by Sophie Stern
I politely nod to the women before ducking over to the line. I don’t really know what’s going to happen next. Besides, even though her advice isn’t really flawed, I don’t know that I want to even try thinking about what “working it out” might look like when it comes to Meredith.
She doesn’t want me.
There are a couple of people ahead of me, and they’re taking their time ordering. I don’t care at all because it gives me a chance to look at the menu. Yeah, this coffee shop has everything a normal coffee shop does, but I like to mix it up and keep things interesting. I rarely order the same thing two visits in a row.
The woman in front of me sniffs the air pointedly and turns around. She looks me up and down and gives me a little glare.
Cool.
She turns back around, places her order, and then makes a comment about new people. When she steps aside so I can come forward and order my own drink, it takes everything in my power not to say something mean or shitty.
I’m bigger than this.
That’s what I have to tell myself.
Maybe, though...maybe this is just another sign that I’m really not meant to be here. I mean, Meredith made it clear she doesn’t want me. The town has been overwhelmingly mean and negative when it comes to interacting with me. Maybe this is just another way that fate is trying to push me away. There are other cities where doctors can work, after all. It’s not like Claw Valley is my only option. It might not even be the best option.
I step forward to place my order. The barista stares at me, blinking.
“Hello?” I say. I mean, is she okay?
“What do you want?” She growls. Her eyes narrow.
Great.
So that’s how it’s going to be.
No matter where I go, and no matter what I do, people are going to be rude and abrupt because they don’t know me.
More importantly, they don’t want to get to know me.
Nobody here is giving me any sort of chance.
“You know what,” I finally snap, shaking my head. “Forget it.”
“Finally,” the barista rolls her eyes, and somehow, that just makes me feel like I’m about two inches tall. I haven’t felt this bad since I was getting ready for my divorce. I don’t like this feeling at all.
Not even a little bit.
With a sigh, I turn around to leave the building. No one in the coffee shop seems to notice my anxiety, which is insane because my tension smells so strongly that it’s making me feel a little sick.
I push open the door and step outside, bumping into a short, squirrely-looking man as I do.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, but the man doesn’t say anything. Strange he would turn up an opportunity to be snarky. I stop just outside of the coffee shop and look down at my phone. There really is a little piece of me that wants to message Meredith. There’s part of me that wants to beg her to give me another shot, but that really is pathetic.
On impulse, I open up Team Shifter and unmatch our relationship.
There.
Now I won’t be tempted to keep thinking about her.
I won’t do anything stupid, like call her tonight when I’m home and alone. I know what I have to do. Tomorrow, I’m going to meet her and the dragon at noon and we’re going to unmatch our relationship for real.
He’s going to take away my mating claim.
Suddenly, I sniff the air.
Anxiety.
Tension.
The sickly sweet scent of sweat fills my nostrils, but I realize that this isn’t my own anxiety that I’m scenting. I turn around and peer in the window of the coffee shop. Something is wrong.
The squirrely-looking guy who just passed me is at the register, but he’s not ordering a cup of coffee.
He’s trying to rob the shop.
The scent of fear is coming not only from him, but from all of the patrons in the shop. They’re all equally unhappy and anxious. Shit. From my vantage point, I can tell that he has some sort of weapon. Who in the world thinks robbing a café is a good choice? Fuck.
But I also know that I’m not letting this guy walk out of there. He might try to shoot me if I attack him, but failure isn’t an option.
He’s not getting out of there.
With a growl, I dial 9-1-1 on my cell phone.
“There’s a robbery in place at Beans,” I tell the operator. “I’m going in.” I toss my phone on a bench and shift, tearing my clothing in the process. Then I throw myself through the window of the coffee shop. The glass shatters all around me and shards go flying, but I’ve got a one-track mind.
I have to stop this guy before the cops get here.
The noise is enough to distract every single person in the café, including the perp. He turns around, shocked as I throw myself at him. The barista who, just a few minutes ago, was abrupt and cold to me, looks terrified. She jumps back behind the counter as I knock the guy to the ground. He lands on his back and looks up at me. He starts to reach for one of the guns he had with him.
Yeah, he had multiple weapons, but I growl, stopping him without a word.
He holds perfectly still, and he’s only shaking a little.
“You don’t understand,” he yells. “Let me go!”
“Don’t let him go!” Silver Hair, from earlier, approaches. She looks at me and nods. So she recognizes me, at least by scent. “He was robbing the place.”
“It was a misunderstanding,” the man says.
“Tell it to the judge!” A patron yells dramatically.
I mean, really?
Was that necessary?
But there are police sirens in the distance and I know that soon, the local cops are going to show up and take this guy away.
Silver Hair looks at the barista, and then over at the woman who was rude to me earlier for being an outsider.
“I hope you know what this man just did for you,” she says.
“W-w-what?” The barista asks, shaking.
“He’s the man you didn’t want to serve,” Silver Hair says. She shakes her head in disappointment. “Just because someone is a stranger doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. It certainly doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of your respect or kindness.”
“I...I...”
Silver shakes her head again. She practically clucks her tongue. Then she looks at me.
“Bear,” she says. “I don’t know what your name is, but I’m proud of you. You did a good thing here today. You saved a lot of people and you caught a very bad man. Did you know there have been several robberies of small shops in the area over the past few weeks?”
I didn’t.
“I’m going to venture a guess that this guy is behind at least a few of them. Either that, or he knows who is.”
She reaches out and touches my arm.
“You did a good job.” The woman seems proud of me, and somehow, that makes me feel a little bit better.
She looks around at the other patrons. I’m still holding the dude in place and everyone else is kind of standing in shock.
“Well?” Silver says. “Someone get our hero some clothes. I’m pretty sure he ripped his trying to save us from this guy.” She looks back at me and smiles. “I know you’re new, but something you’ll learn about Claw Valley is that many shifters here are, well, rather small. Me? I’m a rabbit. Most of the people in here now are other types of small, non-predatory animals. We’re timid around newcomers, but that’s a self-preservation instinct. What you’ve done, well, is wonderful. Thank you for everything.”
Someone rushes outside and comes back a minute later.
“I have a spare set of clothes in my car,” the guy says. He thrusts a pair of sweats and a shirt toward me. “They’re all yours. And thank you.”
I go ahead and shift. There’s no point in trying to be modest or hiding somewhere else. I can’t exactly leave the building in my bear form unless I throw myself back through the window, which is something I’m definitely not interested in. Once I’m in my m
an form, I make sure that the other people are watching Mr. Robber, and I dress quickly.
“Thank you,” I say to the guy who brought me clothes.
“Not at all,” he says. “We should be thanking you.”
There’s a murmur of appreciation that goes through the shop.
“Yeah, thank you.”
“Thanks a lot.”
The barista comes out and hands me a cup of coffee.
“On the house,” she says. “Thank you. “And I’m sorry,” she adds. “For everything. I was wrong.”
“It’s okay.”
“No,” she shakes her head. “It’s really not. It’s hard when you grow up in a place where newbies are viewed as the bad guys, but that’s really not an excuse. What you did? That was wonderful. Thank you.”
The police arrive then and come inside. I get swept up in the arrest and have to give a statement as to what happened. I try to keep everything as brief and succinct as possible, but it’s not easy. I’m feeling tense and anxious about what happened, and part of me just wishes that my mate was here.
I want Meredith.
I’m craving her even if she doesn’t want me.
By the time I’m finished talking with the cops, I’m completely worn out. They make me wait around until everyone has spoken with the police. Long after the perp is gone, the officers are asking questions. I think they’re trying to cover their bases. After all, I did destroy a window. They have to figure out who is going to pay for everything, whether I’m in trouble for breaking into the café, and all of those pesky legal questions that nobody really tends to think about when they’re in the midst of saving people.
At least, I didn’t think about any of that before I leapt through the window.
All I thought about was getting to the guy before he hurt anyone.
To be honest, all I could think about was Meredith.
When her mother was killed, there was no one there to save her. No one came to rescue her valiantly. She had a mom, and then she didn’t.
Today, I may not have saved someone’s mom, but maybe I did. Maybe I prevented another person from having to experience the pain that Meredith felt.
It hurts my heart to think of how alone she must have felt for all of those years.
It pains me to know that she must have been struggling for so long without anyone to hold her up or let her know that hey, she’ll be okay.
Finally, I’m allowed to leave the coffee shop. I take my disposable cup of coffee and walk away from the situation. The guy who gave me his spare clothes tells me not to worry about returning them, but I let him know I work at the clinic if he changes his mind. Taking another man’s clothing doesn’t really feel right to me, so I’ll probably leave them at the front desk with the receptionist.
I make my way down the road and turn onto the side street where I’m staying. Claw Valley really is a sweet little town with cute little shops and houses. It’s not so big that I could get lost. It’s small enough that I can basically walk anywhere I need to go, which is a convenient thing. Shifters love to stretch their legs and move around. That’s not a secret.
We love being able to explore and change where we are. I think that’s probably one of the nicest things about this town. It’s surrounded by open spaces and forests. It’s got plenty of room where I can go shift and run and just let myself go.
The problem is that even though I realize I should probably move on from this place and consider it a wash, I don’t want to.
I don’t want to leave.
I want to stay here with her forever and ever.
My inner-bear doesn’t want to stay locked away from his mate. He wants her wolf just as much as I want her heart, and I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do about it. The closer I get to my home, the more weighted and heavy my heart feels because soon, this whole thing is going to be over.
I have less than a day until I’m supposed to meet with Meredith and the dragon mayor. What kind of town has a dragon shifter as a mayor, anyway? I definitely didn’t know that dragons can undo mating marks or claims. I definitely didn’t know that dragon shifters had that kind of capability.
And the reality is that I know I don’t really deserve this second chance, anyway.
When I lost my wife, I lost everything. That was it for me. It was supposed to be the end of my romantic life. It was supposed to be the end of everything. I managed to convince myself that somehow, things were going to be different this time around.
I counted on a lot of things going right in Claw Valley, but I never counted on her.
I didn’t count on Meredith.
Finally, I reach my home. I’m carrying my shredded clothing in a paper sack one of the baristas gave me, and I dig through the bag to find my key. Right now, the best thing to do is take a shower and go to sleep. Hell, I’m feeling the urge to hibernate away and just forget this entire thing ever happened.
Would that be so bad?
It doesn’t feel like it.
It feels like hibernating away would actually be pretty wonderful.
As soon as I step into the house, though, I shake my head because I can fucking smell her.
Shit.
“Meredith, come out.”
I don’t know where she is, but she’s here. I know she is.
My heart feels like it’s going to explode from surprise or sadness, and I don’t know which. What’s worse is that I don’t know which would be better.
And then she steps out of the kitchen and into the living room.
“Hey,” she whispers. She’s wearing a tiny sundress that barely covers her thighs. Her dark hair hangs loosely over her shoulders, and it highlights the lovely color of her skin.
“What are you doing here?”
I thought she never wanted to see me again.
“We need to talk.”
“Foxy told me. Tomorrow at noon.”
There’s a lump in my throat that seems to be choking me. I hate knowing that this thing before us is going to be over before it ever really started.
“That’s what we need to talk about.”
She wrings her hands and looks at me. That’s when I notice the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Robert, I’ve made a terrible mistake, and I’m sorry.”
Chapter 15
Meredith
Calling the clinic and pretending to work for the post office was dirty.
I get that.
It was sneaky and sly, but it worked, and the receptionist gave me Robert’s mailing address without any trouble at all. It was Foxy’s idea, and I’ve got to give her credit. Foxes are sly after all, and we’ve both lived in Claw Valley long enough to be able to know exactly what to say. I simply called the clinic and said we were having a difficult time figuring out where to deliver a Doctor Robert’s mail. I asked if the receptionist could help me and she was pleased to do so.
I went over to his place and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
He wasn’t home, and obviously wasn’t going to be for awhile, so I broke in the back. I’m not ashamed that my lock-picking skills are fantastic. As a bartender, the more diverse my skills are, the better my tips are. I’ve had to help more than a couple of customers break into their own cars after locking their keys inside.
But now he’s here.
And he’s looking at me like his heart is breaking and exploding at the same time.
“What do you mean?” He finally asks me.
“I didn’t even give you a chance to explain.”
“I know,” his voice is pained, and that’s when I notice there’s more happening right now than I thought.
“Wait a minute,” I look him up and down. “Those aren’t your clothes. They don’t smell like you.”
“Something happened.”
“Are you okay?” I step forward, but he flinches and steps back, and that makes me feel like total crap.
“Meredith, something happened at Beans.”
“I was just there.”
“I know.”
He sighs and gestures to his couch.
“Please sit.”
I don’t have the energy or the attitude to argue with him this time. Instead, I do as he asks, and I take a seat on his big, oversized couch. It reminds me of the one my grandmother had many years ago. It reminds me of my childhood and eating chocolate cookies and trying not to get crumbs on the fabric.
Robert runs a hand through his hair and then he tells me.
“There was a robbery.”
My entire body goes rigid with this news.
“What?”
“A robbery at Beans.”
“Was anyone hurt?” I manage to choke out.
“Just the robber.”
“What happened?”
“I saved the day.”
Of course he did.
Robert is an incredible person. He saved the day. Hell, he probably saved the entire town, judging by the way he’s finally starting to crack a smile.
“Wow.”
“I know.”
He shakes his head and paces for a second. Then he rips off the shirt he’s wearing. Good. It looks nice on him, but it’s not his, and it doesn’t smell like him. I’ve heard that after a mating claim, other potential mates will smell off-putting, but I didn’t realize how true it was until this moment.
The idea of smelling another guy, even on my own mate, makes me wildly uncomfortable.
He looks at the shirt before dropping it to the ground.
“My clothes tore,” he tells me.
“Where’d you get these?”
He shrugs and shakes his head.
“A random person,” he tells me.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I don’t know if I am,” he says.
“What do you mean?”
“Meredith, it scared me.”
I get to my feet and I move to him. I wonder if I should hold back and keep my hands to myself, but he’s my mate, and I can’t deny him this. What he needs right now is a way to forget. He needs a way to stop worrying about this, and I can help him. I can help take his mind off things, so that’s what I do.