No Way (Claws Clause 1.75)

“Just something to think about, honey. Finish your tea, hmm? I’m staying in Coventry for the next few days at Luciana’s request. Here.” Kallista reached into the pocket of her pressed pants, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “The wards on the tower make it difficult to send messages. This is a phone number where you can reach me if you decide that your old Nana might actually know what she’s talking about.”

“Nana—”

“Hush.” Kallista clucked her tongue as she slid the paper across the counter toward Shea’s hand. Still, she was smiling as she said, “Drink your tea, honey.”

Shea drank her tea.

8

Shea made it two more days.

On the third morning, a week after she first started feeling off, she woke up and found that she barely had the strength to climb out of her bed. Her sides ached when she sucked in an angry breath. It took everything she had just to pull herself into a sitting position before she exhaled in frustration and reached for her phone.

Just in case, she tried to send a message to her grandmother, sighing when the signal didn’t go through. After hobbling out of her bedroom in search of the paper with the phone number scrawled on it, she punched each number as if it would help to make her feel better, then waited for Kallista to answer.

“Hello?”

“Nana. It’s me. I can’t take it anymore. If someone’s out there hurting even half as bad as me, maybe I can do something to heal him.” And then, she added to herself, maybe it would help heal her, too.

She could hear the proud smile in her grandmother’s voice as she answered, “That’s my girl. I was hoping you’d come to your senses sooner or later.”

“Blame it on how crappy I feel. I don’t want to believe what you’re telling me, but if it’s true, I can’t let the poor guy suffer. I’m betting, if this bond thing is real, I’m probably the only one who can help him.”

“You’d win that wager.”

That’s what she thought. “Okay. I only wish I could be sure it’s the guy I’m thinking of.”

“It wouldn’t be a Para by the name of Wolfe, would it?”

She didn’t even want to ask how her grandmother knew that. “Um, yeah, actually.”

“That’s exactly who Luciana thought it might be. Perfect. I have the address right here. Hold on.” Rustling came through Shea’s receiver, her grandmother’s soft voice as she absently chanted a “find it” spell before she came back and rattled off an address.

“Wait. I know where that is. He lives in a freaking Bumptown?”

“Well, yes, Shea honey. I explained your… ahem, mate was most likely a shifter, didn’t I? He is. So where else did you think you would find him?”

Good question. Since she’d spent the last two days pretending as if her discomfort had nothing to do with that handsome delivery man, Shea hadn’t thought about it. But a Bumptown? Only a Para who preferred not to mix and mingle with humans purposely chose to make their home in a Bumptown.

Ah, well. At least he wasn’t in a Cage.

Yet.

Shea knew the Claws Clause. Not very well, since she only ever focused on the parts that had to do with witches and witches usually didn’t form bonds, but she knew it. And if there was one thing that the government made sure all citizens knew, it was that there was nothing more dangerous than a bonded Para without his or her mate.

Great.

Just great.

And that meant, despite her desire to climb back into her bed, yank her comforter over her head until this all went away, and just sleep until the pain was gone, Shea had to find out if everything her grandmother had told her was true. Because, if Colton Wolfe really was her mate, that left her at the mercy of the bonding laws until they were formally mated or the bond was dissolved.

As she said goodbye to her grandmother, already making plans to travel out to the Bumptown, Shea realized something that stunned her: she wasn’t sure which one she was hoping for.

She shook her head at the fanciful notions running through her head.

Mate with a stranger? Especially one who didn’t seem to actually like her?

Yeah.