Braden

The human woman looked rather unhappy. Yet she’d also asked him a question. He was caught in a quandary. Did he do his best to keep the conversation short and just excuse himself from the area? She clearly didn’t seem to want to talk to him, which was a shame, because she was stunningly beautiful. He growled at himself, angry at how he’d opened the conversation.

“Your person”? Really? Who the hell says that anymore these days? Get yourself together and stop sounding like an archaic twit. Also, answer her question. It’s polite.

“Actually no,” he replied. “This is the first time I’ve ever come to this part of the town.”

“The town,” she said, repeating his words. “You’re a shifter then?”

He smiled as gently as he could, not wanting to upset her with the answer. She already seemed unimpressed by his touching of her, even if he had saved her from harm. “Yes. Whatever gave it away?”

To his surprise she smiled, some of the unhappiness lifting. “Most of the residents call it Cloud Lake. Or just ‘town.’”

His eyebrows narrowed as he regarded her lovely oval face and almond-shaped eyes of a beautiful forest-green. They were captivating, and he had to actively work not to get lost in their depths. It was a bigger challenge than he would have expected.

“You’re not from here either,” he said. It wasn’t a guess.

“No, I’m not,” she agreed. “I guess that’s something we have in common.”

It was his turn to smile, and he delighted in the way her cheeks, already red from the chill wind, turned a slightly brighter shade as she looked at him. Her long dirty-blonde hair, pulled back in a ponytail under her thick, warming headband swayed slightly as a breeze stirred it.

“So what brings you to this part of Cloud Lake?” she asked with a puff of breath, the air condensing in a cloud of gray in front of her.

“Believe it or not, a simple walk,” he admitted. “I was over there when I saw you go down,” he said, turning and pointing to one of the paths that meandered through the large park. His trail through the snow where he had left the path to come to her aid was rather visible.

“That’s…a long way to come,” she admitted a little uneasily.

“We’re pretty fast,” he said, tossing her a wink to try and relax her. “I can cover that ground much quicker than any human.”

“Apparently,” she concurred.

“What about you?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going. Deep inside of him something was happening, something that he wasn’t quite sure how to handle, or to even classify. His bear was stirring, becoming aware of the situation, and more importantly, the woman in front of him. It was only a matter of time now before—

It noticed her. A thunderous roar exploded inside his head, lancing pain into his temples as his animal fought his control. It wanted him to lean forward, lift her up and cover her mouth with his. Little things like propriety, custom, the law, and even clothes were of little matter to it. All it could think of was one particular thing:

Mate.

Braden had always had a firm control over his beast, and he exerted that now, reining it in tightly. I don’t even know her name, he argued fiercely. You will obey me, he snarled as it struggled to force his hands forward. Braden was made of sterner stuff than that, however. His fingers didn’t even twitch. In front of him the woman answered his question, seemingly oblivious to the battle going on inside of him.

“Actually no, not normally. I don’t venture out of the south part of town either.”

There was a way she said that, as if she expected him to know what she meant.

“You are one of the Women of the Institute?” he asked, purposefully putting capitalization on the name.

“If that’s how you prefer to refer to us,” she said, making it clear she wasn’t in favor of the moniker. “Though I suppose it’s the most accurate way. Heaven knows we’ve tried to come up with something else, and haven’t succeeded. So sure, why not. Yes, I am a Woman of the Institute.” She used her fingers to put quotes around the words as she spoke. “You know what we are, obviously?”

“Yes,” he said simply. There was no need to explain it.

Over a year and a half earlier, nearly three hundred women had come to Cloud Lake under the sponsorship of his homeland of Cadia. They were all, in a way, victims of a hideous human corporation colloquially known as “The Institute” that had tried to use a science-fueled program to commit a mass genocide of the human race. As part of their master plan, they intended to use willing human women to help breed positive shifter characteristics into the human DNA population, while culling any full shifters from the herd. It was a despicable plan, though none of the women who had volunteered had been told the truth at the time.

So Cadia, once it had destroyed the Institute, had taken the well-being of these women into its own hands. They hadn’t wanted to bring them into the shifter territory itself, so they instead used the nearest human town. Thus the relationship between Cloud Lake and the humans had begun. Many of the women had left by this point, while others still had met locals and moved in with them, and an even smaller handful had ended up as the mates to some of the shifters who worked at the embassy. In fact, a quick glance at the gaggle of women now staring at the pair revealed the mates of two of those said shifters. He inclined his head toward both Rachel and Angela, whom he knew rather well.

Almost at the same time a loud giggle came from the group on the far side of the rink. He winced. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you the subject of gossip.” The tone of the giggle had been fairly evident.

“Oh please,” she said with an exaggerated eyeroll. “They’ll gossip about anything. They’re starved for drama lately. I’ll be the most popular girl around for the next twenty-four hours, unless something else happens.”

Braden couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Glad I could help then.” On a whim, he stuck out his hand. “Braden Fields.”

There was no hesitation as she took his grip, her small hand engulfed inside his grip. “Elle Mirrine,” she replied, pronouncing it “Mer-een.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Elle. If you have any trouble with the gossip, I have a few things I can share about Rachel or Angela.”

“You know them?” she asked, twisting to look back at the others.

He looked down as he felt a tug, and realized with a start that they still hadn’t let go after shaking hands. Confused, he looked up, watching as Elle came to the same conclusion. Almost in unison they opened their hands, looking anywhere but at each other. Braden thanked his lucky stars he had something to continue talking about.

“Um, yeah. Did I not mention I was a Guard at the Cadian embassy? I work alongside Hector and Noah.”

Elle shook her head, obviously as relieved as he was that they could avoid discussing what had just happened. “No, I don’t think we’d gotten that far. But that’s good to know. If I have any difficulties, you’ll be the one I come to for dirt.”

“Whoa now,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’m not a professional blackmailer. This is all new to me.”

She laughed. It was a lovely singsong noise, light and airy. It made his heart stir, and forced him to clamp down on his bear once more, holding the other half of him steady.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Braden could tell the end of the conversation was nearing. She was there with friends, after all, and she couldn’t just up and leave them to spend the rest of her day with him. Not politely, at least. If he wanted to talk to her some more, he was going to have to screw up his courage and ask her to see him again.

Right. Easy. Not a problem. Can-do. Absolutely. Piece of cake. Easy as A-B-C.

“I should probably be getting back to my friends,” she said.

Elle glanced over her shoulder and nodded, then turned back to him, licking her lips. Was she nervous too? He thought she was as cool as a cucumber, but maybe she was experiencing some of the same butterflies he was. After all, she’d held on to his hand as much as he’d held on to hers…

“Maybe we could resume this conversation at another time?” he blurted out. “When they aren’t around?”

The way she dipped her head down but still managed to somehow look up at him through her eyelashes sent his heart soaring and his…well, other things happened too. She had that effect on him.

“That would be nice,” she said. Then she quickly gave him her number. He repeated it back to her to show he had it.

“Bye,” she said, turning before he’d even finished speaking and skating back across the rink.

Braden just watched her go for a moment, then turned and headed off himself, his lips moving as he repeated her number over and over again. He didn’t wish to pull out his phone and stand there while they all stared at him and made comments to her, so he just headed off, resuming his walk. It took all his willpower not to look over at them, but he knew that would only have made things worse, not better, for her.

Right now he figured half the group was grilling her, while the other half was watching him depart, eyes like hawks, looking for anything that would make good entertainment. He almost stopped and bent over right at the waist to tie his already tied boot up, but decided that would just be too much.

Elle was already going to be under attack from her friends. The last thing he needed to do was add more “Did you see his butt?” or “Look look look!” cries to their already vast repertoire. He hoped, more for her sake than his, that none of them had noticed the way they’d held hands, but he doubted that had escaped observation. Especially with Angela and Rachel there, who had already gone through the whole process of realizing their fates had them destined as mates to shifters.

That was why he kept repeating her number over and over again until he was out of sight. And that the first chance he got he nearly ripped his pants apart digging his phone out to put her number into it.

But they didn’t need to know that.