Chapter Three #2
High above, exposed steel beams hinted at the building’s industrial past, now softened by the presence of hanging green plants and colorful local artwork that adorned the walls.
The environment felt open yet inviting, a modern oasis that seemed both unfamiliar and oddly comforting to his heart.
They were sights and smells that he hadn’t picked up on the day before because he’d been so overwhelmed with the sight and scent of his mate. Fixated. He’d been fixated on her.
But as he stepped further inside, his heart sank, and he realized why he was so able to focus now.
Harper wasn’t there, and only the faint trace of her scent lingered in the air.
Instead, two of her employees, a young man and woman were behind the counter in her place, serving a steady stream of customers.
Disappointment washed over Toby, a dull ache settling in his chest. He ordered a coffee, trying to appear casual, and asked the young man, “Hey, is Harper around today?”
“She should be in later, but she had some errands to run this morning,” the young man replied with a friendly smile, oblivious to the turmoil his words caused.
Toby nodded, managing a strained smile. “Okay, thanks.”
Find mate, his coyote demanded.
Toby ignored the inner chatter and paid for his coffee.
After he’d received his order, he took a seat at the same corner table he had occupied the day before, sipping the coffee that suddenly seemed tasteless.
The absence of Harper left him feeling adrift, her presence the anchor he hadn’t realized he’d needed.
As he sat there, Toby wrestled with his thoughts, trying to formulate a plan.
He knew he needed to be patient, to wait for the right moment to reveal his secrets, but every fiber of his being screamed for haste.
The need to protect her, to be close to her, was overwhelming.
He frowned. This tether to another person was everything he hadn’t wanted, but now that he’d met Harper, the very idea of her not existing in his world made him feel… bereft.
As he glanced out the window, his gaze unfocused, Toby allowed himself to admit this was about more than just the artifact now.
Harper had unwittingly become the center of his world, and he needed to figure out how to navigate this new reality without scaring her away.
He’d skipped breakfast that morning and had seen a diner on the corner of the street that would kill two birds with one stone: provide him with some much-needed fuel and kill an hour of his time while he waited for Harper to return to work, without looking like he was actually stalking her.
Toby finished his coffee then left the coffee shop, his thoughts tangled as he walked up the street.
The cool morning air did little to ease the restlessness that gnawed at him.
He was about halfway up the block when he caught sight of Harper emerging from one of the stores and his heart unexpectedly leapt.
The sudden sight of her stirred a complex mix of emotions: relief at seeing her safe, a pang of longing, and a deeper, more primal response that tightened his chest.
She was absorbed in her phone conversation, her brow furrowed with concern, and oblivious to his presence.
Watching her, Toby felt an involuntary pull, a desire to bridge the distance between them and shield her from whatever was causing her distress.
This surge of protectiveness was mingled with admiration for her evident strength and resilience, making him even more aware of the connection that his coyote instincts clearly recognized.
She looked around her as if suddenly realizing where she was before heading further up the street, in the opposite direction from the coffee shop.
Toby quickened his pace, his heart rate increasing not just from the brisk walk, but from the surge of protective instinct that gripped him. He used his enhanced coyote senses to eavesdrop on the conversation, homing in on her voice amidst the noise of the bustling street.
“I don’t know what you’ve gotten into this time, Jack, but you’ve gone too far. How could you leave the U.S?” Harper said, her voice laced with worry. “Are you crazy?”
Toby’s steps faltered for a moment. She was talking to her brother, and whatever he was doing involved a trip out of the country.
Toby hadn’t expected to stumble upon such a crucial conversation.
He listened more intently as Harper continued, “I felt like someone was watching me yesterday when I left work.”
Alarm bells went off in Toby’s head. She must have noticed him following her home the day before.
How could he have been so careless as to have been caught?
His job for the CIA required him to be stealthy, to move around undetected.
Was he losing his touch, or had Harper picked up on someone else watching her?
He scanned the street with a sudden urgency, his gaze sharp as he looked for any sign of a threat.
Frustration gnawed at him. He’d had been so focused on keeping a low profile and watching over Harper that he might have overlooked another danger lurking nearby.
His coyote stirred within him, furious and protective.
Protect mate!
Her brother’s dismissive reply was faint, but Toby caught the gist of it thanks to his shifter hearing. “You’re being paranoid, Harper.”
“No, it’s not just paranoia,” she insisted, her voice growing firmer. “It happened again this morning when I got out of my car. Someone’s watching me, I’m certain of it.”
As Toby’s eyes darted back to Harper, she passed a narrow alleyway between two buildings. In a split second, a figure emerged, a blur of motion that Toby’s trained eyes barely caught, and grabbed Harper, yanking her away from him and into the alley.
His heart lurched and his coyote soared instantly to the surface, threatening to emerge.
Toby had to use every ounce of restraint he possessed to stop himself from shifting right there in the middle of the street.
He sprinted towards the alley. His body tensed, and he readied himself for a fight, as his mind raced with the possibilities of who could have grabbed her.
Was it someone connected to her brother’s shady dealings, or a random threat?
He didn’t know, but he was ready to tear apart anything or anyone that threatened her.
As he reached the alleyway, he slowed, moving with the stealth and precision of his coyote form, even in human shape.
He took a few deep breaths in an effort to calm his racing heart, but he had never felt anything like this fear and blind panic before.
His senses were heightened to their limits, every sound and movement sharpened in his focus.
Toby prepared himself for what he might find, ready to protect Harper at any cost, driven by the deep, instinctual bond that had already formed between them, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Toby’s steps halted abruptly as he reached the mouth of the alleyway, his nostrils flaring as he picked up the unmistakable scent of wolves.
The man who had grabbed Harper was a shifter, and he wasn’t alone.
Toby’s body tensed, his coyote scratching frantic claws against his skin, begging to be unleashed.
Every fiber of his being screamed for release, but he clung to the last shreds of his human restraint as he peered into the shadowed alley.
The scene before him was chilling. Two men, or rather, two shifters, had Harper cornered against the grimy brick wall.
One of them, a burly figure with menacing eyes, had his hand clamped around her throat, holding her just off the ground.
Harper’s feet dangled, her hands clawing at the man’s arm, her face etched with fear and defiance.
Toby’s vision blurred red at the edges, and a growl built deep in his chest, before morphing into a roar that was more animal than man. The sound echoed off the alley walls, a stark, primal challenge. The men’s heads whipped around, eyes widening in shock and fear as Toby charged.
The transformation into his coyote form couldn’t be contained any longer.
With each stride, his body convulsed, bones reshaping, fur sprouting, his clothes tearing away as the animal took over.
His human roar morphed into a feral snarl.
The alleyway became a blur of motion as he leapt forward, now fully shifted, a creature of muscle and fur fueled by a wild rage.
The first man barely had time to react as Toby slammed into him, teeth bared, and claws extended.
He swiped with a powerful paw, catching the man across the face, sending him sprawling to the ground, blood spraying the bricks behind him.
The second shifter tried to intervene, but Toby was relentless, a blur of fury and sharp teeth.
He lunged, biting and clawing, his attacks precise and brutal.
The men were unprepared, their attempts to shift thwarted by the suddenness and ferocity of the onslaught against them.
Panic set in among the attackers as they realized they were outmatched, which would have been ludicrous under different circumstances.
Wolves, both shifter and animal alike, were bigger than coyotes and there were two of them and just one of Toby, but something he had in his favor in that moment they didn’t.
A shifter would do anything, even fight to the death if they needed to, to protect their mate.
After the second man had dropped Harper, she’d crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.
The shifters scrambled to escape, stumbling over each other in their haste to get away from the enraged coyote whose lethally sharp claws tore at their flesh.
Toby’s instincts screamed at him to chase, to finish the fight, to kill them for daring to touch his mate, but the sight of Harper, vulnerable and terrified, halted him. He couldn’t leave her.