~

 

“That’s what she said – Uncle Fester,” Jules offered back, and she couldn’t keep the grin from her lips either as she watched the man’s top lip twitch with annoyance that was fast approaching anger.

“Do I look bald, fat, and stupid to you?” He growled. He pegged her with a hard glare, daring her to say the wrong thing.

“One out of three ain’t bad,” Daniel muttered loud enough for the witches to hear. His words sent them into fits of giggles and only served to make the elder Wolf growl harder.

“It’s all fun and games until I sink my fangs into your backside, boy,” Nestor snapped back.

“Would you like me to go and get your fangs out of the glass of water beside your bed?” The vampire asked as he strolled by the group, following the alpha, now that the man had started down the roadway once more.

“No respect,” the elder growled and grumbled before he turned on his heels and started away from them, muttering dark curses as he went.

“Well, an exploding car full of witches — and Nestor in one of his moods,” Jake said with a shrug. “It’s probably all downhill from here.”

He could only hope. He was still in almost total denial about the witch being his mate.

“Well, you are older than me, brother,” Daniel grinned. “It’s definitely all downhill for you from here on in.”

 

~

~

~

 

“What in hell fire are you playing at?” Aggie demanded as she strolled up towards Mia and twisted her head on her neck to take in the sight of the alpha playing caveman.

The younger witch lifted her head and eyed the woman for a long moment. Hanging down the alpha’s back wasn’t exactly the prime location to have any sort of a reasonable conversation.

“Just hanging around.” The sarcasm dripped from Mia’s voice and made Aggie lift just one eyebrow in return.

“It’s no time to be playing at being a mate…” Aggie got no further when Mia gasped in disbelief.

“Bite your tongue!” Mia hissed back at the woman.

“What, do I look stupid enough to do that?” Aggie grumbled back as she dug her heels in and refused to do what any good witch would have done when faced with a slip up that tempted fate.

“Bite it, or I’ll make you bite it,” Mia hissed out.

A mate – not in this bloody lifetime!

And a mate to an Alpha Wolf, as well, I might as well just chain myself barefoot and pregnant to the kitchen stove now.

“Make me bite it, and I’ll make sure you’re a damn mate!” Aggie tossed back.

“If that’s the way you want to play it…” Mia had already summoned her magic, and all that she needed to do was to aim it in the right direction, and that’s exactly what she did.

“Ouch! You little…witch!” Aggie shot back with a glare. “I do not believe you did that.”

“Oh, she did that,” Koren grinned from ear to ear.

That only annoyed Aggie more. She raised one hand and flicked it toward Mia, just as the alpha was turning around to see what was going on — and he took what felt like a hard slap to his face.

“Hey, what gives?” Lewis growled.

“That wasn’t meant for you. That was meant for your mate,” Aggie tossed up a hand towards Mia, and the sound of the witch giving a small squeal of annoyance made her feel a lot better.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

“Stop bloody saying that!” Mia ground out between clenched teeth.

She would have loved to have retaliated with her magic against Aggie’s stupidity and thoughtlessness at tempting fate, but she was facing the wrong way for one thing. She tried wiggling and jiggling against the alpha’s hold on her, but she couldn’t break free.

“Would you be still?” Lewis growled. He’d taken a slap in the face for her, and he thought the least that she could do was to behave.

“Would you put me down so I can zap that woman senseless? Or, at least, have the good graces to bloody well turn me back around toward her.” Mia grumbled as she kicked out her legs like she was trying to swim in midair and turn her body back around towards Aggie.

“But I can see your face just fine from right here,” Aggie zapped her backside and Mia’s upper body shot upwards against his shoulder as she squealed in pain. “Yep, there it is.”

“Oh, she didn’t go there,” Jules bit out as she dropped her face into the palms of the hands before groaning.

“I believe she did,” Koren was stirring the pot with glee. “Go on girls, zap the old bat!” He urged.

All four witches turned their attention towards the vampire. All four witches zapped him.

“Speaking of bats,” Aggie crowed with satisfaction.

“Mess with one witch – mess with us all,” Mia said.

Then she took to beating her closed fists against the alpha’s back and kicking her legs against his hold until the man finally gave up, and with a grumbled growl of annoyance, he placed her none too gently down on her feet.

“If you zap me so help me I will…” The alpha got no further as the hard sting of Mia’s magic slapped him a good one.

It felt like an iron fist hitting the hard muscles of his abdomen, and he screwed up his face against the pain. He could hear the sound of his brothers chuckling over the rush of blood and his pounding heart that beat a hearty tune in his ears.

“Oh, I’m sorry — you were saying?” Mia offered like she was sugar and spice and not the wicked witch of the West.

“I — hate — witches,” Lewis bit out on one strained breath after another as he fought to drag air into his lungs.

“It could have been worse — she usually goes for the balls,” Debbie offered on a wicked chuckle that brought Jake’s attention back towards her. She heard the low rumble of a growl and gave the man a double take and a hard frown to boot. “Don’t growl at me in that tone of voice.”

“How can there be a tone of voice?” Jake asked looking confused. It was if he’d been confused since the moment that he’d met her, and he didn’t much care for it.

“You know what you did.” Debbie narrowed her eyes at him and allowed her gaze to run up and down his body.

Jake felt as if he was rushing headlong into insanity. Just having her eyes on his body caused tingles to chase across his skin as if she’d reached out and touched him with her fingertips.

That time when he growled; it sounded as if he was hungry for food.

“Dude, if you want to eat the witch…” Daniel started, but he pulled his head back on his neck when Jake snapped his head around towards him and glared at him in disgust.

“I do not want to eat the witch!” Jake growled long and hard as his beast took exception to his brother’s words.

“Whoa, okay Mr. Snappy-Mac-Mood-Boy — what’s got into you?” Daniel turned up his nose at his brother’s reaction like he’d caught the scent of his brother’s feet the air.

“Nothing — nothing’s got into me. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jake growled back.

“I think the wooluf doth protest too much,” the vampire offered on a chuckle that sounded as if he knew something that the rest of them didn’t.

Jake snapped his head back around to eye the man with suspicion.

“Stay out of my head, vampire,” Jake bit out. His top lip twitched with anger.

“Well, it’s not like you’re hiding any brains in there,” Aggie snorted a chuckle.

“And that tells me that there’s something to be found inside your teeny tiny mind,” Koren offered back with a smug smile that just screamed at Jake to be wiped clean off his face with his fist.

“Brother?” Daniel’s teasing tone annoyed Jake all the more. “Is there something you want to share?” Now his tone was a mixture of teasing and babying him.

Jake’s fist shot out and connected with Daniel’s jaw before the beta had even realized that it was coming for him. He’d stood no chance in ducking away from it or even bracing himself for the impact, and as his backside hit the floor and his pride protested, he was sure that he saw little baby wooluf’s dancing around his head.

“Wipeout!” Debbie chuckled right up until the point when Jake snapped his attention towards her, and his feet started to bring the man mountain her way. “What did I do?” She asked with wide eyed innocence.

“You know what you did!” Jake growled.

“I do?” She rushed out trying to think fast on her feet. “No, I don’t!”

“Hey, back off,” Mia demanded and got a low rumble of a warning growl back from the beta.

“Don’t growl at her!” Lewis growled at his brother. His protective gene was kicking in again as his Wolf raised its head to the surface.

“Why?” Jake growled back

“Because — I said so,” the alpha tossed back at him, but in truth, he had no idea.

“This is between my mate and me!” Jake bit out on another warning growl.

“Your bloody well what?” Debbie practically squealed the words out as she took a small step back away from him.

Debbie had wanted to take a really big step back, but it wasn’t just her feet that felt as if they were encased in lead, it was her whole damn body, and it didn’t want to go anywhere.