~

 

Isla heard Penny’s voice, and she turned in place towards it. She couldn’t be entirely sure, but she judged that her friend wasn’t that far away from where she’d ended up. But, out in the middle of nowhere, lost and alone in the darkness; it didn’t feel like she was that close either.

Her trip down the muddy embankment had deposited her close to the water's edge, and the partial moonlight that kept playing peekaboo with the cloud cover glistened on the gentle bobbing waves behind her. The storm appeared to be easing, but not by much, and she was not only soaked through but covered in mud and muck.

She bit down on a million curses for Keri’s idea of a long weekend away and decided that Mother Nature could kiss her backside. Which was when the sky lit up with a flash of lightning and a deafening crack of thunder made her jump in place and grimace for her witchy sins.

“Ok, fine. I’m sorry – but, come on … wind, rain, mud, lightning, and now thunder – give me a damn break here. I’m a city girl!” She ground out as she waved her arms in the air and cursed her luck.

She knew what she had to do. She needed to find Penny, and they needed to get out of there.

The wolf that she’d seen meant that they were on pack land or he was a rogue, and in nobody’s book could either of those things ever be classed as a good thing.

They needed to find each other and then find Keri. Then get the hell out of there back to civilization before the wolves found them.

Witches and Wolves were never a good thing. It could only lead to trouble either of the killing kind or the mating kind.

She didn’t relish the thought of either of those things.

Isla’s body ached from her journey down the mud slide. She knew that she’d have bruises from that one, and she guessed that she’d picked up a few cuts and scrapes to go with it, but the good news was that it didn’t feel like anything was broken.

She lifted one booted foot from the muddy bank and the squelching sound that it made as she yanked at her foot and the mud tried to hold on made her grimace, but she held in place the moment that more squelching started to come towards her from the darkness.

He came out of the shadows like a bull in a china shop; one, big, dark shadowy figure that rushed towards her, getting larger the closer that he got, and the sight of him launched her heart into her throat.

Isla didn’t give one moment’s thought to right and wrong as she raised her hands in front of her chest and called on her magic to defend herself. She’d zap first and ask questions later.

“Whoa now, don’t zap me… Don’t throw me… I mean you no harm,” Lucas rushed out as he pulled up short at the sight of her and raised his hands to his chest in surrender.

“You’re the wolf!”

Penny’s eyes were wide, and her heart was hammering within her ears, but she had hadn’t pulled the trigger on her magic yet – yet.

“Not me.” Lucas said with a small shake of his head as he swallowed down the effort of running down the embankment at break neck speed to try to find her, and trying to sound reassuring so as not to scare the hell out of her and make her zap him.

“So … you’re not a wolf?” Penny eyed him with disbelief. He certainly looked like a big shifter to her.

“Well, sure, but just not now.”

“Well, gee. I feel so much better,” Isla said, twisting her head on her neck, and giving him old-fashioned, questioning look.

“Ok, look. I’m a wolf, just not that wolf…”

“Which wolf?”

“The wolf you saw.”

“Isn’t it the ones that you don’t see that are the most dangerous ones?” Isla shot back.

Lucas took one step forward into the light. He could see her just fine, but he doubted that she could see him all that well as he stood in the shadow of the large oak tree – and he figured that without her being able to see his face, watch his expression, he couldn’t really connect with her on any level – and he so wanted to connect her.

“You see me now.”

“Not another step…” she hissed back at him. Mistrust was playing in her eyes, and he got that she was wary.

“You’re on my land…” Lucas started, trying his best to explain to her, but she snorted her contempt for that remarked.

“We’re pod people!” She offered back, and the moment that she said it she had to question how that sounded and her sanity.

The smile that broke across his lips told her that she really needed to filter before she spoke.

“Some would say…” he offered back, with the kind of wicked smile that might have looked better on a non-shifter – might even have made her interested in him had he been anything other than what he was.

Not that she didn’t see something in that man to be interested in, shifter or not. Tall, broad shouldered, with muscles upon muscles, and he was ruggedly good looking with all that wayward hair and those bright blue eyes – it certainly was distracting, to say the least.

Penny snapped off all thoughts of just how sexy and handsome he was and concentrated on who he was. She reminded herself that he wasn’t entirely bad to look at, but he was still a shifter, and that was a no go, danger zone for witches.

“If you don’t like witches then why are you chasing me?” Isla demanded as she craned her head on her neck and eyed him with mistrust.

“I’m not chasing you – at least, not yet.” Lucas half rolled his eyes within his head at just how stupid his words had sounded, even to him.

He didn’t much feel like sharing what he knew to be true just then. Not when the witch was poised and ready to zap his backside, and not when he hadn’t really let it sunk in for himself.

She was his mate – his one true love – but, she didn’t exactly look like she’d take that declaration too well.

Mine…

Sure, his beast was more than ready to throw him under the bus, but then it wouldn’t be the wolf’s backside in the line of fire when she got all zap happy.

“Is that a threat?” Isla hissed and snapped his mind back to the moment at hand.

“Not … in so many words – more a warning.”

Lucas went to take another step, and she wagged the index finger of her right hand at him making him think twice.

He held in place.

“Here’s a warning – don’t even think about it. You might be fast, but my magic is faster.”

The beta’s wolf growled inside of him. That sounded like a challenge if ever he’d heard one, and his beast was just in the mood to answer that call to his dominant side.

“Let’s find out,” he said quickly, but not as quickly as he moved.

Penny’s eyes went wide as her brain snapped into gear – but it was already too late – he was coming for her.

A moment later and she felt his hard, hot body wrap around hers and take her off of her feet … almost a split second before she felt the ice cold of the water absolutely everywhere that he wasn’t touching.

 

~

~

~

 

When the night had started to close in, Keri had decided to jog back the rest of the way to where she’d left Penny and Isla. She knew that the grumble twins weren’t happy with her choice of the weekend, but they were witches, and Mother Nature was a witches’ friend – they needed to man up.

She’d managed to pack everything that she could think they might need for the night inside of her backpack. She’d caved and bought them chocolate, only because if she hadn’t then she would never have heard the end of it.

The extra weight that she carried on her back was good for her training, and her friends could laugh and poke fun, but as she pointed out – if the Zombie apocalypse ever came – she’d be ready and Isla and Penny would be low hanging fruit.

As she drew closer to the woods; she noticed that her friends were nowhere to be seen, and she mentally rolled her eyes at their lack of adventure. It was a little rain – not the end of the world.

No, really, just cry off and leave me to carry it all.

I suppose I should have let them take the damn car – she sighed to herself.

We would have gotten more food, of course, most of it would have in their favorite food group – chocolate.

How can witches be so out of touch with Mother Nature?

You’d think I was asking them to give up their home and camp out permanently in the great beyond.

It’s just a weekend for Goddess sake, and it’s not even camping, it’s glamping.

Glamping – glamorous camping for people who are scared of a little dirt and who get withdrawal symptoms from technology.

Geez, how far we’ve come as human beings.

Hello! What’s that?

Keri slowed a little in her stride at the sight of the shadowy figure that stood just aside one of the big oak trees where the woods began. She’d almost lifted her hand to wave, but then she’d noticed that the blob was just too big and bulky to be either of her friends, and she pulled her magic closer inside of her.

That figure moved sideways towards the tree, tucking in just behind the large trunk, and her heart hit her ribs and started an upwards thrust towards her throat.

You’ve got this. You’ve got your magic, and you can kick ass with the best of them.

What about Penny and Isla?

Where the hell are they?

You can’t worry about that now, right now, concentrate on him.

The bigger they are, the harder…you hit them!

Put him down and keep him down.

How badly can this go?

A heartbeat later; she snapped her head around as something caught her eye. The sight of one big ass wolf that tore out from the trees made her heart stop beating, and she stopped in her tracks at the sight of it.

The wolf did the same, slamming on the breaks like it had hit an invisible wall.

Ok.

That’s not good.

And yet… it’s not attacking!

The beast snatched its head back on its neck like someone had whistled it. Then it turned on fast paws and shot back off into the trees.

Keri snapped her head around to see the shadowy figure moving. It – he – whatever it might have been was coming right for her.

 

~

~

~

 

‘Did I not say to get the hell away from here?’ Griffin growled into the link. ‘I’m sure my volume wasn’t turned down… I’m damn well sure that you all heard me,’ he growled in anger.

Griffin was more than miffed. He’d been watching and waiting to see where the woman was going – see if she was one of the witches that his pack had stumbled upon.

Now, he needed to deal with the woman one on one out in the open. Any damn passerby could see them in that field from the roadway, and if she was a witch, then that could be bad.

He wasn’t best pleased about it, and as soon as this whole thing was over then he’d be having a word with certain members of his pack.

“That’s far enough…” Keri called out, and the alpha grumbled in annoyance and sighed inwardly.

He knew one thing for sure - it wasn’t going to be easy – he could feel it in his bones. Not that he was entirely sure what it was…

“I’m not going to hurt you…” Griffin called out.

“No, you just like lurking behind trees to watch the world go by,” Keri snorted her contempt for the man.

“You’re one of the tourists?” He called and saw her snap her head to one side, considering just how much she was willing to share.

“Tourists?” 

Not much right then.

“Renting the pods on my land.”

Ah, geez, we’re renting from Lycans?

I’m never going to hear the end of this from the girls.

Oh, poop, the girls!

“Where are the others?” Keri hated to ask because she wasn’t entirely sure that she wanted to know.

That confirmed everything that he needed to know. The woman was a witch – a rather attractive one at that – but still a witch, and he’d need to deal with her.

“Funny thing happened with the wolf.”

“Trust me when I say that I won’t be laughing if it involved claws, fangs, and screaming,” she offered back, and he took a step towards her to close the distance a little more. It was just one step, but she was well aware of it. “You can stay right there…”

“No claws, no fangs,” he shrugged his shoulders, and she saw that because he blotted out a little of the landscape behind him as they rose and fell.

“And screaming?”

“Just… a small amount,” He took another step.

“Stay!” She snapped out like she was berating the family dog, and watched him tilt his head to one side and give her a questioning look. “Oh, right… sorry.” She cleared her throat on a small apologetic shrug. “Screaming?”

“One fell down an incline.” He offered back, and Keri’s mind whirled. “She’s alright; she’s with my brother…”

“That’s not reassuring in any way.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Griffin tossed back. “What if I were to tell you that she’s his mate?”

Keri felt her jaw sag as those words sunk in and bounced around her mind for a moment… those were probably the words that any sane witch did not want to hear.

Oh Goddess, the girls are definitely going to kill me.

Lycans – shifter beasts and a mate – which one?

Which witch had her head on the proverbial chopping block of fate’s evil plan?

I should have checked for shifters!

I should never have brought them here.

They liked the beach, sunbathing, and frothy cocktails, so I brought them to hell.

Nice work.

Smooth move, genius!

Now one of them is toast, and I pulled the trigger.

“I’d say; where are they?”

“Still in the woods.”

“Oh, well why don’t I join you?” Keri bit out. She didn’t trust the man as far as she could throw him, and without her magic that wouldn’t be far at all. “Heck, we can skip through the brambles, and your wolf can chew on me at your earliest convenience.” She hissed.

“Do I get that same offer?” Percival asked, coming at her from just behind her right shoulder, and she turned, noted the vampire, and let loose a white hot orb of her magic straight into his stomach.

She’d made herself magic ready for an attack from the shifter or the wolf. She certainly hadn’t figured a damn vampire into the equation, but there he was; flying backward through the air with his body curved around the impact of the orb.

Stealthy little… so and so, sneaking up on me like that.

“I don’t think so,” Keri offered back with a small smile of satisfaction at a job well done.

She might even have patted herself on the back as she dismissed the vampire for a heartbeat; while she turned her head to check where the other one was.

Oh, damn it to hell and high water.

The shifter was gone!