~

 

“You hit me!” Daniel growled in disbelief.

“Sure bloody did,” Jules hissed back. “You were going to sniff!”

“That hurt!” Daniel growled back. He still couldn’t believe the power that she’d put into that punch.

“Maybe we should call her Bam-Bam,” Jake said.

He didn’t want to turn away from his mate, but he couldn’t resist the fact that his brother had been punched in the face by a girl. Let alone the fact that he was complaining about.

“How did you do that?” Daniel demanded as he dropped his hands to his hips and craned his neck towards her, eyeing her with suspicion.

Jules did it again. She aimed a punch right at his nose, and by the time that he lifted his hand to catch her wrist, his nose was already screaming in pain.

“Well, you did ask?” Jake could barely get the words out through the laughter. There was no end of enjoyment within him for his younger brother’s misery.

Daniel had heard the crunch of his nose that time. He reached up with both hands on either side of his nose and snapped it back into place. Jules winced at the sound.

“I wasn’t expecting a damn demonstration,” the beta growled out in annoyance.

“Ask a stupid question…” Aggie chuckled.

“He certainly did,” Jake chuckled hard at the look on his brother’s face. Pure disbelief mixed with annoyance, and it was topped off with what looked like the urge to get even. Jules caught that look too.

“Oh, don’t you even think about,” she bit out.

“Oh,” Daniel’s eyes flashed with murderous intent. “I’m thinking about it.”

“Careful, brother, she might hit you again and make you cry,” Jake was in his element. The fact that his brother was now acting without thinking it through was just the icing on the cake.

What were the odds that the witch was his mate? Pretty damn slim from where Jake was standing, but still, he actually did relish the thought.

Daniel was known for one thing, acting without thinking it through. Jake thought it would be pretty sweet for his brother to come unstuck. Especially as it would be a mess that nobody could clear up for him.

“I’m warning you.” Jules didn’t want to take a step back and show weakness, but it was in voluntary.

“Hit him again!” Mia squealed out as if she was front row and center at a boxing match.

Her heart was pounding in her chest at her friend’s predicament, and she only realized how excited she had become when the alpha gave her a double look — the first look was one of surprise, the second look was filled with disbelief.

“Too late,” Daniel growled like the Wolf that had its prey exactly where he wanted it.

His dark eyes were locked and loaded on Jules. One strong arm shot around her body, and he yanked her towards him, dipping his head at the same time, and he took a long, deep, sniff in — just to prove that he could.

Daniel had a Scooby Doo moment. He yanked his head back on his neck, and his eyes went as wide as they could possibly go.

He made some kind of whining noise that caught in the back of his throat, as his jaw sank downwards.

“Oh no,” Jules groaned.

She could feel the blood draining from the top of her head, all the way down her body, and it pooled in her legs. They felt heavy and immovable.

“I saw that coming!” Aggie chuckled.

“This is so not happening to me.” Jules groaned.

“Well, it better not be bloody happening to me!” Mia exclaimed with a sideways glance towards the alpha that held as much of a warning as a look ever could.

“Sure, let’s go for three for three. Who doesn’t love a full house?” Aggie was enjoying herself at the younger witches’ expense.

In truth, she enjoyed a good love story — just so long as she didn’t have a starring role in it. She considers herself too old, too smart, and too set in her ways to dally with the likes of a shifter.

But she was more than happy to throw the younger witches under the mating bus.

“Right here. This witch says let’s not go for three for three,” Mia muttered to herself.

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” The vampire asked.

“Right beside that pointy stick that Aggie has whittled for you,” Mia hissed back. “Maybe I should go get it.”

“Stay right there,” Lewis growled, and she shot him a worried look as she took one step sideways away from him, it was more symbolic than actual distance.

“Don’t give me an order.” Mia snorted her contempt for the alpha and his belief that she would ever do as he told her.

“Mine…” Daniel growled.

He hadn’t really wanted to believe that it was true, but his Wolf was doing a mating dance within him, and his body was on fire with the fever of knowing that truth. He felt like an idiot of epic proportion.

“I hate you,” Jules grumbled on a slow shake of her head as she looked anywhere but at her mate.

 

~

~

~

 

The alpha paced back and forth in the back garden. He wanted nothing more than to shift into his Wolf and run wild and free. But he just couldn’t manage to drag himself away from where the witch was.

Two brothers. Two witch mates.

Double fate. Double trouble.

Lewis wasn’t happy at the thought that Mia could be his mate. He was even less happy at the thought that she wasn’t.

There was definitely an attraction there. From the moment that he’d swept her away from the burning car, he’d felt something for her.

He’d put it down to his overprotective gene kicking in, but what if he’d been wrong?

But what if he was right? His mind was coming around to the idea that he may have found his mate.

If he took her scent and found that wasn’t the case, what then?

Lewis mentally kicked himself in the backside. He hadn’t had a mate when he woke up that morning — so what did it matter if he didn’t have one when he went to bed that night?

His brothers had found their mates. That was like a pickaxe tapping away inside his subconscious.

Witch or not — he needed to know the truth.

Lewis turned on his heels with a new-found determination to man up, sniff the damn witch, and find out just how cruel or how kind fate had been to him.

And there she was — Mia — creeping away towards the woods like a thief in the night.

The alpha wolf didn’t just raise its head within him, it growled, clawed, and tried its damnedest to break free from its human cage.

“Mia!” Lewis growled long and hard as the witch hesitated in step, shot him a guilty look, and then took off as fast as her legs could carry her. “No, no, no, no, no!”

Lewis stomped his foot in anger, balled his fists in annoyance, and spat out one curse after another in disbelief.

Why would she do that?

She was a witch — she should know better than to run from her mate.

That thought knocked Lewis upside the head.

Mate? I haven’t even taken her scent yet.

It’s just wishful thinking — wait — why would it be wishful thinking? I don’t want a witch mate.

Lewis was trying to hold himself back from following on after her. From doing what mates did and chasing her down, asking her what the hell she thought she was doing. Although, asking questions might not have been at the top of his Wolf’s agenda.

It didn’t work anyway. His feet were already moving, independently of what he was telling himself, but moving they were.

Go back.

Turn around.

You’re acting like a damn fool!

She’s not your mate — I don’t think.

Don’t think; there’s a good idea.

Don’t think, don’t breathe, no, okay, breathe, just don’t sniff.

Sniffing would be bad.

Sniffing would be very bad if she turned out to be my mate.

A running mate, and not in the good sense.

Dammit, now I’m running — why am I running?

Who told my body to run?

Lewis’s Wolf growled within him. The beast had a mind of its own, but that didn’t mean that when he wasn’t paying close enough attention that the Wolf couldn’t influence the man.

Dammit, Wolf!

Stupid silly witch.

The alpha was in the hunt now. The chase. The witch was human and stood no chance at all of outrunning him.

She was caught, and she didn’t even know it yet.

Done.

Dusted.

A foregone conclusion. The witch was toast.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard his evil self give a dastardly chuckle.