by Lynn Hagen
Trey stared at the letter on his coffee table. The bold black letters glared at him until he turned the paper over. “It was fine. Cleaned a bunch of cages and swept the floor. Not very exciting.”
Though Trey had still refused to clean the snake cages. Nando had ended up doing those. No amount of money offered would have made him go near those creepy things.
“I was headed over to Cresting Moon to grab a bite to eat and wanted you to join me,” Ben said. “My treat.”
That was the last place Trey wanted to go. One, he’d been fired from there. Two, after the way Clark had acted, Trey wasn’t in a rush to see his ex-boss again.
“How about Bent Spoon?” he asked. Maybe getting out of the house would help ease his anxieties. For one night he wanted to pretend life was normal, that he wasn’t about to lose his home. That he wasn’t broke and that he had a very ordinary life.
That he hadn’t seen men change into dogs and then turn to dust.
“Do you want me to pick you up, or do you want to just meet me there?” Ben asked.
“You’ll have to give me a second.” Trey got up and headed toward his bedroom. “I smell like animals, so I’d love to take a shower first. How about I meet you there in thirty minutes?”
Despite his dire situation, Trey felt excitement zip through him at seeing Ben again. The hottie with dirty-blond hair and chocolate-brown eyes.
He was so dreamy that Trey sighed as he recalled Ben’s handsome face.
“Thirty minutes is perfect,” Ben said. “I’ll see you there.”
Trey bit his lower lip as he hung up. What was he supposed to have done, stayed home and paced, worrying about the notice? He would rack his brain to come up with a solution, but until then, why not enjoy Ben’s company?
Trey hurried to his bedroom and sifted through his closet for something decent to wear. They were only meeting at a diner, but he still wanted to look nice.
Ben seemed sweet and charming, and Trey wanted to make a good impression.
Luckily his headache disappeared as he jumped into the shower to get ready for his not date.
Chapter Two
Ben hung up and slipped his phone into his pocket. He walked to the cooler and then through a secret door that led to the room where his beta stood, watching over Jimmy Raton.
The room wasn’t that large, maybe twenty-by-twenty, but it was big enough for the single chair that sat in the middle of the concrete floor, and a long table. The walls were insulated, so Jimmy could scream his fool head off and no one would hear him.
And Ben planned on making the son of a bitch scream.
“You’ve just run out of time.” He slammed his fist into Jimmy’s face, hearing a satisfying crunch. “Tell me what you know about the impending attack and I might let you live.”
Ben had been alpha of Fever’s Edge for the past five years. He and his small pack had moved to this town in hopes of starting over after most of their members had been killed in a massacre.
For the past five years his members had flourished, buying up most of the businesses in town. Most. Some were still owned by humans, which Ben didn’t have a problem with.
But it was his job to make sure the people of Fever’s Edge stayed safe, and when the hellhounds had invaded, Ben had had one hell of a fight on his hands.
Ben and his men had killed at least half a dozen hellhounds before the demon warriors had come to town and cleaned house. Ben hadn’t even had a chance to thank the warriors before they were gone.
And now trouble was back on the menu. From what Ben had learned, Manny Washington was in the area.
The same son of a bitch who had ordered the attack on Ben’s pack. If Manny thought to finish the job, he had another think coming. In the past five years Ben had doubled his members and had placed them strategically around town to keep an eye on things.
“I ain’t telling you shit.” Jimmy spat on the floor then ran his tongue over the inside of his busted bottom lip.
It wasn’t as if Ben would really let Jimmy live. He’d been part of the attack, had killed some of the Kincaid pack, and for that, he would pay with his life.
“Take care of him,” Ben said to Rourke, his beta. Rourke, black hair, brown eyes, and solidly built. He was a nice guy, when he wasn’t interrogating someone. The two had been friends since they were pups, and it was only befitting that he’d made Rourke his beta when Ben had formed his own pack.
Rourke knew that Ben had found his mate. He’d told him right after he’d returned to Budding Sensation this morning. Ben was still reeling from the fact that he’d found Trey, and although he’d been late calling him, he wasn’t going to stand his mate up.
“I got this.” Rourke gripped Jimmy by his blond hair and yanked his head back. “We’re gonna have some fun. Aren’t we, Jimmy boy?”
Manny had killed Rourke’s parents, and Ben had no issues handing Jimmy over for retribution. Ben could still hear the screams from that night, how their small village had been burned to the ground, how dead bodies had lain all over the ground.
He’d failed his people then, but he wouldn’t fail them again.
Never again.
When he entered the floral shop through the cooler, he went to the counter where Elijah was working. The omega smiled at him when he looked up and saw Ben’s approach. “I’m stepping out to eat. If any problems arise, call me.”
Ben had taken Elijah under his wing when Elijah’s entire family had been murdered in the massacre. He was Ben’s unofficial little brother.
“I think I can handle a rush of women wanting to redecorate.” Elijah’s grin broadened as his hazel eyes danced with merriment. “But if they start throwing punches over our daisy arrangements, don’t count on me to break them apart.”
Ben chuckled. “If that happens, holler for Rourke.”
Bent Spoon wasn’t that far from the floral shop. Ben stepped into his office, used the mouthwash he kept in his drawer to freshen his breath, and then headed out.
When he was halfway to Bent Spoon, his phone rang. Ben pulled it out as he walked. “I just left you,” he said to Rourke.
Ben kept looking around for Clark, the guy who had harassed Trey earlier, for Manny Washington, or any other threat that might have come out of hiding. Running a town even as small as Fever’s Edge was twenty-four-hour work. It seemed Ben never got any rest because something was always going on.
But they finally had a lead on Manny after all these years. Jimmy Raton. Ben wanted to know what Jimmy knew, what plans Manny had, and how Manny would execute his plans.
The interrogation with Jimmy was vital, but so was Ben’s mate. Ben wanted Manny dead in the worst way, but he didn’t want to neglect Trey, either.
Not when the human was Ben’s one shot at happiness. And fate had smiled on Ben. Trey was, in Ben’s opinion, gorgeous, with his crooked smile and big, expressive blue eyes. He was also short, pocket-sized, and fuck, images of Trey’s slim legs wrapped around him had Ben growing hard.
“Elijah is closing the shop. Some kind of emergency came up,” Rourke said.
“Is everything okay?” Ben stopped walking, waffling between meeting Trey and making sure Elijah wasn’t in any trouble. He might’ve been an omega wolf, but Elijah had a strange way of stumbling into crisis situations. It was as if the cosmos directed disaster Elijah’s way.
“Rosa called Elijah. Something about Buster needing to go to the vet.” There was humor in Rourke’s voice. “I still don’t understand why he insists on having a raccoon as a pet.”
Neither did Ben, but the furry critter made Elijah happy. Ben was also grateful for Rosa. She was the unofficial caretaker of their pack, cooking and cleaning and organizing their schedules. Rosa was the glue who kept them functioning.
“Go ahead and close up. That’ll give you alone time with Jimmy.” Normally Ben would’ve had a pack member come in and take over, but his mind was focused on one thing right now.
Getting to his mate.
Ben end
ed the call and was slipping his phone into his back pocket as he spotted Trey rounding the corner and making a beeline for the diner. Trey tripped a few times but caught himself and hurried along.
For a second Ben thought Trey would run into the streetlight pole, but at the last second, his mate saw the pole and dodged around it as he rubbed his temples.
Hadn’t Dalton Knowles said something about Trey having bad headaches? Ben was going to have to check into that. He didn’t like seeing Trey with pinched brows.
Ben snarled when his phone rang again. Just for a single night he wanted to be left alone, and it seemed everyone under the sun was trying to get ahold of him.
“What?” he snapped when he answered.
His snarly tone caught the attention of a few people passing by.
“Is that how I raised you?” his Aunt Rosa asked.
Ben stopped and grimaced. He should have checked to see who was calling before he’d answered. “Sorry, ma’am. I was just…” Ben didn’t know how to finish that sentence, because lying to his aunt wasn’t something he liked to do. She was the only elder from their pack that had survived the massacre, and Ben would die to protect her. “Was there something you needed, Rosa?”
Everyone called her their aunt, though technically she wasn’t related to Ben or the others who had survived. Her only child, Sammy, had perished that fateful day, and every last one of the pack members treated her with respect and admiration.
That sentiment was made easier by the fact that she was the most loving person Ben knew. She was short, a bit plump, with long, graying hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her smile could light up a room, but her scowl sent men running. Rosa was sweet, but she also kept them in line.
Ben’s parents had died a century before, and Rosa had taken him under her wing, had raised him as her own, and there wasn’t a day that went by that Ben didn’t miss Sammy. The two had grown close and, at one point in their lives, had been inseparable. Best friends for life.
Or so Ben had thought until Manny had invaded their small village.
Sammy’s death still weighed heavily on Ben’s conscience.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m heading to Dr. Scott’s office. Buster isn’t acting himself, and he needs to go to the vet, so I’m taking him as soon as Elijah gets here.”
Ben insisted on knowing where Rosa was at all times. She was the matriarch of their pack, and her safety was his main concern.
When the hellhounds had invaded Fever’s Edge months before, Ben had put her on lockdown, refusing to let her leave the house. Thank fuck that was over because Rosa had threatened to cut off his balls if she didn’t regain her freedom.
Ben saw Trey looking around, as though he were trying to find him.
“I have to go. Just be careful and call me when the vet finds out what’s wrong with Buster.”
“Will do,” she said. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.” Ben hung up and slid his phone into his pocket. The raccoon might be a mischievous pain in the ass, but Elijah loved him dearly, and Ben had a soft spot for animals.
He also suspected that Rosa was eager to go because every woman in town fawned over the vet, Dr. Evan Scott. Blond, gorgeous, and he had a winning personality that he showed the public. He was a pack member, a wolf shifter, and vicious when he needed to be, though he kept that side of himself hidden most of the time.
Ben started toward the diner again, hoping no one else called him. He wanted to get to know Trey, and the constant interruptions were starting to wear on him.
* * * *
Jimmy tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling as he gasped for breath, blood slowly trickling down his temple. “Do you honestly think I’m going to tell you anything?” he asked. “I’d rather face death than Manny.”
Rourke knew Jimmy wouldn’t break easily. The guy was as loyal as they came, a fanatic who believed in Manny’s cause. But he was also the one who had killed Rourke’s parents, and for that, Rourke held no forgiveness in his heart.
His mom, who had never harmed another creature in her life. Loving, caring, the sweetest person Rourke had ever known. His father, a man of honor, someone who had taught Rourke to be a decent man with morals and values.
But those lessons were now on the back burner. Rourke was about to unleash his hatred, his vengeance, and no one, not even Manny, would stand in his way. Jimmy had taken two precious lives, and Rourke could do nothing more than return that favor.
He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees as he cocked his head to the side. “Is that so?”
Jimmy licked his dry, cracked lips. “I could make this worth your while,” he said. “How much for my freedom?”
Rourke backhanded him so hard he heard bones breaking. “You want to put a price on my parents? You think I’d ever forgive you for what you did? I’ll give you your freedom, Jimmy boy. I’ll free your rotten soul from your body.”
Jimmy glared at him, his front tooth cracked from the blow Rourke had just delivered him. “Do your worst.”
Rourke straightened. “You have no idea who you’re taunting, do you? You have no clue what my worst is.”
Rourke was going to get those plans from Jimmy one way or the other. Ben was counting on him, and Rourke never let his alpha down.
* * * *
When Trey entered the diner, he didn’t see Ben anywhere. Had the guy stood him up? That would be his luck. Or should he say lack of luck? Trey never had good fortune when it came to dating. He always seemed to pick the wrong type of men.
But that didn’t mean he would stop looking. No one wanted to go through life alone, though many did.
“Just one?” the server asked with a smile. His nametag said he was Ryan.
“Um…” If Ben didn’t show, Trey didn’t want to look like a loser who was waiting for someone who would never arrive, gaining the pity of the workers in the diner. He was already known around town as Headache Boy. He didn’t want to cement his reputation as loser, too.
The guy stood there smiling, though Trey saw he wanted to walk away. His eyes kept darting toward the other booths.
“I’ll just take one of the empty booths.” That way if Ben showed, there would be room for him. If he didn’t, no one would know Trey was stood up.
It was a genius idea.
“This way.” The waiter, who had silky dark hair and looked younger than Trey, led him across the room, seating Trey by the kitchen door. Not an ideal place, but Trey didn’t want to cause a ruckus over seating.
“Thank you.” He slipped onto the cushion and grabbed the plastic menu off the table. “Can I start with a lemon water?”
Any other drink would aggravate the headache trying to creep over his skull.
Ryan’s smile tightened. “I’ll have your server bring it to you.”
Before Trey could say another word, the guy walked away. Trey had never seen Ryan there before, and he’d been coming to Bent Spoon for months. The server had to be new.
After ten minutes and no Ben, Trey got up and went outside, looking around. When he still didn’t see his date, his shoulders sagged as he walked back inside.
He knew it had been too good to be true. Ben was gorgeous with a side of yummy. Trey still couldn’t understand why Ben had wanted to take him to dinner in the first place, but in truth, Trey had gotten his hopes up, only to have them dashed.
And now he would have to order something to eat since he was already there, occupying a table. A meal he couldn’t afford.
He’d just decided on a grilled cheese and fries, ready to tell his server what he wanted, when the door to the diner opened and in walked Ben, looking as handsome as ever. He appeared commanding, sure of himself, and a few heads turned, staring his way as he looked around the diner.
Trey wasn’t sure why, but he had an urge to duck under the table. Gazes followed Ben as he spotted Trey and smiled, working his way over to where Trey sat.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ben said as he slid into the other
side of the booth. “Things got a bit hairy at the floral shop.”
“Last-minute orders?” Trey couldn’t have wiped the smile off his face if his life depended on it. Ben had shown up, which was more than Trey had expected. Now he sat across from the most handsome man in town, who was there to have dinner with him.
“Last-minute business to tie up.” Ben raised his hand and waved their server over. Instead of the blond who was ready to take Trey’s order, Ryan practically broke his neck to get to their table. He didn’t spare Trey a single glance as he grinned at Ben.
“What can I get for you?”
Trey wanted to smack the slut. “I thought the other guy was my server.”
Ryan ignored him, his focus solely on Ben.
“An iced tea,” Ben said. He looked at Trey. “Dinner is on me, so don’t be afraid to eat whatever you want.”
Trey just wished he hadn’t said that in front of Ryan, as if Trey were a charity case. Technically he was, considering he was broke as hell and couldn’t afford to eat at the inexpensive diner.
“I’ll be right back with your drink.” Ryan walked away, still ignoring Trey.
“How was work?” Ben smiled, settling his feet right next to Trey’s. Their calves touched, and Trey hated the fact that he blushed so easily.
“It was my first day,” Trey admitted. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to lie to Ben. Not that Trey was in the habit of lying, but he normally didn’t admit personal things about himself.
Like he had with Deandre when the stud had visited Fever’s Edge all those months ago. But Deandre had been easy to talk to, and he’d been a stranger who Trey hadn’t been trying to date.
“Really?” Ben’s smile made butterflies flap in Trey’s stomach. “So how did you like it?”
“Aside from the nasty snakes, it was okay. I’m just glad to have a job.” Trey grimaced. Why the hell was he being so honest? He needed to keep his lips sealed before he told Ben his life story. “What’s it like working with flowers?”