Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Wolf’s Auctioned Mate Chapter 2

Laurencia

My phone never rang.

I must have stared at the screen for minutes by the time Skye whacked my arm and Jada encouraged me to pick up the phone. The kiddos were playing on the playground beyond the gaping windows, reminding me about where I was and what I was doing. Which wasn't much of anything if I was being perfectly honest. Jada and Skye had dragged me along to congratulate the newly wedded Francine on her lunch break. She sported a gaudy looking mate mark on her neck, one that appeared more like an oversized hickey than a bite mark. I didn't understand the appeal.

All three women near me did nothing to cover their marks. Was that the point? Did it ward off evil or something? I was willing to bet if I searched my books, that they'd reveal the mate mark to be nothing more than a chauvinistic practice to keep mates in line with their spouses.

And what was the point of getting married right after being marked? Wasn't the mark a ritual of its own that completed the mating ritual? None of it made sense to me, and the more I tried pestering Jada for answers, the more she referenced her belly, her aching feet, and the fact that she was about ready to pop.

To which I would remind her that she still had two months to go.

Skye tapped the edge of my phone with her nail. "You gonna answer that?"

I swept it from the kid's table and answered it while setting it against my ear. Quick motions. I didn't have to look. "Yeah, yeah, hi. Hello?" "Good afternoon, Miss Sharman. This is Blake Hayden. How are you today?"

My heart leaped from my throat to the ground. About every ounce of blood in my face drained so evidenced by my sudden lightheadedness and the fact that I was within three inches of the door without even thinking about walking away from the gaggling girls behind me. I mean, they weren't girls. They were my friends. Even if they did tend to sound like geese when I was trying to tune them out.

I plugged my left ear with one finger while pressing my phone harder to my right ear. Sure, it cut out the background sound, but it didn't mask the sound of my heart thumping away inside my chest where it shouldn't have been residing. Technically, it had metaphorically shot to the ground from my mouth.

"Alpha!" I squeaked. I coughed twice and then slid into the hallway like I was avoiding trouble with a particularly picky principal. "Hi, Alpha. It's good to hear from you, Alpha. How are you? What are you doing? It's so nice out today, right?"

I laughed, ended up snorting instead, and then slapped my stupid shaky hand over my stupid shaky mouth.

Why am I so awkward? I thought as the blood rushed back to my face-so evidenced by how hot my cheeks felt within half a dang second. "I mean, hi."

Blake chuckled. "I have Troy with me-"

"Hello, Laurencia."

Heat flooded my shoulders and spilled into my torso. Cool, so now the Bravecrest alpha had also heard me awkwardly trip over every other freaking word. What was next? Would I have to talk to Wendell?

"To what do I owe the honors, my alphas?" My hand flew to my forehead. Could I sound any more like a dork? "Did I do something?"

"No, Miss Sharman, not at all!" Blake replied. "We would love to invite you to participate in a new event for the collective pack."

The Collective Pack. It sounded so formal when he put it that way. But that was the way it was now, right? Our packs had joined forces and we were a collective. As odd as it would seem to outsiders, it made sense to us. And since joining forces, we were also mating with each other.

My hand fell to my chest. A new round of thumping had erupted. Turned out my heart had returned to my ribcage and was making a mess of my lungs. If the gods were of the forgiving sort, I had to hope that I wasn't about to be subjected to the new way of running things.

I gulped. Did Blake announce my match? Is that what this is about?

As my gaze settled on the door frame of the classroom, my alpha continued, "At ease, Miss Sharman. It's an auction-for mates."

One eyebrow shot through the ceiling while my lips twisted into a frown. "What?"

"It's a red-carpet event with catering done by a local vampire family-"

I gasped. "You mean the Red Velvet Covenant?" The grin that broke across my lips erased any worries I might have harbored. "Their cakes are literally to die for, Alpha."

"I've been made aware," he said with a hint of a chuckle. "I'm also aware of your regular visits to the flea market. They spoke highly of your attendance."

"Well, I do love sampling the locally made stuff. And I always need a source for my juniper, ethically sourced stones, baskets, and other magical items."

He hummed in agreement. "So, you'll do the auction?"

I bit my lower lip. "What exactly do I have to do?"

"You just walk out on stage, wave, and smile."

"And what if someone bids on me?"

Troy laughed. "That's the idea, Laurencia. Our goal is to ensure protection for everyone."

"But the war is over."

Bite your tongue! You're just questioning authority to be rebellious!

What a scratchy voice to have in the back of my mind while I was having a pleasant conversation with my alphas. The voice continued even though I tried to block it out, countless phrases circling my brain, making me dizzy, and forcing me to take a seat on the bench next to the door. Laminated alphabet letters floated above my head.

"Laurencia? Miss Sharman?" Both alphas spoke in overlapping concerned tones. How kind of them to check on me.

Blake's voice made it through the static crackling in my mind. "Miss Sharman-"

"Call me Laurencia, please," I urged. I scrubbed my forehead, drawing new lines into my less-than-perfect skin. "Just call me Laurencia, Alpha."

"Laurencia, we believe this idea will be far more inclusive," Blake explained. "This way, we get more mates paired in a shorter timeframe with less room for error."

My head snapped up. "You're giving us the choice."

One of them chuckled. It was Troy who replied, "Precisely."

Choice.

That wasn't something I was necessarily used to having. Though I had plenty of choices in my life now, I hadn't hailed from a home made of choices. That was a luxury afforded to other families-to families that weren't broken. Choice.

What a concept.

I coughed once, twice, and then chuckled for good measure. "Interesting. I, uh...Well, I could certainly go for some options. It's not like I have my eyes on anybody around here!" My eyes closed with embarrassment.

Good job, Laurencia, I scolded. Now you sound like you're interested in someone.

"Excellent news," Troy praised. "Will you be available Saturday evening around 7:00 PM? We'll begin the auction shortly after. A private buffet will be available for participants."

"Won't there be food for everyone else?"

Blake chuckled. "This is why we chose you, Laurencia. You think of others as well as yourself. You're a wonderful woman, and we want to make sure your happiness and safety are ensured."

Most of my body shrank into the bench. "I appreciate that, Alpha, but-"

"No buts," Troy argued playfully. "We have Penelope on standby for you to get fitted for a gown."

I practically sprang to my feet. "A new what now?"

"A new gown," he repeated. "Consider it an investment."

"Is everyone getting new clothes?"

"Yes," Blake responded. "We want to create a new experience that isn't just made of announcements."

I nodded. "Announcements that could have just been emails."

Troy barked with laughter while Blake grumbled something about him being tired of hearing that. With their mixed reaction, I was unsure whether or not it was appropriate to say to my alpha. Having two alphas was fantastic until I needed to know which one to obey-moments like this one where my cheeks burned with equal parts desperation and critical levels of mortification. Which one should I be more concerned with heeding?

"Laurencia, dear," Troy said through a mouthful of lingering chuckles, "you're a card, and we hope your humor earns you a mate quickly. It's important that we make sure you're cared for properly."

"I appreciate that, Alpha, but I don't see the point," I admitted. I squeezed my hand into a fist, digging my nails into my palm as that scratchy voice came back to yell at me some more. "I mean, I just think that-Well, it's hard to see-I mean, there's so much for me to

-"

"At ease," Blake assured me in a calm voice, which worked wonders for my nerves. And my poor palm. "This is more of an experimental approach, I admit, but I think it'll be far more appealing to the masses."

I took a deep breath and sighed it out. "Well, as long as you're sure..."

"Great," Troy said before I could say anything more. "Make sure to visit Penelope today. If you need a ride into town, I'll be happy to assist."

"We appreciate your support of this new endeavor," Blake added.

And just like that, I couldn't argue with either one. That solved the mystery of which alpha to obey. It had to be both, or I would be on the outs. Though the outer banks were more familiar to me than the mainland, it was nice to be included without it being weird. All of this was pretty weird regardless of how I spun it in my head. After settling the details of the event-Saturday at 7:00 PM as one of them had previously stated-I disconnected the call and tucked the phone into my bra. The rest of the world came back at full force, cluttering my ears with the sounds of a radio recounting a play-by-play of a local game. The radio cut abruptly to a country station, and I heard Skye whisper, "That's the stuff."

I shook my head. This was just too much for me. Mating had never been on my list of things to do, mostly because of how awkward it was for me to sit down with a shifter of the opposite sex. What did a guy want with a crater for a heart? My alphas were generous with their praises of me-and no wonder I had been volunteered. They probably knew all about the fact that I was a rejected mate.

My heart clenched as I squeezed my eyes shut. Yep, I was a washed-up old newspaper. I had been for years. Only one man had ever earned my affection and my heart, and he was clear about his intentions back then. He didn't want me. He didn't care. It made me quiver to think about the way he had dumped me like I was nothing.

He disappeared without a trace. He didn't call or write, nor did he bother to come looking for me when the war had concluded. Telling him about our pack's troubles had been a mistake. It was probably what ran him off. He didn't want to get in the middle of that

nonsense.

Well, it's a bit late for that, I thought. He got sucked into it just like we did.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Skye teased from the doorway.

I squeaked. "I hate it when you sneak up on me!"

"And I hate it when you get lost in your head. You thinking of that Wendell fella again?"

My face boiled. I was thinking of that Wendell fella again, and I didn't want to be. Why the heck would I ever want to keep thinking about the man who rejected me and left me for a slow spiritual death?

I swallowed around the lump in my throat and spared Skye a sweet smile. "No, it's just-"

"You look sick."

"Thanks, Captain. I'm feeling mighty fine under these pressurized conditions."

She frowned with enough sympathy to last me for weeks. I could survive on the barest of attention. Thanks to my ancient history, I scraped up whatever I could get. "Who called you?"

"The alphas. They want me to participate in a, uh..." I peeked over Skye's shoulder, noticing two additional women sticking their noses into the hallway. One of them was munching on chips. "Really?"

Jada shrugged and tried to play off her big belly inspiring her to wander around while Francine had the decency to blush and offer me her pickle chips. Crispy, ruffled, flaky goodness drew my attention faster than a shirtless man wearing a cowboy hat. I had standards, and then I had fantasies.

Though the shirtless man was typically the same one every time.

"Are we talking about Wendell?" Jada prodded jokingly. "Is that who called you?"

"No, that would require our Rencie to get brave enough to hand out her number."

Francine raised one eyebrow and then the other. "Oh, you mean Troy's assistant? I've met him a few times. He picks up Archie when Elias and I are busy for the evening."

"I thought Isaiah watched Archie?" Skye intervened.

Francine nodded. "Most of the time, yes. But Uncle Wendy comes in when everyone is on the outs."

"He doesn't like to be called that." I slammed my hand over my mouth.

Good job, Laurencia, I scolded. Just tell them about Joe's Snack Shack while you're at it.

If my face was a boiler, I would have started a fire in the hallway by now.

Or the rear parking lot of Joe's Snack Shack.

All three women were more than curious now about what prompted me to say such a thing. So, I did my best to shrug it off, play it dumb, pass it off. "I heard Alpha Troy say something like that to Alpha Blake once." "Is that so?" Skye teased.

I swept my burnt orange-brown hair behind one ear. "That's who called."

"The alphas?" came the trio of voices from the doorway, and then the women were clamoring to sit with me, Jada and Skye winning either side of me on the bench with Francine standing in front of me like a schoolteacher.

She was a schoolteacher, so of course, that was how she stood. Hands on hips. Glasses on the tip of her nose. Eyes barreling into me for the answer.

Another gulp. Another sunken ship of a passing thought about the man who turned me down. Merciful gods, how mad would he be to see me on a stage with a bunch of men bidding for my hand?

A sinister grin waited beyond my simple smile. Oh, I had ideas. But I had to wait until later to truly think about them.

"There's going to be a mates auction," I told the three women around me, "according to Blake, anyways, it's experimental."

Jada blinked rapidly while Skye dove into a series of questions without even taking a breath. Francine never wavered in her expression. I had to guess that was years of practicing in front of children. A few times, her eyes darted into the room, likely to check on the children running about the playground. She seemed to stay within visual contact of them while standing in front of me.

"....Well..." I rubbed my elbow. "I'm going to do it. I'm going to try it."

My hand instinctively flew into the pocket of my patchwork skirt. A few practiced motions later, I was waving a tiny stick of juniper around me to cleanse my aura. Just thinking about Wendell and his prying eyes, his exploring hands, his hot lips had me dizzier than riding a carnival ride.

Skye coughed and waved at the wisps of smoke dancing around me. "Would you quit that."

Jada chortled while Francine smirked. Though her nostrils flared a bit, she didn't seem to mind the smell too much. That was always nice. Skye was always hounding me about this stuff-even when it protected her and made her feel better. "I just want to-"

But Skye wasn't having it. She plucked the stick from my fingers, spat into her hand, and rolled the tip into the pool of saliva to put it out. Extinguished-so much like my hopes in the past. All because of a man who was too proud to look back, to even consider looking back.

How would I know something like that? Well, I had my intuition, and I had my spirits. I knew a lemon of a man when I saw him, and when I saw Wendell hanging out with my alpha-with Blake-well, it put everything together right then and there. His eyes passed over me like he didn't even know me-his pride had been more important than his true mate.

He didn't care. He just wanted to get on with his life. And now, I wanted to do the same thing by participating in this auction. It would heal me. Or it would be distracting, at least.

Francine smiled through the doorway, a teacher smile. Within a few seconds, the playground door squealed open, and the children filed back inside, chattering excitedly about one thing or another. I was still stuck thinking about the auction. "Laurencia, would you mind sticking around with me today?" Francine asked in a low voice. "Shannon is leaving early, and I'll need all the help I can get with the young ones."

"Sure, I don't mind. I have nothing planned today except..."

Except I needed to see Penelope at the shop.

My shoulders twitched. "I need a ride to town afterwards if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all."

That settled it. I was going into town to get fitted for a gown. I just hoped this time that I wouldn't end up getting rejected again.

***

Not more than an hour later, there were only a few children left in the room, one of them being Archie. He sat comfortably with a couple of toddlers on the floormat when the sound of boots clomped up the hallway.

Francine perked up from her chair, observing the doorway with a critical glare that seemed fitting for a woman who was annoyed that her reading had gotten interrupted. I'd be annoyed too with so many interruptions happening. It wasn't an environment I liked being in all the time, though I did very much like helping Francine. She was an intelligent and simple woman who didn't mind my incense.

Not around the kids, of course. They had delicate noses and lungs. But on occasion outside, I did my rounds of blessings and she leaned into them, encouraging me to pray as I wished, to grant her prayers as well. Sometimes, we added other names to the list. Right now, my prayers had gone right out the window. That stomping was obnoxious, rude, inconsiderate. I had to guess that the person wearing the boots was much the same. While I typically didn't allow looks to dictate personality, I couldn't help myself. I sensed Francine doing the same thing.

A smile broke out on her lips when the stomping stopped. "Hello, Wendell. I thought Isaiah would be dropping by today."

Her eyes flickered to me for a second and then back to the doorway. That must have been a silent apology of some kind because the energy crackling along the surface of my skin was pure lightning. And I was ready to hurl it at the man who dared to show up here today.

Wendell didn't look at me. His body language was stiff like a taut cord as he strode rigidly into the classroom with his focus on Archie. The child stood up and wandered toward Wendell lazily with his nose stuck in a book.

Sweet gods, I hated this. I hated being in the same room as the man who spun me out on my ass by abandoning me. Every time I passed the motel on 21, my heart beat right through my brain just thinking about all the things I did in there. I didn't get out to 21 much, but it was on my way out of town, and it took me to the mountains where I could get away.

Those four walls in room 7 could recall so much that my body refused to acknowledge. If Wendell felt the same, he didn't show it. He hardly showed much emotion at all.

But goodness, he was gorgeous. Men couldn't be gorgeous like Wendell could. That chin-length tan hair softer than cashmere and those stormy gray eyes spoke of a wisdom I could hardly capture. Pink freckles decorated his fawn brown skin. Everything about him oozed mystery, hidden desire, secrets that swam underneath that swimmer's physique as well as he swam in the local rivers and inlets.

Yeah, I might have spied on him once or twice. I'd shifted into my leopard form and followed him to the water's edge, studying the way his muscles flexed and how he barely came up for air. The fact that he went swimming during lightning storms was odd, but totally true to his character.

Wild, dangerous, edgy-those were things about Wendell that I knew intimately, yet that eluded me for some reason. This second, this very moment that I stood tentatively and gathered my layered skirts so I could walk across the carpet, he didn't appear as risky as he had in the past. He just looked like Wendy, my soft and gooey wolf inside a hard shell. It took ages to crack him open.

But when I did? Oh, the way he melted right into me.

Archie held up his book. "Uncle Wendy, can we go to the library? I want more books about sharks."

Wendell's right cheek vibrated with annoyance. "Archie, we've discussed this."

I picked up Archie's bag from the ground and floated toward them, the picture of grace and balance as I stepped on a building block that felt more like a shard of glass and then yowled my way to the ground. Every pair of eyes in the room landed on me. I knew that because I could feel them staring, some of them trying not to laugh.

Mostly it was the kids trying not to laugh. Me? I was doing my best to swallow my screams and curses while in the company of young, impressionable minds.

Could the gods be merciful? There was no telling. Especially not from this angle on the ground. My knee was lodged in the carpet at a weird angle pointed away from my body and my tits were aching from how I had landed on them. My a*s was stuck up in the air like a leopard cub who had just learned to walk.

A husky chuckle crackled above. The firm hands that grabbed my underarms and lifted me were hot, large, familiar. Wendell came into view and then he grew taller as I was set on the carpet, feet flat, chest heaving as I raised up the bag by the strap. "Sorry about that, kid," I said to Archie while staring up at Wendell. Had he grown taller since our last meeting? It was hard to say seeing as that was quite a few years ago. "I didn't want you to forget it."

Wendell patted my shoulders. "Alright, Arch. Let's hit the books."

And then he turned around like I was just another chick tripping over my feet around him. Because that was probably all I was to him at this point. Did he even recognize me? If he did, he was doing a great job of acting like he didn't.

Francine sidled up to my right. She touched my elbow lightly, causing me to wince. "You've got a scrape. Let's clean it up, shall we?"

"Yes, of course."

But scrapes were the farthest thing from my mind when Wendell Morin paused in the doorway and turned around to look at me.