If he told her the best place for coffee was his lodge, what was he insinuating? That he wanted her to come here and drink it? That he wanted her to come here and taste his espresso? That he wanted her to come here and taste him?
Something inside him quivered at the memory of the pain he’d felt the last time he’d dated a human woman. He put his phone away, trying to focus on other things besides Juliet and the temptation that she represented.
4
At midday, Levi went to check with Kelly at the reception desk regarding the wedding booking she’d mentioned that morning.
“As a matter of fact, the bride emailed me back, asking me to book those dates. Do you think we’ll be ready for a wedding here in two weeks?” Kelly asked.
“We’re going to have to be,” Levi said.
An event like this could really mark a turning point for the lodge. If it became a spot for destination weddings with the community in Portland, it could be a whole new side to his business. Every little bit of increased profit added to the legacy that he would someday leave his cubs. If he ever got around to having them.
“I’ll send the bride a confirmation right away,” Kelly said.
His human receptionist had been working with him since he took over the lodge. In fact, she had worked at the reception desk under the old owners. The middle aged lady with gray around her temples was an asset to him in every way. Unlike many of his staff members and members of the Fate Mountain Village community, Kelly knew that Levi and his crew were all bear shifters.
“There’s something else, Levi,” Kelly said as he turned away from the reception desk. He turned back to her with a questioning look. “You have a visitor,” she said, raising her eyebrows and pointing in the direction of the couches that were arranged around the lobby fireplace.
Levi turned to see the back of a man’s head. The shaggy red hair and conspicuous tattoos gave the man away before he even turned around. Oh shit. Levi knew exactly who it was, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to deal him on a day like today.
“Shane,” Levi said, coming around the couches to stand in front of his old friend from the military.
Shane stood, rolling his muscled shoulders back several times. Shane cocked his head at his one-time commander and shot out his hand to shake Levi’s.
“What brings you to Fate Mountain, Shane?”
“I’ve been living out alone in the woods for a long time. And I finally decided it was time to come back to town.”
After the war, Shane had taken to the woods, living in a cave and spending the most of his time in bear form. He’d said he was on a spirit quest or some bullshit like that. But most of the crew just thought he was hiding from the world. All of the men in his crew had been wounded by the prejudices against shifters in and out of the military, but Shane had taken it the worst. And that made him dangerous and unpredictable.
Shane crossed his tattoo-covered arms over his chest and glared at Levi.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Shane asked.
“Of course I am,” Levi said. “I’m just surprised to see you after all this time.”
“Let’s get down to business here; you and I don’t bullshit each other. I’ve come to ask for a job.”
“A job?”
“You know I was already a world-class chef before I joined the military, right?”
“Of course. Who hadn’t heard of chef Shane Keenan? So you’ve come to work in my kitchen?”
“I haven’t come to work in your kitchen. I’ve come to run your kitchen.”
“I already have a chef. What am I supposed to do, fire him?”
“Your human can be my sous chef.”
“I’m glad you have it all worked out how to run my staff,” Levi said sarcastically.
“If you don’t want the best of the best running your kitchen then…” Shane said, snatching his leather jacket off the couch. He pulled it over his shoulders and turned to go.
“Wait, Shane,” Levi said.
Shane might be cocky and unpredictable, but he really was the best of the best. He had been running a world-class restaurant in San Francisco before he had been outed as a shifter by resentful member of his staff. Because of the social climate at the time, it had been a choice between being lynched or joining the military.
“Shane, I think you would be an asset to Fate Mountain Lodge,” Levi said to his friend’s back.
Shane slowly turned, his lips parting into a grin. “That’s more like it,” Shane said, nodding his head.
“All right then, let’s go break this to the chef.”
“Sous chef,” Shane said.
“Are you sure you still have all your skills after all these years?” Levi asked, slapping Shane on the back.
Shane turned to him with clenched teeth, but his face softened into another cocky smile. “You can’t unlearn genius,” Shane said.
“Good to know,” Levi said as he pushed open the door to the kitchen.
The staff was busy finishing up lunch service and preparing for dinner. The human chef looked up at them and frowned, obviously recognizing Shane from his previous fame. If there could be a rock star in the culinary industry, Shane would have been it. That was before he’d been outed as a shifter and had to join the military. But anybody who’d been to cooking school in the last decade knew the name Shane Keenan. The notoriously tempered and tattooed chef was known far and wide for his culinary creations and the spark of creative genius that could be tasted in the flavors of everything he cooked.
“Shane Keenan,” the human chef said, wiping his hand off on his white chef coat before reaching out to offer it to Shane.
Shane just looked down at the chef’s hand, keeping his arms crossed over his muscled chest. Levi gave his old friend the side-eye and Shane finally reached out to shake the human chef’s hand.
“What brings you to my kitchen?” the chef asked.
Shane let go of the man’s hand and stared him directly in the eye with those clear blue eyes framed by ruddy eyebrows.
“It’s my kitchen now,” Shane said.
This was not how Levi wanted to introduce this subject to his kitchen staff. The chef looked up at Levi with a questioning expression. Levi brought his hand to his forehead, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. This was classic Shane. Totally irreverent and disrespectful. What was Levi supposed to do? Not only was Shane arguably the best chef in the country, he was also one of his crew from their days as Navy SEALs. Shane had come to him for help reestablishing himself in the world. As the leader of the crew, Levi took the motto “never leave a bear behind” very seriously.
“What does this mean, boss?” the chef asked. Levi could see the frustration and anger rising in his face.
“As you know, Shane Keenan is a legend. He’s offered to take over the kitchen. You will become the sous chef here, which means less responsibility, but at the same pay. I’ll even give you a generous bonus for stepping down as the chef, as I did hire you for the position. But since you have no specific contract as the head chef here, if you have a problem with taking orders from the legendary Shane Keenan, then you know where the door is,” Levi said.
He wasn’t in the habit of shaming his staff in public, but he had to nip this issue in the bud before it became a problem. He could see the wheels turning in the chef’s head. The words “generous bonus” obviously had an effect. Finally, the man let out a deep breath and his shoulders relaxed.
“I would be honored to work under Chef Keenan,” the human said.
“Excellent,” Levi said. “I leave it to you both to inform the rest of the kitchen staff and prepare for the evening meal.”
Levi turned away, leaving Shane to deal with his own drama. He better not rile up the kitchen. That was the last thing that Levi needed now, especially with the wedding party coming in two weeks. As temperamental and unpredictable as Shane could be, Levi had the sinking feeling that he had just made a serious mistake for his business.
Just as
he walked out of the kitchen and was on his way to his office, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled out the phone and swiped his thumb across the screen, bringing up a message from Juliet. Her words nearly made his heart stop.
I think we’ll be meeting sooner than expected, it said.
Oh? he typed back.
Did she think his coffee comment had been an invitation? His old fears surged inside his stomach and mind, making his body tense.
My friend is getting married in two weeks. She booked Fate Mountain Lodge for the event.
Levi’s chest clenched up and he couldn’t think for a moment, let alone respond to Juliet’s text. He had to pull himself together. This wedding could mean a lot for his business, regardless of whether or not a woman he’d met on a dating app would be in attendance. Still, a whole slew of conflicting emotions churned in his stomach. He didn’t know if he was ready to meet her. He didn’t know if he was ready to meet anyone who could be a romantic partner, especially a human, no matter how much he wanted a mate. After he hesitated for several long moments, his phone pinged again with a new message from Juliet.
I know this is awkward. It’s awkward for me too.
It is awkward, he typed.
I had no idea that it was your lodge she was talking about. I’m sorry to do this to you, but I’m the maid of honor in the wedding. Just because we’ve been talking to each other on Mate.com doesn’t mean that we have to go out for a date when I come up for the wedding.
As reassuring as her words were meant to be, it left a sense of disappointment in his chest he couldn’t quite understand. She was freeing him from the obligation of a date, but did he want to be freed?
We’ll see what happens when you get here.
It was the most pragmatic thing he could think of to say. He didn’t want to blow her off, but at the same time, he didn’t want to commit to anything either. They had only been texting for a couple days, and from what he’d heard about the online dating world, it could take weeks of texting before people ever met in person, if they ever met at all.
Sounds like a plan, she typed.
She didn’t text anything again for quite some time. Levi stared at his phone, wondering how to respond.
I like texting with you, he finally said.
Her response was quick and definite.
Me too.
5
Helping Charlotte arrange the wedding in just two weeks was the most challenging volunteer work Juliet had ever had to accomplish. But after a lot of compromising and a fair amount of tears, everything was arranged and ready to go. The groom’s party and the bride’s party would all drive to Fate Mountain Village in vans several days before the wedding.
The bride and groom had decided to spend the time partying with their friends and having separate but equal bachelor and bachelorette parties. After all the work helping to arrange the wedding and all of her troubles at work, it was nice for Juliet to take some vacation time and get out of town. Ernest had almost rejected her request for vacation days, but she had gone to his boss and had her request approved. She put Snuggles in a kennel where she knew he would be well taken care of. When she arrived downtown, her friends were all piling into the Fate Mountain shuttle vans.
Juliet handed her suitcase to the driver, and he put it in with the rest. Charlotte and Quinn and all their girlfriends were giggling and blowing air kisses at the men’s party as they piled into their own van. It was only noon, but a couple of the ladies were already drunk. And why not? If Juliet could ever bring herself to drink in the middle of the day, today would be one of those times. Especially since she was so damned nervous about what was to come.
“Did anyone bring any wine?” Juliet asked.
“We need booze!” Quinn shouted as the driver slid the van door closed.
“There isn’t any,” Charlotte said.
Juliet would have to deal with her nerves by herself. As the van drove through downtown Portland and onto the highway, Juliet pulled her phone out of her pocket. She’d been having an interesting text conversation with Levi about life in Fate Mountain Village. Juliet had been up there before and she liked it a lot. Levi was explaining to her that it wasn’t quite as rural as it seemed.
Considering it was only an hour’s drive from the most populous city in Oregon, Fate Mountain had a constant stream of tourists coming through the community. There were many businesses that prospered there, catering to the wealthy visitors who frequented the mountain. Juliet had never really thought about it that way. She’d always seen Fate Mountain Village as an ordinary rural Oregon town. According to Levi, Fate Mountain was actually a safe haven for various types of shifters and their families.
Juliet began to wonder why he had bothered with a dating app like Mate.com when he could just date one of his own kind. She had heard that there were far fewer female shifters than male shifters but didn’t know if it was truth or rumor. So many so-called facts about shifter society she’d grown up hearing had turned out to be lies. Humans had known about shifters for two decades but there was still a great deal of misinformation about them out there.
Juliet had always been fascinated by the idea of shifters. They were faster, stronger, and had more powerful senses than humans. In an evolutionary sense, shifters were superior. Like most humans, that gave her pause. She also knew that shifters had been living among and breeding with humans for thousands if not tens of thousands of years. In all that time, they had managed to keep their secrets and had never taken over the world.
There were far more humans than there were shifters and that would probably always be the case. It made her wonder about what it would be like to be mated to a shifter and what kind of life they would live as an interracial couple. It was definitely something to think about before getting too serious.
In the last several weeks, she and Levi had been texting back and forth almost every day. None of the other males she’d been matched with on Mate.com had been at all interesting to her. Although a few of them had sent her messages she’d never responded to.
She didn’t know if Levi was talking to a lot of other women, but she really hoped he wasn’t. In spite of all the history between humans and shifters over the past twenty years, she really enjoyed Levi’s conversation. He was smart and funny and had a way of directing the chat that made Juliet feel safe. Although they had only been exchanging text messages, they had gotten to know each other in a fairly intimate way.
Now they were about to meet. Juliet hadn’t been on a date in years and now she was about to come face-to-face with a shifter male who was apparently a perfect match for her. It was a little intimidating to say the least. What if he didn’t like her in person? What if he didn’t like her curves? What if he found her boring?
Juliet hadn’t put herself out there in so long that she didn’t know if she could take the rejection. As she was typing a response to one of Levi’s texts, Quinn leaned over and stared down at her phone.
“Are you texting that shifter?” Quinn asked.
“None of your business,” Juliet said, yanking the phone away.
“You are,” Quinn said, reaching for the phone again.
“Juliet’s got a boyfriend,” Charlotte said in a singsong voice from the front seat of the van.
“He’s not my boyfriend. We haven’t even met.”
“You’ve been texting him every day for the last the two weeks,” Quinn said. “I’ve been on dating sites, and I’ve never found a guy that I was interested in enough to text every day for two weeks.”
“Maybe you’re joining the wrong dating sites,” Juliet said, hoping it would change the subject. But it didn’t.
“Maybe I should sign up for Mate.com,” Quinn said in a humorous tone.
The rest of the women in the van started giggling and insisting that Quinn join Mate.com immediately so they could ogle the brawny male shifters on the site. Quinn pulled out her phone, declaring that she was going to sign up right here and now as the van made its w
ay through the thick pine forest.
Juliet sighed and put her phone away. She couldn’t take any more teasing, especially since she was about to meet Levi. Quinn hunched over her phone, smiling and giggling as she filled out the questionnaire.
“These questions are ridiculous,” she said.
“I know, right?” Juliet responded.
Maybe Quinn would give up the whole silly idea and they would all drop the subject immediately. Unfortunately, that’s not the way things worked out.
“Done!” Quinn announced. “It’s loading my matches.”
Charlotte and the other women all demanded Quinn tell them exactly who she was matched with immediately.
“It’s still loading. Wait. Okay, here we go. Oooh, these guys are hot,” Quinn said, scrolling through her phone.
“All shifters are hot,” said one of the other bridesmaids. “I would join that site if I wasn’t already married.” The other attached girl emphatically agreed.
“Wow. I’ve got a hundred percent match. That must mean we’re fated mates,” Quinn said, giggling at the absurdity.
Juliet didn’t think it was something to be laughing about. Fated mates were an important part of shifter culture. That was something that she had learned about from Levi. She didn’t want to listen to her friends mocking such an important custom.
“His name is Duke. Isn’t that cute?”
“Where’s he from?” Charlotte asked, turning around from the front seat, trying to peek at Quinn’s phone.
“You guys aren’t going to believe this. This Duke guy lives on Fate Mountain. He owns a microbrewery or something like that.”
“Is he hot?” Charlotte asked.
“Of course he’s hot. He’s a bear shifter. Like Juliet’s guy. Except this guy has a beard and tattoos. Wow. He really is hot. Look at this picture of him without a shirt on,” Quinn said, showing her phone to the rest of the party.