A Mate for the Sheriff (Shifter-Match.com Book 4)

by April Zyon

  “Rarely, but they do love a good scratching post. My personal favorite is a solid oak tree. I can usually shred one up pretty fast when I’m of a mind to. You’ll notice a few victims if you go wandering around in the woods around the house. It’s a harder wood and feels better on the claws.”

  “Ah, I get that. I want to be able to allow any children we have free reign around our home. I never want to stifle them as I’ve had to be stifled. I grew up with my mom and dad, but from the time I was five I was taught how to force the abilities behind shields and had spells woven over me by my mom and grandmother. To say that I was raised in a strict setting is putting it mildly. I was sent to my grandmother for a long time for her to weave spells over me, and when she got sick of me I was sent back to my parents for them to weave spells over me. They did it to hide me. They were trying to protect me but also hide their shame as well. Being seen as a human was bad enough. Even that eventually got me tossed out of the coven. Don’t get me wrong, though—I know that my family loves me or I would have been dead. I have amazing brothers that taught me some fabulous things. My parents love me, and even my grandparents love me, but it was stifling. Now I understand why they did it, but growing up I didn’t. All I saw was the suffocation and the constant spells woven around me to make me appear human and bind my abilities. I know we aren’t planning on children for a while. I just hope that when that time does come we will be able to allow them all the happiness and joy a child should have. That they will have as much acceptance as the other little cubs and kittens have.”

  “When we have kids, down the line and in the future, they can run wild like I did. It’s part of a dire’s nature to go for long romps in the woods. We learn a lot about ourselves during those trips out there.” Leaning around her, Novak grabbed a towel she could use to dry her face. “One foot in front of the other for the rest of the day. When we’re both at home we can talk more about everything. But I think for now we should go on with our work like everything is normal. No need to get anyone feeling the need to be nosy.”

  “Yes, I do have a couple of other deputies to give a talking to. They think that they are able to jack around and turn in half-assed paperwork, and they all need a lesson in typing, too.” Good, her mind was on work, so that would take it off of everything else. “Would you be mad at me if I made them all take typing classes?”

  “Mad? If you can manage to figure out a way to make it mandatory and within the limits of our statute, go right ahead. But I want to see the list of who you think needs to attend, because I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to add a couple names. Plus, I can tell you who’s faking it in an attempt to make you do their paperwork. Which also does not fly around here. The only person whose paperwork you may occasionally need to help with is mine.” And that all depended on what insanity the townsfolk could think up next to create more paperwork for him.

  “Oh, if that happens I am going to beat their asses or have my lovable mate beat them. I’ll get that list put together, and I can totally make it work. Don’t you worry about that. I can work it into their list of tasks they have to complete in order to get their yearly evaluation. I’m totally sneaky like that.”

  “Damn, I like this side of you.” Hooking his arm around her neck, Novak gave her a noisy kiss on the cheek. “You would be my hero if you could whip them all into shape. I, and the other deputies who do their duty and beyond, would forever be in your debt.”

  She bumped her shoulder to his. “Right now, I’ll settle for some lunch.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next day…

  Jessica looked at the phone in her hand as if it were a snake. She chewed her lower lip and listened to Alaska intently and felt ill. Little did the woman know that she was talking to the person that the coven was so actively searching for. If they were going to toss Alaska in on the search as well, it was not good. The woman knew Jessica and would recognize her signature in a heartbeat.

  Once she hung up she looked outside, where Novak was currently walking around their property, and stood on shaky legs. She walked outside and leaned against the outer wall to wait for him to look her way. When he did, she said, “We need to talk.”

  Immediately he headed her direction. Leaping up onto the porch, he came to her and wrapped her in his arms. “What’s wrong?” he asked, tucking her in close to him. A large hand pressed between her shoulder blades and the other rested low on her hip. “Something has you upset, which means you need to tell me who to kill.”

  “They’re asking Alaska to join in the search for me. Alaska would recognize me if she helped them scry for me.” She was shaking, and if he could feel the pull of her power, she needed to rein it in. She rubbed her cheek to his chest. “She’s powerful. She would easily be able to find me. I think it’s time to tell them. This has me scared shitless.”

  Novak lifted her up into his arms and carried her to the porch swing. He settled her into his lap and began to rub her back. “I know you are. But I’ve got some reinforcements on standby, should we need them. They’ll stay in the shadows if we don’t put out the call, but they’re close enough that they can get to us at a moment’s notice. I hope it’s unnecessary. If we’re lucky, a little show and tell will be enough to keep them in line.” Her mate had given her some old texts passed down through his family about the dire wolves. She now knew why so many had been killed. Not only had the other shifters detested the dire’s natural strength that rivaled a grizzly, easily, but witches feared them. In their shifted form, they could shake off most of what a witch or warlock could throw at them. At one point in history they had been deemed witch hunters. “I wonder if any of them have outstanding arrest warrants.” Jess looked up at him sharply. Novak gave a shrug. “Sorry, random thought popped into my head. But it’s a good one. Additional leverage. Something to check into later. For now, though, we need to figure out when and where we want to confront them. Normally I would say with plenty of witnesses, but I really don’t want to potentially out myself in front of the entire town.”

  She nodded. “I want to keep our secrets as close to ourselves as we possibly can. Hopefully by just talking to the elders we’ll be able to stop the search for the null, for me,” she told him.

  “The elders.” He said it with a sneer and a shudder. “Those fuckers have their own heads shoved so far up their asses they actually think they’re the center of the universe. I’ll gladly out myself to them for the sole purpose of watching them all scramble for the nearest exit. We need to do this on our terms, at a time they will be where we want them and unaware we’re coming. You know the covens better than I ever could, so what are your thoughts? I’d prefer in the next couple days, if possible,” he added.

  “Then I would say the full moon, because that’s when they’re the weakest. The new moon is when we are at the height of power, which is why we can only get pregnant then. Also, from my readings on your people, dires are at full power during the full moon, so it would be a power play of sorts. We have one coming up in two days.” She always kept track of the lunar cycles.

  “Then we do it then. It also doesn’t have to be once the moon is in the sky. The early hours when the earth is turning to bring it over the horizon work, too. Pretty much the entire twenty-four-hour period is a power booster for us shifters.” Leaning his head back, Novak stared up at the porch overhang. “Where would we find them during that time frame?”

  “They would most likely be at the witches’ shop. Cliché, I know, but the tourists freaking love it. They sell things like spells and potions and so on. Most of it is totally fake, but of course the customers don’t know it. If someone is truly in need of help, they will help them. This is only for those that want to take advantage of magic. The ones that come to witches for bad magic, want to work spells against ex loved ones and so on.”

  “All right, we’ll go to the shop, then. Close to when they are ready to shut down for the night. Hopefully there won’t be too many folks still hanging around at that hour. Like I
said before, I don’t want too many people finding out more than they need to know, about either one of us.”

  “Still, going to the shop is going to be risky. They have someone who will read new people as they come into the shop. Yet another reason why I’m never there. Yes, it’s invasive and all of that, but it’s the only way to tell if someone is dark deep down inside.” She tried to stay as far from the coven’s shop as she possibly could.

  “They shouldn’t be able to get a read off of me. Hopefully they won’t get a read off either one of us. We need all the aces we can have up our sleeves for this encounter.” Blowing out a breath, Novak cuddled her in closer to him. “We’ll figure it out, Jess. I really don’t want to be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our days.”

  When he stood up, she moved along with him. He was much larger than she was, but it didn’t matter because in the whole space of things they were perfectly matched. When they walked together, she felt protected, coveted even, and she was certain she was just that.

  Ushering her inside and to the breakfast bar, Novak easily lifted and set her on a stool. He went to the fridge and shot her a look. “Have you decided what we’re doing tonight for dinner?”

  “We should cook those chicken breasts we pulled out of the freezer and put in the fridge yesterday.”

  “Rice and a vegetable side?”

  She nodded. “We have those carrots we should use up.” He began to pull items from the fridge to toss on the island. “I’ll deal with the starch while you tackle the protein and vegetable. But I should mention I have a rice cooker that ensures it always turns out perfect each time.”

  “Oh see that’s just plain cheating.” Had she known that, she would have totally taken on the rice. “Okay, get out. I want to surprise you, mister man.”

  “Let me put on the rice first and then I’ll go get some things done while you do your thing. Give a shout if you need anything and I’ll come running.”

  She sat back to watch him move around preparing the rice cooker. When he had the timer set, he kissed her cheek, then left the kitchen, whistling softly. And for the first time in hours, Jess felt like maybe things would be okay after all.

  Chapter Nine

  Near day’s end Novak moved into the doorway between his office and Jessica’s. Knocking lightly on the doorframe, he smiled at her when she lifted her head. She looked tired, stressed, and absolutely gorgeous. The woman got his heart rate going with only a look. “We should head over to the shop if we want to get to them before they gather their troops.” She’d know to what he was referring. Novak was keeping it nonsensical enough to make sure no one eavesdropping—and there were a couple, he noted—would figure out what they were up to.

  “Yes. I should be ready in about five minutes. I just have to finish with this last-minute paperwork that O’Shea just turned in. Remind me tomorrow to give him a hard time. This is the third time he’s turned it in last minute. He’s officially on my shit list and he’s going to pay for it. I swear he’s doing it on purpose.”

  While giving her a nod in confirmation, Novak also made a mental note to have a word with O’Shea. The man was human, which meant a little push from the alpha inside would have him in flight-or-fight mode quickly. It would also ensure the man paid close attention to every word from Novak’s mouth. “I’ll go sign off on the duty log and hit the little boys’ room while you finish up. Meet you back in here in ten,” he promised.

  “Sounds good.” She gave him a small smile and he watched her turn back to the paperwork before her with a frown on her face. “Before you go, do you know why O’Shea would check out the SWAT gear?” Huh, well that was odd. The SWAT gear was typically checked out to train, and he couldn’t recall O’Shea putting in to train for it. “Never mind,” she added. “I see the request for training. Looks like he’s trying to get better with the rifles.”

  That didn’t exactly pacify him any. “Who signed off on the request?” At her look, he moved closer to her desk. “Only a few people, including the limited SWAT personnel, have authorization to allow anyone not within the team to use the equipment. Part of our rules and regs in regards to the items for insurance purposes.” In fact, beyond the eight members of the SWAT team there were precisely three people with authorization to sign out any equipment. Novak, the SWAT commander, Karson, and their equipment and resident gun guy, Sparky.

  “Looks like it was Karson who signed off on the release,” she told him. “So go, do what you need to do, and I’ll finish this up. Don’t worry. Seriously. It’s okay. O’Shea is a bit of an ass, but at least he wants to grow in the department. We can always use someone to be backup for the guys on SWAT, right?”

  “Right,” he said. Spinning on his heel, he headed out into the bullpen. He made his way down the stairs to the main level, which included the booking and holding area, storage, evidence lockup, and the ever-intimidating front desk. Novak scooped up the duty log on his way past the desk and went up the second set of stairs, punched in his code to open the heavy metal door, and continued up into SWAT territory.

  With a light knock on Karson’s door, he stepped into the room when the man waved him inside. After finishing his call, Karson leaned back in his seat. “I’m going to take a wild guess to why you’re up here, Sheriff.”

  “You already know. O’Shea’s still on restricted duty while he’s being cleared in that shooting. You and I both know that he never should have even asked to get in SWAT training time.”

  “Word is that the investigations cleared him. I know, I know. The paperwork hasn’t come through yet, which is why I have two guys with him. No live ammo, purely working on muscle memory motions for clearing rooms.”

  While Novak didn’t like the fact O’Shea had gone around him to Karson, or the fact the SWAT commander had worked a loophole, he wouldn’t make it a big deal. At least not with Karson. O’Shea, though, was now on the books for a reaming out the following day. The man was a weasel and figured he was smarter and better than everyone else. One reason it was hard to get other deputies to partner with him. His current partner was on the cusp of retirement. The only reason the guy was working with O’Shea was because he knew it was only another three months to go before he could deck the guy while everyone was otherwise occupied and go about his life.

  “Thanks for your time, Karson. I’ll let you get back to it.”

  Standing, Karson shook Novak’s hand and gave him a lopsided, easygoing smile. “No worries, Sheriff. You’re always welcome up here. Speaking of which, if you have time next week, the boys want to do another run against you. They’ve been practicing hard and they think they might actually have a shot this time.”

  Novak snorted out a laugh. “Set something up and let me know. I’ll work my schedule around it. Tell them to make sure their insurance is all paid up, though, if they want to play with the big dog.” It was a standing joke that had a belly laugh bursting from Karson. To date, the SWAT team had been going up against Novak four times a year in practice drills where he acted the part of the bad guy with hostages. Their goal was to get in, rescue the hostages, and take him out. Out of the twenty-six exercises they were zero and twenty-six. Not exactly a record they were boasting about, but he was always willing to give them another chance.

  After a few more words with Karson, Novak left the SWAT domain. Checking over the duty log while he strolled back downstairs to the main reception area, he dashed his signature on the bottom, dropped off the clipboard, and headed to the bathroom in the back. He was already running late, but he knew that Jessica would forgive him. She might not let him live it down, but she’d forgive him.

  She turned when he walked back in, which was a surprise to him. He had been utterly silent. “I felt you coming closer,” she explained at his look. There was that happy smile she wore when she was feeling all soft around him. “I’m finally finished. Are you ready?” She reached down and grabbed her purse, then locked her desk and turned off her computer while he watched her. “Can we st
op and get some food first? I’m totally starving and could eat the back end out of a horse right now.” Eww, he so didn’t want to hear his mate talking like that, at all. Damn, now he needed brain bleach to clear out that thought.

  “We will pick something up if you swear never to use that analogy again, ever. It’s one thing to say you could eat an entire cow, but specifying the horse’s ass, really?” Shaking his head, he turned off the lights for their offices and stepped back to let her go ahead. The added bonus was it let him watch her walk, more specifically her ass. His mate had a sweet fucking bottom.

  “Okay, okay. No more specifics as long as you’re feeding me,” she said with a laugh and walked with a wiggle that he knew she added just for him. Damn woman. “And I ate today. Goodness, I’ve eaten tons today, but I’m still starving.” She looked over her shoulder and gave him that look that made his dick hard. “Then again I am working out a lot more than I ever have before.”

  “It’s good for you,” he said in a smug tone. He couldn’t help it. He liked when she stroked his ego and vice versa. Novak was worried that she wouldn’t want to eat when they were finished at the coven’s shop. Then again his little mate ate in nearly any situation, stressful or pretty much anything else.

  The tell-tale blush that rose up on her cheeks had his dire wolf growling.

  Stepping in closer to her, Novak brushed his fingers down her arm until he could slide his hand into hers. “Come on, we’ll need to be quick if we’re going to eat first. They close in an hour, and if they’re slow they’ll shut the doors early.” He’d seen it happen more than once in his years as sheriff. “Let’s go to the diner.” The food was good, hot, and the service top notch.

  “We can call them on the way and have the food ready for when we get there. That will cut down fifteen to twenty minutes. I have them on speed dial. Do you know what you want? I want a huge roast beef gyro with fries.”