~

 

“I want to take you home with me,” Lucas said as he backed his mate up against the side railing of a children’s ride and leaned his upper body in towards her. All but caging her in.

“Like a stray puppy?” Isla’s mischievous grin bewitched him.

Lucas wanted to growl like he’d never growled before. He was hungry, but his belly was full. It was his arms that felt empty.

A smack on the back of the head made him jump in place and snap his head around on his neck to eye the smug perpetrator… Griffin grinned back at him.

“Funny, not,” Lucas grumbled at his brother.

“Home will have to wait,” Griffin informed him, and his mate took the opportunity to sidestep him while his attention was elsewhere.

“What? Why?” Lucas noted the sudden movement of his mate, but by the time that he’d realized what was happening, she was standing beside her friends.

He turned back towards Griffin to find Neal standing beside him.

“Our alpha, brother, and general all round good deeds for the day junkie signed us up to help take down the fair and load it into the trucks,” Neal informed him.

“Yeah, well, you try saying no to Father Ted,” Griffin grumbled. “I’d rather face a crowd of angry vampires. At least they wouldn’t be going on about the little old ladies lugging heavy wooden frames to the trucks on their little-crooked backs.”

“Soft touch,” Neal muttered.

“Very,” Lucas bit out.

“Well, I like a man with a softer side,” Keri said, and her mate locked eyes with her, a slow to boil grin spreading across his face.

“Me too,” Penny piped up. “It’s a shame you have a cold dead heart.” She berated Neal.

“Do not.” He grumbled.

“Do too…” she teased back.

“I just gave a kid a damn rabbit I won for you.”

“And scared the poor little mite half to death!” Penny reminded him.

“That wasn’t my fault,” Neal shrugged.

“Well, it wasn’t mine,” she hissed back.

“Lucas has a softer side…” Isla said, and the beta frowned.

“I do?”

“You don’t?” She asked, raising her eyebrows towards her hairline.

“No-no, I do.” Lucas wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but if it made her like him more than he was all in. “Do I?” He bit out the side of his mouth towards his alpha.

“In the head, sure,” Griffin said.

“There’s an old saying that applies to you,” Percival said as he strolled up to join the group. “If brains were dynamite, then you couldn’t blow your nose.”

“I…?” Lucas thought about that one, which sent the group into muffled chuckles.

“Be nice,” Isla scowled at the vampire.

“Don’t want to,” Percival shot back.

“There’s a shocker,” Penny offered.

“Hey!” Lucas said, finally getting the joke, and everyone started to chuckle again. “That’s not funny.”

“No, what’s not funny is the amount of time it took you to get it. It proved my point without any real effort on my part.” Percival said before he lifted his hand and slapped it down on the alpha’s shoulder. “Enjoy packing up. I’ll see you back on pack land.”

“Why doesn’t he have to help?” Lucas bit out.

“Maybe Father Ted has a natural inbuilt dislike for the man?” Neal offered, and Percival snorted.

“I’m well loved,” he lied.

“Sloth,” Penny muttered.

“I like breaking lots of sins, but that one doesn’t apply to me,” Percival offered back.

“Whatever you say, Percy,” Keri said with a small shrug. She saw the vampire grimace.

“That isn’t my name.”

“It is now,” Isla wiggled her eyebrows at him.

“No… really… not a name that I’m going to answer to.”

“We don’t need you to answer to it,” Penny shrugged too.

“We’ll just use it as a pet name,” Keri informed him and watched the man roll his head on his neck and then his shoulders as he considered the three witches.

“Fine,” he snapped out. “I’ll help. This time, and it’ll only work once.” Percival offered back, turning fast on his feet, and stalking away.

“Oooh, someone has a wee little button that can be pushed,” Penny sniggered.

“And we fully intend to use that to our advantage whenever possible,” Keri grinned.

“They are truly evil,” Lucas whispered to Neal, and his brother tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter.

“Oh, trust me, Larry the Lamb, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” Penny assured him.

“Wolf.” Lucas scowled back at her.

“In sheep’s clothing,” Keri teased.

“Nope, just a wolf,” Lucas offered with a small shake of his head.

“Come on, Larry,” Isla giggled, “we’ve got work to do.”

“Hey, Lucas,” Neal said as the beta started to move off after his mate. The man turned to look at his brother. “Baaahhh…”

“Yeah, let’s see how funny you think that is with my fist in your face,” Lucas grumbled back.

“Oooh – kkkk, baaahhh,” Neal said before sniggering.

“Why couldn’t I have had sisters?” Lucas growled, and Griffin reached out and slapped him around the back of the head again.

“Stop growling,” the alpha berated him.

He wasn’t sure how many times he would need to tell his siblings the same damn thing. He would have thought that at their age they knew to keep their wild side hidden around humans.

“Tell him to stop bleating then,” Lucas tossed back. He glared at Neal as the man offered him a teasing smile.

“Meee? Baaahhh didn’t do a thing, baaahhh,” Neal said before he chuckled again.

He kept on chuckling; right up to the point where Griffin smacked him around the back of the head.

“It’s not play school. Stop winding your brother up. You know he’s … sensitive.” Griffin chuckled as Lucas snapped his head around on his neck to glare at the pair of them.

He’d more than had enough of his family for one day.

“Ah, bite me!”