by Maia Dylan
Sam had an ointment he needed to apply to his hands and neck. Most of the burns had healed and had not scarred, but the severe ones on the backs of his hands and the side of his neck meant that he would be scarred for life, despite having the same cool healing power as his brother. His mother had been anxious about how he would react to the scar that reached up to his jawline on the right side of his neck. It didn’t really bother him all that much. He had read somewhere that chicks liked scars, and he’d been no oil painting before the accident so, whatever.
“Yeah, bro,” AJ said down their link, “you know I got all the looks in our family. Mom and the dads saved the best for last and it is the masterpiece you see before you!”
Sam shot a mental raised middle finger back in response. Smart little shit. They were what his mom called Irish twins, born at either end of the same calendar year, but he was the oldest and he never let AJ forget it. They had lived and worked together most of their lives, and Sam couldn’t image his life without him.
“Well, it’s about time you lazy bastards got out of bed.” Ty strode into the room, dominance stamped on everything he did, especially the way he moved. The wide ass grin he sported did nothing to detract from that. Sam guessed that when you were the alpha, you couldn’t help put exude a permanent air of authority.
“Yeah, blame Chris. We could have been gone days ago. He’s just hoping some of our natural ability to charm women would rub off on him!” Sam threw their healer a grin.
This time Chris flipped them the bird.
“Now, now, Chris, don’t hate the player. Hate the game.”
Sam dodged the pillow Chris threw at him and got back to finishing his packing. “Ty, have you heard from Noah?”
Sam looked over his shoulder at Chris. Gone was the fun and happy Chris who had been bantering with them for days. Right now, Chris had a serious and pained expression that Sam had never seen before. Noah was Chris’s brother and was currently hunting a man who remained a threat to the alphas’ mate, and if he had closed himself off to Chris then that could mean one of only a few things. The problem was that most of them were bad and included the fact that Noah might have simply decided to go wolf and leave his human side behind.
Ty sighed and placed his hand on Chris’s shoulder. “The last time I heard from him was just over a week ago. He had lost Park’s scent but wanted to stay in the area as he was certain he would resurface.” Ty looked away, out the window, and gathered his thoughts before turning back to Chris. “When I reach for him down my alpha link he is more wolf than man, but, Chris, the man is definitely still there. We knew he had to make a choice, and he couldn’t do that here. He has promised me that he will talk with me and with you whenever he has come to a decision.”
Chris nodded and Ty squeezed his shoulder.
“Right, let’s get this show on the road. My woman has threatened me with no sex for three days if I don’t get you to Country Blue in a timely fashion, so move your hairy asses and let’s get the fuck out of here!” Ty turned on his heel and strode out of the room.
Looking at AJ they shared a huge grin. They were going home.
“You coming, Chris?” AJ asked as he shouldered his bag and moved to the door.
Chris had started to shake his head before AJ had even finished talking. “Nah, I’m not on duty but there are a few patients I can—”
“You, too, Chris. Move your ass!” Ty bellowed over his shoulder before he disappeared around a corner.
Chris gave a snort, then turned back to AJ. “Why, yes, AJ, I would love to come.”
All three of them left the room laughing. Yep, it was pretty damn good being a part of a pack.
* * * *
Cassadee loaded another box of bottled drinks into the fridge behind the huge cedar bar, thinking about how nice it would have been to have grown up as part of this pack. They had all gathered at the Country Blue to celebrate the return of two of their pack mates who had been in hospital for the past three days. How wonderful it must be to have so many people actually care about you.
When she had left the hospital herself a week ago, armed with determination and a to-do list she was committed to completing as soon as possible, she applied for work at the bar in town called the Country Blue. She had been interviewed by this slip of a woman called Lucy, who only came up to her shoulder. Cassadee liked her instantly. She was friendly and had a sense of humor that matched her own. Their interview soon turned into a comfortable conversation with lots of laughter, and before she knew it, she had been offered the job of bartender on the day shift.
Cassadee had whooped in joy and danced her happy dance that looked to most people like she was running on the spot but was in fact her mad dance skills, before giving Lucy a huge hug. When she pulled back, horrified that she had actually done that, she had been pleasantly surprised when Lucy grinned and hugged her again.
She loved the fact that she was able to work in a place that had such a positive vibe. People who actually treated other people with kindness was something distinctly foreign to her, but she soaked it up like a sponge. She hadn’t told anyone she was a shifter. She wasn’t sure how that would go down. She kept her barriers shored up at all times. She knew that Ty, the pack alpha had scanned her more than once, and was still wary of her, but she was positive that he didn’t know.
Cassadee had the ability to shield herself, and it would take someone a lot stronger psychically than Ty to breach that shield. She had no ill intent toward the pack. Hell no. It was the quite the opposite in fact! She wanted to be a part of this community, to work and live to make the pack stronger, but it was going to take a long time to build the trust that would be needed for them to allow her to do that.
She had worked hard over the past week to prove herself to Lucy and make it so she would never regret the fact that she had taken a chance on someone who had never actually worked in a bar a day in her life! She studied drink menus and techniques every night and worked to perfect them. Her mocktails, cocktails, and drink embellishments were proving to be very popular with the female population of the town.
“Cassadee, honey, could I grab a soda water and lime please?”
Cassadee turned with a smile. She had come to know the mate of the alpha pair quite well, too. Faith was the type of woman who called a spade a spade. There was no ambiguity to her and she never let he mates get away with anything. Any woman who could control men as dominant as Ty and Trent Jamieson was one she wanted to call friend.
“Sure! You guys need anything else over there? Looks like you have quite the party planned.” Cassadee nodded in the direction of the large tables that had been pulled together and the people already seated around it enjoying the food and the company.
“We’re all good at the moment, but once AJ and Sam arrive I’m sure we’ll want some beers to toast their return.”
Faith’s eyes sparkled with happiness. It was very clear that she was looking forward to these men returning. Hell, everyone she had talked to since she had started behind the bar never had a bad word to say about the owners of Country Blue. Some of the women she had served drinks, too, had quite a bit to share about the men! She felt she knew more about her new bosses than she wanted to and she hadn’t even met them yet.
Just as she was placing Faith’s drink on the bar in front of her the front doors swung wide open and Ty walked in with a huge grin. He was followed by three men, one of which she recognized as a doctor from the hospital, not the one who she saw for her regular top-ups but the one who had treated her in the emergency room the day she took a nose dive in the pharmacy.
She shifted her eyes to take in the two men who had walked in behind him and her heart shuddered. Oh mama! They were male perfection personified, and they had all the necessary physical attributes that made her want to rub up on them, hard. They each had broad shoulders with defined biceps that made a woman want to swoon, and their T-shirts teased against abs and chiseled chests that made a woman want to kneel down and beg!
So these men were the infamous AJ and Sam Carter. She could tell that the one on the right was AJ simply by the description the slew of woman who had sung his sexual praises had given her. Right down to the fall of blond hair that fell over his eyes in such a way it simply begged a woman to brush it aside, and the dimple on his right cheek.
So that made the hottie on the right Sam. He had the same dark blonde hair, but it was cut much shorter. His eyes were amber and were so intense and captivating that Cassadee felt her heart rate speed up a little. She noticed the scarring on his neck above his shirt and on his hands but thought little of them as they did nothing to disguise the fact that the man was gorgeous.
Just as she was about to shake her head to clear it and take the time to wipe away the drool that had no doubt formed on her chin, the wind blew through the open door. And on the wind came a scent that told her something she had long since given up hoping for. She had mates, and they had just walked in the door.
Chapter 2
Cassadee froze, inhaling deeply she took the scents of those who had just threw the door into her lungs, tasting them on her tongue. Her legs actually shook, and she needed to reach out a hand to brace herself against the bar. Oh fuck! Why now, and why here, and why the fuck did it have to be her new bosses? She closed her eyes and looked at her shields. They had weakened a little because of her shock, so she strengthened them again until they were as solid as they should be. Then she saw a thin bond spread out from her in a direction that turned dark. The mating bond was beginning to form.
Opening her eyes, she purposefully didn’t look at the men who had walked in the door. She couldn’t lust for what she couldn’t see, right? Unfortunately she couldn’t stop breathing, and each breath she took held their scents and drove her crazy. She felt her nipples hardening under her T-shirt, grabbed the button-down she had taken off, and covered herself.
Her pussy clenched, and she flooded her panties with hot liquid. She didn’t know what the hell she would do to cover the scent of her arousal but hoped that the smells in the bar and the barbeque being prepared for the lunch rush would mask it. Christ, what was she going to do when they recognized that she was their fated one? They would be getting her scent soon, and then the Quickening would come.
She dreaded and longed for that moment all at the same time. She longed for it because it would mean that she was wanted, that there were at least two people in this world she could rely on, and that they would want nothing more in life than to keep her safe and happy. She would finally have a place where she would belong and have someone to show her what it was like to be loved and teach her how to love.
She dreaded it at the same time because it would force her to tell the pack about who and what she was. She would need to share her secrets, and that could change how they all felt about her, could potentially change how her mates saw her. She hadn’t had the time she wanted to show them who she was. Was she willing to take that risk?
Looking back at the men who had started to walk into the bar to the raucous cheering of the people around the table waiting to welcome them home, she had her answer. The benefits far outweighed the risk. These two men had been fated to join with her, and there was no doubting fate. Everything she had ever wanted but had thought was beyond her reach was right in front of her.
Any second now they would scent her, and just like it had with her, it would hit them hard and fast. The Quickening would drive them to look for the one woman who would complete them. They would search the bar, and as soon as they saw her, the connection would be completed and they would come for her. Nothing would stand in their way until they had her between them.
Her heart racing and her blood thickening with lust and need, Cassadee stood, small smile on her face, and waited for her men. They stopped suddenly halfway across the restaurant. They looked at each other, and Cassadee sensed that they were talking with each other psychically. She had no doubt that they were talking about the Quickening. Probably shocked and exhilarated that it had happened to them, finally had happened to them, and that their fated one was here. She was here.
They turned their eyes in her direction, and Cassadee was caught by how beautiful they were the color of pure dark American honey. She saw interest flicker in both, and she knew the moment had arrived. Taking a deep breath she waited for her future to walk across the room to her.
Apparently, though, in her case, the Fates had fucked her over as surely as her brother and her father had. Her mates didn’t come to her at all. Nope, they turned around on the spot, looking into every inch of their bar, and then AJ shouted, “Damn it’s good to be home!” Everyone but her cheered and hollered. Then they walked to their friends and were engulfed in hugs and backslaps.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Cassadee murmured. Her heart ached, and the burning feeling of embarrassment and hurt had her turning from the room to walk back to the staff quarters, calling to Heath, the other bartender, that she was going for her break. He nodded in her direction with a quizzical look on his face, and she knew he was taken aback because he usually had to strong-arm her into taking a break.
But she needed a few minutes to herself to mourn something that she had thought was hers for a few brief moments before the cruel reality of what the Fates actually had in store for her hit. She didn’t know it was possible to feel so much loss for something she had never even really had, but she did. She stood looking out the large window of the break room, watching the breeze move the branches of the trees in a memorizing dance.
She could do this. Hell, she was Cassadee Shaw, and she had survived worse. She had lived through more heartbreak than this and had come out the other side of it stronger and better for it. This would be no different. She kept telling herself that as she watched a single tear slide down the cheek of her reflection in the window.
AJ sensed something was wrong. He had an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he hadn’t a fucking clue what it was trying to tell him. He turned to look at Sam beside him and could tell he was as unsettled as he was. His eyes kept casting around the bar as if searching for something.
“What is it?” AJ sent down their link.
Sam remained silent for a full thirty seconds as he continued to look around the room. “I’m not sure. There’s something here, something out of the ordinary and it certainly wasn’t here before we left, but it’s here now.” Sam stopped looking around and looked straight at AJ. “Put whatever it is, my wolf and my entire being is telling me it’s mine and we want it. What the fuck do you make of that?”
AJ gave a mental shrug. “No clue, bro. But I feel the same damn way.” AJ felt something hit him in the chest, and when he turned back to the table of friends and family who had come out to welcome him home, he saw that Faith had thrown a chip at him and was sitting there with a mischievous grin.
“Well, are you going to tell me what’s got you and your brother all wound up?”
Their alphas mate was a nosey little thing! “Nothing, Faith. It’s just so damn good to be home.” AJ grinned at her. His grin that got wider when she narrowed her eyes at him. She hated not knowing everything that was going on. She needed to know what everyone was doing or what secrets they may have more than anyone else he had ever met.
“Is it a woman?”
Faith’s eyes shone with hope and AJ and Ty groaned at the same time. Faith was happily mated to their alphas, and in a week’s time, they would be standing up for their cousins at their Binding Ceremony to Lucy, but that wasn’t enough for her. She was a natural-born matchmaker and she wanted to see all of the unmated pack members married off to their respective mates as soon as possible.
“Damn it, woman,” Ty growled and leaned over to bite her neck, which made her giggle and squirm against him. “Would you stop with the matchmaking or at least wait until they’ve had five minutes to get settled? You haven’t finished getting Lucy’s ceremony all frilled up and shit! You don’t have time to try to find AJ and Sam a mate at the sa
me damn time.”
“Now, baby”—Faith turned into Ty and melted into him, and AJ could feel the heat coming off the two—“you of all people should know how great I am at multitasking.”
A shit-eating grin split Ty’s face, and AJ looked away as the two began to kiss each other like they weren’t at a table in a room full of people. Trent sat on the other side of her looking on with affection and heat.
A thought suddenly hit AJ. “Do you think it’s something Lucy’s done in our absence?”
Sam turned toward to where their service manager was wrapped around their cousins sipping at one of their beers. “Hey, Miss Lucy!”
She turned and grinned in their direction. They had only known her a short while, but she had come to mean a lot to them. The sister they had never had and the perfect mate for their cousins.
“Yeah?”
“Bring us up to speed with the Country Blue. It’s looking great in here!” AJ watched as pleasure and pride flooded her face at their words. Damn, she had no idea how good she was at her job and how damn lucky they were to have her. Both Brendan and Cody placed a hand on their mate, as if drawn to her happiness and joy. Lucky bastards.
“It’s been going really well! I took it upon myself to fill those vacancies you were having difficulty filling with people and retaining them for longer than three days. I—”
“That”—Faith interrupted, and AJ turned to look at her—“may have had something to do with you hiring a string of skanks who were only after a husband as opposed to someone actually good at their job.”
The grin she gave them practically dripping in sugar. AJ narrowed his eyes. He would have loved to refute that, but he wasn’t sure it wasn’t true! He couldn’t remember a female staff member they had hired in recent months who hadn’t made a pass at him or Sam or, in many cases, both!
Choosing to ignore the comment he turned to look pointedly at Lucy, who was currently giggling like crazy. Then she cleared her throat when she caught his eye and continued, her violet eyes flashing with humor. “So anyway, one of the people I hired has added a whole range of cocktails and mocktails to our menu that is bringing a different clientele into the place. And they’re coming in after work to kick back and relax. My research is showing that some stay for dinner and on the weekend most stay for the live entertainment if it’s good.”
