Epilogue
Bo ended the call on his cell phone and walked into the diner. After ensuring Nissa was all right and well and truly mated, he gave Zach the heart to heart he had planned years ago. Mutual respect, trusting her instincts, acknowledging her desires. And You hurt her, and your balls get served to the rodents in the forest. His bear had helped him embellish the last part, but his new brother-in-law had taken it in stride and had tilted his head in the barest motion of submitting his throat. Cocky bastard wasn’t submitting to him as alpha, but he was accepting Bo’s role as Nissa’s older brother.
As he strode toward his usual stool at the far end of the counter, he almost tripped when a flash of blond scooted around him with a loud giggle. “Whoa, where you headed, son?” Bo grabbed the young boy out of the way before he tripped the servers coming out of the kitchen with heavy trays.
No more than five, maybe six years old, the kid’s ice blue eyes stared up at Bo with a combination of pent up aggression and the kind of childish exuberance that would come from running wild in a frenzy of energy, like after being cooped up in bed all week. This kid had a shifter side, and it definitely wasn’t a bear. It’d be nice to have Zach’s ability to distinguish between the different shifters, but then again what would he do? Kick out a kid because he wasn't a bear? No, that was more his uncle’s style. Good riddance to that rubbish.
“Sorry,” the young boy said through two missing teeth, sounding more like “Thorry” as he grinned up at Bo fearlessly.
“I told you to stay put in the booth, Liam,” a female voice carried through the restaurant and Bo felt his entire body tense as the woman came around to scoop the boy up into her arms. “Say you’re sorry for running into Mr.?”
“Alexander. Bo Alexander.” His voice cracked a bit before he got himself under control to smile at them both reassuringly. “No harm done.”
“Sorry, Mr. Bo. I have ADHD, and mommy didn’t get my medicine refilled in time. I take it to calm down to go to school or so I don’t run in the woods. I like the woods. Cats are cool, but I prefer dogs. Do you prefer kitties or puppies?” The boy’s eyes flashed with excitement as he continued speaking so fast Bo could barely keep up. Liam’s animal side was damn close to coming out right there in the middle of the restaurant.
At this age, it was hard to control the shifts, and Bo remembered having a few dicey moments as a kid growing up. But surely, this boy had shifted enough over the past two years to hold it back, right? Better safe than sorry. “Well, you slow down a bit until you can get out and do some running with your mama, okay, son?”
“Yes, sir.” Chubby cheeks and a wide, snaggled-toothed grin beamed up at him. “Let’s go, mama. I want to take a nap, and then go to the playground and eat an ice cream cone and…”
The beautiful strawberry blonde woman carried her son out the door, and Bo still heard him chattering a mile a minute. Her eyes had widened in fear when the kid’s eyes glowed close to his shift. Poor woman had her hands full.
Bo’s body finally relaxed as he sat down on his stool. That woman… He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew her from somewhere else. Every part of her. Her gorgeous curvy body, the loose ringlets of strawberry and butterscotch framing her round face. Her sweet voice that sounded more glorious than an angel’s choir—and her scent! The sweet combination of vanilla and orange had overwhelmed his senses; he had almost shifted right there in front of everyone. His bear had wanted to carry her out of this loud, smelly restaurant and take her back to his place to claim her as his own, again and again.
Mate, his bear explained.
Shit. This was not the right time to be thinking about mating.
Mate and accept our power, his bear growled more forcefully, and Bo covered his mouth with a napkin hoping no one had noticed.
“I see you met Jane and Liam.” Sam plunked down a coffee cup in front of him and started pouring.
“Yeah. We met.”
Sam rolled her eyes and left to wait on the tables in the back.
Jane. His mate’s name was Jane, and she already had a kid. His grip on the mug tightened, and the cup almost shattered before he put it carefully back down onto the counter. The thought of her being with some other male infuriated him. Where was her mate? Where was her mating mark?
He threw down a handful of bills and stalked outside. He’d found the woman destined to be his. But he might be too late to do anything about it.
• • • • • • • • • •
“Sir, I think I found her,” James whispered into his cell phone watching the large man stalk out of the restaurant. “She’s still using the same first name, Jane, and you were right. She doubled back through this area with her son last month.” He texted the picture of the boy in his mother’s arms and winced at the low growl on the other side of his phone.
“That’s her.”
“Do you want me to kill her, kidnap her, what? Your father’s orders weren’t very specific.”
The roar erupted through the earpiece, and he pulled the cell away and rubbed at his ear. “You just keep an eye on her and report back to me. About her and her cub. Wait, has he shifted yet?”
“I don’t think so, she seems to keep him pretty tightly reined in, and I found receipts for medicine she’s been giving him for the past few years. With all due respect, sir, I think that’s why your trackers couldn’t find her. He’s just another human until he shifts.”
Another louder growl caused James to shudder in panic. This man scared him more than all the other bad people he had worked for these past ten years. “I’ll continue to watch them, sir.”
His employer spoke so low, he almost couldn’t hear him, and the hairs on his arms stood up. “Don’t lose them. Jane and the cub are mine, and she won’t run away from me again. I’m on my way to Bear Paw.”
The line went dead, and James shuddered as the fear passed through him. The men who had hired him were scary SOBs, and he had heard the stories about what happened to humans who pissed off the lion clan. Lions, real lions. Like the kind that could rip his head away from his shoulders with one swipe. Okay, he’d continue watching the woman. And when the alpha’s son got there, James would take his payment and get the hell out of dodge. No more jobs with shifters. These guys meant business.
He strode out to his car, started it up, and drove to the small apartment complex on Jessup Street. After parking, he positioned himself to do the same thing he had done for the past week. Watch the woman and her child.