~

 

When the alpha tossed open the back door to the kitchen and stormed in naked, and with a face like thunder, Arthur knew that all was not right with the world.

“Get your damn feet off my seat,” Kiel growled at the vampire.

“I was just…” Arthur stopped talking the moment that Ashley stomped into the room with a face that matched the alpha’s, and she tossed Kiel a death glare.

Arthur snapped to attention. He sat bolt upright in the chair as his feet hit the floor.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no witches in here…come on, that’s like inviting a vampire slayer to a steak dinner and not expecting them to be carrying the wooden kind. It’s like walking up to the Pope and unleashing your beast…it’s like…” Arthur rushed out, and the alpha growled in return.

“Happening, get over it,” Kiel growled again.

“Where witches go trouble follows…I’m just saying.” Arthur held his hands up to his chest.

Far be it from him to tell the alpha what to do in his own house. He was only there because of the storm. But still.

“They’re mates,” the alpha grumbled as everyone piled inside and Jeff closed the door behind them.

“Oh! The pack is doooomed, doooomed, I say. Do I need to say it louder?” Arthur offered with a melodramatic flare.

“I think I got it, but thanks.”

“You keep a vampire as a pet?” Nancy said as she offered the bloodsucker a sneer.

“They were all out of puppies,” Jeff offered back to her, and she couldn’t help but snigger.

“Oh, you jest now, but wait until the witches have their feet under the table and their pointy little hats on the hat rack,” Arthur tossed back. “Mayhem and magic, magic and trouble, and it all follows witches.” He warned.

“And a trail of dead bodies usually follows a vampire, so maybe we should kill you now and save humanity,” Nancy rallied back.

“See!” Arthur tossed up a hand in her direction. “She’s already threatening to kill your favorite neighborhood vampire…”

“How many damn vampires are there?” Nancy demanded.

“Just me,” Arthur tossed back.

“I’m still not seeing how you’re the favorite.” Nancy offered him the kind of sickly sweet smile that would bring a lesser man to fear. He knew what was behind that smile; she was a witch after all.

“I’m warning you, alpha, no good can come from this,” Arthur motioned toward the witches.

“Tell me about it,” the alpha grumbled under his breath.

“So, they’re causing trouble already, are they?” Arthur demanded.

“That’s one way to put it,” the alpha tossed back. He received the kind of death glare from his mate that; if she’d put a little magic behind it, then he would have been ashes on the floor.

“And yet, you bring the strays home,” Arthur offered a small shake of his head in dismay.

“They’re mates,” the alpha growled.

“Not the point,” Arthur rushed out.

“I hate to say it, but this…” Ashley motioned towards the man and tried to find a fitting word for him. “Leach is right. No good can come of it – we should leave now.” She gave an innocent shrug of her shoulders.

“Sounds good,” the alpha offered back as he narrowed his eyes at her.

“In that case,” she took one step toward the back door, and the three shifters blocked her way.

“Unfortunately…” The alpha started, but Nancy cut him off.

“Don’t you just hate that word. Unfortunately, I do. So, let’s not use it.”

“Fine,” the alpha tossed back. “Let’s use the word – but. But you’re not leaving…”

“You’re never leaving,” the vampire tossed up his hands in a melodramatic fashion and sighed. “You’re prisoners. You’re going to be chained to the kitchen sink, the bed, barefoot and pregnant, under orders — no magic…”

“Can you not?” The alpha growled.

“In their dreams!” Eliza tossed back with a snort of contempt for the shifters.

“That’s not…” Jeff started, but she cut him off.

“Happening. You’re right.” She folded her arms and nodded her head in agreement with herself.

“Now, hold on. I never said…” Jeff growled.

“He never said, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not happening,” Arthur offered back with a small dramatic sigh.

“Arthur, if you keep stirring the damn witch’s pot, I’m going to kill you,” the alpha promised.

“I’m just saying.” Arthur tossed up his hands. His eyebrows reached for his hairline, and then he collapsed in on himself — zapped by Ashley’s magic.

“What the…?” The alpha growled as he looked at the vampire flopped in the chair. The look of the man reminded him of a marionette that had had its strings cut.

“He was annoying me so,” Ashley shrugged as she regarded her fingernails, and kept her gaze away from the alpha.

“Well,” Kiel considered the vampire for a long moment. “It’s nice to know that your magic is good for something.”

Ashley snapped off her magic and Arthur shot up in his seat again. He eyed the witch with contempt.

“I know where I’m not wanted,” the vampire grumbled as he pushed up to his feet.

“I doubt it,” Nancy snorted a chuckle.

“Don’t come crying to me when the witches bring mayhem and trouble, trouble and mayhem,” Arthur said as he pointed a finger to the ceiling and turned on his heels to walk from the room. “Mayhem and trouble, trouble and mayhem,” he tossed back over his shoulder as he disappeared.

“Well, isn’t he just a bundle of fun,” Nancy snorted her contempt once more.

“As for you and your magic,” the alpha grumbled as he lifted a finger and wagged it at his mate.

“Mayhem and trouble, trouble and mayhem,” Ashley offered back in a sickly sweet tone and with a smile that matched.

The alpha grumbled a growl. The three witches were certainly going to be a challenge, but, there was nothing more that the alpha liked than a good challenge.

 

~

~

~

 

“So, to recap, we’ve miffed off a vampire — miffed off the alpha — miffed off our mates — been abducted from our cabin — missed our plane — and here we are.” Nancy expanded her hands and motioned around the bedroom.

“We’ve had a busy day,” Eliza grumbled from her perch on the edge of the bed.

“Did I miss anything?” Nancy asked.

“Nope, I think you’ve covered everything,” Ashley offered back as she peered out of the window into the bright snowy surroundings.

“Now what?” Nancy asked.

“I could really use a drink,” Eliza grumbled.

“That’s what got us into this mess,” Nancy huffed. “We were drunk and stupid.”

“Agreed. If we hadn’t of been a little bit tipsy then we could have escaped the first time,” Ashley said.

“Escape?” Eliza gave a small shake of her head in dismay. “Those shifters are going to hunt us to the ends of the earth.”

“Not if we kill them first,” Nancy shrugged.

She didn’t much care for the idea. Jeff was growing on her, but that was the mating pull, and she couldn’t really do anything about that.

“We can’t kill our mates,” Ashley tossed back.

“Maybe you can’t,” Nancy offered.

“I don’t want to kill my mate,” Eliza scowled at the idea. “Drake doesn’t appear to be a bad person.”

“He has a wolf beast inside of him that could break free at any moment and go insane — killing people…” Nancy offered back with a small chuckle of disbelief at the look on Eliza’s face.

“But, that still doesn’t make him a bad person, and that would probably happen if we disappear on them, don’t you think?” Eliza reminded them.

“So, what you’re saying is that we should just put our head between her legs and kiss our backsides goodbye?” Nancy asked.

“No,” Eliza scowled up at her friend.

“Okay, I’m not sensing a happy medium with you,” Nancy offered back.

“Maybe, being a mate isn’t such a bad thing, after all?” Eliza grimaced as she said it.

“Oh boy, she’s lost to the mating pull,” Nancy grumbled as she tossed up a hand in Eliza’s direction.

“No, no I’m not,” Eliza rushed to defend her actions.

“Yes, yes you are,” Nancy tossed back.

“Look,” Ashley turned towards them. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. We have to come up with a definite plan of action. Are we staying? Are we leaving? Are we killing our mates?”

“Killing,” Nancy said as she held up her hand and placed her vote.

“Staying,” Eliza said with a small shrug.

“Leaving,” Ashley added. Then she sighed. “It appears that as a group we have a decision-making disorder.”