Shifter Starter Set

by Candace Ayers

  “Good morning.”

  I bit my lip when he pulled away and sighed. He was so hot. “Good morning.”

  “I need to get myself some clothes.”

  Did he really? I trailed my eyes over his back as he walked out of the bathroom and fought the urge to drag him back inside. “Okay.”

  “I’ll be back in just a few minutes, okay? Stay here until I get back? We can go check on your shop together.”

  I arched an eyebrow and shrugged. “I guess.”

  He pulled me into his arms and nipped my lip. “Please?”

  Melting against him, I nodded.

  Laughing, he backed away. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

  I didn’t want to see him leave, for some reason, so I climbed the stairs to investigate the crash I’d heard the night before. I wondered how much damage had been done.

  I had to laugh. The master bedroom window had shattered. It’d rained into the room and the bed was soaked—ruined, without a doubt. Nothing else was severely damaged inside the house. I’d gotten lucky.

  I took a fast shower and got dressed in another pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt. By the time I got back downstairs, Roman had returned. Seeing him standing in the doorway, in a pair of board shorts and a T-shirt, I realized I’d missed him. I was happy to see him back, and something inside of me breathed a sigh of relief. It should’ve scared me that I was getting attached to a man so far out of my league. And, even though my husband left me for another woman, I was technically still married. It was a recipe for disaster, but when he smiled at me, I felt like he’d missed me, too.

  I stepped into his open embrace and wrapped my arms around his waist. He smelled like cedar and citrus and was so warm. I wanted to stay curled in his arms all day. “Hi.”

  He wagged his brows at me. “You look beautiful.”

  I looked down at my bare feet and ignored the compliment. “How is it out there?”

  “Rough.” He took my hand and led the way out to the porch. Part of it was missing. “It looks like the porch and the upstairs window are the only things that suffered significant damage. A few shingles on the roof, but I can fix that easily.”

  I grinned. “I can, too.”

  “Touché.”

  The water had receded and left behind seaweed and lots of debris. The streets were littered with bricks and boards and bits from damaged homes—and probably my porch. Most of the houses I could see weren’t damaged beyond repair, though. With some hard, steady work, we could get the island back in good shape in a month or so.

  “You stayed behind, Megan?!” My neighbor, Cameron Patrick, stood in her driveway with her hands on her hips. “I thought you left with Dylan. I saw him loading stuff up in his sports car.”

  I dropped Roman’s hand, instantly ashamed of myself. I’d forgotten that I was on the island that Dylan and I had made our home. People knew we were married. I couldn’t be out with Roman as though it was completely normal. I winced and rubbed at my head, a headache forming already.

  “You okay, honey?”

  I blinked a few times and then nodded at Cameron. “Sorry, yeah. I was just… The storm really freaked me out. I usually evac, but I got caught up in it. Did you stay?”

  “No way. Bobby and I left days ago. We had a little vacation at his mom’s. I had to come back first thing this morning, though. You know how I love this little house.”

  I looked over her house and forced a smile. “Looks like you faired pretty well.”

  “Yeah, we did.” As her gaze fell on Roman, she looked like she was about to jump out of her skin. “Who’s your friend, honey?”

  Roman stepped forward and shook her hand. “Roman. I’m newer to the island. Megan and I ended up stranded together last night.”

  Cameron sighed happily. “How romantic.”

  I blushed and didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at her.

  She rolled her eyes and waved me off. “You deserve a night of being stranded with a man like Roman, honey. Dylan mentioned to Bobby that you caught him cheating last week. I didn’t know about any of it, I swear. I’m still mad at Bobby for not telling me. I would have come to you immediately. Before you had to find out like you did, I mean.”

  I had no words, so I just nodded.

  Thankfully, Roman was there to save me again. “Well, it was nice meeting you, but we’ve got to run.”

  He didn’t take my hand for the rest of the walk to the shop. He just walked by my side and shared the silence with me. I was floored to know that my neighbors knew about Dylan cheating on me. If Bobby Patrick knew, everyone knew. I was a joke. The laughingstock of the neighborhood. Not that I had a right to feel self-righteous or anything. Not after what I’d done with Roman. I didn’t feel like I had much of a leg to stand on.

  When we got to the shop, I just stood there in complete shock. Where the building used to be, there was now only a frame of a building. The whole place had been wiped out—reduced to a pile of rubble.

  I waited for tears or even sorrow to hit, but I just kept staring, feeling more and more relieved as the minutes passed. Then, I laughed. The whole damn shop was gone. Matilda had wiped me clean out of the business I shared with Dylan. I still had my house, but my SUV was gone, the shop was gone, and my husband was gone. It was like fate had snipped all of the ties I had with the life I was living a week ago.

  “You okay?”

  I wiped my eyes, tears forming from laughing, and then took Roman’s hand. “Yeah. I’m…uh…I’m good, actually. Really good.”

  17

  Roman

  I didn’t know what was going on inside of Megan’s head, but she’d taken my hand again. When her fingers intertwined with mine, I felt like the luckiest guy on the island. She’d just found her business destroyed, yet she was laughing. Why was she happy? I didn’t want to chance upsetting her, so I just walked with her. To the other end of town we went, taking in the extent of the damage along the way.

  I was sweating, but I felt like the heat wasn’t as miserable with Megan next to me. I couldn’t focus on it as much when she was there. “Want to meet my team?”

  She nodded. “I’d like that. Your lifeguarding team from Siberia.”

  I nodded. It was obvious she didn’t buy the lifeguarding story, but she didn’t push either. She just accepted it.

  The P.O.L.A.R. office was standing unharmed. There didn’t appear to be any damage done to it at all. The door was wide open and gripes and complaints could be heard coming from inside. With the power out, there was no AC. The rest of the guys were probably roasting.

  “I’m coming in with a guest. Are you all decent?”

  Serge came to the door and grunted. “Are they ever?”

  “Serge, this is Megan. Megan, my alph—boss, Serge.” I kept my hand on her back, my bear was bristling, not at all appreciating that I was leading her into an office full of other unmated males.

  Hannah stepped out from under Serge’s arm and smiled at Megan. “Another woman. Thank god.”

  I introduced everyone. Megan smiled politely and said hello to everyone, but she remained close to my side, her back pressed against my hand harder, like she needed the connection, too.

  “The generator isn’t working. I can’t take this torture.” Alexei wiped his face and growled. “A couple more degrees and I’m going to spontaneously combust.”

  Megan snorted but tried to hide it behind a cough. “Sorry. I could take a look at it. I’m good at fixing things.”

  Serge raised his brows. “Yeah, sure. Have at it.”

  “If you fix it, I’m going to plant the biggest kiss on you, Megan.” Alexei winked at her and blew her a kiss.

  I surprised everyone by curling my lip, baring my teeth, and growling at him. Staring him down, I pulled Megan into my side and shook my head at him. “No.”

  Megan just giggled and pointed to the back of the building. “The generator around there?”

  Serge nodded, his mouth slightly ajar. “Roman?”
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  “Later.” I followed Megan like a lost bear cub, happy to trail behind her for the view, if nothing else.

  “Did you just growl at your friend?” Megan found the generator on the ground by the back door and sank to her knees in front of it.

  I didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want her to think I was scary. Or weird. She didn’t know my nature. Until she did, she wouldn’t understand. “How’d you learn to fix things?”

  She looked back at me over her shoulder, those hazel eyes crinkled at the corners like she was enjoying herself. “Okay, we won’t talk about how you growled like a zoo animal back there. I learned how to fix stuff by just doing it. When I first moved into my house, it was quite a fixer-upper. I watched hours and hours of YouTube videos. That got me pretty far. Trial and error took me the rest of the way.”

  I knelt beside her and watched as she did her thing. Without any tools, she was limited, but within five minutes, the generator roared to life. I laughed as a loud cheer rang out from inside. “Looks like you’re the real hero here.”

  I loved the smile that spread across her face—and the confidence. “What can I say?”

  Her genuine smile was so beautiful that my chest ached looking at her. “Should we head back to your house, now?” I had to admit, I had an ulterior motive for getting her alone again.

  Her eyes went to my mouth and darkened. With a nod, she stood up and dusted off her hands on her pants. “Yeah, I guess I better get started with those repairs. The sooner the better.”

  “Stop by and see Susie, Roman. She was climbing the walls worried about you last night.” Alexei stuck his head out of the back door and winked at Megan again. “And you, sweets, you’re welcome to stay here. You miracle worker you.”

  I gritted my teeth and barely held my bear from bursting forth and attacking the hell out of Alexei. “Go!”

  He just grinned cockily. He’d been intentionally trying to get my goat. “Don’t forget Susie.”

  I sighed. I wanted nothing more than for the two of us to head straight back to Megan’s, but Alexei was right. I should stop by Susie’s. “Quick stop on the way?”

  Megan nodded. “As long as you’re talking about the Susie Davies at the Bayfront Diner, I’m more than happy to accompany you. Especially if her shop sustained little damage and she’s back up and running. I could use a cinnamon roll.”

  When she grinned, I pulled her into me and kissed her, unable to stop myself. “I guess I should feed you.”

  “I think I can feed myself.”

  “We could feed each other?”

  Blushing, she pulled away and looked out at the ocean. “It’s crazy how much it can change so quickly.”

  “The ocean?” I watched the sea with her, my hands itching to touch her again.

  “Life.”

  “My people put a lot of significance in change. We’re always changing, shifting. Change is good.”

  When she looked back at me, she was blinking away tears. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “Come here.”

  She wiped her eyes and let me pull her into my side. My need to claim her transformed into a need to take care of her, and I wanted to hold her until she realized how much good her change in marital status would bring both of us.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing, Roman.”

  I stroked her hair and pressed my lips to her forehead. I wanted her to be mine and all mine right this minute, to be as devoted to me from here on out as I was to her, but I couldn’t expect that. She did have feelings for me, of that I was sure, but she probably couldn’t comprehend why she was feeling them so intensely or so quickly. “I know. You’ll catch up.”

  She looked up at me and her brows wrinkled. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  I stared into her eyes, desperate to lay all my cards on the table. Knowing the turmoil she’d been through in the past couple days, though, I wasn’t sure she was in the right frame of mind to have another life-changing bomb dropped at her feet.

  She wasn’t ready to hear the whole fated-mates concept quite yet. “Not right now. Later.”

  She made a face. “It’s always later with you.”

  “It’ll be worth the wait.”

  She walked a few steps away and looked at me over her shoulder. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  18

  Megan

  Dropping in for breakfast at Susie’s turned out to be an hours-long endeavor. As we strolled Main Street, we ended up stopping to help several different people along the way. Someone needed help removing a tree that had fallen across their driveway. Someone else needed help getting debris cleared away from the front door and into a pile. Roman was never reluctant to pitch in and lend a hand, even to perfect strangers—so different from Dylan. And he seemed to have the strength of ten men! They sure made them tough in Siberia. When people saw him coming, smiles lit their faces. He’d said he’d just arrived on the island a month before, but it was obvious that he’d made an impression in a month’s time, and it was easy to see why. He was friendly and generous to everyone.

  Dylan wasn’t very friendly, and I’d never seen him be generous to anyone but himself. How had I been in denial about him for so long? No one smiled when he walked into a room or when he passed them in the street. No one was excited to see him. And it wasn’t hard to figure out why. He either acted as though he was superior to people, or he outright ignored them. I’d even had customers complain about him to me, not knowing that he was my husband. And, of course, I’d made lame excuses for him.

  My mind kept going in circles comparing Dylan to Roman, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on the comparisons or formulate any conclusions. We stumbled into people that could use our help, and every time, Roman would shoot me a look as if to ask if I minded before he rushed to their aid. He was considerate and thoughtful, two things that I found so refreshing.

  We worked until my body ached, and I wasn’t sure I could propel myself up the stairs to my house, much less clear away another pile of rubble. Roman didn’t seem to have the same problem. He was so strong that he made everything look easy. Next to him, I actually felt small and feminine for the first time in my life. I found myself thinking about what it would be like to slip on one of his T-shirts. It would be large on me, maybe even fit like a dress. I loved that thought.

  As tired as I was, my libido still reacted when I looked at him, remembering the way his body felt against mine. But I was exhausted. My bones ached, and the lack of proper sleep, not just last night, but for the past week, was catching up to me.

  I watched Roman, still hauling trash and piling it out of people’s way. The man had probably cleared a quarter of the island himself. As if he sensed my gaze on him, he looked back at me. His gaze instantly turned heated. Self-consciously, I ran my hands over my hair and then crossed my arms over my chest. I was sweaty, dirty, and I knew my hair was a wreck.

  “You are so beautiful.” Roman straightened and walked over to me. Mr. Barnes was watching. His wife, Luanne was watching, too.

  I forced a smile. “Yeah.”

  He caught my face in his hands and tipped my head up so I had to look him in the eyes. “I should’ve taken you straight back to your house this morning. I’m sorry.”

  Luanne smacked Mr. Barnes on the arm, and they both looked away from us. I knew my cheeks were red and I was so tired that tears filled my eyes. It was embarrassing.

  Roman wrapped his arms around me and held me. “Tired?”

  I nodded into his chest and sighed. “Sorry. It was a long night, I guess.”

  “I’ll swing back by tomorrow morning to help, John.” Roman scooped me into his arms and smiled down at me. “I have to get my girl home.”

  “Put me down, Roman. I’m too heavy.” I squirmed. I wasn’t about to let him carry me home. Besides the fact that I really was too heavy, people would see us.

  “Do I look like I’m struggling?”

  I stopped and looked up at him. He d
idn’t. Not even an inkling of strain anywhere on his face. “What are you, Superman?”

  He shot me a panty-melting grin and shrugged. “I’ll tell you someday.”

  “This is insane. You’re going to break your back.”

  “By carrying you? Hardly.” He bounced me and laughed when I gasped and locked my arms around his neck. “I’m carrying you. Deal with it.”

  I stopped fighting since we were so close to my house. I figured he’d put me down when he needed to, and I might as well just enjoy it. His neck was damp under my hands and he was drenched in sweat, but instead of finding the smell of him a turn off, it had the exact opposite effect. He smelled warm and cedary and citrusy and I wanted to rub against him and trap that smell in my brain forever.

  I remained in his arms as he carried me to my house, up the stairs, inside, and all the way to the guestroom. He dropped me on the bed and reached over his shoulder to grab his shirt and pull it over his head. In low-slung shorts and a whole lot of glistening abs, he looked down at me and licked his lips. “I’m hungry, Megan.”

  I stuttered. His smoldering facial expression had sent my brain out to the stratosphere, so his words caught me off guard. “I… I could fix something. There’s probably something in the—”

  He ran his hand up my calf and didn’t stop until his fingers were playing with the hem of my leggings. “Not for that.”

  I stupidly giggled when I realized what he meant. My heart sped up and my body hummed. When he tugged at my yoga pants, I lifted my hips and let him pull them off of me. The mean little voice at the back of my head screamed that it wasn’t a good idea to let him see me in that light. My thighs jiggled too much, my stomach was too soft, my hips too wide, my breasts too small. Not to mention I’d been sweating and I could use a shower.

  Roman tossed my yoga pants across the room, pressed his lips to my ankle, and as though he’d read my mind, said, “You smell delicious. Absolutely delicious.”