Cobblestone Press, LLC

Bonding Experience

Cora Zane

Chapter One

Claire absently wiggled her pen between her fingers and thought, It’s far too pretty outside to be working! She frowned and rested her chin in her palm, momentarily ignoring the slew of invoices she'd sorted into three messy piles. From her perch behind the cash register, she could see directly out the hardware store’s shady window-front—a terrible distraction. It was Saturday, and the traffic along Main Street seemed to flow in an endless, colorful knot.

She sighed and pulled herself back from a daydream. She knew she was only prolonging the inevitable. Whether she wanted to do them or not, the books had to be completed, and they weren't going to balance themselves.

She’d just put pen to paper when the door to the street opened, causing the chimes to jangle and a rush of warm wind to sweep inside. Claire slapped an arm across the stacks of invoices to keep them from flying away, and looked up again, doing a double take when she noticed Austin Maddox heading straight toward her.

“Hey, Austin. What can I do for you this morning?”

“Nothing much, Claire. Just came by to drop this off.”

The scarred werewolf rarely spoke to anyone, and even now he barely met her eyes as he set an envelope on the counter and tapped it sharply with a finger. Before she could ask him what it was about, he tipped his cowboy hat at her, and turned on his heel. He was out of her Uncle’s store as quickly as he’d entered it.

For a long minute, Claire stared after him in confusion; then she dropped her gaze to the large yellow envelope he’d left behind. She picked it up and turned it over, and at once her heart began to pound. There was no to or from address, only her name handwritten on the front in big, black letters—Claire Vaught.

A frisson of unease swept through her, and she almost dropped the envelope. A part of her knew it was from Seth Parker, their pack leader, before she even opened it.

“That looks like a council letter.”

Claire glanced up at the voice, and found her Uncle Albert standing in the doorway of the storage room, watching her with glittering eyes that peeked over the rim of his glasses. There was only one reason she would get a pack letter, and they both knew what that reason was—she’d been promised to someone as a mate.

A tremor ran through her, sending a wave of goose bumps racing over her skin. She didn’t know why she should feel so unnerved when actually on some level she’d been expecting it. After all, she was thirty-three and still unclaimed. How unlikely was that?

It wasn’t like she didn’t want pups, or that she hadn’t tried to find a suitable mate. She’d just never been very successful with the males. No one who’d ever asked her out stuck around past a second date, so of course it had crossed her mind on more than one occasion that Seth might eventually arrange a mating pact for her.

Here was the tangible proof that she was right.

Claire swallowed hard and shifted her gaze back to the letter. She puffed up her courage and ripped it open with trembling hands.

“So who’s the lucky fellow?”

Claire took out the single page and flipped it, ignoring the formalities. She scanned for the name, and the instant she saw it, her breath seized in her lungs and her insides clenched into an anxious, fluttery knot.

“Luke Roman?” she said incredulously. An odd, electric feeling skittered up her spine. There had to be a mistake. She flipped the page over and reread it from the beginning, paying special attention the wording. It was indeed a mating pact.

Stunned by the revelation, Claire read the name three more times before it finally sank in. “I’m being mated off to Luke Roman?” She dropped the letter to her side and scowled at her Uncle. “Is Seth out of his mind?”

The older werewolf shrugged. “I can only assume he had your best interests in mind when he made the match.”

She snarled at that. Best interests my ass! Uncle Albert was clearly going senile. Her best interests involved staying as far away from Luke Roman as possible. The overbearing, hotshot werewolf lived to torment her—a trend that had started in high school and still carried on to this day. How many times in the last month had she left work to find him leaning against her car?

Oh, this is bad. This is serious! She refolded the letter and reached under the counter to tuck it into her shoulder bag.

“I’m going to take off for a while, Uncle Al. Do you mind?”

“Go ahead.” He grumbled and waved her away. “After all, that’s what I pay you for. To take off… wander around town…” As he lumbered back into the store room she could’ve sworn he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “good ole Luke”.

Claire gritted her teeth and pretended she hadn’t heard him say that. Luke might be well liked in the community, but he certainly wasn’t the right match for her.

She tugged her purse strap over her shoulder and started toward the door. She hated to leave when she had so much work to do, but this was an emergency. Only one thing could possibly help her get through this situation. She needed to talk to Susie—and fast. If anyone could put things into perspective, her best friend could.

Close Window