“They sound like what I need.”
Gerri stopped writing and cocked her head to the side. “You know. I really like you. You’re very open-minded.”
No. She was sort of desperate from the sounds of the stuff coming out of her mouth. The likelihood there’d be two men out there who’d want her for a partner was not something she fully grasped. And while she was more than okay with her body and her curves, the reality was there were a lot of men out there who were not. She wasn’t blind or stupid, she knew that.
“All right. I think I have a good idea of what you need, Daniella.” Gerri shut the notebook and slipped it into her bag. She glanced at Daniella’s hair. Uh-oh. “Do you normally wear shades of purple in your hair?”
Dani smiled. “Not really. I recently went wild and decided I wanted to get some purple in there. My boss wasn’t amused but since I’ve been at the library for years, she didn’t cause a stir. I normally wear my hair in a bun so you can barely see the purple.”
“I think it’s beautiful. It’s good to see a different kind of librarian,” Gerri said.
She frowned. “You mean because of the hair? Or the fact I’m not wearing a buttoned-up blouse with dress pants?”
“That dress is very pretty,” Gerri pointed out. “It makes you look very youthful.”
She snorted a giggle. “Nah. I just don’t like wearing buttoned-up anything. I feel like it’s choking me. Though my boss has tried. But she’s used to me doing my own thing. Don’t get me wrong, I wear some covered up stuff some days and then when I feel all girly I put on pretty dresses.”
“See. That’s another thing I like. You’re not afraid to break rules and go your own way.”
She sighed. “Well that’s more due to my older brother. He’s always been very overprotective and somehow that’s pushed me to want to be a little rebellious.” She laughed. “Not much since I am still a librarian, but enough to get me to wear a low cut dress once in a while and put purple in my hair.”
“That’s enough to let your personality shine through.”
She glanced down at her watch and groaned. “I need to go back to work.” She pulled out a piece of paper and pen and wrote down her information, handed it to Gerri and stood. “It was really nice to meet you, Gerri,” she said, shaking Gerri’s hand. “I don’t expect miracles, so if you can’t find anyone for me I’ll understand.”
Gerri’s lips lifted in a wide grin. “Have some faith. I know of a few men who’d love to meet someone as spunky as you.”
She cleared her throat, ribbons of heat crowding her cheeks. “Thanks. I’ll wait for you to call with further information.”
“You bet. I’ll get in touch with you later,” Gerri promised.
She went back to her office feeling excited. Maybe Gerri wouldn’t find her the perfect man, but she was sure any shifter she got matched with would be a lot more interesting than the men she’d dated her entire life.
TWO
Kane swung the axe into the piece of wood, splitting it in half without much effort.
“Hello, darling,” his mother called out from his kitchen entrance. He knew she loved to visit since she considered him to be a loner. Though his Omega, Blake, lived next door, they wouldn’t share a home until they had a mate to bring them together.
“Hello, mother,” he said, swinging his axe again on the final piece of wood. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and turned to glance at her.
“Come inside. I’ll make you some lunch and we can talk,” she said, her smile wide with enthusiasm.
That couldn’t possibly be good. His mother had been trying to push him and Blake to accept one of the women in the pack as a mate, but she knew the rules. Their animals had to be in agreement that whoever the female they ended up with was right. And right didn’t just mean appeal sexually. She had to appeal to the human and animal sides. She’d have to bring a link to make the Triad strong and the Alpha set unique.
He slammed the axe down once more and left it wedged in the center of the tree trunk. The day had started to chill. With summer almost on its way out, he and Blake would need to move soon and get a mate. The problem was, no female in the pack caught their attention.
He entered the kitchen and his mother stood by the island while Blake sat at the dining table.
“I’m so glad you’re both here,” his mother said.
Yeah. Definitely not good. “What’s going on, Mother?”
She stopped fixing sandwiches and turned to him, a frown marring her features. “You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re already skeptical of my visit.”
Blake snorted and leaned back in his seat. His Omega and pack co-leader knew him so well. “That’s because he is, Margaret.”
She sniffed and continued preparing lunch. “I had an idea.”
“I’ll be right back”, he called out as he walked past. He washed his hands and took off his sweaty T-shirt, tossing it in a basket in the laundry room next to the kitchen. Before his mother got a chance to talk about whatever she wanted, he rushed to his room for a quick shower. No way was he going to sit and eat lunch when he was so sweaty.
After showering, he threw on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt, and hurried back before she started calling out to him.
“So what did you want to tell me?” he asked back in the kitchen.
“I was about to tell you my idea before you rushed out of here.”
“Mother, your ideas always mean one of us has to settle for a woman we don’t want. A woman who won’t complete us.” He sighed and sat down at the table. “A woman who’s not right for us.”
She rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. “If you weren’t so damn hardheaded, you’d have found a mate by now. But all you want to do is sit in the backyard building furniture. And you…” she said, pointing a chef knife at Blake. “All you ever look at are the pack accounts like they’re suddenly going to disappear overnight.”
Kane grinned. The look of confusion in Blake’s eyes was funny. His Omega couldn’t live without being emotionally linked to the pack or physically connected to his laptop and cell phone. Blake was a businessman with his own accounting firm and enough work to make anyone wince. On top of that, he had pack accounts and pack emotions to handle. It wasn’t easy being the Omega.
“Margaret, people in the pack stressing creates issues. I help them reduce stress. Money creates stress. I handle their money and ensure their life savings are well taken care of.”
“Yeah, yeah. We all know that.” She rolled her eyes, dismissing him. “Anyway, I invited someone to come over and join us for lunch.” She grinned and neatly placed the sandwiches on a large tray. “She’ll be here shorty and she’s going to help.”
“Mother—”
She pinned him with a serious stare. “I don’t want to hear anything. You’ve tried your way, now you’re trying mine.”
Blake raised his brows in question. Kane knew what Blake wondered. What was his mother up to now?
“What is it we’re trying?” he asked, rolling his shoulders and lifting his arms over his head.
His mother smiled. It was the same smile she gave him when he was a kid and it was the night before his birthday. He’d tried to get her to tell him what he was getting as a gift. She’d never told and she’d shocked him every single time. “You’re going to talk to my friend, Gerri and she’s going to find you two a mate.”
“Uh-oh,” Blake groaned. He finally put his phone away and paid attention to Kane and Margaret.
“Mother, I’ve told you we can find our own mate.”
“You know what? You two are the most pigheaded men I have ever met!” she yelled. “I can’t believe I birthed you, Kane Reed!”
Dammit. She was going the emotional route. “Mom—”
“No. Don’t ‘Mom’ me. It would serve you right to find a mate and then for her to be a difficult woman that will give you both gray hairs!”
Wow. That was just mean. “No need to get all hysteri
cal, Mother.”
She inhaled and let it out while glaring at him. “You’re right. There’s no need.”
The doorbell rang and she wiped her hands with a paper towel. “I’ll get that. That’s Gerri.” She smirked. “Let’s see how well you do with her.”
The minute she stepped out of the kitchen, Blake turned to him. “So is this for real? Your mother is going to ask the PDA lady to find us a mate?”
Kane opened his eyes wide. “PDA? You know Gerri?”
“Paranormal Dating Agency. Who doesn’t know Gerri? She’s Connor and Theron’s aunt from the Wildwoods Pack further to the south and she’s the one who matched them with each other.”
Right. He knew them. Like the Red Valley Pack, Wildwoods were formed of a Triad Alpha set leading the pack. The Alpha, Omega and their female. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea.
“I don’t think she can get that lucky twice in a row,” Kane said.
Blake snorted. “Are you kidding me? This is Gerri Wilder. She can find the perfect match for a ketchup bottle.”
Kane grinned. “What’s that, an order of fries?”
Blake laughed and slapped a hand on the table, making the sandwich tray jump. He then eyed the sandwiches. “Think she’ll get mad if I grab one?”
He leaned back in his seat. “Well, depends. How much do you value your hand?”
“Ouch. Never mind. So what if Gerri can find us a mate?”
Kane shook his head, sliding his fingers through his hair. “I doubt it.”
Blake smirked in such a way Kane knew he was up to something. “Care to make it interesting?”
“All the time,” he returned without missing a beat.
“I say she’ll find us the perfect mate. And if she does, that means you will have to stop building shit for a while and get to know whoever we get.”
He curled his lip in mock horror. “Are you out of your mind? I build stuff for a living.”
Blake narrowed his eyes. “You’re the Alpha of Red Valley. You can do whatever the hell you want. I am your Omega, your financial analyst, accountant and best friend! I would know.”
“Fine,” he growled. “I’ll do it. But let it be known that I think this isn’t even remotely likely to happen.” He picked up an apple from a bowl of fruit in the center of the table and took a bite, chewed and swallowed. “What do I get if she doesn’t find us a mate?”
Blake shrugged in his perfectly pressed shirt. “I don’t know. What do you want?”
He thought about it for a moment. “We’ll go to another town and search for a woman. No more putting me off on that.”
Blake sighed. “Fine. We’ll search elsewhere. Although that alone can give us problems with some of the pack women. Not to mention the men.”
“I’m the Alpha. I don’t care what anyone thinks. If they have a problem they can come to me. By the way, did Marcos call you?” He remembered his good friend’s request for them to keep an eye on his baby sister.
“Yeah. Check on Dani and all that.” Blake frowned. “I feel like we haven’t seen her in years.”
“That’s because we haven’t. She went off to college. Came back and has been living in a library ever since.”
“She lives in a library?” Blake asked, looking confused.
“Not literally. She works there.” He remembered Daniella. She’d always been shy as a kid. And he also remembered she liked both him and Blake. More than a she should have, considering how young she was. Back then he’d been hell-bent on ignoring her and any attraction he felt for her. She’d been a minor and even worse, his friend’s little sister. Not that it took away from how much he’d wanted her or how his wolf had gone crazy pushing him to mate her. That had been massively scary.
“She was such a nice girl. So quiet. Reserved. Never a bad word out of her lips,” Blake mused. “I think she had a thing for us.”
Kane nodded. “Yeah. And if we want to keep our friendship with Marcos we’ll ignore that thing and focus on finding our third.”
The sound of voices approaching from the living room had them cutting their conversation short. Both men stood and waited for Margaret and her friend to show up. The women walked in a second later.
“Boys, I want you to meet my friend Gerri Wilder,” his mother said with enthusiasm. “Gerri this is Kane, my son,” she said, pointing to him. “And that handsome boy with those big brown eyes is Blake.”
Kane choked on a chuckle and grinned at his mother’s friend. “Nice to meet you Mrs. Wilder.”
Gerri Wilder glanced at his face for a moment. The ring of gold around her eyes was bright with her animal. She did the same with Blake and nodded. “I can help you both.”
He wanted to roll his eyes. “Really? Just like that?”
This lady definitely couldn’t find them a mate when they had looked at every possible female in Red Valley and the adjoining areas and hadn’t been able to find one themselves.
“Mrs. Wilder,” Blake began.
“Call me Gerri.”
“Gerri. We’ve looked at every female in Red Valley. There’s no one here. I’m not sure you really can help us.”
“You see what I mean?” Margaret barged in, her eyes narrowed.
“Yes. You were right. They are pigheaded,” Gerri said. “I’ll still find them someone if you want...”
“Oh, please!” Margaret hugged Gerri. “They need our help. Sit down and eat. We can tell them whatever you feel they need to know.”
Gerri stared at Kane for a quiet moment before smiling. “You don’t think I can find you someone?”
He grinned, not hiding his thoughts. “No. I apologize. It’s not that I don’t think you’re good at matching people with their right mate, but we’re in need of a third to join our Triad. Not only that, but if the female we mate doesn’t take to shifting, we could have serious problems with the pack. Things are a lot more complicated than finding a pretty face to sleep with.”
Gerri raised her brows high. “She must be pretty?”
Ah, fuck. What the hell had he gotten into? “Not necessarily pretty, but definitely hot. Physical attraction would be necessary.”
“What do you consider hot?” she asked. “A woman with no physical flaws, a slim figure and so on?”
He frowned. Was she crazy? “Slim? No. Not that I haven’t been with a smaller woman, but we prefer a woman with curves,” he said, holding his hands out and making an hourglass shape. “Big curves.”
Gerri grinned. “And you agree?” she asked Blake.
He nodded. “Curves are sexy. They make a woman real. We want someone who is happy being in her own skin. That likes her body and can find herself being sexually appealing to us.”
“Okay. So no shy virgins here, huh?” asked Gerri.
Blake choked on his drink and slapped a hand over his mouth, obviously trying hard not to spit it all over. He visibly swallowed and coughed repeatedly before answering her. “She can be shy if that’s her, but we’d like someone who is willing to try things. She’s going to have two men for Christ’s sake. That means she should at least be open-minded.”
“Right. The wolves want a freak.” Gerri laughed. “Wow. If half my clients were this specific I’d never get anyone hooked up.”
Kane’s mother grinned and patted Gerri on her arm. “You and I both know your nephew and his Omega are loving their new mate.”
“True.” Gerri gave Kane a shrewd gaze. “What about love? I don’t want to hear crap about not needing love because no woman will want to even consider a lifetime relationship without the possibility of love.”
He dropped his shoulders and sighed. “If love happens, it happens. I am not opposed to it. I don’t think Blake is either.” He waited for Blake to agree. Once he saw his Omega nod he went on. “But a woman willing to take on two mates, a difficult pack and the change can be a lot to ask for.”
“Not to mention she has to be curvy, a freak in bed and probably a great cook, huh?” Gerri asked.
Blake la
ughed. “It could really help us out if she was.”
“I never promised miracles. I promised a mate.”
That sounded ominous. “Right. So can you help?”
Gerri’s lips tilted upward in a slow smile. “Here’s what I want you to do...”
THREE
Dani pushed the mask higher on her face and winced. A masquerade ball blind date. This was what she’d allowed herself to be talked into. All to meet a man that might be the one for her. When Gerri mentioned her annual ball would be the place she’d meet her date, she hadn’t given it much thought. But now that she wore the zipped up tight red corset with leather accents and a short black bustle skirt that showed off her thigh highs, she wondered if she’d lost her mind. Probably. Okay, not probably, definitely.
Lord help her when she had to go to the bathroom. She’d have to ask someone for help. Why did she let her neighbor and good friend make the damn thing so tight she felt like her boobs were going to pop out at any second and flash the party a big hello? She’d wanted to feel sexy. And she had, until she reached the front door of the massive mansion in the woods.
The place was huge with expensive cars lined up along a circular driveway. She pulled the short red cape around her shoulders, trying to take the attention away from her breasts. It was useless. She’d thought a sexy red riding hood outfit would be great for a masked ball, but now she felt all sorts of uncomfortable.
Gerri was easy to find. She stood at the center of the grand ballroom dressed as a Greek goddess. Her long toga and gold arm bands looked amazing on her.
She rushed over to Dani’s side and hugged her. “Daniella, so nice to see you.”
“How did you know it was me?” Stupid costume did a bad job of hiding her identity. She’d gone with her contacts for the night, hoping they would help her look sexier than having black rimmed glasses over a face mask.
Gerri grinned. She was the only person without a mask. “I can scent you. Which defeats the purpose of the mask. Come with me.”
She tugged her to a side door and into a private parlor. Dani glanced around the sumptuously decorated room. It looked like something straight out of a romance novel. A massive four poster bed with big satin pillows and sheer drapes sat in the middle of the room. Gerri sauntered over to a locked case and used a key to open it. She brought out a box of pills and a spray bottle and turned to face Dani. She opened the box and took out a small pill, passing it to Dani.
Curves 'em Right (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Paranormal Dating Agency Book 4) Page 2