Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
Gavin Abrams stopped at the edge of the woods that surrounded Whisper Creek and stared into the afternoon sunshine. He’d traded his coveralls for the black shirt and pants of the pride’s security team for the week. Normally he’d be in downtown Cleveland working on the hotel for the vampire coven alongside the other tiger shifters from the pride who worked for Midas the tiger king’s construction company. But one of the mated security team members just had a baby and wanted to take time off so Gavin jumped at the chance to not have to drive an hour one-way to get downtown.
He didn’t mind patrolling although it could get boring at times. It was definitely necessary. A few months ago, they were on the receiving end of a lot of problems from an anti-shifter group called Humans Against Shifters, led by a fanatical human named Brent Foley. He’d abducted Midas’s mate Maya and also Ashley, who’d once worked for Brent as a spy but was now mated to Midas’s former number two, Romeo.
So no one took the safety of the tiger pride for granted, and security patrols ran around the clock. Today Gavin was assigned the town’s perimeter, so he traversed the town in one continuous circle, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
His phone buzzed and he saw it was Ryan, the head of the security team and Midas’s new number two.
“Hey,” he said, answering on the second ring.
“Anything going on?”
“Nah. All quiet.”
“Good. When your shift is over, stop in at the security office, I’ve got a job for you.”
“Sure thing.”
He glanced at the screen when the call ended and saw he had an hour left on his shift, which gave him enough time to make one more circuit around the town before he headed in.
Turning from the edge of the territory, he grabbed his phone when it buzzed again.
“Hey, Ma,” he said.
“Have you talked to your sister?”
Gavin’s younger sister Aeryn was mated to a vampire named Merrix, and they had an adorable little baby named Seraphina. Aeryn was now immortal, as she and Merrix were beloved mates. Little Seraphina was a Valkyrie and was immortal too.
“Um, not in a week or so. Why?”
“She said she was going to talk to you about staying at your place because you have a light-tight house. They’re going to come for the full moon this weekend, isn’t that exciting?”
Considering that his parents hadn’t been thrilled at first when Aeryn mated Merrix, they’d come to love the big male, and it didn’t hurt that Seraphina was the first grandchild and a cutie.
“Very exciting,” he said dryly. “I’ll reach out. They can totally stay at the house.”
“You’re sweet, I’ll make you your favorite dinner on Friday night.”
“Lasagna?”
“And fresh bread.”
“Okay, now I don’t mind at all that she’s coming. Thanks, Ma.”
“You bet. Talk to you later.”
Gavin ended the call and was about to call his sister when he remembered that she was a day sleeper and didn’t like being woken up. He’d call her after the sun set and let her know she could have the house that they’d once shared, so her vampire mate wouldn’t get burned to a crisp by the sunshine.
By the time he reached the security office at the end of his shift, he had nothing new to report to Ryan.
“I didn’t see a leaf out of place,” he said, sitting in the chair across from Ryan’s desk.
“I really feel like Brent and his asshole shifter haters moved on, but we can’t be too careful.”
“I agree.”
“Do you like working security?”
“I do. Construction is cool too though.”
“It is,” Ryan said with a smile. He leaned forward and rested his forearms on the desk. “Would you like to switch permanently to the security team?”
Gavin’s brows rose.
Before he could answer, Ryan continued, “Frank just reached out and said that his mate wants to move back to her home pride in Florida because her parents want to be close to the baby, so there’s going to be an opening in the security team. I figure with the vampire hotel and bank projects wrapping up in the next month that you might want to take over Frank’s position now. There are some others who are interested, so if you’d rather stay with the construction crew that’s fine too. You can also think about it and let me know tomorrow.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” Gavin said. “I’d love to join the security team. I’ve always enjoyed filling in, but whenever any open positions came available there were older males higher up the ranks who got the jobs.”
“Well, now you’re the high-ranked male next in line.”
“No shit?”
Ryan grinned. “No shit. You’ll officially start tomorrow as the newest member of the security team. You’ll work Tuesday through Saturday and have Sunday and Monday off.”
“Perfect.” Gavin stood and extended his hand, shaking Ryan’s. “Thanks, man. This is great news.”
“No more long drives downtown.”
“I won’t miss that.”
Ryan walked him to the door of the office. “Before I forget, are you free Friday night?”
“My mom’s making me dinner since I’m letting Aeryn have my house for the full moon with her mate and baby, but otherwise, no. Why?”
“My sister Lena and her friend Ava want to go to Lykos, but I’m not free to escort them. Devon will go along too, but we like to have two security members escorting anyone outside of town.”
“Yeah, that works.”
“Great, thanks. You can check with Devon, I think the girls want to leave around eight.”
“You got it.”
Gavin left with a skip in his step. Today was turning out to be a great day, considering he’d thought nothing interesting would happen.
Tomorrow, start a new job. On Friday, he’d get to eat the best lasagna on the planet and hang out with his friend Devon while escorting the females, and then this weekend he’d get to spend time with his sister and his niece.
The only thing that would make the whole experience better was if he had his truemate by his side.
Maybe he’d meet her at Lykos.
Who knew what the weekend would bring?
Gavin talked to his sister Aeryn after sunset about her and Merrix staying at the house. After she’d mated Merrix, Gavin and his dad had installed shutters that could be lowered to make the house light-tight, so it was safe for Merrix. They didn’t come to the pride to visit often. Generally, Gavin and his parents went downtown to visit them at the apartment complex they called home, so this would be a rare opportunity to get to shift and hunt with his sister.
“Is there any SyBl left in the fridge from the last time we visited?” Aeryn asked.
Gavin got up from the couch. “Lemme check.”
He moved things around in the fridge and eventually found a bottle at the back. “Just one.”
“We’ll be at the house before dawn on Saturday and leave before dawn on Sunday, but I’ll bring a couple extra bottles just in case.”
“Sure thing.”
“Any good news in your life besides the new job with the security team?”
“What sort of good news would there be?” he asked as he grabbed a soda from the fridge door and shut it. Popping the top, he made his way back to the couch and sat, putting his feet up on the worn coffee table.
“You know, maybe you found your truemate? I know Mom would love to have another grandkid.”
“I’d love to help her out on that front, sis, but no go in the romance department.”
“Boo. You’ll meet your truemate when the time is right, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, well, fate is taking her sweet time.”
“You’re not that old,” she said.
“Who said anything about old?” he asked with a laugh. “I’m just ready to start the next chapter of my life.”
“I wasn’t saying you’re old!”
“I’m feeling a little insulted here, Aeryn. I think you need to bring me a six-pack of that key lime soda that I can only find downtown at that little market.”
“I wasn’t trying to insult you, but I’ll bring you some.”
“Nice.”
“You’re a dork.”
“Takes one to know one, kiddo.”
Seraphina let out a sharp cry and Aeryn said, “Oops, the princess is up so I’ve gotta run. See you early Saturday morning.”
“With the key lime soda.”
“Yes, yes, I promise.”
“Drive safe.”
“Thanks, Gav. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
When the call ended, Gavin put his phone down and took a long drink from the soda. He reached for the remote and turned on the TV, mindlessly flipping channels until he found a fictional police show to occupy his time until he headed to bed. Talking to his sister about finding his truemate just made him want to find her even more than he already did.
He hoped she showed up soon though.
He was definitely ready to find her and start their lives together.