Page 7

Except there wasn’t one.

I was in my bedroom. Alone. My shifter sight meant that even though my room was pitch black, I could see that I was, in fact, alone in here.

“What the…” I intended to curse my bear but instead, I heard a noise from somewhere outside.

It sounded like someone or something rattling around, going through something. Maybe there was an animal in the trash.

Either way, I had to find out.

I pulled on a pair of shorts and walked outside. No weapon needed, since I had the ultimate scary guy right inside me.

I paused outside my back door since that was where the noise was coming from. Pressing my ear to the door, I heard someone outside. Rifling through things. Moving something. What in the hell was going on?

Taking a deep breath, I put my hand on the doorknob and the other on the outside light. I flicked on the light and pushed through the door. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to be scary enough to ward off whoever was out there.

“Hey!” the person yelled back. Not as loud, of course, but they had at least heard me.

“I said, what are you doing out here? Trying to break in?”

The person came closer. The light I’d intended to show me who the intruder was had actually blinded me since the personwas in shadow. “I came here for the donations. What are you even talking about—breaking in? This is Oliver Creek, not New York City. There’s no breaking in. Hell, there isn’t even crime here.”

“Donations? I don’t have any donations. You’re trying to take things and say they’re donations?”

“What?” The person came closer, and I was hit with their almost-blinding scent. Lavender and coconut, some vanilla notes as well. My bear let out a low growl inside me. He was rolling in this man’s scent. “Look. James said he left some boxes here at the back door for me. I was just coming over to retrieve them. I don’t even know who James is. There was a text and I came over. Are you James?”

Huh. This person knew James. I stepped down the few stairs, and my feet landed on cold grass. “James is my friend. He was here when I was out of town.”

“Oh. Well, he texted me and I was just trying to get the boxes. No crime here. Don’t beast out on me, okay?”

“Beast out? I…”

“Look, can I take the boxes or not?”

I looked down at my feet to see two large boxes. On the outside was written in marker: Donations. Damn it. I was the fool here. But why would this person come at night to get these things? Why not during the day?

“You can, but why did you come here so late at night?”

The man lifted his head, and I gasped. It wasn’t just some man. It was Rue, the owner of the Trash Panda. I’d been trying to find out about him and his shop and donate, and now here I was, assailing him like he was a criminal.

“Because my store is open all day and my assistant had to get home. Plus…I like the nighttime. Yes or no on the donations. I can give you a tax form for James, if that’s what you’re wanting.”He stuttered over his words. Either I’d scared him that badly, or he really was super shy.

“No. No. Go on and take them. I’m…” Before the apology could come out of my mouth, Rue had picked up both boxes and was on his way, sprinting from my backyard and into the night.

Shit. That didn’t go as well as it could have.

I went back inside and locked the door and turned off the light while silently berating myself. That was Rue. The beautiful man I’d seen in the store. The man who smelled like a field of lavender on a tropical island.

And he was an omega. I could scent it on him.

My bear was wild with attraction for him. He wanted this man.

Damn it. Instead of going over there the next day to introduce myself and try to flirt with him, now, I needed to go with some flowers or something sweet and apologize in the hope that he would listen to me.

I stayed up for a few minutes more, wallowing in my humiliation. I’d practically called him a thief and scared the pants off him at the same time.

What a great first impression I’d made.

“Tomorrow, I’ll have to make it okay.” Even if Rue didn’t accept my apology, I would make a large donation to the charity. If he was helping people, which everyone said he was, then that was exactly the kind of place I wanted my money to go.