by M. L. Briers
Neal opened his mouth and stopped when she raised her witching finger and pointed right at him. She pressed her lips together but stayed silent. Neal twisted his head to the side and waited.
“Well, look at that,” she said. “You do have patience.”
Neal cocked an eyebrow back at her. “Well, look at that – a pitiful attempt to distract me again.”
Marilyn huffed and took solace in the whiskey. It burned all the way down, but boy, did she need that? “You used to be nicer,” she said, eyeing him over her glass.
“You used to be younger,” he replied and watched her chin hit her chest, and her eyes widen with disbelief. “Things change.”
“I don’t believe you said that.” She spluttered a chuckle.
“I don’t believe you let me get away with saying that,” he replied. “Have you mellowed?” The zap of magic that hit him right between the eyes felt as if someone had flicked their finger at his forehead. “Maybe a little,” he said before sipping his drink.
“Meh, I can hold my own,” she informed him.
“It doesn’t hurt to let someone else hold it for you on occasion,” he teased, and she cocked just the one eyebrow back at him. “You never know until you try – you might like it.”
“Yeah,” she spluttered a chuckle. “What are the odds?”
Neal watched her giggle to herself before she dived back into the glass of whiskey. She’d saved him from the ghost of golfing past, and he would never forget that. Marsh Weathers wasn’t someone he wanted to share eternity with, especially when it was his body the man was hijacking.
Neal had felt her calling to him in the darkness of his mind where all the worst things he’d ever done were buried, and she’d pulled him back to the present, to reality, to her. For the second time, she’d saved him from himself, and he was determined to return the favour – whether she liked it or not.
~
Jake rested the palm of his hand against the low branch of the old oak tree that draped towards the ground. He stayed in the shadows of the canopy that blocked the light from the moon. He eyed the vampire’s lair and mulled over the irony of his son taking refuge inside those walls. But all roads had led him to Neal’s house, and he had to wonder at Marilyn’s choice of trusting the vampire with their son’s life.
It seemed illogical to him that she would place her faith in a vampire, and Neal of all people, and yet, he suspected that this was where his son was hiding from the man who wanted him; dead or alive – preferably dead as long as there was proof.
Jake felt the presence behind him before he heard the subtle crack of a twig breaking beneath the weight of the man. His magic ran through his veins like blood, and he could feel the electrical buzz in his fingers as it waited to be drawn upon, but he didn’t move. His breathing increased with his heart rate, the fine hairs on his body stood to attention, and the need to run felt like an itch within him that he couldn’t scratch.
“He in there?” The deep, hard tone of voice that seemed to hang in the air all around him only increase that fight or flight reaction within him, but Jake knew he couldn’t do either of those things.
“I don’t know. I’m checking all options,” Jake offered back. He’d managed to slow his heart rate, but his legs felt heavy, and his mind was racing as to what came next.
“Go take a look.”
Jake managed to keep his voice level and his head on straight, but fear had a closed fist around his heart, and he was in limbo, almost as if he was just waiting for that fist to close. “That’s the vampire’s lair – trust me when I say that I’d be less welcome than you.”
“I don’t trust you, and you’re running out of time,” he replied, the not-so-subtle threat conveyed in a way that left him in no doubt what came next.
“Then get me more time because this is a marathon, not a sprint,” he said, offering himself a mental pat on the back for, at least, sounding like he was in a position to push back. “If he’s still in town, I can find him.”
“It’s expected you will. You’d do well not to disappoint Roland,” he warned him and added a low rumble of a growl that left Jake in no doubt of the consequences of not complying.
Jake felt the danger pull away from him – the inbuilt warning system of his magic stood down as the shifter disappeared back into the woods, and he stood alone facing his fate. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, and his son’s fate balanced on the knife edge.
One way or another there would be a time of reckoning for his own actions, but first, he had a choice to make, and little time to decide the future of the family that he was no longer a part.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
~
Sandy watched Lottie with amusement. The elder was on fire tonight; she had Hank wrapped around her little finger and was playing up to him like a woman on a mission, and like any good man does, he was lapping it up.
When her phone buzzed, she fished it out of her pocket and checked the screen. A rise of excitement whizzed through Sandy, and she was only too eager to reply to the writer of the text. Her thumbs worked at lightning speed as she sent and received replies.
Lottie was right; life was too short to waste it second-guessing yourself and the motives of others – she wanted to be more like Lottie and take a chance on life.
“Everything all right?” Louann asked, dropping into the seat on the couch beside her with a huff, a puff of wind, and a curious look at Sandy’s mobile.
Sandy’s thumb hit the button, and the screen went to slumber. “Yep, just making new friends,” she lied and hoped that Louann wasn’t as good at spotting deception as Lottie was.
“Well,” Lottie said, appearing like a whirlwind in front of them, all grins and breathlessness. “I’m going for a nightcap with Hank, and you’ll need the car keys to get home,” she informed Sandy and tossed them at her.
Sandy was slow to act, and the keys landed in her lap. “I can walk, it isn’t that far…”
“Nonsense,” Lottie said with a wide grin. “If I need a ride I’ve got Hank,” she added, and the sparkle of mischief in her eyes said that remark could be taken either way.
“I’m shocked,” Louann replied in a dry tone. “Oh no, wait – not shocked at all. Take the keys that lush should not be behind the wheel.”
Sandy covered her mouth to hide the smile and the chuckle that escaped her lips. Some people, like Marilyn, found it frustrating to be in the middle of the elders when they were volleying shots at each other – Sandy quite liked it. It was a strange way to show they cared, but it was a whacky friendship that had lasted the ages, so who was she to judge? One day, she hoped she had the same thing.
Lottie cocked an eyebrow at her friend and snorted. “You know what would shock me is if you cracked a smile once in a while.”
“I smile,” Louann tossed back waving a dismissive hand in the air.
“We’re not talking about when you read the obituaries, a real honest to goodness smile that brightens the day and doesn’t depend on evil thoughts,” Lottie replied.
Louann raised her chin and rolled her eyes. “Excuse me for taking life as seriously as a heart attack and not one good time at a time.”
Lottie looked at Sandy. “You see what I’ve had to put up with all these years?”
“Someone keeping your twinkle toes on the ground, Tinkerbelle?” Louann asked. “It’s not such a bad thing – you might be living in a mud hut somewhere now with fish for supper.” She turned her nose up at the thought – oh, how she hated fish.
“At least I would have had fun getting there,” Lottie replied. “Life is an adventure, not a set of challenges to get over. Sandy?”
Sandy snapped to attention. “I don’t think I’m the right person to answer that question,” she said. The one thing she had learned from her time with the elders – never take sides.
“Good answer,” Louann said and gave her a little nudge in the side.
Lottie offered Sandy a winning smile. “Diplomacy wil
l get you far in life, but eventually you’ll need to take a stand – don’t let that old boot fool you into believing that life isn’t full of possibilities, and don’t judge future relationships against past ones.”
“Don’t you have a dog to take for a walk?” Louann said, and eyed her friend with a glint of the challenge in her words.
“Sneer from the sidelines, old woman,” Lottie said. “I won’t be the one settling down to watch a movie before bed – I’ll be the one out living life.” Lottie turned on her heels and practically floated back across the room to where Hank was waiting for her. Like a gentleman from one of those old movies, he offered Lottie his arm, and she looked as pleased as punch to take it.
Sandy couldn’t help but smile as Hank whisked Lottie out of the room. Life held possibilities at every stage, you just needed to be open enough to see them, and she would be, she decided, picking up the car keys and pushing to her feet.
“I’ll be off then,” Sandy said, trying not to look at Louann just in case the woman had taken to scowling. That face could change a person’s mood in a heartbeat, and Sandy wanted to keep that little buzz of encouragement that Lottie represented.
“Don’t be swayed too far off course, young lady,” Louann warned her.
She wasn’t sure what Sandy was up to, and she didn’t have the energy to follow her and find out tonight – but she’d get it out of her one way or the other.
“Night, Louann,” Sandy called back over her shoulder as she headed for the front door with a wicked smile on her lips and a fluttering of excitement inside her stomach.
The vampire had given her a second chance at life when he’d sent her ex away – it would be a waste to ignore it.
~
Claudia knew two things, firstly, her mate would never leave her, and that was a good thing, it gave her a sense of security that she hadn’t had since she was very young. Secondly, her mate would never leave her, and that thought terrified her. It was two faces of the same coin with the same outcome, and yet, one side played to all of her fears about relationships.
“I’d say slow down, but my legs are longer, and you’re only wearing yourself out,” Cain said into the darkness of the night. Claudia kept walking over the uneven ground; she’d left Marilyn’s neatly trimmed grass long behind her and was heading for the woods. “Like a toddler with a tantrum that you just let blow itself out before you can rationalise with it.”
“I’m the toddler?” Claudia snorted a chuckle. “What does that make you, my watchdog; the loyal family pet?”
“I’m the man who’s going to woo your socks off…”
“It’s been a long time since I wore socks, and trust me…”
Cain appeared in front of her, and the surprise made her pull up short, she’d even forgotten her chain of thought. “Panties then,” he said in a deep gravelly tone that thrilled her feminine side and made her want to run for cover.
“You leave my panties out of this,” she said and folded her arms.
Cain knew enough about females to know that the arm folding thing was never a good sign, and yet, he’d planted his flag in the ground and he was making his pitch to the woman who was his fated mate. There was no backing off or backing down required. One way or another, he was going to woo her and make her his.
“I think we’re both a little long in the tooth to…” Cain saw her flinch and then felt the pain of her magic hit him square in the gut. He groaned and bent forward, but it was fleeting, and he shook it off.
“Not too long in the tooth to do that, am I?” Claudia said with a smile that said it all – she’d enjoyed that.
Cain took a step towards her, and she didn’t flinch. “We’re both too long in the tooth…” She hit him with her magic once more, and that time it was a little lower.
“Keep digging that hole,” she warned him.
“What is it with women and age?” Cain grumbled.
Claudia looked at him as if he was from another planet. “Seriously?”
“You tell me, cos I don’t have a damn clue,” he growled, straightening as the pain turned dull in his gut.
“Of course you don’t, you’re a man. You’re the one who goes out searching for a younger model…”
“Hardly.”
Claudia was stumped. It was true that he wouldn’t leave her because her breasts had taken a downward slide to her navel like a slow-moving glacier with her nipples pointing due south, and her backside had lost all support. But, would he still be as attentive as a teenager with a case of the must-haves when she was sixty?
If his father was anything to go by, then the answer to that was – probably. After all, Hank was like a bee to honey with Lottie. Was she being overly harsh judging all men as equal, considering he was a shifter? Maybe. “Well, that’s not the point,” she said. Then she sidestepped him and picked up the pace again in a vain attempt to get absolutely nowhere fast enough to escape him.
Cain followed on her heels. “Interesting, this is what you do when you’re wrong,” he said and caught the misstep that followed. He couldn’t help but grin.
“I’m not wrong; you are just an abnormality in a world full of clichés,” she tossed back.
Cain reached up and scratched his head. “I’m not sure if that’s an insult or a compliment.”
“Well, you wouldn’t, would you?”
“Now that’s an insult.”
Claudia scowled into the darkness. She wasn’t entirely sure how she’d meant it either, but she knew one thing, she didn’t much like the idea of backing down. If you backed down or apologised, then you’d lost the fight, and losing the fight to Cain meant she’d be stuck with the man forever.
Cain appeared at her side a moment later. “For a women with a lot to say you’ve gone quiet.” When she tossed a look at him, he offered her a drop-dead gorgeous grin, and she almost fell over her own two feet.
“For a man, you have a lot to say,” she countered. “Heaven help me, but you’ll be sharing your feelings next.”
Cain grunted. “You say that like it’s a bad thing, and yet, most women want to hear the words…”
“Keep those words to yourself,” she bit out sternly. She didn’t need to get all warm and fuzzy, not now, not ever.
“It sounds like fate chose my mate well, a woman after my own heart, and mind,” he said in a teasing tone that made her whirl towards him to give him a piece of her mind.
Bad move; her foot got snagged on a tuft of grass, and she went toppling sideways with a small screech of knowing what was about to happen – splat-o – and a wing and a prayer about not making herself look like a prize idiot.
It was hard to project the image of being a strong, independent woman when you were lying flat on your face on the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
~
Sandy pulled up the long driveway and eyed the house; it was more of a mansion, and she’d only seen the inside of one of those in a magazine. She turned off the lights and the engine and popped open the door.
She took a moment to straighten her clothes, fluff up her hair, and look around at the darkened courtyard and the woods across the way. It didn’t feel like anyone was watching, but there was something of a feel to those woods that gave her the creeps and made the fine hairs on her body stand to attention.
Maybe it was due to the fact that she knew whose house this was – the vampire – and that knowledge kept her on her toes right up until the front door was pulled open and she whirled back to find Scott standing there. The sight of him made her feel better. If anything, those strange feelings inside of her turned into fluttering butterflies at the sight of him.
“I’ve got the booze,” he said.
“And I’ve got the food,” she replied before reaching back into the car for the takeout that she’d picked up along the way.
“That makes us a match made in heaven,” he tossed back.
Sandy backheeled the car door closed and shook her head as she started toward him. “Fo
r that corny line, I’m going to eat one of your side orders.”
When he stepped aside, she walked into the hallway and couldn’t help but look around. How many times in your life did you get to see how the other half lived – or how a vampire lived?
Scott stepped up behind her and tossed the front door closed. “Well, then I’m just going to have to share one of yours.”
“That’s not how that works,” Sandy said, turning to look at him over her shoulder.
Scott offered her the most roughish smile that he had in his arsenal. “It is now,” he informed her.
“I’ll think about it,” she said and started for the only room with an open door. In a house that fancy, she knew that it certainly wasn’t going to be a bedroom.
~
Jake turned away from Neal’s house and silently cursed his son. He’d hoped that he’d shown enough sense to be long gone from Clearview, but unfortunately, he was right there in plain view and that left him with only one option if he wanted to keep his head.
He didn’t like it, but he knew what needed to be done.
~
It wasn’t just surprise and relief that swept through Claudia’s body when two strong arms wrapped around her and swept her up against a hard chest. Her witch proximity alarms had been muted from having so many supernaturals around her, but now, they sprang back to life. Add a jolt of adrenaline from the near fall, mixed with the rush of tingles that swept over her skin, and the burst of excitement that hit her like a steam train to deal with and boom!
From the way he held her, slightly tilted as if they’d been dancing and he’d dipped her, Claudia had little choice but to look directly into his eyes. She supposed she could have ignored him completely and looked over one of those broad shoulders that was flexed with the strain of holding up another person, but his eyes were locked and loaded on hers, and once she was snagged, she couldn’t look away.
