Chapter 1
Zeno kept an eye on the woman that he was supposed to watch.She’d been caught shoplifting in another store, and he was going to catch her with the goods coming out of the store that most of the town shopped in.As soon as she was out the door, he stood in front of her and told her that he was there to arrest her.He asked to see what she had in her purse.It was big enough to carry a side of beef in, and he thought there’d be enough room for some baked potatoes, too.
“I’m not showing you my purse.My things are in there.”He said if she didn’t cooperate, he was going to have to arrest her.“You’ll be sued if you even try that.I’m a paying customer, and I don’t appreciate you treating me this way.”
“Then let me see what’s in your purse.I have an idea what might be in it, but why don’t you show me so that I don’t have to take it from you.”She jerked her back around to her side and covered it with her arm.“It doesn’t matter to me where you put it.I’m going to have to arrest you for stealing all that meat from the store.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”When the second cruiser showed up, she changed her tune.“I tell you what.I won’t show you what’s in my purse, and you can come over to my place later, and we can have some dinner and a good time.How does that sound?”
“No thanks.”When the second set of cops came to assist him, he read her rights to her and took the bag.Just as he had seen, she had three big roasts in her bag along with nine steaks that were all on sale.It bothered him to no end that she thought that he could be bought off with the promise of some fun and food.“I’m going to take you in now.”
She was still bitching when he put the cuffs on her.And when she was put in the second cruiser, she told them that he’d made her do it for blackmail.He had no idea where she got that, but he supposed that she was desperate and would try anything.After she was taken away, the beef was put into evidence bags for later.He got into his own cruiser that was at the side of the building and drove to the stationhouse.He had paperwork to fill out and wasn’t looking forward to that.
He was still upset that Aaron wouldn’t talk to him.He’d answer his questions, and that was all.Not knowing what his beef was, he decided that two could play at his game and decided not to speak to him either.If he was still pissed off about what he’d said about a mate coming to him, then he’d have to get over himself.He understood what would happen to him if he didn’t take his mate; that was why he was going to avoid women as much as possible.
He wasn’t going to be shackled down to the same person for the next fifty or so years.A woman would want things from him that he was in no mood to give them, like pampering them all the time and doing what they said.He was a man who knew what he wanted, and that was going to be enough for him for the rest of his life.No one was going to make him a sap for falling in love with someone.
When he was finished with the arrest report, he turned it in to Earl.Earl Jamison was their chief, and when he went into the office to turn in his paperwork, the man was eating candy bars.Not the little bite-sized ones either, but the big ones that would last you a while when you got them.The man had to be pushing five hundred pounds if not more.Shaking his head, he told him how things had gone and that the meat was still in the fridge in the lock-up room until they had the case brought before the judge.
“I’ll have to have someone take pictures of it and have it taken to the freezer we have at the county morgue.Make sure you put the prices on the workup sheet too.”He told him he’d put the prices as well as what the meat was.“Good boy.Now see to the woman.She’s putting up a powerful bitch about entrapment.I don’t know where she gets that.Too many people watch those police shows and think they know better than we do.I wish they’d get it right once in a while so we don’t look likefools when we have to arrest them for something they’ve seen on television.”
“Wouldn’t that be great.”He went back to his desk to work on some of the things that had come in this morning.He didn’t mind the paperwork part of his job.Since he was avoiding women, it was the best place for him.He’d actually been somewhat nervous about going out on the call this morning for fear someone was playing him dirty.He wasn’t going to find his mate if he didn’t go outside.
Just yesterday, the Feds had arrested the families of the boys who had shot up the elementary school about two months ago.Both boys, Jimmy Duncan and Henry Shaller, had been killed when the school went into lockdown when they showed up with guns.They had planned on killing a bunch of kids and teachers to make a name for themselves, and the parents knew they were headed to town to do it.They were pissed off at the police and the school for their sons being killed.They shouldn’t have done that, according to them, because they were just boys.Little boys didn’t kill people and expect to get away with it.
Since they had planned it with their sons, they were going to be tried for attempted murder as well as damage to the school.It didn’t seem like much, the damage part, but it had taken the better part of a week to get the blood out of the vestibule where they’d been caught.Shaller and Duncan had each been shot four times by the officers who were first on the scene.
“Mom wants you to go see her when you have a chance.”He just nodded at Alaric.“She said that you’ve been avoiding her, and she’s not happy.And when Mom isn’t happy, no one is.So make sure you go and see her.”
“I will.I will.”He would, too, because he loved his mom and would move heaven and earth for her.“Why didn’t she just call me and tell me?Or is she not talking to me either?”
“I don’t know.I’m just the messenger, don’t get pissy with me.”Alaric, another brother and officer of the law, stretched his neck so that it popped.“Aaron is the one who is upset with you, and I don’t blame him.The things you spouted off were just stupid, and I hope when your mate comes around, he can be there to tell you he told you so.You’re stupid for thinking that you can simply avoid everyone and that will make it work.Do you remember how Aaron found Mac?She fell into his lap when he was coming out of the building.”
“I heard the story a dozen times.And I’m sick of it.I’m sick of everyone telling me how stupid I’m being, too.I know what I want, and none of you is going to talk me into anything different.I don’t want a mate, and if she does just fall in my lap like Mac did, then she’s going to have to learn some lessons that I don’t mind teaching her.”He asked him what that was supposed to mean.“That’s between me and her.But I’m not going to be taking a mate.I have no wish to be with the same woman all the time when there are so many out there to have.Mark my words, I’m going to be the only one that doesn’t have to look to where his life has gone twenty or so years from now.”
“Whatever.You go on believing that you’re going to have the perfect life without a mate.I’m going to laugh my ass off when she comes around, too.I might even have to tell her what a jerk you’ve been about her, too.”Alaric laughed like he’d been told the best joke.“Yes, sir.I’m going to have a blast laughing at you trying to get on her good side when you’ve fucked up badly with her.”
“Don’t hold your breath on it.”He went back to the paperwork that he’d left this morning to catch a shoplifter.As soon as he was finished with it, he had to file the things that he’d been working on.He hated filing shit.It was a job that he would avoid so much that he’d have a month’s worth of reports on his desk before he got around to filing them in the proper places.
It was nearly quitting time when he realized that he’d not called his mom yet.She’d be upset with him, but he knew that she loved him.As soon as he clocked out, he made his way home and bumped into Mac as she was coming out the door.He’d forgotten that she and Aaron lived in the big house with their parents.
“Your mom is looking for you.”He told her that he’d been told.“Don’t get snippy with me, you little pisser.I’ll take you to task, and you won’t like that anymore than you want a mate.I’m not one of your buddies at work.”
“I’m sorry.It’s been a long day.I had to file paperwork all afternoon, and I’m grumpy.”Hemoved past her into the house and found his mom in the kitchen with Aaron.As soon as he walked in, Aaron stood up and left.It was going to be like that for a long time if he didn’t get his head out of his ass soon.Zeno knew what he was doing, and the sooner that he got on board with it, the better things would be.“Hello, Mom.I haven’t been avoiding you.I’ve just been busy.”
“I’m sure you haven’t been.What’s this I hear about you not wanting a mate?”He looked at his brother and glared.“He didn’t tell me.I heard it through your grandda.He told me that you were out there asking about how to avoid having a mate and what to do about it if she came into your life.You can’t be seriously thinking that you can just stop seeing women and that will be the end of it.Do you remember how Mac came into Aaron’s life?”
“Yes.Christ, will everyone just get off my back?”He knew the moment that the words left his mouth, he was in trouble.The slap to his face from his mom hurt, but it was Aaron jerking him up from the chair that scared him a bit.Aaron was bigger than him by a lot.And meaner too.He’d seen it.“I didn’t mean to say that.”
“You’re telling the wrong person.”He looked at his mom, who was crying, and his heart broke.“See what you did?Do you want me to kick your ass?I will for no other reason than you making Mom cry.What’s wrong with you?”
The shake to his body made him slightly ill.But he wasn’t going to allow his big brother to take him to task any more than he would his parents.When he was slammed back in the chair, he took his mom’s hand into his.“I’m so sorry, Mom.I’ve had a really crappy day, and I didn’t mean to take it out on you.I’m profoundly sorry for what I said.Please forgive me.”
“What is wrong with you lately?”He said that everyone was on him for having an opinion about having a mate.“Well, I’m none too happy with you either.To think those things is just wrong, son.You have to know that.”
“I just don’t want someone tying me down.I want to have the same life as I have now.Free to come and go as I please and do what I wanted.”She pulled her hand from his when she stood up and patted Aaron on the chest.“He told you and not grandda, didn’t he?Running to you to get me into trouble.It sounds like something that he’d do.”
“I want you to leave this house right now, Zeno.I don’t have to put up with your painful words, and I’m not.”She moved to the kitchen door and opened it.“Get out now before you say something that you’re going to regret.I told you where I got my information, and I can’t lie to you.You’ve hurt me enough, and I think it’s time that you were going.”
