~

 

“I take it that you have a plan,” Monty said as he caught up to Nathan.

The alpha was following the scant scent of the unwelcome vampire within their midst.

“I don’t not have a plan,” Nathan admitted.

“So, no plan then?”

Monty cocked an eyebrow at the alpha and the man sighed as he rolled his eyes within his head. He didn’t need to be called out by the vampire of all people…

“No,” Nathan growled. “Yes,” he snapped out, changing his mind. “Kill the vampire – save the pack and the witches.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Monty shrugged.

He didn’t feel like pointing out the gaping holes within the alpha’s plan-not-plan, because after the way that Jaxon had looked at Chloe – it had kind of been his plan as well.

“It’s not a plan,” Nathan grumbled.

He just didn’t want anything to go wrong.

He’d built a good life for himself and he needed to keep it that way.

He was the alpha of a flourishing pack.

He’d found his mate.

He wanted pups … at some time in the near-ish future, and he didn’t want anyone dying on his watch.

He knew that the last wish on his list was a hard ask. People died – especially in the world of the supernatural. But still, he would do the best that he could to keep them safe.

That uninvited vampire had put that all in doubt.

He had to question the sanity of hunting the vampire by himself, without the full force of his pack, but he was the alpha, and that meant that he was best placed to take on the bloodsucker and win.

Or, if he lost at least it would only be one life – his.

“No, but if it makes you feel better we can pretend that it is,” Monty offered with a big dollop of sarcasm and a smug smile on his lips.

There were definitely times when Nathan just wanted to put his fist in the vampire’s face for the sheer satisfaction of how it felt. Right there and then was one of those times.

But he certainly had bigger problems that Monty’s snarking form of sarcasm.

“Ok, smartass. What’s your plan?” Nathan said, grinding to a halt as the vampire did the same, they both turned towards each other like they were sizing each other up.

“Sure you want to know? Cos I’m feeling like there’s a little tension here between us…”

“Spit it out,” Nathan said, urging him on with a wave of his hand.

“Ok, Kill the vampire, save the pack, the witches, and my mate,” Monty offered back.

Nathan scowled back at him for a long moment. The deafening silence hanging in the air between them.

“That’s my plan,” he growled.

“Not a plan,” Monty offered back.

“What?”

“We agreed that your plan was not a plan, so when I steal your plan then it still doesn’t make it a plan, but as it’s the best – not-a-plan – that we have, then I’m going to run with it and call it my plan. Even though that doesn’t make it a plan, now does it?” Monty grinned as Nathan’s brain raced to decipher what the vampire had spewed out.

Nathan turned to move off, but hesitated, pursed his lips as if he had a question, but then he shook his head…

He was more than confused, but he wasn’t about to admit that and have the vampire start his explanation all over again.

He’d rather be facing off against Jaxon…

“Right.” Nathan growled.

He was still lost in the vampire’s words, trying to decipher them, and with his mind still going around like a child’s spinning top, he nodded thoughtfully like he knew what the hell the vampire had said.

He could ponder on it all day, and yet he didn’t feel like he would find clarity anytime soon.

“We good?” Monty gave a small silent chuckle to himself. He could see just how flummoxed he had made the alpha, and that was the plan.

Because in the grand scheme of things, and without putting too fine a point on it like he had with the alpha, when push came to shove - they really didn’t have a damn plan…

“Yeah,” Nathan nodded, doing the only thing that he was sure of and that was putting one foot in front of the other. “I think…” He grumbled to himself.

 

~

~

~

 

“I know that look,” Hank said, eyeing his mate across the way as she sat in the chair at the widow as gazed out into the grounds of the Inn.

“Do you?”

Dorothy didn’t turn her eyes towards him, because she didn’t want to confirm to him what he thought he knew … what he might have known, and what she didn’t want to show.

“It’s the look that says you will do anything to defend your granddaughter,” he offered gently, and got a grunt of annoyance back in return, “even if that something, is something stupid…”

“Oh, not just senile, but stupid, good to know.” Dorothy said, folding her arms, and back on the defensive once more.

“Here we go again,” Hank grumbled with a hand tossed up in the air in frustration. “Can I say anything that doesn’t miff you off?”

“Right now, probably not,” Dorothy shot back, telling it to him straight.

She hated being so damn impotent. With age came limitations, and she didn’t much care for that reality.

It wasn’t Hank’s fault, and she knew it. That didn’t stop her from taking it out on him though.

The man was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Right in her sights in the firing line as she tried to figure out a way to keep Fallon and everyone else safe from the vampire that thought he had some kind of a claim on her…

No damn bloodsucking leech is going to mess with my Granddaughter, my kin…

I’ll see him in hell first, even if I have to take him there myself…

“There’s that look again,” Hank grumbled.

“I’m sorry my stupid face annoys you so,” Dorothy tossed back.

“Woman, if I wasn’t a gentleman, I’d put you over my knee and spank your backside until it shook your brain awake,” Hank growled, leaning in slightly towards her across the space that divided them, and eyeing her like she was a nice juicy steak.

“If I wasn’t a lady I might let you,” Dorothy tossed back, still sounding grumpy, but there was a wicked glint in her eye that he got a real big kick out of as she threw him off guard.

“Well, now…” Hank’s greying eyebrows dropped down over most of his eyes. “I don’t rightly know how to answer that one.” He gave a small chuckle and she offered him a killer smile.

“Well then shut up you old fool, and let me think,” Dorothy tossed back, good-naturedly, and he grinned back at her.

“It takes a while,” Angela said as she strolled into the sun room with Lark following on behind her.

The man knew that she was safe inside the Inn, and yet, both he and his beast worried about her doing something silly for her best friend. That was the downside to having a mate…

“Says the woman who has a brain fart and has to check to make sure that she put on her panties in the morning,” Dorothy shot back.

“I solved that problem. I don’t wear any,” Angela lied, but that didn’t stop Lark from growling at the thought.

“That can get messy when you cough or sneeze,” Dorothy mumbled…

“That was a conversation I didn’t need to overhear,” Sarah said on a small chuckle as she stood by the doorway and propped up the wall with her shoulder.

She wanted to keep an eye on the elders. They were family, and family was the most important thing in her world – except for Chloe – she didn’t think she’d mind so much if her vampire Aunt took off never to be seen again in her lifetime.

“It comes to us all,” Angela tossed back over her shoulder.

“Wait til you’ve had a pup and see how your bladder reacts to that one,” Dorothy sneered at the thought.

“Can’t it be a surprise and we change the conversation?” Sarah offered back, wincing at the thought of it.

“We can talk about menopause and the joys that holds,” Dorothy grumbled.

“The male prostate is a favourite of mine,” Hank offered with a teasing grin.

“Erectile dysfunction,” Lark offered, and everyone turned to look at him…

“You don’t have erectile dysfunction,” Angela screwed up her face in disbelief.

“Not yet – give it time,” Lark growled.

“Oh, look at those roses…” Sarah lifted her hand and pointed the way in case everybody needed a map to being distracted.

“My roses,” Chloe’s disembodied voice rang out and Sarah groaned inwardly.

“Mine now,” She shot back, unwilling to play the game with her Aunt one more time…

“Not for long,” Chloe’s sing-song voice grated on her nerves.

“You want in the Inn, behave,” Sarah berated her.

“Vampire’s, so annoyingly lurky,” Angela sighed.

“Old witches, so tasty, and yet so annoyingly off limits,” Chloe shot back with a sigh.