Patrick (King Lake Shifters #2)

Chapter 1

Did a person only get one ride-or-die best friend in their whole life?

Because lately Cassidy was starting to feel like she’d already lost hers.

She flipped the sign on the coffee shop door to closed and turned the lock, the click echoing through the quiet space. The Coffee Shop Next Door was empty now, the counters wiped down, the pastry case ready for tomorrow’s treats, and the air still heavy with the scents of coffee and cinnamon.

It wasn’t the most exciting job in the world, but she liked it.

She liked the routine of it all – take an order, make a coffee, smile and take payment, rinse and repeat. She was a creature of habit and enjoyed the happy little rut she’d set for herself, which included dinner on Wednesdays with her bestie Juliette.

Cass took off her apron and dropped it in the bin at the back of the shop, said goodbye to her manager, and stepped outside into the cool May evening.

Normally she’d walk home with Juliette. Her best friend not only shared a split-double with Cass but worked at the bookstore next to the coffee shop, and that made their lives easy in the best possible way.

But Juliette wasn’t walking home with Cass tonight.

She was packing up her side of the split-double and moving across the river to King Lake with her wolf boyfriend, who Juliette called her mate.

Cass adjusted the strap of her purse and started the short walk home alone.

She felt strange and she couldn’t really articulate why.

It just felt odd, after such a long time walking home with Juliette, that Cass was alone.

She wasn’t sharing details about the customers in the shop or hearing about the latest romance novels coming into the bookstore; it was just the sound of Cass’s shoes on the sidewalk and the rustle of leaves in the breeze.

She could be happy for Juliette’s newfound love and still miss her.

By the time Cass reached the house, the sun was setting, turning the white siding gold in the fading light. She paused on the joint sidewalk and looked at Juliette’s side. It was quiet from the outside, the blinds closed, a potted plant that needed watering at the front door.

Soon it would be empty, and the landlord would find someone else to rent to.

Striding up to the front door of her side of the split-double, she unlocked it and walked in.

She was meeting Juliette at an old-fashioned pizza parlor for dinner, a place that Juliette had seen on social media and suggested they try.

Cass had tried to share in her enthusiasm for the restaurant, but she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that their friendship was changing.

She pushed away the disgruntled feelings and told herself that a hot shower, fresh clothes, and pizza with Juliette would save the evening.

Another sigh escaped her as she made her way to her bedroom to get ready. Nothing like a friend finding their happily ever after to make a person feel their own loneliness like an ice pick in the ear.

But she wasn’t going to dwell on that.

What could she do, anyway? It wasn’t like Prince Charming was going to drop out of the sky and cuddle her into oblivion tonight.

She did believe in love, she just didn’t believe in fast love, the stuff of one-nighters and rushed declarations, the kind of heat that made people rearrange their whole lives in a heartbeat.

Juliette was happier now than Cass had seen her in recent memory, and she wasn’t going to throw cold water on that with her own slightly sour outlook on love. She just hoped that Juliette’s mate Sigh was really as steady as he seemed.

Pushing the worry aside, she stripped and turned on the shower, determined to focus on the night ahead. Pizza, gossip, and time with her best friend… something familiar she could still count on.

Tonight, she needed that more than usual.

She wasn’t surprised when Juliette didn’t show up at the pizza parlor.

Disappointed? Yes.

Annoyed? Sure.

But surprised? Not in the least.

As the server refilled her water and dropped off the check for the mostly untouched meal, Cass checked her phone again, her thumb hovering over the screen like it could make a text appear. But the screen was blank, without an I’m sorry or running late text to be found.

She set her phone face down on the table. Cass still couldn’t believe that Juliette had flaked on their dinner, especially when she’d been so excited to try the place.

But maybe that was the problem. It wasn’t just one forgotten dinner.

It felt like the last couple of weeks had finally caught up with them. Juliette was slipping deeper into her new life, and Cass was stubbornly holding onto the old one with both hands.

She paid the check and boxed up the individual pizza she’d ordered while she waited. It had smelled delicious, but she’d felt weird eating alone after asking for a table for two.

She was genuinely worried about her friend, but she also knew that Juliette was in the throes of a new relationship and likely had simply forgotten. And that stung.

“Have a good night, hon,” the server called as Cass stood up with her purse and her pizza box.

“Thanks, you too.”

She walked out into the May evening, leaving behind the scents of yeasty dough and melted cheese. When she got behind the wheel of her car and put the box on the seat next to her, she stared at it, unsure how she was supposed to feel.

Was she being ridiculous? Overly dramatic?

No. No, she wasn’t. They’d had plans. Who ghosted a friend without even a text?

Cass turned on the engine, pulled out of the parking spot, and headed toward home.

As she left the pizza parlor behind, her thoughts strayed to the split-double, and the thought that tonight was a glimpse of what was to come.

They were essentially no longer neighbors, and that meant no more walks to and from work, no easy Wednesday dinners.

The parts of Cass’s life that had seemed so full because of her friendship now suddenly seemed full of holes.

Cass’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.

This was the second time Juliette had flaked on Cass since she’d started her hot and heavy romance.

Cass thought that kind of spark was bad news. Too hot, too fast, too easy to mistake for forever. That was the kind of spark that was written about in love songs and romance novels, but in reality, it didn’t last.

Fast starts, big declarations of love, and promises made in the spur of the moment would fail eventually. She’d grown up in a house like that, had seen what happens when the new-shiny wore off and the everyday became a drag.

But the longer she drove, the more her hurt sharpened into something else. She wasn’t angry that Juliette had fallen in love. She was angry because tonight had mattered to Cass and it clearly didn’t matter to Juliette.

The turn for her street came up, but she drove past it. Instead of going home and changing into her comfy PJs and watching her comfort show with a tub of cookie dough ice cream, she headed toward King Lake.

Juliette had forgotten about Cass, and she’d just remind her.

Her fingers drummed on the steering wheel as she reached the bridge over Pine Run River. She’d grown up in Mill Creek but had never ventured to the shifter town of King Lake. There wasn’t a particular reason, she’d just never needed to go.

Cass was a creature of habit, and liked her routine exactly as it was – walking to work at The Coffee Shop Next Door, then home, dinner, and one of her comfort TV shows before bed.

She was a simple girl, and that was okay.

But as her car rolled into the parking lot of The Amber Howl where Juliette’s boyfriend – or mate, she supposed – worked with his wolf pack, something settled in her chest.

Suddenly, reminding Juliette that she’d ghosted her for dinner was the last thing on her mind. She turned off the engine and got out of the car. Music drifted from inside the tavern, and warm light spilled through the windows into the dark.

The place looked inviting. Not a hole in the wall that she wouldn’t visit for any amount of money, but a place where people belonged.

She looked into the car at the pizza box, then back at the tavern, as something low in her chest pushed her to walk inside.

“This is dumb,” she huffed. She was not storming into the tavern because Juliette had missed dinner. She was not the dramatic side character in someone else’s romance novel.

She should go home. But… she found herself stepping away from her car, shutting the door firmly, and walking toward the front door.

She grasped the handle, aware that the annoyance from earlier that had brought her to King Lake had suddenly gone quiet in the wake of something soft and more urgent.

Her feelings had shifted away from Juliette and toward something Cass couldn’t name.

But whatever that something was? She felt like it was inside.

Cass shook her head and pulled open the door. She was possibly losing her mind, or in the throes of a fever dream, but she’d come this far.

She stepped into the tavern and was met with warm lighting, clinking glasses, and the soft hum of conversation mixed with music. She looked for Juliette, but her gaze never made it past a guy standing at the bar.

Broad shoulders, dark brown hair, and a black The Amber Howl t-shirt clung to a chest that looked like it had been made for blocking doors, stopping trouble, and ruining Cass’s ability to breathe.

He lifted his head and bright blue eyes locked on hers.

And something inside Cassidy went utterly, completely silent.