by Olivia Arran
I slid onto the barstool opposite him, craning my neck and searching the room for a glimpse of Harper. Even in the dimly lit room, I already knew. She wasn’t here. My stomach sunk, the tiny flare of hope I’d been nurturing evaporating with a pop. What had I expected? To walk into the bar and find Harper sitting here? I was an idiot. Grabbing the drink Austin had set down in front of me, I knocked it back. Fire burned through me, leaving me a coughing and splattering undignified heap.
“Easy there,” he said, peering at me with sweet concern in his eyes.
The fire in my chest eased off enough that I could breathe, my death rattle easing into a low wheeze. “Tastes good,” I forced out with a watery smile. I wasn’t one for alcohol, especially the strong stuff. A glass of wine with dinner was more my speed, but at least the sinking sensation in my stomach had been replaced with a tipsy feeling, the alcohol blurring the edges of my panic until it was more manageable.
“You were meant to sip it.” It was said with a teasing tone, his blue eyes dancing with barely veiled amusement. “Feel better now you’ve taken the edge off?”
It was as if he knew what I was feeling without any need for explanation. I murmured something that could be construed as an affirmative. I could get used to this. A man that could read between the lines? I’d never heard of such a specimen, which might explain the whole fascination human women seemed to have with shifters. Talking about which– “Is this normal?” I gestured around the bar.
Leaning an elbow on the counter, his bicep bunching and straining at his sleeve, he followed the line of my hand with his eyes. “What? People having a good time?”
I resisted the urge to fan my face, dragging my eyes away from where they were glued to his powerful frame. Ogling wasn’t a good look, even after a stomach churning, thigh quivering kiss. Ungluing my tongue from the roof of my mouth, I eventually managed to speak, “These women are all tourists, right?” Taking the glass he offered, I ventured a cautious sip. This time around, sweet honey flavored liquor heated my mouth rather than obliterating it.
“Yup. This is the tourist bar.”
“Tourist bar? So, all the women in here are human?”
“Not all of them,” he replied, “But most. People come here for different things. Some come for companionship, others for the atmosphere. Everyone comes for a good time.”
“You mean sex, don’t you?” Where the hell had that just come from? My cheeks were hot enough to cook an egg on, and he was looking at me like he’d never see me before. “I’m sorry – I mean –” I stammered, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me.
A burst of laughter erupted from him, the sound a deep rumble and hitting me low in the stomach. “You have a way with words, sweetheart,” he murmured, “But you’re completely correct. Some of the guys, and the girls, come here to get laid. And I’m not just talking about the shifters.”
“I get it –”
“You do?” His eyebrows had shot up, until they hovered around his hairline.
Rushing on to cover my embarrassment, I blurted out, “I mean, why not? From what I’ve seen so far, shifters have an advantage over human men.” Heck. What the hell had I just said? “I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” I hurried on, though I had no idea how to put into words what I actually meant, without it sounding shallow. Shifters were hot? Built? Sexy in a way a human man couldn’t possibly compete?
He leaned closer, his voice lowering to a whisper, “I’m pretty sure you have no idea how much of an advantage we have.”
As his words sunk in, my blush returned full force, but this time it didn’t stick to my cheeks, the heat spreading down to my chest and into my stomach, and finally pooling between my legs. It didn’t take a whole lot of imagination to understand exactly what he meant. I cleared my throat several times, shifting my weight on the stool and studiously staring over his shoulder. “How do the tourists know who’s a shifter and who isn’t?” There didn’t seem to be any visual clues, and I didn’t want to assume that all shifters shared the same … attributes. I only had the man in front of me, and his teammates who I’d met earlier, to draw a conclusion from. And there couldn’t possibly be another man like Austin. No way.
He took a long swig from his bottle, setting it carefully on the counter before replying. “The websites. The Mayor arranges all this for publicity, to forge good relationships with humans, but everyone you see here has their own reasons. Carter has his reasons and he doesn’t always share them, but it works. People like to come here and the town is thriving.”
I wasn’t about to admit I’d scoured the website on my way over. No way. “What’s on there, the website?” I asked, keeping my voice light.
“Media stuff, mainly, but there’s also information about the different shifter packs and teams. Bios, and shit.” He shrugged, his wide shoulders stretching his shirt. “I don’t really pay much attention to that side of it. I do my job and I go home, that’s good enough for me.”
“You’re on there, then?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It shouldn’t bother me, but strangely it did. Hell, who was I kidding? For some reason it annoyed the heck out of me, the thought of women being able to look him up and use him as their own personal fantasy fodder.
He carried on, oblivious to my inner cattiness, “Sure, at least I think so. Like I said, I haven’t checked. Think of it like working for a large company; they’d have personnel pages, right? A list of everyone who works for the company? That’s all it is.”
That might have been what it was originally intended for, but I’d bet my last dollar that wasn’t what most people browsing that website were looking for. “Why do you live here?” I’d always wondered if they had a choice. I wasn’t sure I’d like living in a fishbowl.
Scratching the label on his bottle, he tilted it toward me, then around the room. “Why wouldn’t I? I’m with my people, the human government leaves us alone, and I have all the space to run that I need. It’s a good life.”
“But the tourists –”
His grin faded, a scowl replacing it. “Are a means to an end. A way to make money so we can support our families and keep the town self-sufficient. It’s really no worse than the human run places. Anyway, anyone who doesn’t like it is either free to leave, or they can choose to stay out of the way of the humans. It’s not like our people have to visit the town, we have our own amenities, places to shop and drink and eat, away from prying eyes.”
I knew my surprise showed on my face. “There are shifters who don’t interact with the humans?”
His steady look spoke volumes. “Of course there are. Some people prefer their privacy, and that’s okay. We look after our own.”
This time it was shame that heated my cheeks. I’d jumped to conclusions, something that was completely unlike me and a stark reminder that I was way out of my comfort zone. Ever since arriving in Heartsridge I’d been acting out of character. “I’m sorry. I really don’t know anything, do I?”
Something passed through the air between us. Acceptance? Forgiveness? Who knew?
His hand closed over mine, comforting and warm. “Forget it. Let’s concentrate on finding your sister. You’ll figure out everything else as we go.”
Chapter Nine
Leona
Two hours later, we’d come to the conclusion that although Harper had visited the bar, she’d kept herself to herself enough that hardly anyone remembered her. The barman, a leopard shifter called Tio with long dark hair and eyes the color of whisky, had been able to place her at the bar six nights ago. According to him, she’d been alone, nursing the same drink for over an hour and left around midnight.
We were no closer to finding her and, although I didn’t want to admit it, I could barely keep my eyes open, the stress and the long hours of frantic searching finally catching up with me. I was dead on my feet.
“Come on, let’s get you out of here,” Austin murmured while steering me towards the door.
Too tired to put up a figh
t, I allowed myself the luxury of letting someone else make the decisions, something I was usually too much of a control freak to do. Feeling my barriers fall, one by one, I relaxed into the arm he had slung around my shoulder, letting him cushion me from the party that was still going strong around us. If anything, once we’d hit midnight the revelry had dialed up a notch, the air heavy with lust and desperation. Several women shot me looks filled with equal amounts of loathing and jealousy, their eyes tracking Austin as if waiting for their chance. The memory of our kiss combined with the faint buzz still lingering from the drink I’d downed spurred me to slide my arm around his waist and hook my thumb into his belt loop.
He stiffened, but didn’t miss a step, hugging me tighter against his side. A contented sounding rumble vibrated out through his chest, almost overwhelmed by the raucous cheers erupting from over by the bar.
My mind raced ahead, already envisioning our arrival at my hotel room. Would I invite him in? Should I? What if I did? Would he accept? Could I actually do a one-night stand? Could I possibly be idiotic enough to turn him down if he offered? And most important, had I remembered to shave under my arms this morning? I was pretty sure I had my nice underwear on, rather than my comfy panties, and if I remembered correctly it was the white lacy set, with the little blue bows. I was so wrapped up in my own head, I nearly walked into the woman standing in front of us.
“Iesha, what are you doing here?” Austin sounded surprised for the first time since I’d met him. Off balance.
The woman appeared to have come straight from the office, her tailored suit perfectly unwrinkled and offensively fresh for this time of night. Or morning. Her hair was pulled up into one of those neat looking roles at the back of her head, her makeup flawlessly applied in that way that I’d never managed to master, giving the appearance of natural beauty enhanced by a touch of shimmer. My grip on Austin’s waist faltered, my hand sliding away. Who was she to him?
“I’ll give him a PR nightmare, what the hell was he thinking…” She muttered under her breath, then, “Austin!” The woman blinked as if coming out of a trance and she seemed genuinely surprised to see us standing in front of her. Her gaze veered from Austin to me, then back again, her perfectly painted lips curving up in a genuine smile.
Despite my initial avalanche of jealousy, which was totally inappropriate and unreasonable—but I was blaming The Kiss, capitalized by my overactive hormones, of course—instinct demanded then and there that I like this woman. Despite my initial assessment, no one could be caught off guard and appear so genuine without actually being a nice person. It wasn’t possible, and I’d known my fair share of two faced women.
“I … I actually don’t know why I’m here,” she eventually replied with a small self-conscious grin.
“It’s not like this is your kind of scene, Iesha.” Austin was gentle in his reply, but I couldn’t detect any underlying connection between the two. He didn’t appear to be freaking out about being caught with another woman and Iesha hadn’t slapped him across the face.
Mentally, I allowed myself a little victory dance.
“Wait, you’ve only just finished work?” He sounded angry for her.
She let out a little laugh, but it sounded tired. “You know what Mayor Carter is like, Austin,” she rebuked softly. “If he’s working, then everyone else is, too.” Turning to me, she stuck out her hand with a wry grin, “I’m sorry, I’ve been terribly rude. I’m Iesha Winter, executive assistant and general lackey to the Mayor of Heartsridge.”
Accepting her handshake, I shook my head in refusal of her apology. “No need. I’m Leona, a garden variety human visiting your town and fast falling in love with it.” I released her hand, grinning back at her when her smile widened.
Her eyes darted up to the burly guy I happened to be stuck to like a barnacle and back again.
“Austin is assisting me with something.” Oh, heck. I mentally kicked myself. I hoped I hadn’t dropped him in it since I was pretty sure he was meant to still be at work.
“Good, good, I’m glad to hear it. Make sure he takes you over to the Thai restaurant, it’s tucked behind the municipal building and does the most amazing king prawn Pad Thai,” Iesha muttered, though from the look on her face she had already gone back to whatever had been preoccupying her.
Austin peered at her with a worried frown. “What PR nightmare?”
The woman blanched, her eyes widening in what looked a lot like fear. “Nothing,” she stammered, backing away.
Intuition kicked in, adrenaline flooding me in a rush that left me dizzy and blasted away the calm, sleepy fog that had wound its way around me. The same strange off feeling I’d had on meeting Mayor Carter was back with vengeance.
Before I had chance to block her path, Austin was there, putting his wide frame between Iesha and the door. “It’s okay, you know he’ll tell me anyway. Who do you think he’ll ask for help to clear up his mess?” His voice was a low growl, commanding.
The woman shuddered, her shoulders drooping and head dropping. She didn’t argue when Austin indicated she follow us.
Leading her over to a booth, he guided her in then sat down to block her escape. Smoothing my skirt under, I took the seat opposite them, sliding along until I sat directly opposite her. Wood paneling reached up behind our heads, separating the booths and forming the illusion of a small bubble of privacy. Coupled with the loud music that blasted a throbbing bass around the room, this was as good as it was going to get. I watched and waited as the woman fought with indecision, the pinched look fading as relief finally won over. Her eyes flicked to me, in silent question.
“She’s with me; I vouch for her.” At Austin’s firm command, I melted. He was putting a hell of a lot more than his reputation on the line with me. If this all went tits up, it would not only be his career on the line, but his home, too.
“He’s made a pickle of it, as per usual,” the woman finally replied, a slight British accent coloring her words. She chuffed lightly, shaking her head as if she couldn’t believe it. “And as per usual he expects me to deal with the fallout. How exactly am I meant to do that this time?” It must have been a rhetorical question, as she hadn’t actually told us what the problem was. She picked up an abandoned bottle from the table and started picking at the label, her perfectly manicured nails scratching against the glass.
Austin sent me a look that I hoped meant he was going to keep digging, then turned back to Iesha. “You’re not making much sense,” he finally said, in a tone that invited her to share.
“God, yes, what must you think of me.” She groaned, slumping down in her seat and wrinkling her pale beige jacket. She switched from fiddling with the bottle, twisting her watch around and around her thin wrist. The gold metal glinted with every turn, the clock face catching the light before being spun again. “I’m not normally like this,” she volunteered to me, indicating Austin with a wave of her hand, “Austin can vouch for me. I’m usually not this much of a mess, I promise.”
If I hadn’t already decided I liked the woman, I would have after her admission. It was almost like looking in a mirror, seeing my self-contained, tightly wound control in a whole new light. Before I had chance to think it through, I’d covered her hand on the table with one of my own. “Bosses can be a pain in the ass,” I stated with an authoritative air. For the first time since arriving, the thought of going back and facing mine didn’t fill me with the kind of job satisfaction I had always known.
Iesha burst out laughing, but it was tinged with hysteria. “He thinks he can cover it up, but he doesn’t have the first clue what he’s trying to do. I mean, the fallout from this could be catastrophic. But he can’t see two feet in front of his own ego to even start to understand that this isn’t right. We should be approaching this with honesty, not trying to hide it. I mean, how the hell does he expect me to hide a human woman from the world?”
My heart stopped. Ice gripped me, freezing the blood in my veins until I couldn’t breathe. I opened
my mouth, but only a squeak came out.
“What human woman?” Austin’s voice was cold and hard, but Iesha didn’t notice, too caught up in her own panic.
This time her laugh was low and hollow. “A human woman witnessed a shifter changing out in the forest. That wouldn’t have been too bad, just a little slap on the wrist and we could have sent her home, but she was taking photographs.”
She was talking about Harper! She had to be! I leaned forward. “Where is this woman?” I tried to sound calm, but inside I was screaming. We were close to finding my sister, and this woman knew where she was. She had to know.
Iesha closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “She still could have gone home. It could have been nice and easy, but no, it never is. The idiot bit her.”
I rocked back in my seat, unable to believe my ears. She was hurt.
Austin had tensed, his brows drawing together until they dug a furrow between his eyes. “Is she still alive?”
His question had the ground dropping out from beneath me. I hadn’t even… No, she had to be. I’d know if she was dead. I’d feel it. I held my breath, ready to jump out of my seat and demand an answer, to shake it out of the woman.
Iesha answered, “She’s alive.”
Chapter Ten
Austin
One look at Leona and I knew she didn't fully understand what this meant. Relief at finding out her sister was alive was clear to see on her face, the joy of it spilling over as her body crumbled, the tension leaving her. For her, the worst was over.
I didn't want to be the one that had to tell her that the ordeal was not over yet. That Harper wasn't dead yet was a good sign, but Iesha had been unclear and whether that had been deliberate, I wasn’t sure. I knew one thing, though, there was no way I was asking for clarification in front of Leona.
