Page 13 of Mitchell’s Untamed Mate (More Than Human #2)

T racy double-checked her pack. She didn’t know how long they would be gone, so she had prepared for ten days. Van and Peterson were quietly chatting with her brother in the dining room where they had slipped in to grab a quick bite before they headed out.

Worry made her stomach tighten. Last night had been incredible. That wasn’t what was bothering her. It was the only thing giving her some measure of comfort this morning.

Well, that and I didn’t wake alone, she added.

While she hadn’t woken to an empty bed, there had been a barrier between herself and Mitchell that she hadn’t felt last night. She tried to put it down to the fact he had a lot on his mind. She thought about how she would handle the situation if their roles were reversed. Fear caused a knot to form in her stomach.

I would run like hell and hide in the deepest part of the forest!

What had shifters shown him so far? That they were hunting humans? That they didn’t have an issue knocking them out and putting them in a cell to be studied like some kind of virus? A low groan slipped from her.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked up, startled when Mitchell spoke. Her hand flew to her throat as her heart hammered. She had been so lost in her dismal thoughts that she hadn’t heard him approach.

“Nothing… everything,” she confessed without thinking.

His eyes shimmered with amusement. “Is it 'nothing is wrong', or is it 'everything is wrong', or something more like 'I don’t know'?”

She turned, stepped into him, and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her apprehension began to soar until he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She rested her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes, savoring their connection.

“Can I choose all three?”

He chuckled and rubbed his chin against the top of her head. “Only if you share why,” he teased.

“Tell me everything is going to be alright,” she pleaded.

He pulled back, cupped her chin, and tilted it until she could look into his eyes. They were filled with a dark, intense emotion. He tenderly caressed her jaw with his thumb.

“Everything will be alright,” he promised.

“How can you be sure?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I just have to believe it will be. Worrying won’t help. It will only be a distraction and lead to problems.”

She studied his expression, captivated by the depth of wisdom shining in his eyes. It was reminiscent of her father’s when she was questioning life and her role in it. When she rose to kiss him, he met her lips with a gentle touch. It was a fleeting kiss, but it provided a much-needed respite from her jangled nerves.

“Mitchell,” she whispered, her voice filled with vulnerability, “I’m falling in love with you.”

She could hear his sharp intake of breath, a clear indication that her words had caught him off guard. His throat worked up and down. Doubt and insecurity poured through her when he didn’t reply.

“Hey, are you two love bears ready to go? It’s going to take a couple hours to get there,” Peterson called from behind them.

“Yes.”

They answered together. Mitchell smiled and caressed her cheek again. She sighed with longing when he stepped away. The snicker of her bear rattled through her mind. The damn thing was enjoying how bad she had it.

“I’m not the only one being affected by this,” she muttered.

Mitchell turned back and raised an eyebrow at her. She shook her head and waved at herself. It was probably a good thing he couldn’t hear her internal thoughts.

“Private conversation with my bear,” she explained with a rueful grin.

He shook his head. “I’ll get you to explain that later.”

She huffed out a breath, checked the straps of her backpack, and slung it over one shoulder. There was no sense putting it on all the way since she would be taking it off in the car. She paused when her mother and father stepped into the hallway.

“Be careful,” her mother said before giving her a kiss.

“I always am.”

Her father cleared his throat. “I found this amongst some of the things I’ve gathered over the years. I thought it might be a nice gift—as a welcome.”

She took the small canvas roll from her father. It was obvious it was very old and meant a lot to him. She held it to her chest.

“Who should I give it to?” she asked.

Her father patted her hand. “You’ll know, love. You’ll know.”

She swallowed and nodded. “Love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart. Be careful.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. She gave him and her mom another smile before turning to the opened front door. Mitchell stood outside, watching their exchange. Van and Peterson were loading their gear into the back of the SUV while Ty and Ella chatted with them.

She adjusted her pack, gave her parents another brief smile, and walked out the door. She descended the stone steps with Mitchell and walked over to the SUV. Handing her backpack to Van, she stepped back.

“Keep us posted, Tracy. If you need anything, let me know,” Ty said.

“I will. You act like this is my first time going off into the woods,” she teased.

Ty wrapped his arm around Ella’s waist and wrinkled his nose at her. “If I remember correctly, you got knocked out and locked up the last time you went out,” he reminded her.

She snorted and shook her head. “Don’t blame me for that! I didn’t expect the government to be a pain in my as—behind,” she adjusted her last word when her mom delicately cleared her throat. “Sorry, mom.”

“I know, sweetie,” Lena called.

Ella giggled before her expression grew serious. “Mitchell, can you… will you give this to Jayden for me?”

“Of course,” he replied, reaching out.

She cupped his hand and pressed a small, cloth pouch against his palm. Her lips trembled as she struggled with her emotions. Tracy’s heart twisted when Mitchell pulled Ella into his arms and hugged her.

“Jayden loves you, Ella. She misses you. You know how she is. She bottles things up. Give her time,” Mitchell murmured.

Ella sniffed and nodded. “I know. I miss her. Please tell her that.”

“I will. You’ll get to tell her yourself soon if everything goes right,” he promised.

Ella pulled away and wiped at her damp cheek. She sniffed and wiped at her nose. A disgruntled expression settled over her face as she looked at the group.

“I hate being so emotional right now,” she grumbled.

Ty chuckled and wrapped his arm around her waist again. “It won’t last long. You’ll be back to your old self before you know it, slaying dust bunnies and kicking butt.”

“Let’s get on the road. I’d hate to think what they’ve got is contagious,” Van joked.

“I call shotgun,” Peterson said.

Tracy groaned. “You always call shotgun.”

“Van and I both know you’d rather be sitting in the back with your boyfriend,” Peterson teased.

“Tracy and Mitchell sitting in a tree—” Van sang in a sing-song voice.

“You guys need to grow up,” she complained, pulling open the back passenger door.

Laughter spilled out from the group, echoing through the air as they piled into the SUV. Tracy sighed and looked over her shoulder as they pulled down the driveway. It was hard not to notice the increased security that was present on site. She looked down at the carefully wrapped gift her father had entrusted to her, feeling the softness of the cloth and the roughness of the twine. As she turned it over, she examined the object closely, trying to figure out what it could be.

“What is it?” Mitchell asked, nodding his head.

She gave a brief shake of her head. “A gift for one of your clansmen.”

Mitchell frowned. “Who?”

“I don’t know. Daddy said I would know when I meet them,” she said with a shrug.

“Your dad always had a way with cryptic words,” Van replied.

“Yes, but when have you ever known him to be wrong?” she asked.

“Never,” Van and Peterson answered in unison.

Tracy smiled at their response, slipped the gift into the pocket of her jacket, and leaned back. She reached out and cupped Mitchell’s hand. His fingers curled around hers.

“Everything will be alright,” he murmured.

Her lips twitched, revealing a hint of a smile as she turned to look at him. Concern filled his dark brown eyes, giving them a soft and caring expression. If anyone should be comforting and reassuring someone that everything was going to be alright, it should be her telling him that, not the other way around.

“I meant what I said earlier,” she softly replied.

His lips curved into a slight smile. “I know.”

He feel same way. You see. I sense it.

Her bear’s reflection slipped through her mind. She sighed and looked out the window again, listening as Van and Peterson interspersed questions to Mitchell with tales of their own adventures. She was happy the three men were hitting it off.

Her mind wandered to the threat. Van told her that the SBSI had arrested a warthog named Carter Stout, but he claimed he had only been testing a new design for a tranquilizer gun and had shot Mitchell by accident. The shifter had denied knowing anything about the truck, saying that whoever had left it must have come after he had arrived. The tranquilizer gun was conveniently lost before he was apprehended.

He had also insisted that he was alone. Stout said he lost the keys to the SUV while out in the woods. Van said Stout had a few misdemeanor arrests for assault and theft, but after the shifter demanded to speak to a lawyer, the SBSI had released him. The importance of hiding the identity of his victim combined with the opportunity to learn more about his involvement by observing him after his release made this the best course of action.

The question was: who was behind this? Could it just be a group of random shifters searching for humans to traffic? She didn’t think so. Van said Stout had been unemployed for the last six months, but he visited the pub nearly every night. Financial records showed Carter only had a few hundred dollars in the bank. That wouldn’t seem strange, except the balance hadn’t changed in the past year. There had been no deposits or withdrawals. Carter also lived in a relatively nice section of the city where the monthly rent averaged around three-grand-a-month. That didn’t jibe with a bank account with no money in it and no job.

She looked through the windshield when they pulled up to the ferry terminal. Van pulled in line behind the other cars and turned off the engine. Peterson stretched and groaned.

“We’ve got thirty minutes before the ferry arrives. I’m going to grab something to munch on and a drink. Do you guys want anything?” Peterson asked.

“I’ll take a hot chocolate and a bag of chips,” Tracy said.

“I’ll go with you. Mitchell, you want anything?” Van asked.

“I will take what Tracy is having, please,” Mitchell requested.

“You got it.”

Tracy watched as Van and Peterson walked across the parking lot to the convenience store. She pushed opened the door and slid out. Mitchell opened his door and exited the other side.

“I need to stretch my legs. Want to take a walk?” she asked.

He looked around at the row of vehicles. “Will it… be safe?”

Remorse filled her and she scanned the area. From a distance, it wasn’t likely anyone would recognize Mitchell as a human. Still, he was right. Maybe this wasn’t a smart move.

“I have an idea,” she said.

She reached in and grabbed Peterson’s jacket out of the back. She pushed it across the seat. Mitchell shot her a puzzled look before understanding dawned. He grabbed the dark blue puffy and slid it on.

“Pull up the hood,” she suggested.

He reached up and pulled the hood over his head. “Great idea. Keeps me dry and covers my own scent.”

She grinned, grabbed her jacket, and pulled it on. “I’ll have to test it out.”

She shut the door and walked around the vehicle. Sliding her arms around his waist, she leaned into him and sniffed. Her nose wrinkled.

“Yep, you stink,” she teased.

Mitchell chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose. “You better hope everyone else feels the same way.”

“Let’s take a walk while we can,” she suggested, threading her arm through his.

They walked over to the retaining wall. Tracy studied the water. Barnacles covered the concrete structure. The water was crystal clear, giving them a fish-tank view of the variety of marine life. Her lips curved at the awed expression on Mitchell’s face.

“First time you’ve ever seen something like this?”

“Yeah. I’ve seen the fish in the rivers and lakes, but nothing like this. There are so many. They are so colorful and different,” he agreed.

“If we’re lucky, we might see a pod of whales on our way across. There is a pod that lives specifically in the sound,” she said.

“A whale?”

“I’ll show you some videos. You’ll be sucked down a rabbit hole watching them. There is a guy who does nothing but create videos about this specific pod. He has a gazillion views on his ShiftTube channel,” she said.

He shook his head at her. “Your world is complicated.”

She laughed, hugging his arm. “Love me, feed me, hold me. That’s really that all that matters. Everything else is irrelevant.”

He stared out across the water. “I can do that.”

Warmth filled her at his quiet response. She sighed and stared out. The ferry was coming into view.

“We’d better get back to the car,” she murmured, hoping that everything else would be irrelevant in the grand scheme of what they were about to do.

“Your contact was spot on.”

“Excellent. Follow them and keep me posted,” Hyder instructed.

“You got it.”

Lucien disconnected the call and slid his cellphone back into the pocket of his jacket. He rested his arm on the doorframe of the nondescript, blue Subaru Outback he was driving. He was parked three cars back from the black SUV that belonged to Van Timberwolf.

He kept his attention focused on the couple standing by the concrete barrier along the water’s edge. They were too far away for him to hear what they were saying. Anyone else seeing them would think they were a young couple in love out for a pleasant walk before the ferry arrived, never suspecting they were in the presence of a rare creature thought to be extinct.

Interesting.

The thought flashed through his mind the longer he studied them. What fascinated him was they really did appear to have feelings for each other. He tucked that tiny nugget of gold away. It might come in handy.

His eyes caught the movement of the two men approaching the vehicle from the other side. Van and Peterson were a problem. Not only were both men highly trained in security, they were also excellent trackers. Things could get very sticky if he wasn’t careful.

It’s a good thing I love a challenge, he thought.

The four entered the vehicle just as the ferry docked. Tail lights flickered like red lightning bugs in the row, indicating the eagerness of the drivers to abide by the tight schedule the ferry operator kept.

The occupants of the cars inched forward, forming three rows. He slowly followed the line, parking two cars back in the center row. The crossing would take an hour.

The four exited their vehicle again, chatting as they headed to the upper level with their drinks and snacks in hand. The wind was pretty brisk. There wouldn’t be many shifters up on the top level.

There was no sense wasting good rest time. It wasn’t like they could go anywhere. Who knew when he would get a chance again? Pulling the lever on the side of his seat, he leaned his seat back and closed his eyes.