Mated To Magic (Stark Creek Shifters Book 1) by Barb Shuler (free ereaders .TXT) 📕

to Mia. “Liam will let them know what the deal is here and they’ll do what needs to be done.” My voice dropped again so only she and Jayden could hear me. “They’re human,” I met her gaze, “but work for my company. They’re the best alternative for now. I need a few hours to get them here.”

“Okay. Just don’t have them making enemies.”

I chuckled, leaned in to kiss her forehead, and wrapped my arms around her, giving her a tight squeeze. When I stepped back, I caught Jayden shaking her head. I poked her in the side as I walked by. She jerked and swatted at my hand. I wanted to tell her to have fun with her work area later, but I wasn’t ready to die. I wanted a good head start out of here before she saw I had messed with her bottles.

“You two,” I gave both Angus and Nick a hard look, “keep my girls, erm, the girls safe. One hair out of place before I return,” I paused to keep the growl in before I continued, “and you will both be looking for a new job.”

“Understood.”

I gave Angus another nod, winked at Mia, and walked out. I had ten minutes to meet Ty in the parking lot. Ten minutes that I hoped Jayden spent in Mia’s office. She could be as scary as Mia when she wanted to be. I chuckled as the back door opened. I was going to hear about this later.

10

Mia

As Dalton left, I couldn’t help but laugh as he poked Jay’s side and she pushed his hand away. He was the only shifter she was comfortable around, with reason, but I knew he was trying to keep her relaxed. Knowing Liam was in the next room would be making her uneasy, and I have to say, I relaxed when Dalton said that he was bringing these guys in before we resorted to the big guns. I didn’t want to think about that. I would put Jayden on leave before I forced her to deal with that before she was ready to.

“Lou should be here with the order for the bar soon. Can you guys give him a hand, please, then get to work?” They gave me a nod and went to it. Jayden took their vacated seat and kicked her boots up on the desk. “Are you okay?”

“Are you ever going to not ask me that?”

“Not while I’m still breathing and D plans to keep that happening for a long time to come, so talk to me.”

She made a face and shrugged. “I dunno. I’m a little on edge with him next door, but nothing too bad. I’m trying to remember that he’s a good guy and that dumbass would never do anything to put me in harm's way.”

“No, he wouldn’t. Which brings me to the other thing. Are you gonna be okay if he needs to bring his pack in? I’m going to do my best to hold him off for as long as I can, but he isn’t going to muck around when it comes to you girls.”

“I want to say we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

“It’s not one of those situations, though.”

“No. It’s not. I don’t know, maybe we should just up my dosage of Xanax or something.” She laughed. Shaking my head at her, I noticed that she relaxed a little.

“Do you want to meet him? So you know who you are dealing with if you cross paths?”

She was quiet for a minute, biting down on her lip before she nodded. I stood up and buttoned my jacket up. I took my phone from the desk, trying to ignore the fact that I was missing Dalton already. I knew he and Ty would be fine, but that never made it easier. Just like he knew I was fine here, last night being out of the ordinary, but he never relaxed until I was back home.

“Oh, will you quit thinking about dumbass.”

I swatted her arm. “I’m not.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You are, you’ve got a distant look on your face.”

“Oh, bite me!”

“No, thanks, I’ll leave that to the wolf.”

I knocked on the door to the second office before I unlocked it. I didn’t want to just walk in there on him. I went in and Jay followed behind me, sticking close to the door.

“Liam, sorry to disturb you, I just wanted Jayden to meet you. She’s my second in charge and bar manager. If she growls at you, don’t take it personally. She’s had to put up with D for three and a half years.” Liam chuckled and stood up, holding his hand out to Jayden. She slowly stepped forward and shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jayden. Don’t worry, unlike bossman, I’m the strong and silent type. He likes to keep me hidden in dark corners because he’s jealous of my good looks.” He winked at her and flashed me a smirk. Jay just laughed. She wasn’t completely relaxed, but she would get there.

At least this way, if Dalton did bring in the boys, we could put Liam in the bar and hopefully keep the other ones away. I really wasn’t looking forward to that. I hoped that Dalton had the sense to talk to me before that happened so I could at least warn Jay and give her the option to take a night off. I also knew I was going to have to tell him why she is the way she is with other shifters, but it wasn’t a story I liked to repeat. Anytime I thought about how I found her, I wanted to go on a killing spree. I don’t really think that was a side he needed to see.

Battling his own monster was enough without dealing with mine too.

“I am gonna tell him that you didn’t deny that, Mia.”

“What’s that, Jay, you want me to go and swap your glasses around?”

She glared