by M. L. Briers
Colin’s wolf hit the ground running. He didn’t wait for an invite to the party. His beast rallied against the sight of the vampire sweeping up his mate, and yet the wolf’s need to kill the threat to Harley outweighed the vampire’s fubar.
Colin attacked with the kind of precision that had been carved out of years of fighting against his own pack, honing his skills for moments in time such as this one. His claws entered the fray first as the mutt tried to drag itself back onto his paws, and then his jaws snapped closed around the mutt’s throat and he shook his head- ripping the beast’s very life from him as he lay helpless beneath Colin’s much stronger and wilier wolf.
Harley bit out a long stream of curses. The sight of her mate killing the mutt didn’t sate her need for vengeance. Her magic might not have been at risk from turning dark after she had expended a great deal of it on the mutt, but her heart still felt dark with the need to kill something.
The howl of victory that Colin unleashed to his pack only grated against her nerves until she felt as if she was going to explode.
“Calm down,” Barker berated her and tried to sooth her all in one failed attempt.
“That was my kill, my revenge, my vengeance…” she used her magic to shove Barker out of the way as she faced off against her mate’s wolf as he turned his eyes towards her.
Colin’s wolf scented the air, checking for danger, before he shifted back into his human form.
“The job is done and that’s what matters,” he growled out, glaring back into the darkness of her eyes. He’d felt his beast try to hold onto him- felt the wolf trying to take over, and he knew that he would turn rogue sooner rather than later.
“You had no right-” Harley bit out.
“I had every right- this is my pack, not yours,” Colin growled back.
Harley snapped her head back on her neck as if he’d actually reached out a hand and slapped her around the face.
“O…K,” Barker said. “While I don’t want to get in the middle of mate’s…” he waved a hand on a frown, “wooing… this has turned slightly too dark to do any good.”
Harley took a long step back from Colin. Her eyes took him in- He had every right to reject her as a mate, and she knew that she’d have to live with that.
“I need to see my sister,” she bit out. Turning on her heels and stalking back through the woods.
“Dude, wooooooing,” Barker said and was rewarded for his effort with a warning growl.
~
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~
Harley sat on the floor in the doorway of the bedroom where her sister lay on the bed in the protective, possessive arms of her mate as he tried to ease her suffering while she fought the venom within her system.
Every quivering breath that Ginny took in played on Harley’s nerves until the agony was almost unbearable. But she would bear it. She would feel each and every breath within her own mind as she linked her magic to her sister’s and tried to heal her very soul as Barker’s blood tried to heal her fragile body.
It was truly a fight of good verses evil, and every second felt like an eternity to Harley as she used that pent up magic to fight Ginny’s corner.
It didn’t matter to her that every so often Michael would toss a growl in her direction. If he attacked, she wouldn’t raise a finger to stop him. But neither would she leave her sister’s bedside as she fought for her very life, for her Fae existence.
Colin had tried to stay away from the main cabin. He’d stayed out to patrol the lands and allowed the vampire to follow his mate as she’d walked away from him.
His beast was torn between hunting for mutts and being beside his mate- not yet ready to completely give away its humanity yet.
Benjamin had called him back home, and as he followed his brother’s scent upstairs to one of the main bedrooms, he easily picked out Harley’s scent in the air.
“How’s Ginny doing?” Colin whispered towards Benjamin as his eyes took in the sight of his mate sitting crossed legged on the floor in the bedroom doorway at the end of the hall.
“Fighting,” Benjamin offered. “Your mate needs you now, brother.”
“No, she doesn’t,” Colin offered back, the sound of bitterness and denial in his voice more than evident to his own ears.
“The vampire said you all but rejected her as your mate,” Benjamin held up his hand to silence Colin when he opened his mouth to speak. “Whatever is happening between you, brother, she is still your mate, and she needs your strength now.”
Benjamin didn’t give his brother the chance to reply. He strolled off towards the stairs and left Colin standing there, fighting his own internal battle.
“Damn it,” Colin growled out, ashamed of the way that he had acted towards his mate. Throwing his toys out of the damn pram was for another time. Right now, she needed him and he would be there for her.
He started down the hallway, walking up behind her, and meet Michael’s eyes when the man growled a warning at him to go no further.
“Easy, Michael,” Colin slowly lowered himself to the floor behind his mate and edged forwards to close his body around hers and allow her back the ease of his chest to lean against as she worked her magic.
Harley felt him all around. His warmth, his strength, his chest to ease her aching back, and it was a welcome feeling, even if she couldn’t spare a moment to tell him that.
~
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~
As the moon started down for its slumber once more and the sun started to rise in the sky, the pack started to gather at the main cabin. Word had spread like lightening about the fate of Michael’s mate, and the pack were eager to offer their support for the new mates.
Meredith had told the alpha of what would happen should Ginny’s body accept the werewolf gene within it. A heartbeat before the sun outshone the moon- she would come awake with a roar of the beast- fangs would elongate, and she would howl out her awakening to her new pack…
The silence outside the cabin among the pack matched the silence inside the walls as everyone awaited the arrival of the sun.
“Please don’t leave me, Ginny,” Michael whispered against her ear. His arms were wrapped tightly around her body. “Stay strong, little witch, don’t become my enemy this day.”
Harley couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Her magic was now useless, all that she could do was wait and pray to the ancestors that Ginny would be spared…
She had the need to run to the bed and shake her sister awake. To look in her eyes and see the witch within, but Colin’s arms had wrapped around her body, sensing her need, and was anchoring her in place.
The shard of sunlight hit the curtains and snatched Harley’s attention- her eyes flicked towards the window and the start of a new day, but the sound of Ginny gasping in a breath snapped them back towards her sister.
Ginny’s eyes snapped open and her body jerked in Michael’s arms. He held onto her for dear life as his heart hammered a fearful tune against his ribs….
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~
“Ouch!” Ginny bit out, “squishing me.” She protested at the vice like grip that her mate had around her body.
“That sounds like the old Ginny to me,” Barker breathed a sigh of relief along with everyone else.
“Ginny…” Michael released his grip around her body, but there was no way in hell that he would release her from his arms.
“Thanks, Barker,” Harley whispered and the vampire grunted in reply. He didn’t need thanks, it had been the right thing to do and he’d done it.
“You need to sleep,” Colin whispered against Harley’s ear. “I can feel how drained you are.”
“I’m fine,” Harley wiggled to get him to release her.
Every instinct within him told him to hold on tightly to her. She was his mate, his love, his life, and he’d lose himself without her by his side, in his arms, in his bed, and yet he dropped his arms and allowed her to push up to her feet. She stumbled slightly into the room and
Michael’s eyes snapped towards her…
“If you growl at me one more time, so help me Goddess, I will spell your fur to drop out and see how your wolf feels about being a baldie,” Harley snapped at him before he even got a chance to open his mouth.
“Harley!” Ginny berated her and Harley waved a hand in her sister’s direction.
“Don’t say it. I know, I know…” Harley started to turn towards the door and found Colin up on his feet blocking the way. She sighed inwardly.
“Look, Scooby Doobie,” she started but Ginny cut her off.
“I felt you there with me,” Ginny called out. “I felt your magic helping me, healing me, guiding me to fight, Harley.”
“That’s what sisters are for, witches stick together,” Harley shot back over her shoulder without looking around. Then she scowled up at Colin, “move or I will move you.” She warned.
Colin looked down at his mate. His eyes narrowed on her for the longest moment of her life, and then- she thought that he was about to step aside and she breathed a sigh of relief, but instead, he dipped at the waist and hoisted her up and over his shoulder…
“You witches like the hard way,” he growled out.
Those gathered in the hallway outside stepped aside and made way for him as he stalked towards his bedroom with his mate bitching and cursing as she swung down his back. He couldn’t help but chuckle at her colourful words- the woman had the vocabulary of a street urchin when she felt the need…
“Hush up and behave,” Colin growled out over his shoulder. Nodding to Ross as the man thrust open his bedroom door for him. “Thank you, brother.”
“Nice to see you’ve taken to wooing her,” Ross chuckled.
“Wooing me, my ass…” Harley bit out. Too damn exhausted to even attempt to use her magic to zap him.
“We can get to that later,” Colin chuckled over his shoulder and heard her grumble a few more swear words as he kicked the door closed behind him.
“Ok, shows over,” Benjamin’s voice boomed out in the hallway, “let’s leave all the mates to it.”
“We all know the it that Colin’s up to,” Ross chuckled and Colin grinned at the words that came through the closed door.
“Don’t you even think about…” Harley bit out a moment before she felt the stability of his body disappear as he tossed her through the air… She knew where she’d land, and yet the irrational fear of falling still made her screech out until she was bouncing against the soft mattress of the bed.
“Whoops, too late,” Colin offered back. His knee pressed into the mattress and he started towards her as her head snapped up and her eyes glared back at him…
The man looked like a wolf on the hunt. Harley’s mind took flight at the sight of him looking so damned powerful, so damned sexy as he crawled towards her…
“I’m warning you, Scooby…” she bit out.
Harley felt the heat of his body sweeping over hers as he climbed up and over her, caging her in with those strong muscles limbs, and she dropped her head back against the mattress as his eyes devoured her.
“Right now, you need to sleep,” Colin growled out. “But don’t think for one instant that this, here, between us, is over just yet.”
Harley’s brain felt like scrambled eggs, and she had to admit, just not to him, that there was a wave of disappointment that washed through her at his words.
Colin growled out a warning as he moved to one side of her and lay down on the bed beside her. One strong arm wrapped around her body and turned her back towards him, then he hoisted her against the length of him, and she felt that hard press of his erection against her backside.
“I’m not sleeping with-”
“Fine, then we can do other-” Colin started…
“Fine. Sleep,” she bit out, taking the coward’s way out and knowing that she was never going to get to sleep with him wrapped around her like that.
“Who said you can’t teach an old witch new tricks,” he chuckled into her hair and she growled inwardly, giving in to the appeal of it, and liking just how it felt.
A minute or so later and he felt her body melt against his as she drifted off into sleep.
~
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~
Meredith walked into the kitchen and eyed Barker as he tried to make a speedy exit out of the back door.
“I’m leaving, no need to get the scowl on,” he stepped outside and yanked the back door closed behind him.
Stalking across the grass in the general direction of the woods and his cabin that lay beyond it on the edge of pack land, he heard the back open and groaned inwardly- then he jumped in step as the hard sting of the witch’s magic hit his backside…
“I want to talk to you,” Meredith called after him.
“Really?” he stopped and turned back towards her, his eyes accusing, “and who starts a conversation by zapping someone?”
“A miffed witch,” Meredith made no bones about it.
“So witches get to do what comes naturally, but if I were to get my fangs out…” he offered back, and she scowled at him.
“You’ll be swallowing them a moment later,” Meredith warned him.
“Fine, say your piece old woman,” his eyes flashed with amusement.
“I don’t trust you much,” Meredith started and Barker clutched his chest in melodramatic fashion.
“Shocker.”
“You’re a smartass,” Meredith acknowledged and Barker grinned back at her.
“You don’t say.”
“But you saved Ginny’s life and I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt-”
“My heart is joyous, in truth it was the only reason I did it- so that you’d have a change of heart about me,” he bit out with all of the sarcasm that he could muster. He heard her mumble a curse word and chuckled inwardly.
“Still don’t like you much,” Meredith admitted.
“But I’m so loveable,” Barker offered back and she grunted in annoyance.
“Maybe in a previous life before you started drinking people,” Meredith tossed back at him.
“That hurt my feelings,” he played the innocent cards and she snorted her contempt.
“Feelings my ass,” she ground out.
“I don’t want to feel your ass,” Barker shot back and she scowled at him.
“Not what I said,” she snapped.
“What I heard,” he lifted his index finger on a matter of point.
“You’re cruising to get zapped,” Meredith bit out.
“You did that already, feeling a little senior moment coming on?” he teased her and she snorted her contempt for him again.
“I really don’t like you-”
“Another senior moment, repeating yourself there, Meredith.” He turned and started away from her with a big old grin of pure satisfaction on his lips.
“Bite me,” she hissed.
“I don’t take advantage of the elderly,” he tossed back over his shoulder.
“Butthole,” she grumbled.
“Yes, it’s still as taut as your remember, right?” He pointed at his backside. “I’m guessing yours has dropped to your ankles,” he chuckled, right up until she zapped him again.
Barker didn’t turn around as she grumbled and muttered. But he did hear a small chuckle from her as she turned back towards the cabin and started inside. He’d have her eating out of his hand like a baby fawn by the end of the week.
~
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~
Harley woke to the feel of his warmth wrapped all around her body and the darkness of the room. She grumbled in awareness of sleeping the whole day away, and felt his arm tighten around her body, pulling her closer, and breathing in her scent as he woke beside her.
“Couldn’t sleep, eh?” His deep tone was gravelly from sleep and the bass rolled over her body making the hairs stand up against her skin.
“I guess it was better than spending time awake with you,” she shot back, grinning. Not that he could se
e her when her back was too him.
“Ouch, witchy bitchy,” he propped himself up onto his elbow and reached out to gather her hair from around her face and neck so that he could get a better look at her, even in the darkness, he could see perfectly well.
“Just being true to myself,” she offered back, having made a point to lose the grin.
“So, you wanna tell me what happened between you and your sister yesterday for all of those feelings of guilt that were rolling off you last night?” he asked.
“I was leaving,” she offered and felt him tense against her. “Only to town to think everything through, I swear,” she offered with a flick of her eyes back at him, but she couldn’t make him out in the darkness.
“Go on,” he urged, relaxing a little when he found no sign of deceit in her words.
“She got the wrong end of the stick and stormed off, and I dug my heels in and let her go.” Harley shrugged just one shoulder. “It was my fault that she was out there in the woods when the mutt attacked.”
“She should have known better than-”
“Ginny’s not wired like that. She doesn’t see the dangers in life and expects everything to be good and smell of sugar and spice and all things nice. It was my fault,” Harley assured him.
“Still,” he started but she cut him off again.
“Don’t try to make me feel better,” she scowled into the darkness.
“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’m a mate not a magician.”
Harley went to open her mouth but she just frowned instead.
“If you want me to drive you down to town,” he offered and felt her tense again. “Did I say something wrong?”
“First you rejected me, then last night you said you were going to woo me, and now you’re trying to get rid of me again. Either you have a decision making disorder-”
“Hold on. You rejected me,” Colin scowled. “And I have no damn intention of rejecting you, but if you want to go to town to get your head sorted then I’m fine with sitting outside your damn room door and waiting for you to come to the conclusion that you’re mine, and I’m yours, and that’s the way that fate intended it and the damn way it’s going to be.”
