~

 

“I like that you use your big, thick head for stopping snowballs,” Nancy offered back as she scrambled to her feet. Her tone was dripping with sarcasm and he didn’t appreciate it.

“Get in the damn truck, or I’m leaving you here,” he growled.

“How like a shifter to not be able to take a joke,” Nancy offered back. Her pride still hurt as much as her backside.

“How like a witch to not follow orders,” he grumbled back.

“Orders?” Nancy tipped her head to the side and snorted her contempt for him.

“We don’t do orders,” Eliza added her two cents.

“We are witches,” Ashley said as if that was a given and shrugged her shoulders.

“And that’s what I said.” He stalked towards Ashley, and as she readjusted her stance against the snow in preparation for anything that he might decide to throw at her.

The big beta eyed her with suspicion and slowly reached down for her suitcase. He didn’t want to get zapped again for no good reason. His beast was already on edge.

Drake snatched up the case, turned, took a few long strides toward his truck and tossed it into the back. Job done. Unlike the other witch, that one was smarter; she didn’t have a bee in her witchy bonnet about letting him help her.

“Get in,” he demanded, but he didn’t wait for them to comply. Instead, he climbed into the truck, slammed his door closed, and started the engine. He was going with or without them – maybe.

All three witches looked at each other to see what the other thought they should do next.

“Well, we can’t stay here.” Ashley shrugged.

“Do we really want to go with a shifter?” Eliza wasn’t so sure.

“Do we have much choice?” Ashley offered back.

“Where there’s one shifter…” Nancy warned and left that little piece of information just floating out there between them.

“I say; we take the chance. It’s him or the blizzard, and he has our stuff,” Ashley said.

“Fine.” Eliza tossed up a hand in frustration as she started toward the truck. “Why does the blizzard sound like the better option?” She muttered to herself, tossing a look back over her shoulder, just to make sure that her friends were onboard with the idea.

“Fine,” Nancy huffed as she set her feet towards the truck. “But, I don’t like it.”

“That makes three of us,” Ashley muttered as she followed her friends.

 

~

~

~

 

Drake didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one little bit as the three witches sat in the back of the cab of his truck, squished in shoulder to shoulder, just so one of them didn’t have to ride up front with him.

Every time that his eyes went to the mirror; he caught sight of the three of them glaring back at him. In some ways; it was kind of creepy.

His beast didn’t seem to like the witches presence either. It was agitated to the point of being unsettled enough that it wanted out.

Drake thought that was a great idea. It was just a shame that his wolf couldn’t drive.

He just wanted to drive them to the cabin, dump off the witches, shift into his beast, and run the snowy mountain all by himself. That sounded like a slice of heaven to him.

He hated the fact that he couldn’t scent the air in his own damn truck. But with the three wise monkeys sitting on the back seat it was more than he dared to do.

Every shifter wanted to find his mate. It was inbred within them and ran through their DNA like their lifeblood ran through their veins. But a witch mate was a different proposition entirely.

There weren’t many shifters out there that wanted a witch for a mate. Witches were devious — mischievous — and as annoying as all hell.

The thought of the rest of his life with a witch mate sent shivers through him. His beast grumbled a growl and clawed to be set free. He guessed his beast was onboard with that emotion too.

“Where are we going?” Nancy demanded, and he groaned inwardly with annoyance at the witch.

They’d already butted heads, and he didn’t feel the need to do it again.

“A cabin where you can stay the hell away from the rest of the pack,” he warned them.

“It’s not like we want to mingle,” Nancy offered back. But the elbow that she received in the ribs from Ashley made her snap her attention toward her friend.

Ashley gave a small shake of her head in warning. They needed shelter. The last thing that they needed to do was alienate the one person that could offer them that.

“What about our car?” Eliza asked. The thought of not having a means of escape played on her mind somewhat.

“When the weather clears up, someone will get it for you,” Drake assured her. “Won’t be me,” he muttered.

“Is there electricity in this cabin?” Nancy asked and received an elbow in the ribs from Ashley again.

“Does it matter?” Ashley turned a steely gaze of annoyance on her friend.

“I’m just asking?” Nancy shrugged.

“Let’s just get there, and we can find out for ourselves,” Ashley glared at her.

“That sounds like a plan. The sooner you’re out of my truck, the happier I’ll be,” Drake muttered to himself, but Nancy caught his words and the next time that he caught her eye in the mirror, she narrowed her gaze and offered him a death glare.

“What are you — like a beta or something?” Nancy asked, and before Ashley could dig her in the ribs once more; she turned her body sideways away from the blow.

“You have a problem with that?” Drake told himself to shut up and ignore her, but it was just so damn hard to do.

“I just didn’t think you were alpha material, that’s all,” Nancy offered back, and she heard Ashley groan beside her. “What?” She turned a glare on her friend.

“Will you just shut up until we reach the cabin?” Ashley demanded on a hiss of a whisper.

“I second that emotion,” Drake grumbled again.

“I’m just trying to keep the conversation lively.” Nancy shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, why don’t you tell yourself that nobody wants to talk and keep quiet?” Ashley snapped back.

“We’re nearly there — it’s just over this little hill,” Drake warned them.

That didn’t stop them from screaming at the top of their lungs like banshees when the truck’s front end pitched up in the air, and then again when it rollercoaster downward. The beta groaned inwardly as his sensitive hearing took a bashing.

“A little warning,” Nancy hissed.

“What did you think over this hill meant?” Drake growled back.

He would have loved to shake his head and smacked his ears to stop them from ringing, but he was trying to concentrate on the icy road.

“Not burping up my damn uterus that’s for sure,” Nancy tossed back in disgust.

Drake couldn’t help but chuckle at that one. He might not have warned them as well as he could have, but that was payback for the littlest witch’s attitude.

She certainly was feisty, and he liked that. Maybe a little less attitude and acidity wouldn’t go amiss, but he did like the fact that she was a big ball of fire. He just didn’t want to get burnt.

“Nobody could ever confuse you for a lady, could they?” Ashley grumbled and got a sneer back for her trouble.

“So where were you going when you got stuck in the blizzard?” Drake asked, even though he wasn’t sure that he wanted to strike up another conversation with them, he thought that any kind of local witch gathering would be better on the pack's radar than not knowing.

“Bermuda,” Eliza said with enthusiasm.

“That’s a long drive,” Drake chuckled at his own funny.

“I thought you said the cabin was just over that terror ride?” Nancy demanded.

“It is. I can see it from here,” Drake said.

The three witches leaned forward in the back of the cab and peered out of the windscreen. All that they could see was a white veil of snow.

“I can’t see…” Eliza bit of the last word. Suddenly, just up ahead, she could certainly see something, and what she could see were lights — lots of lights.

“What the…?” Drake scowled at the cabin’s illuminations.

“Are those…?” Ashley was confused.

“That looks like…” Nancy shook her head in dismay.

“I guess nobody told the pack that the guests were witches,” Eliza grumbled.