1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Quinn

" F uck off." I slouch further into my chair, letting my sunglasses drop over my eyes and slamming my boots on my desk.

"Quinn, you have to come," Lucas stresses.

"I don't have to do shit," I growl. Lucas is a lion shifter who was recently mated and shares his mate with his two brothers. Their mate, Breeane, is opening a bakery down the street from my office. Her friend is arriving in town soon to join the business. Lucas was sent to invite me to attend her welcoming slash opening.

"Come on," he groans. "What else do you have to do?"

"Anything else," I grumble.

He leans over the desk. I feel his shadow creeping over me, and he sniffs. "Are you drunk?"

"No." Not anymore.

"You reek of whiskey."

"And?" I mutter.

"Is something going on?"

"No. I felt like having a drink last night." I don't want to talk about it, and definitely not with him. I don't know why they sent him. We aren't close. Out of all the brothers, I have had more interaction with Las.

"Breeane wants you to come. "

I push my sunglasses down with my finger. "Why?" I sigh.

"Steph is a bear shifter. She thinks she will be more comfortable if there is another bear shifter at the party," he explains, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"I would think she would be comfortable enough with her best friend." Breeane moved here a month ago to get the building ready for business. She has been friends with Stephanie for years and has been eagerly awaiting her arrival. "She'll have plenty of friends there to greet her."

"Everyone is coming."

"See?" I replace my glasses and close my eyes.

"Everyone except you," he says. "As much as you want to deny it, you are part of the group. Bash will be there with Marie. The dragons and the wolves—"

"You don't have to list them all," I interrupt. "You are just proving my point."

"You have to be the asshole," he growls.

"I've been called worse," I mutter. He falls silent, and his stare penetrates the side of my head. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow night," he says quickly. "Don't worry about bringing anything, just your sparkling personality." He jumps up. "I will tell Breeane to expect you. I don't like disappointing my mate," he says sternly, backing away. "I would hate to have to come back and bug you again."

"I would hate that too." I look at him. "What time?" I give up.

"Seven. Don't come drunk."

"If you leave right now, I'll keep the promise to be there." He nods and leaves quickly. I throw my glasses on the desk and rub my hands over my face.

I guess I'm going to a party .

Lucas is a good guy; I have nothing against him. I have tried to separate myself from all the shifters here, but they are determined to pull me in. I was doing fine until Marie came to work for me and ended up mating a vampire named Bash. I had a good but somewhat impersonal relationship with Marie. She was human when I met her, but now she is turned.

I own a small investigation firm. I hired Marie as an investigator because of her excellent memory and kept her because of her dedication to the job. I haven't been able to keep a receptionist. I've gone through ten different people in that position. I cringe at the memory of some of them. I'm not a demanding boss; all I ask is that you do your job. One woman developed a crush on me and wouldn't stop chattering. I hate meaningless conversations. She lasted three weeks before I couldn't take her stare or voice anymore. She cried on the way out—I hate tears, too.

I've been putting off going through the hiring process again.

I don't mind working with Bash. I've known many vampires over the years, and he is in the top five that I have liked, which isn't saying much; the list is just the five. He doesn't talk much and does what he needs to do.

I can appreciate those qualities.

I open my laptop and open the files we are currently working on. The cases we work on may seem insignificant, but most of them are women who are in toxic relationships. Their spouses or boyfriends are cheating, lying, or, worst case, abusing them. Some women come to us because they suspect cheating, but there is another side of the business. The side that helps women escape these abusive relationships. They don't always come to us. Most of the time it's friends or family who suspect the abuse and need our help to influence the victim to ask for help. We reach out a hand, which most of the time they desperately grab, grateful someone gives a shit and can guide them to the next step .

I take pride in being there with the answers. I enjoy sticking it to assholes who think they are getting away with hurting their partners. Human men are the worst offenders. I will never understand how they can do the sick things to women whom they claim to love.

The man we have been following recently is cheating on his pregnant girlfriend. Another man has been beating the shit out of his wife in front of their three children. The woman has been hiding the bruises, pretending everything was fine, and doing business as usual in front of their family and friends. She picks up the kids from school with oversized sunglasses on her face and scarves around her neck, hiding the pain of a limp where he kicked her when she was down on the ground from the blows to her face.

She was willing to take the hits, but she reached out to us when her son got into a fight at school. It's normal for boys to tussle, but he's only six and hit a girl he liked. She didn't know who to turn to or how to get out until an acquaintance who saw the signs gave her my card.

It put her over the edge. She doesn't want her children to turn out like her husband. We took her from the home and put her in a safe house with the children. The husband is searching for his missing family, even though he knows why they left. He has leaned on his family, putting on the performance of his life—the distraught, loving husband.

The wife and the children have been speaking to a therapist daily. I have hope that she can move past this time of her life.

I almost wanted to inform him that I encouraged his wife to leave. It's been a while since I had a good fight.

I have restrained myself.

Barely.

As a shifter, the most important relationship is with your mate. Finding your mate is what you hope for, and when we find them, we don't let go. We will do anything to protect and love them. The universe picks the perfect person for you, and it can't be denied. If you do, you will forever long for them and never be at peace.

Being a shifter, vampire, or any other supernatural can be lonely. Shifters live for a very long time, and vampires can live forever. Finding a group like the one I have found here can be fulfilling, but from what I have heard, nothing is like having your fated mate.

Life can be boring. You can only do so many new things, and I have tried many things over my thirty-eight years. When I can live at least five hundred years on this earth, more if I am lucky, the thought of living them all alone is frightening.

When I was seventeen, my mother left. There was no explanation, no note, just gone. It wrecked my dad. I thought she was happy. She had a mate who loved her, children she seemed to adore, and a home in which she took great pride. We were shocked and grieving, even though Dad said she was alive and well. When you are mated, you can feel your mate. Dad knew she was alive, so I didn't understand why she left and why he wouldn't go after her. He told us that she needed a break. A break that lasts a week, I can understand. Years? How can you give up your family?

He was never the same. He did the best he could, but we could see his pain.

I was angry. Angry at my mom for giving us up, pissed at Dad for doing nothing. My dad had to bail me out of jail many times after I damaged property and got into fights. The last time I walked out of the police station, I was twenty. A man approached me, a vampire, and asked if I wanted to hear about a job opportunity. He said he was looking for someone with my skill set.

At that time, I didn't think I had any particular skills. I knew how to fight and was big, even at that age. I don't know why I agreed to sit down with him and hear more. I suppose I was searching for some purpose, sick of going from odd job to odd job, being angry, and getting in trouble .

Looking back, he opened my eyes to a side of life I had not thought possible.

"Brooding, bear?" Bash's looks alone are startling. He is a four-hundred-year-old vampire with white hair, abnormally light blue eyes, and a naturally fierce expression. His body is large, but he isn't as big as I am. Even though most humans know nothing about our existence, anyone would take pause when they see him coming.

As much as I have been around vampires, I can't get used to the speed at which they move. They call it walking in the shadows. They can move so fast that their bodies blur. They have no scent. The lack of smell, a void, can give away their presence.

"Bash," I respond. "Did you come to work or give me shit?" I take a drink of the cold coffee I poured an hour ago.

"What would I give you shit about?" he asks as he leans against the wall just inside the door.

"Possibly about the party," I hint, setting the cup down.

"I couldn't care less if you come or not. Marie asked me to be there, so I will."

"Right," I say. Marie is the only person that can order the vampire to do anything. "Are you on a case?"

"Yes. Marie will be here soon. We get to follow a young man who is suspected of cheating." He sighs. "I bet he is, and his girlfriend is paying us money to take a picture of it, to document the worst time of her young life."

Bash understands humans less than I do. "This is the job."

"I suppose."

"At least you get to do it with your mate."

His mouth tips up. "The bright spot." He clears his throat. "What is going on?"

"What do you mean?" I frown .

"You are grouchier than usual," he points out.

"I'm fine," I say firmly.

"The only people that use the word fine are not fine," he says dryly.

"Do we have a sharing kind of relationship?" I snap.

"No. But maybe Marie is rubbing off on me." He looks concerned as he rubs his neck.

"Don't let her." I look away.

"Don't let me what?" Marie blurs beside her mate.

"Fuck," I growl, rolling my eyes.

"Something is up with Quinn, and he won't say what," Bash says plainly with a straight face.

"Are you okay?" Marie asks, moving to the front of the desk, her blonde hair flying behind her. Her slight frame is deceptive; her strength and speed rival any large shifter.

"I'm fine," I grit out. When she opens her mouth to reply, I snap, "There is nothing wrong. Lucas started my morning with a demand for my presence tomorrow night. I had a few glasses of whiskey last night. I'm tired and don't like the vampire grilling me this early." I lean back and cross my arms.

"There is something else," Bash says.

"Yes, there is," Marie agrees.

"Jesus," I mumble, tipping my head back.

"Quinn," Marie says. I give her my attention. "When you need to talk about it, we'll listen," she says softly.

"I know," I say.

"Let's go catch a cheater," she says brightly, turning to Bash.

"You take the lead, baby," Bash says as she grabs his hand. He studies my face for a moment and nods before they disappear.

I am a brown bear shifter. Not many can beat me in size when I am in my bear form. There are brown bears, black bears, and polar bears. Brown bears are much larger than black bears, but we are equally fierce when threatened. Polar bears are rare, like the real animals, and they like the cold climates, usually living in sparse areas. Bear shifters are more solitary by nature. We like to be alone. We don't associate with many types of shifters, not because they are different, but because we just enjoy the silence. We are better one-on-one with people. Some of us get overwhelmed in large gatherings. So I can understand Stephanie being uncomfortable with a bunch of strangers throwing a party in her honor. I suppose that is ultimately the reason I gave in. Besides having a soft spot for Breeane, I know how her friend must feel.

We also like small spaces, somewhere we can seclude ourselves. I have a small house, but most nights, I fall asleep in my office. Against the wall besides my desk is a fold-out couch barely big enough to hold my body. The building isn't large. There is a waiting room as you walk in, with the receptionist's desk facing the door. There are three offices: mine, Marie's, and now one for Bash, which he rarely uses.

Shifters thrive on physical touch; most species find it hard to live without it.

My family is different. We don't need much besides an affectionate head butt. I have visited only a few times over the last year, and they haven't come here, but that doesn't mean we have any less love for each other. My brothers and sister call and text regularly. Instead of my Mother's absence tearing us apart, it made us closer than ever. I would do anything for them, and them for me.

My brothers are the only ones who know what I have spent most of my life doing.

I should be more grateful. I fell into a group of shifters and vampires who will do anything for those they consider family. They welcome all kinds into their ranks. Once you are in, they consider your problems theirs. News travels at light speed through the family. Whatever issues have been filtered through everyone within a day, and many times, a plan has already been discussed.

This is why I don't share. I don't want them to know everything I have done. I don't want them to know I just saw a man I spent twelve years of my life with. We were brothers, not by blood, but by choice. We fought together; we were part of a team; our third was a deadly, ancient vampire who people ran from.

Even though I know in my gut that our actions were necessary, the guilt still lives inside me.

I spent twelve years of my life in hell.

I can make it through one fucking party.