Page 6 of A Clutch for Hutch (Omegas of Animals #16)

Dirk

Family vacations should all be this great.

My niece and nephew had just reached the cuddly and adorable stage, and seemed to like me.

I spent my days at their home, holding them, singing to them, reading them books they couldn’t possibly understand but that my brother-in-law said were good for their development.

Whenever he wasn’t paying attention, I set those down and grabbed the big, colorful picture books or the ones with silly rhyming couplets and read to them about dogs who were friends with frogs and what it was like at the bottom of the ocean where all the fish were friends.

There was a theme there, and I had to believe friendship was also good for their development.

They smiled, giggled, and spit up on me, and I loved every moment of it. My brother and his mate liked that I was willing to change diapers, even if they were blowouts, and amuse the babies while they took a nap.

They were both very busy with their jobs, but Hoover had taken the week off, and Grant was minimizing his work while I was there, so we had a lot of time to enjoy one another and even got out a few times to a local lake and a park.

It would have been a pretty perfect week, even if that was all there was to it, but I had something else hanging over my time at Animals.

The reason I went into the club the moment it opened at night and stayed until the doors closed. I couldn’t stand the idea that I might miss him. Hoover asked me to hang out and watch a game one night, and I made an excuse and left to head back to Animals. I couldn’t miss my mate if he showed up.

I’d never forgive myself, and maybe Fate would find me unappreciative and take him back.

My digs for the week were super nice, tucked into the mountain in a series of caves that I learned had been ancient cliff dwellings for Warren Ursa’s family hundreds or maybe thousands of years before.

But the decor held nothing ancient, at least in my room.

It had obviously been redecorated recently, a roomy studio apartment with a skylight that brought in the sun or moonlight where there were no windows and it might otherwise have felt too dark or stuffy.

The temperature was in the sixties in my room day and night, the mountain holding in the cool when it was very warm outside.

I had a large comfortable bed covered with a hand-woven blanket, a nice chair for reading or relaxing, and a bathroom that had the feel of a grotto.

When Karma, the wife of the owner who had been responsible for Animals current openness to everyone, showed it to me, she apologized that there were no larger apartments open.

I assured her I found it charming and wouldn’t want anything different.

Animals itself was a more recent build and had things like air-conditioning and extremely high-tech lighting and sound systems in place. Live bands played most nights, but they also had DJs who could get all the patrons out on the floor shaking their booties.

Or whatever the term was—I got most of my modern culture from books, so sometimes came across as a little out of date, I knew.

Karma greeted me each evening when I came into the club, made sure I was happy with my room, and reminded me that there were meals served for staff and guests in the kitchen at no additional cost. I had the impression my brother was not paying any cost for my stay, and I had asked how much the room was, intending to pay myself but was brushed off.

Essentially, I was a guest of the house, like a high roller in Vegas. All-inclusive for zero dollars.

Warren and Karma were not only married in the human way and mates but were so in love, it took my breath away and made me yearn even more for my mate to return to the club.

“I wish I could find him for you,” Karma said one night. “But I don’t know who it is. We have so many people come and you have no physical description at all?”

“Just a scent and it was faint. Like exotic woods and a trace of spice.”

“I’m afraid I don’t pick up on scents as much as you shifters do, and with so many people here masking their natural scent with deodorants, perfumes, powders, lotions… Sometimes it gets pretty overwhelming in here when we’re busy.”

She looked so distressed, I hurried to reassure her. “I imagine it does. But this one stands out for me because he’s my mate. I’m not sure if anyone else can pick up on it anyway. It might just be for me.”

“I see.” She patted my hand and stood up from where she sat at my table. “I’ll send over an appetizer plate for you. If you can’t have your mate, maybe a nice frito misto will help.”

“That sounds amazing.” Even though I’d had barbecued burgers at my brother’s home a few hours before, I was not going to turn down anything made in the kitchen here.

Between the chefs at Animals and my brother and his mate, I was going to gain ten pounds on vacation and have to run it off in training when I got home.

I was halfway through the plate of delicious food and wondering whether I was just kidding myself that my mate would ever be back when a scent overwhelmed all the other perfumes and colognes and natural fragrances of the crowded nightclub.

I dropped the piece of delectable fried shrimp I held and stood, nose in the air.

It was him, and he was here. Somewhere. This was the busiest night I’d been here, with people almost wall to wall.

Even on the dance floor, they were inches apart, swaying like a unified wave.

I left the table and pushed between a tiger shifter and his mole mate.

What an odd combination. My mate’s scent was the same as before, although now I could identify the elements of it: wood, maybe cedar, singed, with a spicy edge. And it was pure magic.

I ducked between the legs of a giraffe, who for some reason chose this indoor venue for a shift.

Most likely because few ceilings were high enough for this experience.

Around a trio of witches who might not have been flying on their brooms, but the chant that followed me held mischief at best and mayhem at worst. They’d better watch their step.

Karma was a lovely person, but Hoover said she was fiercely protective of everyone and everything at Animals, beginning with her mate and ending… maybe never.

But I didn’t have time to worry about those wand wielders because right in front of me stood my mate. And I leaped forward and tackle hugged him, bringing him to the floor and into my arms.