His name was Angus.
Chapter 3
Angus put on a clean plaid flannel shirt and left his house. It was almost dusk and the wedding reception was starting at the lodge in just a few minutes. As Levi’s best man, Angus was responsible for Levi’s bachelor party. Levi said he didn’t want one, but the rest of the crew was determined to get Levi drunk the day before his wedding.
Angus pulled up in front of the lodge and got out of his truck. He walked up to the front door, straightening the tie he’d put on with his flannel. Even in his military days, Angus had never been a huge fan of dressing up. He’d grown up in the mountains of Colorado with a shifter mother and father, spending most of his time working with raw wood in the workshop or with a whittling knife on the front porch of his family’s cabin.
He strode into the front lobby of Fate Mountain Lodge. It was full of people looking well dressed and polished. Angus spotted Levi across the lobby. He was wearing a nice suit. Juliet stood beside him in a flowing pink dress. Her long, black hair hung down her back in soft waves. They looked so pretty together.
Angus walked up to his alpha and grinned. Angus had been Levi’s second since they were Navy SEALs during the war. They trusted each other to the bone, but Angus was a might bit softer hearted than his alpha Levi.
“Hey, Chief,” Angus said, reaching out to grasp Levi’s hand. He slapped his friend on the back, and Levi returned his happy grin. “Is the wedding party all settled in to the lodge, Juliet?”
“My mom and dad just got here. The bridesmaids have been here a while. Everyone is looking for a repeat performance from Zach,” Juliet said.
Zach had stripped at Juliet’s friend Charlotte’s bachelorette party when Juliet came to the lodge for the first time. Levi had been so love struck with Juliet that not even Zach’s side gig had phased him. Angus wondered if Juliet’s lady crew would get a second viewing and laughed inwardly at the idea of Zach shaking it in his skivvies.
“Are you having a bachelorette party?” Angus asked.
“If Charlotte has anything to do with it,” Juliet said, giggling.
She lifted glasses of champagne off a table and handed one to Angus and one to Levi. “Cheers,” Juliet said, clicking Angus and Levi’s glasses with her own.
“Cheers,” Angus and Levi said, clinking their glasses together.
A few years ago, this kind of open celebration between a known shifter and a human woman never would have happened. Back when they’d been drafted, shifters were still getting the living daylights kicked out of them if they dated a human girl. Angus had seen it happen to his alpha back in the military, and the memory still stung. Now, Levi was marrying his human mate out in the open. It was kind of a miracle.
“Time to go in,” said Juliet. “I see the wedding planner signaling to me.”
The people started to move from the lobby down a side hallway to Fate Mountain Lodge’s crowning jewel. That’s what Levi called it. The lodge’s atrium was a site to behold. When Angus walked into the domed canopy that rose over the lush tropical paradise, he took a deep breath of the fragrant air. Flowers bloomed along the walls and draped over rocks. Palms rose toward the clear glass dome that looked out on the snowcapped mountain beyond.
At the end of the atrium was a waterfall that gushed down behind the altar podium that had been erected for the wedding. There was minister at the end, near the wedding planner who was directing everyone.
The skinny human woman in a stretchy pink pantsuit came trotting up the aisle toward Angus and the rest of the crew. A bunch of bridesmaids and groomsmen were standing around with the father and mother of the bride.
“Groom, take your place in front of the minister,” the wedding planner said to Levi. “Father of the bride, where is the father of the bride?”
The energetic little human matched the bridesmaids with the groomsmen and the bride with her dad. Juliet’s dad was just a few inches taller than his daughter and had the same black hair. He also had a handlebar mustache twisted up at the sides. Juliet patted her father’s hand as she hooked her arm into his. She was lucky her family was so accepting of a shifter wedding. The world really had come a long way.
Angus was paired up with Juliet’s redheaded friend Charlotte. He remembered her from a few months ago when her groom went missing the night of his bachelor party. The crew found him just in time for the wedding. Now Charlotte was Juliet’s matron of honor and was showing a conspicuous baby bump under her form-fitting dress.
She smiled up at him and hooked her arm in his. Angus smiled at the cute, curvy human. He could tell she was happy with her human mate. When things were right, they were right. It made Angus’s heart glad and sad at the same time.
Angus and Charlotte were the first to walk down the aisle and stand on either side of the podium. Then the other members of the crew walked arm-in-arm with Juliet’s friends. When the rest of the wedding party had walked out, Juliet started down the aisle with her father. Her plump mother turned in her seat and looked back at her daughter and husband. Juliet’s mama gushed, and Juliet squeezed her hand as she passed.
The skinny human wedding planner started bouncing around, telling everyone how the rest of the ceremony would go. They listened to the explanation and were then finally excused to go back down the aisle two-by-two, with Juliet and Levi going first this time.
It was getting tedious, and Angus was happy when they made their way across the lobby to the main dining room for the rehearsal dinner. He took a seat at the wedding table. The planner insisted they go through all the toasts and such so there wouldn’t be any surprises. Angus was about to check his phone for updates from Mate.com when Drew walked up with a pitcher of foaming beer and a few tall glasses.
“Saved by Fate Mountain Lager,” Angus said, pouring himself a pint.
Drew slid into a seat beside him and poured a pint of his own.
“This whole thing just doesn’t sit right with me,” Drew said.
Angus was worried about Drew. Since his mate ran off, the bear had been in a dark mood. Drew had always been the artist of the bunch, but this level of moodiness was new for him.
“Don’t you like Juliet?” Angus asked.
“Yeah. Of course. Who wouldn’t like Juliet? She’s a sweetheart. But Quinn was her friend.”
“What Quinn did wasn’t Juliet’s fault. You can’t blame her.”
“I don’t,” Drew said, taking a long swig of beer. Foam stuck in the corners of his beard, and he wiped it away.
“She has to come back. She’s your mate.”
“Quinn has been AWOL from all her friends. Juliet’s bridesmaids are even saying Quinn left her job.”
“She really is on the run, isn’t she?” Angus mused.
“She’s that scared of being mated to a shifter. What can you do when your mate hates you?” he said.
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you.”
Drew poured himself another glass of beer and rose from the table.
“Call it whatever you want, but if it looks like a duck…” Drew said, stepping away from the table.
Angus sighed and took a swig of beer. A night of drinking Fate Mountain Lager had a way of twisting fate one way or another. The wedding planner started to wrangle in the wedding party as the main course was served.
“Right after dinner is when you do your toast, best man,” she said to Angus.
“Got it,” Angus said with false confidence.
He hadn’t even started the toast he was supposed to give at the wedding. Public speaking had never been his thing. That was always more Levi’s department. He’d started and thrown away more speeches than he could count but hadn’t settled on a dang one. Somehow, his desire for a mate got in the way, and the toast just sounded whiny and jealous. Angus couldn’t have that. Levi was his friend and alpha. He wanted to tell the man how he really felt on his wedding day. Now Angus only had two more days to figure out what to say.
He ate his Asian style pineapple chicken with
chili sauce. This had to be a Shane Keenan special. It was too damn good for words. Good with Fate Mountain Lager, too. He cleared his plate, wondering if he could get a server to bring him seconds.
“Best man, time for your toast,” the wedding planner said.
Angus rose with his beer and lifted it toward Levi and Juliet who were sitting a few places down the long table.
“Levi, Juliet. Congratulations. It couldn’t have happened to better people,” he said.
Juliet gushed and reached over to pat Angus’s hand. He gave her a weak smile. It just reminded him how pressed he was for time on this speech.
“Now we take toasts from the rest of the wedding party,” the planner instructed.
At that moment, Zach bounded out from his place behind the wedding party table and landed in a handstand on the other side. He started walking backwards on his hands, his shirt falling down over his muscled chest, much to the delight of the bridesmaids.
The girls were cheering and squealing down the table. Even Juliet’s mom was peeking out from behind her hands. Zach lifted up on one arm and started doing slow pushups as he held his body vertically in the air.
“Is this your version of a wedding toast?” Levi called to Zach.
Zach sprang back on his feet and put his arms out, palms up, looking at the crowd and smirking. He got a smattering of very energetic applause as he turned around on his heels.
“Love you guys,” Zach said, pointing at Juliet and Levi.
“We love you too, Zach,” Juliet said, lifting her pint of brew.
He gave the bridesmaids his cockiest grin and went back to his seat. There were no less than two girls leaning down the table to talk to him. Maybe that’s what Angus needed to do. Get himself out there more. But Angus wasn’t the kind of bear who liked to show off. He was a slow and steady kind of guy. He’d been waiting for months to be matched with his fated mate, but she still hadn’t signed up for Mate.com.
Feeling glum, he pulled his phone from his pocket and checked his app, rolling his shoulder so no one could see what he was doing. He scrolled through all the familiar pictures of women who were close matches but not one hundred percent. He expected to be disappointed like he was every time he logged on to the dating app. With one more flick of his finger, her face came up on the screen.
The match bar was fully gold with “100%” written over her pretty face.
Her name was Poppy.
Poppy, with deep chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Her black twisted braids were pulled back into a sloppy bun on her head. Her eyes smiled through a pair of black-rimmed glasses. She had the cutest little gap between her two front teeth. And her pink lips were so full and kissable he could barely contain his bear.
Angus growled deep in his throat. His big fingers swept over the screen of his smartphone, clicking on the “message now” button.
Holy shit, this goddess was his mate.
Chapter 4
Her “mate” Angus was the sexiest hunk of shifter sugar she ever could have imagined. Her eyes popped open wide when she brought up his profile. He was so, so cute. Big, tall and covered in muscle. Angus had black hair, blue eyes, and a panty melting smile. Poppy was reading his bio when a message popped up on her screen.
“Hello mate,” the text said. It was from Angus! He’d just called her his mate. Holy crap balls. How was she supposed to respond to that?
“Hey,” she replied. She was trying to be sassy. Maybe it was lame. She bit her lip and screwed up her face. He called her his mate.
“When can me meet?” Angus texted.
Wow. That just got real. She hadn’t expected him to move so fast. She groaned and looked at his picture. He was wearing a simple gray t-shirt over a very built physique. What she wouldn’t give to see what was under that shirt.
Poppy stood up from her easy chair, and Malcolm squawked at her.
“Beautiful,” Malcolm said, bobbing his head up and down.
“Thanks for the support, Malcolm,” Poppy said, pacing the floor and staring at the photograph of Angus. She put her phone down on the table and twisted her braids into a bun, sticking a pencil through it to keep it in place.
She picked up her phone and read Angus’s text again.
“Where do you live?” she asked.
“I live in Fate Mountain, Oregon,” he texted.
Fate Mountain was only half a day’s drive from Seattle. She could go meet him any time she wanted. Maybe she wanted to meet him now? It was a thought. Poppy turned to Malcolm and put her hand on her hip.
“What do you think, Malcolm? I’m in a pickle and I don’t know how to get out of it. Ivor seemed pretty serious at work tonight. My arm still hurts from where he squeezed it. I know he was threatening me. I think I’ve known all this time that something was wrong at work. Now I’m being slapped in the face with it. I should have trusted my gut and quit a long time ago.”
“Quit a long time ago,” Malcolm squawked.
“At least we have a nice apartment, right?” she said. “I’ve got to find a way to get more information on those guys. I have all their books on my hard drive. They’ve been trying to hide something from me. I think they’re using me as some kind of front for the IRS so they can get away with their shady dealings. I’ve been naive, Malcolm. I let them manipulate me. Shit. I always trust the wrong people.”
“Wrong people,” Malcolm squawked.
“Maybe this bear boy isn’t the wrong people. He’s supposed to be my fated mate,” Poppy said. “He looks nice.”
Poppy held the phone up to Malcolm. Malcolm didn’t respond.
“Well. I think he’s cute. What if we took a little trip to Oregon, buddy? Do you think you’d like that?”
Malcolm gave an unintelligible squawk and flew back to his cage. She certainly couldn’t leave him here, even if he didn’t want to go.
“I, for one, think it’s time for a mini-vacay.”
She strutted into the bedroom past her bird and pulled her suitcase out from under the bed. It was only a little dusty from not being taken out since the last time she’d gone out of town. That was only, what, a year ago? She’d taken a tour of Washington wineries last summer. Well, it had been a while.
Meeting Angus was a perfect excuse to get out of town. What would she tell her work? She was taking vacation days? It was tax season. She couldn’t take a vacation now. She was sick. Super-duper sick. That was it. She’d send an email to Mr. Chekov in the morning. It might buy her some time. Or she was overreacting and she’d lose her job. Either way, it was time for a vacation in Oregon.
She folded her clothes neatly into the suitcase then packed up her laptop that had all her files on it. Maybe she could find something to prove she wasn’t over reacting. Poppy walked back into the living room and picked her phone up off the table. She let out a groan and typed a message to the burly bear shifter named Angus.
“How about tomorrow?” Poppy did a quick web search on her desktop computer for accommodations on Fate Mountain and booked a room. “I’ll be staying at Fate Mountain Lodge.”
“I can’t wait. Are you as excited to meet me as I am to meet you?”
“More,” she typed.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” he replied.
Poppy giggled and covered her mouth. He was eager. She liked that. Most of the men she was around ignored her or looked at her like she was a schoolmarm. Poppy was only twenty-eight years old. She had plenty of spunk left in her blood. It couldn’t possibly be over already. Angus was the first man in a long time to make her feel like maybe it really wasn’t.
When she woke up early the next morning, she loaded her things into the car before coming back upstairs to grab Malcolm’s cage. He squawked through the parking lot, not at all happy about the cold.
“Hold on, buddy, it will only be cold for a minute.”
She put his cage in the front seat and skirted around the back of the car to slip into the driver’s seat. She looked over at her pet.
“This is it,” she said, pulling out of her parking place.
She made it onto the freeway before rush hour traffic.
“Open email,” she said to her phone. “To Mr. Chekov. Write. ‘I won’t make it into work today. I’ve got a terrible stomach flu. Haven’t left the bathroom all night.’ Send.” She smiled at herself as she made her way past Tacoma. “That ought to do it.”
Poppy couldn’t believe she was driving to Oregon to meet a strange bear she’d just started texting last night. But under the circumstances, it seemed like the best course of action. She couldn’t be sure what was going on at work. She’d spent two hours last night trying to figure out what oruzhiye meant. But she couldn’t find anything. She had no idea how to spell in Russian. If she was overreacting, then the worst that could happen was she’d get fired. If the Chekovs really were doing something shady? Well, she’d seen a lot of mob movies on Netflix and she knew exactly how this kind of thing ended.
She nodded to herself, deciding that leaving town was the most logical, rational course of action. She wasn’t behaving impulsively at all. Not Poppy Robins, the matron of math, as her college classmates used to call her.
It was hard to just assume Ivor was a sexist asshole who’d inappropriately grabbed her at work. She wanted to find evidence of wrongdoing, not just to protect herself, but to vindicate what her own instinct had been telling her all along. Maybe if she could finally start trusting her gut, she’d stop trusting the wrong people.
She decided that was exactly what she intended to do and kept driving south toward Oregon. Once she crossed the Columbia River into Portland, she was feeling a lot more nervous than she had when she first started out. This Angus guy was supposed to be the love of her life. She’d been kind of playing around when she’d filled out her profile on Mate.com. She hadn’t expected to be matched with a shifter and then to immediately run down the coast to meet him.
Maybe he was the love of her life. During the entire drive across Washington State, Poppy hadn’t taken thought of that once. What if he was? She took a deep breath. She’d read the articles. These shifter fated mate relationships were intense and deeply sexual. Poppy groaned and almost merged into a farm truck starting up the road toward Fate Mountain.