She snapped her head up, and when she locked gazes with Rosie, she could see what she was totally serious. “That’s nice of you to say, but he’s him and I’m … me.”
“You mean, a kind, hardworking woman who’s beautiful on the inside and out?”
“Rose—”
“Tut-tut.” Rosie raised a hand again. “Hush now. Why can’t you believe that Gabriel is sincerely interested in you? That he can see past your scars and see the real you?”
A sob burned at her throat. She wasn’t even sure she knew who she was. The fire had left physical scars on her, then a terrible relationship afterwards had left emotional ones until she wasn’t sure there was anything left of her.
“You might think that Gabriel is this perfect, handsome prince—and on the surface, that might be true which is why you’re intimidated.” Rosie said. “But there’s so much more to that man, if you’d only give him a chance to show it to you.”
A laugh bubbled up in her. Her, give him a chance? Was the world turning topsy-turvy now?
“Look.” Rosie bent down in front of her and gave her hands a squeeze. “Let me go talk to him, okay? See if I can at least … make him understand your hesitation and maybe get him to slow down. Oh, these shifter men,” she chuckled with a shake of her head. “Felines are the worst of all, you know, always so used to getting their way. Especially lions. All bluster, and no subtlety at all. And overconfident to boot.”
“L-lion?”
“Yeah.” Rosie rolled her eyes. “King of the jungle and all that.”
Huh. So, Gabriel was a lion. Somehow, she had a feeling about his animal, but couldn’t quite say it out loud. But it made sense—he always moved with a languid, confident grace that projected he owned the room or any space he was in.
“I’ll go now. Why don’t you sit tight or take a break? If I think he’s calmed down enough, I’ll let you know, and you can decide if you want to talk to him.”
“I—” But before she could protest, Rosie was already out the door. She blew out a breath, her body feeling like a deflated balloon.
The thought that Gabriel possibly liked her was still churning in her head. And right now, she just couldn’t get it to process, like a dough that just wouldn’t proof. What would she say to him if Rosie asked her to come out and talk to him?
She buried her face in her hands and let out a frustrated groan.
Chapter Five
Gabriel’s stomach dropped as the door shut in his face. His lion, on the other hand, roared in fury. How dare that little fox keep them away from their mate. If Rosie had been a male, the lion would have shown it who was boss around here.
Can it, he ordered his animal. Not that he thought it would ever harm Rosie, but they were both being pushed to the limit here. He’d had so many mood swings today someone might have thought he was on his period or something. The feeling of dread he had in the pit of his stomach the entire morning was slowly ebbing away, but it left him emotionally exhausted.
When she didn’t come out of her trailer that morning by three forty-five, he had begun to get worried. After knocking on her door for several minutes, he got impatient and broke the lock. Then, realizing she wasn’t in there, his mental state spiraled, and his lion wasn’t helping as it pressed him to find her now.
Why the hell didn’t we check here first?
His lion actually had the decency to slink away in shame.
Raking his hands through his hair, he paced back and forth, unsure what to do next. I’ve ruined things, he thought sadly. But he couldn’t stay away from her, couldn’t get her out of his head. Every moment of his existence pulsated with a need that he couldn’t ignore.
“Are you calmed down enough?”
He halted, then whipped his head toward the door.
Rosie closed it and raised an auburn brow at him. “Gabriel Russel, what in the world is the matter with you?”
“I don’t know, Rosie.” Then tension in his shoulders lessened, but the pit in his stomach grew. “I messed things up, didn’t I? She thinks I’m some kind of crazy stalker. I just … I couldn’t stay away, you know? I can’t. When I thought that she might be in trouble, something in me snapped and—”
She clucked her tongue. “You overwhelmed her.”
“I know, but I can’t. I just … I don’t know what to do with a mate. I never thought I would find mine.” A different uneasy feeling crept into his chest, but he ignored it for now because there was no use thinking about his family and Gen if his mate wouldn’t even look at him right now. That was a whole different issue. “And now she doesn’t want me.”
“It’s not that she doesn’t want you, Gabriel.” Rosie placed a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. “She just doesn’t understand what’s happening, being human.”
“It would be easier if she was a shifter.”
Rosie laughed out loud. “Lord, do you really think human and shifter females aren’t similar? I thought you had more sense than that. Growing up, you never did starve for female attention, whether it was from that suffocating family of yours or all those women fawning all over you. Maybe it’s time you did some of the chasing, Gabriel Russel.”
“I know, I know,” he said glumly. “I’m easy on the eyes.” Rosie snorted but he continued. “I have a job. I look pretty hot when I’m in my uniform.”
“And you’re richer than sin,” Rosie added.
He winced, not really thinking about that. “Then why doesn’t she want me?”
“Gabriel, have you ever thought that perhaps those are the reasons she doesn’t want you?”
“What?”
The older woman’s lips twisted. “You’re not blind right, you can see her scars?”
“Yeah, and so?”
“And so?” she parroted. “How do you think she feels about them?”
“Does it matter?”
“It does to her,” she said. “It’s part of her, something she has to live with every day. And you can’t just ignore them—”
“I’m not.” But Rosie’s words made him think. Truly, aside from the fact that she must have been in incredible pain, those scars didn’t matter to him at all. Obviously, it bothered Temperance a lot. “Do you know what happened?”
“Not the whole story.” Rosie’s tone lowered. “But you can’t just ignore her scars. She’s extremely self-conscious about them, and it’s not just about how she looks. There’s a deeper scarring there, one we can’t see.” She sighed. “Temperance is an amazing person—inside and out. You don’t even know how lucky you are that she’s your mate. But her confidence has been left in tatters by God knows what, and so, when you come in and start throwing your weight around, she won’t believe you want her for her.”
Huh. He’d never really thought of that. Of course not. His entire focus in trying to claim Temperance had been to make her want him back. Now he realized what he had to do was earn her. “What do I do, Rosie?”
“Talk to her. Show her you genuinely want her for her, and for God’s sake, listen to the things she’s saying and not saying. You’re used to showing everyone your perfect side, but maybe what Temperance needs to see is your flawed, human side. Trust me, she’ll respect you more for it.”
“And what about us being mates? Should I tell her?”
“That’s up to you, kiddo.” Rosie patted him on the cheek. “You’ll know when it’s time.” There was a sad smile on her face, and Gabriel wondered if there was any meaning behind it.
“Will she even talk to me?”
“She might be persuaded. Wait here.”
Gabriel felt his body tense again when Rosie disappeared through the door. It seemed like an eternity passed, but he didn’t dare look away. Finally, the knob turned, and the door opened slowly.
Temperance peeked her head out, then quickly turned away to hide the right side of her face. A pain plucked at his chest wondering if he had blown it with her. He thought they had gotten past the whole conversation about her scars, seeing as he�
��d told her he wasn’t disgusted. Seeing her like this, skittish around him, made him realize his mistake—not only did he try to bully his way into her life, but he’d failed to make her feel safe and secure around him. And that just wouldn’t do.
“Rosie said you wanted to talk to me?” she asked.
“Yes, but only if you want to.”
She shrugged.
“I just wanted to say …” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry about overreacting this morning. I should have checked in with you here. And … and I should have sat down and talked to you.” Sweat formed on his palms. “The thing is, Temperance … I like you. I really, really like you.” That didn’t seem enough to convey how he felt, but he had to remember to take things slow.
One hazel eye looked up at him. “You do?”
“Uh-huh. There’s no joke. No ulterior motives. When I went crazy this morning, it was because I genuinely thought you were in trouble.”
“B-but you hardly know me.” She paused, her gaze lowering. “I don’t even know you.”
“All right then, we’ll get to know each other,” he began. “Let’s give this a whirl. Ask me anything.”
She blinked and turned her head slightly so both eyes snapped up to meet his gaze. “Now?”
“There’s no better time.” He smiled at her. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.”
“Well … tell me something about yourself.”
Gabriel knew he could have told her a million things about himself—his favorite color, his job, about growing up. But the first thing he blurted out was, “I hate frogs.”
“What?”
“They’re slimy and gross and have these creepy eyes.” He shuddered. “I can’t stand them. When I see them, my chest starts to seize up, and I can’t breathe.”
“But don’t you work as a ranger?” She nodded at the patch on his uniform. “That means you have to spend a lot of time outdoors.”
“Believe me, I know the irony.”
“But frogs are cute and harmless,” she cried. “They’re lovely, especially the colorful ones.”
“Of course you’d love them,” he grumbled.
“You can’t stand them … not even that puppet one on TV?”
While he took Rosie’s advice to heart about showing her some weakness, he wasn’t about to hand in his man card. “He’s, er, all right. Especially when he sings and plays the banjo.”
She laughed—a genuine, honest-to-goodness laugh that warmed his insides. Even his lion mewled happily, pleased to see their mate so amused.
“I don’t understand,” she giggled. “Why do you hate frogs? Did something happen when you were a kid?”
“I could tell you,” he began. “Maybe … over dinner?” Damn it, he’d tell her the story and endure talking more about those gross amphibians if she said yes. Oh God, let her say yes.
Her teeth worried at her lip. “I … I suppose that would be okay.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I—yes. But”—a frown marred her pretty face—“I can’t stay out late. I need to be asleep by ten or else I won’t be able to get up early for work.”
Now that would be a problem, because he didn’t get out until nine at night, but it wasn’t impossible to fix. “I’ll take care of it.” Damon would understand. After all, he was mated himself. “It might take a day or two. Can I call you and arrange it?”
She nodded, and he handed her his phone so she could type her number in. “I’ll call you right away.” Then he winced. “I also called locksmith on the way here to fix your lock by the way. It’ll be done by the time you’re home.”
“Thank you. I should get back to work now,” she said. “Um, so I’ll see you.”
“See you, Temperance.”
With a quick nod, she scampered back inside. He waited for one heartbeat before expelling a great big breath from his lungs. “Yes!” he exclaimed, as he high fived his lion. We did it, buddy!
His animal let out a howl of triumph. Mine.
“Um, not quite yet. But soon.” He’d take her out on a couple of dates, and once she was ready to hear it, tell her they were mates, and then they could bond.
The lion titled its head, as if asking, how?
“Huh.” He scratched his head. “I’m not sure.” But he could figure that out later, or maybe ask Damon about it.
Mine. His lion huffed impatiently. Mine.
He shook his head. “It’s not time yet,” he said aloud. If he couldn’t control his lion, they would scare her away, maybe for good.
Doubtful, his lion seemed to say as it rested its snout on its paws.
Gabriel snorted, then turned and began to walk toward his Jeep. “Trust me, buddy. We had a big win today.” His lion had always been impatient, but he hoped just for this once, it would trust him and let him set the pace. “She’s worth the wait.” That, at least, they seemed to agree on. Now, to get back to HQ and work out their scheduling problem.
As he predicted, Damon was more than happy to hear things were progressing with Temperance.
“Congrats, man.” Damon got up from behind his desk in his office at the Blackstone Rangers HQ and clapped him on the back. “Mates are a special thing, you know. Not all of us get a chance at meeting ours.”
“I know,” he said. “So … what do I do to make sure the mating bond forms?”
The chief’s dark brows drew together. “I don’t really know … I mean, for Anna Victoria and me, it just kind of happened. From what I’ve heard, it’s different for each couple. But I think when you’re both ready and open to accept it, you’ll feel the bond form into place.”
Gabriel scratched at his chin. That really didn’t help, but he knew Damon wouldn’t be holding out on him if he really did know the answer.
“You should spend time with her, get to know her,” Damon added. “And get her to know you. Your animal already knows Temperance is your mate, but she’ll need more convincing.”
Good thing Damon had brought that up first. “Speaking of which … I do have a little problem.” He briefly explained Temperance’s schedule. “Anything you can do? I’m scared she’s gonna get cold feet if I don’t act soon,” His lion paced, agitated at the thought. Don’t worry, buddy, he reassured his animal. We won’t let that happen.
Damon rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “My hands are tied scheduling-wise since I don’t want to be accused of favoritism. But, find someone to swap with, and I’ll approve it. Do what you need to do to win your mate over.”
“All right, I’ll ask around. Thanks, man.”
Of course, he thought finding someone to swap shifts for a couple of days would have been easy, but it was more challenging than he’d anticipated since Temperance worked odd hours, so he might have to get two people to split shifts with. If he couldn’t, that would mean he would have to take some unplanned vacations days—and he couldn’t do that to Damon, especially with his wedding and honeymoon coming up.
The first person he had in mind was Daniel Rogers, who was easily one of the nicest and easy-going guys on the team.
“Sorry, Gabe,” Daniel said when he asked him. “My parents just got into town for a visit, so I already have all evenings off. Maybe next week?”
His lion huffed brusquely. Next week would be too late, but he knew Rogers wouldn’t have said no if it were possible. No one else he approached could do it either because they already had prior commitments or didn’t have the hours he wanted off. There was only one person he hadn’t asked yet, but he was absolutely Gabriel’s last resort.
“Hey, Anders,” he greeted the tiger shifter in the locker room. “Can we talk?”
Anders Stevens was flexing and admiring himself in the mirrors, completely unruffled by the fact that he was buck naked. Of course, shifters tended not to be self-conscious about nudity, though Stevens seemed to enjoy literally swinging his dick around for fun.
Anders put on a big smile and planted his hands on his hip. “Russel. Glad you finally ca
me to see me.”
“You are?”
“Yeah. Heard you were trying to swap your hours for the next couple of days. Do you have something important going on?” He placed his hands over his heart in a mock gesture of shock. “Frankly, I’m hurt you didn’t ask me first.”
That’s because he knew he was going to pay through the nose for any favor from Anders. The man was an asshole. A lovable asshole, but an asshole nonetheless. “Well, can you do it?”
“Sure, man. What hours do you need?”
“I just need to be outta here by five p.m., and I can be back by five a.m.” It would be tricky because all the shifts were nine to nine, plus it would throw off his own sleeping schedule. Not that he planned on doing a lot of sleeping if things with Temperance went right. “Or I can get Rogers to split—”
“Pshaw.” Anders waved a hand. “Piece of cake.” The tiger shifter always said he preferred the nine o’clock overnight shifts because it was a good excuse to hightail it out of a girl’s bed once he was done banging her.
“Really? You can get Rogers to—”
“Like I said, piece of cake,” Anders reiterated. “I’ll take care of it. Now you can go polish the gold bars in your vault or whatever it is you trust fund babies need to do.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. However, this transaction had seemed entirely, suspiciously too easy. “All right, Anders, what do you want in return?”
“Damon’s bachelor party.”
Gabriel scrubbed a hand down his face. “Damon’s already decided not to have one.”
The other man crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, I guess that means you’re going to make him un-decide.”
“So that’s what you want in return? You just want to make sure Damon has a bachelor party?”
“I want to plan the whole shebang.” There was a gleam in his eyes that made Gabriel nervous. “And you’ll pony up the cash to pay for it. And I want the works, Russel. Vegas. Presidential Suite. Private jet.”
Gabriel grit his teeth. The money wasn’t the problem, but it was getting Damon to agree. He did say to “do what you need to do” to win Temperance over. “All right, I’ll work on it.” He’d worry about getting Damon to agree and stop Anna Victoria from stringing him up by his balls later.
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