Shifting Loyalty (District Shifters Book 2) Read online

  That was a question Raina could answer. Harvey had been tracking Matchmakers for a long time. He had learned tricks and ways in. It probably helped that he was male, so he could easily pretend that he wanted to find a Matchmaker to use their services. Obviously, that wasn’t something Raina could do, but she hopefully would learn some tricks of her own in time. She wasn’t in the mood to be patient, though. Every day she wasted looking in the wrong places was another day Chester could continue to sell unwilling women to willing immortals.

  Who the hell could do that? Who wanted to take a mate that didn’t want the life they were being offered? Who wanted to spend eternity with someone who resented them and probably even feared them?

  Raina had never understood that side of the Matchmaking process. The thought of forcing someone to marry you wasn’t her idea of a happily ever after. She had always dreamed of love and romance, of finding her soul mate. That was part of the reason she felt such empathy towards the victims of the Matchmakers. They were being denied their chance at finding their soul mate.

  It didn’t matter to Raina that the girls who were bought were usually showered with gifts and given a life more privileged than any they could have hoped for. It didn’t matter to her that most of the girls came to embrace their newfound status. What mattered to her was that their choice was taken away from them.

  When she couldn’t stand the unanswered questions swirling around her head any longer, she decided it was time to get out of her room. She didn’t want to get pulled into the tourism lifestyle, but she decided a drink or two in the bar of her hotel wouldn’t hurt. Maybe she’d get lucky and find Chester hanging out there, looking for customers. She knew the chances of that were slim at best, but the hotel was owned by the alpha wolf of the district and was a known hangout spot for supernatural creatures, so it was at least possible. In any case, that was what Raina told herself, because it was better than admitting that she was out of her depth here. She had fallen at the first hurdle.

  She grabbed her purse, ignoring the taunting voices in her head. She made her way to the elevators and down to the ground floor. She went to the bar, sat on a bar stool, and ordered a beer, sipping it while she looked around the room.

  Raina debated approaching some of the other customers, asking them some questions about Chester, but that would be a mistake. She had no idea who she could or couldn’t trust. She could very well end up doing nothing more than giving Chester a heads-up that someone was seeking him out. And being a woman, no one would believe she was looking for a mate if she spoke to them in person. That was the beauty of the chat rooms. She could be anyone she wanted to be. She just had to find the right thread, the right contact; someone who would talk.

  Movement in the main entrance to the bar made her turn, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw the man standing there. He was by far the most attractive man she had ever seen. His dark skin and hair gave him a brooding, mysterious look, and when Raina accidentally caught his gaze, she saw stunning, warm brown eyes flecked with gold.

  She forced her eyes away from his, feeling her cheeks burning. She couldn’t take her eyes off him altogether, though, and she found her gaze lingering over his chest. She could see his pecs straining beneath the black t-shirt he wore. His black jeans hung low and revealed a flash of toned abs.

  Oh, my God, am I in trouble here? Raina thought to herself when the handsome stranger began to walk towards the bar. She risked another glance at his eyes. The color there seemed to fade slightly, the gold flecks becoming more prominent and changing to a bright yellow. He blinked, and his eyes were normal again, but Raina knew it had been no illusion. Her bear side could sense another bear was present, and she knew he had flashed her the sign to let her know they were the same.

  But why? Surely this perfect specimen couldn’t not have a mate. Unless he was as young as he actually looked. Something told Raina he wasn’t. He had an air of confidence about him that suggested he was older. She also felt almost sure that he didn’t have a mate, because her senses had gone into overdrive the second their eyes had met. Every one of her animal instincts were telling her this man was her mate.

  Raina finally managed to pull her eyes away from the sexy stranger. She turned on her stool, facing the bar again. She reminded herself once more she was here for a purpose, and that purpose wasn’t romance. It was bigger than that. More important.

  “Can I have another, please?” she asked the bartender, raising her bottle. He nodded and turned back to the fridge.

  “That’s on me. I’ll have the same,” a low, husky voice said from Raina’s side.

  She didn’t need to look up to know who had spoken. The sexy stranger had joined her at the bar.

  2

  Logan Prince paced the floor of his hotel room nervously. He was starting to think the deal he had made with Chester was a mistake. He had been promised that his mate would be ready today, and now he had received an email telling him differently. His cell phone was pressed to his ear as he listened to it ringing. Finally, the call was answered.

  “Logan, how great to hear from you. How’s New York treating you?” Chester said.

  “New York is fine. New York isn’t the problem. The problem is you and your delay tactics. I’ve paid good money to make this match happen, and I demand an explanation about why you’re trying to put me off,” Logan snapped.

  “Relax, Logan. These things take time. If you remember correctly, the date I gave you was a provisional date, nothing more, nothing less. I have a few last-minute arrangements that need to be sorted, and then your mate will be delivered to you, as promised,” Chester said.

  Logan listened carefully, not just to his words, but to his tone of voice as well. He sounded genuine. There was no hint of panic in Chester’s voice, no hint that he was being dishonest. Logan let out a long sigh, trying to shake the anger that held him in its grip.

  The trouble was, he had never had any dealings with a Matchmaker before, and he had no real idea how the process was meant to work. Not wanting to appear naïve to the practice and end up getting ripped off, he had played the role of a cynical man, someone who knew the trade well, and he had not asked any of the questions he knew now he should have asked.

  “I…” Logan started.

  “You’ve seen the photos, right?” Chester cut him off. “The video? Are you telling me that Brianna isn’t worth waiting for?”

  “No, of course not,” Logan replied.

  Brianna was a gorgeous girl. She was twenty-five, with a beautiful face. Her most attractive feature was her pale green eyes, which seemed to look right back at Logan from the pictures he had seen of her. She was just over five-feet-five, and she had curves in all of the right places. She wore her black hair in a sleek bob that framed her face and made it hard to look away from her. She would make a good mate. She had fire in her soul. Something in her posture, the way she moved, told Logan as much.

  He had hoped he would look at her and feel his bear respond, letting him feel that pull that his friends talked of when they met the one. It hadn’t happened that way, but Logan had spoken to a wolf shifter from District 6 who had found his mate through a Matchmaker. He told him he’d felt the same at first, but that his mate had grown on him, and now he knew it was the right thing. Logan convinced himself that the feeling those who had found their soul mates the easy way talked about was mostly in their heads. They wanted to believe they had just known that they were meant to be together the moment they looked into each other’s eyes.

  “So, you still want to go ahead?” Chester asked. “Because if you don’t, just say the word. I can give you a refund of your deposit easily enough. There’s a lot of interest in our little Brianna, and I’m sure I could, at this point, fetch a higher price than what you are paying.”

  Logan felt a flash of anger, his bear taking over him for half a second before he swallowed it down. Brianna was his, dammit, and he wouldn’t have Chester passing her around like some trophy.

 
“Don’t even think about it. A deal is a deal,” Logan said in a low voice.

  “It is, indeed, and if you can just be patient for a little while longer, we’ll all get what we want out of this one.”

  “Keep me informed,” Logan snapped and ended the call. There was something about Chester he didn’t much care for. The man went from warm and charming to sly and manipulative at the drop of a hat, and if it wasn’t for the situation at home, Logan was almost certain he would have called the deal off right there.

  Logan sat for a moment and then picked his cell phone up again to call Rory, his beta. It was only once the call had connected that he realized he had no idea what time it was in his home district, District 18, in London.

  “Is everything okay?” Rory said when he picked up.

  “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” Logan laughed. He trusted Rory to take good care of the pack in his absence, but he knew he would have to keep in close contact with him, especially with the tentative situation. It would be easier for the pack to rebel with him out of town, and he wanted to make as sure as he could that didn’t happen.

  “Everything’s fine here, Logan. You’ve been gone, what, thirty-six hours? We haven’t managed to torch the entire district just yet,” Rory answered.

  “That’s good,” Logan said. “Try to keep it that way until I get back, huh?”

  “I think I can just about manage that,” Rory said.

  “I hope so, because I’m going to be away a bit longer than I initially thought.”

  “Oh? How come?” he asked.

  “There’s been a delay from Chester’s end. A few loose ends he has to tie up before Brianna is ready to meet me,” Logan replied. “So I need you to delay the mating ceremony. Don’t give anyone a date this time. At least not until we’re on the plane home.”

  “That sounds kind of dodgy, Logan,” Rory said.

  Logan shrugged, although he was aware that Rory couldn’t see him. What other choice was there but to see how this played out?

  “Apparently, it’s how these things work. Sometimes things take longer than expected. I can live with that, and I’m the one who is paying for Brianna, so I’m sure you can live with it.”

  “I can, but I’m not sure you can. Look, I know I’ve said this before, but I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t say it at least once more. I don’t like this. Are you sure this is the right decision?”

  Logan sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes and then through his hair. “What other choice do I have, Rory? You know as well as I do that the pack is getting restless. I’m a five-hundred-and-seven-year-old alpha with no heir and no mate to provide me with one. You can kind of see why they’re getting sick of waiting.”

  “There are other ways to find a mate, though,” Rory said.

  Logan laughed softly. “The amount of time I’ve searched for one suggests otherwise. You know as well as I do that female bears, unmated ones, are almost impossible to find. And finding a human with Sanmere in their blood is equally hard. I mean, it’s not like those women walk around with a sign on their head or something, is it.”

  “I know, but…” Rory started.

  Logan had heard it all before, and he wasn’t in the mood to hear it again. An insistent whisper in the back of his mind told him that Rory was right, but he had to ignore that voice. This was the only way. His dedication was to his pack, and they needed an heir. He had to do this, no matter how little he trusted Chester.

  “No buts, Rory. This is happening,” he snapped. Rory went silent on the other end of the line, and Logan regretted his sharp tone. “I’m sorry, Rory. Look, being totally honest, this isn’t the way I would choose to find a mate. But it seems like it’s the only way, and I have to do this for the pack. You know that as well as I do.”

  “I know. It’s just… Nothing. You’re right. I’m sorry,” Rory said. “I’ll call off the original mating ceremony and let the pack know there’s been a short delay and the ceremony will be rearranged as soon as we have more details.”

  “Remember, the pack thinks I’ve been in contact with this girl for months, so you can’t tell them the real reason for the delay. Tell them there was a problem with her visa or something,” Logan added.

  “I will do. Don’t worry, Logan. I’ve got this, alright?”

  “Thanks, Rory. Call me any time if you need me,” Logan said.

  He ended the call and sat down on the bed for a moment. Rory’s insinuation that he was making a mistake was playing heavily on his mind, but there was no other choice, unless he was willing to step down as the pack alpha. If he didn’t take a mate or step down, sooner or later, he would be overthrown and cast out. The pack was his life, his brothers and sisters. He wasn’t ready to leave that behind, and if that meant finding a mate in a less than conventional way and learning to love her, then that was what he would do.

  He stood up abruptly. He felt as though the walls were closing in on him, and he had to get out. He wanted to go out to the middle of nowhere and let his bear out and run free. He had no idea where it was safe to do that in this district, though, so for now, he decided to settle for getting out of his hotel room and going down to the bar. A few drinks would calm the beast inside of him and placate him long enough to get through tonight, and tomorrow, he could ask around and find somewhere to go and let off some steam.

  The irony of his situation wasn’t lost on him. He knew his way around New York as well as any of the locals when it came to the human element, but when it came to the thing that mattered to him as a bear, he was as lost as a first timer.

  He grabbed his cell phone and pushed it into his jeans’ pocket. That was all he would need. He could put his drinks on his room tab. As well as being the alpha of his pack, Logan was a successful hedge fund manager, a billionaire, and he didn’t have to worry about the mundanities of life such as the cost of a few drinks.

  He made his way down to the bar and stepped inside. He was instantly aware of the beauty sitting at the bar. She was facing the door, her eyes looking around the room like she was searching for something. Maybe him.

  She was beautiful, with long, curly blonde hair and intense blue eyes that locked on his and seemed to see right down to his very soul. As she stared into his eyes, he felt it: the stirring inside of him, the pull of his bear. It felt awfully like what his friends had described feeling the first moment they set eyes on their future mate.

  Logan dismissed the idea as ridiculous, but he still couldn’t tear his eyes away from the woman. He ran his eyes down her body, imagining what she would look like without her clothes. She was tall, thin, perfect. His eyes were drawn to her pert breasts, and he felt his cock harden as he imagined running his thumbs over her nipples, bringing them to life. He imagined slipping one of her breasts into his mouth. He could almost hear her breathy voice speaking his name as he brought her to orgasm after orgasm.

  He knew she was a bear. His instincts recognized one of his own, and they told him that this woman was meant to be his mate. That couldn’t be true, though. There was no way he had encountered a single female bear. Although she was alone right now, she had to have a mate somewhere. Maybe on his way to meet her, maybe back home, wherever home was for this beautiful creature. But she had to have one.

  Still, Logan decided he had to at least talk to her. It wasn’t like he had a lot of options of things to do to pass the time while he waited to hear from Chester, and a few hours in the company of a fellow bear, even a mated one, would be better than sitting alone.

  The woman started a little as she caught herself staring at Logan. She turned her back to him quickly, turning and facing the bar. She raised her bottle and asked the bartender for another one. Logan smiled to himself as he reached the bar and stood by her side.

  “That’s on me. I’ll have the same,” he told the bartender, who grabbed two bottles of beer and placed them down, one in front of her and one in front of Logan. “Put them on my room tab. Room 3173,” Logan said.
/>   He smiled at the woman, who was watching him from the side of her eye. She smiled back, turning to look at him fully, showing a row of perfectly straight white teeth. Her eyes sparkled with the gesture, bringing her whole face to life.

  “Thank you,” she said, raising the bottle in his direction. “I’m Raina. Raina Delaney.”

  “Logan Prince,” he introduced himself. “And it’s my pleasure.”

  3

  Two thoughts went through Raina’s head as Logan introduced himself to her. The first was, Yes, I am definitely in trouble here. The second was, Oh, my God, that accent.

  “You’re not from here, then,” Raina smiled at Logan.

  He shook his head. “Nope. I’m from London. I’m here on business. Are you local to the area?”

  Raina shook her head. “No. I’m from Alaska.”

  “What brings you to New York, Raina?”

  She felt a shiver go up her spine when he said her name. She could feel her center throbbing, telling her she had to have him. She knew she couldn’t afford to become distracted from the reason she was here, but she reminded herself there was nothing else she could achieve tonight, so there was no harm in having a little bit of fun.

  “I’m just doing the tourist thing,” she said. “I’ve seen Europe, Asia, and most of Africa, and it suddenly occurred to me that I haven’t seen a whole lot of my own country. So, I started with the most touristy spot I could think of.”

  “So, this is your first time here?”

  Raina nodded. “Yeah. Yours?”

  “No,” Logan said. “I’m the alpha for District Eighteen, so as you can imagine, I travel quite a lot.” Raina raised an eyebrow at Logan’s frank confession. He laughed softly. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am.”

  “I suspected it,” she replied with a coy smile. “You said you were here on business. Pack business or work business?”