Her Bear To Keep (Second Chance Shifters 5) (3 page)

W
aiting nervously
at the only steakhouse in town, Tyson wondered what the best way to handle this situation was going to be. Did he tell his mystery date the truth about why he had accepted the date, or did he let it play out?

Tyson didn’t want to lead anyone on, and he certainly wasn’t going to lie.

He’d just made the decision to be truthful from the start when the door opened and little Trinity Snow walked in, surveying the waiting area nervously.

“Trinity?” he called, moving toward her.

She looked up nervously, her face blank, then he knew she had placed him when a genuine smile covered her face.

“Ty,” Trinity responded happily. “It’s been
ages
, how are you?”

Ty lowered his head to kiss her softly on the cheek.

“I’m great. How are you?”

“I’m good. A little nervous actually,” Trinity answered, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I’m meeting a blind date.”

Tyson chuckled, mentally giving Jordan points for smartly picking a woman they’d both known and liked in school.

“I’m him.”

Trinity looked confused and said, “Huh?”

Chuckling again, Tyson held out his arm gallantly and said, “Our table’s ready if you are.”

Trinity slid her arm through his, her face full of confusion, and allowed him to guide her to their table. After pulling out the chair for her and waiting for her to get comfortable, Ty took the seat across from her.

“I don’t understand,” she said once they were both settled. “I could have sworn that my mother told me that you and Jordan were mated. Why would she be setting us up on a date?”

Smiling gently, Tyson answered truthfully, “Jordan broke it off with me a couple of years ago, after she had some problems with her health. We’d been avoiding each other, but Drake and Mia’s relationship kind of threw us back together. Jordan believes that I can be happy with someone else, and she’s made it her mission to convince me of that fact.”

“But,” Trinity replied with a shake of her head. “That’s not possible. She’s your
mate
, that means you’ll
never
be happy with anyone
but
her.”

“I’ve told her that many times, but she’s still refusing to believe it. I’m sorry to say that I agreed to this date only on the condition that I get some alone time with her. I’m going to convince her that we belong together, not matter what it takes, but I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire.”

Trinity shrugged her delicate shoulder and shot him a grin.

“I don’t mind. At least I get to have dinner with you, and not sit through some awkward first date that I know won’t lead anywhere.”

“I’ll admit, I’m happy it’s you, too. I didn’t even know you were back, so this gives us a chance to catch up.”

They ordered their drinks, then their meals once the drinks were delivered. Ty raised his glass and said, “Welcome home.”

“Thank you.”

“So,” Ty began, after taking a sip of his whiskey. “What have you been up to all of these years? What brought you back? And how did I never know you were a shifter?”

Trinity started choking on her white wine, then brought her wide eyes to his and asked, “How did you know?”

“I can smell it,” he replied simply. “Can’t you smell the difference between me and that human at the hostess stand?”

Sighing, Trinity explained, “It’s still pretty recent. I had no idea until it happened. That was a crazy night, let me tell you…”

They shared a laugh, then Ty asked, “Your mother had no clue?”

Trinity shook her head and replied, “No. I never knew who my father was, and she had no idea he was a shifter. I guess I was a late bloomer, because it only happened a little over a year ago. Suddenly, my life in Los Angeles didn’t make as much sense as coming back home.”

“Yeah, not much room to roam in the big city.” Ty leaned forward and asked curiously, “If you don’t mind my asking… I can tell you’re not a bear, but I’ve never scented anything quite like you before… Will you tell me what your animal is?”

“Snow leopard,” she replied softly, her cheeks turning a light rose.

Tyson leaned back and whistled quietly.

“Wow, I’ve never met one or heard of any around these parts.”

“I know,” Trinity replied, her voice tinged with worry. “I’d hoped to meet with Drake, since he’s the Chief and your clan runs the area. I was hoping to ask for asylum. I’ve never lived anywhere other than here and LA, and I’d really like to settle down here, to be near my family and open a dance studio in the community.”

Tyson nodded thoughtfully and replied, “Well, you probably heard that he’s on his honeymoon, but I’m his second in command and in charge while he’s gone. We haven’t had a case quite like yours before, but he knows you and your family, and I’m sure he’ll welcome you home… I’ll talk to him for you, too… Put in a good word.”

“Thank you so much, Ty, I really appreciate it.”

Trinity reached across the table, her hand covering his in a gesture of thanks. They both looked up when a shadow covered the table.

Tyson was surprised to see Mika standing there. Although he wasn’t on duty, Mika wasn’t really the type to eat out at a nice steakhouse.

“Hey, brother, what’s up?” Ty asked his friend and clan mate.

Mika looked from him to Trinity, his eyes widening and his mouth falling slightly open at the sight of her.

Trinity blushed and said, “Hi, Mika, it’s good to see you,” but Mika didn’t respond.

When things started to get uncomfortable, Tyson prompted, “Mika?”

Coming out of his trance, Mika turned to Ty, glanced at their hands on the table, then looked back at him before shaking his head and walking away without saying a word.

Trinity turned in her chair, and they both watched as Mika walked out of the restaurant without a backwards glance.

“What was that about?” she asked when she turned back to face him.

“I’m not sure.”

W
hat the hell
was she doing?

Torturing herself, that’s what…

Jordan walked a few feet away from the restaurant window, tears falling down her cheeks as she remembered what she’d just seen.

Ty and Trinity, talking and laughing, with Trinity’s hand on top of Ty’s on the table.

She should be happy. Ecstatic. This was what she wanted… So why did it feel like her heart had just been crushed into a million sharp pieces inside of her chest?

“I’m such an idiot,” Jordan mumbled to herself as she hugged her arms tightly around her.

After a few minutes, she heard the door open and began to wipe frantically at her face, praying that she wasn’t about to be faced with Tyson and Trinity on their way out.

“Jordan?”

She sucked in a breath and looked up, then let the breath out slowly when she saw Mika frowning down at her.

The material of Jordan’s shirt fell off of her shoulder as she pushed off against the wall to stand up and attempt to look normal. At his gasp, she looked up to see him looking down at her shoulder, his face full of rage. Following his gaze, she saw that the top of Tyson’s mark was suddenly visible.

Pulling her shirt up, Jordan looked up at him and tried to play dumb.

“Hey, Mika, what are you up to? Dinner?”

Mika scowled at her now covered shoulder, then toward the entrance to the restaurant before swinging his gaze back to her.

Jordan could tell the big man was upset, so she held up her hands and tried to appease him.

“It’s not what you think…”

“Is that Tyson’s mark?”

“Uh… yes, but…”

“Then, it’s exactly what I think.”

He turned on his heel and started marching back to the restaurant. With visions of Mika storming and calling Tyson out flashing through her head, Jordan rushed after him and threw her arms around his body.

Her weight barely even fazed him, and Mika kept right on moving with her clinging to his back like a spider monkey.

“Stop!” Jordan yelled, praying she’d be able to get through to him.

She’d known Mika most of her life, and although she wouldn’t say they were best friends, she knew how seriously he took his roles as a shifter, clan mate, and sergeant. Mika was a protector down to his bones, and right now, he thought she’d been wronged by the one person who was always supposed to take care of her.

“Stop, please… Mika, I made him do it.”

Thankfully, that got him to stop before he pushed the door open.

Jordan slid off of his back and took a step in retreat as he turned his foul look on her.

“It’s my fault, okay?” she started spewing, her voice wrought with emotion. “
I
set him up on the date with Trinity.
I’ve
been pushing him away for the last four years.
I’m
the one who can’t be what he needs. Don’t be mad at Tyson, it’s all
me
.”

Mika looked like he was going to say something, but Jordan held up her hand to stop him.

“Please, just promise me you won’t go in there.”

When Mika gave her a sharp nod, Jordan took him at his word, then turned on her heels and fled.

Heartbroken and utterly mortified about her scene with Mika, Jordan didn’t stop to breathe until she was safely in her home.

She ran inside, falling onto her bed and hugging her pillow to her as she cried.

Jordan hiccupped as she felt Vicious walk across her and started kneading his paws in her back.

“Hey, kitty,” she said softly, knowing he felt her distress and needed to be reassured that she was okay.

Jordan turned so she could sit up and hug the cat to her chest.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to get out of here, Vicious. I’d hoped that setting Ty up with a new mate would bring us both peace and allow him to move on, but seeing him with Trinity tonight proved that I can’t handle it. I want him to be happy, I do, but it
kills
me to see him happy with someone other than me.”

Vicious purred loudly against her as she stroked him.

“What do you think? New York? Boston? Or somewhere warm, like Florida?”

Vicious meowed.

“Yeah, I know, I don’t want to move either.”

Jordan laid down and pulled the comforter over her still clothed body, exhausted from her bout of tears.

She was just dozing off when her phone dinged, signaling a text.

Cursing, Jordan searched around until she found her phone, then opened the message from Ty.

Dinner. My Place. Tomorrow at 6. Come hungry.

She flopped back onto the bed, wondering why he still wanted to hold her to their deal when he and Trinity had obviously hit it off.

Rather than reply, Jordan tossed the phone to the floor and went to sleep, dreaming of a time when she and Tyson were still together.

T
yson was making
a list of the things he’d need to pick up for dinner on the way home when the loud stomping of feet had him raising his head.

He watched curiously as Mika stormed through the station, face livid, his eyes never leaving Ty.

What the hell?

“What’s up, brother?” Ty asked, wondering if his demeanor had something to do with his strange behavior at the restaurant last night.

“Interrogation room,” Mika spat, then redirected toward the back.

Tyson rose, shrugging at Alice when she looked at him questioningly.

They always used the interrogation room for private conversations, and when they had disagreements about policy or shifter law. And with the way Mika looked, Ty surmised that this wasn’t going to be a friendly chat.

Rather than ask again what was going on, Tyson figured his friend would get to the point when he was ready, so he walked into the interrogation room, shut the door behind him, and took a seat.

Mika paced the room. Ty knew he usually liked to gather his thoughts before he started his interrogations, and assumed that was what was about to happen. He was here to be interrogated.

He just wasn’t sure what about…

After a few minutes of pacing, Mika stopped, placed his hands on the back of the empty chair across from Ty, and leaned toward him.

“You claimed Jordan,” he said, rather than asked.

“Yes,” Ty confirmed, not giving him anything else.

“Then why were you out touching Trinity Snow?” Mika asked loudly, his anger apparent. “You know better, Tyson… You don’t step out on your mate, no matter what the circumstances.”

“Jesus, Mika, is that what this is about? Why didn’t you just talk to me rather than getting yourself all worked up over nothing?”

“It didn’t look like nothing.”

“Well, it was,” Ty said, standing. He no longer felt like giving Mika the satisfaction of looking down on him. “Jordan asked if she could fix me up. She’s had it in her head for years that I’m just going to forget about her and move on. I went along with it only when she gave me her word that she’d come over for dinner.”

His words seemed to take some of the wind out of Mika’s sails.

“Why were you touching Trinity?”

Tyson stopped and looked at his friend, wondering if that was the real reason Mika was upset.

“Is there something between you and Trinity?” he asked cautiously.

“What? No!” Mika said quickly, causing Ty to laugh at the expression on his face. He’d never seen his clan mate react that way before.

Gently, Tyson replied, “Well, that’s good… because even if either of us were interested in her, a relationship with Trinity is out of the question.”

Mika’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

Tyson walked around the table and placed a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“She’s a shifter, brother, and not of the bear variety.”

He watched Mika’s face fall, and he swore the large man took a step back as if he’d just suffered a blow.

“Mika? Are you okay?”

Mika shook his head and replied, “Uh, yeah, of course. I just didn’t know… I thought I smelled a shifter, but was too pissed to focus. Why would Jordan fix up you with Trinity, when you guys can’t be together?”

“My guess is that she doesn’t know. Not about the law, or about Trinity. Trinity said she was a late bloomer, and she just recently got back to town. Besides, until she can talk to Drake, I don’t think she’s advertising it, so keep this to yourself, okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” Mika turned to leave, his face still stricken, then turned back to Tyson. “Just so you know, I think Jordan was regretting her decision last night.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because when I left the restaurant, Jordan was outside. She was crying.”

Tyson’s heart lurched. With pain for his mate, and with hope for himself.

“She was there?”

“Yeah,” Mika said. “If you don’t mind my asking, why does she think you can’t be together?”

Tyson trusted Mika with his life, so he told him easily. “She had medical problems which led to her not being able to have kids. She knows how important kids are to me, and to all shifters, so she thinks I’ll be better off with someone else.”

“Shit, man, I’m sorry,” Mika said, then added softly, “It sure would be easier if we could control our hearts that way.”

Tyson didn’t say anything as his friend walked out. Instead, he let Mika’s words replay through his mind.

She was there, and she’d been upset
.

Maybe seeing him with another woman was what Jordan needed to finally see that they belonged together, children or no children.

Filled with hope, Tyson left the station and went to the store, determined to make a meal for his mate that would convey all the love he had for her.

All he wanted was to provide for her.

To protect her.

He just needed Jordan to let him.