~

 

“Damn it!” Kiel growled, as he rounded the cabin and saw the witches in flight. Not on broomsticks, but running, slipping and sliding over the snow as fast as their pointy heeled shoes could carry them.

“Mine…” Drake growled out as he ran by the alpha and took off after his mate.

Jeff ground to a skidding stop next to his brother and sniffed the air. His lips pulled back in a wolfish grin, and a deep, hungry growl rolled through his chest.

“Mine…” He took off in the opposite direction to Drake.

“No, don’t mind me. I’ll just go get Broom Hilda before the stupid woman gets hypothermia, or lands head first in a snow bank somewhere with her striped legs flaying and her pointy shoes pointing…” he grumbled a groan. “Or I can just stand here talking to my damn self while Winnie the stupid Witch gets away.”

Kiel took off after the last remaining witch that didn’t have a mate, and on his mind; it had better stay that way. He knew one thing; he wasn’t about to sniff.

It didn’t feel like the odds were on his side.

His beast was already agitated within him. That was only natural considering the fact that there were witches around.

His eyes took in the slipping and sliding witch as she raced toward the woods as best she could. He grumbled a groan within him at the sight of her.

He couldn’t quite decide if she was drunk, stupid, or both.

Hell, he could have taken a leisurely stroll and still caught her up. At one point; it looked like she was trying to ice skate with her feet going left and right, left and right, and yet she still managed to stay upright.

“Hold it there,” the alpha growled out.

With a shriek of surprise, the witch tossed a look over her shoulder at him, tripped over her own feet, and landed face first in the snow. The alpha groaned in dismay as he rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath.

“Stay back — Satan!” The witch bit out as she pushed up from the snow onto her hands and knees and spluttered.

“I didn’t take you for religious folk,” Kiel chuckled.

“Oh, it’s funny is it?” Ashley bit out.

The alpha was about to come back with a snappy remark when she zapped him where it hurt the most. The alpha’s eyes widened in pain that was mixed with surprise, his hands grasped his balls, and with a squeak of a drawn-in breath; he collapsed to his knees.

Mine…

 

~

~

~

 

“Oh no, you don’t,” Nancy tossed back over her shoulder as she stumbled over the snowy ground away from the shifter that was following her. “I don’t know you — stay back.”

“I think we’re going to get to know each other real good,” Jeff growled as he closed the distance between them.

Nancy pulled up sharply, and Jeff had to do the same, or he would have steamrollered right over the top of her. She turned narrowed, accusing eyes back at him.

“You had better not be saying what I think you’re saying,” Nancy ground out between clenched teeth. It was the only way to stop them from chattering with the cold.

She wouldn’t show weakness — any weakness of any kind toward the damn man, and she’d be dog food in his eyes. Shifters responded to strength, and she was as strong-willed as they came.

“And what is it you think I’m saying?” Jeff asked.

“You know what I’m saying that I think you’re saying, and I don’t want you to be saying it got it?”

Nancy didn’t want to say it either. Because then it would be real.

“I think you’re drunk,” Jeff said. Either that or making little sense came naturally to her.

“And I think you’re…” Nancy stumbled over her words, so she tossed her hands up in frustration. “A bully!”

“How am I a bully?” Jeff was stumped.

“I don’t know — yet —but I bet you are,” Nancy offered back.

“Oh, wow. You are drunk,” Jeff offered back.

He took a step toward her, and she tossed up her hands out in front of her to ward him off.

“Don’t you do it — not one more step,” Nancy warned.

“Don’t you get all witchy on me now,” Jeff offered back.

“I am a witch!” Nancy looked at him as if he just grown another head.

“Not the point,” Jeff growled back.

“Well, would you make it already?” Nancy tossed back. “Some of us are freezing out here.”

Jeff’s beast growled within him. Jeff growled at Nancy.

Nancy pulled her head back, and her top lip curled as she gave him a long hard stare of disbelief.

“We need to get you inside,” Jeff said, and before Nancy could offer her own opinion on that idea, he’d taken one long step toward her, dipped at the waist, and tossed up and over his shoulder.

“Oh, I’m so going to throw up down your back,” Nancy grumbled.

Jeff groaned. For one perfect moment, the symbolism of tossing his mate over his shoulder and carrying her off had been perfect. Then she’d had to open her mouth and ruin it.

 

~

~

~

 

“Come back!” Drake growled out to his mate.

“I didn’t want to bloody well leave in the first place!” Eliza tossed back over her shoulder as she tried to keep her footing in the snow.

“Then why are you running?” Drake growled again.

“I have no idea!” Eliza ground to a halt and tossed up her hands in dismay. Every inch of her body sighed in relief and blew her a kiss that she’d stopped running.

“Damn, but you’re weird,” Drake growled.

Eliza’s lower jaw dropped down, and for the first time in what felt like forever, her teeth weren’t chattering anymore. Her body didn’t feel as cold either, as heat rushed through her along with a big dollop of annoyance.

Her eyebrows drew down and almost pitched together as she scowled back at her mate.

“Do you always walk around with your foot firmly in your mouth, or is it a new development since meeting me?”

Drake went to speak, replayed his words in his mind, and groaned. He’d done it again.

He’d insulted her.

First impression — bad.

Second impression — worse.

How was he supposed to woo his mate when he couldn’t seem to stop insulting her?

 

~

~

~

 

Jackie clapped her hands together and rubbed them as if she was staving off the cold. She shot a look of glee at her sister.

“Three witch mate’s!” She chuckled in delight at the prospect of all that entailed.

“This is gonna be good!” Amy chuckled back.

“Three witch sisters,” Jackie nodded her head with glee.

“We need to start a wish list,” Amy offered back.

“Oh, good one!” Jackie chuckled.

“But, what does someone ask a witch for?” Amy frowned at that thought.

It was great having their own witches, but now that they had them — what were they going to do with them?

“The best thing about this,” Jackie said. “Our brother was wrong. We do get to keep the witches.”

“All three.” Amy nodded.

“And who said Christmas miracles didn’t happen?” Jackie sniggered.