by Barb Shuler
When Dalton first walked into my bar, I felt a shift in the air. I sensed straightaway that he was a shifter, and he could tell there was something about me but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. It wasn’t until we really got to know each other and built the trust between us that I told him my little secret. I was a witch and knew what he was straightaway. He wasn’t the first of his kind that I had met and he sure as hell wouldn’t be the last.
He spoke of his pack while we sat on my couch after closing one night. He had dropped me home because my car had picked that night to not want to start. I thanked every Goddess out there that he had been nearby. I had given Jayden an early night that night. Her anxiety had been through the roof so she needed to get out and get some fresh air. It had been a quiet night, so there was no sense in her sticking around and having something happen. I thought, even years later, that Dalton had done something to my car so that he could take me home or spend more time with me, but it was something I never voiced out loud.
When he had a fire in his place, I offered Dalton my spare room. I wasn’t using it and secretly, I wanted to see him more. With the hours I worked, though, unless he came into the bar, it made it difficult. At least with us living together, I could see him for breakfast or when I got home from work. That was, if he wasn’t waiting outside the bar when I got off. It was in these times that our friendship changed into something more, but for fear of getting hurt, I ignored it. Well, I tried to anyway. Watching the bar skanks throw themselves at him made me see red, but he never acted on it or led them on. They would then get bored and move on. By the looks he gave me, I knew he knew what it was doing to me. It was why I locked myself in my office more often than not and why he didn’t come in all the time. Well, that and he had a life, not to mention a job of his own and patrols in the woods to do.
I rubbed my hands over my face, the resumes in front of me making me go cross-eyed. I closed the folder. I would start making calls tomorrow afternoon and get the ones I liked in here for a trial with Jayden. If they lasted the night under her, then they could stick around. I highly doubted it - only the tough survived. I got up from my desk, pushed my chair back, and switched off my computer screen.
No one knew I could pull up the security footage on here, and I wasn’t about to tell them that I could see them at all times. If they were going to fuck up, then I wanted it to be recorded so I could fire them and have the proof. Thankfully, I had only needed to do that once, but it was a situation where I was so glad that my security was on the ball. One of the bartenders had been trying to steal alcohol after closing and I just happened to still be in the office. Normally I would do last call and help the girls out behind the bar, but I had been pulled away for something.
After we cleared all the customers out, I told him not to bother coming in the next day or I would show the police the security footage from the night. He decided not to go quietly, so I pressed charges. The little shit had apparently been doing it for months, but no one had caught on to it.
After that, I was a lot stricter on who was hired. I got our friend Sylvester to do background checks on all of my staff and any new ones that came in. Having a cop in our band of misfits helped a lot! He hadn’t got his transfer to Stark Creek yet, so I was a little lost without him here. He had checked everyone for me, mainly my security. I really needed to be sure about them. The jury was still out, even if they did come back clean.
Walking into the bar after locking my office, I went behind the bar to the girls.
“Let’s call it a night!” They gave me a nod and started telling everyone to put in their last orders. Some of the customers decided to finish off what they had and just leave, for which I was thankful, but a couple hung on as long as they could.
“Come on, guys, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
“Keep your shirt on, lady! We’re finishing our drinks!”
I took a deep breath. Mia, you can’t hit the drunks. “I’m going to ignore that, buddy. You have five seconds to finish that and go before my friends by the door come and help you outside!” He turned to look at the door before downing his drink and pushing the stool back. “Smartest thing you have done all night,” I muttered under my breath.
It took us about an hour to clear everyone out, but finally, at about one in the morning, we locked the doors. I put the money from the tills into my office safe and made sure it was secure as the guys swept for stragglers and the girls checked the bathrooms.
When we were all satisfied, we turned off the lights and I set the security code. Dalton helped me make the changes I needed to when I took over. We made sure that no trace of the last owners was anywhere on this place. We changed the locks, put in a new safe, and changed the monitors over to the same ones that he put in the last place. He didn’t want to take over too much, but I wanted the best to make sure I wasn’t being taken advantage of. It also helped him sleep at night, so we both won!
Leaning against my car, I watched everyone clear out until it was just Jayden and me.
“You okay?”
She nodded with a smile and moved over to me and hugged me. “You need to stop worrying so much, Mia.”
I hugged her back tightly and laughed. “When it comes to you, babe, not a chance.”
She pulled back and just shook her head at me. “Go home to your man! I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I made a face at her and she laughed. “He isn’t mine!”
“So do something about it.” She said it like it was so easy. Not wanting to get into this again tonight, or this morning, I got into my car and started it up. After that infamous night, Jayden would always let me go first in case history repeated itself. I knew Dalton was out on patrols, though, so my car would be okay. She also did it so she knew I was out of there. We always texted each other when we got home. It was a habit we had gotten into and just never stopped. It was a comfort more than anything.
I drove the short distance from the bar to our house. I pulled into the driveway and saw that Dalton’s truck wasn’t there. Parking my car in my usual spot, I cut the engine and got out. After locking the door, I kept my keys out, glad that he had turned the light on because I had completely forgotten when I left for the bar this afternoon.
I let myself into the house, turning on a light so I could see, and made my way into the bedroom, setting my bag down on the bed. I wanted a shower, but I was tired as fuck, so I would have to get up earlier tomorrow and have one. I pulled my shirt up over my head, tossed it into my washing basket, and slipped out of my pants after sliding off my heels. Taking off my bra with a small sigh of relief, I grabbed my shorts and slipped them on before putting on my tank top.
Taking my phone from my bag, I sent off a quick message to Jayden letting her know that I was home safe. I put it on charge in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. Drinking it as I moved into the other room, I set my bottle of water down on the table before laying on the couch. I turned on the TV for some background noise, but it was during these quiet moments at home that I thought about my family. Well, the family that I knew. Jayden and Khloe, my other bestie back in Wyoming, were the only people I had apart from Sy and Dalton.
My adoptive family was killed in a car accident when I was sixteen and ever since then I’d been on my own. It was about this time that I discovered my powers. It wasn’t until I was cleaning out my dad’s office that I found my adoption papers and birth certificate with my birth parents on it. I had never searched for them, though. I had always figured that if they wanted to know me, they wouldn’t have left me in the hands of someone else. Sure, I had been curious as to the lines I had descended from, but I didn’t want to be disappointed if nothing came of it. Would they tell me or just turn me away? Were they even alive still?
I knew I could ask Sy, or Dalton even, but again, I didn’t need to. My parents had been Adam and Miranda Anderson. That’s all I needed to know. If they came looking for me one day, good luck to them. After what happened wi
th Jayden, I had both of us hidden using a spell. I didn’t want her found, so I hid myself just in case. Dalton managed to get through that. I was almost certain that I knew how, but it was a talk that we hadn’t had yet. One day.
Closing my eyes, I laid my head on the arm of the couch with a yawn. I pulled the throw off the back, fighting sleep, wanting to be awake when Dalton got home. As my eyelids grew heavier, I knew that it would be a fight that I was going to lose.
3
Dalton
I heard the front door open. After giving the map on my screen one last look, I closed my laptop. The boys were here for a pack meeting while Mia was out running errands. According to the GPS tracker on her car, she was at the grocery store. Would she kill me if she knew that little tiny piece of machinery was stashed inside of her car? Yep. Did I care? Nope.
That little bug would keep her safe. If she was in trouble, I’d know where she was. I’d always do everything in my power to keep her safe. It’s what you did for the person you loved.
The voices of my pack mates, my business partners, my brothers filled the hall and then the room I was using as my office.
“Hey, boss, what’s up?” Kody said, plopping down on a chair.
“Fellas,” I nodded. “Let’s make this quick.”
When I had everyone’s attention, I moved to my desk.
“We apparently need to set some ground rules here. I know this is a new place and it will take us a bit to get the lay of the land and all of that, but we cannot draw unwanted, unnecessary attention to ourselves.”
My gaze landed on Kody. After his stunt the other night, he especially needed to know that wasn’t how we needed to handle people, kids, trespassing on our land. It was a big joke to him. He might have been just having fun, but it could have been a disaster.
“What?” he asked, incredulous.
A growl rumbled up inside of me.
“Dude, you chased those kids in bear form…” Maximus started to laugh. Kody all but preened at the laughter. These two would be the death of me one day, I just knew it.
“It was epic. I crept around that small crop of trees and saw them sitting there. I roared and I think they all shat themselves. They moved faster than I’d have thought little humans could.”
“This is not a funny situation, you assholes.” I slammed my hand down the desktop, the growl I’d been holding back escaping. “We don’t want these good ole’ boy hunters up here looking for a big rabid black bear. Not to mention your antics could have caused those kids to get hurt in their rush to get away from you. Did you think about that?”
“If they hadn’t been up there, then they wouldn’t have been scared,” Max chimes in, shrugging then high-fiving Kody.
Before I could react, Tyson slapped them both up the back of their heads. Their heads bobbed forward with the force of his blow. Low growls filled the room, but they were ignored.
I grinned as Ty flopped down in the chair by my desk and glared them both down.
Liam, who stood leaning against the wall, just shook his head.
“Guys, seriously. It’s all fun and games until someone dies. Do you want the death of an innocent kid on your conscience? I don’t.”
“What about people out there up to no good? Drug dealers or poachers...hunters out there doing off-season hunting? You know that shit happens.”
Max and Kody stared at me, hope in their eyes. If I face-palmed myself, would they understand how asinine they were being? Was it bad that I wanted to tell them they could do what they wished to those kinds of people? Ugh. Being the Alpha meant I had to be responsible. Giving these jokers free reign to torture people may not be the smartest of ideas.
“We’ll see how things play out. I’m not giving either of you meatheads free reign to be utter assholes. Not yet. We’re just getting settled well in this town. I don’t want to move again just yet.”
“What’s on the agenda today?” Liam asked me, bringing me back on task. I gave him a slight nod of thanks.
“We have a new security job. They accepted the bid we did last week.”
“Which one?” Liam asked.
“The empty building across from the hardware store on Main Street. It’s going to become an insurance sales office. They want the standard systems installed. It shouldn’t take long to do if we all hit it hard. The faster we get done, the more money we make. They want to be up and running in a week.”
The boys nodded, and I reached behind me to pull out a folder. I’d had Sylvester, Mia’s cop friend, pull the information I needed on the kids we’d found in the woods. I guess he was actually the pack’s cop friend, though I wasn’t so sure he wasn’t just after my girl. That was a thought for another day.
“Before we go and get started there, the kids that Kody scared out of the woods are local kids. They have no records, their families are well off, not rolling in money but not poor. They were most likely just out there up to typical teen shenanigans.”
“I doubt they’ll be back out there after the almost ‘bear’ attack. But we should keep an eye out just in case. I found two more deer carcasses other than the one you told us about at the watering hole. They all seem to be taken down by a big cat of some kind,” Max said, his business face on.
“More than likely a mountain lion. This area has a good number of them.”
“They could have been taken down by a small bear, too. The one on the edge of the property was the oldest and had claw marks across the ribs. They looked more bear-shaped to me.”
Liam pushed from the wall and shrugged. “This is a natural habitat for mountain lions, black bears, and brown bears. I’d expect to find a few carcasses every now and then.”
“There’s usually not as much of the carcass left, though.” Ty met my gaze. I nodded.
“The deer by the watering hole was only half eaten before the smaller scavengers started in on it. There could be many reasons why, but let’s keep an eye out, make sure there isn’t some rogue shifter about.”
“It could be a youngster that has no idea it’s even happening to them.”
I nodded at Kody.
“That’s true, let’s just be vigilant. If you see a carcass, get pics and use the GPS on your phone to note its location. We have one hundred acres to keep up with; there could be a lot going on out there that we don’t know about.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. There was so much to do.
“Alright, you each have things to do. Go. I’m going to check on Mia, and I’ll meet you at the building so we can scope things out.”
“You mean you’re going to stalk your mate and make sure she’s not run away from your ugly ass yet?”
I growled at Max, my fingers flexing. His shit eating grin made me want to skin him, but when I stood up to my full height, he got up and headed for the door.
“Happy stalking, sucker.”
I heard him and Kody chuckling as they left the office. I was gonna skin him, I really was. One day soon.
Liam and Ty left. When the door closed and the house was empty again, I opened my laptop and waited for the map to pop back up.
Maybe I was stalking…but I didn’t care. Mia was the reason my heart beat. The night I’d seen her in that bar, her beautiful smile, her eyes that sparkled in the lights overhead, she pulled me up by the short hairs. Just her scent, a sweet melody that sang to me, was enough to have me falling at her feet.
When she’d trusted me enough to tell me who she was, about her family and the life she’d led, it only made me want her more. I would make up any excuse to see her. I spent many hours at the bar; even if she never saw me, I was there. The night that started the change between us was the night I took it upon myself to pull the spark plug out and pop the wires off the battery under her hood.
She had no choice but to let me bring her home. That night changed so much. I really got to see her in her own space. How at ease and carefree she could be. It made my wolf want to curl himself around her and bury his face in her h
air. We wanted to mark her with our bite, put our scent all over her. Claim her. Mark her so every other male knew she was taken.
It wasn’t but a few weeks later that my apartment building had a fire. The place was trashed. It was a good thing I kept most of my belongings at the office. I really only slept at the apartment. After the fire, I’d slept on the couch in my office a few nights before she asked if I wanted to use her spare room. The howling of my wolf had drowned out my inner thoughts. There was no way in hell I’d ever say no to that offer.
Three and a half years later, we were still roommates, though my wolf and I really wanted more. I was biding my time. I could be patient. I loved a good hunt. My little witch made the perfect prey.
Coming home from a run with Ty and Liam, I shook off the unease that had been nagging me all night. If I hadn’t known better I’d have said someone was watching us. I hadn’t caught any errant scents, but not being in wolf form kept me at a slight disadvantage. Slight. I still had a damn good nose.
I kicked my trainers off on the porch and left them by the door. They would need to be scrubbed down tomorrow thanks to the rain that started a half hour ago. I was soaked to the bone. My wolf loved it, though. He was an odd fucker, that’s for sure.
I stepped into the house; Mia’s scent wrapped around me like a warm blanket. I took in a lungful of her scent and smiled. She calmed me and my beast.
I heard the television playing in the living room so I made sure to take easy steps around to the hall and went to the bathroom. I needed out of these wet clothes before she scolded me for dripping all over the place.