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

make some time tomorrow before I come in to work. Worst case, you can stay in my spare room.”

“Where will Dalton sleep?”

“In my bed…with me.”

“When did this happen?”

“It’s been a long time coming, but the move to NC solidified what we already had.” My hand moved to my neck and I couldn’t help but smile. Last night we had taken that final step and I had let his wolf claim me. Just thinking about it made my stomach flip. When Dalton walked in the door, our eyes met and I felt my body relax. “Text me the addresses and I’ll go see them. I’ll let you know what I think. I have to get ready to open, so I’ll call you after I take a look.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mia. I appreciate that.”

I hung up the phone and slid it back in my pocket. I wasn’t sure how I was going to take Dalton and Sy being in the same room again. D forced himself to play nice for my sake, but the battle of the egos often got involved. I hoped now that he and his wolf had claimed me as their own, he would relax a little.

“Who was that?” Dalton asked as he joined me. I pressed my lips against his, wrapping my arms around him.

“Sy. He asked me to check out a few places for him before he signed the lease. I may have kinda, sorta told him that if he doesn’t find anything then he could crash in your old room till he does.” Dalton growled and I kissed him again. “You’ll be in bed with me, so I didn’t think it would matter.”

“Does he know that?”

“Yep, and when he asked where you would be, I told him with me.” I pressed my lips to his jaw, my hands moving to rest on his ass. “Relax, love. I’ll go check out a few places for him, rave about one of them so that he signs the lease, and make sure it’s on the other side of town from us.” As I nuzzled into his neck, I closed my eyes. I wasn’t big on public displays of affection, but I just couldn’t keep away from him. I wanted to take him and spend the night back at home, but we both had a job to do. Reluctantly I pulled away from him after the wolf whistles and “get a room” comments. After a quick peck on the lips, I moved over to the bar.

“Oh, quiet, you lot, and get ready. We’re about to start letting in customers.”

The week that followed was quiet. I managed to find a place for Sy to move into, and he messaged me when he got into town. I ignored it because my mornings were for Dalton. We had breakfast and I had coffee, and then we would deal with the outside world unless it was important. I went in to let everyone in then locked myself away in the office. I had some work to finish up and needed to concentrate on that. I hadn’t had any more incidents with my orders since Liam had come in and looked around my computer, so what he had done worked. I was happy about that. I heard a knock on my door and looked up to see Angus standing there. I raised a brow.

“Hey, everything okay?”

“Yeah, boss, I just have someone here who says he knows you and insists on speaking with you.” Oh, really now? I stood up and motioned for him to let them in. Sy stood there with a big grin on his face; I smiled. “Thanks, Angus.” He closed the door behind him and went back to work.

“Mia, love, are you avoiding me?”

“Not at all!” I moved to give him a quick hug before walking back to my desk. “Sorry, it’s been crazy busy here lately. Just catching up on some work.”

“All work and no play, we can’t have that. Come have a drink with me?”

“I would and will, but I really need to get this stuff done tonight. Why don’t you go into the bar and see one of the girls for a drink? I’ll be out as soon as I can.”

“I didn’t come here to see them, Mia; I came in to see you. I’m hurt that you don’t want to spend some time with me.” He moved a step closer to me and I took one step back, a feeling of unease sitting in my stomach.

“I’ll be out soon.” My back hit the wall, and he took one final step, pressing me back against it.

“I’ve missed you, Mia.” I pressed my hand against his chest, but before I could say anything, the door opened.

“Mia! We need change in the bar! Can you—” I heard Jayden’s voice, but it was cut off when she looked up and saw the sight in front of her. “What the fuck are you doing?” She moved into the room and pulled him away from me.

“Minding my own business, Jayden, you should try it some time.”

“Like fuck I will! Mia, are you okay?” I opened my mouth to speak, but Sy cut me off.

“She’s fine, go back to work and you’ll see her later. We’re catching up.”

“I’m not going anywhere, not without Mia,” she growled.

“Both of you need to leave. I have work to do. Sylvester, if you don’t want to go out and get a drink, go home and I’ll call you tomorrow or something.”

“You’re the owner, Mia, you can take the night off. Come have dinner with me.”

I was quickly losing my patience with him.

“She isn’t going anywhere with you, not unless you want Dalton joining you five seconds after you leave.”

“Jayden, fuck off. No one is asking for your input in this. It’s between Mia and I. Dalton clearly doesn’t care or he would be here.”

“Sylvester. Enough. You will not speak to her like that. You need to leave now before I get security back in here. I’ve already told you, I’m