Authors: Carmella Jones
Chapter 5
Candy was quite happy to be seeing Hoss for dinner tonight. She dressed up all sexy for him and wanted him to take her back to his house. She liked his house even though it was small and not fancy. No maids, no security cameras, everything about him and where he lived represented the life she wanted.
“So your father took it pretty well huh?” Hoss asked her at the end of their meal. Candy had forced him to let her pay, she said it was the least she could do after he’d rescued her car.
“He did, surprisingly. I was kind of surprised.” She said. She took her credit card back and signed, thanking the waiter. “Are you ready to go?”
“Whenever you are.” Hoss said and linked his arm with hers. They walked outside down the street. A few minutes later when Hoss reached to unlock his truck his body jerked and he slammed into the side of his truck.
“Hoss? Are you okay?” Candy gasped as he slid down the side of the truck with a shocked expression on his face.
“Get down Candy, quickly.” He said, scanning the area. “I just got shot. It couldn’t have been someone who was used to shooting guns, they missed anything vital, but damn that shit hurts.”
Candy immediately pulled out her cell phone to call 9-1-1 and Hoss stopped her.
“No police. No cops. They can’t find out I’m a shifter. I’ll heal, I just have to get the bullet out. Do you think you can drive?” Hoss said, he was couldn’t figure out exactly where he got shot from, but he assumed the person would be coming to finish the job if they didn’t get out of there soon. He didn’t want Candy at risk and managed to get the doors open and get them inside. Candy was able to slide into the driver side and turn the car on, heading towards Hoss’s house.
“What now?” She whispered, her eyes wide. This was the closest she’d come to seeing anyone be hurt, and it sunk in how important the security she’d always had growing up had been with her father.
“Now, we see if he follows me home. I’m guessing if he wanted to kill me, he will want to finish the job and knows what car we are driving.” Hoss told her and when he saw the fear on her face he squeezed her leg. “Don’t worry, I just need you to help me get the bullet out. I can shift and take care of the rest.”
“Are you going to kill him?” Candy asked, concerned.
“Only if I have too. I’m not big on killing people.” Hoss told her and gave her a funny look. He felt a little sick from the bullet being in him, and was thankful that it wasn’t silver, silver really hurt.
“Do you think he’s doing it because you’re a shifter?” Candy asked a little while later, as they drew closer to his cabin.
Hoss shrugged and then let out a low groan from the pain. “I don’t know; I’ve been pretty careful over the years.”
Candy couldn’t figure out who would want to hurt Hoss. “What about it being one of the poachers? I get it’s your job to stop them, but maybe they want to hurt you because of trying to stop them?”
“That’s always a possibility. There’s a lot of people who might want to harm me.” Hoss sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m a politician’s daughter. Danger is something I’m used too; I grew up having security around me my whole life. I couldn’t even go to school without a guard to watch over me.” Candy let out a sardonic laugh. “This isn’t exactly my idea of exciting fun Hoss, but I’ll survive.”
“Let’s hope we do.” Hoss muttered and then stayed quiet until they got to his house. Ushering her inside, he turned all the monitors on and made sure they were looking for the tiniest movement and turned on his security cameras at the front of his house and off the back. He normally didn’t do that, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Setting an alarm, he hooked it up to his tablet so he could monitor the screens remotely.
“Okay, we should be good. It will beep anytime it sees movement. I need you to help me get this bullet out of my shoulder now, please? I have a first aid kit on the coffee table, and some tweezers. I already got the alcohol out, just dump it on the wound, and dig until you pull the bullet out. I’ll heal properly as soon as it’s out.” Hoss told her and set the tablet down on the coffee table as he collapsed on the couch to let her work on removing the bullet.
“Oh my,” Candy whispered as she did the steps to get ready to remove the offending piece of metal. She’d never thought of herself as a wuss, but digging around in his flesh with him turning pale and shaky as she dug for it had her feeling guilty. And a little queasy. Soon, she got a hold of it and was able to work it out. Feeling relieved she dropped it on the table and went to get a piece of gauze and some tape from the first aid kit to put over the wound.
“I’ll be healed by morning.” Hoss said as he started to improve how he looked now that the bullet was out. Sighing in relief he closed his eyes for a few minutes and then opened one up when he heard the alarm beeping as a car pulled out in front of his cabin with its light off. “Bingo. There’s the person who shot me. Now we wait. Candy, I want you to stay in the back room with the monitors. It’s soundproof and it’s basically bullet proof. Go in there and lock yourself in until I tell you it’s safe.”
“But…” Candy started to say when Hoss gave her a stern look. “Okay, I’m going, I’m going. Just be careful okay?”
“I promise I’ll be careful.” Hoss told her and gave her a quick kiss before making sure she locked herself in.
Now, he just had to deal with the intruder. Now that he knew she’d be safe, he could focus on the man sneaking up to the house. He could see the outline of a silenced pistol in his left hand.
Chapter 6
Hoss went and waited by the door, waiting for the man to try to get into the house. He silenced his tablet, so it wouldn’t give away his position.
Candy was in the back room watching the man grow closer to the house and felt her stomach drop. Praying Hoss would be okay she tried to figure out who the man was, in the dark it was hard to make out his features, but she’d swear… no, it couldn’t be, could it?
That looked just like Daniel, why would Daniel want to shoot Hoss? Candy was confused and the urge to run out there and confront him overwhelmed her. She was angry. If he’d actually shot Hoss, she’d shoot Danny herself.
Walking to the side of the door, Hoss turned the lights off in the main room and waited silently in the dark. He could smell the man moving around outside of his house and was hoping he’d walk in the front door so Hoss could just wait for him. He needed to be careful because the man had a gun, and he’d already proven he’d shoot Hoss once.
The doorknob jiggled quietly and then the door inched it’s way open slowly. Hoss didn’t react yet, he wanted to get the man all the way inside, in plain view and locate the gun before he acted. No point in anyone getting needlessly injured.
Walking inside, the man shut the door behind him without looking over into the corner. He completely missed that Hoss was standing there and Hoss realized he was an amateur. He had no idea what he was doing, and that was completely clear by how careless he was being with this whole thing.
Hoss silently snuck up behind him and grabbed the gun from him. The gun went off and hit the coffee table, lodging a bullet into it. Irritated since Hoss’s grandfather had hand-carved that table he elbowed the man in the face and disoriented him. He let go of the gun and stumbled backwards.
Before he knew what was going to happen next, Candy walked out of the room and kicked the man in the shins. “Daniel, you stupid idiot, what the hell is your problem, I’m calling your father. What the hell were you thinking. No, I’m not just calling your father, I’m calling my father and the police.”
“No, don’t do that Candy.” Daniel whined from the ground, his lips were bloody and he scooted up until he was sitting. Hoss had the gun and had set it in the back of his waist band to keep it away from the man without having his hands be full.
“Explain to me why you shot Hoss in the first place, or I swear to god I’m going to beat you within an inch of your life.” Candy hissed at him. Hoss had never seen her so angry, she was shaking and she looked mad enough to beat the man in front of them.
“Because you were promised to me. You were supposed to be mine. I was fine with you having a fling before our wedding, but you were supposed to belong to me.” The man hissed at her, and struggled to get up. Candy stopped him and put her foot under him and knocked him back down to the ground again.
“Don’t even
think
of getting up.” She growled at him. “I’m not a prize, or a possession, or a piece of property. I’m a human being who lives in an era where women get to pick and choose who they want for mates. There was something about you from the moment I met you that had me wanting to run screaming in the other direction. Now I know why. You’re totally screwed up in the head and I definitely do not want you. Even if you hadn’t shot Hoss, I picked Hoss. I want Hoss. You are pathetic. Worse than pathetic.”
“He can’t give you what I can.” The man said lamely, and then turned to glare up at Hoss. “You ruined everything. I swear to god I will kill you.”
“You can certainly try, but here’s a little secret,” Hoss leaned down and let his eyes and face shift just enough to his bear form to traumatize the man in front of him. “If you ever come near Candy, or me again, I will kill you myself.”
“What the fuck man!” Danny backed up and hit the wall hard with his head as he gasped when he saw Hoss turned in-human looking. Candy crossed her arms and didn’t bat an eye at Hoss shifting slightly to scare him.
About fifteen minutes later, police sirens lit up Hoss’s driveway and the police came inside after Candy let them in. They took the reports, the bullet from the coffee table, the gun that Hoss had taken from Danny and showed them the bullet wound that Daniel had already inflicted on him earlier.
Daniel was raving about Hoss being some kind of supernatural monster that had the police exchanging glances as they cuffed him and took him away. They finished taking statements and then Candy wrapped her arms around Hoss’s waist.
“I cannot believe he had such a screw loose. He was rich, good looking, could have had almost any woman he wanted. What the hell went wrong with him?” She wondered out loud.
“Wanting something he can’t have? The challenge of it can be mighty appealing sometimes, and some people are very poor losers.” Hoss shrugged. He didn’t understand it, but he was grateful Candy was safe.
A few minutes later, Candy’s cell phone was blowing up from texts from her father. Picking it up and calling him she tried to explain what happened. He was almost yelling into the phone about Daniel’s father calling him raging that Candy had him thrown in jail. Her father was angry, and wasn’t sure what was going on. After hearing Candy’s side of things, and her offering to make sure he got a copy of the police report, he calmed down and listened to her rationally.
She spoke to him for a little while longer, explaining things, and by the end of the conversation, her father was seething again, but this time at Daniel and his father, instead of Candy and Hoss.
“Your father always so quick to assume the worst?” Hoss asked her curiously.
“Sometimes, especially if he doesn’t have all the facts, the one nice thing about him is he’s mostly bark and not much bite.” Candy joked and walked over to Hoss and wrapped her arms around him. “So… Do you believe in soul mates?”
“I don’t believe in soul mates exactly, but I believe in mates. Our kind mates for life. We actually have a ritual that binds us together, sort of like a pagan hand fasting. It has perks.” Hoss told her suggestively and kissed her on the nose.
“What kind of perks?” She asked him curiously and leaned back to look at him.
“Oh, the kind that makes you heal faster, live longer, our kids would be shifters, that kind of stuff. There is a downside though.” Hoss hesitated, wondering if giving up trade secrets this soon into a budding relationship with a new woman was a good idea.
“What kind of downside?” She blinked up at him.
“The kind where it bonds us together. For life. The kind where one of us dies, the other one will follow.” Hoss told her and waited for the freak out that he assumed would follow. Her reaction however was not at all what he was expecting.
“Okay. That makes sense. Balances out the rest of it I suppose.” She shrugged. “The better question is, are you the type to go risk your life all the time or would you settle down and stop going after so many poachers? I love that you’re so happy in your job, but if you had a wife and kids, would you put yourself at risk?”
“No, I wouldn’t. I would still do my job, but I would probably request to get a younger, less attached agent out here to go after the poachers and change some of what I do.” Hoss admitted. He realized that the idea of hurting Candy by putting himself at risk made him rethink some of his priorities.
“I’d appreciate that. You know, it’s funny. Your cabin, your simple life, I mean, no one’s life is perfect or simple totally, but compared to how I grew up. The dangers of being in the public view all the time, I would love to just be in the shadows now, so to speak. I want my privacy. I want to just live my life without worrying if I have the right shade of lipstick on. Is that odd?” Candy shook her head and put her head against his chest so she could hear his heart beating.
Hoss kissed the top of her head and squeezed her tight, just grateful that the night turned out with less traumatic results than it could have, for both of them.
“I think that wanting to be able to be yourself and not worry what other people think constantly, or who it might effect by going into a grocery store could be a thing that people often overlook. The idea of being in the spot light constantly may sound appealing sometimes, but the reality of it? Having people catch on camera the most embarrassing moments, you spilling your drink, tripping and falling on your face, and many other things that could go wrong that happens to people every day. Only, with you, everyone would see it. Yeah, I can see the appeal of privacy and wanting to be invisible.” Hoss laughed a little and shook his head. “I never did understand wanting to be front and center all the time, or hearing yourself talk. No offense to your dad.”
“None taken, despite being a politician, my dad did get into politics because he wanted to make a difference in the world. I understand his calling, I just never wanted to do what he does. I wanted to be a wife, a mom, or just have some kind of normal, quiet job with a regular small house. Okay, having a maid is nice, I won’t lie. I don’t know what I would do without a maid.” Candy blushed a little. “But, maybe in a not-so big house, doing it all yourself wouldn’t be that bad.”
“If you need a maid to survive, I think I could compromise long-term about that.” Hoss told her, “And, I do know how to clean a house myself. There’s more to life then the woman cleaning a house. Men are perfectly capable of cleaning too you know.”
“One of many reasons to admire you.” Candy laughed. Although she admitted there were a lot more than that. He was an incredible man, a bear shape shifter, mellow, calm, everything she needed in her life.
“You’re not so bad yourself Candy,” Hoss told her and then slung his arm around her shoulders and guided her to the kitchen. “I’m hungry. Getting injured makes me hungry, do you want a glass of wine or anything?”
“No, I’m good, I’m content to watch you eat and heal. Healing is good.” Candy grinned at him and followed him into the kitchen. “So, your house, or mine?”
“Definitely mine.” Hoss laughed. While the idea of a big house with maids and cooks and gardeners might appeal to some people, Hoss was definitely happy being a loner in the woods.
“Whew.” Candy nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”