Hook, Line, and Mated

Evernight Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Jenika Snow

ISBN: 978-1-77233-594-1

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the readers that asked for the next Sweet Water story, and patently waited for it.

HOOK, LINE, AND MATED

Sweet Water, 7

Jenika Snow

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

Easton Pope had a scowl on his face most of the time, not because he liked being known in his hometown of Sweet Water as the moose shifter that was difficult to work with, or who was abrasive and hardheaded. It wasn’t because he hated people, but because he was just perpetually annoyed with the world.

He grabbed the bottle on his desk and finished off the water. He stared out the window of his office, his annoyance a constant presence in him. He owned a small farming supply company on the outskirts of town. He supplied local farmers with lumber, machine equipment, and even had a modest sized mechanic shop attached to the main building.

This shop was something he’d built from the ground up, something he’d worked his ass off to make sure was a success. But because he’d thrown himself into his work and business, chances of finding a woman that was compatible with him, and could deal with his standoffish attitude and alpha tendencies, had been few and far between.

“Boss, Jason is here for that part he ordered last week.”

Easton nodded at Esben, one of the few human males that had been working for him since the beginning of all of this. It wasn’t that he didn’t like having humans work for him. It was just that Easton preferred shifters on his payroll, not because he discriminated, but because they were physically stronger and could do the manual labor faster than most. Also, most of the humans in Sweet Water tended to stay away from Easton.

Everyone tends to stay away from you.

But there were a few humans working for him that had proved themselves, and Esben was one of them.

Easton knew he was hard to get along with, knew that he’d been called arrogant and an asshole, and because of that no one wanted to be his employee. But Easton didn’t care if people liked him. In fact, he preferred to be on his own, preferred to not have to deal with the pleasantries of being social. The men that worked for him knew that, lived by that when they were around him, and that’s why they all worked so well together.

“Get the part for him, and I’ll meet him out front.”

Esben nodded and left.

He sat there for a moment longer, then pulled his big body out of his chair and made his way out to the front desk. He grabbed one of the red shop rags off the front counter, wiped off the grease that covered his hands, and saw Jason standing by his truck. The clouded leopard shifter was big and powerful in his own right, but of late Easton had seen this distance on his face. He knew from the rumors that always seemed to move through a small town, that although Jason had found his mate, he hadn’t claimed her yet. From what Easton had heard, Jason’s hybrid mate, Annabelle, had been abused by a group of purebred thinking fanatics. Because of that Easton could only assume she was broken, and that trying to mate with her made things difficult for Jason.

That was another reason Easton wasn’t in any hurry to find his mate, if she was even out there.

Shifters had one mate that was born to be theirs, that one person that was for them alone. They’d know they were mates from the moment they saw each other and scented the pheromones that came from them, but in the thirty-five years of Easton’s existence, he’d never found that person, and might never. Some shifters never found their other half, but just because a shifter did not find a mate didn’t mean he couldn’t find happiness in someone else. Easton was just reserved in the knowledge that he was too much of a hard-ass, and that even if he found his mate he might put her off with his personality.

Easton had been called a cold-hearted bastard, and he’d used all of that, all of those rumors and observations of himself, as fuel to his fire.

He left the front doors of the office and met Jason by his truck in the parking lot. They’d known each other for years, well before Jason’s folks had tragically passed away.

The clouded leopard pushed away from the vehicle and held his hand out.

They shook hands, the scent of the leopard strong, just as strong as the darkness that was clearly coming from him.

It had to be really fucking hard not being able to claim a mate.

“I got the call the part’s in?” Jason asked.

Easton nodded. “Yeah, just got it in. Come on in the back and we’ll get you squared away.”

They made their way through the bay doors that led to the open mechanics shop. There was another shop beside this one that held the parts and other supplies they sold, and another building in the back that held the larger supplies like lumber, tools, and other similar items. The three buildings sat on ten acres of land that had been given to him by his father when Easton had come into adulthood, and he hadn’t wasted the opportunity.

After he got the part Jason needed, they headed back to the office.

“I’d like to settle the account and pay the tab.”

Easton grabbed Jason’s file, and couldn’t help but sense the wall the shifter had up in place. Although Easton minded his own business, especially when it concerned matters of the heart, he also had known Jason long enough the other male wasn’t just a friend, but someone Easton could connect with.

“Something on your mind?” Easton asked as he inputted the total amount Jason and his farm owed the shop.

There was a flash of surprise that came across Jason’s face, but it was gone as soon as it had arrived. “I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. Hell. Nothing in this town can stay where it should … the business of others.”

Easton knew when to take a hint, and it was clear Jason didn’t want to talk about it. He also had asked because they were good friends, but that didn’t mean he liked getting in others’ business.

“I’m sorry. I got a bit aggressive right there,” Jason said on a sigh. “I’m just going through some shit.”

“No problem, and you’re right, it isn’t anyone’s business but your own.” He handed Jason the receipt for what he owed. Easton watched as Jason got out his wallet, pulled out his card, and handed it to him.

“It’s the whole mate thing, Easton. Either you can handle it or you can’t.”

“I don’t think I’ll have to deal with that,” Easton said as he closed Jason’s tab.

“Never say never. I didn’t think I’d have a mate, but—” He shrugged and took the card back that Easton handed him.

“If she was out there I would have found her by now. It’s probably best anyway. I’m not much of a male that can probably take on a mate. I’m too set in my ways. You know how I am.”

Jason smirked. “Yeah, well I guarantee when your mate comes around you’ll be knocked on your ass. Maybe that’s what you need.” He chuckled again, and lifted his hand in goodbye. “I’ll be back next week for a pickup of lumber.”

Easton nodded and watched as Jason left the office. The shifter may have found his mate, but they weren’t all like that. Besides, Easton was fine the way he was living his life now.

Chapter Two

Jessie Harker had been driving for the last twelve hours straight. To say she was tired was an understatement, but she wasn’t about to stop and rest because she’d just wanted to get to the town of Sweet Water. The large sign upon entering the small mountain town looked welcoming, but she wasn’t here because she wanted a retreat. Jessie was here because her one and only remaining relative that had been important to her, her Aunt Brenna, had passed. Not only had Brenna raised her after her mother died and her father had split, but she’d been the rock in Jessie’s life.

And now Jessie didn’t even have that stability anymore.

She didn’t have to stay in a motel, not when Brenna’s house—the house Jessie had all but grown up in—was vacant. But staying there so soon after Brenna was found in the bathroom, dead because of a stroke, wasn’t something Jessie could bring herself to do.

She sat in her car after she’d turned it off, just listening to the sound of the engine cooling, of the noise of children close by. She hadn’t cried since she’d gotten the news from Brenna’s neighbor about her passing, but she felt like this wave of despair was right at the surface. Jessie felt the wave of emotion threatening to wash over her, claim her, and take the very breath from her.

Jessie grabbed her bag and headed out of the car and to the small front office that was attached to the twelve-room motel. The little bell above the door made a noise as she entered, and the scent of cinnamon filled the air.

On the faded brown counter was a little brass colored bell. She pressed down on it, the
ding
seeming loud in the small room. After a second, an older woman hobbled out from behind the sheet of fabric that was the door to a backroom.

“Afternoon,” the elderly woman said.

Being a serval cat shifter had Jessie’s senses attuned to everything, heightened, and made it so nothing got by her. She may not be the biggest of the cat shifters, but she was fierce in her own right. That was good given the shit she’d gone through before she was lucky enough to live with Brenna.

Shaking away her thoughts of her aunt and how much she’d miss her, Jessie focused on the woman in front of her. The elderly female was human, and the scent of toxic cancer came from her. But she smiled genuinely at Jessie, and in return Jessie did the same. Sometimes a person just had to grin through all the crap in their life. Hell, she knew more about that now that her aunt had passed away.

“Just the night?” The woman asked.

“I actually don’t know.” And she didn’t. Jessie didn’t know how she’d feel when she finally stepped into her aunt’s house, how she’d feel staying there. She’d have to finalize everything, see where Brenna stood finance wise, but staying in the home she grew up in might just be too hard.

“Okay, well no worries. We can take it one day at a time, honey.”

For the next few minutes Jessie filled out the paperwork, and once she had a key, like an actual old school room key, she headed out and searched for the room that would be her home for an undetermined amount of time.

Passing a small pool, one that looked like it had seen better days, she finally saw where she’d be staying. This place was pretty retro, not just because of the actual key to unlock the door, but because as soon as she pushed the door open and stepped into her room it was like she’d been transported into the seventies.

An orange and brown bedspread covered the queen-sized mattress. The headboard looked like it might have been gold at one time, but it now just looked aged and oxidized. The dresser had thick brass handles, and the TV on it was outdated. But the room smelled clean, like lemons, the management had been nice, and right now Jessie just wanted to crash for the next eight hours.

She was exhausted, and tomorrow she had to start going through Brenna’s things. It was depressing to know that her aunt didn’t have anyone else either. It had just been the two of them for so long.

Maybe Jessie shouldn’t have left town for college? Maybe she should have gone to a community college in Sweet Water, or at least close to town? But Brenna had insisted Jessie go out and experience life. After she’d graduated Jessie had found an incredible job, and stayed in the city, and she’d only come back home during the holidays. She now regretted not staying in town, because she’d lost so much time with Brenna.

Tossing her bag on the floor, she shut the door and just stood there for a moment. A shower would help in relaxing her, but what she did was walk to the bed and fall face first onto it. Sleep came sooner than she’d anticipated given how she felt like shit because of the drive and Brenna, but she welcomed it.

****

“Morning, Easton.”

Easton nodded toward Rich, the owner of Rich’s Place, a small diner in town. Rich was one of the few humans who weren’t afraid of or intimidated by Easton. It wasn’t as if he hurt anyone, or was purposefully an asshole. It was just because he kept to himself, and because of his large size, given the fact he was a moose shifter, that humans and shifters tended to cross the street when they saw they saw Easton and didn’t want to be close to him.

He took his usual seat in the back corner booth. The waitress came to take his order, and once she was gone he leaned back in the booth and spread out some work papers in front of him. Aside from a few men that worked under him and helped manage the finances and running of the shops, Easton liked to do things himself. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust anyone. It was just that he liked to be in control of all things.

He tried to get comfortable on the booth, but he was a big guy, a lot bigger than most shifters. He was six-foot eight in height, and some might call Easton freakishly tall. But most didn’t have the balls to say it to his face. His height and the sheer strength he wielded made it so he wasn’t fucked with. His short temper when it came to the cocky men who liked to start shit gave him the reputation of someone not to mess with.

He liked it that way.

When his food came, he sat in silence as he ate and looked over the paperwork. The diner was tiny in comparison to the restaurants that were further toward the square of town, but Easton had been coming to this particular one since he was a boy, and he liked routine.

As he finished his meal and drank his coffee, he thought about Jason. The pain that had come from the male was tangible, so fucking tangible Easton had felt it as if it were his own. Being a shifter meant more strength, heightened senses, and the ability to feel others’ emotions as if they were their own, as if they were experiencing it themselves. But it was also a curse, at least in Easton’s case. He didn’t want to feel anyone’s emotions. He didn’t want to have to see the pain they felt or the happiness that surrounded them. He wasn’t happy, not in the sense that he had someone, even if it wasn’t his mate. Those feelings, having to be subjected to sensing what others were going through, pissed Easton off.

Maybe that’s why Easton was such an asshole, or had the reputation of being unapproachable.

The bell over the door chimed when someone entered the diner, but he didn’t look up. Easton stayed another ten minutes before grabbing his papers and sunglasses, and headed toward the cash register. His head was downcast as he looked through his wallet for some cash, but when the scent of lavender filled his nose, it was as if someone took a sledgehammer right to his gut.

Everything in Easton stopped for a second before picking up speed. His heart started beating faster, his body started sweating, and his moose rose up with an intensity that rivaled any other time before.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the act involuntary as his body worked on its own, his animal pushing forward and taking control. The scent was like nothing he’d ever smelled, even though he’d smelled that fragrance before.

My mate.

My. Mate.

Easton opened his eyes and lifted his gaze, followed the scent to its location. There, sitting alone with a book in her hand, and a donut and cup in front of her, was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. Even from the distance he scented her animal. It wasn’t a species he’d ever come across before, but it had everything in him roaring out to go to her.

Claim her.

Mate with her.

Let her know you’ll not let her go.

His moose was the one making the demands, but even if the beast was large and powerful, Easton’s human side was just as strong. He clenched his hands at his sides, his wallet being crushed in the process.

“Sir?” the cashier said, but Easton couldn’t take his gaze off of the female.

Her hair was long and dark. She had it in a braid over her shoulder, and even though she sat behind the table, he could tell her body was that of a woman: lush curves and wide hips, able to take the kind of passion a male like him demanded.

“Excuse me, sir?” the cashier said again. Easton turned his head and stared at her. She looked confused, but she was human, so she clearly couldn’t scent the fact Easton had found his mate.

He handed her a twenty, and immediately looked at the female again,
his
female. She still had yet to look up from her book, but he watched in rapt awe as she brought her donut to her mouth, her pink, full lips opening and closing around the pastry. Her coffee had steam rising up, swirling around her face. That, coupled with the pastry right beneath her nose, was the only reason he could think that she had yet to sense him, to know her mate was just a few feet from her.

His cock jerked, hardened, and he swore the damn thing would burst right through his jeans. A low groan left him, and he didn’t give a shit if anyone heard. In fact he wanted them to hear, to know he’d found his mate, that she was his and his alone.

Never had he thought this was what it would feel like to have a mate. His mother and father hadn’t been mates, not in the fated mates type of way. But they’d loved each other, and his father would have done anything for Easton’s mother. But this … this was something totally different.

His animal was a beast inside of him on any other normal occasion, but with his mate, seeing her, smelling her, and wanting to go over there, the need to throw her over his shoulder, and take her to his place, rode him strong. The sensations rode him so strongly he felt like his bones would burst through his skin. He wanted to shift, to show her how powerful he was. He wanted to fucking impress her, and that wasn’t like him, not in any sense of the word.

“Your change, sir.”

“Keep it,” he said to the cashier without looking at her. He turned, distracted by his mate, and started walking toward the female. There was this need inside of him so strong he couldn’t even have common sense at the moment. He didn’t want it.

But after he took a few steps he stopped, his hands in tight fists by his outer thighs, his human side became the dominant one now. He wanted to go to her. The instinct was strong, intense, and consumed him like nothing else, but he stopped.

She grabbed a napkin, started wiping her nose, and then sneezed. She hadn’t taken note of him, hadn’t looked up from her book and seen that her mate stood just feet from her, that he was ready to claim her right here. Easton felt like he was losing control, like he wasn’t himself, and he fucking hated that. All his life he’d had the strength, the power that no one else seemed to possess. He didn’t like this feeling like his life was spiraling out of his control, like the simple fact of being mated could take that away from him.

Having a strength from within that he was surprised he could possess right now, he turned and started walking toward the entrance of the diner. It was hard, really fucking hard if he was being honest, but he had to regain control right now. He couldn’t let his inner animal have the upper hand, and couldn’t let fate dictate how he felt in any situation.

He’d think about all this, and decide what he would do.

Once outside he closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He took in every scent, every sound, tried to push the need out of him to walk back in there, haul her out of that seat, and throw her over his shoulder. He wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman, like he’d never even thought about a female.

Growling low in his throat, he saw the way the people coming closer to him became startled, nervous. They crossed the street, avoiding him, afraid of him.

Good, because right now he was feeling more volatile, more dangerous, than he ever had in his entire life.

Easton was walking away from his mate, and it felt wrong on every fucking level.