~

 

 Faith never got use her magic, never got to fire a shot as Mick’s wolf backed right off with a grunt of annoyance. She wasn’t sure if what she was feeling was a relief, or disappointment.

She really wanted to hit someone.

“Point to my witch,” Clara said, folding her arms and giving Clive the evil eye.

“Then they’re equal because the first point was to my wolf,” Clive shot back.

“You two need to get a damn room,” Faith bit out as she pushed up to a sitting position and stared Mick right in the eye again.

Faith felt like growling, but she had to wonder, given the circumstances, if that wasn’t a step too far. Besides, she was no she-wolf and she didn’t need it sounding like a come-on.

Mick shifted right in front of her. A wolf one moment; and then he was all man. All six foot four of pure muscle and sexy goodness to her eyes.

Faith’s heart jumped in her chest as she eyed her mate. He might have been squatting down on the ground in front of her, but she could still see plenty of what he had to offer.

“Hmm, not too shabby,” Clara bit out.

“Get your own,” Faith hissed up at her friend.

Then she wanted to slam her forehead into a tree for feeling even an inch of the little green-eyed jealousy monster that was rearing its ugly head inside of her.

“I would, but they just never seem to have the staying power,” Clara shrugged.

“Oh, poor baby,” Faith sneered.

“You ran from me,” Mick growled and watched as his mate took a moment to consider his words.

“We’ve been through this, well, we’ve been through this,” she motioned to the vampires. “You were a bit of a dog at the time,” Faith offered to the sound of another, hearty growl that rumbled in his chest. “Yes, like that.”

“Do not mess with…” Mick never got to finish, because Clara had him by the throat with his back against the nearest tree trunk.

“Do not threaten my witch,” she sneered and showed her fangs.

“Now-now,” Clive said, moving to stand by her side in an instant. “My wolf, play nice.”

“Your wolf has bad manners,” Clara bit out.

“Whoa, can we hold off flaying the man alive until I decide if I want a mate?” Faith had pushed up onto her feet and was already stalking over to where Clara had a vice grip around Mick’s throat, cutting off the air to his lungs.

The pack’s wolves closed in around them as Mick hung in the air. His claws were down, and he was slicing at Clara’s hand, but she wasn’t paying him any attention as she turned to look at Faith.

“You are seriously considering mating him?” She scowled.

“I’m not-not considering it,” Faith said, still trying to fathom out if that had come out right when Clara tossed Mick across the clearing.

“Fine,” Clara rolled her eyes.

“Thank you,” Faith said, turning to look at her mate and the fact that he’d landed on one shoulder with his legs up in the air against a tree trunk. “I think.”

“You should probably leave now,” Ryan growled as he stalked into the clearing, naked, and panting like he’d run a marathon.

“Oh, I don’t think that’s entirely necessary,” Clive offered back.

“Sure it is,” Ryan growled.

“I’m not going anywhere until Faith, and her friends make up their minds about mating,” Clara bit out.

“She should hang around,” Clive offered the alpha, but Ryan’s eyes never left Clara as he stalked towards her.

“I’m staying,” Clara bit out.

“Not on pack land, you’re not,” Ryan growled back.

“She’ll be good,” Faith offered, trying to ease the tension when she saw the alpha’s claws come down and his fangs elongate.

“No, I won’t,” Clara snorted her contempt for Faith’s assertion.

“Leave, now…” Ryan growled the warning as the wolves closed in around them.

“Faith, what did you do now?” Vanessa demanded as she and Jeannie panted in and out as they closed the distance between them.

“She’s my mate!” Clive yelled, and everything ground to a halt. Everyone stopped in their tracks, and every head turned towards Clive, including Clara’s.

“Excuse me?” Faith bit out.

“Her blood smells divine,” Clive tossed up a hand, “She’s my mate.” He offered lamely.

“And I’m out of here,” Clara announced. “Faith, you’re on your own.” She said, at the same time as she pushed up into the trees and was gone.

Faith’s lower jaw dropped, and she turned towards Clive. He blinked just one eye, like a twitch gone wrong.

“Kiss chase,” he announced before taking off after her.

“And I thought I had problems,” Mick growled, righting himself on the ground and grumbling another growl.

 

~

~

~

 

“Faith, we need to talk about you running off like that,” Mick grumbled a growl.

He hadn’t want to bring it up in front of his pack on the walk back to the house. That and the fact that she was squabbling with her friends. Hell, he didn’t want to face off with her again – he thought he’d done that enough, but he needed to clear the air and make sure that she knew that she could never do it again,

Faith stopped just short of the bedroom door, his bedroom, the room that she’d been given to sleep in while she was there. She knew that he hoped she’d stay, but she really hadn’t made up her mind one way or the other about that.

When she turned back towards him, Mick eyed her with suspicion. His mate wasn’t sugar and spice, and he felt he was more than likely to get a zap of her magic than a sweet word from her lips.

“Ok, look…” she started with a sigh, and Mick wanted to headbutt the nearest wall in frustration. She was already defensive, so what hope did he have of a rational conversation with her?

“You know what?” He gave a small shake of his head. “We can talk tomorrow when you’ve had some sleep.”

“Sleep?” Faith wondered how well that was going to go with a million and one thoughts swirling around in her head.

“I’ll be right out here…”

“What?”

“Just in case you get itchy feet and feel like a walk again,” Mick informed her and watched her eyebrows draw downwards, and a couple of ridges form just above her nose.

“I did not feel like a walk. I was going after Clara,” Faith informed him, and she didn’t look too pleased about saying it either. “To stop her from killing one of your pack.”

“Your pack too,” Mick shot back.

“Not yet,” Faith said and folded her arms.

“Well, maybe you should tell that to those wolves that were out there tonight trying to keep you safe,” Mick reminded her.

“Safe from Clara?” She snorted a chuckle.

“Safe from me,” Mick growled back, and she drew her head back on her neck, and the frown on her forehead turned into a scowl.

“Excuse me?”

“You ran from your mate, me, and my beast was not happy about it,” Mick growled a little deeper at the thought of what could have happened had Clara not been there to take his wolf’s mind off of mating.

“Your wolf?”

“Yes, Faith. My wolf, the beast within, only he wasn’t within me – he was on the hunt for you, to mate with you,” Mick growled harder still.

“Well, that’s not…” she stopped and tossed up a shoulder as she dropped her hands to her sides. “I didn’t…”

“Think. You didn’t think,” Mick growled.

“Fine,” she bit out, defensive and on the back foot. “I didn’t think, happy?”

“Not even close,” Mick growled back.

Faith bit down on everything that she wanted to say because everything that she wanted to say was a curse word. Then she turned on her heels, tossed open the bedroom door and disappeared inside – slamming it after her for good measure.

“Damn,” Mick bit out. That’s no way to woo my mate.