Chapter 4
Wes
Hopefully, the women standing in front of the building couldn’t see how badly my arm was shaking. My forearm was on fire. If I hadn’t been looking at it and could see with my own two eyes that it wasn’t literally burning, I would’ve thought someone had pressed a match against my shirt, igniting it.
I forced myself to walk sedately to my truck, not slam the door, and managed to give them a little wave out of the window as I backed out. I even managed to not peel out in my haste to get the hell away from this enormous new complication.
My tattoo had been faded for a while now. As soon as I’d broken my chosen-mate bond with my ex and allowed her the freedom to go to her fated mate, it had begun to fade.
It’d nearly killed me, too. I’d gotten so sick, they nearly took me to the human hospital, something rarely done among the clans. Our clan witch had been able to see me through, though.
Looking at my forearm and not seeing a mating tattoo there was a constant source of heartache for me. I’d loved being mated. Being a part of a team, in love and excited for the future had been the best part of my life.
But heartache and misery had followed it, enough to make me wary of ever letting myself be that happy ever again.
Down the road, I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and parked the truck as quickly as I could, then unbuttoned my sleeve.
And stared in shock at my forearm, where my mating tattoo had been. A thin, red line had begun to appear. I knew it had to be there. The burning only meant one thing. But knowing it and seeing it were two different beasts.
It was there.
I had a fated mate.
Not in a million years—Hell, not in a billion years—had I imagined I’d find my fated mate. I didn’t think she existed.
A beep from my phone drew my attention away from the red lines darkening on my arm. It was a text from my foreman, Sawyer.
The skilled crew are all in town. Meet you at the property in a half hour?
That should give Livvie and her grandmother time to clear out. I agreed with Sawyer, and sat in the grocery store parking lot, staring at my forearm for the next twenty-five minutes.
By the time I pulled into the bed and breakfast parking lot, the rest of the crew was there. Good. If Livvie showed up again, I’d have a buffer. A big buffer full of stinky construction crew.
“Okay, hello.” I shook hands with the men I didn’t already know. Sawyer had hired several and I’d paid for a few to come in from California with me. “We can get started downstairs, doing demo first.”
Walking around the property, I started pointing to different areas of the outside that would be different when we were finished.
“That entire garden will be gone. I believe the owner is going to hire landscapers to come in when we’re finished outside and deal with that herself, so we just have to try not to rip up the outer part of the lawn too much. ”
Everyone nodded and made notes as their specific duties required.
My brain went into autopilot, walking the crew around and answering questions without really thinking about it.
All I could focus on was the burning on my arm.
It even distracted me from my dragon. He was going a little nuts, deep inside, enough to keep my focus going out the window.
I did the best I could to keep my head in the game, though Sawyer could tell something was off. We weren’t really close enough for him to ask what, though. I’d always kept our relationship strictly business.
When we gave the guys their first break, I walked to my truck and pulled out my cell, calling Toby. He worked in an office, so hopefully he’d be able to answer.
To my relief, he did on the second ring. “What’s up, brother?”
“My tattoo is back,” I said flatly.
He paused before replying. “The mating tattoo? I thought that disappeared.” But the tone of his voice made it very evident he had a suspicion of what I meant and what I was going to say.
“It’s back.”
He laughed for a good twenty seconds before quieting down. “Who?”
“Livvie.” I knew I was pouting. My bottom lip ached to stick out. Especially when Toby laughed some more.
“I told you I had a good feeling.”
I scoffed. “I’m not so sure about that.”
His laughter died immediately. “Why? This is a good thing.” He sighed and wouldn’t let me explain. “Listen, you can’t stay hung up on Kristen. You have to get past that.”
“That’s not it. I’m not pining over Kristen.
It’s…” I didn’t like saying this sort of crap out loud.
But Toby would bug me until I spit it out.
“Losing Kristin. Not Kristin herself. Being left behind, being left alone. That heartbreak was the worst thing I’ve ever been through, and you’re talking to a man who lost both his parents.
” I sighed. “I don’t want to deal with all that again.
It’s the price of loving someone, and the price is too high. ”
“You can’t let that stop you. If your tattoo is burning, it means she’s your fated mate. Don’t ignore that. She’s not likely to leave you. The chances of a fated relationship failing are so slim.”
“And if she dies?” I countered. “It’s rare, but it happens. It’s also rare for a man to be in a chosen mate relationship and have his mate find her fated mate. Rare, but we damn well know it happens. It happened to me.”
Toby sighed. “I know. But you need to look past the negatives. This is a blessing. You’re going to have a shot at real happiness after a lifetime of bullshit.”
I wasn’t sure how big my shot was. “All I know is that nothing is a sure thing. Everything can fail, including a fated mates’ relationship.”
“Negative thoughts cause negative reactions. Just promise me you’ll try to find the positive. Have an open mind and see where it goes. I can testify that you’ll be missing out on something wonderful if you let it pass by.”
I didn’t answer as I pondered his words.
“Besides,” he continued. “Jace tried to deny the bond and it nearly killed him. Similar to what you went through, but possibly stronger.”
“Fine,” I choked out. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.”
I said goodbye and went back to work with his words warring for space in my mind next to the burning of my arm. What might come of it? It could potentially be something good, but the fallout if it went wrong probably would kill me. Was I willing to lay down my life for a relationship? For love?
It didn’t sound appealing.
By the end of the day, we had a solid plan in place and were ready to start demo tomorrow.
I made a lot of notes and sat back with a sigh.
My arm hadn’t stopped burning. Not through lunch or all afternoon.
Livvie had a place somewhere on the property.
It had to be her nearness causing all the reactions in my tattoo.
This thing was going to get annoying and fast.
As we’d agreed, I opened an email to send to Livvie and give her the details on the progress we’d made today.
My dragon wanted me to end the email with a note about how nice it had been to finally meet her in person or compliment her thick blonde hair or gorgeous eyes. He couldn’t specifically tell me that, of course, but I wouldn’t ever say something like that, so it had to be the damn dragon.
I managed to curb the urge and kept it professional, though I did tell her it had been nice to finally meet her in person. That wasn’t so unprofessional that it would push boundaries or start something up.
It was just polite.
As I sent the email, I got a text from Toby inviting me out for a beer if I was free.
Hell, I was in a new town where I only knew him and Porter. What else did I have to do? Of course I was free.
I was being a little grumpy and I knew it. With a sigh, I replied that I’d love to get a beer and forced myself to get rid of my bad mood. It wasn’t Toby’s fault that I’d been thrown a huge curveball.
It wasn’t anyone’s fault, except maybe fate. She was certainly a bitch, or she had been to me.
When I got to the bar, Jace’s Place, which I’d been to when we visited before, Porter was with Toby and they already had a beer sitting on the table for me.
“A toast,” Toby said, holding his mug high. I picked mine up, knowing what was coming. “To Wes,” he continued. “To Wes’s new job.” His grin broadened. “And to Wes’s new mate.”
I glared at him as I gulped down some of the beer from the frosty mug.
“Say it a little louder.” I looked around the busy bar, but everyone was too engrossed in their own conversations to hear our words.
Still, there could be a dozen dragons in here, and with our advanced hearing, there was no telling what they’d pick up.
“I don’t think the dragons in California quite heard you. ”
Porter snorted. “Nah, they probably did.”
We drank some more and talked about the project. A much safer subject.
But Livvie wouldn’t get out of my head. When the conversation lulled, I brought it back to her as casually as I could stand to. “So…” I looked around the bar. “What do you know about her?”
Toby shrugged, not making a huge deal of my growing interest in Livvie. “She’s close friends with Liza. Seems a little high-strung, but it’s probably because she’s got a lot of pressure on her with the business and all.”
I nodded thoughtfully. I hadn’t gotten high-strung vibes off of her, but I’d only met her the once. In email, she seemed pleasant and happy.
“She’s sweet,” Porter said. “What I’ve been around her, anyway. Kaylee has hung out with Liza and Livvie a few times.”
Toby held up his mug to the bartender as he spoke, indicating we needed refills. “Liza adores her. That’s enough for me. Anyone that Liza thinks is good people must be good people.”
I chuckled. “You’re not biased or anything are you?”
Porter clapped Toby on the back. “And so he should be. Fate doesn’t give us mates that we can’t trust. Not in Bluewater, anyway. Everyone here has been incredibly happy with the choices the universe made for us.”
“Some magic in the air,” I muttered before draining my beer. A server walked up a few seconds later with a pitcher and filled us up again. “Can I have something to eat?” I asked. “Chicken tenders, if you have them.”
She winked at me. “Coming right up.”
Normally, I would’ve flirted a bit, maybe tried for a one-night stand. But Livvie’s face flashed through my mind and I found I had no desire to try to start something up with this server.
“So, what’s your next move?” Toby asked once we had our beers refilled.
I shrugged. “I’m going to play it by ear. I’m not rejecting the thought of a relationship, but I’m not sure I want to pursue it, either.” Toby nodded and looked like he was about to lecture me again on how nice it was to be mated. I beat him to the punch. “What do you know about the grandmother?”
Toby and Porter both shook their heads. “Nothing,” Toby said. “Why?”
The server walked up with my tenders. I gave her a polite smile, making sure to keep it aloof so she wouldn’t think I was returning her flirtatious looks.
When she left, I explained. “It was probably all in my head. I was all discombobulated about the whole mating thing. But I had a weird, non-human energy from her.”
Porter leaned forward. “Like what?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. It was like I couldn’t quite notice it; it wasn’t familiar enough. It was probably all in my head, an effect of being all freaked out about the mating bond. No big deal.”
Porter and Toby exchanged a glance, but they let it go.
I stopped drinking after the second beer and let the food absorb the excess alcohol, so by the time I was ready to go home, I was stone-cold sober. I did stop at a gas station for a six-pack, though. No reason I had to stay sober.
Once I got home, I couldn’t shake the feeling about Livvie’s grandmother.
It nagged at me. When I had another couple of beers in my gut, I pulled out my laptop and searched for the women.
An article from a good decade ago came up, with a picture.
I zoomed in on it, but of course couldn’t sense anything off of a grainy newspaper article photo.
Still, my instincts irritated me and told me that Ms. Olivia Halstead and her granddaughter were not a hundred percent human. What they were, however, was a mystery, and one I was interested to solve.