His Mate - Seniors Read online

  “I don’t think his drain rod is up to it,” Angela offered with a dry, berating tone to her voice.

  “You’d be surprised…” Lark offered back.

  “Surprised, yeah, that’s one word for it – bloody amazed would be a better description,” Angela muttered as she nudged Dorothy to try to get her to stop staring, or at least, drooling over the shifter.

  “And what’s your name, gorgeous?” Lark was intent on Dorothy and the woman was eating up all of that attention.

  “Dorothy…” she gave him a wicked smile…

  “Call me the Wizard…” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and she giggled again. “I think it’s me you’re searching for.”

  “Oh my God…” Samuel muttered. He wanted to hit his head repeatedly against the side of his truck just to make everything stop and go blank…

  “I’ll call you odd, I mean Oz…” Angela corrected herself and then thought for a moment. “Actually, I think I was right the first time.”

  “Listen, Wiz…” Sarah called. “Stop flirting and do one.”

  “You might want to rephrase that…” Samuel grimaced.

  Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but then what he’d said started to sink in, and she wrinkled up her face and dropped her head forward on her neck as her shoulders slumped…

  “I can’t undo that image, can I?” She groaned.

  “I certainly can’t…” Nathan said as he stalked towards the group and watched the youngest witch’s head snap up as her eyes locked onto him.

  Nathan felt a jolt of something deep within him…

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ~

  “Oh, good – another one.” Angela bit out with a huff to follow. “I’m guessing that you’re the party loving animal type.”

  “I’m the alpha type…” Nathan said as he dragged his eyes away from Sarah just long enough to be glared at by the elder witch.

  “Oh, an alpha…” Dorothy was even more bubbly goodness to her tone as she looked him over to the sound of a low rumble that came from Lark.

  She guessed that he thought the alpha was muscling in on his territory and he didn’t like it. Silly old wolf…

  Nathan gave the man a double take as he walked on by him…

  “Now, that’s more Sarah’s type…” Dorothy offered out of the corner of her mouth towards Angela, and added a quick jab of her elbow in the woman’s ribs to go with it.

  Angela grunted in pain and annoyance.

  “Well, he’s certainly not mine…” Angela bit back, annoyed that he friend couldn’t keep her thoughts or her elbows to herself.

  “Can I go? Cos …” Samuel turned and motioned with his arms outstretched towards the two elderly women. “This, just … this.”

  Nathan had to admit that the man looked as pained as he’d ever seen him look before. He kind of enjoyed the sight of it.

  “No, suffering is all part of life’s experience, suck it up.” Lark offered.

  “What he said,” Nathan growled at the beta… “Did you do the job?”

  “She wouldn’t let me in…” Samuel pointed an accusing finger at Sarah, and the woman snorted her contempt for him.

  “With manners like that, are you surprised?” Angela gave the beta a withering stare and the man grunted in annoyance once more.

  “Ask … nicely,” Nathan berated him.

  “It wasn’t me…” Samuel growled back.

  “You’re just so sweet like sunshine and roses, aren’t you, young man?” Angela offered and the beta turned back towards his van and considered bouncing his head off the panelling.

  “Do you still need your shower looked at?” Nathan asked Sarah, and for a long moment she was caught unawares … lost somewhere in the act of checking him out.

  She blushed when she met his eyes. Nice eyes. Eyes that were full of as much seriousness as they were amusement.

  Busted. How she hated that thought.

  “It’s my shower, and I do…” Dorothy said … rescuing Sarah from the scrutiny of the alpha as the man reluctantly dragged his gaze away from her.

  Nathan was used to seeing Chloe at the Inn. This new witch, her niece, was something else entirely.

  “Ask and you shall receive, my sweetie…” Lark said; causing Angela and Samuel to groan in unison.

  The man was spreading on the charm so thickly that it was somewhat sickly.

  “You look like a man who knows what he’s doing with his wrench…” Dorothy said; fluttering her eyelashes at him…

  “Are you having vision problems?” Angela asked as bluntly as she could, and Dorothy shot her a glare… “It’s just your blinking … a lot.”

  “Please, don’t make me stay here with … them,” Samuel growled and Nathan couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “I really did mean what I said about suffering…” Lark said and Nathan chuckled a little more at his brother’s sour expression.

  “But, it’s just so wrong…” Samuel grumbled, kicking out at the front tyre with his booted foot like a petulant child.

  “You have a problem with older people dating?” Angela demanded.

  Her nose was in the air and her back straightened even more at the attitude of the young Lycan, and when the beta turned towards her, his eyebrows high on his forehead, he gave her look as if she was daft.

  “Yeah! It’s just not normal.” He offered back.

  “I’m sure you’re just projecting what women say about you onto others…” Angela offered back as she turned her nose up at him once more.

  She wasn’t much fonder of watching her friend act like a teenager, and yet, she was grateful that the woman had been given that new spark in her life. She felt that it didn’t matter what your age – when someone flattered you and made you feel young again, you should grab it with both hands … that didn’t mean that she couldn’t find some amusement in her friend’s situation.

  “Ok, and as funny as this is, and trust me, it’s funny…” Nathan said. “Can we not turn this into an all-out war between the pack and the witches?”

  “What are the odds…?” Sarah mumbled.

  “I heard that,” Nathan’s tone was berating.

  “Nothing wrong with those big old ears then … Grandma,” Angela muttered.

  “Ok, I get it,” Nathan said. “You’re the sarcastic one…” Nathan said to Angela before he pointed at Sarah… “She’s the grumpy one…” then he looked at Dorothy. “What’s this dwarf?”

  “Witch enough to hand you your balls if you don’t watch it,” Dorothy bit out with a tone that he’d never heard before and would have expected to come from the other elder, and the alpha grunted in stunted amusement as Lark chuckled.

  “She’s feisty!” The elder said. His eyes sparkling with amusement. “Don’t you just love a woman with spirit?”

  “Not so much … anymore…” Samuel growled.

  “Geez, you really need to get an attitude adjustment…” Sarah berated him.

  “Did your midwife slap your face on the way out?” Angela said, and Sarah choked out a chuckle, as she raised her hand and sniggered into it.

  “You have no idea…” Nathan chuckled at the comment and the somewhat shocked look on his brother face that slowly morphed into the look of a man chewing an imaginary wasp – a very lively wasp that seemed to be stinging him with every chance that it got – much like the elder witch’s tongue.

  “I’m leaving!” Samuel said, tossing up his hands and yanking open the door to his van.

  “Do the damn job first…” Nathan growled.

  The Inn was still linked to Chloe in his mind, and the pack owed that woman a debt of thanks for the years that she’d kept their secret and helped them with some of their troubles.

  Any kin of Chloe’s was worth the effort in his book.

  “You know what?” Samuel tossed the keys at his brother… “Do it yourself.” He growled out, before he turned on his heels and stalked away. “Alpha…” he bit out.

  Nathan considered going aft
er his brother and giving him what for – just for the disrespect, but the elder witch piped up once more…

  “It takes a village …” Angela said on the shake of her head. “To raise an idiot…” she looked at the alpha. “I take it he’s proof that you have a really big pack.”

  “I hate witches!” Samuel growled back over his shoulder; continuing to stalk away from the group madness that he didn’t want to be a part of anymore.

  “A really … really big pack.” Angela shrugged helplessly as she watched the man go.

  People without a sense of humour annoyed her so. She considered that you had to take life with a big old pinch of sarcasm, and those that considered it the lowest form of humour, didn’t really get it, or life.

  Those people she felt sorry for…

  “You’re going to be a handful – how long are you staying?” Nathan asked the woman, and she grunted in amusement.

  “I’ll try my best to outlive you…” she offered. Nathan opened his mouth to speak but his brother got there first…

  “That won’t be hard. I’m sure you’ve driven many men to an early grave…” Samuel called back.

  “Is he your only village idiot, or are there more?” Angela offered the alpha, and he knew that he should have been miffed with the witch’s attitude, but she reminded him of Chloe.

  Lark was right about the witches’ being feisty, but then they all were in their own ways, and he kind of liked that too. Although, too much of a good thing…

  As long as they kept aiming their barbs and insults at his brother – well, he could more than live with that. He could lap that up and ask for more.

  And Chloe’s kin had a certain something about her. He liked that as well. He liked that a lot.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ~

  Nathan stalked towards the van and yanked open the side door. In truth, he guessed he should be thanking Samuel, because now he had a reason to stick around a little longer and get to know the witch.

  He reached inside and took out a tool belt, wrapping it around his hips as he eyed Sarah up on the porch. There was a jolt within him every time that his eyes met hers, and even if the woman had narrowed her eyes and looked at him as though he were about to steal the family valuables, in his book – she could look at him anyway she darn well pleased … just so long as she looked at him…

  “I’ll take a look at that shower, but it sounds like the problem is with the pipes leading into the property. Sometimes up here, after a storm, the silt tends to get into the feed…” he offered up to her.

  Not that she needed to know the ins and outs of the plumbing world, or how it all worked, and yet – telling her that had kept her eyes on his, and that was gravy…

  “You should check all of the bedrooms, especially Sarah’s…” Dorothy said, and Sarah snapped her eyes towards the woman…

  “There’s nothing wrong in my bedroom…” Sarah said, frowning at the elder witch, and questioning if the woman had lost her mind.

  “Are you sure, because I’d say you could so with a service…?” Dorothy offered back with a wickedly smug little grin, her eyes flashing with mischief and amusement, and watched she watched as Sarah’s cheeks coloured to a fire red hue and the younger woman’s lower jaw slid downwards towards her breasts that were rising and falling with how much oxygen she was trying to gasp in…

  “That’s not … I don’t … how to…” Sarah was lost for the words and the knowhow to make up a full sentence. She was trying, and failing … badly, and she had the witch to thank for putting her on the spot like that.

  “Oh, don’t worry, dear. It’s like riding a bike, it’ll come back to you,” Dorothy grinned with a chuckle that sounded like a tease of the very wickedest kind.

  Sarah floundered in a sea of disbelief and mortified embarrassment … There was the sound of wheezing that came from her as her words and breath got stuck within her throat, a throat that felt as if it was closing up fast, but the sound of the alpha’s deep chuckle practically slapped her upside the head, and her eyes snapped right back towards him again…

  “You might want to close your mouth, Sarah … you’re catching flies and I’m sure you’re not a frog,” Angela offered dryly, and she did just that … snapping her jaws together with the clunk of her teeth.

  Lark couldn’t hold onto the needs of his wolf for a moment longer. He’d learned a long time ago not to scent the air around witches or humans – it made his wolf anxious, and an anxious wolf was never a good thing.

  Now the beast seemed to want to go the other way and take a nice big whiff of the women that was making his heart skip a beat – one that he might be ill afforded to lose, and something was definitely fluttering inside of him … either he was having some kind of episode that he’d never had before, or…

  He took in the scent in the air – easily pulling out the remains of the beta’s scent that was disappearing fast, and then the alpha’s, before he zoned in on each individual witch’s scent … and there she was … a scent so pure, so tempting to both him and his wolf that it overwhelmed him for a long moment…

  His wolf signalled in on that essence, and the man groaned inwardly, savouring the moment, realising why, and, after so many long years in the wilderness, finding that one true feeling of pure joy and certainty…

  Mine… His beast growled the claim and his heart thumped his ribs…

  Mine… so long … almost too damn long to wait for her…

  Mine … my mate, my love … finally…

  Oh, how I wished it had been forty years ago…

  All that lost time to make up for…

  All those dreams we’ll never share to fruition together…

  And yet she’s here now … finally found her…

  Too long … too damn long to wait for my one true mate … for my one true love…

  Lark took a long step forwards towards the elder witch. His eyes took her in…

  “Can I help you with something or are you lost?” Angela eyed the elder as if he’d just farted, a deep frown brought her greying eyebrows downwards.

  “Mine…” Lark growled.

  His beast would have been doing somersaults within him if it could have…

  “W-ha…?” Angela choked out as Dorothy clapped her hands together and roared with laughter.

  Angela’s head snapped around on her neck, and she regretted it the moment that the pain shot through the back of her head like an ice pick against her skull…

  “Fu-r Goddess sake…” She bit out, at the pain, at the elder’s words, at her friend’s sheer delighted humour in her woes…

  “What do you say sweet cheeks?” Lark gave her a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows before he offered a wink to back it up…

  “I think you just had a senior moment!” Angela bit out. Then she motioned towards Dorothy… “What about her?”

  “I’m not his mate … enjoy!” Dorothy beamed her a smile, and offered her a wink, just as the elder had.

  Angela felt as if someone had just tried to kick her legs out from under her. She bit down on a myriad of hex’s that she wanted to spout, and a whole bag full of curse words that were suddenly queuing up within her mind but to unleashed…

  “This isn’t good conversation…” Angela bit out with a small shake of her head in denial, which she also regretted as that pain pinched once more.

  “I agree – who needs conversation when we could be…” Lark stopped in a heartbeat when she raised her hand, palm towards him, and gave him an evil death glare of the worst, and very best kind.

  “Finish that sentence and I guarantee you’ll be very sorry – shifty,” Angela bit out dryly, and Dorothy chuckled harder.

  “Well, isn’t this a turn up for the books…” Dorothy announced with a grin that stretched wide and lit her eyes with laughter…

  “Horror meets the damn apocalypse…” Angela bit out, twisting her head on her neck away from Lark and offering Dorothy a dark stare in the hope that she could silence the woma
n.

  She should have known in her heart of hearts that was never going to happen.

  “Oh, come on – it’s the time to kick up your heels, before you’re boots down in the ground. Get on the love bus, baby…” Dorothy teased with glee, and Angela had to let out the groan that needed an escape or she just might have exploded.

  “So…” Nathan gave a small shake of his head like he was trying to shake away his utter surprise at what had just happened.

  It seemed that he had a new member of his pack … the best thing about that would be his brother’s reaction to it. Samuel was going to be overjoyed at the prospect of having that witch around, day after day, after day…

  He almost couldn’t wait to tell him, and yet, he wanted to do it to his face just so that he could witness the man’s reaction when he first heard the good news…

  He turned his attention back towards Sarah, who seemed unable to tear her eyes away from the newfound mates…

  “The bedrooms are …” Sarah lifted her hand and pointed lamely back over her shoulder at the Inn. “In there.”

  “I had a feeling they might be,” Nathan said, and at the sound of his voice she flicked her eyes in his direction, doing a double take when she saw the grin that he was offering that she was certain Mother Nature had designed just to drop panties.

  Boy did hers almost fall around her ankles before she caught herself, and gave a small, panicked little whimper…

  “Dorothy will show you…” Sarah said, turning and taking off in the other direction from the house; towards the back gardens, and the guarantee of blissful isolation away from everyone and everything…

  Life had just got too weird…

  “Oh goodie,” Dorothy called out after her as she eyed the alpha, arching just one eyebrow at the man. “Don’t get any ideas – you’re not my type.” She offered dryly, and the alpha chuckled harder…

  “Got it. I’ll be on my best behaviour,” he offered back on a furrowed brow and eyebrows that danced to their own tune.

  “Although, fifty years ago I might have given you a run for your money…” she grumbled at the thought of her lost youth…