Chapter One – O’Malley
“The bar looks great.” Shawn looked around the freshly painted bar, with its new tables and chairs, just waiting for people to spill in to eat and drink at O’Malley’s.
O’Malley swelled with pride. “It’s taken some hard work and a few sleepless nights, but it’s nearly finished. If everything goes to plan, we should be ready to open on schedule.”
“I, for one, hope that’s the case.” Shawn ran his hand across the newly polished bar. “Now I have somewhere to escape to.”
O’Malley grinned broadly. “That might wash with someone else, but I know you too well. You love your home life. You have a mate and a daughter. Who wouldn’t?” His grin slipped off his face.
“It’ll happen for you,” Shawn assured O’Malley, just like everyone had been assuring him for the last few weeks. It was hard to shake off the feeling that you were the last bachelor in town.
The last bachelor in all the towns, his cougar reminded him, since many of their friends who had found their mates lived in Bear Creek and other surrounding towns.
I can always count on you to make me feel better, O’Malley told his feline side.
I’m just stating a fact. His cougar was right. His friends, both old and new, had all found their mates. All except him.
It was as if O’Malley was their lucky charm. But that luck was not meant for him.
“I’m okay,” he told Shawn. “I have this place, no room for love in my life right now.”
“You tell yourself that but we both know it’s not true.” Shawn pulled out a barstool and sat down as O’Malley took two bottles of Bear Creek Honey Beer out of the fridge and passed one to his friend. “Thanks.”
“It’s true. What time would I have to put into a relationship when I’m opening this place?” He held out his hands and glanced around the bar. The once drab building had been transformed. Not that he’d ripped the character out of the place, but he had made it lighter and brighter and replaced the old kitchen so that O’Malley’s could offer its customers good, fresh, healthy food. With a few unhealthy dishes and desserts on the side.
“You would find time, believe me.” Shawn took a slug of his beer. “When your mate walks into your life, everything else gets put on hold.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better, or worse?” O’Malley asked as he walked around the bar and took a seat next to Shawn. “Whatever. You’re right. I would like to find out.”
He’d be lying if he said otherwise and O’Malley had always prided himself on his honesty. It was part of his military training, honesty and loyalty were the two things he held most dear.
And love, his cougar replied. You do love the people around you.
And love. His heart seemed to squeeze in his chest as if it longed to expand and grow and encompass the greatest love of all, that for a mate and, if he were truly blessed, a child.
Or two. His cougar licked his paw thoughtfully.
Or two. Or more. But O’Malley was no spring chicken.
Thank goodness, his cougar replied. I like my sleek fur and long tail. I would not look good in feathers.
“I’m not doing a great job of cheering you up, am I?” Shawn asked. “Maybe I should have sent Joanna instead.”
O’Malley chuckled. “You’re doing just fine. Anyway, seeing you two so happy makes me happy. Joanna deserves a man like you. And a daughter like Jane. And a child of her own.”
“You know,” Shawn began, and his voice caught in his throat. “Sometimes I think I’m the luckiest man alive.”
“Sometimes I think you are, too.” O’Malley took a long drink of his beer and then turned around to look at his bar. “I just have to find my own luck. Since I think you all have rubbed it away.”
“We’ve what?” Shawn asked.
“I’m a lucky guy, I’ve always had luck on my side, and since I walked into your lives, one by one you have found your mates. Remember when you called yourselves The Bachelors Three?”
“Oh, yeah.” Shawn laughed and nearly choked on his beer.
“And now you all have mates, you are all happily settled, and I’m left all alone.” He stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. “Poor me.”
Shawn laughed so hard he nearly spilled his beer. “Some woman out there does not know what is in store for her when she finds out you are her mate.” He tipped his bottle of beer up and drank down the rest of the amber liquid. “I need to get going. Jane is anxiously trying new recipes for you. She is taking her job very seriously.”
“Ahh, did I make a mistake asking her to bake a few things for O’Malley’s?” he asked.
“No, she’s incredibly proud of herself. It was a nice thing to do. She’s now decided to open a bakery when she’s all grown up.” Shawn’s expression faltered. “Which I hope is a long, long way away. I want to enjoy all the childhood years first.”
“And the teenage years?” O’Malley asked as he took the two empty bottles around the back of the bar and placed them in the bin under the counter.
“I’m not thinking of those. I want to bury my head in the sand and believe Jane is never going to grow up.” Shawn waved as he headed for the door. As it swung closed behind him, O’Malley was left alone in the bar.
He sighed, a big, sorrowful sigh. He loved the place he’d created here in Cougar Ridge. He moved here from the city to find peace, to find a quiet place to call home. But would he ever be genuinely happy if he never found his mate?
Taking the empty bottles out to the back, he grabbed a broom and swept the entryway leading from the bar into the paved back area where the empty beer barrels and empty bottles would be stored until they were collected. It didn’t really need sweeping, but he needed something to do something to keep his hands busy.
His cougar itched to be free. Maybe that would be the best idea, go for a run across the mountain. One of the many reasons he’d moved here was for his cougar to have more freedom. All their lives, the feline side of him had been kept hidden. First when he served in the Special Forces, then when he opened his first bar, catchily called O’Malley’s, in the city.
Who would have thought we’d have two bars? his cougar asked, sharpening his claws. Does this count as a chain?
Perhaps when we open the next one, we can say we have a chain, O’Malley answered.
He paused mid-sweep and lifted his head. Someone was in the bar.
O’Malley propped the broom against the wall and headed back inside As he walked, his head throbbed and he reached out a hand and pressed it against the wall as the world spun around. He felt as if he’d drained his bar dry, his thoughts were incoherent, his legs were not his own. Yet he was consumed by a need to reach the bar and meet the person in there.
Our mate, his cougar’s words penetrated the fog in his brain.
O’Malley figured it must be some trick. You didn’t talk about wanting your mate and wish for your mate and she just showed up right in front of you. That wasn’t how these things worked.
Did they?
There were no rules, there was no schedule that fate stuck to. He’d seen enough shifters find their mate to know exactly what was happening to him. Unless he’d been drugged. Was there something in the beer?