I repeated his earlier question. "What are you doing this weekend?"
Hiking.Mika wanted to take me hiking on a four-mile trail on Saturday morning. I wasn't opposed to walking. I grew up on public transportation and never learned to drive a car. Walking for fun, though? This would be a new experience for me.
I thought about Mika at random times through the week. Using the copier of doom in the county clerk's office, I photocopied the sketches I'd made of him. On breaks, I snuck the folded copies from the folder at the front of my sketchbook to stare at them again. Even in black and white, I'd captured his smile and expressive face. He was gorgeous, and so passionate about his work for the energy company.
On Friday, the only trial at the courthouse had two witness testimonies before the prosecution rested. The defense's lead attorney gave their opening statement, and then the judge adjourned early and moved the defense witness testimony to Monday.
After an afternoon nap, when I wished I had a meerkat sleeping on my chest, I took stock of my limited outdoor supplies. To be fair, I didn't hike often, or ever.
I owned a single pair of sexy blue leather hiking boots, but they were more for the club than the trail. They happened to be waterproof, a necessity when people constantly spilled drinks around me. Becca spilled a lot, especially when she'd had too much to drink. Since Bruce had graduated from North Carolina State, moved back home, and proposed, she'd stopped drinking to the point of spilling, mostly.
I doubted Mika would spill a drink on my boots, and it probably wouldn't rain, but the boots were stylish and practical … for people who didn't live in a desert. I had a feeling they would be covered in a layer of dust after five steps, and then they'd look like any other hiking boots along the trail.
For clothes, I decided on layers. To combat the cool morning fog, I had a thermal plaid jacket. Beneath that, I could wear whatever combination of long-sleeved and short-sleeved shirts I wanted. My artistic heart knew better than to pick them out tonight. I would decide tomorrow morning, probably while rushing.
I never planned on being late. It just happened.
To compensate for my eventual tardiness, I grabbed my reusable shopping bags, locked my apartment, and walked to the convenience store a few blocks away. It had everything I needed, from snacks to bottled water.
Mika had given me his number while he drove me back to my apartment. Still, I hesitated over the nearly blank text screen. If I messaged him now, would I seem too needy?
I rolled my eyes at my silly teenage crush behavior. I wasn't the one who had turned into a meerkat in the middle of the night and decided to cuddle. Mika gave me his number because he wanted me to text him.
"What's your favorite trail snack?"I asked.
"Trail mix,"he responded promptly."Chocolate. No raisins."He ended the second text with the poop emoji.
I liked raisins. I grabbed both, so we would each have our own bag. Then I found a much larger bag with peanuts and white and dark chocolate spheres. I imagined Mika's fingers brushing against mine as we both reached into the bag, and I put the others back on the shelf.
In the refrigerator aisle, I snagged two large bottles of water. I hesitated with my hand on the door for the sports drinks, butthought better of it. I didn't want to lug all that liquid for four miles.
Despite my best intentions, I browsed the candy selection. I couldn't resist grabbing two peanut rolls, since they were almost trail mix, anyway. And because Mika said he liked chocolate, I added some chocolate and caramel squares from the local chocolate factory. After four miles, we would need something sweet.
6
MIKA
I'd committedmeerkat mischief on sleepovers before, usually midnight refrigerator raids, but never like what had happened the night Gabe stayed over. My meerkat decided he wanted to come out and play while Gabe was sound asleep on the loveseat."Mate. Mate. Mate."There was no denying it.
I probably should have prodded Gabe awake and driven him home, but he looked so peaceful, sleeping on my loveseat, a far cry from the nervous omega who avoided alone time with alphas.
I'd curled up on his chest and stayed there until morning. I slept better than I had in weeks, but I'd wanted to crawl beneath my weighted blanket and die when he asked me to explain.
When he said he felt the pull of fate, too, it took everything I had not to shift back into my meerkat. My little buddy wanted to dance around him. I'd heard human mates were hard to convince, but something about the tattoo on his arm was almost magical. It wasn't shifter magic, but I could sense it, especially in my animal form. If my human mate accepted me faster than most, I was here for it!
Thankfully, neither of us had to be at work until nine, but it was a half-hour drive back to his apartment, and another half-hour drive home. I didn't have time to shower before logging in. Thankfully, Shannon had given us permission to work from home after the trial. She'd even offered me the day off after our win, but now that the court case was settled, it was time for the intense work on the energy plant to begin.
I spent the rest of the week drafting plans and working with scientists, engineers, and contractors to confirm the thermal plant's layout and overall design. By Friday, when our group met to discuss progress, we were back on track to break ground next spring, as planned. Thanks to our success with eminent domain, the California Energy Commission wanted us to scout three more locations for geothermal plants.
I balked when I recognized the topographical layout on the map. "The Wolfcat Nature Reserve?"
"It's land the state already owns," Shannon explained.
While I understood their desire to avoid further lawsuits, that patch of land was off-limits. Our family and the local wolf pack, bear sleuth, and mountain lion pair shared it. If the state built an energy plant there, they would eat up pristine hills and run another highway through a redwood forest that had once belonged to wildlife alone. I didn't want to see the trees uprooted for an energy plant, no matter how green the energy was.
I loved the redwoods so much, I'd considered taking Gabe out there after Bruce and Becca's wedding. If we were still dating, of course. It wasn't unheard of for a human fated mate to reject the bond, especially if he denied the existence of mate bonds.
So far, I'd been lucky, but we still needed to talk about what it meant to be a meerkat's mate. My mom would always have the final say in our relationship, and some of my past partners couldn't handle an alpha accepting anyone else's influence.
