The Shifter's Gift

by Haley Weir

  “That’s really sweet,” she cooed.

  They sat in a booth, and he ordered a bottle of wine for them. He wanted to impress her again.

  He sipped on his wine and looked over the menu. “So, my suggestions are the Angus cheddar burger with sweet potato fries, the filet mignon, the salmon, or the T-bone.” He glanced up at her. She was watching him drink his wine. She slid her tongue over her lip, and it made him want to taste her mouth.

  “Those sound really good. Maybe I’ll go with the burger and sweet potato fries. So, how did your meetings go? You didn’t fall asleep, did you?”

  Mason closed his menu and set the wine glass down. “The meetings were...informative. I didn’t fall asleep, thankfully. There were a few times when I thought about nodding off, but I stopped myself. How did your day go? Anything exciting happen?”

  She licked her lips again, nervously this time. “It was okay. Nothing exciting happened. Just...” she shrugged. “Yaknow. Did stuff.” Mason didn’t need his bear to recognize her lie, and the pain in her voice.

  “Are you sure, Ava? You seem upset…distracted,” he stammered. Maybe the particulars of her life were none of his business, but he cared how she was doing.

  Her mouth dropped open, closed, and opened again quickly. “N-no, I mean, yes, I’m sure,” she said, looking down at the menu, shaking her head. “Sorry. I don’t know if I should talk about it. I don’t want to be a downer. You shouldn’t have to listen to my problems.”

  “What? No. I don’t like seeing you sad. You can tell me anything,” he urged.

  Ava met his gaze briefly. “Okay, I just… really had a bad day. Things have been tough recently. I was laid off from my job. I’ve been trying to find a new one. I’ve lost track of how many applications I’ve submitted. Nothing has panned out. I even had an interview at the dating agency when we met, but I haven’t heard back from them. I was almost positive that I’d get the position. They really seemed to like me.” Tears welled in her eyes, even though she was trying hard to fight them. “I’m terrified because I’m going to lose everything if I don’t find something soon. Bill collectors keep calling, and I don’t have anything to give them. It just feels like I’m…” she shook her head, and forced herself to stop rambling. “Sorry,” she sniffled. “I didn’t mean to give you my sob story.”

  He placed his hand on hers. Guilt kicked him square in the gut. Would Ava be in this position if he hadn’t screwed up her chances with the dating agency? Would she free from some of the burden weighing on her? He didn’t know how to make things right, but he knew he needed to tell her the truth.

  “No, it’s fine. I’m sorry you’re going through that. I truly am.” He dropped his gaze to the table. He couldn’t look her in the eyes while he described his betrayal. “I have to tell you something. Before I go on, I want you to know that I had no idea you were in this situation. I never meant to cause further stress for you. But when I went in for my interview at the dating agency, they asked me what kind of woman I’d like to be matched with. From the moment I bumped into you in the hallway, I wanted you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. We had such a strong, instant connection. I wanted to be matched with you. When they told me that you were there on a job interview, I didn’t care. They said that employees are forbidden from dating clients, so I made a deal with the manager there. I offered to pay triple their normal rate so that she wouldn’t hire you. She said she would keep things under wraps if I paid the extra portion directly to her.”

  Ava jerked her hand away from his. Her eyes were wide, horrorstricken. “Y-you did what?”

  “The woman put you into the system. She didn’t think there’d be a problem, and things went really well on our first date. I’m so sorry.” He hated himself for causing her so much pain. He had no idea how much she was counting on the job. “I promise I’ll give them a call tomorrow and try to take it back. I—”

  She stood up, grabbing her purse from the booth. “Please don’t do me any favors. If you want to talk with them, that’s on you. I... just…how could you do something like that? Play with a stranger’s life? Their career?” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say to you,” she seethed. Without another word, she walked toward the front door of the restaurant.

  He tossed enough money on the table to cover the bottle of wine and a sizable tip, and he strode after her. He was much faster than her, so he caught up quickly. “Wait, Ava. Please. Hear me out. I’m sorry for hurting you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” He grabbed her elbow, trying to get her to face him.

  She jerked her arm away, but he had a firm grip. He didn’t want to let her go. “What you can do is let me go and leave me alone. That’s what you can do.” Her cheeks were damp with tears. She looked like she never wanted to see him again.

  Mason flinched and released her arm. He watched her walk the whole way back to her rundown car, and peel away. He shook his head, unable to believe that he managed to ruin the one good thing he had going on in his life. The fact he’d lose his job and his status in the pack wasn’t what hurt most—although that wasn’t far from his mind. He started to truly believe that Ava could be the one for him.

  He walked back to his SUV in despair. Tomorrow, he would give Henrietta Douglas a call. If they wanted to keep him on as a client, she needed to be reasonable. He would fix what he’d done. He couldn’t just stand back and let Ava suffer for his selfishness. The look in Ava’s eyes haunted him, and he placed his forehead against the steering wheel, fully taking in how badly he screwed up.

  After a few moments, Mason drove to a nearby forest where his bear could run wild. He needed the freedom and to burn off his anger at how stupid he’d been.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ava was absolutely heartbroken. How could Mason do such a thing? She was confused when she hadn’t received a call from Price Dating Agency, but now things were starting to make more sense. How had her name gotten into their system for a date? Why did she get paired up with Mason? And the woman who called her...Isabella? She hadn’t sounded happy. The call hadn’t seemed right at the time.

  She pulled onto her street. In front of her home, she spotted two men with a tow truck. A feeling of dread slithered through her. Part of her wanted to drive past, but she knew that wouldn’t solve anything. They would just be back the next day. If she could tell them just how terrible her day had been, maybe they would show some leniency? Ultimately, Ava knew they had a job to do, and there was no way she could talk herself out of this predicament.

  She parked in her small driveway and sat in her car for a moment, realizing that she had truly hit rock bottom. So many things were going wrong, and she felt more than ever that she was cursed. It just wasn’t fair. Still, she needed to get ahold of herself and face this situation.

  A knock on her window startled her, and Ava looked up to see one of the men tip his ball cap to her and give a signal to roll down her window. She did, and wiped away a tear.

  “Hello, ma’am. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m here to repossess your vehicle. I’ll leave you information on how you can settle up with the loan company and get your car back. It’s nothing personal, you know.” He leaned down a little. “If you’d like, you can take your belongings from the car quickly.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, to beg and plead with him, but no words came out. She simply nodded, collected her things, and got out of car.

  She looked over at her neighbors’ house, hoping that they were eating dinner or watching Wheel of Fortune inside. But the elderly couple was sitting on their porch watching what was going on as they talked. The two of them waved at her. Nausea roiled in her stomach. This was the last thing she needed. Of course her misery was a spectacle.

  But today, she was way past the point of caring about their opinion. She sat on the steps as the tow truck men loaded up her car. The man who knocked on her window discussed the procedure for getting her vehicle back. Then they drove away with
her car in tow.

  She sat there, letting the tears fall down her face. She didn’t care who saw them. What was she supposed to do now? What could she do? Even if Mason decided to call the dating agency and talked them into hiring her, she had no transportation. She didn’t have the money to take a cab or public transportation. She was well and truly screwed.

  The pain in her chest radiated when she thought about Mason’s role in her unemployment. He talked with someone at the dating agency and convinced them not to hire her. Had they struggled with the decision, or where they too focused on pocketing some extra cash that they didn’t care what happened to Ava?

  Henrietta was in charge of hiring. Maybe if Ava called her, things could be straightened out. The woman had seemed very reasonable and caring when they’d talked both on the phone and in person. She felt like someone Ava felt she could trust. Did she know about what Mason had done? But Henrietta was the person in charge of hiring! She reported directly to Ms. Prince when it came to fielding potential new employees. Mason said he made a deal with a manager.

  The brunt of her anger moved from Mason to Henrietta. She stood and brushed off the back of her sundress, grabbed her things, and went inside. The show was over. Her neighbors would have to find someone else to snoop on.

  She headed straight for her bedroom, stripping off her sundress as she walked and climbed into bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. She heard her phone vibrate, but there wasn’t anyone she wanted to talk to right now. If Mason was texting her, he could take a hint and leave her alone.

  Tomorrow would be a new day. She would return to the job search and try to figure out how to scrounge up the money to get her car back. For now, she needed to just curl up in her blankets where it felt safe and weep.

  Life wasn’t playing fair. And right now, she had no idea where to even begin climbing out of the hole she’d found herself in.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mason tapped his pen on the glass top of his desk. He looked at the time on his watch, and checked his phone again. He hadn’t heard from Ava since yesterday. He understood that she needed space, but he sincerely wanted a chance to make things right.

  He would call the Prince Dating Agency today, and get in contact with Ms. Douglas. He tried calling earlier, but apparently, Henrietta had been with someone at that time. She would give him a call back soon, or so the receptionist said. That was a couple of hours ago. Maybe speaking over the phone wasn’t the way to go about this, and he needed to confront her in person. She wouldn’t be able to ignore his calls then. He stood up, reaching for her jacket when his phone rang.

  “Mason Sinclair speaking,” he answered.

  “Mr. Sinclair, it’s a surprise hearing from you so soon,” Henrietta said calmly. “Have things been going well with you and Ms. Daniels?”

  “Actually, that’s why I’m calling. I want to undo our deal. You can keep the money. It was a mistake to deny Ms. Daniels the opportunity to work for your company. I was greedy, and I shouldn’t have manipulated the situation.” He sat back down in his chair. “You should hire Ms. Daniels. You said that she was a highly talented person that your company needed to have.”

  Henrietta sighed into the phone. “Mr. Sinclair, the deal is done. You got what you wanted. I can’t take back what has already been done.”

  “And why is that?” he growled. “You seemed eager to hire Ms. Daniels before. What changed?”

  “The rules have already been broken. Ms. Prince has seen other applications, and I’ve explained that Ms. Daniels found another position. Besides, we have hired someone else to fill the position.” She cleared her throat. “If this gets out, I could lose my job. Perhaps you should have thought about what Ms. Daniels might be going through before you decided to do what you did. This is on you.”

  Anger boiled Mason’s blood. She was right, but it wasn’t just on him. What they’d done was a two-way street. Perhaps the situation should come to light. Ms. Price should know how little convincing it took for her employees to make backhanded deals with clients.

  “And what position did Ms. Daniels apply for?” he asked.

  “What are you going to do? Hire her yourself? If she knows the truth, then it’s doubtful she’ll want anything to do with you,” she huffed at him. “Since you’re so curious, she applied for a marketing department position. With her experience, she was definitely overqualified, but these are the things you’ll do when you’re desperate, I suppose. Anyway, good-bye, Mr. Sinclair. Please contact your dating consultant next time you need to speak with us here at Prince Dating Agency.” Without another word, she hung up the phone.

  Mason squeezed the phone, hearing it crack slightly under his grip before setting it down. Henrietta’s words bothered him. Ava hadn’t called or texted. Even if he did offer her a job, she’d probably turn him down. He could always hand the task off to his human resources department, but if she found out that he had a hand in getting her hired, things would only get worse.

  He looked at the open Marketing positions at his company. They’d been looking for a senior director of marketing for some time now, but none of the applicants caught the eye of upper management. He looked at the empty desk outside the window of his office. He hadn’t found a new executive administrative assistant yet either, but he doubted she wanted such an entry-level position with her experience.

  He couldn’t just sit back and ignore his wrongdoing, especially when the need for her skillset was clearly there. He headed down to human resources, talked with them about the positions, and had them write up an offer letter with a generous hiring bonus, if she chose to accept the job.

  He contacted a friend and fellow pack member who worked as a private investigator. “Hey, Alec. It’s been awhile, and I know that’s my fault. But can I ask a favor of you?”

  “Sure you can, Mason. Do I get to ask one back eventually?” Alec chuckled. “What’s the favor?”

  “I need to get in touch with a woman I met named Ava Daniels. I’d really appreciate it if you could find out her address for me?” He needed to talk with Ava directly. She had to know how sorry he was.

  “Hmm… Is this connected to what I’ve heard through the grapevine?” Alec asked, humor still warming his tone.

  What could he possibly have heard? How much of a screw up he was? He was going to do whatever he could to work things out with Ava, but if that didn’t happen…he wasn’t sure what he would do. He’d likely be handed some lower position within the company, neatly tucked away so his father wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. His jaw hurt from clenching his teeth.

  “Not sure what you’re talking about, buddy.” There. That was the truth.

  “Don’t play coy. You know. I’ve heard you have a mysterious lady now. Your brother said you’re dating again. Let me guess. You have a big surprise planned, and you’re too scared to ask her for her address?”

  “Right. I’ve gone out on a couple dates with her. I have something special for her, and you’re right, I’m too scared to ask.” He knew Alec would be able to sense if Mason were lying, so he kept things vague. “When do you think you’ll be able to look up her address for me?”

  Alec flipped through a few pages on his desk. “Ava Daniels, was it? I’m working on something right now, but I’ll get back to you with her address in about an hour or so. Does that sound all right?”

  Mason still had a few hours of work left to complete, so an hour was fine with him. “Yes, thank you, Alec. Maybe we can get together at the yacht over the weekend? Toss back a few beers?”

  Alec chuckled. “Hmm…that does sound like a fair trade to me. I’ll let you buy the beer. You always pick out the good stuff.”

  After they said their goodbyes, Mason felt some of the tension radiating through his body start to evaporate. He smirked; relieved at least something was going right. Things at work went well for Mason throughout the rest of the day. Before grabbing some lunch, Mason popped into Liam’s office to chat.

  “So, how did
things go last night with your new girlfriend? I told you to give the dating agency a shot.” Liam leaned forward, and waggled his eyebrows.

  Mason shook his head. “Come on. Liam, let’s not talk about that now. We’re at work. We should focus on work.” Besides, he knew he couldn’t lie to his brother. If Liam spread the word to their dad, it would be the beginning of the end for him. His father could decide to just cut him loose and disown Mason.

  “You should open up to me, big brother.” Liam looked around conspiratorially. “Last time I heard, we’re in charge of this company. I think it’d be okay if we talked about your personal life for a second. It’s not like we’re going to get fired,” He gave Mason a goofy grin.

  “I know it’s okay to talk about our personal lives occasionally, but I’m not ready to discuss this with you. Did you need my notes about the fourth quarter plans?” He stood up, looking briefly at his phone—nothing yet from Alec—before returning his attention back to his brother. “I’ll talk to you later tonight.” He turned away from Liam, but waited for his brother’s response.

  “No, I’m all good. I think that’s about it.” He sighed. “I know you’re probably not comfortable talking about this kind of thing, especially with Dad being so hard on you. Just know that if you need to talk with someone, I’m here, you know? But later tonight isn’t good. I’m going to be spending the night at my girlfriend’s house. We’re going to watch that new Netflix movie with Paul Rudd. Maybe tomorrow?”

  Mason turned back to his brother and nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate it. We’ll catch up soon. Have fun tonight.” He waved to Liam and headed back to his office, and felt his phone buzz when he closed the door. Alec sent him the address.

  Determined not to waste any more time, he headed out to his SUV. The drive to Ava’s house was fairly long, and he was starting to wonder if he was going in the right direction. The houses in this area weren’t the greatest, but from what Henrietta said about Ava, and what Ava said herself, it seemed like she was going through a rough patch.