Shifter Starter Set

by Candace Ayers

  She blew out a breath and then sighed. “Alright. Why don’t you go home for the day, Carter? Something’s going on with you and I’m not going to make you stay.”

  I shook my head, already envisioning the cake I wanted to make. “No, thanks.”

  “Hey, go home. I don’t need you here right now. It’s not like we’re at full capacity. I can handle this crowd.”

  I reached up and grabbed a bag of flour and a mixing bowl. “No, I’ll stay. I have an idea.”

  She grabbed the other side of the bag to tug it out of my hand. “I’m your boss. You could at least pretend to listen to me from time to time.”

  “Or not. I don’t need, or want, to go home. I said I’ll stay.” I was stubbornly determined when I wanted to be and that smell was bouncing around my head like a ricocheting ping pong ball. I had to bake it.

  Muddy still didn’t let go. “Carter,” she yanked the bag, but I held firm, then yanked back, “you just said you thought you were getting sick.”

  “And you said I couldn’t get sick.”

  We tugged back and forth, neither willing to give, Muddy fighting a smile. “This is ridiculous. Someone needs to go check on the guests.”

  “They’re your guests.”

  She tugged one more time and the bag gave way. With a ripping sound, a white explosion shot into the air between us. Muddy was fast enough to get out of the way, but I stood helpless under the raining flour shower. I just froze while I processed the fact that I was coated in a layer of white powder, as was everything immediately surrounding me in the kitchen.

  After a few seconds of complete silence, Muddy barked out a laugh and stepped farther away from me. “Have fun cleaning that up! Like you said, I’ve got guests to tend to.”

  I looked around at the mess and groaned. My baking masterpiece would have to wait. I reached for the broom.

  By the time I finished, Muddy had raced in and out multiple times to get food for her guests. I was still a mess, both inside and out. I decided to take Muddy’s advice and go home. I could create the recipe at home, if the inspiration held.

  When I swung open the door to the dining room, every thought in my head disappeared from my mind.

  The moment I laid eyes on him, nothing else existed.

  4

  Alec

  I ushered Chelsie over to the same small table off in the corner that I’d used the night before to compose and send off a few business emails and corporate memos. Before I even sank into the chair, a wave of sensory stimulation hit me so hard I felt as though I’d just been assaulted, punched in the chest. The air left my lungs. I smelled her before I saw her. Stronger than ever, the smell of cupcakes, sweet vanilla and buttercream, surrounded me. It tickled my nostrils and supercharged my body until I was half-mast. What the hell? Who got sexually aroused from the scent of cupcakes? That was a first.

  Perplexed, I looked around to see if anyone else was reacting to the delicious aroma. Chelsie sat down across from me, her eyes glued to her phone, scrolling through her social media pages. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

  I scanned the room again, and that’s when I spotted her. Standing in an open doorway, a mess of a woman was staring at me. Her mouth hung open. Her eyes were wide, like a deer in headlights. My dick hardened fully as soon as I set eyes on her. My breath froze in my chest. Mine.

  She wasn’t close enough. I needed her closer, much closer.

  Her hair was a mass of blonde curls covered in white powder so that it resembled one of those wigs worn by George Washington. Except, it wasn’t just her hair that was coated in white powder, all of her was covered. She was coated from head to toe. We stared at one another. I was frozen; she was frozen. When she blinked, white powder fell from her eyelashes.

  Fuck, she was beautiful. Every muscle and bone in my body wanted her. I heard something crack and then a shriek. Tearing my eyes away from the beautiful little blonde, I looked over and realized I’d been gripping the table too hard and cracked a piece off in my hand.

  Chelsie stared at the splintered chunk of wood in my hand. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  I couldn’t form words. Chelsie’s voice pulled me out of a trance. Staring into the face of my fiancée moments after making eye contact with the woman I knew was my mate… It was like dreaming about heaven only to wake up in the bowels of hell. I glanced back up to where my mate had been. She was gone.

  My wolf bit, clawed, gnawed and howled demanding I chase her, but the man in me knew better. I was sitting at a table with my fiancée. Who was speaking to me. I had no idea what she was saying, but she was speaking.

  I looked back at Chelsie and felt a physical ache in my chest. “I’m sorry. What’d you say?”

  Her glance darted to where my mate had been and then back to me. Her eyes narrowed. “What the hell’s going on?”

  I set the chunk of table on my placemat. “I…uh… got a hand cramp. I didn’t realize it was so intense.”

  She looked at me like she smelled something bad in the room. She was right. It was something bad, alright. “Do you know that…woman?”

  I didn’t like the way she said woman. I didn’t like her talking about my mate at all. Shit. Mate. I had a mate. I glanced back over and tried to think of anything else to make the erection in my pants ease up.

  Finally, it was Chelsie’s voice that killed it. Her harsh whisper drew my eyes back to her and made my wolf growl. “Alec! What is your deal?”

  I bit back a short response and shrugged. “I thought I recognized her, but I was mistaken.”

  Just then the redhead, Muddy, stepped up to our table. Her eyes went to my placemat and the chunk of wood missing from her table. Her eyebrows shot up and her fists landed on her hips. “I don’t allow guests to tear off chunks of my tables, Mr. Patterson.”

  I couldn’t even muster looking ashamed. I wasn’t. I was too stunned by the turn of events. “I’ll pay for it.”

  She nodded. “You will. In the meantime, what would you like to drink?”

  Chelsie ordered a mimosa and I settled for black coffee. I didn’t need to add alcohol to my already jumbled mind. I requested a full breakfast and hoped it came with a side of my mate.

  I sat inhaling the scent of her, savoring the lingering aroma, and trying to figure out my next move. I was on an engagement trip. Even though I’d never heard of an engagement trip before, I was pretty sure it was in bad taste to dump your fiancée and run off with another woman while you were on one.

  Chelsie tapped away at her phone with more force than necessary, the only sign that she was peeved. After a few minutes, she held it up and showed me a picture of some storefront or something.

  “All of the sisters got engagement pictures taken here. We’ll have to stop there. I can’t wait to upload ours to the album. We’re going to look so much cuter than Ashley and her husband.”

  I couldn’t care less. If I was uninterested before, and I was, I couldn’t even think of a word to describe how uninterested I was now that I’d found a mate.

  The scent returned and I swung my head around just in time to see my mate being shoved out of the kitchen towards us. She had coffee in one hand and a mimosa in the other. They sloshed precariously as she stumbled reluctantly toward us.

  She’d wiped some of the powder off, but it still clung in several spots to her face and hair. As she came closer, I noticed her skin was like porcelain. Her large eyes were pale blue with a dark blue ring around them. Her mouth was full and pouty, with only a few flecks of whatever the white stuff was. When she was nearly to my table, our eyes met and held. Her pupils dilated. Breathtaking.

  She broke eye contact first, and I ran my gaze down her luscious figure. Short and curvy, her ample breasts were covered by a T-shirt and an apron, but that did nothing to stop my imagination. She was all things I never knew I wanted, but after seeing her, couldn’t do without.

  My mouth watered as she stopped next to us and her eyes flitted up from the floor. A pink blush cove
red her, from her cheeks to her neck, and I was aching to know how far down that pink went.

  “Um… Mimosa and coffee.” She dropped the drinks on the table and then spun away so fast that her long hair flew out, brushing over my arm as she went.

  I stared after her, devouring the back view. Oh! Her ass filled her jeans so well. Filled them. I wanted my hands on that ass. As she tossed a glance back at me over her shoulder, her large eyes were wide and full of surprise. This time, the twinge I felt was higher than my dick.

  We both knew.

  “I’m two seconds from losing it, Alec. Look over here at me, or I’m going to go ballistic.” Chelsie’s harsh whisper brought me back to reality.

  I turned back to her and forced a smile. “Sorry. I’m sorry. She… uh… she looks just like someone I knew as a kid.”

  “Really, because it looks to me like she’s someone you’ve fucked before.”

  Not before. Not yet. If I had, I would not have let her go. It was inevitable, though. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Chelsie stared at me for a few more seconds before nodding, like she was agreeing. “Sure. Anyway. Let’s discuss our daily agenda.”

  I watched her as she spoke, saying something about how exciting it was to be following in the same footsteps as her sorority sisters before her, blah, blah. I could only pretend to be listening, which was all she ever needed, anyway. I was too caught up in the all-consuming need to get away from her and chase my mate.

  5

  Carter

  I fanned myself in the kitchen and paced back and forth in front of the empty sink. Sweat beads had popped out all over my body, even on my lightly floured face. I was freaking out and, oh lord, I was going to bake bread on my forehead.

  Muddy watched me with a scowl until she finally held up her hands. “What is the matter, Carter? Jesus, you’re scaring me.”

  Not thinking clearly, I grabbed a tart and stuffed it into my mouth before trying to talk. I choked on a bit of crust, and was caught up in a hysterical fit of coughing. When it finally stopped, I finished chewing and swallowing before trying again. I took in a huge breath. “I can’t go back out there.”

  She put her hands on her hips and frowned at me. “Why? What’s happening out there?”

  I flung my arm out in the direction of the dining room and pointed. “I can’t go back! He’s out there. He’s… Shit. Shit!”

  “What? Is he someone dangerous? Do you recognize him from a wanted poster, or something? He broke a chunk of my table off like it was Styrofoam, the bastard. I’ll call the cops. The FBI.”

  “He broke the table? In anger?” Was my mate violent? Was I destined to repeat my past? The universe hated me.

  “I—I don’t think so. He didn’t seem angry. He seemed out of it. He wasn’t so strange when he checked in yesterday. Come to think of it, though, he did crush the luggage handles. But, he was uptight, not in a violent way, he asked about a place to work.”

  I wanted so badly to steal a glance at him but I was terrified he might see me. What the hell was I going to do? My bear was practically roaring her fool head off to get me to run out to him and throw myself into his arms. Wouldn’t that be lovely? Right in front of the woman he was here with. Gawd, I needed to get out of there before I humiliated myself. Further humiliated myself.

  “I have to go home. Is that okay?”

  “I’ve been telling you to go home all morning. What do you mean, is that okay?” She rolled her eyes and shooed me with a rag. “Take this food out to them on your way out, though, okay?”

  I didn’t realize she was teasing until she snorted a little as she laughed through her nose at my incredulous face. I pouted and fanned myself again. “Not funny. I’m going through something here.”

  “I see that! The guy is certainly having an effect on you. I wish you’d tell me what the deal is. It’s going to drive me crazy. Al least tell me how you two know each other?”

  I couldn’t say it out loud. I couldn’t even form the words. It’d be too real if I did, so instead, I just made a series of hand gestures and groans. “I don’t know know him. I mean, I don’t know him. At all.”

  “You’re not making sense.”

  That was an understatement. “I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tonight.”

  I dusted off more of the flour that coated me and pushed my hair back from my face. I straightened my shirt and then took a deep breath of only partially mate scented air before pushing the door open. I kept my head down, despite everything in me aching to look up at him. I was halfway across the dining room when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and darn if I didn’t look, despite myself.

  The attractive brunette sitting with the man who the universe was trying to pawn off on me as my mate, snaked her way around the table and planted herself into his lap. With a quick but meaningful glance at me and a hair toss, she leaned in and captured his mouth in a hard kiss.

  The sting was instant and harsh. I was going to rip that bitch’s lips right off her smug, puckered face. What? No I wasn’t. No. No, I wasn’t. I jerked my head away from them and hustled out of the converted old house with my heart pounding in my ears and my bear clawing and chewing my insides.

  This was crazy. I didn’t know the man. Up until an hour ago, I hadn’t known he existed. Seeing him kiss another woman, his girlfriend apparently, should not affect me in the least. But, as it was with mates, I had no control or power over my own emotions. And, seeing that kiss hurt.

  The farther I got from him, the easier it became to breathe. My heart still ached, but I couldn’t smell him anymore and that was a blessing. I wanted to forget he existed. Fortunately, he was a tourist and would soon leave. When he did, I could put this whole unfortunate mate thing behind me and get on with my life in Helen’s Corner. Without a mate.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d been swept into a whirlwind of emotion. Back then, though, when I’d met Jellybean’s father, I had no one depending on me. Now, I had my daughter. She needed a steady mother, not someone who introduced a revolving door of men into her life. It was my job to protect her from such things. Despite what her little girl mind thought when she drew pictures of dads who resembled swirly rainbows, I knew we were better off alone.

  The air in my house was stuffy, so I opened a few windows as I headed to my bedroom, completely avoiding the kitchen. I wanted nothing more than to go straight to my baking and explore that intoxicating scent, the mixture of spices that had filled my head with visions of cakes, cupcakes, cookies and sex. Sex? Aaaah! Where had that come from?

  I had to stop thinking of that man and his scent. I made myself go up to my bedroom to start unpacking. How was it that I’d settled in the one town on the entire face of planet Earth that my mate chose to visit. With his girlfriend. Or wife! Holy shitballs, was she his wife? No, I hadn’t seen a wedding ring. Not that it mattered, because I didn’t want him anyway.

  I spent the rest of the daylight hours unpacking, only breaking once or twice to catch myself standing in my kitchen, staring at my spice rack. By the time night had fallen, I’d powered through half the rooms in my house. Anything to avoid thinking about you-know-who.

  It wasn’t until I plopped down into my favorite chair and kicked my feet up on the ottoman that I noticed I had missed a call from my brother, Cannon, about an hour before. With the same sense of urgency that every mother feels when her child is away from home and she notices a missed call, I dialed Cannon and impatiently waited for him to answer.

  “Hey, little sis.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  He laughed, his deep voice soothing me. “Yeah, everything’s fine. We called to say goodnight, but you were too busy partying and having a good time, I take it?”

  I let my shoulders relax and blew out a breath. “I was unpacking. I just finished Jellybean’s room. Don’t buy her anymore toys, Cannon.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to be a problem. Matt seems to have some issues revolving around shopping for kids.” He
hesitated for a moment and then started whispering. “He’s going to be the best dad, Carter. Seriously, you’re going to have so many nieces and nephews.”

  “Good. I can’t wait. You’re going to be a great dad, too.”

  “Anything else going on there?”

  I knew Cannon. I knew he was asking if I was okay. He’d been my hero more than once with my ex and I was grateful to have him on my side. “Nope. Everything is good here.”

  “Carter. Why does it sound like you’re lying to me?”

  “Because you’re hearing things? I’m not lying. Everything is good here. I miss Jellybean. I hate unpacking. I burned a recipe today. And, there it is, folks, all the news and sordid gossip straight from the small enclave of Helen’s Corner.”

  He didn’t laugh. “You’d tell me if you needed me, right?”

  “Yes. You know I would. Relax, big bro. All’s well.” I put a smile in my voice and straightened my back. “You go and have a good night with your mate. I’m going to a town meeting.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  I chuckled. He had no idea.

  “I love you, Carter. Call me if you need anything.” He sighed. “Even if it’s something silly, okay? We’ll call you in the morning so you can talk to Jellybean.”

  “I love you, too. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  When I hung up, I had tears in my eyes. Cannon was the best brother. Knowing he was always there for me had gotten me through a lot of hard years. I needed to stand on my own two feet, though.

  6

  Carter

  A unique thing about Helen’s Corner was that sometimes it really was a little bit more “Hell’s Crazy Corner.” Some traditions, I’d learned, were a part of what had earned the tiny town its alter ego reputation. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t love them.

  As the story went, sometime in the late eighteen-hundreds, a woman named Helen Cartwright, recently widowed under mysterious circumstances, moved to a plot of land left to her by her late husband. It was there that she founded Helen’s Corner. Just self-absorbed enough to name the town after herself, she was a shifter who believed strongly in feminine power—the power of women banding together. She wanted a place where women like herself, those who’d been dealt the short end of the stick by the men in their lives, could find safety and happiness.