Jessie made coffee on autopilot. Finding his mate had thrown him for a loop and he was having a hard time recovering from the shock. Dana was more amazing than he ever could have imagined.

She was beautiful, strong, and intelligent and those were just the things that he’d noticed about her in the hour since they’d met. He couldn't imagine how wonderful she would be after he got to know her better.

Alongside his elation, he was filled with rage at the idea of the Updikes holding his mate hostage, all the while masking her scent from him with an illicit mating bite. As the coffee percolated he turned back to Dana and asked if she was hungry.

"I could eat something, but I don't want you to go to any trouble," she said.

"It's no trouble at all."

Jessie hated that she felt she was imposing on him after everything she'd been through. All this time, he had been telling himself he didn't want a mate and all that time his mate had needed him to save her. Instead of him being there for her, she’d had to save herself.

"I have eggs and bacon and toast if that sounds good," he said.

"That sounds absolutely perfect."

Jessie began pulling everything from the fridge and cabinets. He put a pan on the stove and sprinkled the black surface with oil. He flipped on the heat, and tried to get his heart rate under control. As the youngest in the Kincaid family, he was known for being impulsive and free-spirited. He was feeling anything but that, right now. His emotions clashed in his chest like a heart attack.

Everything he’d said to his family about not wanting a mate had gone out the window the moment he’d met her. As many shifters said, fate has a way of changing your mind. One look at Dana and his mind had certainly been changed. When the coffee finished brewing, he poured her a cup and fixed it how she liked it, with cream and sugar.

As he cracked eggs into the pan and slid slices of bacon into a second, he vowed right then and there that he would do everything in his power to protect his mate from now on.

"Why did you leave the Updikes now, after so long?"

"They threatened to hurt my great uncle if I left. I’d seen enough to know they weren’t joking around. Last week my great uncle passed away. I've been saving coins and bills I found while cleaning. I have over a thousand dollars now. Last night, the entire pack got hammered and passed out all over the mansion. It was my chance, so I took it. But with my luck, the car I stole broke down on the side of the road."

"That's a stolen car?" Jessie said, raising an eyebrow.

“It was my only option. I took the chance when it presented itself. I was going to report the car lost when I made it to Portland. I figured the Updikes owed me that much."

"I can see where you're coming from," Jessie said.

He meant it. She had every right to take the car and drive into the city. They had been holding her hostage with threats for over two years as an unpaid laborer. She deserved much more than borrowing a car for a trip into the city.

"You don't know how relieved I am that you understand," Dana said with a smile.

Jessie slid eggs and bacon onto a plate and poured her another cup of coffee.

"I can't believe what a miracle it is that you came and saved me on the side of the road," Dana said. "They say fate works in mysterious ways."

Jessie ate a piece of bacon and smiled. He had to agree that the meeting was almost miraculous. He had only found her on Mate.com the night before. Then she’d texted him early that morning, saying she needed a mechanic.

"I know. We are very lucky to have found each other right now," Jessie said, feeling philosophical.

"You're telling me," Dana said shoving a strip of bacon in her mouth.

"I'm going to start working on your car so we can get all this taken care of as soon as possible."

"Taken care of?" Dana asked.

"With the Updikes. We need to return the car and make sure they never bother you again."

"Oh that," Dana said, deflating.

"You seem tired," Jessie said. "Why don't you finish eating breakfast and then rest in the living room or the spare bedroom. Or in my bedroom," Jessie said feeling like a dork for the first time in his life.

Jessie usually had a way with women, but with his fated mate, he was feeling over eager and instantly devoted. He wanted to please her and fulfill all her desires. Usually he was a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” kind of guy. Not that he disrespected women, but a lot of the girls nowadays enjoyed playing the field as much as he did. He didn't feel bad about it. In fact, he was on several other social media dating sites that catered to such things. He always felt it was a harmless pastime to fill the void and fulfill his needs.

With Dana, it was a whole different story. He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to spend precious, tender moments doing everything he could to make her smile. She sat eating breakfast at the breakfast bar, a smile on her face but worry in the corners of her eyes.

He had to get out and fix the car. The feelings raging inside him were too confusing to feel all at once. As much as he wanted to be with her, he had to get away. Dana was a fox shifter, and he knew that she was having a similar reaction to him. Unlike human females, female shifters automatically recognized their fated mates. That was when repugnant hyenas weren't interfering with illicit mating bites.

"I hope you’ll be okay here by yourself for a while," he said.

He turned to her, patting her arm with his hand, noticing the oil in the cuticles of his fingernails.

"Thanks," she said looking up at him with trusting eyes.

He left the house, his chin sets with determination. He walked across the yard to the machine shop and opened the hood of her car. He was able to quickly determine that the fan belt had snapped. He fixed the problem and closed the hood of the car. As he passed the driver’s side door, he noticed that the tire was flat. He knelt and found a nail deep in the rubber. He stood and headed to the trunk. When he popped the trunk, Jessie nearly fell on his ass.

"What the hell?" he stammered.

The man lying in the trunk of Dana's car had been shot through the chest and lay in a pool of blood. It stained his white tracksuit dark red. Jessie staggered backwards and gasped at the horrific sight. Chuck Updike lay dead in the trunk of the stolen car. There was no mistaking his pointy hyena face.

How had the dead body of Chuck Updike wound up in Dana's trunk? He walked back to the body and looked over it again. He’d clearly been shot. But how? And by whom?

He knew he had to call the authorities. But first he wanted to ask Dana if she knew anything about it. Everything in him wanted to trust her. But he couldn't take for granted the fact that he didn't know her. They’d just met and she’d been living with the Updikes all this time. Maybe she had snapped and done something she hadn’t meant to. Maybe there was something more to it.

Ultimately Jessie believed she had nothing to do with it. But he wanted her to be the first to know what he’d found. She was his mate after all.

He closed the trunk and slowly walked back to the house, his mood dark in the bright summer sunshine. Inside, Dana sat on the couch with her feet up under her, watching a historical melodrama on public television.

"Why do you look as if you’ve seen a ghost?"

"Not exactly a ghost."

"What do you mean?" Dana asked, standing from the couch.

She turned off the television and put her hand on his upper arm. The feeling of her touch ignited the passion inside him and he had to resist pulling her into his arms. He didn't want her to have to see what he had to show her.

"You have to look at something in the trunk of the car.”

"Okay."

Jessie led Dana back to the garage and popped open the trunk of the car. She screamed when she saw it and he closed it quickly

"You didn't know anything about this?" he asked.

"Of course not!" she cried, shaking. He went to her and gathered her in his arms.

Stroking her hair, he said "I'm sorry you had to see that. I wanted you to know before I called the authorities."

"What should we tell them?"

"The truth," Jessie said.