1. Conner

“Love?” I looked up from my paperwork at Antonio’s voice.

“Hey!” I pushed away from my desk and motioned him over. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you were at a point where you could stop for lunch?” He moved to sit on my lap and nuzzled my throat.

Concern grew inside me. “Do you need to feed again, my love?” I hated that he couldn’t feed from me. Something in my blood made it poisonous to him.

Antonio flashed his fangs teasingly. “Are you offering?” He sobered. “I made myself feed last night.” he pressed his forehead against my temple. “It’s getting harder, Conner. I-I’m getting worried.”

I wrapped my arms around him tight. “We’ll find our third. I promise. Even if I have to scour the earth, I will find him.”

“I know you’ll try.” He whispered.

The Fates were weird that way. They gave every paranormal creature their perfect match, or matches, but sometimes it took years to find them. We were lucky; Antonio had only been a vampire for fifty years, and I was still relatively young for a wolf shifter, only 105. All paranormals had extended life lines, and Antonio and I had found each other very quickly. The only problem was that when a vampire finds their mate, their mate’s blood is the only blood that lasts well in their system, but shifter blood had something in it that made it impossible for a vampire to drink. Hence, the third we knew was meant to be part of us.

“What if we don’t find him?” Antonio’s voice cracked as he asked and my heart broke just a little more.

“We will find him. I won’t lose you.” I vowed. “Now,” I made my tone light hearted. “How about you feed me?”

Antonio laughed and dragged me from the office.

***

“Alpha.”

I lifted my head from the paperwork I was once again doing to face my Beta, or second in command. “Ryan, welcome back. How was the meeting? Did Reynolds give you any unusual trouble?” I asked.

Ryan took a seat across from me and chuckled. “Nothing so unusual. However, he did move his office again. Now he is above the print shop.”

I rolled my eyes and reached for the paperwork I knew he had for me. “That man is more paranoid than I am.”

When Ryan leaned across the desk, a barely there scent drifted under my nose and my wolf pushed to the surface, howling. I gripped Ryan’s hand and pressed my nose to it.

“Who else was there?” I practically growled before I could stop myself.

Ryan looked startled, but not necessarily upset. “Uh… no one?” His brow dipped into a confused scrunch. “Wait- I ran into a human… a human omega, I think. He - she - er, they? I'm honestly not sure, the scent said male, but he was dressed like a human woman. Anyway, he bumped into me and helped direct me to Reynold’s office.”

“What did he look like?” I asked eagerly, still clutching his hand.

Before he could respond, Antonio waltzed in again. “Love? I was thinking of heading into town… What are you doing?” His gaze was quizzical as he took in our positions.

“Hey, Tonio!” Ryan greeted, unfazed. “Your mate’s being intense. You want to help me out here?”

I rolled my eyes, but released Ryan’s hand and motioned Antonio to me. “Sorry about that, Ryan. You’ll forgive me for my insistence, but we are running on a bit of a time constraint.” I drew Antonio onto my lap and held my hand to his nose. “Can you smell it? Him?” I knew I was acting strange, but any hope I could give him made me that much happier. 

He gripped my hand tightly, inhaling deeply. “Conner?” His eyes lit up with hope. “Is it him? Our third? Please - please say yes.” 

Ryan stood quietly, but I motioned for him to stay put. “He bumped into Ryan today. Do you smell the beautiful scent?” 

Antonio nodded and inhaled deeply again. “He smells wonderful. Can we go find him?” He asked eagerly.

“You might want to be careful.” Ryan broke in. 

Antonio and I looked over at him and he shrugged. “He seemed scared of me. Couldn’t wait to get away from me.” He hesitated for a moment, then grimaced. “He also had a bruise under his eye.”

“WHAT??” I roared. Antonio and I were on our feet, advancing on Ryan before either of us realized and I forced myself to stop. Antonio continued stalking forward, so I reached out and wrapped my arms around him.

He fought my grip. “Let me go!” He snarled. 

“Tony, stop. Ryan isn’t the one you want to hurt. He is just the messenger!” I exclaimed, trying desperately to keep him back.