“No, ma’am, we would not have let you starve to death. Nor would we have left you out in the street. Besides, the airline would have stepped in and paid your expenses if you had found yourself in dire straits. After all, you were on one of their planes that crashed.”
“Stop calling me ma’am.” She sighed. “My name is Riana O’Connor. She gestured to the girl. And this is my daughter Holly. Will you please put me down now? If not out here, you can set me down in the diner there. I’m starving and right now, having a coffee and something warm in my belly seems more important than lodging.”
“Sure. Doc Parker never said anything about not letting you eat.” He smiled at her expression. “However, you will have to go back and have your stitches removed next week.”
“I don’t plan on being here next week. I plan on being in Washington.”
“DC?”
“No. Washington State. I’ve got a bid on a storefront there. I plan to buy it and settle down.”
“Just a bid?” Gunter wouldn’t have moved until he knew he had won the bid. What made this woman pick up and leave everything for an uncertain future in a new state?
“There are other properties if I don’t win the bid on that one.” She shrugged. “Washington is a big place. I’m sure there are other storefronts to be had.”
Gunter was sure there was as well, but he wanted to convince her to stay in Paradise. Perhaps he and Clay could persuade her to open up her shop—whatever it was—right here in Paradise.
“There are plenty of places right here in town where you could hang your sign.” He waited for Clay to hold the door open and carried her through, into the diner, once Clay stood to the side.
Walking to his favorite booth, he sat her down before moving to sit across from her. They could let her daughter sit next to her this time. They needed each other right now more than he and Clay needed to assert dominion over them. That could come later, after they explained who and what they were. With luck, that would also be after she fell in love with them.
“What do you think will happen to the other lady?” Holly slid into the seat next to her mother and looked up at him. “I heard the doctor say she needed a transfusion, but he didn’t have enough blood. Does that mean she’ll die?”
“No.” Gunter shook his head as Clay slid in next to him. “She won’t die. What the doctor will most likely do is send one of the sheriff’s deputies to Mason to see if they have any. If not, they will ask for volunteers to donate blood for her.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Riana said as she looked over the menu she found stuck in the holder between the sugar and salt and pepper shakers.
“If it does, the townsfolk will stand up and donate. We take care of the people here, whether they live here or they’re just visiting.”
He didn’t tell her that their blood would change the woman forever. They could only hope that the other guest in Doc Parker’s home was single. He hated the thought that they would save her life, only to end it in another way.
“That’s very nice.” Riana smiled almost wistfully. “I hope to find a town like this someday. I’d move there in a second.”
“You already have. We have plenty of storefronts here.” Not to mention the fact that they were attempting to rebuild the town. Every shifter they could convince to stay was welcome here as long as they weren’t sympathetic to Camulus’s council.
“Why would you have plenty of real estate available if this is such a great place to live?
He shrugged. “People leave. The younger ones think the grass is greener in the city until they find there is no grass there at all.”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that.” Her attention returned to her menu. “Do you know what’s good to eat here?”
“Pretty much everything,” Clay answered. “This place has great food for a small-town diner.” He grinned at her. “I should know. I have eaten food in diners and cafes all over the world.”
“You’ve been all over the world?” Holly perked up and joined the conversation. “Are you in the Army? My Uncle Mel is in the Army.”
“I was,” Clay answered with a smile. “I was an Army Ranger. A few years ago, two of my buddies called me and a few other Rangers here because they needed help.” He gave a one-shoulder shrug. “So a bunch of us high-tailed it up here and most of us decided to stay.”
“You quit the Army Rangers to stay in this dinky little town?” Her eyes were big as saucers. “Why?” She wrinkled her nose. “I wouldn’t have. I like the city.”
Clay placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Being in the Army isn’t as glamorous as some would have you believe. It’s a lot of crawling around in the dirt. Sand in your uniform chafing you in areas better left unmentioned and most places they send you are hotter than the blazes of Hell.”
“Can I help you?” Sarah Browning interrupted, her order pad held in one hand, a pen in the other.
As usual, she wore her hair up in a tight bun that would give any other woman a migraine. He’d heard them say so. Her hair was the only thing about her that was the same. Instead of her usual uniform dress, she wore a white blouse and black slacks. She’d even traded her clunky black shoes for a pair of brown loafers.
“You look nice today, Sarah.” Gunter set his menu back into the holder behind the sugar and smiled up at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing anything but your uniform here at the diner.”
“Well, we all must change with the times or drown in our memories of the past.” She smiled at them, her green eyes twinkling. “Do you all know what you want?”
He looked at the two females. “Shall I order for you, since you don’t know what you would like?”
Riana gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded. “Please do.”
“Okay.” He turned his attention back to Sarah. “We’ll take four of your breakfast specials.”
When Clay looked as though he would object, Gunter spared him a glance and said, “Shut up.” Turning his attention back to Sarah, he continued their order. “The lady, Clay and I will have coffee and orange juice.” He smiled at Holly, knowing that the way to her mother’s heart would be through her. “And, little Holly will have the largest glass of chocolate milk you have.” He leaned forward. “You can have milk, can’t you?”
“Are you kidding?” the child answered. She was practically jumping in her seat. “I love chocolate milk.” She glanced at her mother through the corner of her eye. “Mom won’t let me get it, because it’s too expensive.”
Riana turned red, obviously embarrassed that her daughter discussed her lack of finances with strangers. “When you’re a single mom, you have to find ways to save money.” She met Gunter’s gaze. “As a matter of fact, you can cut the orange juice from my order. I really don’t have a lot of money and every little bit I save helps.”
Sarah laughed. “If you think any man in this town is going to let you pay for a meal in any restaurant, you’re mistaken, sweetheart.” Turning, she stuck her pen in her hair and walked toward the kitchen.
“Um…what is the breakfast special, anyway?” Riana asked as she stared at her copy of the menu. “I don’t see one here.”
Tilting his head back, Clay answered with a sigh. “It’s a three-egg omelet loaded with copious amounts of cheese, green peppers, ham and onions.” He glared at Gunter. “You know I hate onions.”
“Suck it up. They’re good for you.”
“I don’t give a…crap,” he said as he glanced at the girl. “I don’t like them.”
“You don’t like onions?” Holly asked with a dreamy look on her face. “I love omelets with peppers and onions.” She licked her lips. “Especially if they have lots of cheese. Yum!”
“Look at that, you infant.” Gunter elbowed him in the ribs. “Even the girl likes onions. You can’t let a teenager make you look like a child. And, as I said, they’re good for you.”
He knew Clay would suck it up and eat what was set in front of him. As a soldi
er, he didn’t always have a choice in what he ate. He was used to following orders and Gunter took advantage of that fact all of the time. They may shift their shape into lions, but there was no reason for them not to eat healthy as men.
Chapter Six
Riana sat back in the booth and watched the two men banter. She could tell they were fond of each other, but she wasn’t sure what kind of relationship they had. What had she gotten herself into when she boarded that plane? Her head and neck ached and she had lost every stitch of clothing she had with her. Even the clothes she’d worn on the flight were ruined now.
Dried blood covered her blouse and jeans. The only things she kept were her underwear and shoes. She refused to wear borrowed under things. She didn’t care that they were new. The rest of what she wore was on loan from the mayor’s wife, or someone as equally important. Apparently, they were the same size.
It felt odd to sit in the diner wearing a stranger’s clothes, across from two handsome, but equally strange men. Even more disturbing than that was the waitress’ implication that this sort of thing was a common occurrence.
“Why don’t women pay for their own meals?” She looked around for a sign that would tell her where she was. “Where is here, by the way?” She needed to know. For some reason, Riana felt as though she had been here before. The town looked familiar, even this diner looked familiar. However, she imagined the waitress wearing a blue dress and a white apron, for some reason.
“This is Paradise,” Gunter said with a grin.
“Right.” She laughed. “You might think this is a great place to live, but I’m sure it’s like any other town and far from being a paradise.”
“He never said it was a paradise, ma’am,” Clay said with a chuckle. “The town’s name is Paradise.
“Oh. I misunderstood.” Riana felt the heat of a blush climb up her neck and into her cheeks. “I’m sure it’s a nice town, but Holly and I are used to the city.”
Holly looked out the window at the families walking by, the children playing hopscotch on the sidewalk and other things kids did in the country when their parents forced them away from their video games.
“A small town looks lovely, Mommy.” That Holly called her mommy, was telling. Always insisting that she was almost an adult, her daughter hadn’t called her that in ages—not where Riana could hear it, in any case.
Holly took a sip of her milk before staring down into her glass. Her expression was so sad, Riana almost asked her what was wrong, but she didn’t dare with the two men around. She knew nothing about them and the less they knew about her and her daughter, the better.
Riana didn’t know who it was that always searched her out, but whoever it was, liked to play games. They always waited just long enough for her to feel comfortable in her new home. Then, when she least expected it, she got a terrifying phone call—a call that proved that someone had been watching them. When the caller told her that he and his friends were watching and one day soon, she would belong to them, she panicked.
At first, she tried notifying the police about the disturbing calls that she received at least once a week. If the callers wanted to terrify her, they succeeded. The law enforcement in the third town she had run to told her there was nothing they could do until the person made a move and tried to harm her or her daughter. Unfortunately, the man never called back after the police tapped her phone.
No. The only town that could ever be a paradise to her and Holly would be a town where the two of them would finally be free of their stalkers.
“You sound like you want to stay here, Holly.” She said it half-joking. She knew her daughter and the last thing Holly would want was to stay in a small town and be the new kid.
The door opened and a group of young men walked in. They did little more than glance their way, but she didn’t like the way the one smiled at Holly and winked. Any one of them could be their stalker. Hell, their stalker could have been on the plane with them. She stared down at the table for a moment and prayed that was the case.
Closing her eyes, she prayed again for forgiveness. How could she wish for someone’s death so easily?
“I wouldn’t mind staying here.” Holly looked at her with hope-filled eyes. “Maybe if we stay here, that man won’t be able to find us again. We didn’t end up where we were supposed to.”
“Man?” Gunter asked as he stared at her through narrowed eyes. “You have a man bothering you?”
“Stalking, is more like it,” Riana answered with a sigh. She shrugged. “That’s why we were moving to a big city. The bigger, the better. We’ll be more difficult to find.”
“But people don’t care what happens to strangers, Mom.” Holly rolled her eyes as though she thought Riana was dense. “If we stayed here, people would get to know us and they would care about us.” She looked at the two men with her huge hazel eyes. “Wouldn’t they?”
“Of course they would, sweetheart. Clay and I care already.” Gunter moved his cup out of the way as Sarah, the waitress, brought their breakfasts out on a huge tray that she set on the table across from them.
“Here you go, my dears. Four breakfast specials.” She smiled as Holly stared down at her plate with round eyes. Riana wasn’t sure, but she was fairly certain that her eyes looked the same. The plate, which was more like a platter, was loaded with enough food to feed her and Holly all day, and they each had one!
“Don’t worry if you can’t eat it all,” Gunter said as he scooped the food onto his fork. “Most…women can’t eat the entire plate full.”
“I should hope not.” She glanced at her daughter who had already tucked into her own meal and smiled. “But Holly is making a go of it, aren’t you?”
“I’m hungry, Mom. We haven’t eaten since before we boarded the plane.”
For the first time since she woke up at the doctor’s office, Riana checked her watch. When she noticed the face was broken, tears filled her eyes. It was the only thing she had that tied her to her old life.
She didn’t remember the time before, but she had worn the watch through the entire time. She might not remember her home, her family, but she remembered waking up pregnant and alone, in that cold forest, covered in leaves, trying to stave off the winter storm bearing down on her.
“What’s wrong?” Clay reached across the table and rested his hand on hers. “Are those tears?” He looked at Gunter. “Tell me those aren’t tears. I’m not going to be able to handle it if she cries.”
“It’s nothing,” she choked the words out around the lump in her throat and looked at the silver, heart-shaped face with its mother-of-pearl background and blue hands. The inscription on the back read To our eldest, with love. “It’s an old watch. I should have replaced it years ago. It’s just—”
“It has sentimental value?” Gunter finished for her. “I can understand that. I have a few things I could never part with.”
Riana wondered what a man could cherish so much that he would never part with it—most likely his car.
Chapter Seven
Clay knew exactly what Gunter meant when he said there were a few things with which he could never part. He was looking at one of them.
His heart nearly gave out when he took her from Gunter at the crash site. He’d heard how sometimes a shifter could wait a lifetime or more for a mate to walk into their life. He was lucky. Unlike Gunter, he’d only been a full shifter for a couple of years. Gunter was old, very old. If he wasn’t mistaken, Gunter was about one-hundred, though he looked about thirty, the lucky bastard. Clay could only hope that he would age just as slowly now.
“What kind of things do you have that you don’t want to lose, mister?” Holly asked before she shoveled another bite of her omelet into her mouth.
“Slow down, Holly. Your food isn’t going anywhere and ladies don’t eat like dockworkers. And, while you’re at it, stop asking intrusive questions. What he values that much is his business.”
“Okay,” Holly replied with her mouth full, then rolled
her eyes and nodded.
“Kids.” Riana sighed. “Try to teach them manners and they talk with their mouths full while they roll their eyes at you.”
Holly stopped chewing for a few seconds and glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye.
“Yes, Holly, I saw that.” Riana smiled. “Don’t you know by now that I see just about everything?” She grinned and mussed her daughter’s hair. “How many times have I told you that moms have eyes in the back of their heads?”
Clay wanted to laugh, but didn’t want to undermine Riana’s authority by making it look like a game. The girl seemed as though she was a bright, well-adjusted teenager, but what did he know?
“Right, Mom.” She took another, smaller, bite. Reaching out, she picked up her milk and tipped it up, guzzling half of it down in one tip.
“Holly!”
“Leave her be, just this once. She must be starving.” Clay smiled at the girl who, in turn smiled back.
I know what you’re up to, Gunter said through their link. You’re trying to get to the mother through the child.
You’re right, though I’m not sure if that’s smart or manipulative.
It’s both, and I don’t give a damn right now. Gunter said through their link. I don’t have much time. I can already feel the heat of the el calor seething through my system. It’s only a matter of time before I hurt her or her daughter trying to force myself on her.
You would never force yourself on a child. Clay stared down at his meal, unable to believe his friend was capable of even thinking such a thing. However, he had seen men affected by the el calor and he knew the way they acted was more instinct than personal choice.
No. I would not, but I might inadvertently harm the child trying to force myself on her mother. I don’t want that. I would never forgive myself. Promise me that, should I get out of hand, you will go to the sheriff and get a group to end me. I do not want to be remembered by the atrocities I committed while in the throes of the mating heat. Gunter took another bite of his breakfast before he briefly met Clay’s gaze. Promise me.
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