Crush

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Terrell

His mate. His beautiful, yet timid mate had just stood inches from him. He could have reached out and touched her had he not been afraid to scare her to pieces by doing so. Terrell could read her fear, smell it on her. It made him want to tear down villages and rip apart anyone and everyone that had put that fear in her eyes. Her problem hadn’t been with him personally, he could tell that. It had been with shifters. Whoever the shifter was, he was a dead man.

As his anger began to get out of control, he knew he needed to get a hold on himself. He took several deep breaths, but it did nothing to calm him. The air didn’t smell like her. Her scent was a mixture of cake and coffee. Terrell had never been one to have a sweet tooth, but suddenly he had a damn strong urge to devour something sweet and delectable. His bear growled. A dessert wasn’t what he wanted. What he wanted was her.

Terrell turned his truck around and tore back down the small side streets until he was back at the café. This time he looked at the buildings all around it. He needed to be close to her to smell her sweet scent. Mostly he needed to make sure she was okay. Something had caused her to be terrified, and Terrell wasn’t sure if the threat was old or new. He had been on his way back to the compound in order to argue his case in front of Dru. The pack wouldn’t want to take on Roxanne’s case, but Terrell was determined to try. She deserved that; his mother had deserved someone to try. He refused to let Roxanne’s death go by unnoticed or unsolved.

Parking across the street in an open lot, Terrell slipped out of his truck and walked around the surrounding buildings, one of which was an apartment building that faced the café directly. He buzzed the intercom only to find it not necessary. He slipped inside and rode the elevator up to the top floor. Most apartment buildings in the Wheeling area reserved the top floor for high rolling tenants. The best part about that was there were very few high rollers in the area, so Terrell was hoping one would be empty.

Door mats were a dead giveaway and had ruled out the first three doors he had come across. The remaining four doors didn’t have any door mats, but two had some sort of decoration hanging on the door. That left Terrell with two options. Pressing his ear against the first one, he let his bear take over, the definitive sound of footsteps and people talking. He quickly moved onto the next one, repeating the same process. Silence welcomed him from the other side.

Terrell took two deep breaths, trying to detect any lingering scents by the door that would indicate possible occupants that were just out. Nothing. Taking a couple quick glances around the hallway, Terrell pulled out his multi-tool and began the painstaking task of pulling the dead bolt apart. His primitive years came in handy more than he cared to admit now that he spent his life on the right side of the law.

Finally, the deadbolt gave way and he slipped inside of the apartment. Luck remained on his side when he made his way to the window and noticed he had a perfect view of the café and what appeared to be an apartment overtop of it. Terrell offered up a silent prayer to his goddess that his mate be the occupant of that apartment. Then he would be able to make sure she remained safe until she was ready to warm up to him.

Getting banished from her café had put a damper on getting to know her, and getting them closer to living out their mate bond. Terrell wasn’t so easily put off, though. He had found his mate, and even if he had to remain in the shadows, he wouldn’t let her go; now or ever.

Terrell dragged the recliner left there for staging over in front of the window and settled in. Watching her relaxed him. Knowing that if she needed him, he could quickly be over there soothed his bear and him. Time flew by as he watched her. The way her small muscles moved and flexed as she molded dough and lifted her mixers and such around the kitchen. The way her eyes lit up when someone told her something funny. Terrell couldn’t wait until the day he was the one making her smile.

Before he knew it, it was late and she was closing the café up. The other woman left for the day, and once Ava had everything else shut down, she left as well. Terrell held his breath as he waited to see if she would go upstairs. There had been no indication that she was the owner of the café, but for some reason he just assumed. A deathly slow two minutes later, the lights in the apartment flickered on and she came into view amidst her sheer curtains.

He exhaled. Then his stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten much throughout the day since he had spent the majority of it trying to track down any of Roxanne’s friends. None of them had been willing to talk. That told him more than likely they knew who had killed Roxanne and they just didn’t want to be next. It made Terrell’s stomach turn. Whoever the bastard was, Terrell would find him and revenge would be fulfilled.

His phone rang then, bringing his thoughts back to civilized life.

“Peak.”

“I thought you had something to talk to me about?” Dru’s gravelly voice coursed through the phone.

“I did. I mean I do. Something came up.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

“Are you going home tonight?”

“Probably not,” Terrell admitted.

“Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

“That’s kind of a long story,” Terrell said with a smirk slowly easing onto his face.

“Isn’t it always. Just shoot me your location and explain later,” Dru sighed.

“Will do. Also, can you swing by that Chinese place that I like. I’ll call it in ahead of time, but I’m starving.”

“Double it, I haven’t eaten dinner either.”

Dru disconnected the call and Terrell instantly made the call into the Chinese place for their food. Then he sent Dru his location, stating the apartment number he was currently occupying as well. Once that was done, he resumed watching her apartment. He was so engrossed with her, he hadn’t even realized how much time had passed. Dru’s knock on the door startled him.

“Should I make a premeditated call into the precinct so they don’t bust us for trespassing?” Dru snarled.

“Nah, no one lives here and I’ve been careful. Nobody will know I was here.”

“Okay. Wanna tell me what you’re doing here?”

They both tore into the bags of food before Terrell answered. When he looked up at Dru finally, he could tell sense his alpha’s nervousness. Terrell suddenly felt guilty. He knew from Jake and Joe’s experiences telling Dru that they had found their mates, that it wasn’t easy. Everyone wanted Dru to find his. The closer he inched to going feral, the more desperate they all felt. With everyone else finding their mates, it just seemed to push him further away.

Terrell swallowed hard and tried to come up with something clever to say to break the ice. Dru sighed and then moved to sit down on the couch.

“You too, huh?” Dru finally asked.

“Yeah.”

“I take it since you broke into this apartment and set up shop that she doesn’t have a clue?” Dru inferred.

“Well, she may have kicked me out of her café earlier. It won’t take me long to win her over, though. I mean, I am the charmer of the group.”

“Yeah,” Dru said, his single word answer dripping with sarcasm.

“Dru, you know we all wish it were you, right?” Terrell said hesitantly.

One thing Dru was not about was discussing his feelings. Especially when it came to mates and going feral. All of those topics were danger zones, but Terrell didn’t care. Whether Dru chose to respond or not, Terrell had wanted him to know that his pack was behind him.

“If you were anybody else, I would tell you to mind your own f*****g business. The truth of it is, Terrell, I wish it were me, too. Change may come first, though. You need to be prepared to lead this pack. You are next in line for alpha. That means, should the time come, you will be who puts me down.”

Terrell’s bear growled. Dru laughed at him.

“Don’t be disgruntled, bear. Hopefully that time is some ways off.”

Terrell wanted to say hopefully she comes first, meaning Dru’s mate. Terrell relished the thought of becoming alpha. Even though he had the alpha breeding, he was comfortable as a follower. Mainly just one of Dru’s followers.

“I’m happy for you. Even though right now I should detain you and take you down to the precinct for booking, I’m happy for you,” Dru laughed.

Terrell smiled in return and then turned his attention back to the apartment across the street. Whatever she was doing, she was gone from sight, but he could see her shadow dance across the curtains. That would be enough, for now.