~

“A word of warning, if you try to shift into your beast, I will kill you,” Lance breathed out against Audrey’s ear.

Like that didn’t repulse her. She might have been injured, pained, and still a little dazed and confused from the accident, but it still sickened her to her stomach that the vampire was that close to her.

Audrey knew that he meant every word. The man had run her off the road, apparently thinking that she was someone else — River, she guessed.

She also guessed that this was the vampire that was after the witches, at least one of them — her brother’s mate.

While she didn’t particularly like witches, or her brother most of the time, kin was kin, family was family, and the witches were a part of her pack now. That was good enough for her.

“Do I have to give you a demonstration of how serious I am?” He hissed against her ear, and she shook her head. “Good. Where’s the damn witch hiding?”

“We’re wolves. We don’t have any witches. We prefer to run them out of town…”

“River’s here — don’t lie to me — I promise you won’t appreciate what I do to you if you do,” he bit out.

Audrey had no doubt in her mind that the vampire was playing for keeps. She doubted that he’d come across the River’s car by chance, that meant that he’d followed her. So it was a good bet that he knew where her pack land was anyway.

Audrey only wished that she was thinking a little clearer, things were still muzzy, but she was healing fast. Not as fast as she would if she shifted and took a damn good bite. Not that she could because he’d already made it clear what would happen if she did.

No, she needed to play this one smart. There was a whole pack of shifters back home that needed to be warned of his presence.

Even if she didn’t talk and he killed her, it wouldn’t make any difference — he was going to be heading to pack land anyway. Perhaps she could make herself a bargaining chip, and with two vampires and a pack of wolves against one man, the only one that had to die today was him.

“Fine, why do I care about a witch anyway? She’s on pack land with River, but you won’t get close enough…” She tried to sell her story, and make it look like she didn’t want to cooperate.

“Let me worry about that. It’s why you’re still alive,” he breathed against her ear.

She really wished he’d stop doing that. If he didn’t want her to shift, then he needed to stop repulsing her and freaking out her wolf.

It seemed her plan had worked. Or maybe not. He might have been onto her little scheme, but at least she would have a chance to warn the others about him.

 

~

~

 

“One word — no — and I won’t kiss you,” Rock growled.

It wasn’t just the growl that sounded hungry; it was the look in his eyes, the look on his face, and the way that he was holding her against him. Frankie certainly couldn’t mistake the hard truth of his desire that was pressed against her stomach either.

His actions had sent butterflies flapping their wings inside of her, but his words had sent a more potent flash of excitement and adrenaline coursing through her veins. That was definitely hard to ignore, just as hard as trying to ignore the man himself.

“Just the one word?”

“One word.”

It wasn’t like Frankie wasn’t torn between telling him to back the hell off, and the curiosity of kissing him that was mixed with the excitement of the situation that she found herself in.

Choices — choices.

“Umm,” Frankie offered back, but it was the wicked look in her eyes and the teasing tone that made Rock roll another growl through his chest.

“That wasn’t a no…”

“That wasn’t a word…”

“Too late,” Rock said, and Frankie’s heart hit her ribs with another rush of excitement as he dipped his head and brought his lips down on hers.

 

~

~

 

With each new scratch, dent, and catastrophe that she discovered had befallen her motorbike, Ava either squeaked, grunted, or bit out a dark curse under her breath. Ray had taken up something of a defensive stance, his arms folded across his chest, his head tipped to one side, as he stood his ground looking up at the back of the flatbed truck and watched his mate’s assessment of the damage to her beloved bike.

Every new piece of damage to the machine that she found made her flick a death glare in his direction, and Ray was certain that each time would be the one when she enacted her vengeance on him. It never came.

“Look, I’ll pay for the damage and Breanna can do the work — it’ll be as good as new — I promise…” Ray had finally felt the need to say something.

“As good as new — that really isn’t the point, is it?” Ava said, shooting him another death glare before she turned her attention back to the motorbike. “As good as new means you damaged it in the first place.”

“I did apologize for that,” Ray offered back.

“Yes, you did…” There was that death glare again.

“And was punished, several times, accordingly…”

“I’d say you got off lightly…” Ava straightened and wiped her hands off on the rag that she’d snatched up from the back of the truck.

“That’s a matter of opinion, and mine would be different…”

“Bully for you, excuse me if I mull that over for a long while.”

Ava stood with the toes of her boots sticking over the end of the pickup truck. She was debating kicking his backside with her magic once more because after inspecting her motorbike she was definitely back to being miffed again.

The instant that her feet left the flatbed and she was dropping toward the ground, Ray reached out, a large hand clamping down on either side of her hips, and brought her down to earth. He gently placed her on her feet, made sure that she was stable, and then snatched his hands back.

“Because you thought I was going to fall flat on my face?” Ava scowled at him.

It had been the act of a gentleman, and she wasn’t used to that. It had also touched her slightly in a way that she couldn’t quite understand.

“Because it’s what mates do.” He shrugged just one shoulder as if it was nothing, but it was something to her — she just didn’t know what it was.

“Well, if you think I’m doing that for you — think again. I’m not getting squished by your large backside.” Ava grumbled and looked anywhere but at him. She was on the back foot again, and she didn’t much like it.

The man had thrown her with his actions, and she wasn’t quite sure why it should bug her the way that it was. She’d assumed that he was a jerk, maybe she’d a little rash in her judgment.

But still, who strolled out into the middle of a road without looking? She kind of wanted to hold onto that annoyance because it was less of an alien feeling to her than what she had at that moment.

“I do not have a large backside,” Ray tossed back at her, and she snatched a look at him, half expecting him to be pouting, but the underlying look of amusement on his face jolted something else inside of her.

She didn’t much like that feeling either.

“Please, is there anything on you that isn’t large?” Ava bit out without thinking.

Another quick look at the man turned into something that she couldn’t take her eyes off. He was offering her a slow to boil, drop dead gorgeous grin that stretched from ear to ear, and told her everything that she’d just done wrong.

She’d let her mouth run away with her before putting her brain into gear. More fool her.