“Werewolf hunter,” the big guy growled. His voice was even deeper and more rumbly than I had expected. He pulled out his cell phone and held it out to me. “Is this him?”
There I was, face-to-face with a slightly blurry picture of the shooter. I grabbed the phone and held it closer. “Yes!”
“Are you sure?” He rumbled.
“Positive.” My finger brushed the screen and the picture zoomed out away from his face to reveal the full image. To my surprise I recognized it. It was the coffee shop that I was becoming a regular at with Carrick. And Carrick himself was in the picture, smiling up at some guy who was handing him coffee. The sight stirred an odd feeling in me. Jealousy?
He wordlessly took the phone back from me; the only sign of emotion was a frown that crossed his face. He growled. Ordinarily, I would have laughed at the sound of someone actually growling. Instead I swallowed nervously. Knowing that this guy, in all likelihood, could turn into some kind of dangerous animal, made the growl quite threatening. Downright scary, in fact. What had I gotten myself mixed up in?
"We need to get this guy," Kessel said. The big one nodded in agreement.
"We need to get Carrick somewhere safe," said Nolan. He turned a glare at Carrick. "Your parents' house is the perfect place." His tone told me Carrick had said otherwise.
"Well, he can't just stay here," Avery said. "Would my place work?"
The suggestion made me bristle. "He can stay with me," I blurted before I could think it through.
"Of course, that's the most logical," Nolan said.
"You'll need a warden," Kessel said. "Where do you live?"
"In the Beachway Apartments on Half Moon Island."
"I can keep an eye on them, but we're going to need someone on Cambry’s, and probably Rion and his mate," Kessel said. "Larkin?"
Big Guy, or Larkin apparently, nodded. "I'll call the boss. You ride with them and stay until I call you."
I had to admit, I was glad it wasn't Larkin joining us. It sounded like they wanted someone in my apartment with me!
They swiftly made arrangements and before I knew it I was being bustled into Kessel’s car. Larkin took Carrick’s, which according to Kessel was in case the car was being watched. He seemed confident that Larkin would be safe. Nolan and Avery said something about going back to a clinic and then I was left alone with Carrick and Kessel.
“The windows are tinted, so there's no need for you to shift back until we get there,” Kessel said. Carrick nodded, then curled up and settled down the back seat.
“How do you feel?” I asked him. It was mostly out of concern, but I was also wondering why I hadn’t heard his voice in my head since his first couple of comments.
‘Better. Mostly just tired now.’
“So, quit talking to the human,” Kessel said with a chuckle. “It takes more effort to speak to humans in animal form, than it does to other shifters,” he explained to me.
“So, you're one of them too,” I said.
Just like I was hoping, he took the bait. “Owl,” he said, much to my surprise. It must have showed on my face because he laughed. “No, it's not all lions and tigers and bears. And wolves, of course.”
“What else is there?” I asked, torn between being overwhelmed and being fascinated.
“Oh, this and that... Hang on.” He grabbed his vibrating cell phone and answered. “This is Kessel.” He hummed and ah’d along for a moment before hanging back up. “Well, your family is all accounted for. They aren’t happy about it, but we suggested they all stick close for a while. Dev is going to head over there to watch them, and Larkin will be joining him after he's done at headquarters. Sounds like I'll be hanging out with you guys. Not to worry though, depending on the layout of your apartment I'll probably just shift and chill in a tree or something.”
Carrick nodded. I supposed it probably made much more sense to him.
“No,” Kessel said, answering a question I didn't hear. “We don't think the entire island needs warning or evacuating yet. We've got several guys there watching for him and for some reason it seems like it's just your family he's been after.” He sighed. “I feel like this is my fault. I told your brother not to worry, I really thought this guy was going to skip town as soon as we went after him.” Kessel looked up into the rearview mirror and smiled grimly. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“I'm uh… still feeling pretty in the dark here,” I said.
“I’d explain it to you, but that's his job.”
Carrick growled in response.
Kessel laughed. “Relax, I don't think you have anything to worry about with this one.” He turned and glanced at me. “We've got a while before we get to the island, can I shed any light for you?”
“I can.” It was Carrick’s voice, but not in my head this time. I turned to see him sitting up in the back seat, human again. And completely naked. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over his lap, but not before I got an eyeful that I couldn't quite pull myself away from. My penis gave a little twitch and I swallowed nervously. What the hell was wrong with me? Maybe it was some weird sexy werewolf thing going on? They were supposed to be sexy right? Or was that vampires?
“What is it you're confused about?” Carrick asked softly. “I mean, aside from the obvious… stuff I haven't gotten around to telling you yet.”
“Well… I guess at the moment the pressing question is: what's up with that guy who shot you, and everything that Kessel just said about evacuating and watching your family. The werewolf stuff is somewhat self-explanatory, in a way.”
He smiled at me and I felt myself smile right back.
“They showed you a picture of him?” he asked.
“Yeah. You were in it. And if I'm not mistaken that was your cousin’s coffee shop.”
Carrick nodded. “I'm afraid so.” His voice still sounded weak and I decided that after he answered this question I would encourage him to rest. “The guy who shot me and a buddy of his have been stalking my brother, Rion. At least, that's what we thought. Rion kept seeing him pop up, chased him down, and got his cell phone. It was full of pictures, like he has been following Rion for months.” His voice may have been weak, but I could hear the fury in it as he spoke of the werewolf hunter following his brother. “Once we saw those from the coffee shop, we knew we would probably in danger here. It has been almost a month since we saw him though.” He shook his head. “Most of my family is still being cautious and sticking close. Kessel and some of the other wardens have been watching my parents’ house and Cambry’s shop. And there are a few scattered all over the island. I got careless coming to the mainland and forming a predictable schedule.” Carrick sighed and leaned heavily against the seat.
“You can always play hockey next year,” Kessel said. “I think you might want to pull out for now.”
“It's my last year,” Carrick muttered.
“I know,” Kessel said sympathetically.
“And evacuating the island?”
“There are a lot of shifters on the island. Actually, this whole region has a pretty high concentration. Thanks to the ocean and all of the undeveloped and protected wildlife preserves we are pretty secluded. Shifters have lived here for a long time. You're far from the only human, in fact we’re outnumbered by humans by at least five to one… but that's a pretty low ratio compared to most places.”
Kessel cut in and elaborated. “Right now we're pretty confident that there's only one hunter at large. We've already got the other one. He was interrogated and we have no reason to believe he was lying when he said it's just him and this guy. They had no idea what kind of a network of shifters they were dealing with. He thought they tracked down a werewolf and that was that. He may have figured out that the rest of Carrick's family is wolves, but he hasn't seen any wardens change. He knows we’re around and probably suspects that the wolves aren't alone, but I don’t think he has any idea how many shifters he's dealing with. Especially since he would have so many other easy targets. I th
ink he's focusing on the Silvanus family.”
We stopped at an intersection and the lights from the shops on the corner illuminated Carrick enough for me to see that he looked pale and tired. I had a dozen other questions but decided they were best saved until he was recovering.
Instead, I turned my attention out the window as the car resumed moving. We continued on in silence and soon the increasingly familiar dark skyline of Half Moon Island loomed in the distance.
Chapter 5
Carrick
Everything was sort of a blur. I woke up, disoriented. I was in a strange bed. In fact, I was in a room I had never seen before. I was sprawled out naked in the middle of the bed, on top of the sheets, with a blanket partly over me. That part wasn't strange, it meant I must've fallen asleep while shifted.
I rolled onto my back and immediately felt a sharp pain. I jerked upright, which only intensified it. Now I remembered: I was shot.
Everything started coming back to me. My stomach knotted as a feeling of panic overtook me. Not because the werewolf hunter was back or because he shot me, but because Brooks knew what I was. And if I was recalling things correctly someone had let the term true mate slip in as well.
I swallowed nervously. My three-day clock was now officially taking. There was a chair right by the bed with set of newly folded clothes in it. I pulled them on and looked around Brooks's room, taking it all in. My stomach rumbled, prompting me to hurry and dress. I went out into a small living room. Brooks was there, sitting at the kitchen table, spreading cream cheese on bagel. I spied a huge bag on the table near him, with my sister’s logo on the front.
“Carrick!” He jumped to his feet and I thought for a moment that he was about to rush over and hug me. He stopped short and stood awkwardly for a moment, and then smiled. “How are you feeling? I didn't expect you to be up… well, at all to be honest.”
“I'm sore, but I feel quite a bit better than I did last night, that's for sure. We heal fast,” I added.
“Yeah. I guess silver bullets aren't actually all they're cracked up to be.”
I nodded bashfully. “So… about that…” my stomach rumbled and the tension dissolved.
Brooks smiled. “Kessel said you’d be hungry.” He gestured to the bag from my sister’s bakery. “He said this is your favorite?” Was it my imagination or did he sound a little jealous?
“Probably. I imagine he told my sister it was for me, and she loaded it up.” His eyes narrowed, so I pointed to the bakery logo on the bag. “My sister’s bakery.”
“Your sister owns the bakery?!”
I nodded and picked up a large cup of coffee. “And stocks Cambry's coffee, of course.”
“While she supplies the baked goods at Cambry's café?” he asked with a grin. I nodded. “Any other family-owned businesses I should be aware of?”
His laughter died as I flushed. “My parents own the Silver Moon,” I told him, knowing he was familiar with the largest restaurant and bar on the island. “I guess they know what happened?”
“It sounds like Kessel or someone explained things to your family,” he said, quickly masking his surprise. “They're all pretty worried, but agreed that you need rest and there is too chaotic. I gather there's a young kid?”
“My niece. Not to mention my entire family is there right now, because of the hunter. Where is Kessel?”
“He stayed up all night and said he was trading shifts with someone today. I didn't get a name.”
I nodded. We'd probably have the wardens tailing us for quite some time, thanks to this guy popping up again after month. The wardens probably wouldn't stand down until he was good and dead. I pulled a muffin out of the bag.
“Ha, she really did send my favorite.”
Brooks shook his head in amusement. “How did you end up working at that little skate shop if everyone else is a culinary expert?”
I grinned weakly. I brought him to my skate shop for some supplies one day and when greeted by the employees, I told him I worked to there for simplicity. “Actually, I own it,” I confessed. His eyes flew wide in surprise. “It does okay, considering it is a skate shop near the beach, but it’s also the only one around, so I serve pretty much the entire peninsula. I've been thinking of actually getting into surf equipment, but haven’t gotten around to it.” I didn't add that I had been toying with that idea for like thirty years.
“Oh. Okay.” I wondered if he was putting off the same conversation that I was. I helped myself to some of Tessa's baked goods and started eating. I finished the entire croissant before Brooks said softly, “So, you’re a werewolf.”
“Shifter, technically,” I said.
“Oh yeah, I heard that term a few times. I guess that makes sense, since you're not just wolves. And considering these wardens are watching your entire family, I'm guessing it's not something you get turned into.”
“No. Although... it is possible to be turned into one.” He looked interested, but not excited, like I was hoping. “I imagine you have a lot of questions?”
“A few,” he said, smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Where do I begin?”
“I'm not sure where I want to begin.” Brooks hesitated and cleared his throat a couple of times. “How about the part where I’m your true mate? Is that... is that what it sounds like?”
“Sounds like?”
“Like, some sort of Australian slang for best friend?” I could tell from the way he asked that he was well aware of the other connotation of mate. My heart sank a little. Thanks to past conversations with him, I knew he considered himself totally straight. I had no worries that we wouldn't be perfectly compatible in every way, we were true mates after all. He wouldn't be the first true mate I heard of who wasn't attracted to anyone of the same sex except his true mate. The problem was whether or not that impacted his decision to agree to become my mate.
I folded my hands on the table in front of me and clicked my tongue in thought. “It means,” I said, “that we are soulmates.”
Brooks swallowed audibly. “Okay... see, the thing is... I’m not sure how to say this...”
“You're not gay,” I guessed. His look of relief said everything. “That's fine,” I said. It wasn't entirely true, but if Rion was to be believed, the true mate chemistry would be too powerful for Brooks to ignore for long. “There's a lot more to being true mates than just sex.”
“Like?”
“Well, a true mate is your best friend. But it's like a perfect best friend. You might have a spat or two, but you'll always get along, you'll never be truly mad at each other... you'll just always be happy together. It's like the most perfect relationship you could ever want. In every way. I mean, we’ve really hit it off, haven't we? Even the first night we met, when you said you weren't going to keep playing. I invited you to get a coffee because I suddenly couldn't imagine the team without you.”
He looked down awkwardly and picked at his food for a moment. “I think... that whole getting coffee with you wasn't normally something I would do. I guess… I guess maybe I did want to spend time with you.” His brow furrowed in thought.
“That's one of the classic signs of a true mate,” I said. “That contentment together. And probably the most obvious sign is a somewhat inexplicable pain in your neck,” I added. “Like kind of just above your collarbone.”
His head snapped up, eyes wide. The lingering fear that I was wrong and he wasn't my true mate vanished at that. I nodded, knowing that he felt it.
“If you choose to become my mate, we bite each other.” He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I am a wolf,” I reminded him. “It's a primal kind of thing, I guess. Anyway, that's where we mark each other. It leaves a scar and it sort of... magically connects us somehow. It hurts now, but after we mark each other it will serve as a connection between us.”
“I see...” I swallowed nervously. If he wasn't into this there was every chance he would reject me as his mate. “And how am I going to mark you? Are human teeth goo
d enough?”
Well, at least he was considering it. I took a deep breath. “Actually, I would turn you into a wolf.”
“You can do that?!”
I nodded. He looked a little leery, which tore my heartstrings. I quickly raised my hand. “Don't worry it's not like in the movies or whatever. There's a process.” He looked more curious than worried now, so I continued. “I have to get permission from you to turn you. And then there's a governing body I have to contact who will come to... interview you. At that point, if they also give permission, then you can be turned. Obviously, again, only if you want to be.”
“You have a governing body?”
“We’re not exactly easy to bind by human law.”
“No, I guess you wouldn't be. So, we wouldn't be true mates until you turned me into a wolf too?”
“No, we are true mates. But, we wouldn't be able to remain together unless I turn you.” I figured I might as well tell the truth. “Actually, the Alpha Parliament, that's our governing body, needs to be contacted now that you know about our existence. Even if you don't want to make being true mates official, they're going to need to come and see you.”
“To make sure I keep my mouth shut?” he guessed.
I took a deep breath. “To erase your memory.”
“What?!” he yelped.
“That's part of how we keep our existence a secret. If any humans find out about us, with a few exceptions, their memories are erased. If you agree to be turned and claimed, well that's that. If you don't want to be claimed or you don't want me to turn you, which are not mutually exclusive, then... they erase our memories.”
“Our? Would they erase yours too?”
“My memories of you, yes.” It hurt to think about.
“Why would they do that?”
“A true mate is special,” I told him, praying he would understand. “And I don't just mean in the ‘they’re the perfect partner and best friend thing,’ that I was telling you earlier. I mean that a true mate is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. You’re it for me, even if you reject me. You’re the one person I’m meant to be with.” His eyes grew impossibly wide, but I needed him to understand. “They'd erase my memory because when it comes to shifters that whole better to have loved and lost thing is bullshit. Knowing I've met you and can't have you will hurt forever. And my wolf will probably go crazy. The memory erasing is for my own good. And there are some... less law-abiding shifters who in the past have gone and turned their mates against their will. If you don't want to be turned and I don't remember you exist, you're safe from that. Not that I ever would,” I added quickly. “I can't imagine someone who would put their own personal happiness above that of their true mate, but that's just me.”
Icing the Omega Page 5