by Ellis Leigh
He blinked. “Excuse me?”
“You told Rebel you’d give him anything to get the idol back.”
“Yes.”
It was my turn to stalk closer, to approach. To show a little wolf aggression. “I want money.”
“I don’t have times for games, little wolf.” He turned as if to leave me in the hall, something I’d been ready for.
“Money for an idol,” I said, keeping my voice loud and strong. “A mate for a mate.”
He spun, growling. “What are you talking about?”
“You need the statue so you can claim your mate fully, have lots of little cubs, and get your happily ever after.” I stepped closer, keeping my eyes on his. Refusing to yield. “I need money so I can stay with my mate, have a few pups, and get my happily ever after.”
He didn’t respond, but he didn’t leave either. I took that as a good sign, so I kept going.
“A rogue band of wolves murdered my family. My guardians want to keep me safe, but their idea of safe is locked away on a ranch in Texas. My mate is here, and he’s human. He deserves to do all those human things like go to college, but he won’t because it will keep us apart. I need money. If I can support us, he can do what he wants, and we can still stay together and be independent.”
The bear stood stock-still, his glare changing to a look of contemplation. “You need money to claim your mate.”
“Yes, and you need that idol to claim yours.”
“The idol is in the Federal Bank building on Biddle. Eight stories of alarms and cameras and motion detectors. You think you can get into that building, kid?”
Jackpot. “I know I can.”
He sneered, taking a good look at me from the tip of my toes to the top of my head. Assessing. “You don’t look much like a thief.”
Thinking quickly, wanting to spin my plans in a positive light, I came back with, “I’m not a thief—I’m a bounty hunter.”
“You’re a bounty hunter?”
“Yeah. You give me a bounty to find, and I hunt it. So what do you say—do you need the services of Feral Breed Bounty Hunting or not?”
He sighed, looking at me with a wariness I couldn’t really fault. “How do I know I’ll get what I’m paying for?”
“You tell me what I’m hunting, and I’ll retrieve it. No money until I deliver the goods.”
“Not even a deposit?”
“I trust your word.”
“You shouldn’t.”
I inched even closer, still not backing down. Desperate in a way I’d never been before. “Do we have a deal?”
He didn’t look convinced. “Why do I feel as if I’m going to regret this?”
My grin was unstoppable. I handed him a slip of paper I’d carried from home. “Here’s my email. Send me everything you can on the idol—where it is, who has it, what it looks like. Anything at all. I’ll be in touch.”
I was halfway down the hall and headed for the stairs when he hollered, “You’re just going to leave?”
“My guard is waiting for me at the bookstore. I can’t ditch him for the whole day. He’ll get suspicious.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
Ooh, yeah. Probably shouldn’t let him know my real one. I hadn’t thought about that, but I was nothing if not creative. I grabbed the newel post, looking over my shoulder one last time. “Just call me Angel.”
Five blocks, one slightly off-putting climb up a rusted-out gutter, and a quick trip to the ladies’ room to wash off any possibility of bear scent, and I was headed down the stairs at the bookstore. With every step, I had to remind myself to stay calm, keep it together, don’t give off any signs that I’d just enacted a plan to steal back an idol from an armed building for a bear shifter we knew basically nothing about. No big deal. Average Tuesday.
I was never going to pull this off.
I found Bez on the second floor, resting against a wall in the corner, a thick, black tome in his hands. He looked engrossed, casual, completely unaware that I’d left the building. Mission accomplished…so far.
“Find anything good?” I fought to keep my voice light and my breathing steady.
Bez glanced up, his swirling silver eyes focusing on mine. “These humans have their history all wrong.”
So far, so good. “Yeah, that tends to happen.”
He snorted and tossed the book on a windowsill. “Are you ready to go?”
I lifted one shoulder in a lazy sort of shrug. “Sure.”
“You’re not buying any books.”
“I didn’t really see anything that caught my eye.”
As expected, Bez didn’t argue. He simply followed me out of the store, shadowing me all the way to the truck he’d borrowed from Rebel.
“Where to?” he asked once we’d climbed inside.
“Home.” I glanced out the mirror, running my fingertip over the glass as we drove past the Grand Hotel. Excitement and hope making my heart pound a little harder. A little faster. My final escape was at hand, the only thing standing between me and freedom an alarm system I needed to skirt. And a mate I still hadn’t told my plans to.
“Want me to drive through that coffee place you like?”
I shook my head, guilt heavy in my heart. “I need to see Julian.”
EIGHT
Julian
I felt Angelita drawing closer long before I heard the car turning off the main road into our little enclave of shifters, humans, and witches. A pulse started in my chest, a thrumming that only happened when she was near. Something that replaced the empty feeling I lived with when we were apart.
I stood from my chair and moved toward the door the second tires hit our driveway, almost shaking in anticipation. I needed her—wanted to know she had come back to me, craved our connection to be reinforced.
“Is that them?” Sariel called, her footsteps bringing her closer to the door. And me. I couldn’t answer her, didn’t care to. She had wolf senses—she knew her mate was back along with mine.
The car stopped, and the driver cut the engine. Just another few seconds, and Angelita would be in my arms.
“Hey, babe,” Bez called. Two doors slammed shut, two sets of footsteps grew louder as they neared. Why wasn’t she saying anything?
“Hey,” Sariel replied, sounding way too happy. “You two are just in time. We were about to put dinner on the table.”
“Perfect. I’m starving. Hey, Julian,” Bez said as he passed me. There were the soft sounds of the two coming together, probably a hug or a kiss. Nothing I had time to worry about. I stood and waited for my mate, for my turn. A greeting, a hug, a kiss…something from my Angelita on her return. Anything at all to calm the rush of need swamping me.
When Sariel and Bez retreated to the kitchen, I finally got what I’d been waiting for. Angelita’s little hand slid into mine, tentative and slow. Fuck that. I yanked her closer and wrapped her in my arms, sighing when she grabbed my neck and buried her head against my chest. We’d spent months apart at a time over the years. Why had these last few hours been so difficult? Why was I so needy for her all of a sudden?
I held her tighter, nearly pulling her off the floor as I buried my face in her neck and breathed her in. Safe. Back. Mine.
“Julian,” Angelita whispered, her breath warm against my chest. Her body practically vibrating in my arms.
“Leelee.” I could have held her forever. Could have picked her up and carried her back to my apartment right then. I needed her that much.
But she pushed away far too soon, pulling her warmth from me. “We should get inside. Dinner’s ready.”
I nodded, clinging to her hand. Unable to let her go. “Where were you? I woke up, and Sariel said you’d left with Bez.”
“We went to the mainland.”
That sounded…vague. “For what?”
Her arm pulled, the sign that she had shrugged. A move she only did when she was trying to hide something. Angelita wasn’t a shrugger, and the fact that she’d just done that
to me, knowing I’d catch the tell for what it was, nearly floored me.
“We went to a bookstore.”
And that was the first time I ever knew Angelita to flat out lie to me. Dropping her hand, I turned and walked into the house without another word, something hot and sharp piercing my chest. Something that felt too much like betrayal.
“Oh, Julian and Angelita. Perfect.” Charlotte grabbed my arm, oblivious to the rage and hurt swirling inside of me. “I was about to come looking for you two. Why don’t you go ahead and sit down? Everything’s ready.”
I took my usual seat, Angelita sliding into the chair beside me beside me. Normal. Except that I didn’t reach for her hand or tug her chair closer. No, I sat stiff and still, wishing this could all be over so I could retreat to my room and try to figure out what the fuck had just happened. But I had family dinner to deal with, so I ignored the elephant in the room…and my mate. A fact that seemed to make her nervous if the sound of her leg shaking was any indication.
Dinner dragged, awkward and completely unusual for us. I chose not to participate in the conversation and Angelita barely spoke at all as well, so long silences plagued the meal. I didn’t eat much either, something my sister definitely noticed.
“Are you feeling okay?” Charlotte grabbed my arm as I stood to leave the table, her voice much more concerned than I cared to hear.
So I pasted on my best smile and squeezed her hand. “Yeah. Just tired.”
Though, my sister was nothing if not observant. “If you’re sure that’s all.”
I was halfway to the door when Angelita spoke up.
“I’d like to be excused as well. I’ll take Julian back to his apartment so he can rest.”
“Thanks, Angelita,” Rebel said. I waited for Angelita to come, for her to hold out her elbow for me to grab even though I didn’t need it. At that moment, I didn’t want it, but I couldn’t refuse her. Then everyone would know something was wrong, and I wanted to keep at least some of our business private. Things like how I needed to make sure she knew that lying to me wasn’t an option.
Once we were outside and far enough away that even Rebel wouldn’t hear us, I pounced. “Want to tell me where you really went today?”
“I told you—a bookstore.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I really went to a bookstore.”
“Fine. Where else did you go?”
“Julian, I don’t—”
“Don’t want to tell me the truth?”
“No, I don’t want to drag you into something that may turn out to be a stupid idea.”
“I love your stupid ideas.”
“Julian.” She sounded irritated. Good.
“I love you, Leelee. Never doubt that.” I pulled her to a stop at the bottom of the stairs leading to my apartment. “But I won’t accept you lying to me.”
“Please,” she whispered, inching closer. “Just give me a couple of days to see if this pans out. I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
I sighed and took to the stairs. “Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“We don’t keep secrets from each other, Angelita.”
If my calling her by her full name stung at all, she didn’t let that hurt affect her path. “It’s just for a few days.”
I threw open my door and stormed inside, pacing in a way I hadn’t done in years. For the first time since a little wolf brushed against my legs during one of the darker days of my life, I felt something for Angelita that wasn’t positive. I felt…anger. And I didn’t know how to deal with that.
“Fine. You need a few days, but I won’t like it.” I grabbed my pillow off the bed and headed for the couch. Well, love seat, which wouldn’t work for my height. Fuck. I couldn’t tear the too-small piece of furniture apart, so instead, I snagged the blankets off the bed and laid everything down on the soft rug my sister had demanded I put down when I’d moved into the place. Thank you, Charlotte.
“What are you doing?” Angelita asked from somewhere by the door.
“Just like I said at dinner—I’m tired.”
“But your bed—”
“You sleep in it.”
Silence. Tension. And when she did finally speak, her voice sounded absolutely pained. “You’re not going to join me?”
“No, Angelita. I’m not. I love you, but I don’t like being lied to. When you’re ready to be honest with me, then we can talk. Until that time, I’d rather sleep on the floor and listen to the television than cuddle.”
I pressed the power button on my remote and switched the channel to where I knew national news played all the time. The negativity was the perfect accompaniment to my mood. I closed my eyes and listened to the voices, not wanting to speak another word to my mate. My heart ached every moment to fix whatever had gone wrong, but it wasn’t my place to do so. It was hers. And she… Well, she wasn’t budging.
I fell asleep in front of the television. Woke up in the middle of the night there too, but with the apartment quiet, the television silent, and a warm body cuddled against mine. Angelita. She’d joined me on the floor, covering both of us with the comforter from the bed. Her even breathing and slow heart rate were signs she was in deep sleep. On the goddamned floor. I may have been upset with her, but I wasn’t an asshole.
I pulled the comforter off us and tossed it on the foot of the bed. Once I had my bearings, I picked up Angelita and carried her to the bed. She grunted and sighed, but otherwise slept on. Good. We didn’t need to fight again. I set her down on the mattress, covering her with the comforter and sitting on the edge. Fuck, I hated this. I missed her already. Missed our closeness and our connection. How would I survive a few days of her keeping things from me at this rate?
Truth was, I wouldn’t. So I needed to choose…give her the time she needed for whatever plan she’d concocted, or cut myself off from her and try to force her to tell me?
Okay, maybe I was an asshole. At least, I had been.
Surrendering to my need for contact, I crawled under the comforter with her. She immediately curled into my side, wrapping her little body around mine and holding on tightly. As if I’d leave her. As if there was any way I could.
“Oh, Leelee. Why can’t things ever be easy?” I kissed the top of her head, then pulled her closer. Fuck being mad for a little while. There would be time for that in the morning.
But even as sleep reclaimed me, even as Angelita’s heart pounded in time with mine, the fear grew inside of me. She’d lied, and that was something we needed to deal with if we were going to move forward in our relationship.
Something that could never happen again.
NINE
Angelita
Julian was mad. Not fighting mad, or screaming mad—that broody sort of mad that kept me on edge all through the next day. He wasn’t rude or dismissive—in fact, from the outside, it probably looked as if everything was fine.
But he wasn’t touching me.
Such a little thing, touch. The brush of someone’s skin against yours, the warmth of one body against another. When we were living so far apart, I’d missed his touch often. Had craved it with an obsession bordering on painful. This was worse. He sat right there next to me, close enough to see, to smell, to sense. And yet…nothing.
Just a few more days had become my mantra. I needed to do this job without any help from the Feral Breed or the Dire Wolves if I was going to prove myself to them all. One job, one wolf…that would signal success. Sadly, that meant keeping Julian in the dark. If he knew, he’d worry. If he worried, he might do something stupid like try to help me, which would put him in the sights of bear shifters and possibly other paranormals. My human mate couldn’t stand against them—he wouldn’t have a chance. And I refused to risk him for what was still just the possibility of a career.
Only a few more days.
“Heading up for the night?”
I jumped at Charlotte’s voice. She watched Julian, who was already halfway through the doorway i
nto the kitchen. I hadn’t even noticed he’d gotten up.
“Yeah.” Julian paused, almost seeming to look in my direction. “I’m not feeling all that great.”
“Oh, okay. Maybe it’s best if you go. We don’t want Elijah to get sick.” She adjusted the smiling baby on her hip, almost seeming to pull him farther away from Julian.
“That’s what I figured.” He hesitated. Waiting for something, it seemed. But not for long. Not long enough for me to figure out what to do. “Good night.”
And then he was gone, leaving me behind. That had never happened before, and yet, it actually worked in my favor. I had preplanning to do, which would require me to sneak away from him. As much as it had hurt, his walking away from me gave me the window I needed. It was time to go to work.
“You’re not tired?” Charlotte asked as she took a seat across from me. Elijah clapped and blew spit bubbles, obviously wanting to play. Not what I needed.
“No, I’m not tired.” I rose and headed for the door. “I think I’ll go for a run.”
“The guys are at the denhouse. Do you want me to call around and find someone to go with you?”
Of course, Rebel, Sariel, and Bez were hanging out at the Feral Breed denhouse downtown. Having them off island definitely helped my situation. Knowing I’d lied to Julian didn’t.
Just a few more days.
I shrugged, fighting to stay casual. “Nah, I don’t need a babysitter. I won’t go off property.”
“Okay, then,” she said, distracted by Elijah’s reaching and pulling. “Be careful out there.”
“I will. Don’t wait up—I’ll just head up to Julian’s when I get back.” And then I was gone. I grabbed the bag I’d hidden in the bushes and raced up the driveway until I found the path all the local wolves used. Tucked into the trees, I quickly stripped, stored my clothes, and shifted wolf. Time to use four paws to move and my teeth to hold my stuff.
It took me twice as long running instead of driving to get to the office building I was looking for because I had to slink and backtrack to avoid humans, but that wasn’t too bad. At least I knew I could reach my destination without needing any sort of vehicle. Now if I could just complete the task without requiring help. Then everything could go back to normal—or rather, the new normal. Julian and I could live together, independent of our guardians. The freedom was so close, I could practically smell it. My plans had to work.
