Chapter 62 Baited
Sage backed away from the door, her emotions in turmoil. She went to the couch and checked her phone. No messages. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a dry sponge, and wiped the counter, her eyes on the front door, her thoughts heavy and chaotic.
She’d loved Canyon Wheeling and he’d ripped her heart out, and here he was… doing what? She couldn’t make sense of what was going on. She vacillated between despair and anger… and settled on anger.
She stalked back to the door and ripped it open. The two males stood there, taking up all the room on the porch.
She held out her wrists. “Go ahead, lock me up. It was worth it.”
Canyon turned toward her with interest. “Arrest you for what?”
Sage jabbed a finger at his stupid face, where a bruise was lumping up on his cheek. “For hitting you.”
“Shiiiiiit,” Canyon said. He partially-shifted, his face becoming furry and lupine, then melding to human again, minus the bruise. “No harm, no foul.”
Sage watched the process, yearning to shift herself. If she would never be able to shift, then why was she born with an aching need and a ghost of a memory of how it was done? She knew exactly what it would feel like—good and powerful and natural and right.
Sage slammed the door and wrenched the locks in place, then slid to the floor, holding her head and trying not to cry.
A memory filled her mind, stealing her from the present and dropping her into a hole in the past, from a spring almost six years before, long before she’d ever been asked to spy on the vod.
Sage pushed the cart through the grocery store, silently musing about her life.
Nana White and her aunts were driving her crazy.
Sage lived at The Morning Wood Inn, along with much of her family, and all of them were in Sage’s business constantly, wanting to know where she was going, what she was doing, and telling her what to do and how to do it every day, morning till night.
She’d had enough of it. She had to move out on her own, and she had to do it soon.
She had a Tether, so she couldn’t leave Serenity, but she couldn’t live at the Inn anymore.
She was 20 years old. It was time to go.
Her mind on her troubles, she reached into a chest freezer on the grocery floor, pawing past all the ground chuck to grab the last steak. From the other side, a masculine hand did the same. They both came up with the steak and neither let go, until they were staring in each other’s eyes.
It was Canyon Wheeling, a vod! Sage’s heart leapt into her throat.
She let go of the steak and snatched her arm back, like he might try to slap a handcuff on her at any second.
She knew all about Canyon Wheeling. He wasn’t more likely than any other vod to arrest her for nothing, but he was more handsome than any vod she’d ever seen.
She’d been secretly drooling over pictures of him for years, following his career from afar, but she never thought she’d see him in the flesh.
Something about his eyes, and his smile, it called to her in pictures, and the male in front of her was no different. She couldn’t look away.
He raised a bag of charcoal briquettes and spoke in a deep, sexy voice.
“We could go somewhere. I’ll grill it for you.
” He spoke slowly, like he was carefully selecting each word.
His outfit was simple—blue jeans, black work boots, and a gray long-sleeve shirt that stretched flatteringly over his pecs.
“What will you eat?” Sage asked.
He grinned, sexier than any male had any right to be, his smile making him a work of art. She blushed, not able to read minds, but she read that grin just fine—then he stepped to the side and revealed his cart, overflowing with food.
Sage burst out laughing. “You baited me.”
“Nah,” he said, his voice rough and thick, his clean masculine scent calling her.
He moved in close to her, sex oozing from his every pore.
Sage’s body leaned in while her mind screamed, ‘He’s a vod.
A VOD. A vod! A vod!’ She backed away, brushing imaginary ice off her sleeves to hide the complete opposition of her mind and her body.
Her body wanted to frog smash the male to the floor and jump him, public place or not but her mind would not shut up about his wolfish nature.
He placed the steak on the side of the freezer, flashed her a grin and said, “It’s all yours. But that grill offer stands.” He strolled away, giving her a view of his muscular backside, thick muscles bulging in his jeans.
Sage watched, and then he turned, catching her at it. He grinned and said, “I’ll make it worth your while.”
Sage hid her face and jumped behind a ten-foot-high display of beach chairs, considering making a run for the front door.
The male was sexier in person than she’d ever dreamed he would be…
and he was clearly interested in her. If she wanted to bounce and spin on him, he was down for that.
She pondered if she wanted to bounce and spin on him.
She’d had a crush him for so long… would a one-night stand scratch that itch?
She wasn’t a virgin and she almost certainly didn’t have a fated mate.
She was an adult. She could sleep with whoever she wanted…
as long as her family didn’t find out. Her aunts and her nana would disown her if they knew she was even thinking about it.
She shook her head and decided running really was the best thing to do.
She peeked out and didn’t see him anywhere, so she made a run for it, heading for the double doors… they whooshed open and she ran through and she was free…
But there he was, leaning against the wall in the cold sunshine, one big boot crossed over the other. He smiled at her, like he’d expected her. She stopped short, startled and captivated by him.
“If I can’t grill you a steak, can I buy you one?” He lifted his chin at a steakhouse—Carnivore Cuts—across the street.
With the male here in front of her, looking all hot and muscular and sexy, her brain did a 180. The vod loved Carnivore Cuts and the foxen avoided it on principle, so she could be certain there would be no foxen there.
Sage looked back to Canyon and opened her mouth to say, “Whatever creep, leave me alone,” but what she really said was, “Where’s your groceries?”
He turned and motioned to the doors. “I paid a worker $20 to stash my cart in the fridge till I come back.”
Sage clamped her lips tight together, not sure what to think of that.
He was honest, that was good, but he would’ve had to have done that immediately to beat her outside.
He’d predicted her. His nostrils flared and he grinned at her, telling her nothing mattered to him but what he could scent, and he could clearly scent how her body was responding to him. Dear deae—she was in trouble.
She took a step back, knowing he thought she was a human. He was flirting with her, wanting to fuck her, nothing more. The vod fucked humans all the time… but that thought that should make her run was intriguing her instead. Could she fuck him once and be free of him forever?
Maybe. All she had to do was say ‘yes’ to Canyon Wheeling. One time.
“Yes,” she blurted out.
He cocked an eyebrow at her.
She panicked, then covered. “I want the most expensive thing on the menu.” She turned and walked toward her car, showing him her backside, then turned back and caught him looking. “I’ll drive myself.”
He raised both eyebrows and she turned back to her car so he couldn’t see the grin on her face, feeling powerful, like Rhen herself, commanding the attention of the vod.
Talking on her porch caught Sage’s attention, pulling her out of the memory. She crept to the window and looked out, peeking through the curtains.
Timber was on the phone, saying, “Lieutenant, we found Sage White.”
A blast of yelling came out of the phone loud enough for Sage to hear.
Timber held the phone away from his ear.
When the yelling stopped, he said, “We're not missing, we're working. We discovered mouse shiften. They blew us up and dropped us into a giant hole. We mapped it for you and that took three days, but we couldn’t kill the monster.
Wulf got us out of the hole and—Lieutenant?
He turned to Canyon. “Disconnected.”
Canyon might have said something in ruhi, because Timber said, “Peeved, sure, but angry? Nah.”
Timber's phone rang again. “’Lo?” Timber said. “Lieutenant, are you okay?... uh Sage—yeah, she’s here. Oh, uh, well, the thing is—we don't know.” He nodded. “Will do, LT.” He hung up. “We're supposed to call him back when we know what the hell we're doing.”
Canyon laughed.
“Like that ever happens,” Timber muttered. He pointed to the door. “We gotta bring her in.”
Fear leapt inside Sage’s chest with anger right behind it. She looked at the back door contemplating a run for it, but who was she kidding, she couldn’t outrun two vod. Her chest tightened and she ran to the front door and yanked it open, demanding, “Bring me in for what?”
The two males looked at each other, then Canyon spoke. “Because you’re a One True Mate.”
Of all the things Sage had expected him to say, that was the very last thing.
“Y-You mean because I’m a foxen!”
Canyon grinned at her, looking good enough to eat. “No, because you’re a One True Mate.”
Sage shook her head. “I’m a foxen even if I don't smell like one.”
He nodded, still smiling. “Yeah, we know.”
Sage felt frozen. They weren’t making sense. “But the One True Mate prophecy is—it’s a wolven prophecy,” Sage stammered. “Foxen and wolven can’t mate.”
Timber and Canyon looked at each other, then back at her. Canyon was still grinning that beautiful fucking grin. Sage fumed. He had no fucking right to be so fucking hot.
“You sure about that?” he asked.
“Aren’t you?” Sage snapped, whispering to Rhen in her mind. Blessed Rhen in the Meadow, how could you make a man so beautiful? I can’t look away.
She imagined she heard Rhen’s response. Don't look away. He's there for you.
Canyon spread his hands wide, “Sure it’s never happened.” He motioned toward Sage then himself. “But we could give it a go.”
Timber hid a laugh behind his hand.
Sage couldn’t believe it. “Are you hitting on me?” she demanded. “Poorly?”
“That depends.” Canyon said. “Are you liking it?”
“No!” She slammed the door in their faces.
***
Canyon spoke to Timber in ruhi. I feel like she is liking it. At times.
“Definite mixed signals, bro,” Timber said. “One minute she's looking at you like you're filet mignon. Next minute, like you’re a slug.”
Well, she's someone else's One True Mate so…
They lapsed into silence for a moment.
Do you think, Canyon said, then he shut up.
“What?”
Do you think maybe I could check her out anyway?
Timber snorted. “Why not? sounds like a plan.”
Canyon mused. If Timber thought it was a good idea, that meant it was a bad idea, but he would do his best to get that female underneath him, bad idea or not. His wolf demanded it.
Timber stared at the closed door. “What now?”
Canyon shook his head. He didn’t know.
“We could wait ten minutes and try again,” Timber suggested.
Just enough time for an opportunity snack.
“Bro, I’m fucking starving.”
Canyon nodded and they walked to the truck.
Canyon rummaged around in the back until he found some MREs.
He tossed one to Timber. Timber ripped it open, found the main pouch and tipped it into his mouth.
Canyon did the same. He needed the calories and didn’t care if the food was hot or not.
He moved around a tree so he could see the house and realized Sage White lay on the couch, facedown like she’d collapsed there.
She barely moved, and within a few moments, she appeared asleep with the lights on.
Canyon pointed. We might have to try again in the morning.
Timber finished his food and dumped all the packets in the garbage bin in the back of the truck, then joined Canyon at the tree line, looking at the house. “We can’t leave. She’s gotta have a guard.”
Canyon nodded. That’s us. I’m on first watch. Get some sleep.
Timber whipped his shirt off, then his boots and his belt, then his pants and folded it all in a neat pile. He shifted with his socks still on and jumped up into the cab of the truck through the open window, where he curled up and fell asleep in the passenger seat.
Canyon mentally mapped out patrol points and started walking them. Wulf’s screen flared bright from near the truck and he wheeled over fast to catch up.
Looks like it’s me and you, Wulf.
:Me and you, Canyon—
Wulf slowed and quietly kept pace next to Canyon, making him grin.
Wulf was good company.