~

“Well, don’t just stand there looking doggone gloomy, use your words, puppy.” Mel berated him and called him a mutt again – twice in one sentence that time.

His beast protested in no uncertain terms.

Parker didn’t know what his brothers were chuckling about; if he was a dog, then they were too. Not that they had the sense between them to understand that.

“I’m here…” Parker got no further.

“I noticed.” She gave him an expectant look, and he offered a low rumble of a growl back. “Well, nice visit — don’t come again.”

Mel tossed the door toward its frame, but with the sound of a loud thud as it hit the toe of his boot; it rebounded right back at her.

“Twice in one day, I can’t say it’s nice to see you again,” Mel sneered.

“We have business…”

“Business? You and I? I don’t think so,” Mel gave a small shake of her head, and there was a downward turn to the corners of her lips as she rejected that idea.

“Not exactly business…” Parker started again, but it got him nowhere fast.

“A social call then — why didn’t you say so? If I’d known you were coming I would have made sure I was out,” Mel offered back.

She watched as the alpha shifted his weight on his feet, looked at the ground as he considered his options, and then brought his gaze back up to hers.

“Look, I think we might have got off on the wrong foot…”

“Maybe — possibly — why don’t you leave and come back in say … never?”

“Wow, it is true what they say about witches.” He watched her stance change, her back straightened, chin tipped upward, and her eyes narrowed again. He’d definitely ruffled her feathers – he had to wonder if that was a good thing.

“Yes, yes it is. Now, I have a black cat to stroke — a bubbling cauldron to stir — and would you look at the time — I need to climb on my broomstick and get to the shop to pick up a few things.”

With just the one eyebrow raised and the glare that she offered back to him, Parker knew that he was only making matters worse by playing her game. He needed to be the bigger man — not that she was a man — because he liked women and that suited him just fine.

“You’re not going anywhere until we’ve had this conversation,” Parker assured her.

Maybe it was because his back was up, maybe it was because his brothers were still sniggering, maybe it was because he wanted to rip the vampire’s heart out and throw it at his feet — but, he pulled himself up to his full height, his hands fisted at his sides, and filled the doorway with his large frame.

“Is that a threat?” Mel didn’t look impressed.

“No…”

“Then why did it sound like a threat? And why have you blown up in size like the Stay Puft marshmallow guy?”

“What?” Parker growled. But his brothers were back to chuckling again. He really didn’t need them in his life right now; he had enough trying to handle the witch.

“Ghostbusters,” Dusty chuckled from behind him, and he really needed to hit something, head-butt something, or kill the vampire.

“Look…” He fidgeted on his feet, lifted his hand and pointed a finger at her.

“At what?” Mel shot back. He looked momentarily confused, and then he grumbled something under his breath.

“Nothing…”

“Then why did you tell me to look?”

“I didn’t…”

“You did — you said look. Short-term memory loss — or decision-making disorder?”

“I’m not…”

“Sure?” Mel offered back with a smirk. Her victory was made sweeter by the fact that his friends were openly chuckling louder now.

“I have…”

“Daddy issues?”

“What?”

“A problem with authority?”

“Look…”

“Again? My eyes are getting tired.”

“Why won’t you let me get a word out?” he growled.

“You have — several — did you forget?”

“I’m really not…”

“All there in the brains department?” Mel snapped a bright smile at him, tipped her head to one side, and offered him a look of sympathy.

“I really don’t…”

“Know what you’re doing here?”

“Oh, I know what I’m doing here…”

“It doesn’t appear that way, now does it?” She offered him a smug smile, and he growled again.

What the hell was he doing at a witch’s door? The woman was insane, and fate was insane if it thought that they could be mates.

Mine…

The woman was irrational — as sarcastic as hell — and in need of an attitude adjustment. How could he woo a mate like that?

Mine…

Damn it. He couldn’t walk away — this was his mate — this was his future — this was insanity staring him right in the face, but he had to try — didn’t he?

Parker grunted in annoyance. He had been on the back foot since the moment that he’d arrived. He needed to level the playing field, maybe shift things more in his favour – maybe just shift and eat her.

Without considering it any more than the fact that the idea flashed into his head; he reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, yanked her toward him, and tossed her over one broad shoulder.

The shrew-like squeal that she emitted made his ears hurt, but soothed his lost pride. The woman was a nightmare — a nightmare and a challenge — but, she was his nightmare, and his challenge and he was a damn alpha and wouldn’t be beaten.

“You really are dicing with death, you numpty,” she hissed out from somewhere down his back. He turned on his heels, eyed his siblings and their wide goofy grins, and started back toward his truck.

“When you’re losing the argument, act like a caveman,” the vampire chuckled.

“It’s his alpha genes,” Grayson chuckled. There was something primal about his brother’s actions in carrying off his mate that touched the beta at a deep level.

He hadn’t really given much thought to finding his own mate — until now. His brother, his alpha, had found his mate, and now his beast was clawing within him as if reminding him that they should be searching for theirs.

From what he’d seen so far, Grayson thought that the witch wasn’t going to be wooed easily. There would be zapping — fighting and frying — maybe some squealing and running — so, he thought that it would be prudent to take her scent. His beast agreed, after all, she was family and a mate.

As his brother drew closer to him, Grayson took a big whiff of the air, and on it was the witch’s scent. His muscles tightened, a realisation punched him in the gut, and his beast growled with intent.

Parker heard the warning grumbled from his brother, and his gaze snapped toward him. There was the beta, in full fight mode. His shoulders back, his hands were fisted at his sides, his chin was practically touching his chest, and his eyes had darkened with anger…

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Parker growled. His beast was on full alert at his brother’s actions.

Dusty and Raff eyed the beta with surprise, and curiosity.

“Impossible,” Grayson bit down on his anger as he rushed to find an answer for what he was feeling.

“What is?” Parker ground to a halt and scented the air for signs of trouble. Nothing — only the witch’s scent was out of place from what he expected.

“Mine…” Grayson didn’t state that as firmly as he would have, should have if he’d been absolutely certain of that fact.

Mine…

Grayson’s beast was certain. But how could that be? His alpha was also sure that the witch hanging down his back was his mate.

Two mates for one witch? Hell, there was no damn way that he was sharing.

Fate be damned — she was his mate, and he would have her to himself. Even if he had to fight his brother to the death for her.