The Space Between

Nathan 1-6

Brendan took my hand and squeezed ever so slightly; I was already looking him in the eyes. I didn’t squeeze back. He was the alpha of this pack, not me. “Rule number one, don’t even think about messing with any of the females here.” His eyes glowed briefly while he said that.

“I told you I was looking for my mate,” my voice went quiet. “You think I’d settle for just any female?”

“That’s good, because I wouldn’t hesitate to murder you.”

My hand was still in his. “As long as you don’t keep me from my mate, there won’t be a problem.” At that, I squeezed his hand back before letting go.

Zak arrived with the cot after that and the two of them helped me clean out the closet and set up the cot. Brendan produced blankets and pillows for me from somewhere and I thanked him again. By the time we were done, it was time for the club to open and Brendan put me to work under Zak’s supervision. He introduced me around to as many of the other employees that were around before sending me off to carry heavy stuff for the girls behind the main bar. I could hear them giggle and whisper around me. I discovered most of them were elves, like Zak.

After a few hours, Brendan motioned to me to follow him and led me to the front door. “This is Mark and Sven,” he said, introducing me to the giants at the door. “I want them to teach you about our front door policy. Rule number one, and most important, is that demons can f**k off.” Mark and Sven chuckled.

“No demons, got it.”

“You’re a shapeshifter, you should be able to smell them. They smell like fire and brimstone s**t vomit. Rule number two, no one is more important than anyone else in line. The blood-sucking piece of s**t vampires like to think they’re more important, but they aren’t.”

I tried to listen to what else he said, but I couldn’t because I smelled her then. My mate. She was walking up behind her brother, some paperwork in her hand, looking confused. I looked at her from head to toe and wanted to reach out and grab her. I missed her so much. My eyes watched her hand go to her neck. I didn’t see my mark and I thought she’d figured out how to reject me, until I saw her briefly touch where the mark should be. I felt that touch. It was still there.

“Brendan,” I heard her say, still looking at the paperwork in her hand, “there’s something wrong with this invoice…” That was the moment her eyes looked up and met mine. I watched the blood drain from her face.

“Brittany,” Brendan said, looking between the two of us. He didn’t say anything, but I knew his eyes could see what was going on. “This is Nathan, he just started today. I already told him what rule number one was.”

“Demons can f**k off.” She said it still looking right at me.

“No, baby girl, the other, more important, rule number one.” My fists clenched when he called her that and I had to remind myself that he was her brother.

“It would be helpful if you only had one rule number one.” She sighed when he just kept looking at her. “Don’t mess with any of the females here.”

“Correct.” Brendan turned back to me then. “This is my little sister, Brittany.”

I let my eyes caress her face one more time. “Nice to meet you,” I said, before looking back at Brendan. “So, I’m with Mark and Sven then?”

Her confusion stabbed me in the heart when I turned and walked away with Brendan. I hoped she could see what I was doing for her. I hoped she could see that I wanted to give her the time she needed. But I also wanted her to see that I kept my word, that I had come for her, that I wasn’t going to let her go.

Christmas came and went. The club was closed but Brendan had a little party for the staff. I mingled with a few friends I had made, fellow shapeshifters, but my eyes always returned to Brittany. They probably smelled our mingled scents but never mentioned it, but I noticed they never attempted to touch her. I hadn’t spoken to her since the first day I was here. I’d seen her try to approach me a few times, but she always lost her nerve and walked away. I kept in contact with Andrew about pack business and did what I could from a distance.

I still had her Christmas gift in my bag.

I shot out of bed early New Year’s Eve morning when I heard a light knock on my door. Jasmine curled around my nose. My heart was racing when I opened the door to her. As soon as the door opened, she pushed me back into the room and shut and locked the door. “What are you doing here?” She was breathing heavy, her eyes starting to glow.

“I told you I would come for you.”

“Why?” I stood my ground as she advanced on me. It was a pretty small space, and her scent filled the whole room. I couldn’t help but breathe deeply of the smell of jasmine.

“Because you’re my mate and I love you.”

It took about three seconds before she launched herself into my arms. I caught her and her arms and legs wrapped around me. Our lips were so close to touching, so close. “I missed you,” she whispered.

“Not any more than I missed you,” I responded. I backed her up against the door, just like I had the first night we were together and kissed her.

Just so you know, military cots are not the most comfortable bed to make love on. I mean, we made do, but I couldn’t wait to get her into a proper bed. And no, I didn’t think I was going to walk out of there with her the next day just because she’d finally come to me, but it was a step in the right direction.

A few hours later, I rummaged around in my bag and took out the little box with the necklace in it. I sat on the floor next to the cot where she was laying and held it out to her. “Merry Christmas.” She looked at me warily before she sat up and took the box from me. Her breath caught when she opened it and took the necklace out of the box so she could look at the charm. I saw her look at the mark on my neck and back to the charm.

“Your eyes remind me of sapphires,” I told her.

“It’s beautiful,” she said and slipped it on. It fell to her sternum area, and I couldn’t help but reach out and touch it. I took that moment to look at her neck, where her mark should be. She saw where my eyes were. Brittany waved her hand over the spot, and it appeared. I looked up at her in question. “It’s a glamour. I hid it behind a glamour so I wouldn’t have to answer any questions about it. Plus, I’m not sure how Brendan would have reacted if I came home with that mark. Probably would have hunted you down and murdered you.”

I grunted at her. Sure, her brother was big, but that didn’t mean he could take me in a fight. “He could try.”

“Nathan,” she bent over and put her hand on my arm. “I did it because I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”

I placed my own hand over hers. “We have a lot to talk about, you and me. But first,” I placed my hand behind her head instead and pulled her to me, placing my lips and tongue on that mark. I heard her moan. “Do you have any idea what it did to me, every time you would stroke this mark?”

“Wait, you can feel that?” She tried to push away from me.

I held her to me, not letting her get away, licking it again. She stopped pushing against me when I breathed her scent in. “Brittany,” her name growled from my chest. “I can’t live without you.”

“Talk to me,” she said, “tell me about your family.”

We talked for the next couple hours and I answered every question she asked about my family and my pack. At some point, she knew she had to leave before Brendan found her there and started asking questions. Brittany didn’t live above the club like he did. “Maybe you can come over one of these days.”

I was standing with her at the door to my closet, my hands on the wall next to her head. I leaned in and gave her a full-body contact kiss. “I’d love that. Maybe we can talk more.” I placed my nose in her neck and breathed her in one more time. She shivered. “Maybe we can also not talk.”

“I have to go,” she whispered. “I’ll see you tonight.”

That night, when the countdown to the new year started, she found me and pulled me into a dark corner. Her lips were the ones locked with mine when the clock chimed midnight.

For the next few weeks, we talked, learned about each other, made love, and grew closer. She talked about leaving the club, starting her own life. I told her about the offer my alpha made me, how the pack would benefit from someone with a business degree. One day, she came to me and told me she was filling in for the faun named Elsbeth that usually worked by the front door. She placed her hand on my chest. “After the club closes, we’re going to talk to Brendan.”

“We are?”

“Yes, I’m giving him notice, since I plan to move to Colorado.”

“Please don’t be toying with me right now.”

She stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on her mark on my neck. “I love you, Nathan.” It was the first time she said it to me.

One of the best days I’ve ever had turned into the worst night of my life. I was working in the back when I heard the ripples of whispers move through the club staff. I normally didn’t listen, but someone said Brittany’s name and I dropped whatever I was doing and made my way up front. I had tunnel-vision. I couldn’t smell her. I heard fists hitting flesh when I made it to the front door and found Brendan beating the s**t out of Zak. I heard him screaming at him, asking him why he turned his back on the demons and let them shimmer off with his sister. I turned a questioning look to Sven, who shook his head and lowered his gaze.

I had to back away because I was about to shift and there might be humans around. I ran back through the club and into the kitchen, shredding my clothes as I shifted while opening the back door. I knew I couldn’t go far because it’s the city of New York and there’s people everywhere, but I didn’t care about that right then. I paced that alley for hours.

I had to find her.

Days went by. Then weeks. And I couldn’t find her. I looked everywhere. When I wasn’t working, I searched in wolf form, heading as far out of the city as I could, putting miles under my paws. I called Andrew and told him what happened, and he told me he’d reach out to the alphas of the packs around the city and the neighboring states.

I still couldn’t find her.

I waited to feel her touch her mark, but she never did. Or she couldn’t. I would stroke mine, so she knew I was thinking about her. All I knew was that she wasn’t dead, I could feel that much. And I was going to find her.

I wasn’t leaving until I did.