Fortune's Mate

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“ANOTHER BEER?” WES Stapleton asked as he stared across the bar at Ezra. “You know, if you’re going to use my bar as an office, you could at least purchase more booze. Otherwise, Jake may want to start charging you rent.”

Ezra glanced up from his laptop, a confused furrow on his brow as he heard the other man laughing. “Charge me rent? For what?” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, nodding as a low, deep chuckle slipped past his lips. “I get it now,” he said, opening his eyes. “Sorry. Sitting here is better than working from home by myself. And yes, I’ll have another beer. Thanks.”

Wes pointed to the laptop as he walked over to the beer cooler under the bar. “What exactly are you working on, anyway, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Ezra shrugged as he leaned back on his stool. “I’m helping Julian out,” he said as he stretched his stiff muscles. He hadn’t realized how long he had been bent over his laptop. “He needed some research done, and the rest of the team is out on a mission. I had some time on my hands and could use the work, so he hired me on contract. It helps break the monotony.”

“Julian? He’s that vampire that leads your old group, right? Para-Force or something like that?” Wes nodded as he set another beer in front of Ezra and then leaned on the bar. “It hasn’t been that long since the whole town helped save that little girl.” He c****d his head, narrowing his eyes as he looked over at Ezra, his brows pinched in question. “Did they ever tell you how she’s doing? The girl that is.”

Ezra nodded, remembering the period Wes brought up. It had happened just over a year ago when his old team appeared asking for his help. At the time, Ezra was living in a tent in the woods, hiding from the world. The fact that his old team even knew where he hid back then had surprised him, but in the end, he couldn’t walk away from their need. Not that Josh Rayburn would permit him, too, anyway. Soon, they were confronting one of his old nemeses, Hoyt Cheffron, who had killed a girl Ezra was supposed to protect and then turned around and kidnapped another one. Ezra helped them ensure the girl’s safety and, in the process, found a home among the residents of Bull Creek. “Julian put Erin in a school that would help her control her abilities. From what I hear, she’s doing fine. Quite powerful, too.” Erin Fletcher had only been ten at the time Liam Lamont and Colton Stokes appeared at Ezra’s campsite with her in tow. Just looking at that little girl then brought back all the anguish Ezra felt at the other girl’s death. However, it was also the kick in the ass he needed to get over his self-pity and get on with his life. Even at such a young age, Erin possessed amazing powers, able to throw pieces of herself into other objects, able to see and hear whatever was happening. At the time, a part of her essence had infiltrated her favorite doll, which also helped them save her.

Wes chuckled as he leaned on the bar. “I remember her. She had some major power back then for someone so small. I’m glad they’re able to help her control it. Who knows what would have happened if the wrong person had gotten his grubby mitts on her?”

“Truth,” Ezra said, reaching for his beer and lifting it in a toast. After he took a long swallow, he set the bottle back on the bar and returned his attention to his work, and Wes moved to the other end of the bar to serve a couple who had just wandered into Everglades. The sound of two pool balls striking each other ripped the quietness of the bar, causing Ezra to turn and glance at the new back edition to the paranormal bar, still surprised at how much the place had changed. A few months ago, members of The Order of Wardens, an anti-paranormal group, had practically demolished the place, spray painting vile messages on the walls, tearing up the inside, shattering bottles of booze. The broken-down jukebox was about the only thing they couldn’t destroy, not that they hadn’t tried, of course. The place was almost unrecognizable. However, Jake Goodman, now mated to Noel Hastings and Wes, had stepped up, pitching into the business and offering to help them rebuild. Since they had to do some major repairs anyway, Jake also recommended some changes as they went, such as the two new pool tables in the back and a few dartboards. So, the resident triad of Bull Creek, expanded the building and added more things to entertain the locals. So far, it seemed to be paying off fairly well.

Ezra turned back around, glancing at his screen once more as he scanned over his research. Bull Creek had seen its fair share of nightmares over the past year and a half, from when Para-Force brought that sweet, little girl there in order to keep her safe to fighting gang members who came there to kill a special witness to Dimitri’s father trying to kill his son’s old girlfriend. The chaos never seemed to end, which seemed to be what made him accept Julian’s request when it came through. Ezra missed the action, being part of a team like Para-Force, the adrenaline that rushed through him when out on a mission, and there were always plenty of missions, always another bad guy who needed taken down to protect the innocent.

He scrolled through some of the notes he took for Julian, wondering how far into the Dark Underworld the team would go this time to root out the bad guy. He shook his head, thinking again of how there always seemed to be a new villain somewhere making everyone else’s life miserable. Or trying to, anyway. Why people couldn’t be happy playing Frisbee Golf or going to concerts and drinking over-priced beer was beyond him. They always had to be stirring up s**t. Right now, the team was searching for a group calling themselves The Iron Dagger, who seemed to be intent on hunting shifters for their coats, stripping them while they were alive. Ezra wasn’t sure how they kept the shifters from transforming when they started to shed their coats, nor was Julian, which is why he asked Ezra to dig into it. The task wasn’t exactly the adrenaline rush of his assignments of old, but it kept him in touch with the others, something he hadn’t realized he missed until Julian had reached out.

As he was reading through the notes, a message popped up on his screen from Tyra Pellington, the team’s computer whiz. Hey, you; it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this name on here. I missed it. How’s the research going?

He felt the smile crease his face as he pictured the fiery redhead sitting at her desk, pounding away at her keyboard. She was a scrappy woman with alabaster skin, but she was always there when the team went deep into any mission, most times pulling their asses out of the fire just before they found themselves scorched. I’m still not sure what Julian expects me to find that Benny can’t discover with his Underworld connections, but I’m enjoying the work. How are things there?

Benny Hastings was a coyote shifter with a dark past, which is why Julian had hired him. Most of the team still had issues trusting Benny, but Julian always counted on the information the oily-looking man could bring to the table.

That’s why I’m reaching out actually.

What? You didn’t reach out because of my charming personality? he typed back to her, chuckling as he punched the keyboard. My wounded pride. I may not recover.

Please, outside of Colton, you have the thickest hide of us all. No, what I wanted to warn you about is that Mattox Rumfield has surfaced again. We’re not sure where he’s at or even where he’s been since we last had eyes on him, but I thought you should be given a heads up, anyway. He wasn’t exactly pleased the last time we had a run-in with him.

Ezra nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. Pleased was definitely not the term to describe Mattox’s attitude, not when his brother’s crimes brought about his death. Mattox swore vengeance then against the team, Ezra specifically for being the one to bring his brother down. Ezra never really worried about it, though. Everyone on Para-Force had enemies. It was part of doing their job and putting the criminals away. He shuddered to think how long the list was of people who would love to have his head on a spike. Besides, he highly doubted Mattox could find him all the way out in Bull Creek. It wasn’t like Ezra was easy to find, and Bull Creek was a haven for those who had nowhere else to go, so they were pretty well hidden and protected. Of course, that hadn’t kept Hoyt Cheffron from finding little Erin Fletcher a year ago.

Thanks for letting me know, he typed back. I’ll keep an eye out, although I would be hard-pressed to say he could find me way out here.

Really? We found you. Don’t forget that.

He chuckled as he read her words. He took another swallow of his beer before he typed back. Well, he’s definitely not you, and unless you’re working for Mattox, I think I’m safe. No way that man has your skills.

True, but just in case, watch your ass. I’d hate to see anything happen to you.

Thanks. I appreciate it. I’ll be careful.

You better be, or I’ll make a special trip down there myself. Now, get back to your research. Julian’s eager to see what you come up with.

He nodded, smiling. Tell him, I’ll reach out as soon as I have something. Take care. Reaching for his bottle, he took another long swig, the cold liquid refreshing as it filled him. So, Mattox had surfaced again. Ezra wondered what had brought him out of his hole. He assumed the man would have remained hidden forever after their last encounter, barely having escaped with his life as it was. Something had to have either spooked him to make him resurface or intrigued him enough to make him take the risk.

Ezra shook his head, scrolling through the notes a little more, forcing himself to focus. It didn’t matter what had brought Mattox to the surface; he was a file from the past and nothing to do with the present. However, The Iron Dagger was very much the present, and Ezra needed to find something out about them before more shifters were killed. Shoving Mattox out of his mind, he focused on the screen in front of him, looking for any nugget that would help Julian and the others, thinking how sick some people had to be to want to hang a person’s skin on their wall. The fact that someone had come up with a way to freeze a shifter’s transformation once they died said how perverted the minds of some people were.

“Have you thought about just joining them again?” Wes asked as he slid back in front of Ezra on the other side of the bar.

“Para-Force?” Ezra shook his head. “Not really.” He chuckled, shrugging. “Seems, at times, Bull Creek has enough action to keep me on my toes and filling all the needs for excitement I have.”

Wes pointed at the laptop. “And yet, you’re sitting here, working for them. Seems you miss it at least a little, and you don’t strike me as the analyst type.”

Ezra glanced down at his laptop, nodding. “True, this isn’t as fun as kicking in doors and snatching bad guys out of their beds in the middle of the night, but that was my life back then.” He shook his head. “I’m a different man now.”

Wes chuckled as he shook his head. “Bullshit,” he said as he walked off.

Ezra just watched as the other man walked back down the bar, thinking the same thing. Bullshit.