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Chapter One

Turning off the water, Warner O'Brian stepped out of the shower. He grabbed a towel from the rack and quickly dried himself. Warner rubbed over his hair as he peered into the mirror.

Seeing the bruise fading on his right cheek, Warner sighed and shook his head. The proof of his father—Walter O'Brian—backhanding him was nearly gone. At least it wasn't tender anymore.

Warner slung the towel around his waist, then stood still for a moment... listening. When he didn't hear anything, he eased the door open as quietly as possible. He'd remembered to oil the hinges the past weekend so they no longer squeaked.

Which is why dear ol' Dad hit me, or so he claimed.

After all these years living with the man, Warner knew he didn't actually need a reason to hit him. If it hadn't been the squeaking hinges, he would've made something up. When Walter was awake, Warner tried to be out of the house.

Crossing to his room, Warner hurried inside, closing and locking the door. He tossed the towel into his laundry basket, then chose a pair of navy-blue slacks and a light blue button-down. After laying his work outfit on the bed, Warner went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of white briefs.

Warner dressed quickly.

After slipping his black-sock-clad feet into his black trainers, Warner placed his wallet in his back pocket. He returned to his dresser and once again opened his underwear drawer. Digging in the back, Warner retrieved his small tube of concealer, his lip gloss, and his eyeliner. Once he'd done up his face, hiding the fading bruise, he put his lip gloss in his pocket and the other items away.

Grabbing his keys, Warner crossed to his bedroom door. He paused again and listened, hesitating. After a hard swallow, he eased out of his room, closing the door silently behind him.

Then Warner hurried from the house and into the morning sunlight. Getting into his car, he quickly locked the door before blowing out a relieved breath, allowing the tension to drain from his shoulders. Warner started the car, put it into gear, and headed off to work.

"Two more weeks," Warner whispered, anticipation filling him. "Two more weeks and I'll have enough for first and last months' rent, as well as a little extra. I can hardly wait."

With those thoughts running through his head, Warner tuned the radio to his favorite soft rock station and started singing along. He knew he couldn't sing for shit, but that didn't stop him. He loved singing. Well, Warner loved music in general, even if he had no talent for singing, dancing, or playing an instrument.

Warner would be the first to admit he wasn't the most coordinated person. That had been the first of many issues that started his father having problems with him. The man who'd donated half his genes to create him had wanted a big brawny son who could follow in his athletic footsteps—football specifically.

The fact that Walter had ended up with a slightly plump, uncoordinated son pissed him off. Add in that Warner was gay—there was just no hiding it after his mother had introduced him to make-up at the age of thirteen—and Walter washed his hands of him. That had been fine when Warner's mother had been alive.

"I miss you, Mom," Warner whispered, feeling the pinpricks of tears behind his eyes. "Shit."

Blinking quickly, Warner returned to singing as he finished his drive to work. He'd been working at Rosewood Estate Winery for nearly three months. His father insisted on taking half his pay for rent, which made saving up to move difficult, but he was almost there.

Finally.

"Can't wait until I don't have to walk on pins and needles every day."

Seeing the sign for the winery ahead, Warner found himself looking forward to his shift. He worked as a server on their covered patio restaurant. Their menu was limited, but what food they offered was excellent. That was a good thing since Warner had never had a waiter job before, but he was forever grateful that Marion Cooper had taken a chance on him, and he worked extremely hard for her.

Warner parked his sedan in the employee lot and hopped out. Eager to start his shift, he hurried inside. After greeting Kelly, who stood behind the tasting counter, Warner went into the back.

"Morning, Warner," Marion greeted when she spotted him. A smile curved her full pink lips as she watched him clock in. "Can I talk to you for a minute, honey?"

"Good morning, Marion," Warner replied. He still felt a little funny calling his middle-aged boss by her first name, but she'd insisted. "Sure." Stopping beside her, Warner cocked his head. "What can I help you with?"

"Oh, I just wanted to talk to you about your position."

Warner couldn't help the way his eyes widened as he felt a gasp escape him. "Did I do something wrong?"

Oh, god. No. I need this job.

Marion eyed him for a second. Then it was her turn for her eyes to widen. "Oh, goodness, no." She rested her hand on Warner's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "I'm so sorry, honey. That was a horrible way to begin. You've certainly done nothing wrong." Smiling again, Marion told him, "You've done everything right. I just wanted to know if you'd be interested in expanding your abilities?"

A relieved breath left him in a whoosh. "Oh." His unexpected heartrate spike slowly began to settle. "What do you mean?"

Indicating the main floor, Marion told him, "Did you know that Kelly's moving?"

Warner shook his head. "No. I hadn't heard that." Unable to keep his curiosity to himself, he asked, "Where's she going?"

"Her husband received a promotion, but it requires them to move to Texas to accept it," Marion explained. She never seemed to mind anyone asking questions. "She'll be gone at the end of the month."

Considering it was the first week of July, Warner nodded. "So you have time to train someone new to do tastings."

"Right." Marion smiled widely. "I was wondering if you wanted to be that someone?"

Warner gaped, surprise filling him anew. " Me ?"

Marion laughed, the pleasant sound bouncing off the walls. "If you want. The position would come with a raise."

Even without the raise, Warner would've been happy to learn. "Yeah. Thanks." He grinned at his boss. "I'd love that."

"Great." Marion patted him on the shoulder and headed out of the break room. "I know you always appreciate extra hours, so stay after work this evening, and we'll start talking specifics."

"Yeah, yeah," Warner quickly replied. "Thank you."

With a bounce in his step, Warner started his shift.

* * * *

With his hands fisted, Geoff slammed them over and over into the hanging heavy bag. His breath came in heaving gasps, and he felt sweat rolling down his temples and back. With focused intensity, Geoff flexed his arm muscles and took out his frustration on the inanimate object.

Better than getting into bar fights.

Geoff recalled his Alpha Kaiser's dry comment last month when he'd shown him the newly set up workout room. Considering the complex where he resided was the home of a shifter-run marine park, a gym had never before been needed. It wasn't as if a shifter needed to run on a treadmill to stay in shape.

His alpha setting up the room with a few pieces of equipment that Geoff could take his aggression out on had nothing to do with exercise. Instead, he was using it to assuage his frustration, to exorcise his anger. His jealousy upon watching so many friends at the park find their fated mates had been eating him alive for years.

Finally, Geoff had gone to a bar and gotten into a fight. It had felt good to have a focus for his anger. That had led to him doing it again... and again... until one bar fight had landed him in jail. Their shifter pod's lawyer had easily sprung him, but that had drawn the notice of Alpha Kaiser and Beta William, forcing them to step in and find another way to help him process his frustrations.

"Hey, Geoff."

Pausing in his beating of the bag, Geoff grabbed it to stop it swinging. He turned to find Dare standing just inside the doorway. The giant octopus shifter grinned upon seeing that he had Geoff's attention and strode toward him.

"Thought I'd find you in here," Dare stated. "Did you want to spar?" He indicated the roped-off ring that stood on the other side of the room.

That was another new feature. The large square had been set up along the lines of a boxing ring, only larger. At first, Geoff had wondered who would even be willing to use it with him, but he'd been surprised by the number of friends willing to face off against him.

Hell, even Alpha Kaiser had sparred with him once—and that had been enough to remind Geoff why he was their alpha. Even slightly shorter and quite a bit slenderer, the muscular colossal squid shifter had wiped the floor with him. His alpha's movements were fast, fluid, and precise.

Geoff had sort of felt like a lumbering oaf compared to him.

"Sure," Geoff agreed, moving in that direction. "I'd appreciate that."

"Under one condition," Dare told him as he kicked off his sandals and reached for the hem of his polo shirt.

Pausing outside the ring, Geoff arched one brow. "What's that?"

Smirking, Dare draped his shirt over a rack of weights and sauntered toward him. "After I kick your ass, you join me and Price and a few of the other guys." The other shifter grinned, pausing beside Geoff next to the ring. "We're going out to hit a few wineries this afternoon."

Geoff hesitated. Going out with a bunch of mated couples didn't really sound like a good time to him. Price was Dare's vampire mate, and watching them make goo-goo eyes at each other certainly wouldn't help him keep his cool.

Gods, I hate this jealousy bullshit.

While Geoff wished he didn't feel the way he did, he couldn't seem to shake it loose, either. Other than doing something physical, the only time he received any relief was when he was in animal form. His leatherback sea turtle didn't share his angst in regards to finding his mate.

Unfortunately, seeing as Geoff worked as one of the head engineers at World of Aquatica —their shifter-run marine park—he couldn't stay in animal form all the time.

Plus, I can't very well find my mate like that, either.

"It won't be all mated couples, Geoff," Dare told him as if reading his mind. "Craeg and Kayson are coming, too."

Nodding slowly, Geoff appreciated the news. Craeg shared his psyche with a minke whale and was another of their pod's enforcers. The fun-loving Kayson enjoyed swimming in the marine park's aquariums in his large manta ray form, and Geoff had heard many a patron oooh and aaah over his animal half.

"Okay, yeah. I'll go," Geoff agreed. Easing between the soft ropes that made up the ring's outer edge. "But first, I'm gonna kick your ass."

Dare laughed and followed him into the ring. "You can try, man."

*

After swinging off his motorcycle, Geoff rubbed the back of his right shoulder. While he had indeed tried to kick Dare's ass, the slightly larger shifter had come out on top. Geoff hadn't really been surprised, considering Dare was one of their pod's top enforcers for a reason.

Still, Geoff had come close. He was definitely getting better at fighting. In truth, Geoff didn't really know if that was a good thing, all things considered.

"Heard really good things about the food at this winery," Kayson shared as he fell into step with Geoff. The muscular blond had also chosen to ride his motorcycle, and he threaded his fingers through his thick locks to remove the helmet hair look. "And I'm definitely ready for an afternoon snack."

"I could eat," Geoff acknowledged, rubbing a hand over his trim waist. "Why does lunch feel like it was more than three hours ago?"

Craeg slung his arm over Goeff's shoulder and laughed. "Because ya let Dare kick yer arse before joinin' us," he teased, his Scottish brogue drawing attention from a trio of women to their left who were also heading toward the winery's front door.

Geoff noticed their appreciative looks as they eyed them, but none of the women pinged any interest for him. While Craeg appeared oblivious, Kayson noticed. The flirty blond even quickened his steps enough to open the door for them, earning thank you s and a coy look from the brunette.

Good grief. Is he going to get laid in a winery bathroom?

He wouldn't put it past his flirty, good-looking rogue of a friend.

Mentally rolling his eyes, Geoff slipped out from under Craeg's arm as they followed Kayson inside. He paused in the foyer, taking in the tasteful ambiance of the winery. There were several tables off to the left, a sitting area to the right, along with display cases and shelves full of bottles, clothes, and other knick-knacks for sale. Twenty feet ahead was a bar area, probably for wine tastings. Beyond that was a wall of glass windows broken up by a couple of glass doors, revealing a massive stone patio with tables.

That must be the main eating area.

After having seated the three women, the hostess returned and greeted them. "Good afternoon, gentlemen." She smiled and glanced over their group. "Seven of you?"

While she'd been gone, Dare and Price had joined them, as well as Cuzco and Grisham. After Cuzco had mated with his human detective, Grisham had worked hard to get the slightly reclusive coconut octopus shifter to get out more. The small shifter was blossoming under Grisham's care, and it was truly a lovely thing to see.

"Yes, that's right," Dare replied with a smile and nod at the hostess. "Out on the patio would be wonderful. We plan to order a couple of flights, as well as a meal."

"Of course," the hostess replied with a return smile. "This way, please."

Allowing the mated couples to lead the way, Geoff fell into step behind Craeg with Kayson behind him. He followed along as they exited the building for the patio and veered to the right. Stopping at a large round table set up for eight, the hostess began laying out menus.

"We don't do daily specials, but we do make some wonderful brick oven pizzas on the weekends," the woman told them. "I especially enjoy the taco pizza, but the spinach artichoke dip is also to die for." Touching a smaller menu, she added, "The wine flights are listed on this menu. There's one that's all white, one all red, or there's a third that's a mix of the two."

As she spoke and most of the guys were choosing seats, Geoff became distracted by a loud, angry-sounding voice on the other side of the patio. He peered that way and spotted a red-faced patron glaring up at a slightly overweight server. The server's cute freckled face appeared pale, and his eyes were wide. As the server lifted his hands in placation and took a step backward, the patron lunged to his feet. The woman at the table with the man said something, but he ignored her in favor of lifting his hand and pointing a finger at the server.

"Don't give me that shit," the man roared. "I know you gave it away on purpose."

"Please, sir. I'm sorry," the server replied, his voice carrying just enough for Geoff's sensitive shifter hearing to catch it. "There really was a mix-up in the kitchen. It'll just be five minutes or so."

"If you don't get me my dip right now, I'm gonna report you," the patron threatened. "You're gonna be fired."

"Fuck that," Geoff grumbled under his breath, his ire rising. He hated bullies. "Not on my watch."

Without much thought as to what he could actually do, Geoff began stalking across the patio. He ignored Craeg calling his name in favor of quickening his stride. As he drew nearer to the table where the server was still trying to soothe the upset patron, Geoff inhaled deeply to gather a little control.

The scent that hit him had the opposite effect. The slightly sweet masculine aroma teased his senses and caused his mouth to water. His prick thickened even as his turtle perked up in his mind.

It hit him like a blow to the solar plexus.

The cute human who looked to be two seconds away from being shoved by the patron was his mate.

Oh, hell, no!

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