~

 

“I swear — you take one more step…” Saffy left the warning hanging in the air between them.

Her mate looked playful, but with something of a dastardly, hungry, sexy wide grin on his face that showed up two those of perfect white teeth, and made her remember that she hadn’t kept the dentist appointment that she’d made for last week.

“I didn’t hear an – if,” he chuckled.

Those dark eyes of his held her frozen within their gaze and it was kind of crazy how he managed to do that every single time.

“If! Bloody well — if, if, if, if, if, if, if, how many bloomin’ – if’s – do you need?” She demanded as she tossed her hands up in the air in frustration and she would have growled if she could have.

Doug stopped in place and twisted his head on his neck as he stared at her. Then he slowly lifted his hand up in front of him, and his index finger sprung upward.

“One more should do it,” he teased her.

If it was even entirely possible, his grin widened, and she swore to herself that if she saw just one little, itty, bitty hint of a fang, she was going to zap him with the power of thousand suns, or as close as she could get with her limited magic.

“I-ffff…” She hissed back slowly.

“Well, that should do it.” Doug drew himself up as straight as an arrow and thrust his hands into his front pockets. He gave a small shrug of his broad shoulders.

“Really?” Saffy didn’t look convinced as she frowned and eyed him back with suspicion.

“No!” Doug rushed out as he also rushed right at her.

Saffy jumped in place, startled by the speed and new direction of the man. He was heading right for her.

‘Brother,’ Rex used the pack’s mental link and stopped Doug dead in his tracks. ‘We’ve got a problem.’

‘Do you want to tell me what it is, or am I supposed to guess?’ Doug bit back.

He didn’t need the intrusion. He was wearing his mate down — and from what he could tell – he was doing a damn fine job of it.

Why would fate throw up an obstacle now? Maybe his brother’s mate had just dumped his backside in a snowdrift, and the man couldn’t get out — he could only hope that was the case.

‘Truth is — I have no idea,’ Rex offered the cryptic clue back to him, and the alpha growled in annoyance.

Only one of his brothers could be that stupid.

‘Fine,’ Doug grumbled.

There were times when he wished he was not the alpha.

There were also times when he wished he was an only child.

“You appear to have a little…” Saffy reached up and tapped her left temple. She could tell by the way the alpha’s facial reactions were changing that someone was talking to him and he wasn’t best pleased about it. “Going on.”

“It’s just Rex — I’ll be right back,” Doug growled.

He didn’t want to turn on his heels and walk away from his mate. Hell, that was the last thing he wanted.

If his brother had him on a wild goose chase, he was going to kill the man that was a foregone conclusion.

“Need any help?” Saffy chuckled when the alpha almost tripped over his own feet on the way out the door.

“Not from a…” Doug caught himself before he said the word.

“Witch?” Saffy asked as she folded her arms and tossed daggers at him from her eyes. He felt grateful that she didn’t have any real ones.

“I was actually going to say, mate,” Doug growled.

He really didn’t need to undo all of the goodwill that he’d been building with his mate so far.

“I’m sure you were,” Saffy babied him. “Perish the thought that a woman could help you.”

“I really don’t think you’re going to win that argument, either way,” Jake chuckled.

“Tell me about it,” Doug growled.

Jake started towards the alpha and Doug frowned.

“Tell you about it on the way,” Jake grinned.

‘Brother?’ Jonathon asked.

‘Stay here and guard the mates.’

“Why do I get the feeling today is not my day?” Doug grumbled as he turned and stalked the front door and out into the storm.

He liked the storm. It was cold, chilling to the bone, but the snowfall was peaceful. He liked peaceful.

“So, way I see it is…” The vampire started, and Doug groaned.

It had been peaceful.

 

~

~

~

 

“Aren’t you going with them?” Natalie turned her attention onto her mate, and Jonathan gave a slow shake of his head.

“Someone needs to stay here and guard the mates,” Jonathan said. “And the mates would be you.”

“And that had to be you?” Natalie sighed.

“He’s good at babysitting duty,” Tom chuckled to himself.

“Babysitting?” Saffy turned a dark glare onto the elder, but he wasn’t impressed.

They might have got him once with their magic, but he enjoyed his nap, felt fully refreshed, and it had been a long time since he’d felt that way. Hell, he might even ask them to do it on a regular basis if they stuck around the pack.

“Oh, the irony,” Tom chuckled.

“So, you’re the babysitting beta,” Natalie chuckled. Her mate didn’t.

“I’m the one most trusted to watch over you,” Jonathan assured her.

His mate could say what she wanted to try and elicit a response from him, but he wasn’t taking the bait. It just wasn’t going to happen. He had his eye firmly on the damn ball.

“Just not the one most trusted to be out there in the thick of the fight,” Natalie muttered to herself. Of course, she’d muttered loud enough so that he could hear her.

“Who said there’s fighting?” Jonathan tossed back.

“Why would the alpha leave with the vampire if it was just a picnic?” His mate offered back.

That got him thinking. Perhaps he should be on the outside of the cabin, patrolling the area to make sure that nobody got inside it would probably make more sense.

‘Doug, what’s going on?’ Jonathan growled into the link.

‘I’m not there yet — I’ll tell you when I arrive,’ the alpha offered back, but it was little comfort to the beta.

His wolf was already getting antsy. The beast needed to protect the witches with every fiber of its DNA, and without knowing what he was preparing for that need just clawed within him.

 

~

~

~

 

“I said don’t come a step further,” Rex growled.

His mate was behind his back. He’d protect her with his life.

He didn’t know what kind of a shifter he was facing down — that didn’t matter to wolf or man — they’d die trying if necessary.

“I just came for the witch,” he said. His dark eyes flicked toward Christie, and that riled up Rex’s beast even more.

“What the hell is this?” Doug growled as he came at the stand-off from the right of Rex. His brother was in full protection mode.

“I still don’t have a clue,” Rex growled.

“It’s a shifter,” Jake offered.

“Your superior vampire nose told you that, did it?” Rex would have rolled his eyes at the vampire, but he was keeping them firmly locked on the shifter just in case.

“Someone’s touchy,” Jake offered back.

“I just came for the witch,” the shifter said again.

“He keeps saying that — I think he’s stuck on repeat or something,” Rex growled.

“Just give me the witch, and I’ll leave,” the shifter demanded action, but the only action that he got was another warning growl from Rex.

“How about you leave and we don’t kill you?” Doug offered.

“Oh, Checkmate,” Jake chuckled.

“We don’t want to fight you — we just want the witch,” the shifter said.

“We?” That was a new one on Rex. He’d thought the man was alone.

“Are you picking up the scent of a we there, Jake?” The alpha asked somewhat smugly.

“No. But I’d appreciate it if Rex took a bath,” Jake offered back.

“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” The alpha looked at Christie.

“It’s complicated,” Christie offered back with a small guilt-ridden smile that didn’t touch her eyes.

“I have time — make it uncomplicated,” Doug growled.

“I don’t have time. I need the witch,” the shifter said.

“For what, exactly?” Doug demanded.

“He’s not getting Christie,” Rex growled. He couldn’t understand how or why his brother would even contemplate it.

“To lift the spell,” the shifter said.

“What spell?” Doug demanded.

“The one that she put on my herd.”

“Herd?” Doug frowned. “What the hell kind of a shifter are you?”

“Reindeer.”