A.L.F.A. Mates

by Milly Taiden

  “Did he treat you badly?” Frank would skin the man alive if he so much as laid one hand on her.

  “He did his duty giving me food and shelter. But the emotional stuff he wasn’t good at. I spent a lot of time babysitting for the child of a friend, who was more a mom to me than anything.” Amie looked away and wiped at her eyes. He sensed a sadness roll through and waited for her to explain. But when she didn’t, he wasn’t going to push.

  “Is the woman and her child the reason you came back to Vegas after school?” He was hoping to wheedle out an answer for why she left him.

  “Not really. By then Joey was old enough to take care of himself.” She snorted. “I thought so, anyway. But actually my uncle is still my legal guardian until I turn twenty-six next month and my trust fund becomes mine. Until then, he has control of it along with my dad’s attorneys.”

  Instant fear ran through him. In his experience, large sums of money and giving up control of it never worked out well.

  “What happens to your fund if . . .” He couldn’t say the words. The thought was too horrible for him.

  “If I’m dead?” Amie finished. “It goes to a very close family member before my uncle could get to it.”

  Frank let out a whoosh of air. “That makes me feel better.”

  Amie laughed. “Dad knew what he was doing when it came to money and security for Mom and me.” Overwhelming sadness poured from her, almost sending Frank to his knees. His cat told him to change the subject, or it would.

  Amie stopped and shoved at his arm. “You’re a big-time super-secret agent now. Show me some moves.”

  “What moves? I’m an agent, not a dancer,” he replied. “Although, I rocked in those women’s shoes yesterday.” He strode forward, pretending to walk like he did in the high heels.

  “Yeah,” Amie began, “until you wiped out the chair, the ladies in the chair, and table and lamp.”

  “That was part of the show.”

  She shoved him again. “You are so lying. Now show me some self-defense moves.”

  That was a great idea. Even though he planned to never be away from her side for her to use them. “There are some basic moves that are really easy.” He lined himself in front of her.

  “Let’s say you’re walking in the park like this. The first thing you do if someone starts to get close to you is to turn and look them in the eye. The bad guy is wanting to use the element of surprise to get you off balance. But if you confront them, that’s gone. Hopefully, they will get flustered and run.”

  He reached out and wrapped a hand around her forearm. “But perhaps he doesn’t run and grabs on to your arm. What’s your initial instinct?”

  Amie stepped back and pulled her arm. “I want to get out of his grip.”

  “That’s what you want to do. But when you stepped back and yanked your arm, all you did was drag me toward you. You did nothing to my grip. My hand is still on your arm.”

  Scarlet hurried toward them from where she was sitting closer to the kids. “Frank, are you showing Amie self-defense moves?”

  He felt a little dumb now for doing something so publicly. Amie replied, “Yeah, do want to learn, too? You never know when you might need help and it’s not there.” Scarlet took Amie’s hand and led her closer to the playground.

  “Yes, all the women in town need to learn this stuff. I’ve been trying to get someone to hold a class, but nobody around the area knows how to do anything.” Scarlet leaned closer to Amie. “My mom was attacked when she went to the city. Luckily she got away because she had a brick in her purse and beat him over the head until he ran.”

  “A heavy purse is a good defense if you have nothing else, I’d think,” Amie said.

  “Well, Mom had a real brick. She was in the city to find paint to match her and Dad’s house.” Scarlet called out to the other ladies. “Come on, Susan and Cheryl. Get over here.” Amie gave Frank a look. He didn’t need to read her mind to know what she was thinking. What were they getting into?

  In a group, they stood at the edge of the playground, not far from the kids. “Okay,” Scarlet said to Frank, “you had a hold of Amie’s arm.”

  “Right.” He once again put his hand on her soft skin. He thought back to last night and all the touching he did then.

  “Hey,” Scarlet said after an inhale, “keep all that stuff for later. No sexy smells in self-defense.”

  His face instantly heated. Living among humans for so long had made him forgetful of his own kind. The thoughts fled his mind from embarrassment more than discipline. He cleared his throat and glanced at Amie’s smiling face. She was so beautiful.

  “Yeah, I was showing her how to get out of a hold if someone grabbed her arm. Instead of tugging back like your first instinct says to do, you want to bend your arm at the elbow and snap your hand in the direction where his fingers and thumb meet. By doing this, you’re taking advantage of the weakest part of the hand—the ability of the thumb to hold down. Same thing if you’re grabbed by the upper arm. Try to move your arm so it lifts at the thumb.”

  “What if you’re grabbed from behind?” Susan asked. “How do you get out of that?”

  He stepped behind his mate for demo purposes. “There are several things, but what I think would be the easiest is to . . .” Well, shit. He should’ve thought this one through before enacting it. “Uh, is to grab his, uh . . .”

  “Balls,” the ladies said at the same time and laughed. Not only was his face hot again, but sweat broke out.

  “Scrotum,” him interjected. “Please, ladies. Let’s keep this scientific, shall we?” That earned a round of laughs. He wrapped his arms around his mate’s upper arms. “A guy is more than likely going to grab up here and not at the waist. So that leaves your lower body free to move side to side.” Taking care to follow instructions, his mate gladly rubbed her ass against him side to side. Almost instantly making him hard. Fuck. This was so not good in front of a bunch of near-stranger ladies.

  He cleared his throat and whispered into Amie’s ear. “Love, you keep that up and we’ll show them more than defensive moves.” Of course, with shifter hearing the ladies heard every word. A little whoopin’ and hollerin’ followed.

  “Okay, back to seriousness. All the woman needs to do is bend forward, slide her hips to the side, and swing her fist back to—”

  “Rack him in the cojones,” Scarlet said. “For those who don’t speak Spanish, that would be ‘scrotum,’ scientifically.” With no warning, Amie tore from his arms and ran toward the playground. One of the little ones was about to fall headfirst from the top of the slide.

  CHAPTER 18

  Held in Frank’s secure embrace, Amie glanced at the children on the playground equipment. One of the dark-haired boys resembled her son. It had been several days since she’d seen her François. She missed him. He was more than delighted to stay longer with his “adopted” grandparents. With them, he got to play outside with others his age and do fun things all day.

  Not to mention, his “issue” with fur erupting from his skin and claws growing from his fingers didn’t bother the Natives. They treated him as special. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t help but worry how being different would affect his socializing and making friends.

  She hoped the strange incidents would just go away. If she had to take him to a specialist, she wouldn’t know where to begin. What if some scientist wanted to experiment on her child and took him away from her? Grandpa and Nana Running Wind assured her that her son was fine. It was normal for someone like him. Her brain refused to believe humans could turn into an animal. No matter what her eyes told her.

  The boy on the playground reached the top of the slide, but his foot slid off the step and he lost his balance. She saw what was coming. She tore from Frank in a headlong race against time and gravity. If she could soften his landing in any way, she might save the child’s life.
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br />   Skidding on the sandy ground, she was able to stretch far enough to grab an arm, turning the headfirst plunge into a smack down on the child’s side. The boy wailed instantly from being hurt and scared from the fall.

  On the ground, Amie reached out to carefully check him for broken bones. She saw his little hand change into claws exactly like she’d seen on her son. The claws swiped toward her face, ready to gouge out skin and eyes. Amie’s hand snapped up, catching the child’s flailing arm like she had to with her boy.

  A second later, Scarlet was there, scooping the boy into her arms, quieting him. The child’s hand had returned to normal. But she knew she saw it. Knew it was exactly like her son’s. Stunned by the realization, she remained on the ground, watching mom and child, until Frank picked her up and set her on a bench.

  He brushed hair from her forehead. “Are you okay? You scared me, diving like that at a steel ladder.”

  Her eyes settled on his calm face. “Did you see his hand? Did you see it change into claws? I know I saw it.” She grabbed on to his shirt. “Tell me you saw it.”

  Frank frowned and looked over his shoulder at the ladies gathering around. “Frank,” Susan said, “does she not know about us? Have you seriously not told her what you are?”

  Amie whipped her head around to the woman speaking. “What do you mean what he is?” Did he lie about being a special agent? She didn’t understand.

  Frank wiped a hand down his face. “Uh, Amie. There’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

  Her heart raced. What was wrong with him? Did he have cancer and was dying? Was he married? What the hell was going on? Cheryl sat on the bench next to Amie, laying a hand on hers. “It’s all right. Really. Just something that takes getting used to, and everything will be fine. You two can mate and—”

  “Mate? As in sex?” Amie said. Made it sound like something animals did to procreate and that was it. Wham-bam-thank-you-four-legged-creature. Eww.

  Susan plopped next to her on the other side of the bench. “Don’t listen to her. She’s into the wild side of it all. We are what you call shifters. We change into animals.” Amie jumped up. The two ladies pulled her down to be seated. “There’s more.”

  “You all are crazy. People can’t do that.”

  Susan lifted her hand and it changed into a bear paw with lots of brown fur. Amie gasped. Cheryl’s forearm was covered with shiny black fur ending in a catlike paw. “Oh my god,” Amie said. “I’m crazy, too.”

  Scarlet walked up to them with a sniffling young head on her shoulder. He held his hand out and it turned into golden fur with claws—exactly like her son’s.

  Oh my god. It was real. These people could really do what Grandpa Running Wind had said. Oh my god. She gasped. Her son was normal for their kind. Oh my god. Frank was a shifter. She looked at him.

  “I’m a cougar. So is Mom.” The last time she’d heard that word flashed in her mind. The older lady at the beauty salon said she was a cougar. A laughed ripped from her stomach. That was the funniest thing she’d ever thought.

  Between bouts of laughing, she said, “Sherri is a wolf, right? And Alice—” She slapped her knee and leaned back laughing. “She is a rabbit. Oh my god. This is great.”

  But the best part was that her son was fine. He had no strange disease that would kill him at a young age or eat his mind until he was comatose. Her son was going to be all right. Oh, shit, though. What was considered all right in their world? She had a lot to learn. Better yet, she and her son needed to live here so they were surrounded by his own kind. But what would Frank think if he knew he had a son? Did he even want children? Would he leave her if he knew?

  Would he run, screaming, saying he wasn’t ready for this kind of commitment? His job kept him busy all days and hours of the week. Would he ever be home?

  By the look on Frank’s face, he was more than worried. She was just told the sky was green and she believed it. Maybe something inside her hoped so much that her son was okay that if this was how that was going to happen, then by golly, shifters would be more real than people.

  She searched the faces around her and said the only thing she knew would make everyone happy. “Let’s eat.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Frank took his seat at the long table in Bob’s restaurant while the moms seated their rabble in booster seats and high chairs. His mate smiled and squeezed his hand. She was so beautiful. Over the four years, he had suppressed how much he missed her, or his cat would’ve gone psycho not having its mate. The animal was crazy enough as it was. I heard that.

  He’d worried how she’d react to discovering he was pretty much an alien as far as she was concerned. But she took it well. Like she already knew. Her smell wasn’t overwhelming fear, but relief, and dare he say, happiness.

  Or maybe she hadn’t really accepted the idea since he hadn’t fully shifted in front of her. Like telling someone about being in a car crash is nothing like actually being in one. She seemed fine, wasn’t running away, and that was all that really mattered right now.

  A couple of young waitresses came over and took drink orders. The children were all still in play mode with wriggling bodies and rather loud screaming. Did all girls shriek like that? He could maybe handle a boy. The girls scared him.

  Amie opened the worn menu. He already knew what he wanted. “Oh my god,” Amie said.

  “What? What’s wrong, love?” Frank was in protection mode red. Lots of stuff going on within his confined space.

  Amie replied, “Nothing is wrong. Just the menu has eggs and toast and pancakes. Dorothy’s menu was a choice of meat, meat, or steak.”

  The women laughed. Cheryl said, “That’s one thing about shifters. They love their meat.”

  “That answers one question I’ve always had,” Amie said. He didn’t like the sound of that. If she had questions, why didn’t she ask him? Duh, his cat said. Like you would’ve answered honestly back then? Dumbass. Shut it, feline. One more dumbass comment and we’ll see who doesn’t get to scratch their dumb ass for a long time.

  “Hey, Franky.” A big guy wearing a greasy white apron lumbered around the busy tables toward them. “I heard you were in town visitin’ for a bit. And this must be your lovely mate.” Bob held his hand out. “Nice to meet you. I’m Bob, owner-operator of this fine dining establishment.”

  Amie smiled. “I’m Amie. Glad to meet you, too.”

  “Whatcha been doin’ while in town?” he asked. “Not a lot going on in the past thirty years or so. I sure miss the summer picnics the town used to have. I always won the best potato salad contest. Not that anyone ever orders it.” He sighed. Bob hadn’t changed much over the years. Still talked up a storm. Frank thought that might’ve been a problem between his ex-wife, Dorothy, and him. She never got a word in edgewise.

  Frank took the second Bob needed to breathe to talk. “We haven’t done much. Stayed close to the house. We were in the park a bit and met up with everyone here.” He gestured toward the rest of the table.

  Bob laughed. “Franky, boy, you were always the one to catch the ladies’ eyes. I, on the other hand, couldn’t catch the two eyes my mate had. That woman just took my best waitress the other day. Burns my tail, I’ll tell ya.” He leaned closer to Frank and Amie. “Just between us, I’m gettin’ kinda tired of the continuous battle over prices and customers. Breakfast and lunch are great, but dinner is mostly nonexistent.”

  Frank remembered having this conversation last night with the waitress at the other restaurant. He wondered if Amie would give him the same advice she gave Dorothy.

  “You know, Bob,” Amie said, “if you and Dorothy shared one eating place, you controlling the breakfast and lunch, then Dorothy taking care of dinnertime, I’d bet you’d both make out a lot better.”

  “Me? In the same room as that woman?” He looked away sheepishly. Even though his words said one thing, his smel
l said something else. All shifters knew it was impossible to ignore your mate. Nature put them together for a reason: They were perfect for each other. “Well, gotta get back to the kitchen.” Bob slapped Frank on the back. “Nice meeting you, Amie.” He gave her a wave and disappeared behind the swinging door to the back.

  The waitress had returned and was taking food orders. Frank ordered his steak and his mate ordered a tall stack of pancakes and potato salad. The server looked over her writing pad at Amie then shrugged a shoulder. “You got it.”

  A lady came up to their table. He recognized her from the party at his mom’s house yesterday afternoon. She and Amie whispered together, and with the kids making so much noise, he couldn’t pick up enough words to makes sense of the conversation, so he stopped trying. They were probably talking shoes and clothes anyway.

  Then his memory latched on to their time in the fitting room earlier that morning. Fuck. He was getting hard and it hadn’t even gone completely through his mind yet. He adjusted his sitting position and glanced down the table to see each woman staring at him with a you’re busted grin. Oh, shit. He was so busted. Damn shifter noses.

  After the lady left, another came to the table and the ladies all leaned together again, whispering. Now he was really curious what they were talking about. A few of the ladies had blushed and giggled.

  Sherri, who used to cut his hair when he was a kid, walked in. Amie waved her over and she pulled a chair up and everyone scooted to fit her in. Thankfully the food came out and several servers placed plates and baskets of fried something or the other in front of the kids. The table went instantly quiet. Ah, the power of food.

  Amie leaned toward him. “Who is that guy over there?” She nodded toward a good-looking guy, impeccably dressed, sitting at a table by himself.

  “Never seen him before. Ask the ladies.” Amie leaned to the other side and asked.