~
Jake had managed to salvage enough of his brain to get them up off the floor in the hallway and as far as the nearest wall, but no further. He was kissing his mate as if his life depended on it.
He couldn’t get enough of her. Her scent, her touch, her kisses, and he just couldn’t seem to get close enough.
He loved that she was kissing him back, but he wanted so much more than that. He desperately needed to be buried deep within her.
His beast was clawing just beneath the surface of his skin. It was taking every ounce of willpower that he had not to allow the beast to get a foothold and push forward.
Mine…
Man and beast were in unison about bonding with her. But Jake would be damned if he didn’t show her the respect that she was due and tried to mate with her in a damn hallway.
‘Aggie’s been taken. There’s a vampire on pack land.’ Nestor’s call to the pack echoed within his mind.
Jake’s beast had something else to think about other than claiming his mate. He found the willpower to pull back from her on a growl of frustrated annoyance that was mixed with the anger for the elder’s words.
“That was…” Debbie’s brain couldn’t quite compute what was happening, but when she managed to focus on Jake’s face, her mind sobered to the point of panic.
“It’s Nestor,” Jake growled as his mate looked around them.
“Where?” She was lost in confusion.
“In my head.”
“Well, tell him to get out of your head.” She sounded slightly alarmed.
Jake was already, if not somewhat regretfully, disentangling himself from her. He placed her down upon her feet and looked down at her with remorse, regret, and the hunger that he had for her all mixed together in one heady groan.
“I have to go.”
“You do?” Debbie looked uncertain. “You do!” It was the get out clause that she didn’t know if she wanted or not, but she grabbed at it with both hands anyway.
“It’s Aggie,” he explained as he reluctantly turned away from her and started down the hallway.
“It’s Aggie?” Debbie started to follow on behind him like a shell shocked puppy. “Wait, you said it was Nestor — what the hell is Nestor done to Aggie?” Debbie rushed to panic.
“It’s the vampire!”
“The vampire!” Now she was totally lost. “First it was Nestor — then Aggie — now the vampire. What the hell is going on?” She demanded.
“The vampire has taken Aggie,” he shot back over his shoulder.
“I thought the vampire was a friend?”
“Not that vampire!”
Debbie felt the sudden, urgent, need to thump her forehead off the nearest wall, or maybe just off of her mate’s thick head. It wasn’t as if he was explaining it properly.
“How many damn vampires do you have?” Debbie demanded.
“One.”
“Then — hello?” Debbie had never growled in her life, but she did then.
The sound of her growl made Jake trip over his own feet, and he stumbled in his stride, but corrected himself and carried on. He did shoot a glare back over his shoulder.
“Takes one to know one — annoying, isn’t it?”
“It’s damn sexy, is what it is.” He growled.
“Okay, there’s one I haven’t heard before. But back to Aggie…”
“A vampire has taken her. Not a friendly one. Nestor is in pursuit…”
“Well, why the hell didn’t you just say that in the first place?” Debbie said, exasperated with her mate’s lack of clarity. “And you, the man that likes to clarify everything. Pah!”
“I’m going to chalk that one up to — I can’t win,” Jake grumbled.
“You can chalk it up to whatever you want — Mr clarify.”
~
~
~
“Stay inside the house,” Lewis growled.
The alpha had been enjoying watching his mate walk away from him. He’d had her permission to ogle her backside, and he’d taken full advantage of it.
Then the call from Nestor had come through the mental link that the pack possessed, and now he was stalking down the hallway in front of her, heading for the front door. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t how he’d hoped things would turn out.
“I’m not staying behind if Aggie is in trouble,” Mia snorted her contempt for his idea that she should play the simpering female held up at home while he went off to fight the witch’s corner.
It wasn’t happening.
“Aggie is in trouble. And you are staying behind.”
Lewis wasn’t about to argue over the safety of his mate. The other witches had already, sneakily, disobeyed their mates once and had left the house when Mia had taken off — that was not going to happen again. Not on his watch.
“She’s my friend, and I have a right…”
“We can discuss your rights when I get back.”
“Oh, I seriously don’t believe you understand…”
“No!” Lewis turned on fast heels back towards her. Mia ground to a halt in surprise rather than hit the solidity of his chest.
“Lewis!” She started, but she didn’t get much further.
“Mia,” he growled long and hard. “There’s no time for this. I don’t know what the hell is happening out there, but I do not need to worry about your safety…”
“I get that…!”
“I hope there’s time to save Aggie. But this is wasting that time.” Lewis turned back on his heels and started for the front door once more. His brothers were already leaving ahead of him.
“She’s my friend!”
“Then please do as I ask and let me try to save her,” Lewis growled back over his shoulder and then he was gone.
The rush of fear met with anger and annoyance within her, and she gave a small squeal. She used her magic to toss the door closed behind him.
It killed her that she couldn’t do anything for her friend — but Lewis was right, she knew it, and she hated it, but her mate would always put her first, and that wouldn’t bode well for Aggie if there was a need for the alpha to choose one of them.
“What are we waiting for?” Jules demanded as she rushed down the hallway towards Mia.
“We can’t. Not now.” Mia grimaced in annoyance.
“What are you talking about?” Debbie demanded.
“We need our mates to put Aggie first, and they can’t do that if we’re there.”
“I say we go kick vampire butt.” Jules scowled at the thought of standing by while Aggie was in danger.
“Wow, you’ve been alpha-ed,” Debbie said with a small smirk that irked Mia.
“Have not,” Mia hissed back. “And alpha-ed isn’t even a word.”
“Words weren’t words until people started to use them, and you’ve been alpha-ed alright.”
“Can you stop now?” Mia demanded.
“Nope,” Debbie said as she folded her arms and smirked at her friend. “The one of us that I thought could, and maybe even would, hold out, and you’ve caved like a house of cards.”
“Hey, what about me?” Jules demanded.
“Let’s face it, Jules, you were a lost hope from the moment you knew you were a mate.”
“Was not!” Jules wrinkled up her nose and dismissed her friend’s words with a small huff of annoyance.
“Right now, you’re thinking chocolate…”
“She’s always thinking chocolate,” Mia snorted a small chuckle.
“Agreed.” Debbie gave a small nod as Jules raised her chin in defiance. “But, it’s who that chocolate is spread all over that makes her mating a full gone conclusion.”
Mia snorted another chuckle as Jules' cheeks colored a deep red and she almost swallowed her tongue before her bottom jaw snapped downward and she glared at her friend.
“That’s so…” Jules bit down on her words.
“Tempting!” Debbie chuckled out.
“What? Yes,” Jules said, distracted by the image of what her friend had described popping into her mind. “That’s to say…”
“Give it up, Jules. You’re busted.” Mia offered. She was glad for the distraction that teasing her friend provided the group.
“Am not!” Jules hissed her displeasure and guilt at the both of them.
“Are so very much too,” Debbie giggled.
“You…” Jules was sucking an imaginary lemon. “Can’t even string words together properly!”
“I don’t think you’ll be doing much talking of your own with Jake’s smudge stick in your mouth!” Debbie shot back.
“Smudge stick?” Jules said, looking at her friend as if she’d just thrown up on her shoes.
“Yeah, you know? The really big kind, for a nice, deep, penetrative — cleansing.” Debbie’s grin was so wide that she could have played The Joker in Batman without any makeup.
“Have I told you lately that I hate you?” Jules tossed back.
“I love that you hate me, it brightens my day.” Debbie chuckled hard at her friend’s expression. “And now back to the matter at hand. Aggie.”