Chapter Seven
By the time Jett reached the hotel he was drenched and in desperate need of a change of clothes. He couldn’t very well walk through lobby with soaked fur. Besides, shifters weren’t allowed to be in animal form in the building with so many humans around. After finding some spare clothes in another hiding spot, he slipped them on and stomped into Adonis’ office. He must have looked like a complete mess with his shirt half open and his long inky bangs slicked to his forehead. But, he didn’t care about his appearance in the slightest. Not even Tatum almost running him over, again, was a big deal to him. He had bigger problems at the moment that needed to be addressed.
Adonis snapped his head in his direction. “Don’t you ever knock? Why do you look like a crazed animal?”
“Because I am one. Do you have a minute to talk?”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“I just came from town and saw three of four wolves lurking around the woods.”
“So what? There are lots of shifters that seek solitude in the woods. You do.”
“These wolves are not from here Adonis. They aren’t interested in peace. They have their own agenda.”
“Which is?”
“I don’t know, but we need to keep a keen eye on the humans and the let the local shifters know to watch out for them as well. This whole thing is giving me bad feeling.”
“Well, I trust your instincts more than anyone else, so let’s get some added security here at the hotel and make a schedule for other shifters to pitch in and let us know if they see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Okay, I’ll go get Ronin and we can make another circle around the mountain and…”
“Wait a minute. Just sit down a sec.”
“Adonis, there is no time to sit and relax. There could be…”
“Will you just sit the fuck down for two seconds please. I want to talk to you about something.”
Jett plopped in the chair across from Adonis’ desk. “Fine, but hurry up.”
“Take your phone out of your pocket.”
“For what?”
“Just do it.”
Holding the cell in his hand, Jett furrowed his brows, confused as to why Adonis was asking him to do this. “Now what?”
“Dial this number.”
Jett slid his thumb across the screen and began to dial. When he reached the second to last number, he stopped. “This is Gerri Wilder’s number.” He recognized it because he had given it out to so many of his friends, Adonis included. He just hadn’t used the number for himself yet. “And why am I calling Gerri?”
“To find your mate.”
Jett cleared the numbers off the screen and stood. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”
“Why not?”
“Now is not the time for this nonsense Adonis. We have more pressing matters to deal with and finding my mate isn’t one of them.”
“Look, I have seen a big change in you lately. You keep to yourself a lot more than usual and it’s just not like you at all.”
“Miss me?”
“Hell no. But Eira is worried about you.”
“Only Eira?”
“If you’re fishing for any other reason, I hate to disappoint you, but you’re not going to get it.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Jett glanced at his phone. “You’re right. I hate to admit it, but you are. Something is missing in my life. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not finding it out there.” He pointed toward the window. I’ve spent hours thinking about what I can do to fill the void that has set up fucking camp in my gut. I hate feeling like this. Like I have no fucking direction anymore.”
“Maybe it’s time you start seeking out other options. You should have a mate by now. Don’t be as stubborn as I was. Eira is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Trust me you’re missing out on something really special.”
Jett sat back in the chair. “In my heart I know you’re right, but I don’t think I can do that now. Especially with all this shit going on now.”
“You go above and beyond for your friends and your job here at the resort. It’s time to start thinking about yourself. Call Gerri.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll call her now.”
After swallowing his pride and reaching out to Gerri the day before, he learned...nothing about his mate. Gerri refused to tell him anything about her. Not her name, what she looked like, or what she did for a living. He was then informed that he should wait for Adonis to let him know some of the details and where he would meet her. Was his conversation with Gerri aggravating? Definitely. Did he mind the secrecy? Absolutely. But, he knew from previous conversations with other shifters that Gerri knew what she was doing, so who was he to question an expert. When he thought about it, he had to admit, the mystery surrounding his mate was kind of exciting. She had to be pretty special if Gerri was making such a big deal out of it.
Anyway, he couldn’t worry about that now because he had to go pick his car up at Speed Demons. They called him early that morning and notified him that the car was ready and he could go get it anytime. The place was hopping when he got there, as always. He couldn’t remember a time when it wasn’t busy. Since they serviced more than cars, the business had plenty of customers to keep them on their toes.
When Jett walked to the back of one of the garages to pick up his Jeep, he noticed it wasn’t where the receptionist said it would be. He strolled over to one of the mechanics working under a silver Ford Taurus. The shop was loud so he had to yell over all the noise. “I’m looking for my Jeep!” The guy didn’t even flinch, so Jett screamed louder. “Hey! I said I’m looking for my Jeep!” Still no answer. He had things to do and didn’t have time to play hide and seek with his car. What he needed to do was get the Hell out of there so he could patrol the mountain and the surrounding woods around the hotel. Jett kicked the trolley the man was lying on and he slid out from under the truck. Only...it was a guy. It was...her. “You!”
Tatum stood, wiping the wrench in her hand with a grease covered cloth and strode over to the tool box on the counter to set it down. She didn’t even acknowledge him as she spoke. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask the same thing about you.”
She finally turned to face him as she sprayed orange cleaner on the dirty rag she was still holding, then proceeded to scrub her hands. “I work here.”
“You work here?”
“Yeah, what are you a parrot? Do you always repeat something that’s said to you?”
“What I meant was why do you work here? I thought you were only visiting.”
“I was, but Eira suggested I stay.”
Jett’s eyebrows bunched together, clearly annoyed by this whole situation. He thought she was going to be leaving soon, he didn’t think he’d have to deal with Tatum practically on a daily basis because he would have to since his best friend and her friend were mates. “Well, isn’t this just the icing on the cake.”
“What is your problem?”
“What’s my problem. I don’t know, let us recall what has happened in the last two days to cause me to be in such an ire mood. First, you almost run me over with your motorcycle, then you scream at me for destroying said motorcycle, which wasn’t my fault to begin with, and last but not least you try to run me down with Eira’s car on the way to town.”
“You know what, I don’t like your attitude.”
Jett waved his hands in front of him. “Oh, big shocker.”
Tatum threw the dirty cloth on the counter behind her. “First of all, I was ready to start over. I was ready to bury the hatchet between us and try to be your friend, but you know what, I would rather bury the hatchet in your head.”
Tatum pushed past him and disappeared behind the garage. Good riddance. At first, he was only being nice to her because Adonis asked him to, then he felt really bad after he saw her cry in his Jeep on the way to Eira’s and he’d actually wanted to help her. But, she never gave him a chance. She continually berated him, blamed him for things that were out of his control, and she was still being rude to him. He didn’t need someone like that in his life, he didn’t care if she was Eira’s friend. There was only so much a man could take, and he wasn’t going to sit back and take her bullshit anymore.