Saving Margaret (3 page)

“Scott…is your mate? B-but…H-he’s a b-bear,” Maggie stuttered.

“No shit, Sherlock!” Margaret wailed. “What is my family going to think? What is his family going to think? Two weeks after I turn twenty-five, I find my mate and he’s a freak’n bear! And, I’m a little scared of him.”

“Margaret, why are you scared?” Maggie asked, laying her hand on Margaret’s shoulder.

“The only bears I’ve met were…mean. I just smell bear and I sorta freak. But now, when I smell him, all I want to do is drag him into the closest broom closet and have my way with him.”

Both girls busted out laughing.

Margaret frowned. This was not the support she needed right now.

“Is he bothered that you’re a wolf?” Hallie set her hands on her hips and put on a straight face.

“No, not really, but—”

“Just be happy you found your mate and nobody is trying to force you into a marriage you don’t want. Sam was lucky, but the rest of us might not be.”

Margaret met Hallie’s gaze and nodded. The laughter had faded and reality hit her in the face. She knew how hard Sam fought the mate hunt.

The nobles still enforced the old traditions on their children. Noble blood had to fight for a mate in a hunt. The strongest won the female. Magick and the bond between souls was never taken into account. It was that blatant disregard for the natural order of mating that had contributed to, if not caused, Sam’s mother, to lose her mind.

Hallie and her twin sister, Tess, would both turn twenty-five in a couple of years. Nicole would come of age later this year. Until Sam, it’d never crossed Margaret’s mind how unfair the hunt was. Not only did it deprive those matched by the hunt of their true mate, it deprived the souls that should have been their mates, too.

They are still in the damn bathroom.

Scott O’Hearn paced the hallway leading to the lobby of the hotel. Several other guests passed by, but no one said anything to the six-foot-eleven, two-hundred-fifty pound man wearing a hole in the carpet. He was used to it. Most people were intimidated and avoided speaking to him if at all possible. Except women. Human women, especially, seemed very attracted to him. He never had any trouble conversing with them. Why was he with this woman? Female shifters weren’t that different from human women.

“No they’re not, but they do react the same when you TELL them what to do.”

Well…she’s mine.

“Case in point.”

I know!

Las Vegas was a fun visit, but he didn’t want stay permanently. He kept an apartment here when Chase was in town, and stayed a few weeks here and there, but now Chase would be living in North Carolina with his wife Samantha. There wasn’t any reason to keep the apartment at all. Especially since he’d just wrapped up his assignment with the army. They’d been trying to get him to re-enlist, but he needed a break. Home was calling.

Now all he wanted was Margaret to share his home in the mountains —cuddled in his cabin. Vegas was too hot for his comfort most of the time. It was the beginning of spring and the weather was nice right now. But when summer hit, he had no intentions of being within a hundred miles of this scalding desert.

Wolves and a lot of other shifters lived in Las Vegas because weird things weren’t even noticed in this city. People here accepted the oddities without a second glance. Strange was the norm. That suited most supernaturals just fine, but bears preferred thick mountain forests, higher altitudes, and cooler air.

Female voices approaching from behind made him turn. Samantha’s two other sisters cast him smirks before ducking into the ladies room he was guarding.

Seriously, how big is that bathroom?

His bear did not comment. He wasn’t surprised.

A blond head poked out a few moments later. He met the woman’s gaze and waited. He was pretty sure it was Hallie Demakis, but it could have been Tess. They were twins and he’d only met them today.

“She doesn’t want to talk. You need to just go home,” the blonde said calmly.

A growl rumbled deep in his chest. Margaret was not getting off that easy. He deserved a chance to speak with her again. How could she ignore the connection they had. He’d waited over a century to find a mate. The magick pulled hard. She couldn’t deny him for long without driving herself crazy…him too.

“I’m not leaving without a way to contact her.”

The Demakis girl wrinkled her nose and pulled her head back into the bathroom.

What the hell? I am not that scary. I know she was interested. I could smell her arousal.

A few moments later the door opened again and the same blonde walked out. He moved toward her and she held out a business card.

“What’s this?”

“It’s her card, dumbass.”

He scoffed and narrowed his eyes. “I get that.”

She met his gaze with determination and didn’t back away. “This whole stalking the bathroom thing is not helping.”

“I didn’t mean to scare her. I just want to talk to her.”

“She’s not scared…well…we’ll just say overwhelmed. Give her a day or so and give her a call.” She turned and walked back, pausing just before she opened the door. “Take it down a notch or two, okay, teddy bear.”

“A day or so?”

“Yes,” she answered and disappeared back inside.

He glanced down at the shiny white card. It read Margaret Taylor, VIP Lounge Manager | Mirage Casino and Hotel.
Impressive.
Her email and an office phone number were on the back.

A deep sigh slid from his chest. If time was all she needed, he could do that. It hurt that she wouldn’t even talk to him, but at least she hadn’t sent him away completely.

***

“Is he gone?” Margaret asked.

The door clicked shut. Hallie turned. “Yes, chicken. He’s gone.”

“I am not a chicken. I just need to have a clear mind. That wasn’t going to happen with my wolf screaming at me to do whatever he asked.”

“Don’t lay the blame on me.”

Whatever. You weren’t helping.

Hallie and the other girls laughed again.

“Let’s get you home then, so you and your wolf can dream about all the naughty things you want to do to that fine specimen of a man you just sent packing,” Maggie said, a smirk growing on her face.

Margaret knew she’d never live this moment down. Maggie would tease her forever, but it didn’t matter. She assessed and read people for a living at the casino. It was her job to make sure guests had everything they needed before they knew they did. Time away from the pull of the rapidly growing mate bond should give her perspective on the situation. At least, that’s what she hoped it would do. It might just drive her over the edge instead.

They left the bathroom quietly and walked to the parking lot. Hallie had texted her father and the Demakis limo was waiting at the end of the sidewalk. She and Maggie had ridden to the wedding with Sam and her sisters, and the girls insisted that they ride back with them, too.

***

After dropping off Maggie, it only took a few more minutes to reach her street.

Her heels clicked on the concrete sidewalk and up onto her porch. The motion spotlight blinked on and her patio was flooded with a warm yellow light. She turned and waved at the limo before slipping inside and locking the door behind her.

She kicked off her heels by the door. They landed softly on a pile of discarded shoes. Over the course of a week, most of her shoes would end up there. When it became a nuisance she’d ceremoniously load them all into a hamper and haul them upstairs to her closet so the whole process could begin again.

Her purse she tossed onto the oversized red suede sofa and then sank into the matching chaise lounger at the end of the sectional. Her feet hurt and she was hungry, but a glance at the dimly glowing clock across the room told her it was nearly one in the morning. She could wait a little longer and eat breakfast after she slept a few hours.

Peeling her body from the comfy chair, she started for the stairs when the phone on the counter shattered the peace and stillness of her house. “Mom,” she groaned, twisting in midstride and walking quickly into her kitchen. One pressed button put the base on speaker. “Mom, it’s one o’clock. I’m going to bed.”

“How was the wedding, honey? I just wanted to check on you. I saw your porch light come on. Why didn’t you just have your dad or brother come pick you up? You didn’t need the Demakis’s to make a special drive all the way out here.”

“Mom, seriously. The wedding was good and the girls wanted me to ride with them. They took Maggie home too, so it wasn’t just me.”

“Oh.” Her mother paused. She could tell more questions were coming. “How is Maggie? I guess the Michaels think they are a little higher on the food chain now? Do they think they will be over your father now?”

“I’m going to bed. I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“But, Chase will take the heir’s seat on the Council. Their family will become royalty through the marriage. At least their children will.”

“Mom!”

The questions and the stress of the evening were not helping the pounding headache developing behind her temples. She pulled a glass from a cabinet and filled it with cold water from the refrigerator spigot. Between the wine, the dancing, and Scott’s announcement that he wanted to sweep her away to the Teton Mountains…gods, she just needed to get some sleep. She grabbed a bottle of aspirin from a drawer and turned back to the phone.

“I don’t know anything about the Council seat, nor do I want to. What I really want to do is take the aspirin in my hand and go to sleep. Give dad a kiss for me, okay? I love you, mom.”

She smiled at the heavy sigh on the other end of the line. “Alright, honey. Get some rest. Love you.”

Clicking off the phone, she downed the painkiller and the rest of her water before heading back to the stairs.

“How long are you going to hide from our mate?”

I’m so not in the mood.

“We need him.”

Not tonight, we don’t.

She rolled her neck, popping a few vertebras always made her feel better. The stairs were endless…maybe she was just climbing really slowly.

At the top, she pushed open her bedroom door, gently pulling the zipper on her dress down as she walked in. It slid from her body and she laid it carefully over the back of a chair in the corner of her room.

The bra and underwear were next. They landed in the hamper next to the closet. Her nightlight illuminated the room just enough to see her reflection in the wall mirror. Hair would just have to wait until tomorrow. She pulled an over-sized t-shirt from the dresser, a fresh pair of underwear, and some short yoga shorts. After pulling them on, she climbed into her bed and snuggled underneath her fluffy comforter. Her cares and worries floated away as sleep closed around her like the arms of a warm lover.

***

The morning alarm came unexpectedly. She reached from her cocoon of bedding and slapped the off switch. Then she pulled the little digital clock under the covers. Blinking her eyes into focus, she groaned when she read six-thirty am.

“I forgot to turn the damn thing off.”

Didn’t matter. She was awake now. No matter how hard she tried, she knew she wouldn’t fall back asleep. Throwing off the powder-blue comforter, she stretched and cracked a few joints. Her head still felt like someone had stuffed it with peanut butter.
Damn headache.
But even through her haze, she could smell Scott’s scent clinging to her dress. She slipped out of the bed and walked across the room to pick up the dress. Pressing it to her face, she inhaled deeply.

He smells so good. It’s wrong for a man to smell so good.

“He’s our mate.”

I know! You keep reminding me, but I know.

“So you are finished denying it?”

Maybe.

She laughed. It always tickled her that she could feel her wolf’s emotions even when they weren’t voiced. Though her wolf was pleased that she’d accepted Scott, she was still irritated by her lack of enthusiasm. It couldn’t be helped. He wanted to drastically alter her life without any concern for the one she’d built here.

“You don’t know that. You won’t talk to him.”

Just chill. I need to run.

A jog always helped clear her mind.

She put the dress down and sighed, enjoying the cool breeze blowing through her open window.

WAIT. Why is the window open? Did I open it last night?

“No!”

Her wolf’s anxiety heightened hers.

Pushing aside the curtains, she poked her head out. An unfamiliar male wolf scent still clung to the windowsill, though the actual man was nowhere to be seen. Magick rolled across her vocal cords, changing the human growl to a very nasty wolf’s snarl. Who would violate her privacy so blatantly? What the fuck did they think they were doing on her roof?

Great. Now I have a bear pursuing me as his mate and a creepy wolf stalker watching me sleep.

Funny thing was, all she wanted right now was Scott in her house. One whiff of a territorial grizzly would give any sane wolf pause. But she hadn’t gotten Scott’s number and he only had her work business card.
Damn.

The urge to go take a relaxing jog vanished.