The Bear's Matchmaker, page 4
part #1 of Matchmaker Series
Ophelia.
The so-called seal shifter Ness had set him up with had been interesting, but her name shouldn’t be the one filling his mind when there was another woman in his home. He shook his head before taking a long drag from his coffee mug. He hoped the caffeine would clear his mind. The date from the day before would be put behind him. It’d been just another day.
But, the bear growled possessively. It wanted another chance at Ophelia. Miles couldn’t figure out why. Was it because she’d gotten away? Did the bear hunger for conquest? Miles tried to tell the bear that not every woman was theirs, but the bear didn’t understand his words. It only understood the dark-eyed siren that called to him.
Ghostly hands slithered over his bare skin, there but not. They wrapped around his waist, one rising toward his heart while the other dropped toward his cock. Immediately, his mind was filled with images of Ophelia and her long fingers. Reality stung when he twisted to find a ginger-haired woman smiling up at him. His smile faltered.
What was wrong with him? Why could he not erase this one woman from his mind? Even ridding himself of Thalia had been easier than this. Although, that might have only proved to him how little he felt toward the Alpha’s daughter. Ophelia, on the other hand, consumed him even though they spent so little time together.
Reality slapped him when he realized a pair of mascara laden eyes watched him from the sand. The early morning surfer leaned against his deck and let her eyes rove over his body. Miles touched his chest where the phantom hand had sat above his heart and wondered what the hell was wrong with him.
Her lips curled into a half smile. On any other day, he would have checked out the way her wet suit curved away from her hips, half undone to reveal the barely-there bikini top she wore beneath it.
“Would you like company this morning?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “I see you out here with someone every morning. I thought you’d like some company today.”
Her wet hair was wound into a braid over her shoulder. Tattoos curled up her arms, one depicting cartoon characters while the other was a skin version of Starry Night. Before yesterday, he would have happily invited her up. Yet, Ophelia still gripped his mind. The bear wanted no one else. No other woman was allowed to set foot on the porch.
When he said nothing, she slowly climbed the steps. The beckoning half-smile was still on her lips. It darkened her eyes until they began to smolder. She grabbed the waistband of his shorts and tugged him into her. His coffee sloshed over his hand, eliciting a hiss as it burned across his skin.
“What are you doing?” he hissed. There was a touch of the bear in his voice, making him wonder if it was him or the beast in control.
“I thought you would like a good morning.” Her voice was seductively husky.
Still, Miles couldn’t stand the idea of her lips on him. Not while the bear clung to the image of Ophelia. He could see her pursed lips looking at him with open disdain. He wished he could wipe it off her face, replace it with a stunned look of pleasure.
The woman rocked on her heels, leaning away from him. She looked hurt, put out. He never meant to offend her but had no way of expressing just how muddled his mind had become. In the end, his shoulders sank, and he let out a sigh.
***
Phone in her hand, Lia stepped out of her apartment to grab a frozen yogurt from the place on the corner. After the day she had, with an awfully awkward date, a run in with Caz, and a near miss with Oscar, Lia wanted to distract herself with simple human pleasures such as sweets and a mobile game. Thoughts of her predicament were far from her mind, pressed back so that she could savor the small moment of peace.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled, and she cursed. Was it too much to ask for one day away from the bumbling assholes? Why couldn’t they bother each other and just leave her out of it?
Before anyone could interrupt her, she bounced into the frozen yogurt shop and placed her order. She wanted that, at the very least. Cradling the small container of chocolate hazelnut, she scanned the people crowding Alvarado street while she descended the stairs.
Caz stood outside the fast food restaurant across the street. His hands were jammed into his pockets. His eyes slid to the left, alerting her to another shifter. She didn’t recognize the man. He could have belonged to Caz or any of the other assholes hounding her. Despite her determination to have a good day, her heart lurched.
She cut a sharp right and made her way back toward her apartment. All the while, her heart pounded. Her sealskin was not hidden in her apartment—she wasn’t so stupid—but the Alphas didn’t know that. If they followed her, they could force their way inside and turn the place over. The idea made her skin crawl.
Would they invade her life like that in the search of territory? Or, would they give her that small space? Lia didn’t want to find out. Feeling like a hunted rabbit was exhausting, making her blood cold each time she glanced over her shoulder. Waiting to see Nikolai Wilder’s twisted smile or Caz’s false camaraderie was tearing her apart. The feeling of fraying at the edges was wearing on her. The ocean was looking better and better, the feeling only abated by the small bites of sweet yogurt.
The sound of footsteps behind her sent a chill up her spine. Before she could turn around, her phone rang. Lia jumped at the chipper melody. Ness’s face masked by a kitty filter flashed across the screen. Seeing her best friend brought a smile to her lips.
Caz slid around her just as she brought the phone to her ear. It was all too satisfying to hold her finger up for silence and watch his surprised expression. Caz seemed alright, but she could see the greedy hunger in his eyes. He might pretend to be a good husband if she handed him her skin, but he wouldn’t love her.
Lia tore her mind away from the Alpha in front of her. “What’s up,” she asked her phone.
“I’m not allowing you to make my track record worse!” There was the sound of slamming things on the other end before Lia heard the rattle of ice in a cup. “You’re going to call Miles and set up a second date.”
“You’re starting to sound like the you-know-whos.” Lia eyed Caz. His expression shifted, understanding what she meant even if she didn’t outright say it.
Nessa made an unrecognizable sound, most likely out of frustration at the situation. She’d been running a small matchmaking service out of her basement office for years now, and her ability to find suitable partners for people had been mind-blowing until Lia and Miles jumped in. For weeks, Nessa had been complaining about someone screwing with her system, using it like Grindr. Nessa only shot herself in the foot by pairing Lia with him.
Lia remembered his remarkable interference. Miles had acted as if he wouldn’t touch Lia with a ten-foot pole by the end of the date, yet he’d run back to her the moment she shouted. He hadn’t been at all deterred by their awkward date, choosing to stand up for something. Or, at the very least, he’d enjoyed a chance to fight.
Caz watched Lia talk on the phone with feigned disinterest. She knew he was hanging on to every word she said, so she had to be careful.
“I have a feeling,” Nessa began. “Just trust me on this one and let me set up a second date.”
Caz peered around, and Lia’s stomach flipped. Her yogurt soured when she realized he was looking for her apartment. As much as she wanted to believe they wouldn’t force their way inside, she had no way of knowing. They might not do it while she was there, but the invasion still felt wrong all the same. Lia realized she couldn’t keep living on her own, and there was no way she could take this to Nessa’s doorstep.
Lia sighed. “Text me the address and I’ll meet you there? I can’t write it down right now. I have a visitor.”
Nessa paused, most likely confused by Lia’s phrasing. She prayed that her friend was smart enough to pick up on what she was trying to hint. Caz watched her like a bird of prey eyeing a rodent. He would have been attractive if he wasn’t such a greedy shit.
“Sure,” Nessa dragged out the word until Lia could hear the realization in her voice. It struck her at the very end, pulling an oh out of her. “Yeah, I can do that. Just give me a minute.”
Lia hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket before narrowing her eyes at Caz. The frozen yogurt in her hands had melted in the meanwhile, but her stomach protested at the thought of food anyway. She found a nearby trash can and dropped it in, mourning the day she’d wanted for herself.
“You’re not going to find my sealskin on me,” Lia said with her back to Caz. “I might have been born in the ocean, but I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Caz sidled up to her. His heat cascaded over her body. When she looked up at him, she caught the dashing line of his jaw, nearly hidden beneath the coppery blond scruff on his chin. “What’s so bad about an agreement? The other Alphas would step down if you would make an agreement with me. Simple as that.”
“Correction: not so simple.” She glanced around, making sure any nearby humans were wearing earbuds or engrossed in conversation before going on. “Any agreement that ends with me unable to see my sealskin ever again isn’t up for consideration. You don’t understand what it feels like to be torn away from your animal, to feel less like yourself every day.”
“If that’s what you’re worried about, what’s so different between that and what you’re doing now? When’s the last time you shifted?” His words were a slap in the face. It stung, but she tried not to flinch. “You’re practically human because you refuse to play the game. Just make a decision, and all of this ends. I’m trying to help you here. Give me your skin and you can wear it in controlled environments.”
Her spine straightened with defiant anger. “You’re not turning me into some Seaworld attraction of a wife. Like hell will I let you lay a hand on me or my skin if you think that’s any way to live.”
“What? Living like a queen? That’s so bad?”
“A queen trapped in a cage of a palace. Do you hear nothing that I say? Or, do you see the deed to the coast when you look at me and not a living being? Someday, someone will come by and open your eyes to the fact that you’re a dumbass, but I won’t be that person.”
His jaw tightened, and his chin jutted out. His shifters were out looking for her skin as they spoke. All it took was for him to hoist her over his shoulder and carry her away. Once he knew where she was, she could no longer move her skin from hiding place to hiding place, making it easier for him to finish the hunt.
She took an involuntary step back, wishing Miles was nearby. The thought was fleeting, but it struck her all the same. He was a bear shifter that didn’t make her worry every second he was around. If anything, she almost felt safe around him. She’d felt safe enough to tell him about her predicament on their date. She could have lied and told him she was a kitty-shifter like Nessa.
“Go drink a bucket of saltwater,” she grumbled. Spinning on her heel, Lia left to walk a few more blocks. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but she waited for Caz to leave the area before heading back toward her apartment.
She couldn’t stay there on her own for too much longer. The apartment was small and lonely, filled with nothing more than her secondhand furniture. She didn’t even have a dog for protection. Instead, she packed her things and went in search of a guard-bear.
Chapter Seven
“Hey,” she said. Her voice was forced, the tone falling flat even though she tried to put some happiness into it.
Miles stood in the doorway, a bathrobe hanging off his body. While he should have looked disheveled, he looked charmingly dashing. His hair was a messy mop that fell over his eyes. He flicked his head and tossed it back. The small gesture made her heart flip inside her chest. She ached to touch him, to pull his large form into her body.
A call came from inside the beach house—a female voice. Lia’s stomach flipped. A half-dressed woman appeared in the hallway behind him. Lia wished she could scent the air and see if the woman was a shifter, but without her sealskin nearby, her shifter abilities were muted. Jealousy spiked through her, sharp and jagged.
“Miles? Who is this?” The woman’s own jealousy was clear in her voice.
The attractive bear shifter suddenly looked like a deer in the headlights, and it made Lia laugh. She pressed past him and into his home. As she brushed against him, she felt a faint growl rise out of him. He reached for her, but she slipped away from him before he could catch her.
“Miles!” The woman snapped and put her hands on her hips.
Lia knew she shouldn’t care. She was using Miles as a barrier against the other bear shifters, but when she looked at the woman wearing Miles’ shirt and nothing else, she wanted to rip her face off. Instead, Lia forced herself to flop onto his couch.
“Ah, Ophelia meet…” The words seemed to die on his lips. Could he not remember the woman’s name?
“Rachel,” she snapped.
Ophelia nodded, jaw still tight from the jealousy she felt when she looked at the woman. When her eyes slid back to Miles, she said, “Call me Lia.”
“I need a place to stay for a while,” Lia began. “I hope you won’t mind if I crash here.”
Miles looked dumbfounded. He glanced between the women, mouth hanging open even though he had no words. Finally, the woman huffed and ran back to the bedroom. When she returned, her clothes were backwards or inside out. She got into Miles’ face for a moment, nearly pulling Lia off the couch, but chose to storm out the door instead.
After they listened to the engine of the woman’s car rumble down the street, Miles let out a sigh. The look on his face was hard to read. It looked as though it were somewhere between relief and defeat.
“Another match from Ness?”
“Ah, no. I’m not looking for a match anymore.”
Lia nodded. Her stomach tightened. She was happy to hear that he wasn’t looking for a match, but at the same time, she knew that meant nothing. He was still prowling for women. Miles was trouble for a girl’s heart, but she didn’t know who else to run to. Ness had been right. Only a bear could help her stand against the other bears. She didn’t want to be the wife of any of them, but she didn’t know what else to do.
Lia pulled her knees to her chest. She was lost. Every day, she was hounded by the Alpha bears. They no longer begged her to choose a side, doubling down on their search for her sealskin while the Alphas hunted her as if they’d get tired of the search and take her. They snapped at each other’s necks, hoping to draw blood. While they weren’t hurting her, they were driving her mad. This was no way to live. Every second of the day, she waited for the feeling of being claimed. Eventually, one of the Alphas would find her skin. The moment they laid hands on it, the magic would be binding. She’d feel it wrap around her and mark the end of the life she’d wanted.
Every day, she went about her job, waiting on people as if there wasn’t a part of her life in danger. At any moment, one of the Alpha bears could find her skin and the feeling of being claimed would slam into her. She waited for the sensation of fingers on her soul, of the binding chains of fate to crush her ribs. After that, she would belong to the Alpha, whichever one found the skin, and there was little she could do about it.
Running to Miles felt natural, but now that she was there, she wasn’t sure why. They barely knew each other. Sure, he’d helped her once, but that didn’t mean he was in any way invested in her. She shot up from where she sat and shook her head.
“This was a bad idea.”
He reached out and caught her. Shaking his head, he said, “No. You should stay.”
***
His mind spun at the sight of her on his couch. How she’d found him, he didn’t know—and honestly, he didn’t care. He let his hand slide along hers, relishing the feel of skin on skin. Since he’d met her, he’d been unable to lay with another woman. He’d certainly tried. A number of them had strolled through his life, like a spinning door. They entered and left without slaking the desires eating away at him.
The woman who’d left had tried. She’d invited herself inside, stripped away her clothes in a teasing display, and still Miles had been unable to touch her without thoughts of Ophelia entering his mind. In the end, the woman had ducked into one of his shirts and fallen asleep on the other side of a mountain of pillows.
The bear inside him seemed drawn to Lia, but so were a number of other bears. Miles told himself not to put much stock into it, letting his hand fall to the side before he turned away. She shifted uncomfortably, looking everywhere but at him.
He set about pouring two glasses of iced tea. Ophelia sat alone in the living room, holding her arms around her middle with a heavy duffle bag on her shoulder. Cold glass of tea in hand, he reached for the duffle bag. Lia took a small step away from him, making him hesitate. After a moment, she remembered herself and offered an apologetic smile.
“I can take care of it,” she said.
The bear wanted to hurt whoever made her afraid. It clawed at Miles insides, furious and hungry for blood. He remembered Caz, the Monterey Alpha. Had any of the other shifters touched her? Hurt her? The bear wanted to know who it had to hunt down.
Miles was in trouble. He could see it coming, his pulse pounding in his neck as he fought back the bear’s response to Ophelia. She was just another woman. Just another face. Yet, the bear refused to agree. It looked at Miles as if he were slow. What did the beast know that Miles didn’t?
“I don’t have a spare bed,” he said as he forced himself to retreat back into the kitchen. His movements were stiff, the bear fighting against him every step of the way.
Clearly, there was a lot he didn’t know about Ophelia. Whatever was going on between her and Caz had frightened her out of her own place. He had a feeling that it was more than a messy affair, although it was tough to break up with an Alpha.
Lia marched toward the couch, threw down her bag, and said it was fine. She gazed out the window with longing painted on her face. Miles’ stomach tightened. He wanted her to look at him like that. He shoved the thought aside as quickly as it came, drowning it with a glass of iced tea.
