CHAPTER ELEVEN

 

 

~

 

“It’s kind of lucky you don’t need to breathe to be able to spit all that out in one go.” Mason chuckled. “Feeling a little – off?” he asked as his eyebrows reached for his hairline.

“What makes you say that?” Jai said, mentally taking a sledgehammer and battering those evil and devilishly tasty thoughts down.

“Just a feeling…”

“Oh, well – I’m … getting a handle on it,” he lied and stalked away from the man.

“Good to hear,” Mason said, not believing one word of it. That vampire was in trouble, and the only way to cure that kind of trouble was to get him mated as soon as possible and hope that he didn’t kill the witch in the damn process.

 

 

~

 

 

“And those eyes…” Emily said, as she rushed to sip her Margarita and slurped it.

“I’m sorry,” Bree groaned as she slouched forward over the table top and her drink.

With one elbow on the table top and her hand lost in her hair as she propped her head up – she couldn’t think as to whether her head felt light and woozy or heavy and sleepy, but the two witches at the table weren’t helping matters by droning on.

She didn’t know how many times she’d apologized in the last hour, but she’d keep doing it until dusk turned to dawn if she had to.

“Jai’s eyes,” Martha snorted. “Try looking at those damn puppy dog eyes on a man old enough to know better than to have them.”

Bree shot a confused look at the witch, she tried to revisit the elder’s words in her mind, but they still made no sense. She scowled at her drink. “I’m sorry!” she said as she reverted to her go-to answer.

“And the man actually had the audacity to show his fangs at me!” Emily bit out with a snort.

“He is a vampire,” Bree offered back, and Emily pointed an accusing finger at her.

“Not the point!”

“True, how dare he,” Bree offered back, taking the easy way out.

“And what of that old buzzard,” Martha declared as she slapped her palm down on the table and made Bree jump to attention. “Those muscles – that growl! It shouldn’t be allowed!”

“Pitchforks should be wielded,” Bree offered back.

“A little harsh,” Martha berated her.

“You’re right – he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Bree offered back.

“He hasn’t done anything right either!” Martha announced before practically burying her face in her glass and supping the contents back with a few gulps.

“Am I to spend the rest of my life as a blood bank?” Emily wailed, and Bree grimaced.

“We could kill him?” Bree tossed back. She wasn’t sure if she was on the side of right or wrong – things were getting cloudy in her mind – but, she felt the need to be helpful.

Guilt was a terrible thing, and being called out on her wrong doings was getting weary. Lesson learned – she really shouldn’t mess with things that she wasn’t sure had a happy outcome, or as happy as could be when you spelled for it.

At least, not unless there was no alternative, or someone really miffed you off. Like the alpha – oh, how she could spell that man with a devious plot to bring him down a peg or two – but, perhaps the rainbow warrior of a wolf might have been overkill. Maybe not.

“I’m sure I have a spell for getting rid of unwanted vampires,” Martha announced. “I just can’t think where I’d have left it.”

“I’m in!” Emily said.

“Me too,” Bree replied, and all thoughts of being good went out the window.

 

 

~

 

 

“So, I’m to be killed,” Jai said, and he knew that there were times when eavesdropping wasn’t such a good thing after all. “Chargrilled and turned to ashes…”

“Does that worry you?” Mason asked, and got a double take from the vampire as the man scowled at him in disbelief.

“No, I’ve always wondered how being barbecued alive felt…” he offered back, and his tone dripped with sarcasm.

“Not really alive…” Mason shrugged.

“Your sympathy, empathy, and understanding know no bounds,” Jai tossed back, berating the man with a glare.

“They’re witches – it’s their duty to dream up devious plots to kill people – they very rarely carry it through…”

“I’m comforted by that thought,” Jai bit back with a bone-dry tone that made the alpha snap on a bright grin.

“You did say you wanted a barbecue…”

“I’m the cook, not the cooked,” Jai bit out.

“Meh. Semantics.” The alpha shrugged.

“Why are you here?” Jai grumbled.

“Think of me as … moral support,” he offered a devilish grin.

“For which side, I wonder.”

“The knowledge that your mate wants you dead hit a little sore spot?” Mason was enjoying himself. The vampire had laughed at his expense when he was wooing his mate – and a little payback was a wonderful thing.

“Noooo? You think?” Jai bit out and then sneered.

“Now that I’m mated to a witch – I try not to think.”

“It’s no great loss to the world.”

“Harsh…”

“What would be harsh would be following up on the thought I had to bury your head down in the dirt like a freakish handstand and start ripping bits off your body…”

“That would be harsh.”

“Then back off and let me woo my mate,” Jai bit out.

“Trouble is – she’s in there, and you’re out here, and quite frankly – I don’t think she wants to come out and be wooed by you.”

“I have a solution for that.”

“Do enlighten me…” Mason said with a smirk.

Jai’s fist connected with the alpha’s jaw and the man saw stars, shortly before the lights went out. His body hit the dirt with a hard thump, and the vampire grinned with satisfaction.

“Enlightened,” Jai announced. “I feel better.”