Destiny Disgraced Read online

  “True,” Mitchell said with a laugh, though he hadn’t known he would be able to achieve levity this morning. “So, you said you needed help with the door panel?” Each house had a palm scanner in addition to normal locks and doorknobs. The biometrics was connected to the lower one for wolves that Mitchell had used the night before.

  “It’s actually funny,” Xavior said with a shrug. “Or it could be that I’m old and I don’t understand all the tech you kids use these days.”

  Mitchell snorted and shook his head. “You’re hip, old man. Don’t worry.”

  “Either that or I’ll break a hip, am I right?”

  They chatted for a few more minutes before Mitchell got up to help Xavier restart the system. It was a two-person job since one had to work on the program while the other set up the palm print. All the while, Mitchell did his best not to meet Xavior’s gaze. He was far more dominant than the older wolf so it shouldn’t have been a problem, but he knew the elder was much too intuitive.

  Only Mitchell’s father had known about his mating to Heather. There had been reasons for that under the former regime, and he couldn’t go back and change things, but that meant the only other person in the world who knew that Mitchell lost his mate was long buried. Yet he had a feeling Xavior somehow knew.

  The man saw too much, and Mitchell couldn’t share the torment that had been his and his alone for thirty-five years.

  Fuck, had it been that long? He couldn’t quite comprehend that, yet he knew it was the case. He’d lost Heather thirty-five years ago.

  Goddess.

  What made things worse, was that Dawn hadn’t even been born yet. Mitchell was over one hundred years old, and Dawn was only in her twenties. Since wolves lived so long, the age gap didn’t mean he was an old man to her young ways, but still, he’d lived, loved, and lost, all before she’d even been born.

  But why did it matter? Why was he focusing on her like this? It wasn’t as if she were his mate. He’d had someone, he’d lost her. And that was that. Yes, others might be able to find a second mate along the way, but that wasn’t the case here.

  He pushed away the voice in his head that reminded him that mating bonds had changed significantly over the past couple of years. Thanks to the Unveiling and other events, it wasn’t as easy as it once was to recognize your mate just by scent and awareness. Now, it took a bit longer and was a little harder depending on the couple.

  But Dawn wasn’t his, damn it. She was just a temptation that made his wolf irrational.

  That was it.

  Nothing more.

  But from the knowing look in Xavior’s gaze, Mitchell could tell he was in trouble.

  Deep trouble.

  Chapter Six

  Dawn needed to focus on work and not the inner workings of her mind or the fact that she hadn’t been able to sleep the night before thanks to a kiss to end all kisses. She’d been kissed before, of course, since she wasn’t some lovesick teen, but she’d never been kissed like that. He’d made her burn, need, ache, and then had pushed her away.

  She could understand the pushing, but she couldn’t understand why. Why had he kissed her like that? Why had he kept kissing her like that?

  And he hadn’t even wanted to do it if his words were anything to go by.

  She buried the hurt, her wolf nudging at her as if trying to soothe. If only she could get the feeling of his lips out of her mind. He’d been rough and demanding, yet somehow passionate and caring at the same time. It was a dichotomy that she’d never known he possessed, and now it would be engrained in her mind forever.

  “Dawn? You’re lost in space again,” her co-worker Kev said under his breath. “You doing okay? I can take over for a bit if you need a break.”

  Kev was a sweet guy who’d asked her out a few times. Whenever she turned him down, he always smiled and said he understood. Now, they were decent friends, though she was always worried he might ask her on a date again. He was about her age and studying ecology at the university when he wasn’t working at the coffee shop. He was also fully human and, apparently, a fanboy when it came to the paranormal.

  If only he knew how close to the wolf in human’s clothing he actually was.

  He was also friends with Sam and that made Dawn smile. Hopefully one day Kev would help bring Sam out of his shell since Dawn could only do so much when she herself wasn’t fully out of hers.

  She shook her head in answer to his question. “I’m fine.”

  “Really, Dawn, you haven’t taken your break yet, and we’re not busy. Go take off your apron and sit with your friends. You deserve caffeine and sugar and to not be on your feet for a bit.” He winked as he said it, and Dawn let out a sigh.

  She had more stamina than he did thanks to her wolf, but she’d never tell him that. Her feet weren’t hurting yet, and she could probably stand a few more hours without pain, but she did need the food. Her body burned calories far faster than any human or witch, and since she was hiding in plain sight among the humans, she couldn’t eat as much as she wanted to until she got home.

  “A bear claw sounds pretty good, actually.” She studied the pastry case in front of her. “And maybe that bacon croissant thing.” Her wolf perked up at the word bacon, and she held back a smile. Bacon made anyone’s day better.

  “I’ll never know where you put all that food,” Kev said with a shake of his head. “But go take your thirty. If we get busy, you’ll be around. It’s not like you can’t just help if you need to.”

  “Thanks,” she said as she untied her apron and stuffed it under the counter. She pulled out her messenger bag and purchased her food and coffee before heading over to the booth in the back where her friends were seated.

  She’d met the girls at the coffee shop when they came in for their morning drinks. Each of them either worked close by or stopped at the coffee shop on the way to their job. Normally, none of them could stay and sit, but since it was the weekend, she figured they were hanging out here instead of somewhere else, probably because of her. It just made her feel worse for ducking out on them the night before.

  “Hey, guys, have room for one more?”

  Aimee’s smile brightened, and Dhani scooted over in her side of the booth to make room for Dawn. Cheyenne picked up the stack of dirty plates that had been in the free spot on the table and stood to take them over to the bussing station.

  “I can clean those,” Dawn said hurriedly.

  Cheyenne just raised a brow and walked away with the stack. Dhani let out a laugh and shook her head.

  “You’re not on duty,” Dhani said simply. “And you don’t actually have to bus tables, you know. That’s what the cute little station is for. People are just lazy when it comes to cleaning up after themselves.”

  Dawn shrugged and bit into the bacon croissant. Buttery goodness mixed with the maple and bacon exploded on her tongue, and she was pretty sure she almost orgasmed.

  “People need a push in the right direction sometimes,” Dawn said after she swallowed. “Plus, not all places have the same rules about bussing, so newbies never know what to do.”

  “Yes, because the signs explaining where to put mugs and plates are so out of the way,” Cheyenne said dryly as she sat back down.

  “Hey, you can’t expect people to actually read.” Dawn flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, and her friends laughed. Thankfully, they were alone in their little corner; she’d never have said anything like that in front of costumers. Just because she didn’t have her apron on at the moment, didn’t mean she wasn’t still an employee.

  “How long is your shift today?” Aimee asked.

  Dawn tilted her head and thought about it, then quickly righted herself. Sometimes, she let her wolf mannerism show a little too much for comfort around her friends. They were far more observant than most people, so she always tried to be careful.

  “Actually, I’m off in less than an hour.” She winced and looked down at her phone. “Pretty silly of me to take a break now that I thin
k about it.”

  “Not silly, it’s the law,” Dhani corrected.

  “And it’s not like you’re busy. The morning rush seems to have died down.” Cheyenne looked around the shop before picking up her mug and taking a drink of her latte.

  “Still,” Dawn muttered before eating the last of her bacon pastry. She’d eaten that far too quickly but, apparently, she was hungry. “Anyway, I’m off soon.”

  “Do you have any plans?” Aimee asked. “We were thinking of heading to that new boutique at the end of First Street. I probably can’t afford anything there, but it’s always nice to look around at pretty things.”

  “Honey, I don’t think any of us can afford things there,” Dhani added with a wink.

  That was probably true. Dawn didn’t make much as a barista, but it was enough to live on for now since she still lived with her parents—not that her friends knew that exactly. Aimee was a waitress at the local diner and made about as much as Dawn did. Dhani might make a little bit more as an elementary school teacher, but not by much thanks to budget cuts around the state. Cheyenne could have been making more than any of them if she’d gone into business in any other town, but she’d decided to keep her small veterinary clinic open here, and because of that, she barely scraped by. Them coming to her coffee shop was their only indulgence, and even then, her manager let Dawn put the women on her family discount since they were here so often and Dawn’s actual family never came in.

  She’d needed to keep her other life a secret for everyone’s safety, so having them show up would only blow her cover since Cole was out in the open thanks to that damn website where people outed wolves for fun—or what they called “safety and awareness.”

  She and her friends talked for a few minutes more before Dawn felt Cheyenne’s gaze on her.

  “What?” she asked self-consciously. “Do I have something on my face?”

  “No, but maybe you did last night.”

  Dawn froze. Like she’d said, her friends were far too observant. “Huh?”

  “What Cheyenne is getting around to is that you have that dazed look in your eyes every so often, like you’re thinking about a swoon-worthy man,” Dhani explained.

  Dawn ducked her head and blushed, and her friends laughed good-naturedly.

  “Tell us!” Aimee said with a grin. “Who is he? When did it happen? What happened?”

  “And don’t think you can keep secrets from us,” Cheyenne said, smiling herself. “We know all and see all.”

  That wasn’t quite the case, but since Dawn was already keeping a huge secret, she might as well tell them what she could about Mitchell. However, she couldn’t actually tell them specifically about him since they all knew he was a shifter and putting Dawn and Mitchell together—not that they were together, because hell no—would only lead to more awkward questions.

  “It’s just a guy from around the neighborhood.” Well, that was sort of true, in a not sort-of way.

  “Yeah? And what did you do with this guy from around the neighborhood?” Dhani waggled her eyebrows, and Dawn couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Not that. We just kissed.”

  Cheyenne’s face fell. “Just a kiss?”

  “It must have been a really good kiss if your eyes got all soft,” Aimee put in.

  Dawn shook her head. “Well, yes, it was a good kiss. But it was also a mistake.” She bit her lip before continuing. “He was just trying to shut me up, I think.”

  “Because you ramble adorably, and he wanted to kiss you,” Cheyenne corrected. “Are you sure it was a mistake? You don’t look all soft-eyed now, as Aimee put it.”

  “Do I need to kick his ass for you?” Dhani asked. Dawn couldn’t help but laugh. For an elementary school teacher, the woman was surprisingly violent when it came to protecting her friends. Then, of course, so was Dawn.

  “No ass kicking needed.” Dawn paused. “Well, maybe some ass kicking, but I’d just do it myself.”

  “That’s my girl.” Cheyenne gave her a nod, and Dawn smiled. “And I’m sorry it won’t work out with him, but tell us, was it at least a good kiss?”

  Dawn couldn’t help but blush, the pink staining her cheeks.

  “Damn, must have been a very good kiss,” Dhani teased.

  “Yes, it was a very good kiss.” A hot, demanding, sweaty, aching kiss that had left her both wanting and cold at the same time when he pushed her away. She didn’t know what it all meant, but she knew when a man didn’t want to want her. She wouldn’t demean herself by thinking that anything else could come from it. Sure, they were attracted to each other, big deal. They were shifters and very sexual beings, but that didn’t mean they had sex with every attractive person around them.

  Dawn sipped the last of her drink and cleaned up her plates. “I need to go back to work for like twenty minutes, and then I can go shopping if you guys still want to.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Aimee scrolled through her phone. “There’s also that new salad place that’s pretty cheap a couple of blocks away from the boutique if we’re at all hungry. I know you just ate, but it’s not like you had a full meal,” Aimee explained.

  “There’s always the diner,” Dhani said with a wink, and Aimee shuddered.

  “Please, don’t make me eat there,” Aimee said with a wince. “Don’t get me wrong, the food is good, the place is clean, and it’s not that expensive, but my goal in life is to not spend my free hours there.”

  Dawn snorted. “Same, Aimee.” She gestured around the coffee shop. “Same. Okay, I’ll be back soon if you guys just want to sit here.” She looked around the empty place, frowning. For a Sunday before lunch, it was still pretty slow, but she’d already worked over forty hours for the week and wasn’t allowed to work any more than that. “It’s not as if you’re taking the booth away from anyone else.”

  They waved her away, and Dawn picked up her things and went to the bussing station. Since she was there, she cleaned up the area, traded out an empty bin for the full one, and went back to the kitchen area.

  Kev was still manning the front for the few customers that trickled in, so Dawn cleaned up what she could after she put on her apron. Soon, thankfully, her twenty minutes passed.

  “I’m done for the day,” Dawn said as Kev whipped up a mocha. “Is that okay?”

  Kev nodded. “Yep. Gracie should be here soon, but I can handle things myself for a bit. Go and hang out with your friends and get off the clock so you don’t piss off Marv.” Marv was the owner of the coffee shop. He had bought it from Lenora a couple of years ago. Where Lenora had been sweet and aware that baristas were human beings, Marv was more of a numbers guy. Thankfully, the man didn’t come into the shop often, so Dawn didn’t have to work with him.

  She packed up her things and went to the restroom for a quick touch-up on her lip-gloss and ponytail. And while she was there, she added a little more concealer under her eyes since she hadn’t slept well the night before. She’d been so confused and turned on by Mitchell that she’d tossed and turned all night and had ended up with dark circles to show for it. They’d be gone by the evening thanks to her wolf, but she hadn’t eaten enough that day to help her heal everything quickly like usual. Since she was a maternal wolf, she actually healed faster than some of the more dominant wolves when she ate well and exercised her wolf regularly. The elders explained that maternals typically healed quickly because they needed to be strong in order to protect pups in times of need. Of course, merely thinking that reminded her that she didn’t have any pups around to care for.

  She sighed and stuffed her things into her bag, annoyed with herself for letting her pity party spiral out of control again. She could continue to volunteer at the daycare center, and Brie had offered for her to spend time with the Talon maternals, as well. That would just have to be enough. And, frankly, it was enough.

  “Get over yourself,” she muttered and rolled her shoulders back. She was going out with her friends to be a normal person for a bit before she went back to
her den and dealt with everything else going on. She was strong enough to do it all, she just had to remember to not wallow and dwell on the things she couldn’t change.

  The girls were standing by the front door when she walked out of the restroom, and she waved as she made her way to them.

  “All ready,” she said with a smile. “Are we walking or driving?”

  “We can walk,” Aimee said, and Dawn studied her friend. Aimee looked skinnier than she had before, but when Dawn inhaled, her friend didn’t smell sick. She had no idea what was going on.

  “Are you sure?” Dawn asked softly.

  Aimee raised her chin. “Of course. Now, let’s go before we miss out on all the super expensive things that we can’t afford.”

  Dhani snorted. “We don’t know they’ll be too expensive.”

  “Honey, unless it’s an outlet or department store with a huge sale, it’s going to be too expensive,” Cheyenne added dryly.

  “Truth,” Dawn muttered. “Why are we doing this, then? I mean, it might just make us feel broke and depressed.”

  Aimee shrugged as they made their way down one of the alleys between the major cross streets where the businesses were. “Because window-shopping can be fun if you’re looking for new ideas.”

  “That is true.” Dhani was pretty crafty when it came to making accessories and other things to make an outfit pop.

  Dawn was about to say something but closed her mouth, the hairs on the back of her neck rising as her wolf rose to the surface. She tilted her head, trying to understand why she suddenly felt on edge when the scent hit her.

  “Run,” Dawn growled out low.

  Her friends froze and looked at her. “What?” Cheyenne asked. She looked around the alleyway, confusion on her face. “Run?”

  “Go,” Dawn ordered. “There’s something coming.”

  “What are you talking about?” Dhani asked, her hand going in her bag to lift out a can of pepper spray.

  “Just go!”

  But it was too late.

  A shifter in wolf form pounced on Dawn’s back, and she hit the ground face first. The others screamed but didn’t run away, as if they didn’t want to leave a friend behind. In any other circumstance, she’d have admired that they wanted to fight for her, but this was a very large rogue wolf, and they were only humans.