by E A Price
He was tossed into a cell with a timid witch, who had been caught perving on his neighbor. The witch vowed never to break the law again after that night. Spending a night in an enclosed space, with a raging bear shifter, was enough to scare anyone straight.
Cain swaggered past some very resentful and bruised looking cops. He saluted them and smirked. After his freak-out, the enforced incarceration had given him time to think, and put things in perspective. Now he was calm, he was cool and he had a plan. Even his bear had given up ranting and acquiesced with the plan of attack.
Cain stepped outside to find his fuming manager, Bailey, waiting for him. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! At least when you ended up in Orlando all I had to do was pay your airfare back, and promise that you’d never return to Sea World. Have you any idea how much I had to pay that skunk to drop the charges against you?”
Cain shrugged unconcernedly.
Bailey threw up his hands. “Not to mention the strings I had to pull to make the cops forget about you resisting arrest. You broke two guy's noses!”
Cain snorted. “Only two? I must be slipping.”
“By the way, you can’t go back to your apartment. That fucking skunk made that very clear! I had Ethan pack up your truck with your stuff.” Bailey tossed him the keys. “You’re welcome by the way!”
Cain forced himself not to smirk. Everything had worked out perfectly.
“I even found you a new place to crash. Vance says you can take the room over the gym. See how I take care of you? Now all you gotta do is roll out of bed, and you can go straight to the gym. You can head over there and unpack your stuff and start training right now. Your fight with the polar bear is less than two weeks away. And that bear is a mean fucker; he’s never lost a match. You need to take this seriously.”
“Sure, okay.”
Bailey narrowed his eyes in suspicion. It was unusual for the bear to capitulate so quickly over anything. He argued his ass off over everything, just to irritate his jackal manager. Maybe the incident last night had humbled him. Doubtful. The bear had gotten into worse scrapes before, and they’d just made him more belligerent.
“I’ll see you at the gym later then?” asked the jackal suspiciously.
“Yep.”
Bailey hesitated. He was half tempted to hang back and follow Cain, just to make sure he was doing as he was told. He swore, sometimes Cain was like an overgrown toddler. A promiscuous, drunken toddler, but still!
Cain had been fighting for him for just over three years. When Bailey first took the bear on, he had six other clients. After seeing Cain fight they were swiftly dropped, so he could concentrate on Cain. The bear fought like a demon and didn’t even care about getting paid for doing it. The bear was a gold mine! He could just be a little wayward sometimes…
Bailey had once hired a babysitter to stay with Cain, but after the babysitter was found trashed and dancing naked on the hood of his car, Bailey reluctantly agreed to let Cain do whatever he wanted. Although, perhaps it couldn’t hurt to get someone to keep an eye on him.
The jackal’s phone trilled. With some annoyance, he could see it was the manager of the polar bear. The polar bear’s manager was putting pressure on him to ramp up the tension before the fight. He wanted the two bears to meet in public and have a few verbal smack-downs, to boost the interest in the fight. Bailey grimaced. Cain would never go for that. He didn’t want to make the fights personal. He just wanted to punch something.
Bailey answered the phone and signaled to the bear. He began heatedly arguing with the other manager, before jumping in his Lexus and speeding away.
Cain yawned audibly and sauntered over to his truck. He rummaged through his meager belongings and pulled out a shirt, some boots and his wallet. Getting in, his bear roared in approval as Cain drove past the gym and onto Rose.
*
“I love it! It’s perfect!”
Carly was looking at Rosalee’s sketch of her mural. It was a simple design of a wolf howling against a moon.
Rosalee beamed at the compliment. They stood in the soon-to-be opened cake shop admiring the job the pack owned construction company had done. The shop itself used to be a café, so the bare bones were there, including a working kitchen; it had just needed sprucing up a little. It was located between the pack owned pizzeria Pizza Moon and a clothing shop called Charlie’s owned by a female tiger shifter. Charlie, the tiger shifter, was married to a bear shifter called Dylan who worked for the pack construction company, and had been in charge of the work on Carly’s shop. He volunteered so he could sneak and see Charlie every chance he got.
Not that Carly minded. It thrilled her to see a mated pair who, after seven years and two children, was more in love than ever. It gave her hope, but also made her envious.
After consideration, it was decided that the name of the cake shop would be named ‘Cake Moon,' in line with the pizzeria. Inside there would be a few tables and chairs for people to sit; as well as cakes and bakes Carly would offer beverages including coffee, smoothies and milkshakes. If things went well, the little wolf intended to sell homemade ice cream too.
Apart from the mural that would be completed in tones of black and white, the bakery would be painted in light pastel shades of yellow, Carly’s favorite color. There was a long counter for cakes along one wall and swing doors leading to the kitchen at the back.
Rosalee hugged the little Omega. “I’m so glad you like it. Now, have you thought about employees? You’ll need help in here.”
“Actually, I already have two in mind. I just pray they can stop arguing with each other long enough to make a go of it.”
In a small town like Rose, not much remained secret; within a day of Carly casually mentioning that she was looking for other people who could bake, she was approached by two very unlikely candidates each keen to work with her.
Rosalee looked at her curiously but didn’t say anything. She tugged on a lock of Carly’s hair. “Are you alright? You look a little pale and tired.”
Carly shrugged and reddened a little. She’d spent all night chasing away thoughts of her bear mate. When she wasn’t crying over him, she was aroused remembering his acres of taut, hard flesh. After baking for a while, she spent the rest of the night alternately huddled up in bed, cold at the thought of him being with those other women, and ducking under a cold shower to try and cool her beast’s rampant lust. Yep, definitely a screw loose somewhere.
“I’m fine.”
“Good, because that butthole Bryce isn’t worth losing any sleep, you deserve better than him. If I could, I’d get Adam to kick him out of the pack.”
Carly broke out into peals of laughter. “If you did get rid of everyone in the pack who’d upset me at one time, or another, there wouldn’t be many members left.”
Rosalee huffed. “Yeah well, I still think the way he treated you was lousy.”
Carly smiled calmly. She didn’t have any ill will for Bryce anymore. “He just couldn’t cope with me being an Omega. One minute I’m crying, and the next minute I’m happy.” It was too much for an emotionally repressed wolf. Not to mention Carly couldn’t get on board with Bryce’s rough bedroom antics.
“His loss,” said Rosalee decisively. “I don’t know why you went out with him in the first place.”
Because he asked... Other pack mates steered clear of her because she was an Omega. Too much emotional baggage. But Bryce hadn’t seemed to mind at first. But then maybe he had just wanted to boast that he had bagged the Omega. He had worked his way round almost every other available female in the pack. When it came to the full moon wolves got a little wild and needed to sate this by hunting or sex. Bryce took advantage of the single females on full moons. Of course, now the pack was wise to him; perhaps that was the reason he had taken up with a human.
“You’ll find someone much better. If you want to be fixed up with anyone, just let me know.”
Rosalee looked at her hopefully, but Carly just shook her head sadly. Her
wolf whined. She didn’t want anyone else. She only wanted her mate.
Whilst Carly was a little stung that he hadn’t been breaking down doors looking for her, the wolf wanted to know why Carly hadn’t been doing the same for him. Two way street.
“Thanks but I’m not really interested in being with anyone at the moment.”
Rosalee squeezed her shoulder, whilst Carly’s wolf grumbled. Liar.
*
An hour later Cain stepped out of the Rose Bed and Breakfast, refreshed and ready to start the hunt. He’d been to Rose once, and vaguely recalled the layout of the small town. Thankfully his bruises had all but faded; he was looking a little more normal and less like a punching bag.
The first thing he had done when arriving in town was get a room. The bobcat, who owned the little Bed and Breakfast, was a little shocked to find the mountain of a bear before her, asking if she had any vacancies. Eyes bulging, she timidly told him she didn’t think the bed would be long enough for him.
Cain gave her a cocky grin and told her it didn’t matter. If he had his way, he would be happily ensconced in his little wolf’s bed tonight anyway. He booked a room for two nights, just in case she played hard to get.
After dumping his belongings in his room, he decided to freshen up a little. He was a bit fragrant after his tussle with the cops. He packed himself into the tiny shower and sighed as the warm water flowed down his taut body. He couldn’t relax entirely. He wouldn’t relax until he had his mate where she belonged. In his arms.
He thought again of her dusky pink trembling lips, her luminous eyes and her silken long hair. He reached down and fisted his swelling arousal. What he wouldn’t give to reach out and tangle his fingers in her soft tendrils, to pull those lips to his and taste her. He bet she tasted as good as she smelled. Like freshly baked cookies. He was hungry and aroused just thinking of her. It occurred to him he hadn’t eaten since… well since before the fight yesterday. He’d never gone so long without food. Too busy thinking of his mate.
Cain imagined how he would stroke his hands down her soft, voluptuous body. He would knead the ample globes of her breasts with his hands, before taking them in his mouth. He would feast on her warm, quivering flesh, making her scream and beg for more. He pumped his cock rapidly, whilst picturing himself plunging into her waiting sex. She would cry out at the intrusion of his massive manhood, but soon she would dissolve into ecstasy, and she’d be crying for him to take her harder and faster. The thought of her beautiful face flushed, lost in a sea of pleasure as she orgasmed was too much. Clenching his jaw he tensed and exploded; his seed poured into the shower, swirling down the drain.
Cain shook with the power of his climax and the concentration it took not to roar out loud. He didn’t really want the bobcat to know he was jerking off in the shower. People were funny about those kinds of things…
Afterwards, he quickly toweled off and got dressed. He picked out the nicest clothes he had. The only pair of jeans and sweater that weren’t ripped, or frayed in any way. Stepping out into the cool winter-sun, he set forth to find his mate.
Walking along the street, he spied the library and the Sheriff’s station. He gave the building a wide berth. He’d never gotten along with cops, and he knew just about all the cops in there were wolves and pack members. The Sheriff himself was the Beta. He doubted they would help him; they’d probably be even more protective than Don and Hans.
Next to the station was a place called the Honeypot Diner. His stomach rumbled menacingly. He really should eat something. His bear clamored at him to find their mate; he was wasting time. Cain demurred and pushed his way into the Diner. He could eat, and get information at the same time.
Cain got a few open-mouthed stares as he entered. He was used to it. His size always afforded him a few looky loos. A pretty mocha skinned wolf with dark blonde, bouncy hair came over and gave him a menu, and asked him where he wanted to sit. He opted for the counter. Easier to chat to people.
The wolf smiled and told him her name was Kira, and that she’d be back in a few minutes to take his order. Kira was much like his mate, smaller and rounder than the average she-wolf. But she couldn’t hold a candle to his mate, groused the bear. No, she could not, agreed the man grinning.
Cain glanced around the restaurant and found there to be a mixture of wolves, coyotes, bears (all smaller than him) and humans. A cute Chinese woman was playfully slapping at a big blonde wolf, who was holding on to her tightly. She chastised him that she had to get to work, and he murmured that he just wanted a couple more minutes. Cain noticed the swell of her stomach and carefully scented her. Ah, she was expecting. No wonder the wolf was keen to keep hold of her. Cain imagined that when he bred his mate, he wouldn’t want to let her out of his sight. The thought of her heavy with his cub soothed his beast. Soon, the man promised.
He saw a she-wolf snuggled up with a black bear shifter at the back of the Diner. She was more of a typical wolf, tall and slim, but more graceful than the average wolf. In his experience, they were kind of aggressive and muscly. He was a little surprised at the black bear; he was a lot bigger than average. He noticed the wolf was wearing a Deputy’s uniform, and decided not to do anything to get her attention. Undoubtedly she was a member of the pack though; it pleased him to see that she was mated to a bear. It meant that were no objections per se to him mating with his wolf.
Cain ordered two breakfast specials, extra bacon, extra toast, extra eggs, fruit plate and lots of coffee. Kira was amused at the enormous food order, but happily skipped off to place it.
Cain prickled as he felt eyes on him. He twisted to find a human eyeing him admiringly. She was tall, thin but still quite voluptuous, and had long blonde hair. She wasn’t exactly subtle about her perusal of his body. He reflected that she was just the kind of woman he would usually chase. It had nothing to do with her looks; when it came to appearance he didn’t have a type. At least he didn’t before yesterday. It was her attitude. She desired him; if he had cared to, he was sure he could have her back in his rented room, and stripped down in the space of ten minutes. The old Cain probably would have too, but the idea repulsed the new Cain.
However, she might prove useful. Cain slid along to the next seat, so they were side by side. He introduced himself and smiled cockily.
She fluttered her eyelashes theatrically; Cain stifled a snort. She told him her name was Carrie.
Cain stirred his coffee; Kira had slammed it down in front of him a few seconds ago with a disapproving purse of her lips, before flouncing away. “So, do you live in Rose?”
“Mmm hmm, for a couple of years now.” Carrie had moved there with her then boyfriend, who moved on when he caught her cheating. She’d chosen to stay put. She snapped her fingers. “Aren’t you that cage fighter from Darlington?”
Cain attempted a modest smile. “Yes, yes I am.”
“I saw you fight once; you were incredible.” Carried gushed in admiration. Cain could scent her arousal, and his bear snarled at him to end this.
“Uh thanks.” Cain surveyed her carefully. “So, are you familiar with the local wolf pack?”
The blonde’s eyes flickered for a few seconds. “Yes, I suppose so.”
The bear surged with hope but kept his tone casual. “Oh. I was actually sort of looking for one of the members. I was at a bar the other night, and she dropped her… ah scarf. I came here to give it back to her.” The bear applauded him for his relatively quick thinking.
She raised her thin eyebrows. “A scarf? You came to Rose to return a scarf?”
Cain bristled at her scornful tone. “Well, I have friends here too, so…”
“So why don’t you just ask them who she is?”
Okay, clearly he hadn’t given her enough credit, she wasn’t a total pushover. Time for a different tactic... Cain flexed his biceps and was pleased to note her eyes dilated a little at the sight. “My friends aren’t sweet to talk to like you.”
Her doubt melted a little, and she looked
satisfied with the compliment. With her looks, she unquestionably garnered a lot of male attention. She probably had a sufficient ego never really to wonder why a man would want to talk to her.
Carrie placed a manicured hand on his arm, and gently rubbed. “Well, what’s her name?”
“Uhhh I don’t know. All I know is…”
He was cut short by Kira depositing his numerous plates in front of him. The small wolf folded her arms. “Carrie isn’t that your boyfriend stood outside?”
Carrie quickly snatched her hand away. “Ah, shit I better go. See you around Cain.”
The woman hotfooted outside. Cain saw her drape herself over a burly and rough looking wolf, who was scowling at an even bigger wolf, which Cain recognized as the Alpha, Adam. Adam already looked pissed off but when Carrie joined them, he looked like he was going to have a fit.
Cain turned back and started digging into his food. Whatever the drama was with those wolves, he wasn’t interested. There was only one wolf that interested him, and he was determined to find her.
Chapter Five
Cain impatiently rapped on the door. He could hear movement inside; he knew someone was home.
After talking to Carrie at the Diner, he hadn’t bothered trying to get information from anyone else. Kira was already giving him the stink eye for flirting with one of her pack mates girlfriends; he didn’t want to piss off anyone else. Well, truthfully he didn’t really care, but he figured when he mated with his she-wolf, he would be living here full time, so it was best not to get too many people’s backs up just yet.
He knocked on the door more forcefully. Finally, an irate looking human woman with a blue rinse answered it. She looked him up and down, and without an ounce of nervousness asked him what the hell he wanted.
