Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (19 page)

Talia dashed the tears welling up in her eyes and took a breath. It had been three years since she had lost her mate, and thinking about him still brought her to tears. There were days when she couldn’t even be bothered to get out of bed because she missed him so much. That was why she’d agreed to take the job. Talia knew she faced an eternity without her mate, and if she didn’t do something about the crushing loneliness she felt, she was going to do something stupid.

She slowed her car to a crawl and squinted at what looked like a turnoff into the woods. It was dark out, and considering she was in the middle of nowhere with no streetlights, it was hard to see anything beyond her headlights even with her enhanced vision. Talia took the turn and prayed she had finally found the house. She was already three hours late and hoped Mitch would understand.

Bumping along the unpaved road, she reached over and pressed the lock button several times. Talia knew she was being silly, but the woods were scary, and since being introduced to a world she’d never known existed until five years ago, she knew there were truly things that went bump in the night. She saw a glow up ahead as her headlights reflected off something, and she slammed on her brakes. She knew her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t bring herself to close it. Sitting in the middle of the road was a giant grizzly bear. It was staring at her with intelligence in its glowing amber eyes, but she had no idea if it was a shifter or a real animal, and she wasn’t about to get out of the car to ask.

The bear was huge. It was easily bigger than her small car, and its claws looked as though they could easily sink into the metal like butter. Talia hesitated before tapping on her horn. She didn’t want to scare the beast, but she needed it to move. Finally, the bear gave her one last look before turning and slowly making his way back into the trees.

Talia sighed as she stared into the rear view mirror. Her own dull blue eyes stared back at her. They seemed to have lost their glow three years ago and she had no idea how to even begin getting it back. She was normally pale, but her pasty skin was almost sickly looking. Add that to her frizzy red hair she couldn’t be bothered with, her sunken cheek bones, and the dark circles under her eyes, and she looked something drug out of a third world country. She had the protruding ribs and hip bones to prove it. The sad thing was, Talia knew she had let herself go over the years, but she didn’t care. To her, her looks didn’t matter. Nothing had mattered from the moment she felt her bond to her mate break.

She sighed and stepped on the gas pedal getting out of there before either the bear decided to change its mind and come back or she broke down crying on the side of the road. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the trees thinning out and lights up ahead. The house was sitting in the middle of the clearing, and she saw a tall, lean man leaning against the railing of the porch.

She parked and looked around her to make sure the bear hadn’t followed her before getting out of the car. The blond man who had been standing on the porch when she arrived was suddenly at her door when she opened it, and Talia gasped at how fast he had moved. As she sucked in a breath, his scent surrounded her and nearly brought her to her knees. It was a mixture of crisp green apples and something else. In her mind, she pictured a warm spring day just before it rained. If it was possible, then that’s what the man standing in front of her smelled like. Talia found herself leaning toward him before she even realized what she was doing.

“I’m Ryan Dent—” The man cut himself off then snarled and sniffed the air. “Mate!”

Talia felt her blood run cold. Coming here had been a mistake because there was no way she could go through that again. Her heart still hurt from losing one mate. There was no way she could open it up to another, only to lose him as well.

She knew this wasn’t the man who had hired her based on the name he’d been about to say, and she wondered if he knew who she was. She was tempted to close her car door and leave, but she had made a commitment to Enforcer Ericson. As much as she wanted to get back in her car and run until she was safely back in her bed, she couldn’t. Squaring her shoulders, she looked at the man who was claiming she was his mate. “I already had a mate, and I certainly don’t want another.”

With that, she turned and practically ran up the steps to the house, regretting having ever gotten out of bed that morning.

THE END

WWW.KEYONNADAVIS.WEBS.COM

I am a single mother of a very active young son and was blessed to be able to take off work and become a stay-at-home mom when he was born. When I am not driving him to soccer, karate, or one of the many activities that he participates in, you can find me curled up reading a romance novel, watching a movie, or writing.

For all titles by Keyonna Davis, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/keyonna-davis

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com