by Jessica Lee
She flashed him a hesitant smile and reached for her stethoscope once more, her grip clenched around the tubing. “Thanks for bringing him in,” she said.
He strode toward the exit and had almost made his escape when a blond man in scrubs sauntered through the door. The other guy drew to a halt, assessing Eion’s bare chest before his gaze finally traveled to his face.
“Can I help you?”
After a quick glance at the other man’s scrub top to confirm, Eion stated, “Dr. McDaniel.” Nope. Not a gray hair in sight. He ground his molars, but managed to stick out his hand.
“That’s right.” Taylor inserted his palm inside Eion’s, squeezed, and gave it a token shake. “And you are?”
“Eion Mandrake.”
The doc’s eyebrows lifted. “Eion Mandrake. Livvy and Kris’s friend from a few years ago. We heard you were in town.”
“Is that so?” Before the other man could pull away, Eion increased the pressure of his grip, holding the human in place a moment longer. “You and Liv are dating, huh?”
Taylor’s eyes brightened. “She mentioned that to you?”
Eion nodded.
“Yes. I’m a lucky man.” A grin split Taylor’s face.
Eion carefully withdrew his hand. “Yeah,” he replied, his words slow and deliberate. “You are.”
***
Gripping the leather covering his steering wheel with one hand, Eion swiped his other hand through his hair. He needed to get a grip. Exhaling, he repositioned in his seat and scanned the wide expanse of acres where the Mandrake ranch eventually rolled into the Wilsons’. He’d heard Liv had become a vet, but a large animal one, not the kind that would treat an injured dog. She should not have been on duty. Damn! Eion slammed his palm against the hard surface of the dash, cursing his luck and the relentless hold of their bond which yanked the chain on his control.
He’d been in Little Crow for three days and had managed, until today, to stay out of the path of Olivia Wilson.
Which had not been easy.
Not because he’d nearly run in to her on several occasions—he’d made sure to keep his distance—but being this close to her was like asking a man lost in Antarctica to refuse the offer of a bonfire.
God knew he could use something to warm the incessant chill in his body. After more than a decade of trying, he’d yet to find a woman able to reach within and thaw the ice in his veins. Taking them to bed wasn’t an issue. Feeling anything more than a hollow physical release, a deeper connection that satisfied not only his cock but his soul when it was over, that was a problem. Hence the string of one-night stands he’d left littered behind him. Why go back for more when he had felt as cold leaving his lover’s bed as when he’d begun? No sense risking the possibility of a female becoming too attached. He wasn’t capable of it developing into anything more.
The thumping beat of the radio faded out, replaced by the jarring ring of his cell phone coming through the speakers. Caller ID on the dashboard display read: Tawny. The corner of his mouth lifted in a half-ass smile. Sadly, his aloofness didn’t mean females gave up trying to create something that wasn’t there. Eion pressed the talk button on his steering wheel.
“Hello, Tawny…”
“Eion Mandrake, it appears you left town a few days ago without saying goodbye,” she whined.
“Tawny…I wasn’t sure I was going to handle this in person until the last minute. I should be back in a few days. You’ll survive without me. I’m sure of it.” Tawny Danniger and her family had been friends of the Mandrakes for as long as he could remember. One of the few reasons she felt she owned the privilege to call him at any time of the day, to cry on his shoulder, or pester him for attention.
She giggled. “I don’t know…what am I going to do with my time while you’re gone?”
“You’ll think of something.”
“You never talk about the time you spent with your godparents in Little Crow. Do you still have friends there?”
Eion’s gut knotted at the thought. He refused to go there with her. Out of respect for her and her family, he gave Tawny more leeway than most women. But no one needed to know any details of his life from back then.
Sleeping with Tawny had been a drunken mistake that he couldn’t take back, but she didn’t deserve the cold wall he’d created after the fact. She craved a closer relationship and made no attempt to hide the fact. But no matter how hard he tried, Eion couldn’t chisel through the block of ice he’d built around himself. For any female.
The barricade was a necessity, the only way he knew how to survive. To keep himself sane without the one person whose bond had seared itself deep into his soul. The woman he could never have—no matter how much his wolf howled inside.
Humans and shifters were forbidden to mate. That was pack law.
Fear, and long-standing prejudice against shifter-hybrids introducing weaker DNA into the gene pool, fueled the need for such a firm stand. Hybrids running free amongst the human population and heightening the risk of exposing the existence of their kind reinforced generations of segregation.
“I’m not planning on being here long enough for a reunion,” he replied.
“Probably best. You’ll be alpha by end of the year, so there’s really no need for you to get too involved with any human friends.”
“Yes. I know,” he chewed out through his teeth. “I’m crystal clear on that point. I have to go now, Tawny.” He cleared his throat. “We can talk later.”
“Oh. Okay,” she sputtered. “I’ll miss you…”
He recognized the deliberate pause for what it was: a blatant attempt to claw some affection from his heart. The “me, too” stuck in his throat. As much as he wanted to say something—anything—that wouldn’t be as chilled as the silence, he couldn’t bring himself to be that phony. A soft click heralded his goodbye, and the music kicked back into play.
Eion tapped the brake and slowed his Silverado, pulling off onto the shoulder of the road. He popped the truck into park, but left the engine running. Closing his eyes, he breathed deep and rubbed a palm over his face. He would have to sit Tawny down for a long talk when he returned. Hurting her had never been the plan. This was his fault. But allowing her to continue to inch her way deeper into his life would only end in disaster when she didn’t get what she wanted.
The turn-off leading to the Wilsons’ home sat only a few hundred feet ahead. He’d told Tawny he hadn’t returned for a reunion. Part of that was true when it came to Olivia. But Kris…
He’d heard about their dad’s death last year. Kris and his father had been close since his mother had passed away from cancer not long after Olivia had been born. It had taken everything Eion had not to come back to town for Kris when his father had died. But what good would that have done? Seeing him and Olivia again during their grief would have worsened their pain, not offered them comfort. Besides, he was pretty sure he’d burned the welcome mat to the Wilsons’ door when he’d cut them both out of his life after high school.
But this time was different. Now with Kris’s dad gone and his leg out of commission, Eion knew how much Kris was struggling to hold it all together. Kris may have grown up on a ranch, but the man had chosen to be a soldier, not a cattle rancher. Was he really that much of a cold bastard that he could stay here without seeing his best friend? Maybe there was something he could do, if Kris would allow him, to make things a little easier. Then he could get out of town before things got…complicated.
Eion glanced over at the clock on the dash: one o’clock in the afternoon. Olivia wouldn’t be home so he wouldn’t have to see her again. With a resolute nod, he scanned the road for other vehicles and pulled back out onto the asphalt.
No time like the present.
The drive up to the Wilson home had never felt longer, but at the same time shorter, in his life. Way too much time had passed since he’d spoken to Kris. He couldn’t wait to see him again, yet dreaded the confrontation. Eion swallowed hard against the knot of
apprehension in the back of his throat. He didn’t have a clue what in the hell he would say when he got there.
“Hello again. Sorry for cutting out twelve years ago without a goodbye. But you see, as a wolf shifter, I’m pretty sure I bonded with your little sister when I saved her from drowning, and being that I’m the next alpha of my pack, shifter and human mating is against our law and all, so Olivia and I hooking up would have been a very bad idea.” Yeah, that would go over as well as the stomach flu on Thanksgiving Day.
A lone blue pickup sat in the drive that formed a half circle in front of the two-story home. Eion pulled up behind the other truck and cut the engine.
Dragging his palm over his day-old beard growth, he surveyed the familiar wide porch. Twin rockers sat motionless on one side of the steps. He glanced at the other end and found what appeared to be the same swing, from what felt like a lifetime ago, suspended by chains from the beams supporting the roof. The paint had seen better days, but overall nothing had changed. Warmth swelled in his chest, followed by an unbidden smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Some of the best times in his life had been spent here. But that was a long time ago, and a lot had changed since then, including him.
He exited the truck, shoved the keys into his jeans pocket, and then checked around his waistband to be sure his shirttail was still tucked inside. Damn. Eion snatched his hands away. It wasn’t as if he was about to meet the parents of his high school sweetheart or something. No—just the guy who’d once been his best friend but now probably hated his guts.
At the door, Eion lost count of how many times he’d clenched and unclenched his fingers before raising his arm and giving the wood a hard rap. At least a full minute passed without a sound, enough time for a wave of acid to build in his gut, threatening to burn a hole in his midsection.
Eion pivoted, ready to head back to the car when a deep voice called out. “Hang on! I’m coming!” A loud bang reverberated on the other side of the door followed by the crash of what sounded like glass hitting the floor. “Son of a…”
Eion’s pulse raced. What the hell?
He grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and the door swung open. Of course, out here few people locked their homes during the day. Poking his head around the door, Eion spotted Kris wobbling on one crutch, its twin on the floor beside a shattered lamp.
“Kris?” Eion stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind him. “It was open.” Kris jerked his head around.
“Can I give you a hand there?” Eion added.
For a split-second, no recognition sparked in Kris’s dark eyes, giving Eion a moment to take in the changes in his former best friend. The guy had packed on several more pounds of muscle in addition to a couple of inches. No doubt Kris had been a fierce soldier.
Kris’s eyes widened with recognition. A look of surprise and happiness flashed across his face, a half second before anger and bitter resentment replaced it. “What the hell are you doing here?” The question lashed across the room, striking like a coiled snake.
“I was in town, and I heard about your injury. Didn’t want to leave without stopping by.” Eion stepped in closer, reached for the lost crutch, and handed the lightweight metal over to Kris.
Kris snatched it from his hand. “I see.” He shoved the crutch under his arm and hobbled off toward the kitchen. “Twelve years,” he said with his back to Eion, “and not one word from you. Suddenly you’re back here and couldn’t leave without seeing me?”
Eion straightened his spine, taking whatever Kris had to dish out. He deserved it. Kris had been a good friend, and Eion had hurt him. At the time, there hadn’t been any other way. He’d needed to make a clean break. He had to make them hate him for leaving. That way, no one would come looking because they’d never want to see him again. No one, meaning Liv. Eion had to leave so she could have a shot at a normal life.
Kris appeared back in the doorway of the kitchen, broom and dustpan hooked to his crutches as he shuffled into the room. Eion darted over and reached for the handle.
“I got it,” Kris grunted.
“Just let me take care of the broken glass.” Eion gently pulled the broom away from Kris and bent down before Kris had another chance to argue. He made quick work of retrieving what remained of the lamp and sat it back on the end table, then swept up the jagged pieces that were a lost cause, and disposed of them in the garbage. The can was still in the same place as it had been twelve years ago.
Kris was still standing by the sofa when Eion returned to the living room, his lips in a thin line, knuckles white on the grips of his crutches. “You’ve seen me,” Kris bit out. “Now you can go back to wherever you came from.”
Eion pulled in a calming breath. “I had my reasons for leaving, Kris.”
“Oh, I’m sure you did.” Kris shook his head. He looked away, studying some distant place through the living room window.
His gut clenched. “There were things I just couldn’t—”
“Get out.” Kris’s dark gaze bore into his. “I don’t want your excuses. I didn’t even hear from you when Dad died.” He shrugged. “And at this point in my life…I don’t care anymore. Olivia and I have better things to do with our time.”
“I can understand that. Completely.” Eion nodded. “But things are different now.” He glanced down at Kris’s leg. “Can I at least help in some way?”
Kris’s expression darkened. “You can help by getting out. I don’t want Livvy running into you. After that day at the lake, it took weeks for me to convince her that she hadn’t done anything wrong when you never spoke to her again. Then you just vanished.” His face twitched. “You broke her heart, you bastard.” He leaned to the side on his good leg and lifted one of the crutches. “Leave. Now.”
“Hey, Kris!” The front door slammed. “Whose truck is out front?”
“Dammit, Olivia.” Kris pivoted the quarter turn it took to face her. “Today of all days has to be the one you come home for lunch.”
“Wow. So happy to see you too.”
Eion bit back a groan. Twice in twenty-four hours? This was seriously messed up. He rotated away from Liv, his back to her, his gaze trained on the remains of the busted lamp on the table. The thump of her boots on the hardwood told him she was on the move, coming closer.
“Excuse me,” Liv began, the sound of her voice behind him. “What’s going on? Why is my brother so upset?”
“Livvy,” Kris said. “I can handle this.”
“No. I want to know what’s going on.”
In his mind’s eye, he could see her behind him, hands on hips, green eyes blazing in indignation. The image had the corner of his mouth begging to curl into a smile. She’d always been so damn strong willed.
Eion turned around.
Liv’s shamrock green eyes burned with unspent anger. Her lips remained parted on her unfinished thought, the curve of the lower slightly fuller than the top. Luscious. A few unruly strands of her dark hair hung loose from her ponytail, curling around her heart shaped face. His fingertips itched to brush them back, feel the soft texture on his skin. Eion fisted his hands against the impulse.
Stop it.
This wasn’t a fantasy about to come true. More like a painful reality that had to be endured until they could both escape its clutches.
She shoved her hands in the front pockets of her scrubs, reclaimed the couple of steps she’d given up a moment ago, and lifted her chin. “Eion…” Her gaze narrowed, assessing. “The clinic and now here… Just where do you get the balls to walk through our door again?”
Chapter Four
When she’d run into him at the clinic earlier, he’d nearly robbed her of her ability to think. To breathe. But she’d dug deep and tapped into doctor mode, focusing on the injured canine. Keeping her attention trained on the pup’s needs had allowed her to get through their encounter.
God, if Josie hadn’t been right. Eion was even better looking than Olivia remembered. The bastard.
Eion was
larger than life and in her home with nowhere for her mind to go except on him. He stood at least six-foot-two with coal black hair that stopped barely above his shoulders. The straight and glossy strands begged for her fingers to explore. Hooded by a thick fan of obsidian lashes, his hazel eyes fascinated her with their wild pattern of blue, brown, and green flecks. Beneath them, a straight patrician nose led to perfectly carved full lips that no silicone could imitate. He’d put on a shirt since she’d seen him last, and it clung to his chest, enhancing the breadth of his broad shoulders. The short sleeves stretched over his taut biceps, revealing a glimpse of the solid black tribal tattoos that wrapped around both upper arms. Lower, the material showcased his trim waist where the cotton tucked into low-rise jeans. What a combination…so damn handsome and such an ass at the same time.
“Well…” She couldn’t help but tap out an impatient beat with her boot against the hardwood.
Eion cleared his throat. “I’m in town to put my ranch on the market since my godparents, Aunt Darla and Uncle Eric, moved back home and gifted me the property.” He glanced over at Kris, then back to Olivia. “I heard about Kris’s injury and wanted to stop by, see if I could do anything to help.”
“As you can see,” she chewed out, “we’re doing just fine.”
“We don’t need anything from you, Mandrake,” Kris added, stepping behind her.
Eion’s mouth formed a thin line and he nodded. “Okay. I understand.” He headed in the direction of the door. “I just didn’t want to leave again without having tried to see you, Kris,” he added.
But not her. The absence of her name slammed home like a physical blow to Olivia’s midsection. So the timing of his visit in the middle of the day had been intentional. To avoid running into her. Again. It shouldn’t matter. She’d long since written Eion off as a childhood crush and had created a fulfilling life for herself. In fact, she knew it may have been petty, but it wasn’t exactly an accident when she’d casually let it slip at the clinic that Dr. McDaniel was her boyfriend. Yes. That’s right. She wanted Eion to know that she had a man in her life and was doing just fine without him. But damn…the omission still hurt.