Season of the Witch (Claws Clause 2)

It took a couple of days before Colt calmed down enough to go back to Grayson.

But, first, he made a quick stop halfway.

After the way they gouged him last time, Colt had sworn up and down that he would never use that same jeweler again. Since he didn’t know anyone else who would sell him the quality he wanted and have it on hand when he needed to buy it, he had no choice and he grumbled when the manager’s scent spiked in obvious pleasure when he walked through the door.

He left twenty minutes later, two grand poorer and with a peace offering tucked in his pocket.

The trip to Grayson was a necessity. He needed to show his wolf that Shea was safe. Sure, he asked Ralph to keep an eye on her shop while he was out searching for Julian, but it wasn’t the same.

Too bad they couldn’t find the Nightwalker. Their only lead—the Nightwalker club—had been a wash-out. Wright brought a whole squad with them over to Bloodlust only to find the parking lot empty, the entire building abandoned.

There wasn’t a single trace of the so-called Nightwalker king anywhere there. Knowing the cops had a shifter on their team, the corpses bombed the whole place with a sniffkiller: bleach mixed with oil of peppermint.

It blew out Colt’s nose. He couldn’t pick up a single trail that night, or for the next two.

Point, Julian.

It was mid-afternoon by the time he arrived at the apothecary. The store was open—as he knew it would be—and he found Shea standing at her counter, working on some paperwork. She looked up when the door opened, sparing a quick smile when she recognized him.

It didn’t quite meet her eyes. Colt pretended not to notice.

He jerked his thumb behind him at the front window. Ralph and Sloane had done an amazing job. If it wasn’t for the glitters from the last remaining glass shards twinkling out front, he never would've known the other window had been smashed.

“The new window looks great.”

Shea set her pen down, pushing the stack of paper to the side. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.” Colt huffed. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have needed a new one.”

“Hey, it was my fault, too. I should’ve known better. Grayson is a mixed town. Most of the shops have Para-proof windows just in case. I was cheap. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Alpha, did she have to be so nice? So accepting? And her lips… unh. The way they quirked just enough that he knew she was almost as pleased as she was surprised at his appearance made him want to yank her close and kiss her again…

Colt shook his head. “Anyway, I heard from Ralph that the job was done. I had some time so I thought I would check it out.”

“You talked to Ralph?” Her eyes brightened. “How is he?”

Colt was torn. On the one hand, seeing the way her whole face came to life with excitement only highlighted how absolutely stunning she was. Shea was so lovely, he had to admit that his dogged decision to break their bond had nothing to do with a sudden attraction to her. He’d been attracted to her from the day he delivered her dresser to her shop, and that wasn’t even mentioning how he reacted to her voice the first time he heard it over the phone.

If he was ever going to take a mate, this smart, kind, gorgeous woman was just his type. It was his own relentless need for control that led him to fuck this up as badly as he had.

Colt thought he could fight fate. In the end, he was the one to get his sorry ass kicked by it.

As he glowered down at her, he realized what that other emotion he was experiencing was. It was the same twisted, angry sensation that nearly possessed him when he saw Shea in that tight dress, hanging around the Nightwalker club.

He was jealous.

Of Ralphie.

Ralph Pacer was one of the older shifters in the pack. He was a wolf shifter, too, the Omega of their pack, and one of Terrence’s closest friends and confidants. A good man who had been mated to his wife Lisa for longer than Colt had been alive.

And he was jealous.

He swallowed it back. “You made friends with Ralph?”

“Mm-hmm. He’s such a sweetheart. He bought a couple of my soaps. A Christmas gift for his mate, I believe he said. You’ve gotta tell him I said ‘hi’.”

Right. Colt would give him her message right when he told Ralph that he no longer needed him to keep an eye out for Shea. Regardless of what he had to do to finish up this task force and take care of Julian, he’d be the only one protecting her from now on.