Dallas
Chapter Eight
“He was nice to her,” I said right before Justice came back inside. He’d helped her with her tire and got her back on the road, unfortunately.
“Of course, he was. He’s brooding, not an ass.” Archer came over to look inside the box our mate brought to us for consignment. Of all the ways to meet our omega, this was not one I counted on.
Justice came in and shut the door behind him. He rested his back against it and closed his eyes. His chest heaved. At least I wasn’t the only one affected by the brief encounter. I was a bit jealous of Justice’s longer one, but we all had to bond with her in our own ways.
Finally, he opened his eyes and calmed down. “She’s ours. Bonnie. She’s ours. Whatever she brought, I’ll pay triple what it’s worth.”
Like Archer with his bag full of goodies with every consignment item , I’d also told a fib. “Um, I think she made these.”
“What?” Archer asked, picking up another one gently. He turned it around and on the bottom was one perfectly painted B. Each one had it.
“There are no pictures of anything similar online. I think she carved these and then painted them. Plus, she kind of smelled a bit of paint and pine, which I suspect these are made of.”
“Don’t you dare sell them to anyone,” Justice said.
“I wouldn’t do that. But I want to display them and see what people offer. That way, we know how much money to give her.”
Archer carried the box over to shelves we’d put up. It was in the center of the shop. Bonnie’s figurines would catch everyone’s eyes. “We’ll give her much more than whatever they offer and then take them home.”
“And then what?” I asked. “How do we…she’s our mate, and I don’t have an address or a phone number. All we have is her first name. She gave it as if…almost as if she didn’t have a last name.”
“If she doesn’t, we’ll give her ours.” Justice had a point. “One of ours. Whatever she wants.”
“What do we do now?” Archer had never sounded so vulnerable. I felt that way, too, down to my bones.
“When she comes back, we do what we can to keep in communication. Don’t scare her away but learn about her. Somehow find a way to have her come back. Something.”
Justice shook his head. “All this time. We looked everywhere and our omega comes in on a raggedy bike, looking like she’s been hiding from the world.”
“Hey, what did you two come in for?”
Archer chuckled. “I wanted to eat out, and Justice said that new Chinese buffet opened. We came to get you, and it turned out to be perfect timing.”
“Then let’s…” As I spoke, a group of ladies came in, already talking about the fresh eggs and homemade things for sale. “Nevermind. Bring me a sandwich if you get a chance.”
The rest of the afternoon was busy. A tour bus driver took a detour through our little town, and that meant our stuff was selling. In fact, by the time I closed, everything except some of my bigger items had sold out. What a great day. Mostly because of Bonnie.
Her items were a big hit. One woman offered to buy the whole lot for hundreds of dollars, but I told her they had a reserve on them, more than she was offering.
Kind of true? Didn’t matter. I wouldn’t sell them anyway.
While I locked up, my thoughts focused back on our omega.
My bear was enraptured. A zip of desire burned through me when she came in, but it was quickly quelled by other needs.
There were needs our omega clearly had that were far from mating needs.
She had those, too, but they were suppressed by who knew what kind of omega meds she was on. Heavy ones, if I had to guess.
Bonnie didn’t have much scent at all.
Her work was spectacular. Such attention to detail. I hadn’t seen that kind of handy work in…well, ever.
I leaned on the counter. She was dressed like a grandmother instead of a young lady. Her bike had seen better days and that was being generous. She spoke softly, almost afraid to speak too loud.
No address.
No phone, hence no phone number.
Everyone had a phone. Everyone. Most used it too much as far as I was concerned, but I was in the minority.
My bear wanted to take her miniatures home. Display them in our living room. A living room which one day would be hers, if Fate still smiled on us.
But…I wanted to drum up business and attention for her work in case she had more to sell. If they sold for good money, she might make more and bring them in on a regular basis. That would give her the chance to make money and for us to get to know her.
Court her.
Somehow, by the luck of the gods, see if she would accept us as her sleuth. Her pack.
With a look up and down the road, I got into my truck and headed home. I had to keep my cool for the good of our sleuth. I was the alpha of our group and if there was any chance of making Bonnie ours, we had to keep our cool.
If I knew my bond brothers, I would bet they were pacing the floors, thinking about what to do next. Work forgotten. Chores forgotten. Archer probably hadn’t even cooked.
They weren’t alone. I wished, more than anything, I was returning home to Bonnie.