Mated To Magic (Stark Creek Shifters Book 1)

by Barb Shuler

  “Mia,” I growled out her name, my control slipping slightly as I tugged the jersey over further.

  Thankfully it was big enough I could pull it off of her. I sniffed the bandage and looked down at her. She grunted but didn’t wake fully. My fingers made quick work of pulling a corner of the bandage back so I could see what had happened to her.

  I pulled it off slowly, getting a good look at her wound. The slice along her shoulder wasn’t too long, but the fact that it was there had me growling, my body vibrating with a rage I’d never felt before. I’d seen slices like this before. This was a knife wound.

  “Mia! Wake up, baby.”

  She grunted, her eyes fluttering open.

  “Who hurt you?”

  “I’m fine,” she grumbled, slapping at my hand.

  Fine? Maybe she hit her head too. I started looking her over, not caring that I would actually wake her up.

  “Dalton, stop!” she huffed.

  I blinked, trying to get myself under control. My skin rippled as my wolf fought to come to the forefront. He, too, needed to be assured that she was okay.

  “You were hurt. Please, baby, tell me what happened. Who am I hunting down?” I moved to cup her cheek with my palm, my eyes meeting hers as I lay beside her, my body touching hers along the side.

  “Some guy in the bar grabbed me. It’s fine, really.”

  I met her gaze, my thumb rubbing along her cheekbone. It was taking all I had in me to keep from growling. This was not her fault. I didn’t want her to think I was mad or upset with her.

  “You are not fine. He hurt you.” The growl that punctuated my words made the bed vibrate under us. “Where was your fucking security? Do they need a refresher in how to do their fucking jobs?”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “It is that simple. They’re supposed to make sure anyone coming in is clean. Stop trouble before it starts. Keep you and the girls safe.”

  She shifted underneath me. I knew that look in her eyes, and the minute her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth I knew I had her. She wasn’t telling me something.

  “Tell me what happened. I want it all. I want to know who hurt you.”

  My voice was calm, but my wolf was ready to pounce, as was I. I would hunt them down, corner them, and slowly tear their limbs off, one by one. Every scream would fuel the wolf inside of me to bite harder, to cause more pain. They’d dared touch what was mine; the only recourse was death.

  “I don’t know who it was. Some guy didn’t like being turned down and had a knife. When he grabbed me, the guys had to stop their assault. They did it to keep me from getting hurt.”

  I snarled at those words. She was hurt. I was staring at the swollen skin that had been cut. The beauty of her flawless skin was marred by someone's blade.

  “Jay was able to sneak around and tackle him. When she did, I shoved his arm away, but not before getting cut. It could have been worse seeing as how he had it at my throat.”

  Jesus, things had gotten bad enough that another woman, let’s not mention that she's a shifter, had to step in to help? My entire body started to shake with the need to kill the one responsible for hurting her. Shifters, male and female, were extremely protective of their mates. I was more than that. As the kids around here would say, I was extra.

  “Hey, if you don’t calm down, I’m going to stop talking about this.” Her warm palm pressed into my cheek, but there was no calming down. I gave her a look that made her sigh.

  “Angus and Josh did what they were supposed to. They saw me in trouble and they rushed to help.”

  “Who let him in? He was carrying a knife, he should have never been let in.”

  The words left me in a rush of air. My anger was getting the best of me. I pushed back from her when I felt my body ripple. Fucking wolf.

  “Tell me,” I said, my gaze meeting hers. I could feel the wolf pushing forward. He was ready for blood.

  “Dalton…I promise I will tell you what’s going on once everyone is together. I’m not telling you a damn thing when you’re…” she waved her hand at me, “like this!”

  Her little growl was cute. Mine was better. I let my wolf show in my eyes.

  “Tell me, my little witch.”

  “No.”

  I let the wolf take over. Maybe he’d have better luck with her stubborn ass. The bed shifted under my paws and my gaze once again met hers. She didn’t even blink. She just sat there, glaring at me. I stalked forward. The warmth of her skin radiated toward me, pulling me closer.

  The skin over my teeth pulled up in a wicked grin and still nothing. She pushed my snout away from her.

  “You’re an ass, and you don’t scare me.”

  Mia knew that my wolf would never hurt her. It wasn’t in our nature to hurt the one we loved. So I gave in to the more devious side of my being and moved my muzzle back down and licked her cheek. The shriek she let out made me chuckle. The bed shook as she tried to get away from me; her laughter was music to my ears.

  I stepped back and whined when the scent of fresh blood filled the air. The wound on her shoulder had opened slightly. I didn’t think, I just reacted. I cleaned it with my tongue, whining as she let me.

  She’d been hurt; it was our fault for not being there. A few licks later she pushed my muzzle away.

  “Okay, Dracula, enough. That’s not very sanitary.” Her face was screwed up in a grimace. She had a point. I made my way off the bed and shifted mid-stride as I walked out of the bedroom. I found a pair of clean boxers in the laundry room, pulled them on, and went to grab the first-aid kit.

  “Sit up, baby. Let me clean your wound and put a few of these steri-strips on it. They’ll keep it closed while it heals and you won’t have to worry about a bulky bandage. They’ll come off on their own.”

  I cleaned the area with a wipe. Her face scrunched up, and I leaned in to blow on it.

  “I’m sorry, it’ll only sting for a minute.” I put the wipe away and pulled the steri-strip free of the packaging. Five strips covered the length of the wound. Thankfully it wasn’t any worse than it was. I’d give her the peace she needed tonight. Tomorrow—well, I guess I should say later tonight—I would find out who had hurt her and then my wolf and I would go hunting.

  “All done. Let me put this away and then I’m tucking you back in.” I put the kit up, washed my hands to remove the alcohol smell, and stalked back down the hall to her room. I had meant it. I was tucking her in, but she wouldn’t be going back to bed alone. I would be staying.

  I needed to know she was okay and be here if something else happened. I knew nothing would happen with me here, but my wolf and I weren’t leaving her. Our mate needed us.

  I smiled, seeing her tucked haphazardly under her blankets, and moved to crawl across the bed, my lips brushing along her jaw as I laid behind her, pulling her to me. The moment I had my arm around her, I knew there was no turning back now. I was more than ready to give her my all.

  She was the one person, other than my pack, that I knew I could always count on. She was always there when I needed her. She was there to push me to be a better man. I was more than a man with a dual personality, of which one side had a very bad attitude and shed.

  My fingers flexed as I slid my hand up under the jersey and rested it on her belly. Once again the warmth of her wrapped around me, and my wolf and I settled in. I placed a soft kiss to her neck.

  I had something important to say to her but I wasn’t sure how to word it. It was simple to the average Joe; why I found it so hard, I couldn’t say. It was three simple words, but I knew once I said them there was no going back.

  “Mia…” I smiled as she hummed softly and leaned in to press a soft kiss to her jawline. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

  Her eyes fluttered back open, and a smile brightened her face.

  “I’m sorry I let you walk away, I was just…shocked. I thought that was just my imagination. I wanted those words to be true. It was a lot to soak in. F
orgive me?”

  “Always.”

  I leaned in and captured her mouth, which was all I could think about. When I pulled back, I wrapped my arm tighter around her.

  “Sleep, baby. When you wake up, there will be lots to do.”

  Like tell me who it was that hurt you and how in the hell they got in the bar with a fucking knife in the first place.

  I took in a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. We could be patient. My wolf and I were good hunters, after all. I’d let her finally tell me when she told everyone else what happened last night.

  Then…well, you know what will happen next.

  8

  Mia

  When I woke up later that day in Dalton’s arms, I couldn’t help but smile remembering the conversation that we’d had right before I fell back to sleep. I loved this man but, fuck, was he persistent when he wanted to know something. I had managed to stall him, but I wasn’t sure for how long. With a soft kiss to his lips, I tried to move out of the bed, but his arms wrapped tighter around me.

  “Babe, relax, please, I need to go pee. Then you can go back to holding me captive in bed.”

  With a chuckle, he let me go. I got out of bed and did what I needed to in the bathroom. I came back and watched him for a minute, my shoulder leaned against the door. The blanket had shifted off him and showed his bare chest. Biting down on my lip, I thanked the Goddesses that he was all mine. Last night had sealed our fate. As far as I was concerned, we didn’t need to talk about it anymore.

  “What happened to holding you hostage?” He opened his eyes to look at me.

  “Hey, it’s only fair. I know you were watching me before you woke me last night.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He gave me a cheeky grin. Rolling my eyes playfully, I crawled up the bed and laid back in his arms, facing him. “Speaking of talking, are you ready to tell me?”

  “Nope, and please don’t push me on this. My club and business is just that, mine. I’m going to talk to two of my security team tonight; should you want to be there, you can sit in silently. I was also going to ask you if you could come in and run some training exercises with the team after I fire one of them. If you can’t respect what I need to do, then I will call in someone who can. I know you want to protect me and the girls. I am not trying to be a pain in your ass.” I ignored the snort. “Yes, last night could have gone a lot worse than it did, and it opened my eyes to needing more eyes in that place and training for the ones I do have. I thank the Goddesses for Jay, though. Only a shifter would have been able to stop that situation from becoming deadly. The guys wouldn’t have gotten to the bar in time.”

  “I will be sitting in on that meeting. Unless I am needed elsewhere, I am staying at the bar tonight.”

  “There’s no point even trying to convince you otherwise, so I’m just gonna go with it.” I pressed my lips against his before closing my eyes and laying my head against his chest. I was trying to ignore the growling in my stomach. I didn’t eat after what happened last night, and I hadn’t eaten since before work yesterday. I knew if Dalton found that out, he would be out of this bed and dragging me with him faster than I could blink. It had taken me three years to get this man into my bed; I wasn’t ready to leave it yet. My stomach growled again, but before I could react, I was being scooped up and carried over his shoulder to the kitchen. “You are such a caveman!”

  “You love me.”

  “Lucky for you, I do.” We got to the kitchen and he sat me down on the countertop.

  “Do you want coffee or juice?” I gave him a look. My answer was always coffee. He knew that was how I started my day and more often than not, he would be making it and bringing it in to wake me up. After handing me my coffee, I said thank you and watched him take the bacon from the fridge and the frying pan from the cupboard. After letting it heat up, Dalton added the bacon to the pan. “When did you eat last?”

  “Can I not answer that for fear of incriminating myself?”

  “Keep in mind where I am going to be today and tell me if you still want to take that path.” Well now, this wasn’t fair. He would ask Jay, who would unknowingly drop me in it by telling him that I didn’t eat dinner last night.

  “Lunch yesterday. Jay offered to get me something last night, but I didn’t feel like eating. I just wanted to get home, shower, and climb into bed. I tried to wait for you so we could talk about our fight, but I fell asleep.”

  “Mia, baby, you need to eat.”

  “Dalton, love, I can’t when I’m not hungry. I’m likely to bring it all back up if I try and force myself. I was running on adrenaline when it happened and by the time it wore off, I was tired.”

  He muttered under his breath as put slices of bread into the toaster. I knew he would be watching me like a hawk now and if he couldn’t be around, then he would have Jay on ‘Mia Watch.’ When he was finished making my bacon sandwiches, he cut them in half and brought them over to me. He moved to stand in front of me. I grinned and kissed him softly.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too. You’re still in trouble, though.” He kissed me, then moved away to make his own breakfast. I finished off the last of my coffee, set my mug down beside me, and picked up the plate. Blowing on the bacon, I took a bite and let out a small groan. That tasted like heaven. I took another bite, glad that Dalton had made me two because it wasn’t until I started eating that I realized just how hungry I was. I finished them off and slid down off the counter. Taking my plate and mug, I quickly washed and dried them. I kissed Dalton’s cheek.

  “I’m gonna have a shower while you eat. Once you’re ready, we can head in. I have to let my supplier in today, so I need to go in earlier. Gives you time to look over things with the club if you need to.”

  He nodded and went back to his food while I went into the bathroom. As much as I wanted to preserve water and shower together, I knew there would be no leaving the house if he and I finally took that step. As we both had stuff we needed to do, that would have to wait for another day. Stripping off my pajamas, I turned the hot water on and added a little bit of cold before climbing in. I was glad that Dalton had put the steri-strips on. I really didn’t want to have to keep worrying about the bandage. The cut was minor, so it was just overkill.

  After washing myself with my body wash, I turned off the shower and grabbed my towel from the rail. Wrapping it around me, I picked up my clothes and went to work out what I was going to wear tonight. It would have to be one of my button-up shirts to go with my black pants and jacket. Normally I would wear a tank top underneath it and just keep my jacket on, but I really didn’t want to draw attention to it. Bandage or not, it would be like a beacon. Once I had chosen what I was wearing, it didn’t take me long to get ready. I opted for my beige heels and no makeup. I wanted to look like I was in boss mode and not a made-up Barbie.

  These guys needed to take me seriously or Dalton would be taking matters into his own hands. As soon as he saw that tape, there would be no stopping him. I just hoped that he would wait until Josh was away from here before he lost his temper.

  Running a brush through my hair, I pulled it up into a ponytail and let the ends curl like it normally did. My phone beeped, so I walked out into the living room where I had left it and saw a message from Jay making sure that I was okay and survived the dumbass. I texted back that he was coming in to work tonight, just to give her a heads up. I put my phone in my bag and got a bottle of water out of the fridge. I thought about how long I had known Jay. It was going on ten years now, but it still felt like no time had passed.

  “Ready to go?” I looked up and groaned softly as Dalton came out, freshly showered and looking good in jeans and a nice shirt. It was smart casual, but damn, did he pull it off. “Keep thinking like that, little witch, and we won’t be leaving the house.” His lips curled into a smirk as he came over to me. Bending down, he kissed me before taking my hand.

  “I like my thoughts better than going to work.�
��

  “Ah, but if we don’t go, I don’t get my answers and you win.”

  “All the more reason to stay home.”

  “Mia…” He said my name in a warning tone and I let out a sigh. Standing up, I grabbed my purse.

  “Come on, then.” I walked to the front door and unlocked it after turning off the alarm so that it didn’t go off. Dalton would reset it and lock it after me, so I made my way toward his truck where he joined me shortly. Getting in once he had opened the door, I took his hand again and just let the song on the radio fill the silence.

  When we got to the bar, we walked over to the staff entrance and Dalton put his finger on the keypad. Putting in the code, the door opened and he quickly moved to shut off the alarms. Only three people had that code: Dalton, Jayden and myself. The three people I trusted more than anything. Everyone else had a different one that only allowed them access at a certain time. They couldn’t just come and go as they pleased anymore. After making sure the place was secure, I went and opened up my office. I printed off the order that should be arriving soon, checking the list to make sure it matched the one I had written by hand. I didn’t leave anything to chance and always did two orders. One on the computer and one written by hand. If the systems went down, then I always had my back up. My brows creased in a frown when I saw that they didn’t match. I pulled up my emails to double check what I had sent through to the supplier yesterday. It was different again. Taking my phone out of my bag, I sent a text to Jay.

  Mia: You didn’t change the order on my computer, did you?

  Jayden: Hell no. I don’t need the wrath of the OCD Queen raining down on me. Why?”