Mated To Magic (Stark Creek Shifters Book 1) by Barb Shuler (free ereaders .TXT) 📕

I moved closer, my hands pressing into the bar. It was taking all I had in me to keep on this side of the bar. I wanted to scoop her up and run her back home. I was fighting my own anger and the wolf’s. The bastard thought he had a say in this.

My eyes were burning and I knew he was looking out of them, inspecting every inch of her he could see.

“You’ve been a bad little witch!” I growled as I climbed up on the bar, ready to jump it and steal her away.

“Keep it up, wolf, and you’ll be kept outside too! This is my bar, I will protect it and my girls the way I need to! I told you, your guys can’t come in here! You didn’t ask, you ordered it. I don’t take orders from you!”

The pounding in my insides was growing. The bond that proved she was my mate tugged me closer. I had to touch her. I leaned down, my hand outstretched.

“Come to me, precious.” I shook my head and growled at my wolf. Mine! “Mia,” I ground her name out through my teeth.

“Dalton!”

I heard the warning and the worry in Liam’s voice, but I ignored him and reached for Mia.

Shockingly cold water hit me right in the face. I slapped my hand to my face, sputtering. As easily as I’d jumped up on the bar, I slid off when I overcorrected.

I hit the floor with a hard thud, taking three bottles out with me. I lay at Mia’s feet and looked up to see Jayden pointing the glass sprayer at me.

I hated to admit it, but she’d stopped my wolf from completely taking over. Wolf – 0. Cat – 1.

“No one likes it when Mommy and Daddy fight,” Jay said, her voice shaking. Worse, her whole body was shaking. I quickly sat up and scooted away from her, ignoring the glass digging into my hands.

“Fuck!”

Deep breath in, deep breath out. I had to get the fucker inside of me to chill. He’d almost had complete control.

“Liam…”

“Boss?”

“Get them out of here, please. I need…a minute…”

“Dalton,” Mia started, and my heart hurt. The bond twisted me tight. If I didn’t solidify it, bite her, bind us together soon, my wolf would do it for me.

“You need Ty—”

“No,” I said, cutting Liam off, “just get them out, please...escort them to the office.”

“Okay, boss.”

14

Mia

When Dalton came charging into the bar, I knew by the look on his face that I would have some doors that would need replacing. I didn’t care about that, though. I was more concerned with the shifter standing beside me, shaking as she hosed him down. I didn’t want to leave when he asked Liam to escort us to my office, but I knew not to push my luck today. I wasn’t sorry for what I did, and this just proved that Jay isn’t ready to deal with his guys. I don’t give a shit what he demands.

“Mia, what did you do?”

I closed the door behind us when we got to the office. I wrapped my arms around her, my hand rubbing her arm as I tried to get her to relax. One pissed off shifter was enough. I didn’t need a cat and a wolf running around here.

“What I had to do. No shifter can enter this bar with the exception of Dalton, Liam, and you. Him finding that clearly means one of his guys has tried to get in here tonight.”

Jay nodded and rested her head on my shoulder. I let my touch try and soothe her. I had hoped that he would stay on the other side of the bar, but his wolf took over, trying to get to me. I knew the minute his eyes turned golden that it wasn’t going to end well. Thankfully, Jay defused the situation, but it was taking all that I had not to go back out there to check on him.

“Would you be able to drive me home? Dalton dropped me off and he needs a time-out right now.”

Jay chuckled.

“That, and he has a door to fix,” I added.

“Come on, let’s get you home. Do you need me to stay with you tonight?”

“You can if you want to. D will have someone watching the house until he gets home.”

“Okay, I’ll stay till he comes home, then I’ll leave you two to talk.”

I nodded and stood up. Taking my bag from the bottom drawer and locking it up, I stepped out into the hall. Liam was standing there.

“Can you tell him Jay is taking me home? He has a door to fix before I want to see him. If he sends one of you, you are to stay hidden.”

He gave me a nod. I knew I was being a complete bitch, but I needed him to know that he couldn’t order me around. I wasn’t his pack; I was his mate. We walked through the bar to the back entrance without seeing Dalton, so we kept going to her car. The boys had made themselves scarce, so obviously they were with him. Jay unlocked her car and we got in. We both relaxed a little when she pulled out of the parking lot and headed for our house.

“Are you okay?”

Jay gave me a nod. “Better now that I’m out of there.”

“I’m sorry, I was trying to avoid that.”

“It’s not your fault he’s a big ogre.”

I chuckled softly. “No, maybe not, but I don’t help. We seem to push each other’s buttons a lot these days.”

“Yeah, but isn’t that healthy? You fight, then make up, and do it all again. You never go to bed angry, do you?”

“No, we make sure to sort it out before we go to sleep.”

‘Then you have nothing to worry about. Maybe just stop fighting in front of the children?” She gave a grin and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, we’ll try.”

“Good.” She pulled into my driveway and parked behind my