Page 11 of A Pact for Porter

“This is the employee parking lot,” he said, “And the kitchen is right over there.”

I followed his pointing finger to see the door opening and an attractive human woman emerge, deep in conversation with one of the largest bears I’d ever seen. She spoke passionately to him, while he bent to listen. I felt like we were intruding, but before I could suggest we turn in another direction, the pair’s gaze fixed on us, and the woman broke into a big smile. “Warren, these are the people I was telling you about.”

She what?

“Chip, introduce us please.”

He colored, leading me closer. “Karma, this is my mate, Porter.”

“And this is my mate, Warren, who will not be attending our meeting this afternoon, after all.”

The bear shook our hands and his head. “Karma, you know I’d be there if I possibly could.” He addressed us. “I have to go in to Phoenix, unfortunately, but Karma has shared your plans with me, and whatever she likes, I’m behind.”

“Humph,” Karma grumbled, but her lips twitched. “My mate spoils me. But I try to make sure his trust is well placed.”

“Alway, my love.” Warren pulled her into his side. “Now, kiss me, so I can get to town. The sooner I leave, the sooner I get back.”

They kissed long enough and tenderly enough that my cheeks warmed and Chip shuffled his feet in the dirt. Then Warren strode off to climb into a car and drove away.

“We are looking at some property for another club,” Karma explained as if we had every right to know. “And he has to go deal with paperwork. It’s exciting, but sometimes can be tiresome. Not like the project you’re working on, Chip.” She turned toward the building. “Come in for some tea?”

I hesitated for just a moment, not wanting to give up a moment of our time alone together, but Chip winked at me and whispered, “We should go. Karma sort of predicted I’d meet you.”

So we did go into the kitchen and sat at the staff table and had tea and some kind of tiny, crispy cookies that melted in my mouth. And she didn’t keep us long, just long enough to say very nice things about my mate’s talent and direct us to a pathway on the other side of the employee parking lot where employees and “friends of the club” could go to shift. Then she shooed us on our way.

“She’s nice,” I said as we sat on the bench taking off our shoes. “She really predicted our meeting.”

“Not in so many words.” He stood up and finished undressing, laying his clothes neatly over the back of the bench. “But she knew. I’ve heard other people talking about her, and nobody’s sure what she is, exactly, but she’s very intuitive.”

“What she is? Isn’t she human?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” And then he shifted while I was still finishing undressing, giving me an opportunity to get another good look at his completely adorable capybara. My wolf was a smitten beast, rushing me to take his fur so he could play with our mate. And no sooner were we shifted than he nuzzled the capybara and started down the pathway.

It was narrow and hugged the cliff, so I kept protectively close to Chip until I saw how comfortably he trotted along. When we got to the bottom, we passed a pair of bears returning from their own adventures.

The area where we found ourselves was a long valley flanked by the magnificent red Superstition Mountains. My wolf was aware of many small creatures darting around and trying their very best not to be seen by the predator. They weren’t at all afraid of Chip, since his animal was a strict herbivore, or so my phone had told me when I looked up fun facts. He probably would have told me too. I had noticed that his human half enjoyed sausage that morning, but often animals had different habits. For example, I never had the urge to hunt a squirrel myself, but my wolf thought it was great fun.

There will be no hunting here, I warned. We are guests.

And guests don’t get food?

Not without being asked. We were invited to run, not to hunt.

We took off at a trot, side by side. And I was amazed at the speed he managed to keep up. No, not as fast as me but much faster than I would have expected from his shape. He’d also been very comfortable in the water. Every moment with my mate, I learned more about him, and I loved it.

After our run, we did exactly what we planned and returned to bed, staying there except for getting up to answer nature’s call or make a sandwich. All too soon, it was morning again.

Chapter Ten

Chip

I didn’t wanna get out of bed. I wanted to stay wrapped in my mate’s arms, surrounded by his scent for as long as possible. Today was the day he had to leave, and I wasn’t ready.

I freaking hated it.

We’d known this day was coming. Neither of us was from here, making leaving inevitable. I was here for work, and he had to get back to his. But knowing it had to happen and being okay with it were two very different things.

I snuggled in a little closer. My capybara was pissed. He didn’t understand why we were letting Porter go when we just found him. He didn’t care about things like jobs and responsibilities. In his mind, we found our mate and held on tight. Full. Stop.