Three days after the date from hell, I came out of my room. The house had been buzzing with activity since Sybil was dealing with a pretty terrible case where a foster child needed to be removed from his home because of alleged abusive behavior by the parent there. She was excellent at her job, and I didn’t doubt her for a second.
Nova was busy working with whatever secret government project they had her doing, and she’d hardly been home except to give me the results of my blood test. I was too sick at heart to even open them, but since she didn’t demand it I knew they were fine.
Noise from the kitchen caught my attention, and I walked inside, not sure what I expected to see. Whatever it was, it surely wasn’t that. Erryn and Davian were frowning as they typed numbers into a laptop. They didn’t even look up when I came in, which was weird. But even stranger was the pair of long legs sticking out from beneath the sink.
“Got it,” a familiar voice said. “One more second,” he grunted.
“Mmm.”
Erryn grunted her reply. Davian said nothing, still busy tapping away at the keyboard. I stood there, waiting for someone to say anything, but no one did. Finally, the stranger slid out from under the sink, and I was greeted by a shocked gasp from a blond-haired, blue-eyed, slender giant of a man.
“Well, good morning, Martina,” the man said, walking over to give me a quick, hard hug.
“Who—oh my God! Tim? Is that you?” I asked, startled but eventually hugging him back.
“It sure is. Want coffee?” he asked, as if this was his house and not mine.
I came out of my stupor and went to grab cream and sugar. I had to move Erryn’s arm, and she growled, as she sometimes did whenever she and Davi were working on something that required all their focus.
“Oh, don’t mind them. She gets a bit snappy when focused,” he told me, as if I didn’t know. “Our accounting program went wonky again, and I came over so they could troubleshoot it. While they were fixing that, I figured I could do something for them, and what do you know, garbage disposal was broken,” he explained.
I admit I was shocked as hell to see the boy I once had a crush on, not to mention he was the brother of the man I ran out on a few nights ago, in the middle of my kitchen. Tim sure was pretty. He wasn’t as big, muscular, or devastatingly handsome as Mitch, but you could tell he was related.
“I see. Um, well, did you fix it?”
“Oh yeah. This was stuck,” he said and picked up the half-bent spoon he’d retrieved from the disposal unit.
“Hmm. That was probably Sybil,” I murmured. “She’s always in a rush and doesn’t always pay attention. You know the type, big heart, but not big on details.”
“Sweetheart, I have a man at home just like that,” he said, and my interest piqued.
“You might not have heard, but I am out now, have been since after college. You know, Rafe taking over the Pack made it easier for anyone with an alternative lifestyle to live in the open. You know, cause I’m gay,” he said, spelling it out for me.
“Oh, um, I hear he’s a good Alpha,” I replied, sipping my coffee and trying not to choke on it.
This was a lot of information to take in. Zev Maccon, the former Alpha, the one I remembered, was a fucking asshole. He’d hated everything that wasn’t like him. I’d always assumed the anti-anything different culture the Wolf Pack had was eternal, but maybe I was wrong. The possibility beat slowly inside me, more like a whisper of a breath. Like a bud of hope had suddenly unfurled, and I lifted my gaze to Tim’s.
“Oh, he is, Marti. Rafe Maccon is an inherently good man, an excellent Alpha. He offers sanctuary to any who ask. Even going so far as to allow other supes to settle in his territory,” he said.
I was feeling simpatico with Tim and I got up and grabbed some cookies from the jar, dropping them onto a plate for us to share while we drank our coffee and gossiped like old friends.
“I didn’t know that,” I said, clearing my throat.
I was a little uncomfortable, after all, Tim was trashing all my preconceived notions about the local Pack, and it was doing terrible things to the barriers I’d placed around myself. Walls I had built years ago so I would not feel the sharp sting of rejection quite so keenly.
I’d built the Macconwood Pack into something evil in my mind, and it made it easier to hate them. But Tim and Mitch, they weren’t evil. In fact, everyone I’d met at our birthday party the other night didn’t seem bad either.
“So, um, tell me about you,” I said, changing the subject.
I needed time to process all that information before I decided my feelings about the Pack. Even if Rafe Maccon was a saint, that didn’t mean my Wolf wanted to pledge fealty to the Pack he ruled. It didn’t mean I wanted to live under his thumb.
“What have you been up to, Tim?”
“Me? Oh, honey, where to begin. After high school I went to college, studied architecture a bit. But I missed my family. My parents are the best. And you know how sisters are. Maureen, Celia, Peggy, and Lynda practically begged me to come back. And of course there was Mitchell,” he said, grabbing a chocolate-covered graham cracker from the dish of goodies I’d spread between us.
“My brother is my best friend,” Tim added, and for a split second the jovial male was replaced by something else.
Protector, my Wolf whispered, and I understood. He was worried about Mitch. Little did he know I was, too. I was worried I’d hurt Mitch with my fire the other night. And I was too scared to ask him. Too afraid to have to see the results of my loss of control.
My powers had been unreliable for years, and for the last few months they had been almost nonexistent. The other night was the first time I’d shifted in so long, I couldn’t believe it. It was like he had pulled the Wolf from my body, but with her, my magic went too. But with my powers, pain often followed. Fire was like that. Uncontrollable and so very deadly.
Please don’t be hurt.
“How is he?” I asked, leaning forward but not looking Tim in the eye.
“Physically? Perfect. The guy has got a demon Werewolf inside him, honey. Emotionally? I’d say Mitchell is hurt and confused.”
That brought me up short. Yeah, most Wolves joked about their inner monsters, so I ignored that bit. Shifters often had super healing abilities and what not. It was different for my sisters and me, but I was still glad he was not injured.
“You know, I used to have a crush on you,” I confessed.
Timothy’s big blue eyes danced with laughter as we traded stories about junior high and eventually high school. His laughter was like Mitch’s and my heart squeezed inside my chest as I thought about all the texts he’d sent over the past few days.
Like a scaredy cat, I’d ignored each and every one of them. And his calls, too. I was too afraid to answer. Too scared to hear the judgement in his voice. Nervous as hell of what he would think after I ran like that. Shit. I owed him an explanation. After all, he’d been nothing but sweet to me. Our date was the best one I’d gone on in years. He was charming and fun, sexy, too.
Memories of that hot petting session we’d shared in his truck have haunted me ever since. I wasn’t sure why my powers reacted like that, and I was embarrassed. But I could have hurt him, and that thought was simply unbearable to me. Yeah, I needed to explain myself and to tell him why I couldn’t see him anymore.
“I knew all about your crush back in grade school. Your sister told me,” Tim said.
“She did not! Who? Nova or Sybil?” I gasped and threw a cookie at him in mock outrage.
“Crumbs,” growled Erryn, still not looking away from the laptop she and Davian were working on.
Tim and I exchanged glances, and we covered our giggles with our hands as I swept the crumbs up with my napkin. It wasn’t like I would have left the mess there, anyway, but a happy Erryn meant a happy Davi. So I cleaned up my mess, and I did it with a grin.
“Sybil, but only because she was trying to gauge my feelings for you. I was flattered, truly,” he said.
“I am going to kill her,” I growled.
“You sound like Mitchell. You know, he has a temper, too,” Tim replied and laughed.
“Mitch? No way. He’s so sweet and kind.”
“To you maybe. That boy houses a monster inside him, and I don’t mean in his pants, so get your mind out of the gutter, thank you,” he said, and my cheeks burned.
Fine. I went there.
“Anyway, I plan to rib my brother relentlessly about how his woman liked me first. You know, he is such an easy target now that you have him all ass struck and everything. He is gonna be so pissed. But as for me, I am happily mated now to a wonderful Wolf from Hope Falls named Peter. He owns the barbershop—”
“Back up. Did you say ass struck?”
“Honey, my brother has got a fixation on that beautiful booty of yours. Lunges?”
“What?”
“Do you do lunges?” he asked, and I shook my head. “Hmm. Just gifted, I guess. Lucky so and so.”
“Okay, Tim, we found the bug,” Davian interrupted us.
“Great! Now maybe my brother will stop snarling at me. Although, I don’t think that will happen until a certain booty-ful Miss Thing—see what I did there? Booty-ful,” he asked, and I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, I see, Tim, but can you explain—”
“Explain what? How I am a genius? Honey, I do not have that kind of time. Anyway, all you need to do is answer his phone calls before half our crews quit, please and thank you. Poor Mitch is behaving like the Beast himself. He’s acting like a bloody tyrant, Martina, and only you can bring him to his senses,” Tim said.
“Me? But why? We just went on a date. One date. I’m nothing to him,” I whispered, my heart damn near pounding me to death.
“Oh my God, are you listening to me? Is she hearing me? What kind of Wolf Shifter doesn’t recognize her own fated mate?” Tim snapped.
“My what?!”
He looked over at Erryn and Davian and I noted their red cheeks and guilty expressions. Something was going on, and those two were in on it. My Wolf growled, and I wondered at how close she felt. Sparks started at my fingertips, and Tim’s gaze dropped to them.
“You’re not just a Wolf,” he said, shocked as he sat back down.
“Tim, we got it from here,” Davian said.
He put himself between me and my, er, my Mitch’s brother. A heated discussion broke out between them, but I could not hear a word of it. Instead, my mind was racing inside of me. My Wolf, that midnight black monster howled a long, solitary note, and I fell to my knees. Her heartbreak filled me, and I gasped at the pain. She was mourning the loss of something. No, not something, someone. A missed opportunity.
Mate.
She wanted her mate. The truth slammed into me like a derailed train, and I could hardly breathe for the weight that was crushing me. Could Mitch really be my fated mate? We’d only gone out once, but I understood that kind of bond could happen instantly between souls fated to each other. This separation had been painful, but I thought it was just guilt causing me to feel that way.
But I’d been wrong. My Wolf was angry, sad, despondent. Oh God, what had I done? This was impossible.
“Martina? Martina!” Erryn was kneeling in front of me, her worried eyes on my face.
I heard Davian and Tim arguing in the background, but I felt no danger from either of them. They weren’t trying to hurt each other, Tim was protecting his brother, and Davi was protecting me.
“Stop. STOP! This is between me and Mitchell.”
“He’s my brother,” Tim said.
“And she is my sister. I won’t have her under Pack scrutiny,” Davian said.
“He won’t tell, Davi. That’s for me to do.”
“What?” my brother asked.
“It doesn’t matter right now. First, I need to talk to Mitchell. Where is he?”
“He’s at the old strip mall. We’re renovating it for Cat Maccon,” Tim said.
I nodded and grabbed the keys to Erryn’s Vespa. Yeah, it was cold as fuck, but after years of hearing Zeke, my honorary Uncle who was also a Sleep Demon, wax poetic on his fondness for the tiny motorbikes, Erryn had caved and gotten one of her own. It was the same shade of purple as her eyes, and though I’d never driven one before, I was totally convinced I could do it.
There wasn’t much choice, really. I had to get to him. I had to see if the things Tim and my Wolf said were real. Was Mitchell really mine? There was only one way to find out.
I took off like a bat out of hell down the slushy streets of Maccon City to the old strip mall that had sat abandoned for years. The wind was bitterly cold, but my powers were back, and I felt just fine. Hell, I hadn’t even grabbed a jacket.
I was wearing fleece lined leggings and knee-high boots with a gray hooded sweatshirt and my hair in a careless ponytail that had come loose somewhere along the way. I looked like a lunatic. I was sure of it, but I didn’t care.