~
“She can’t breathe,” Dusty growled as he rushed from his truck towards the group that was headed back in his direction. He’d used the mental link between the pack to summon his brother’s help, and he hoped to hell that it was enough.
Paige was in his arms, gasping for breath and fisting his shirt as she tried to make sense of what was happening.
“That bitch is going down…” Mel bit out, and she started to turn on her heels when Kat fisted her sweater and yanked her back around.
“First we bolster Paige’s shields to ward the magic off, and then we go to war,” Kat hissed out.
“You’re right,” Mel berated herself.
“Concentrate, Paige. I know it’s hard, but stop panicking and reach out for our magic.” Kat went to lay her hand on Paige’s shoulder, but Dusty growled a warning.
“Shut it, Mutley,” Mel snapped at the beta.
“Don’t make me put you down, Dusty,” the alpha warned.
“I’ve got it, Parker – hurry,” Dusty growled, trying to keep a rein on his wolf’s irrational need to protect his mate from everyone, even those trying to help her.
“You do that, and I’ll go cross country after the witch,” Raff said. He didn’t wait for an answer, by the time that Parker had debated the idea of going with him over staying with his mate – the vampire was already gone.
~
~
“Demon seed,” Raff said as he appeared on the other side of the cleaning from where the witch stood, arms outstretched to the night sky up to no good, and she slowly lowered her gaze on him.
“You’re fighting the pack’s battles for them now, vampire,” she tossed back. Her top lip curled as she sneered. “I’m disappointed in you.”
“Well, your disappointment makes me hang my head in shame and rethink my wicked ways – oh wait.”
Raff kept a watchful eye on the woman and the bonfire. He was all for helping Paige out, but he wasn’t about to let himself get chargrilled and toasty, and he was ready for anything.
“Leave…”
“Love too. Frankly, I don’t appreciate being this close to such a meddlesome…”
“You know what they did to me!” She hissed like a snake ready to strike out.
“I do, and I know why they banished you,” Raff offered back.
“Evangeline is my only family…”
“Let’s not rush to righteous indignation – not after you dosed the elder with magic and left her unable to remember her own name…”
“Plausible deniability should the truth ever be known…”
“Liar!” Raff tossed back and watched her shift her stance, bite down on her anger, and contemplate her next lie.
“Fine,” she tossed back. “She’s just as bad as the damn pack – worse – she allowed them to banish me,” she spat out.
“You tried to kill a pack wolf…”
“Self defence…”
“Liar!” Raff’s singsong tone annoyed her even more.
“Whatever,” she ground out, “I’m…”
“Bloody toast,” Kat bit out as she stalked into the clearing.
Kat’s chin was down, and she glared at the witch from beneath her brows. Kat had a score to settle and settle it she would.
Kat started to raise her arms as she drew on her magic.
“Says you,” the witch tossed back with a smirk that made Kat want to put her fist in her face just like the shifters did. That would be satisfying. “Let’s see what you’ve got…”
“A twin,” Mel said as she stalked in from the other side, and the smirk on the witch’s face dropped like a stone.
“Perhaps, giving up would be a good idea, Minnie…” Raff said.
“Minnie?” Kat snorted a chuckle.
“Mouse is about to get her butt kicked,” Mel bit out, raising her hands and drawing on her magic, mirroring her sister, and eager to put the witch down.
A heartbeat later, a flick of Minnie’s hands and the bonfire exploded into the air. It showered hot debris around the clearing as if it was raining fire and burning wood.
Kat bit out a curse of annoyance as Parker’s arms came about her. He turned her in mid-air, brought her down to the ground, and squatted over her body like a human shield of protection from the fiery debris that rained down on them.
Across the clearing Mel had suffered the same fate beneath Grayson’s hard body.
“And there she goes,” Raff called out, shaking the jacket from his body as the flames licked at it. Fire and vampires didn’t really mix, but that didn’t stop him from stalking after the witch.
“Get off me,” Kat bit out, using her magic to toss Parker away from her. “I’m going to give that witch a lesson in manners.”
“Hold on,” Parker growled as he rebounded to his feet and fisted thin air as his mate sidestepped him.
“She attacked Paige…” Kat hissed back over her shoulder, and she kept walking. Nothing and nobody was going to stop her from having her pound of flesh.
“And she’ll pay,” the alpha informed her as he started after her.
“You bet your balls she will,” Kat tossed back over her shoulder.
“Your mate really likes putting your balls on the line,” Grayson chuckled as he matched Mel’s steps as she followed off after Kat. He wasn’t letting her out of easy reach this time.
“She did not kick me in the damn balls,” Parker growled as he caught up with Kat.
“Yet,” Kat bit out. “Just don’t get in my way again.”
“Yeah,” Mel said, catching up to her sister. “When Kitty-Kat gets like this – it’s best to stay behind her.”
“Hope somebody is going to tell the vampire that,” Grayson chuckled.
“And spoil the fun?” Mel tossed back. “Why?”
“Point taken,” Grayson chuckled.
~
~
Kat spotted the witch ahead. She reached out with her magic and didn’t even need to consider her actions. She aimed the magic high at a hanging branch and let loose.
The crack of the wood splintering was deafening in the silence of the night – and when the branch started to fall, Kat directed its path right at the witch.
A heartbeat later and the witch’s scream of pain shattered the peace once more as she was batted forward onto her front on the ground by the weight of the branch. The double thud of the branch hitting Minnie across the back and the witch face-planting the floor was satisfying. But Kat was far from done.
That witch had attacked her family – there was no escaping the anger that bubbled in Kat’s blood.
“Strike,” Grayson said, impressed.
“She’s down, let’s…” Parker started, but Kat didn’t want to hear it, an eye for an eye.
“Finish the job,” Kat bit out, turning her outstretched hands and whipping up the winds around the witch until she was raised from the ground, held in a whirlwind of leaves and debris, as Minnie screeched out in pain and anger.
“Be careful, Kat,” Mel warned. There was a line with magic that all good witches should never cross, and Kat’s anger was skirting her towards it.
“She deserves it,” Kat bit out, the anger within her blinding her to what she was doing.
“But, do you, Kat?” Paige asked as she rushed towards her sister. “What’s worse than death for a witch?”
“Losing her powers,” Mel said, stepping sideways until the three sisters stood together.
“What’s her name?” Paige asked.
“Minnie,” Mel tossed back.
“Seriously? Wow – no wonder she turned to the dark side. A witch named Minnie?” Paige chuckled.
“Maybe her father got confused between an M and W,” Mel tossed back.
“Could you two…?” Kat bit out.
“Help?” Mel cut her off.
“Our pleasure,” Paige added. “I bind you, Minnie…”
“From using your magic and doing harm to others…” Mel joined in, and Kat chewed on that thought. She’d much rather end the witch … but…
“I bind you, Minnie,” Kat said in time with her sisters.
“No!” Minnie shrieked out, thrashing against the magic that held her and the spell that the witches were weaving.
“Play with the bulls, expect the horns,” Raff said as he stepped out from the shadows. “Maybe the alpha should remember that. Although, that’s less bull and more balls.”
“Right now?” Parker growled at the vampire’s timing.
“We had the bonfire, here’s the entertainment, all that’s missing is the popcorn,” Raff tossed back and turned his attention towards Minnie’s well-earned plight. “The woman always was a bad seed.”
“Raff…” Parker grumbled a warning, but the shriek that came from Minnie’s lips as the witches finished the spell and Kat dumped her down onto the ground with another loud thud, made him hold that thought.
“Done,” Kat bit out.
“That had to hurt,” Raff chuckled as Minnie palmed the ground and tried to push up, but she face-planted the ground once more, as weak as a kitten. “That one as well.”