She was both glad and disappointed that the seat right behind her was already occupied by a mother and young boy.
The woman who’d boarded before him called out to him, almost like a bark. “Beck.”
It seemed to break whatever trance he was in, and he slowly made his way toward the back of the bus, where the woman had taken a seat.
What. The. Heck?
Nami finally remembered to close the door and check her mirrors before pulling back into traffic.
He. Is. Trouble.
And she already had enough home-grown trouble in her life. She
damn
sure didn’t need to be inviting any in.
* * * *
“What the
hell’s
wrong with you?” Dewi whispered to Beck when he finally wedged his bulk into the plastic seat next to her.
He couldn’t pull his focus or his gaze off the driver. Gorgeous, mocha skin, and not some skinny twig, either. Short, natural hair, cut close, accentuating the gorgeous shape of her face. She smelled like jasmine, a scent he’d never really cared much about one way or another.
Until now.
Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, he flared his nostrils as the air conditioning carried faint traces of her scent to him.
Mine.
Mate.
His eyes popped open.
Oh, shit.
Dewi poked his shoulder. “Hey. Earth to Beck.”
They were only blocks from where James Palver would catch the bus after being dropped off with the rest of his work crew.
And the woman driving the bus was his mate.
Ignoring Dewi, Beck stood and walked to the front of the bus. The driver glanced at him in the mirror. “Sir, you need to take your seat while the bus is moving.”
He grabbed hold of a pole right behind her. “Are you married?” he quietly asked.
She didn’t look back at him, but her gaze briefly flashed in the rearview mirror again. “Sir, please, take your seat.”
“Are you single?”
“Sir, you need to sit—”
“Are you gay?”
“
What
?”
“Please, just answer me.”
“
Sit
yourself down
now
, sir, before I have to evict you from this bus.”
“That wasn’t an answer.”
The more she didn’t answer, the more of her fear he felt, and the more he reacted to her. In his gut, he knew she was single, and straight.
And if she was single, that meant she wouldn’t be for long. Not once he claimed her.
Mate.
“Beck!” Dewi barked from her seat.
His head snapped around, and if it wasn’t for the fact there were about fifteen other passengers on the bus at that moment, he would have bared his canines at Dewi.
Well, that and the fact that Dewi was a Prime Alpha and, despite their size disparity, she could easily kick his ass.
And, technically, she was his boss.
“What’s going on?” Ken asked in his ear over the radio.
Beck walked back three seats, to the first empty one on the opposite side of the bus from the driver, where he sat, on the edge, ready to pounce.
He was aware of Dewi walking up and sitting just behind him, where she jabbed him in the back of the shoulder.
“What. The. Fuck?” she whispered.
Jaw clenched and struggling to remain in control, he ignored her.
He got it.
Now, he
totally
understood why Dewi had done what she’d done when she claimed Ken. He’d wanted to blame her actions on a lack of self-control on her part, a slippage he’d never seen her exhibit before.
Not anymore.
Mate.
It hummed through his veins, with every beat of his heart. With every pulse of blood as it coursed through his body.
Mate.
My
mate.
* * * *
Nami didn’t know what the guy’s issue was, but she hoped he wasn’t going to be a problem. It was days like this she wished they’d let drivers carry weapons. She did have a canister of pepper spray on her personal key ring, which was easily within her grasp.
She didn’t want to use it on this guy if she didn’t have to. He was hunky, but there was just something about him she couldn’t put her finger on. It wasn’t even like he was undressing her with his eyes. It was like he was making sweet and sexy love to her right there with his mind.
And while she’d never admit it, she liked it. There was something downright animalistic, hungry in his gaze, the way he visually devoured her.
A pleasant shiver rippled down her spine.
She pulled up to the next stop and slid over to the curb before opening the door. Five guys got on. The last one stopped halfway up the steps, raising his nose and apparently sniffing the air as he scanned the bus. His eyes bugged, wide in fright before he turned, bolting down the steps and out the door.
“Shit,” the strange woman said as she jumped from her seat. She slapped the guy with her on the shoulder. “Come on.” She shoved her way down the aisle past the four guys who’d just got on and jumped off the bus without even taking the steps before she was running.
The man with her stood, hesitated at the door, then whirled around. Before Nami could react, he leaned in and kissed her, long and hard and with enough sauciness she nearly let her foot off the brake. His hand cupped the back of her neck, and something about his scent, like cinnamon and freshly split oak, penetrated her to the depths of her soul.
His thumb stroked her cheek. “Mine,” he whispered, even though she didn’t see his lips move, and she nearly creamed her panties right there.
Then, just like that, he turned and jumped off the bus, following the woman, who apparently was chasing the guy who’d run off.
Holeeeeee shit.
Part of her wanted to shut the bus down and run after him. He couldn’t just lay an earth-shattering kiss like that on her and then take off without so much as a how-
you
-doin’.
And part of her wanted to tear after him and rip him a new one for taking liberties with her like that. Just before she kissed him again.
On that thought, she finally closed the door with a trembling hand and reluctantly pulled away from the curb.
* * * *
Beck’s cock strained against his jeans as he kissed the driver. She smelled like jasmine and tasted like vanilla and rich, dark coffee with a hint of jalapeño peppers. Her brown eyes widened as he lifted his mouth from hers.
When he sent the thought to her,
Mine
, her eyes had widened.
More proof. She
was
his. Might not have the clear mental connection Dewi and Ken did since he wasn’t a Prime, but if the woman heard
that
, it had to be a mate connection.
Unfortunately, he had a job to do. Glancing at her name tag, he saw it read N. Drexler.
Thus committed to memory, he spun around and tore off the bus after Dewi, who was rapidly catching up to James.
“Badger,” she said through the two-way. “Move in. I’ve almost got him.”
From behind them, he heard the sound of the truck’s engine wind up…
And the sound of the bus pulling away.
Fighting his instincts to turn and go chase it, catch up with it, with
her
, his mate who was now getting away, he forced himself to follow Dewi, stay with her, and help catch this slimy little bastard. Maybe once they caught him, Badger could help him catch up with her bus again and he could get on and ride.
And then more riding of the better kind later, once he got N. Drexler alone and claimed her.
Mine.
Chapter Four
Dewi didn’t know what the hell was wrong with Beck, but she was damn sure going to dress him down for it.
After they caught and castrated James Palver first, of course.
James glanced over his shoulder as he ran, terror painted on his face as Dewi gained speed and closed the gap between them. He wasn’t a Prime. He wasn’t an Alpha. He wasn’t even an omega, with his diluted wolf blood. His parents couldn’t shift, and neither could he. Even if he mated with a pure, shifting wolf, chances were his offspring wouldn’t shift.
So it was with no small amount of amusement Dewi busted out laughing when he ran smack into a light pole and collapsed to the ground like a sack of wet shit.
Dewi jogged up to him and stood over him, planting her sneaker-clad foot squarely in the middle of his chest.
Pointing down at him, she growled, “Stay.”
He froze, staring up at her, unable to disobey her Prime order.
When Beck caught up with them, Dewi glared at him. “Care to clue me in what the hell
that
was about?”
“Later,” he said, turning to see where Badger and Ken were.
Dewi pulled zip ties out of her back pocket, flipped James over, and bound his wrists behind his back before hauling him to his feet.
She gave the groaning man a hard shake. “Buddy, you have wasted our damn time today. We’re going to take you to have a little talk with your girlfriend, and you’re going to learn how to be a father.”
Beck clamped a hand onto the guy’s shoulder. “You’re also going to learn what it’s like to feel nut-shriveling fear.”
Badger pulled the truck up next to them. Dewi opened the cab’s back door and, one-handed slung the groaning man up and into the backseat. Beck jogged around the other side and got in as Dewi hopped in behind James. Without further delay, they were off.
Hopefully without anyone seeing what they’d done.
“Hey,” Beck said. “Can we follow that bus?”
In unison, Dewi, Badger, and Ken all asked, “What?”
“Beck,” Dewi said, “
what
is going on? Don’t make me go Prime on your ass. We’ve known each other too long for that.”
Badger glanced at them in the rearview mirror while Ken turned around as much as his seat belt would allow.
Dewi thought Beck would force her hand, but he finally let out a frustrated snort. “She’s my mate, okay?”
“
What
?” the three of them asked again.
“She’s my mate. There. Can we please follow that bus now?”
“Son,” Badger said, “ye sure about that?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Some of us didn’t have the luxury of dragging our mate into a pub’s bathroom to claim them.”
Dewi felt her face heat but she wasn’t going to back down. “Dude, I also didn’t compromise my mission for the sake of it.”
“Well, Dewi?” Badger asked. “What do ye want me to do? Yer in charge, lass.”
Feeling guilty, she stared at Beck. “Turn around. See if you can catch up with the bus.”
By the time they returned to Nebraska Avenue, there was no sign of that bus. After nearly an hour of driving up and down the highway, Ken made a suggestion.
“Let’s finish up with him,” he said, pointing at James, “and get that out of our way. Then we can go home and I’ll see what I can track down about her. If nothing else, we can come back tomorrow at the same time and you can catch the bus and talk to her then.
Dewi knew from the knotted tension in Beck’s neck and shoulders that he wasn’t happy about the compromise. “Fine,” he muttered. “I guess there isn’t much else we can do right now.”
“I’m sorry,” Dewi said. “Had you said something on the bus, I would have told you to stay there. Not like I couldn’t take this joker down alone.”
Actually, she pretty much
had
taken him down alone. Especially since he’d done the job for her by running into the light pole and nearly knocking himself out.
Beck let out a noncommittal grunt but went silent, staring out the window as Badger turned the truck toward James’ doom.
* * * *
Linda Small lived in a one-bedroom, government-subsidized apartment just west of I-275 near the Seminole Heights area of Tampa. Her short, brown hair looked messy, and not in a cute, deliberate sort of way, either. She had a young toddler slung on her right hip and a lit cigarette dangling from the left corner of her mouth when Dewi and Beck marched James up to her front door.
The woman stepped aside and let them in. “Good. You found the worthless son of a bitch.”
When James started to say something in reply, Dewi slapped him upside the head. “Shut. Up.”
He did.
As Linda closed the front door, Beck cut the zip ties holding the man’s wrists behind him and shoved him toward the ratty couch.
“Sit down, asshole,” Beck told him.
Dewi looked at Linda. On the floor, a baby lay sleeping in an infant carrier. Dewi pointed at the cigarette in Linda’s mouth. “Put that goddamned thing out
right
now
.”
Linda’s eyes widened, but she turned and stubbed it out in an ashtray on top of an old TV.
Dewi crossed her arms over her chest. “Here’s how this is going to work. Y’all brought me into this as pack business, so that’s where it stands. I catch either one of you smoking again, I’ll beat you within an inch of your lives. Neither one of you can afford to spend the money on that crap anyway, and your babies sure as hell don’t need to be poisoned by it. You’re done.
No
more smoking.”
Linda’s face darkened, but she remained silent and readjusted the young toddler on her hip.
“Second,” Dewi said, “James, you will move in here with Linda, and you will start supporting your kids.”
“But I didn’t want the asshole living with me!” Linda protested.
Dewi pointed at her. “Then you should have thought about that before you had not one, but two kids with him. The two of you are stuck with each other until those babies turn eighteen. Deal with it. And yes, as the head of the expanded pack council here in Tampa, it’s an edict.”
Now both parents wore dark frowns.
Dewi returned her attention to James. “
You
will get a vasectomy by the end of the month.”