“Son of a bitch!”
Gabe’s voice echoed off the walls of his storefront, reaching his own ears in a sharp burst of anger. The place was a mess. Glass was shattered on the ground, and his shelves had been rifled through. Boxes of hand grips and stop watches were strewn about on the floor and the scent of shifters was heavy in the air. He couldn’t tell who exactly they were, but there had been a group of them.
Gabe’s wolf was soon on their scent and he followed his nose through the store, taking inventory and confused by the fact that there was very little missing. The intruders had made themselves at home in the store, making their way from the cash register, through the aisles, and down into the basement.
“If there’s anybody down here, you better pray to your gods I don’t find you!” Gabe growled.
The wolf led the way as he followed their scent trail, his agitation mounting as he made his way through the crowded basement. Whoever had invaded had even poked around down past the stock and descended all the way down to the sub-basement of the building.
Gabe’s growl vibrated in his throat as he checked to make sure nothing much was out of place. He stepped through the small, narrow doorway that led to an ancient looking set of stone steps and hurried down them, grabbing the flashlight from the landing and throwing the beam around. The scent of the intruders was strongest here; they must have spent most of their time down there. It had probably just been a bunch of stupid kids looking for somewhere to get high, but that didn’t excuse the behavior.
Gabe was furious, but the wolf began to relax when he realized that whoever had broken into the store had probably just been doing it for some kind of a thrill. Teenagers were always talking themselves into stupid stunts to prove to their friends they were worthy of being an alpha. And Gabe knew that as soon as he smelled the scents of whoever had done it, he would be able to pinpoint them and make them pay.
He sighed heavily, taking one last look around the basement before heading upstairs and jogging across the street.
“How can we help you?”
Gabe glared at the man who spoke, a young guy with a nametag that read, “Randall”. He didn’t much like the guy. He could hear the things Randall said about him; checking him out in broad daylight. It made him uncomfortable, so Gabe turned to glare at the woman beside Randall. He nearly began to speak, but he hesitated, dazed by her innocent beauty. Gabe blinked hard and then looked back at Randall.
“You guys are here all day, right?”
Randall nodded, his lips pursed in an annoying, playful smile.
“Somebody broke into my store. Did you see who it was?”
“Oh my God…” the girl said, her voice a smooth, silky whisper in Gabe’s ears. He gritted his teeth and refused to look again at her, afraid of what might pop into his head.
“We didn’t see anything,” Randall said. “But I wish I had. Are you offering rewards?”
“My reward is that I don’t kick your ass for withholding information from me,” Gabe growled, peering down into Randall’s face. Randall’s smile widened and suddenly, the girl beside him had slipped in between them, standing with her back pressed against the counter and her hands resting gently on Gabe’s shoulders.
“He doesn’t mean anything by it,” the girl said quickly, her golden blonde hair falling in front of her face as she laughed nervously. “Please, if we could help you, we would.”
“Yeah, right,” Gabe growled, backing away so that the girl’s hands would fall from his shoulders. “I’m heartened by the news.”
Randall laughed and Gabe glared once again at him. This time, the ice in his gaze wiped the smile right off the man’s face. The wolf was determined to advance, and he had half a mind to let it. But suddenly, the girl’s hand was in his face. She snapped her fingers, bringing his attention right back to her, and she smiled again; a look that made all her features, right down to the deep emerald green of her eyes, light up.
“We’ll be sure to keep an eye out from now on,” she said apologetically. “We’ve just been really busy taking care of our latest shipment…”
Gabe gazed down at her, his anger deflating despite himself, and he busied himself by reading the nametag pinned to her form-fitting blue button-up shirt.
“Well, thank you for that, Valerie. Let me know if you see anything suspicious. My name’s Gabe. I own the shop across the street.”
“Yeah, Shifter Fit,” she said with a brief nod and another warm smile. “We know.”
Gabe turned his chin to the air, eyeing Randall darkly one last time before he pushed his way through the door. Whatever had just happened in there, he hadn’t gotten the results he was hoping for, that was for sure.
But at least he had asked. There wasn’t any other buildings on the strip that might have noticed anything strange happening, so he was just going to have to try to clean up the mess that the intruders had left and file a report with the Stonybrooke Police Department. The SBPD would take things from there.
Gabe spent the rest of the day cleaning up the glass from the floor and taking a detailed inventory, knowing that if he left anything out, he would be screwed over once he tried to take care of things when he sent in an insurance claim. He wished, more than anything, he had someone to talk to about what had happened to the shop, but he was alone. His wife was gone.
The thought of Molly made Gabe’s chest tighten, and he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d been seriously attracted to that girl across the street, but she was just a kid. Not only was it wrong but it was ridiculous. His heart would never belong to anyone but Molly, no matter what the insidious wolf within him wanted to say about it.