Mated To Magic (Stark Creek Shifters Book 1)

by Barb Shuler

  I needed to get out of here. Truck engine revving, I pulled out of the lot and headed up the main road. A nice long run would help ease us both. Taking a few deer down would help slake my hunger as well.

  I pulled up the road leading to our new hunting grounds, parked, and didn’t bother stripping. The moment the door shut behind me, my wolf broke free of his human cage, snarling, digging his claws into the earth, propelling us forward.

  This was not going to end well. I’d left her back there, mad and upset. It was taking all I had in me to keep my wolf up here in the trees. She needed time to calm down. I need time to calm down and stop plotting the murder of a cop. Even if he was a no good asshole. Maybe that was an unfair judgement, but something was off with him. I’d figure out what. If not, the boys and I would have to have a little chat with him.

  The scent of a deer caught my nose and I sprang forward, my paws pounding into the earth. My muscles bunched as I leapt a felled tree, dropping back to the earth on the other side. I followed the scent until the river came into view. A quick leap and I was over it. My jaws clamped around the neck as we slammed into the ground. The deer never had a chance. Its blood filled my mouth and I swallowed it down before taking a big chunk of its hide into my teeth. With each chew I felt the anger in me start to simmer. After I’d pulled every piece of meat from the carcass that now lay at my feet, my belly full, I dragged it up to the lookout point. The ravine below was deep enough that no one would just stumble across the bones if they were out here.

  Listening to the bones fall along the ravine, I sat down on my haunches and let the sorrow of my fight with Mia soak in and release. My head went back and a howl rolled through me. The animals that had been scurrying through the woods quieted. My lone howl was all that rang out through the night air.

  Pawing at the ground, I growled out the last of my frustrations. With a huff, I got up and shook off the dirt I’d thrown on myself. The breeze sent new scents across my nose. My head lifted and I took off toward the smell of death. A mile up the path, leading to the hillside, I found the carcass. It was an old one, only half of its meat was gone. This had to be an animal attack, but I couldn’t smell what kind over the decay. I paced around the area, but there were no more scents that I could register.

  Frustrated, I loped back down the hillside, scenting the air as I went. There was no way something big enough to take down deer wouldn’t leave a damn scent trail. No fucking way. I’d deal with that another day. Right now I needed to run off the angry feelings I was having toward that shithead, Sy, and then head home. Hopefully Mia would be there. If not… I wasn’t going to think about that. I could only hope I hadn’t screwed up that bad. No. She said she came here because of me. She loved me. It was time that I told her how I felt. Everything. I’d leave nothing out.

  By the time we went to bed, she would know I wanted more. I wanted all of her, forever. My wolf needed her as much as I did.

  Pushing myself faster through the underbrush that surrounded the trail, I caught another scent. This one was something smaller, a rabbit or a coon maybe. I wouldn’t eat it, but I would chase it down. My wolf and I loved to chase things.

  I spotted it. A brown and white rabbit was hightailing it up the path. I darted after it, snapping my teeth at it. The rabbit scurried through the underbrush and I followed. That was my mistake. I snarled when the briars that were tangled in with the underbrush tugged at my hide. I slashed at the bushes with my paws, tearing down the stupid bastard of a plant.

  A thorn embedded itself in my paw and I yipped with pain. I hunched down on the ground, biting at my paw until the stupid thing was out. I growled at the underbrush for good measure. Rabbit - one, wolf - zero. That was the way my night was going. I gave myself a full body shake, tossing leaves and debris, before I started walking back down the hill. I was done.

  I needed to go home, find Mia, apologize and try to get her to talk to me again. I had been an idiot, maybe. There was something up with that Sy asshole and I would figure it out. Just not now. I wouldn’t keep her from having a friendship with him, especially since he was still in Wyoming where he belonged. When and if he made it out here, I would worry about that when the time came.

  With my mind finally clear, I shifted between steps and made my way to my truck, picking up the shredded clothing I had hurried away from. I opened the back door, pulled out my duffel bag, pulled on a pair of sweats and tossed on a T-shirt. I gave the area one last look before climbing in and starting her up. In about forty minutes I’d be on my knees begging for my girl’s forgiveness. If she didn’t want to deal with me, I would be crawling my ass onto the couch at Ty’s and staying there until I could make her see I was hers.

  I would work on my attitude and apparent jealousy, but I wouldn’t change overnight. Not when it came to her.

  I’d always be overprotective. Growly and a little insane sometimes. It was just how I was.

  6

  Mia

  Everything stopped. A look of pain spread on Angus’s face as he stood and watched, not being able to move toward me. I could see Jay inching closer to us, though. She was the only one in this bar who could get to me before he reacted. If I walked out of here with a scratch on me, Dalton was going to lose his fucking mind. Just as Jay pounced on him, I grabbed his wrist and spun away. Angus and Josh pushed forward to help her out. I let out a breath and stepped back.

  “Mia, are you okay?” The girls rushed to me.

  “I’m fine, girls.”

  “Then why are you bleeding?” Jayden rushed to me to press a clean towel against my shoulder.

  “Fuck, I didn’t even feel that.”

  “Come on, let’s go into your office. Girls, get the music back on and the drinks flowing.” They moved back behind the bar, Angus and Josh having removed the asshole. Jay and I headed to my office. Taking my keys out, I unlocked the door and went in. I looked in the mirror and saw the cut on my left shoulder. His knife must have sliced me as I spun away from him.

  “Dalton is going to lose it. He’s already on edge, this is going to send him right over.”

  “Where is your first-aid kit?”

  “In my bottom drawer.”

  “Come and sit your ass down.”

  “Bossy much?”

  “Do you want me to call D?”

  “No. I’m not speaking to him right now.”

  “Oh, I don’t think there will be much talking going on, Mia. Come and sit down so we can take care of this.”

  “Don’t you have a bar to manage?”

  “The girls will be fine without me for a few minutes.” I sighed softly and sat down in my chair. Jay opened the first-aid kit on my desk and stood in front of me. “So what has D done this time?”

  “He let me walk away after I told him I loved him when he got jealous over my friendship with Sy.” She made a face when I mentioned his name. Jay bent down to clean the cut with an antiseptic wipe. “Okay, what is it with everyone not liking Sylvester?”

  “I just get bad vibes from him. I don’t trust him or his motives. He has a hidden agenda and I don’t like it.” She shrugged her shoulders and took the gauze from the kit. She cut a square big enough to cover my wound, then took the tape out and picked up my scissors. After making four strips, she set the tape and scissors back down.

  “Am I the only one who doesn’t see anything wrong with him?”

  She stayed quiet as she taped the gauze to my skin. Pulling back once she was done, she looked down at me. “It isn’t our job to tell you who to be friends with and who not to be. You are a good judge of character, Mia; all we ask is that you be careful. He is in love with you. D has a point.” I went to open my mouth, but she cut me off. “While the feelings may not be mutual, they are there for him. Just don’t be so hard on D, okay? Until today, he didn’t know how you felt. You’ve both been skirting over the issue, when really you should have talked about it before we moved here. I love you both, but sitting back and watching this has made me want to knoc
k your heads together.” Cleaning up, she closed the first-aid kit and put it back into my bottom drawer.

  “I shouldn’t have walked away.”

  “Yes, you should have. You both need to calm down before you talk about this again. Go home tonight, shower, and go to bed. When you wake up tomorrow, then you can talk calmly about it. Words spoken in anger are the ones you will regret, and you can’t take them back.” I nodded and laid my head back against the chair. “Do you want me to get one of the girls to run out and get you some food?”

  “No, I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, come get me if you need me. Just sit in here for a bit.”

  “Thanks, Jay.”

  She kissed my cheek and walked out, shutting the door behind her. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Why the hell did one phone call turn everything to shit? Also, who the hell had let someone into my club with a knife? We had people at the door with wands to scan for this shit.

  Sitting up, I pulled my chair in and turned to look at the security cameras. I reversed the feed back to opening and pulled up the main entrance door. Nick and Josh had been on there all night, so one of them hadn’t done their job. Someone would pay for that. When Dalton found out what happened, he was going to want someone dead over this. I wasn’t about to stop him, either. Normally I would call Sy and have it dealt with properly, but I was going to have to distance myself from him for a bit. Jay and Dalton were right. He was in love with me. While I only thought about him as a friend, by not shutting it down sooner, I had partly led him on. That wasn’t fair to him, so it was time to fix things there first. What better present for Dalton than the guy who had hurt me?

  I winced. I should probably have someone look at the wound to make sure it wasn’t a deep cut, but I didn’t want the questions. Watching the screen as the night went on, I found the point where he had come in. Nick was with another customer, so I watched Josh. He let the guy in and fist bumped him as he walked past. He didn’t even check him. Nick turned to watch him go in, then spoke to Josh. Josh ignored him and moved to let in another customer. Nick took out his phone and did something on it before carrying on with his job. I checked my phone and saw nothing. I needed to talk to Nick and Angus later. If Nick had messaged anyone, it should have been Angus. He was head of my security, so if there was an issue, it would have been him that he went to. If not, I needed to find out. Josh was about to lose his job and I wanted to have my ducks in a row before I fired the dickhead. I’d ask Dalton if he could source some new guys for me. He’d know how to help me. Switching the cameras back to real time, I checked on the bar. After the incident, the crowd had started to thin out. Oh good, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to get them out of here at closing time.

  For the next couple of hours, I buried myself in my work. I checked the stock lists that the girls had done for me at the start of the shift, updating my weekly order to accommodate the fast sellers. A knock on my door broke me out of my trance. I looked up and saw Jayden there, smiling.

  “We’re all locked up and ready to head off, boss. You coming?”

  I looked down at my watch. “Sorry! Lost track of time.”

  “You’re fine.”

  “How did the rest of the night go?”

  “No problems. Angus said he wanted to speak to you tomorrow, though. He’ll be in early.”

  “Did he say what it was about?”

  “No, why?”

  “I need to talk to him and Nick, but Josh let that guy in tonight without doing the usual security checks.” She growled and moved off the door she was leaning against. I quickly moved to stop her. “Jayden, stop! I can’t be sure yet. I need to talk to the other two first. You can kill him later!”

  She shook her head and looked down at my chest before growling again. Fuck me, were these two about to get it when Jayden and Dalton got hold of them.

  “Fine, but as soon as it’s confirmed, Josh is mine.”

  “Take that up with Dalton.”

  Jay just snorted. “Go get your stuff. I need food.”

  I raised my brow at her, and she relaxed a little. Deciding it was better to just leave it, I went into my office and shut down my computer then grabbed my phone, bag, and keys. Taking my jacket off the back of the chair, I shrugged it on, mainly to hide the hideous bandage from Dalton if he was home when I got there. I locked the door behind me. Nick and Angus joined us.

  “Everyone out?” They gave me a nod. “Okay, let’s get out of here. I want to talk to you both when we come in tomorrow. Do not breathe a word to Josh, though. It stays between the four of us.”

  “Got it, boss.”

  They walked out and I followed behind them. I set the alarm, locked the doors, and went over to my car. The girls were already gone, so after hugging Jay, I got in my car and pulled out of my parking spot. I knew Jayden said to sleep on it, but I don’t know that I could without talking to Dalton first. I had always been taught never to let the sun set on an argument and go to bed angry. Not only that, I was tired of going to bed alone. Not when I had someone who should be in there with me. I pulled into the driveway, shut my car off, and grabbed my bag off the passenger seat. Taking my keys, I got out of the car and locked it behind me. Inside, I went into my bedroom, slipped off my heels, and shrugged out of my jacket. A soft hiss left my lips as that action pulled at my wound. Note to self, don’t do that again.

  I grabbed my phone and put on my favorite playlist, letting the music fill the silence of the house as I headed for the bathroom. I needed to take this off and clean it, but I needed a shower first. Did I leave it on while I did that? I knew it wasn’t waterproof, so it would have to come off. I would just have to take care. Stripping out of my clothes, I turned on the taps in the shower. Letting it heat up to the temperature that I liked, I carefully pulled the bandage away and tossed it in the trash can. With a clean washcloth from the bathroom drawer, I stepped into the shower. Wetting the cloth, I carefully ran it over my left shoulder to wash away any dried blood. I could feel my body beginning to relax a little as the hot water washed over me. I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, letting it wet my hair. I finished up in the shower and turned the water off. I needed to get dressed and put a new bandage on. Not sure why, because Dalton was just gonna take it off to check it for himself when he saw it. I was hoping to distract him long enough to keep him from seeing it. I didn’t need him angry again, not if he had just spent all this time calming down.

  I dried myself, being careful with my shoulder. I went into my bedroom, opened the top drawer of my dresser, and took out my underwear. Slipping them on, I grabbed my shorts from the bed where I had left them. I grabbed Dalton’s football jersey that I had stolen from him and put it on. Well, it wasn’t really stealing…he let me take it and didn’t put up a fight for it, so I had claimed it as my own. It had a V-neck, though, so with or without the bandage I was about to put on, he was gonna throw a fit. I considered throwing on a tank top underneath it, in case I lost the jersey so he could see it better. This way it took that temptation away, because I was already having a hard enough time keeping my hands to myself when it came to him. That would just add fuel to an already hot fire.

  Going back into the bathroom, I took the first-aid kit from the cupboard above the sink and got out the tape and bandages. Cutting four strips of tape, I lifted my jersey and placed the bandage on after cutting it to size. I taped it down, doing my best to cover it. Turning off the light, I grabbed my phone and went into the living room. I put on the movie that I had been watching the night before when I’d fallen asleep, took the blanket off the back of the couch and pulled it over my legs. Now to wait out my big bad wolf and hope to God he didn’t blow the house down.

  7

  Dalton

  The sun was creeping up on the horizon by the time I pulled into the driveway. I was beyond tired. Running through the woods, being angry, and worrying about Mia took a toll on me, mentally. I pulled the keys from the ignition, got out of the truck, and jogged up the walk
to the house. I’d lost my boots in the shift, so I wiped my bare feet on the rug outside on the porch before unlocking the door, turning the alarm off, and shutting the door behind me.

  I could hear the TV, so I made my steps light as I went into the bathroom. I needed a shower. I was dirty and smelled like roadkill. I was also hoping it would help to invigorate me so I could talk to Mia about what happened. I’d worry about sleep later.

  I left the bathroom in a pair of sleep pants and went into the living room. My skin tingled when I saw her laid out on the couch in my jersey. I stood in the doorway, my eyes just taking in every inch of her beauty. My wolf growled, clawing to get out so he could mark her. Guess he was tired of me being an idiot.

  Slowly, silently, I made my way to her. She’d never admit it if I told her she snored, but she did. It was a soft, delicate snore. It was adorable. I smiled, turned off the TV, and tossed the remote back onto the coffee table. I took her blanket off of her, folded it, and laid it on the back of the couch. With practiced ease I scooped Mia up, brushed a kiss against her forehead, and carried her to the bedroom. Once she was snuggled under the sheets, I moved to the chair in the corner and just watched her.

  Closing my eyes, I listened to her breathing and the steady beat of her heart. I let my own body relax into her scent and sound. My eyes popped open when the faintest scent of blood wafted across my nose. I shook it off at first, but my wolf knew something wasn’t quite right. I followed the scent to her bathroom. I growled when I spotted the bandage in the trash bin. Why was she bleeding and needing a bandage?

  I stalked back to the bedroom, my temper rising at the thought of her being hurt and me not knowing it. Not being there to stop it. I crawled onto the bed, pulled the covers back and leaned in, scenting her. The blood smell was stronger toward her chest, neck area. I pulled at the collar of the jersey and a piece of white bandage peeked out. There was a faint scent of Jay on her, which is to be expected, and someone else. I knew it, but I couldn’t place it.