It had been strange to him at first, moving to this place, but the modern way the Barvale Clan chose to live was also quite appealing. Especially for a hacker like him. He’d spent much of his first few months in New Jersey making contact with others online.
He used the handle WhitePawBear12 inside the online role-playing game WolfMoon to make those contacts. WolfMoon was actually developed by one of the most prominent members of the nearby Macconwood Werewolf Pack, Randall Graves, who was basically a legend to most software geeks and gamers. Tonic had been so stoked to meet the guy when they’d moved to the lower states, and he’d gotten the chance almost immediately.
Graves offered him some consulting work and Tonic jumped at the chance. He had a very nice little set up fully connected with the best available WIFI in the area. Having built his own state-of-the-art system with components he’d picked up here and there, Tonic’s skill and knowledge were great assets.
Fooling around with hardware was as much fun as breaking down firewalls, in his honest opinion and he’d enjoyed the time he spent consulting with graves Enterprises.
As long as they did not interfere with his Enforcer duties of course. Tonic enjoyed helping folks solve technological problems, but he was there to make a home for his brothers and himself. Being fully accepted into the Clan was his first step. Claiming his one true mate was the next.
At the moment, he was using his vast skills in cyber-tracking to help his Clan track down the criminal Peter Crawford. Now that he had a personal stake in his capture, he was all over that. Marcus, the Alpha of the Barvale Clan, had personally asked for his aid and Tonic was more than happy to give it.
He’d already proved useful in hunting down and erasing video clips here and there of unusual activities involving what normals thought were just strange animals and people but were actually Shifters and other supernaturals across the world.
Anything that might be used to prove the existence of Shifters had to be deleted. And where he couldn’t erase the source, he used his skills to make it look like just another deep-fake or doctored video that had made its way to the mainstream web.
Tonic was very good at what he did, but there was one area he was sorely lacking. Whenever he was within ten feet of her, he seemed to lose the ability to speak. As it was, she was staring at him expectantly and there he stood, mouth open like a fucking moron.
“Good morning,” he cleared his throat, once he remembered himself, and stopped staring into Maya’s ridiculously large, hypnotic, baby blue eyes.
Those eyes could inspire love songs, he thought and shook his head to clear it of such nonsense. He knew better than to try to wax poetic.
She was really so very pretty though, with her chin length dark blonde hair and her crazy beautiful eyes. Despite being a natural blonde, Maya’s eyebrows and lashes were thick and dark. Stylishly beautiful in a way that no amount of hydroplaning or make-up techniques could mimic.
She was a natural stunner. Her glorious blonde locks had big, natural curls that seemed to want to hug her face even though she frequently brushed them back. Not that he could blame them, he thought with a grin. Her heart-shaped face was delicate and sweet.
Her complexion was fair with pink undertones, it reminded him of strawberries and cream though in his opinion she would definitely taste sweeter.
Grrr, his Bear was curious to find out but now wasn’t the time.
Tonic headed towards her taking note of her adorable little ears and stubborn chin as she stood her ground. He knew his face was hard and unreadable, and next to her, he was a damned giant, but he could detect not a hint of fear from her.
That was something, at least, he thought so. Maya Osborn was all things sweet and pure, fearless and determined, just and decent. Far as he was concerned, she was probably the best person he ever met.
He knew instinctively that she was as good as they came. Perfect really. How he wanted to crush her to him, to capture her lips and tease them open, to taste every nuance of her subtle flower fresh fragrance. It took all his strength not to cross the floor and do just that.
Tonic closed his eyes and held his breath as he moved indoors. What he really wanted was to get close enough to see whether that crazy sexy scent of hers was left over from work, from the flowers of her shop still clinging to her soft skin, or if it was part of her own natural musk. Either way it drove him completely wild, and he wondered if he would ever get the chance to find out the source for himself.
“I made coffee,” she said, following him inside the cabin and to the kitchen.
Tonic nodded and turned to where she stood by the counter, the steaming cup in hand. He stalked towards her slowly, halting when she backed up a step. He wondered what he could’ve done differently, but then realized she hadn’t moved away in fear of him.
Maya was simply moving out of his way to give him space to pull out the kitchen stool so he could sit down. She even held his cup out and waited for him to take it before fixing her own.
Thoughtful, his Bear insisted, caring.
Yes, he knew both those things to be true. He just had no way to tell if that was just her nature or if she directed those things specifically towards him.
Would love it if she did, he thought and scolded himself for having more than enough silly thoughts where that particular female was concerned.
“I figured you could use something to warm you up. It’s cold out there,” she said and handed him the steaming mug of black coffee with a small smile.
Tonic breathed in the rich warm aroma, rumbling softly in his throat at the very notion that she was there, with him in his kitchen. She’d made the dark, strong brew exactly the way he liked it and he was secretly thrilled at the fact.
“Thank you,” he sat down at the table.
“I was going to make some eggs. Would you like some?” she offered and Tonic nodded.
He didn’t want to do anything to break the fragile peace that had settled between them. So, he did what he could to appear casual and nonthreatening. In other words, he just sat watching as she moved easily about the tidy kitchen.
“I didn’t know you cooked,” he mumbled minutes later when she set a plate piled high with fluffy scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, and cinnamon toast with honey drizzled on top.
“Oh, well, Jillian was never much of a chef and I had to learn in self-defense. Anyway, cooking is sort of a hobby of mine, obviously,” she said and looked down at herself.
For a moment, he didn’t quite understand, then it dawned on him. He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned hard.
“Wait, do you think your fat?” he asked bluntly and Maya dropped her fork.
“Well, I prefer curvy, but I guess fat is as good a word as any,” she growled and took a bite of bacon as if to say fuck off.
His Bear chuffed angrily. Once more he’d stuck his big foot in his mouth and Tonic growled. He shook his head and stopped the angry sound before she either ran off or clocked him in the head with the frying pan she was currently washing.
Damn him and his way with words, or lack thereof. He never meant to imply he thought she was anything but ideal.
“No, Maya,” he said impatiently, “I would never say that about you-”
“It doesn’t matter, Tonic, I know what I am. I am not blind. I am fat. I’ll just finish the dishes and I can be on my way,” she began but he couldn’t let her talk about herself that way.