Bearly A Squeak (2 page)

It was mid-afternoon and still no sign of Sara. Still, at least the shop was quiet now. Just a few hours and then she could go home. This day was a total write-off. It really couldn't get much worse.

The door opened and Tara froze to the spot. What do you know? Apparently the day could get worse. She stared, unable to take her eyes off the incomer as he looked her up and down, his expression clearly finding her wanting. Barry. Her ex. What the hell was he doing here? If the universe were nicer, he would have become fat, bald, or ugly. Instead, he stood there in front of her looking like a male model. Perfectly straight white teeth, floppy blonde hair, warm brown eyes. Couldn't he at least have developed acne? Even just one single zit? Hell, she’d have settled for a wrinkle.

“I see you're still eating the cheesecake,” he remarked, his gaze on her hips.

She couldn't control the flush in her cheeks or the guilt that swamped her. It was always that way with him. No matter how strong she thought herself, one well aimed remark from Barry and she went back to being mousier than her inner animal. Why did she let him get to her this way?

“Barry?” she squeaked. She held onto the counter, trusting it to hold her upright. Her legs certainly weren’t up to supporting her. “What are you doing here?” Was it coincidence or had he deliberately tracked her here?

“I've just moved here,” he answered, his smile a little too smug. “I felt like a change and I'd heard such good things about this town.”

“Moved here?” He couldn't be serious. Not now when her life was going so well. Now she'd have to pack up and leave again. Start over. Where could she go? Her mind span, trying desperately to find a way to escape.

“Yes,” he answered, watching her. “Permanently. Which gives us plenty of time to get reacquainted, Mouse.” She hated that nickname. He always used it as a weapon, not a reference to her inner animal, rather a dig at her lack of confidence.

She stared at him. She wanted to tell him to get lost. That she'd never allow them to get 'reacquainted', but she never had been good at standing up for herself. Especially not with Barry. Something about him made her small and powerless. She hated her reaction to him but she could never quite wrestle it under control.

“Meantime,” Barry continued, “I'll be sitting right over there in the corner. Get me a coffee. You know how I like it.” He stalked over to sit at a corner table, his eyes constantly watching her.

Her hands shook as she made his coffee. A braver woman would have told him to leave. A really brave woman would see him wearing his coffee. Katie, the bravest woman she knew, would have stalked over to him and ripped his spine out through his mouth. Tara wasn't brave. Instead, she found herself doing exactly as he said, like she usually did. Her whole body clumsy, her mind reeling with shock, she simply went through the motions. She'd never expected to see him again. She'd believed she was free. How had he found her? Only her family knew where she'd gone and they’d never have told him. Panic choked her. She had to get out of here but she couldn't leave yet. Not if she wanted to keep her job. Although, if she decided to run, she wouldn't be needing her job anyway. Paralysed with indecision, she simply continued to do as she’d been told.

Hannah came over and took the order over to Barry. He gave her an amused smile and settled in to watch Tara. He was going to just sit there, watching her, intimidating her. What would happen when the cafe closed? Would he follow her home? This day just couldn't get any worse.

The door opened and Sara breezed into the café. Tara’s heart skipped a beat. Her day just got worse again. Her ex and her sister in the same place. They'd only met a few times, but their mutual antipathy had been immediate and obvious. Tara forced herself to breath and almost hyperventilated. She couldn't deal with the inevitable scene when Sara and Barry came face to face. Sara was really not a 'turn the other cheek' type of person. This had the potential to go all kinds of wrong.

“Hey sis,” Sara said, walking round the counter to give her a hug. “Everything ok? You look a little pale.”

“I'm fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “Just tired and I hate working out front. You want my key?” Maybe if Sara left now, she wouldn't see Barry and the disaster would be averted.

“Nah,” Sara said. “I thought I'd have a cup of tea and wait until closing time. Then we can head home together.”

Relief and fear warred in her mind. Barry wouldn't try anything with Sara here. Her sister, however, possessed a bit of a temper and might react badly if she spotted Barry. Tara held her breath as she watched her sister take a seat near the counter. She hadn't noticed Barry yet but eventually she would. Barry wasn't smart enough to stay away. He was going to draw attention to himself and then things would get messy. The kind of messy that would see the cafe shut down for health code violations. Blood and entrails were considered highly unsanitary. This day really couldn't get any worse.

The door opened. The man who walked up to the counter was huge. Dark hair, blue eyes, lots and lots of muscle, and a deliciously handsome face. He stopped at the counter, opened his mouth, stopped. Sniffed. Shock spread across his face, followed by a grin.

Taking a discreet sniff, her inner animal squeaked in excitement, her mouth hanging open. She dropped the cup she was holding, vaguely aware of the sound of it smashing on the floor. Her mate. Here. Along with her twisted ex and her volatile sister. Oh. Hell. No. Enough was enough. She'd had more than any sane person could be expected to deal with today, especially when she was cheesecake deficient.

So she did the only thing that she could. She bolted.

***

What the hell? Alex watched as the cute little mouse fled. His mate. His
mate
. He'd finally found what he'd been waiting for and she was adorable. Even in that hideous outfit. Considerably shorter than him, curvy, blue eyes, and light brown hair. Pretty. His bear growled inside his mind, snapping him out of his shock. Why was his mate running away?

He took a step forward and was nearly bowled over by a woman who looked remarkably like his mate and yet wasn't.

“Sorry,” the woman called as she followed the mouse to the kitchen. From a glimpse through the door, he could see the back door was open. His little mouse had already fled. No matter. Clearly she worked here, since nobody would choose to wear that uniform. She'd have to come back to work eventually. Or he could ask Ethan about her since his mate also worked here. He'd find her again.

“Can I help you?” The voice came from a human female, also wearing the awful uniform.

“Yeah,” he said. “Can I have a honey cake to go, please?” He'd decided to get one to sweeten up his mother. His usual supplier had sold out, so on a whim, he'd decided to try this place where a lot of his officers bought doughnuts. Of course, he did plan on having some of the honey cake too. Although, with his mate around, that might solve the problem of his mother. Except for the part where he'd have to explain that his mate had run away. The last thing he needed was his mother tracking down his mate. No good would come of that.

Paying for his cake, Alex took it out to the car and pulled out his phone. He had to know who she was. He should have read the name tag on her uniform, but he hadn't thought of it at the time, since he’d been too busy looking at the rest of her.

“Hunter.” Ethan's voice answered.

“Ethan, it's Alex,” he began. How should he phrase this to avoid looking like an idiot?

“Yeah boss,” Ethan said. “What's up?”

“In the cafe where your mate works,” Alex said, “what's the name of the mouse shifter who works there?”

“Uh, Tara,” Ethan answered. “Why?”

Tara. His mate's name was Tara. “What's her surname?”

“No idea.” Ethan's voice sounded puzzled. “What's this about? Is she in trouble?”

“Tara's in trouble?” Dana's voice came over the phone. Clearly she had been standing next to Ethan and had now grabbed the phone. Fabulous. “What's wrong?”

Alex leaned back, smacking his head off the headrest. He sighed. “She's not in trouble. As far as I'm aware. I just need to know who she is.” Dana was going to ask. He just knew it. The universe clearly disliked him and was determined to make him pay.

“Why?” Yeah, she asked.

He closed his eyes, screwed them shut. “Because,” he said slowly, “she's my mate.”

There was stunned silence, just for a moment, then a high pitched girlie squeal. Alex removed the phone from his ear, wincing. He wiggled his finger in his ear, waiting for the ringing to subside.

“Hello? Hello?” Dana's excited voice came back over the phone. “Are you still there?”

He gingerly held the phone back to his ear. “Yeah, but no more squealing.”

“Sorry,” she said brightly. She didn't sound sorry. “Her name is Tara Evans. Wait... Why didn't you just ask her yourself?”

“I didn't get a chance,” he said. No way was he admitting that his mate ran away from him. A bear had to keep some pride.

“She ran away, didn't she?” Dana asked. Dammit.

“Maybe,” Alex huffed.

“Don't take it personally,” Dana said. “She does that. You probably just caught her by surprise.”

He grunted.

“Look,” Dana said, “why don't you drop by the bakery tomorrow? I'll let you into the kitchen to talk to her.”

He sighed. “Okay. I'll do that.”

He ended the call and remained sitting there, eyes closed. How could he get his mate to stop running long enough to claim her?

***

Her sister caught up with Tara just outside her house.

“Dammit, Tara,” her sister wheezed, holding her sides. “Don't make me chase you. You know I hate running.”

Tara stopped and turned. Scanned the street. It was only Sara, nobody else had followed. She let out a shaky breath. She was safe for a little longer.

“Tara?” her sister asked, her expression one of concern. “What's wrong? What was all that about?”

Tara shrugged. Where would she even start?

Her sister grabbed her arm and walked her to the house, taking her key and letting them both inside. Once inside, Sara steered her to a chair and pushed her gently into it.

“Okay, sit. Spill.” Sara stood in front of her, arms crossed. “You know I'm not letting this go.” From experience, Tara knew that she meant it.

Tara shot her an exasperated glance and then sighed. “Fine. Barry turned up.”

Her sister's eyebrows shot up. “Your ex? The asshole?” Yeah, Sara really hadn't liked Barry and she didn't even know the half of it. Tara preferred to keep it that way.

“Yeah, it threw me,” Tara admitted with a shrug.

Sara tilted her head to the side, continuing to look at her. “No, there's more than that. You didn't run until that hunky bear turned up.”

Tara suppressed the growl at her sister noticing that the bear was hunky. Apparently she didn't control her expression quite as well. Her sister's eyes narrowed at her, then widened in surprise.

“You like him! You like the bear!” Sara exclaimed. “I knew it!”

Tara sighed. Time to come clean. “He's my mate.” There. She said it. Exceptionally quietly, but technically it was out loud, so it counted.

Her sister's mouth hung open. “Oh. Oh. Wow.” Then she grinned, giving her a huge thumbs up. “Well done, sis.”

Tara rolled her eyes.

“Wait.” Sara's face was scrunched up. She held up two fingers. “Two points. One, I thought you said Barry was your mate. Two, why were you running away from him? He's your mate, and he's hot. Really, really hot. Did I mention he was hot?”

“You might have said something,” Tara answered drily.

“So what gives?” Sara asked, finally sprawling on a chair.

Tara shrugged. “I guess I just flipped out. That’s the first time I met him. It was… unexpected.”

Sara watched her, her expression puzzled. “So what's with Barry? You always said that Barry was your mate. If hot bear dude is your mate, then clearly Barry isn't.”

“Clearly,” Tara agreed, frowning. “You know, I never really felt the way I expected with Barry. He always seemed so sure we were mates, so I assumed we must be. Now that I've met...” What the heck was his name? “... uh, hot bear dude, I can tell the difference.”

“So, it's definitely hot bear dude?” Sara asked, watching as Tara nodded. “That's one hell of an upgrade. So why did Barry think you were mates? He must have known you weren't.”

Tara frowned. “Is it possible that he did feel the mating pull? Even though I didn't?”

“I honestly don't know,” Sara said, thoughtfully. “You're not choosing the asshole over hot bear dude though, right? You're not still hung up on Barry?”

“No. I’m definitely not hung up on Barry,” she said, repressing a shiver.

Sara grinned at her. “Good. So, now the question remains... why were you running from hot bear dude?”

“He caught me by surprise,” Tara said. “With everything else going on, I panicked, ok?”

Sara snorted. “Well now that you know, he can't catch you by surprise again.”

“I'll probably never see him again,” Tara pointed out. Now why did that thought make her so sad?

“Please,” Sara scoffed. “He's your mate. I assume he realized this?” She waited for Tara's nod. “Yeah, then you'll see him again. He'll find you, sis.”

Tara wasn't sure if she was more relieved or freaked out.

“I'm sorry, Alex,” Dana said apologetically. “Tara didn't come in today.”

Alex sighed. His mate was still hiding from him. Really, was he that scary? So, he was big and growled a lot, he was a grizzly after all. He'd never hurt his mate though.

“You know,” Dana added, “you're the second person today to come in asking about her.”

His ears pricked up at the mention of someone else. “Who else was here?”

Dana grimaced. “This smarmy looking guy. Good looking, I guess, but there was just something about him that left me cold. I thought for a moment that he was going to search the premises, but then Felix chased him off. You know, Katie's brother, the one with THE hair.”

Yeah, everyone knew about Katie's brother with THE hair. Even Alex could admit that it was damn fine hair. So who else was looking for his mate? A small growl slipped out. He didn't like the thought of another male sniffing around. Inside his mind, his bear was getting increasingly grumpy, demanding that they track down their wayward mate.