by M. L. Briers
“Fair enough,” Jason shrugged, but he still felt a little disgruntled.
He’d thought that nuns were as close to saints as you could get. But the nuns in the bar were showing him a different side to religion that he never expected.
“I really need to pee,” Jeannie chuckled.
Clive leaned in over her shoulder and pointed an outstretched finger towards the toilets on the other side of the room.
“Please don’t do that on my floor,” Clive said, and she chuckled harder, sounding as close to a breathless Mutley as she ever wanted to get as she noted the toilet sign on the door. The trouble was that she would have to pass by two shifters to get to it.
“Not here, we’ll be home soon!” Faith hissed at her and grabbed a handful of the woman’s shirt to yank her backward when she dared to put her best foot forward.
“That’s a little harsh, Sister,” Jason said. “When you need to go, you need to go.”
“And we certainly need to go,” Faith hooked a thumb over her shoulder towards the door. “Besides, it’s good for her. It… shows dedication, and a trainee nun needs dedication.”
“This trainee nun needs the toilet because I’m not going to make it to the car,” Jeannie hissed as she tried to cross one leg over the other subtly. Faith sighed.
“Fine, go, but don’t take all fricking night about it!”
“Oooh, the nun said a bad word,” Jason teased, as he watched Jeannie penguin walk towards the toilet.
“I did not,” Faith shot back.
“Did too!”
“Not!”
“Yep!”
“No… I didn’t!” Faith hissed.
For one long moment, she considered hitting him with her magic, and zapping the man like he’d never known before. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be a nun and that they didn’t have magic, and something died within her soul.
Damn, being a nun is hard.
“Did so,” Jason grinned back, refusing to let it drop, even when Faith offered him her best death glare.
Faith twitched with the magic that resided at her fingertips, and she couldn’t resist the urge to give him just a little mosquito sized zap. When the shifter gave a small grunt and jumped in place – tossing his head around as he looked for what had bitten him, she had to look away.
Faith pressed her lips together and gave herself a pat on the back. It might have been a really big mosquito with jackboots on – but, she’d got away with it and she felt a little better in herself. Not much, but enough to blast the man across the bar.
“What are you five?” Mick growled at his brother.
“When the need arises, I am, and she said a bad word for a nun…” Jason lifted a hand and pointed an accusing hand at Faith, and Mick’s eyes followed it. He liked what he saw.
“I will in a minute,” Faith bit out. Feeling the urge to zap him again, but this time with feeling.
“I wouldn’t,” Clive’s teasing sing-song tones came from just behind her, and she pulled herself to her full height and snorted her contempt for him as she tossed a glare at the vampire over her shoulder.
“Can we go?” She snapped at Vanessa, turning back towards her friend but keeping one eye on the Vamp. She’d been busted by the blood-sucker, and she didn’t much like that feeling, but oh how she wanted to zap the shifter again.
“Jeannie,” Vanessa reminded her as nodded back towards the bathroom door and Faith groaned, deflating slightly.
So near and yet so far.
I really don’t know how much longer I can keep up the pretense of being nice.
I’m a witch – I’m not nice. I’m … me.
Unsaintly me.
Bitch witch.
And that damn man makes me want to get my bitch and my witch on and zap him till the cows come home.
“Well, she needs to hurry the hell up!” Faith bit out, flustered by the beta being childish beyond belief, and not dropping the argument like a gentleman would have done.
Arguing with a damn nun is just bad manners.
“Oops!” Jason sniggered, “There’s another one. They just keep popping out of your potty mouth, don’t they?” He said with glee, folding his large arms across his chest and eyeing her with a certain amount of suspicion.
Faith had more than had enough, and she rallied around towards the man. She didn’t much care that she was wearing a nun’s habit, she was more than ready to kick him right in his family jewels and watch him fold like a house of cards and cry like a baby.
“Now listen…” She bit out as she pointed a magic ready finger at the shifter, and narrowed eyes with intent.
“Now – now, Sister,” Clive leaned in and offered teasingly from behind her.
“Oh, you can so keep the hell out of this, vampire!” Faith bit out.
The instant the word was out of her mouth she wanted to snatch it back again.
Ohhh, that’s bad.
That’s so very, very, very bad that I have no words.
You could have heard a pin drop in the bar, there were certainly a few jaws dropping, as all eyes turned towards Faith, and she heard the wind leave Vanessa’s lungs with a wheeze like she was deflating.
CHAPTER SIX
~
“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 tha
n 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.
CHAPTER SEVEN
~
Every inch of Mick’s body was primed and ready. He didn’t like where the whole thing was going, but he had a need to take her scent, and that need couldn’t be denied.
He wouldn’t be denied.
If looks could have killed, then he suspected that both he and Clive would have already been dead, but he could also see that she was considering her options – which, in his mind, were very limited.
“I don’t think that it’s a good idea,” Faith offered up to him.
She was still caught within his arms, and he had the kind of body that was rock solid and made her tingle. She doubted very much that she could do much to him except with her magic, and that was somewhere that she wasn’t sure she wanted to go until she absolutely had to.
It was all well and good zapping the other beta, especially when he was oblivious to it, but this man? He didn’t look as if he’d take a zap from her lying down, not unless she knocked him on his backside.
“I think it’s a fabulous idea,” Clive announced, and boy did she want to zap that bloodsucker.
“Me too,” Mick growled.
“Well, you would, because you’re Mr. Sniffy, aren’t you?” Faith hissed, annoyed at being ganged up on.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Vanessa said.
“Me either,” Jeannie added.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Ryan trusted his brother’s instincts, and if the man had a need to scent her – then he had to trust that it was for a damn good reason.
“How about you, Jason?” Clive chimed in, and the beta lifted his hand and scratched his head.
“I’m thinking about it,” Jason offered, but when his brother’s head snapped around, and he growled a warning at him, dark eyes glaring like his wolf wanted to take a bite, he held up his hands and chuckled. “Great idea. Let the growly, bad mood wolf have a scent of your neck.”
“You and me, later, Brother,” Mick growled.
“Can’t wait,” Jason tossed back as he folded his arms across his chest and grinned hard.
“Four to three,” Mick turned his attention back towards Faith, and she snorted her contempt for him.
“Five,” Nick the barman said.
“Five to three,” Mick bit out.
“I’m sorry … my wards aren’t up for a vote. This isn’t a democracy.”
“I wonder how long you can hold that magic around your body,” Mick growled low and deep in his chest. “I mean, how many days and nights would I need to stay by your side before you let those wards of yours slip… hmm?”
“Days and nights?” Faith bit out.
“Oops,” Jeannie offered from behind her hand. She was hiding her grin because she didn’t want Faith to zap her, and the woman would, because when she lost her temper.
“Big oops,” Vanessa bit out.
Ryan flicked his eyes towards her, and she felt his stare, she returned and offered him a glare. She didn’t like the way that he was looking at her, and she scowled long and hard at him, giving him a non-verbal warning, before turning most of her attention back towards Faith.
She would have like to give her friend her sole attention, but she just couldn’t seem to shake off some sort of weird interest and attraction towards the alpha. She could feel his eyes still on her, and it was unnerving.
“Days…” Mick offered back slowly, “and nights.”
“I could zap your big furry butt,” Faith rushed out, but the sight of a slow grin started on his lips, and she was mesmerized by it.
She wanted to drag her eyes away, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t manage it. The man was superglue, and she was stuc
k.
“Fine…” Faith bit out.
In her mind, it wasn’t as if she was admitting defeat, more heading the whole charade off at the pass.
There was no way in hell that he was her mate. She’d bet her last magic spell on it.
Faith felt the rush of uncertainty within her. She told herself it was absurd, but still, there was a nervous apprehension inside of her that flapped around like a million butterflies had taken to the wing inside her stomach.
She swallowed hard and offered up a silent prayer to a God, any God, just to hedge her bets, and she hoped that if there was a God listening, then he didn’t smite her for being a witch.
Then she allowed her wards to drop slowly.
Mick grumbled a growl of victory. He liked that he’d won his point and he didn’t have to take harsher methods with the witch to secure her scent because frankly, he didn’t know what the hell to do to get a witch to let go of her magic.
He did know that he would have followed her to the ends of the earth if he’d have too, and he knew why.
The minute that her magic dropped and her scent filled the air. He didn’t even need to dip his head, but he did anyway. It was symbolic, and he’d gone to all that trouble of asking, then telling, demanding, then threatening.
Mick’s whole body came to life with a fever that shot through his blood, and a need that couldn’t be denied.
Mine…
“Mine…” he growled against her ear, or the covering that she wore over her head, didn’t matter which, she heard him alright.
Faith felt as if someone had stolen the floor right out from beneath her feet.
“Oh, there is no damn way in hell that you’re my fricking mate!” She bit out in sheer disbelief.
“The language, and from a nun!” Clive let his jaw drop in mock horror and slapped his palms against his cheeks. Faith had the urge to zap him until he begged for mercy.
The only trouble was, she had more problems right then than she knew what to do with.
“Ha! Mick and a nun!” Jason chuckled, reaching for the mobile phone from his back pocket and swiping straight to camera.
One click later and he had what he needed to send to the whole pack back home.
