~

 

Monty knew one thing – Chloe wasn’t yet dead – not in the normal, human sense of the word.

Oh, she’d had her neck broken and was technically dead, but it wasn’t the kind of dead-dead that a vampire couldn’t come back from…

Now, he needed to keep it that way.

Whatever the vampire wanted in return for Chloe’s life he’d willingly give. He had to give it, because he couldn’t imagine going through another minute of life without her, not living with the knowledge that she was never coming back.

He’d rather die himself than lose his mate.

They’d been together for so many decades that she was an extension of him. She was buried so deeply within his heart and in his soul that to lose her would end him anyway.

“You have a dilemma…” Jaxon sneered.

The vampire’s bloodlust had been activated and he was more dangerous in that moment than a pack of rabid wolves…

“No, I don’t,” Monty offered back.

“A mate, I believe … more importantly, your mate…” Jaxon held the one person within his arms that Monty would move heaven and earth for – they both knew it – so he didn’t understand why the vampire was playing games. Showmanship perhaps?

“Just tell me what you want and let’s do away with the theatrics…”

Monty wanted to rip the man limb from limb – kill him over and over again – just for daring to touch his mate, let alone snapping her neck…

“I thought you liked theatrics, Monty…” Dorothy said, walking out into the clearing with her hands down at her sides and her magic tingling in her fingers like hot pins and needles…

“Get out of here, Dorothy…” Monty bit out – now he knew what the vampire was waiting for – all the players were obviously yet to make themselves known.

Jaxon had his ace in the hole in Chloe, and that was why he hadn’t killed her. She was his hostage … but Monty knew that she was only valuable to him and that left him with something of a dilemma…

He guessed that Jaxon had been right…

“I’m not allowing my granddaughter to be the deliverer of his wicked ways…” Dorothy kept her eyes firmly on Jaxon, and the man returned that favour.

“Kin. How … tasty a thought,” Jaxon sneered at the elder, but he wasn’t stupid enough to dismiss her out of hand. “Now, we’re just waiting for the wolf…”

Jamie appeared at breakneck speed at the edge of the clearing. His beast snarled as he took in Nathan. The alpha was lying broken and unconscious against a tree trunk…

That sight gave him enough reason to rip the vampire limb from limb, but from the look of things, Monty had reason enough to want to bloodsucker dead as well.

He cursed the fact that he’d been put off by the scent of the old witch as he’d made his way to the fight, and he’d doubled back to try to head her off … if he’d gotten there sooner then Chloe might not have been in the precarious position that she was in, and Monty might not have been held to ransom.

Now he was caught in the same vicious circle as Monty. If he attacked; then Chloe was probably dead, and he couldn’t do that to the woman or her mate…

He just thanked the spirits that his own mate was safe and out of harm’s way back at the Inn.

 

~

~

~

 

“Fallon’s gone!” Lark growled out in annoyance that he’d let the witch slip through his fingers like that.

He stalked back down the staircase and met his mate and Hank coming back along the corridor from the sun room.

“Like grandma, like granddaughter – Sarah too – stupid…” Angela bit out as Hank kept on stalking right towards the front door.

“Guard your mate,” he growled back over his shoulder as he wrenched open the door and raced out into the sunshine that taunted his dark mood…

“That’s not happening,” Angela said, following on the man’s heels as he went after his mate.

Lark caught up to her in a few long strides. When his mate was all fired up like that, she could move pretty fast for an elder.

“I know there’s no way in hell to talk you out of going after Dorothy…” Lark growled at the thought of the danger that his mate was willing to put herself in by leaving the Inn.

“You know me so well,” Angela offered the man that was matching her step for step…

“What is it with you witches?” Lark grumbled.

“We’re pacifists … until you mess with our family – then we’ll send you to hell in a handbasket.” Angela bit out as she drew her magic into a tight hot knot within her that was practically begging to explode out of her fingertips … and if she had her way then it would do just that.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Your zips down on your jeans.”

 

~

~

~

 

“You’re not leaving?” Monty eyed Dorothy, while keeping one eye on the vampire, and the elder snorted her contempt for him.

“If he kills Chloe. I kill him. Job done…”

Dorothy was bluffing – almost – while she didn’t want to see the vampire lose his mate, and she was developing a little soft spot for the newbie vampire herself – not that she’d ever let that be known this side of hell – if the vampire that was stalking her granddaughter did kill Chloe, then she’d relish crushing the life out of the bloodsucker…

Otherwise, she had to play the wait and see game; just like Monty.

“Checkmate,” Monty offered his nemesis and the man sneered his contempt for that scenario.

“What if I kill the vampire, kill the witch, and then kill you?” Jaxon offered back.

“We could try it that way, but I think one of us will get you in the process, and you’re forgetting something.”

“Am I?” Jaxon shrugged.

“The wolf.” Monty nodded in Jamie’s direction without taking his eyes from the man and his mate.

“No, I’m not,” Jaxon dismissed the beast.

Jamie’s wolf took offence to that, but if the vampire was so sure that he wasn’t a threat to him – that was a plus in his book. Better to be underestimated and win than to be thought of as a threat and be guarded against.

“Hmm, three to one – it seems that you are the one who now has the dilemma,” Monty offered his take on what was happening to the vampire and the man sneered.

“You’re not seeing things clearly,” Jaxon believed that he had the stronger hand.

But in truth he knew that all of that advantage could be lost, because in a few more moments Chloe could snap back to life. Then there was the elder witch who could attack. The vampire’s mate could overplay his hand, or the wolf could get antsy…

None of that was in his favour.

He guessed that he hadn’t thought everything through to completion. But then, he hadn’t thought that Fallon would stay in hiding…

And he’d been right…

The instant that he felt her magic behind him; he knew that he’d lost, but he wouldn’t go down without taking some of them with him…