Second Chance Mates (20 page)

She stopped, her body going limp as she
rested against him. "Maybe," she said quietly, her heart pounding
inside her chest.

"Maybe?" Cade rooted through the pile
of things they'd brought back from the lake, found Luke's jeans and
tossed them to him. "She panicked the whole time you were
gone."

Clara wheeled around. "Can you blame
me? I've already had one man I love ripped from me. I couldn't take
it if…if something happened to him. To either one of you! I
just…couldn’t." She sucked the sob back into her throat and stared
at them both with narrowed eyes. She wouldn’t break down into a
bawling baby. Everything was okay. She had her men home; Luke was
safe.

"Hey, take it easy, baby." Cade moved
closer, taking her hand as she began to shake. Damn, she was
probably going to start crying with relief now. For the last couple
of hours, since they'd arrived home, she'd slowly wound herself up
with all kinds of scenarios of Luke lying injured in the woods
somewhere. "Nothing's going to happen to either one of us. Luke's
back and he's fine. See? Man, hold her, will you?"

Luke tugged on his shirt and pulled her
back onto him, her face hot against the cool fabric.

"What happened?" she asked, resting her
head on his chest.

Luke mashed his lips together and took
a few even breaths. He stroked her hair with one large hand,
sending calm through her. "There were two men. Both shifters, not
sure what kind. I followed them through the woods down to the
stream you mentioned. They were going to put something in the
water. I stopped them before they could and scared them
off."

"What was it?" Clara asked in
alarm.

"Some kind of poison, I think." Luke
released her briefly, heading to the deck and returning with a
large white plastic canister. Clara reached for it, her finger
running over the skull and crossbones on the label.

"He's right. They were going to poison
the water supply. I'm not sure but I'm pretty certain this quantity
would kill everything it came into contact with. Petra's animals
drink from that stream!"

"Well, they had two of these," Luke
said. "I hid one because I could only carry one in my jaw. We'll
have to get the other one and dispose of it later."

"Did you find out who they
were?"

Luke shook his head. "I tracked them
back to their truck. It had a Stanton Development logo on
it."

"Figures. That bastard!" Clara spat.
"Maybe the sheriff will finally take me seriously."

"It's my word against their's," Luke
pointed out.

Clara set the canister on the floor and
started up her pacing again. "You're right. Stanton will just say
it was nothing to do with him, or that you were mistaken. He'll
probably even say we were doing it ourselves!"

The phone rang making her jump and she
went to answer it, snatching the handset up angrily and barking
"hello" into the phone. "Oh, Mom, sorry, I..." She held the phone
away from her ear as her mother chastised her manners. "I'll take
this in the office," she said, with a grimace.

***

"That Stanton is a sneaky shit," said
Cade after Clara stomped out of the room.

"Yeah, and that's not all." Luke
crossed the room and closed the living room door, jogging back to
drop onto the couch. He stretched his legs and leaned back. "When I
caught wind the bastards were shifters too, I shifted back and
asked them what the fuck they were doing trespassing on Clara's
land."

"Bet you scared the shit out of
them."

"You bet I did. Might have been more
effective if I had my pants on but whatever. So, I'm asking the
guys what they were doing when I notice one of them had a camera in
his hand, one of those little digital ones."

Cade closed his eyes. "Tell me they
were taking pictures of the wildlife," he said in a low
voice.

"If by wildlife you mean you and me
getting frisky with Clara in the lake then yeah."

Cade’s stomach roiled. "Straight
up?"

"Straight up. Actually, they were
pretty nice pictures, nicely centered. Creepy dude probably had
plenty of practice." Luke shrugged. "Don't think they were planning
on posting them to us for our personal activities
though."

"Oh, God." Something small and hard hit
Cade's stomach. He opened his eyes, looked down at the plastic
square that dropped to the floor.

"Got it and the memory card too. Gave
them a little something in return." Luke bared his teeth and
grinned. "Don't know how one of them will explain getting bitten by
a tiger but that's his problem."

"Good thinking getting the camera. I
hate to think what they were planning on doing with the
pictures."

"I'm guessing blackmail. Stanton could
threaten to plaster them all over town if she didn't sell. Maybe
even the internet if he wanted to get really nasty. She'd freak if
her family saw them."

Cade shook his head. "Her family
wouldn't be bothered about her getting busy with two
guys."

"Think about it, man. They'd probably
be bothered seeing her topless with two guys on the internet. And
just because us shifters are cool with threeway relationships,
doesn't mean the rest of the world is."

Cade nodded. "You're right. I'm not
thinking clear. One of these days Stanton's going to get what's
coming to him and I'll be more than happy to deliver
it."

"Right behind you." Luke rooted through
his bag, found one sock, shook out the towels and retrieved the
other. "Keep her distracted tonight, okay. Just chill out, take it
easy. I have some stuff to finish."

"You got everything you need
now?"

"Yep. Just need to set it up. I reckon
Stanton won't try anything for another couple of days but I'll bet
anything he'll be back here soon and when he does come back, we'll
be ready."

"When are you going to tell
Clara?"

"I don't know. It's probably best she
doesn't know. I don't want to worry her."

"She's probably going to be mad that we
didn't tell her."

"She'll get over it. Listen, I left
everything in the truck. I'm going to get started. Keep her busy,
okay?"

"No problem."

"What's a problem?" asked Clara,
entering the room. Both men looked up sharply. To Cade’s relief she
showed no signs of having overheard anything else of their
conversation.

"Luke said the truck was running funny
yesterday," lied Cade smoothly. "He's going outside to take a look
at it."

"Oh, okay."

"Your mom okay? Did you say ‘hi’ to
Rose from me?"

Clara hopped from one foot to the
other. "Yeah. About that. My mom knows you're here and wanted to
know why we hadn't been by to visit so...um, she's coming here.
She'll be an hour."

"Great!"

Clara frowned. "Really?"

"Sure. I like your mom."

"My dad is coming too."

"Still not seeing a problem,
sweetheart."

"Well...okay. I'm going to shower and
change then I'll make some food."

"Don't worry about a thing. You go on
and take your time. I'll take a look in the kitchen."

"Okay." Clara flashed a relieved smile
before edging from the room.

"Guess it's time to meet the parents,"
said Luke. He leaned over to lace his sneakers. "Think they'll like
me?"

"Nah. They'll hate you. I'm going to
look perfect in contrast. Oof. No need for that!" Cade dodged the
punch and flipped his friend the bird as he retreated to the
kitchen to put away their picnic things.

***

"Did you know the fencing is broken
back there?" Tom asked, casting his beer hand in the general
direction of the sabotaged fence.

"Yes, Dad, I know," Clara
sighed.

"It looks like a truck smashed straight
through it," her father persisted.

"Don't I know it."

Cade watched as Clara's face went from
annoyance to resigned acceptance to the steely determination he
knew so well. "We're going to fix it, sir," he told the older man.
"It's on the list."

Tom smiled, his craggy features
lighting up. "Have you seen Clara's list?" he asked, vaguely
amused.

"Not only have I seen it, but Luke and
I have been tackling it."

"They've already gotten through half of
it," Clara interjected as she returned with a pitcher of iced tea.
The evening had cooled and they sat on the newly finished deck,
admiring the freshly weeded garden area. "I'll have this place
finished in no time." Her face darkened as she added, "That is, if
no more accidents happen."

"I'm so pleased you're here," Rose
said, leaning in to Cade, maneuvering the discussion back to safer
waters. "It's about time you came home. Will you be
staying?"

"Yes ma'am, I hope so."

"And your friend?"

Eyes turned to Luke. With his own eyes
on Clara as she stopped in front of him, refilled his glass and,
her back to her parents, gave him what he hoped was a hopeful
smile, he answered, "I hope to stay too."

"You won't miss the city? Your job?
Your friends?"

"Cade's my best friend," Luke replied,
"and he's here. I can make new friends and I can still go back to
visit."

"And your job?" Rose
pressed.

Cade had half expected this gentle
interrogation from Clara's parents but relaxed as Luke took it all
in his stride. "My job goes where I go. I'm an independent security
consultant."

"What does that mean?"

"I install security into firms and
domestic properties. Visual and audio surveillance, software too,
depending on the client's needs. I have to travel with the job so
I'd have to go away sometimes but I'd like to come home somewhere
like this."

"It's not easy being a shifter in the
city," Tom commented and they all nodded. "We like being country
folk. Clara's vision here is a boon to us all. You know if you
asked, Clara, the community would pitch in and help."

"They can help with the party." Clara
shrugged, like it meant nothing at all, but Rose sat a little
straighter.

"What party?"

Clara set the pitcher down and took the
last available chair, conveniently located right between Cade and
Luke. "The one I'm going to throw when the farm is open for
business."

"And when will that be?"

"Well, that last bit of fencing just
needs redoing then really it's just the barn. I can hold off
finishing the gardens until fall seeing as they aren't all that
essential."

"So this party of yours will be pretty
soon then?" Rose asked, hopefully.

Clara nodded. "The plumbing was hooked
up in the barn last month and the cabinets are on order for the
kitchen area. The tables and chairs should get here next week. It
just needs clearing and all the units installing though it’ll be
rough and ready. I guess two weeks at the most?"

Rose turned interested eyes on Cade.
"And you'll be helping throw this party? As my daughter's..." She
trailed off, waiting expectantly for them to fill the
blank.

"As my mate, Mom," said
Clara.

Cade's heart felt like it was fit to
burst on hearing that. Announcing it to her family was as good as
sealing their commitment in front of their community. Best of all
knowing that she not only accepted him for her mate, but chose him
too, made his chest swell with pride.

"That so?" Tom nodded approvingly as he
took his wife's hand in his own. "We approve but I'm sure you know
that. Have you spoken with your family, Cade?"

"I plan on telling them this weekend,
sir. They'll be very happy too. I'm sure of that." He smiled over
at Clara. "They've always loved Clara to pieces." Glancing at Luke,
he saw his friend nodding in approval. Clara caught the direction
of his look, glanced over then back to her parents.

"There's one more thing, Mom, Dad.
Uh...well, Luke is staying as my mate, too."

Tom's eyebrows flew up but Rose just
leaned back and laughed. "Well, isn't that perfect," she hooted. "I
send you one man and you get two."

Clara frowned. "What do you mean you
sent me one man?"

Rose shrugged, shaking her head like
her actions were of no consequence. "I called Cade, of course. Told
him..."

"Mom!" Clara jumped to her feet,
interrupting her. "What did you tell him? Cade, why didn't you say
anything?"

Cade held his hands up but otherwise
remained relaxed. Maybe he should have told her, but they were
getting along so well and there simply hadn't been the right time.
Of course, thinking about it now, maybe he should have mentioned
something. "I..."

"Oh, don't be angry at him, darling. I
called him up, told him you were so miserable it was unbearable and
he needed to get back here and do something about it."