15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Cora

“I need to know exactly how long I won’t have power,” the tenant said to Pike while Cora gathered tools in the back of Van Guts. Today’s job was to install 220 dryer outlets in both garages of a duplex. This was the third time she’d worked for the owner but the first time dealing with this tenant.

“I’m not sure,” Pike answered.

“How can you not be sure?” the guy said, his voice getting more aggressive. If he got much worse, Cora would need to call the owner.

Leaving everything in the van, Cora jumped out and strode confidently to where Pike was standing with the tenant. He was a slim man with artfully mussed brown hair and a disgruntled sneer, wearing jeans and a cardigan over a graphic t-shirt. He looked a lot like someone trying to appear academic and elite, the young cool teacher, but instead looked like he’d spend an entire date talking about how smart he was.

The guy glared at Pike, undeterred by their size difference. “I want to talk to your manager or boss!”

“That would be me,” she said as she stepped up to stand with Pike. Her bear gave her a grateful look.

“You're the manager?” the man said, clearly startled to be talking to a woman as he ran his gaze over her shorter form.

“I’m the manager, boss, and owner,” she stated .

“That was all redundant,” he sniffed. “Still, the question is the same, how long until I have power again?”

“I haven’t even shut it off yet,” Cora pointed out. “I’ll be done within one to three hours, but that shouldn't be a problem. When Susan hired me to do the wiring and schedule, she assured me you’d been notified three times and reminded last night that we were coming.”

“Leaving a note on my door hardly counts as notification,” he protested. “And I missed her calls. Who even listens to messages anymore?”

Cora tilted her head down a little and rolled her eyes to look up at him. “Would it have been better by telegraph? Messenger pigeon? Message in a bottle?”

“I don’t like your attitude.” The guy stepped closer to her, trying to use his height to intimidate her. He was going to have to do a lot more than stare down at her if he wanted to have an effect.

Cora smirked. “That’s weird because I think my attitude is great considering I’m dealing with you first thing in the morning.”

“You work for me, and I expect—”

She cut him off by stepping into his personal space. “I work for Susan Green, the woman who owns this duplex and lives in the front unit. You’re a renter who moved in two months ago and doesn’t pay attention to anything, apparently. Susan is trying to be a good landlady by making it so you can have an outlet for the electric dryer you insisted you needed. Go find some coffee shop with WiFi or stand here and whine. I don’t care either way.”

The guy's expression went from surprise to absolutely livid, which surprised Cora. She hadn’t even cussed at him. By her standards, she’d been downright pleasant.

He moved super close, almost touching her. She prepared herself to move out of the way if the dumbass decided to take a swing at her, but until he did, she wasn’t backing down.

A big hand gripped her waist and lifted. A surprised sound came out of her mouth as her feet left the ground. She found herself being set down off to the side and Pike took her spot. He stepped close, putting his giant body only a hair’s breadth from the tenant.

“Is there going to be a problem?” Pike’s voice was low and dangerous. Bringing his hands up, he cracked his knuckles while tilting his head inquiringly at the guy .

She’d never seen him look so intimidating, damn this was hot!

“I, uh,” the tenant visibly swallowed and stepped back. Catching Cora’s smirk, the guy tried to recover. “Whatever, just get it done.”

Turning, he rushed back into his house, slamming the door behind him.

The moment he was gone, Pike's entire demeanor changed. His shoulders dropped a little, and he shoved his hands in his pockets as he turned to face her.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, staring at his shoes.

Confused, she stared at him, “What?”

When he didn’t look up or answer, she moved closer and placed a hand on Pike’s chest. “Why are you sorry?”

He placed one of his massive hands over hers, covering it completely. “I didn’t ask before I acted. I should’ve waited for you to tell me you needed me. I’m really sorry, I just couldn’t handle that guy being so close to you and acting like such a… a… dick!”

He spat the last word out, like it was the worst cuss word he could think of. When Cora chuckled, he looked up, finally meeting her eyes.

“If the situation was reversed, I’d want to protect you,” she pointed out. “And it was fun to see that guy run off.”

His features relaxed with relief. “You’re not mad?”

“Hell no,” she answered. “I know I’m a bad ass bitch who could take him down if I wanted to. I don’t need to prove myself to anyone. Although ask before lifting me up, okay?”

Pike nodded his head. “I will. And that’s true, you are amazing. Remember the night we met? You laid out Steve before I could get to you. You must’ve been fast with your knee to his balls because he was a wolf shifter. I think that’s when I fell in love with you.”

Cora grinned at the memory of the smarmy guy who was the catalyst of her and Pike’s meet cute. “You say the sweetest things. That guy deserved more than what I did to him. Honestly, you throwing him out wasn’t punishment enough. I couldn’t be the first woman he harassed.”

“Don’t worry,” Pike said, his grin matching hers. “After I threw him in the dumpster out back, I told Kimble he could make a snack out of the guy. Kimble didn’t kill him, but he wasn’t gentle either.”

“Aww,” Cora cooed. “He was a good vampire boyfriend even before he became my vampire boyfriend.”

“And I’m a good bear boyfriend, right?” Pike pushed.

“The best,” she agreed. Bunching up the shirt under her hand, she pulled him down to her level. He didn’t resist and soon his lips were within easy reach. She meant for the kiss to be a quick reassuring one, but the moment her lips met his, sparks flew.

Moaning, he parted his lips and deepened the kiss. All thoughts of the job and decorum flew out of Cora’s mind as Pike thrust his tongue into her mouth. The world disappeared, and she lost herself in the feel of Pike’s mouth on hers.

She didn’t realize Pike’s hands were moving until she felt them cupping her ass. His hands were so much broader than her that when he straightened and lifted her up against his chest, she might as well have been sitting on a bench seat.

A bench seat that was massaging her butt through her jeans.

Without breaking the kiss, she wrapped her legs around his waist, and her arms around his neck, pressing her body hard against his. Heat pooled in her belly, and her core started throbbing. With a little whimper, she rubbed her sex against his muscled body, wishing there wasn’t fabric between them.

Then his hands massaged her ass, pressing her lower body more firmly against him. She went still as pleasure shot up her spine. Could she climax by dry humping Pike while fully clothed? The thought excited her.

“I didn’t realize you’d hired a new assistant,” a voice said.

With a little gasp, Cora ended the kiss and looked over her shoulder to find Susan standing there with a bemused smile. Feeling her face get hot with embarrassment, she turned her head back to Pike. His eyes were big and slightly unfocused, his face was flushed, and his lips were wet and red from their kissing. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to nip at his plump lower lip.

But there was work to do and a friend watching.

“Put me down, Pike,” she whispered, patting his cheek affectionately. This was probably one of the most compromising positions she’d ever been found in, but at least it was only Susan, and she stopped them before things had really gotten out of hand.

At her request, Pike blinked. “Down? ”

“Yes, down,” she said. “Tell your body to send some of the blood back up to your brain, big guy. This was fun, but we need to do other stuff.”

As she watched, Pike’s face went through several phases. First was confusion, then disappointment, and finally realization and embarrassment at the same time.

“We’re in a driveway,” he hissed, setting her down on her feet. “It’s not even your driveway, just a driveway. And there is a woman here staring at us. Why is she staring at us? Am I in trouble?”

Cora felt embarrassed, though not mortified, but Pike looked like he wanted to duck into Van Guts and hide, maybe even drive off without her.

“Everything’s fine,” Cora assured him before facing Susan. “Uh, I thought you were at work?”

“I was, then Mitch called me saying the electrician I hired was threatening to beat him up or even kill him. I took my lunch early to find out what was going on.” Susan ran her eyes appreciatively over Pike. “Imagine my surprise to find you lip-locked with your assistant. Not that I blame you.”

“Pike’s my boyfriend, not my assistant,” Cora said, moving to stand in front of Pike, as if she could hide him from the woman’s admiring gaze.

Susan’s smile widened. “And you brought him on a job with you? That’s different.”

Cora liked Susan but the woman was nosy beyond belief. Then she did something really odd. She sniffed, frowned, and addressed Pike. “Does she know?”

Pike moved to stand next to Cora instead of behind her. His earlier embarrassment was gone. Now he was matching Susan’s frown. “Of course she knows. I’d never deceive my mate like that.”

Cora eyed Susan suspiciously. This conversation could only mean one thing, Susan wasn’t as she appeared. “What are you?

“Coyote shifter,” Susan said. “This whole neighborhood is mostly coyotes. We don’t have alphas or a strict pack structure like wolves, but we like to live close to each other.”

Cora pointed to the tenant side of the duplex. “What about him? ”

“Human and clueless,” Susan said. “I wanted to rent to a coyote like last time, but no one needed a place. He seemed innocuous.”

“You used the wrong word,” Pike muttered. “I think you meant to say obnoxious.”

Pike surprised a laugh out of Cora while Susan looked both amused and resigned.

“That Mitch guy was getting in my face, so Pike stepped in to make him back off. That’s all,” Cora told her. “No harm done except to Mitch’s fragile ego.”

“The moment I smelled black bear, I knew Mitch must have overstepped,” Susan assured her, then looked at Pike. “You guys don’t get aggressive except for when it comes to cubs and mates. Congratulations to both of you.”

Pike beamed and thanked her, but it made Cora realize how much of a disadvantage she had in this world. Everyone could sense things she couldn’t. Imani told her vampires could see auras, shifters could smell magic, and here she was with nothing but her plain human eyes and nose. It wasn’t fair!

While she was thinking about the inequality, Pike and Susan were chatting. Looking down, she found Pike had tangled their fingers together and she hadn’t even noticed. That must be what it’s like to be in love—you don’t know where you ended, and the other person began. It would be even worse if she agreed to a soul exchange.

The part that scared her the most was how much she wasn’t scared.

***

Pike

The sun was starting to set by the time they finished the last job. Putting Cora’s tools back in Van Guts, Pike marveled that she didn’t murder more of her customers. They’d worked a long day, and it was shocking to find out that Mitch was the least annoying of all of them. He’d been the most threatening, but not the most obnoxious.

The other humans they dealt with insisted on talking to him, even after he’d pointed out that Cora was the one in charge, and he was only there to carry stuff. One elderly man even got upset when Pike couldn’t answer any of his questions, despite Pike repeatedly explaining that he needed to ask Cora.

“Is it a human thing or a man thing?” he grumped as he slid a compartment box full of small components into its slot. Cora stuck her head into the open door of Van Guts and grinned at him.

“It’s probably both,” she answered, holding out another box.

He shook his head as he took the box and slid it in next to the other one. “How do you put up with it? They talk down to you, they demean you, and that one guy tried to get you to drop your price after you did the work. And that was with me standing there glaring at him. How much worse is it when you’re by yourself?”

“You get used to it, but today was worse than normal,” she said, stepping up into the van. “Don’t worry, more often than not, I get even. I’ve done some stuff that I should probably feel guilty about after someone said shitty things to me.”

Pike was intrigued. He dropped to a crossed knee sitting position on the van floor and pulled her into his lap. “Like what?”

She snuggled into him. “I think those are stories for another time, but I only did it to the really vile ones.”

“Can we do something to this guy?” Pike asked. “Please!”

Cora laughed and kissed the side of his neck. “He wasn’t bad enough to warrant a Cora Curse.”

Ohhhh!” Pike murmured in her ear. “Cora Curse sounds kinda sexy.”

“Stop it, care-bear.” Pushing away from him, Cora got up with a grin and a shake of her head. “Let's get home before Kimble wakes up and comes looking for us.”

Pike didn’t know if Cora was developing a bond with Kimble despite not having shared souls yet or if she had amazing timing because he could suddenly feel the vampire in the back of his head. Before, it had been a soft presence in the background, like small waves rhythmically lapping against a tropical beach. Now it felt like storm winds pounding against a coastline.

“Kimble’s awake,” he whispered. “Something’s wrong. We need to hurry!”