“One more, then we really need to head out,” Cole insisted.
“Fine.” I pulled the pin on a second one and threw it as far as I could. The thing exploded midair and I could feel the spray of it even from this distance. “These were well worth the investment.”
“Did I pay for those?” Kyle asked.
“Of course. Who else?” I chuckled.
Baine
Chapter 2
“How was your weekend?” Tarron asked.
“Sucked. Yours?”
“It was good. Nonna made a feast. You should have come over.”
“Thanks, but she wanted to spend time with you.”
“There were like thirty people over,” he protested.
“Still.”
Tarron’s Nonna was a little old wolf shifter who lived in San Marco. Tarron was a fox shifter. They were an odd mix that for some reason adopted each other. It was cute and the old bat was sweet most of the time. She seemed a little crazy to me and was always pulling my friend out of his comfort zone and forcing him into weird situations. She was a major town gossip and every bit as conniving as you’d expect from a fox, not a wolf. She always had something up her sleeve and kept Tarron on his toes. She also had a heart of gold and loved him fiercely. I liked to tease that coming here had made him more of a wolf than a fox.
Nonna had never been able to have pups of her own. She had a large extended family of nieces and nephews and their kids, but for her, it was all about Tarron. And she certainly didn’t hide the fact that she wanted him to give her great-grandpups sooner rather than later. Every time I turned around, she was lining up a date for him. He took it all in stride though. I was convinced there was nothing Tarron wouldn’t do for his Nonna.
“So, how many dates did she set you up with this time?”
He sighed. “Two. One for Tuesday night and another for Friday. Painter hinted that we may have a new assignment being announced today. I’m hoping it’s an away mission for an excuse to get out of at least one of them.”
I laughed. “Painter doesn’t hint,” I reminded him.
“Fine, I overheard him prepping Emma for the possibility we were leaving.”
“Nice. I hope you’re right. I could use a break from this place after a long boring weekend. Cole and Kyle dragged me fishing. That was the highlight of my weekend. How pathetic. Maybe it’s time I asked Nonna to hook me up.”
His head quirked in interest as he slowed his treadmill. Mine was still at full speed as we ran and chatted. Normally morning runs occurred outdoors, but this morning it had been pouring down rain and storming so Silas moved our run indoors. I had this gut feeling that it was a sign of bad things to come today. Just a sense of doom lingering in the air.
“You want a date? You could have any girl you want. You always turn them down.”
He was right. I didn’t date. I didn’t let anyone close to me. I’d vowed a life of celibacy until my true mate would come and help erase the memory of Olivia. People always let you down. The only ones I could trust were my brothers on the Force and, someday, my true mate. I was that jaded. Maybe it was time to put myself out there though. I’d been depressed all weekend thinking about my life back in the Clan. It was time to lay the past to rest. For my own self-preservation, I had to.
“Thinking about changing things up some. I think it’s time.”
The guys didn’t exactly know about Olivia, but most of them knew something big had happened to get me banned from my Clan. I didn’t talk about it, ever.
“Well, good for you. I’m happy to hear that. And hey, if I’m wrong about leaving for a mission, I could always see if Nonna can arrange us a double date. You know, ease you into the scene and all. I could be your wingman.”
“You really don’t want to go on this one, huh?”
“Absolutely not. She’s trying to set me up with Christine Canine this time. She’s a sweet girl, but really not for me. Plus, she’s kind of obsessed with finding her true mate and that for certain isn’t me.”
“No one but you and maybe Nonna would call Christine sweet. She’s a bitch in the truest form of the word and she owns it.”
“I was trying to be nice.”
“And that, my brother, is your biggest problem. Stop being so nice. Better yet, grow some balls and tell Nonna no for once.”
Workouts followed the run and after laying on my ass wallowing much of the weekend, I actually felt them too. When we were done, I stretched and then showered.
“Five minutes in the conference room,” Silas announced.
I wanted to groan. The suckiest part of depression was that when I gave into it, it wanted to pull me under even further making it that much harder to climb back out. Forcing myself out of bed and even showing up on time had been a chore this morning. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed with my memories and regrets.
One foot in front of the other I walked through the motions and made my way to the conference room. I was the last one to arrive. Mumbling an apology, I took my seat.
“You okay man?” Grant asked.
I nodded. We both knew I wasn’t. Normally, anytime I was the last one in I made a grand production about it. I could be quite the showman when I wanted to be. I just didn’t have it in me today.
Taylor jotted something down on a piece of paper and passed it to Grant. The two were happily mated and working together. I had no idea how they managed it.
He shrugged, and I felt both pairs of eyes staring at me.
I had to shake this off and get my head back in the game.
“So,” Silas started looking a little confused at me. I thought maybe he was waiting for me to do something stupid.
“Proceed,” I managed to say as the others chuckled and the stress levels dropped across the room.
Shit. They all had noticed.
“Well, okay then. As you know during the Daniels’ residence search we found some disturbing pictures that could be possible upcoming attacks. Based on camera footage we’ve acquired since, thanks to Tarron’s setup, we believe his next focus is in Colorado. There’s a local bear clan there that they seem to have a serious interest in, and we need to figure out why.”
Ben’s hand shot up as Silas nodded to him. “We’ve had Archie monitoring the surveillance cams and activity in this area since the find. What changed?”
“The pictures we found there of Baine’s Clan were moved out of the closet to a new board in the main office. We think this is a sign that the focus has changed to them. There’s also a rumbling of a possible disappearance but because the bears live so remotely it’s hard to discern local gossip of a runaway verses truth,” Tarron updated.
My body froze. I knew what was coming next and it couldn’t happen.
“So, pack up boys, we’re headed for Colorado in an hour. These grizzlies aren’t exactly known for hospitality towards outsiders so Baine I’m going to be counting on you to assist with getting us a meeting with the Alpha.”
“Nope. That can’t happen and you know it.”
Ben had just taken a sip of water and nearly choked. No one told Silas no. I think they were all shocked when he didn’t respond harsher to my insubordination.