In My Christmas Stocking Read online

  Or if not try, she couldn’t exactly fall on her sword and back the heck down immediately – could she?

  No road – whoops – had she really done it again?

  CHAPTER THREE

  ~

  Lucas eyed the witch from head to toe. She looked normal on the outside, but he knew she was a different kettle of fish on the inside, and he wasn’t much fond of fish right now, he’d prefer a nice rare steak and a damned apology.

  Two witches in one small town – coincidence? What were the odds on that? He knew who this one was – he’d met her sister and that sister was his brother’s mate.

  Damn, that all added up to the fact that he couldn’t let his bear eat her if it wanted a nice tasty snack.

  “No, what you’re standing on – what your car has driven over – is my vegetable patch,” he informed her, and just to add a little gravitas to the moment, he folded his large arms across his broad, muscled chest and eyed her down his nose.

  Double whoops.

  Chloe grunted inwardly again and let out a slow breath that she’d trapped in her lungs as she waited for the man-mountain to tell her just how stupid to feel, and boy, did she feel stupid. “Well, who puts a vegetable patch that close to the road?” she said, waving an absent hand in the frosty air, and trying to look for ways to blame him for her woes.

  It was a lot easier than having to apologise. One, for being on his land, two, for nearly running into him, three for hitting his tree, and four, for driving over his vegetable patch.

  That all just felt like a little too much to be sorry for.

  “Lady, you haven’t been on a road for some time,” Lucas said and noted the twitch of a grimace on her pretty face.

  Chloe wanted to dig herself a bigger hole than the one she felt like she was already in, crawl into it, and cover herself with the snowy earth. Like a bear, she might have come back out after winter – witch hibernation – that sounded good to her, she could do with a holiday, and sleep would be wonderful.

  Chloe knew when she had her back up against the wall, and there was nowhere else to go – usually, at times like those, she’d fight to the death, but this wasn’t one of those times. “Well, don’t I feel silly,” she said and offered him a look of contrition.

  “You look it,” he said, peeved that she’d finally admitted her guilt and being in the wrong, but she still didn’t have the good grace to apologise. How like a witch.

  Chloe felt like she’d been slapped in the face by a large snowball. “Well, you don’t have to be so mean about it,” she said, deflecting, and turning it back on him.

  Lucas’ jaw dropped downward. It wasn’t just the witch in her; now she sounded just like his sister when she was caught with her paw in the cookie jaw. “Lady, you not only tried to mow me down, you ruined my vegetable patch, and then used your magic to throw me onto my backside in the damn snow.”

  Whoops, she’d forgotten five, the unprovoked attack.

  Lucas leant his upper body forward and glared at her. “And on my own damn land,” he added with a hearty growl of annoyance.

  Chloe pressed her tongue to her inner cheek and grimaced, just a little, just enough for him to catch it. “Well, when you put it like that,” she said with a sneer as she shuffled on her feet and looked anywhere but at him.

  “And not even an apology,” he growled.

  Chloe snapped her attention back to him and her eyes narrowed. She’d kind of hoped she hadn’t noticed that. “I’m – sorry!” she said, but she didn’t sound like she’d meant it.

  “Yeah, right!” Lucas said, spitting out a chuckle of disbelief.

  Chloe felt her anger rise once more. “I’m sorry that I almost hit your fat butt, I’m sorry I killed your stupid vegetables, and I’m sorry I dumped you onto to your pride – how’s that?” she asked, raising her eyebrows at the same time as she raised her arms out to her sides, and then let her hands fall back against her outer thighs with a hearty slap.

  She was stuffed. She had no car, and no way to leave the damn stupid town and get where she needed to be before all hell broke loose. Frustration clawed within her, and he wasn’t helping.

  Chloe wouldn’t have given up her night with her son for anything in the world – but now she needed to get back to reality and fast, and yet, there she was having a needless, pointless conversation with a bear shifter – could life get any worse right then?

  “Gee,” Lucas said. “I feel so much better for that – thanks for clearing the air.”

  “Oh, kiss my backside, you muppet!” she bit out, turning away from him in annoyance and getting the full picture of just how badly her Jeep was damaged.

  Ugh! Life definitely sucked.

  “I’m a what now?” Lucas asked, feeling the flare of anger stoke back up within him.

  He’d been ready to cut her some slack because she was family, but that slack only went so far before it slapped you in the face, and he wasn’t a damn saint.

  “You heard me,” Chloe said over her shoulder as she waved an absent and dismissive hand in the air.

  “Oh,” Lucas said, over her left shoulder, and Chloe’s bells and witchy whistles sounded within her, but she didn’t need to be told how close he was, she could feel his hot breath against her cheek, and the cloud of vapour drifted in the air right in front of her. “I heard you,” he growled.

  “You need to back off before I get my angry witch on,” she warned him.

  “Or maybe I’m right where I need to be to get my angry bear on,” Lucas growled, but that growl didn’t last long, and it was replaced by a sharp intake of breath when he felt a really sharp jab to his midsection from the elbow that had far too much power not to have had some magic behind it.

  Chloe turned on her heels and stared at him from beneath her long lashes as she pulled her magic tighter within her and felt the tingle of it at her fingertips just waiting to be unleashed. “Did your mama bear never tell you not to threaten a witch?” she asked, and he noted the relish in her eyes that matched the tone of her voice.

  Lucas knew two things, this sister wasn’t like the other one, and he might need to take the time to kiss his backside goodbye after all.

  “She was probably too busy running them out of town,” Lucas said, doubling down when he should have backed the hell up and let her take the win and cool the situation off.

  The trouble was, Lucas liked a challenge and so did his bear, and right when she’d hit him in the gut with her magic – he’d scented that challenge in the air.

  A mate.

  His.

  How the hell was he going to woo his new sister-in-clan when she was as wicked as they came, and as mean as a cornered wolf?

  Chloe knew a bear shifter in a small town wasn’t an everyday occurrence, and this one had to be related to her sister’s mate, and given what she knew she should probably have been making nice as he was family, but she was too annoyed to play nice, and why the hell should she back down when he was the one threatening her?

  No, some people needed to be taught not to mess with witches, or women, or women witches who were having a really bad car day.

  This was one of those times.

  Chloe pulled on her magic and let it dance in the air around her as she eyed him with suspicion – she wasn’t about to let him make his move before she’d made hers.

  “Up,” she said, and Lucas grunted when she lifted him from the ground.

  “Hey!” he snapped, and his beast growled within him.

  Whatever it was that she was doing, he thought it probably wasn’t going to end well – for him.

  “Up,” she said with malice in her tone and lifted her arms as her magic lifted him higher in the air.

  “Now hold on just a…”

  “And away,” she said, and thrust her magic towards him, cannon-balling the man through the air, turning him over and over, getting faster and faster until he was so damn dizzy he couldn’t have pegged which way was up if she’d let him down.

  And t
hen she did – he hit the snow and rolled over and over, and over again, cutting a path through the white landscape and picking up snow as he went like she was rolling him into a shifter snowball.

  Chloe dusted the magic off her hands as if it was snow clinging to her fingertips as she watched him go.

  Boy, did he go!

  Chloe cocked her head to one side and frowned. “Maybe a tad too much magic in that one, but I haven’t lost my touch,” she chuckled to herself, grinning like all her Christmases had come at once.

  “Whoa!” Lucas called on one long roar until he finally came to a stop, and that large snow-covered ball flopped his arms and legs out as if he was about to make a snow angel. “Still spinning,” he grumbled, but he was talking about his head, not his body.

  “And that’s what you get when you miff off a witch,” Chloe said, feeling best pleased with herself for teaching the man a lesson and not having to break him in the process.

  It was as if she was mellowing with age, but then they did say that with age came wisdom.

  She preferred to ditch wisdom and go for the full effect. It tended to make someone think twice about messing with her again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ~

  Mark nodded thoughtfully as he listened to old man Coop telling him about another animal attack. Whatever was doing it hadn’t moved on as he’d hoped it would, and the local farmers were going to get a hunting party together after Christmas.

  A Boxing Day treat. Oh, joy.

  Mark had meant to get out there and take a look around for himself, but what with family matters taking his time and energy – namely his son finding a mate and all that had entailed – he hadn’t got round to it.

  Now he needed to do it. “Count me in,” he said and offered another thoughtful nod.

  With any luck, he’d find what was killing the livestock and be home for dinner, and he did like his Christmas Eve dinner with all the trimmings, second only to Christmas Day dinner with all the trimmings.

  “Well, have a good Christmas, and I’ll see you on Boxing Day,” Coop said, slapping the countertop like it had offended him before he headed for the door.

  “You too, and wish your family a Merry Christmas from mine,” he called after him, eager for the man to go so he could get going into the woods and start tracking that damn predator.

  “And yours,” Coop said back over his shoulder before he disappeared out the door.

  “Carl!” Mark snapped out, listening hard for the teenager’s footsteps, so he knew exactly where the kid was. Aisle three, little wonder, the boy had a wanderlust for power tools.

  “Yeah?” Carl looked like any other stroppy teenager who would rather not be at work; shirt half tucked in his pants, hair messy – although, apparently that was the fashion – and eyes that challenged authority.

  “It’s your lucky day, we’re shutting early,” he said. But, he’d leave the side door unlocked so the locals could grab anything they needed and settle up after the holidays.

  “But, I just got here,” Carl said, grimacing.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be paid for the day,” Mark said, reaching into his pocket for cash as the teen brightened. “Here you go, and there’s a Christmas bonus in for you too.”

  Mark would have patted the kid on the head before sending him on his way, but he didn’t have the time.

  “Gee, thanks,” Carl said, taking the cash. “Merry Christmas.”

  “And Merry Christmas to you,” Mark said, giving the youth an expectant look. He didn’t need to wait long, as soon as the boy got the money in his hand, he was heading for the door with Mark hard on his heels to shut up shop.

  He had a pain in the backside to catch and kill, and he wanted to get it done before dinner.

  ~

  Lucas dragged his body up from the ground with his arms held out at the sides to give just that a little bit more balance. His head was still woozy, and he knew which way was up, but his middle ear hadn’t appreciated the constant spin cycle that the witch had put him through.

  He growled long and hard as he tried to focus on the witch, who seemed to be ignoring him and inspecting the damage to the front end of her Jeep, or she could have been peeing up the wheel for all he knew – he still didn’t have his full faculties about him.

  With a grunt of annoyance, he put one foot in front of the other and found himself stumbling for a few steps sideways. She’d certainly done a number on him.

  The only thing that had stopped his bear from bursting free and chasing her backside all the way out of town was the fact that she was their mate. Who’d have thought it?

  Lucas guessed it was some kind of karma for the ragging he’d given his brother, Max, for finding a witch mate.

  Now he had a mate of his own that he was either going to woo or kill, and that was only if she didn’t kill him first. But, he guessed that if she’d really wanted to hurt him then she would have.

  That didn’t mean Lucas appreciated being a human cannonball for her amusement, and he would surely let her know how he felt as soon as he could walk a straight line.

  “I’ve got a bone to pick with you,” Lucas called, and noticed the brief look that she tossed his way before she dismissed him again, but he couldn’t make out what that look said.

  “Take it up with the back of my head as I’m leaving,” Chloe bit out, and then she reached into the back of her Jeep, grabbed a backpack and slung it over her shoulder before she started away from the scene of her crimes.

  “Oh no,” Lucas said, reaching out a hand like he was going to wave her goodbye as he stumbled a few more steps, a couple even in the right direction. “We’re gonna talk…”

  “I have somewhere to be, and thanks to you, no car to get there,” Chloe grumbled back over her shoulder, and she kept on walking, and he kept on following – sort of.

  Lucas was getting better; it was now one in every four steps that he took sideways. He couldn’t wait for his blood to heal him so he could catch up to her, and for a human female, she was pretty damn fast on her feet.

  “Hey, this is my land,” he called and shook his head. “But that’s not the point…”

  “Well, could you get to it, you’re boring me?”

  “I know who you are,” Lucas said and realised that he wasn’t going sideways anymore. He sprinted to catch up to her, and when he reached her side, she did a double-take and eyed him up and down.

  “That makes two of us then,” Chloe said and dismissed him.

  It wasn’t that he was easy to dismiss. The man was tall, wide, and packed full of muscles, and she had wondered what he’d look like without all that winter packaging that he was wearing.

  His hair was dark and tousled, his eyes were chocolate and as sexy as hell, and he looked like his brother, at least, she could see the family resemblance. That wasn’t to say that she fancied her new brother-in-law, but this guy did seem to have something that Max didn’t – availability, maybe?

  If Chloe was good at one thing, it was dismissing good-looking men. She didn’t have the time, the energy, or the patience to put up with a man. There was just too much else going on.

  Hell, if she had any free time to spend with a member of the opposite sex, then she’d much rather spend that time with her son.

  Chloe turned a frown on Lucas. “You still here?”

  “You really are the mean sister, aren’t you?” Lucas asked and scored a home run with that one.

  Chloe stopped dead in her tracks and turned towards him. Of course, he hadn’t been expecting her to stop that abruptly and had to slam on the brakes, and he did it with a grunt.

  “Ok, look,” Lucas started, but she was looking, and if looks could kill, then he’d be a goner.

  “If you don’t go away, so help me, the next time I’m behind the wheel of a car I won’t swerve,” Chloe informed him, and she almost chuckled when he craned his head on his neck and twisted it to one side to stare back at her.

  “Wow,” Lucas said, and shoo
k his head. “This is just perfect,” he grumbled. “I’m not sure what the universe has against me and not my brother…”

  “Huh?”

  “It’s not like Max is perfect, but then neither am I, but this…” He motioned up and down her body, and Chloe turned her nose up at him.

  “Rude!”

  “Yes, yes, you are,” he snapped back.

  “Go away,” she said and shooed him. “Some of us have a life, and I’d like to get out of this hellhole and get back to it.”

  “Well, isn’t that tough, Princess,” Lucas said, placing his hands on his hips and making his body look wider.

  “Oh, Princess?” she asked, raising her eyebrows and snorting her contempt for him.

  “Well, you’re no Queen of England,” he tossed back.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ~

  “You want me to tell you what you’re not?” Chloe snapped out, but turned away from him and started walking once more.

  Lucas took in a deep breath and sighed it out. Then he followed her. She wasn’t getting off that easy. “Go ahead,” he said, catching up to her once more.

  “Everything,” Chloe snapped back.

  “Couldn’t come up with anything?” Lucas asked, and when she shot him a glare, there was a small quirk to his lips like he was about to smile.

  He was lucky that he stopped that smile or she might just have zapped him right there and then.

  “You’re irresponsible…”

  “Lady, you don’t even know me…”

  “You jumped out in front of my car…”

  “On my land!” He reminded her.

  “And then you attacked me,” Chloe lied, and in truth, she expected him to jump all over that one sooner, but when she shot another look at him, it looked as if his head might explode.

  Then Lucas’ hand came out, and his long fingers wrapped around her wrist, and he yanked her to an unceremonious stop. Chloe almost toppled over her own feet, and to say she wasn’t impressed was an understatement.