My jaw dropped.
“Did I hear you right? Did you just say you grew fangs?”
“Yep, fangs. Frankie looked it up, and it’s all the baby. But I have to drink loads of blood so that I don’t try to take a bite out of anyone else.”
I pulled the lapels of my jacket up around my neck. I’d already suffered random bites in the past, I didn’t need my best friend munching on me.
“And then most embarrassing of all…” Her face went red and this time it wasn’t to do with her blood intake. “Theo had handcuffed me to the bed.”
“Get Theo, going all Christian Grey.”
“Yeah, well Theo being Theo, had forgotten the keys to undo them.”
“I’m not following. He left them at the shop?”
“Oh no. My loving husband had left them at his best friend’s house. He’d borrowed Darius’ cuffs… without asking.”
My mouth dropped open again.
“Darius had to come free me and do you know how I repaid him? Well you must because he ended up cancelling your date because of it.”
I sighed. “No. No I don’t.”
“Oh. Well I threw up down him. All over his shirt and his jeans. Blood everywhere. We had to launder them while he waited. I’m sorry we messed up you two finally getting together to talk.”
“Oh, that’s okay.” I said, although it couldn’t have been further from okay.
I stood up and started backing away towards the door. “Well, it does sound like you had quite the adventure. I’d better get on now. I have a lot to do today.
“Okay, bestie. See you later. Sorry once again for messing up your evening.”
I nodded and left.
Back in my own office I almost threw myself down in my seat. Fuck. He’d ended up involved in Theo’s mess and then Shelley’s vomit. He couldn’t make the date because he was stuck at the farm, and what had I done? Had tea with Seth and then let him kiss me. I was a mess. I was the trollop and whore my father had always said I was. A waste of a person. I’d be better off staying on my own than trying to find a partner.
I’d brave it to the coffee shop just before closing and let Seth know nothing was going to happen between us. At least that was one mess I could get myself out of.
There was a knock and Frankie and Lucy burst into my office.
“Kim, we’re engaged!” Lucy yelled excitedly. “I’ve no ring yet, but I’m going to be Lucy Love. Oh my God, I’m so excited. I must tell Shelley.” She ran from the office down the corridor to Shelley’s.
“Wow. Congratulations.” I told Frankie, who looked more shocked than happy.
“Kim. My actual words to her were supposed to be, ‘Babe, can I finger your ring’. But I messed them up and said ‘can I ring your finger?’”
“Oh my God. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Oh thank you for making me smile. Oh my God, hahahahahahha.” I creased over.
“Kim, you have to help me.”
I tried to catch my breath. “I’m not h-helping you get out of an accidental proposal.”
“No.” He shook his head vehemently. “I do want to marry her, even though we’ve only been dating for nine days. I can live with having proposed. She’s my one. But I need to do a new one. That can’t be it. That’s no story to tell our future children.”
He took a lingering look at my face. “Oh I can see you’re going to be no help whatsoever today. I’m glad my life is so amusing.” He went into his jacket pocket and extracted an A4 manilla envelope. “We’ll see if your face is still as creased with laughter when you’ve read this lot. The history of the Withernsea and Hogsthope packs. And thank you, Frankie, for staying up all night. Oh that’s okay, Kim. You’re welcome.”
My face froze.
“Yep, thought as much.”
“I’m sorry, Frankie. But I’m having a shit time and that did make me chuckle. I will help you plan an amazing proposal okay? And thanks for this information.”
His face relaxed. “Well, I’d better get to bed because I’m starting to feel a bit queasy.” He raised a warning finger at me. “Don’t you dare say a word about what I just told you.”
“I won’t. I promise. No woman needs to know her proposal was accidental and if you were going to propose anyway, what’s the problem?” Then I launched into Beyoncé's ‘Single Ladies’ and sang about putting a ring on it. Frankie huffed and zapped away.
I sat at my desk, poured myself a cup of instant and began reading. I took a swig of my drink and winced. It so wasn’t what I was used to. This is why you don’t shit where you eat, Kim. Leave all the dating agency customers well alone.
I opened the envelope and began reading.
WITHERNSEA AND HOGSTHORPE PACKS - A POTTED HISTORY
(Not to be reproduced. Copyright F. Love, 2018)
Until 1989 the pack was united as one - Withernsea. One member of the pack at that time was Arlo Wild. Arlo was mated with Freya Wild and she was carrying his cub. Arlo had been almost thirty years old when he had mated with Freya.
Arlo became the Alpha of the tribe following the death of his predecessor in battle. Two months before the birth of their son, Darius, Arlo met another wolf shifter from the Hull pack, Renee Thorn. His mating instinct kicked in and he was forced to confess to the pack that he had faked his ‘calling’ to Freya due to his age and worry about being cast from the pack.
He was thrown out of the pack in disgrace, leaving Freya to care for their newborn son alone. He started the Hogsthorpe pack and declared himself Alpha. Those that sided with him joined him, along with other rogue weres from other packs. The result was that Hogsthorpe has always been a volatile pack, and Arlo ended up ousted as leader and killed in 1992.
Freya Wild had been swept along with the romance and only realised Arlo had not been her true mate when William ‘Billy’ Phelan joined the pack having moved from Derbyshire. They mated and married and had a further son, Rhett; and daughter, Alyssa. Darius remains a Wild although his mother, stepfather and siblings have the surname of Phelan.
After finding out the above, I sought an audience with Jett Conall, from the Hogsthorpe pack. There he confirmed my suspicions. What follows is for your information only and will not appear in my records.
Jett Conall is ALSO the son of Arlo Wild. His surname was changed in 1992 when his mother remarried.
Jett is Darius’ half-brother.
This is the reason the two factions remain so separate. Darius and Jett refuse to acknowledge each other as siblings and their mothers remain bitter enemies. Jett is Alpha of the Hogsthorpe pack, whereas Darius refuses to accept his place as Alpha, instead deferring to Edon Woodland.
Although no clear statement has ever been made, the rumour is that Jett intends to do a hostile takeover of the Withernsea pack and take what he feels is his rightful place as Alpha of the united pack, to honour his father.
There were other words in the text. Stuff about the set-up of both packs and the members but I scanned it, my eyes reading the above words repeatedly.
Oh Christ. And I’d managed to select Jett from the agency’s database and call him for a date.
There was no wonder Darius had acted like he had.
I put the document on the table and picked up the envelope to put in the recycling, but noticed another page still inside.
THE MATING OF WERE SHIFTERS - FACTS AND RULES
(Not to be reproduced. Copyright F. Love, 2018)
To ask a wolf on a date is stating your interest in becoming their mate.
To attend the date and eat with a wolf is part one of courtship. Part two is to find out if you are physically compatible through the act of sexual intercourse. Part three is to complete the mating process under the full moon and be bitten by the wolf at which time non pack members become both wolf (if not already) and pack.
Most wolves determine their mate by a scent. This scent is so intoxicating it can lead to periods of overwhelm until mates become accustomed to it.
Should a female show interest in more tha
n one wolf then they must let the female decide. Alternatively they can take out the other wolf.
To cook for a potential mate is a demonstration of the fact you will care for that woman and her future cubs.
When I’d read that, I was ready to throw myself out of the window. I had serious reparation to do. Ebony was right. I really had started a pack war. What if Darius and Jett tried to kill each other now? I needed to do my damnedest to end it. It was just that to do so I would have to confront every demon I had inside me. But I’d do it, for Darius’ safety.
My door burst back open and the beaming smile of Lucy greeted me. It was still unnerving seeing an ex-demon happy.
“Many congratulations again, Lucy.”
“Oh thank you. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“Oh?”
“You’re one of the reasons I’ve been hanging around here too. I just had to wait for you to realise that you needed to work on your own demons and then BOOM, here I could be, to let you know I was here to help you.”
“You’re to help me?”
“Yes. To avoid a pack war and get your man. Are you ready, Kim? I might be an angel now, but it’s going to be one hell of a time.”
Chapter Eleven
Lucy
I left the office in high spirits. Life was good. I was engaged. I had a fantastic job. Finally, something was going my way.
I heard coins tinkling behind me and pivoted to find Andrew, my predecessor, a few feet behind me. He was supposed to be in heaven having been transferred after almost exposing angels to humanity (not in that way, get your head out of the gutter).
“Andrew? What are you doing here?”
He picked up the coins, putting them back in his pocket and scratched around his neckline. “Oh, I’m back down here, second chances and all that.”
“Oh, and have you got a project?”
His face flushed. “Yes, yes, I have, and I need to make sure that this time nothing goes wrong.”
I smiled at him. He stepped back a little which I thought was mean. Was my being happy THAT much of a shock to people?
“Well, anything I can do to help, just ask.”
“Thanks, Lucy. Well, see you around.” He turned and started walking in the other direction. Hmmm, he’d been coming this way before, now he was walking away from me?
Having been one of the devil’s top employees, I had a large bullshit-ometer, so I carried on walking for a few minutes and then I turned quickly, fast enough to just see the edge of Andrew’s leather jacket disappearing into a shop doorway. I stalked over to where he was pretending to look in the shop window. Unfortunately for him it was a sex shop, and he was currently looking at very large butt plugs.
“So the way I look at it, either way right now you’re screwed, Andrew. So what’s it to be, fess up, or shall I go purchase the extra-large?”
Andrew sighed deeply. “I’m so going to get fired again. I wasn’t supposed to be seen on this job.”
My mouth dropped open. “Andrew.” I tilted my head at him. “Am I your project?”
“Well, erm, yeah.” Another deep sigh escaped him. “So now I suppose you’re going to report me?”
“Hell, no.” My eyes widened. “If you have an earth angel job to do on me, then get on with it, right now. Save my life or whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.”
“I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s not saving your life. All I can say is that a test is coming.”
“Right, I need you to be with me at all times then to get this done. The sooner you’re finished, the sooner you can pass your earth angel exam and the sooner I can get back to my life, because…” I beamed again. “I am about to get married.”
“Cool.” Andrew said, but his face didn’t look happy, which made the hairs on my neck stand up.
“Come on, let’s go to mine.” I told him. “We have a spare room.”
Frankie got up a little later than usual due to his having been up in the daytime. He wandered into the living room and saw me sitting beside another man and his eyes flashed red.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, Frankie, darling. Andrew is coming to live with us for a while.”
“He’s what?” The next moment Andrew was pinned to the wall while a vampire with exposed fangs got up in his business. My fiancé turned to me. “I’m not into sharing.”
“Put him down, Frankie. It’s not like that. He’s an earth angel like me, and apparently he’s doing me.”
Frankie hissed. “Doing you?”
“As in I’m his project. He’s saving me in some way. We’re not romantically involved for God’s sake. Put the poor man down before he urinates down his own legs.”
Frankie dropped him and returned to his usual look and held out a hand to Andrew. “Nice to meet you, pal. Thought about getting a Chinese for tea. You fancy it?”
Andrew went and sat in the furthest corner of the sofa. I heard a clatter at the back door and then a black cat sauntered into the room, walking over to Andrew and jumping up on his knee where she curled up on his lap and started treading his groin area. His surprise at that coupled with an almighty sneeze meant that Maisie was thrown a foot away onto the floor. She landed on her paws, upper back arched, turned around and hissed at him.
I walked over to her with a pet friendly wipe. She hated water but could tolerate a wipe. Then she shifted into her beautiful brunette self.
Andrew’s eyes went wide. “You’re the cat?”
“I am.” She said. “And now I’m wondering how I’m going to inflict punishment on you for throwing me on the floor and coating me in your nose juice. Do you like to be whipped?” She asked him.
“Andrew is an earth angel, Maisie. There’ll be no whipping or punishments with him.”
She sat at the side of him, far too close, invading his personal space. “Do you earth angels have to be all celibate?”
He swallowed hard. “Well, no, but it’s frowned upon if it would distract me from my job and this is my last chance, so all my attention needs to be on Lucy.”
Maisie rolled her eyes. “Huh. It’s always all about Lucy. Everyone loves Lucy. They even made a stupid TV show about her.”
“I love Lucy is not about me.” I told her.
“She has red hair. You should totally sue the company, they obviously copied you.”
“That programme came out in 1951.”
“So is it you that’s completely unoriginal then? Hah.”
Andrew’s nose started twitching again.
“I think Andrew here is allergic to cats.” I told her, just as she dived across the room, landing on my lap, before another huge sneeze rocked him.
“Ugh. Get off me.” I pushed her up.
“Oh well, never mind. I’m in a menage with the couple next door anyway.” Maisie smoothed down her hair.
“Being their pet cat is not classed as being part of a menage.”
“For an angel you are always so goddamn mean. Cut me some slack here; my love life is seriously lacking, and you bring a hottie here, and he’s allergic to me. All-er-gic. And my paws tell me he’s packing so I’m really depressed right now.” She pouted. “Have you got some of that nice salmon?”
“Oh for heaven’s sake. Let me get you some dinner. I’ll be back in a moment, gentlemen, please try to not kill each other while I’m gone. I’ll fetch you an antihistamine, Andrew, to stop the irritation, although she’s following me so it should go off.”
Maisie followed me out into the kitchen where I took out some fresh salmon. I put the kettle on ready to poach it, just as she liked it.
“He’s hot. It’s so not fair.”
“Can you behave? He’s staying here for a while, hopefully not too long though. Apparently he has an earth angel job to do for me.”
“For you? So is shit about to go down in your life?”
“There’s no need to look happy about that potential fact.”
She leaned against the side. “I’m sorry. You kn
ow how it is. When your life is crappy, it hurts even more when you see people getting along with theirs.”
I patted her arm, and she started purring and pushing into my hand. It was really off-putting when she did that in human form.
I took my hand away and she eye-rolled. “You’re so uptight and missing out. You’ve seen my tongue, right?” She licked my hand.
“Ewwww.”
“Feel how raspy that is? Imagine it there.” She nodded at my crotch.
“Maisie. For the umpteenth time, I do not fancy women. I am very happily engaged to a MAN.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she hissed. “What’s that? I’m sure you just said engaged.” She grabbed my recently licked hand. “No ring. Explain yourself.”
I put the salmon in a pan of boiling water which distracted her for a few seconds.
“Frankie proposed this morning, in my office. It wasn’t the most romantic of proposals but he did it all the same. We’ve not had chance to talk about details or a ring or anything yet, because of Andrew.” I nodded in the direction of the living room. “So I don’t know anything else other than I said yes.”
“Can I be a bridesmaid?”
“If you promise to stay in human form. Only I don’t fancy untangling cat claws from my wedding dress.”
“Lace feels so good in my paws.” Maisie went into a daydream. “I used to be able to swing off peoples net curtains when they were in fashion. Now everyone’s windows are bare. Bare is in fashion, windows and pussies. It's about time net curtains and rugs were all the rage again.”
I was beginning to feel the onset of a tension headache and rubbed at my right temple.
“A few minutes and then your salmon will be ready. So are you happy next door?”
Maisie had popped around there a lot while living with Frankie and they’d taken her in when Frankie was ill (in reality he’d been changing into a vampire). They’d asked if they could keep her as they’d got used to her and Frankie had said yes; but they were human and had no idea that in reality they’d moved a third person into their home. Maisie was under strict instructions not to reveal herself, especially when the husband next door looked like Jason Momoa.
Hate, Date, or Mate? (Supernatural Dating Agency Book 3) Page 7
