by B. N. Kasner
“What was that?” Barbie wannabe looked wildly around the forest. In her right mind, Grace would’ve given the bitch something to be scared about.
“Nothing.” Carter, on the other hand, looked right at her. Nothing? A whimper escaped her throat. In her human form, she knew it would’ve been a sob instead.
She had her answer about his feelings for her. Nothing. Time and space couldn’t turn nothing into something. He kissed her again, turning Grace’s stomach upside down. She needed to get out of there, but bear still wasn’t budging.
We should leave. We’re not wanted here. Fuck, Carter knew Grace was there and yet continued to make out with Malibu Barbie. “Do you want to go inside?” Grace didn’t want to know the answer to Barbie’s question. Bear finally got the message, turning and running until her legs couldn’t hold her weight anymore.
She’d never thought of Carter as heartless before, but fuck, after that display it was hard not to. Why would he do something like that? Was this his way of pushing her away? Making her want to undo the bond because he’d turned into a heartless dickhead.
Well, he had another thing coming if he thought she’d roll over and give up. Grace wasn’t about to give up on him so easily. She wasn’t the quitting type, quite the opposite. She’d fight tooth and claw to keep her mate, even if he didn’t want to be kept.
Why was Carter trying so hard to get rid of her? Lately, they were getting closer to each other. Every time something came up, he looked out for her. He got jealous over Isaiah. When Lani was kidnapped, Carter brought her out of a panic attack. She’d even thought of ways to broach the subject of going on a date with him. Again, it brought the same question to mind. Why was he working so hard to push her away?
◆◆◆
Carter tore his mouth away from the blonde bimbo. He felt sick to his stomach. This is wrong. For once, he agreed with his bear. Everything about this felt wrong. Grace had caught him and he’d completely destroyed her heart.
It was clear as day on her bear face, those big golden eyes glistening. “What’s wrong?” Fuck, he’d forgotten about her. She wasn’t his type, just the first girl he’d picked up. He wasn’t even sure if he had a type anymore.
“Nothing.” He put his lips back on hers and ignored the taste of beer and cigarettes. This had to work. The past two days were hell. Going back and forth with not only Grace’s emotions but his own as well.
His mental picture of Becky had been fading for some time. At least he could still picture her face and hear her laugh. After two days, he couldn’t conjure the sound in his mind. Now all he could hear was Grace’s laugh. Was it because of the mating bite on his arm or his bear playing tricks on his mind?
He couldn’t take all the emotions anymore, so he’d decided to use his old technique. To lose himself in a random female. It didn’t matter what she looked like, to a point. As long as she wasn’t a redhead, Carter didn’t need another reminder of Grace. The blonde in front of him couldn’t be more different from Grace.
Grace’s scent of wildflowers and fresh rain lingered on the breeze. It captivated him. He’d never smelt anything like it. At least not as a female’s scent. Usually, a woman’s scent would be alluring to a male. He didn’t know of anyone, other than him, who found the smell of fresh rain sexy.
The creature in front of Carter had lost all his attention. He stopped kissing her, dragging in a much-needed breath. Fuck, this was an awful idea. He now had some random woman at his house with no way of getting her out of there. Not unless he wanted to spend even more time with her. What had he been thinking?
“This isn’t going to happen.” After a one night stand, which had gone horribly wrong, Carter always tried to be as straightforward as possible.
“But I thought you liked me?” The woman pouted and had the nerve to twirl a bleached blonde curl around her finger. Does that shit actually work on other men? Once she realized her tricks weren’t working, her fake personality crumbled. “You brought me all the way out here for nothing?” She stomped her foot on the ground like a child.
Carter thanked his lucky stars they hadn’t slept together. He could only imagine how clingy she would’ve become afterward. “Look, I’m sorry I wasted your time-”
“I knew this was too good to be true, but Jessica said you were a good fuck.” Jessica? Who the hell is that? Hell, he didn’t know the name of the woman in front of him. It didn’t matter to him, he’d never see her again if he had any say in the matter.
“Can you find a ride home?” He turned, heading for his front door. The sooner she got out of his sight, the better.
“No, asshole. Take me back to the bar.” This woman must not have known much about shifters. She had no standing on his land. He may have been the beta for Redwater, but on the land he owned, his word was law.
“You must’ve misheard me. Find a ride home.” Being beta had its perks. Carter lowered the tone of his voice, crossed his arms over his chest and squared his shoulders. He didn’t have the ability to use an alpha command, but he could boss around the more submissive shifters. It worked on humans too, usually scaring the piss out of them.
“Who do you think you are?” The bimbo had guts, he’d give her that. Not many shifters stood up to him. He could count the number on one hand, which included Grace. Although, she bent to his will more often than not.
“Carter Montgomery, the beta of this fucking sleuth. Get off my property before I make you.” He let his bear come forward. His bear’s eyes made him feel insecure, they glowed a bright lime green color.
“You’re a freak just like little Grace Dodson.” She brought her hand up to cover her gaping mouth, taking multiple steps away from him.
“What did you say?” Carter must’ve heard her wrong. She didn’t say Grace’s name while sneering because if she did, the bimbo didn’t know what was coming for her.
“She was a freak too, stupid bear whore.” He barely held himself in check. Nobody talks bad about Grace, not on my watch.
“Watch your fucking mouth. You’d be lucky to be half the woman Grace is. Now, leave before I make you. I don’t care if you have to walk all the way back to town.” He let himself growl at her. If Carter hadn’t known the blonde bimbo was scared before, he did now. Her scent gave her away.
“It’s at least an hour walk!” She tried one more time to get on his good side. Too bad for her, because after the comment about Grace, she’d screwed herself.
“I don’t give a fuck. Go. Now.” He growled, watching as she backed away quickly. The growl stayed in his throat until the damn blonde devil rounded the corner of his street. He dropped back against his closed front door.
He’d almost ripped the woman’s bleached blonde head from her body. If she’d said one more thing about his Gracie, he would’ve-wait a second, since when is Grace, my Gracie? Goddess, this one-sided bond was twisting his mind. He had to come up with another plan, and fast.
Obviously, Grace wasn’t on board with him. Carter wasn’t ready to go to Greg and outright tell him what had happened between them. If he could get his hands on the history books, maybe he wouldn’t need Greg at all. That way he’d be able to keep this whole mate bond to himself. Nobody ever had to know.
Carter had keys to get into the town hall, his office for beta issues sat down the hall from Greg and Scott’s shared office. It’d be easy to slip in unnoticed and if someone caught him, he had a right to be there. The only person allowed to question him was Mason, but he’d probably be at home with his mate and newborn twins.
Damn guy had it made. Carter hadn’t let himself hold either one of his best friend’s little ones, but Dolly, something about her melted his heart a little. Both of them were adorable, Mason and Ella were lucky. They had the kind of life Carter secretly wished for, well, when he let himself wish. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine that life.
A boy with reddish brown hair, hunter green eyes and tan skin swam towards him in the lake just out of town. The place had always been C
arter’s happy place. The boy, who was obviously his son, laughed and the sound went straight to his heart. He snapped his eyes open. The little boy was different from the last time he’d dreamed of him.
His imaginary son used to have brown hair and hazel eyes, Becky’s features. Red hair and hunter green eyes described a different female in his life. Grace. The bond was starting to take Becky from him, and he couldn’t let that happen. He swallowed hard, he had to act.
Chapter Four
“Fuck.” Carter whisper-yelled into the dark hallway. Corey must’ve left his bookbag in the middle of the hall again. The pup couldn’t keep track of the thing unless he had math tutoring. Then he wouldn’t part with it to save his life. He was an interesting kid. If Carter was honest with himself, Corey had all the makings to be an alpha someday.
How Corey’s personality and dominance would play out in the future, Carter didn’t know, but he’d be patiently watching from the sidelines. Hopefully, Corey would learn where to put his backpack in the process. The town hall consisted of five offices, a conference room, a large banquet hall and a small kitchenette.
He couldn’t remember why they didn’t use the fancy room with heat and padded chairs, instead of a rundown shack in the middle of nowhere to hold meetings in. If it were up to him, they’d tear the damn garden shed down. Nothing good happened in there.
Scott and Greg shared an office since neither one of them came in that often. The office mostly held books. They should’ve used the space for a library in the first place. Hell, that’s what it had been turned into anyway. He cringed when the door squeaked as he opened it.
Carter briefly wondered how much noise he could make before someone heard him. Getting caught wasn’t on his agenda, and explaining himself didn’t sound good either. One-half of the room had organized rows of books in alphabetical order. Open books and papers littered the only desk in the office. He didn’t spend much time in there, so he had no idea which side belonged to who.
Knowing the alphabetical side would be faster to search, Carter made his way across the room. A board creaked under his foot. “Damn it.” He growled, tiptoeing until he faced the wall of shelves. Most of them were full of history books.
Everything from different shifter species to witches had a book dedicated to it. He pulled the book labeled Mating from its spot between Magic and Moon Phases. It can’t be this easy. No way the first book he tried would give him all the answers he needed. He just didn’t have that kind of luck.
He noticed right off the bat it wasn’t the book Greg used for weddings. This book still had white pages. The book was huge and unfortunately didn’t have a table of contents. If Carter had his way, they’d upgrade everything to the modern era. What was the point in having a bunch of technology if they never used it?
He’d have to start at the first page. Great, because he had all the time in the world.
Mating, a wonderful and-
“Yada yada yada, buncha bullshit.” He flipped quickly through the pages, looking for anything that might actually help him.
A mating mark is easily recognizable by a shifter’s immediate family members.
Now, this looked promising.
It is a common question. Why do families recognize mating marks? The answer is more logical than one would think. It’s simple. Survival.
When the Goddess roamed the earth, shifters lived in the wild. Families spilt apart for many years, sometimes never coming together again. A tale now long forgotten tells of a Golden Eagle shifter and his sister. The eagle had not seen his young sister for many moons. Coming across her, he rejoiced until a great polar bear came into his vision.
The eagle trying to protect his sister attacked without a second thought. Using his talons and beak, he blinded the bear. Instead of a cry of joy, his sister let out a sorrowful sound. She swooped down heading for the great polar bear he’d been trying to protect her from. Too late the eagle realized his mistake. He’d blinded his sister’s mate. When the Goddess heard of this, the next generation of shifters were born with the inherent knowledge of their family mating mark. Ensuring nothing like this would ever happen again.
Okay, not what he’d been looking for, but fascinating none the less. This book only held tales and legends and while he would’ve liked to have the time to sit and read more of them. It wasn’t why he’d snuck into the office in the middle of the night. He needed facts about mating bonds, not myths. Although, Carter would be coming back to read more stories, especially the one about the Goddess finding a mate herself.
Putting the book back in its designated spot, he glanced at the papers and books thrown haphazardly on the other side of the room. Now, this was his luck. He would have to search through them and there was a chance he wouldn’t find anything. Maybe going straight to Greg in the first place would’ve been the best idea. Carter remembered to step over the creaky floorboard when he went to search the other side of the room.
He didn’t need to make any more noise than necessary, and so far, he hadn’t done a good job at being quiet. How am I going to find anything in this mess? Carter didn’t want to take the chance of leaving any evidence. What if Scott, Greg, whoever sat at the desk, actually knew how to find something in all the madness. There wasn’t a polar bear’s chance in hell, he’d remember the exact place of everything on the desk.
Carter only trusted himself to look at the first layer of papers. There were diagrams, notes, a shopping list full of herbs and other weird shit. This is definitely Scott’s desk. Vivienne must’ve been busy with the new twins and Lani’s pregnancy. She worked as a midwife and healer for the sleuth since she’d helped save Ella’s life.
Their alpha female had a soft spot for the older witch. Ella had a soft spot for everyone, except him. They hadn’t gotten off on the right paw. She’d come into all their lives like a mini tornado and changed everything. Carter regretted the way he’d treated her. But in a way, she’d scared him.
Carter and Mason had grown up together and were as thick as thieves. In his mind, Ella was the enemy. The person who’d come between them and their epic friendship, which somewhere along the way, had turned into a brotherly bond. While he tried to keep his sanity over Mason finding his mate, he’d pushed Mason away, not Ella. Now, Carter was truly alone.
We have Grace. He didn’t try to stop the low growl in his throat. They didn’t have Grace. The sooner his animal accepted that fact, the better. Fuck, the whole reason Carter was slinking around in an office, which wasn’t his, at one in the morning, was to get rid of her. Not to keep her.
His bear didn’t agree with Carter’s way of thinking. She’s ours. “No, she isn’t.” Great, now he looked like a semi-feral shifter talking to himself out loud. “Damn it.” She’s always been ours.
What the hell did that mean? She hadn’t always been his. She’d had a mate of her own. Even though his bear liked to quickly forget about Becky, Carter hadn’t. He didn’t have the same pull to Grace as he had with Becky. It wasn’t that Grace didn’t measure up because she did, in more ways than one, but she’d never be his true mate.
Carter had promised Becky on her death bed he’d love her forever and he didn’t plan on breaking that promise anytime soon. His bear would just have to get on board, and over Grace.
◆◆◆
Grace wanted to be home, sleeping in her comfy bed. Instead, her bear wanted to roam around Redwater in the dead of night. Twelve hours, it’s how long she’d been trapped in her bear form. Being trapped wasn’t really the right word because she loved being a bear, but this was going too far. She needed to get control back, now.
As if her bear had heard her for the first time in hours, she shifted. Fucking great, now I’m bare ass naked in the middle of town. Grace hadn’t thought to grab clothes when she’d left her house. Although, she hadn’t expected to be dragged around the woods all day. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
She couldn’t rob a store and the office she had at the construction company sat
across town. No way she’d make it all the way there without getting caught. The town hall was the closest building to her. With any luck, maybe Ella or Lani kept some spare clothes in their mate’s offices. It’s the best chance I’ve got.
Bracing her shoulder against the door, Grace pushed. The fucking thing swung open like someone had already unlocked it. She hit the floor with a loud thump and whispered curse. Someone probably heard her a mile away. Wasn’t the whole point of breaking into town hall to avoid getting caught?
The longer she laid on the floor, the more her left side hurt. She’d landed on something other than the floor. Grace knew the moment she felt the object what it was. Corey tended to leave his backpack laying around. Now, Grace was laying on it. She couldn’t help laughing.
“Grace.” A harsh whisper startled her. Goddess, she’d forgotten where she was. “Where are your clothes?” And what she wasn’t wearing. “You know what, never mind, I don’t wanna know. Why are you here?”
The voice sent a shiver over her very naked body. Of course, Carter would be the one to find her. Why wouldn’t he? He had an office in the town hall as well as the construction office. He and Grace ran the day to day business. Grace designed the insides and answered the phones.
Carter designed the actual buildings and ordered materials. Together they were a great team. It was just another reason why she wanted him for a mate. She already knew how well they got along when he wasn’t trying to be a complete and total dick.
She hadn’t forgotten about the show he’d put on with Barbie bitch in his driveway. “I’m surprised you’re here and not off fuckin’ some random slut.” Grace snarled but took a deep breath to calm herself. She’d just got her human skin back, she really didn’t want to lose it already. Just as Carter opened his mouth, a car door slammed shut.
