~

“I wouldn’t even bother to try to understand a witch’s mind if I were you,” River informed him as the alpha came from the house and stalked down the driveway toward them with his mate in tow.

“What’s she doing here?” Ray demanded.

That was bad news for him. How was he supposed to get his mate to go in the damn house when the alpha’s witch was outside?

“Her magic could be useful,” Rock bit out, but he didn’t sound too happy about it.

“Oh, really?” Ray offered back with a look that questioned his brother’s sanity.

“Stay behind me,” Rock bit out the warning to his mate once more, but it was more for his brother’s benefit. The man was looking at him as if he’d just betrayed a sacred vow.

“Didn’t we go through that once already?” Frankie asked, amused by her mate’s stance.

“When you’re not firing magic bolts…” Rock growled.

“Yes, because that could be painful,” Ava grinned. Then she turned toward her mate, tipped her head to one side, and offered him a look of pure disbelief. “Go inside?”

Ray grumbled a growl. He never thought that he could have been wrongfooted by his alpha’s decision to allow his mate to stand and fight. But there it was – one large foot in his damn mouth.

Now, what choice did he have?

 

~

~

 

Lana did a double take out of the window. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was Frankie and Ava outside with the others, and her mate called himself progressive – Pah!

“Oh no, there is no way in hell that I’m staying inside while they’re outside,” she said, lifting her arm and pointing out of the window.

Cary turned to look, and his chin almost hit his chest at the sight that befell him. Were his brothers insane?

“What the…?”

“Progressive my backside,” she snorted her contempt for him. A moment later, and she was headed toward the door.

It took Cary a moment for his brain to catch up with what his eyes were telling him, and what his mate was doing. He’d been more than blindsided by the sight of the witches outside; he was practically dumbfounded.

But as his beast growled a warning at him, he finally realized that his mate was getting away, and he grunted in annoyance as his brain kicked his backside into action, and he sped off after her.

“You’re right — I think — not sure — slow down,” Cary called after her, but she had no intention of slowing down.

Lana yanked open the front door and stalked down the path. The sound of curse words that she was muttering under her breath made her mate groan inwardly as he chased after her.

“Okay,” the alpha called out to his pack. “You all know the routine — you all know what you’re doing — stay in touch with each other and watch your tails.”

“Can you believe that this one didn’t want to let me out the damn house?” Lana said to Frankie with a nod of her head for her mate and a snort of contempt for the look of confusion on his face.

“Shocker,” Frankie snorted her contempt for her own mate.

“This one thought that he could shoehorn me inside,” Ava chuckled as she motioned toward Ray.

“Boy, do they not know witches,” River offered, stirring the pot between the mates and getting an elbow in the ribs from Breanna for his troubles. “How long does it take you to sharpen your elbows?”

“Girlie,” she tossed back.

“What’s the plan?” Ray asked, looking to his alpha. The man had allowed the witches into the fight, he had to have a plan, and Ray didn’t think that meant offering the females up as bait.

“Der, kill the damn vampire,” Ava bit out.

“You should listen to your mate, brother; she would appear to be a bit more on the ball than you.” Cary couldn’t help but add salt to his brother’s wounds.

Anything that distracted his mate from offering him a death glare was good in his book. The ‘wooing his mate’ thing had been going well up until that point, and he didn’t need to start from scratch again.

“So, why is this vampire after you?” Rock asked, and in the back of his mind, he berated himself for not putting the real danger that she’d face above wooing his mate and getting to the bottom of the matter sooner.

If he had done that, then his sister might not become a pawn in the vampire’s damn game.

“I may have acquired something that belonged to him,” Frankie said as she lifted her shoulders up towards her ears and grimaced slightly.

“Acquired?” Rock tipped his chin down toward his chest and regarded his mate from beneath a scowl.

“Do you mean stolen,” Cary asked, calling it as he saw it, and watched as the alpha’s mate turned her steely gaze in his direction. “Well, I think I just met Medusa in the flesh. Good luck with that, brother.”

“Watch it,” Lana warned her mate.

“Seconded,” Rock growled at his brother.

“So, what did you steal from the man?” Ray asked.

“Yes, what did you steal from Lance?” River demanded.

“It’s not stealing when it doesn’t belong to him in the first place,” Frankie said in hot denial of the accusations against her.

“That’s true,” Lana said.

“Agreed,” Ava offered her opinion as she turned a glare upon her mate for his stupid question.

“Fine, what did you acquire from the vampire?” Rock said. He didn’t much care how it was phrased; he just needed to know what they were dealing with.

“A powerful amulet that the vampire had no business having,” Frankie said with another shrug of her shoulders. This time it was a much smaller gesture, and she didn’t look half as sheepish as she had only a few moments earlier.

“No business having — and definitely no business using,” Ava piped up with a snort.

“Trying to summon a goddess to do his dirty work for him — the nerve of the man,” Lana bit out in disgust.

“Which goddess?” Ray asked.

“Does it matter?” Cary shot back.

“If you learn how to summon the goddess without the amulet, then yes,” Ray said.

“Fat chance!” Ava snorted her contempt for that theory.

“The Morrigan is never going to work with a vampire,” Lana said.

“The Morrigan!” Rock growled. He knew shifter history as well as the next alpha, and that goddess was one formidable warrior.

“Exactly!” Frankie offered to her mate. Obviously, the man knew of the power of the Morrigan, and he didn’t look best pleased.

“Someone want to share?” River asked.

“The Morrigan is a shape shifter goddess. Her beast is a Raven, and it’s said that she would come to the aid of shifters in times of need. She is also a fierce warrior, and it’s also said that any shifter that sees her cleaning her armor by the waterside is sure to die that day.” Breanna informed him, and he offered her a deep scowl in return.

“Well, go to the head of the class,” River tossed back.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know this.” Breanna shrugged.

“Why would I know that?” River looked a little surprised that she did. “Were you around back in the day when this was common knowledge?”

He knew he’d taken sarcasm too far when her fist connected with his jaw and he was on his backside in the dirt again.