An Alpha's Storm (Water Bear Shifters 1) Read online

  Almost.

  Chapter Three

  Three days later, Brett left the air station for the start of a two day break. It had been a productive three days, full of rescues and successful training missions, and Brett’s fellow alphas were planning a night out at the bar to celebrate and relax. But Brett had begged off joining them, choosing instead to go see his girlfriend, Michelle. Michelle had been out of town quite a bit lately for her job. She worked as a consultant, and traveled all over the country to assist companies with revamping their business structures so that things would run more efficiently. To a rescue swimmer like Brett, the job sounded incredibly boring. But Michelle claimed she loved it, and, if it made her happy, well, that was all that mattered.

  Brett and Michelle had dinner plans for the following night, but Brett wanted to surprise her tonight. He almost always went straight home and crashed after a three day shift, since the physical exhaustion of his job left even a bear like him craving sleep. But he felt a little guilty when Michelle got shorted any of his free time, even if it was so he could catch up on sleep. Tonight, he was going to fight back the fatigue and surprise his girl with flowers and chocolates.

  Brett swung by a Trader Joe’s grocery store that was a few blocks from Michelle’s apartment, and picked out the biggest, most colorful bouquet on display. Then he grabbed a box of dark chocolate roasted pistachio toffee. The sweets weren’t your traditional box of chocolates, but they were Michelle’s favorites. As he stood in line, he wondered for the thousandth time if he should tell Michelle about the panda that he hid within him. They had been dating for a year and a half, and it had never come up. With her busy travel schedule, and his crazy work hours, it had been easy enough to avoid having her spend time with the other alphas. In a group, it was hard to hide that there was something different about them. But, alone, Brett was pretty skilled at keeping his secret under wraps.

  It’s not that he didn’t trust Michelle. He knew she would do whatever necessary to keep his shifter status a secret. And that was precisely why he didn’t want to tell her. He didn’t want the immense pressure of the situation weighing on her shoulders. If anyone found out where the panda shifters were hiding, things could get nasty. The alphas were tough to take down, so the first thing their enemies would do would be to go after the easy targets: the humans that the shifters loved. Right now, Brett was the only one with a girlfriend, so she made a prime target. Brett shuddered at just the thought.

  He tried to push away those unhappy thoughts as he paid for the flowers and chocolates. As far as Brett and the other alphas could tell, no one knew where they were. It had been five years since the Great Epidemic, and they hadn’t been found yet. With every passing year, Brett thought it was less and less likely that they were in any real danger. The four of them were part of an elite Coast Guard search and rescue team. No one questioned them for being incredibly strong and brawny. In fact people probably would have questioned it if they weren’t obscenely strong. It took a bear of a man to pull survivors out of a stormy ocean.

  Brett climbed into his car and drove the short distance to Michelle’s apartment, biting his lip in excitement at the anticipation of seeing her. He could already taste her lips on his, and feel her perfect curves under the palms of his hands. She was a beautiful woman, and Brett cared very deeply for her. He had never felt any sort of lifemate bond with her, which bothered him a little. But he had pushed away the thought. For all he knew, his lifemate had been a panda who was killed years ago in the Great Epidemic. There was no sense in putting his whole life on pause to look for a lifemate who more than likely did not even exist anymore.

  Brett parked in front of Michelle’s apartment building. He didn’t see her car anywhere, but it was probably parked around the corner somewhere. Parking in this apartment complex was always a challenge. He could see from here that the lights in Michelle’s second floor apartment were on, so she was definitely home. Michelle hated wasting electricity, and was very strict about turning off all of the lights when she left her apartment.

  Brett quickly climbed the stairs to Michelle’s door, taking them two at a time. He smiled and held up the flowers as he rang her doorbell. For a few moments, there was no sound. Had she actually left her apartment without turning off the lights? That would be so unlike her. Brett frowned and rang the doorbell again. After a few more moments, he heard some shuffling, and quickly put a smile back on his face. As the door opened, he held up the chocolates along with the flowers.

  “Hey, Baby. Surprise!” he said. But his smile froze on his face when he saw her. She was wearing a white fluffy bathrobe, and her silky blonde hair was mussed up in a very suspicious way. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her deep blue eyes looked startled and guilty.

  She smelled like sex.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Brett asked, lowering the flowers and letting an angry expression creep over his face.

  “Nothing. I was sleeping. What are you doing here? I told you I was traveling until tomorrow.”

  “No, you didn’t. You said you were getting back in town early this morning. And, anyway, you clearly aren’t traveling at the moment, are you?” Brett asked, his voice rising.

  Confusion and panic filled Michelle’s face and she started stuttering something about her plane getting in early, but the truth was painfully obvious. Brett felt like such a fool. All those times that Michelle had told him her business trips had been unexpectedly extended, he had just believed her. And she had been here, banging some other dude. How long had this been going on?

  “Is he here?” Brett growled, pushing past Michelle and throwing the flowers and chocolates on the floor. “I’ll tear him apart.”

  “Brett, no!” Michelle yelled, running after him, and grabbing his arm. Brett shoved her off, and barreled into the bedroom, which was lit with the soft light of a lamp. It looked so romantic. How many times had Brett lay in that same bed with Michelle, making love to her, completely unaware that she’d been sharing that same space with another man. The thought made his stomach turn. He tore the comforter off the bed and threw it on the ground, then stormed into the bathroom. He pulled back the shower curtain, looking for the worm of a man who had been sneaking around with his girl, but the bathroom was empty. He stormed back into the bedroom and threw open the closet door. Behind a row of Michelle’s dresses, he found a man, cowering with his hands over his head.

  Brett grabbed him by the nape of his neck, just like a mother dog would grab a wayward puppy. The man screamed in pain as Brett dragged him across the bedroom and living room and threw him out the front door. Michelle was screaming in the background the whole time.

  “Get out of here before my patience runs out,” Brett yelled at the man, who must have been half the size of Brett. The man didn’t need to be told twice. He scurried, naked, down the stairs as fast as his scrawny legs would carry him.

  Brett turned to Michelle, who was now also cowering in the corner of the room.

  “Why?” Brett asked, his voice still loud and angry. “Was I not man enough for you, that you had to go off and find a weak ass guy like that? He doesn’t even look like he could lift a fifty pound dumbbell. And I know all I need to know about his character from the fact that he was willing to screw around with another man’s woman.”

  “You’re never fucking here!” Michelle yelled, forgetting her fear as her own anger overcame her. “You’re always off swimming around in the ocean while I’m sitting here by myself. So, yeah, I guess I was feeling a little lonely and needed a man who would actually be here for me.”

  Brett’s heart clenched in his chest at the sight of Michelle’s face set in a cold, hard line. She didn’t love him. What a fool he’d been to think she cared. Here he was, ready to trust her with his deepest secrets, convinced she would be loyal and stand by his side. And she had been sneaking around behind his back with a pathetic excuse for a man.

  “If you didn’t want to be with me, you should have just told me,” he s
aid in an icy voice.

  Michelle stared back at him, her arms crossed and her face defiant. “You should have paid more attention to what was right in front of you,” she said.

  Brett shook his head in disgust. “I’m going out,” he said, reaching down to pick up the flowers he had thrown on the floor. He carried them to the kitchen, crushing them as he stuffed them into the trash can. “I never want to see you again.”

  Then he walked out of her front door for the last time, slamming it behind him with a satisfying bang.

  He got in his car and drove without any real plan. He sped through Michelle’s neighborhood, cutting yellow lights too close and ignoring the little voice in his head telling him to slow down before he hurt himself or someone else.

  He found himself at a bar in a touristy area of town. Brett knew the place, because he’d come here a few years ago when he first moved to San Diego. The bar had a large patio in the back that overlooked the beach and the ocean, and the front of the place was basically a wall of windows that were kept open during good weather. The rowdy Friday night crowd of tourists was enjoying the warm July evening, and Brett parallel parked his car across the street to watch them. Beautiful women in short skirts and tight tops were everywhere. Brett used to avert his eyes when he came upon scenes like this, out of respect for Michelle. But now, he was a single man. He had no one waiting at home for him, no one who would care if he took a girl on vacation home for the night and made it a holiday she would never forget.

  Brett climbed out of his car and crossed the street, suddenly feeling like he had a place to channel his angst. He’d been looking forward to a good lay tonight, and he could probably still get one. There were plenty of women at bars like this who just wanted to let loose and have a good time while they were away from their normal lives. He would find one, and oblige her. She would get the vacation of a lifetime, and he would get a chance to leave Michelle in the dust. Win-win.

  Brett strode confidently into the bar, ready to sweep some unsuspecting tourist off her feet. But as he scanned the dimly lit room, he felt his confidence fading a bit. He had never gone after a girl for just a night of pleasure. He had always been the gentleman, wanting to wine and dine a girl, and then sleep with her once they had established a trusting relationship. How did this whole one-night-stand thing even work? Should he find a girl that looked interesting and offer to buy her a drink? Should he just head to the dance floor and try to shimmy up to one of the many stunning women shaking their asses out there?

  Brett decided to take things slowly, and start out by buying himself a drink. He wanted something to take the edge of off his pain before he approached a girl, anyway. No one likes an angry bear. Brett found an empty seat at the bar, which wasn’t that hard to do since everyone seemed to be either out on the patio or on the dance floor. He asked the bartender for one of the beers on tap, and chugged it down quickly without really tasting it, then asked for another. He chugged half of that one before slowing down a bit. He was starting to feel a little better as the alcohol started to hit his system, and he was about to turn his attention back to scanning the room when a tall woman with sparkling green eyes and a beautifully freckled face took the barstool next to him. Her reddish brown hair was thrown up into some sort of haphazard messy ponytail, and she had just the right amount of curves. Her clothes were simple and classic, standing out noticeably in a bar full of miniskirts. She had on a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top that showed off her freckled, tanned shoulders.

  “Hi there,” she said as she sat next to him. “You look about as excited to be here as I do. Let me guess—you have friends in from out of town and they heard that this was the place to be on a Friday night. You tried to tell them it’s nothing more than a tourist trap, but they dragged you here anyway and now you’re bored out of your mind. You’re wishing you were at a decent bar while they’re getting overly friendly with a hot piece of ass out on the dance floor.”

  “Um…” Brett said, not wanting to explain that he had actually just been looking for a hot piece of ass himself.

  The woman smiled at him and extended her hand, saving him from the need to come up with a decent response. “I’m Aubrey,” she said.

  “Brett,” Brett responded, shaking her hand, and deciding on the spur of the moment that maybe a platonic conversation with Aubrey was a better plan than trying to force a one night stand in hopes that it would help him get over Michelle. “Nice to meet you. What are you drinking?”

  Aubrey gave Brett’s beer a sideways glance. “I’ll have what you’re having,” she said.

  Brett signaled the bartender and asked for a beer for Aubrey and a refill for himself. His anger had faded somewhat as the shock of his discovery faded, and as the alcohol soothed the sharp edges of his emotions. He probably should have called the other guys to go hang out with them, but he didn’t really feel like explaining to them what had just happened with Michelle. They would give him a hard time about it, like they did about everything, and Brett needed to calm down some more before he dealt with their teasing jabs. Besides, an hour or so of hanging out with the beautiful woman sitting next to him wasn’t an awful way to spend his first evening in years as a single man.

  “So?” Aubrey was asking, “Was I right? Were you dragged here by a friend?”

  Brett laughed. “No, actually. To tell you the honest truth, I just caught my girlfriend cheating on me, and came here to get drunk and find a pretty little tourist to have a fling with. But once I got inside the front door I chickened out and decided to have a few beers to boost my confidence first.”

  Aubrey raised an eyebrow at him while looking him up and down. “You chickened out? Why? You could easily get pretty much any girl in this room. From the size of your biceps, I’d be willing to guess that you work out on occasion.”

  Brett chuckled at Aubrey’s joke. “Yeah, I have a pretty physical job. Working out comes with the gig. But I’ve never been the type to sleep with a woman once and then forget about it. Even as angry as I am about what just happened with my girlfriend, I’m not sure I have it in me.”

  Aubrey furrowed her brow. “I don’t know if I could do it either. I could probably do the whole friends with benefits things, but not a total stranger.”

  Brett laughed. “But then you run the chance of ruining your friendship. You know those things never end well. One person always ends up falling for the other one, and feelings get hurt.”

  Aubrey shrugged as the bartender set down two beers in front of them. “I’ve never tried it, but it seems like it would fit my situation better than an actual relationship. My work schedule is crazy, and it’s hard to find a guy that’s okay with that. My last three boyfriends have ended things because they were jealous of my job.”

  Brett snorted. “That sounds familiar. The girl I just broke up with was always complaining to me that I was never around because of my job. Funny enough, she decided that the best way to deal with it was find a replacement guy without telling me. I went to her apartment tonight to surprise her with flowers only to find her in bed with another man.”

  Aubrey winced. “Ouch. Sorry to hear that.”

  “Yeah, I was too. We’d been together for a while and I was even starting to contemplate rings. I guess I’m glad I found out her true colors before doing something stupid like marrying her, though.”

  “I guess that’s a silver lining in the situation. Still, it sucks,” Aubrey said.

  “Yeah. You’re telling me,” Brett said, staring moodily into his beer. He could feel the anger bubbling up below the surface again, and he decided to change the subject. He’d come here to get away from thoughts of Michelle, not to dwell on them. “So what do you do, that your schedule is so crazy?” Brett asked, turning his attention back to Aubrey.

  “I’m a marine biologist. I do research for a university, which requires some travel and a lot of multi-day trips out onto the ocean. Sometimes the ocean excursions are with all male crews, and that seemed to really both
er my exes. I couldn’t handle all their jealousy. I was out there to work, not get cozy with my colleagues. I got tired of being in relationships with guys who couldn’t respect me and trust that I was being loyal to them. It’s been a while since I’ve even tried to date.”

  Brett wanted to joke with Aubrey that he didn’t blame the guys for being worried about her. She was sexy as hell, and if she was his girl, he might be a little nervous about her being alone on a boat with other guys for days. But he couldn’t argue with Aubrey’s point that a guy needed to respect and trust his girl. Michelle’s constant suspicion of him had worn on him, so he understood what Aubrey was talking about.

  “What about you?” Aubrey asked. “What do you do?”

  “I work for the Coast Guard,” Brett said. He never liked to give too many details about his job to people he didn’t know well. At first, it had been fun to shock people with the revelation that he worked as a rescue swimmer, facing the ocean at its angriest in order to save people’s lives. But, after a while, he grew weary of the shock and awe reactions. Sometimes he just wanted to be treated like a normal guy with a normal office job. He just wanted to kick back and have a beer at a bar without having to answer fifty questions about things like whether he had ever thought he was going to die, or if he’d ever seen a dead person in the water. (The answers to those questions were “yes” and “yes,” but those stories were definitely not Brett’s favorite topic of conversation).

  Despite Brett’s attempt to remain vague about the details of his job, he realized that Aubrey was staring at him with a shocked look on her face. “You’re in the coast guard? Like the guys who jump out of helicopters into the ocean to save people?”

  Brett frowned. How had she managed to zero in on his exact job description? Unless you told people around here otherwise, they usually assumed any “Coastie” they met was working on a team to intercept drug smugglers from Mexico. “Yeah, actually, I am one of the guys who jumps out of helicopters,” he said. “My official title is rescue swimmer.”