~

Mel held up the straw poppet in a food bag by the knot that she’d tied into the top. It mimicked the victim that it was intended for, female in nature, and it swung backwards and forwards in her hand — mesmerising Grayson as he rumbled a low, angry growl at it.

“It can’t hear you, Grayson. It can’t be intimidated by your growl,” Mel chuckled.

Grayson snapped out of it, bringing his dark gaze to his mate and those puppy dog eyes under a furrowed brow excited the hell out of her. Not that Mel was going to admit that.

“It’s just so…” He couldn’t find the words to describe it.

“Kind of pretty — very intricately woven — and as potent as hell,” Mel offered back as she eyed the doll and wondered about its maker. “That’s very sexy magic that went into creating and crafting this.”

“I know sexy — that’s not it,” Grayson growled.

“A witch!” Bella lifted her hand and pointed an accusing finger right at Mel. The elder had been sitting quietly in the comfortable looking corner chair staring off into space, but now she was back with them once more.

“Hi, Bella,” Mel lifted her other hand and gave the elder a small wave and a big smile. She’d already done it three times since she’d walked through the door, and again, she got a dark scowl back for her trouble.

“Remember, Bella?” Grayson said as he stalked back over to her and squatted down by the chair, putting one large hand over the elders for assurance and comfort.

Something in Mel’s heart went ping at that moment, at the sight of Grayson, a big, brawny, growly, muscle-packed shifter — so thoughtful, so gentle, so kind and so caring as he dealt with the woman’s confusion. Mel felt herself melting just a little — hell, more than a little, and she wanted to kick her backside into gear, but she knew that was never going to bloody well happen now.

Fate — she sighed — sucked.

“I brought my mate here to help you,” Grayson said, gently trying to ease her back into the reality of it all.

“Mate?” Bella eyed him with a lot of confusion, and a little amusement.

“Yep.”

“You got a witch mate?” Before he could say anything, she started to chuckle, her shoulders weren’t moving up and down, and the look of amusement on her face was growing.

“I do.” Grayson grimaced, he wasn’t sure what to expect next from the elder, but he wasn’t sure he was going to like it.

How the hell could he berate a woman that had gone from vibrant and an active member of their pack to a confused shell of her former self? He couldn’t bring himself to do that no matter what.

“Are you teasing me?” Bella chuckled.

“Nope.” Grayson was holding his breath for what came next.

“Liar! You had me there for a moment,” Bella chuckled and gave a small nod of her head as she berated him with just a look.

“Mel, can we do the cleansing the aura thing now?” Grayson said over his shoulder.

Not only were the witches binding the magic of the dolls and collecting them for burning later, but they had also decided that cleansing the auras of the elders affected would speed up their recovery time. Like a magical detox to their system; it had seemed to work well for Peter — he seemed a lot clearer once they’d done it.

“Kiss her then!” Bella demanded and made Mel ground to a halt just a smidge behind the big beta.

“What?” Mel snapped to attention.

“Kiss her!” Bella demanded once more, a big, bright smile on her lips, and Mel was almost certain that mischief danced in the older woman’s eyes.

“Well,” Grayson said as he pushed up to his feet, and turned toward Mel. There was definitely mischief dancing in his eyes as Mel suffered a mentally constipated moment. “You did say you were good with whatever it took to help the elders.”

Grayson’s grin annoyed her so, but it also excited the hell out of her. She could deny — decline — and zap the heck out of him until the cows came home, whether her heart was in zapping Mr Smug or not, but, she reasoned, he wasn’t exactly offering up a mistruth, and she had said that.

“How is my throwing up on her carpet helping?” Mel tossed back to the sound of another chuckle from the elder.

She flicked a look in the older woman’s direction and had the distinct impression that the woman was definitely back in the moment with them. And they said witches were mischievous.

“Go on, if she’s your mate, kiss her,” Bella demanded.

“I get the feeling that Bella was one of the last to be infected with magic?” Mel said, suspecting that the woman wasn’t totally without thought and reason behind her demands.

“She was,” Grayson confirmed her fears.

Mel cocked one eyebrow at the elder, and when Bella winked at her, Mel’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead, and her lips parted in disbelief. That canny old…

“She…!” Mel started but stopped the moment that the toecap of Grayson’s boot hit the toecap of hers. He was definitely getting closer; she could feel the walls of the log cabin closing in around her and sucking all the oxygen from her lungs as excitement flooded through her body. “I…”

“It’s just a little kiss,” Grayson offered with a wolfish grin. “And if it will comfort Bella…” He left that open with a small shrug of his shoulders and Mel pressed her lips together until they were white.

“Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” Bella said like a broken record over and over again.

Mel considered zapping him — Mel even considered kicking him right in the balls — but, when he snapped out a hand, curled his arm around her waist, and yanked her against his hard chest — X-rated thoughts went through her mind, and she seemed to have lost her voice.

All she could cling to against the rising tide of excitement inside her was that she had plausible deniability should that kiss not knock her damn socks off.

Grayson’s lips came down on hers, soft, warm, and created a hum that made her shiver to her very core.

Bella chuckled to herself as a slow victory smile spread her lips. She might have been losing her marbles, and she accepted that, but she did so love her moments of clarity.

When Grayson finally pulled back and left Mel finally able to take a breath, she found herself unable to find a moment of clarity in her own madness. No, her thoughts were taken up with wanting more – a heck of a lot more.

“That was in the interests of helping out Bella, you understand?” Grayson smirked.

“You did it – you own it,” Bella chuckled.

“Oh, I’m with Bella on this one,” Mel said, narrowing her eyes on her mate until he looked a lot less wolfish and a lot more sheepish.