~

“Well, have at it then – what do I look like; her bloody guardian?” Paige bit out.

“Unhand my sister you, leech,” Kat hissed.

“Well, those words take me back a century or so,” Raff chuckled. The vampire and Dusty were taking a slow walk toward the house.

They were there — it was fun — and they might as well have front row seats.

“Come out of the house or I’ll…” Parker growled, but he never got to finish.

“You’ll what?” Mel hissed at him.

“Yes, you’ll what?” Paige demanded as she twisted her head on her neck and looked up at him with a death glare. The alpha’s eyes were dark, and he was glaring at her siblings. If he meant business, then she’d be very worried, but one of her sisters was his mate. “Kill me in front of your mate?”

Parker blinked — not once, not twice, but four times in a row. Her words had rung the alarm bells within his brain, and he knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

Hurting a female wasn’t ever on his to-do list. Not now — not ever — not unless he had no other choice and lives were on the line.

His whole reason for being was to protect the weak — and females were the weaker sex — but, from the looks on the witches faces, he wasn’t going to tell them that.

“Flick out your claws and gut her like a fish?” Mel turned her nose up at the alpha as she painted an ugly picture.

“Let’s not put ideas in his head,” Paige said, scowling at her sister and wrinkling her nose at the thought.

“Maybe you’re just going to rip out her heart and toss it at our feet?” Kat said, and Paige’s lower jaw sank downward.

“What part of shut the hell up don’t you get?” Paige snapped out in disbelief.

“You know,” Raff said. “Back in the day both of those options would have been on the table.” He offered the witches a devilish grin — but, that grin slipped slightly when three shifters offered him a hearty, warning growl. “Just saying. Let’s not get our furry backs up.”

“Why don’t you go and wait back at the truck?” Grayson growled.

“And miss all the fun?” The vampire snorted.

“You say fun — I say the dead body of shifters on my grass,” Mel hissed out the warning like a rattlesnake that meant business.

“Yikes — she’s a mean one, whose mate is she again?” The vampire chuckled.

Parker and Grayson flicked a look at each other, both of them shrugged before they turned back toward the twins and eyed the siblings like they were specimens in a Petrie dish. It didn’t help matters that the sisters were both wearing long black skirts and little, figure-hugging white sweaters.

Both men knew their mate’s scent, their unique essence that was slightly different from the other one. The trouble was — it was only slightly different, and sniffing now wouldn’t help anything.

“Probably Grayson’s,” the alpha chuckled.

“Why mine?” Grayson growled back as he scowled at his brother, his dark brows pinched together over the bridge of his nose, and he grumbled a growl in his throat.

“Well, she’s probably better suited to your personality…”

“They’re both witches — they’re twins — they’re going to be mean,” Grayson growled back.

“Hello!” Kat snapped at the beta, and his head twisted on his neck so fast that Raff heard his spine click in place.

“I’m just…” He couldn’t finish that sentence, not when the witches were glaring at him. He didn’t want to eat any more of his foot than he already had.

“A bigoted, immature, testosterone-fuelled excuse for a man?” Kat bit out.

“Spot-on, thank you,” Mel said.

“You’re welcome,” Kat offered back.

“Hold on a minute,” Grayson growled. Whichever witch was his mate didn’t matter a whole hell of a lot at that moment because they were both ganging up on him.

“They’ve got you pegged,” Dusty chuckled.

“Do you want to eat your fangs?” Grayson growled out at his younger sibling.

“No,” Dusty rolled his eyes toward the sky and considered it for a long moment. “Not really.”

“How rude,” Mel snapped.

“How like a shifter to resort to violence,” Kat said.

“I’m proof positive of that,” Paige said as she held up her hand like she needed a toilet break at school.

“I haven’t hurt you,” Parker growled in hot denial.

“Yet,” Mel snapped.

“Yes — yet,” Kat added.

“You did say you were going to,” Paige offered, and he shook his head on another denial.

“No — no, I didn’t,” Parker growled.

“To be fair to the alpha, he never actually said what he was going to do to your sister,” Raff offered.

“That’s right — thank you,” Parker said.

“Although, it was implied that he would do her harm,” Raff said, with a big devilish grin that spread across his face. The alpha growled a warning at the vampire.

“See, there go again — growling,” Mel snapped.

“And he was fighting with that one a moment ago,” Kat said as she pointed an accusing finger from the alpha to Grayson.

“He started it,” Parker snapped out.

“He started it,” Kat babied him.

“And, I’m sure you were going to try to finish it,” Mel snapped.

“Well, what did you expect me to do?” Parker growled back.

“Act like the bigger man?” Kat said, tossing up a hand and letting it drop back to her side.

“I am the bigger man!” The alpha growled. He didn’t think there was any debate about that one to be had. He was the alpha!

“We’re not talking about size here, genius,” Mel snapped.

“They got you there,” Raff chuckled.

“I have to say — that this is entertainment at its very best,” Dusty chuckled.

“Oh, why don’t you two go and take a long walk off a short…” Parker growled, but he never got to finish.

“See! There you go again,” Mel said.

“It’s like he just can’t help himself,” Kat offered to her sister.

“I know, right?” Mel sighed.

“And the man still has a death grip on me,” Paige grumbled.

Parker rumbled a long growl within his chest, and then he grunted as he relinquished his hold on her and let the witch go. He may have lost his bargaining chip, but it wasn’t really a bargaining chip anyway, and they all knew it.

Paige scooted away from him as fast as she could. She started toward the house, pressed her lips together in annoyance, turned fast and zapped him.

The alpha grunted as the electric shock of pain hit him. He’d had worse – from his mate.

“Damn it! Could everyone stop zapping me?” Parker ground out.

“No!” All three witches said together.

“I guess you just have that kind of face that makes witches want to zap you, brother,” Dusty chuckled.

“Well, if they don’t stop…” Parker growled, but he never got to finish.

“There he goes again,” Kat bit out.

“He really can’t stop. It’s like a need to be violent,” Mel said.

“I guess it’s in his DNA,” Kat tossed back.

“And that’s why you keep the wolf from the door,” Paige said, as she stalked inside the house to stand between her sisters. She lifted a hand and slammed the door closed with her magic.

The sound of the locks clicking on made the alpha groan.

“Now, see what you’ve done?” Grayson growled.

“Ahh, bite me,” the alpha grumbled.