Prologue

Prologue

“I’m here to deliver an order from the dairy warehouse. It’s from Miller Farms.” Dill handed over the paperwork to the man at the guardhouse. When he asked for her name and identification, she handed it over as well. Since she’d been doing this particular delivery for about five years now, she had all her things ready to hand over when asked. “I’m supposed to be here by noon, and it’s just shy of that.”

“They told me that you were coming in early for this one. I’m to tell you thanks and to give this to you.” She was handed an envelope along with a gift card from the restaurant. “Mr. Kirk, he’s in the warehouse right now and said to make sure that you get some food for you for coming in four hours early. We all appreciate it.”

Dill put the card and the envelope over her visor and went to the dock door, she was told. Not a bad deal for getting on the road a few hours early, she thought. After backing into the space, she was getting ready to get out when her cell phone rang. She wouldn’t do two things at once. It was difficult enough to get a trailer backed into a small space and then get the wheels locked and everything without being distracted. Answering the phone with her last name, she sat in the cab.

“Ms. Dillard.” She said that it was her and that she wasn’t going to be taking a long call to get to the point. “I like that. Right to the point. It’s Brad Kirk. I wanted to personally thank you for today. You’ve saved our butts here.”

“Like I told the guy out front, I had time, and I didn’t mind. But Mr. Kirk, I can’t get this ready for unloading while jawing around on the phone with you.” She looked in the cab and saw that her son was awake now. “Is there anything else?” His laughter made her pissy, and she didn’t know why.

“No. Nothing else. Go on. Get your work done. I’ll talk to you later.” She closed the connection and turned to Toby. He was getting his shorts on just as she was opening the door. Dill wondered what he thought they’d have to talk about but let it go. People said all kinds of weird things.

“Don’t get out until I tell you.” He said ‘yes, mom’ like he’d heard her say the same thing a hundred times. He probably had. Toby and she had been riding the roads since he was four weeks old, and she was fresh out of trucking school. “Don’t eat much. They gave me a gift card for the place. I know you’ve been wanting to try it.”

It took her nearly an hour to get her trailer locked and ready for unloading. The man on duty at the doors told her that it wouldn’t be long, but he’d have her trailer pulled into the lot if she wanted to get some food. Glad for that, she told him where she was going to be. After getting her gear and her son, they were headed to the parking lot to see if there was room for the big rig.

They had been seated when she remembered the envelope. Stuffing it deeper into her backpack, she was talking to Toby about the menu when they both decided on the big brunch that was going on today. If they could stuff themselves enough, she knew that they’d not have to stop again until dinner. That was fine by her. She hated snacking on the road.

They were in line when she heard from the warehouse. Her load was emptied, and her trailer was in the lot. Glad for the knowledge that she’d be able to get out sooner than planned all the way around, Dill watched Toby fill his plate with two slices of pizza, three burgers, a large load of fries, as well as mashed potatoes, gravy, and fried chicken.

“You do know that we’ll eat again, right?” Dill got a salad, something that she sorely missed while being on the road all the time. Toby got himself two glasses of milk and headed to their table. She’d bet her next check he’d be ready for another round of food by the time she got there.

Since it was so early in the day, the place was practically empty. When seated, they put her and Toby in one of the larger rooms alone, and she was glad for that. No one would be so close that she’d feel closed in. It was a problem that she had with larger restaurants. Especially ones with buffets. The room they’d been seated in was devoid of anyone but her and Toby.

“Ms. Kirk?” Dill glanced at the man standing not a foot from her while she was putting croutons on her salad. “You’ve been difficult to find.”

“My name is Becka Dillard. I don’t know who you’re looking for, but it’s not me.” He just laughed at her. Finishing up her salad, she turned and left the man there. She was just reaching out to her son when another man stepped in front of her. “Toby, I want you to find a waitress and tell them that I’m in trouble here. That someone is looking for a woman by the name of Kirk and thinks it’s me.”

She could see her son now, and when he nodded, wiped his mouth off, and stood up, she could have kissed him. As he made his way away from the table, she sat her plate down across from her son’s and sat down, much to the anger of the two men.

“Ms. Kirk, you’re not making this easy on yourself. We only want to talk.” She told them that she had an ID and that she’d show it to them if they would just leave her alone. “I have ID too. It don’t tell you shit about who I am. We just want to talk to you and then to your husband.”

“I’m not married either.” She slowly pulled her backpack to her front and slowly eased the zipper down. “I’m a self-employed driver. I don’t have a spouse, nor do I have a company that I work for. You’re making a mistake, and I’m only going to tell you one more time that I’m not who you’re looking for.”

“Bradley boy is going to make sure that we’re paid this time.” She told the second man that she was happy for him. Then, a gun appeared on the table, and she could feel one ramming into her ribs from behind. “You pull out anything other than a little bitty purse, and I’m going to blow your head off.”

She shot the second man before he could wipe the fucking grin off his face. Her gun was pointed at the first guy’s head. Really, she was pressing it into his forehead when someone cleared their throat from behind her. She didn’t move but told whoever it was the same thing that she’d told the two men.

“I was in line when they approached me. The second one there, he threatened me. I don’t take well to that. This guy, he said something about Bradley boy paying him. I just want to enjoy my first good meal in a long time with my son.” She could smell Toby. “Are you all right, son?”

“Yes, ma’am. This man is going to help us. He was at the cash register when I got there. He said that you know him.” She didn’t so much as take her eyes off the man in front of her. “See, I told you that she’d not care. Mom will kill this other man, too, if he don’t put that gun down. She’s not one to mess with.”

“Toby.” He said he was sorry, moved across from her, and resumed eating. “Really? You’re going to enjoy your food now?”

“I might not be able to if you splatter that man’s head all over me. This is the best fried chicken since your grannies. And you know how much I like that.” He was calming her. Something that he did very well. “Mom? Do you know Mr. Kirk?”

“No.” She heard the scrape of a chair and glanced at the man who sat next to her son. “You touch him, and I’ll tear you apart.”

“No one will bother him. On this, you have my word.” Dill snorted at the man. “Someone else I know does that when she’s disbelieving of something. You’d like her, I think.”

“Doubtful. I don’t suppose you’ve called the police, have you?” He said that he had, and when Toby offered him a piece of his chicken, she glared at the two of them. “This isn’t a social event, young man. Eat so that we can get out of here when the police arrive.”

“Since my mom is really busy right now, my name is Toby Dillard. I’m sixteen, and she’s my mom, Becka Dillard. Not Rebecca, but just plain Becka.” Mr. Kirk told him who he was. “Good to know. You might not care right at the moment but she’s not really my mom but my aunt. My mom died when someone from another group decided that they’d do a better job than my dad and mom did and killed them off. If not for visiting my aunt, I might well have—”

“Toby, what are you doing?” He told her. She looked at the man for the first time. “Oh. I don’t know anything about…please keep the information to a minimum if you don’t mind. I don’t care if he smells like home to you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She watched her handsome nephew stand up and smile at her. “Since you have things under control, and I don’t know when we might get to have a meal like this again, I’m going to go and get some more food. Just…if you’d not mind, Mom, please don’t make more of a mess with this other guy’s brains until I get done eating. All right.”

“I want you to know, young man, that I’m going to beat you senseless when we get out of this mess.” As he walked by her, he kissed her on the top of her head, and she felt her eyes fill with tears. “That isn’t buying you any points.”

“Yes, ma’am, I know that. I’ll be back.” She glanced again at the man sitting there by where Toby had been.

“The police have pulled up and are now in the front of the restaurant. I want to thank you for not making it known throughout the place what’s going on back here. This man,” she watched the man she was holding the gun on head wobble when Mr. Kirk hit him, “He’s going to jail for a long time. He is the reason, along with his buddy there on the floor, why we needed you to bring in our delivery earlier.”

“I don’t know them. But that man threatened me.” He said that he knew that too. The police came, and she felt the bite of a gun put to the back of her head. “I have a license to carry, and that man—”

“Officer Hill, I want you to remove the gun from her head. I told the dispatcher when I called them that I had this under control. Remove your gun, or I will. And you know me well enough to understand that I’m not a man that likes to repeat myself.” The gun pressure disappeared. Before she could ask what the hell was going on, Mr. Kirk began speaking again. “These are the two men that were on camera yesterday breaking into the back of the dairy area and pissing into the vats. My staff here worked through the night to get them serialized and ready for today’s milk. I also told you that they’d be back and that they’d all but told us that they would. And today, not only did they show up, but they brought a gun into a very public place and threatened my patrons. Going so far as to make it so that one of my very loyal patrons had to kill one of them because you couldn’t get up off your fat ass and make sure that the other people here were safe too.” When Kirk stood up, she didn’t move. Something was going on. A pissing contest, she thought, and it pissed her off that she was in the middle of it. Just as she was going to turn over whatever the hell was going on to the other officers standing around, a woman, a very beautiful and elegant woman, sat down when her son did.

“Mom, don’t kill her.” She glared at Toby and then asked him what he was doing. “I thought that since we more than likely won’t be allowed to come back here anymore that I’d throw us a big party. This lady here, her name is Lander, I think she said, found me in line. I wouldn’t have talked to her, but she’s with this monster of a man, too, and I’m sort of afraid of him. He’s filling up his plate along with hers.”

“Toby, do you know that we’re going to have to be here for a bit? I killed a man.” He ate a chicken leg while he answered her. “I guess I need to practice more on knowing who is who then. No, I didn’t know she was a vampire.” She looked around at the open window shades. “How sure are you about that?”

“He’s very sure. Why are you eating a salad when there is all this other food up there? I saw they had pudding. I love that stuff.” She told the woman, not having any idea why she was what she’d been thinking about a salad. “How long have you two been on the road? I’m assuming it’s been a while, right?”

“I was an infant when I was with her. She’d only just graduated from trucking college, and my mom and dad wanted to go out to a fancy dinner.” Toby told the table the rest of the story, how he’d been with her and not dead when their bruin had been ambushed. When he pushed away his food, he looked at her. “If not for her all these years, sixteen on the road, I don’t think that I’d be half the person that I am. I’ve called her mom from the start, and I don’t know if I’d ever do anything different. She saved me.”

No one said anything, and when the large man sat with them, he was talking to men and women in flak jackets with FBI and other initials on them when another woman sat down at the table. Toby, smiling, volunteered to go up and get another few plates of food when asked and came back with her a cup of hot tea. She really needed it about now.

Taking a lot less time than she thought that it might have, she was free to leave the bloodied table and enjoy some dessert. Not that she wanted any. She’d only been able to eat the salad because she’d been bullied into it. When Toby sat down next to her at the cleaned table, she hugged him to her.

“Did you want to hang out with Mr. Kirk?” He said that he was planning a play date, no. “I don’t know how that works. For all I know, you guys go around sniffing each other’s asses all the time, and that’s how you know each other.”

“I promise you, there is no butt-sniffing. And Mr. Kirk isn’t a real bear. He’s friends with someone powerful, and they gifted him immortality. There’s more to it than that, I’m sure, but for now, I’m ready when you are to get on the road.” She didn’t move but stared at him. “What?”

“Something happened? Did one of them…that woman, Lander, did she push you into something or say something to you? Where is she?” He pushed her back in the chair when she started after the woman. “Toby, you’re all I have. I have to protect you.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not, but I’m about a foot taller than you are and outweigh you by a good fifty or so pounds. And I can shift into a big black bear.” She felt her eyes fill again. “Don’t do that. If you do, then the two of us will be blubbering all over each other, and we’ll not be able to find us a place to sleep tonight.”

“I can cry. They said that we can sleep on the lot tonight.” He held her to his chest, and she sobbed. It terrified her every time something out of the ordinary happened, and he might get hurt. “Your parents would have been so proud of you, honey. You know that, don’t you?”

“I do. Even though I never had any memories with them, you’ve brought them alive for me every time we talk about them. Even if you’re just—that’s it, isn’t it? I completely forgot. Today would have been her birthday.” She nodded and tried very hard to keep herself under control for a few seconds. “Ah, Mom. You’re the best. I don’t think in all the world that anyone could have ended up with a better role model than what I’ve had all these years.”

They ended up leaving the lot and finding them a nice little camping area. They no longer shared a tent, but she knew that he was close by. Just as she was coming back from the shower, a very much needed one, she saw that there was a large jeep in their spot. She didn’t have to reach out to Toby to figure out what was going on. He was standing by the car, talking to a man next to him. It turned out to be Mr. Kirk.

~*~

He enjoyed talking to the young man. Toby was personable as well as polite. Kirk thought that he was smart, too, but he, for some reason, kept it under his hat about that. When Dill, his aunt, joined them after changing into something less jammie, she called it, he thought that he could have stayed there forever.

“Why are you here?” He nearly laughed at her but didn’t. She seemed to be on edge about something. It could have been the shooting, but he wasn’t positive that was all of it. “You got all your delivery. The cops were taken care of. Though I will admit that it was nice seeing someone of authority get their comeuppance. So, again, why are you here? Toby and I aren’t the kind of people men like you socialize with.”

“I don’t even want to hazard a guess at what you might mean by that. However, you’re right. It is nice seeing the bad guys get what they deserve. But I’m here because I’ve been enjoying myself. Both this afternoon and now.” Toby told his aunt to chill. “No, don’t tell her that. She’s just protecting herself and you. And from what I’ve seen, she’s done a good job of both. No, I’m a wealthy man who doesn’t get to hang out with someone around a campfire. Ever, I don’t think. But even with all the crap going on today, I’ve really enjoyed your company. By the way, did you open the envelope? I was asked by my secretary to remind you about it?”

“It was something from my attorney.” She’d opened it in the bathroom in case it was bad news. “It’s all fine.”

Brad didn’t think it was anything near all fine, but he nodded. “I swear to you, Becka, I have no other motives here but to have a nice relaxing evening with a couple of nice people.” She stood up, and he did as well. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No. I’m tired. I have a long drive tomorrow, and I have to get up early enough to go and get my trailer from the lot.” She hugged Toby, then told him thanks for the food, and she was gone. She told Toby not to stay up too late. He had homework.

“You online school?” Toby said that he was a freshman in college and was taking a few classes through the summer. “Good job on that.”

The two of them sat there for another two hours, just talking. He really didn’t want to go home. And thought very seriously about driving a few spaces away and sleeping in his car so that he could—

“Mr. Kirk, my aunt made sure when I was younger to have spent time with a burin. She did it because I’m a bear, and I had questions that she didn’t know. My dad changed my mom when they met so the two of them could run the burin together. I got a lot of questions answered while there, and I’d like to think I’m a bit more knowledgeable than most. All right?” Brad said that she’d been smart for doing that. Even though he’d been gifted a lot of magic and other things from a powerful burin, he knew very little about them. “Yeah, I kind of got that. You don’t know crap, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

Brad laughed a little, and the two of them sat there for a little while longer before he realized that he was staring at Becka’s tent again. He’d been thinking all kinds of odd thoughts about her since she’d gone to bed. When Toby said his name, he looked at the young man.

“I don’t want to upset you none here, but you’re my aunt’s mate. You know that, don’t you?” Brad laughed, thinking that this was a good joke that the kid had. “I’m not kidding you, Mr. Kirk. I could smell it on the two of you. She won’t figure it out either unless I tell her, but I think that you need to be told. Before someone else tells you. I have a feeling that the people with you today would make fun of you for not figuring it out on your own.”

“Yes. Relentlessly.” He looked at Becka’s tent and then at Toby again. “How sure are you about this? As you’ve already said, I don’t know crap.”

“You’re her mate. She’s not going to be happy and come to you with open arms like some other woman might. She’s been hurt. Still is if I don’t miss my bet. This man, I don’t know his name other than Danny, has been—it’s why we travel and do not have a space of our own. He’s been…I’ve never told her this, and I won’t unless I have to, but when her home burnt to the ground, I could smell him and the others then. Then, about five years ago, I noticed his scent around the truck and cab, too. He’s trying to get in.” He felt his need to protect the two of them roar up. “Calm it down, or she’ll come out here. She’s got a bit of magic; she can talk to me when necessary, but she can also feel me when I get stressed. And you’re stressing me a little.”

“I’m assuming that’s part of the mate stuff.” Toby smiled at him and nodded. “I didn’t know. I mean, I’ve been thinking about her a lot, but I thought I was just enjoying her company. Which I am. Both of you. But this mating information? It’s nothing that I thought of.”

“I think I figured that out, too.” They both laughed, and he felt better for it. “Those people you were with today, one of them smelled of bear. I know that none of them were bears, but they’ve had close contact with one. Do you know that person, too?”

“I do. I’ve only just met him. Well, the two of them. One is his mate, the other is a friend of ours. It’s Calhoun Meyer. Have you heard of him?” Toby stared at him with an open mouth. “I’m going to take that as a yes. He’s the king of the bruins.”

“I know that. Every bear knows that, too.” Toby leaned back in his chair and looked about as shell-shocked as he was feeling about finding out that he had a mate. “I don’t want to tell you what to do here, but that man is wanting something from my aunt. If you can protect her, then I’m going to…do you really know King Meyer?”

“I do. Would you like to meet him?” Toby nodded, then shook his head so many times Brad didn’t know what he wanted. “He can do that pop-in thing. If I call him here, he’ll…I don’t know what he’ll do, actually. As I said, I’ve only just met him.”

They talked for a bit longer. When Toby said he was going to hit the bed, Kirk asked if he could sit there for a bit longer. Telling him to just be careful had him shaking hands with the young man. He really was a good kid. It wasn’t until he exhausted every question and gotten no answers he had about mates that he knew he reached out to the only other person that he’d come to think of as his best friend. Hamish would have answers. If he didn’t, then he’d know where to get them.

Getting into his car, he did what he’d been thinking. Drove to a few empty spaces down and pulled into the lot. While sitting there, he tried to reason with himself and tell himself that she was going to be all right until morning. But it didn’t work. Brad was worried about his new little family now and that it would be the same in the morning.

After reaching out to his friend, he told him everything. Not just the fact that he had to be told she was his mate but about the man trying to get into her rig. Then, when he thought that he’d exhausted himself, he told him again how much he’d enjoyed talking to the two of them and hadn’t any idea that he’d just found her and that she had him a son.

“I’d not start out with that if I were you.” He asked which part when Hamish just showed up in the front seat of his car. “None of it. I mean, you’ll tell her sometime, but I’d hold off about how her nephew had to tell you about her. Women can be touchy about the strangest things. Don’t tell her that either. That will get us both in hot water.”

“There seems to be a lot of things about women that scare you, too. Are you sure that you’re the big badassed vamp, or is it, Lander?” He didn’t even hesitate and said it was all Lander. “You’re off your head if you ask me. And not all that helpful. The sixteen-year-old kid was more helpful than you are being.”

“Then go wake him up so that you piss off his aunt.” They both sat there for several seconds before they laughed. “Lander did some research on the two of them. When I left her, she was still digging. She told me about the murder and killing at the bruin. The burin has since been taken apart. She didn’t know why and said she’d get with Calhoun in the morning. That’s all I can tell you about that. Becka is pretty much an open book, she said. There is nothing in her closet, it seems. I know that when I tell her about Becka being your mate, she’ll dig deeper. Not that I think she’ll find anything else.”

“This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me.” They both sat there, staring into the darkness. “She’s very beautiful. Smart and has done a better than average job on…how do I tell if what Toby told me is right? I mean, what if he’s mistaken?”

“Do you feel like he might be?” Brad shook his head. “Then I’d take what he said as gospel. Hang on. I’m talking to Lander.”

While his friend spoke to his mate, Brad got out of the car. He should have put her up in a hotel when he realized how chilly it was outside. But the two of them, she and Toby, seemed to be thrilled with camping out. Toby told him that it was nice to be able to have nature right there with them. He loved that part, too, but in small doses. He wasn’t sure how he felt about camping out in the woods. He liked his comforts and didn’t think he’d like doing this night after night.

Smiling, he told himself that he’d get used to it if that was what it took to make her happy. Brad laughed. Christ, he was getting to be as sappy as his friends with mates. He couldn’t wait to figure out the other things that he’d heard about over the centuries. Also, he would have to figure out a way to tell her how old he was, too. That, he thought, was one of the many things that he’d put off as he’d been advised. But he would ask his son too when he—

“Lander wants to talk to you.” He nodded and got back into the car. Whatever advice she had for him, he’d use it. She was a good deal smarter than her mate, as he knew Becka would be to him.