“I hope not. God, I hope not. But if the hospitals are suddenly filling up, that seems the most likely explanation. This virus is quick-moving and highly contagious, and our High Council might just have been too late with the quarantine.”
Vicki felt sick to her stomach. “But, surely, the doctors will take care of it. We have some of the best doctors in the world here in Torch Lake.”
Mitch sighed sadly. “We do, but they don’t have a cure for the virus. The Dark Warriors might have a cure. Might. We don’t know for sure, and even if they do have a cure, we have to find them and steal it from them. It might be a while before that can be done, and in the meantime people are going to die.”
Vicki turned away from Mitch to walk back around the front counter. She felt fear trying to bubble up within her, but she wouldn’t let Mitch see that. “Well, then, I better hurry up and get these flowers done. If people don’t have much time left to live, then I at least want them to get their flowers before they go.”
Mitch crossed the room in two long strides, grabbing Vicki’s arm again with a pleading look in his eyes. “Vicki, please. Forget about the flowers. Are you not understanding the seriousness of this? If this is the Dark Warriors’ virus, the hospital will be a cesspool of germs right now. You could die if you go there. Literally. I know your business is important to you, but what good is a thriving business if you’re dead?”
Vicki felt the shivers of fear growing stronger. But she would not let them win. “I’ll be careful. I’ll wear a mask. But I’m not going to shut everything down because of a potential threat we aren’t even sure is real.”
Mitch looked exasperated. He had just opened his mouth to say something else when his phone rang. He looked down at it, and his eyes widened. “Shit, I have to take this.”
As he answered, Vicki shook her head, feeling exasperated herself. She wasn’t sure whether she should be angry at Mitch for interfering, or if she should heed his warning. She turned to head into the back room of her shop to start working on some of the bouquets. She would have liked to kick Mitch out of her shop, but she knew he would protest if she tried. It seemed easier just to ignore him.
Except she couldn’t ignore him. Not completely. He did strange things to her. Her stomach filled with flutters at the sight of him, and remembering his earnest eyes kept making her heart flip-flop. She tried to write it all off as physical attraction. No one could deny that he was a good looking man. The best looking man she’d ever seen, in fact. Who could blame her for feeling a little fluttery at the sight of him, especially when she had firsthand experience at how good he was in bed?
No matter how attractive he was, though, she wasn’t interested in continuing any kind of relationship with him. Not when he’d made it clear that he was in love with her. She shook her head as she remembered his outburst this morning. He had actually said he loved her, when he’d known her for less than twenty-four hours. If she’d thought things would turn out that way, she never would have slept with him. She’d just been looking for a little fun. She didn’t want to get bogged down in a relationship and all the drama that entailed.
She moved quickly as she worked, her anger somehow increasing her focus. The backroom was temperature controlled—warm and humid to keep her flowers happy. She’d wanted to build it like a greenhouse, but the city building code prohibited that type of structure in this part of town. She could have moved the shop further out, but then she would have been too far away from the town center, and she thought that being near the town’s busy business section would help her shop.
Today, it wouldn’t have mattered if she was on the other side of the lake itself. People would have found her. The hospitals were full, it seemed. Another shiver of fear passed through her, and she pushed it away, throwing herself into her work. If she just concentrated on making bouquets as fast as she could, she wouldn’t have time to worry about potential deadly epidemics.
She forced herself to think only about the flowers, and she was so successful at this endeavor that she forgot even that Mitch was in the shop. Half an hour later, when he stepped into the back room, he startled her horribly.
“Holy shit!” she yelped, nearly dropping the armful of blooms she was holding.
He looked contrite. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you. Just thought I’d come make one more attempt at convincing you to go hide in a bubble at home until this is all over.”
She frowned at him. “I’m not the hiding type.”
To her surprise, he smiled. “I figured,” he said. “I think it’s one of the reasons I wanted to spend so much time talking to you at the bar last night. It’s not often I meet a woman as spunky as you. And I’ve never met one who is spunky and beautiful.”
Vicki crossed her arms. “I think I made it very clear last night that I’m not interested in a relationship. You seemed to be on the same page, which I now realize was not the case. But I myself haven’t flipped pages, Mitch. I still don’t want a boyfriend. So while I’m flattered that a dragon shifter thinks highly enough of me to tell me I’m his lifemate, I think it’s better if you leave and we part ways permanently.”
Mitch just kept smiling. “Okay,” he said. But he didn’t move. Vicki was confused, both by his actions and by the way her own heart seemed to be responding to him. He was leaning against the wall, his tall frame effortlessly sexy with its sculpted muscles and tanned skin. Rows of flowers in their pots stretched out in front of him, and Vicki found that she loved the contrast of his rugged masculinity with the delicate blooms. If she ever were going to have a boyfriend, she certainly could have picked a worse one than Mitch. A small longing tugged at the back of her heart. Didn’t she eventually want love in her life? And a family of her own?
She pushed the thoughts away as quickly as they came. She didn’t trust men, and she didn’t have time for distractions. Perhaps someday she would change her mind and want to go searching for the love of her life. Perhaps someday she’d be ready for babies. But for now, the shop was the love of her life and her baby, all wrapped into one.
“Okay,” she said. “Then leave.”
His smile deepened. “I will, if you’ll just hear me out for a few minutes.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Fine. Say whatever it is you need to get off your chest. But then you need to leave, and leave me alone. I have a lot of work to do, and I’ve already told you I’m not interested in a boyfriend.”
“I understand. But I just got a phone call from the High Council confirming that the Dark Warriors’ virus is in Torch Lake. It’s too late for a quarantine. People are going to die, and you and I might be among them. If it’s my time, it’s my time. But I want to make sure I have a chance to tell you how I feel before it really is too late.”
Vicki shrugged and then crossed her arms, waiting for him to go on. She was trying to act like she didn’t care about what he was about to say, but in truth her heart had started pounding. The virus was in the city for certain? That meant that the town she loved was very possibly going to be wiped out. If the news reports last night could be trusted, it sounded like every city where the virus took hold had soon become a ghost town. Mitch was talking again, and she forced herself to listen to him, mostly so that she would be thinking about something other than the dire news report from yesterday.
“Last night at the bar, I meant it when I said I just wanted to have fun,” Mitch said. “I’ll be honest with you. I’ve been the wild child of the dragon shifter group. I had no plans to settle down soon, if ever. So of course, when a beautiful, witty girl came along who said she felt the same, it seemed perfect. Why not enjoy a night of pure, carnal fun together? We’re both grown ass adults, after all. We knew what we were doing.”
“Humph,” was all Vicki said.
Mitch sighed. “Except I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know that I was taking my lifemate home.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t start with the lifemate nonsense again,” Vicki said. But Mitch held up his hand to silen
ce her.
“Hey, you said you’d hear me out. So hear me out. Do you actually know what a lifemate is?”
Vicki shrugged. “I’ve heard shifters talking. It’s like a soulmate. Someone you’re destined to be with or something like that.”
“Well, yes. It’s someone you’re destined to be with. But it’s deeper than a soulmate. People toss around the word soulmate because they think it sounds romantic, but a lifemate is about so much more than romance. You see, we shifters believe that from the moment we’re born, we’re destined to be with our fated lifemate. From the first breath we take, destiny is working behind the scenes to make us cross paths with them.”
Mitch paused to give Vicki a chance to respond, but she just stared at him, so he continued.
“When you find your lifemate and sleep with them, the lifemate bond is formed. It feels like a deep warmth right in your very core. That bond is unbreakable.”
Vicki felt a sudden flash of uncertainty. She had felt a strange warmth when she and Mitch made love. She’d attributed it to being really turned on by him. But was it more than that? Was it some sort of bond? She pushed the thought away, though. This whole lifemate bond business was nonsense. It reminded her of the fairy tales her mother had read her when she was young, where prince charming magically appeared and saved the day, then rode off into the sunset with the princess. Everyone knew that prince charming didn’t actually exist—he just made for a nice story. And it was the same with lifemate bonds. Everyone knew they didn’t really exist. They just made for nice stories.
Her face must have given away her feelings, because Mitch frowned. “I can see I’m losing you,” he said. “But that’s, okay, I guess. You don’t have to believe that lifemate bonds are real. But I want you to at least understand why I suddenly changed my mind about wanting a relationship. To me, lifemate bonds are very real. I somehow thought I would never be lucky enough to find my actual lifemate, which is why I’ve been living the wild child lifestyle. Now that I found you, though, everything has changed.”
Vicki threw her hands up in exasperation. “Don’t change your lifestyle for me, Mitch. I’m certainly not changing mine for you.”
He gave her a sad look. “I don’t think you understand, Vicki. The lifemate bond is unbreakable once it’s formed. It doesn’t matter what you do. You could tell me to go away forever, and say you never want to see me again. I’d still love you. I’d still be bound to you for life. For the rest of my days, my heart belongs to you, whether you want me or not. I can’t force you to love me. Nor would I want to. What kind of love would that be? All I can do is tell you that I will always be here to protect you if you need it. I will always fight for you. And that won’t change even if my affection is never returned. I don’t know how much time either of us have left, with this virus raging, but whatever time I have left is yours. And although there doesn’t seem to be much anyone can do about this virus, just know that if there’s any way I can protect you from it, I will.”
Vicki wasn’t sure how to respond. She had never heard the lifemate bond explained in full before, and she had to admit that it did sound quite a bit more serious than the idea of a soulmate. Still, she couldn’t quite bring herself to think of it as more than another cheesy attempt at romance. After years of working in this shop, she’d seen a lot of smooth talkers saying whatever they thought was necessary to win a girl over. Who could say that Mitch was any different? He talked a smooth game, but talking wasn’t enough to sway Vicki.
“Is that all you have to say?” she asked. “Because if so I really do need to get back to work. I have a lot of flower arrangements to make. If everyone in the hospital is going to die, I’d at least like them to go surrounded by the beauty of fresh flowers.”
Mitch looked pained. “That’s the other thing I wanted to say. Please, please, reconsider going to the hospital. The Torch Lake High Council is sending out search teams within the next few hours to try to track down the Dark Warriors and see if they have a cure. If there is a chance of surviving this, it’s for you to hunker down and stay away from people. The less people you’re around, the less chance you have of catching the virus. The longer you can stay healthy, the better the odds of us having a cure before you catch the virus.”
Vicki gave him a long hard look. “I’m not the type to run and hide.”
He sighed. “I was afraid of that. Just, wear a mask would you? At least do that for me?”
“I’ll wear a mask, but not for you. For myself. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think you’ve said everything you came here to say. I have a lot of work to do.”
Mitch opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, but finally just nodded. He turned to leave, and Vicki watched him go, trying to ignore the strange heaviness that had settled over her heart.
She told herself that the sad feeling consuming her was coming from the knowledge that Torch Lake itself was in danger, not from the worry that she might be writing Mitch off to soon. But as she turned back to arranging her flowers, she couldn’t keep the image of his earnest eyes from replaying itself over and over in her mind.
Chapter Seven
“Hello? Anyone in there?”
Vicki cursed and shoved the flowers she’d been holding into an empty bucket of water. She hadn’t thought to go lock the door behind Mitch when he left, which meant that anyone could walk into the shop. The sign on the door might say “Closed,” but a lot of people were desperate for flowers today. It had only been about three minutes since Mitch left, but already someone had ignored the closed sign and let themselves in.
Vicki walked out to the front room and pasted a smile on her weary face. A young wizard with clean cut hair was standing in the middle of the room, an uncertain look on his face.
“Hi,” Vicki said. “I’m really sorry but I’ve had to close the shop early today because I’ve already taken all the bouquet orders I can possibly handle. The door should have been locked. I apologize for the confusion.”
The wizard frowned. “I really need a bouquet for my grandma. She’s at Torch Lake Main right now and they’re saying she won’t survive much longer.”
Vicki felt a rush of empathy, but what could she do? If she started making exceptions after officially closing, someone was going to hear about it eventually. Then everyone was going to storm down the door, upset that she was “playing favorites.”
“I’m sorry. Have you tried Snapdragon Flowers across town? I really am all booked up.”
“Snapdragon Flowers?” the wizard snorted. “Yeah, I tried. That guy is a joke. The whole town is on the verge of a deadly epidemic and he’s refusing to make bouquets for anyone because he has a wedding this weekend he needs to make flowers for. He told me that he didn’t have time for petty hospital flowers, and that unless I was going to do a huge order for a wedding or something, I was wasting his time.”
Vicki frowned. I should have known. That guy is a jerk, she thought. Out loud, though, she managed to maintain an aura of professionalism.
“I’m really sorry. I would love to help you, truly. But I’ve taken all the orders I can possibly handle.”
“Please,” the wizard said, his voice cracking. “My grandma is dying. I can’t believe she made it through the Great Dark War just to have things end like this. She’s a fighter, and she’s really trying to hang on. But the doctors said she won’t make it much longer. They don’t even want to let me in the room, for fear I’ll catch the virus. But I’m not afraid. I went in anyway. I’m not going to let them keep me from her in her final hours.”
Vicki felt a wave of fear. She realized with sudden clarity that everyone who had been in her shop this morning to order flowers had very likely been exposed to the virus thanks to their sick relatives. How contagious was this virus, really? Had they all been dragging it in here, infecting her? She bit back the urge to yell at the wizard to get out, and did her best to remain polite.
“I’m sorry. I really do feel badly for your grandma, but I can’t t
ake any more orders and I need to get to work on the orders I’ve already taken. The store is closed, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
The wizard didn’t leave. Instead, he frowned at her and crossed his arms. “If the store is closed, then why did I see Mitch Reeds running out of here a minute ago? Did you agree to make a bouquet for him? What could he possibly need flowers for? That man sleeps with a different woman every night. It’s not like he actually cares about any of them.”
Vicki paused, her mouth dropping. She tried to cover up the fact that she’d just reacted to the wizard’s little tirade, but she had been far too obvious. Realizing that he had struck a nerve, he continued on.
“What? Did he tell you he needed flowers for the love of his life or something? Don’t be fooled. That man only loves himself. I don’t know why in the world he would come in here asking for flowers, but I promise you the reason is selfish.”
Vicki felt a sickening jealousy in the pit of her stomach. Mitch slept with a different girl every night? But he’d said he loved her.
She realized instantly how ridiculous it was to be jealous. She had no right to Mitch. And he’d told her himself that he was a wild child and not interested in a relationship. She had no claim on him. In fact, she’d pushed him away only minutes earlier. Besides, the wizard was only confirming that Mitch likely had been telling the truth last night when he’d said he only wanted a night of fun. Did that mean the lifemate bond was real? Could it really change someone that quickly?
Vicki looked up at the wizard, forcing herself to keep a neutral expression on her face. Feigning mild curiosity, she asked, “How do you know Mitch sleeps with a different girl every night? Does he brag about it?”
She couldn’t bear the thought of that. Was he the kind of guy who liked to boast about his “conquests?” Was he going to be laughing with his buddies about her the next time they were all at the Winking Wizard together?
Dragon Battling (Torch Lake Shifters Book 10) Page 5