Page 2

Sully

The screen door slammed behind me as I shoved it closed. I raced for the gate, aware she was hot on my heels.

“Sullivan Hart! Just where do you think you’re going?” she screeched, sounding much more like a bird shifter than a quokka.

My footsteps paused, my fingers on the latch. I didn’t turn around. The heat of her gaze burned hotter than the May sun on my back. “Out. Away. Not here.” My words were short, clipped with my frustration.

Why did it have to be like this with her? She knew how stressful it was being back here after everything. Why did she have to lay this on me, too?

Mom sighed. I could guess she was wringing her hands, her face a mask of disappointment. An all too common look for her since that night.

“Sweetheart, we need to talk about this— “

“You promised me the summer!” I protested, hearing how petulant I sounded. It was my turn to let out a sigh as I whipped around to face her, where, shock, she was indeed wringing her hands. Dad would tan my ass verbally, of course, for being rude to Mom, even though he would understand how I was feeling. They both would, but Mom was too caught up in this frenzy to get me mated off.

Her cheeks were flushed with shame. I noticed a few new gray hairs and a couple of stress lines on her forehead. I felt a pang of guilt for causing her to worry. Then firmed my spine. I wasn’t the one in the wrong here.

“Sully, you’re still free to choose.” Her tone was carefully level, giving me the impression I really wasn’t able to choose a mate of my own. To be fair, they were hardly lining the block.

“Really?” I felt my eyebrows about hit my hairline with how high they lifted in challenge.

“Of course. We had a deal, after all.” She was acting like she hadn’t broken that deal all damn day!

“So what was this afternoon all about?”

Mom gave yet another sigh. Maybe she needed to see a doctor if breathing was such a problem for her. “It’s just that Orson has heard a lot about you, and his family…”

All I’d heard all afternoon was about how wonderful Orson was. I was frankly sick of it. Orson this, Orson that. Blah, boring. That’s what she sounded like. It made him less appealing than a wet sock.

“Look, I’ve barely been back a week and already I’m being asked to meet these guys you’ve been picking out for me. What happened to giving me time to decompress from college, ease back into things here before you start matchmaking?” I wandered closer, so I wasn’t blasting our business over the neighborhood. I was pretty sure half the street was listening in.

Near to her, I could see Mom’s irritation and a tinge of shame. We had the same cornflower blue eyes. Regret clouded her expression. She knew she was breaking the carefully negotiated bargain we’d come to with Dad as referee. It was part of the agreement we’d come to for them to get me home for the summer. I wasn’t going to return without rules in place.

Matchmaking was such an important part of quokka culture where the omega parent would be in charge of finding a good match for their omega child. Neither my brother nor sister were omegas, so Mom’s only opportunity to create a match was with me.

“Orson is very well connected, Sully. You could have a good life as his omega,” she finally said in a quiet voice. “His family understands that what happened years ago was just a drunken night gone bad. They remember the follies of youth, as they put it.”

Ignoring the last part since I was sick of the constant mentions of my misadventure in the woods, I focused on the second part. Ah, a “good life as his omega,” as if that wasn’t code for life as a kept husband. Days likely spent barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, or dressed nicely for dinners with his business friends. A trophy, not a person. Not a life where I would be allowed my own hopes and ambitions, a job, a life outside of where my alpha left me.

My face must have shown all my thoughts. Either that, or Mom had actually listened to me yelling earlier for a change.

“You’ve got him all wrong, Sully. It wouldn’t be anything like you’re imagining.”

Despite the show we were putting on for the neighbors, we did, in fact, love each other. No really, I loved both my parents. Respected the hell out of them for raising us and running a successful business. In this though, my mom was wrong. I knew exactly who and what Orson was. I was pretty sure she knew it too.

I was young, sort of pretty now that I’d lost the weight, and came from a good family. They could overlook my former “hysteria” for the good genes I would carry. My options were limited. Mom had latched onto the Blaines as the cream of a bad bunch, or whatever the idiom was.

“You’re telling me he wouldn’t want me to have little alpha babies almost as soon as we are mated?”

Mom winced. “Well, I know he’s family oriented.”

I was about to run out of my limited patience. “Babies, Mom. He wants me so he can have babies, because I’m only twenty-two and not past my prime like a lot of these alphaholes think. And clearly, he wants them as soon as possible, since instead of getting to know me like a normal person, he arranges a marriage like it’s a fucking business deal!”

Yeah, I was aware I was shouting in my mom’s face by the end of my tirade. Ashamed of myself, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “Sorry, all this mating talk’s got me heated. I’ll be back later. We can discuss it with Dad.”

Opening my eyes, I saw her hopeful face. Nothing of what I’d said had gotten through to her. She wasn’t wrong to get the matchmaking done quickly now that I was done with college. My reputation around town would only be improved by a decent match. My heart longed for something else, something more than an arrangement.

Mom and Dad were a love match, because Mom wasn’t the only omega in her family. The matchmaking was saved for her brother, who ended up loving his alpha. Maybe I’d be like my uncle and get lucky.

“Does that mean—“

“We’ll discuss it with Dad!” Another deep breath. “I’m heading into town.”

“Do you have your inhibitor?”

Holding up my arm, I flashed her the silver bracelet which covered my prey animal scent. “Got it.”

“Had to check,” she said sheepishly. “You know what you’re like.”

Yeah, I hated wearing it, though it was part of the town’s rules. of the many things to get used to again in this godforsaken town. I’d gotten out of the habit of it while away for college since I barely came home for holidays, working on campus instead.

I’d still been the target for gossip the couple of times I’d visited in the last few years. My parents actually took time off work to visit with me instead.

Stone had come to see me at college a couple times, one of the few Haenvale residents I actually wanted to stay in touch with. He was policing the tear on the human side, meaning he was uncontactable for the next few months. I worried about my friend. The tear was dangerous. Supernaturals on Earth got desperate, violent even. I didn’t want him to get hurt.

The sun glinted off my inhibitor, blinding me momentarily. Our mayor, a witch, had insisted we all wear them, hiding our true selves to make it easier for us to get along. As if there weren’t other reasons for people, shifters, witches, vampires, trolls, etc, to fight. Though I suppose not being attacked for being a little quokka by a wolf shifter was a bonus. Worth wearing the damn bracelet, even if it made my nose twitch.

Certain she would win our coming argument, Mom vanished back into the house, and I made my way towards the center of town to blow off some steam.

Life had been so different in college. Freer. Except, the only reason I’d been allowed to go in the first place was that it was for prey animals only. There was a building on campus of witches and other supernaturals, like the odd troll, but vampires and predator shifters were strictly forbidden. It was a haven, much like our town.

Was it perfect? No. It didn’t really teach us how to cope around predators, or for them to handle being around us, I guess, unless they were from big cities. My parents had terrible experiences in their pasts, not always having lived in Haenvale. Hence why we lived in a town like mine.

Haenvale was once a community of like-minded prey shifters who were sick of always being afraid. They’d come to the little beach town and made friends with a witch. From there, the town had grown into the bustling town it now was.

The rules were simple: always wear your inhibitor outside of your house and never, ever, go wandering in the woods to the west of the town alone.

“Sully! Over here!” Trisha called from the corner of Rosie’s café. It was the regular meeting spot for many of the residents of Haenvale. I’d worked there while in high school. I’d quit after the incident in the woods, unable to take the snide comments from Cress and his friends who’d gotten into trouble for drinking and daring me to go into the woods.

Haenvale was a bustling town, fairly densely populated given its size. There were bars and chain restaurants all over the place. It was a popular tourist spot, after all, but none of them were as special as Rosie’s.

Being at college had been kinda lonely without Trisha nearby. She had gone to study law at a mixed college where I was expressly forbidden to visit. Thankfully, my bestie came through and would meet me at her aunt’s or come stay in my dorm.

“Hey,” I called and headed to the counter. I waited patiently in line for my caffeine fix, knowing the iced caramel latte I was about to order would hit the spot.

A cold beer would’ve been nice, but alcohol messed with my heat suppressants. I was not going into heat in this godforsaken town with a line of alphas waiting to mate me, especially considering some of those candidates!

“Usual, Sully?” Rosie asked as I got to the front of the line. She was a sweet, older alpha rabbit shifter who had been running the café since before I was born. It was a wonder she still remembered my order since it had been at least two years since I’d last set foot in the place. If possible, I loved her more for recalling such a small detail about me.

“Please. Oat milk if you have it.”

“You got it. I’ll have Taylor bring it out.”

I should have guessed Taylor would be working. They were Rosie’s omega partner, a female presenting non-binary mouse shifter I adored. The couple were, obviously, couple goals. I loved them together and they, unlike my parents, modeled the kind of mating I wanted.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my parents together, they just didn’t always communicate well. Even though she was the omega of the house, my mom usually got her way, often ignoring what Dad wanted. Not that he was any better. Dad always wanted an easy life, giving her anything she took a fancy to, often at the expense of me and my older siblings.

Yep, I was the baby. Mom wanted me mated to have their house back to themselves. I honestly thought if we were wild quokkas like they had on Earth , I would have been the baby she would have dropped out of her pouch to distract dingos sniffing around our den. We didn’t always have the best relationship. Sometimes I wondered if she resented me for coming along after she thought her family was complete.

Rosie’s fond smile brought me back to the moment. “Great. I’ve not seen Tay in ages. How’s things?” The café was pretty busy as usual with a mix of townsfolk and tourists alike.

“Oh you know how it goes this time of year.”

Yeah, I really did. I was dreading work later because a ton of new people had already arrived and were sure to need something during the night. They always did. During school, when I wasn’t working at Rosie’s I was working at the hotel, helping out where I was needed.

Deciding to be naughty and risk the calories my mom would probably chide me for, considering how hard I’d worked to lose weight, I asked for an oat bar too, then took a seat across from Trisha. She had her laptop set up, a crystal powering the device, a series of documents likely on the screen. She had the privacy screen on because she was diligent about keeping her clients’ data safe when she was working outside of her office.

“Hey, Trisha. You good?” I asked, taking a seat opposite my only real friend in this place. Sure, there were others I was friendly with, except none of them knew me like she did.

Trisha studied me. “What did she do now?”

I slumped and rolled my eyes. “Only spent the day extolling the virtues of today’s top candidate. I don’t even want to think about how much money his family wants to put into the business.”

“Oh, Sully, I’m sorry. What did your dad say?”

Trisha’s warm brown eyes studied my face. I loved how she really listened to me. Her brown skin was flawless in the bright afternoon light. She was wearing a gorgeous red lipstick with an orange undertone that really suited her. Her pointed ears were covered in gold jewelry, looking stylish .

Not that I was any slump in the looks department after her aunt got her hands on me. She had found products that worked best on my pale white skin, making it glow. Trisha’s aunt got me to love how my nose was dotted with freckles. I would get chided for calling my hair mousy brown, because it had gold in it. With their care, I grew to appreciate my delicate features and highlight my sky blue eyes.

After losing my puppy fat, as Mom liked to call it, I had a decent body. Lean, probably in the too thin category when Mom was in charge of my diet. Yeah, I was working on the food issues I’d picked up thanks to her, but I got where she was coming from, and most of it she took from her parents. Her focus was on getting me, her only omega child, a decent mate. Alphas, even prey animals, liked to be bigger and stronger than their mate, wrong or not.

Supernaturals had strange beauty standards not unlike the humans did in their TV shows. Earth Two streamed their entertainment all the time. Humans were too interesting.

“He wasn’t there, which is why she did it.” I fiddled with a napkin, trying not to get angry at my mom again. I was going to enjoy the hell out of that oat bar just for spite. I was working on her seeing that health was more important than being thin for the sake of it. Especially if I was going to have kids any time soon.

“Right.” Trisha grimaced.

We both moved out of the way when Taylor dropped off my order. “Hey, Sully. Glad to have you back.” They squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t suppose you’re looking for work? The café is pretty busy and we could do with a hand.” They glanced at me hopefully through dark lashes.

Their face fell when I shook my head. “Sorry, my parents have me on reception at the hotel full time. I’m actually taking the night shift. Not that Mom wanted me working nights,” I said wryly.

I’d honestly rather work at the café, but my parents needed the help at the hotel just as much as Rosie likely needed staff. We were at the start of the peak season with fewer summer workers than normal. There was no chance of me doing both with how protective my parents were with me. They were worse since the woods. It had taken so many arguments before they let me take on night shifts on the reception desk without someone with me.

“Well…” Taylor began with a defeated sigh, “if you hear of anyone, send them our way. I swear th ere are more and more tourists every year, which is great for business…”

“But you’re rushed off your feet. I get it.”

Taylor rushed back to the counter to make more drinks for their mate, leaving me to get the third degree from Trisha.

“So who was it this time?”

“Orson Blaine.”

“Oh!” Trisha’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. “He’s not actually that bad.”

“Not you too!” I wailed.

The walk home gave me time to think about some of the things Trisha said over our coffees. She liked Orson from their occasional business dealings. Apparently the sparrow shifter was handsome. Meeting him wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

“Did you wear sunscreen?” Mom fussed almost as soon as she saw me enter the house.

“Um…” I hedged. Okay, I knew it was the responsible thing to do, but I’d been so desperate to get away it was lucky I’d taken my inhibitor.

“Sully! Your freckles! Do you have concealer? You can’t go to dinner with Orson like that!”

“I’ve not agreed to meet him yet!”

“What’s going on?” Dad came into view, a frown on his face.

“Your son went out in this,” she waved her hand to the bright light streaming in the window, “without any sunscreen!”

Dad restrained an eye-roll with difficulty. He scanned my face, looking for the flaws Mom saw. “I’m sure it was fine. You only went to Rosie’s, right?” He knew me too well.

“Yeah.”

“Then no real harm done.”

“No harm?” Mom nearly screeched. “His freckles! They’re covering his face.”

“They’re cute!” Dad protested.

“What will Orson’s parents think?” she replied.

“Why would I be meeting his parents? I thought you wanted me to meet him for dinner…” Suspicion settled heavily on me. There was much more to this blind date than I thought, wasn’t th ere?

Mom flushed. “Well… Orson thought it would be a good time for us all to get together. His parents, us and you both.” She winced at the scowl on my face.

“So have you already agreed to a price for me? Or do they need to see the goods in person before they choose how much they’ll pay?”

Dad stayed quiet, leaving Mom to splutter, “that’s not what this dinner is!”

“Right. Sure. I hope you’ve trained a replacement for me at the hotel, because you know I won’t be allowed to work once I’m mated into his family, right? Oh, and forget Sunday dinners with me, I’ll have to ask his permission to leave the house—“

“Hold on, Sully,” Dad cut in, “his family aren’t that conservative.”

“So you admit I won’t be able to work anymore? Won’t earn my own living, see who I want to and when…?”

His shared look with Mom told me he had no idea who they were selling me off to. It was her job, after all.

“We’ve already agreed to the dinner. We can’t back out now,” Mom finally said into the silence, which stretched between us .

I stared down both my parents, aware I wasn’t going to win this. Didn’t mean I was going down without a fight. They wanted me to go to dinner with potential in-laws? I’d make them regret it.

“Fine. I’m going to get ready for work. Might as well enjoy it while I can.” Didn’t have to clue them into my plan, either. Orson and his parents would be backing out of this deal they made so fast.

With a devilish smile on my face, I slammed the door to my bedroom and raced for the shower to plot.