Chased Mate: Cybermates

by Ayers, Candace

  As a kid who grew up in the foster care system, I wouldn’t have refused blood relatives no matter how dysfunctional. And there was love there in Arden’s family, I could see it. It was buried beneath judgement and ridicule, but it was there. I supposed dysfunctional families traversed all social strata.

  * * *

  When I arrived at Sunkissed Medical Center, I followed Arden’s scent to the maternity ward. She was on the other side of a thick viewing window, sitting in a rocking chair with a tiny infant in her arms. As she rocked, she smiled down at the baby and hummed a soft melody. Her eyes were warm and full of love and I was overwhelmed a longing for us to have kids of our own. I couldn’t wait. I sure as hell hoped she wanted babies. I loved kids and if I had my way, Arden and I would have a house full.

  “Can I help you?”

  I didn’t look away from Arden. “Just waiting on my ma—uh, girlfriend to come out.”

  “Arden is your girlfriend?”

  My eyes still remained on Arden. “Well, I’m not talking about the baby.”

  “Well, shut the door! Arden didn’t tell me she was seeing anyone. I’m just surprised.” She stuck her hand out and I shook it. “Ruby Jenkins. I’m a good friend of Arden’s.”

  I glanced at her briefly and smiled, then turned back to my mate. “She’s beautiful.”

  Arden glanced up and spotted me. Her eyes widened and her lower lip was instantly trapped between her teeth as she smiled.

  “Oh, yeah.” Ruby stood slightly behind me watching Arden and nodding. “She has it bad for you. I have never seen her look at anyone like that before. How long have you two been an item?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Can’t have been that long.”

  I didn’t answer. I watched as Arden tucked the baby back in its incubator and emerged from the room. Her smile was magnetic. “You’re here.”

  “Yeah, your boyfriend is here, Arden.” Ruby elbowed her, but Arden ignored her. “Wanna explain that one?”

  I pulled Arden into a hug and kissed her forehead. “You didn’t have time for breakfast this morning, and you forgot your lunch, so I brought it.” I held up the lunchbox.

  Ruby’s brows shot so high they practically disappeared into her hairline. “Oh, my god. Did he say morning? Your boyfriend spent the night with you last night? You had your cobwebs swept and didn’t tell me about it? What the hell, Arden?”

  Arden’s cheeks reddened. “Ruby, this is Flynn Bennett.”

  The other woman gasped. “Flynn Bennett? Coma guy? I mean... Oh, god, sorry. That was so rude.”

  I laughed. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Oh, wow. This is something we’re really gonna need to talk about.”

  Arden groaned. “Maybe later.”

  I leaned down and kissed my sweet mate’s perfect lips. “I have to go to work. I’ll see you when you get off.”

  She sighed and leaned into me. “Okay.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ruby.” I kissed Arden once more on the forehead and again on the lips before pulling away and leaving her to wield the hundred or so questions her coworker was throwing at her.

  I went back to the shop and attempted to spend the day trying to get caught up on paperwork, but my thoughts were at war with themselves. I still had one thing to discuss with Arden, one big thing. One big, striped, furry, fanged thing, and my tiger was angry and impatient that I hadn’t revealed him to our mate yet.

  With the exception of Arden’s family, an issue which I planned to remedy soon, everything between Arden and me was great. I supposed I was nervous about how she might react to finding out about my shifter side. Fuck, it wasn’t like me to give a goddamn about what anyone thought of me. Arden turned everything upside down.

  It had to be done, though. About the time I realized I was pacing back and forth in my tiny office, was when I called it quits for the day. I shot Arden a text telling her I was bringing dinner to her place after work, ran out to Mann Grocery and Petal Pushers florist, and back to my place to prepare food.

  I pulled my Mustang into Arden’s driveway seconds after she did, grabbed dinner and the flowers, and got out to greet her with a kiss.

  “I’m a tiger.” I cringed. Damn, I was way off my game.

  She laughed lightly and unlocked the door. “Um… you sure are big guy.” Double cringe.

  “Fuck. I’m already screwing this up.” I followed her in and handed her the roses. “These are for you.”

  Smiling, she bit her lip.

  “I meant what I said.” I sat the food down on the stove and then wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer. “I actually am a tiger.”

  “I don’t think I follow.”

  I was fucking everything up, I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I’d never had an issue talking to a woman before, probably because I never cared before. Now, the one time it mattered to me, I acted like a complete loser, tripping all over my tongue. “I’m what’s called a tiger shifter. Which means I shift into a tiger. I know it’s strange to hear that, believe me, it’s strange to tell it.” I laughed nervously. “Do you have any questions?”

  “I’m waiting for the punchline.”

  “It’s not a joke.”

  Sighing, she subtly moved away. “It’s been a long day, Flynn. I don’t know what this game is, but I’m tired. Neither of us got a lot of sleep last night.

  I was at a loss for words. I’d learned to wheel and deal in the business world when I was still a teenager, and I’d honed those smooth-talking skills in the years since. Rarely was I at a loss for what to say. But I was at a loss.

  Determined, I took a couple steps back. “I’m just going to fucking show you.”

  When I started taking off my clothes, she grinned. “Oh, it’s some kind of sex game?”

  I shook my head, sucked in a deep breath, and shifted.

  My tiger was huge—shifter species were often much larger than their non-shifter counterparts. As my tiger relished being in the same room as our mate, he moved toward her, thrilling at her beautiful curves, her scent, and particularly her hazel eyes as they stared, tracked him, and rolled to the back of her head. She went down hard.

  Fuck.

  14

  Arden

  I woke up on the couch to Flynn stroking my hair and staring down at me with a look of concern. My eyes flew open wide the second the memory returned of what I’d just witnessed. Before I’d passed out. I rubbed at the sore spot on my head. I wasn’t normally a fainter, but I didn’t normally see a man transform into a tiger before my eyes, either. I struggled to get up.

  “Hey. Hey, careful, sweetheart. I saw you go down, but I wasn’t quick enough to shift back and catch you. You got a nasty bump there.” Flynn helped me to sit up on the couch as I replayed the memory. He’d been standing there one minute, naked as the day he was born, and the next, he was all teeth, claws, fur, and deadliness. The biggest tiger I’d ever seen.

  My head hurt and I was hungry, but I’d just watched a man turn into a jungle animal. Shift. Shifting. Those were the words he’d used.

  Flynn had put his pants back on. He was still gently stroking my hair. I leaned my head into his caress. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

  I frowned. “You didn’t scare me.”

  “Sweetheart, you passed out.” He stared at a spot on the floor a few feet away. “Are you okay with this? With me? I mean, it’s who I am. I can’t change it.”

  I frowned. “Are you kidding? I’m totally okay. It’s great.” My voice didn’t even sound convincing to my own ears.

  “Okay, fine. You didn’t pass out because you saw me shift into a tiger. And you’re not still freaked out.” Flynn was on the defensive, I could hear it in his voice and I wasn’t sure how to remedy it. I wasn’t sure I even cared at that moment. So much about him clashed with who I was and the life I was raised in.

  “I’m not still freaked out. It’s all good. You’re still Flynn. I can see that.”

  He ran a hand through his long hair and
slipped a tie around it binding it. “Look, that did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. I panicked. I’ve never had to tell anyone about being a shifter before, so I figured…”

  “Well, the flowers and cooking dinner were a nice touch.”

  He put his hands on his hips and his brow furrowed. “You sure you’re not in shock? I don’t think you’re acting like you should.”

  “And how should I be acting?”

  “Scared, surprised, freaked out, I don’t know. I just shifted into a tiger in front of you. You didn’t know that shifters exist, right?”

  I shook my head. “No clue.” Then I shrugged. “You’re still you. It’s cool.”

  He cupped the back of my neck and rested his forehead against mine. “I was scared to tell you. I thought you were going to freak out and tell me to fuck off and never come back.”

  I swallowed and pulled away from him. “I’m not freaking out, but I need time to think.”

  He groaned. “I spoke too soon.”

  I stared at the wall on the other side of the room. “This thing between us… It’s a lot. I don’t know what’s happening. Not just now, but ever since I first saw you.” I sighed. “We come from different worlds. I mean, Martin—”

  He stopped in the middle of putting his shirt on and glared at me. “Martin? The boring accountant who wears a red lacy thong and garter belt and peeks into neighbors’ windows?”

  “How’d you know?

  “I remembered! There’s a lot of things you talked about while I was lying in that hospital bed that have come back to me.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “You think Martin Fink is the man for you?” He rolled his head back and barked a humorless laugh. “Ha! That’s rich.”

  “I don’t! I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know what to think at the moment. This is such a shock. It’s just a shock.”

  “Are you talking right now about the fact that I’m a shifter, or do you mean everything about us—me—in general?”

  “No. Yes… I don’t know? Maybe I just need time to figure this out.” I groaned and rubbed my head. “Think things through.”

  “Think things through. Fine. When you finish thinking things through, you come and find me.”

  He finished slipping his shoes on and came over to me. He looked like he was about to hug me, but he stopped himself.

  “Fuck, Arden.” The pained expression on his face gutted me. What was I doing? What was I saying? I was a split second from telling him not to leave, to stay. That I didn’t have a clue what I was saying. It was my fear talking, but before I could, he was across the room and I was left sitting there on the couch, speechless, as he walked out slamming the door behind him. I heard his motorcycle start up and the roar of the engine fade as he drove away.

  Flynn the tiger.

  I moved into the kitchen and looked in the pot on the stove. Tears filled my eyes. Mashed potatoes. A whole pot of creamy, buttery, fluffy mashed potatoes. What had I just done?

  I groaned and took the pot to the table, tears streaming down my face. Grabbing a spoon on the way, I sat down in front of the potatoes and started eating. The tears didn’t stop.

  I wanted to call him back and tell him I hadn’t mean to hurt him, or send him away. I wanted call him and tell him it didn’t matter he was a tiger or that he had a criminal past. But, I didn’t.

  Frustrated, I ate more potatoes and slumped in my chair until I was stuffed and could barely move. Then, I stumbled to my bed and collapsed. The sheets still had his scent.

  Staring up at the ceiling, I tried to make sense of things. Maybe the problem was that, from years of living with a family that was more likely to tear you down than build you up, I couldn’t make sense of a man like Flynn wanting to be with me. Martin, maybe. My question wasn’t only how Flynn fit into my life, but Flynn was danger and excitement and passion and flames. How did I fit into his?

  15

  Arden

  I dragged my tired self out of Sunkissed Medical Center the next night, exhausted from working a double, and cranky from plaguing thoughts of Flynn. One of the other nurses had come down with a stomach bug and we were short staffed. On top of that, I’d barely slept the night before, despite eating enough mashed potatoes to send myself into a food coma. I’d tossed and turned, thinking of Flynn the entire night.

  As tired as I was, a burst of adrenaline shot through me when my cell rang. My heart leaped hoping it was Flynn and that we would both say magic words to each other that would make everything alright. Then, I could go home and sleep all night wrapped in his strong arms.

  One glance at the screen told me just how far down the fairytale rabbit hole I’d fallen. Martin. I’d avoided the man for days, but for whatever reason, maybe fatigue, maybe surrender, this time I answered.

  “Hello Martin.”

  “Arden. Hello. I didn’t think you were going to answer. I’ve left a couple voicemails this week. You never returned my calls.”

  I balanced my cell between my shoulder and chin, unlocked my car door, and tossed my purse and my lunchbox in the passenger’s seat. “I know, Martin. I’m sorry about that. I should have returned your call. And I should have done it sooner.” I paused. Now for the hard part.

  “So, listen, I was wondering if you’d like to do dinner or catch a movie this week. Your mother said—"

  “Martin, my mother…” I sighed as I slid behind the wheel. “Well, to be honest, I only agreed to consider another date because of my mother. The woman can put extreme pressure on. But there’s someone else—I have someone else in my life.” Did I though? Did I still have Flynn? Flynn and I needed to talk, but he had told me to come and find him after I’d thought things through. I really hoped he meant that.

  “I see. Well, I do understand the pressures family can put on a person. I happen to have a well-meaning but somewhat overbearing family, myself.”

  I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, overbearing, that’s a good word. She puts waterboarding to shame.”

  Martin laughed. “Can I offer some advice?”

  “Sure.”

  “I’ve found that it doesn’t pay to live a life to please someone else. You end up miserable and they’re never satisfied. You do you.”

  Miserable, yeah, that was a pretty much how I’d felt since Flynn had walked out my door the night before. “Martin, that’s really good advice. Thank you. And thank you for understanding.”

  “Good luck Arden.”

  Maybe Martin wasn’t so creepy after all. I’d been worried about all the messed up things my mother and family thought. My mother harped about a man providing for me, about safety and security, and kept pushing me toward men like Martin. Yet Flynn had braved my family’s insults and not run screaming for the hills. With Flynn, I not only felt sparks, but flames—and naughtiness. Flynn had not only treated me like I was special to him, he treated me like I was everything. He had even respected when I told him I needed time to think, and given it to me.

  On the short drive home, I was distracted by my own thoughts about Flynn. When I made it to the top of my stoop, I noticed my front door open a crack. Was someone was trying to rob me? If so, they were in for a rude awakening.

  “Freeze, motherfuckers!”

  I flew into the house, holding my lunch box over my head to wield as a weapon.

  Stopping short, I found my mother and two sisters sitting on my couch staring at me with horrified expressions. I dropped the lunchbox and bent over with my hands on my knees inhaling deeply.

  “You guys gave me a heart attack! I thought I had a break-in.”

  Mom clutched her pearls and scowled. “What in the world were you going to do if we had been an intruder, someone trying to rob you, or kill you?”

  “Peg us with a lunchbox?” Hailie rolled her eyes and rubbed her abdomen, despite not having a visible baby bump yet. “Do you want to get yourself killed?”

  Frowning at the lot of them, I picked up my lunchbox. “Why are you here in my house? What are you doin
g here?”

  Mom stood up and took a step toward me. “We need to talk.”

  Hailie also stood. “About what you’re doing with your life.”

  Mom crossed her arms over her chest sternly. “About that garage mechanic you’re cavorting with instead of a fine man like Martin Fink.”

  Chloe took a step forward so the three of them were lined up like a firing squad. “Did you know that Flynn Bennett has criminal record?” She wore a smug smirk as though she got satisfaction from throwing out news that had the potential to shock and cause me pain.

  My back stiffened and I glanced into the kitchen, where my mashed potato pot had been moved to the counter. They were nosing around my house. What was next, a scolding about carbs again? “So, this is what? An intervention?”

  “You clearly need one.” Chloe tapped the toe of her Jimmy Choo pump in the carpet. “Where were you, by the way? We’ve been waiting.”

  “Tell me you weren’t with that man, Arden.”

  “I was actually working a double shift.” I grabbed the pot and put it in the sink. “I don’t need this. I’m exhausted and I just want to crawl into bed.”

  “Ugh, that job again. Did you realize that you had a handprint on your ass at dinner on Sunday? In grease?”

  Chloe snorted. “I mean, really? A mechanic?”

  It was just like Flynn to slap a greasy handprint on my butt before we went to dinner with my family. I hid a grin. He also bent me over a ’67 Mustang and gave me the ride of my life. Everything about being with Flynn felt good, as long as I didn’t let my family’s judgement get in the way.

  “You’ve made some questionable decisions, Arden, but he has to be the worst. Honestly, I don’t know what you were thinking. Did you know he was a convicted felon?” Mom shook her head and sighed. “A felon!”

  As I listened to how haughty and pretentious my mother and sisters sounded, I remembered in horror the reasons I’d sent Flynn away the night before. I’d practically implied the same thing they were saying—that somehow Flynn and I weren’t right for each other because we came from different backgrounds. How’s it feel looking at yourself in the mirror, Arden?