by Marla Monroe
Since they were bond mates as well as brothers, they would share the same mate when they found her. Some wolf shifters found their destined mate and some picked a mate when they didn’t find their true mate by their late forties. Since they tended to live close to two hundred years, raising a family after fifty wasn’t as strange for them as it would be for a human family to start at that age. He and Evan were now in their forties. Lee had started looking among their den for a possible mate. Evan was having none of it.
They didn’t talk on the drive down to Cascade from Shoewater Mountain. When it counted, they were always in tune, and despite their brotherly squabbles, they normally weren’t at odds with each other. The one sticking point they had was finding their mate. Lee was ready to move on, and Evan wanted to wait for the one meant for them.
“General store looks busy today.” Lee pulled in the first parking spot he could find, which gave them a good hundred-yard walk.
“Divide the list or stick together?” Evan asked.
“Better stick together with this crowd. Looks like there are a lot more strangers in town than we’re used to. I don’t like it. If we weren’t getting some things for Gabby and Nessa, I would say let’s turn around and head back.”
“Think HAS is at the bottom of it or just growing pains?” Evan climbed down from the truck and slammed the door before walking around to the sidewalk to wait on Lee.
“Don’t know. Since that new furniture factory opened last month, they’ve been hiring a lot of people. More moving here from the surrounding counties for those jobs I bet.”
They strode down the walk way trying to avoid bumping into the other pedestrians before stepping up into the store. Lee recognized several regulars who lifted a hand to them. Most of the humans he didn’t recognize. The scents in the air held every emotion possible from anger to fear. He quickly located the fear to be coming from a teenager hovering near the pharmacy area. No doubt she was worried about being pregnant considering the aisle she stood in.
There were really too many scents to pinpoint most of them. He’d just have to watch his back, and Evan’s, as well. Even if HAS wasn’t represented there, with this many humans, anything was possible. A lot of humans tended to be hot-headed, much like his brother.
“Ready?” Lee peered at the list in his brother’s hands. “Let’s get this done and move on to the grocery store.”
Once, while they were picking out garbage bags for the compactor, Lee was certain he could feel someone’s eyes on him. He tried to look around without appearing to, but no one acted overly interested in them. The scent of other shifters drifted across his nose a few times, but he didn’t attempt to pick them out. He hated it when he was scent caught, so he wasn’t about to do the same thing to another shifter if it wasn’t necessary.
“That’s everything on the list. Let’s get out of here.” Evan had managed to remain quiet for most of the shopping trip so far. He hadn’t even snarled when someone had accidently bumped him with their cart. He’d just stepped out of the way.
“Heading to the cash register now. You can bag everything as they check us out. It’ll save time.”
The line wasn’t as long as he’d feared, and a friendly face stood behind the counter to check them out.
“Leslie. How’s your husband? I hear he got a job up at the mill.” Lee always tried to be pleasant to the humans who didn’t seem upset or annoyed with them. Leslie and her husband had treated them well since they’d moved to town four years earlier.
“He’s doing great. Got a good job and is going to be home more for me and the kids. Best thing that’s happened in Cascade in years.” Her smile nearly outshined her eyes as she checked him out.
“Good. I’m sure that will be a big help to you.”
“How are you guys doing? I haven’t seen as much of you lately.” She looked up at Evan, flashing him a lower wattage of the earlier smile. She knew that though he was congenial, he didn’t talk much.
“We’re fine. Just been really busy lately. Building some new homes and had a couple of weddings lately.” He counted out the money and paid her.
“Well, don’t be a stranger. I’ll tell Harden you asked about him.” Leslie waved them off before greeting her next customer.
“She’s always nice to you,” Evan noted.
“She’s like that with you, as well. You just don’t talk to her. Not all humans are bad, brother. I keep trying to tell you that some are really nice.”
“Most aren’t, but it’s hard to tell the good ones from the bad ones. Their scents don’t always give the entire picture.”
“I’m going to go pull the truck up so we can load our purchases. Can’t carry all of this without calling attention to ourselves. You stay with the goods.” Lee adjusted one of the bags he was carrying.
“Hurry the hell up. I don’t like standing out in the open like this.” Evan glanced left and right before turning to look over his shoulder, as well.
Lee didn’t blame him. There’d been a lot of weird things going on lately, including magic. To make matters worse, some of HAS was using it to get to shifters. Between trying to interfere with their mating abilities and attempting to capture them using dulling and damping spells, shifters were on high alert for anything out of the ordinary.
When he pulled up in front of the general store, he knew something wasn’t quite right with his brother. He’d abandoned their bags and walked two doors down in front of the town’s only laundry. Lee stepped down from the truck and called out to him, but his brother ignored his call. Evan didn’t seem about to attack anyone, so Lee started loading the truck.
Evan returned to help him without saying one word. The strange expression that had his mouth slightly open and his nostrils flared stopped Lee in mid-reach.
“What is it?”
Chapter Two
“I’m not sure. I scented something that drew me. I was walking in that direction before I even realized it. Let’s just get the groceries and return home.” Evan didn’t like the compulsion that had him still wanting to follow the scent.
“Magic?” his brother asked.
“Don’t know. It felt more instinctual than foreign.
“Here, last bag. Let’s go. We need to stick together from now on.”
Evan agreed with that. He didn’t like that he’d moved without thinking. If it was magic, it was something he’d never encountered before. It hadn’t felt like magic though.
As soon as Lee parked in the lot of the town’s only grocery store, Evan jumped out and grabbed one of the empty carts sitting in the parking lot. He waited for his brother to join him then struck a straight line for the door.
Evan handed the list to Lee. “You grab, I’ll navigate. I memorized the list, so that we don’t have to double back for anything other than cold or frozen goods.”
“I hate that about you. Have I ever told you that?” Lee popped him on the back of the head.
“Asshole. Stop that. At least you can add in your head. I’m hopeless with numbers. Now concentrate. I want to get back to the house.”
Lee watched him a little too long for Evan’s comfort. “Stop it. Something’s not right. We need to hurry.”
Evidently that finally sank in since his brother nodded once and walked toward the produce section that took up the entire left side of the store. Evan directed him to the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers while remaining alert to anything strange.
When they’d finished the fruit section of the list, he felt it again. It took tightening his grip on the handle of the cart to keep from turning in that direction. He swore someone was calling him, but he didn’t know who and couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. He felt his fangs lengthen even as saliva pooled in his mouth.
“Evan? Do you feel that?” Lee’s voice had turned husky and deepened.
“Yessss.” He couldn’t stop the hissing sound that slid between his sharper teeth.
“Fuck, brother. Is this the mating call?”
Evan nearly jerked his head off when he turned it to stare at Lee. “What? This is the call?”
“I think so. It feels like how Joseph and Jessup described it. I want to follow it and find her. I know it’s a female, but the scent doesn’t really tell me that. I just know it.”
“I don’t have that knowledge that it’s a female. I just feel a drawing that has me antsy, itching all over. I don’t trust this, Lee.” He didn’t trust anything or anyone not of his den these days. There was too much going on.
“I do. I want to find the scent. We don’t have to approach whoever it is yet. Let’s just find out who it is.” Lee looked him directly in the eyes. “It’s better to know our enemy’s face than to blindly fight.”
“You don’t see this as a potential enemy. You sense her as a mate. Don’t approach whoever it is, male or female. I mean it. I’ll protect you even from yourself, brother. We investigate then decide.” Evan wasn’t taking any chances.
“Agreed. I think you’re wrong, but once I see her and really get a good whiff of her scent, I’ll be able to find her anywhere later.”
That was what Evan was afraid of. He didn’t want his brother to go off by himself and end up in a trap. He’d have to make Lee promise to take him with him. Together they might have a chance to elude whatever danger there was, or at the very least, fight their way free if the need arose.
Evan resigned himself to searching out the owner of the strangely intoxicating scent. The compulsion had his insides quivering even as his mouth watered with the need to dominate.
“I’ll follow you, little brother.” Lee would know that Evan planned to watch their backs.
This isn’t right. There’s something wrong with this. I can’t put my finger on it.
He never expected a mating call to have his hackles raised as well as his balls heating up. The feelings were too conflicting.
“This way.” Lee strode off in the general direction of the scent, taking them to the middle of the store.
“She’s down this aisle.” Lee’s voice had lowered to a whisper as he leaned close to Evan.
If the female was a shifter, she’d hear them regardless. Would she be a shifter? The scent wasn’t quite right, but he did smell shifter. He had to make his mouth close when it widened to take in more of her scent. The pheromone that was all her entered his mouth and strengthened the way her essence smelled to him. He swore he could taste her. It was a flavor as smooth as warm blood of a fresh kill laced with the adrenaline of the chase. His cock hardened, arresting his lunge before he took off after her.
“Easy, Evan. I feel it, too, but your instincts were right. Something’s not quite true about what we’re sensing.” Lee eased in front of Evan. “Let’s push the cart down the aisle and look for something.”
“Chili beans. We’re supposed to get six cans of chili beans from the list.”
Lee shook his head and grinned. “You’re a fucking walking encyclopedia sometimes, brother. We’ll search for chili beans.”
Evan followed with the cart as Lee led the way. There were four people with carts in the aisle, all of them searching for their individual needs. Two were female and two were male. Since one of the females and one of the males seemed to be shopping together, he assumed it would be the other female reading the back of a can of something.
Evidently Lee came to the same conclusion since he walked over to where the chili beans happened to be directly in front of her. So much for not approaching her. Evan wanted to smack him on the head.
“You planning to make chili today, as well? It’s that crisp fall air we’ve got coming down.” Lee smiled at the pretty female.
He couldn’t help but notice how her long brown hair reminded him of sable. The way it changed colors when she moved mesmerized him for a few seconds. When she turned to look at his brother, Evan had to catch his breath at the molten chocolate richness of her eyes. He could imagine staring into them as they glazed over in lust.
He had to shake his head to clear it.
Focus, you fool. I can’t afford to let her draw me in with Lee so close to her. I need to be able to protect him if something happens. What if she’s a witch?
“That’s what I was thinking. I like chili when it’s cool outside. I guess it’ll get pretty darn cold here this winter.” The faint blush on her cheeks told him that she wasn’t used to flirting. Somehow that softened Evan’s initial belief that she was a threat.
Stop it! It could be a trap. I’ve got to stop letting her get to me.
“So you’re new here? I didn’t think I’d seen you around these parts before.” Lee continued drawing her out.
The faint whiff of uncertainty and maybe fear filled his nose. Why would she be afraid of Lee? Did she know he was a shifter? Had his brother’s eyes given him away? They’d been trained young to control the way their eyes could shine when they were out at night or feeling some intense emotion. Had Lee slipped?
She stepped back from Lee with two cans of beans in her hands. Evan thought she was going to run, but instead she dropped them in her cart and turned back with a shy smile.
“Hope your chili turns out to be good.”
“There you are, hon. I’ve been looking all over for you.” A big nasty-looking male approached her. Evan caught her instant unease as the male brushed up close to her.
“Charlie, you were supposed to wait in the car.” Her voice shook even as she seemed to ease away from the man, putting her closer to Lee.
“Got tired of waiting. Didn’t like leaving you in here unprotected. Never know when you might run into some of them vermin. They’re fucking everywhere, doll.”
Even from where Evan stood, he could smell the guy’s body odor and see the sweat beading his brow. The female tried to step away from the male, but he grabbed her upper arm in what had to be a bruising grip. Every instinct screamed at him to protect his mate, but he had no idea what was going on between her and the nasty male. Evidently his brother was dealing with the same conflicting emotions.
Lee merely nodded at the girl, lifting a brow as if asking if she was okay. She didn’t acknowledge them. Instead, she abruptly turned away and shoved at the cart, running over the male’s toes in the process.
“I need to get the hamburger meat for the chili.”
“Hey! You ran over my fucking toes. What’s wrong with you?”
“You were supposed to wait in the car. That’s what Father told you to do.”
Their voices faded as they rushed around the end of the shelves toward the meat coolers. Evan could have followed their voices but was more concerned with what Lee thought about the entire exchange.
“Brother?” Evan watched as Lee set the cans of chili beans into the cart.
“She’s our mate, but there’s something strange going on. I don’t like how that male shoved in on her or the way he talked about vermin. I’m sure that was his way of saying shifters. I would bet my last dollar he knows about shifters, which means she knows, as well.”
“I don’t like any of this, Evan. Let’s finish this and get back on the mountain. I want to talk to the others. Something is up, and I’m a little worried our mate is mixed up in it.” Lee dug the list out of his jeans pocket then hurried down the aisle, grabbing things as he went.
“I’m still not convinced she’s our mate. I think there’s something else going on, Lee. Don’t jump to conclusions until we know everything. Remember what happened to Levi and Aaron.”
“I’m not jumping to any conclusions, but I swear she’s our mate. Witchcraft might have blocked Levi’s mating call, but I don’t think this is the same thing, brother.” Lee pulled on the end of the cart. “Come on, where to next?”
* * * *
“Don’t ever do that to me again, Charlie. I’m going to tell Father how you’re getting too close to me and touching me when you get a chance. It’s disgusting. You’re my cousin, for goodness sakes. I don’t think he’ll be too happy about that.” Shay’s insides shook even as she attempted to por
tray complete confidence.
The man scared her just as much as he turned her stomach. Even her palms had grown sweaty when he’d shoved up next to her.
“You were taking too long. I’m ready to head back to the house.” Charlie’s whiny voice sounded like squealing breaks on an old Chevy truck.
“I’m supposed to be shopping and searching for shifters. You’re interfering with that. Father will really go crazy when he finds out that you interfered with that. You made so much of a scene that any shifter in the building would have heard you talking trash. Using the word vermin wouldn’t have fooled them.”
“You’re a bitch. You know that, don’t you? Hurry your ass up and get back to the car.” He stormed off, leaving a trail of stench behind him.
Shay had rushed Charlie away from the two handsome men in the aisle where she’d been trying to choose beans. She hadn’t wanted them to get too close to Charlie. She knew they were shifters, but there was something else about them that had her skin itching and her pussy tingling. Before Charlie had shown up, they’d had a nice easy conversation. Her nipples had hardened and ached. She’d never had that reaction around a shifter before.
Though she’d been forced to point out shifters to her father from time to time, Shay had never participated in their hunts or allowed them to use her in getting close to one or drawing them out after her. She refused to be part of their violence. Often it had earned her a solid beating, but she wasn’t backing down from that one line she’d managed to draw in the sand.
She’d wished many times over the years that she’d never revealed how she always knew when she was near a shifter. At her young age, it hadn’t seemed all that important. It was just something odd to share with her daddy who didn’t seem to think there was anything special about her. She’d garnered his interest all right. Now she felt trapped as he took advantage of her ability. She hated it. Hated that it was her only worth to him, and hated that she caused the deaths of so many others.
