~

   

 Dinner hadn’t exactly gone to plan. Two mates at the table and two vampires at the door.

Hardly a quiet, cosy meal – not that she wanted a quiet cosy meal with Nathan, heaven forbid, but the whole thing was not something that Sarah had been accustomed too, nor did she ever want to become accustomed to it either.

They’d cleared away the dishes and set the dishwasher to work while they went into the living room. The thought of a glass of Scotch or two … perhaps three, was an easy draw for the whole crowd, especially Sarah who felt as if her nerves were shot.

Sarah wondered just what would happen when it was time for bed, and she wasn’t sure how to brace the subject of Nathan leaving. She didn’t think that he’d just up and go, not with the vampires somewhere on the property.

Even if all had been silent from outside for a long while.

“Ah, Dutch courage…” Dorothy said as she savoured the after burn of the good Scotch in her chest.

Sarah did a double take of the woman, but tried to ignore her. It was easier said than done when her mate had chuckled at the elder’s words and the old woman had eyed her knowingly.

“It’s not funny…” she muttered in his direction.

“If you could see your face then you’d know just how funny it really is,” he offered back, and Sarah knew that was the last thing that she needed – she could already feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she didn’t need to see the proof.

“I’ll be back in a few…” Angela said, as she pushed up from the chair and both men stood with her. She frowned at her mate… “Take a load off, you’re going to need that energy later.”

Lark’s deep growl followed on her heels as she escaped the room and she rolled her eyes and let out the long breath that she’d been holding for fear that the man might just sense her duplicity.

She knew one thing. That moment was the best chance that she had to escape the house, escape her mate, and leave with her dignity and her plan intact.

All she needed to do was to make it by the vampires and she’d be free and clear…

 

~

~

~

 

Lark was getting fidgety. His mate had left a while ago for what he thought was a bathroom break and she hadn’t returned since.

His wolf had started to push forward inside of him. The beast clawed and grumbled a growl or two as the moments ticked by and Angela was yet to return, and yet, he kept telling himself to wait a minute more, and then another – it wasn’t as if he was savvy to a woman’s bathroom habits – until finally those minutes dragged by; feeling more like an eternity…

Finally, when the man pushed up to his feet, Dorothy did the same…

“I wondered when you’d be curious…” she offered him a knowing look and Lark frowned.

“Do you know something I don’t?” He growled and the elder witch shook her head…

“I just think I have the same bad feeling that you do,” she said as she started towards the door and Lark stalked on by her…

It was Angela’s comment as she’d left the room. A comment that Dorothy herself would have made and never in a million years would Angela have said it.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked, turning her interest from the conversation that she had been having with Nathan about his pack to the two elders that were headed towards the door…

“Angela didn’t come back,” Dorothy said with a quick look back over her shoulder that told Sarah that she was worried about her.

Sarah immediately pushed up to her feet with the alpha doing the same at her side.

Upon finding the downstairs bathroom empty, Dorothy started towards the staircase, but Lark was already headed for the front door…

“Don’t bother,” he called back over his shoulder. “Her scent leads this way.”

Lark’s beast growled at the first thought that came to mind.

The vampires…

 

~

~

~

 

Sarah didn’t like, not one little bit.

She’d brought Dorothy and Angela to the Inn. She felt responsible for them.

Not to mention the fact that it was her aunt and her aunt’s mate that were stalking to grounds of the property ready to take a bite – or at least one of them was…

It was wrong on so many levels that she couldn’t count them.

Sarah knew what had possessed Angela to leave the safety of the Inn after dark and with the risk of vampires on the outside, it was the same thing that was playing in the back of her mind.

Mating.

She hated to think how much worse the thought might have been to Angela. The woman wasn’t Dorothy – they may have been friends but their personalities were worlds apart, and she guessed that Angela didn’t relish the thought of being anyone’s mate…

“We need to find her and quickly…” Sarah whispered to the alpha, knowing that he could pick up her words without a problem, but hoping that wherever her aunt was – she couldn’t do the same.

“We will,” Nathan promised.

He and Lark had already scented the air and the three of them were headed after that scent – following it where it may lead them.

It hadn’t taken much to persuade Dorothy to stay behind, and Sarah had wished that she hadn’t of needed to say it, but she’d told the woman that she would slow them down.

She felt guilty – but not as guilty as she would have felt if anything had happened to the elder witch.

She’d promised herself the moment the words left her lips that she would make it up to her, even if she didn’t know how…

Sarah had to wonder just how fast the witch could move when she wanted to, because they were headed away from the Inn, and she didn’t think Angela had been missing for that long…

“Making your escape?” Chloe crowed out as she dropped down from the trees and appeared right in Sarah’s path, and the witch pulled back in shock, but a blink of her eyes later, and all she saw was the vast expanse of Nathan’s back and shoulders…

Speedy alpha … very speedy…

The deep warning growl rumbled through the air and warned her back to normality. She’d been surprised into inaction, but she was back with a vengeance…

“If you’ve done anything to Angela…” Sarah said as she tried her best to sidestep the alpha, first to the left, and then to the right, but the man had arms like an octopus and she found no way through – she took to peering through the gap at his armpit…

“The old witch bitch?” Chloe mused…

“Takes one to know one…” Sarah tossed back, but from the expression on Chloe’s face – the woman looked kind of vacant about it … she scented the air…

“Don’t you sniff…” Nathan growled down at her and Chloe grinned. Her eyes were wide like saucers…

“Got it…” she said, and then she disappeared in another blink of Sarah’s eyes…

Sarah felt a fresh wave of panic inside of her.

She needed to follow her.

He needed to follow her.

An alpha was faster than a human any day of the week.