“Wouldn’t want to lose my job,” she croaked. “Or anything else.”
He finally let her go, and she skittered out the door and down the hall. Her conservative pumps clicked down the stairs as she threw her curvy figure down them at full speed. When she made it to the bottom of the stairs, she put her hand to her chest and caught her breath.
Poppy fixed her shirt and hurried off into the dark parking lot. She ran to her sedan and flung open the front door. After jumping in the driver’s seat, she sped out of the parking lot and drove home. This was really bad. Maybe she should go to the police. What would she say? Her boss said something threatening and grabbed her arm? They’d tell her to file a lawsuit.
What was going on? What did oruzhiye mean? As far as she knew, Sound Imports/Exports dealt in textiles and lumber. She pulled into her private parking space in the underground lot in her building and hurried up the elevator to her floor. When she got into her apartment, she leaned against the front door, catching her breath.
Holy Shit! Did that just happen?
Her parrot Malcolm squawked from the living room. She hurried inside to Malcolm’s cage and opened it up. Poppy put her hand next to the parrot’s perch, and the yellow bird hopped onto her wrist. She brought him out of the cage and kissed him. Malcolm kissed her back and squawked.
“Beautiful,” Malcolm cawed.
“Ah, Malcolm, you say the sweetest things,” Poppy said, sitting back into her easy chair. The yellow conure parrot hopped up on the back of the chair and started to play with Poppy’s braids. Poppy pulled her phone out of her pocket and clicked onto the Mate.com app that had downloaded while she was still at work.
If her life was going to explode, at least she could get matched with a hunky shifter mate. It could happen, right? Curvy Poppy Robins with the braided hair and wide hips could find a man who could melt butter with his smile.
She licked her lips as the matches screen loaded. It was just a distraction before she could figure out what to do about her job. What she needed right now was a dose of man candy. She just wanted a quick peek and then she’d start a pros and cons list about what to do at work. The screen of matches loaded on her phone with the match percentage above each man’s profile picture.
Damn, these guys are fine.
A hundred percent match was supposed to be a fated mate match. That’s what these guys all wanted. Nothing but a hundred percent. She’d read it in an article in the Seattle Weekly. Relationships with shifters was the new hot topic in the Love Buzz column. The girls who landed fated mates were nothing if not satisfied. What Poppy wouldn’t give to have a little bit of that.
She’d been feeling like something was missing in her life for a long time. Maybe it was because she was nerdy and kept to herself, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want someone. She wanted a family. Kids. A hunk of man like one of these shifters would be a serious bonus.
From what she knew, these men loved fiercely, with a raw animal passion that could not be rivaled. Goosebumps rose on her flesh just thinking about it. Fated mates were forever. There was no question of whether or not you belonged together. You were a perfect match. What the shifter and his mate did about it was their own business.
Things didn’t always turn out perfectly at first, from what she’d learned, but when fated mates finally found their way to each other, it was pure bliss in the end. She sighed and flicked down her screen, looking for that one hundred percent match. She didn’t think she’d find one until it suddenly appeared on her screen.
Holy moly and a pumpkin pie.
Poppy felt faint just looking at his tiny profile picture.
This man was her fated mate? For real? Did she just win some kind of lottery? She clicked on the picture. He was even cuter up close. Black hair, blue eyes, and a generous smile that warmed her heart.
His name was Angus.
3
Angus put on a clean plaid flannel shirt and left his house. It was almost dusk and the wedding reception was starting at the lodge in just a few minutes. As Levi’s best man, Angus was responsible for Levi’s bachelor party. Levi said he didn’t want one, but the rest of the crew was determined to get Levi drunk the day before his wedding.
Angus pulled up in front of the lodge and got out of his truck. He walked up to the front door, straightening the tie he’d put on with his flannel. Even in his military days, Angus had never been a huge fan of dressing up. He’d grown up in the mountains of Colorado with a shifter mother and father, spending most of his time working with raw wood in the workshop or with a whittling knife on the front porch of his family’s cabin.
He strode into the front lobby of Fate Mountain Lodge. It was full of people looking well dressed and polished. Angus spotted Levi across the lobby. He was wearing a nice suit. Juliet stood beside him in a flowing pink dress. Her long, black hair hung down her back in soft waves. They looked so pretty together.
Angus walked up to his alpha and grinned. Angus had been Levi’s second since they were Navy SEALs during the war. They trusted each other to the bone, but Angus was a might bit softer hearted than his alpha Levi.
“Hey, Chief,” Angus said, reaching out to grasp Levi’s hand. He slapped his friend on the back, and Levi returned his happy grin. “Is the wedding party all settled in to the lodge, Juliet?”
“My mom and dad just got here. The bridesmaids have been here a while. Everyone is looking for a repeat performance from Zach,” Juliet said.
Zach had stripped at Juliet’s friend Charlotte’s bachelorette party when Juliet came to the lodge for the first time. Levi had been so love struck with Juliet that not even Zach’s side gig had phased him. Angus wondered if Juliet’s lady crew would get a second viewing and laughed inwardly at the idea of Zach shaking it in his skivvies.
“Are you having a bachelorette party?” Angus asked.
“If Charlotte has anything to do with it,” Juliet said, giggling.
She lifted glasses of champagne off a table and handed one to Angus and one to Levi. “Cheers,” Juliet said, clicking Angus and Levi’s glasses with her own.
“Cheers,” Angus and Levi said, clinking their glasses together.
A few years ago, this kind of open celebration between a known shifter and a human woman never would have happened. Back when they’d been drafted, shifters were still getting the living daylights kicked out of them if they dated a human girl. Angus had seen it happen to his alpha back in the military, and the memory still stung. Now, Levi was marrying his human mate out in the open. It was kind of a miracle.
“Time to go in,” said Juliet. “I see the wedding planner signaling to me.”
The people started to move from the lobby down a side hallway to Fate Mountain Lodge’s crowning jewel. That’s what Levi called it. The lodge’s atrium was a site to behold. When Angus walked into the domed canopy that rose over the lush tropical paradise, he took a deep breath of the fragrant air. Flowers bloomed along the walls and draped over rocks. Palms rose toward the clear glass dome that looked out on the snowcapped mountain beyond.
At the end of the atrium was a waterfall that gushed down behind the altar podium that had been erected for the wedding. There was minister at the end, near the wedding planner who was directing everyone.
The skinny human woman in a stretchy pink pantsuit came trotting up the aisle toward Angus and the rest of the crew. A bunch of bridesmaids and groomsmen were standing around with the father and mother of the bride.
“Groom, take your place in front of the minister,” the wedding planner said to Levi. “Father of the bride, where is the father of the bride?”
The energetic little human matched the bridesmaids with the groomsmen and the bride with her dad. Juliet’s dad was just a few inches taller than his daughter and had the same black hair. He also had a handlebar mustache twisted up at the sides. Juliet patted her father’s hand as she hooked her arm into his. She was lucky her family was so accepting of a shifter wedding. The world really had come a long w
ay.
Angus was paired up with Juliet’s redheaded friend Charlotte. He remembered her from a few months ago when her groom went missing the night of his bachelor party. The crew found him just in time for the wedding. Now Charlotte was Juliet’s matron of honor and was showing a conspicuous baby bump under her form-fitting dress.
She smiled up at him and hooked her arm in his. Angus smiled at the cute, curvy human. He could tell she was happy with her human mate. When things were right, they were right. It made Angus’s heart glad and sad at the same time.
Angus and Charlotte were the first to walk down the aisle and stand on either side of the podium. Then the other members of the crew walked arm-in-arm with Juliet’s friends. When the rest of the wedding party had walked out, Juliet started down the aisle with her father. Her plump mother turned in her seat and looked back at her daughter and husband. Juliet’s mama gushed, and Juliet squeezed her hand as she passed.
The skinny human wedding planner started bouncing around, telling everyone how the rest of the ceremony would go. They listened to the explanation and were then finally excused to go back down the aisle two-by-two, with Juliet and Levi going first this time.
It was getting tedious, and Angus was happy when they made their way across the lobby to the main dining room for the rehearsal dinner. He took a seat at the wedding table. The planner insisted they go through all the toasts and such so there wouldn’t be any surprises. Angus was about to check his phone for updates from Mate.com when Drew walked up with a pitcher of foaming beer and a few tall glasses.
“Saved by Fate Mountain Lager,” Angus said, pouring himself a pint.
Drew slid into a seat beside him and poured a pint of his own.
“This whole thing just doesn’t sit right with me,” Drew said.
Angus was worried about Drew. Since his mate ran off, the bear had been in a dark mood. Drew had always been the artist of the bunch, but this level of moodiness was new for him.
“Don’t you like Juliet?” Angus asked.
“Yeah. Of course. Who wouldn’t like Juliet? She’s a sweetheart. But Quinn was her friend.”
“What Quinn did wasn’t Juliet’s fault. You can’t blame her.”
“I don’t,” Drew said, taking a long swig of beer. Foam stuck in the corners of his beard, and he wiped it away.
“She has to come back. She’s your mate.”
“Quinn has been AWOL from all her friends. Juliet’s bridesmaids are even saying Quinn left her job.”
“She really is on the run, isn’t she?” Angus mused.
“She’s that scared of being mated to a shifter. What can you do when your mate hates you?” he said.
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you.”
Drew poured himself another glass of beer and rose from the table.
“Call it whatever you want, but if it looks like a duck…” Drew said, stepping away from the table.
Angus sighed and took a swig of beer. A night of drinking Fate Mountain Lager had a way of twisting fate one way or another. The wedding planner started to wrangle in the wedding party as the main course was served.
“Right after dinner is when you do your toast, best man,” she said to Angus.
“Got it,” Angus said with false confidence.
He hadn’t even started the toast he was supposed to give at the wedding. Public speaking had never been his thing. That was always more Levi’s department. He’d started and thrown away more speeches than he could count but hadn’t settled on a dang one. Somehow, his desire for a mate got in the way, and the toast just sounded whiny and jealous. Angus couldn’t have that. Levi was his friend and alpha. He wanted to tell the man how he really felt on his wedding day. Now Angus only had two more days to figure out what to say.
He ate his Asian style pineapple chicken with chili sauce. This had to be a Shane Keenan special. It was too damn good for words. Good with Fate Mountain Lager, too. He cleared his plate, wondering if he could get a server to bring him seconds.
“Best man, time for your toast,” the wedding planner said.
Angus rose with his beer and lifted it toward Levi and Juliet who were sitting a few places down the long table.
“Levi, Juliet. Congratulations. It couldn’t have happened to better people,” he said.
Juliet gushed and reached over to pat Angus’s hand. He gave her a weak smile. It just reminded him how pressed he was for time on this speech.
“Now we take toasts from the rest of the wedding party,” the planner instructed.
At that moment, Zach bounded out from his place behind the wedding party table and landed in a handstand on the other side. He started walking backwards on his hands, his shirt falling down over his muscled chest, much to the delight of the bridesmaids.
The girls were cheering and squealing down the table. Even Juliet’s mom was peeking out from behind her hands. Zach lifted up on one arm and started doing slow pushups as he held his body vertically in the air.
“Is this your version of a wedding toast?” Levi called to Zach.
Zach sprang back on his feet and put his arms out, palms up, looking at the crowd and smirking. He got a smattering of very energetic applause as he turned around on his heels.
“Love you guys,” Zach said, pointing at Juliet and Levi.
“We love you too, Zach,” Juliet said, lifting her pint of brew.
He gave the bridesmaids his cockiest grin and went back to his seat. There were no less than two girls leaning down the table to talk to him. Maybe that’s what Angus needed to do. Get himself out there more. But Angus wasn’t the kind of bear who liked to show off. He was a slow and steady kind of guy. He’d been waiting for months to be matched with his fated mate, but she still hadn’t signed up for Mate.com.
Feeling glum, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked his app, rolling his shoulder so no one could see what he was doing. He scrolled through all the familiar pictures of women who were close matches but not one hundred percent. He expected to be disappointed like he was every time he logged on to the dating app. With one more flick of his finger, her face came up on the screen.
The match bar was fully gold with “100%” written over her pretty face.
Her name was Poppy.
Poppy, with deep chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Her black twisted braids were pulled back into a sloppy bun on her head. Her eyes smiled through a pair of black-rimmed glasses. She had the cutest little gap between her two front teeth. And her pink lips were so full and kissable he could barely contain his bear.
Angus growled deep in his throat. His big fingers swept over the screen of his smartphone, clicking on the “message now” button.
Holy shit, this goddess was his mate.
4
Her “mate” Angus was the sexiest hunk of shifter sugar she ever could have imagined. Her eyes popped open wide when she brought up his profile. He was so, so cute. Big, tall and covered in muscle. Angus had black hair, blue eyes, and a panty melting smile. Poppy was reading his bio when a message popped up on her screen.
“Hello mate,” the text said. It was from Angus! He’d just called her his mate. Holy crap balls. How was she supposed to respond to that?
“Hey,” she replied. She was trying to be sassy. Maybe it was lame. She bit her lip and screwed up her face. He called her his mate.
“When can me meet?” Angus texted.
Wow. That just got real. She hadn’t expected him to move so fast. She groaned and looked at his picture. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt over a very built physique. What she wouldn’t give to see what was under that shirt.
Poppy stood up from her easy chair, and Malcolm squawked at her.
“Beautiful,” Malcolm said, bobbing his head up and down.
“Thanks for the support, Malcolm,” Poppy said, pacing the floor and staring at the photograph of Angus. She put her phone down on the table and twisted her braids into a bun, sticking a pencil through it to keep it in place.
Sh
e picked up her phone and read Angus’s text again.
“Where do you live?” she asked.
“I live in Fate Mountain, Oregon,” he texted.
Fate Mountain was only half a day’s drive from Seattle. She could go meet him any time she wanted. Maybe she wanted to meet him now? It was a thought. Poppy turned to Malcolm and put her hand on her hip.
“What do you think, Malcolm? I’m in a pickle and I don’t know how to get out of it. Ivor seemed pretty serious at work tonight. My arm still hurts from where he squeezed it. I know he was threatening me. I think I’ve known all this time that something was wrong at work. Now I’m being slapped in the face with it. I should have trusted my gut and quit a long time ago.”
“Quit a long time ago,” Malcolm squawked.
“At least we have a nice apartment, right?” she said. “I’ve got to find a way to get more information on those guys. I have all their books on my hard drive. They’ve been trying to hide something from me. I think they’re using me as some kind of front for the IRS so they can get away with their shady dealings. I’ve been naive, Malcolm. I let them manipulate me. Shit. I always trust the wrong people.”
“Wrong people,” Malcolm squawked.
“Maybe this bear boy isn’t the wrong people. He’s supposed to be my fated mate,” Poppy said. “He looks nice.”
Poppy held the phone up to Malcolm. Malcolm didn’t respond.
“Well. I think he’s cute. What if we took a little trip to Oregon, buddy? Do you think you’d like that?”
Malcolm gave an unintelligible squawk and flew back to his cage. She certainly couldn’t leave him here, even if he didn’t want to go.
“I, for one, think it’s time for a mini-vacay.”
She strutted into the bedroom past her bird and pulled her suitcase out from under the bed. It was only a little dusty from not being taken out since the last time she’d gone out of town. That was only, what, a year ago? She’d taken a tour of Washington wineries last summer. Well, it had been a while.
Big Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Rescue Bears Book 3) Page 2