And, in my naïve idealism, I’d given up my own freedom for impeccable bloodlines and family honor. Not the wisest choice because now, at thirty-four, all I had was an eighty-hour work week, and a sign on my forehead proclaiming me the unofficial bankroller of a family of parasites.
I sat up and shrugged out of my jacket. She’d been here, in Chattington. Recently. I might even have run into her myself if I’d come a few weeks earlier. What would that have been like?
I was suddenly struck with another thought. There was a possibility that she was having marital troubles. Maybe she was even divorced. Was she?
I suddenly had to know. It couldn’t wait. I shot Brice a text: Is she married?
Then, I waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, after three minutes that seemed like five hours, I received his text back: Single.
Single. Muddy was single and had been in Chattington only weeks ago. I quickly and impulsively dialed my assistant. “Andrea, book me a room at a place called Muddy’s Corner Bed and Breakfast in Helen’s Corner, New Mexico.”
She stammered. “Muddy’s Corner—what was that, sir?”
“In Helen’s Corner, New Mexico. Have my pilot file flight plans to the closest airport and have a rental truck there for me to drive as soon as possible.”
“Sir, the GB merger is in two days.”
“Fuck.” I scrubbed my hands down my face. “Move it up to tomorrow. I’ll finish it early and then I want to be on my way to New Mexico.”
“Sir, the lawyers haven’t finished everything, yet.”
“Call them and tell them I’ll be back in the office by two tomorrow. They’ll be ready by then or I’ll be looking for a new firm. I want to be on a plane headed there by tomorrow evening, Andrea.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hung up and kicked off the rest of my clothes. For over a decade, I’d worked long days, sat in endless board meetings, doled out money to lazy, needy relatives like it was candy, and sacrificed any semblance of my own happiness all for my parents and the Millingham name. For a family I didn’t even like. It was time for me to think of me now.
I didn’t know if the events of the past could be reversed, or how, or if fate would give me a second chance. But, I did know one thing. It was time to face Muddy. Maybe it was crazy, maybe she’d shoot me down, but she’d made the first move by showing up here. The ball was in my court now.
5
Muddy
Tuesday was the weekly St. Anon (Shit talkers Anonymous) meeting. A tradition started in the 1800s by Helen Cartwright, the town founder, whereby the women of the town got together to… talk. It was rumored that at certain periods in our history, the women had been a little more mired in the world of enchantments and spells, but in modern times, it had only ever been talking and having fun together.
Helen had believed strongly in the bonds of female friendships and the power of women banding together. I had to give her credit. It seemed to work. Something about the town helped soothe old wounds. There was a special magic that enveloped us and called us women of Helen’s Corner together.
Tuesday night, we met down at Helen’s old homestead under the swaying branches of the massive weeping willow on a flat rock formation. After the meeting, I had the first rude awakening to what the future held for me.
Normally, after the meeting, those of us who were shifters, went for a run, but so many women had mated recently and wanted to head straight home to their mates, that the run was cancelled.
I was finally away from Laverne, Meredith, and the Flamingo Grannies. My head had been crowded with thoughts that I didn’t want for days. I had a buzz from being around women my own age, and I was dying to shift and run like we’d been doing after meetings for years.
I was vetoed, though. They had mates and they couldn’t wait to get home to them. I understood, but it sucked. I missed my friends and the way we used to be. I missed feeling like us. Things had been weird between us since returning home from Chattington. Maybe I was being paranoid, but it felt like my friends were treating me differently, almost like they were being extra gentle with me. Handling me with kid gloves.
Even as they were inching away to run home, they were all weirded out. They looked at each other oddly and they kept fucking smiling at me. I didn’t like it. It gave me the creeps.
There was nothing I could do, though. I waved them off and stripped. Standing naked after a St. Anon meeting usually made me feel amazing. The magic of the town flowed through me, invigorating me, and shifting felt like heaven. Instead of feeling great, though, I was sad and frustrated.
I realized I wasn’t alone and glanced back at Luna, who was silently standing next to the fence around Helen’s land, looking like she was trying to disappear. The little rabbit was as shy as they came and my lioness had wanted to toy with her on more than one occasion, but she was too sweet.
“Hey. Everything okay, Luna?”
She looked up at me and nodded. Her white blonde hair fell in her face and she blew it away with an exaggerated puff of breath. She shrugged. “Want to go for a run?”
I perked up. Then, I remembered that she’d found her mate recently. “Don’t you want to run home to your mate, too?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I want to ask more, but—”
“Let’s just run.”
I grinned. “Yeah.”
I liked the little bunny, even though she spent most of her time trying to blend into walls. I easily shifted into my lioness and stretched, arching my back high into the air and purring at the feeling. Maybe some of that magic was still lingering.
Luna shifted and became the cutest little fluffy bunny I’d ever seen. My lion yawned as I made sure to inform her that she wasn’t to make any attempt to eat Luna. She hated the strict rules I forced upon her, especially the one about not eating our friends.
We ran through the woods together, enjoying the moonlight and the freedom of the darkness. No one to report on a strange sighting of a female lion playing with an oversized bunny rabbit. And no one would observe the bunny rabbit winning a race against the lioness. How the hell she won, I’d never know.
It was fun and different. Normally, there was a large group of us, but it was cool hanging with just Luna. When we were tired, we shifted back and found a rock next to the waterfall to hang out on.
Luna, panting heavily, looked over at me and smiled. “You’re slow for a big cat.”
I frowned. “You’re cocky for something that could be mistaken for lunch.”
“You’d never catch me.”
“Hardy-har.” I rolled my eyes, even though I knew it was true. I grinned over at her. “This was fun.”
She pulled her knees in to her chest and hugged them. “Yeah, it was.”
“So, why aren’t you running home to your mate?” I saw her entire body tense and held up my hands. “Forget I asked. I’ve heard enough about mates from every other woman in this town tonight, anyway.”
“Good.”
We sat there in silence for a long while, both of us in our own heads. Luna picked at blades of grass growing up around the rock and scooped the shards into a little pile in front of her. I watched as she did it and let the rhythmic motion of it sooth me.
“I heard someone yelling about vibrators in your house last night.”
I choked on a surprised laugh. “Yeah. I’ve got a group of elderly women staying this week who are slightly on the other side of senile.”
“I can recommend some ergonomic options for them.”
I gave her a look. “What?”
She shrugged. “It’s what I do. I review sex toys.”
I sat up. “You…what? You…how did I not know that?”
“I don’t know. Come on. Let’s go. It’s getting cold.”
Neither of us were affected by the cold the same way normal people were. We were shifters. I got the feeling that Luna decided she’d shared enough for one night, and wanted to get going before so
mething else slipped out. I got up and we both shifted and made our way back into town at a lighter pace.
It was a much better night than I’d expected and I vowed to try to spend more time with Luna. I was glad to find a single friend, especially since my plan for my life was to remain single for the entirety of it. Yes, Luna was a nice surprise.
We parted ways behind my house and I watched her hop across the street and through a fucking cat door into her own house. I shifted, grabbed my clothes, and hurriedly dressed, shaking my head. She was an odd one, that was for sure.
I slipped inside and went about my usual check of each space downstairs. The dining room was in shambles from the latest Flamingo party, but it was a quick clean up. I could hear some of them, still awake in their rooms, laughing like a wild pack of hyenas. I stopped at the front desk and saw that Anna had left me a note.
Some big wig’s assistant was demanding a room. They were offering to pay four times what we charged. I hated rich people who thought they could toss their money around as leverage to get whatever they wanted. Like I’d give the boot to a group of grandmothers for a little extra cash. Pretentious assholes.
Tossing the note in the trash, I hurried up to my room before Laverne spotted me. I was tired. I wanted a hot bath, a long massage, and a soft bed. Since I didn’t have a personal masseuse, I’d settle for the bath and bed.
After crawling into bed, I made sure my alarm was set and then curled into my pillow. I should’ve been able to fall asleep right away, but my lioness was antsy. I stretched the other way and then lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling.
Things were changing. Helen’s Corner was changing. It was like there was an influx of mates arriving. I was on unsteady ground. It’d been me, my business, my friends and my mom for so long. Everything was all shaken up lately. My friends were settling down. Charlie and Axel were in newly mated bliss, Denny and Raif were trying to get pregnant, Carter, Alec and Jellybean were almost inseparable, Sonnie and Holt had a new baby. Even Mom was hooking up with Alec’s dad in the woods. Luna was a great reprieve, but I still felt like the odd woman out.
Worse, I knew I’d always be the odd woman out. That was the thought that kept me from sleeping. Knowing that my lioness would never have her mate, that I would never have my mate. We would spend the rest of our lives alone, while our friends grew their families and blossomed. Eventually, between date nights, carpools and little league, they’d be so busy I’d never see them.
I, however, would never know the joy brought by the devotion of a spouse, camaraderie of a partner, or the deep, abiding love of a mate. Well, I’d known it once, for a very fleeting moment, or so I’d though. I’d had the man of my dreams in my arms and had given him every inch of my heart. He’d been my all, my whole life for that brief moment, but it had all been a farce. A phony lie that had been cruelly ripped away.
Fat tears filled my eyes, and because I needed to, I let myself feel sorry for me a while.
6
Lang
Days had passed since my spontaneous urge to show up in Helen’s Corner. The plan had been foiled at every turn. I was annoyed as hell and ripping everyone around me a new one. Even Andrea had caught some of my ire. I’d made up my mind to see Muddy and I was really fucking annoyed that things were slowing me down.
The meeting with the lawyers had gone to hell and back. We’d had to draft a new proposal and, while normally I’d have axe the lot of them with no remorse, I knew it wasn’t a smart move. Hiring a new legal team and getting them up to speed would have only consumed more time. My private plane was being serviced. Then, the airport near Albuquerque that I was flying into wouldn’t okay the flight plan. It’d taken me threatening to buy out someone’s shares and shut the damn place down to get them to approve it.
I knew full well I was being irrational and using my name and money as influence, but what the hell good was working your fingers to the bone for over a decade of your life to earn it if it couldn’t buy you what you wanted? What I wanted was to see Muddy. And, every day, I grew more desperate.
It may have been an impulsive act to seek her out, but once the ball had been set in motion, it kept rolling, picking up speed. According to Brice, not only was she not married, she’d never been married.
I didn’t know the ins and outs of that, but to me the revelation held out a glimmer of hope. Maybe there was still a chance for us after all. Maybe, I could still find myself a slice of happiness in this world.
I tried to remember the last time I was truly happy. I thought hard about it. There had been moments, of course. My first successful merger, my first Ferrari—a 488 Spider convertible, earning my first billion. Yet, those were fleeting and somewhat hollow.
I imagined Muddy in the passenger’s seat of my Spider as I floored it. She’d have loved it, and I would have loved to have witnessed the exhilaration on her face. And there it was, the answer I was looking for. Nothing I’d experienced in the last ten years had been meaningful without her. The last time I had been truly happy was with Muddy.
She was what had been missing.
Fuck. I didn’t like to wait around, twiddling my thumbs. I wanted to get to her. My wolf was erratic with wild, pent-up energy. He could imagine her scent already. Wild pears. I always thought it was extraordinary for a big cat to smell like fruit.
Andrea hadn’t been able to get me a room at the B&B, but I wasn’t a man to let a little thing like that stop me. She’d even offered whoever she’d spoken to four times the normal room rate. No go. I had to give Muddy credit. She was running a tight ship. I’d gotten the room anyway.
Brice had found out that a group of elderly women calling themselves New Mexico Flamingo Grannies were staying at Muddy’s all week. I’d had him approach a couple of them who were more than willing to quietly check out of their shared room and head over to a luxury hotel in the nearby city of Smith. I, of course, payed for the cab fare, the hotel stay, and a pretty sizeable chunk of change as a “relocation fee”. The old girls were ruthless hustlers, that was certain, but I got my room.
I was well aware that I was acting like an obsessed maniac, but she was my mate, a fact I’d denied for so many years. Wasn’t obsession what mates were supposed to feel? Wasn’t it?
A shiver went through my body thinking like that. Muddy and I together hadn’t even been a possibility I’d allowed myself to consider. It had been too painful. But, now that I had considered it, I couldn’t let it go.
Helen’s Corner was in the middle of nowhere. I tried to guess what had led Muddy to such a random little part of the world, but there was no telling. The girl I remembered had been a home body. She hadn’t known Paris from Sheboygan, nor had she cared. I’d been devastated when I’d heard she’d left Virginia, but I’d never blamed her. At all. How she picked such a random hole-in-the wall was beyond me, though. Maybe it had been Deacon’s idea.
Finally, the woods opened up and I was in the middle of town, that fast. Just down Main Street, there it was, a three-story Victorian house oozing charm with a sign out front that read Muddy’s Corner Bed and Breakfast.
It also oozed the scent of Muddy. With the truck window down, all I could smell was wild pear, even parked outside the place. I didn’t know how I was supposed to go in and be able to focus enough to get up to my room. I was already rocking a massive boner and feeling the urge to shift down to my bones.
I looked up at the house and felt something inside me settle. I was supposed to be there. I didn’t know what it meant in the long run, but I knew that at that moment, I was where I needed to be. Near my mate.
I sat there like a teenage boy, unable to get control of my dick and feeling so hot and bothered that the idea of slipping into a cold shower to relieve the pressure was sounding better and better. But, to do that, I had to go inside.
I stepped out of the rental truck and looked around. Helen’s Corner was a strange little place. The street was lined with little shops and storefronts, different sizes, different sha
pes, different colors. From where I stood, I could see a flower shop, a flea market, a lingerie shop, a photography studio, and a bakery.
There was also an absurd number of females walking around. In fact, I hadn’t yet seen a man. A lineup of old ladies sat in rockers and folding chairs out in front of Muddy’s B&B. They all looked just slightly younger than the guy from Tales from the Crypt.
Fortunately, I had my bag to hold in front of my crotch area because every eye was staring at me from over the tops of half-glasses, and under brims of huge hats. There was one woman sitting in the middle who stood and looked me up and down. She wore a fedora and held a crystal encrusted cane. I met her eyes. “What are you looking at, boy?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not quite sure. Is crime so bad around these parts that Muddy had to hire security for the front porch?”
One of them with an especially vibrant shade of blue hair giggled and nudged the first one. “Look at that, Laverne. He thinks we’re bodyguards or something.”
The main one elbowed the second one in the boob and grunted. “He’s trying to charm us, Meredith. It ain’t gonna work. What do you want?”
I wanted to laugh, but I didn’t think it would go over well. “I have a room here.”
She puffed her chest out. “Oh, so you’re the hotshot who talked Betty and Marge into leaving so you could move in?”
I did laugh then. “I don’t know about hotshot, but I did reimburse them handsomely to relocate, yes. Those ladies drive a hard bargain.”
“Why’d you want to stay here so bad?”
I shrugged. “I’m told it’s the best place in town and I am a sucker for quality.”
She scowled at me for a few seconds and then nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. Muddy runs a great place here. Great place and a great gal. We can still drink her under the table, but she gives us a good run.”
Wolf Purebred (She-Shifters of Hell's Corner Book 5) Page 3
