by Chant, Zoe
Ella nodded. To be honest, soup sounded great.
“The room in the guest house is all made up,” Myrtle said. “You know where to find it, right, Callan?”
“Sure thing.” Callan nodded, before pulling Ella against him. “Come on. You need some rest. It’s been… well, it’s been a day.”
“You can say that again.” Ella knew she could walk on her own two feet, but she was kind of enjoying being pressed against Callan’s chest, so she stayed right where she was. He led her through the house to a side door, and then down a small path that wound through more native flower beds to a smaller stone building, nestled by a large, drooping wattle tree.
On opening the door, Ella found a surprisingly airy room. There was a skylight and wide windows along the back wall, a rug on the stone floor, and a comfortable-looking bed all made up as if it was waiting for her.
“There’s a few things I need to go do,” Callan said, his voice soft as he set her gently down on the bed. “I don’t want to leave you, and if you want me to I’ll stay right here with you. But if you think you’ll be okay –”
Ella cut him off with a nod. “It’s fine – I’m not that delicate, honestly. I can survive a couple of hours by myself. There’s no need to worry about me.”
Callan shook his head. “I know, I know. Sorry. I don’t mean to treat you like you can’t take care of yourself. I know you can. You’ve proved that pretty well over the last couple of days.”
“I just want to know what’s going on, Callan,” Ella said, blinking, feeling sudden frustration rising in her throat. “Why all this stuff’s suddenly happened to me.”
“And we’ll find out, Ella, I promise you,” he said, closing his hands around her shoulders and looking into her eyes. “Together, we’re going to find out what’s going on here. I won’t stop until we have the answers you’re looking for.”
I believe him.
The words were in her head before she could think.
And she did.
She truly did.
But she was also really, really tired.
And she felt that if Callan kept staring into her eyes the way he was, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from kissing him. He was so close, and so attractive. She felt almost as if there was a magnetic pull between them, dragging her forward, demanding she press her lips against his. And she wasn’t sure how much of that she could write off as simple fatigue, and hallucinating that he was a giant Tim Tam she was trying to eat.
“I – I should get a little rest so I can be useful,” she said, leaning away from him and letting out a shaky breath, forcing herself to drop her eyes from his.
Callan paused a moment, as if he too was reluctant to pull back, and then nodded.
“Remember, come find me if you need me. I’ll be back to check on you later. All right?”
Ella nodded.
“All right.”
She looked up at him again, at his massive shoulders silhouetted against the bright sunshine outside as he opened the door, glancing back at her. Swallowing heavily, she gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. Whatever it was, she hoped it wasn’t too come hither – though there wasn’t much chance of that, Ella decided, since she’d always been pathetic at flirting.
Either way, Callan gave her a quick, firm nod, before closing the door behind him.
I’ll just close my eyes for a moment, Ella thought, looking longingly down at the pillow. Just until Myrtle comes with the soup – that’s so nice of her. I hope she doesn’t mind if I ask her a few questions…
Ella lay down, resting her head on the soft, lightly scented pillow.
And immediately fell asleep.
Chapter 11
Ella wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep when she finally woke up, except that it was clear from the slanting light through the window that it was afternoon now, and there’d been a covered bowl of soup and some toast placed on the nightstand beside her, along with a note: Sorry, didn’t want to wake you up. Hope it’s still warm when you do! – Myrtle
She slurped up the soup perhaps a little too quickly, but she was so hungry and it was so delicious that she just couldn’t force herself to slow down.
As she gobbled down the food, she wondered if it had been made with things grown right here on Hector’s – or Evelyn’s, to be more accurate – farm. Ella had always considered herself indifferent to tasty food, but the soup was making a liar out of her. Even lukewarm, it was delicious: hearty and rich, the broth creamy and the vegetables full of flavor.
Putting the bowl aside, she munched on the toast, enjoying it more than she could remember ever having enjoyed toast before. There was a remote control on the nightstand and a TV on the wall at the foot of the bed, and, mostly out of curiosity, Ella turned it on.
“Chloe, let me explain!” A pouting blonde appeared on the screen, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “You need to listen to me! I know I left Shane for his dad, but you don’t understand – it’s not him I love at all!”
“Maddy, what’re you talking about?” asked her equally blonde and pouty friend, heavily made-up eyes wide. “Didn’t you say before you’d always loved Shane’s dad?”
Ella raised an eyebrow, leaning forward.
This sounds like it could be fun.
“That’s what I thought,” Maddy replied, despair in her voice. “But I realize now I’ve gotten it all wrong, Chloe! It’s Jason I love! It’s always been Jason!”
“But Maddy, he’s your billionaire boss!” Chloe wailed, now flicking her hair over her shoulder. “Is that even legal?”
“I don’t know, Chloe, and I don’t care. All I know is –”
Whatever Maddy knew, Ella never found out, because at that moment she was distracted by the door opening and Callan stepping inside. She quickly switched the TV off – Callan probably didn’t need to know how easily she got sucked into trashy TV.
“What was that?” Callan asked as he closed the door behind him. “Sounded juicy.”
Ella laughed. “I dunno. Just some soap opera.”
“Well, don’t feel like you have to stop watching your soapie on my account.”
“I wasn’t really watching it,” Ella said. “Anyway, I’d rather talk to you. I mean – uh – I want to know what you’ve found out.”
Ella realized she was reverting to brusqueness again to cover up how flustered she was, and she took a deep breath, calming herself down.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?”
“Well, my head’s still attached to my body after I didn’t check in with my boss for more than twenty-four hours, so that’s a plus,” Callan said.
“Oh – was that a risk?” Ella asked, eyes wide.
“It wasn’t great practice,” Callan said. “But my boss is generally decent, so he understood there were some extenuating circumstances. But he’s concerned about the necklace, and what it means. I have to ask you, Ella – do you know anything at all about why they might’ve wanted it?”
Ella looked down at her hands. She racked her brains, trying to remember the details of the day her father had given it to her.
“No, I don’t,” she said. “I just remember – well, my dad came with me to the airport the day he put me on the plane to Australia. I definitely remember that, because it was so weird that he came with me. Usually if I had to go anywhere, he just got a nanny to take me. I don’t really have that many memories of him.”
Callan reached out, touching her arm gently. Ella shivered a little at the contact, her skin tingling. Ordinarily, she didn’t really like being touched casually – but with Callan, the only thing it made her do was wish he was touching her more.
“He took me to the international departure lounge, and… I think we just kind of sat there for a while? I didn’t really know him, so it was almost like I was sitting there with a stranger,” Ella continued. “And then he asked me if I knew where I was going, and told me that my aunt would look after me for a while. And then after that was whe
n he gave me a little box, and the necklace was inside the box.”
“You took it out right there?” Callan asked.
Ella nodded. “Yeah – that part I remember clearly, since he took it out and put it on for me. I remember looking at it, like, holding it in my palm while he did up the catch. And thinking I didn’t like it much – you know, it was dark and plain, and I was a seven-year-old girl, who was kind of obsessed with Disney princesses at the time. I liked pretty, shiny things. So I wasn’t very impressed with it.” Ella paused, swallowing. “I never would have told him that, of course. My father wasn’t really what you’d call the warm or fuzzy type. If he asked you to do something, you did it before he had to ask again. But then he said he was giving it to me to remind me of him, even when I was far away, and he hoped I liked it. My dad hadn’t really given me anything before, so it kind of impressed me. Maybe that’s why I’ve kept wearing it all these years.”
Ella took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. It was the first time she’d ever told anyone about any of this.
“But that was all he said about it. The stewardess came over to take me onto the plane then, and that was the last time I saw him, or heard from him.”
“I’m sorry, Ella,” Callan said, after a moment’s silence. “I know this is dredging up some bad memories for you. Clearly, there’s more to that necklace than it appears. And we need to find out what.”
“Do you think the documents in the box will tell us?” Ella asked.
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping. There’s too many coincidences surrounding this. You getting the phone call. Those maniacs showing up. What they did to your work and your home.” Callan’s face hardened. “We will get to the bottom of this, Ella, I promise you. The Agency is sending some expert code-crackers over tomorrow. And then we can get to work. But until then…”
Ella nodded. “Okay. Well, I guess until then, we sit tight.”
“Yeah. We do.” Callan paused, and Ella watched as he turned his head to look out the window, his strong profile cut to perfection in the golden afternoon sunshine.
God, he’s beautiful, she thought, feeling an ache wind its way up from her stomach to her heart. She’d never wanted anyone so much before in her entire life. The whole ‘turning into a diprotodon’ thing didn’t even seem weird anymore – not in the face of all Callan’s other qualities. In fact, now that she thought about it… there was a part of her that kind of liked it.
A man in touch with his animal side could have its perks, she thought, lip twitching.
“Ella, there’s something else, too. Something I haven’t told you.” Callan’s voice, low and measured, jerked her out of her appreciative reverie. She looked up at him, suddenly wary at his sober tone.
“What do you mean?”
“Something about me. Or… about us. Something I should’ve told you a long time ago, but somehow, it just…” He shook his head again. “No, I’m making excuses again. The point is, it’s important, and I haven’t been straight with you.”
Ella stared at him. “Callan, what’re you talking about?”
Something about us? What the hell does he mean?
“Ella, being a shifter means more than being able to shift from one form to another,” Callan said. “There’s other things about us that’re different from humans, too. You already saw how quickly those wounds on my back healed – that’s one of the more useful ones. We heal extremely quickly.”
“You broke that padlock with your bare hands as well,” Ella said, thinking back. “And you carried around those panniers as if they weighed nothing at all. So if I had to guess… physical strength is another one?”
Callan nodded. “That’s right. And some shifters have other powers too, depending on their shifter type. Some have powers of telepathy, and others can move faster than you can see. Some of them can even do things like heal other people – there’s too many for me to go into. But what I’m talking about is common to all shifters.” He swallowed. “And that’s the ability to know their mate as soon as they meet them.”
Narrowing her eyes, Ella cocked her head. “Your… mate?” She frowned, trying to sort through what he was telling her. “Is… is that what it sounds like?”
“Yeah. It probably is,” Callan said. “When I say mate, I mean the person who’s meant for you. The one you’re fated to be with. I knew it the moment our hands touched, Ella. You’re my mate.”
Ella stared at him, feeling as if her heart had stopped in her chest. “What’re you talking about?”
“Just what I said, Ella. I know I should’ve told you sooner.” He reached out, taking her hand, his gaze never wavering from her face. “I was sure you could feel it too – well, not sure, but I thought so. It feels like a glowing warmth in your chest – that’s the mated bond. The knowledge that we’re meant to be together.”
Ella’s head spun. She wasn’t sure what to think. It was true she’d never felt anything like what she felt for Callan before in her life, but this seemed too bizarre to be true.
A mate? A fated mate? It sounds like something out of a fairy tale – people meeting and knowing they’re destined to be together.
And Ella knew she was too old to believe in fairy tales.
“I don’t know –” she started to say, until she felt a sudden pulse in her chest, a surge of golden warmth surrounding her heart.
And then the moment in the service station came back to her – the spark of electricity that had jumped between them the moment their hands had touched.
Right after I hit him with the milk, Ella thought, a little guiltily. Whoops.
“Do you remember it?” Callan’s voice was soft, but she heard the note of hope in it. “Do you feel it?”
Ella found herself nodding before she could think.
“I… yes.”
And to be honest, she could. She had felt that warm glow in her chest whenever Callan had touched her. The tingling of her skin. The pounding of her heart.
Was all that the mated bond?
Ordinarily, Ella knew she might’ve wanted to question things, to say that she wasn’t going to be dictated to by something that sounded, quite frankly, pretty weird and mystical and not rooted in science at all.
But to be honest… does it matter?
She’d already realized she was falling for Callan even without the mated bond. How many times had she thought he was everything she’d ever dreamed about, but never dared to hope actually existed?
“I don’t know what to say, Callan,” she whispered, looking down at where his massive hand held hers.
“If you need to think about it, I understand,” Callan said. “I realize it’s a lot to take in.”
“No, no, it’s not that. It’s – I just, I don’t –” Ella truly didn’t know how to put everything she felt into words. It all seemed too much – and nothing that could be sorted through with cold facts and logic. The stoic persona she’d tried hard to build up over these past few years didn’t seem to be much use to her right now. So instead, she let her old, impulsive, hot-headedness take over – and leaned in and kissed him.
She could feel the hunger in him as their lips came together – from the way he opened his mouth to her immediately, to his arms coming up and winding around her shoulders, pulling her against his broad, flat chest.
Ella shivered, need racing through her veins. She had been wanting to do this almost since the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. She hadn’t understood it then – Ella didn’t think of herself as the type to be swayed by a ruggedly handsome face and a nice set of abs – but perhaps it had been the mated bond at work, guiding her, telling her that Callan was more than just a pretty face and a spectacular body.
As curious as she was about how it all worked, Ella tried to put it from her mind for now. Whatever the mated bond was and however it worked, she knew she wanted Callan for himself; for who he was, and for all the kindness he’d shown to her.
Ella had told herself time and time again that ther
e was no one she could trust in this world aside from herself, that getting close to people only ever led to heartbreak and disappointment. But Callan made her want to break down all the barriers she’d spent her whole life constructing.
She broke the kiss, gasping for air, in order to pull back and look into the deep, dark pools of his eyes. They were intent on hers, as if gauging her reaction to the kiss, as if they were able to sense her every thought and feeling.
“Ella – I want you to know something before we… do anything,” Callan said, his voice a low rumble, desire straining within it. “It’s not just the mated bond. From the moment I saw you I knew you were something special – and I was right. You’re brave, beautiful – and geeze, I can’t match you for brains, I know that for sure.” Callan swallowed. “Even before I knew you were my mate. You’re one in a million, Ella.”
Ella could feel a flush creeping up her neck and over her cheeks. She didn’t know what to say to that. She’d never been great at taking – or giving – compliments. But looking into Callan’s eyes now, it was impossible for her to doubt his words.
Utterly lost for words, the only response Ella could muster up that conveyed how she felt was to lean forward and kiss him again.
Her fingers fumbled at the front of his shirt, tugging it out of the waistband of his jeans. Callan’s hands covered hers after a moment, lifting the half-unbuttoned shirt over his head and tossing it aside.
Ella couldn’t hold back her gasp – she’d already seen him with his shirt off, but it didn’t mean the sight of him didn’t take her breath away now.
She pressed her hands to the broad planes of his pecs, feeling his warm skin, dusted with hair, beneath her palms. Ella swallowed, allowing her hands to drift downward, hesitating when they reached his jeans.
“I feel like this situation is getting a little one-sided,” Callan said, the low rumble of a laugh behind his words. Even so, he paused, his hands resting on her waist, as if waiting for her permission before he went ahead.