The Truth in Love: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Virgo

by K. C. Stewart

  Inside the diner, she was happy when he ordered half the menu because she was starving. Not having a full meal in almost a week made her snippy, which probably explained why she was so crabby with everyone lately. Emilie ordered the other half of the menu and dared him with her eyes to say anything about it.

  Wise man, he didn't say a word. Well, almost.

  "I'll give you half of my bacon in exchange for half of your sausage."

  Emilie considered the deal. "Ok, but I also get one of your pancakes for one of my slices of French toast."

  Carter held out a hand. She shook it. The deal had been made.

  "So how is the leg this morning?" he asked, while their feast was being prepped.

  "Stiff but the swelling is down and the redness is gone."

  He nodded. "Your cheeks aren't flush anymore either. Fever officially gone?"

  "Broke last night."

  "Good," he said with a smile.

  Emilie had to turn away because she could no longer blame her flushed cheeks on a fever. When their food came, Carter didn't say much else. The silence was companionable and the food was perfect. Emilie ate everything and hadn't felt so delightfully full in a long time.

  Even on the way out, he had paid then walked her around the side of the truck. He helped her up without a word from either of them. As much as she hated to do it, she had to break this perfect silence because it was beginning to worry her.

  "So you suddenly realized that we have nothing more to say to each other?"

  Carter's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Not at all," he exclaimed. "You had said you weren't feeling social so I didn't want you to feel you had to be with me."

  "Oh." She had said that she just didn't expect him to listen.

  He was watching her. His eyes switching between the road and her face. Concern knotted up his brows. "Why don't I take you home. I'll go out and get you a bunch of staples for your kitchen and bring them back."

  "No, it's fine. We're already out."

  He shook his head and turned back the road toward their house. "But you have a headache."

  She did have a headache. It was a little alarming how he knew by looking at her that she wasn't feeling well.

  He laughed at the look on her face. "I'm a trained observer, Em. One just has to pay attention to see the signs. Most people don't pay enough attention and miss the obvious."

  Emilie would have to think on that for a while. There was more to that statement than face value. In the meantime, "And what's obvious about me?"

  He didn't answer right away. They pulled into the driveway and Emilie relaxed. Looks like it would be nap time for her. Unpacking would have to wait. Carter didn't turn off the truck but got out and came around to help her. This time when he helped her out, he didn't let go of her waist. Even as her feet touched the ground he kept hold of her.

  Since he wasn't moving, neither was she. Emilie kept her hands on his shoulders. From the outside, they looked like two kids at a middle school dance. Inside their little bubble, Emilie was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Carter was just watching her, a pleasant smile on his face. He seemed content to just stand there all day. When the wind blew and pushed a stray piece of hair into her face he lifted one hand from her waist to tuck it behind her ear.

  "Nothing is obvious about you, Emilie," he explained. Her eyes lifted, interested in where this was going. Carter was studying every tick, every blink, every twitch of a smile. She felt more naked now than she had yesterday. "That's why you are so fascinating to watch."

  Five

  Pay attention to the little details. They appreciate when someone takes the time to remember something little about them.

  Zodiacmind.com

  * * *

  Well, Dean should be happy. Emilie was out of the house, in the fresh air, walking down the street with actual people.

  Emilie took a deep breath and let it out with a smile. It was a forced smile but a smile nonetheless.

  She hated job searching. Hated it. Back home she had the perfect job. Emilie was a teacher and she worked from home. When schooling started to go virtual, she jumped on board. It was the best decision of her life. The learning environment online was different. The kids who attended had self-discipline, they had to without a ready-made schedule and bells telling them what to do next.

  What must her students be thinking right now? She hated to give it up but if Emilie contacted her school, then Bobby would find out about her and who knows what would happen next. If he thought real hard about what he had seen that day, then she could be in some serious shit.

  So instead she walked the streets of Westlin. No place better to start the search than in her own backyard, right?

  She sighed. Optimism just wasn't cutting it today.

  In between bouts of unpacking, Emilie had been scouring the job sites looking for work but this time of year was horrible for that kind of thing. They were in the middle of a school year. The only position available was her old one.

  Emile would need to find something else to do for now. Maybe in a few years she could go back and explain that it was all a misunderstanding.

  With a hot chocolate in her hand, Emilie tried to enjoy the fall day. Life here wasn't so bad, after all. Her brother was close by and now that he could stop by anytime he wanted, he did. It made her want to kill him at times-- like, say when she was in the bath trying to center herself and calm the worry that always seemed to be running rampant through her head, but right as she was settling in, her front door opened. After she found a job, she was going undercover and getting all copies of her keys back. And that included those from her nosey neighbor, Carter.

  Emilie had successfully avoided him for three days. Personally, she thought she deserved a gold star for that. Avoidance was a talent of hers.

  Twice she had seen him from her living room window pacing the porch deciding whether to knock or not. Since she read a lot, it was easy to keep the noise down in her apartment so he never knew if she was home. Even when he did knock, she didn't have to answer.

  It wasn't that she didn't like him. Carter was alluring. He had this genuine goodness about him. He cared about people. He was passionate about his job. And oh my, that uniform. Yesterday she got a glimpse of him on his way to work and her cheeks flushed. There was no doubt that she was attracted to him but at the moment, Emilie was rebuilding her life. Adding a guy to that was just one more thing to worry about.

  She was passing by a sandwich shop when someone called her name. It startled her since no one knew her here. Emilie looked behind her and found Carter walking towards her. That uniform she had just been thinking about was now staring her straight in the face. The tips of her ears turned red as he approached.

  "Good morning, Emilie," he said with a grin so big she wondered if it hurt.

  "Sergeant Bennett, it’s good to see you."

  The amused expression he liked to wear around her was back. Carter raised a brow at her and shook his head slightly. "We are doing formalities now? Must I remind you that I've seen you naked."

  Why did he always have to bring that up? Emilie's eyes bulged. She looked quickly around to judge the distance between them and the other people on the street to see if they could have heard him. When she grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the corner of the street to an alley, he was laughing.

  "Do you like embarrassing me or something," she asked still looking around.

  Carter grinned, big, wide, open. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the side of the building. "Kinda. If you were a cartoon you'd have steam coming out your ears right now. It's cute."

  Emilie pulled her eyes from those on the street to gape at him. He was serious. Carter actually thought her annoyed face was cute.

  "So what are you doing out on this fine day?" he asked completely ignoring the look she was giving him.

  "Looking for a job." Why was she telling him this? For that matter, why was she still talking to him? She needed to keep going,
there were twelve other businesses to look at before she headed home. Her leg was about shot. Walking in heels limited the amount of time she had before the pain started and she was limping and begging for a bath.

  "Which I need to get back to. Nice seeing you Carter." Emilie stepped around him and almost made it back to the street when he grabbed her arm and turned her.

  "I'm sorry," he said but he was still smiling like he found this whole thing funny. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. You can hit me if you like. I can tell that you want to. Your hand is twitching."

  Damn him but it was. Had this been Dean, she would have smacked him upside the head already. "It's called assaulting a police officer and I am not going to be cuffed and frisked because you baited me."

  "It was worth a try," he said with a wink. "How about I make it up to you?"

  "No thanks." Emilie began to walk away again but Carter was right there with her. He snagged her hand and rested it in the crook of his arm. Emilie looked at him like he was crazy. Her side eye was that of legend.

  "What are your qualifications?" When she didn't answer he added, "I know everyone in town. I can help."

  Doubtful.

  "Seriously, Emilie," he said pulling her to a stop at the curb just as a car ran the stop sign. "I can help."

  Emilie was too busy glaring at the kid, who probably still had his learner's permit and shouldn't have been driving without a parent or guardian, race down the street to notice that Carter was still at her side and looking at her, not the stupid kid, but her and the way she was gripping his arm. God, what was he, solid muscle? His bicep was hard under her hand. Emilie had to let go or risk having him bring up the whole naked thing again.

  "Aren't you going to ticket him?" He was a cop, right? Had she mistaken his uniform as a real one?

  Maybe he was a stripper.

  Uniform said cop, abs said stripper.

  Carter shrugged. "I know his mom and his alpha. He'll get worse from them than he would from me. Besides, I've got a pretty lady on my arm who needs some showin' around town."

  This man was going to give her a complex. She had to shut this down right now. "Seriously, Carter, you don't want to date me. I'm reclusive and weird around people. I much prefer a night home with a book than out at a bar. I'm a fastidious, independent, chronic worrier. Your attention is flattering but I'm not interested."

  He pulled her along, not saying anything as they crossed the street. Emilie wanted to pull away but his silence, plus the smirky smile on his lips, perked her curiosity.

  "Yes, you are," he said half a block later.

  "I am what?"

  "Interested."

  Her shoulders stiffened. "I am not."

  He laughed. "Yeah, you are."

  "Stop saying that!"

  She slipped her arm from his but Carter was right there to grab her hand and link their fingers. Emilie pulled to a stop, her arm outstretched since Carter wouldn't let go. He turned and walked back to her, his eyes happily drifting over the features of her face.

  "Darling," he began and her cheeks flushed. His eyes crinkled at the corners. "If you weren't interested, then your palm wouldn't be sweaty right now, your face wouldn't go red when I look at you and you wouldn't spy on me when I go to work from your window."

  "I..."

  "If you couldn't tell, I'm interested too." He touched her jaws and closed it. She had no words at the moment. This open chase was new for her and she didn't know how to react. "Now, let's go inside and see if Mr. Lasek has a job for you."

  Emilie looked at the building where they had stopped. He had brought her to the library. Her pulse fluttered. The man had brought her to the library. All she could do was gape at him.

  She was going to be in trouble if he kept this up.

  "Sergeant Bennett, can't say I've seen your face around these parts in some time," Mr. Lasek said, coming out of his office. It had been a while. Usually, he only came in here when he was studying for police testing.

  "Well, I am doing my civic duty by showing this newcomer around. Mr. Lasek, I'd like to introduce Ms. Emilie Williams."

  The man who looked like a scholarly Santa greeted Emilie with a nod. He was never one to touch if he could avoid it.

  "I know you've been looking for someone new since Cynthia retired."

  The content smile he wore fell from his face. Cynthia's absence was a sore subject for the old librarian. She had been with him here since he started at the library.

  "The old bat thinks she can just up and leave one day," he said, his hand fluttering in the air like an escaped bird. "No notice or anything. Just, 'Roy, today is my last day.' What am I supposed to do with that? None of the volunteers here can do her job and it's not like she had the decency to train anyone before she left for god knows what."

  Emilie glanced over to Carter, looking concerned. He held up his hand enough for her to see, asking her to just wait.

  "What is Cynthia doing now?" Carter asked.

  Roy pursed his lips. "Gardening. Quilting. Baking when she has a whim." Each word was spouted off as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

  "She's abandoned her post. Left us to the wolves."

  Carter snorted a laugh. Glancing over he saw Emilie hiding a smile.

  "Emilie, what Mr. Lasek is neglecting to mention is that Cynthia is his wife." Surprise lit up her face.

  "We worked together for fifty years and then she throws in the towel."

  Now that the truth had come out, her face softened as she listened to Roy complain. His retirement was coming up as well, but everyone knew he had planned on the both of them retiring at the same time. Poetry, he had always said. Their life together was pure poetry. They started as volunteers at the library on the same day back when they were fifteen. They had spent fifty years together making the library what it was today.

  "It just isn't the same without her here," Roy said, his voice echoing heartache. Everyone in town knew he bitched like this because he missed her.

  "Well, Emilie here was a teacher back in..." Carter looked to Emilie for assistance.

  The side eye she gave him said she knew what he was up to. But it worked anyway. "Malone, upstate. I taught virtually."

  As Roy and Emilie began a conversation on the benefits and drawbacks to virtual classrooms, Carter excused himself. He pulled out his phone even though he had no one to call. His leaving was purely so Emilie could dazzle Roy.

  Carter had just stepped away toward the front doors when his chest tightened painfully. He caught himself on a nearby chair as he leaned over, the heel of his hand rubbing his sternum. His breath got caught in his throat as he tried to breathe through the pain but breathing was difficult under his bulletproof vest.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Emilie's head snap his direction and then she was running over to him. "Are you ok?" she asked with a hand on his arm.

  He nodded. "Yeah. It's the pack bonds." He breathed through the pain as it came again. "Something happened."

  Damn. He hadn't felt anything like this since the summer when the alpha's girlfriend had been taken. They were all linked up and could sometimes feel strong emotions but that usually only happened during gatherings when they were high on the moon. The alpha's bond was strong, though. When he went off the charts, they all felt it.

  "How did you know?" he asked her.

  Since nothing was wrong with him, per say, she wasn't sure what she should be doing and held her arms against her body as she watched him. She was concerned, but out of her element. Miss Bear had not spent much time around wolves it seemed. They were basically a big family who were entirely too much in everyone's business.

  "Your energy changed."

  What the hell did that mean? Carter wanted to ask more but the aching was growing stronger in his chest. "I have to go find out what this is about." He looked back to Mr. Lasek who had busied himself with checking someone's books in. "You ok here?"

  A small smile tilted the corners of her mouth up
as she looked around, soaked in her surroundings. For a moment, he couldn't feel the pain anymore. Emilie's contentment took it all away. She looked like she belonged there. When she met his eyes again, the attraction she had been suffocating heated her eyes.

  "I'm going to be just fine." She stepped into him, raised on her toes and kissed his cheek. Emilie backed away before he could decide if he wanted to grab her and kiss her for real. The quirk of her mouth told him she knew just what he had been contemplating.

  He had to walk away. The gut wrenching pounding in his chest made his breath hard to find. As he left, he saw Mr. Lasek walk Emilie into the stacks for a tour.

  The call came when he was a block from the precinct.

  Chuck, a submissive wolf who owned a bar that catered to shifters over in Andora wasn't one for pleasantries. "Carter, we need you at the house."

  "I am on my way. Mind telling me why it feels like I'm having a heart attack?" The pack house was fifteen minutes from Westlin. Carter didn't get called in for much unless they needed muscle or security. Neither gave him warm fuzzies.

  "Shit," Chuck said blowing out a breath. "It's Lee. She was found this morning at home shifting back and forth. Now she's stuck. The sucker punch was a combo of Owen and Tyson going to her."

  "Fuck." He had just seen the doctor a few days ago. Carter had been blind to anything but his new, naked and bleeding tenant. Owen and Lee had once been an item but now just close friends. He still cared for her, though. Those three had grown up together and were as tight as could be. "Is she feral?"

  "Not yet. Owen and Tyson are going to try and rehabilitate her. Hopefully, it's not too late."

  And if it was...well, Carter didn't want to think what Lee's turning would do to the pack.