Chapter Four
Zac
It was my first time at the Mates Motel. When I arrived in town, I had already signed all the closing paperwork for my house and bought it with cash, thanks to a sum my grandfather left me when he passed months before. I moved into my home that day almost five years ago.
Since that time, the townspeople had made me feel like I belonged. Tyrus and Patrick would do anything for me. This town functioned like a small community of friends who helped each other. Looked out for one another.
My roots had grown deep here, and I had no intention of planting them anywhere else.
“Afternoon,” I said.
Bennett Duke sat behind the counter of the office, readers down on the tip of his nose, the town’s thin newspaper in his hands. “Zac, what brings you in?” His eyes ticked down to my bag and then back to mine.
“I thought we’d have a sleepover. You and me. What do you think?”
The older man chuckled and shook his head. “I’d think you were a screwdriver short of a tool set. That’s what I’d think. You want a room?”
“Yeah. Water pump’s busted. Kael can’t get the part until tomorrow sometime, and I’ve been up since three this morning. I need a shower, a meal, and a long night’s sleep.”
Bennett grunted. The sound old men made when they understood something. “We got the hot water and beds. You’re in luck.”
He handed over the keys to a room. If I didn’t have the money, he would’ve probably offered it for free. We took care of each other that way in Autumn Hills. I paid and made my way to the room.
Mate. Mate. Mate.
Each word from my wolf got louder.
My mate? Here? At the Mates Motel?
After putting my bag in the room, which was cleaner and more modern inside than I assumed it would be, I went back out, nudged by my wolf. He wanted to break free of my human skin and hunt down his mate. Immediately.
I stood in absolute disbelief in the dead center of our small town, my wolf calling out that his mate was near. He had maybe lost his mind.
Mate. This time, he growled at me.
I let him take over my senses a bit. I caught tobacco and vanilla, two of my favorite scents.
Not a wolf.
Was my mate a bear?
One way to find out. I put my hand over my chest as my heart threatened to beat right out of it. My temples throbbed and tingles broke out all along my skin. He was near.
My mate was here. In Autumn Hills.
I racked my brain, trying to think of any bears I had encountered. But if I’d met him before, I would remember. My wolf brought me to a room at the end of the building and I knocked on the door. No one answered.
He picked up the scent again, taking me behind the motel and to a field where I found jeans and a shirt folded neatly on a bench.
Autumn Hills was full of shifters, so seeing someone run wasn’t a surprise.
Run with mate. Find him. See him.
Who was I to argue with my animal? Despite the long day, I was invigorated by the promise of my mate being near. Stripping, I folded my clothes next to his and let my wolf take over. Past the tree line, I heard and felt the pounding of paws.
The bear appeared from behind a pile of rocks, large and deep brown, huffing air through his nose.
Bear mate. Mine.
The moment I’d waited and hoped for was finally here. No one I knew from the town, his scent not only comforting and warm to me but new. He carried with him the smells of a city. Exhaust. Humans. Cars. Streets. I didn’t go to the city much, but my wolf recognized the aromas as though we did.
The bear approached me; I stayed still. Massive, circling me, he sniffed different parts of my body and nudged me with his nose.
Then he rubbed his muzzle against mine.
A shifter’s kiss.
Smitten, I didn’t know his name. Where he came from. Who he was. None of it mattered to my wolf. Fate had smiled on us today.
Run with me, omega. I stepped back, shocked by his voice in my head, deep and anchoring. Shifter mates could sometimes speak into each other’s minds while in animal form, but it wasn’t a given.
Our bond was fresh, so new, but already our fates wove together with force.
We ran for less than an hour before the day dragged me down. The adrenaline of finding our true mate wore off and before long, I found myself lying in the grass, catching my breath.
The bear came over and lay next to me.
Mate is tired, he spoke again in my mind.
My turn to try. I want to run, but I’m exhausted.
In seconds, the magical pull of his shift shivered over my skin.
My mate stood before me on two legs. Fucking gorgeous. A smile tugged at one side of his mouth, and he crouched down and ran his fingers through my fur. “Hi, little mate. You are such a beautiful wolf.”
My wolf got up and preened in front of his alpha, showing him all my fur and teeth.
“I see you, mate. Can you shift for me? I’d love to meet your human.”
My wolf relented. I shifted instantly.
This was happening. I was standing in front of my mate. The one Fate had chosen for me.
“Hi,” I said, feeling silly.
What else was I supposed to say to the person who would be the pivot in my life?
Nice to meet you?