~

 

“What’s going on?” Eliza demanded from her comfortable seat in front of the nice roaring fire that Amy and Jackie had set for them, a much needed and totally appreciated, glass of wine in her hand.

Nancy flicked the curtain back at the window and grinned with glee at the sight of the two men knocking the stuffing out of each other. She grimaced as a big guy, the same type of build as Eliza’s mate, took Drake down to the snow-covered ground on a flying tackle.

“Boys being boys,” Nancy tossed back over her shoulder.

She found that she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the sparring duo. It was just too much fun.

“You mean that they’re using each other like punchbags?” Ashley tossed back.

“Oh, it’s so much more than that. It’s like the wild west out there, just without the guns and the Stetsons, and the horses and… ” she said and snorted a chuckle.

“Shifters being shifters,” Ashley sighed.

“Lucky me,” Eliza grumbled. She was in full-on self-pity mode, and even the wine couldn’t cheer her up, and if wine couldn’t cheer her up, then things must have seemed very dark.

“Look on the bright side…” Nancy started, and Eliza snorted her contempt for her.

“Yeah, no. You got me with that one earlier,” she grumbled back. “Fool me once…”

“No, there is a bright side,” Nancy offered, and Eliza scowled.

“There is?” She couldn’t think of one.

“Sure, it’s…” Nancy took a long moment to consider it, “nope, you’re right. No bright side.” She chuckled.

“I hate you right now,” Eliza grumbled.

“Who’s winning?” Ashley asked as curiosity got the better of her once more.

“You don’t even know who’s playing,” Nancy chuckled back.

“True,” Ashley agreed as she pushed up from her place on the rug and started for the window.

“Curiosity killed the witch…” Nancy chuckled, but then she drew back from the window on a gasped breath as Kiel’s face appeared right in front of her, and he glared in.

She dropped the curtain.

“Here, let me see,” Ashley said as Nancy backed away.

“There’s a Grinch at the…” Nancy started, but Ashley was already yanking back the curtain.

“Holy hell and a horrifying Christmas!” Ashley bit out, as she reacted in shocked horror to the alpha’s presence.

“He’s not that bad looking,” Nancy sniggered.

“T’is the stuff of nightmares,” Ashley said, dropping the curtain back in place, just as Kiel lifted his hand and opened his mouth to speak.

 

~

~

~

 

“I’m not that damn bad,” Kiel grumbled as he scowled at the covered window and the look that he’d got from both witches.

His beast grumbled a growl within him at the presence of the witches, but Kiel didn’t think they looked too bad, especially the second one that had appeared. But it didn’t matter how damn good the woman looked, the truth of it was that she was a witch, and therefore off limits.

“How is it my fault that you’ve got a big nose?” Drake growled out as he swung a punch that connected with his brother’s granite jaw.

“You brought the damn witches here in the first place,” Jeff growled back as he swung his large fist, and took great satisfaction when the blow landed against Drake’s jaw.

The alpha groaned. His brothers were great betas, but as annoying as all hell.

“Aren’t you going to do anything about this?” Jackie stomped up beside the alpha on the porch, folded her arms, and offered him that look — the same look that his mother used to give him when she’d expected more from him, and he’d let her down.

He hated that look.

“You mean like jump in and smack their heads together until they see stars?” Kiel grumbled a happy growl at the thought of it. It sounded like a good idea to him.

“I mean like pull them apart, stop them fighting, and make them behave like regular people…”

“Regular people?” The alpha raised his brows up on his forehead and questioned her stance. Jackie squirmed a little under his gaze.

“Regular people,” she said again.

She wasn’t about to offer anything new, or take her words back because then he would pick up on the fact that she’d managed a slip of the tongue. That was never good.

“You mean like — human people?”

“I mean like — not giving their mates any more reason to run away screaming,” she offered back with a shrug. She wasn’t backing down, but she could sidestep the point.

“Okay.”

The alpha had to admit she had a point. Fleeing mates could never be considered a good thing. Screaming and fleeing mates was definitely not a good thing.

“So do something.” She had that damn expectant look on her face again, and the alpha grunted in annoyance.

Kiel took two long steps to the edge of the porch, tossed his head back, and roared. The betas froze in place, both of them had their hands and the other’s throat, both had a fist pulled back ready to strike, and both turned to look at the alpha.

“Job done,” the alpha said and stuck his chest out with pride.

“Sure,” Jackie walked up beside him and offered him a slap on the back. “Because that probably didn’t scare the hell out of the witches and make them want to run for their lives.”

She strolled down the steps and walked away. The alpha grimaced, he hadn’t considered that.

“Yep, might have been a little loud,” he grumbled to himself.

 

~

~

~

 

“Did you hear that?” Eliza bit out in disbelief.

“Are you serious? I think the international space station heard that.” Nancy shook her head in dismay. “How have these shifters not been discovered yet?”

“People probably think it’s just an earthquake,” Ashley grumbled as she snatched a peak out of the tiniest gap she’d made between the curtains at the big guy outside.

“Just an earthquake?” Nancy sniggered.

“I’d rather an earthquake then a shifter mate,” Eliza nodded agreement with herself before she drained her wineglass dry.

“Wow, you two are just so — morose,” Nancy chuckled again. “Think happy thoughts.”

“What do I have to be happy about?” Eliza tossed back.

“Well,” Nancy pulled a face. “There’s another bottle of wine in the kitchen.” She shrugged, and Eliza immediately pushed up from her comfortable chair and started across the living room.

“I wonder how much wine it would take for me to be permanently drunk, and therefore, not really give a damn that I’m a mate?” Eliza grumbled as she padded across the floorboards on sock-clad feet.

“See,” Nancy announced, stopping Eliza in her tracks, and bringing Ashley’s attention towards them. “Now, you’re thinking positively.”

“Geez, Nancy!” Eliza huffed as she disappeared into the darkened kitchen to retrieve the wine.

“Don’t tease,” Ashley berated her. “It’s not fair. How would you feel if you had a shifter mate?”

“Despondent — inconsolable – positively, nope, scrap the word positive…”

“It’s not a laughing matter,” Ashley berated her again.

“Come on; there’s really nothing she can do about it besides killing him,” Nancy offered as she considered it. “We could kill him for her.”

“For doing what? Being a mate?” Ashley rolled her eyes and turned away from Nancy. She snatched another peak out behind the curtain. There was the alpha — tall, built like a brick outhouse — and a sexy as hell.

She certainly had positive thoughts about him.

Ashley berated herself for that thought, any thought where the alpha was concerned. He was as sexy as hell, but did she really have to notice?

What she did notice was the other shifter that was stalking toward the cabin. It was the one that had been fighting with Drake.

That wasn’t a good sign. She craned her head on her neck and tried to hear what they were saying to each other, but a lot of it was deep male mumblings.

“It’s his fault that I found a mate…” Jeff growled.

Ashley snatched her head back and gasped in a breath. That was even worse than not a good sign. That meant that there was another mate inside the cabin.

Ashley managed to slowly turn her body away from the window, even though her feet felt as if they’d been encased in concrete. The moment that Nancy laid eyes on her friend’s ghostly white face, she knew that something was wrong.

Nancy narrowed her eyes at Ashley and questioned her with raised eyebrows. Ashley slowly lifted her hand up and pointed towards the front door.

“I…” The sound of heavy feet stomping against the outside boards made Ashley’s head snapped around on her neck in the direction of the front door. “We’re screwed.”

That was when the thudding started on the front door, and Ashley’s heart matched that beat.