Author: Elizabeth Hunter
Date: 2014-04-24 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Paranormal; Romance; Shapeshifters; Paranormal Romance; Fantasy; Urban Fantasy; Novella; Short Stories; Adult Fiction; Contemporary
Description: One morning can change everything. Five mornings can change a life. Friends. Lovers. Enemies. Allies. Alex McCann and Teodora ‘Ted’ Vasquez never had a simple relationship. But you couldn’t call it a boring one, either. Five mornings in their past shape who they will become to each other. To their families. And to the mysterious town they call home. “Five Mornings” is a short story of approximately 36 pages set in the Cambio Springs universe. Also included is an exclusive first look at Alex and Ted’s full-length novel, DESERT BOUND, coming Fall 2014. From Elizabeth Hunter, bestselling author o
Publisher: E. Hunter

Contents

Five Mornings

Title Page

Copyright

The First Morning

The Second Morning

The Third Morning

The Fourth Morning

The Fifth Morning

First Look: DESERT BOUND

Other Work

About the Author

The next short story in the Cambio Springs series:

FIVE MORNINGS

One morning can change everything. Five mornings can change a life.

Friends. Lovers. Enemies. Allies.

Alex McCann and Teodora ‘Ted’ Vasquez never had a simple relationship. But you couldn’t call it a boring one, either. Five mornings in their past shape who they will become to each other. To their families. And to the mysterious town they call home.

“Five Mornings” is a short story of approximately 36 pages set in the Cambio Springs universe. Also included are the first two chapters of Alex and Ted’s full-length novel, DESERT BOUND, coming Fall 2014.

FIVE MORNINGS

A Cambio Springs Short Story

ELIZABETH HUNTER

For everyone who tries

FIVE MORNINGS

Copyright © 2014

Elizabeth Hunter

ISBN: 9781311642707

Smashwords edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Elizabeth Hunter

PO Box 6584

Visalia, CA 93290

ElizabethHunterWrites@gmail.com

Website: ElizabethHunterWrites.com

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The First Morning

Venice Beach, California

2001

He was finally where he wanted to be. Curled around her, he listened to the waves out the window of the crappy little apartment he’d rented in Venice. It was only one room and the carpet smelled like shit, but after last night, Alex decided that one room wasn’t so bad. After they’d tumbled through the door of the apartment the night before, lips never parting, devouring each other as they ripped off clothing, the bed had only been a few steps away. A few steps to put him exactly where he’d wanted to be.

Next to her, for the rest of his life.

He curled his body around her as she slept, arm around her waist, his large hand held her breast as he felt the slow, steady beat of her heart against his thumb. They were nice breasts. He’d wanted to get his hands on them since he first noticed in junior high. It was like they’d appeared out of nowhere one day. A present for the hormonal thirteen year old boys of Cambio Springs.

Alex realized even then he’d probably just been a thirteen year old idiot who sometimes forgot the tomboy who lived down the street was a girl. The breasts had improved with age, and now they felt perfect against his palms. They tasted just as good. His head bent and he touched his tongue to the curve of her neck, brushing the tangled black hair away until his lips were against her skin.

Alex heard her sigh in her sleep, and she murmured something unintelligible. He saw the corner of her lip curl up, as if she was getting ready to rip into him again, and he smiled as he kissed her neck.

Arguing over margaritas and socialized medicine the night before. She’d taken the night off from studying when he insisted on dragging her away from her dorm. It was a call from Allie that did it.

Ted didn’t get out enough. Her friends were worried. She was stressed about the MCAT. He was the closest to her. She needed a familiar voice. A friend.

He and Ted had never been friends.

Since the moment she’d curled her lip at him in freshman biology, when she’d been forced to be his lab partner, they hadn’t been friends.

“You’re such a slacker, Alex.”

She would say they were friends, like she didn’t catch his eyes watching her. Like she didn’t know his teasing had another layer. For seven years they’d danced around it, and he’d waited. Alex McCann didn’t wait for much, but he’d make an exception for Teodora Vasquez. Because from that moment in biology class he’d known.

She was his. And he was hers.

It only took seven years, countless arguments, and a few margaritas to break through.

She stretched in his arms and turned to her back, opening her body to him. He took the advantage, holding her loosely as he let his mouth trail from her neck down to her collar bone, the warm tan skin starting to glow from the light coming through the window. In a few moments, the sun would break through the thin curtains and light her up. He waited, still holding her as she slowly woke.

“Mmmm.”

The light crossed the closed lids of her eyes and they fluttered open, blinking in confusion for a second before they warmed with recognition. He lifted his mouth from her skin and smiled.

“Call me a slacker,” he whispered.

She grinned a sleepy smile that turned into a yawn as she stretched her arms over her head, grabbing on to the metal bars of his cheap bed before they came down again and rested on his shoulders.

“After last night, I may have to reconsider your slacker status,” she mumbled.

Her voice was low and hoarse in the mornings and Alex loved that he knew that now. Loved that he knew how her back arched when he went down on her. Loved the hitching breath she took right before she came. He’d learn them, every cue. Every sign. Like he’d studied exactly how much he could tease her before she blew up at him. Exactly how far she’d take an argument before she retreated into sullen silence. She may have been the star student, the brains behind their little cadre of friends, but Alex had been a student of Ted for years.

“Tea…” He whispered before he kissed her. He didn’t give a shit about morning breath, his or hers. He just had to kiss her again. She might try to pull away from the night before, try to walk away like she’d walked away from all the other guys before him. Not too close. Never too close. A little fun, a little company, and then Ted walked away before the secrets came out.

But he knew her secrets. Every single one. And he also knew that neither of them would walk away from this, not without scars that scored deep.

His kiss grew and held, until finally, he felt her hands dig into his shoulders, her little cat claws coming out to grip his skin.

Dig in, baby. That’s just where I want you.

He shifted her under him, moving until his hips were between her thighs, then he felt her legs come up and press in.

Yep. She was exactly where she wanted to be, too.

He was a gentleman, so he tried not to crow in triumph. Besides, he had better things to do.

She was panting when he pulled his mouth away.

“Do you have another—”

“Yes.” He reached for the bedside table.

“Hurry, Alex.”

“Always in such a rush, Tea.” He grinned as he rolled the condom on and then paused, waiting for her eyes to come back to his. They locked with his as he slowly edged inside. “Slow down, baby,” he murmured against her lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Alex…” She wasn’t quite so chatty when he was making love to her. Ted could argue about anything. The economy. The price of gas. The best tequila. The proper way to drink that tequila. But when he was inside her, when they were moving together, she’d been quiet.

Best way to shut her up, ever.

“Tea,” he groaned, sinking into her body again and again, he felt it. The same feeling he’d had the night before. The first time. The only time that meant anything, really.

Because it had always been Tea. She was home.

The only sound in the room was the tide coming in and their breathing. He said nothing to her. She said nothing to him. There was nothing to say. This had been building for years. Every step he’d taken had circled around her. Every move he’d made had been unconsciously coming closer. Until she was there. Right where he’d always wanted her.

“Baby, I’m gonna—”

“Yes.”

It was the only word she’d said.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

She could say it a thousand times and he’d never tire of it.

Yes, Alex.

Yes, we’re here.

Yes, finally.

This is right. This has always been.

Yes.

When she came, she arched her back, and he buried his face in her neck as her body gripped his. Holding on.

Please, hold on.

He pushed up, bracing his arms at her sides as he pushed toward his own release. She reached down, short nails digging into his hips as he drove her.

“Tea,” he groaned out as he felt it rising. He was there. Her eyes grew soft and warm. Her fingers dug in deeper as she said it again.

“Yes.”

He came in a rush, the lightening pulse of release throwing him over the edge as he pushed into her over and over. And she held on. Through the hard crush of his body when he collapsed onto her. Through the fierce kisses he pressed against her neck. Her face. Her mouth. His hands were tangled in her hair. He didn’t want to let go, so he didn’t. He just rolled to the side and she came with him, locking her legs around his hips even as he slid out of her. Parted, but still together.

Alex was breathing heavy when he finally broke away. He gathered her into his arms and she came to him easily, pressing her cheek to his heart so her breath tickled the hair on his chest and he could feel the flush of her skin. He held her like that as the sun rose. The room smelled like salt air and sex and her. He didn’t notice the musty smell of the old carpet his landlord refused to replace. He just smelled them.

Best scent ever.

After a few minutes, she cleared her throat and Alex smiled, knowing that Quiet Ted was history.

For a while.

“So, I’ll revise my judgement of slacker. At least in one area.”

His hand slid down to her ass and cupped it, and his tongue licked under her chin. “Only one?”

“One area with several disciplines.”

He laughed and hugged her tighter. “There’s my Ted.”

“You didn’t call me Ted last night. Or this morning.” Her eyes met his and he saw them spark. “When did I become ‘Tea?’”

“I’m not going to shout out ‘Ted, oh Ted!’ when I come. Forget it.”

She lifted an eyebrow and considered him.

“Besides,” he said, brushing a kiss over her pursed lips. “Ted is a hard-ass, sharp as a whip, take no prisoners, almost-med student who’s going to be a kickass doctor someday. But Tea—” He kissed her again and trailed his fingers up and down her back. “—is soft and silk when she purrs. She’s quiet and giving.” The corner of his lip curled up. “Very giving.”

She rolled her eyes and tried to pull away, but he didn’t let her.

“Alex—”

“You can be both,” he whispered into her hair. She stilled immediately. “With me, you can be both. Always my Ted. And my Tea. You can be both, baby. With me.”

She pulled her head away so she could look into his eyes. “Your Tea?”

“This is it, Ted. You know it is. This was always going to be. So yeah. My Tea. And my Ted. I wouldn’t have one without the other, baby.”

“Don’t call me ‘baby.’”

“I’m gonna call you ‘baby’ until the day I die. And you’re gonna hate it. And I’m not going to care because the make up sex will be hot as hell.”

He saw her trying not to laugh, so he kissed her again, and when he pulled away she was smiling.

“This changes everything, doesn’t it, Alex McCann?”

“Absolutely.” He rolled over and pulled her to rest on his chest. She was stiff for a moment, like she didn’t know whether he could take her weight. Then she relaxed into him and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Yes.”

The Second Morning

Los Angeles, CA

2003

“They’re going to expect you to be there.”

“I understand that.” Ted was slamming books and folders into her backpack, clearly displeased they were having this conversation again. “And I also realize that I have an exam that day I cannot miss.”

“You could leave after it.” Alex talked around the bite of cereal he was downing before he started the drive to Orange County and the construction site he was working on. “You’d be late, but you’d be there.”

“And then the ceremony will go until midnight. At least. And you have to stay, so I’d have to drive myself back for three hours on little to no sleep and probably end up missing class or getting into a wreck.”

She didn’t even look at him. Ted had a plan for that semester, and Alex’s grandfather passing away didn’t fit into it. They’d both made it out for the funeral, but the town meeting where Alex’s father would officially take over a seat on the Elder’s Council fit into her schedule even less than a funeral did.

“You know,” she muttered, “I don’t have a job with a boss who thinks I walk on water, Alex. Who will let me out of work because I have ‘family issues.’ I’m a nobody med student who has to play by the rules, or I get creamed. By professors. By my classmates. You have no idea how hard this is.”

It never failed to infuriate him. As if they hadn’t been living together for a year. He’d put up with her relentless schedule because he loved her. And because he knew it wasn’t forever.

“This is important.” He set down the bowl on the counter and crossed his arms. “My dad is taking over the clan and pack leadership. This happens once every thirty years. If that. And you’re telling me that you can’t make the drive and sacrifice for family when—”

“It’s not my family!”

“It will be!”

Her furious black eyes met his, but she said nothing. She knew it was true.

Family had always been the sticking point, and it always would be. Neither one of their families approved of their relationship. Teodora Vasquez was directly in line to head the clan of feline shapeshifters that made Cambio Springs their home. She was a powerful mountain lion and the most dominant animal in her generation. The fact that she was female was only a bonus to the primarily matriarchal cat shifters. The current clan leadership consisted of her grandfather and a distant great-aunt. When Ted’s mother took over, it would put both the cat elder seats in female hands, the way the cats liked it.

Which made Alex her equal and opposite in every possible way. The oldest, most dominant of the McCann wolf shifters in his generation, there was no question who would take over when his father resigned from the council or died. He was the clear alpha, and Robert McCann had made no secret of the fact that he expected his son to take over pack leadership when his years had passed. The other McCann wolf on the council was there for his vote, and that was it. There was only one alpha of the Cambio wolves, and everyone acknowledged that Alex would be it.

Their families fought like cats and dogs. Literally.

And Alex still knew that Ted was the only woman in the world for him.

“They’ll be your family someday, Ted. We’re already fighting an uphill battle on this. You showing up would help. A lot.”

“The entire rest of my family will be there.”

“But you, the future wife of their pack leader, will not. And if you think no one will notice, you’re kidding yourself.” Alex didn’t miss that it was the first time he’d pulled out the ‘wife’ card, even though they both knew where they were going. They’d known from the beginning.

For the first time, he saw Ted’s pain behind her frustration and anger.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Bring that up when we’re fighting. That is not the time to bring it up, Alex.”

“I think it’s the perfect time to bring it up, because you always manage to skirt around it and how it’s going to affect our future. My family and pack are part of our future, Ted.”

“If that’s true, then they’re going to have to get used to it. To me. I’m not a submissive little she-wolf who—”

“Don’t even go there!” he said, steaming. “You do not get how pack hierarchy works, so do not insult submissives that way. And you know it has nothing to do with sex. There are just as many female—”

“Dominants? No, there aren’t, Alex! You’re kidding yourself if you think that. And I know what they all think about me. About us together. The uppity cat—”

“Lower your voice,” he hissed, glancing at the walls around them.

“Don’t tell me what to do.” She still lowered her voice, just as conscious of their need for secrecy among so many strangers. “They don’t like me. I get that. They don’t think I’m a good partner for you. I get that, too. Do you really think me showing up and smiling at your dad’s ceremony is going to help?”

“I can’t hurt for them to know you think the town is a priority. That tradition is still important.”

“A priority?” she choked out the word and he didn’t miss the angry tears that shone in her eyes. “They question whether I think the Springs is a priority?”

“Not me. Never me. And not my mom or dad, either.”

“Don’t they realize?” she asked. “I’m doing this for them. For the town. For all of our families.”

“They know that, baby.”

“You just said they don’t.”

Cambio Springs had never had a doctor. Alex’s great-aunt had been a nurse during World War II and she ran a clinic out of her kitchen, but that was as close as the town had ever had to native medical care. The rest of them risked driving into Indio to see doctors when they had the rare injury, hoping the doctors didn’t notice how quickly they healed and how resistant they were to pain killers of any kind. Ted was the first shifter with the academic credentials and inclination to go to medical school. And she was the only one willing to put up with the grueling schedule.

“Do they think I like being out here?” she asked. “Away from home? Working my ass off at school and my job and missing my family?”

He uncrossed his arms and went to her, but didn’t miss her quick glance at the clock. Alex knew that, even as close as they lived to campus she was going to have to hustle not to be late with traffic. He still took a moment to fold her in his arms and kiss the top of her head.

“They don’t know, because they can’t. And you’re not a complainer, so they take your hard work for granted. I understand that.”

And if Alex felt like Ted took him for granted sometimes, he’d live with it. It wasn’t the most important thing that morning. And it wouldn’t be forever. He knew that, too.

“I have… five more years of this, Alex. At least. Five more years of work like this. Of living like shit so I can keep my loans to a minimum. And at the end of all of it, I’m going to end up in a town in the middle of the desert where I’ll probably be paid in eggs and yard-work more than cash.”

“I have money.”

And he’d have more. He was a quick learner and construction work wasn’t going to make him the kind of money he needed to make if he wanted to pull his hometown out of poverty. Alex was watching the real estate market. Watching closely. People were way overextended and a crash was coming soon. Bad for homeowners, but good for people looking for the right opportunity.

He’d studied what his boss did and knew that he could make more. Renovating existing real estate and flipping it wasn’t a TV show for him. He knew he could do it, and he knew he could make money. A lot of it, if he played his cards right.

Alex was a damn good card-player.

“You can’t pay off all my loans, Alex. And besides, my mom and grandpa—”

“Are gonna pay part of it. Yeah, I know. And you’ve already got a ton of financial aid. But you know I’m right, and it won’t matter once we’re married, so suck it up, Vasquez. I’m helping you out.”

“You already pay more than your share of the rent.”

“We’re having this argument again?” He tilted her chin up and smiled at her pursed lips. Every time she made that face, he wanted to kiss her.

So he did. Then he slid his hand down her back and gave her ass a quick squeeze before he released her. “You’re going to be late for your lab if you don’t leave now.”

“Shit!” She spun and finished slamming her books into the crammed backpack. “I’ll call my mom later and let her know—”

“And I’ll call my dad.”

“He won’t understand.” He could hear the frustration and the sadness in her voice. She masked it with anger, but Alex could always hear the sadness. Scent it on her. See it in her shoulders and around her eyes.

“I’ll make him understand. And in the end, it doesn’t matter, does it?”

He walked her to the door and hooked a finger around her belt loop, pulling her in for another quick kiss and nuzzling into her neck the way he knew her cat loved.

“Alex, I’m late…”

“I’m the one marrying you, not them.”

The sadness left her eyes. “You’re really gonna marry me, wolf?”

“Never doubt it for a minute, baby.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped to the door. “Don’t call me baby.”

Alex slapped her ass and opened the door. “You love it.”

“No, I don’t,” she called down the hall.

“I love you, baby.” He was grinning when she started down the stairs.

“I love you, too.” And Alex laughed when he heard her muttering, “Asshole…”

The Third Morning

Santa Monica, CA

2006

“What do you mean, you’re not coming?”

They were in bed, one of the few quiet mornings they’d had together in months. Alex could hear it again, the ocean coming in from the window, just like his old apartment in Venice. Ted was next to him, only this time, she wasn’t sleepy and satisfied.

She was confused.

“I can’t.” He was almost whispering. Forcing the words out of his mouth. He knew exactly how much it would hurt her because he’d been living with a gut wound for months, ever since she’d gotten the acceptance to Eisenhower.

She could have gone anywhere. Ted’s hard work had paid off. She’d graduated in the top five percent of her class. Had acceptance at some of the finest teaching hospitals in California. She was taking a residency in Palm Springs to be closer to family. Closer to the Springs.

And Alex just told her he wasn’t coming with her.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Her voice dropped from high and shocked to deadly serious. “This was always the plan. We live out here while I’m in school. We move home when we’re done. I’m done. Or almost done. Finally done, and you’re telling me—”

“Your plan, Ted.” Her eyes widened, but he kept going. “Your plan. It’s always been your plan. Did you stop once, in the five years we’ve been together, and ask me what my plan was?”

“I thought your plan—”

“Was to follow you around for eight years while you pursued your dreams and I ignored my own?”

Her mouth dropped open, and his heart sank.

She’d never even considered it. Alex wondered if she’d even noticed at all.

He was finally doing it. He was finally making money. Real money. The kind of money that could lead to huge opportunities for his family, his pack, his town. He sold three houses his first year. He sold ten the year after that. And it was only getting bigger. Banks were foreclosing, letting homes go for a song. He was picking them up, brushing them off with the crew he’d built, and selling them for enough profit to invest in the next two or three with money to spare. He’d worked his ass off, and he was finally setting money aside. Single homes would lead to investment properties like apartment complexes and commercial real estate. And he was making connections with the people who moved things in Southern California. Finally getting in on deals he’d only looked at from afar.

And the love of his life was moving to Palm Springs.

“I can’t leave now, Tea.” He kept talking, even though the gut wound only bled faster. “I can’t. I have to stay here.”

“I promised my mom. My grandpa. I need to be closer. I can finally see them more than a few times a year. Finally—”

“I understand. You have to go.”

He did know. She’d been away from the Springs for too long. Eight years. The last four almost without a break. She hardly ever shifted and her cat was growing restless. Alex had come home more than one night to find a mountain lion snarling and pacing through their small apartment. Hard sex tired her out. It helped, but it wasn’t enough. In the last year, she’d begun shifting in her sleep, which was a bad sign. She needed to be closer to home, and he couldn’t go with her.

A small, resentful part of him didn’t want to.

It wasn’t the distance. It was the fact that, through everything—the late nights, the exams, the constant, constant stress of medical school—when he’d made her schedule and her dreams a priority, she hadn’t even asked about his.

Not once.

She’d sometimes ask him casually what he was doing at work. Half the time she was asleep before he finished answering.

“But you don’t have to stay here, Alex. You can work from anywhere. Construction jobs—”

“Do you really think I work construction?” He sat up in bed and looked down on her. “Really? That’s what you’ve boiled my business down to? Construction?”

“But you said—”

“You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said in three fucking years, Ted.”

Her eyes narrowed and she sat up in bed next to him, wrapping the sheet around her body. He didn’t blame her. Despite the sunshine peeking in through the window, the bedroom felt unbearably cold.

“You decided this without me,” she said.

“Like you haven’t made every single decision in your life without consulting me? You didn’t even ask me when you were considering residencies. Not once. You could have gone anywhere.”

Her eyes flashed. “You don’t think I know that? I picked Eisenhower because—”

“It’s close to home. I realize that.”

“And you have no idea how much I need to go home.”

“You think I don’t?”

“Of course not! You’re there for a long weekend two times a month! You see your mom and dad and your sister as much as you want. And you get to run. And spend time with our friends. And—”

“And you’ve always said no. Even when you did have the time, you said—”

“I never had the time!”

“You could have made the time if it was important, Ted. You could have made the time for your family so you didn’t burn yourself out. You might even have made the time for me! But that would have been too much of an inconvenience, wouldn’t it?”

“You want a woman who’ll follow you around like—”

“You! I want you, Ted! But that was just too much to give wasn’t it? You could give yourself to everything in your life, but you didn’t have any left to give me, did you?”

He couldn’t cry. He wouldn’t, even though he could feel the burning at the corner of his eye. Alex felt like he was ripping off his own skin. His wolf clawed at him, angry to be away from the mate it had come to need. The animal inside urged him to go to her. Put his arms around her. Give her whatever she wanted so they could be together.

But the man held back.

Finally, he held back.

“It’s not just you, Alex. It never has been. It never will be.”

His father’s words haunted him. Not because they made him angry—even though they did—but because they were true.

He didn’t only live for himself. He was a leader. The future leader of a family, a pack, a town. When he worked, it was for them. When he planned, he planned for them. And when a dream had to be sacrificed, his was the first one to go. Because that’s what being a leader meant. That much his father had always taught him. Not power. Not glory. Leadership meant sacrifice. The family first. The pack first.

It wasn’t just him. It never would be.

She stared at him, speechless. Her heart breaking in her eyes. She hadn’t held back the tears. Not his Ted. She held back nothing. When she was angry, she told him off. When she was happy, she soared. She held nothing back in passion. Her heart had always been open to him.

And Alex was breaking it.

“I need to stay here, Ted. I need to see this through. My work is here. Not out in the desert. I can’t go with you. Not now.”

She finally choked out, “When?”

“I don’t know.”

“A year? Two years?”

“I don’t know.”

“Five years?”

“I don’t—”

“Six?”

“I told you, I don’t—”

“Give me something!” she screamed. “Give me something, Alex!”

The tears were pouring down her face. He clenched his hands together to keep from grabbing her and running. He’d grab her, and they’d both run. Away from responsibilities. Away from family obligations and history that haunted them. Away from every family member that had predicted this inevitable day.

“Tell me,” she choked out. “Give me… something.”

She wanted a deadline. She wanted a promise.

Three years will be enough.

Five years and we’ll be together.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“All this time,” she said. “All this time, you knew this was coming. For months, you knew.”

“Yes.”

“And you said nothing.”

There was no response. She was right. He could blame her for not asking, but he’d held off talking to her because he knew how it would end. He’d held on to the small bit of herself Ted had given him for as long as he could have it.

Their lease ran out at the end of the month, and they hadn’t signed another.

Because she was going back to the desert.

And he could go to hell.

She whispered, “If you love me—”

“Don’t.” He grabbed her hand, desperate for her to not finish the ultimatum. “Baby, please.”

Alex pulled her toward him, holding on to her hand as he bent down and pressed his forehead against hers.

Don’t say it. Don’t make me choose. Don’t close the door and lock it.

Please.

Please.

Please.

“If you love me,” she whispered, “you’ll come with me.”

He closed his eyes and dropped her hand, stepping away from her touch.

That was Ted. Black and white. Fiercely loyal and utterly uncompromising. She’d be a powerful clan leader someday.

What she wouldn’t be, was his.

He nodded silently. His jaw clenched so he didn’t loose his rage. He wanted to break something. He wanted to put his fist through a wall. He wanted to break every plate in their kitchen and tear up the sheets that still smelled like them. Throw the bed against the wall and pound his fists in the door.

So he did nothing while she walked from the room.

Ten minutes later, he walked out of the bedroom, dressed in his work clothes. Ted was sitting at the counter, still wrapped in a sheet, drinking coffee with a blank look on her face. If she were anyone else, he’d worry about leaving her alone. But she wasn’t anyone else; she was Ted.

He forced his voice to be smooth and controlled. “I’ll get my stuff out when you’re at hospital later today. I can stay with Joey for a while.”

Ted said nothing.

If he touched her, he’d break. So Alex walked out the door and didn’t look back.

The Fourth Morning

Palm Springs, California

2008

He didn’t know why he drove to her house. He knew where she lived, of course. All their friends knew, just as they knew to avoid the subject of Ted when he was around. He saw her. Rarely. When he was in town, she made herself scarce. Easy to do when she worked as much as she did. According to their friend Jena, her residency was going well, and she’d already set up a clinic in town. It was off the books, but it was better than nothing. The rest of her time was spent at the hospital or at a small house she was renting nearby.

Alex didn’t know if she was dating anyone. Didn’t know if she’d tried to move on, or if the results has been as soul-sucking as his own. He’d tried to date, which was absurd. But he’d been so angry, he had to try. A few disastrous dates and a one night stand later, he’d given up. He woke up the next day feeling like shit; his wolf clawed his skin.

He missed her so damn much.

Two years they spent avoiding each other, even when he was in Palm Springs, overseeing the renovations to the office complex he’d bought seven months before. It was eight in the morning and he’d spent another sleepless night, knowing she was close, but out of his reach. He was exhausted when he pulled up to the small bungalow she rented. He parked on the street and leaned back in his seat to close his eyes.

Enough. It was enough to be this close. Closer than he’d been since they’d both attended their friend Lowell’s memorial service the year before.

He drifted to sleep, but woke when he heard a tapping on the window.

She was there, staring at him with equally exhausted eyes, her car in the driveway. She looked the same, though her hair was a little shorter than the last time he’d seen her. The lines around her eyes were deeper, but he knew it was the lack of sleep. She’d looked the same around exams every semester. He rolled down the window.

“You just going to sleep here? It’s going to be over a hundred in an hour and you’ll roast, even in this fancy car.”

Alex said nothing. He didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t thought ahead that far.

She sighed and opened the car door. “Come inside, Alex.”

He did what she told him, taking the hand she held out, not even letting it drop when she unlocked the front door and walked into the dim house. The shades were pulled to fight against the relentless desert heat. Even in April, it would be over a hundred degrees by mid-morning. They were both silent as she led him around the house.

“Shoes.” She pointed toward the door and he toed them off near the neat line of sandals that waited there. “Pockets.” She didn’t wait for him, but gently patted his pockets, knowing he kept an assortment of keys, an overstuffed wallet, and various receipts stuffed there. She pulled it all out and set it in an orderly line on the kitchen counter. Undid his belt and set it next to the wallet. Then she pulled him down the hall, still holding his hand while he said nothing, fighting exhaustion and the urge to wrap her in his arms and not let go. Her shoulders were stooped. She was as exhausted as he was.

They walked into a room that, Alex noted absently, was about as personal as a hotel room. No pictures. No frilly pillows or art on the wall. It was a place to sleep, not her home. It didn’t come as a surprise. He’d always been the one to decorate when they’d lived together. Her home was the Springs. Any place other than that was just a rest stop on the road back.

“Jeans,” she said quietly. He took off his jeans—dusty from the job site because he needed to do laundry—leaving him in her bedroom in nothing but a t-shirt and boxers.

She pushed him toward the bed and he sat, immediately feeling lightheaded. He hadn’t slept well in a month. Not since he’d come out here to look over the finish work on the property. He’d avoided Palm Springs for as long as he could for that very reason, knowing he’d never find any peace being so close to her and still out of touch.

Ted pushed his shoulders down to the bed that smelled like her.

“Sleep.”

He didn’t let her hand go.

“I’ll grab the couch. It’s comfortable enough. I’ve just come off two days on call, so I’ll be dead to the—”

“I miss you.”

His voice was hoarse. Unused. As if every conversation he’d had in the two years since he’d spoken to her didn’t count. Two years since they’d spoken words that had broken everything. She didn’t say anything. Didn’t even look at him. Her eyes were locked on the wall behind him. He gave her hand a slight tug.

“I miss you so damn much, Tea.”

The rigid line of her shoulders relaxed, and he pulled her closer. Over his body and onto the bed next to him. He didn’t pull down the covers. Just positioned her body in front of his, curling around her and shoving his face into her hair. He closed his eyes and let out a breath when he felt her relax against him.

“Sleep,” she said.

“Stay with me.”

She waited to answer.

“Okay.”

He slept. His wolf stopped itching under his skin and settled, finally next to its mate again.

Alex slept better than he had in two years, wrapped around Ted as the fan over them wafted cool air over their exhausted bodies. His arm lay over her waist, his hand still clutching hers. They slept for hours.

When he woke, she was still there. The drapes let in a sliver of light, allowing him to watch her as she rested. The lines had smoothed from her face and she looked younger. The stress was gone, if only for a few hours. He waited, knowing that if he moved, she would wake up. She needed the sleep, so he waited. They hadn’t moved while they slept. Her back was still tucked up to his front and her hand was clutched in his. He ignored the inevitable erection that strained against the front of his boxers. Alex had her scent in his nose; his body didn’t care how long they’d been apart or what their relationship had become.

He closed his eyes and listened to her breathe. It might have been hours or minutes later. He didn’t know, except that the angle of the sun had changed enough so that the beam poured across her face and she turned toward him. He pressed his lips to her hair. Then her temple.

Her eyes fluttered open, but she didn’t move away. So Alex kept kissing her. The arch of her cheekbone. The line of her jaw. His tongue licked out under her chin, tasting salt and skin. He let go of her hand and put his palm on her belly where her scrubs parted to show the line of tan skin at her waist. He sucked in a breath and shoved his face into her neck, waiting. Scenting her desire. His own.

Ted didn’t say anything, but he felt her nod against his cheek, and she pulled the drawstring on the pants she wore. He let out a breath and let his hand trail up, cupping her breast under her shirt, shoving the fabric away to get to her skin.

It was silent. The only sound the soft hush of clothes disappearing. He didn’t kiss her mouth. Didn’t let himself until he was sliding inside the heat of her body. Then his mouth took hers, ignoring the tears on her cheeks. Ignoring everything but the desperate hunger that captured them both. Her first climax came quickly, and he slowed, determined to stretch the fragile peace they’d come to for as long as he could.

He kissed the tears from her skin, bit the lobe of her ear and licked behind it the way she loved. It was an old dance, all the more precious for its familiarity. He loved her for as long as he could. Held her tight until he couldn’t hold back the climax anymore. Until she bit his neck where it met his shoulder and sent him over the edge.

He groaned into her mouth but didn’t leave her body. Not even when he rolled to the side. He stayed with her and didn’t let go. He let go of her mouth, but kissed every inch of her skin within reach until he felt his eyes begin to droop. She held on as tightly as he did, her arms around his waist and her head tucked into his chest. He could feel her heart race against his skin as he dropped heavy into sleep.

Alex woke to an empty bed. Ted’s scrubs lay on the floor beside the bed and the drawer that held more was hanging open. The mirror he could see in the bathroom still held an edge of fog from the shower. Not a sound from the kitchen or the hall. She’d gone back to the hospital while he slept.

He lay in bed for a few minutes, then sat up and pulled on his jeans. The sky was dark outside and the room was cooler, the temperature in the desert dropping with the sun. He walked down the hall and headed for the kitchen where she’d put his things. There was a note and a key lying by his wallet.

Alex, I’m back on at nine, so I had to go. Please lock up. You can put the extra key under the mat. —Ted

He picked up the key, staring at the shiny, unused brass that lay in his palm. He checked his phone and saw a text message from an unknown number. Desert area code. He clicked on it and stared at the message he knew must have come from her.

When are you coming home?

He knew she was talking about the Springs. Knew she was looking for that timeline again. A timeline he couldn’t give her. It would be a promise. And Alex didn’t break promises. Ever. So he never made those he knew he couldn’t keep.

He closed his eyes and rested his elbows on the counter, staring at the message from the only woman he’d ever loved, asking a question he couldn’t answer. The weight of expectations hung on his shoulders. He was over halfway there. He thought. But he didn’t know. So he picked up his phone and sent her the only answer he had.

Soon.

Then Alex palmed her key and stuffed his wallet and keys back in his pocket. He got a quick drink of water and put the glass in the empty dishwasher. He slipped his shoes on, locked up, and dropped the key in his pocket, smiling a little as he walked to the car.

Ted may want her door locked, but Alex wasn’t leaving without a key.

The Fifth Morning

Cambio Springs, California

2010

He didn’t shift when the car pulled away. It was a sheriff’s cruiser, and Alex had pissed on every tire as soon as he’d shown up at her house. Then he paced in the stand of cottonwood at the edge of her property.

Paced for hours.

She stood in the doorway, watching the early sun flash on the chrome light rack of Dev’s car. The pink morning glow hit the side of her house, which he knew she’d had painted the summer she moved in. Clean whitewash over old adobe. It was a solid house, even though it was old.

Alex paced and a low growl rumbled from his throat. He saw her eyes whip toward the trees and her nose lifted in the cool air.

He loped out of the house in wolf form, still too furious to change back to human. His lip curled when he saw her face.

It told him nothing. When once, it would have told him everything.

She stared, glancing between the dust of the retreating car and the massive timber wolf that stalked her yard. Pulling her robe a little tighter around herself, she squared her shoulders at him and said, “Shift or get out of here.”

Alex shifted, but didn’t stop pacing. Light paw steps became heavy footfalls as he walked from one end of her front yard to the other, ignoring the brambles that cut his feet. Ignoring the pain in his chest. Ignoring the cool breeze that bit his bare skin.

“Stop it, Alex.”

His lip curled again and he stopped. Right in front of her. He glared up at her, clenching his fists and resisting the urge to grab her and haul her back into the house that Devin Moon had just left.

Dev. Not some idiot resident she had a fling with. Dev. Not some casual acquaintance she’d forget about in a month. Dev. Who knew her secrets. Their secrets. Dev, who had always teased Ted and flirted with her, even when it pissed her off.

“What was he doing here?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “What do you think, Alex? Were you here all night?”

“No. Just about the time that Joey let slip at the Cave that you’ve been seeing him.”

Her mouth twisted in annoyance. “Alex—”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“None of your business.”

He took a step up. “None of my business?”

The blank look fell from her face and she snarled, “This is the most you’ve spoken to me in two years. You tell me you’re coming home ‘soon,’ then for two years, I barely see you. We never talk about what happened—”

“What was there to say?”

Her mouth dropped open, but she said nothing. His anger was still riding him. He wanted tear into her house and wipe every trace of the other man from her room. Cover her body with his until Dev was nothing but a hazy memory. He wanted…

He wanted Ted. More than anything, he wanted Ted. And she was yet another thing just out of his reach.

“Wh—what was there to say?” she asked.

“You know why I’m in LA. You know why I can’t tell you when I’m moving back.” He stepped up again, until he was right in front of her. Naked. Angry. Let her try to ignore him. Let her try to hide. “And you know how I feel about you. You always have.”

“It’s over, Alex. It was over four years—”

He didn’t let her finish. Alex swooped down and took her mouth in a bruising kiss. She opened to him like they’d spent minutes apart, not years. He grabbed onto her, clutching one hand at her waist as another dug into her hair and held. She tasted like coffee and toothpaste. She tasted like Ted in the morning after he’d woken her up with his mouth. She tasted like home.

Alex stopped his relentless assault on her mouth when the pain registered. His heart hurt. His groin ached with needing her. And Ted was gripping his bicep so hard he figured she’d leave bruises. He didn’t care.

“You and me?” he finally said. “You and me aren’t over. We never will be.”

She shook her head. “Why are you here?”

“Just letting you know where we stand, baby.”

“Baby?” she hissed, pushing him away. “Shut up. You don’t get to come back here whenever you want and try to mess with my love life, Alex. You opted out, baby, so go home. To LA. That’s where you want to be.”

“Your love life?” He stepped back to her. “You in love with him? With Dev?”

If she was, he was screwed. He saw the flush hit her cheeks as her anger swelled into something even more dangerous.

Cold. She could be so cold when she wanted to be.

“What if I am?”

“That’s not an answer.”

“He’s not the first guy I’ve dated since we broke up.”

Alex said nothing. No, Dev wasn’t the first and he couldn’t blame her for that, even if he hated it. The fact was, he’d let her go and even tried to move on himself. But when he was back at the Springs, when the wolf came out to play, he knew the truth of the matter.

She was his. He was hers. There would be no other mate but her.

“You know he’s not the first. He’s just the first that matters, right?” Her eyes started heating up again, and Alex was grateful. Grateful just to be able to get a rise out of her.

“I was—”

“You were pissing on your territory, McCann. You don’t want me, but you won’t let me move on with any guy who might actually stand a chance, will you?”

“I don’t want you?” He ignored the truth in her accusation and focused on the part they both knew wasn’t true. “Who the hell do you think I’m working for, Ted? Who’s the one that really matters?”

She shook her head and took another step back into her house; Alex followed.

“You’re working for your pack. For your family. I’m not faulting you for it, but—”

“I’m working so this town doesn’t shrivel up and die! I want—”

“I know what you want! I want the same thing.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes a moment before she opened them. The anger had drained away. The blank look was back.

Back in perfectly controlled Ted mode. He hated what she was going to say before she even spoke.

“We want the same thing for this place, Alex. There’s no avoiding each other. But we both need to move on with our lives.”

The cool words cut into his chest like a knife.

“We have history,” she continued. “There were hard feelings on both sides. But it’s in the past. We’re not children. For the good of everyone, we need to—”

“Don’t.” He grabbed her by the waist and spun her against the wall, pressing her forehead to his the same way he’d done four years before.

“If you love me you’ll come with me.”

The memory of her words threatened to choke him.

“Don’t say we need to move on. Don’t.”

“Alex—”

“Give me a little more time, Tea.” He whispered the words, afraid of breaking the fragile hold he had on her. “You know what we have. What we could have. You made me choose four years ago, and I made the only choice I could.”

He’d been proud. Angry. Hurt. He’d been twenty-seven and an ego-ridden idiot. The four years he’d lived without her had been empty. If he had to do it again, he’d have held onto her like a drowning man on a life raft.

She said nothing, so he kept talking.

“Just… don’t do anything permanent. Don’t break this.”

“Don’t break this?” He could hear the tears in her voice. “I didn’t break this. You did.”

If she’d punched him, it couldn’t have hurt worse.

“Tea—”

“You broke my heart, Alex. Then you came back and broke it again.”

“I know!” he shouted, grabbing her face in his hands. “I know I did. And I’ll break it again. And you’ll break mine. You’re still the only woman in the world I want.”

“Don’t—”

“Because no one can hurt me the way you do. And no one could ever love me the way you can.”

He felt her tears catch on his thumbs and run down the edge between his palm and her flushed cheek.

“Why are you doing this to me?” she whispered.

“Because I love you.” He kissed her forehead. “It’s only ever been you. And you know it as well as I do.”

She turned her head and closed her eyes, letting the tears come. She pushed his hands away from her face. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. He knew how badly he’d messed things up. He knew what his actions had cost them both. And he knew he’d have a long road back to her arms.

But he could be patient.

Alex stepped away and went to the door. She still had her eyes closed, refusing to look at him. But her need followed him as he walked away.

He turned when he reached the door. “Ted, if you could just—”

“When are you coming home? I want a real answer this time.”

Her eyes were still closed and the sun shone across her face, warming the soft tan to brilliant gold.

“Soon.”

A slight twitch at the corner of her mouth told him the answer disappointed her.

“I’ll be back, Tea. I promise. As soon as I can.”

Then Alex walked out the door and shifted back to his wolf, leaving his heart in an old adobe house in the desert, with a woman who could hold it or crush it with a word. He ran through the desert, letting the wolf take him. And every step away from her was the first step of his return.

Keep reading for the first look at Alex and Ted’s story:

DESERT BOUND

A Cambio Springs Mystery

Fall 2014

DESERT BOUND

A Cambio Springs Mystery

Chapter One

Teodora Vasquez threw her head back and let the slow spin of the beer and the music and the crowd at the Cave wash over her. She was almost there. Almost to the buzz that would let her forget the past week. The past month. Maybe the past year…

“Ted!” Tracey shouted at her from the other end of the bar. “Can you help me with this?”

The waitress was carrying two trays of empties and trying to maneuver behind the bar as patrons called out orders and the blues rock band playing that night started another set.

She stood and made her way over to Tracey. “You know, I’m not supposed to be working tonight.”

“I know.” The waitress managed to put the tray of empties on the back counter and turn to glower at the pushy patrons sitting at Ollie’s long oak bar. Ollie was at the other end, deliberately pulling pints and keeping an eye on Ted and Tracey. No one shouted orders at him. “But Jena had to leave and I can’t imagine this is harder than surgery, right?”

Ted frowned and glanced at the rowdy crowd. “Not too sure about that.”

“Please?” The woman’s gaze was desperate.

“Fine.” Ted stepped behind the bar and Tracey hurried to hand her a spare apron. No, waiting tables and making drinks wasn’t harder than operating the small medical clinic in Cambio Springs. The buzz she’d almost caught had disappeared with Tracey’s plea, and Ted couldn’t think of anything better than the whirl of activity at the Cave to quiet her mind.

“You’re a lifesaver!” Tracey fixed her mop of wiry curls into a ponytail and washed her hands before she started mixing the list of drinks she’d written on her pad. “I have no idea why Jena had to run out, but it must have been an emergency—Ollie, I need two Blue Moons and a cider—She didn’t even ask. Just told Ollie she was leaving—And a Fat Tire when you get a chance—He didn’t argue.”

He wouldn’t. Jena wasn’t a regular employee. Like Ted, she helped out when Ollie needed her and she wasn’t a flake. She was a chef and owned the only other restaurant in town, the Blackbird Diner. She also had two boys at home and another on the way, thanks to her hot-as-sin new husband, Caleb Gilbert.

“Hope it’s nothing serious.” Ted tried not to worry too much. If it were medical, her phone would already be ringing. She was the only doctor in town.

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

Ted grabbed a pad and headed out to the floor, nodding along to the music. It was a new band. Some boys from Las Vegas and they were good. The Cave was Ollie’s bar, but all of his closest friends helped out occasionally. It was fun to hang out on quieter nights, and they always drank for free. Jena and Caleb usually got a babysitter for the boys and helped out on the weekends, when live music filled the bar and things were busier. Jena waited tables and made drinks with Ollie while Caleb would hang out and keep things from getting too wild. Having the Cambio Springs Chief of Police in the corner of the room tended to keep out the wilder elements.

Well, the wilder human elements. There wasn’t anything they could do about the shapeshifters. The visiting humans mixed among the locals, never suspecting the large man who served them drinks was a bear on full moon nights. Or the lean guy at the pool table slid into a rattlesnake to sun himself on the hot desert rocks that surrounded the small desert town. The three brothers nodding along to the blues-rock howled at the moon on Friday nights, and that wasn’t just a figure of speech.

She was picking up empties when she felt warm breath on her neck. She was about to turn and bare claws when she heard his voice.

“Hey, Ted.”

Son of a bitch.

Alex McCann leaned down and gave her neck an obvious sniff. Ted tried not to roll her eyes. Wolves. It was all about the nose.

“What are you doing here, Alex?”

He took another deep breath and smirked. “Pissing you off and, apparently, turning you on a little.”

“Go away, Alex.”

“I’m also helping out Ollie. He called and said Jena had to take off. He knew I wasn’t busy tonight.”

“Well, Tracey asked me to help, so you can go home.”

He looked around the chaotic bar and Ted tried to keep a straight face. Even with Ollie and Tracey’s husband Jim behind the bar, Tracey and Ted out on the floor, they were still short-staffed. The Cave wasn’t a large bar, but that night, they were stretching fire code with all the people crammed in to see the band.

Apparently, Alex thought so, too.

“I can stay.”

“Don’t you need to get home?”

He cocked his head. “No, I told you—”

“I mean Los Angeles.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Work’s done for the week. Shouldn’t you be scurrying back?”

He looked close, a quiet look of challenge on his face. “I am home, baby. You’ll get used to it eventually.”

She stepped on the toe of his boot and ground her foot down. “Do. Not. Call. Me. That.”

It didn’t do anything but bring up painful memories.

He clenched his jaw and Ted could see the faint golden glow behind his eyes. “Don’t go furry now, McCann.”

“Then keep your claws in, Vasquez.”

She stepped back and smiled. “You only wish my claws were in you.” She was fairly sure there was a scar or two on his shoulders that proved it.

Alex stepped back, and people cleared a path. They always did. “Patience is a virtue… baby.”

Ted ignored what she knew he was trying to say and turned back to finish picking up the tables.

Her tables kept her too busy to think about Alex. Too busy to think about their history or how she still—even after years apart—turned toward his side of the bed to reach for him at night.

Too busy to think about her struggling practice. Too busy to think about her family or the rumbling in the cat clan that her mother and great aunt were trying to quell. And definitely too busy to think about the new spa resort Alex was building in the heart of the place the Vasquez family had called home for generations, Cambio Springs.

Some in town hoped the resort would use the natural mineral springs that gave the town its name to draw wealthy visitors to the luxury resort that McCann Holdings was building. Others worried the secrecy the seven original families of the Springs had carefully maintained for over one hundred years would crumble, and humans would discover that one of the springs, the one hidden in the canyon wall, had turned the original town founders into shapeshifters.

Cats, wolves, snakes, birds, and bears. There had been others marry in, but the seven original families had passed on their strange quirk to their offspring, and now the isolated desert town was unique for more than just the mineral springs. It didn’t matter if your mom or dad married a human. If one of them changed into a bobcat on the full moon, you would too.

“Hey, can I get a beer here?”

“Miss? Miss?”

The shouts, laughs, and mild chaos around her had the odd effect of quieting Ted’s mind as she focused on the immediate task. It was what had made her so good in trauma. She’d been in her element during her time in the ER. Part of her hated that she’d had to go into general practice.

“Why’s it so slow tonight?” a whiny voice at her next table asked.

“It usually isn’t. Oh my… look at him. He is so hot.”

Ted smiled at the table of clueless human women who ordered four margaritas and couldn’t take their eyes off the singer in the corner. He was cute, Ted had to admit, but he didn’t hold a candle to the eye candy standing behind the bar, laughing and mixing drinks with a smile and a wink to the girls. Ted knew she wasn’t the only one who noticed.

The Southern California business gloss was slowly wearing off of Alex the longer he stayed in town, and Ted tried not to notice how much more attractive he was without it. It reminded her of when they’d been living together when she was in medical school. He’d had been working construction then, not closing real estate deals. He’d been rough and callused. And when he came home dusty at night, she was reminded of home. He’d even had a beard for a while. The human girls then hadn’t liked it—beards were out of fashion then—but the blatant masculinity of it had turned Ted on. It still did. That animal attraction hadn’t lessened between them, Ted had just gotten better at ignoring it.

She also ignored all the women flirting with Alex.

The Cave was the unofficial boundary line of Cambio Springs, so humans came in to drink the beer and listen to the quality bands that Ollie managed to pull in, but they didn’t linger in town. Most were just passing through. The few who showed more interest were quietly discouraged, mostly by Ollie or any of the other bears in her friend’s clan who acted as the unofficial guardians of Cambio Springs.

She saw Ollie smile at her and knew he’d caught her watching Alex. She rolled her eyes and rushed to another table. Ollie may have been Ted’s second or third or fifth cousin, but he was one of Alex’s best friends, too. And he had opinions. Quiet opinions, but he hadn’t held them back.

“He’s back now, Ted. Work your shit out. You guys belong together.”

Simple problem. Simple solution. Typical bear.

Sure, Alex was back. Until the resort was finished, and then Ted had little confidence he’d stick around. He’d misled her too many times.

When are you coming home?

Soon.

When are you coming back?

Soon.

“Soon” had turned into seven years. Seven years since Alex McCann had broken her heart. The first time.

The second time… Well, she’d learned her lesson.

But Ollie wanted the people around him content and happy, and she knew he missed when Alex and Ted had been together. She was his family, and Alex was his best friend. In Ollie’s opinion, the solution was obvious. Get over it and move on with their life together. The problem was, Ollie believed Alex was staying in the Springs—which Ted didn’t, even a little—and the bear’s heart hadn’t been broken one time too many by the wolf behind the bar.

She pulled her eyes away from Alex and Ollie joking around and went to grab empties. The band started in on an edgy rock cover of “With a Little Help From My Friends” and Ted risked a glance at Alex. It was one of their songs. She remembered dancing in their tiny kitchen in Venice Beach, Alex singing the lyrics in her ear after a particularly bad day.

They’d been friends before they were lovers. Good friends. And sometimes, she missed that most of all.

“Take a break.”

He stood behind her; she didn’t even need to look to know. The band had taken off at midnight and someone had put a Lucinda Williams tune on the jukebox. Just fast enough to not be considered a slow song, but slow enough to hold your partner close.

She never said Alex didn’t know what he was doing.

“Can’t.” The crowd had died down and she and Tracey were cleaning up the floor. It was after midnight, and her mind was clear. If she went home now, she’d sleep well. If she danced with Alex, she wouldn’t sleep well for a week.

“Dance with me, Ted.” He slipped a hand around her waist to pull her back from the table she’d been clearing. “As a friend.”

She scoffed. “Right.”

“Friends dance.” He leaned closer, his heat pressing against her side. She could smell a hint of bourbon on his breath and wished it didn’t draw her in. By the ease of his voice, he was happily buzzed. Not drunk. Just at that happy place that made him even harder to resist.

She patted the hand at her waist. “You should get Jim or Ollie to drive you home.”

“I will. One dance.”

“Alex—”

“You told me we were friends.”

She had. In a moment of weakness, after Ted had loaded her oldest friend into her Jeep so Caleb could drive her to the hospital in Indio. In those moments when the prospect of losing Jena had terrified them both, she’d turned to Alex. Held on. She needed a friend, and he’d been there.

“Friends dance with each other, Ted.”

“Fine. One dance.” Just to prove that she could. She dropped the rag and turned to him, letting Alex guide her between the tables and toward the small dance floor by the juke box.

He held her loosely, and Ted set her hands on his shoulders.

One dance. Between friends.

She ignored the happy purr of her cat and tried to lean away from his body, but Alex still managed to surround her. With his arms, his scent, and that indescribable hum that always seemed to follow him. Like a live wire, her body reacted. She could feel the spark of awareness as he scented her.

Damn wolf.

He leaned in, his rough voice licking along her nerves. “So when we get back together, would you be okay with adding on to your house, or should I look for a bigger place before we have kids?”

“A dance between friends?” She dropped her arms and glared. “Right. I should have known.”

“What?” His face a picture of innocence. “Friends… get married, have lots of sex, and procreate. Are you saying I shouldn’t look for a bigger house?”

She didn’t even respond, just turned and walked back to the table.

“Ted!” He tried to follow her, only to trip over the leg of a chair that Tracey had propped up while she cleaned. Ted ignored his muttered curse and darted into Ollie’s office, intent on escaping before Alex could catch up with her.

“Whoa.” She almost ran smack into Ollie. The big man held up his hands in defense. “What’s chasing you, cat?”

“An annoying mutt you asked to help at the bar tonight.”

“Ah.” Nodding in understanding, Ollie stepped aside. “You know he misses you, right?”

“I know he misses jerking me around then leaving me.” She gathered her purse and grabbed for the light sweater she carried to ward off the night chill. She started pulling it on as Ollie stood in the hall.

“Come on, Ted. There was way more between you guys. Have you considered talking to him about it? You know he’s not moving back to LA.”

“No.” She gripped her purse in both hands and clenched her eyes shut. “I don’t know that.”

“He says he’s back for good. You don’t believe him?”

“No.” Even though a part of her heart wanted it to be true, she didn’t trust that part. Her heart had let her down too many times.

“Ted—”

“I can take a lot of shit, Ollie.” Her voice was hoarse; she cleared her throat. “But I’m not setting myself up just to get knocked down again.”

Damn Alex. She’d come out tonight looking for a little peace among the crowd, not an emotional slap in the face. Ted shook her head and walked to the office door, only to see Ollie with a hand to Alex’s chest, holding his friend back. His friend who had obviously been listening to their whole conversation.

Ted ignored the bare pain on her former lover’s face.

Not again.

She looked up at Ollie and whispered, “Thanks a lot. Don’t call me for favors anytime soon.”

Neither one spoke up when she walked out the door.

If the crowds didn’t work, then maybe wine would.

Ted took a long sip of red wine and leaned back in the recliner she’d stolen from her mom’s house. It had been her dad’s. On days she missed him, sitting in it felt like the big warm hugs she still missed. She’d closed her eyes for approximately thirty seconds when the knock came at the door.

“Oh, for the love…” She swung her legs down and stood, marching toward the door.

If it was Alex, she was going to kill him. She’d done grunt work at the medical examiner’s office in LA, and she was very well read. She could figure out how to kill someone and make it look like an accident. Probably. If not, the jail time might be worth it.

“Alex, for the last time—”

She realized it wasn’t Alex before the door swung all the way open.

“Allie?”

The petite blonde’s face was swollen and red. She sniffed but said nothing. Her eyes shone with tears in the lamplight.

“Allie, what on earth?”

Ted started pulling her into the house, every protective instinct on alert. A car door slammed in the dark, then Jena was walking up the path.

“Hey.”

“What’s going on? Is someone hurt?”

“Not exactly. Do you have wine? Please tell me you have wine.” She put a hand on her five months’ pregnant belly. “I’m running low, and Caleb only drinks beer.”

Jena looked exhausted, too, though not as wrecked as Allie. Both walked into the house in silence.

Ted said, “Will someone just tell me—”

“Joe left me.”

Allie’s voice was so soft, Ted barely caught it.

Her mind wanted to scream, Oh thank you, Lord. Finally!

Luckily, she held back.

“What happened? I mean, I knew you guys were having problems, but—”

“He just took off. Left me and the kids. Walked out while we were sitting down for dinner.”

Of all the asshole ways to end things…

“He said he didn’t want to be married anymore. Like it was no big deal.”

Ted was going to kill him. But not before she neutered the scrawny coyote.

Jena said, “That’s why I left the Cave. Kevin called my cell.”

“My baby…” Allie started to cry. “What kind of man leaves his thirteen-year-old son to clean up his mess?!”

“A shit one.”

“Ted!” Jena said.

“What? You know I’m not good at the comforting thing! Joe is an asshole, and Kevin is an awesome kid who shouldn’t have to deal with his father’s shit.”

Jena said, “Not helping.”

“He’s a douchebag. There. I said it. I’ve wanted to say it for years, and I didn’t.”

“My babies…” Allie didn’t even seem to hear her. “Oh, God. He was an asshole to me, but they loved their daddy. What am I gonna do?”

It was true. Joe had gotten Allie pregnant her senior year and planted four kids in her before Allie finally said “enough” after the birth of her daughter four years before. Joe seemed to love being a dad, and Allie had three boys and a girl, all under the age of thirteen. Before the base had closed and Joe lost his job, they’d struggled, but they’d all still laughed a lot.

But laughter over the past three years had been scarce, and Ted had suspected more than once that Joe was cheating on her friend. They’d been friends once. All of them. Close friends. But Ted hadn’t thought of Joe as anything but Allie’s asshole husband in a long time.

“What? Friends get married, have lots of sex, and procreate.”

Alex’s words—meant to tease and flirt—now taunted her.

Talk about a lesson learned the hard way.

She hugged a crying Allie to her chest as Jena grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass from the kitchen. Ted couldn’t help but notice that most of Allie’s heartache seemed to be about Joe leaving the kids, not her husband leaving her. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but she figured they’d figure it out as they went. That’s what friends did.

In the back of her mind, she heard him whisper again.

“Dance with me, Ted. As a friend.”

Never again.

Chapter Two

The car door slamming shut sounded louder than normal in the still desert night. Ollie rolled down the window.

“You got it, or you need help in?”

“I’m good.”

His best friend didn’t say anything, just lifted an eyebrow. “Right. No more bourbon, man.”

“Go home. I’m fine.”

“Don’t wake up your mom, or she’ll yell at me.”

“Good night, Ollie.” He started to turn.

“Hey, Alex.”

“What?”

Ollie seemed to hesitate, but finally said, “She’ll forgive you. She has to eventually. Just shake it off.”

Right…

Alex waved at Ollie’s retreating truck and walked with heavy steps up his parents’ front porch.

“I’m not setting myself up just to get knocked down again.”

She was never going to forgive him. Ever. Never, ever.

Shit, he was drunk.

He sighed, hearing the steps come down from upstairs as he turned the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. Only an idiot with a death wish was going to break into the McCann house. They were the wolf alphas of Cambio Springs, and no one—not the most foolhardy Quinn—wanted to test their protective instincts.

“Alex?”

Oh yay. It was his father in the kitchen.

“Hey, Dad.”

Robert McCann was in his sixties but didn’t look a day over a very healthy fifty. His steel grey hair was cut close to his skull, and he still carried the military bearing of the former Army Sergeant he was. Alex’s father hadn’t been pleased his son didn’t follow him into the service. There had been McCanns serving in the US Army since the Civil War, and Robert didn’t let his son forget it. The fact that Alex had made millions in real estate didn’t provoke more than a slightly satisfied grunt.

Robert eyed him with suspicion. “Are you drunk?”

Alex leaned against the doorway of the kitchen. His father was making coffee. He didn’t need much more sleep than Alex did. Never had. It was a benefit if you were the alpha or the disappointing son of one.

“According to the half-empty bottle of bourbon Ollie forced me to abandon… yes.”

Robert curled his lip but pulled out another mug for coffee.

“That cat giving you problems again?”

“Not talking to you about her.”

He refused to talk about Ted with his father. Alex had learned his lesson when he’d been twenty-seven and heartbroken. His father had waited on the porch for Alex to get out of his car, took one look at his haggard face, then told him he knew their relationship would never have worked out anyway.

Alex had spent that weekend at Ollie’s cleaning out the attic and ignoring calls from his mother. He never mentioned Ted’s name in his father’s presence again.

“You know—”

He glared. “Not. Talking. About. Her.”

Robert lifted the corner of his mouth in what might have been a smile. “Fine. I expect you’ll figure it out. You have a plan for everything else.”

Though he’d never, ever say it publicly, Robert McCann had plenty of doubts about the resort his son planned for his hometown. That was fine. Alex was used to his father doubting him. He’d just work ten times harder to prove him wrong, like he always did.

His father splashed a little milk in Alex’s mug. A concession, since the Sergeant took his coffee black.

“Your mother got a call tonight from Kathy Crowe.”

Alex frowned and tried to focus through the bourbon haze. The coffee helped. “Jena’s mom?”

“Joe Smith took off.”

“What?” he asked again. “What are you talking about?”

“Took off. Left his family.”

“Are you talking about Allie’s Joe?”

Robert nodded. “Yep.”

“Our Allie?”

“Yep.”

“That fuc—!”

“Language.”

It brought him up short. He was still in his parents’ home, and if he had to guess, his mother was listening with her eagle ears. Not actual eagle ears. Julia McCann was from away, like most spouses in Cambio Springs. Her preternatural hearing must have rubbed off over the years of living in a town full of shapeshifters.

“That ass!” Alex set down his mug, anger and surprise cutting through the bourbon. “Are you kidding me?”

“No. Walked out the door right when Allie and the kids were sitting down to dinner.”

Alex was going to kill him.

“Allie’s going to need some help, son.” Robert motioned to the kitchen table and Alex followed him. “She’s not technically part of the pack, but—”

“She’s one of my best friends, Dad. It doesn’t matter that she’s a fox.”

The other canine shifters tended to be more solitary or roam in family packs. They didn’t share the strict hierarchy of the wolves, but since they all shared a common ancestor, they still held a certain level of loyalty.

“I agree. Plus, her mother was a McCann, even if it was distant. She’s family.”

“Oh, Allie…” Alex rubbed his face. “Is Kathy with her?” Allie’s mom had died when she was young, leaving her dad to raise his small family of shifters among his wife’s people. Jena’s mom had been a second mother to Allie.

“I think so. Your mom just found out a few hours ago. They’ll get her covered. But if there’s a need—”

“It’s covered. She’s covered.”

His father nodded approvingly, but didn’t say anything while they finished their coffee. It was moments like that, quiet moments, that Alex knew his dad did appreciate what he’d done. What he was trying to do. They may have had different personalities, but their hearts were in the same place. His father would go without before any of his family or pack.

On lonely nights, the knowledge that Alex had the resources to help the people he cared about was sometimes the only thing that kept him warm. The sacrifices were worth it at times like that. He had to remind himself it wasn’t all about him. It was about his father and mother. His sister. The pack who depended on him. His friend with four kids who needed someone to step up when their father stepped out.

“I’m not setting myself up just to get knocked down again.”

If he’d really lost Ted forever, it had to mean something.

The next morning, Alex roused himself from his childhood bed, downed as many aspirins as he could get away with, and slipped out the door after a quick conversation with his mom, who was already putting food together for Allie. Then, like every Saturday for the past few months, he headed to his sister’s house. The fact that she happened to be home was only a bonus.

Willow McCann lived at the edge of town, halfway out into the desert and away from as many distractions as she could. The fact that his baby sister was a famous painter with work shown across the Southwest surprised him some days. But then, when he thought about it more, it didn’t seem strange at all. In her own quiet way, Willow was the mirror image of their father. She was stubborn as hell. Alex figured that, one day, his little sister had simply decided she wanted everyone to buy her paintings for ridiculous sums of money. Then she quietly set about taking over her tiny corner of the art world until her mission was accomplished. She was like a special ops soldier with a paintbrush.

She had recently taken up ceramics. In a few months, she’d conquer that, too. People who didn’t know her thought she was shy. She wasn’t. Willow just didn’t like very many people and found it easier to adopt the mantle of a reclusive artist in their tiny community. It worked for her and kept most people away.

She was sitting in the shaded lean-to outside her house when Alex pulled up. Some thick vine covered the arbor, lush, green, and dripping with yellow flowers. The road up to her house was covered in a new coat of gravel, and her house gleamed. It was a small place that his grandparents had built, but Willow had improved it.

The desert landscaping was blooming with sparse beauty; colorful murals and tiled mosaics decorated the low garden walls, lending a lush look to the area, despite the arid plantings. She’s recovered an old wooden table with a blue and green glass mosaic and added red chairs she’d painted herself. A pot of coffee was sitting on the table, along with some sweet rolls he knew she probably only bought for him.

Willow didn’t look up, but continued sketching in the pad at her left as she drank her coffee.

“Joe left Allie last night,” she said. “Took off right in the middle of dinner. What an asshole.”

“I heard.”

She finally looked up when his chair scraped across the terra cotta tiles under the arbor. “How did you hear?”

“Kevin called Jena, who came home from the bar. Jena called her mom to help watch the kids so they could go over to Ted’s. Kathy called Mom. I knew about it by the time I got home from the Cave. How did you know?”

She shrugged. “Allie called me this morning.”

“How’s she doing?”

“She’s worried about the kids.”

Joe was such an asshole.

Alex helped himself to the extra mug his sister had set out and filled it from the bright blue carafe. He didn’t say anything. It was one of the benefits of hanging out with his sister. They didn’t really need to talk much. Thirty years being related made non-verbal communication a breeze. She passed him the milk and a sweet roll without even looking up from her drawing.

“So,” she asked, “has anyone told Ollie?”

Leave it to Willow, asking the question that everyone was thinking and no one wanted to say.

“I haven’t.”

“Neither have I. I figure Joe deserves at least a day’s head start before we set Ollie loose on him. Anything less seems unsporting.”

Alex snorted. “What makes you think he’d track him down? I figure he’d just make sure Joe stayed gone.”

Willow didn’t say anything for a while. She finally looked up from the sketch and gave him a sad smile. “He would, if he thought Allie wanted him back.”

“Does she?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. She sounded sad but… relieved, I guess? I don’t think he was an easy guy to live with the past few years.”

Alex frowned. “Did we miss something, Will?”

“Allie always puts the best face on stuff. You know that. I think Joe just said a lot of mean shit to her.”

“Bad enough.”

She nodded. “Bad enough.”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, before Alex asked the question he asked every week.

“Please? I promise I’ll be quiet.”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“I let you use my house as much as you want when I’m out of town. Don’t think I don’t see your messes, Alex. You are not moving in with me.”

“Mom and Dad are going to drive me crazy.”

“And you’d drive me crazy. You’re a big boy. Deal.”

“I’ll be in a mental hospital and you’ll only have yourself to blame.”

“You’re so full of shit. Why don’t you just get your own house? There’s not a lot, but there’s a few places in town available. Marcia and Phil are moving. Why not rent their house?”

Because…

In the back of his mind, he’d always figured that he and Ted would be back together by now and he’d be with her, skipping the awkward “Should we move in together?” conversation because he’d be homeless and she’d take pity on him. His condo in Huntington was already rented out and providing a very nice extra income. Even with as much money as he had tied up in the resort, cost wasn’t the issue. If he rented or bought a place without Ted, then he’d be conceding defeat.

Willow picked up her sketchbook again. “Or rent one of Jena’s trailers until you and Ted get back together.”

Alex stayed silent and glared at her, but she didn’t notice.

“I can give you tips on groveling, if you want.”

“You’re such a little shit sometimes, you know?”

Willow smiled. “I love you, too.”

By Saturday afternoon, he felt better physically, but he was still pissed about Joe, couldn’t get ahold of Ollie—no matter how many times he called his house and the bar—and his foreman, Marcus Quinn, had called him to the job site to rework the plans he thought they’d already finalized so the guys could get to work right away on Monday.

“I don’t get why we have to change the angle of the swimming pool that much.”

“Alex, man, I know you want the bungalows to face the water, but how much do we want to fight nature? If you want the creek to run down this way, then the natural course of the water…”

Alex let his mind drift as Marcus went into details. He knew at the end of the day, he’d end up agreeing with him. Marcus Quinn might have been born to a slightly shady clan of reptile shifters—his natural form was a king snake—but that hadn’t stopped him from being one of the best surveyors around. He’d gone into partnership with his wife’s brother a few years ago, and their business had grown to include landscape and general contracting, too.

Like most of the shifters from the Springs, Marcus married away. Josie was a hairdresser from Vegas, who seemed to take the knowledge that their three kids would eventually sprout scales in stride. Their oldest was almost ten, and Alex knew they were talking about moving back to the Springs full time.

“So, if you want the hot spring to feed into the lake we’re digging here, then the slope needs to start here. Which means the swimming pool is going to have to angle southeast a little more. That’s going to block some of your afternoon sun, but we’re talking about the hottest part of the day. I don’t think guests are going to complain too much.”

“No, you’re right.” And this was why he’d hired Marcus. The man was bright enough to see the big picture. “Go for it. Can you tweak it before Monday?”

“Yeah, it’s minor. And doing that is going to cut back on time, too. Because we’ll be working with the natural slope.”

“Plus, it’ll just look better.”

“If you’re going for a natural landscape, yeah.”

“We are.”

Marcus rolled up the plans and slid them into a cardboard tube before he tossed them in the cab of his pickup. “It’s going to be something, man.”

“You think?” Some days, Alex had his doubts.

Marcus slapped his shoulder. “It’s gonna be great. This place needs it. Plus, having a resort here is making it a lot easier to convince Josie to leave Vegas.”

Alex smiled. “Glad I could help.”

“Hey, she needs to work, too.”

“Does she still have blue hair? Not sure how many of the Springs girls are into blue hair.”

Marcus grinned. “My woman works the blue.”

Alex had to admit the man was right. He’s only met the woman once, but she’d made an impression, and it hadn’t been a bad one.

“Be good to have you guys in town,” he said.

“This place is gonna change a lot of stuff, man.” Marcus walked around to the side of his pickup. “For the good, Alex. It’s gonna be amazing.”

“Thanks, Marcus. See you Monday.”

“See you.”

A cloud of dust followed the pickup while Alex let down the tailgate of his white truck and sat at the edge of Springs Park, looking over the staked and leveled ground he’d bought from Old Joe Quinn and his own father. Resting at the base of the sandstone cliffs, the seven springs that gave the town its name bubbled steadily, as they had for centuries.

It had been his own ancestor, Robert McCann the first, who began the trek that started East of the Mississippi, in the Great Smoky Mountains, and had led West, gathering in others who were looking for a fresh start. Led by Thomas Crowe’s vision, they came to the desert, and it was Andrew McCann, the first water witch of Cambio Springs, who found the bubbling mineral waters and the hidden oasis, a fresh spring that provided the travelers drinking water.

The same spring that kept them alive also gave those first settlers the magic that let them shift into the animals that surrounded them. Know one knew why. Alex had stopped asking when he figured out none of the grownups had a clue, either. It just was.

He walked the perimeter of the property, the wolf in him happy to be checking the boundaries of his new territory. The reception building and office areas would border the existing city park. Placing the buildings there would allow for an attractive entrance to the resort and draw attention to the main shopping street, which the city was already cleaning, updating, and landscaping. Walls carefully concealed with palms and bougainvillea would give the resort guests and the town residents the privacy both craved.

It had been a condition of the town council that the residents still be able to use the two largest mineral pools as they always had. Alex, who had grown up playing in Springs Park, agreed. Marcus’s plans gave the resort access to draw from the hot mineral water and use the mud pools that were on the edge of the park. Those would be enclosed in the resort property and used for cosmetic treatments and mud baths.

The hot mineral water from the two largest pools would be fed into a man-made grotto, continually renewed by pipes carefully concealed beneath the ground. The runoff from the grotto would feed down into a cooler lake shaded by acacias and palms. Clusters of white bungalows would dot the property, following the traditional clean lines of Southwestern architecture that allowed the landscape and vistas to take center stage. The rock left over from clearing the land would be used to build winding paths interspersed with locally sourced tile. There would be hiking paths and yoga classes. Spa treatments in a beautiful building with views of the mesa. A restaurant that Alex and Jena both hoped would draw raves.

It would be beautiful. It would provide jobs and opportunities for the town to grow. And it might even make Alex some money.

If they could stay on schedule.

He wondered what Ted would think of it.

Then he decided not to torture himself. He walked up the hill back to his truck and headed back to his parents’ house, deciding to go into the diner to speak to Jena about renting tomorrow.

For more information, please visit ElizabethHunterWrites.com

ALSO BY ELIZABETH HUNTER

The Irin Chronicles

THE SCRIBE

THE SINGER

THE SECRET (Winter 2014)

The Elemental Mysteries Series

A Hidden Fire

This Same Earth

The Force of Wind

A Fall of Water

The Elemental World Series

Building From Ashes

Waterlocked (novella)

Blood and Sand

The Bronze Blade (novella)

The Cambio Springs Series

Long Ride Home (short story)

Shifting Dreams

Five Mornings (short story)

Desert Bound (Fall 2014)

Contemporary Romance

The Genius and the Muse

ELIZABETH HUNTER is a contemporary fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance writer. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College and a former English teacher. She once substitute taught a kindergarten class, but decided that middle school was far less frightening. Thankfully, people now pay her to write books and eighth-graders everywhere rejoice.

She currently lives in Central California with her son, two dogs, many plants, and a sadly dwindling fish tank. She is the author of the Elemental Mysteries and Elemental World series, the Cambio Springs series, the Irin Chronicles, and other works of fiction.

Website: ElizabethHunterWrites.com

Elemental Mysteries fan site: ElementalMysteries.com.

E-mail: elizabethhunterwrites@gmail.com.

Twitter: @E__Hunter

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