Bailey’s eyes flickered before opening. “What happened?”
Gavin was by her side in an instant. “I thought I’d lost you!”
Bailey tried to sit up on the table, but Gavin was having none of it, and gently pushed her back down.
“You almost died! You need to rest.” He wasn’t about to take no for an answer.
“You stupid, stubborn beast! I’m fine! Let me up!”
Maybe he was going to take no for an answer after all.
***
“What happened? How did I get here, and why do you all look so shocked?” The last thing Bailey remembered was the darkness surrounding her as she fought off the attackers.
“Bailey, sweetie,” Daisy began, “you were jumped in the woods.”
“That part I remember. And who are they?” Bailey pointed to Erin and Tanner.
Gavin squeezed Bailey’s hand. “Calder and I found you in the woods. His wolves killed those bastards, and I brought you back here where Erin healed you. I think you should lie back down. You’ve been through a lot.”
Erin waved off Gavin’s overprotective statement. “I gave you a potion to accelerate your healing. And, Gavin, I know you want what’s best for your mate, but she’s fine. All healed and good as new.”
“You’re sure?” Gavin asked.
“As sure as a bear shits in the woods,” Erin grinned, clearly proud of her joke. “Seriously though, how do you feel, Bailey?”
“Just fine.” Bailey’s stomach chose that moment to rumble as if to say, you may be fine but bitch, I’m not! “Let me correct that. Starving, but otherwise fine.”
“I figured as much. Your bear is a little weak right now, lots of protein will charge her back up. So eat meat and lots of it tonight.”
“All done here?” Tanner asked, glancing at his watch.
“Yep.” With that, Tanner placed his hand on Erin’s shoulder and they disappeared into thin air.
“What the fuck was that?” Bailey jumped to her feet.
“Just Tanner’s way of getting around the world in a flash,” Calder answered. “It’s good to see you back on your feet again, Bailey.”
“Thanks. Now can we get out of here and get something to eat?”
“Absolutely! No worries. I have a bunch of steaks in the fridge that I planned on throwing on the grill tonight.”
“That sounds delicious. Lead the way.”
Gavin grumbled.
“Don’t you start with me. We’re going with Daisy and Calder. I need to let Gerri know that I’m okay. She must be worried sick.”
Daisy cleared her throat. “Actually, she had to rush home this afternoon. She tried to call your cell phone several times, but didn’t get an answer. She felt really bad about leaving you here, but said there was an emergency and she couldn’t wait.”
Bailey felt around in her pockets for her phone. “Fuck. I must have lost it in the woods somewhere.”
“I can send a few men out to look for it if you’d like,” Calder offered.
“That would be great.” Not that Bailey had to worry about missing any calls or anything, it just felt weird without having her phone nearby.
“Does this mean I can take you home?” Gavin asked.
“Home? As in my home or your home?” Bailey countered.
“Our home.”
“Yeah, about that.” Bailey hadn’t even given a thought to moving in with Gavin. Sure, he was her mate and all, but fuck, she’d just met the guy.
“You’re my mate!” Gavin shouted.
Bailey looked into the night sky and rolled her eyes. “I get that, but I also know that if you wouldn’t have been so demanding earlier, none of this would have happened.”
“I know and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been—”
“Shouldn’t have been so what?” Bailey interrupted him. Her rant continuing, “So bossy? Demanding? Dickheadish?”
“All of the above. Let’s get you fed, then we’ll talk more about it later.”
“Fine,” Bailey huffed as her stomach growled yet again, reminding her that if she didn’t eat soon there would be hell to pay.
Chapter Fourteen
Bailey had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but as she looked across the table at Gavin, she had to wonder if that’s what this was. Was she in love with him? Could she have fallen head over heels? Like lock, stock, and barrel for a complete stranger in less than twenty-four hours?
Daisy motioned from across the room for Bailey to join her.
“Where are you going?” Gavin stood as soon as Bailey pushed her chair back from the table.
Bailey sighed. “Gavin, if this is going to work at all, you’ve got to realize I’m a big girl, and I’ve been on my own for a long time. I’m not used to being treated like a child. Questioned about every move I make.”
Gavin glanced to the ground. A frown covered his handsome face.
“Are you pouting?” Bailey asked in astonishment.
“No. After seeing your injuries tonight, I’m worried. Okay? It scared the fuck out of me.”
“I get it. I really do, but you have to realize that I’m perfectly safe here.” Bailey motioned to her surroundings. “In the Alpha’s home.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Gavin sat back down and continued his conversation with Calder.
Bailey could feel her mate’s eyes practically burning a hole into her back as she walked away. He could stew about it all he wanted. As far as she was concerned, he needed to realize that if she didn’t have her independence, there would be no them as a mated pair, couple, whatever.
“Can I talk to you for a minute? Away from all the testosterone?” Daisy asked.
“Absolutely!” It was the best idea Bailey had heard this evening.
Daisy led Bailey into Calder’s office and closed the door. “Sorry if I caused more problems, but it looked like you were drowning in thought out there.”
“I was. This whole mating thing, finding out your mate is a stubborn ass, and then nearly dying. It’s a lot to deal with in a short amount of time.”
“I get it. Trust me. Believe it or not, I was just a human when I met Calder. It wasn’t until after we were mated that I shifted into a wolf. I’m still trying to get used to the shifter world and the majik that surrounds it. But one thing I have found is that the males,” Daisy stopped to laugh, “oh, my God, they are all fucking barbarians.”
Bailey sniffed the air. “You were really human? I can’t smell any human on you at all. I’ve never dated a shifter in my life. It’s why I live in the city. My dad pulled the Captain Caveman card on my mom all the time when I was growing up and it drove me nuts. I moved away from all of that shit when I turned eighteen. Would you believe, before I’d met Gavin, I never even considered dating a shifter for that very reason? I’ve only dated human men because I didn’t want to deal with all the alpha male bullshit.”
“Yep. One hundred percent human. I’m still getting used to the fact that I can shift into an animal. My wolf seems to be pretty cool and all, but yeah, it definitely takes some getting used to. I don’t know much about Gavin, but Calder seems to. I did talk to him a little bit earlier and he has complete confidence in him. That’s a good thing. I don’t know if you know it or not, but Calder has this freaking thing going on where he can see into a person’s soul. When I asked him about Gavin, he reassured me that Gavin is one of the good guys and he has nothing but love to offer for his true mate.”
Bailey ran her fingers through her hair before bunching it up on top of her head in a messy bun. She pulled a hair tie from her wrist and secured the messy updo to her head. “Gavin mentioned something about Calder being able to see into people. I didn’t understand what he meant by it at the time. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“How did you know that Calder was the one for you? I mean, you were human then, right? So did you believe in love at first sight? I guess what I’m asking is how did you tamp down the fear and
dive into all of this?”
Bailey was genuinely curious to hear Daisy’s answer. She had feelings for Gavin, but was it just lust? Was it her bear?
She really didn’t know how to separate what was what in the grand scheme of things.
Could she give up everything to live with a man she barely knew?
Mate or not?
“I was headed to the coffee shop one day when I literally ran into Gerri. I felt so bad for having knocked her on her ass. She talked me into joining her for coffee. The next thing I knew, she was trying to set me up with a shifter. I thought she was nuts. Until I met Calder. Something inside of me told me to give it a chance, and I did. I don’t know if it was my gut, my conscience, my heart, or what the fuck it was in all honesty, but something told me he was the one.”
“Yeah, I have that going on right now, too. That voice that keeps telling me to see what it would be like to be with Gavin.”
“I get it. I really do, but let me ask you this. Are you happy with your life? Like really happy? Or do you feel as if there’s something missing, like you’re always searching for something you feel like you’ll never find? I thought I was happy with my crazy job, and my fast-paced city life, but then I came here and saw what I could have if I had the courage to trust someone other than myself.”
Daisy’s words were like a punch in the gut. All of the questions her friend had just asked her were the same ones she’d already asked herself.
“You don’t have to answer. I can see you’ve already been thinking about all of that and more. The only thing I’m going to ask is that you consider all of your options before making your decision. You’re free to go home at any time. We’ve arranged for a rental car for you if you’d like to go back to the city. I think Gavin might follow you if you did, but whatever.”
“Thanks.”
“You can hang out in here and mull things over for a bit if you’d like. Sometimes a little quiet time is best when it comes to these situations.”
“Calder won’t mind?” Bailey asked.
“Not at all. Take your time. Just remember there’s no rush. It’s not like you have to make any hard and fast decisions right this minute.”
Daisy had closed the door behind her, leaving Bailey in peaceful silence. Something she’d longed for all evening. She had a lot to think about and even more to do, depending on which way her decision swung.
“There has to be a pen and paper around here somewhere,” Bailey said as she glanced around the office.
She found a legal pad and pen in the center of Calder’s desk. Taking a seat at his chair, she drew a line down the middle of the top sheet of paper, making two perfectly uneven columns. At the top of the first column Bailey wrote: Pros. In the second column she wrote: Cons.
She went to work listing all the pros and cons of what it would be like to give up everything in her life to live with her mate.
The items in the Cons column came easier than the Pros. She listed things like giving up her job, her friends, then listed controlling, domineering, and asshole, but only because she was still pissed at him. Then there was the thought of her puppy. The last item she’d placed into the Cons column: Buddy. She couldn’t just up and leave him in doggy daycare, never to show up again. What kind of person would that make her?
The Pros column seemed to drag for Bailey. The only things she found to put on it were, having a true mate, not being alone, community.
Bailey sat back in the chair and sighed. She knew what she had to do.
Chapter Fifteen
Each minute that Bailey and Daisy were gone seemed like an eternity for Gavin. He tried to listen to what Calder was saying, but found it impossible without his mate by his side. He wanted to march off to wherever the hell they went and drag her back to his side, but he kept his ass planted to the chair.
After the dressing down she gave him earlier about needing a little bit of space and being an independent woman and all, he knew he needed to back off. Even if it went against every fiber of his being.
After a while Daisy finally returned, but Bailey was nowhere in sight. “Where—” He opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off.
“Relax, Gavin. She’s perfectly safe in Calder’s office. She needs a little bit of peace and quiet. She’s been through a lot today and needs a little bit of down time to collect and process her thoughts. I promise no harm will come to her here. Isn’t that right, honey?” Daisy took her seat next to Calder.
“Absolutely. Besides, the bears who attacked her are dead. There’s no one else here who would ever think about harming her.”
“You’re right. I know. It’s just—ugh, why does it feel like my heart is breaking when she’s not beside me? Jesus!” Gavin rubbed his chest, right above his heart.
Calder laughed. “I’m assuming you completed the mating ritual. Yes?”
“Yeah, before all of the shit went down.”
“The bond is strong between mates. It often manifests itself as physical pain when our desire to be with our mate is denied. Even for short amounts of time,” Calder explained.
“Who the hell thought up this torture?”
“Just try to relax, knowing she’s just in the other room trying to get her head together,” Daisy suggested.
Gavin took a deep breath and tried to calm himself like the others had suggested, but it didn’t work. It only made him feel antsy, more aware that his mate wasn’t by his side.
“What did she have to say in there?” Gavin asked Daisy.
“She wanted to know what it was like when I met Calder. How I gave everything up to be with him.” Daisy took a sip of her wine.
“What do you mean? Gave everything up?”
“It means that I had my own life in the city before I met and mated Calder. I had a job, friends, and plans for how I wanted to spend my future. Then boom! I’m someone’s mate and expected to give up all of my hopes and dreams, and everything I’d worked so hard for. That’s what you’re asking Bailey to do.”
Gavin’s mouth flew open at her response. He quickly snapped it shut. “I guess I didn’t think of any of that.”
“Yeah, well, men never do. It’s a choice that I had to make, and I’m glad I did. I don’t regret my decision one bit. The minute I saw Calder, I knew he was different from anyone that I’d ever been with before. It was a whirlwind romance, and he swept me off my feet. Our story was a true love at first sight kind of thing. Let’s hope you’ve romanced Bailey enough that she not only knows you’ll always be there for her, but she will also see how much her life could be enhanced by being your mate.”
Gavin groaned and rubbed his face. Had he swept Bailey off her feet? Had he given her every indication that he looked forward to the amazing life they could have together?
Nope.
Instead, he’d knocked her into mud puddles and left her to freeze. He yelled at her and had given her an order that had nearly gotten her killed, and he’d been unable to defend her when she’d been attacked.
“I am so fucked.”
***
A painful roar erupted from Gavin. He’d left Bailey alone for hours, hoping like hell she’d choose him. But she didn’t. It had been close to thirty-six hours since Daisy had gone to check on her and came back with the list of pros and cons his mate had written. Clearly he’d not done enough to impress her. By the looks of her list, he’d done little to nothing at all.
A sense of dread had settled in the pit of his stomach after his conversation with Daisy. She’d taken the rental car they’d gotten for her to go home if she’d wanted, and apparently that had been exactly what she did.
His mate had high-tailed it out of there.
Without a word to anyone, she’d grabbed her bag and hit the road.
Gavin had no idea how to find her or where to even look for her. He’d tried calling Gerri again and again, but only got her voicemail. After the twentieth or so time, he threw his phone onto the pavement, smashing it into a million pieces.
When they’d first found that she had gone, his first instinct had been to give chase to his mate. Drag her back, and make her see that she was meant to be with him, but where would that get him? She’d only run again. The first chance she got.
He wasn’t above begging for his mate, but even he had to accept the fact that she’d left of her own free will. And as much as it sucked, he had to let her go.
The only thing that was left for Gavin to do was to drink himself into an oblivion. Then maybe find a new place to wander to. Everywhere he looked, he saw shadowy images of her, almost as if it were her ghost haunting him.
Bailey had been there for such a short time, he began to question if she had ever really existed in the first place. Or if she had only been a figment of his and his bear’s imagination.
Chapter Sixteen
It had been three days since Bailey had left Twisted Tail to go back to the city and wrap up her life, but it felt like a year. Each hour she was without her mate seemed like an eon. The constant pain she felt in her chest was a bitch, and slowed her down to nearly snail speed. The worst part was that she didn’t know if the pain belonged to her or Gavin.
She didn’t know the hows or the whys, but she missed her big bossy bear. Every night she’d cry herself to sleep before dreaming of being back in his arms as they made love each night until the sun rose.
Feelings of overwhelming despair filled her mind, making her tasks all the harder to hurry up and perform so she could get back to him.
On more than one occasion, she could swear that he was right there with her, talking to her. But he wasn’t. It must have been her imagination playing tricks on her. She knew he missed her as much as she missed him, thanks to the mating connection.
“Maybe we should have told him what the fuck we were doing or where we were going?”
“Okay, so maybe taking off like a bat out of hell wasn’t my best idea, but I didn’t want him trying to stop me from going. I needed to close things up here before I can go there and move on with my life.”
Paranormal Dating Agency: Bearly Twisted (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Twisted Tail Pack Book 2) Page 6