by Ever Coming
“Smells amazing.” Etienne wandered into the kitchen area, his shirt still blissfully missing.
“I did my best with what you had.” I handed him his plate and felt instantly guilty for insulting his home. “I mean, it is close to grocery day and all. I wanted to make you a fancy brunch.”
“It is perfect.” He scooped up a mouthful and was still chewing when he added, “I went shopping yesterday.”
My jaw dropped. He had to be eating out most meals, or maybe they always ate together like the night before, because there was no way he survived on what I found in his cupboards and fridge.
“If you plan to keep comin’ ’round, you best make me a list because, otherwise, we are gonna have this issue often.” He smiled as he ripped off a piece of toast.
Grabbing my plate, I joined him at the counter, sitting apparently not a thing that was happening this meal.
“You don’t have to change for me.” I wasn’t talking about just the food, either. He was perfect the way he was, all smexy and dangerous, and at the same time the sweetest kindest man I ever met.
“Au contraire.” He put his plate down, catching my eyes before he continued. “I need to do everything I can to be the best mate I can be, and if that means changing my bachelor eating ways and actually buying food that needs cooking and not just opening, that’s the least I can do.”
“I wasn’t talking about the food,” I whispered, far too low to be heard.
“Neither was I.” And at that, he picked up his plate and finished his food in two point five seconds. I guessed he liked it.
“I need to go get changed and then we are gonna see a guy about a car.”
I so did not have money or need of a car.
“I don’t need a car. I only used that one once since I got here.”
“I don’t like havin’ you trapped, and a guy owes me a favor. So I’m gettin’ ready then we are going to your place and you are gettin’ ready and then we are going to see a guy.”
Bossy as heck, and somehow that added to his smexy. I was a goner to be sure. We weren’t done talking about the car, but that didn’t stop him from making his way to the bathroom to take his shower. Within five minutes, we were on the road to my house, and ten minutes after that on the way to the car guy.
And by know a guy, he meant it. We were on the road less than ten minutes when we pulled into a dirt driveway winding down around a small cabin to find a field with ten cars, most of them looking more like junkers than working vehicles.
Etienne was out and around to open my door before I decided if it was even safe enough to get out. If this were a horror movie, the owner of this property was either a serial killer or a cannibal. Probably both.
“Leon,” Etienne bellowed out as he held his hand out for mine. Looked like we were officially public, which, given that he declared his love for me, even if it was when he thought I was sleeping, made sense.
“What you want, gator?”
I snapped my head to see where the voice, the hostile voice at that, was coming from and, to my surprise, the guy was young and belonged in an underwear commercial instead of the crotchety old man I expected.
“You need to watch your tongue. Isn’t that why you are indebted to me in the first place?”
“Don’t tell me she’s not yours.” The venom in his voice would’ve scared me had I not been here with Etienne. With him, I was safe. Of that, I had no doubt. “I can see the fucking bond, so stop the shit. What you want?”
What? See the bond? I’d never been in a place where I wasn’t the freak, even if no one else knew it, and here I was practically normal. No wonder Meemaw called this place home. She blended in.
“You owe me a favor, and she needs a car. Connect the dots, dipshit.”
“You drive a stick?”
“Of course.” Or I had, once, but I could learn again. It had to be like riding a bike, only with stalling, which was why it hadn’t happened twice. But, for some reason, I didn’t want to appear less than to the jerk in front of me.
“Then take your pick.” He pointed to the field. “This makes us square?”
“This makes us square.” Etienne held out his hand, and they shook on it.
What just happened?
Etienne
We sat in her newish, candy-apple red 1971 Dodge Dart. She probably didn’t know what a fucking bad-ass car this was.
“Okay, you little liar, let’s learn how to drive this.” Sweet thing, she tried like hell to give me a good dose of stink eye, but I wasn’t feeling it.
“How do you know?”
“I know when my mate is lying. I can taste the filth of the lie in my mouth. You will be able to as well. As soon as the bond is complete.”
She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Okay. More things to explain to the human. Speaking of, what was the deal with that guy? He could see our bond?”
Leon was a rogue shifter. He didn’t have a crew and didn’t want one. He had some kind of power, had it since he was a kid. Could see when two shifters were bonded. He saw it like some people see auras.
“That’s his gift. Some shifters have gifts. Callum does, too, but I’ll let him tell you about it if he wants to.”
“Oh, do you have any gifts?”
It was my turn to give her the stink eye. “I do. But only in the bedroom.”
Tansy covered her mouth. “You’ll have to show me those later. Now, teach me how to drive this mutha.”
Two hours later, we were maybe a half mile from where we started. The girl could not drive a stick for shit.
“How about you take my truck and I’ll drive this beauty until you are more comfortable. At this rate, you’ll never make another dozen donuts again.”
I got slapped on the chest for that, but at least it came with a smile. “You’re right. Truck it is. Say, this place is really, um, secluded.”
I looked around. It was secluded. She was right. Secluded as in, wasn’t a human for at least twenty miles each way.
“Do you have an agenda in saying that, female?”
“I do.” She ran her hand up my thigh, and I let out a groan.
“Not our first time together, darlin’. As much as I want you, this car isn’t the place.”
She bit her bottom lip. I hadn’t seen her do that before. The car filled with her scent laced with something a little more animalistic. My mate wanted me—now.
“But can’t we just make out a little, like teenagers in the woods?”
“I think we could manage that. Get over here.”
In seconds, she was on my lap again, my hands kneading into her full hips.
She giggled. “Oh, would you look at that. I am good with a stick.”
Then, just when I had my mate in the middle of nowhere, my damned phone rang.
I answered, but Tansy continued to play, her lips covering every part of my neck and moving south.
“What? When? I’m on my way. Fuck!”
I hung up the phone. “Tansy, as much as I love what you’re doing right now, I have to go. Duty calls.”
“Part of being a cop, right? Mind getting me to your truck first?”
“Of course.” I drove us back to Shotgun Row, and she took my truck.
“Hey!” I yelled through the window, making her stop. “You can stay here. You are perfectly safe with my brothers. I will see you later, hopefully. If you need anything, I texted you all of their numbers. But call Justice first, if you have a choice. So, yeah, I’ll see you later.”
She nodded and reached out with her left hand, pulling me toward her by the collar. “Bye, Etienne, and by the way, I think I already love you, too.”
Tansy
“Meemaw,” I called into the empty bakery.
I waited until Etienne was gone before hopping into his truck and heading back. As much as I enjoyed my time with the men he called brothers, I needed some time to process the whirlwind of emotions that were flooding through me. Oddly, the gator part was the least of my thoughts other
than I wondered what he looked like.
“Meemaw, come on out. I need some answers,” I called again, grabbing the ingredients to make a batch of no-bakes. Might as well be productive while I waited, and no-bakes took hardly any of my attention. If she showed up, I could grill her for info while not messin’ up all my hard work like I had the time I thought it a good idea to make croissants while we discussed my expulsion. Hockey pucks. I ended up with hockey pucks.
After grabbing the cookie sheets and lining them with parchment, I turned on the stove. As the pan heated up, I measured the milk, sugar, butter, and cocoa, and my secret weapon, real maple syrup, not that people understood its power down here. They thought it was just as good as the bottle of colored corn syrup you got at the grocery store. It so was not.
“No-bakes?” Meemaw had me jumping a mile high. You’d think I was used to it by now.
“Yeah. They seem to be a good seller.” And inexpensive to make even with the syrup. Win-win.
“So what was that hollerin’ all about?”
I added the ingredients to the pan and began stirring with my wooden spoon.
“So many things. Like Etienne says he’s my mate.” Might as well start off with a bang.
“That’s wonderful.” She squeed like a teenager. “I was guessin’, or more like hopin’. He’s good people.”
“So you knew he was a gator?” The butter was slowly melting, and the smell of the maple was finally hitting my nose.
“No way. A gator. Hot damn. I knew shifter, but gator. Good on him.”
I had to chuckle at Meemaw’s response, as if gator were the crown jewel of shifters.
“What do you mean, you knew shifter?” Because if there were a way to figure out who turned furry or scaly, I was all about acquiring that skill.
“Don’t tell me you can’t feel he is more than.” She managed to not answer without actually answering my questions, as seemed to be one of her gifts.
I had, but more in the girl kind of way. I hadn’t sensed it on anyone else around here. Or, if I had, I hadn’t noticed. Next time I was down at Shotgun Row, as the guys called it, I was gonna see if I could sense them or what have ya.
“Not my gift, Meemaw.” I turned the heat down slightly. “I just talk to you all, you guys who won’t move on.”
“I will when I’m ready.” Her stupid pat answer. Something was keeping her here. I didn’t poke around too much because I was selfish, but eventually I would have to. It was only right. “I’m havin’ too much fun right now.”
“I’m not even going to argue with—”
I was cut off by Bruno’s ghost standing in front of me after walking through the stove.
Stinks. If he was here, so was Bruno.
“Don’t let the bear in,” he screamed just as there was a knock at the door.
Meemaw held her finger up, indicating I should keep silent, or the ghost should, I wasn’t sure which. I was so on board with the silence plan.
“I see the light on, Tansy.” Sugar. It was Bruno. Bear— Bruno was the flipping bear, as if it couldn’t be any more obvious given his effin’ name. I was an idiot.
“I can’t come to the door now.” Because I don’t want to die like the dude following your butt around.
“This bear tastes lies. This bear spews lies. This bear lives a lie. Ha—all the lies.” The ghost repeated “lies” over and over again.
So I needed to tell the truth without saying I wasn’t going to let him in because a ghost of a person he killed told me not to. Easy peasy. I sighed before hollerin’ back, “I’m in the middle of cookies, and I need to man the stove.” My excuse was only true for about thirty seconds when I needed to remove the concoction from the burner, but there was no way I’d offer that tidbit up.
“I can wait.” Of course he freakin’ could.
“Is there an emergency, Officer?” If there were, the ghost wouldn’t be pacing across the kitchen, mumbling not to let him in, but the question bought me time to think.
“It can wait until you’re done.” Of freakin’ course it could.
Grabbing my phone, I pulled up the names and numbers Etienne gave me, and I thankfully had programmed them into my phone. One by one, I shot off the same text, starting with Etienne.
Bruno’s outside the bakery. Wants to come in. Ghost says not to. Can’t stall long.
So much for keeping my gift secret.
Etienne
“I swear I saw it. It was right there. I heard the teeth.”
There’s no way this almost one-hundred-year-old woman who had more cars than teeth heard a nutria in the swamp behind her.
And even if she did, why in the fuck did that warrant calling the fucking cops?
“Okay. Why is that an emergency, ma’am?”
She looked at me with her zip-up house dress on, with her hands on her hips, and scowled. “Where there’s one, there’s more. And they eat up the swamps. Before you know it, I’ll be homeless. Merde.”
Nothin’ like an old Coonass lady cussing better than most men.
Still, why was this an emergency?
“Here’s what I’m going to do…” She smelled faintly shifter. So, either she was mated to a shifter at one point, or she was one and hadn’t shifted in so long, the scent of her animal had faded. “I know some people who can come over here and scare them off. Big swamp animals should be able to scare them off, don’t you think?”
A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth, revealing some gums. “My husband was one of those big animals when he wanted to be. I ain’t no couillon.”
She wasn’t stupid. She was right. But she did know shifters.
“Okay. Why don’t you show me all the places you’ve seen them and I’ll make sure someone or something takes care of the issue. By the way, how did you get the station on the phone? I don’t even have service out here.”
“I got an old ham radio. Called the station through that.”
Bruno was the only one on the force who knew how to use that damned thing. He was the one who wanted me out here.
At least my boys were on call in case Tansy needed me.
As I rode into town later, when I hit the sweet spot where my phone had service again, it started ringing and beeping like it was an ambulance. What the fuck?
I called Justice first, since most of the messages were from him.
“What the hell is happening?”
His voice was soft like leather. “Eti, I’m at the bakery. Bruno was trying to get in here to talk to Tansy for some reason. I had to come in and help her making fucking cakes so I was here.”
He was calm, but he wasn’t making any sense.
“Is my mate safe? That’s all I need to know.”
“She is safe but a little shaken up. Get your ass over here.”
“On my way.”
It took me ten minutes flat to get to the bakery and make my way in the door.
“Tansy!”
“I’m here.” I looked to my left. She was sitting across from Justice at a steel table covered in flour and fifteen different varieties of cakes and cookies. They were both covered in sugar and frosting.
“Come here.”
“I’m a mess.”
“I don’t give a shit, female. I need to know you are all right and that’s gonna take being over here.” My gator needed some skin-to-skin contact. To smell her. To know that she was fine.
Then he was set on making sure Bruno knew not to mess with his female.
She came across the room and practically crashed into my chest. My fingers roamed over the skin that was not covered—her arms, her neck. She was fine. She was warm. She was...tired.
“I’m so fucking sorry I couldn’t be here. I was stuck in the damned swamp with Mrs. Brasseaux.”
“Shit. What did she see this time?” Justice looked more amused than concerned.
“Nutra rats. Eating her swamp. I’m gonna get Callum to go over there and scare the shit out of them.”
“Her husband
was a shifter. Wolf. Came from Colorado or something.”
“That makes sense. Tansy, let me get you home.” And by home I meant my house.
She pushed against my pecs. “Not yet. Justice still has to frost his cookies, and we have to clean up. You can help.” A blush rushed to her face.
“I kind of like it when you’re bossy.”
With a wink from my mate, we went to work. Tansy went into the freezer, and Justice took the opportunity to give me the heads-up on my boss. “Bruno is acting weird. He was trying to get close to Tansy, even with me in the room. I kept myself between him and her, but something is off with him. I think we all need to take shifts watching Tansy.”
Justice surprised me, not only because he was being serious for a minute, but because he was sincere in his concern. I smelled the worry poured all over him.
Justice was my brother.
And my brothers would protect my mate, just like one day I would protect theirs.
Tansy
Justice hadn’t questioned my ghost comment once since he arrived. He played it cool, acting as if I’d been waiting for him to come and help bake all along. I knew he and Etienne were close, but I hadn’t fully grasped how close until that moment, the one where he slapped on an apron and played along with my hint that he was there to help.
I pulled out the unadorned cookies I baked the morning before and set him to frosting, since the no-bakes were pretty much done, spoiling my excuse.
I still didn’t know why Bruno had been there; he hadn’t even bothered to make a real excuse.
The posturing between he and Justice had been fascinating, if not terrifying. Justice stayed between us, although that was never spoken. I wanted to ask Meemaw what she thought, but the first word I spoke to her had her vanishing in thin air. Weird.
“Take shifts watching Tansy,” Justice finished as I walked back in the room. Umm no, that was not a thing that was going to happen, but as Etienne nodded, I made the split-second decision to zip my mouth. Things could be worked out later. No sense jumping into a confrontation.
“Ready to go?” Etienne’s eyes snapped to meet mine.