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

“What’s going on?” I asked, getting to my feet.

“I can’t fucking get into the bar! You don’t understand. Something is keeping me out. There were women screaming, people rushing out. I can’t get in!”

“What the hell happened?”

“There’s a fight or something going on. I don’t fucking know. Liam isn’t answering me! Kody can’t get in either!”

I grunted. Ty’s eyes jerked up to meet mine then dropped again. I folded the papers and shoved them into my pocket, pulled my phone out and hit Mia’s number. By the time I was out of the office and heading for the back door, her voicemail was beeping. I hung up and called Liam. His call went to voicemail.

“Mia, what did you do!”

I was running back toward the truck before I knew what I was doing. Ty ran up behind me.

“I talked to Simon. There was a bar fight. Only person hurt was the asshole who started it. Cops are coming in to pick him up.”

I said nothing as I climbed into the truck. I was counting in my head, trying to keep my wolf from taking over. She and the girls could have been in trouble…I wasn’t there. I left fucking guards and she blocked them—keeping them out! I was going to tan that little witch’s butt!

My fists balled tight, my nails biting into my palms as they started to extend. She did a fucking spell. On my guys! How in the blue fuck was I going to keep the people in her care safe if she blocked out the men there to protect them! What the fuck was she thinking!

“Boss?”

I couldn’t open up. Not yet. My wolf was so close to the surface, one wrong blink and Ty would end up with a cab full of pissed-off wolf.

I shook my head. Didn’t we just run into this situation? I pulled my phone back out and hit Liam’s number.

“Boss. Every—”

“Where. Is. She?”

My words were a growl, but it wasn’t me still, it was my wolf. I was losing control of him again. The fleabag was really pissing me off, but Mia—oh, she had top spot right now.

“Boss, she’s safe. I swear it. She’s talking to the cops. Jayden and one of the other girls is with her giving a statement.”

He said my girl was fine. I trusted him to tell it to me straight. I took in a deep breath and let it out. That wasn’t working. I still felt as if I were about to burst out of my skin.

“Dalton,” Liam’s voice lowered slightly, “you need to get yourself together before you get back here. Don’t—”

“Don’t what!” I snarled.

“He’s trying to tell you to not go in there and act like a bossy bastard. Mia will light your ass on fire if you do. She must have a reason for being—for keeping them out.”

Ty gave me a hard look, but I shook my head. No, it wasn’t that simple. Not after everything that’s happened over the last few weeks.

“I don’t fucking understand her! She knows good and damn well that shits going up around her, and this is what she does? Someone tries to hurt her…a fucking serial rapist of all goddamn people, and she keeps out my guys, the pack. The men that I entrust to keep her safe!”

As my anger surged, my phone paid the price. It was crushed in my hand.

“Man, you need to calm down. I get it, I do, but Dalton, your wolf…”

I knew what he was not willing to say. My wolf was taking over again and I just couldn’t fight it anymore. I was strung tighter than a kite in a windstorm. How was I going to keep my girl, my mate, safe if she wouldn’t let me? What in the hell could I possibly do to make this any better?

When we turned onto the street leading to the bar, I saw the police lights were gone. There were a few cars in the lot, but it looked like everyone else was gone. Good. Less witnesses. When the truck was parked, I jumped out.

I was going to have a chat with a certain little witch.

Both Max and Kody started my way but came up short. I stalked to the back door, pressed in my code not once but twice, and the bastard door wouldn’t open. I took a calming breath, did it again, and let the scanner roll over my thumb before it finally unlocked. When I pulled the door open, I pulled a little too hard. Not only did I bend the handle, but the bottom of the door came off the hinges.

Fuck! I’d fix it later. Tyson tried to follow me in, but he too was blocked. An invisible wall pushed them back.

“MIA!”

The snarl that accompanied her name vibrated across the walls as my boot steps pounded further up the hall toward the main bar area. My wolf was pushing me forward. He needed to see her—to see for myself that she was okay. Hug her. Spank her ass. Take her home and fuck her until she was as limp as a noodle.

I wrenched the door open separating the bar from the back, breaking off the handle as I stormed through.

“Boss!” Liam moved to stand in my path, worry written on his features. “The humans,” he said, his voice dropping to where only I could hear him.

“Where. Is. She?”

He didn’t have to answer, I saw her then, behind the bar with Jayden. My eyes narrowed and smartly he moved. The room quickly cleared of everyone but Mia and Jayden.

I felt when Liam came back in, but he stayed back. Shows you, cats can learn new tricks.

I stalked to the bar, my growl rumbling up through my chest as I got a good look at this defiant little witch of mine. She looked fine. Her cheeks were a little flushed, and she was glaring at me.

“Mia, come here, please.”

“Not happening.”

“We need to have a chat, my little witch.”

“Talk