Grayslake: More than Mated: UnBearable Secrets (Kindle Worlds Novella) (3 page)

Chapter Five

Sam

The next morning, Sam was working on the radiator in the sitting room at the end of the hall in the second floor. It had been acting up again. Steam was springing out at all ends and he honestly had no idea how to fix it. He tore off his shirt and wiped his forehead with it so the sweat didn’t drip down into his eyes. He didn't know which guest had decided to turn it on; it certainly wasn't cold enough outside yet, but they turned it all the way up. And now that it was broken, he couldn’t turn it off. It was like a freaking sauna in that room. He bent down behind it once more, but as he saw that a gasket was loose, he reached for his wrench in his toolbox and remembered it wasn't there. He let Lucy borrow it for some projects she was doing in the potting shed out back. He’d have to go down to the front desk to retrieve it from her.

Of course he had forgotten to get the wrench back from Lucy—he could hardly think about anything but Olivia from the night before. Why had he acted like such an asshole? She had no idea the issues that he had with his father. That wasn't her business, anyway. So why did her comment about their animal side bother him so much?

He was a bear.

He was a ferocious shifter.

He was a predator.

But every time he thought about Olivia, he didn’t feel like a vicious animal—he wanted to be the bear she could curl up with on a cold winter’s night. He could be cuddly! Well, maybe he wanted more than spooning. Truly he wanted to tear into her and make her his mate. But he hardly knew her! Sure, she had that adorably cute little body, and the dark ringlets that framed her face had a bounce to them when she laughed, and she was feisty. Stubborn, even. And he liked that. None of that mattered—she was just a guest in the B&B and he was the handyman working on the radiator like he was supposed to. He needed to go down to the desk to grab that wrench.

It was early enough in the morning that none of the guests were up and out of bed yet. Lucy would be the only one downstairs, so he didn't think to put his shirt. But just as he was passing by Olivia's room, she came out with headphones in and a tank top and shorts and running sneakers. Shit. Of course she was up. Why couldn’t he just do his job? With her around, he felt like everything was chaos.

He watched her from behind, her delicious ass filling out the skintight shorts better than he could've imagined. Sure, he had already seen her naked, but skintight fabric just did something for him. He was right behind her as she fumbled with her keys.

“Let me help you with those,” he said, reaching for her.

She jumped, spinning around to smack him, and he fell with his back against the wall. She clumsily fell right into his arms. It couldn't have happened better if he had planned it that way.

She didn't pull away as she pulled her headphones out of her ears. “Sorry! I always jam out before a run.” She stood up and backed away from him slightly, but the hallway was still tight and her breasts were still just grazing the front of his chest. He felt compelled to kiss her. So without any warning, he threw his hand behind her head and pulled her into him, playfully nibbling on her bottom lip.

For a moment, he expected her to pull away, to protest that they didn't know each other well enough, or that she wasn't that type of girl. But instead, he felt her body melt into his. He began ripping off her tank top and throwing it to the side on the floor. His mouth released her lips and reveled in her flesh as he moved down to her breast. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him, grinding against his already hard cock. She was giving a whole new meaning to morning wood.

He inhaled the scent of her body, the smell of sex filling up the air. He tasted her, teasing her bare skin with his lips. His rough hands found the smoothness of her body so appealing and she rocked against him.

Just as he was about to remove her shorts, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Someone's coming,” she gasped against his skin.

“Sam? Are you working on the radiator? I have your wrench!”

Lucy was just about to come around the corner as Sam dropped Olivia and she scurried back into her room. He stood in the middle of the hallway still shirtless and now breathless as well. He saw Olivia's tank top on the floor and he dove for it just as Lucy popped up around the corner. He looked up at her from the floor.

“You all right, Sam?”

“Yes. Yes, ma'am. I just dropped this.”

“You dropped a hot pink tank top?”

“He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I mean… you know men can wear pink too.”

She handed him the wrench; it felt heavy in his hand. He knew there was more weight to it than just the metal on its surface. He knew she didn't believe him.

“Whatever you say, Sam. Just get that radiator fixed. It's so hot up here. And then you need to take a shower before the guests wake up, you smell all…” She put up her hand and made a circle around his body. “You just smell. I'll see you downstairs in an hour for breakfast.”

He nodded to her and sighed heavily as she walked away. He stood in the hallway for a moment, half expecting Olivia to pop her head out of her guest room door and invite him in, but she didn't. He trudged back down the hallway with the wrench in his hand, frustrated at the interruption and intrigued by what could have happened next.

Chapter Six

Olivia

Shit. Why did Lucy have to come up at that exact moment? Olivia wasn't sure what would have happened next but she was positive it would've been good. But instead she was left wondering and waiting. However, she realized she would be having some pretty good dreams that night. She had lost her tank top but she still had a sports bra on, so after she was sure that Sam had passed by the door she snuck out quickly and quietly to avoid any further suspicion. As soon as she was outside and her sneakers hit the pavement, she took off like a shot.

She didn't really know what she was running from, Sam was hot, and he made her feel things that she didn't quite understand. But she knew one thing: she wanted to be his. Gravel crunched under her feet as she turned off the main road and onto a path into the woods. This was where she could be at peace, finally clear her brain of all the thoughts that she was having about leaving home and now about finding Sam. She could just listen to the wind in the trees and the sound of her feet slapping against the ground.

The woods were beautiful. There was a nice breeze today, so it felt more like fall than the day before. Finally, not so muggy. Maybe the South wasn’t so bad. Maybe she could stay here a little longer, get to know Sam better. She would have to consult with the local Itan, of course. She would need permission to stay, but no one needed her back home. Grayslake could be the escape she had been dreaming of. She would have to get over the cats in her room, though. They had kept her up for hours last night with their beady little eyes and blank stares. Or maybe she was up because she had been running over her semi-date with Sam instead.

Why had he been so upset about her assumption that cows would go missing? She knew the damage shifters could do when unchecked. She had seen it a thousand times before. Without a release, the bear could take over completely. She then considered taking her clothes off and shifting, going for a run as her wild side. But just as she was about to find a rock to hide her belongings underneath, she heard the sound of water. She ran through the trees to the left and found herself at a wide expanse of lake. Immediately, she stopped. She was breathing heavily and put her hands on her knees as she watched the water lapping up on the shore. The lake was peaceful and serene and beautiful and it should've evoked some sort of calmness in her heart, but instead she had only one thought.

Bianca.

The sadness crushed against her body like a waterfall and she fell to the ground. It didn't matter how loud her music was—all that she could hear was the water.

There were so many questions. So many secrets. Things that she would never know.

Bianca was dead.

And it was her fault.

Chapter Seven

Sam

Finally, the damn radiator had stopped making noise and blowing steam. Lucy was happy and the guests hadn’t noticed the issue, so everything was good. He could finally get away for a bit.

He had stopped by Olivia’s room, considering knocking and asking her to walk with him multiple times, but he decided he needed to wait for her to come to him.

He took one final look at her window as he began walking. He didn't have a car; there was really no need for it in such a small town like Grayslake. So he walked everywhere—to the store, to the park, and to the den once every few days to check in with the Itan, Ty. He hated having to report to someone, but that was the rule. While he had been traveling, he figured it was better to follow the rules then to break them. He didn't need some crazy Itan on his ass just for not checking in. It was better to fly under the radar.

He kicked a stone as he passed the lake, the fall breeze rustling the leaves of the trees above him. He would give anything to just rip his clothes off and shift, running the rest of the way as a bear, but so many people in the town didn't know that they housed a large shifter population. So instead he took a shortcut through the woods on his way to the den. Finally, he arrived at the cluster of homes, the largest one being where Ty and his mate Mia lived. The door was wide open as usual. Anyone who knew about this place was coming to see him.

Sam ascended the stairs, the boards creaking under his feet. He walked in the front door and could smell breakfast coming from the back of the house. The place was kind of dark, but it had a cozy feel to it, and there were always people milling around. Between the brothers that lived on the compound, and bears from the town, it was always busy. But it was still early morning, and that was when Sam liked to get there, before other prying eyes could arrive. If one word got back to his father about where he was, he would have a much bigger problem then moving things too fast with Olivia. It’d been two years since he'd seen him, and he liked it that way.

He ascended the stairs and went up to the office. If Ty wasn't there, he could check in with one of the brothers. Any of the clan members would tell Ty that he had checked in. But as he knocked on the door, he could feel the tense attitude on the other side of it. Even though Sam wasn’t a member of the clan, his inner bear still respected Ty as the leader. Anything he said, went.

“Come in.” He heard Ty's voice on the other side of the door.

He walked in to see Ty sitting at his desk and Mia perched on the corner.

“Sam! Lovely to see you again. How’s it been going?”

Sam liked Mia. With all of the space that Ty had built between himself and Sam, Mia closed the gap in seconds—she just had that warm way about her. She was welcoming but not too welcoming, sweet but believable.

“Busy. There's a guest at the B&B, and her pipes needed some checking.”

Mia covered her mouth as she giggled. “And how did that work out for you? I mean with her pipes.”

Sam rolled his eyes. Luckily for him, Ty backed him up. “You want to go check on the baby? I've got something I would like to discuss with Sam in private.”

She hopped down off the desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Sure,” she said as she passed by both of them exiting the room.

Sam didn't understand, though. Anything that could be said to Ty could be said in front of his mate. She was the Itana, after all. Practically royalty. So why was he trying to get rid of her?

“Why don’t you sit down?”

Sam shuffled his feet over to the chair and studied Ty as he sat down on it. “What's going on?”

Ty raised an eyebrow at him. “Why don’t you tell me, Sam? We’ve been doing a little bit of digging into your past.”

Shit. “A little bit of digging? And what did you find out?”

Ty crossed his arms. “Who your father is.”

Sam set his lips into a thin line. He would neither confirm nor deny his birthright. He ran away from that life, started fresh. Grayslake really felt like a place he could settle. Why was his past constantly catching up with him?

“Sam, I know you're a Hunter, and not the common name type. Which also means you know that you can't stay here.”

Sam sighed. “Why can’t I stay? I'm not joining your clan; I'm just staying as a nomad. I’m alone here. I haven’t created any problems for you.”

“But that's just it, you're not part of the clan. We support nomads here, sure. I let you go for this long because I figured at some point you’d just move on, like the rest do. Now knowing that you’re the potential next in line for another southern clan, I can't have you stay here. Even if I think your intentions are pure, the other clan members won't.”

Sam shook his head; he couldn't believe this was happening again. The last clan had found out who his father was as well and they shipped him off only a couple days later. Why couldn't he just keep his head down and have his past not follow him everywhere? Why couldn't he just live?

“So how long do I have?”

Ty shrugged. “I don't know man, a few days, maybe a week? But I won’t be able to keep your birthright quiet for very long. I'm also not the only one who knows about it.”

Great. So other members of the clan had already voiced their concerns. That meant he didn't have long at all. A week was pushing it.

“Fine. I’ll find somewhere else to go, I guess.”

“You know there's another option. You could give up your birthright and you could join the clan. Stay in Grayslake forever.”

Sam knew that Ty understood that that wasn't an option. “You know I can't just give up my birthright. If I do, my father will come and find me, and he'll probably kill me for it. But thanks for the offer.”

Ty dipped his head at him. “I like you, Sam, I don't really want to see you dead.”

Sam stood to leave but Ty stopped him. “There's one more thing. The girl at the B&B? She's one of us.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “She doesn't seem like she's from around here.” Though Sam didn’t mention that she didn’t say where she was from.

“No, she's not a clan member. But I saw her arrive, and I know where she's from. She's running, like you. We’re going to let her stay a few days, escape whatever problems she's coming from, so keep an eye on her for me. I'll try to give you an extra few days in exchange.”

It may have sounded negotiable, but that was a direct order from the Itan. He had to follow it.

Sam nodded. “Sure.”

So now not only did he want to be close to Olivia, he had an excuse to be.