~

 

“Where?” Eliza demanded.

“There!” Ashley lifted her hand and pointed at Drake.

“Mine!” Nancy shrieked out as she zapped the shifter so hard that he let go of the suitcase just as she was yanking it back toward her. Nancy went flying backward in the snow, and she ended up on her backside, with the suitcase on top of her, and her legs in the air.

“Run!” Eliza shrieked out as turned away.

Ashley reached for her to pull her back, but her fingers slipped off the wet material of her light jacket. Rather than watch her friend run into a blizzard; Ashley had no choice but to use her magic to take her feet out from under her.

Eliza shrieked again as she went down face first into a snow drift.

“Whoops!” Ashley grimaced.

Eliza palmed the snow and pushed her upper body out of her impromptu facemask. She sputtered and tried shaking off the excess snow, as she turned a death glare up to Ashley.

“What did you do that for?” Eliza bit out, but the sound of the shifter’s deep chuckles annoyed her even more than her friend’s hasty decision.

“Run? Seriously? It’s a blizzard!” Ashley tossed up her hands in dismay. Her friends were insane.

“You’re the one that shrieked shifter!” Eliza tossed back at her.

“I didn’t know it would start silly season among my friends,” Ashley tossed back.

“Now, that’s funny!” Drake chuckled long and hard at the two witches on the ground.

“I have no qualms about zapping you,” Ashley warned him.

“I have no qualms about leaving you three in the middle of a blizzard,” he lied.

“Sounds about right for a shifter,” Nancy grumbled as she tossed the suitcase from her body and sat up.

“I’d say; let me help you, but you know?” Drake chuckled as he folded his arms across his broad chest and made his silhouette even wider.

“I’d say’ bite me, but, you know?” Nancy hissed back like a rattlesnake that was ready to strike out at him.

“I’d say; be careful what you wish for, but…”

“Oh, I’d say; can we just grow up, but, you know?” Ashley groaned. “It’s snowing — not just any kind of snowing — we’re standing here arguing in a bloody blizzard.”

“You were the one that screamed shifter!” Eliza grumbled as she picked herself up and dusted herself down as best she could, but the snow still clung to her clothes.

“My bad!” Ashley tossed up her hands in frustration. “Can we just get out of here?”

“I’m game if you are,” Drake said.

“You might want to rephrase that,” Nancy bit out as she picked herself up from the ground and dusted herself down.

Drake started towards her. He noted the way that she straightened and paid total attention to him as he got closer. The untrusting little witch that she was.

He thought it would be fun to offer her a little growl, and he could see her top lip twitch just fine, even through the veil of snow.

“What?” Nancy asked.

She would have taken a step back, but she knew better than to show weakness to a shifter. She held in place, even tipped her chin up in defiance a little.

“Relax — you’re not my type. I’m here for your suitcase,” Drake growled. It wasn’t like he was the big, bad wolf or anything, but he guessed that she didn’t know that so he gave her a pass, but she wouldn’t get many more from him.

“I’ve got it,” Nancy said, and immediately dipped at the waist.

Her head-butted Drake’s as he did the same, but despite the moment’s pain, she grumbled and muttered curse words, but her fingers still wrapped around the handle just as he tried snatching it away.

Drake had both hands on the body of the case, and he yanked her forward toward him. She was grateful that the suitcase was separating them because she didn’t want to get too close.

Nancy got her first real look at the man. Under his hood, she could see the mop of unruly strawberry blonde hair sticking out in every direction. Unkept, she thought, it was not a surprise to her.

The man had at least a few days stubble that clung to his jaw and stretched up his cheeks to his hairline. His eyes looked dark — but that might just have been the lack of light around them.

She felt a spark of something ignite within her — the man was as sexy as hell — and so she made a concerted effort to jump up and down and stomp all over that spark.

Shifters and witches didn’t mix — shouldn’t mix — only when they were mates, and if she was ever a mate to a shifter, well, she thought she just check herself into a facility where they still performed lobotomies.

“I’ve got it!” Nancy bit out in a low hiss that should have warned him to let go.

“Me too,” he growled back, not wanting to back down in the face of such stupidity.

The beta couldn’t understand her problem. Aside from the fact that she was a witch, he was only doing what any man would do and toss the bag onto the back of the truck for her.

Drake thought she was taking feminism to a bit of an extreme. Hell, if a hulk of a guy wanted to offer him a hand with something heavy then he wasn’t going to say no, or maybe he would, but he was a beta.

“Let go!” Her eyebrows drew down and almost pinched together as she scowled at him. He mirrored that look.

“Just give me the damn case,” he growled back.

“Didn’t we just do this?” Eliza asked as she started to jump and down on the spot. She was freezing, and in her book, Nancy was being unreasonable.

“And it worked out so well for her the last time,” Drake growled, but she did note the way that the corners of his lips turned up with a smug smile.

“I seem to remember somebody getting zapped,” Nancy tossed back at him, as she twisted her head on her neck and lifted her chin slightly in triumph, but more so in defiance.

“I seem to remember somebody ending up on their backside,” Ashley warned her.

“Exactly!” Drake said with a certain amount of amusement that annoyed Nancy even more.

“I can do it myself,” Nancy gave a small yank on the suitcase, but he didn’t let go.

“What are the odds?” He tossed back at her, yanking the case slightly toward him and noting the way that her feet slid on the snow. She wasn’t even wearing proper boots, how stupid were witches?

“Bloomin’ well let go and we’ll find out,” Nancy grumbled back, as she yanked at the case again.

“Fine,” Drake let go of the case, and she stumbled a few steps back. She was still on her feet and proud of it.

“Dweeb,” Nancy said as she dragged her case toward the back of his truck.

Then she planted her feet in the snow, swung her case back through the air, and launched it forward toward the truck. The suitcase flew through the air as intended, and she shrieked as her feet skidded against the snow, going in two different directions, and she ended up on her backside once more.

To add insult to injury — and she was sure to be bruised on more than just her pride — the beta tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter.

“I hate shifters,” Nancy muttered as she tried to pull herself to her feet once more, but she’d made a nice icy patch.

She had no choice but to turn onto her hands and knees on the ground, and she offered the chuckling shifter a death glare to rival any that she had given before.

“It’s like that you went out of your way to prove my point,” Drake chuckled, but he bit that chuckle off when something big and hard smacked him on the back of the head and disintegrated around his shoulders.

Drake growled at the feel of the snow that melted against his warm skin around the collar. He turned a steely eye toward the direction of the assault — there she was, one of the other witches standing there as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. The fact that the witch couldn’t look at him told him everything he needed to know.