by Zoe Chant
"Well, last night, when we— I realized something. About you."
Now Ali was nervous. "Grey, you have to spit it out or I'm going to start getting paranoid."
"No, no. It's nothing bad. It's just, well, I suspected it from the second we met, but when we were together, I was sure. I don’t know how much you know about shifters and how they mate, but we each have one single person that we’re destined to be with. And Alethia...You're mine. My mate."
Ali stared at him. Horror sent icy ripples over her body. She was so shocked that she couldn't even speak.
Grey looked confused. "I can explain it better if you don’t understand."
"I understand you." Her voice was flat.
"You don't look happy," he said quietly.
That shook her out of her heartbroken daze. Now hot fury washed over her. "Of course I don't look happy!"
This could not be happening again. She couldn't believe it. She'd thought Grey was different.
"Why would you say that to me?" Her voice cracked.
He looked bewildered. She hadn’t thought he was that good of an actor. "It's the truth, Alethia."
"It's not the truth!"
"Of course it's the truth! Why would I lie about something like that?"
Ali shook her head, tears starting to prick at her eyes. "Why would anybody lie about it?"
"I don't know why anybody would lie about it!" Grey ran his hands through his hair, agitated. "I don't understand why you're upset."
Because you're using that horrible lie to trick me into going to bed with you again. Why would you even bother lying to me, when all you had to do was ask?
But she wasn't going to say any of that out loud. If she spoke again, she was going to burst into tears.
She'd bought everything he said about respecting women, hook, line, and sinker. Worse, she’d bought everything he’d said about her.
She'd gone to bed with him the night they met, and he’d turned out to be a lying no-good asshole. The sort of asshole who lied to get women into bed, made promises they couldn’t keep, and then dumped them when they got bored. She couldn’t believe she’d fallen for it again.
Shaking her head, she started for the door.
"Alethia, wait, where are you going?"
"Home." It didn't sound like a sob, did it?
"You can't go home, it's miles away. How will you get there?"
"I'll walk!" she threw back. "I'll hitch! I don't care!"
"I care, Alethia!" He followed her out the door and caught her arm.
She threw a dagger look back at him. "Let go of me."
He let go instantly. "I apologize. Alethia, please at least let me drive you home."
"No! You're just going to try and convince me you're not lying."
"I'm not—" He stopped and took a deep breath. "Okay. I won't try and convince you of anything. But Alethia, I can't let you leave on your own. We drove here in the dark. There's no way you know the way back to Ryder's Lodge, let alone to Prescott. I'm driving you home."
He was right.
Frustration and anger were building inside her, but she had to swallow them back down, because he was right.
But Ali Parker was used to swallowing her pride. Ali Parker was used to being with guys who didn't respect her, who lied to her and only cared about getting her into bed. She could endure one ride in a truck with one more lying man.
"Okay," she bit out. "But. No talking. No trying to convince me you're telling the truth. Or I get out of the truck and find my own way home, I don't care if it's doing fifty miles an hour."
"Alethia, just listen to me."
"Take it or leave it." She was pleased to hear the steel in her voice. Her tears had vanished somewhere.
Off to spend time with someone who still had some pride left, probably.
"All right," he said finally.
She didn't let him help her up into the truck, this time. She could climb up on her own, and she did, even in her stupid heels.
They sat in silence as he pulled out of his long driveway. Ali wanted to spend the whole drive staring out the opposite window, but she couldn't help looking at him.
Because you're an idiot, her brain helpfully supplied.
A muscle was jumping in his jaw, and his hands were clenching hard on the steering wheel. He looked like a coiled mass of tension.
Oh, are you upset? she thought. Has this situation been difficult for you?
What an asshole.
But she hadn't thought he was an asshole. These days, normally she could spot them. Even when they were pretending to be nice guys, there was always a hint of their real personality showing through. She hadn't been taken in like this in a long time.
In years.
Ali bit her tongue and turned her head to stare out the opposite window.
It reminded her of last night, watching the darkened forest sweep past them, illuminated for just a moment in the headlights, color washed away by the night. Now she could see it all in the daylight, and it was as gorgeous as she'd imagined, a wild and verdant and beautiful mountain forest.
The difference was, last night she'd been feeling excited and full of life, and today all of her color was washed away.
"Alethia, just listen to me," Grey tried.
She undid her seatbelt.
"Never mind. Please put that back on. These roads aren't safe."
She waited to see if he'd keep talking, but he didn't. She buckled her seatbelt again.
He stayed quiet. She watched the forest.
Why did everything always have to turn into a disaster?
***
The drive felt like it lasted a thousand years.
Ali clenched her teeth and dug her fingernails into her palms and curled her toes inside her shoes, trying to stay silent and not yell at Grey, Why? Why couldn't you be who I thought you were? Why did you have to be a lying jerk like everyone else?
She guessed that was what she got for believing that this one was different. No one was ever different.
To her relief, Grey stayed silent for the rest of the drive. If he'd tried to talk to her again, she wouldn't have been able to stop herself from yelling at him.
She remembered how last night, the cab of the truck had seemed like a little pocket of warmth and happiness. Today it was stifling, thick with anger and sadness.
When Grey reached Prescott, she gave him directions in a flat voice. She thought about having him drop her off somewhere public, but if he showed up at her house again, that would give her an excuse to call the police on him.
At least that would be satisfying.
As he turned onto her street, he said, "Alethia, for the last time, I'm telling the truth. I know that you're my mate."
"I don't believe you. I didn't believe you before, and I'm not going to believe you now, no matter how many times you say it." She kept her voice monotone. "So I don't know what you think you're getting out of repeating a lie."
"It's not a lie."
"Please stop talking."
The truck came to a stop and she undid her seatbelt and got her purse.
"Will you at least tell me why you don't believe me?" Grey said as she opened the door.
Ali looked back at him, one foot on the step. "This isn't the first time someone's used that line on me."
She hopped down.
For the first time, her skill with heels failed her. Her ankle twisted painfully when she hit the ground. She ignored the pain and walked straight to her front door, not looking back.
When she got inside, she let her face crumple at last. Two tears spilled down her cheeks as she leaned back against the door.
"There you are. What took you so long?" Molly stopped when she saw her. "What happened to you?"
"He—" Ali didn't know what to say. "He was a jerk," she whispered finally.
Molly shook her head in exasperation. "You always end up with jerks. Do ever think maybe it's because of you?"
Ali sucked in a breath. It hurt.
"Anyway, come help me clean the kitchen. Work will make you forget about it." Molly turned to go, and then looked over her shoulder. "Well?"
Ali swallowed down her tears. No pride, she reminded herself. She followed Molly into the kitchen.
***
Grey kept his truck sitting in front of Ali's house for a long time after she went inside.
He'd been completely blindsided by her reaction. He'd thought he might have to deal with a little disbelief. But he'd figured that if she knew shifters, she'd at least have heard of the idea of mates before, and a little explaining would get it across.
He'd also worried she might think he was coming on too strong. He'd known some guys who had freaked their girlfriends out by talking about marriage too quickly, and this amounted to the same thing.
But he hadn't expected this.
She'd been angry. And not just angry, but hurt. Like he was deliberately doing her a wrong, somehow, by telling her she was his mate.
He hadn't understood it at all. He could understand if she were frightened, or if she didn't believe him, or if she laughed at the whole idea. But hurt and angry?
But then her parting words in the truck had made it all make sense.
This isn't the first time someone's used that line on me.
Some other man had told Alethia that she was his mate.
And since Alethia was Grey's mate, that man had been lying to her. Maybe he’d told her she was his mate to get her in bed. Or keep her with him when she really wanted to leave? All the possibilities were absolutely disgusting.
He didn't want to believe any shifter man would do that to a woman. Only a worthless excuse for a man would.
But he could hear it now. No, baby, don’t go. We’re destined to be together. You’re my one true love. My mate. So you can’t leave, see?
Grey snorted to himself. Yeah, some people would do that.
And one of them had done it to Alethia.
Grey started the truck with a sudden, violent twist of the key.
He couldn't stay here any longer, or he'd go knock on the door and demand that Alethia tell him who the guy was. Grey wanted to pound the hell out of him for doing that to his mate. His mate, not some lying asshole's.
He wondered how long ago it had been. Was the guy here in town somewhere? Or in Ryder's Lodge? Was it one of the logging crew?
He pulled away, cruising slowly down the street, away from Alethia, while his thoughts raced ahead of him.
He had to fix this. If he didn't do something, he could easily picture himself never seeing Alethia again. He rarely came into Prescott, and she had told him last night with all sincerity that she was sick of coming to Ryder's Lodge. After today, he couldn't see her wanting to go out to the bars there anytime soon. Plus, he'd always been planning to get the hell out of here the second he got another ranger job.
There wasn't any reason they would casually run into each other. There was nothing keeping them from never crossing paths again.
His jaw firmed. Not if he had to say anything about it.
The trick was how to find her and talk to her again. Even though he knew where she lived, Grey would never show up at a woman's home uninvited.
Turning another corner, he saw a sign for Mae's Diner. That looked like a better idea than cruising aimlessly around Prescott in his truck. He'd go in, get a cup of coffee, and think about his options.
And he wouldn't leave until he'd found one that would work.
***
Ali was mopping the kitchen floor, while Molly plated her snacks in perfect spirals, when she heard the doorbell. It was too early for book club.
She heard Paul as he came into the kitchen. "Hey, babe." His voice perked up. "Hey, food.”
"No," Molly snapped. "That's for the book club. Do not touch."
A second later, an outraged noise told Ali that Paul had snatched something from a plate anyway.
"It's good," he said with his mouth full. "The book club’s going to love it. One more!"
"Get away."
"Can't blame me when it tastes so good," he said in a muffled voice. Then there was a scuffle. "Ow! What's wrong with you?"
Ali kept her eyes on the floor. A second later Paul appeared. His boots left dirty footprints on the wet linoleum. "Hey, Ali, what's up?"
"Nothing." She kept mopping.
"Hey, you could look at me when I’m talking to you."
She looked at him. "Nothing."
"What's got into her?" Paul asked over his shoulder.
"She met some guy last night. He was a jerk," Molly replied.
Paul frowned. "I heard something about that. At that bar everyone went to after work last night. Was it that cat shifter? Landin?"
Ali didn’t answer.
Paul, of course, didn't need any encouragement. "Yeah, that was it. Kitty Landin. You went home with that guy? Ali, he’s a weirdo. No one likes him."
Ali mopped harder.
There was a long, awkward, silent moment. Then Paul said, “Did he do anything bad to you?”
Paul tried, sometimes, to be an actual big brother to her. Ali usually wished he’d do it more often, but not now.
"I don't want to talk about it,” she said.
"If he was an asshole to my sister, I gotta teach him a lesson.” Paul’s voice firmed up. "Some guys on the crew have been saying he needs one anyway. All full of himself, like cats always are. Maybe I'll find him in Ryder's Lodge sometime this weekend."
"He dropped her off," Molly said. "It was only half an hour or so ago. He might still be in Prescott."
"Huh,” Paul said slowly.
Ali closed her eyes. “Paul, don’t.”
“Hey now,” said Paul. “You’re telling me he mistreated you—my baby sister—and I shouldn’t show him what I think of that? I shouldn’t be looking out for you, is that what you’re saying?”
No, I’m saying you shouldn’t use me as an excuse to do what you want to do anyway, she thought. But Ali knew from experience that saying that wouldn’t change Paul’s mind.
Anyway, what did she care? Grey was a lying jerk. If Paul wanted to pick a fight with him, who cared?
“No,” she said finally. “Do what you want.”
“Thanks, I will.” Paul grabbed a handful of snacks from Molly’s plate. “See you later, Molly.”
After the front door closed, Molly transferred her glare to Ali. “Now look what you did.”
“Me?” The unfairness of the accusation hurt, even though by now she should be used to that sort of thing. “I didn’t do anything!”
“If it weren’t for you, my husband wouldn’t be heading out to get into trouble.” Molly looked down at her picked-over plates. “And now I have to make more of these, and the book club is in less than an hour.”
Ali sighed. “I’ll help. But I have to go to work soon.”
“Just get out the bowls.”
Ali helped her fix little nibbles of Pinterest-worthy quality for the next half hour, and then fled the kitchen to change into her work uniform.
Getting out of the house was good. She dawdled a little on the way to work. She’d left with plenty of time, and she wasn’t looking forward to an afternoon of smiling at customers.
It was a beautiful spring day, sunny and warm, but that didn’t seem important next to all of the crappy stuff that had happened.
God, she needed to get out of this town.
And then, when she got to work, she saw Grey Landin was sitting in a booth.
***
When Alethia walked in, Grey wondered for a second if he was imagining her.
Then he remembered that she was a waitress. She wore the same logo-bearing shirt and skirt as the other waitresses. Obviously this was where she worked.
Grey had chosen to sit down at the one place in town where Alethia had to go today. If he hadn't already been rock-solid, one-hundred-percent certain that he and Alethia were destined to be together, this would've clinched it.
But she
didn't look happy. She stalked over to his table and hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted a cup of coffee." Grey held up the cup as evidence. "Listen, Alethia, I'm so sorry that someone took advantage of you by claiming that you were his mate, but—"
"Don’t talk to me," she interrupted.
She looked so hurt and angry that he blurted out, “All right. I won’t.”
His mate stalked away without another word
She was here.
But what could he do? He'd promised not to talk to her, and he wasn't about to break that promise. Could he leave her a note? It seemed like even odds whether she'd read it or throw it away. Better not to risk it.
Maybe he could talk to one of the other waitresses and get a good word in. But Alethia would know that anything one of her coworkers said would've come straight from Grey. And he didn't think she'd appreciate him using underhanded means.
How could he show her the truth?
***
Ali hated liars.
She ignored Grey with the full force of her abilities. She hoped the beams of her ignoring were hitting him right in the face as she took orders and carried her tray without ever letting her eyes pass over him.
He didn't move, but just sat and nursed his cup of coffee. Lisa, who'd taken his table, complained that he hadn't budged for two hours and didn't look like he was planning to order any food.
Makes sense, with that big breakfast he cooked for us.
Ali's fingers clenched on the silverware she was holding.
Ignore him. She'd ignored plenty of guys who were much more obnoxiously vocal than Grey was being. She could ignore one silent man.
It was just that he had this presence. As she walked around the diner, she always knew exactly where he was in relation to her. It was like she could feel heat emanating off of him, or feel the pressure of his eyes on her back. There was no forgetting he was there.
She did a great job of looking like she was ignoring him, at least. She was very proud of herself.
An hour into her shift, the door opened, and Paul came in.
Oh, no.
And right behind him was Matt Finch.
Oh. Oh, no, no, no.
