~

“Whoa!” Mel chuckled at the sight of Paige, her hair and clothes all messed up, looking dazed and confused, and blinking like she hadn’t seen daylight in a month as she stood inside the closet with her mate.

Busted!

“I knew it,” Kat chuckled, and watched as Paige’s confusion turned into a sheepish look.

“You might not judge, but these two do,” Paige grumbled to her mate as she took a moment to run her hands down over her hair and readjust her clothing.

“We’re not judging you,” Mel and Kat said together in sickly sweet harmony, and Paige grumbled something under her breath.

“But, will he respect you in the morning?” Kat teased.

“She’s my mate!” Dusty bit out in disbelief.

“But if you don’t really have to woo her – isn’t it a hollow victory?” Kat said.

“Huh?” Now he really looked confused as he twisted his head on his neck and took a long moment to think about it.

“Hey!” Bella’s voice echoed down the hallway as she snapped that one word out to get the witches attention. “Evangeline’s talking about a witch visiting her, but she’s not spitting out a name – maybe you witches can hocus-pocus one from her.”

“Hocus-pocus?” Mel’s eyebrows slowly went upwards.

“Beats staring into a damn closet,” Bella bit out with a shake of her head, and she went to turn away, but Paige stuck her head around the door making Bella do a double take, and Dusty followed suit. “Oh, look at that – love at first bite,” Bella chuckled.

“He didn’t bite,” Paige rushed out, tossing a sideways glare at her sniggering sisters.

“Bet he nibbled,” Bella chuckled. “Now that I’m getting my memories back, I remember those days well.”

“That’s …” Mel frowned.

“Hey, I’m old, not dead. You put a nice hunk of a man in front of me and…”

“Please stop,” Kat rushed out.

“Amen to that,” Dusty muttered.

“Are you witches gonna come tend to one of your own?” Bella snapped, but it sounded more of a demand than a friendly request.

“I’m betting her bite is worse than her bark,” Mel whispered to Dusty as she leaned in towards him.

“Pretty much,” Dusty whispered back.

“What, all older people are hard of hearing now?” Bella grumbled as she walked away.

“Snappy too,” Kat chuckled.

 

~

~

 

“She came and then she wasn’t here anymore,” Evangeline said, still with that far away look in her eyes, still caught up in that magic spell.

“Well, that’s enlightening,” Parker grumbled.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere. I’ve got Josh staking out Evangeline’s place, just in case anyone shows up, but that’s probably a long shot as well,” Grayson said.

“Maybe we should just try to follow the magic.” Kat shrugged at the thought.

Even that was a long shot, but it was still more than they were going to get from the elder until her mind lost the foggy haze and she found clarity again. That was assuming that she had it to begin with.

“You can do that?” Grayson asked.

“If we concentrate real hard and click our heels together we can magically teleport home as well.” Kat was teasing, but with everything else going on in his mind – including his little brain’s activity where his mate was concerned – it still took the beta a long moment to realise it. He grumbled under his breath when he did.

 “Grayson’s more; The Sound of Music kind of guy than the Wizard of Oz…” Dusty chuckled.

“You wanna pick a window because if you keep it up, you’ll be leaving,” Grayson growled.

“How do you put up with the squabbling?” Kat asked her mate, and the alpha grunted in return.

“Geez, I wonder,” Paige said, looking at her sister as if she’d just grown another head.

“We are not that bad,” Mel snorted a chuckled.

“No, you’re worse,” Paige shot back, and Parker groaned.

“Wonderful,” he muttered. He could only hope that mating soothed the beast in all of them. “Back to the whole magic thing and finding the damn witch.”

“We might need Evangeline for that because there is still the residue of the witch’s magic within her veins,” Kat informed him.

 

~

~

 

 “Kat,” Parker drew her attention towards the small pillar candles that he’d dug out of a cupboard in the den.

“Perfect.”

She certainly hadn’t meant to place her hand on his as she inspected them, but there it was – that contact was undeniably mate-ish.

The hum of a connection passed over her skin and started a buzz that travelled on its merry way up her arm and across her skin, akin to the feeling that you felt when the fine hairs on your body stood on end.

Kat couldn’t stop the shiver that went through her body. Even that felt good.

“That’s one way to describe it,” Parker said, and the underlying growl that rumbled in his chest sounded decidedly dirty to her ears — but then her mind and body were already travelling in that X rated direction.

She guessed that if the man had squeaked like a damn mouse that would have sounded dirty as well.

From the strained look on his face, Kat came to the conclusion that he wasn’t talking about the candles. She snatched her hand away, but that didn’t stop the buzz from continuing its journey over her body, or her mind from snaking off in all different directions — and each one of them was definitely X-rated.

“Candles — check, we’re done here,” Kat rushed out in the hope that she could make a quick getaway and they wouldn’t have to talk about the elephant in the room, just in case that elephant squished her last hope of resilience against his alpha ways.

Parker tossed the candles onto the top of the cupboard, reached out one large hand and encircled her waist with his strong arm. He heard her suck in a breath as he yanked and turned her toward him.

Kat’s head went back on her neck so she could look up at him. Her eyes were questioning and accusing at the same time, and the feel of the palm of her hand that rested in the centre of his muscled chest excited him more than he could have imagined.

“Not just yet,” Parker’s voice was deeper, filled with gravel, and that underlying growl seemed to reach out and encompass her body.

None of that was bad, at least, not in Kat’s book. It was exciting, teasing, the promise of what was to come should she dive in with both feet and no safety net.

That was also a tempting proposition. Just let go — just let fate take charge — it wasn’t as if she could fight fate’s plan for her anyway.

She had to ask herself if she really thought that she would be the one to walk away from her mate. Both of her sisters were mates — it was fate — it was destiny — one big, crazy, Addams family, but at least they would all be together.

But still, there was a part of her that did resent the hand of fate in her future, but it wasn’t a big enough part to dismiss the alpha out of hand.

The man was sex on a plate, and even then — with those soulful eyes staring back at her while she tried holding onto a semblance of sanity — she knew she was fighting a losing battle.

“Fine,” Kat said as if she was resigned to something that he had no idea about.

“Fine?” Parker’s expressive eyebrows were dancing once more, and coupled with his furrowed brow and his soulful eyes — she was toast.

“Go ahead. If you want to kiss me, then let’s get it over with.”

Mine…