Chapter Four

Reid continued to nod at whatever Stanton was saying, hoping he wouldn’t be required to add to the conversation or comment because there was no way he could form words or even breathe. His mouth was dry. His heart was pounding. His hands were shaking. He stuffed them in his pockets to keep anyone from noticing how unhinged he was.

What the hell was going on? He’d gotten a text from Nolan who asked him if he was free and begged him to please go pick up his mate and bring her to him.

It was a Sunday. Reid had intended to spend the day vegetating in front of the television watching any sport he could find. He’d been on a lengthy assignment for a dignitary for two months. It had ended Friday night. Reid hadn’t recovered.

And now this?

He was so confused that his brain wouldn’t function. He’d hung up the phone with Nolan ten seconds ago as he approached the front door.

His best friend. The one who called him and quickly explained his plight. He was in witness protection. His mate was at his parents’ home. Could Reid please pick her up and bring her to the hotel for a while?

Something was seriously messed up with this situation. Either he was losing his mind or Fate was playing a cruel joke on him.

He wanted to reach out to the woman in the hall bathroom and communicate with her, but at the moment he wasn’t sure he could do so without alerting the entire room to the insanity of this situation. He didn’t have enough faculties to properly block everyone else in order to concentrate solely on…what was her name?

Seconds ticked by, but they seemed like hours. Was Stanton moving around in slow motion? What he needed was for the world to freeze. Come to a complete halt, just until he could make sense of his life and take a few cleansing breaths.

He jerked out of his weird trance when he realized the woman he was there to pick up was approaching. When he spun around, he found her bottom lip pinched hard between her teeth and her huge brown eyes wide. She subtly shook her head.

Was she getting the same weird message from Nature he was getting? Was she as shocked as him?

It seemed that way.

Thank God someone had vocabulary, because otherwise things would have gotten far more awkward superfast. Oleta closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him. “So good to see you.” She grasped his biceps next and turned to face the stunning woman with thick brown hair that hung in long waves down her back. Really long. He had the urge to twist his hand in it, pull her head back, and kiss the life out of her.

He shook the image from his head and forced himself not to look directly at her, settling his gaze on the wall behind her instead as she stuffed her arms into the sleeves of her coat.

His hands were still in his pockets. No way in hell could he touch her.

What the absolute fuck? The Universe was tipped on its axis in a way that made him think he’s stepped from one dimension to another. This could not be happening.

“Reid Terrance, this is Adriana Tarben. Adriana, Reid.”

Stanton—God bless him—stepped past Reid and opened the front door. “Let them get out of here, Oleta. Addy doesn’t want to stand in the living room making pleasantries. Any second now Nolan is going to start shouting at us in our heads if we stall progress. I don’t want that kind of wrath,” he joked.

Oleta laughed.

There were two other people in the room Reid didn’t know. A man who looked a lot like Adriana. And that man’s mate.

Reid turned around, pulled his hands from his pockets, and gripped the open door. “We’ll catch up later?” he said to Stanton. “I want to hear about your trip. I’ll call you.” If I’m still alive after your son gets his hands on me.

“Sounds good.”

Reid didn’t look back at Adriana as he rushed down the front steps toward his SUV. He didn’t need to. He could tell she was right behind him. And they wouldn’t even look funny to the four people watching them. After all, they were on a mission. To get Adriana to her mate ASAP.

He rounded the car, not even bothering to open the passenger door for her. Normally, he would never be so unchivalrous. His mother would scold him for fifteen minutes if she saw his behavior. There was a good chance Oleta Osborn would chew him out the next time he saw her too. But for now, his actions were out of self-preservation.

Get in the car. Start the car. Drive a safe distance away.

Don’t look at her. Don’t breathe. Don’t say a word.

Just drive.

He repeated some form of that mantra over and over in his head, making it truth. He knew Adriana was in the car. He knew she had put her seat belt on somehow. He knew she had shut the door. He knew she was also not breathing any more than necessary.

How he managed to follow his own chanted directions was a mystery. He remembered nothing when he thought back. But somehow, a few minutes later, he was a safe distance from the house. He pulled into a fast food parking lot outside the residential neighborhood, managed to steer the SUV into a spot, and shut off the engine.

Thank God the windows were tinted so no one could see inside. The SUV was his baby. It was totally decked out with all the bells and whistles. It was also bulletproof. He used it on every mission. But it could not keep him safe today. The biggest danger was inside the SUV.

Nolan Osborn, his best friend for over a decade, was going to kill him.

Finally, he turned to face his mate.

She was staring at him, her cheeks flushed, her hands twisting around each other in her lap. Those gorgeous brown eyes were wide with shock. She swallowed. “I’m so confused.”

He blew out a breath. “You and me both.” He lifted both hands to run them through his hair, not caring that he left it in disarray. Though perhaps he should care, since women had often told him he looked hotter that way.

“Now what do we do?” she asked in her fucking sweet voice that went straight to his cock.

He couldn’t tear his gaze off her. After avoiding her entirely from the moment he first saw her, now that no one was there to witness them, he couldn’t get enough of her. “I have no idea.”

She looked like she might cry. When she released her lip, it started trembling.

On instinct, he lifted his hand, intending to cup her cheek and soothe her.

But she jerked back a few inches. “Don’t.”

He pulled his hand back, nodding. “You’re right.” He tucked both hands under his thighs.

Seconds ticked by. “Nolan’s waiting on me.” Her words were monotone, like that fact no longer interested her as much as it had ten minutes ago.

“How long have you known him?”

She closed her eyes slowly. “I’ve never even met him.”

“What?” Reid’s voice hitched. His text conversation with Nolan had been brief. His phone conversation had also been short. Somehow Nolan had left that detail out. Reid had grasped the gist of the convoluted situation. Nolan was in witness protection. He’d met his mate. He wanted Reid to keep her safe. Apparently met was a loose term.

“Last night.”

“What happened last night?”

“His parents had their homecoming party.”

“Right, I was invited.”

“Why didn’t you come?”

“I just got off a long case. I was exhausted. I figured I would come by and see them sometime this week. I didn’t feel like making nice with a bunch of people.” Now he wondered what would have happened if he’d shown up. “Wait, I’m confused. Nolan didn’t come either?” How did the two of them know they were supposedly mates if they hadn’t met? Maybe this was a good sign. Maybe they were mistaken.

“He came. He just didn’t come inside. He was with one of the officers on the case. He intended to stop by quickly, see his parents, and then leave. Instead, he scented me and didn’t come in.”

Reid tried to process this information. “Did you scent him too?”

“Yes.” The one word was breathy. She held his gaze.

“Is it possible you were mistaken?” Please say yes.

She shook her head. “No.”

He rubbed his brow with two fingers. “How… How did you feel?”

Her voice dipped so low he almost couldn’t hear her. “Like this.”

After shifting his body to face front, he stared out the window. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He didn’t bother to pull it out. If it was Nolan, he didn’t want to know what he had to say right now. If it was anyone else, they didn’t even rank on his short list today.

He put the car back in drive and pulled out of the parking lot. They rode in silence for several minutes, both of them breathing so heavily it reverberated around the car. Stress. Anxiety. Confusion. He could feel waves of the same emotions coming off her to match his own.

He drove away from the suburbs, heading toward the city. The police had chosen a hotel in the busy metropolitan area. With each passing mile, the buildings got taller, and Reid’s anxiety grew incrementally to match as if there were a correlation between the two. As he pulled into the hotel parking lot, his nervous tension doubled. What was he supposed to do? Leave her with his best friend? Fight for her? And more importantly, what did she want him to do?

The last thing he wanted to do was alienate her by making the wrong choices. If he said the wrong thing, he could lose her. But what was the wrong thing? They’d exchanged so few words that he didn’t know enough about her personality to make a judgment call.

He turned off the engine and faced her again.

Damn, she was beautiful. Those deep brown eyes would melt any man. And her hair… He wanted to run his fingers through it. He wanted to wrap it in his fist and angle her head so he could take her mouth. The drive had been excruciating, and his dick was so hard from breathing in her pheromones for so long he wasn’t sure he could walk properly.

She squirmed as he stared at her, his hand on the back of the seat, inches from touching her cheek. She was aroused too.

He’d dated a lot of women in his life. Many were pretty, funny, cute, smart… None of them made him feel the way he’d felt since the moment he stepped into the Osborns’ home. This amazing woman and all that she was slammed into him like a punch to the gut.

She was scared out of her mind. Her hands were shaking, and she kept wringing them in her lap.

“I have to come up with you. I can’t let you go alone. It’s not safe.” He glanced around, remembering the reason he was with her in the first place. How stupid could he be? He needed to pay closer attention to their surroundings. Someone could have followed them. It wasn’t likely since Nolan’s client hadn’t been arrested yet, but Reid recognized the importance of keeping Adriana safe. His task had new meaning.

“Should we tell him?” she asked.

He’d asked himself that same question about a dozen times in the last ten minutes, and he had no answer. He needed to let her make that decision. “It’s up to you.”

“Me?” Her voice squeaked. She glanced at her lap, her thick hair falling around her shoulders like a shroud. “My brain is racing. I can’t concentrate on any one thought. This is insane. Like a nightmare.”

His heart seized. He hated how torn she must feel. Half of him wanted to grab her by the biceps, kiss the hell out of her, and turn around and drive to the other side of the country. But he wouldn’t do that to her. She needed to make this choice on her own. Whatever twisted game Fate was playing this morning, he would love to ring Her neck—if She were a tangible being.

He needed to talk to someone, find out if this sort of thing happened to other grizzly shifters. He’d never heard of anyone meeting two mates and having to choose between them. Something was out of line in the Universe.

“Do you think it’s because Nolan and I met last night but didn’t act on it?” Her head lifted, her eyes wide again as thoughts organized in her mind. “I mean maybe it’s unnatural for mates to meet and walk away. Maybe it leaves one or both of them vulnerable, like open, or available to another because they didn’t do what Fate intended.”

He eased his hand forward and lifted a lock of her wavy hair, letting it run through his fingers. “That’s like saying there’s a vindictive God. I don’t think Fate operates that way. Not intentionally at least.”

“Why me? What am I supposed to do? Choose?”

“I don’t know, Adriana. I’m as confused as you are.”

Suddenly, one of her hands jerked up to wrap around his at the side of her head. Her hair was still tangled between his fingers, but she pulled his palm to her cheek and tipped her head into his touch. Her eyes slid closed as she pressed firmly against him.

He held his breath, luxuriating in the feel of her cheek. So smooth and soft. Her skin was several shades darker than his. He’d been born with jet black hair and a pale white complexion that did nothing but burn when he was exposed to the sun. Against her perfect features, the contrast was stark but made his cock jerk again.

When she tipped her head farther and placed a gentle kiss against his palm, he had to hold back a groan. She released him to lift her face. “This is not fair. Someone’s going to get hurt. And I’m worried about your friendship.”

He couldn’t argue with her logic. She was absolutely right. There was no way he and Nolan could come out of this intact. They had never fought in all the years they’d known each other. They’d met at U of C thirteen years ago and been thick as thieves ever since. Other than the occasional disagreement during the years they’d shared an apartment, they’d been like brothers.

Reid valued his friendship with Nolan above almost anything in the world. His own parents were older and lived on the other side of the country in Ottawa. He rarely saw them. He’d left home at eighteen to attend U of C and never returned except to visit on holidays.

Nolan’s parents had treated Reid like their own son from day one. In recent years all of them had been busier with their own lives and spent less time together, but like families everywhere, they always came back together.

This… This was going to ruin everything. Unless… “We won’t tell him.” He tugged his hand back and sat up straighter, rubbing his palms on his thighs. “It’s simple. He met you first. I’ll bow out. You two already had a connection. It should have been him. You’re right. I bet we never would have felt the connection at all if Nolan hadn’t driven off last night. The two of you would have completed the binding before I ever met you, and we never would have known about this.” He lifted a hand to wave it back and forth between them.

Her face went white. “That’s a horrible plan. It’s not fair to you at all. And besides, I couldn’t keep a secret like that from my mate.” She shook her head. “No. Let’s go up to the room together and face this like civilized human beings.”

He blew out a breath. “I’m not sure we are civilized right now, and we’re way more than human. That’s the entire problem.”

“Okay, but do you have a better plan? You want to just drop me off with Nolan and drive away? How’s that going to work out for you?”

It wasn’t. He would pull his hair out while she was in that confined space with his best friend. “Nolan’s going to kill me.” He reached for the handle of the door and opened it. A blast of cold air entered the car. It was an unusually chilly day for late fall. In fact, it felt like the dead of winter all the sudden. Was that the actual temperature? Or was it Nature’s way of chilling his heart?