Fated Mate

by Juniper Hart

  She scaled the nine-foot fence easily, her athletic body sliding over stone support pillars, and she landed on her feet with ease. Scampering up the cobblestone drive, she quickly discovered that the front door was locked.

  This is so stupid. I should have called Kyle instead of coming over here by myself, she thought angrily, but she hadn’t wanted to tell her boss she had done something so stupid on her first day. Not when they had gotten off to such a rocky start.

  She remembered there was an open window around the back in the dining room and quickly she felt her way around the house and toward the opening. Exhaling with relief when she found the window still open, she popped out the screen and climbed through, her hands up to guide herself along the walls.

  After what felt like an eternity, she made her way to the kitchen and found a floodlight, flipping it on to look around. It seemed like a completely different place than what it had been in the morning, an eerie glow emanating from the moon into the bay windows of the kitchen.

  Her purse sat untouched on the counter, and Amy sighed in relief and went to pick it up, her eyes peeling over the intricate and expensive work being done in the kitchen.

  It felt surreal, being in a house that size and worth so much money. Amy was suddenly in no rush to leave, turning to examine the place. She set her purse back down on the granite kitchen island and trailed her fingers along the stone.

  What a beautiful house. I wonder what it would be like to live in something like this, she thought.

  Her eyes flicked out toward the backyard overlooking the ravine, and her heart skipped a beat as movement caught her eyes—coming up from the treeline was a lumbering animal, down on all fours and walking very slowly.

  The reflection of the rising moon across the glass made it difficult to see, but Amy was sure it was a bear.

  Have you absolutely lost your mind? Amy scolded herself. There are no bears in Toledo! It’s just… a trick of the light.

  She stepped closer to the panes, staring into the near blackness, and her heart leapt into her throat.

  The animal was only a few feet away, looking directly at her.

  Amy gasped as a set of black eyes shone back at her. It was definitely a bear.

  She jumped back, a cold sweat breaking out under her arms as she fumbled for her purse.

  I should call the police. That thing could be dangerous, she thought, trying to dig through her purse for her phone with shaky fingers. Her hand closed around the device, but before she could dial, a voice shot out through the kitchen.

  “What are you doing in here?”

  Amy yelped, dropping the phone as she whirled to look at the speaker.

  “There’s a bear!” she blurted out, unable to say anything else.

  “What are you doing in here?” the voice demanded again. The person it belonged to stepped toward her, and a spark of electricity jolted through Amy’s veins as she stared at the man now standing in front of her. He took another step forward, into the light of the floodlight.

  His hair was thick and dark blonde, stylishly cut away from a broad-structured face and high cheekbones. He had the form of a linebacker, wide shoulders, broad hips, and he seemed to tower over Amy. His dark eyes pierced into her.

  Almost as if someone had twisted her head, she turned to look out into the backyard for the bear, but it was gone.

  She turned back to the man, and a little voice inside her head seemed to whisper into her ear, The bear’s standing right here in the kitchen with you, can’t you see it?

  Amy was beginning to truly feel like she was losing her mind. Still, she couldn’t help the strange sensation of déjà vu as she stared at the man.

  “I—I work here,” she replied once she found her voice. “What are you doing here?”

  The man raised an eyebrow at her. “You work in an unfinished house without any electricity at night? I find that hard to believe.”

  “Who are you?” she asked instead, nervously as she reached to retrieve her fallen cell from the phone. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’re in my house,” he answered gruffly.

  “This is your place?” she repeated. She knew she was coming across as foolish, but it was as if she had no control over the words she was speaking.

  “There are motion sensors everywhere in this house,” the man informed her. “And you tripped one as soon as you hopped the fence. So, before I call the police and have you arrested for trespassing, who are you?”

  “My name is Amy,” she told him quickly. “I really am a worker on the construction crew. I left my purse here, see?” She showed him her purse.

  He eyed her speculatively, his eyes glittering like onyx against the intense light at his back.

  “I-I’m sorry,” Amy blurted. “I didn’t want to trouble Kyle, so I thought I would just sneak back in here and get it myself.”

  The man’s eyes continued to study her face, and Amy felt herself growing hot under his scrutiny.

  “If I had known there were sensors, I would have called him,” she rambled on. “I just didn’t want to cause any problems. This—this was my first day. If you have cameras, you can see that I was here in the afternoon, and you’ll see I left my purse.”

  He still did not speak, and Amy grew more uncomfortable by the second.

  “It won’t happen again!” she hurriedly added, her eyes growing wide as she thought about what Kyle was going to do when he found out. Would the man call him and tell him what she had done?

  Two customer complaints on my first day, Amy thought woefully. I’m getting fired for sure… if I don’t get arrested first.

  Her heart hammered in her chest, and she chewed on her lower lip to keep from rambling on any further. The silence was so thick, it threatened to choke her, and she almost broke it again—probably with another stupid couple of words—when he finally spoke.

  “You may go,” the man informed her.

  Amy was sure she had never moved so fast in her life, snatching up her handbag and bolting out the front door. She ran toward the secure gate and glanced over her shoulder, as if expecting either the man or the bear to be at her back.

  Neither of them were, but as she mounted the wall to get out of the property, Amy could not shake the sense that she was being watched.

  Amy tried to quietly sneak back into her house, but when she returned home, her brother was still watching TV in the front room.

  “Mom’s flipping out!” he called to her as she tried to make her way into the back hallway.

  “Why?”

  “Because she called and you weren’t home.”

  Amy held back a groan. “What did you tell her?”

  “That you were still at work,” Joel said. “You better call her.”

  Amy knew her brother was right. She should call her mother back and tell her that she was okay, make up some story about staying late at work or something, but all she wanted was to rest after the day she’d had.

  “I just want to go to bed,” she moaned, resisting the urge to bang her head against the wall in front of her.

  Joel let out a soft sigh. “I’ll call and tell her you’re home,” he assured her, and Amy was flooded by a sense of gratitude.

  “I owe you big time,” she told him. “Thank you, Joel.”

  “I’ll collect,” he vowed, and she grinned at him.

  After a quick shower, she retreated to her bedroom. Her mind inevitably went back to the millionaire who had caught her in his house.

  Is he going to tell Kyle about me being there? Of course he is. He has no reason not to, she thought, lying down on her bed. She closed her eyes, and his ruggedly attractive face instantly popped into her mind.

  He’s not how I envisioned him at all, Amy thought, a flush rising through her. Definitely not like Professor Frink.

  Her hands were resting on her stomach, but as her mind began to wander, she licked her lips, fingers trailing down between her legs. Slowly, she began to massage herself as she imagined wh
at he smelled like. She hadn’t been standing that close to him inside his home.

  In her mind’s eye, she stepped closer to him, inhaling his musky scent, and a spontaneous rush of heat exploded between her legs, her stomach fluttering. Amy rubbed herself harder, her free hand reaching up to sneak under her tank top and caress her left nipple, and her breaths began to escape in shorter gasps.

  Just as she was on the verge of climaxing, she heard a sound that made her bolt up in bed.

  Cocking her head to the side, Amy listened. It was faint, but it was an unmistakable roar in the distance.

  Amy jumped off the mattress and hurried toward the window to look outside. She saw nothing, but she sensed the intruder nearby. Whoever he was… or whatever it was, it wasn’t far. She could feel it deep within her.

  Where are you? she called out. Show yourself.

  Her silent plea was met with nothingness, and after a few moments, Amy sat down on the edge of her bed. She was unable to shake off the sensation that she was being watched, just like when she had left the house.

  You’re imagining things, she told herself. As she rose to undress and turn off the lights, though, she could not convince herself she was being irrational. She slipped beneath the covers of her bed, but when she turned to flick off her bedside lamp, she froze.

  The millionaire was standing in her room, next to her window.

  “What are you doing here?” she whispered, her heart fluttering dangerously in her chest.

  “You broke into my house,” he countered, a half smile on his face. “Thought it would be fair to return the favor.” After Amy didn’t say anything else, he spoke again. “Would you like me to leave?”

  She shook her head, biting down her lower lip as he drew closer, tentatively joining her at the foot of her bed. She lay back down on her bed, her toes brushing against his expensive suit pants, and he leaned down to softly grasp her ankle and press his mouth to it.

  Amy sighed as his other hand worked its way up her calf, and she kicked off the bed sheet, exposing her legs fully to him. A small voice in her head reminded her that she didn’t know this man, he had threatened to have her arrested, he was basically someone she was going to start working for, she shouldn’t be doing this…

  But Amy ignored that voice. She did not stop the millionaire, his hands warming her body with each inch of skin he touched.

  His tongue laced its way around her ankle, up the curves of her legs, until both of his palms cupped her naked rear and his face was positioned perfectly between her thighs.

  Amy was quivering before his mouth touched her core, but when the first flick of his tongue met her throbbing clit, she turned her head to muffle the cry into her pillow. He instantly began to tease her with strong, smooth strokes that immediately brought her to trembling heights.

  When he plunged a long, thick finger inside her, Amy could not help but release against him, mewling hopelessly into the pillowcase. She wanted to reach for him, but she dared not pull her hands away, lest she scream and rouse the attention of her brother down the hall.

  The mysterious man dipped another finger inside, his lips suctioning around her, and Amy bucked upward, forcing his face deep against her center as his digits continued their thrusts.

  Again, she climaxed, an orgasm after another, until she was sure she would never reach a release again.

  He rose then, licking his fingers, and Amy extended her arms toward him, coaxing him close. Slowly, he lowered his head to kiss her, and she embraced him closely, eagerly sucking on his bottom lip.

  The man untangled himself from her and rose to his full height. In the eerie, shadowy light, he seemed like he was half-beast, as if he had both human and animal attributes, but Amy was sure it was only an illusion.

  Staring down at her, he gave her a half-smile.

  “What are you doing?” she breathed, realizing that he was preparing to go. “You can’t leave me here like this.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you,” he assured her. “You will see me again, I assure you.”

  In the blink of an eye, however, the millionaire had suddenly disappeared, and Amy could not stay awake a moment longer.

  Amy’s eyes flew open, and she looked wildly around the room once she found herself alone. Grey light made its way through the curtains of her open window.

  Wasn’t the window closed last night? she wondered. The air conditioning is on in here.

  She sat up and tried to reconcile fact from fantasy.

  That was one hell of a dream, she thought, throwing her legs over the bed and checking the time. It was almost six o’clock in the morning. It was time to get up.

  A small pang of disappointment washed through her as she wandered into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Her dream had felt so real, and she had felt so connected to the mysterious man.

  You’re chasing rainbows, she told herself with annoyance. First Oliver, then the millionaire. You probably dreamt the entire thing—hell, you probably dreamt going back for your purse and all.

  But Amy knew the latter was untrue; she would not be so lucky.

  Kyle is going to fire me today. I concocted this dream alternate reality to avoid dealing with the truth.

  Her body stiffened as she heard a noise from the living room.

  Amy poked her head into the hallway and glanced toward the front of the house.

  “Hello?”

  There was no response, and Amy swallowed, putting on some clothes and exiting the bathroom.

  As she drew closer to the door, she could see it was open. Amy’s heart began to race.

  “Hello?” she cried out again, stepping onto the veranda.

  She heard nothing save for the birds chirping, but as she rounded the corner onto the driveway, she exhaled in a swooping breath.

  “Mom! What are you doing out here?” she demanded, staring at Carlene.

  Her mother glanced back at her, her face pale against her green nurse’s scrubs. She was clearly just returning home from her shift at the hospital, but she stood completely still in the driveway, staring at something Amy could not see.

  “Mom?” she asked again, closing the space between them. “Are you okay?”

  Carlene pointed at the grass, and Amy’s pulse felt like a tidal wave under her skin.

  In the dewy grass were four huge paw marks—as if a bear had been there.

  Amy fell back, her hand against her heart.

  So, it hadn’t been a dream after all.

  Suddenly, she could not wait to get to work.

  THE END

  Click Here to Read the Entire Shifter Pursuit Series

  6

  Shifter Pursuit: The Wedding

  Lisa whirled around, craning her neck to examine the low dipping backline of her dress in the full-length mirror. The material was royal blue and flattering to her startling blue eyes and dark hair. She could not have hoped for a better gown for the occasion.

  Thank God Angie has good taste, she thought happily, spinning back to look at herself from the front.

  It would be the only time in her life she had ever been to a wedding where the bridesmaid dresses were not hideous.

  And I’m the maid of honor! Lisa squealed silently to herself. She was excited at the upcoming nuptials. After all, they had been planning this wedding for almost a year.

  The initial minor envy that her oldest childhood friend was getting married had melted into a puddle of happiness for Angie, and Lisa could not wait until the ceremony the following day.

  But first there was the rehearsal dinner.

  “Are you parading around in that thing again?” her mother, Catherine, laughed as she appeared in the doorway of her room. “I feel like you’ve worn it every day since you got it back from the dress shop.”

  “I have to make sure it fits!” Lisa protested, a pink tinge coloring her cheeks at being caught. “What if I gained weight or something?”

  Catherine snorted. “Well if you have, there’s not too
much we can do about it tonight, is there? Anyway, you better get dressed. We have to be at the restaurant in an hour, and the way that thing is painted on, it might take you that long to get it off!”

  Lisa nodded begrudgingly and went over to her mother, allowing her to unzip the form-fitting dress from her lean frame.

  “And don’t tell Angie I said this,” Catherine continued as she undid the clasp. “But she’s going to have a really hard time keeping all eyes on her when you look so beautiful.”

  Lisa glanced at her mother and beamed, flattered by the words.

  “All eyes better be on her,” Lisa chuckled. “I worked my butt off helping her prepare for this wedding.”

  “I’m sure everything will be perfect,” Catherine said comfortingly. “And I’m sure that Angie is going to be relieved when this is all said and done.”

  Lisa slipped off the dress and glanced inquisitively at her mother.

  “Why do you say that?” she asked, and her mom shifted her dark eyes downward, as if considering her next words.

  “I think it hasn’t been easy for Angie to get where she is,” Catherine explained. “After she dropped out of college, she went in a different direction and had a hard time finding her way. She was running with some less than savory types. She’s lucky she found Brian, and I’m sure they will be very happy together. The past is the past.”

  Lisa could not help but feel like her mother was hiding something from her, but she wasn’t sure whether to push the issue. It had been years since Lisa and Angie had been exceptionally close, after all. They had been kept apart by school and circumstance, and while they had seen each other on holidays and communicated via social media and texting, Lisa knew there was only so much she really knew about the tall, blonde girl she had once snuck out to raves with back in high school.

  No one could ever keep up to us dancing, Lisa thought affectionately. But she knew people could change. I’m sure Angie would say I’m a different girl than the one who left Bloomington three years ago for Boulder. Who would have guessed I would be sorority president? Not Angie, I bet.