by Ella Grey
Mate.
That’s not possible. There aren’t any shifters in Harper. David took a deep breath and fought against the urge to turn around and gawp at her. Ingrid glanced to the side of him and smiled at the woman. “Good morning dear. What can I get you?”
“I’m okay. I mean, I wanted to look around. It’s my mom’s birthday soon, and I wanted to get her something.” The woman laughed nervously behind him. “I don’t have a clue what to get her. She isn’t the easiest person to shop for.”
David froze. A lie. It tasted bitter against his tongue. Barely there but hard to miss. Why would she lie about something like that?
“That’s not a problem. Gift sets are on the far wall. Why don’t you have a look at those and see if anything’s suitable. Would you like a cupcake?” David noticed Ingrid was looking at his hand, the hand with the cupcake in. The one he’d completely forgotten about when the woman he hadn’t even looked at walked into the store “David usually likes my niece’s cupcakes,” she said pointedly. “But he hasn’t seemed to take a bite yet. Distracted?”
He grinned at her. The lie was not completely forgotten but put to the back of his mind. “I do, can’t blame me for wanting to take my time with it. I’m a growing man after all, and I could finish this in one bite.” He half shoved it into his mouth, and the elderly woman laughed. He deliberately made a mess with it. The frosting was sweet and cleaned the sour taste of the lie from his palate. He turned around and nearly forgot to breathe at the sight of her. “They’re really good. You should have one.”
The woman laughed, leaning forward slightly with her hand covering her lips. There were dark circles under her eyes and a tightness to her lips, but when she laughed it touched a part of him which he kept hidden. Her long, dark hair was tied up into a ponytail, and her face was make-up free. A pair of dark blue jeans showcased long, lean legs, and a slightly oversized dark hoodie hid womanly curves. David nipped his bottom lip and tried to rein in his wolf. He couldn’t act on his desires. It didn’t matter she was his mate. She was human.
There were rules.
****
A mere ten feet away, Beth, too, had to take a moment to catch her breath. The man, whom she now knew as David, had been handsome from a distance, but up close he was devastating. Clean shaven with a head of short dark hair, he wore the dark blues of security guard uniform well, like a man used to wearing uniforms. The purple frosting smeared across his top lip made her want to close the distance between them and taste it herself. What the hell was she thinking? She was here to distract him as Kelvin robbed the van, but the sight of him was having a strange effect on her, a feeling that didn’t have words.
“Did you want a cupcake, miss?” the owner asked her again.
Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it. Instead she smiled at the woman behind the counter. “I’ve had breakfast.”
“Okay, well if you change your mind, help yourself.” She placed the plate onto the table. “I’ve got to check on my cinnamon buns. I’ll be right back.”
“I will. Thank you.” Beth moved to the side of the wall which held the gifts, unsure about what to do next. Her mother had loved mint humbugs, and she smiled sadly as she traced a finger over the box. After a moment, the man whom she was supposed to distract joined her. Nerves hit her hard as she took in the scent of his aftershave. She couldn’t place it, but damn if it wasn’t the best thing she’d smelt in a long time.
“You know that lying is bad for the soul, right?”
Beth froze. He can’t know what’s happening outside, can he? “What do you mean?” she replied carefully. A gun hung from his hip, a stun gun. One which would still hurt if he shot her with it. She’d left her own in the car. There wasn’t any point for her in carrying it.
“You haven’t eaten this morning.”
She couldn’t help but frown. That wasn’t what she thought he’d say. “How do you know that?” She glanced across at him. “You didn’t hear my stomach rumble. It wasn’t that loud.”
“You were practically drooling at the sight of the cake. Unless of course you were looking at me like that.” His lips curved up into a smile.
Oh my God, he’s flirting with me. There wasn’t much space between them, and even if he hadn’t faced her completely, she could see that his eyes were brown. Not just any brown but a rich, chocolatey brown that reminded her of the chocolates she brought before she moved town. “And what if I was?” Her cheeks burned. Some women could flirt as easy as they put on a pair of socks. Beth was somewhat challenged in the art of seduction.
He turned to face her, and Beth followed suit, unable to stop herself. “I’m David.”
Don’t tell him your real name. Make something up. “Beth.”
Idiot. She fought against the urge to smack her forehead. Well, it’s not like you told him your last name. How many Beth’s live in this town?
“I’ve never seen you before. I’m pretty sure I’d have remembered you.”
“I’m at work a lot.” When she wasn’t at the bar, she kept a low profile. Maybe, if things were different, she could have made friends and settled down, but life hadn’t worked out that way.
“Me neither.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. “This is probably a bad idea, but this is my number. I’d love to take you out for dinner. When you find yourself free of course?” There was nothing she wanted to say but yes, but she couldn’t. He must have caught the look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she replied hastily. “I’m leaving town soon. I won’t be here to go on a date with you.”
For a second it looked like he was about to say something. Whatever uncanny skill he seemed to have to tell whatever she lied, but he didn’t question her on it. Instead he picked her hand up, and that simple touch shocked her. He froze as well. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, and it looked like he was having the same problem.
“Who are you?”
“I already told you,” she replied breathlessly. “I’m Beth.”
He reached up with his free hand and touched the side of her face. “No, you’re so much more than that. I didn’t think it would feel like this.”
It was an odd thing to say and it didn’t make any sense, but it didn’t matter. The distance between them seemed to shrink. Two strangers standing in a shop. In their own little bubble. David leaned towards her, and she moved closer to him.
He smelled both sweet and utterly masculine. A potent combination. Was she really going to let him, someone she’d met only moments ago, kiss her? Hell, she was seconds away from throwing her arms around his shoulders like some cheesy romance heroine.
Suddenly his radio burst into life, and the bubble popped.
Chapter Three
This was madness. David had never let his wolf side make decisions for him before. As a soldier he trusted his gut: it kept him alive, but his wolf side worked on primal instinct. Her scent was all he could smell. It robbed him of his common sense. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman. Push the things off the counter, lift her up, feel her wrap her legs around his waist and pull him closer. Ingrid would have a heart attack.
Mark her, bite her, and make her ours. Deal with the consequences later. The wolf inside of him demanded. David lowered his head to claim her, but just as he was about to brush his, still lightly frosted, lips against hers, his radio erupted to life.
“David, help.” A loud sound, a gunshot echoed in the air.
Beth jumped away from him as if she’d had a jolt of electricity run through her. David snatched up his radio and looked at the door. “Carlos, what happened? Talk to me.” He ran for the door and barely registered the fact Beth followed him. Putting his hand on the butt on his stun gun, he heard a car’s engine roar to life. He opened the door. It would have been easier to wolf out, but he wouldn’t be much help to his partner with paws instead of hands. He kept low and made his way to the van.
“No, no, no, no.” Beth followed him, and he caugh
t her words and the panic behind them, the fear.
The scent of blood hit his nose, and he swore. “Beth, call for an ambulance. Call for one now.”
Beth nodded and darted back into the shop. Whatever was happening with her, he would have to deal with it later. Now he had to worry about Carlos. He moved fast, fear and inhuman speed fueling him. Blood was pooling around Carlos, quickly spreading out. His usual dark skin was becoming paler by the second, his breathing barely audible. David squatted next to him and applied pressure to his wound in his shoulder, trying to ignore the sticky blood that seeped between his fingers and stained them red.
“Hold on, Carlos. An ambulance is coming.” It wouldn’t get there in time. David knew it, even as he promised the man on the ground, he’d be all right. There was only one that he could do, and it was stupid, dangerous. He could use his own blood to heal him. The only thing stopping him was his conscience. It wasn’t his right to change Carlos’s life. Nobody chose to be a shifter unless they were born that way.
Beth appeared from the shop, her face white. “Ingrid called the ambulance.” In her hands were towels, and she knelt next to him. “Move your hands. They aren’t going to stop the blood. These will help more.” David reluctantly moved his hands, and Beth replaced him with her own. “Keep talking to him. We need to keep him awake.”
He nodded. “Carlos, can you hear me?” He picked up the older man’s hand and squeezed it. “Come on, old man. Open your eyes. You’re not going to die here. Open your eyes.” His words this time were a little more forceful, and he poured his authority into them.
Carlos eyes flickered open and settled on him. “Your eyes look funny.” Carlos seemed dazed, his eyes unfocused, but at least it was something. David took a deep breath and tried to take control of his now furious inner wolf.
“Carlos, who shot you?”
“A man. I didn’t recognize him. I heard an odd sound, and when I opened the door he was there.” He coughed. “I don’t think he got any of the money.”
“Don’t worry about that. It’s just money, old man. You should have radioed me when you heard the noise. I would have checked on it.”
“Then it could be you in my place.”
David was faster than the average human, and being shot would hurt, but his innate healing ability would allow him to shrug it off. There were ways to kill a shifter of course. A person would need silver bullets or a very sharp silver knife to take off the head. Shifters could otherwise heal most wounds. Hell, David once heard of a woman who’d fallen from a cliff and survived when her mate infected her with the virus. Their blood was a powerful thing. Dangerous in the wrong hands but with some wonderful perks Carlos could use at that time.
His partner glanced across at Beth, and it looked like the simple movement took a lot out of him. “Hey there, pretty lady.”
David noticed that her eyes were slick with tears which hadn’t fallen yet. She took a deep breath and smiled at Carlos. “I need you to keep calm. The more you panic the worse this is going to be.” Her voice was soothing, and it must have influenced Carlos because his breathing steadied slightly. She glanced up and met his gaze. “David, I’m sorry.”
Suddenly everything clicked into place. “You know who shot him, don’t you?”
She nodded, and her movements were shaky, but she kept pressure on the wound. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt. He promised me that nobody would get hurt.”
“Who was it?”
For a second, he thought she was going to tell him, but she shook her head. “It’s complicated, David. I don’t want you to get hurt as well.”
He believed her. “I can look after myself.”
Beth was looking at Carlos, tears dripping down her cheeks. David’s heart was beating furiously in his chest. His wolf wanted out, and it took a lot of control, but David managed to keep it under his thumb. He continued to ignore the blood and the hopeless situation that was playing out in front of him. She was telling the truth. Each emotion had a unique scent, and Beth was an open book.
She’s also your mate. There must be a reason fate put her in your path now. You should trust her, his wolf said to him. She’s lied a few times, but she isn’t lying now. “I don’t need you to protect me,” he said again, this time a little more forcefully. “Who were you working for?”
“I wasn’t working for him. At least not willingly.” Her face paled slightly, but she shook her head. “It’s complicated.”
“Then make it simple for me.” The sound of a siren ripped through the air. “We’ve got a minute before the ambulance arrives.” Carlos was still breathing, but it was labored. Beth didn’t leave his side. She kept pressure on his wound, and there was a sheer determination to her face.
“My father got into debt to a ‘businessman’ called Temple. He died a long time ago, but when Temple found out I was his daughter, he wanted me to repay that debt. He was the one who worked out the job and paired me with Kelvin. One job and then the debt would be cleared. If I didn’t do it…” She sighed, and it was the most painful sound he’d ever heard. “He would have found … another way for me to pay it back. Probably on my back.” She looked up at him, her eyes pleading. “Kelvin promised me that nobody would be hurt. That it would be simple. I didn’t want anyone to end up hurt because of me.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” David glanced down to see Carlos looking up at her. He touched her hand with his. “You didn’t make him pull the trigger.”
“You wouldn’t be in this position if I’d just loaded my gun and acted like backup. Instead of…” She glanced at him. She’d been a distraction.
That doesn’t matter. Distraction or not. The woman is our mate.
The sound of the siren got louder.
“I can’t be here when they arrive, David. It’ll get back to him that we failed. I’m running out of time.”
He shouldn’t care, but he did. Would it have been different if she wasn’t his mate? No, because he could smell a lie, and the woman who kept his friend from bleeding out was being honest. She needed his help.
“I’m not giving up on having answers. Where can I find you?”
The ambulance skidded around the corner, and Beth looked scared. She reached into her pocket and pulled something from it, which she threw on the ground next to him. “There isn’t time for that.” She turned on her heels and ran back to the shop, but she didn’t go into the building. Instead he watched as she ran down the alleyway next to the shop and vanished.
“I like her,” said a pained voice from below him.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood, old man.” David smiled down at Carlos. His heartbeat was still weak, but at least some of the color returned to his cheeks. “I do, too,” he reluctantly admitted. “But that’s a girl who has secrets.” He picked up the wallet she left and slipped it into his pocket.
“All the best ones do,” Carlos muttered, as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. David didn’t take his eyes from him and kept a vigil on the rise and fall of his chest.
****
Beth ran to the bottom of the alleyway and stopped. Her stomach churned, and she paused by one of the buildings as it involuntarily emptied. When her stomach finally settled, she rested her back against the wall and tried not to touch herself with her bloody hands. What the hell happened? How did Carlos end up hurt?
Kelvin promised me nobody would get hurt. And now he’s vanished with my chance to pay off the debt to Temple. Millions of questions raced through her mind, and she didn’t have an answer to any of them. She glanced down at her hands, stained with blood, and jammed them into her pockets. She needed to get home, wash her hands, and figure out what she planned to tell David. Failing that, she needed to leave Harper entirely and figure it out as she went. Even as the idea passed through her mind, she dismissed it. She wouldn’t get very far on her own with no money.
Beth walked out of the alleyway, and she didn’t turn back. Instead she walked across the street and kept her eyes out for traf
fic.
What am I going to tell Temple?
The truth, but he won’t believe me. That Kelvin decided to go rogue? That it wasn’t my fault it all went to hell? I mean how could it be. I was doing what Kelvin told me to do. And Carlos got hurt. For a second, she couldn’t breathe. Nobody paid her any attention as she stopped, bent over, and put her stained hands on her knees, trying to catch a breath and keep the little remaining breakfast she’d eaten.
I should have stayed with Kelvin to keep an eye on him. She glanced back at the mouth of the alleyway before she turned the corner and it vanished from sight. The sirens were now silent, but after a few moments they blasted back into life again as the ambulance sped Carlos to the hospital. And now someone knows I’ve done something horrible. It’s one thing to be indebted to Temple because of my father, but now I could spend the next couple of decades in a prison. At least I’d be safe from Temple. I hope.
She bowed her head as hot tears started streaming down her face. How could everything go so terribly wrong? All I wanted was a fresh start. A couple of stupid decisions, completely out of my control, and I’ve got blood on my hands.
Chapter Four
David sat by Carlos’s side. The doctor said that he would be all right and that the whole thing could have been a lot worse. The bullet had traveled through his shoulder completely. The police would probably find it lodged somewhere in the van. He’d been lucky, but David knew that there was more to it than that. Thanks to Beth’s quick thinking, she’d saved Carlos, without doubt. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the wallet. She wanted him to find her. If she was a normal criminal, she wouldn’t have done that. It didn’t make sense.