Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) (2 page)

“That is my cousin, and I’m head of the family.” The he-wolf’s eyes narrowed, spitting fire. “You interferin’ in family business?”

While the wolfman spoke, his hairy hand dipped behind his back—where a concealed gun or knife would be.

Damn it. Gabriel played the wimpy nerd to humans and potion geek to witches to avoid exactly this.

Mentally, he called up a shield spell. Violence was about to erupt.

“Enough!” Emma wedged her tiny self between them, shoulders back, chin up, and chest puffed like an irate cat’s fur. “Bruiser—I mean Bruce. Leave Dr. Light alone.”

Gabriel found himself a little surprised and a lot impressed. She was standing up to a wolf twice her size and her alpha to boot.

This was a totally new side to her. In the couple months she’d worked here, she’d only ever been diffident. Eager to please.

Always saying “I’m fine”. He found himself even more intrigued with the pretty little wolf. And more anxious to defend her. He started to cut in.

She slashed him a glance, a clear “back off” in her eyes.

He hesitated. If this was a wolf thing, his interfering could harm her pack standing.

Fine, he’d back off—for now. He stepped to the side, a hand cocked near his waist. Not for a gun, but ready to plunge under the sweater vest for the row of charged magical talismans that studded his belt.

“I don’t like your attitude, missy. We’re going.” Bruiser grabbed Emma and hauled her toward the door.

She dug in her heels. “
No.
”

The wolfman slapped her face, so hard it left a red mark on her creamy cheek.

Gabriel forgot all his talismans, took one step, and planted a fist in the wolfman’s snout.
Bam.

Bruiser rocked back on his heels. His hand sprang open, releasing Emma.

Shocked gasps from the employees gave way to a quiet cheer or two.

Mentally, Gabriel facepalmed. He was a crunchy-even-in-milk
idiot.
Yeah, that punch felt satisfying, but it as good as announced that he’d had a raging hard-on for sweet, soft Emma for two months. A freeze potion or calm amulet would’ve worked more subtly.

Bruiser straightened, rubbing his snout. “Why you…you
fucker…
”

Gabriel shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. This could get ugly.

“You heard Dr. Light.” Another male dressed in Choice Buy blue, equally tall with Gabriel, glided up to stand beside him. “Private party.”

Male, not man, his black hair and low, growling bass hinting at his panther heritage. This was Gabriel’s familiar, Pan, in his human form. If Gabriel had become a powerful battle mage, it was mainly due to Pan’s wisdom and teaching.

Which meant the panther was going to kick his butt later for being so obvious. But in private.

Casually, almost negligently, Pan slid a foot forward into a fighting stance. He pointed toward the exit. “Leave.”

One by one, the store employees cinched up behind Pan and Gabriel. Gabriel didn’t need to see their expressions to know they were glaring buckets at the wolfman, because the bully paled and fell back a step.

Blustering, “This isn’t over,” the he-wolf spun and marched out.

Pan rolled his golden eyes.

Gabriel jerked his chin at the wolfman, and Pan, reading him flawlessly, followed.

“Thank you, Dr. Light.” Emma appeared in front of Gabriel, her eyes shining up at him. “I could’ve probably handled him, but your solution was much more elegant.”

“It was nothing.” His cheeks heated. Elegant? He’d been fury-driven stupid and clumsy.

But at her words, something male inside him puffed its chest and yodeled.

She took a step closer, placing fingertips on his sweater vest. “You’re being modest.”

The chest-beater started fantasizing, picturing her throwing herself into his arms—and bed—in thanks. His cock rose in anticipation.

Before the fool penis and chest-beater could take over, his phone rang.

Two scoops of damn it.

He’d shunted the store phones to the answering service. Only a few people had his direct line. His thoughts arrowed to his pregnant sister, Sophia. “I need to take this. Excuse me?”

Emma stepped back with a nod and a sigh. His cock sighed and stepped back too.

He tapped the headset he always wore in the store. Most witches had trouble using advanced technology—their connection with the basic quantum uncertainty that was magic interfered with anything electrical—but he’d developed spells to prevent such interference.

After his parents died in a magically triggered plane crash, he’d made it his life’s work.

In case it wasn’t his sister, he spieled off, “Choice Buy, Techie Titan Gabriel Light speaking. How may I help you?”

“Gabriel, it’s Sophia.” His sister’s voice was low and stressed, almost breathless.

His own breath hitched. “What’s wrong? Is it the babies?”

Sophia had married alpha wolf shifter Noah Blackwood in semi-secrecy last month, the forbidden witch/shifter coupling in defiance of the Witches’ Council taboo.

At first Gabriel was happy for his sister. Noah was a fine male and loved Sophia to pieces. Then Gabriel’s familiar Pan had done a bit of research into the Council laws. Gabriel had already known intermagical cavorting was a felony. Life in prison for a witch caught doing the horizontal tango with a shifter.

But a witch princess having children with an alpha wolf? Death sentence.

Sophia said, “The babies are fine.”

He breathed in relief.

“But I’m not. Gabriel, a Council Enforcer is about to jail me, and you’re my one phone call. I’m accused of
Coeuntia cum Lupo.
”

Mating with a wolf. Gabriel’s worst fears had been realized.

Chapter Two

Dr. Light’s face paled. At the sight, Emma’s own blood drained, leaving her cold. A big teddy bear of a man, with the laid-back disposition to match, Gabriel Light didn’t rile easily.

Something was very wrong.

“I was afraid of that.” He gave Emma one anguished, distracted look, then with a muttered, “Excuse me,” spun and strode toward the back of the store where his office was.

Her heart tugged at her to run after him, to comfort him, to find out what was troubling him and help him make it right.

But she stayed where she was. Bruiser had gotten into the store, and though Dr. Light had sent his assistant manager Pan after him, the angry alpha was her responsibility.

Before she could help Dr. Light, she had to make certain the he-wolf was locked out.

Trotting to the front public entrance, she was relieved to see no Bruiser. As she double-checked that the glass doors were locked, she caught the greasy imprint of palms and face. He’d apparently tried to smash his way back in.

He’d have had a surprise. The glass was laced with a polymer Dr. Light had invented which made the stuff tougher than steel. All Bruiser would’ve gotten for his trouble was a sore shoulder. Dr. Light’s brain was more than a match for even an alpha shifter’s brawn.

But the belligerent he-wolf’s pride had been wounded, and he’d never let that go. He’d try the back.

My responsibility
. Squaring her shoulders, she made her way through the store.

Sure enough, as she neared the employee entrance, she heard the buzz of a heavy hand on the intercom.

Keying up the outside camera revealed a very pissed werewolf. With a sigh, she hit the talk button on the intercom.

“What?” She put as much assertiveness into the word as possible without being hostile, then released Talk.

“Piglet. Let me in.”

Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin.
That was an invitation to disaster. The nickname alone signaled danger.

All the bigger wolves in her pack thought she was fair game—for picking on, for bossing around. Piglet was one of the tamer names, better than Mouseturd, which her brother used to call her. But lately, the taunting had turned threatening, and worse, sexual. Since all the wolves over the age of ten were bigger than her, that was a lot of macho lupine lust to combat.

Especially Bruiser.

“I can’t let you in without risking my paycheck,” she improvised. “Since my money goes to you, I’d think you’d agree.”

“I won’t risk your paycheck. I just wanna scare a little sense into that guy.”

“What guy?”

“The nerd. I don’t like how he was holding you.”

She bristled. Bruiser couldn’t abide humans and got jealous at the least little thing. Even though she’d never slept with him, much less made any commitments, he seemed to think she was his personal chew toy. “I’m unmated. He’s single. We weren’t breaking any laws.”

Not that she stood a chance with someone as kind and smart and handsome as Dr. Light. Oh, sure, he’d stood up to Bruiser for her—so gallant, so heroic—but he’d have done that for anyone in trouble. Though she could pretend, right? Her swelling rosy parts certainly were.

“Yeah well, next time I see you with the big nerd,” her alpha growled, “I’m killing him.”

She rolled her eyes. “You can try.” She hadn’t pressed Talk.

In fact, what would be the harm, letting the male in? Gabriel Light was head and shoulders above the alpha and could take care of himself in a fair fight.

Problem was, Bruiser wouldn’t fight fair.

She chilled. Trying to worm in through the back door shouted his intentions weren’t honorable.

No, the best thing was to pretend being in Dr. Light’s arms had never happened. The he-wolf had a short memory. This should pass, as long as he never saw anything smacking of her being involved with Dr. Light again.

Her wolf howled a
Noooo.
Being in Gabriel Light’s embrace, even accidentally, had been the first nice thing to happen to her in years. Warm, good-smelling, and safe, she’d wanted to burrow in and stay for the rest of her life.

But that wasn’t safe for Dr. Light. She tucked away the happy feeling to savor in private later and pressed the intercom. “We’re getting out early today. I’ll be home soon, and you can yell at me then. Okay?”

“You getting paid for the full day?”

Impatience seared her. Impatience with Bruiser, with her situation, with having to finesse a surly wolf, with not being able to finesse a handsome man. Emotions splashed into her, fueling her fist hitting the intercom Talk button so hard plastic crackled. “Yes, I’m being paid the full day. But if you want the store to
keep
paying me, and through me you, I need to stay long enough to be social.”

“Yeah, all right.” Bruiser’s growl was grudging. “Get home pronto, you hear?”

“I’ll be out by four and catch the first bus home. Half hour, tops.” She didn’t wait for his answer, turning away from the window.

Setting her phone’s alarm for four p.m., she sighed. Half an hour’s reprieve from Bruiser. The safest thing for her to do was get back to the party, be blandly social for twenty-nine minutes then gather her things and go.

Instead, an inexplicable urgency knifed her. Dr. Light’s call hadn’t been an irate customer. He handled those with grace and aplomb.

The way he’d paled…it was personal.

She poked around the back area, looking for him, wishing her iota talent was something useful like location. Each iota wolf had a special power, maybe to make up for being the bottom of the pack. A
find
sense would be handy about now. But her talent wasn’t anything good, and she had to search the old-fashioned way, with foot power.

Employee break room, restrooms, shipping and receiving, and the suite of managers’ offices were all empty, including Dr. Light’s office. When the back proved deserted, she tried the store.

Her gaze was instantly drawn to him. He paced inside Base, what they called the Techie Titan public workbench near the checkouts. He didn’t see her, glaring at the horseshoe of neatly stacked equipment and paperwork as he thrust a hand through his shining dark hair.

Yikes. That was bad. He never blew his stack or was overly demonstrative—aside from punching Bruiser in the snout, and wasn’t that amazing?—but his mood showed in subtle ways.

The hair pulling was a sure sign he was at the end of his rope.

She started to rush to his aid—and remembered in the nick of time she was no longer sick with infectious volunteerism.

Someone else would leap to the rescue, surely? She looked around for a would-be hero.

The entire staff crowded around the big plasma screen, wrapped up in a League of Legendary Worlds of War tournament.

Nobody else is helping. Gabriel needs me.

She forgot her promises, not to do her good-girl routine, not to get involved with him because of Bruiser, and hurried to his side.

“Dr. Light. What’s wrong?”

He blinked up at her from behind his glasses. His hand fell from his head and a slow smile curled the edges of his gorgeous lips.

That smile curled corresponding good-girl—and bad-girl—things inside her.

“Emma. Do you read minds?”

Only yours.
“You seemed upset. Can I help?”

He flung a hand at the bench, an unbridled gesture for him. “I need to go out of town for a few days, but before I do, the work waiting must get squared away. It’ll take hours. Days.”

She frowned at the neat but full workbenches. “You don’t have to do it all yourself.”

“No, but I have to make sure the tasks are entered into the system, assigned to the right person, and processed in a timely manner…I don’t have
time
for this. I have to catch the ferry across Lake Michigan at eight thirty this evening, or…well, bad things will happen.”

Feeling his frustration and urgency, her heart went out to him. “Give the work to one of your assistant managers.”

“I would, but Carol is on vacation and Pan has to come with me. And I still have to pack.” He dug fingers into his dark locks again, his eyes drifting over the bench and going slightly wild.

“I’ll do it.” The words burst from her. She immediately regretted them.

Until his fingers stilled, his hand slowly dropping. His gaze returned to her, steady. “What?”

“I’ll make sure the bench gets the proper attention.”

His mouth curved in a bemused half-smile. “You don’t know the procedures.”

“No, but I do know you don’t get this upset easily. Whatever you have to go out of town for, it’s important. Vital, even. Carol’s on vacation, but she won’t mind if I call her to walk me through the basics.”

He started shaking his head midway through her words, and she braced herself for a “Sorry, but…”.

Instead he said, “I can’t believe you caught that. How did you know I’m really worried?”

“Look at you. Anybody would know.” She shrugged, awkwardly because she was feeling exposed. He’d noticed that she’d noticed? Did he know
why?
Being interested in a male who wasn’t interested in return was unfortunate; being interested in a man who considered you only a coworker was downright painful. She waved a hand at the staff, mobbed around the huge flat-panel, roaring as someone hit a big stash. “They’d all be here to help you, if you hadn’t installed the game.”

“My mistake.” He gave her a wry smile. “Ah, Emma. What can’t you and I do…” His smile slowly faded as he stared at her. “…together?”

The world around her narrowed to those star-shot eyes. The moment sang between them.
What can’t we do, together?

Like a hot air balloon, she seemed to lift toward the promise of his warm gaze. Shifter mating was all about animal sex, but she’d dreamed of more, of a male who joined with her in a way that went beyond sex to something deeper, something sublime.

He cleared his throat. “It’s kind of you to want to help. Frankly, I’m too rushed not to take you up on your generous offer. Let me show you a few things before I go.”

She swallowed and stood straighter. “Yes, sir.” Pride warred with a deeper need. Colleague was a start, wasn’t it? At least he thought of her as an equal. That was more status than anyone in her pack or family granted her.

“Let’s start with the repairs.” He sketched bench procedure while she took copious notes. She even went so far as to video him on her phone. For procedure, not to have a picture of him to moon over before she went to sleep at night.

Really.

After he’d gone over everything from in-store pickup to ordering coffee for the break room, she was finally the one who said, “Dr. Light, I’ve got it. Don’t you have a ferry to catch?”

He sighed and straightened. “You’re right. It’s just that I’m beginning to see the magnitude of the headache I’m leaving you with. But it looks like you’re up to the job. Let’s take a spin through shipping, and I’ll feel safe leaving everything in your hands.”

He feels safe with me.
That wasn’t exactly what he’d said, but her heart heard different words. She followed him to the back like a pup, glad for the game distracting everyone now. Even her walk was different, hips swinging with a mental tail wag.

The loading dock was a bay of three big roll-up doors. He gestured at a window beside them. “There’s a new hire starting Monday. Make sure the shipping manager emphasizes the visual check, that the truck in the bay is the one expected. Not just via camera, because outside feeds can be interrupted. But manually, through the window.”

“Right.”

“Okay, I think that’s it. I hope that’s it.” He speared fingers through his hair, his gaze faraway, probably mentally reviewing every single procedure in the store.

“Dr. Light, I’ve got it. You can leave knowing I’ll take care of everything.”

She dared to grasp his free wrist, intending to urge him toward the front exit.

He wore a short-sleeved Techie Titan polo shirt beneath his sweater vest. Her fingers barely circled his warm, bare skin. His size plus the lightest sprinkling of hair crashed into her, making her highly aware that this was an exceedingly masculine wrist.

A frisson of
holy crap
shook her.

He blinked. His hand dropped from his scalp, and he smiled uncertainly at her.

Even that bare curve of mouth practically demanded a nibble, calling to a place deep inside her, a lush primitive paradise so beautiful and uplifting it made her whole body rise in return, including her lips. She smiled back.

His gaze darkened and dropped slightly, to her mouth.

Her heart pounded faster, and her lips swelled under his regard. Her blood began to whoosh in her ears.

Is he going to kiss me?

He leaned closer, still staring at her mouth. His intense gaze, shining through his glasses like a summer sun, was starting to raise goose bumps along her skin, as if his hot hands were running over her flesh. She remembered the warm rasp of his finger on her jaw and shivered in delight.