This boring little mountain town is more exciting than I gave it credit for.
Just the kind of excitement I needed.
Chapter Two
Westin
I pull up to Carl’s diner in my pickup truck and look around for any sports cars with out of state license plates. I sigh when I find nothing but one mud-covered truck after another.
Blake and Ethan were here for breakfast yesterday and found two dragon shifters who might be up to some trouble. I came to check it out.
“There were two of them?” I asked after Blake and Ethan told us what they had seen.
Blake nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Two dragon shifters and Aylwin was their brother.”
Carter, Rylan, and I were listening to them very carefully. It was the five of us who disposed of Aylwin when he tried to kill Ethan’s mate, Chloe. His brothers won’t find him anywhere unless they look six feet underground on the side of one of Blackcloud Point’s many mountains.
I came back to see if they were still hanging around the town, but from the looks of the beat-up cars in this parking lot, they don’t seem to be here.
My stomach starts rumbling when I smell the eggs cooking inside. I hop out of the truck and wince when my throat starts to tingle. It’s fresh mountain air all around me, but there’s something blowing around that’s making each breath burn.
I clear my throat and head into Carl’s Diner. It’s a small place, which gets even smaller when the huge shifters in town stuff their giant bodies into it. I don’t think Carl has changed a single thing since his father opened it decades ago. It’s the same lime green metal stools at the counter and the same carved up tables in the faded yellow booths. Names of couples long broken up or long dead are carved into the tables where Carl and his staff serve cheap food at even cheaper prices.
The bell rings as I open the door and step inside. I’m greeted by Debbie’s big smile and by a smell that nearly buckles me. The fiery scent burns its way through my nose and down my throat making my eyes start to water.
“Hi, Westin!” Debbie says as she comes around the counter with her cheeks blushing. “Is it just you or are the rest of the boys coming?”
I try to speak, but I end up coughing instead.
“Are you okay?” she asks with concern.
I shake my head and swallow. “Can I get a glass of water?”
She pours me a cup and I down the entire thing in one gulp. It does nothing for the burning. I guess I’m getting a cold… but shifters don’t get colds… I don’t get it…
“Thanks,” I say as I hand her the empty glass back. “It’s just me today.”
“Sit wherever you’d like,” she says as she hands me a menu.
The place is busy today and there are only a few booths available. I head to one behind a group of four wolf shifters. The biggest one, Lincoln, is Ethan’s neighbor and they’re friendly with each other. I’ve seen the four of them around, although I’m not friends with any of them.
My bear has been extra antsy since I walked into the diner, pacing around and growling inside of me like he’s lost his mind. Now I know what’s gotten into him—he doesn’t like the smell of these four wolf shifters. That must be it.
“Settle down,” I whisper to him as I look over the menu.
My chest is still burning with every breath as Debbie comes over with another glass of water. I down this one too in one long gulp.
“What’s that smell?” I ask her. “It’s like breathing in lit gasoline.”
She shrugs like it’s nothing. “It always stinks in here.”
“Not like this.”
She just shrugs again. “What are you having?”
“I’ll take a Hungry Man Breakfast,” I say as I hand her the menu back. “And a coffee.”
“You got it,” she says as she takes the menu and turns to leave.
“Wait, Debbie,” I say, stopping her. “Those two guys from out of town yesterday… The ones who were here when Blake and Ethan stopped by.”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“Have they been back?”
She shrugs. “I haven’t seen them.”
“Do you know where they’re staying?” I checked the two inns in town and didn’t see them there either.
“I don’t know,” she answers. “The new girl served them.”
“New girl?” I say as I look around.
“Yeah. Kimberly.”
The door to the kitchen opens and she walks out holding four plates. My heart stops in my chest as I watch her walking over with those big hips swaying with every delicious step.
I didn’t know girls like her existed. She’s an angel, she’s a goddess, she’s perfection in one beautiful curvy bundle and I can’t take my eyes off her.
Her sandy-brown hair is pulled tight into a ponytail and then explodes out in waves that bounce with every step. An image of me grabbing it as I guide those luscious full lips up and down my shaft flashes into my head and my cock hardens to the point of pain.
She looks so innocent, so pure… God, my hands are shaking as I watch her.
I don’t know what color her eyes are, but they look like dark caramel and they have my heart pounding.
This delectable girl is having a strong effect on my inner grizzly bear as well. I can feel him huffing out heavy snorts and breaths as he stomps around like his world is on fire. I can sense the carnal desires emanating from him and they make me shiver. Claim her now! She’s ours! Mark her! Make her ours!
My whole body is pulled rigidly tight. I feel like something in me is going to snap if I don’t have her immediately.
She’s my mate, there’s no fucking doubt about that. This beautiful curvy girl belongs in my arms with my cock buried deep in her hot pussy. That’s where I want her. And that’s where she’s going to be once I snap out of this daze she’s got me in.
I come back to earth when Debbie waves her hand in front of my face. “Hello? Hello?” she’s saying. “Are you okay? You look different.”
Everything about this world feels different. Like I’m looking at everything through a new lens. Everything has been turned up, crystallized, put into sharper focus. In a moment, everything has changed. I have a new purpose, a new calling, and it all centers around her.
I can’t answer Debbie. I’m not thinking rationally. I’m not in control of my body. I can’t even say a word as I stare at my mate with my chest aching.
She arrives at the table of four wolf shifters and my body tenses up. I’ve always been such an easygoing friendly guy, but you’d never know that with the way my jaw is clenching and my fierce livid eyes are narrowing on the guys who are looking at what’s mine. I want them all dead for looking at her.
“Who ordered the waffles?” she asks in a voice so sweet that it brings tears to my eyes. One of the guys, Emmett, raises his hand and she leans over to put the plate down in front of him. My raging hard cock lurches in my pants when I see the curve of her ass.
“There you go,” she says as she puts down the waffles. “Zero of the four food groups present on your plate. Wait… is canned whipped cream considered dairy? Mmmm debatable… I’ll let it slide.”
I barely notice that Debbie leaves to put in my order. I don’t even want to eat anymore. My stomach is twisting in knots and the thought of putting food in my mouth and chewing feels like an alien concept to me now.
Possessive feelings start taking over as I watch her put the rest of the plates on the table. I want to take her caveman style over my shoulder and bring her back to my place where only I can admire those tempting curves. They were made for me and I’m a selfish fucker who doesn’t want anyone else to see them.
“I’ll get you guys some more coffee,” she says before she leaves the table.
All four of their heads turn and they stare at her round ass as she walks away. I’m talking heads out of the booth, shamelessly staring.
Rage fills me. I’m staring at her ass too, but there’s a difference. That ass is mine.
My furious bear snarls as he stalks close to the surface, ready to take those eyes for daring to look at what’s ours.
I stand up—my body moving on its own. I don’t have control over it. The rage does.
An edgy, twitchy feeling shudders through me with every step I take toward their table.
The four of them look up at me in surprise as I slam my fists onto their table, grinding my knuckles into the cheap wood like an alpha gorilla confronting rival mates.
My forearms and biceps are flexed as tight as my jaw while I struggle to hold back my murderous intent.
“What the fuck do you want?” Lincoln, the bigger, braver, stupider of them asks with a mouthful of pancakes.
“You looked at what’s mine,” I hiss through clenched teeth as I stare him down. “That girl’s ass is mine. She’s my girl.” The possessive feelings are taking over and my maniac of a bear is egging me on.
Make them pay! She’s ours!
“Your mark is not on her,” Lincoln says. He’s on my left right next to me. Close enough to snap his neck. “She’s fair game.”
I feel a tap on my flexed shoulder just as I’m about to pounce on the guy for daring to say she’s not my girl.
“Excuse me,” the gorgeous voice says. “I need to refill these coffees. The pot is already cold and if you make me wait any longer, I’ll have to get some ice cubes to go along with it.”
The rage dampens when I turn and look into her sweet innocent eyes. My heart flutters in my chest and I forget what got me all worked up as I get lost in her heavenly gaze.
But the anger comes raging back when Lincoln talks to her.
“Is this your boyfriend?” he asks.
My grizzly snarls loud enough for his shifter hearing to hear. All four of them look at me.
Kimberly’s eyes land back on me as well. She does a double-take and then shakes her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”