A Pika's Safe Haven (Heat, Prey, Love #2)
Chapter 1Gavin
CHAPTER
ONE
GAVIN
Callum storms into the kitchen and throws his school bag into a corner before reaching for an apron. “He’s back. I swear he’s plotting how to rob the place.”
“I raised you better than that,” I tell him, filling a plastic to-go container with a heaping helping of stew before sliding some warm bread into an insulated bag. It’s not much, but it’s something.
He groans and flops over the metal worktop, pressing his flushed face into the cool surface. Shifter hormones are truly a bitch. If being a predator isn’t bad enough during puberty, throw in a heaping helping of alpha instincts, and well— In a few hours he’ll calm down and, if he’s ready to talk, tell me what has him so twisted up. If I had to guess, something happened at school, or with his best friend. Maybe both.
Right now, my concern is the young man Callum currently has a problem with for no real reason other than he needs something meaningless to be upset about.
I leave my youngest son to his dramatic fit and make my way through the diner towards the front door. I don’t know his name, the young man who has been pacing in front of my diner every other day for the past two weeks, or why he’s in Pine Glen, but he’s clearly hungry. And out of place.
In the off season, we have little to offer tourists. A lot of businesses close up and their owners head for warmer weather. He’s not a tourist. The day-trippers and vacationists are always clean and well dressed, dropping money like it grows on trees. This guy...
He stumbles to a sudden stop when I push open the diner door. His pheromones are familiar to me after weeks of walking past the lingering smell of them when I close Strange Brew for the night. I recognize him not only as an omega, but as a prey animal. Something small. As jumpy as he is, I’d like to say a rabbit, but he’s clearly homeless and stuck in survival mode. That would make anyone ill at ease.
“Here.” I hold the bag of food out. He looks at it with wide, scared brown eyes. A pink flush covers his cheeks and nose. I’m not sure if it’s embarrassment or fear. If I can scent the prey on him, he can scent the predator on me.
Finally, he shakes his head, his greasy hair flopping around his ears and forehead as he steps back. “I don’t have any money.”
“I figured. I’m not asking for money.” His eyes drop to the bag. The hungry growl of his stomach is loud between us. How long has it been since he ate a hot meal? A meal at all, for that matter. “It’s just stew and some bread. Not much, but better than nothing.”
He chews on his bottom lip as he looks from the bag to me. The uncertainty and suspicion is bright in his glassy eyes. How long has it been since someone was kind to him for kindness’ sake? A while, probably. “Y-You’re just giving it to me?”
“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Why else would he spend the last two weeks pacing in front of the only diner in town that’s open year-round? Not to rob the place like Callum says.
He swallows and looks away as he wraps his arms around his empty stomach. The dark circles under his eyes and the hollows in his cheeks tell a depressing, all-too-common story. Things haven’t been easy for him. He’s not used to strangers, especially predators, extending a helping hand with no strings attached. “I am.”
“I’m Gavin. This place is mine.” I tip my chin towards the diner. “And it’s no trouble for me to feed you.” I offer the bag again.
He slowly reaches out, and takes the food with trembling fingers. “I’m Jules.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jules.” I don’t offer to shake his hand. Not because I think he’s dirty or beneath me but because he wouldn’t accept my hand if I did. “Next time you need a hot meal, knock on the employee entrance if you don’t want to come in, alright?”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” he mutters, already backing away, the bag clenched against his slender chest. No doubt he wants to find a quiet place to sate his hunger. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
“Once is enough, but it’s an open-ended offer,” I tell him as I tuck my hand into my pocket. “So keep it in mind.”
Maybe I’ll never see him again. He could decide to pack up and leave Pine Glen tomorrow, but if he sticks around and finds himself hungry, hopefully he’ll take a chance and knock on Strange Brew’s back door.
“Okay.” He takes a couple more steps away. “Thanks. Again.”
I watch him disappear around the corner before I slip back into the diner.
Callum has his apron on and is taking an order at table three. Why he’s writing Samson and Joshua Meadowlark’s order down, I don’t know. The pair of them order the same thing every time they come in; he should have it memorized by now. Behind the counter, Altair, my middle son, is ringing up Lina Windor’s coffee order.
The only person missing is my oldest, Baz. As soon as he got his Park Ranger job, he hung up his apron. Serving demanding customers wasn’t for him. It’s not for Callum either, but he’s sixteen and he needs something to occupy him after school.
As a young alpha predator, if he’s left to his own devices, who knows what trouble he’ll get up to. With Callum, it could be anything from egging a schoolmate’s house to knocking up his best friend because they wanted to experiment. Neither are problems I want to handle on a random Wednesday afternoon.