Chapter Five
“You know, there are other bars in town we could go to,” Sybil said as she pulled into the parking lot at The Den.
“Like Argo’s?” Amelia teased.
Sybil winced. “You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?”
Amelia chortled. “I wasn’t the one who set a girl’s hair on fire.”
“I was doing it for Kate,” the she-dragon grumbled as she maneuvered into a spot. “Anyway, like I said, we don’t have to come here. Even Kate said we could just hang out at her loft.”
“I said we’re going to The Den, and I mean it. I need to celebrate my first week back here.” Amelia let out a snort. She knew her friends absolutely loved her, but they were just getting too much. They had been walking on eggshells around her all week, she could feel it. Like they were careful about what they said and were ready in case she had some sort of breakdown.
Well, of course they were. When Mason left and her life fell apart, Sybil and Kate were there for her. She didn’t go home to her parents’ cabin, staying with Sybil instead. She wouldn’t eat, sleep, or get out of bed. Her friends had to force her to go out into the world. At one point, she was contemplating leaving school. Oh, she could still remember the fight she had with Sybil, and the she-dragon threatened to fly her back to school herself. She did go back eventually, but her grades suffered and Kate begged, berated, and beat her into getting them back up.
Yes, she understood why her friends were acting like this; after all, they were the ones who saw her lowest lows and helped her pick up the pieces. And to think, they didn’t even know the worst of it.
Amelia hardened her resolve. It was all behind her now. Her run-in with Mason proved that she could act like a normal person around him. Besides, she wasn’t going to let him dictate where she could go around town. Blackstone was her town. It was where she grew up and where she would stay for the foreseeable future. If he had a problem with her, he could leave. “Now,” she said to Sybil. “Come on, let’s go.”
Sybil followed behind her as she walked to the front door, her head held high and shoulders straight. As she walked in, she saw a couple of people she knew, and stopped to say hi to them. Finally, she went to their usual table, where Kate, Dutchy, and Christina Lennox, Sybil’s sister-in-law, were waiting.
“I told you, we don’t have to come here,” Kate said, her face drawn into a deep scowl. Her eyes darted over to the bar and Amelia froze for a second when she followed Kate’s gate. Sure enough, Mason was there, slinging drinks and taking orders.
“And I told you, it’s fine,” Amelia snapped. Kate and Sybil exchanged looks. The look. And for a moment she just wanted to knock their heads together. “You know how fine I am about this? Let me show you.” She made a beeline toward the bar.
As she drew closer, her heart skipped a beat. Dammit, why did he have to be so attractive? His muscles rippled underneath his tight shirt, and it looked like he added more ink on his arms. Memories flooded back in her brain, of running her hands down his chest, over his perfect set of six-pack abs and lower still. Her core clenched, thinking of all the times they’d been together. Maybe if she hadn’t thrown herself into her work for the last four years, she wouldn’t have had the longest dry spell in her life. But then again, despite their broken bond, Amelia couldn’t bring herself to sleep with anyone else, not even to get Mason out of her system.
She walked confidently toward the bar, stopping until she stood right in front of him. He had his back to her and was reaching over to the top shelf to grab a beer glass. When he turned around, their gazes clashed, and Mason went stone still.
“Can I have a beer, please?” she said. Somehow, she relished the shocked expression on his face.
“Right away,” he said, tearing his gaze away. He put the glass in the tap and filled it, then slid the glass over to her. “On the house,” he said as she reached for her wallet.
She considered ignoring him and slamming the cash on the bar anyway. Or maybe even throwing the beer in his face. But she was here to prove Sybil and Kate wrong. “Thanks.” She pivoted on her heel and walked back to their table. When she got there, she gave Kate and Sybil a smug smile.
“I guess you really are over him,” Sybil said.
“Guess so.” She took a sip of the beer, the alcohol calming her nerves and her shaky knees. She was ready to move on from this conversation. “So,” she turned to Kate. “What was the urgent reason why we absolutely had to meet tonight?”
“This is my pre-bachelorette party,” Kate declared.
“What’s a pre-bachelorette party?” Dutchy asked.
“Well, it’s when we all come together to plan my real bachelorette party!” Kate said.
“We couldn’t have done that over dinner at home?” Christina said. “Or via group chat?”
“No!” Kate stopped a passing waitress. “Can I get five shots of tequila please?” When Christina groaned, she added, “actually, why don’t you go ahead and bring me the whole bottle.” She flashed Christina an evil smile.
“Why do we need tequila?” Sybil asked.
“It’s an important part of the pre-bachelorette process,” Kate said smugly.
Sybil rolled her eyes. “Oh, so this is all an excuse to get drunk?”
“Excuse me, I don’t need an excuse to get drunk.” Kate thanked the waitress when she returned with the shot glasses and the bottle of tequila. “Now, let’s get down to business!”
“You’re just sad because Petros had to fly to Lykos and you’re all alone,” Christina pointed out.
“I miss him.” Kate sighed and pulled out her phone.
Amelia expected her to stare lovingly at a photo of Petros or something, but instead, she put the phone under her shirt. “What the heck are you doing?”
“I’m taking a photo of my tits,” she said matter-of-factly. The flash went off, and she pulled the phone out, then tapped on a few buttons. “And now I’m sending it off to Petros.”
Sybil spit out her wine. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because Petros loves my tits,” she explained. “He says that each time he thinks of me, I’ll know it because I’ll think of him too. And then I said when that happens, I’m going to send him a photo of my boobies.”
“Do we dare ask how many photos he has now?” Dutchy said, a delicate brow raised.
“Well there was the three that I sent him last night while his plane was taking off—”
“I think that was a rhetorical question,” Sybil said dryly.
Amelia couldn’t help but smile as she took a sip of her beer and listened to her friends banter. Oh, how she missed this. Four years of being away had been good for her, to help her ease the ache of the memories, but it had also been lonely. But she couldn’t risk exposing her secret shame, finding out about the one bad thing. Eventually, someone—maybe her Dad or Ben or Sybil or Kate—would have noticed it.
“Are you okay?” Sybil leaned over and whispered.
“I’m fine.” Amelia’s damn traitorous body and unconscious mind made her turn her head back to the bar. Her hand tightened around her glass as her gaze zeroed in on Mason.
He wasn’t alone, which wasn’t unusual given that he was working behind the bar. But a woman—cute and blonde—was leaning over the top, smiling up at him as he placed a glass with amber liquid in front of her. She reached over and handed him a napkin, which he took and crumpled into his palm. He was leaning down to whisper in her ear, and the sight made Amelia’s vision blur and pressure build behind her eyes that she quickly turned away. She made a grab for her purse.
“… And I want all penis party favors!” Kate exclaimed. “Dick straws, dick banners, dick balloons, dick cupcakes, dick headbands. The works!”
Sybil groaned. “I am not wearing a dick headband, Ka—Amelia? Where are you going?”
Amelia made an exasperated face. “Kate reminded me—I have this absolute dick of a client who wanted to see fabric samples as
soon as our supplier sent me the pics.” She took out her phone. “Let me take care of this asshole and I’ll be right back girls! Save me some tequila.”
She quickly turned around and made her way to the exit. Someone, call the Academy because she deserved an Oscar.
The cool mountain breeze made the evenings a little chilly this time of year, and Amelia breathed in the fresh air as she pushed the door open and stepped out. She missed this. Missed looking up at the stars. Missed smelling the scent of pine everywhere. Leaving was the only way she could have survived the broken bond, but it still meant being away from the only home she ever knew.
Taking a last, deep breath, she pulled up her metaphorical big girl panties and psyched herself up to go back inside and continue ignoring Mason. But as she turned, she heard the door swing open.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Mason said into the phone tucked against his ear, his eyebrows drawn into a deep frown. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He was slipping the phone into his jacket pocket but stopped when his cool blue eyes landed on her. “Amelia?”
“Mason,” she nodded, then sidestepped around him. She was barely halfway to the door when she felt a warm, calloused palm on her arm.
“Is there something the matter? Are you okay?”
A spark of anger lit up in her chest. “Please don’t touch me.”
“Amelia, please,” he said. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Her head whipped around. “What’s wrong?”
“We should talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” she said, her voice surprisingly even. “I think I’ve made that perfectly clear.” She wrenched her arm away from him.
“Please,” he begged again. “I can’t stand this … you’re just …” He glanced down at the phone in his hand and let out a deep breath. “You’re different,” he began. “The other day, when I ran into you—”
“Shut up. Just shut up!” The anger and resentment came out of nowhere. Or maybe it had been bubbling up and was now boiling over. The broken bond. Leaving her home and her family. Everything that she lost. And she was damn tired of pretending that it was okay. “You have no right to speak to me! Or touch me! How dare you pretend to care now!”
“I always cared about you,” he said.
The words made her heart clench, which only made her angrier. “Stop lying, Mason.”
“I’m not—”
“Then why did you leave?”
Mason gritted his teeth. “What the hell was I supposed to do, Amelia? Abandon my kid?”
That was the problem. No matter how much she hated that he left, she couldn’t get mad at the circumstances. Still, the rage she felt blinded her. “You were supposed to be with me! My bear said you were ours. Our mate. You broke the bond. And now I’m …” She didn’t want to say it. Oh God, she couldn’t say it. She’d been in denial all this time.
“Amelia … you and I are mates?”
Was he insane? Or stupid? Did he hit his head on a mission or something? “Were mates,” she said bitterly. “Why do you keep denying it? You must have felt it too. We bonded, that night when we were supposed to go out with Sybil and Kate, but we stayed in instead.”
“I honestly …” He scrubbed a hand down his face. “I didn’t realize that’s what it was. Amelia!” He tried to grab her but she evaded his grasp. “I had no idea. Please, believe me. My dad, he died when I was eight. My mom was human. Tim was the first shifter I met until I came to Blackstone.”
Amelia stood there, staring at him. His words were slowly sinking in for her. But, did she believe him?
“I didn’t know. Anything. And after, I’d heard about mates from the shifters on my team, but I never paid attention. My bear must have known, but—”
A ringing from his pocket interrupted them and Mason took his phone out and looked at the screen. “Fuck!” He gripped the phone tight in his hands. “Amelia, I have to go right now.”
“I’m not trying to stop you.” Not anymore.
His face drew into an anguished expression. “I don’t want to, but I really need …”
“Just leave,” she said. That’s all you ever do.
“This isn’t over, Amelia.”
“It’s been over for a long time.” She didn’t wait for him to say anything else, instead headed back into the bar. She pushed against the storm door and walked into the small entryway, where she could be alone.
She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Mason really was a jerk. After he left, she had hoped that maybe he had changed his mind. Or that it was all a mistake. But no, he didn’t call or even text her to say what happened. He just never came back. The coward.
She was left to pick up the pieces, and then keep the biggest secret of her life. The one bad thing. Somehow, because of the broken bond, her bear had disappeared. Gone from her body, just like that.
She was hurt and in denial all those weeks, but she confirmed it one night. She tried to shift into her bear, but she couldn’t. It just wasn’t there anymore. She cried hard that night, maybe even harder than she did for Mason, at the loss of her constant companion for twenty-one years.
And so, she left Blackstone. Learned to pretend everything was okay. She hardly came home the first two years, in fear of having her friends and family discover her secret. She learned to cover it up over the years and put on an act. But in truth, she felt hollow without her bear.
This was all Mason’s fault. Whether he was lying to her or telling her the truth about not knowing about mates, it was his fault that her bear was gone. She hardened her resolve to keep away from him. He had broken her once, and she would be a fool to let him do it again.
Chapter Six
Mason had just tossed the napkin the perky blonde had handed him into the trash when he got the call.
“Hello?”
“Is this Mr. Mason Grimes?” The voice on the other end of the line was stern and business-like.
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“Mr. Grimes, my name is Marsha Hill, I’m with Child Protective Services in San Diego. I have some bad news.”
Mason wished he was tired. If he had been a normal human being, the bumpy, red-eye flight from Colorado to California would have wiped him out. But no, he wasn’t tired at all. He was all riled up, and so was his polar bear. The energy around him was enough to make even the humans on the flight wary of him. His seat mate had unbuckled his belt and switched to a different row as soon as the fasten seatbelts sign had turned off.
The entire flight, his mind was reeling. Ping-ponging back and forth from thoughts of Cassie to Amelia. Worried about Cassie. Processing his conversation with Amelia. Wanting to kill Jenna. Wanting to hold Amelia in his arms and beg for forgiveness for hurting her.
It had been a shock, but he should have known. He had never really forgotten about Amelia all these years. When he finally started hanging around other shifters, mostly the guys on his team, he began to learn more about their kind. They’d been joking around, getting drunk after a mission, when someone brought up the subject of mates. Not wanting to sound stupid, he went along with the conversation, pretending he knew what they were talking about. He was squad leader after all. Even though the conversation was over his head, something must have stuck in his brain. Amelia was his mate. That’s what his bear had been trying to tell him. He was a fucking moron for ignoring it.
It was almost 5:00 a.m. when the plane landed and the sun was peeking over the horizon. He gripped the wheel of his rented car as he pulled into the driveway of the Child Protective Services headquarters. He wasted no time parking in the first available slot and headed into the building. He gave his name to the receptionist, who then picked up the phone.
“Mr. Grimes?”
Mason turned around at the sound of the familiar voice. Marsha Hill was a middle-aged African-American lady wearing horn-rimmed glasses. Her suit was rumpled, but professional-looking. Not that he was criticizing her, as he probably looked like shit himself. “Where i
s she? Where’s Cassie?”
“She’s fine.” Hill’s voice was even and calming. “She was a little dehydrated and hungry when we found her, but the doctor said she’s okay. Come with me and I’ll show you to her.”
Hill had led him down the hall on the left. When she stopped in front of one of the doors, he didn’t wait and threw it open.
As soon as his eyes landed on Cassie, he released the breath he’d been holding since he got the call. “Cassie.”
“Daddy!” A small bundle leapt into his arms. His daughter was safe and sound. That was all that mattered. He squeezed her tight as her small body racked with sobs.
“It’s okay, baby,” he said. “I’m here. Daddy’s here.”
“I … was … scared,” she said in between hiccups. “I … didn’t … know anyone.”
Mason could only imagine what it was like for Cassie, being surrounded by strangers. He was going to kill Jenna and Doug. He would hunt them down and give them both slow, painful deaths. But, he had to stay calm, especially here. “Baby, everything’s going to be okay.” He kissed the top of her head and rubbed his palm up and down her back. Rocking back and forth, he began to hum the song he used to sing to her. After a few minutes, Cassie’s body began to feel heavy and her breathing evened. He was satisfied, at least for now, and so was his bear. But it remained edgy, pacing inside him, waiting.
Glancing around him, he saw a cot in the corner and gently laid her down. He didn’t want to let go of her, but she was safe and there was no way in hell he was leaving here without her. But first, he had to take care of some business. He pulled the soft pink blanket around her, then stood up.
Hill had remained in the room the entire time, waiting patiently for them. Mason walked to her and spoke in a quiet voice. “I know it was a rush to try and get back here ASAP and we didn’t have time to talk. But, can you run me through what happened in detail?”
Hill nodded. “Let’s go somewhere we can talk privately.”
Reluctantly, Mason followed Hill outside but he didn’t move away from the door. He planted himself outside and crossed his arms over his chest, signaling that he was not taking another step.
The Blackstone She-Bear: Blackstone Mountain Book 7 Page 6
