Bear Naked and Bite Marks (8 page)

Their conversation during dinner had
been “safe.” She had told him about herself, but the way he watched her made
her feel like he already knew all of that. She had found out some basic things
about him, but he did not go very deep with that. She had been surprised to
know he was fifty-one. That wasn’t old, but it certainly wasn’t on the younger
side. But he didn’t look like that was his age. With his dark hair not having a
trace of grey in it, and his body looking like it was chiseled out of stone she
would have thought he was a decade younger, if not more. The only other stuff
he told her was that he served in the shifter military, that he was an only
child, and that both of his parents were dead. He had said all of that so stoically
that she knew there was something deeper, and most likely a bit darker that had
to do with him, but Melissa wasn’t going to push, because all of this was so
new to both of them. The military background made sense, especially with his
build and his attitude, and the fact he was part of the shifter military was
even more intriguing. Melissa knew enough about that branch of the shifter
government to know that the men involved were dangerous. Did that make her fear
Declan? No, because her instincts told her he was a good male, and because he
was her mate he couldn’t hurt her, not without hurting himself in the process.
It was a way that fate had decreed mates stay together and were always
protected. Did she believe in that stuff? Yes and no, but more so now that she
had found Declan.

God, the magnetism that she felt with
that male was like nothing she had ever experienced before, but she wanted to feel
it again, and again, and again. She must be a masochist because of the things
she wanted Declan to do to her. A shiver worked up her spine at the thoughts. Just
looking at Declan, God, he definitely had the dominance she craved.

Her phone vibrated on the table, drawing
her out of her pleasant thoughts, and when she saw it was Manny her irritation
grew. She may be friends with the meerkat, and had been for years, but this
shit needed to stop. She answered her phone and brought it to her ear. “Hello?”
Staring out the window she waited for him to answer. This conversation needed
to happen, especially after last night. There were a lot of times she could
have told Manny to back off, had in fact, but she had never been in a
relationship like this, never had him be so blatant before, and that was a very
big eye-opener. It seemed her friend wasn’t so timid after all.

“Hi. I was hoping you’d be home.” She
had been out of work for an hour already, and what she wanted to do was go see
Declan, and she hoped start over where there were no awkward interruptions.

“Where else would I be?” Melissa
normally wasn’t snappy like this to her friends, not being serious at least,
but last night Manny had stepped over a line, and he needed to know that. Before
he could say anything she started talking. “What you did last night, said to
me, and how you treated Declan was wrong, Manny. I don’t know what got into
you, but it wasn’t cool.” She heard him sigh, but she didn’t feel guilty about
how bitchy she sounded. He was lucky she was even speaking to him again, but
that would change because it was clear no amount of telling Manny how they were
only friends was getting through his head.

“Yeah, about that.
I’m really sorry. I just had a really stressful day at work, and I guess I just
snapped and took it out on you when I saw you with that guy.” Melissa was
silent for several seconds. She wasn’t going to beat around the bush, not that
she did anyway, but it was time to lay it all out—again—for Manny. “Maybe we
can get something to eat tonight, or I can come over and we can just talk.”

God, Melissa was exhausted. She rubbed
her eyes, and took a deep breath. “Manny, you and I have been friends for a
long time, right?”

“Yeah.”
He seemed almost hesitant when he answered.

“Have I ever led you on, made you think
there would ever be anything between us?” There was a moment of silence, but
she didn’t wait for him to answer because the question had been rhetorical
anyway. “We are friends, Manny.
Friends
.
At first I tried to ignore the fact that you just
didn’t understand that I don’t have feelings for you like that, but it’s clear,
especially after last night, that being friends is just too hard on you,
because you think there will be more.”

“We hardly see each other anymore,
Melissa.” She looked at the ceiling, praying for some patience to get through
this. “I didn’t mean to start anything last night, or be disrespectful. I guess
I was just a little taken aback that you had found your mate. And I know that
you’ve said things with us will never go anywhere, but there was always this
optimistic side in me. I thought maybe the geek might actually get the gorgeous
girl for once.”

God, that
was the thing with Manny. He might be persistent and annoying, clingy and even
desperate at times to get his point across, but he was also sweet, and hearing
him talking about himself like he wasn’t worthy of finding himself a female to
love broke her heart. Of course that didn’t mean she was going to excuse his
behavior yesterday, or that she was going to allow this to happen again.

“You’ll find someone, Manny. I know you
will. But that someone isn’t me. You’re smart and funny, sweet and caring. Any
female would be lucky to have you—”

“Except the one that I want.”
There was a beat of silence after he said that, but Melissa didn’t know how to
respond for several seconds.

“Manny, I’ve found my mate, and being a
shifter, too, you know what that means. I can’t turn my back on Declan, and
want to see where this goes.”

 
“So
you’re just going to throw our friendship away over this guy you just met?”

“Manny, he isn’t just some guy. He’s my
mate
, and I’m not throwing anything
away. It is clear that you have very different ideas and wants on where this
friendship is going, even after I’ve explained numerous times I don’t see you
as anything more than a friend. I just think it’s time for us to take a
breather from everything, and focus on our own lives for a little bit.”

“Yeah, a breather might be good and well
for you, but I like spending time with you, and I thought you did, too.”

This was frustrating because it was
clear it just wasn’t registering with him.

“I need to focus on
my
life right now, and trying to make this mating thing work, and I
can’t be worrying about if I’m hurting you or making you uncomfortable anytime
we run into each other and I’m with Declan. I am not getting any younger, and I
think I deserve happiness. Don’t you want me to be happy as my friend?” He
didn’t respond, so she continued. “I know you understand, because you have to
know how important finding a mate is.” The line was a little too quiet and for
a moment she thought he might have hung up on her, but then he exhaled.

“I mean, if that’s what you want,
Melissa, but I think you’re making a big mistake.” She wasn’t going to argue
with him. “I just think you’re going to get hurt when this is all said and
done.”

Melissa didn’t have time to ask him what
he meant by that, because he said goodbye and hung up before she had a chance
to respond. She pulled the phone back and stared at the now black screen. Even
though Manny had pissed her off last night, and she knew this was the right step
to take, she also realized that this was just as much her fault as it was his.
It didn’t matter how many times she had told him they were just friends,
because Melissa had known how Manny felt about her. But they were too old for
this game, and her life had taken a drastic change. It was time to try to focus
on her future, and if that was something she could have with Declan.

Melissa took her mug to the living room
and turned on the TV. She sat on the couch and flipped through the channels
until she landed on the news. “BREAKING NEWS” flashed across the screen. The
blonde reporter stood in a field that was at the edge of town. Melissa knew it
was owned by some local farmers, but more times than not there were high school
parties thrown there because it was away from everything, and getting caught
was less likely. She turned it up so she could hear the reporter.

“It
appears another body has been found in this tragic drug overdosing wave to hit
Sweet Water. Authorities are not stating the cause of death, but it appears to
be the same type of setup as the underage parties that have become popular over
the past few weeks.”

Melissa shook her head at the pointless
death that was happening in Sweet Water. A few weeks or so ago they had found a
few young men and women in a field.
 
The
cause of those deaths had been from an OD on a drug that was new and chemically
altered. But before these deaths had even occurred, or were a blip in the
radar, a lot of eyes had been focused on a leopard shifter named Trent Sharpe.
Although the police had never actually said it was Trent that the drugs were
coming from, people knew by reputation alone. But Trent had been a nasty
bastard who had nearly killed Candace and her family, including Trace’s son’s
mate. Everyone from Kashton—where Trent originated from—to Sweet Water, and the
towns surrounding them, had known the leopard had been behind the drugs. Trent
had had his hands in all kinds of illegal activity, but after his death and the
explosion of his compound-like home months ago, everyone had hopes that Kashton
would get cleaned up, and the drugs that had filtered their way through their
towns would cease.

And they had. For the last several
months people were getting their lives back together, especially the ones
living in Kashton since that was where Trent had resided and had run most of
his illegal activity from, but still, it looked like the drugs had made their
way back onto the scene. But Melissa didn’t think this was Trent’s doing, and
not because the leopard was dead. Surely there were people to take up were
their predecessor left off, even if Trent hadn’t been one of the big “bosses”.

 
What Melissa thought was a more likely matter
was someone had thought this was their chance to make their presence known, to
be the “big shot” now that the main competition was gone, and had clearly
waited to make their move. Or maybe they hadn’t, and these kids were just dumb
asses for taking the shit. Hell, she didn’t know, and honestly it was probably
a bit of both. It sucked this was happening, sucked even more that it had made
its way into Sweet Water, but she hoped they found who was doing this and put a
stop to it. There had already been enough people hurt and lives lost in the
last several years to last a lifetime. She turned off the TV as the reporter
started going into more detail about the drugs, the bodies found, and where the
police were headed with all of this. She sat there and rested her head against
the back of the couch. Sometimes she just wished that she’d fall asleep, and
when she woke up she’d be living a different life.

****

Declan tapped his fingers on his thigh.
He was in Trace’s office with Maverick sitting beside him. Trace was currently
on the phone with his mate, Candace, and the gruffness that was normally
present in polar bear’s voice was absent. But Declan could now understand how
one female could change a whole lot of shit inside of a male, because fuck, he
was experiencing that right now. When Trace got off the phone he looked over at
Declan. He had come into the bar when Maverick had called him asking for some
help.

“There seems to be a drug problem
happening within Sweet Water.” Maverick didn’t waste any time as he filled
Declan in on why he was here.

“Yeah, I have seen a few of the news
reports, but they all said they didn’t have any leads or links to where the
source was coming from, and since Sharpe isn’t on the scene any longer, the
logical assumption is that it is either a new filler from that organization, or
someone decided to try their hand since the major competition is gone.” Declan
had only been in Sweet Water for the last six months, but this drug problem,
according to the reports, had only been happening within the last few weeks.
Kids overdosing wasn’t
really Declan’s area of expertise.

“No, there aren’t any leads officially.
But one of the kids that OD’d the other night was the daughter of one of the
regulars here, and a male Trace and I consider a friend.” The sound of Trace’s
chair creaking as he leaned back on it had Declan looking over at him.

“There aren’t a lot of people I consider
my friends, but Link has been coming to the bar since we opened, and before
that he used to work on his Harley with us at the garage. He’s a tiger shifter
and has always had our backs.” Declan looked over at Maverick, who had a grave
look on his face, but nodded. “Link came to us asking for help on tracking down
the bastard that killed his only child. Marnie was a good girl, with plans on
going to college after graduation and becoming a teacher. But then she started
dating some little prick that was in the drug scene, and things went downhill
really fucking fast.” Trace leaned forward again, and with one elbow propped up
on the table, he used his other hand to run it over his head. “She had just
turned eighteen.”

“Fuck.” Declan said that one choice word
out loud even though he knew the other two males were thinking it. “What about
the boyfriend? Was he the dealer?”