~

 

“Whoops!” Clive leaned in and practically shouted into her ear, shaking up her brain, making her jump on the spot, and she bit down on the need to toast his backside with her magic.

“Do not start with me,” Faith bit down on her words.

“Faith!” Vanessa berated her.

“Faith?” Mick narrowed his eyes on the witch as if he was trying to see her more clearly.

Faith pressed her lips together, and her eyes turned up towards heaven, but she took comfort in knowing that at least she wasn’t the only one who had screwed up.

“Thank you for reminding me, sister. I have faith that the Lord will heal my temper,” Faith said, lifting her hands to the heavens, or in that case; the cracked ceiling of the bar, and milking it for all it was worth.

“So close and yet so far,” Clive chuckled. “You little liar, and in a nun habit too.” He whispered.

“Bite me,” Faith hissed back.

“Tempting!” Clive sang with a smug smile on his face.

“If your fangs come down I’m going to rip them out of your head,” Mick growled at the man.

“My, aren’t we protective?” Clive grinned, and it was a knowing grin of epic proportions.

“She’s a…” Mick tossed up a hand towards the nun-not-nun. “I’m not sure what she is…”

“Female,” Jason put in, and Mick’s big fist shot out sideways again and caught the man cleanly on the jaw, sending him spiraling backward to land on the floor in a heap – just as Jeannie pulled open the bathroom door and stared down at him with a scowl.

“What’d I miss?” Jeannie asked, looking from Jason up towards Vanessa, somewhat confused and annoyed that she’d missed the floor show.

 “Jig’s up,” Clive offered from the other side of the room.

“Jig?” Jeannie looked at the shifters around her, each in varying states of being miffed off.

“I bet it was Faith’s fault, right?” Jeannie grinned and nodded at the same time. “I’d bet her life on it.”

“Gee, thanks.” Faith bit out. “It was… not… totally my fault,” Faith said, folding her arms across her chest in a defensive stance, and looking innocently around her, but not at anyone in particular.

“You just can’t help it, can you?” Clive chuckled.

“What?” Faith snapped.

“Lying,” Clive whispered.

“Shut up,” Faith sneered back over her shoulder.

It wasn’t just the shifter she wanted to zap. Now that the game was up she thought that she might just zap the vampire too. Heaven knows he’d taunted her enough.

“So, you’re not a nun?” Ryan’s deep voice sounded accusing as it brought Vanessa’s attention back towards him.

She looked sheepish, more than guilty.

“Define nun,” Vanessa said with a small grimace. She knew that pushing the point was taking things to the extreme end of absurd, but still, her brain wasn’t yet working on an escape route, and she needed one. They all did.

“Seriously?” Clive chuckled.

“Well…” Vanessa shrugged.

“A female that is wedded to God, in, and of, the Roman Catholic faith…” Clive offered back with a superior attitude.

Faith frowned. She’d been caught up in Mick’s intense gaze as the man stood there deep breathing like he was about to hyperventilate, and distracted by the fact that he was staring at her like she was food.

“Hmm?” Faith couldn’t quite drag her eyes away from the beta, but she cocked her head and acknowledged the vampire had said her name.

“What?” Clive frowned.

“You said faith.”

“Faith as in religion,” Clive offered back.

Then he turned back towards Vanessa, and the witch looked for all intense and purposes as if she was chewing a wasp.

“Well…” she offered, lifting her hand and tapping her fingertip against her lips as she considered a way out of her conundrum.

“Say no, because you know the truth, and so do we,” Clive said, and she bit down on her need to zap the man just for being annoying.

“Ok, so no, but…” she raised that fingertip to hold him off.

“Not a nun,” Ryan growled in annoyance.

“Technically…” She tried giving herself just a little wiggle room, but the sound of the vampire chuckling made her grimace once more. She tossed up a hand and shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “Fine. No. But, I can explain.” Vanessa said on a scowl towards the vampire for his meddling ways.

“More lies?” Ryan grumbled, but that growl in his broad chest wasn’t going anywhere fast.

“Possibly…” Vanessa offered as she screwed up her face in defeat.

“I have a few things to say,” Mick growled, taking one giant step towards Faith, and the witch scowled back at him.

“No you don’t,” she shook her head.

“Oh yeah, I really do,” he growled.

He had a sense of what was bugging him – what was annoying all hell out of his beast as he strolled towards her, and then, before she could make a move to stop him – he wrapped one, big, solid arm around her waist and hoisted her against his body.

“Do not…!” Faith started, but it was already too late – the man dipped his head and took in her scent even through her clothing.

Then his head came up, and his dark eyes burned into hers.

“Drop your shields,” He growled.

“What am I the Starship Enterprise?” She shot back on a scowl, and he growled like a man possessed.

He wasn’t playing her game for a moment longer.

Not for one more second would he let her get away with running rings around him.

“Beam me up, Scottie,” Clive grinned.

“Your magic – let it go,” Mick growled.

He was doing his best to ignore the vampire, but the man didn’t make it easy.

“Let it go?” Faith blinked a couple of times. “Like … Elsa?” She teased with mischief lighting up her eyes, and the beta grumbled.

“If anyone starts to sing that song, my damn claws and fangs are coming out,” Clive bit out.

“If you don’t let me scent you…” Mick bit down on the need within him to get to the heart of the matter.

His wolf was antsy, and that was never a good sign, but his beast had never been so damn adamantly interested in one woman before in his life. He was like a dog with a bone.

He had a bad feeling.

“You’ll what?” Faith looked him square in the eyes and raised her chin in defiance.

“Do you really want to challenge a beta shifter?” Clive reminded her of the witchy basics – never pick a fight with someone whose whole being was about winning – not unless you were sure that you could defeat them, or kick them in the balls and run really fast.

She wasn’t entirely sure about anything.

Faith’s lips moved as she considered her words extremely carefully, but no sound came out. She looked the man in the eye and knew one thing – he was definitely up for the challenge.

But then, so was she.