CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

 

 

~

 

“I’m not an ogre,” Joel said as he sat beside his mate on the sofa and swished the whisky around inside the glass in his hand.

“I know,” Sandy said, and then frowned. “Well, I don’t – not really. You could be Shrek in disguise for all I know.” She chuckled as she lifted her glass to her lips and sipped the fiery brew.

“I don’t have a lot to offer you,” he growled as he looked around at the cabin. “A lot less since you decided to throw it all in my head.”

Sandy grimaced. She hated the fact that she’d become a mean witch. That wasn’t in her — she wasn’t that kind of person. “Yeah, sorry about that. I don’t normally do that sort of thing, but life did kind of take me by surprise in delivering you.”

“I get it. I wasn’t expecting you either — well, I was kind of hoping that a mate would show up because everybody else seemed to be getting one, and my wolf was feeling a little left out,” he shrugged. “But when it happens…” He left it there.

“I know, right?” She snorted a chuckle of disbelief. “I mean — put you aside for a moment — what was fate thinking? I’m a city girl — I want to open a bakery…”

“Oh, you cook?” He liked that idea.

“Don’t look at me like your Christmases just all came at once,” she chuckled.

“A man has to eat,” he grinned back.

“And boy, I bet you can eat.”

A wolfish smile stretched from ear to ear on his face. She’d like that. It also lit his eyes and made them all bright and shiny, but she’d liked it when they were jet black as well. The man certainly was sex on a stick — and it didn’t seem to matter whether he was growly, or happy, whichever mood took him — he was as sexy as hell.

“Was that what you were doing in town? I know Mrs Dooley is thinking of selling the bakery…”

“She is?” There was another of fate’s little quirks. She had to wonder if that was another nail in her coffin where her mate was concerned.

Was this where she was supposed to be after all? She’d found her mate — she might have found her bakery. Was this where all of her dreams came true?

Sandy didn’t want to think about that. It wasn’t about the bakery and her dreams — not really — it was about him.

Joel was her mate and fate had led her right to him. Was she really still right to think about walking away?

“Maybe we could ask Mason about it?”

“Mason?”

“The alpha, you met him earlier,” Joel grumbled a growl as he remembered the alpha taking snaps of him in a stupid fluffy onesie.

“Why would I need to ask Mason about the bakery?”

“I know Mason was talking to Mrs Dooley about it. Whenever a property comes up for sale in the town, the pack likes to buy it, so they don’t fall into the wrong kind of hands.”

“Like a witch?” She chuckled into her whisky before taking another sip.

“Maybe back in the day, but I think Mason’s witch mate might have something to say about that now.”

“How many witches are there?”

“Well, you met Bree, but she’s not pack. Mason’s mate is Kelly, Jai’s mate is Emily, Nathaniel’s mate is Zoe, Jon’s mate is Maxi, and Thorn’s mate is Martha…”

“So, six…”

“Seven.” He lifted a hand and pointed at her.

“Counting chickens before they’re hatched is a terrible crime and punishable by a kick in the…”

Joel held up his free hand in surrender. “I’m not rushing you, but you are pack because you’re a mate. This is your family now.”

“Haven’t had one of those in a while,” Sandy said, and then she tossed the rest of the whisky in her glass down the back of her throat and grimaced as it burned all the way down. “Mooooorree,” she breathed out on a hot whisper as she nudged his arm and motioned to the bottle on the table.

“I’m not going to let you get drunk,” he said with a chuckle as he poured just a little nip into her glass.

“Good idea, I tend to dance naked on my kitchen table when I’m drunk.”

“Oh,” Joel said as he tipped the bottle once more and double filled her glass.

“Hmm.” She frowned, but she couldn’t help but laugh when he chuckled like a cartoon dog.

 

 

~

 

 

“Five! Five!” Zoe screeched as the golf ball that she’d whacked as hard as she could, and put just a little magic behind it, bounced off a tree and shot towards Nathaniel’s head – thud! It hit the side of his temple and dropped to the grass, and he stumbled sideways.

“Five?” he grumbled a growl as he ferociously rubbed the side of his head and tried to blink away the little Tweetie Pies’ that were flying around his vision. “It’s four!”

“Ooooo,” Zoe grimaced. “I did wonder why you didn’t look up.” She sniggered.

“I get the feeling that golf isn’t going to be your thing.”

“Ya think?” Zoe shrugged. “I did say I’m not the sporty type.” She shrugged again.

“You asked to do something that I liked to do…” Nathaniel reminded her, and she turned her nose up.

“Not this…”

“Fishing?” he offered, and she pulled a face.

“Worms and dead fish?” She shook her head.

“Fixing car engines?”

“With these nails?” She held up her hands and wiggled her fingers at him. She’d spent a lot of time getting her nails just so; she wasn’t about to get dead fish, worms, or oil and grease under them.

“Football?”

“Seriously?”

“Tennis?”

“I think I might hit the ball at your…”

“Archery…” he said without thinking and saw the look of glee on her face.

“That sounds…”

“Dangerous,” Nathaniel grumbled.

“You heal, don’t you?” she shot back.

“Not always,” he frowned, but the thought of her screaming five with an arrow coming at his head wasn’t an appealing thought.

“Girl,” she muttered.

“I heard that,” he grumbled.

“Girl!” she said as her eyes filled with amusement. He crossed the space between them in a heartbeat and wrapped his arms around her body.

“You know what my favourite thing in the world to do is?” he growled, it was deep and hungry.

“Oh, believe me with a growl like that I’ve got a really good idea,” she chuckled.

“Wanna do it?” he whispered against her ear with another growl that sounded like catnip to her senses.

“Can I yell five?”

“It’s four…”

“Oh, I thought we could go for five, but if you’re not man enough.” She twisted her head and offered him a wicked smile.

“Damn, witch, you’re trying to kill me with the best kind of kindness ever.”

“And then I get the TV and the bed all to myself to stretch out on,” she chuckled, but as he swept her up into his arms, she knew that she wouldn’t want to go a night without him beside her in their bed.