CHAPTER EIGHT

 

 

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Bree spotted that rascally sniffy shifter Joel as she drove down the street and tried to ignore the fact that he was walking as if he’d either pooped his shorts, or he had a lead weight attached to each ankle. It was a novel approach to getting about that she didn’t think worked well, but if that was his choosing then she was fine with it.

What she wasn’t fine with was the fact that she kept forgetting to seek him out and whip off the glamour spell from his wolf. But, now that she had the man in her sights, well, she wasn’t about to let that sucker slip away that easily.

Bree yanked on the steering wheel and tooled the car towards the curb – just as Mr Rainbow darted out into the road – and – splat!

Bree’s foot had been hovering over the brake pedal anyway, and she stomped down on it. Joel had face planted the bonnet of the car, and she heard the rumble of a growl that came her way and didn’t think that she was imagining it.

Bree curled forward and pressed her forehead against the steering wheel as she groaned at the whole unfairness of it all. Was fate punishing her for doing its job for it?

“I can’t do right for doing wrong,” she groaned out, and the car shook as a heavy thud echoed through the inside. Bree lifted her head a little and shot a look at the big shifter.

Joel’s palms were flat against the metal, and he slowly pushed up as his dark gaze of pure disbelief locked onto Bree. He noted the little grimace on her face, and he didn’t believe the sheepish look of remorse that followed.

It was, after all, Bree.

“I swear, one of these days…” he growled, and she held up her index finger and wagged it at him.

“Did nobody tell you that running out into the road makes people go splat?” Bree berated him.

“I will…” he grumbled something under his breath, but Bree thought she understood the gist of it rather well considering his eyes were pretty expressive.

“Look both ways!” Bree berated him again. “How hard is that a concept to understand?” She shrugged and waved her hands around.

Joel would love to have stayed and given that wicked witch a big piece of his mind, but he knew he had a mate to catch up to, and that runner had a head start on him.

That was when he saw his mate’s car speeding down the street in their direction, and he did consider stepping out in front of her to force her to stop, but that had worked out so well for him with Bree.

“Sorry!” Sandy yelled out of the open window as she flew by, and Joel lifted his hand and pointed a finger as he opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn’t stopping for anything.

Joel snatched a look around him, and his dark gaze came right back to Bree. Locked and loaded on the wicked witch behind the wheel – he turned that outstretched finger on her, and she pulled her head back on her neck in surprise.

“I need you!” he grumbled a growl as he pushed off her car and stalked around to the passenger side, and Bree scowled at the man as he folded his large body into her small car.

“Okay, well, we need to talk…”

“No, you need to follow that witch!” He turned in his seat and huffed with frustration as he spotted his mate getting further and further away from him.

“There’s a witch?” Bree looked in her side mirror and noted the car in the distance.

“What are you waiting for?” Joel growled, and Bree scowled.

“Fine!” she bit out in disbelief at the man’s attitude. It wasn’t as if she was asking him for a favour – oh no – it was the other way round. “Hold onto your wolf; this is going to be the ride of your life!” Bree exclaimed, and she yanked on the steering wheel as she lifted her foot from the break and stomped it down on the accelerator.

Joel’s body was tossed to one side, and then back to the other as the witch performed a U-turn from hell. The tire’s screeched and left rubber on the road, and maybe somewhere in his mind he screeched too, and then he was forced back into his seat as she took off like a racing driver that had a death wish.

“In one piece!” Joel growled out, and he had to wonder at the small squeak in his voice and hoped she hadn’t heard it.

Bree bit down on her tongue as her eyes filled with glee and a small cackle of pure enjoyment rumbled inside of her. “You can’t change the rules now!” Bree chuckled, and Joel shot a nervous look at her.

Then he groaned inwardly and kissed his backside goodbye.

 

 

~

 

 

 

“Okay, I’ve had enough of the silent treatment,” Thorn said as he padded up the garden towards the seedling cage and his mate, and noted the way that she’d jumped just a little at the sound of his voice.

He guessed that she was too busy being mad at him and muttering things under her breath for her to have heard him coming.

“I haven’t,” Martha tossed back, and she didn’t even turn a look in his direction.

She knew what he looked like alright – darn eye candy – and she didn’t need to get any more of that view, that temptation, especially as the man wasn’t even the remotest bit interested in her because she was a witch – and old. She had a feeling that was a part of it too.

Well, two could play at that game. She didn’t need to be looking at him or conversing with him when Satan himself had given him that deep, gravelly, seductive tone that made her ears go – whoa!

“Tough…”

“On you, Scooby Doo,” she shot back. “Go fix yourself a Scooby snack and let me work.”

“Not happening until you tell me what the hellfire is eating at you woman…”

“Call me woman again, and I’ll knock you on your butt, you old … wolf,” Martha bit back.

“Oh, will you?”

“Yes, I will, and I’ll tell you another thing, Mr Farty Pants – I’ll enjoy it more than you will.”

“So, you’re not going to spit it out?” Thorn grumbled a growl.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Martha said and lifted her chin in defiance of the man and his attitude while keeping her gaze locked and loaded on her seedlings.

“You seem to have a lot to say for a woman who has nothing to say to me,” he growled.

“Go boil your head,” she snapped back.

“Is that your final answer?”

“Noooo, go phone a friend and get them to help you boil your stupid thick head.”

“That’s it!” Thorn growled as he bit down on his annoyance.

He’d been prepared to let her have some time to come to terms with them as mates. And he’d been prepared to put up with her moods for the sake of getting to know her better. But, what he wasn’t prepared for was having the cold shoulder.

If the infernal woman felt that he’d wronged her somehow, then he wanted to know what he’d done, so maybe, just maybe he could avoid doing it again in the future.

But, holding out the olive branch to his mate obviously wasn’t have the desired effect – and she’d slapped it back in his face – so it was time to bring out the big guns.

Thorn reached out with his two large hands, wrapped them around her upper arms and twisted her whole body towards him.

He tried to ignore the surprised look that was mixed with one heck of a death glare that she aimed right at him and yanked her right up against his hard body as he brought his lips down on hers – just as she was about to speak.

That silenced her.