“Oh. I didn’t realize it was so long.”
“Yeah.” With her hands folded on her hips, Avery demanded, “What the hell happened?”
As if he didn’t like the way Avery was speaking to her sister, the wolf bared his fangs. Deep in his chest, a rumble started. Avery felt a shiver run up and down her spine—but not because she was afraid of the big, grey wolf. No. It was like the scene at the psychic’s all over again. Cam’s energy hit her, just as angry as before.
She got the sense that Cam was reacting to the growl. And though she’d noticed that he relaxed when she touched him, he was flying somewhere over her head and out of reach.
Uh-oh.
Though she doubted it would work, she tried to send good vibes up to him while Heather bent down, stroking the wolf’s muzzle as if trying to do the same for the snarling beast.
“It’s okay, Link,” she murmured. Then, glancing up at Avery, she said, “What happened? Trust me. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Yeah? Try me.”
“Okay. Bree? This is Link.” She scratched the space between the wolf’s ears. “And… he’s my mate.”
Heather was right. She couldn’t believe it.
15
Link Shaw: Advice Guru
Mated. Her big sister was mated.
As she watched the massive wolf prowl the living room, never getting too far from Heather, brushing up against her side like the world’s biggest puppy dog, Avery marveled over the word one more time.
Mated.
Technically, it was always a possibility. Avery had grown up in a world where humans had always known that Paras lived alongside them. With the Bond Laws—the Claws Clause as Cam called it—laying out the rules governing all mated pairs, she even knew what to expect if she happened to be fated to belong to one of the paranormal males.
But Heather? She was the last person Avery expected to bond with a Para and be happy about it.
But she was. Undeniably so—and Avery still couldn’t believe it.
After Heather made Link yip an apology at Avery for his rude greeting, she invited her inside of the house. It was as nice inside as it was outside, and though Heather had only been staying there with Link since that fateful Saturday night, Avery could see her touches everywhere she looked.
Then, when she couldn’t keep avoiding her sister by looking around the living room, she met Heather’s eyes and tried to make sense of what Heather explained to her.
So Link, he of the bad attitude and thick grey fur, was a wolf shifter. No shit. After paying off a witch back in Kansas where he was from, he discovered that Heather was his fated mate. Because no shifter would give up the chance to find his happily-ever-after, the big brute ran nearly the entire way from Lawrence to Grayson, searching for her.
Why Grayson, Avery asked. Simple. Because he knew from going through all of Heather’s social media posts that she often went to Grayson for its nightlife. Instead of showing up in Spring Valley and snarling mine, Link had wanted to bump into her in a public place for their first meeting before he admitted she was his fated mate.
Avery rolled her eyes at that.
Cam could barely use a computer or a cell phone without his celestial magic blowing it up, but Heather’s mate had online stalked her before following her to Mickey’s more than eight hundred miles away from his home.
Because sure. Why the hell not?
So they’d met at Mickey’s. That was the Friday before, but Link never told Heather about the whole “mate bond” thing. Desperate to see her the next day, he decided to drop in at the Spring Valley library Saturday night—only to discover the perimeter spell surrounding their small town.
“It fried his brain, Bree,” Heather said, pausing to stroke Link’s head. During the whole explanation, he purposely stayed in his beast shape. Heather mentioned that, while he’d recovered most of his senses as soon as he’d gotten out of Spring Valley and broke through the perimeter a second time, his beast became riled up when he thought she was in danger. With Cam—and his power level—hovering nearby, he hadn’t felt comfortable enough to shift back yet. “And, okay, he scared the shit out of me when I first saw him in his wolf form, but he’s never hurt me. I dropped my phone when he pounced on me, but he was just trying to get me to figure out that he was safe.”
“Safe? Heather? You sounded like you were screaming bloody murder.”
“Trust me. I was. This big guy comes after you, you scream, then you run. It’s instinct. But when he realized I was scared, he whimpered. And… I don’t know… I could tell he was hurt. I didn’t even think about my phone. My car. I helped him run back out of Spring Valley myself and, as soon as he did, Link was a man again.”
Heather, she told Avery, had recognized him as the man she met in the bar the night before. Putting two and two together, she knew he was a shifter, and because he’d been so… she paused, said the word kind, and suddenly Avery understood what Heather had been doing in the shadows behind Mickey’s that night… Heather returned the favor: she used his car to drive him to his home in Wolf’s Creek.
Then, one thing led to another and, well, Heather never left.
She was mated. Shoving her length of light brown hair over her shoulder, Heather showed Avery the bite mark to prove it. Link had claimed her with her permission, and now Heather was bonded to him.
Once she’d seen the bite mark, Link padded out of the room. Avery wondered if it was because the shifter was just waiting for his mate to acknowledge that she’d chosen him, that she was bonded to him, and that, despite Avery’s appearance, Heather had every intention of staying with him in his house.
Which she did. To Avery’s surprise, Heather was super excited to see her but, newly mated to a shifter, there was no way she could leave Link’s house. Even if the possessive shifter wouldn’t lose his mind to be separated from his mate, Heather would feel the same effects through her half of the mate bond.
And there was no possible way for Heather to bring him home with her to Spring Valley.
Because, duh.
As soon as Link had left them alone, though, Heather admitted, “I used the bond to ask Link to give us a few minutes alone together. God, I love him, but he does tend to hover.”
Avery couldn’t miss the affection in her sister’s voice. She wanted to hold onto some of her annoyance, but all she could feel was wistful. “You really love him? So soon?”
“The mate bond helps,” admitted Heather. “When fate tells you this is the one, it’s hard to deny it. And with a shifter… it’s pretty easy to tell that you’re the one meant for them.”
Avery raised her eyebrows. “So it’s true. About his dick?”
Heather blushed. Though she’d been the one in a committed relationship through most of her twenties—and Avery’s room had shared a wall with Heather’s and Jason’s back in the day—she’d always been the shyer of the Hayes sisters when it came to sex. Sure, she scratched her itch as much as Avery did, but she wasn’t as open as her younger sister.
Which was why Avery was so surprised to see her older sister give her a conspiratorial smirk after a moment. “Oh, yeah. All of it.” She held her hands apart, so wide even Avery was impressed. “And I mean all of it.”
“Lucky bitch,” teased Avery.
“Hey. Don’t pretend like I didn’t see that hunk of yours out there. I mean… the wings threw me for a minute, and I might be a mated woman now, but I’ve got eyes. Where did you find him?”
Avery tried to tamp down the sudden rise of jealousy. Heather was her sister. She had a shifter who, from everything Heather told her, was absolutely devoted to her. What did it matter that she—like every other freaking woman in the world—could see how amazingly beautiful Cam was?
“Told you. A friend gave me his contact when I couldn’t figure out any other way to make sure you were safe.” With a wry smile, she added, “Thanks for the phone call. A week earlier might’ve been helpful.”
“A week earl
ier Link wouldn’t have let me left the bed,” Heather said with a waggle of her own eyebrows. “And I wouldn’t have wanted to ask.”
“Like I said. Lucky bitch.” Avery purposely kept the heat from her voice, though the jealousy was a stubborn thing. “Gonna be honest here, though. I just don’t get it. Link… your mate… I understand how he knew you were his.” She mimed her finger go up, just like an erection. “But what about you, Heath? How did you know?”
“That’s the beauty of being with a Para. I don’t have to know. I’m his fated mate, so that means he’s mine. We belong together and it just… it feels right.”
Like how being with Cam felt right to Avery. Except Othersiders didn’t have fated mates like shifters did; or, if they did, there was no way to know it. A first erection? That was a shifter thing, and just because Cam showed his off the one time, it was more a matter of proud than because he had the instinct to use it.
And, sure, they might have kissed twice , but that was also just an experiment on his end, not because he could really have any interest in her. She’d screwed up his first kiss, so why shouldn’t she give him his second? Pity there had never been a third.
Avery sighed.
Heather frowned. But, before she could say anything, the sound of someone approaching caught their attention.
“I’m surprised he managed to stay away as long as he did,” she muttered cheekily. Then, raising her voice, “You better not be naked, mister.”
“What?” yelped Avery.
“When a shifter changes back, they change without their clothes. When it’s just the two of us, I don’t mind, but… you might be my sister, Bree, but that’s my mate.”
The human Link appeared in the living room. He walked over to Heather, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her into him. He buried his face in her hair as he rasped out, “Alpha, I love it when you get possessive.”
As Heather laughed, turning her head so that she could give Link a kiss, Avery got a good look at her sister’s mate.
Compared to Cam, she supposed he was all right. On his own, Link was a pretty solid eight. He was a big guy, which explained his size as a wolf, at least six and a half feet tall; he towered over the more than a foot shorter Heather. He had thick, tousled dark hair, wild and longish as it fell forward into a pair of ordinary brown eyes.
Definitely the man in charge now.
“Hi. Link Shaw,” he said. He didn’t stick out his hand in greeting, but nodded at her instead. “Sorry about that out there. The mate bond’s in place, but I still get a little riled up when another male comes around my Heather. Even though he’s your mate—”
“Oh,” cut in Avery. “That’s just Cam. He’s not my mate.”
“You sure?” Link cocked his head, his manners wolfish even though he was standing on two legs now. His nostrils flared slightly as he sniffed. Then he frowned.
Avery felt self-conscious. Had she forgotten her deodorant this morning or something?
Heather patted Link’s chest. “Link? What’s wrong, babe?”
He shook his head. “She wears his scent in her skin. I don’t know why she’s saying he’s not her mate, but the Othersider out there has definitely marked your sister.”
From the way Heather’s expression changed, that must’ve have meant something more to her than it did Avery. She knew that look, too. When they were younger, and Avery had a habit of borrowing Heather’s things without permission, Heather would always get that same accusing look on her face.
“Bree. Are you sleeping with flyboy out there?”
“What?” Oh my God. Was she really having this talk with her older sister and her freaking mate right now? “No!”
Link’s shifter eyes flared from mud brown to his wolf’s glowing gold. “Well, why the fuck not?”
Her jaw dropped.
Then again, he had a point.
Cam fought the urge to land inside of the shifter’s territory again. It would probably only set the highly protective wolf off again and with Avery inside of the house, he didn’t want to rile Link up anymore than their unannounced arrival already had.
He was still plenty pissed that he’d let the wolf get the jump on him. He’d stood a few feet away from Avery when she knocked at the door on purpose for a few reasons. One, the temptation to stay close was one he was working on ignoring. Two, he didn’t want the shifter to take his presence there as a threat.
Yeah. That didn’t work out so well, did it?
Within seconds of discovering that Heather Hayes was alive and well and—based on the wolf’s reaction—the bonded mate of a shifter, the big beast sent him flying. He hit the manicured yard hard, first landing on his upper shoulders before laying sprawled out on his entire backside. Link had caught Cam off guard, knocking the wind out of him. If he’d been expecting it, he would’ve been fine. Only… he’d let his attention drift toward Avery’s ass again.
That split second distraction had him flying without his wings, the wolf at his throat instantly. He hadn’t been concerned, though. Like he told Avery, he could handle anything the wolf threw at him, even if he might’ve downplayed how much it fucking hurt to hit the ground like that.
But pain was nothing compared to the sudden fear that hit harder than the wolf did as soon as Avery—brave, reckless, stubborn Avery—tossed her phone at the wolf’s head. And if that wasn’t enough, she actually tried to make herself a target instead of Cam.
Watching her put herself in danger over him stole the last of the air from his lungs.
He’d stayed on the ground a few seconds longer because something warning him about reacting too impulsively. He couldn’t tell if he was touched at how she tried to put herself between him and a jealous wolf—or super fucking pissed that she would selflessly risk her own life for him.
Luckily, Avery’s sister made the beast heel before Cam let the darkness inside of him out and took Link on himself. By the time everything was settled, he’d managed to control his urge to rip the wolf’s head from his body for even thinking about threatening Avery.
And didn’t that scare him almost just as much as the thought of losing the mortal?
He almost took back his word. He almost told Avery that he wanted to follow her inside of the shifter’s house after her sister invited her in. But he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep from acting just as possessive and territorial as the shifter.
The wolf had an excuse. Heather was his mate.
But Avery?
Cam pushed that thought aside. Unfortunately, the flash of the psychic’s two Tarot cards quickly replaced it
The Death card.
The Lovers.
He circled above the house again, using his faint sense of Avery to ground him as, for the countless time since she entered that house, he called for his auditor.
Dina?
Dina!
No answer. Again, no answer.
This was getting ridiculous. Where was his auditor? She’d declined to take the trip with them this morning, but she always came when he summoned her. What was she doing now that, when he needed her advice more than ever, she was ignoring him?
And, okay, Cam knew that he screwed up. From the beginning, he’d made a mess of everything. He never should’ve promised that he’d help Avery, and he shouldn’t have touched her. Then, when he realized that the touch was actually a mark, he should’ve flown away.
What did he do instead? Started spending his sleepless nights on her rooftop, perfecting his gargoyle act as he let his wings out while wearing his heart on his sleeve. And then, for good measure, he kissed her again.
Worse, with seven decades of lust riding him, the pull of his instincts guiding him, something tying them together in ways he still didn’t understand, if Avery had given him any sign that she would welcome, Cam was sure he would’ve done so much more than that. He hadn’t been thinking about the curse. Nephilim? What Nephilim? The dark urges he had led him to wonder desperately what it was like to get inside of a mortal
woman—but not just any mortal woman.
Avery.
He wanted Avery.
Dina thought he was being reckless, even as she tried to help him. Seven decades of working toward earning enough points for a trip up above and a shiny, gold halo and she couldn’t believe he was willing to throw it away all for a mortal he’d known for a blip in time. Because that’s what it was. To an Othersider, to the auditors, where they measured in decades rather than years, the nearly two weeks he’d known Avery was nothing.
When Cam thought about how much had changed in no time at all, it seemed like everything.
Time… it didn’t seem to flow the same as it used to. Case in point: how long he was flying outside of Link’s house, waiting for Avery to reappear. While, logically, he accepted it had probably only been about a half an hour, when the door opened and Avery stepped out onto the porch, her head bowed, her hair a curtain around her face… well, it felt like an eternity to Cam.
She didn’t bother following the walkway. Stepping on the grass, she headed right for the Cam-sized dip in the ground he’d left when he hit. Was she looking for her keys? Or her phone?
No. When she glanced up, he knew instinctively that she was looking for him.
He was already on his way down.
Cam landed right in front of her. Though he was still hidden until the moment his feet hit the ground, her head followed his descent, a strangely thoughtful expression on her gorgeous face.
Something was wrong. He didn’t know what, but he could tell.
And that wasn’t the only thing. His whole existence, he could sense when a mortal was lusting for him. It was a defense mechanism of his, and while he could’ve sworn he felt that heat coming from Avery a couple of times, he always put it down to wishful thinking. She’d been too consumed with finding her sister to even notice him—or so he thought.
Their eyes locked and, suddenly, Cam was transported back to the day they met when he glimpsed Avery’s soul and he first began to wonder: what if?
True Angel: a Fallen Angel romance (Curse of the Othersiders Book 1) Page 14