Behind the Eight Ball (6 page)

“We don’t have to claim the mates.”

“Dad said the same thing in the beginning when we told him about Kirk. As I told him, ignoring Bast’s choice for us isn’t wise. You better think about this.”

“There’s nothing to think about.” I stood. “Are you really buying dinner? I’m starved.”

“Fine, I’ll drop it for now.” Dolf pulled out his keys. “Come on, we’ll take my truck. What are you in the mood for?”

“Meat. A big slab of red meat.”

“One steak coming up.” Dolf laughed.

WE PARKED
at Arches. Sam, a member of our clowder, had opened the steakhouse close to a year ago. Dolf, Tal, and Kirk often ate dinner there. I remembered Kirk’s surprise when he found out Sam was a werecat. It was priceless. Sam often supplied Kirk with wood when he still lived alone.

Many of the older teens and young adults worked part-time at the restaurant or other clowder-based establishments while finishing high school or college. Alpha Armonty encouraged our children to attend college. He helped as much as he could to ensure everyone had a higher education. He might not fully trust humans, but he didn’t disdain their technology.

I followed Dolf inside. The place was busy, but that was no surprise on a Friday night. I noticed several clowder members throughout the restaurant too. Each waved or nodded. After the waitress seated us and took our orders, I leaned back against the padded bench seat. A rather muscular black man with long braids walked down the aisle toward me.

The guy was big and beefy, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. Neither was the fact he was a paranormal. I was unsure what species he was since I couldn’t place the scent right off the bat, but it wasn’t shifter.

I stiffened as another scent teased my nose.
What the hell?
The alluring scent of the ocean flooded out from the male coming toward me. My cock immediately swelled and my jeans strangled my erection. I gripped the table, knuckles white as I struggled not to yowl. My head spun. That
scent.
It was the same one I’d smelled before.

Except this time it was on the wrong person.

Fury washed over me and my cat hissed in my mind, clawing in anger. Someone
who was not me
was wearing that scent. That was wrong. Horribly wrong. I glared at the man coming closer.

“Um, Heller?”

I ignored Dolf, instead focusing on the man nearly even with me. Who was this, and how
dare
he have the scent of my mate on him? That was
my
mate. Mine! And, and… oh my goddess, I wanted to strangle this guy who wore my mate’s scent. It suddenly didn’t matter my mate was human. I didn’t
care
.

“Heller? What’s going—”

Just as he drew even, I reached out and grabbed the other’s wrist, quickly tightening my fingers. Rage rode me hard. “You… you—”

He stopped and looked down at me, one eyebrow raised. “Excuse me?”

“He’s
mine
, damn you.” My voice sounded gravelly and barely human. The thought that someone else might have touched my mate festered like an open wound.
Where did that come from?

His surprise gave way to aggravation. “Are you drunk? Man, you need to let go of me.” When that didn’t work, he leaned down. “Did you hear me?”

Dolf glanced from me to the stranger and then sniffed discreetly. “Heller, I don’t know why you are challenging another… I don’t know what’s going on, but remember where you
are
. Let him go,” Dolf demanded. “You’re drawing attention.”

I hissed softly, the sound of a pissed-off cat echoing around us.

“Aw, sweet hell.” The other man’s eyes widened at the sound. “You’re—”

Dolf suddenly stood and grabbed my arm. “Get up! Let’s go. Both of you. This can
not
happen in here.”

The stranger glanced at Dolf and then he slowly nodded. “You’re an Alph…. Yeah, outside it is.”

Dolf practically dragged us through the kitchens. Several interested gazes followed us. At least they were shifters and not human. Speaking of human… my head swam with the knowledge that I didn’t care that my mate was human. No, I was more concerned he might have eased the pain of my walking out with another man. The man on the other side of Dolf. I wanted to scratch his eyes out. The idea he might be with someone else drove daggers through my heart.

Sam came around the edge of a counter, concern written all over his face as he eyed the bigger man. “Dolf? Is there a problem?”

“No, no, not really. It’s fine. Or will be shortly.” Dolf hustled us through even as he waved off Sam. “Just some overreactions and being caught unaware, Sam.”

Sam glanced around the kitchen. “Um, why don’t you use my private patio out back?”

Dolf paused. “Not your office?”

Sam waved helplessly at the partially opened door to his office. “I just stepped out to grab a towel since I knocked over my drink, and saw you. You can’t use the office. I, ah, I have a job interview going on in there at the moment.”

Dolf nodded. “I understand.” Turning, he herded us outside to the patio Sam mentioned.

Luckily it was somewhat private. As soon as the back door closed, darkness surrounded us, the air nippy. I turned and immediately swung, hitting dude dead square in the jaw. I hoped that fucking hurt. Goddess only knew what he’d done to my mate to be so drenched in his scent.
You probably drove him to it with how you acted,
whispered through my head.

I was going to be sick.

“Fucking
hell
, Heller!” Dolf threw his arms around me and pulled me back. “Stand down, dammit!”

“Yesssss,” he hissed, holding his jaw and glaring at Dolf. “Get him under control, or I will.”

The sudden appearance of blue snake eyes and long fangs slowed me down. “What the
fuck
are you?”

“Vetala,” Dolf answered quietly, still holding on to me.

“What the fuck is that?” I snarled.

“Your worst nightmare, kitty!” He hissed.

Seriously?

“Vetalas are snakelike paranormals. They don’t actually shift into snakes, though,” Dolf said.

I curled my lip. They didn’t shift? And they called themselves paranormals?

“They’re a lot like vampires in the sense they drink blood to survive, but unlike vampires, they aren’t dead. They paralyze their prey with a venomous bite and then feed on human blood. And Heller, they have enhanced strength, so he’s as powerful as you,” Dolf added.

“That son of a bitch is covered in my mate’s scent.” Then I blanched, going limp in Dolf’s arms. “Did you say they feed on humans?” Gasping, I looked at the other paranormal. What if…. The thought of my mate hurt made me want to heave. “Did you hurt my mate? Feed off him? Let me go, Dolf! Oh fuck, did you… did you…. Where is he? We have to—”

“Lawson’s fine. He’s in the restaurant.”

That put the brakes on my budding panic attack. Both Dolf and I paused. “How did you know who I was talking about?” I asked.

“Because Lawson told me about you earlier. My name is Marshell Foles, and Lawson is perfectly safe with me. I’ve known him for ten years, so calm your ass down. I’d never hurt him. He, my sister Janelle, and I all live together, which is why I’m saturated with Lawson’s scent. We three also own the auto detail business you met Lawson at.” Marshell crossed his arms. “The point is I’m around him a lot.”

Dolf let go of me. “I’m Dolfoon Hoyer, heir apparent to the West Falls clowder.”

I drew a deep breath. Lawson was fine. Maybe if I kept repeating that, I’d calm down. “Okay, okay. I smelled him on you, and I guess I just reacted. I’m Heller Wirth, a beta to West Falls clowder.” I turned back toward the restaurant. “He’s here, you said? Funny, I didn’t smell him.”

“There are a lot of people here tonight,” Dolf said.

“We’re seated on the other side of the restaurant too.” Marshell looked at the two of us, then focused on Heller. “Huh. Interesting.”

I ran a hand through my hair. I really wanted to go in and find Lawson. “What do you mean, ‘interesting’?”

Marshell pinned me with a glare. “Well, according to Lawson, you couldn’t get away from him fast enough a week ago, but here you are ready to take me down over him. You rejected him. So what gives? Better yet why should I let you within a mile of him?”

What? Marshell’s attitude set my teeth on edge. Just who the hell did he think he was, anyhow? “This is none of your business. You have no say in what my mate does, so fuck off.”

Glaring, Marshell pointed his finger at me. “Want to bet? I’ve known him ten years. You’ve know him… what? A week.”

With a hissing scream, I shifted.

Lawson

FIVE MINUTES
passed, then ten. After fifteen minutes passed, I began to worry. Had Marshell fallen in or what? Giving up, I went to the restroom. Finding the place completely empty sent me into a tailspin. My first thought was hunters had found him, but that made no sense.

They wouldn’t attack in a crowded restaurant, and we hadn’t seen or heard of any hunters in over five years. Hunters didn’t want humans to know about paranormals any more than the paranormals did.

It was another reason he and Janelle always stayed in touch if they weren’t together. They were also protective of me since I was the only human in the bunch. Marshell wouldn’t just up and leave no with no message or phone call.

Hurrying out of the bathroom, I caught our waitress and asked her if she’d seen Marshell. When she said no, I asked for the manager. Something was seriously wrong. I returned to our table and dragged out my cell.

I’d give it two more minutes, and then I was calling Janelle. I was well on the way to working myself into a grand panic when a gentleman stopped by the table. He was a little shorter than me, with messy dark-brown hair. The strange man standing at my table wore a nice red button-up shirt with the restaurant’s name on it.

“Excuse me, sir. I’m Sam Ross, and I’m the owner of Arches.” Sam sat at my table and immediately I noticed how he lowered his voice. “Your friend? Is he a large black man with long braids? Gray shirt and black slacks? Really muscular?”

Well, he certainly had my attention. He’d described Marshell perfectly. I didn’t know if I should be scared to death or relieved. Frankly I was creeping over to the scared side of things.

I yanked my cell out, thumbed it open, and opened my contacts. I hit my favorites and was ready to call Janelle. “Yes, he is. Where is he?”

“Hey now, easy.” Sam held up his hands, palms out. “He stepped outside with two friends of mine and—”

“Shit.” I hit the little green phone emblem and called Janelle.

Sam gulped. “Oh man. Please, we don’t need any trouble.”

I held the cell tightly, scowling at him. I dropped my voice so I wouldn’t be overheard. “Should’ve thought of that before you and your friends—”

Janelle’s voice whipped out of my cell. “Hello? Hello? Lawson? Is that you? Lawson? Hello? Dammit, answer me.”

“Get to that restaurant we went to eat at. Now!”

“On my way.”

Sam blew out a breath as I hung up with Janelle. “Aw, jeez, was that really necessary?”

“Yes.” I gritted my teeth. “Where. Is. Marshell?” I slowly pronounced each word. I’d about had enough.

“Goddess, this is really getting out of hand. Please, I’m going to tell you, just keep calm. Heller apparently grabbed Marshell’s wrist and they exchanged words. Dolf suggested they step outside and cool off. Heller, the dumbass, swung at your friend, but—”

The blood drained out of my head and everything went blurry. I slapped my hand on the table to ground me. “Did you say Heller?”

“Yes. Why?”

It couldn’t be. But seriously how many Hellers were there running around? The name was odd. Then I remembered Marshall said he’d smelled cat in here.
Shit, shit, shit. Janelle said my mate was a cat shifter. What are the odds it’s the same guy? With my luck, pretty good. And he ran from me once. What have I walked into? Does this Sam know what Heller is? Is he a paranormal too? Dare I ask? Shit, being human sometimes sucks.

“I need to see Marshell. Will you take me to where he is?”

“Sure.” Sam stood. “Then could you maybe call whoever that was and tell them things are cool?”

I stood too and grabbed my jacket. “As soon as I see Marshell.”

I didn’t bother to tell him it wouldn’t make any difference. Janelle would still show up ready to rock and roll if needed. We cut through the kitchens and stepped out onto a small patio. The back was a retaining wall made of concrete. At the top of the wall were several bushes. There was a streetlight, but it was down a little way from us, so the area was cast in shadows. The patio had been fenced off. There were clothes strewn around, and it appeared we’d stepped off into a full-blown argument too. Of a sort.

A nice-looking man with collar-length black hair and the oddest blue eyes I’d ever seen was trying to talk to Marshell, who, it appeared, didn’t like what was being said since his eyes had changed and his fangs were showing. Lord, he looked ready to pounce on the other guy.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.

“Dammit, what are you doing out here?” Marshell hissed at me.

“Looking for your ass, what else? Man, you pulled a Houdini on me.”

“Are you Lawson?” The man with black hair interrupted us. He wasn’t having a major freak-out, so that told me he was more than likely a paranormal too. “I’m Dolf.”

“Yeah, I’m Lawson. Why?” I asked.

“Your mate decided he wanted a word with me,” Marshell said, then looked off to the side.

Mate? That was when I noticed the large longhaired cat. Wow, those were some bright blue eyes glaring down at all of us. Going by what Marshell just said, that was Heller. If that was, then holy moly, he was fucking huge… and breathtaking.

If that
was
him in his shifted form, he was oddly regal. I glanced around but didn’t see Heller, so that had to be him. I also saw Sam wasn’t reacting to Marshell either. Jesus, was I the only human there?