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

ground, but I didn’t. I wanted to bring Sylvester back so I could kill him with my own two hands, but I couldn’t. I may have pouted when Dalton came in and told us he took care of it. Why should he get to have all the fun? Bastard just laughed at me though. He almost got a headache for that too. He was lucky that I loved him.

Sitting at the bar, Jay moved over to me, leaning in close. “Mia, I love you, but will you get a hobby and stop watching me? Surely you and the ogre could be doing more interesting things than this.”

“He’s busy and I’m here, so suck it up.”

She rolled her eyes at me and threw a cleaning rag. “I am so getting your shadow back.” I waited until her back was turned, reached over, and moved a bottle so that it was out of line with the other ones. I slid off my chair and made it to the door before she was cursing me. “For fuck’s sake! Mia, I will kill you! You and the ogre!”

“Don’t bring up my fucking shadow then!”

Her cursing followed me out as I laughed all the way back to my office. Moving over to my vision board, I took another look at what I wanted the restaurant next door to look like. My phone beeped from the desk and I saw Ty’s name on the screen.

“Yes…”

“Can I have a word please, Mia?”

“Sure! Which one would you like? You can’t have fuck. I am quite partial to that one.”

“Mia!” He growled.

“Hold on, I’m coming.” I hung up the phone and dropped it on my desk, leaving my office and heading for the back door. “I’m outside if anyone is looking for me.”

“Six feet under if you don’t stop touching my shit!”

“Bite me!”

“Pass!”

Opening up the back door, I stepped out and saw Ty waiting by his truck.

“Okay, so what’s wrong? Who’s twisted your boxers, Ty?”

He took a deep breath, and I could tell he was doing that thing that D did when he silently counted to ten in his head. A large part of me was enjoying this.

“You could give Max and Kody a run for their money. Just so you know.”

“Where are they then?”

“Mia, will you please let me into the bar? I can’t explain why, but I need to make sure Jay is okay. Even if she doesn’t remember me being there.”

“Ty, I love you like the pain in the ass brother I never had, but no. I have that rule in place for a reason and no near death experience will have me reverse that.” I let out a breath and looked around. “Maybe…if things calm down and people stop putting a hit on my life and the girls, I can think about letting you in one by one. She would have to be okay with it, though. I can say the words and just as easily lock you back out again. Hell, if D pisses me off badly enough, I can do it to him too. He’s already broken two doors. He would stroke out if we made it three.” Ty cracked a smile at that and nodded. I looked over his arms and noticed his tattoos. He was a wall of muscle with long brown hair that he kept tied up and tattoos down his arms. Reaching over, not thinking about it, I pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. “Ty, who does your tatts?”

“The ones I can reach, I did them. A guy back in Wyoming did some. Liam did my back, though.”

“You two are in the wrong industry.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, been told that a time or two. It’s just a hobby for me.”

“Well, if you’re ever looking for a new canvas, I want one right here.” I laid my hand over my heart. As cheesy as it may have been, I wanted a wolf so that I could take a piece of D with me wherever I went.

“I’m sure we could arrange something. Surprise for someone?”

I nodded.

“Well, next time he is distracted by something shiny, we can get it done. I’m not copping the blame though!”

“Deal!” Turning away from Ty, I went back into the bar. With things slowly getting back to normal around here, we could relax and get back to enjoying our new home.

A couple of weeks passed with no incidents. I was still feeling guilty as hell for not trusting Jay and D’s instincts when it came to Sy; it was making me kinda psycho. I swear Jay was going to kill me at any moment. I hated having to leave Dalton on my day off, but he had an appointment out of town and we needed supplies for the bar. Putting on my big girl panties, I went and got my shit done, with my shadows of course, before going back home. When I pulled in the driveway and saw Dalton’s truck there, I couldn’t help but relax. I would be ignoring the world tonight and so would he. We needed some alone time together, so I was going to take advantage of him and this opportunity. Unlocking the front door, I set my keys on the hall table after locking it again behind me. I moved through the house and stopped dead. Dalton was asleep on the couch with something on his chest. I raised a brow and stepped closer, and one of the things lifted its head. It was a puppy! Not just any puppy, it was my dream dog.

“Aww!” I set my bag down beside the couch and reached over and scooped it up. “Aren’t you just the cutest!” I looked down at another one asleep curled up on his chest and my heart melted. He got two so they wouldn’t be alone when we were out. If it wasn’t for the fact that I worked in a bar, they would be coming with me. Sitting down next to him on the couch, I leaned