If she just pretended that this was a normal situation, maybe she could get through it without going completely mad. Her nerves had been so frayed since her sister had gone missing that Rosa didn’t know which way was up and which way with down anymore. And now being confronted with a man like Heath, who believed that she and him were soul mates or something, made everything else so much harder to deal with.
“The Belgian waffles with strawberries are good,” he said in a good-natured tone.
He was just so incredibly handsome; she didn’t know what to do. She was going to have to ditch him right after breakfast, which was something she did not feel good about at all . But having a cop tag along with her on her crazy mission to find her sister with no evidence except a string of kidnappings and her own intuition, did not seem like a situation that would end well.
He would most likely tell her that she was insane and try to persuade her from her mission. Not that she wouldn’t mind a little distraction, but right now her sister was more important than anything else.
“That’s what I’ll have then,” Rosa said, closing the menu.
Lily came back a few moments later and Rosa gave her order. Lily filled Rosa’s coffee cup again and then turned away to give the order to the kitchen. Rosa and Heath stared at each other over the table. Rosa fiddled with the empty creamer cup, crinkling the plastic noisily between her fingers.
“Why are you so nervous?” Heath asked.
He was a cop. A cop that was trained to notice things like her nervous behavior. Being a shifter, he probably also smelled it.
“I’m just not very good on first dates.”
“Do you go on a lot of first dates?”
“No. I’m pretty busy with my job and my little sister. I don’t have a lot of time for romance.”
“You take care of your little sister?”
“Yes.” Rosa said bluntly.
They were moving dangerously close to the truth about why Rosa was on Fate Mountain. And it was something she definitely did not want to share with a cop.
She knew what happened to people when the state thought they were mentally ill. She wasn’t about to get locked up in some kind of asylum because she felt she knew where to find her sister.
“Your profile said you live in Southern California. What are you doing this far north?”
“I’m on vacation,” she said hastily.
“Fate Mountain is beautiful this time of year. The fishing’s still good in the late summer. Maybe we can go fishing after I get a few hours of sleep.”
“I’m afraid this will be our only date, Heath.”
“Rosa. You are my fated mate. Whatever is going on with you, I want to help you.”
“You can’t help me.”
“I don’t want to scare you, but I know that you’re looking for your sister. I found out last night after we were matched on Mate.com.”
“How?”
“The night waitress, Maggie, she had a feeling that you were the same girl that Lily had mentioned was looking for her sister earlier in the evening. Maggie pulled out a credit card receipt that had your name on it. I was pretty shocked too, but that’s how it happened.”
Rosa sat back in her seat, resting against the red vinyl padding behind her. Apparently, Heath believed in intuition. He was a shifter, so he already had a connection to fate. Maybe he wouldn’t think she was crazy for following her sister out here with no real evidence.
“That’s a pretty crazy story,” she said, testing him.
“It is really weird. There’s a lot of strange things in the world that we don’t always understand. Heck, I’m man who can turn into a bear.”
“That is true.”
Lily set Rosa’s waffles in front of her on the table and gave them a sly smile. Rosa had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Everyone seemed in on the conspiracy to match her and Heath right now. Even if he did believe in intuition, she still didn’t feel right about bringing somebody else along on a wild goose chase. She also didn’t need any distractions. She needed a clear head and a clear heart to follow the signs.
Rosa cut into her waffle and took a bite.
“So you’ve been on shift all night?”
“That’s right.”
“You must be awfully tired,” she said, hoping to get rid of him soon.
“I am, but I sure am happy that I waited around a few minutes longer than usual. I can handle a little fatigue if it means I get the chance to talk to you.”
Why did he have to be so damn cute and sweet? He was melting her heart, and that was the last thing she needed. Rosa ate her waffle hastily and wiped her mouth when she was done. She started to rise from the booth and Heath followed her down the aisle to the cash register where he paid for her meal. On the way out of the diner, Rosa felt an impending sense of dread. She instantly knew that her sister was in grave danger, and she needed to hurry up and find her as fast as possible.
“I’ve got to be going now,” she said apologetically. “It was nice meeting you, Heath. I wish it could have been under different circumstances. But thank you for breakfast, it really helped me a lot.”
She went to open her car and climb inside. When she closed the door, she saw Heath staring down at her through her window. She turned on the car and rolled down the window to talk to him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I just can’t believe that you’re leaving like this,” he said, the pain in his voice cutting her heart like a knife.
“I’m so sorry, Heath. I never should have signed up for Mate.com. I feel absolutely terrible. I just can’t do this right now. I’m sorry”
She pealed out of the parking lot, tears streaming down her face. Her heart was breaking and she knew it. How could she feel so much for a man she’d only just met?
Rosa sped down the highway. She had to find Maria.
Chapter 4
Heath stood in stunned silence, watching Rosa drive away. He could tell that she was distressed. But it could be for any number of reasons. He rubbed his forehead, trying to push away the confusion in his mind. His grizzly growled and roared and scratched and moaned. Heath could barely hear himself think over the noise. As tired as he was, he couldn’t just let Rosa drive away like that.
He jumped into his squad car and headed off in the same direction that she had driven. He was going to find her and get to the bottom of whatever was troubling her so much. He was her mate, and he was going to protect her whether she liked it or not.
He could smell her arousal and see her attraction in her eyes. Something was forcing her to run away from him. And he was going to find out what it was so that he could make it stop. They belonged together. End of story.
He sped along the highway, trying to stay out of Rosa’s line of sight in her rearview mirror. After about thirty miles up the highway that ascended up the mountain, he saw her car pull off the road onto a dirt drive. He slowly pulled up to where she turned off and noticed her car continuing up the dirt road.
Where was she going? This was just some deserted Forest Service access road that led deep into the woods. Why in the world would Rosa go up there?
He turned off onto the road and followed her at a reasonable distance so that she wouldn’t see him. He picked up his binoculars and glanced through them every few minutes to check what she was doing. Finally, about ten miles up the dirt road, her car stopped and parked in a turn out. He watched through his binoculars as Rosa climbed out of her car and started into the forest.
This was just getting ridiculous. When she disappeared into the forest, he pulled his car up behind hers and parked. He climbed out of the patrol car and headed off into the forest behind her.
She would probably be upset to see him, but he was going to follow her until he had some kind of clue as to what she was up to. She was exhibiting strange behavior, and as a law enforcement officer, he had every right to follow her and see what she was doing. Not that he thought that his mate was a criminal, but if she was
in some kind of trouble, he was justified in what he was doing.
He followed her by scent when she disappeared behind the thick trunks of the Douglas firs and the green boughs of the dense forest. Her scent grew stronger and she came into view in the middle of a clearing, turning around in circles as if she was lost.
He was momentarily distracted and let a twig snap under his foot. Rosa looked up with surprise and gasped, grasping her heart. When she saw him, her face turned from fear to anger.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“You are exhibiting odd behavior. I’m just doing my job.”
“You need to mind your own business.”
“Rosa. Please let me help you.”
She stormed up the hillside and past him. “No one can help me.”
“Please tell me what’s wrong.”
She spun around, tears streaming down her beautiful face. He wanted to reach out and comfort her, but he couldn’t. If she would just tell him what was going on.
“No one believes me. No one wants to help.”
“I want to help, Rosa. Why don’t you believe me?
“I just met you.”
“That doesn’t matter. You are my mate. I would lay down my life for you. I would do anything for you. Just tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”
“Heath, why are you doing this?”
“I don’t have any other choice, Rosa. What do you expect me to do? Just let my mate run straight into whatever danger that she is obviously in? What kind of man do you take me for?”
Her shoulders deflated and she let out a long breath. “A good man,” she said in a soft voice.
He took a step closer to her, reaching out to touch her arm. A spark of desire radiated from his fingertips as they slightly brushed along her honey golden skin. His entire body shuddered with arousal and he gasped.
“I am a good man. I’m your man.”
“How can you say that?”
“I’m a shifter. I know humans usually take things more slowly. But you are in trouble Rosa. I can’t stand back and wait as if we were going on dates and getting to know each other. I know something’s wrong. Is something going on with your sister? Did she run away up here?”
“She didn’t run away!” Rosa’s screamed, sending birds flying into the air from the canopy.
Heath’s eyes shot wide and he took a step back from the sheer force of her anger.
“Where is she, Rosa?” he asked, his voice trembling.
“She was taken. I know she was.”
Rosa collapsed to her knees and sank onto the damp forest floor, covering her face from the sobs that choked her. Tears streamed around her fingers and dripped in large droplets to the ground like rain. He knelt beside her, not caring that his uniform would get all muddy and stained. He put his arm around her, and pulled her against his chest. Letting out a tortured wail, Rosa leaned into him and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing. He rubbed her back, letting her pour all of her sorrow out into him. Even though he didn’t understand what was going on. He was determined to be her rock.
“Who took her?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she finally said as she started to calm down. She pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes and face. “But I think it’s connected to some of the other girls who have been kidnapped in the last two weeks all the way up the coast. The last victim was in Portland. I followed the kidnappings there and when it stopped, something told me to come up here. I know it sounds crazy, but my sister has to be on Fate Mountain.”
“You aren’t crazy, Rosa. You’re a good sister and a good woman. If you say that you know she’s here, I believe you. And I’m not just saying that because you’re my mate. I’m saying that because we are connected. I feel your heart.”
She looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, her expression so hopeful.
“You believe me?”
“Of course I do. Now we just have to figure out how to find her.”
He picked up the walkie-talkie from his shoulder and started to bring it towards his mouth.
“The police in Los Angeles didn’t believe me. They told me she had run away. They wouldn’t do anything for me. I can’t go through that again.”
“I know my crew. They’ll believe you.”
“Do you really think they can find her?”
“Right after busting a drug ring a couple months ago. Our Tech Damien said the random probability generator determined that there was some kind of human trafficking ring coming through the mountain.”
“Someone on your crew already knows about this?”
“He said it was a high probability. Whatever that means.”
“I only made it this far because I ignored the police and did my own investigation.”
Rosa looked away and wiped her face again. He could see her sadness. The most important thing was getting Rosa out of the damp forest and back into town where they could talk to his alpha Rollo.
Chapter 5
Heath and Rosa walked back to where their vehicles were parked along the side of the road. Rosa climbed into her car and watched Heath through her rearview mirror. She still wasn’t sure whether or not she could trust him. The investigator back in Los Angeles thought there wasn’t anything going on more than a typical runaway case.
Rosa knew her sister would never run away from home. Now Heath was telling her that his crewmate Damien had somehow known about the human trafficking ring coming through Fate Mountain months ago.
They both got into their cars and drove down the dirt road and then the highway. Once they were back in town, Rosa followed Heath through a cute neighborhood several blocks off the highway. He parked his patrol car in front of a quaint ranch style house that looked like it had been built in the fifties.
Rosa followed Heath inside and looked around his front room. It was cleaner and nicer than she would have expected from a bachelor. He had a big living room in the front that was lined with leather couches and a big screen TV. His walls were a pale cream and were decorated with pictures depicting nature scenes.
Rosa knew Heath wasn’t a typical bachelor. He was a shifter who wanted to find a forever mate. Rosa was so distressed by the disappearance of her sister that she couldn’t even think about being matched with her fated mate. She knew what it meant, but she didn’t know what it meant to her.
“You have a nice home,” she said to Heath.
“Thank you,” he said, turning to look into her eyes.
He had a weary look on his face and his voice was soft. That’s when Rosa remembered Heath hadn’t slept all night.
“You must be tired,” she said sympathetically.
“I just want to wash up before we go into the police station to talk to my chief and the rest of the Bear Patrol.
“Don't you want to sleep?”
“Time is of the essence. In cases like these, you don't want much time to lapse before finding the missing person. If you believe that they are on Fate Mountain we have to move quickly because they could relocate at any time.”
“Why don't you alert your crew to start that software you talked about so you can get some rest.”
“I am pretty beat,” Heath agreed.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and began typing on the screen.
“Rollo says he will get right on it,” Heath said.
“You can wait here or I can drive you down to the station so you can talk to the guys.”
“I don’t want to talk to them on my own. I think I’ll just stay here.”
Rosa had been so traumatized by the insistence that her sister had run away that she no longer trusted anyone to believe her. She didn’t want to go down to the police station and have them laugh in her face again.
“Okay then. There are sodas in the fridge and I think I have some bagels in the cabinet if you’re hungry,” Heath said.
Rosa didn't know what to think. All that mattered was finding Maria and getting her back safe and sound. She sat dow
n in the living room and watched Heath walk around the corner. A moment later she heard the sound of the shower from the bathroom down the hall.
Rosa picked up the remote off the coffee table and turned on the television. She flipped through the channels and immediately got bored. She was way too amped up to focus on TV. The hike into the woods had made her hungry and she hadn’t been eating enough lately. She got up and went into the kitchen to find the bagels Heath had mentioned.
She opened the refrigerator and found a half empty tub of cream cheese and sat it on the counter. She then opened another cabinet and started riffling through the contents. She finally found some sesame seed bagels, pulled them out, and set them on the counter. She heard a noise behind her and turned around with a start to see Heath standing in the doorway of the kitchen with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
Water droplets dripped down his chest. His eyes gleamed with superhuman intensity. Rosa took a step back and gasped, covering her mouth from shock.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were in here,” Heath said. “I just wanted to get some water from the fridge.”
Heath walked across the room and opened the refrigerator. He bent and picked out a bottle from inside. Rosa bit her lip, watching him the whole time, not sure what to do or how to feel. Heath stood and looked at her, tilting his head to the side.
“Is everything okay?” Heath asked, twisting the cap off the plastic bottle.
She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to say something but forgot what she was going to say.
“I’m sorry I startled you. I’ll get out of your way now,” Heath said after taking a sip of water.
“I’m just so confused about this whole fated mate thing. We’ve all known about shifters for a long time but being one’s fated mate is a whole different story.”
“I get it,” Heath said in a tone that made her think that she had hurt his feelings.
She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She was just so worried about her sister and so confused about everything else that was happening, she was probably being rude.