11. Branch
The morning had started off wonderfully. Still buzzing from a night of the most incredible sex of my life, I walked through my new home in a daze as I made coffee and a late breakfast. While I wished that Milly had stuck around, I knew I would see her again, and thanks to that sweet pulling sensation in my chest, I knew she wasn”t far.
Archer and I had often discussed the rarity of fated mates among the shifter world. It”s actually something that everyone discusses because it”s such a popular topic that there are magazines and whole conventions about the phenomenon. But none of the literature could have prepared me for what it would feel like to find one of my own.
I don”t even know if she has any idea of what she is to me because while it”s a hot topic among shifters, humans have always turned a blind eye towards the idea. To everyone”s knowledge, it simply doesn”t happen between humans and shifters or at least no one has ever experienced it before.
I”ll need to talk to Milly about it and take things slowly; I can”t risk messing this up because the alternative of losing her... nope, I can”t even think of that.
A loud knocking on my door startles me from my thoughts, and I look up to see Archer letting himself in.
”You”re up early,” he says, tilting his head in thought. ”And you look... happy?”
”I am happy,” I tell him, resting on a nearby couch and draping my arms across the back cushions. ”And I couldn”t sleep, it”s such a beautiful day.”
Archer looks behind him out the door and grimaces at the sunlight. He”s always been more of a winter fella.
”I guess,” he rumbles, closing the door behind him and coming over to the couch with me. ”But it reeks of sex in here.”
”You and your predator olfactory senses,” I chide, but continue in a more serious tone. ”You”d be so proud of me, I did it all by myself.”
”You had sex with yourself? How original.”
”You know what I mean, I had to turn on the screens, but it was... it was something else. I think she might be my fated.”
Archer leans forward and furrows his brows as he considers my comment.
”With that woman, the one who just got here? Isn”t she human? Sure smelled like it.”
”Yeah,” I sigh dreamily, thinking of the way her skin blushed when I slapped her ass and hungrily humped her from behind like the rabbit I am. ”I didn”t even need the real you there.”
”Wait, you said you had the screens on? Did you at least fix...”
”Oh no, my friend, you”re still there banging away at that tree. I think she recognized you, too.”
Archer puts this face into both palms and moans, but not in a sexy way, and I laugh. The tree fucking is payback for a similar situation he programmed in there of me a while back, but that involved an umbrella and a bushel of bananas that I promptly had removed before anyone was the wiser.
”What did it feel like? Not the sex, I know what that feels like, how did you know she could be your fated mate? And isn”t she human by the way? I didn”t think that could happen,” he asks, but all I can do is give him a big shrug.
”I don”t know, I just seemed to know it, maybe it will happen for you too,” I tell him.
”Yeah, here”s hoping,” he grumbles, getting up from the couch and moving to the door. ”I”m gonna go patrol the island, I”ll see you later.”
”Wait!” I catch up with him just outside my door. ”Do you know what Mark wants? He keeps bugging me to come talk to him and I think he may be bothering Milly as well.”
As we stand outside, Archer pulls out a small tablet from his pocket and clicks around it a few times. I wait while he taps the screen and thinks I hear someone coming down the path, but no one shows up.
”No clue,” Archer says finally. ”But it must be important if he”s been bothering you. I”ll let you know later if I hear anything before you talk to him.”
After Archer leaves, I sit down at my desk and open my laptop. I remember Milly saying something about not having much to wear for the nice weather we”ve been having, and I think I may see if there”s anything I can have mailed to her.
I don”t want to be that guy and send her clothes, but I bet she wouldn”t find a few summary essentials like extra flip-flops, sunscreen, and those little clips that secure your towel to your chair so it doesn”t blow away in the wind. But then I notice I have an unread email as soon as the home screen loads in front of me.
I had left careful instructions with my family and companies that I should not be disturbed in my new island home. After all, everything had been taken care of. Funds had been transferred, deals were made, and contracts had been signed, dated, and notarized. Nothing and no one should bother me here.
So when I see that Pamela, my father”s secretary, has sent me an e-mail, my face lights up with anger. What is the point of having billions of dollars if you can”t even buy yourself a little peace and quiet?
But when I open it, I”m surprised to find that it has nothing to do with shares and holdings and the kind of business jazz that I had run so far away from. It”s a warning about an island resident named ”Mildred.”
A cold dread settles upon me as I scan Pamela”s brief message dealing with the death and holdings of a grandparent to one of my father”s closest friends, Millicent Taylor, and how her suspicions make her doubt the authenticity of Mildred”s claim to the Taylor family fortune.
I snap the laptop shut and put it away. I”d rather hear this story from Milly than the mouth of busybody Pamela, who I”ve always known to blow things way out of proportion.
Taking care to apply some sunscreen to my cheeks, as well as grabbing a straw hat with all the island vibes, I hurry out the door in search of the mysterious and beautiful Mildred Taylor.
And what a glorious day it is as the wonderful feeling from earlier begins to ease back into my shoulders. It really is a perfect paradise here, and I may have to be eternally grateful to Colt for putting this project together and selling me the idea of living in permanent vacation mode.
I don”t need to hear the soft voices wafting through the trees; the pull in my chest is taking me straight toward them because it knows Milly is there. And could that other voice be Flint?
I slow my pace and peek through the trees to see what they”re doing. But just as I feel the disappointment of seeing them both fully clothed, a huge sound rushes over my head and I stumble forward onto the beach.
Flint eyes me right away and looks concerned by the mysterious plane coming to land on our island, but Milly”s eyes are still on the sky and haven”t noticed me yet.
”Who was that?” Flint asks me, and I shrug as Milly”s gaze comes down and lands on my face. She doesn”t look happy to see me; in fact, the red that flushes her face is downright angry.
”I saw you talking to the security guard, what did you tell him?” she blurts out, her small body gasping for air as she fights a panic brewing within. My mind immediately goes to Pamela”s e-mail, and I feel a cold sweat form on my forehead.
Flint grabs Milly”s elbow and leads her to a lounger, where he makes her sit down, but her eyes never leave mine.
”What are you talking about? I didn”t tell him anything.” I say, coming over and kneeling in front of her.
”I saw you and that security guard, Archer, this morning, you told him I”m human and now they”re coming to take me away!”