Fearless (The Willowdale Village Collection #2)

3. Liam Clarke

CHAPTER 3

LIAM CLARKE

“ M orning,” I called out in greeting. It was Friday morning, so the department was quieter than it was most days. Most of our admin staff were resting before the chaos of the weekend ensued, but I was unsurprised to see Ari and Connery at the office.

“Did you happen to do a drive by?” Ari asked in lieu of greeting, “Macon hasn’t texted Connery back. I was wondering if maybe he stopped in to talk to Lena.”

I shook my head, not because I hadn’t done a drive by, but because I hadn’t seen any sign of Macon. And considering I’d sat in front of Lena’s apartment for a few hours before coming in, I would have known if anyone had gone in or out of there. “Not that I saw.”

“Yeah, that shit isn’t good.” Connery sighed, standing up. “Sorry, guys, but I’m going to need to spend the morning looking for the bastard. I think he might have hurt feelings.”

“Why?” I was notoriously short and rude with people, but not usually with the three of them. Still, I found myself wracking my brain for anything I could have said?—

“Because both of us kissed Lena yesterday and made her come. Then she ran back home, acting like it was a huge mistake.”

My thoughts came to a hard stop.

I had no right to be jealous. I knew the score and had even agreed that the four of us would have to share Lena’s affection eventually. Hell, I considered Ari, Connery, and Macon as part of my own pack…but the idea of two other men touching my potential mate made me see fucking red.

Especially before I had marked her, before I had gotten to kiss those plush lips?—

“Liam.” Ari’s voice snapped me out of it, and I realized my wolf had been producing a loud rumble that I couldn’t even bother disguising.

“Sorry,” I said, directing the apology mostly at Connery. He’d been watching me with unhinged amusement, but his worry for his brother was obvious. “When did this happen?”

“Last night when she was shifted in the clearing. Everything was fine until she started overthinking shit. Probably didn’t help that we pushed her on why she was denying what she obviously felt and needed.”

“She seemed off even when we talked to her yesterday,” Ari said as I ran a hand through my hair. With a long sigh, I leaned against a nearby desk and tried to calm my wolf, who was still raging in my head, wanting to go prove to Lena that we were a good potential mating option. That we could make her feel as amazing as they had.

“She did seem jittery,” I agreed. “I think her mating heat is about to hit.”

“Shit,” Ari murmured.

Shit was right because unless Lena accepted the very real truth in front of her, it was going to be painful and frustrating as fuck. Dragons could choose their mates, though they felt an instinctive pull toward certain individuals, but wolves had fated mates—all things that I knew Lena was well aware of. We had been confused when she hadn’t recognized the bond when it had been just Ari and myself. I’d been hurt then, but our girl was a bit flighty when it came to bringing people into her circle, afraid to lose them like her parents, so I hadn’t pushed it.

Everything had changed when the Demir brothers arrived into town, though. Now we could all actively feel her magic reaching out to us, having recognized the four of us as mates.

This was the first year since she turned eighteen that all of us were here, the brothers only having arrived last summer. Her last heat had passed in a whisper, but this time I could feel it building and my instincts were telling me we needed to be as close to our fated mate as possible. Which was probably why we’d turned into certifiable stalkers, as she had pointed out.

“That’s going to complicate things,” Connery grunted. “She won’t accept our relationship, let alone what a mating heat with us would bring.” Something I couldn’t entertain mentally for too long or else I would find her and pin her down, taking her like a legit animal.

“You go find your brother,” I told Connery. “Ari, let’s go scope Lena’s place out again and make sure she’s okay.” Bunny Bites would be opening soon anyway.

“Sounds good,” Ari agreed, throwing on his jacket as we left the building and stepped back into the cold spring weather.

The comfortable silence between the two of us was unsurprising as we made our way to my patrol car. I had met Ari the same night I’d met Lena and known him for over two years.

“ I n the car,” I told the piece of perfection in front of me. It was one of my first nights on call, and the last thing I wanted to be doing was busting some senior year high school party.

Although my wolf was in full disagreement as I stared at the woman in front of me. Graves. That last name sounded so damn familiar… fuck . Hunter Graves. The alpha of the local wolf pack, a pack that I had been considering joining…and that meant that this had to be his little sister?

“No,” she growled, tossing her teal hair over her delicate shoulder. Despite the cool spring weather, she was dressed in only a shirt and jean shorts, and an oversized jacket that was distinctly male was wrapped around her. Something I found that I fucking hated.

“You’re going to end up with handcuffs on if you don’t,” I warned, loving the image of that far too much. “You’re getting delivered back to the pack lands one way or another. Easy way or hard way.”

Her gold eyes lit with challenge. “Hard way.”

A rumble left my throat because I would show her the fucking hard way ? —

“She doesn’t mean that.” A kid her age appeared next to her, wrapping his arm around her small waist. I glared at the contact but managed to restrain myself from saying anything.

“I do, Ari. I really do.”

“No you don’t,” Ari argued. “Get in the car, Lena.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue, slamming the door as she sat in the passenger seat. I shook my head as she began to play with the lights on the top of the car, causing the kids around the front yard to startle. It wasn’t like they didn’t know we were here—there were two other cop cars besides my own.

“Don’t give her too much of a hard time,” Ari said, a respectful request. “She’s dealing with some shit.”

Normally I would’ve ignored him, but instead I asked a question that was bothering me. “That your mate?”

Considering they were both shifters—although I wasn’t sure what kind she was yet—it wouldn’t be that shocking. Though I would be fucking furious since I was positive she was meant for me.

Ari chuckled sadly. “Just keeping her safe until she snaps out of this.”

T hat had been the beginning of…everything. The start of my friendship with Ari. Both of us shared an interest in Lena’s safety, and he’d decided to join the police force to help me in my mission to keep this town safe. Considering the previous two cops in our small town had retired, it was much needed help.

It had also been the start of my obsession with Lena, my beautiful teal bunny.

Although it wasn’t until the Demir brothers arrived that we’d been forced to deal with the reality that we all wanted Lena as our mate and she didn’t seem interested in choosing—at all.

That wasn’t the problem, though. Despite my wolf being pissy, I would be fucking fine with sharing her in the long run. The problem was that Lena, understandably so, was still messed up over her parents’ death, so she wasn’t willing to let many people in. At least not as much or as close as I wanted.

I wanted to assure her that I would do everything in my power to ensure we would never lose one another and that the risk was worth it because of what I knew we felt for each other, but getting our woman to have a conversation about that was damn near impossible. So while we were waiting on her to choose us, we were stuck in a bind, not wanting to push shit. Although my patience was growing thin on that front.

“Opening late,” Ari mentioned as we pulled up across the street, the town center quiet and filled with morning mountain fog.

I nodded, eyeing our girl as she opened the curtains and turned on the lights before unlocking the door. One of the first things I’d done upon her opening was secure every single door and window in her business and the apartment above. I’d also installed a security system. One that may have stopped me from breaking into her place at night to check on her—so I wasn’t positive how I felt about that.

“She looks exhausted,” I said, looking over her golden complexion and heavy eyes. I could see her coffee cup resting on the register as she let out a yawn, not even noticing us across the street.

“Were you serious about the mating heat thing?” Ari asked.

“Haven’t you felt it each year?”

“Yeah, but I’ve done my best to ignore it. Didn’t want my wolf to get excited over shit that wasn’t going to happen,” he admitted before chuckling. “Shouldn’t surprise me you have it marked on your fucking calendar.” I scowled and flipped him off but didn’t deny it. Maybe I had a mental calendar, but I had everything about our woman memorized.

“I don’t completely understand it. Her rabbit has clearly chosen the four of us, but she hasn’t recognized it—or for some reason thinks it’s not going to work out and is trying to deny it, but the actual mating heat will be way worse now that the four of us are with her almost every day.”

“Doesn’t help that Connery and Macon seem to be purposefully trying to set it off,” Ari grunted.

I thought about that for a moment. “Maybe they’re onto something. Maybe we aren’t being obvious enough.”

“Besides stalking her,” Ari mused. “But you’re right, maybe we should make the first move.”

“You think?” I asked curiously.

“Yeah— shit, I didn’t think you meant now.” Ari chuckled as I opened up the car door, but right at that moment my phone rang. Seeing that it was Connery, I tossed Ari the phone.

“See what’s up and tell them to clear their plans tonight. I’m making dinner plans with her for the four of us. I’ll tell her we will pick her up around six.” I closed the door behind me, hoping that worked for everyone.

As I made my way across the street, I noticed the wind was cooler today, almost biting. As I walked into the bright teal and yellow bakery, I was immediately surrounded by warmth and the scent of fresh baked bread.

“Morning—oh, Liam!” Her eyes went round in surprise, setting down her coffee mug as it nearly spilled over the edge.

“Good morning,” I said, walking up to the counter and putting my hands on it, looking down at her as her perfect scent filled my nose. The way she always stared up at me with a bit of defiance turned me on way too much. Shit. Maybe I wasn’t the right person to ask her to do dinner with us, especially since we seemed to love going back and forth with one another.

“Are you here to pick something up?” she asked, her gaze running over me briefly as a pink blush stained her cheeks. I took a lot of pride in how she looked over me, and I had to stop myself from reaching over and grabbing her jaw so I could place a firm kiss to her pink lips.

“Not right now. But tonight, yes,” I said. “Dinner tonight, at six. The five of us are having a talk.”

Lena’s eyes grew impossibly larger, and she sucked in her plump bottom lip before releasing it. “The five …of us?”

“That’s right. You, me, Ari, Connery, and Macon.”

“What…what do we need to talk about?” Her eyes flashed with a teal ring around her dilated pupil, making me know that her rabbit was right there, listening to my every word.

Giving into instinct, I reached forward and grasped her jaw, dipping my head so I could brush her nose in a way that had her letting out a small sound from her throat. “Us. We need to talk about us .” Before I carried her ass upstairs, I let go of her chin and stepped back, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“I would love that—really.” Her words were soft, vulnerable and filled with hope.

“I’ll pick you up at six.” I repeated the details and walked toward the door. “Have a good day, Graves.”

Her amused laugh at my use of her last name had me smiling in return as I left her bakery. She had done an amazing job with this damn place, and I was beyond proud of her. Which was probably why I always bought a weekly supply of shit for the police station. One day I seriously hoped that she’d be baking at home in our kitchen as well. But until then…

“How did it go?” Ari asked hopefully as I got back into the car.

“Good. Really fucking good.”

“Thank the Creator,” Ari said. “Connery found Macon. They’re in the coven lands, which we need to head over to. He seems fine, but they’ll both be better when they hear the news.”

The news that Lena was finally giving us a chance. Now, hopefully, we could make her see the truth right before her eyes.