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Chapter One
Carter
“You really think that’s going to last?” I ask Ethan as he deals the cards “You think you and her are just going to live happily ever after like this forever?”
“Yeah,” he says as he tosses me a card “I do”
I laugh as I look at it Shit, a two of hearts
“Then you’re even du ends eventually This poker ga will end Our lives will end”
“When will this conversation end?” Rylan asks with a groan
“And your intense love for your mate will end,” I tell him
Ethan just shakes his head I’et through his thick skull If he was smart, he would have ran in the opposite direction when he first smelled his mate, Chloe
Instead, he’s trapped They’re living together and she’s pregnant The poor bear is caught in soht in domestic hell
“I’ets his second card “I can’t wait to find my mate”
I sigh as I look at my second card A seven of clubs The worst possible hand you can get in Texas Hold ‘E with Ethan, Westin, and Rylan in the fire station while ait for some action It’s been quiet for the entire fall and we’re starting to go nuts It’s ot a call for a fire was in July
Our Chief, Blake, was playing, but he bowed out when the o and he’s been on the line with him ever since
“I’m excited too,” Rylan says with a youthful suy is so easy to read “I can’t wait to put my hands on her thick curves and just dive in”
“How do you know she’s going to have curves?” I ask with a grin “Maybe she’s going to be ninety-eight years old and only weigh sixty pounds”
“I’d still love her,” Rylan says and my eyes roll so far back in my head that I think I just sprained them
“You would,” Ethan says with a nod “Don’t listen to this gru to be the iven up on ever finding her and then bam! she was there”
“And you acted like a total dick,” I reht If anyone even dared to sniff the air around her, you bit their damn head off”
He looks embarrassed as his cheeks start to blush “My bear went a little crazy I’ll ades around her He wanted to claiht But oncecalmed down Sort of”
“I can’t wait to find irl and have someone to protect,” Westin adds
“Why bother?” I ask “It’s better on your own You don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself Being stressed and worried about another person is no way to be happy And then what happens when everything falls apart? You’ll be miserable”
“As opposed to you, Mr Sunshine over there?” Rylan says with a chuckle
“Look at Ethan,” Westin says “He’s happy I’ve never seen anyone more happy in my life”
Ethan s happy”
I let out a long sigh Why is this so hard to get through their thick heads?
“Because it hasn’t hit him yet,” I explain “He’s in the eye before the stors on his Walkman and he’s too stupid in love to realize there’s a train bearing down on him about to smack him senseless”
Westin frowns “What’s a Walkman?”
Another sigh from me “You don’t knohat a Walkman is? You’re a child”
“I’m twenty-seven!” he snaps back
“Exactly”
“What the hell is it?” Westin asks again “Is it like an MP3 player that plays CDs?”
Rylan, the other young twenty-six-year-old genius jumps in “No, it plays A-track tapes”
A-track tapes? Geez, I’m only forty-two I’m not that old
“It plays cassettes, you morons”
Rylan’s face scrunches up in confusion “Did it at least have a phone on it?”
Ethan is laughing He’s thirty-six, so for sure he had a Walk his on it
We go through the first round of betting and the flop coood for me At all
“What happened to you, Carter?” Ethan asks as he narrows his eyes and studies me from across the table “Who broke your heart? Do you have a heart? Are you a robot?”
“Nothing is wrong withwith all of you I’ve seen what mates do to shifters They turn thehetti I like e”
Rylan laughs “You just s and ate them with hot sauce and bacon that was a week old”
“So?”
“So, if anyone’s life needs to change, it’s yours”
I shake h “I don’t want it I don’t want a mate I don’t want to fall in love I don’t want any of it”
“What about your bear?” Westin asks “You can’t tellto find his mate”
“My bear sleeps all day and night,” I tell theet that I have an animal inside me “He’s been in hibernation mode for the last twenty or so years I don’t hear much from him Probably because he doesn’t want a mate either”
They’re all shaking their heads at ets off the phone and comes out of his office
“I need a volunteer for safety day at the elementary school,” he says as he stands beside the table and looks at each one of us
We all drop our eyes to our cards
It’s silent No one is even breathing We’re not doing anything to draw attention to ourselves
“Anyone?” Blake says “Bueller? Bueller?”
Rylan suddenly points at me “It’s Carter’s turn!”
“What? Fuck you! It is not!”
The other two traitors, Ethan and Westin, are nodding in agreement
“I did the fire safety class at the senior citizen home,” I quickly say “Remember?”
“Oh, I do,” Blake says as his eyes narrow on me “They asked you to never come back if I remember correctly”
Rylan snorts out a laugh “What did you do again?”
“Nothing!” I say defensively “They’re all a bunch of dra a demonstration and suddenly you’re a public safety hazard”
Blake huffs out a breath “Mrs Henderson broke her hip!”
“That brittle old thing was going to break anyway! And I didn’t tell her to jump out the !”
“Well, one of you has to go,” Blake says as he crosses his arms over his chest “It’s at the school so let’s try not to burn anything down, okay?”
“Let’s play for it,” Ethan says and Blake agrees
“Worst hand on this round gets the luxury of going”
“What?” I shout “No!”
I have the worst possible hand
“It’s already done,” Blake says in a tone that leaves no room for discussion “Deal the cards”
Tension hangs over the table as each card is dealt An ace, then a queen
I have a two and a seven I ood these cards are doing me
Of course, I come in last place
“You’re going,” Blake says as he points at me
Ethan is grinning “Maybe it won’t be all bad I hear the secretary is pretty hot Maybe she’ll be your mate”
“Ugh” I toss roan “I’d rather set myself on fire, but thanks”
Chapter Two
Carter