Gabrielle Demonico

by Shifters Unleashed (Five Volume Box Set) (Retail)

  Ellie looked down at her half eaten eggs.

  “When would we leave?” she asked.

  “As soon as you are ready - even tonight.” Jason replied.

  “What about your business?” she asked.

  “Let us worry about that.” Ben replied.

  It was all before her now, everything she’d always dreamed about and so much more.

  “Well Ellie? What’s it going to be?” Jason asked.

  After a few more seconds, she began to think that this was exactly as it should be. It was as if everything, all the disappointments, setbacks and everything else had somehow guided her to this place with them - right now. As she sat, she could feel a sudden whirlwind of spontaneous confidence rise up inside of her until at last, her decision was made crystal clear.

  “Of course, of course!” she exclaimed.

  Elated, the three of embraced. The remainder of the day was filled with talk of an abundant, bright future and as the hours ticked by Ellie grew even more confident that her decision would pay dividends in the future unimaginable to her right now.

  And to think… She’d actually considered killing Avery. How silly that would have been. What would she have done for a bridesmaid?

  Her Wolves, Their Bear

  It was day number four…

  Jessi Wilder should know. She had counted every one of them.

  They'd first shown up earlier in the week - Tuesday to be exact. And every day since they’d come into her family's diner and ordered the same meal.

  Steak and eggs.

  There was nothing unusual about the order itself except that no one she knew (aside from her own kind) ate meat the way they did.

  It wasn't just rare - they wanted it cold.

  But, they weren't bears… of that much she was certain. She’d tried to scent them a number of times but so far all she knew was that they weren’t her kind. However, she also knew that they weren’t human either.

  Perplexed, she leaned against the refrigerated pie and cake display and watched them take their seats. As she looked on Jessi’s mom Sandy walked over and said, "They're here again?"

  Without looking in her mom’s direction, she chewed nervously on her lower lip and replied, "Yeah."

  Jessi watched as the hostess, her older sister Megan, seated the men at a booth near one of the large windows that faced Brynweth Avenue.

  “And at your station again I see.” Her mom said.

  “Mm, hmm.”

  As Megan headed back towards the front of the restaurant, she made eye contact with Jessi and shrugged her shoulders. Ever since the first day they’d come in, they’d asked to sit in her section. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.

  It couldn’t be that they were attracted to her. Not men that look like that. Female bears were curvy girls and that’s just the way that it was. She imagined that men like them could have their pick of any females they desired. So in her mind, they couldn’t possibly be interested in her. She didn’t have to like it but she did have to accept it.

  Anyway, aside from their food orders, they never said more than two words to her but then again, they never seemed to talk to one another much either. In fact, they usually spent a majority of their time taking turns looking out the window as they ate.

  At the very least it was odd.

  What’s more, people had started to talk.

  Strangers got noticed in Ellisville. Especially ones as handsome as them. After all, it wasn’t everyday that men like these showed up in her small town. As far as Jessi was concerned, nothing ever happened here.

  It was a pleasant enough place and one of the few parts of the world that let bear shifters like her family live in peace. The humans in town knew all about their kind and treated them as much like one of their own as could be expected. It was a great place to have grown up and lived in - even if it was slow paced.

  “Jessi, what’s with you?” her mom asked as she nudged her daughter.

  “Hmm? Oh… Nothing. I’m fine.” She replied.

  “Jessica Elizabeth Wilder. Don’t you lie to me.”

  She turned towards her mother and as she did, a mischievous grin came across her face. Her mother leaned away and raised an eyebrow of suspicion. “What?” she asked cautiously.

  “I can’t take it any more…” Jessi said excitedly.

  “You can’t take what?”

  “Aren’t you curious at all Mom?”

  “Jessica, what on Earth are you talking about?”

  “Mom!” she said in loud whisper as she angled her head in the direction of the men. “Them! Don’t you want to know why they are here?”

  “Jessica… No.”

  “No, what, Mom?”

  “Jessica… That is not our way. Honey, now you know that bears don’t go meddling in other people’s affairs. It’s just not polite or smart.”

  “Oh Mom, come on. Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

  “No. Not in the least and neither should you be.”

  Jessi grimaced and then pursed her lips in her mother’s direction.

  “Don’t even think about giving me sass Jessica. Now just take their order and mind your own business. Go on now. Go.”

  “Fine!” Jessi huffed as she snatched an order pad from the counter and headed over towards the booth where the men were seated.

  Her mother had gotten her so flustered she’d momentarily forgotten about how good looking they were. Physically speaking, they were much different than her kind. Both of them had dark complexions and equally thick heads of hair - one as black as graphite and the other deep mahogany brown with natural honeyed colored strands jutting out randomly.

  The one with black hair was seated to the immediate left of where she stood. His emerald eyes sparkled against the dark contrast of his curled locks. To her right, sat what appeared to be his brother, whose eyes were blue but no less brilliant. They shimmered beneath wavy strands of auburn highlights.

  Their bodies were muscular, but not overly so. Frankly, Jessi had a hard time figuring out which one was more attractive. She spent a lot of time staring at them when they came in - kind of like right now. In fact, she gradually began to realize that this was indeed one of those times. To her horror, she became aware that they were aware of her awareness…

  The black haired one cleared his throat and said, “Uhhm, hello?”

  Rattled, Jessi stammered, “Oh! I… Oh, I’m sorry. Sorry… Good morning, again. Welcome back.”

  Good job, Jessi. Way to look cool there… She thought.

  The black haired one shook his head, smiled and looked at his brother who said, “Good morning to you as well…” He paused for a moment, craned his neck up to get a look at the nametag on her and continued, “Jessi.”

  It was the first time either of them had done anything other than grunt an order to her and it caught her completely off guard. Awkwardly she said, “Uhh, hi.” She then blinked quickly and asked, “You two just want your usual?”

  The black haired man folded his large hands together on the table and asked, “You’ve memorized our order?”

  She nodded and quickly said, “Yep, steak and eggs. Steak, Pittsburgh style, eggs over easy, black coffee.”

  “Impressive.” He said.

  “Well, yeah. I mean, it wasn’t that hard really. You get the same thing every day.”

  He smiled, turned towards his booth mate and said, “I told you…”

  The brown remained stone faced but it was obvious something was said that shouldn’t have been.

  Jessi lingered for a moment in the midst of their awkward tension and then said quickly, “Alright, well. I’ll get that started for you.”

  The brown haired one looked up at her and replied, “Thanks Jessi.”

  She hurried back to the register to put in their order. The register faced out towards the people seated in the restaurant. As she moved in close to it, she cast a subtle glance in their direction. She noticed that their conversation suddenly se
emed to be serious and she wondered if they were talking about her.

  No, no way. Don’t be ridiculous Jessi.

  Still, what did the black haired one mean when he said, “I told you…” and what’s more, why had that upset the other one?

  “Jess?” her mom said as she came up from behind and touched her lower back.

  “Mom! God…You scared me!” Jessi said.

  Her mom laughed and said, “Honey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Are you alright?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry I guess I was just focused on putting this order in.”

  “What order? You mean the one on the pad right? The pad that you haven’t taken out of your uniform yet? You mean that order?”

  With that not-so-subtle observation, Jessi’s mom walked off and chuckled her way into the kitchen.

  Grrrr…

  Jessi semi scowled at her mom as she vanished from sight.

  After about fifteen minutes or so, Jessi dropped the men’s meals at their table and refilled their coffee cups and water glasses. Once they’d finished, she appeared once more and asked, “So how was it?”

  The brown haired one had just finished chewing his last bite when she’d arrived. He swallowed and said, “Excellent as usual.”

  The black haired nodded in agreement and replied, “Yeah, terrific.”

  “So will I… we be seeing you two again here?” she asked.

  Smooth Jess.

  The black haired one tilted his head towards her and said, “I dunno. Depends… Will you be working here tomorrow?”

  “Normally I would yes. It’s my family’s place. But, I’ve worked eight days straight and so I’m off.”

  “I see. Funny thing. My brother and I are off as well tomorrow.”

  Brothers…

  She’d known it all along.

  “What do you like to do for fun around this place?” the brown haired one asked.

  She pressed her pen into her cheek and said, “Hmmm, well, in town there’s really nothing going on tonight. Over in Mitchell, the Sidewinder Bar can be fun. It’s about thirty minutes or so north of here.”

  The black haired one said, “Sounds great. What time do you want to meet us there?”

  The question caught her by surprise. In a mix of embarrassment and confusion she said, “Oh… I… Why would you want me to come?”

  He let her question linger for a moment. He then leaned in her direction and said slowly but clearly, “Why wouldn’t we?”

  Seriously… Like, no joke. Her bear wanted to dive on the freaking table and maul them with its tongue right there - no questions asked. But instead she struggled for some reason to not seem eager. She thought her best strategy was to play it cool even though she really had no idea how to do that.

  Pretending, she said, “Well, I don’t even know you… for starters.”

  Good. That was good. She thought as she reassured herself.

  The brown haired one smiled broadly and said, “Oh, for starters huh?” He glanced at his brother, gestured in his direction and said, “Well in that case, that is my brother Theo and I’m Daryn. You’re Jessi, of course.”

  Sensing a tiny victory she smiled. She then pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and replied, “Of course.”

  Theo immediately slapped his hands together, smiled and said, “Alright, that’s all settled. How about ten o’clock?”

  Daryn shook his head and chuckled at his brother.

  She desperately wanted to say yes but still she hesitated. Sensing her awkwardness, Daryn said, “Hey, if you’d like, bring a friend along. We’re mostly harmless. We really just want to hang out and relax for the evening. But, if you are uncomfortable with that, no problem.”

  “No, it’s not that.” She said quickly. She pinned her lower lip between her teeth and said, “Okay, uhhmm…Well.… My friend Kim and I were going to have dinner later so I could see if she wants to go the Sidewinder instead?”

  “Terrific… So we’ll meet you both at ten?” Daryn asked.

  “Yeah, ten sounds good.” She replied.

  “Can I borrow your pen for a sec?” Daryn asked.

  “Sure.” Jessi replied as she pulled it from her uniform’s apron and handed it to him.

  He began writing on a napkin and said, “Okay, I’ll give you my cell number. Write yours down for me as well.”

  “Okay.” She said as she leaned over the table and scratched it out on a blank order ticket. A few minutes later, she walked with them towards the restaurant’s exit and stopped near Megan.

  “Bye Jessi, see you tonight.” Theo said as the exited the restaurant.

  “Bye…” she replied. Jessi was so excited by it all that she was unaware of Megan staring at her.

  “What’s tonight?” Megan said in a suspicious tone.

  “Huh? Oh nothing…” Jessi said quickly.

  “Are you meeting up with them Jessi?” Megan asked.

  “Yes. Is there a problem with that?”

  Megan moved in closer to her little sister and said, “Jessi, you don’t even know them.”

  “So what? Besides Kim is going with us.” Jessi snapped.

  “I dunno. Mom would be pretty upset if she found out…”

  She glared at Megan and said, “Well, Mom isn’t going to find out. Right?”

  “Just be careful please.” Megan begged.

  “I will. I promise.” Jessi replied.

  After her sister’s veiled threat, warning or whatever it was, Jessi shifted gears and tried to get back to work as best she could. Even so, the rest of the workday seemed to move slower than a herd of snails traveling through peanut butter. Her mind kept torturing her with one question after another…

  Did they ask her out?

  If not, which one of them did?

  Was she even being asked out at all?

  Despite wracking her brain for hours she couldn’t come up with a single conclusion that made any sense. Eventually she decided to stop worrying about it altogether. After all, she’d been itching for an adventure and maybe one had finally shown up.

  It was possible.

  Wasn’t it?

  ***

  Jessi and her ridiculously beautiful human friend Kim arrived at the Sidewinder Bar at around nine o’clock. During the week, the crowd here was tolerable but starting on Thursday and running through Saturday it was basically a meat market. Jessi loathed the scene but she figured she could make the sacrifice this once if it meant getting to see the brothers in a more relaxed setting.

  “ID…” said the enormous man at the front door. If ever there was a job so perfectly suited for someone it would have to be him - for this.

  “Yep…” Jessi replied.

  The women jostled about in their purses for their driver’s licenses. After a few seconds, Jessi pulled hers from her wallet and handed it to him.

  But not Kim. Ohhh no, no way.

  There were a lot of things to love about Kim but organization was not one of them. The dark haired beauty fumbled about in what was arguably the largest ‘purse’ Jessi had ever seen.

  “Sorry…” Kim said with a sheepish grin. “I know it’s in here somewhere.”

  As Kim searched, the man shined a small flashlight on Jessi’s license.

  “Okay.” He grumbled as he handed it back to her.

  As Jessi stepped aside, Kim finally produced her identification and as she did exclaimed, “Aha! Found it!”

  Jessi just stared at her friend and shook her head slowly in disbelief.

  The barrel chested man looked at it under the bright light and then handed it back to her. “Alright, have fun.” he said.

  “Thanks!” Kim chirped.

  Moments later, the duo entered the bar and checked out the scene, hoping to spot a two top or maybe a booth somewhere. It was already pretty crowded and by the looks of things, it was going to be tough finding a spot.

  Suddenly, Jessi felt Kim tap her on the shoulder. “Over there.” She said pointing to an ope
n booth on the far side of the room. Jessi nodded and they hurried over to try and grab it. Arriving at the booth, the women slid into either side and after a few minutes, a waitress came by with menus and asked, “Just the two of you tonight?”

  “No. Two more will be joining us.” replied Jessi.

  The waitress nodded and said, “Okay. Would you like to wait for them to get here or would you like to get something now? A couple of drinks maybe?”

  The girls looked at each other for a moment and shrugged in unison. “Sure. Uhhmm, we’ll have some drinks.” Jessi answered.

  “Alright, all of our house cocktails are listed on the back along with our beer and wine selections. I’ll give you a few minutes to look it over.”

  “Thanks.” Jessi said.

  After the waitress walked away, Kim leaned in and asked, “What time were they supposed to meet you here?”

  “Ten.”

  “Oh, alright.”

  Jessi wasn’t much of a drinker so she decided on a fruity cocktail concoction. It sounded more like a dessert than a drink anyway. She placed her menu on the table and surveyed the landscape. It was about what she expected at the Sidewinder. Guys fueled by liquid courage taking their turns hitting one female after another. She knew that with Kim here, it wouldn’t take long before a few of them made their way to their table.

  After a few minutes, the waitress returned and took the women’s drink orders. She then asked, “Do you want me to leave the menus for the people that are coming?”

  “Yes please. Thank you.” Jessi said.

  “No problem.” The waitress replied as she turned and walked away.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.” Kim said as craned her neck around.

  “Yeah, me too. It hasn’t changed much from what I remember.”

  “True.” Kim replied.

  About five minutes later, the waitress reappeared with their drinks and as she sat them down on the table she said, “Your… uhh… drinks are compliments of the gentlemen at the bar.”

  Ugh. Here we go.

  She stepped aside for a moment and gestured in the direction of a fairly large group of men seated on the side of the bar closest to them. As they looked, the man in the middle of the group raised his glass in their direction and winked.