~

 

Jake just wanted it to end. He’d wanted, expected, a nice quiet Christmas, and now he was caught up in the midst of growling shifters, and shrew witches, all arguing over the top of each other in his hallway.

He loathed visitors at the best of times, and these certainly were not the best of times. He felt the urge to headbutt the nearest wall, but it was his wall, and he didn’t want to damage the plaster.

“He has a Christmas tree!” Natalie pointed an accusing finger at the vampire, and all heads turned in his direction.

“It’s not like I have ten decomposing virgin’s in the basement,” Jake offered back in a dry tone.

Everyone went back to arguing amongst themselves again. Jake rolled his eyes to the ceiling and prayed for a Christmas miracle.

The light tap of knuckles against the front door caused Jake to narrow his eyes at the back of the door in contemplation of who else would dare to step up to his house, and he groaned inwardly at yet another unsolicited intrusion as he momentarily reconsidered his position on prayer.

“Expecting someone?” Doug asked.

“Four calling birds to go with my three bad mood wolves and two shrill witches,” Jake tossed back over his shoulder as he stormed toward the front door. He wrenched open the door and took in the sight of the intruder. “Maybe I’ll get a gold ring.”

“Oh crap, vampire!”

A moment later and Jake was flying backward through the air. His arms and legs were outstretched in front of him as if he was reaching for something, but it didn’t help because he came in to land on his backside on the marble floor.

Nobody moved a muscle. And surprisingly, nobody said a word.

 

~

~

~

 

Christie was caught between a rock and a hard place. Outside there was a snowstorm with added complications — inside there was a vampire, and she hoped that it was only the one. She chose inside.

If she could kill or incapacitate the vampire, then she had a good chance of making the house a fortress. It was certainly a better deal than turning on her heels and going back into the storm and all that it implied.

She stepped inside, used her magic to slam the door shut behind her and snap the bolts on, and then she focused her attention on the vampire at hand and subduing him.

That was when she noticed the group of people standing off to one side, mouths open, and all of them were gawking at her. She thought the essence of supernatural in the air had only been from the vampire.

How wrong could a girl be?

“What is it with witches?” Doug growled.

“Oh good, shifters,” Christie bit out.

She was both relieved and miffed to find out that it wasn’t just vampires inhabiting the mansion.

“Would you like to rephrase that?” Natalie asked. She folded her arms and offered the alpha the evil eye.

“No, I’m good with it,” Doug shrugged his broad shoulders and offered her a smug look in return.

“Butt-weasel,” she muttered.

“What the heck is a butt-weasel?” Jonathan chuckled.

“Right there,” Natalie opened her arms and motioned towards the alpha like he was a good deal on a used car.

The alpha growled accordingly in return. He didn’t know what a damn butt-weasel was either, but if it had come from the witch’s mouth, then he didn’t want to know.

“Hello?” Jake bit out through clenched teeth as the pain of the witch’s magic held him in place.

“Oh, did you want help with something?” Natalie raised her eyebrows and offered him a smug smile. “Because I seem to remember that we needed help, and what goes around, comes around.”

“You know this one?” Christie directed her attention towards Saffy and Natalie as she pointed at Jake.

“Not me,” Natalie shrugged, washing her hands of the two-faced vampire.

“I do. He’s an — acquaintance,” Saffy said.

“An acquaintance that you knocked on the door of twice today already,” Jake reminded her.

“Can you vouch for him?” Christie almost sighed at the antics of the group. She hadn’t known what to expect from any of them, but she certainly hadn’t expected him.

“Well…” Saffy considered it for a long moment.

“Hello — pain,” Jake bit out.

“Okay, sure,” Saffy shrugged.

Jake grunted when the witch’s magic pulled back from him and set him free. He took in a large breath that he didn’t need to live and shook off the pain.

“Saffy, you are so off my damn my Christmas list,” Jake grumbled as he shot a glare in her direction.

“That’s okay, we’ll just take your tree when we leave,” Saffy assured him with a smile.

“How many trees does one witch need?” Jake asked.

“There was a slight mishap,” Saffy grimaced.

“That’s one way to put it,” Doug growled.

“I didn’t realize that this was an insane asylum,” Christie offered, and all heads turned in her direction again. That was until there was a low, deep, growl that emanated from Rex and echoed through the hallway.

“Down boy,” Jake offered.

“What’s his problem?” Natalie asked.

“Don’t look at me, I’m still getting to grips with my own problem,” Jonathan said.

“Maybe his problem is the same as your problem,” Saffy grimaced as she turned her attention towards Christie.

The newest which pulled her head back and scowled back at her. She didn’t like the sound of that.

“Why are you looking at me?” Christie demanded.

“Just saying,” Saffy shrugged.

“Actually, you’re not saying anything at all,” Christie offered back.

“Did you sniff?” Doug demanded from his brother. Boy, but he really hoped so.

“Maybe, just a little,” Rex grimaced and then rolled his eyes at the sound of the chuckle that came from the alpha.

“Too smart for that, hmm?” Doug chuckled back.

“He isn’t…?” Jonathan added his own taunting chuckles to the mix.

“Oh, but I think he is,” Doug folded his arms across his broad chest, and the smirk on his face grew wider, taunting the beta.

“Does someone want to let me in on the secret?” Christie asked.

“I don’t think it’s a secret,” Saffy warned her on another grimace.

“Well could…?” Christie bit off her words the moment that Rex started toward her.

The witch drew back her head, started to lift her hands, and pulled on her magic for backup.

“I wouldn’t,” Rex growled out the warning.

“We would!” Natalie and Saffy said together. They shot each other looks of glee and then turned their attention back towards the new witch.

“Back off,” Christie warned, taking the witches words to heart.

She was ready to defend herself.

The shifter was a damn big one, and she didn’t like the look in his eye as he stalked towards her. The witches had warned her, and she was more than ready to put the big guy down.