Darren sighed and glanced at the clock. He was going to have to get to work soon. The human had been puttering quietly around the big house for the past few days, roaming restlessly. They hadn’t spoken very much. He had taken the past three days off work to make sure the human was settled, but ever since her first night there, she had seemed cold.
Or maybe, he had just stopped being receptive to her. She hadn’t been interested in the shifter cuisine he had prepared for her and ever since then, things had seemed awkward and strained. By the time the end of the week rolled around, they were probably both going to be eager to see her leave.
He stood finally from his perch at the counter between the living and dining area. “Come on, human. We are going out now.”
Kelly frowned. “Where are we going?”
Darren gazed into the woman’s bright blue eyes, a strange stirring in his chest. She was the same woman he had been so drawn to in the ad. Something special had happened when he had seen her there like that. Something he couldn’t ignore.
And yet, things between them were difficult. They were strained and uneasy. And he was getting impatient with that.
“We are going out. I have work, and I promised a friend he would get to meet you. Are you ready?”
Kelly frowned. “I need more than a minute’s notice to be ready to leave. Just give me five and I’ll be down.”
She shuffled upstairs, to the guest room that Darren had declared as hers. She spent a few minutes getting prepared for the track, and then emerged, in a fresh pair of clothes and a little bit of makeup.
“You look nice,” Darren said, a little bit begrudgingly. It was true, she looked good, but he was still feeling pretty bitter about how strained the relationship between them was. He had been hoping the connection between them would be fast, immediate, and easy. But what had been happening was the total opposite.
Hopefully, getting out of the house a little bit would be good for them both. He let her outside, and crossed to the passenger’s side of the car, opening the door for her chivalrously and waited for her to step inside. She looked at him in disbelief and got in, a small smile playing at her lips. “I didn’t know the bear shifter men had any idea of what it was like to be a gentleman.”
“Don’t get used to it,” Darren said, giving her a small smirk.
She let out a small laugh and he shut the door, crossing over to his own side and getting inside the car. Soon, they were on their way up Oak Mountain and toward the bar where Jared was waiting for them.
The ride there was quiet, just like the space between them had been ever since Kelly had arrived and he had served her dinner the first time. They were still eating meals together, but instead of sitting at the table with one another, Darren had been going immediately to his large armchair and eating alone. He knew he was probably being too brooding, but it was very difficult for him to figure out how to be able to connect to a human. He wasn’t a very emotional person, and humans were thought to be quite emotional creatures. Even most humans would admit that.
Not only that, but he was a little nervous. The feeling he had gotten when he had seen Kelly’s picture had been very overwhelming. He hadn’t known what to expect when he actually encountered her the first time, and it made him wonder to himself what would happen between them. It seemed intimidating. As if it was the kind of thing that could potentially change both of their lives forever. That was a lot of pressure, and he didn’t take it lightly. He wanted to do everything right, and yet, so far, everything had been wrong.
By the time they made it to the bar, Darren was very relieved that the car ride was over. They had hardly spoken, and the car radio was tuned to a station he didn’t even like. He had only turned it on because he thought it might fill the space between himself and the quiet human. When he pulled in to park, he and the human caught each other’s gaze and a low heat made its way through his body. Jared seemed surprised when they finally arrived at the bar. He had known, to some degree, that the human was going to be on Oak Mountain, and everybody had probably been talking about her arrival, but she hadn’t expected Darren to bring her to work with him like this.
“Jared, this is Kelly. Kelly, this is my best friend, Jared. It would be really nice if the two of you could get along. Better than we are, anyway,” he said with a wry chuckle.
“Better than you are?” Jared asked, his eyes searching Darren’s and then wandering to Kelly’s. “Are you giving my friend here a hard time?”
Kelly looked put on the spot all of a sudden, kind of afraid, and Darren gently inserted himself between her and Jared. He shook his head. “No, I think maybe we are both giving each other a hard time. It’s probably not a big deal. We just have to get used to each other. Everything is very new.”
Jared nodded and took a deep breath. “Ah, I see. Okay then, why don’t you sit down at the bar, Kelly, and I will get you a drink. On the house. What do you like?”
“I don’t know,” Kelly said. “I honestly haven’t ever drunk very much before. My town is very small. I don’t get out much. There has never been good enough company to warrant that.”
“Well, you’re going to like it here, I can promise you that much,” Jared said, smiling charmingly at the human.
Why did it seem that my best friend was so much better at talking to this girl than I was? I couldn’t help but feel a little bit jealous, thought Darren.
“Don’t worry about a thing, Darren. Just go get yourself a round and we can get this night over with.”
“How long do you expect me to stay here?” Kelly asked, looking at Darren suddenly. “You work here? You want me to stay all night?”
“Only until I’m done.” Darren didn’t see an issue with this. It was much safer to keep the human with him. It was impossible to say what kind of danger she could find herself in if she were left to her own devices. The dragon shifters had quite the grudge against Darren. If they found out there was a human who cared for him, or that he cared for, she could easily find herself in danger.
“When will you be done? I don’t want to stay here all night. I don’t even drink that much.”
Darren prickled at the human’s protest. Clearly, she didn’t know I was doing this for her own good. “You are just going to have to deal with it and stay here. The mountain is no place for a woman alone. Just sit down and drink your beverage.”
She glared at him in disbelief as he disappeared behind the counter and tied an apron around his waist. Jared brought her a drink and she began to take it down quickly. Darren could feel her anger emanating from her body. Bear shifters could generally sense emotion pretty well. With her this angry, it was clear to Darren that there was not going to be an easy way out of this relationship.
“You know, I’m not yours to just do as you want with,” she said when he returned to the bar and she sat down heavily on a stool across from him. Darren sighed and avoided her gaze, wiping the counter off as Jared set to work mixing drinks for a couple of bear shifters at the other end of the bar.
“Well, if you don’t like the way I am, you do not have to stay here,” Darren said. “Be my guest and go run off into the darkness of the mountain, where you will meet many untold dangers that I cannot protect you from. That’s up to you. And if you want to go back to your little town, that’s up to you too. I’m not going to deal with your attitude any longer.”
Darren turned his back on her and busied himself with taking inventory, even though he could feel a rush of anguish emanating from her body. He could tell the words had stung her, and he felt bad speaking them out loud. And yet, there was little he could do about it. All Darren wanted was to make sure the human was safe. He hadn’t brought her here as a punishment, but as a way of hoping to try to make things up to her. She was clearly having a difficult time adjusting, and the two of them had not been able to see eye to eye for quite a while.
“I don’t really get what your deal is, but I don’t like it,” Kelly said, before taking a sip of the drink Jared had given to her. “I didn’t come here to fight with you. I didn’t come here to be owned by you. I didn’t come here for you to boss me around and tell me I have to stay somewhere all night that I don’t want to go. Why can’t I just stay at your house?”
Darren could tell by the tone of her voice, at this last part of her sentence, that she wasn’t trying to pick a fight. She was genuinely confused. She didn’t know why she wasn’t allowed to simply stay at home.
“I know this is difficult for you. It is a hard transition for us both. But there are some things you need to understand about this mountain, and first and foremost, you should know you are not particularly safe. There are people here who do not like me. They would wish to harm me and anything they perceive to be important to me. And if they know how important to me you are, they are not going to let that go very easily. I just want to keep you safe. So, can you please just sit down and be quiet, and drink your drink until I am done with my shift?”
She gazed at him then, an odd flush tinting her cheeks. She closed her mouth and took a long, deep go of her drink compliantly, turning her eyes away from Darren and onto the bar in front of her. A couple of the men in the corner started cheering, as if they approved of his putting the human in her place.
“Shut up,” Darren snapped at them. They chuckled but turned their attention onto something else, and he got back to work.
Darren wasn’t going to let this human determine the way he was taking care of himself and his life. No matter what, she had come here for one reason. She had come here because they were drawn together. Whether it was fate or not, he wanted nothing more than to claim her and keep her as his own. And that was exactly what he intended to do.