~
“You!” I pointed at Duncan the moment that I found him and Eileen all cozy in the sunroom, not that there was any sun out today, but we lived in hope of seeing it for five minutes here and there.
“What did he do?” Duncan asked, sitting back on the love seat and resting his arms against the back like you would if you felt all good and settled in. That still annoyed me.
“Who?” Eileen asked, rushing to catch up with the conversation. I was guessing that she had all things bat-boy on her mind. She was blushing red like a traffic light.
“My cousin,” Duncan said. “Only he can get under someone’s skin like that.” He nodded in my direction, and I tried not to frown, but it was there anyway.
“He didn’t get under my skin,” I lied. Of course, he did, the man was just plain annoying.
“So, what did he do?” Duncan asked, ignoring the fact that I’d lied, but there was a small smirk on his lips.
“Projection? Is that a vamp thing?”
“As in?”
“Mind control, like I can hear you more vividly than I should…”
“Yep, that’s a thing…”
“Scummy little toad,” I bit out, turned on my heels, and stomped off to find Gran.
I needed a spell, a good one to absolutely stop that happening again. I wasn’t going to play spider and fly with a vampire. Even, or maybe that should be, especially, when he looked like Malachi.
Oh, I was sure the man could charm the panties off any woman in the world, he wasn’t without his charms, but not this witch. I wasn’t falling for his parlor tricks and vampire shenanigans. If he thought I was an easy mark for whatever evil plan he had going on, then he could think again.
I am woman hear me roar. I’m a witch, and there’s so much more!
I was headed towards the greenhouse when the front door opened and Aunt Kenzie walked in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw me, and Isla almost ran into the back of her mother.
“I told her what you said,” Isla offered those words like a playground taunt. My dad’s bigger than your dad, silly little witch.
“Did ye now?” I folded my arms and looked down my nose at her.
“Where’s my mother?” Kenzie demanded, looking about as pleased to see me as I was to see Isla in gossip mode.
“Follow your instincts; you’re a witch for Goddess sake!” Gran yelled from inside the greenhouse, that told her, and Aunt Kenzie’s face was a joy to behold. It was another picture perfect moment.
If they were here to rain on Ross’ parade, then I’d have something more to say on that subject myself. Moira was happy, and nobody, not even kin was going to get in the way of that.