Page 19 of How I Met My Mate

“Exciting like what?” I ask carefully. Images race through my mind. A little girl crowning me with daisies. A happy older woman so flattered that I loved her peach jam. Boys climbing on a playground under the watchful eye of their adoring parents.

And Cole, the man who promised me forever.

All of them would have targets painted on their backs if humans felt they had reasons to fear shifters again.

He gives an impatient snort. “You know.”

Odd. It sounds like he knows something. Like he sent me here for a reason. Like he never wanted a happy, positive feature story.

“What is it that you think I know? If you have something specific, tell me,” I say impatiently.

There’s a brief pause. He clears his throat. “I hear that there has been a lot of activity going on in downtown Cedar Run, on Main Street over the past couple of weeks.”

“Hear from who?” I demand.

“Doesn’t matter. Are my sources lying?”

Sources. He has sources. Or a source. Somebody is spying on the shifters in Cedar Run, hoping to stir up trouble.

If I were aware of a genuine threat to humans, I would be obligated to report it. But I haven’t seen a threat yet. There’s no nefarious plot by the shifters that I can see, and I’m not going to risk starting another Shifter-Human war just because Keith wants a front-page story.

“I have not seen anything that would constitute a story happening in downtown Cedar Run.” And that’s not even a lie. I haven’t personally observed anything conclusive yet.

“Bullshit,” he snarls. “What, you’ve gone native? You have a shifter boyfriend now, just like your friend? I heard you were getting cozy with one of the Alphas, but I figured you were just laying a little honey trap. Obviously, I sent the wrong reporter to cover this story.”

Now it all makes sense. He sent me here on purpose. After my misunderstanding with Lane, he assumed that I hated shifters and I’d be eager to dig the dirt on them.

There’s only one thing I can do. “I quit,” I inform him coldly, and hang up the phone before he can say another word.

My heart thuds in my chest.

I just quit. I did that. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a reporter, and I just tanked my entire future.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

I made the right decision.

When I was growing up, there was a lot of abuse in our foster homes, a lot of neglect from our caseworkers, and it was swept under the rug. When I went to college, I wrote an article about it. It was picked up by a national news agency. Several caseworkers were fired, as was their supervisor. New laws were written requiring greater oversight. I knew then that this was the career that I wanted - a career that could change things for the better.

Telling lies, stirring up trouble where there should be none, that’s not changing things for the better.

I slide into my car seat, turn the car on, and start driving.

I still don’t know what the status of my relationship with Cole is, but I’m starting to see why he doesn’t fully trust humans. Not all humans have honorable intentions, and for shifters, the consequences could be enormous. And being away from him opens up a chasm of loneliness in me that I’ve never experienced before.

As I’m driving, an odd smell suddenly tickles my nostrils. Shifters have a kind of distinctive odor about them, not unpleasant, but something wild and woodsy. It’s mixed with sweat that smells like fear.

It’s coming from my back seat.

With a shriek, I pull over and slam on my brakes. I frantically scrabble for the door handle. “Please!” a voice shouts, rasping with fear.

A young man sits up in my back seat. He’s the waiter from Has-Beans, the one who scurried off earlier right after I walked in to the coffee shop. “I’m sorry, I got in your car when you got out to talk on your phone. I didn’t know what else to do. He’s going to kill me!” he cries out frantically.

“Who? Cole? I really don’t think he’d-”

Tears are streaming down his face. I’m twisted around looking at him and he’s so young. He barely has a whisp of a mustache coming in. “Not Cole! Darius. My Alpha. I screwed up really badly, I was just trying to help but I ruined everything. And now I’m dead.”

I shake my head determinedly. “Not if I can help it,” I say. “Lie down on the floor so nobody can see you.”