In a second, Oscar closed the space between him and the male shifter. He gripped the man by the back of his shirt and yanked him away. The shifter stumbled away with a growl. When he spun on Oscar, he seemed to recognize him but was too stupid or too brave for his own good. The male shifter slid his foot into a defensive stance.
Oscar glanced at the restaurant. There were no windows, but if an employee stepped out the back door, they would see the fight. He needed to keep it quick and hold back his animal.
“The woman said she wasn’t interested. You should walk away.”
The male shifter jerked his chin at Regina. “That your woman?”
Regina made a sound of offence, but Oscar held his hand up.
“It doesn’t matter who she is or isn’t dating. You should listen to her when she speaks. Now, leave.” Oscar wove power into his voice. He watched his dominance slam into the male shifter.
The man shuddered under it but didn’t leave. He was strong, perhaps strong enough to run his own pack. Oscar knew he wasn’t looking at the San Francisco Alpha. A man who ran a city that large wouldn’t be screwing around at a diner. He almost certainly wouldn’t be harassing a woman outside one, either.
The best Oscar could tell, the male shifter was a stray. A very stubborn and determined stray.
“Come on, baby. You don’t really want to date this stick in the mud, do you?”
“Choke on a fat cock,” Regina growled.
Oscar felt a surge of pride at her defiance. “You heard her.”
Even if he had, the shifter made a series of bad decisions. The first was trying to jump Oscar as he turned. His vision turned red. The bear took control of Oscar’s body and spun him around. Just as the man had been about to land a hit, Oscar gripped him by his throat. He squeezed, feeling the fount of life crunch beneath his grip.
Regina made a sound behind him. A whimper. The red over his vision receded a little. Oscar wrestled control back from his bear, only an ounce, but it was enough to loosen his grip. He knew the bear still held the reins, still wanted to watch the life drain from this man’s eyes. Never before had the beast ever been so angry.
It seethed, wanting to make the man hurt for what he’d tried to do. If Oscar hadn’t arrived when he had, Regina might have been hurt. Worse, the shifter might have taken her, and he never would have seen her again. It was less about what Nikolai would think, and more about Regina.
All about her.
“I have a very short fuse,” Oscar warned the man as his toes dragged against the pavement.
The male shifter gripped Oscar’s arm. He stretched and tried to scratch Oscar’s face, but the lack of oxygen was making him weak. He could barely leave a mark on Oscar’s cheek. The man’s beast rose. It filled his eyes with a molten bronze, but Oscar met his gaze and forced it back. He pressed his dominance against him, poured it into his gaze so that the man wouldn’t be able to release his beast.
“If I ever see you again, know that I’ll make the rest of your life hurt. I am the Alpha of Santa Cruz and I will not allow you to be an asshole on my turf.” He had to be pushing his boundaries, this close to another Alpha’s territory, but he wasn’t backing down.
Oscar dropped him. The man crashed to the ground in a heap. As he pulled himself together, he glanced to Regina. She stepped up to Oscar’s side and offered the male shifter both middle fingers. She was feisty for being so small.
Once the male shifter ran away with his tail tucked between his legs, Regina spun away from Oscar.
“You’re welcome,” he grumbled. The bear railed against him, slamming into he walls of his mind and raking its claws through his muscle. His body screamed with pain, the price for holding the beast from its quarry.
She spun on him, fiery hair flying in every direction, her accusing finger raised, and lips poised to spew flames. But, nothing came out. Her hand fell as the fight fled from her. “Don’t ask for a thank you. It makes you sound like an asshole.”
Regina jerked the passenger door open and paused. “But, thank you.”
The urge to sweep her into his arms and make sure she was okay struck him. He wobbled this way and that, trying to regain control of his better senses while she waited for him in the car. He’d left for a single moment, just long enough to use the restroom, and a stray shifter had hunted her down. The bear was still fuming. It wanted to hunt the man down, to render him into nothing more than a pile of useless flesh.
His hands jerked, body lurching in the direction the man had run. Instead, Oscar managed to spin himself toward the trunk. Popping it open, he dug around its contents until he found a bundle of wire that burned his fingers. He clutched it and waited for the bear to recede.
This wasn’t the time to lose control. He couldn’t do it in public, not around Regina. The silver seared through skin and into his soul. The bear growled for him to chase after the stalker, but the sound faded little by little. The throbbing pain filled him, but he drew a calming breath and tried to center himself. His breathing was shallow, at first. For a long moment, Oscar focused on deep breaths until he could present some kind of semblance of okay.
Regina waited for him inside the car. He wondered what she was thinking of him. Most likely, his behavior had terrified her. It happened around too many, even his own shifters. The ferocity of his beast kept those he loved safe, but it didn’t keep them from fearing him.
Chapter Seven
The stray shifter had snuck up on her. Both human and beast had been thinking about Oscar as she stepped outside, forgetting the scent that followed them and letting her guard down. The scent hit her first. Fear slapped her, sending her heart racing. Then, his voice wrapped around her and she knew it was already too late to run. He’d made her stomach churn, nearly bringing her too large breakfast back up. His advances had been forceful. She’d had half the mind to shift and hide under the car until Oscar came back out, but she wasn’t going to let him solve her problems.
Not after the fuss she’d put up about being able to protect herself.
Even so, she’d still needed Oscar to save her. The beast inside her rolled with happiness. It was pleased with Oscar and the strength he’d shown. She told the little beast that it was an idiot and to not get attached to him. He was a man who’d already lost a mate. Hell, he was the Alpha of a pack she had no plans to join.
Even so, she twisted in her seat, wondering where he was. Minutes ticked by and Oscar hadn’t joined her. She knew the trip was short and they had time to spare, but confusion still tickled the back of her head.
Just as she peeked, Oscar slammed the trunk closed. For a second, she worried that he’d gone after the shifter and shoved the man’s body into the trunk. When Oscar threw himself into the passenger seat, she saw the welt of red skin on his palm. Her stomach sank.
Immediately, without thinking, she reached for his hand. “What did you do?”
She knew this hadn’t happened during the short scuffle. Running her thumb over the calloused skin around the welt, she realized this was a silver burn. She looked up at him with horror on her face.
Oscar didn’t jerk his hand back from her. Instead, he sighed as if her touch were comforting. She waited for an answer, for any kind of explanation.
“You did this to yourself,” she began when he didn’t say anything. “Why would you hurt yourself like that?”
He jerked away at her accusation. Ignoring what must have hurt like hell, he turned the key in the ignition and put the car into reverse to back out of the parking spot. Each passing second made her angrier and angrier.
“You really are an idiot. Aren’t you?”
The car slammed to a stop. Thankfully, they hadn’t made it out of the parking lot. Oscar said nothing. His jaw tightened, the muscle twitching the entire time.
“I don’t understand what on earth would possess you to hurt yourself, but you’ve clearly got a lot of shit to work through.” She was tempted to shove the door open and start walking home. It was a long trek, but
if she shifted it wouldn’t be so bad.
Then, Oscar turned his hand over to reveal the self-inflicted wound. “Silver helps me control my beast. Without it, I would have run after him and left behind a corpse. I don’t want to be that person, that monster anymore.”
Regina swallowed. His confession had weighed more than she’d thought, so when she spoke again her voice was barely a whisper. “You lost control because of me?”
He said nothing, quiet as if he couldn’t bring his demons to the light.
“Or, do you always lose control in situations like that?”
Finally, he sighed. His hand dropped to his lap. The welt was healing, slowly. “I thought the bear and I were doing better. I haven’t lost control in years. Recently, it’s been harder. Little things are setting me off.”
“The reputation you have, that’s because of the beast. Isn’t it? You lost control, but it happened to be aimed in the right direction when you took down the last Alpha and got rid of the gangs.”
He let off the brake and the car lurched forward. The moment they’d had was left behind the diner’s parking lot. Oscar swallowed any confession he might have had and left her in silence. She found her heart aching for the man. What kind of life had he led? One of loneliness, she figured. It was no wonder the loss of his mate had ripped him apart.
Unable to bear the silence, she changed the subject. “If you hadn’t shown up when you had, I planned on shifting and hiding under the car. Foxes are great at surviving, even if the methods of survival are embarrassing.”
Oscar laughed. It was short and nothing more than a huff of air, but it was better than his silence. Regina adjusted herself, pulling the neckline of her dress higher. She knew the damn thing was a mistake. It’d attracted the wrong kind of attention and landed her in trouble.
“Its better to survive than to fight back and die.” His voice was haunted. When his gaze slid to her, it was filled with relief.
Her skin prickled with that electric feeling again. Anywhere his eyes touched her, she came alive. She wished she was the kind of woman who could settle for a single night of love-making. She might have seduced him when this was all done and over.
As it was, she’d barely made it through the affair with Nikolai. He’d made it clear that they weren’t going to work, and letting him touch her each time had been a feat of hope. As if she might win his heart with her body. She should have known better, should have shielded her heart, but she succumbed to a thirst for a fairy tale sort of love every now and then.
Often, to get it out of her system, she would put on an old Hollywood movie and get swept up in the romance. It fulfilled her hunger and let her get on with her love-less days. The tone of Oscar’s voice, the spark in the way he looked at her, all brought it back to the surface.
Chapter Eight
The rest of the drive toward the Redwood Basin was quiet. She leaned her seat back and let her eyes drift shut. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel Oscar’s presence beside her. She imagined him reaching across the divide and laying a hand on her thigh. Her stomach tightened at the thought, enjoying it even if she knew it was an impossibility. She didn’t need to get attached to anyone.
Slowly, the thoughts drifted away. It was more like Regina shoved them away, but her mind was left blank in their absence. Before she knew it, she’d drifted off into dream land only to be woken when they arrived.
Outside the windshield, massive trees loomed over them. The forest was washed in shades of red, green, and umber. When she breathed the air, it refreshed her soul like the salty waves of the ocean. Her fox leapt with giddy joy at the sight of the forest.
“We are never going to find a fox shifter in here,” she mumbled. The enormity of the forest was one thing. There were too many places for the shifter to hide, hills and holes around every corner. Foxes also ran the palette of reds and browns. The shifter, in fox form, would blend seamlessly into the redwood forest.
“Come, watch.” Oscar kicked his door open and stepped into the open air. He left in his wake a spicy scent that mingled with the woods and made her stomach tighten.
She really didn’t need to be catching feelings for an Alpha. Oscar clearly had his own problems. He’d also already had a mate, so there was absolutely zero chance at any kind of fairy tale love. The thought helped her pull back from him. She could admire Oscar from a distance, that’s all she would allow herself.
Droves of people milled around the parking lot. They read the little placards placed here and there, digesting history and science. Oscar reached for her hand and led her away from all that. He didn’t bother with a path, cutting through the forest in what seemed like a random direction.
She was grateful for the lack of brush. It would have snagged at her skirt and scratched her legs. Perhaps another reason why the wild fox shifter seemed to like it here so much. The place was simple and open, yet a fox could get very lost in it. The thought struck her that the shifter might have been hiding from someone.
If it was hiding and had caught scent of Oscar, it would run. If it was hiding from family, it might even run from Regina’s scent. The smell of fox would set off alarms. She knew how the fox families could be, if her own had been any indication. She didn’t blame the wild shifter for running from them it that was the case.
After her reeling thoughts settled a bit, she realized Oscar was still holding her hand. While his fingertips were calloused, his grip was gentle. She didn’t pull away, though she should have. It was nice to be close to someone, even if it was just for a short while.
When they were sufficiently away from the tourists and hikers, Oscar released her hand. She looked around, almost helpless, and wondered how this would help them track a fox shifter. It was clear they’d wandered in a random direction. No time had been spared to sniff the air or even look for tracks.
She didn’t mention her trepidation, or her relief that they hadn’t started tracking the shifter yet. Fear trampled everything else she should have felt in the moment. This shifter Oscar wanted to find could ruin everything Regina had built. She had her own life, a job she loved dearly.
She wasn’t going to give it up if some male asked her to marry him. Not without a fight, at least. There was a chance the shifter wasn’t a male. It could be a female fox, trying to escape a life that tormented her. Oscar hadn’t mentioned a gender.
Ahead, Oscar stopped in the center of a clearing and raised his hands. When his head fell back, she could feel it. The power danced along her skin. It was like the current of the ocean, washing around her legs and tugging her toward him like he was the center of an eddy. The world swirled around him, bathed in the power of his beast. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. No Alpha had ever exercised such power around her.
Then again, no Alpha had ever needed to summon a shifter that didn’t belong to him. This was a strange power for a strange situation. Long moments passed, the power swirling around him, but nothing happened. What was once a smug smile on his lips slowly drooped into a scowl. He looked out into the forest with confusion.
“What was that?” Regina asked before she could stop herself.
“A trick I perfected. It should have summoned every shifter for about three miles.”
“It would take more than a minute for a shifter to get here if they were three miles out.”
Still, he scowled. She trudged toward him, still looking out into the forest as if the fox shifter would appear at any moment. She didn’t know how it worked, whatever he’d done, but she knew he was being too impatient. He needed to wait for the shifter to come to him, but already Oscar had given up.
“Get the stick out of your ass and wait for a few minutes. If no one shows up, then you can try again.”
His attention snapped to her, eyes wide before they narrowed. Belatedly, she realized no one spoke to him the way she just had. He was the most feared Alpha of California and she’d just told him to remove something from his ass. It was not her smartest moment—eve
r.
Finally, his shoulders sank. “You’re right. I didn’t expect to have to reach so far. I really thought he would be nearby when I called.”
Unable to find a patch of ground she felt comfortable sitting on, Regina settled for crossing her arms over her chest and cocking her hip. Oscar seemed…off his game, though she wasn’t sure if that was accurate because she really didn’t know what he looked like while he was at his best. If Monica loved him, she was sure Oscar had to be a good person, but he seemed edgy and impatient.
“What are you trying to make amends for?” Regina asked, softly.
His head shot up, his whole body freezing.
“From how hard you’re trying, from the results you expect, it seems like you’re trying to make up for something. Maybe something you think you did wrong?” She thought about the gangs he’d supposedly eradicated. She wasn’t sure that would make a man like him feel guilt. It had to be something more personal. “It’s because you lost Monica, isn’t it?”
He stopped and swallowed, the apple of his throat bobbing. “I didn’t think of it that way, but that could be it. There are a lot of things I’ve screwed up over the years.”
His confession was short, unfulfilling. Regina wanted to pry further. There was a truth inside him waiting to get out, but he held it back from her. She wasn’t Pack, she was barely even a friend. Who was she to dig into his soul and try to lay it bare?
Frustrated as she was, she set aside the conversation. It clearly wasn’t going to make the time pass any faster. Slowly, step by step, she approached him until they stood side by side. She scanned the forest around them. Still, nothing appeared other than a song bird here and there. It was beginning to look like their trek had been a waste of time.
Perhaps not a complete waste, she thought as she stood beside Oscar. It’d been nice to get to know the man Oscar really was. He turned out to be a lot nicer than the rumors would suggest. He’d built walls around himself, rumors that were larger than the average man. They worked in keeping his Pack safe and his leadership unchallenged.
Her Alpha Mismatch Page 6