Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 153

Carter

I woke up before her and managed to scrape up enough salvageable groceries to make her breakfast. She sauntered in looking breathtaking with her sleep-mussed hair in nothing but one of my teeshirts as it fell over one shoulder. I watched her as I placed food in front of her and took my seat. My cell rang and I answered, seeing that it was Mazzie.

“Carter, we have a problem.”

“How much time do we have?”

“Not that problem. I didn’t want to bother you, but it's Mrs. O’conner, she called, ranting, and she's not cooperating; she wants to see you, only you. She says the rest of these fools, including me, don’t believe her and are going to make a mockery of her.”

I sighed and leaned back. I looked down at myself and glanced over at Briar. I smelled like I had been rolling in her scent for weeks. Frankly, I loved it, but it wouldn’t serve our needed low profile.

“I can’t be around anyone else right now. You have thirty minutes to get everyone out before I get there. I’m bringing Briar, I’m not leaving her alone.”

“You sure that's a good idea? Anyone can see you two together.”

“Just tell them I wasn’t ready for the fun to be over, if anyone asks, feel free to embellish, you’ve already set the tone up for that.”

“You sure you want to do that?” 

“You have my blessing to make things sound as filthy as you want them to. Gives them something else to talk about than what it really means.”

Briar’s eyebrow cocked up as she looked at me. Her eyes narrowed as she stuffed a mouthful of eggs in her mouth. I winked at her, and she stabbed a sausage off my plate. I kept meeting her eyes as I told Mazzie we would be there soon. She cocked her head, waiting for me to explain, but my eyes got distracted by her mouth. She snapped her finger up by her face, and I looked up at her on command.

“What’s going on, Carter? And what needs to sound filthy?”

“Oh, I have to go see a crazy lady, and you're coming with me, because I’m not taking chances.”

“But isn’t taking me anywhere a chance?”

“Yeah, but at least we will be together. Oh, and if you hear any rumors about yourself, it's my fault. I figured I would stir up the natives and get them invested in some scandalous drama. The whole force knows Lana has a ‘thing’ for you; let's just say it was a lie that allowed an idiot to keep his life on my worst of days. It will explain why Lana, Mazzie, and I are always around you,” he said and it will not arouse suspicions that we are mates if we are mixing others into the equation.”

“So what am I supposed to do, stick my tongue down Lana’s throat for show?” she asked, pointing her fork at me while I finally started eating. I about choked.

“Only if you need to make a point, but you too are touchy-feely enough, Lana isn’t like that with anyone else but Mazzie, so it should be enough,” I said. I’d suffer her and Lana making out before I raised suspicions right now.

We ate quickly, and Briar pulled her pants on that still sat on the kitchen floor from yesterday on before she ran upstairs to brush her hair while I followed and pulled on my uniform. 20 minutes later and we were pulling down the drive to Mrs. O’Connor’s place. I told Briar to stay inside the truck as I got out and nodded to Mazzie and motioned for her to wait with Briar. I watched her lean against the door as they chatted through the open window.

I knocked on the front door, eyes wandering over the old woman's eccentric obsession with plants; they were everywhere. Mrs O’Connor answered after the 2nd series of knocks. 

“Carter, they told me you were off today.”

“Well, here I am, Mrs O’Connor, what seems to be the problem?”

“There are demons in these woods. They left you something; they were after Alice like the last time. She said, guiding me to the back of the house. I knew this was yours. I didn’t want the others to find it. You're going to need it.”

“Alice? Who’s Alice?” I asked her. This old lady just needed some patience. She may be a little lost in her head, but she was pack nonetheless; she deserved a little respect. I was following her out the back door. Chickens scattered around the wild garden have already been harvested for the fall. 

“Alice, her soul was at rest, but she's back, she's coming for revenge, they were coming for her. But I chased them off with a BB gun, and they left this,” she said, pointing down at her feet. Amidst the tangled drying snarl of vegetation lay Ol Betty. I sagged in relief, grateful to have the heirloom restored, but I wondered how it got there.

“How did the shotgun I gave my girl get here, Nellie?” I asked using her first name.

“The demons rushed through here the other night. I chased them off with Hector’s old shotty; they left this. I knew they were dragging something when I came out here in the dead of night to the sound of them pissing my rooster off.” 

“Nellie, you can barely see ten feet in front of you. What are you doing, waving a gun around in the middle of the night? You could have shot any of us.” I chastised.

Nellie rolled her eyes. “I may be old and blind, but I know who belongs here and who doesn’t,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “The day Alice’s ghost wandered the road, the demon who lives here was running the woods, but I know better than to take a shot at that one.”

“Mrs. O’Connor, that wasn’t an apparition, that was Jake’s niece.” I tried to correct her. She cocked her head at me. Alice, that’s Briar’s mom’s name. I studied her, considering the possibilities. She was a little older than Martha, and she might have met Briar’s mom. She may be the only one in town, outside of Martha and Henry, who knew our alpha’s secret.

“She's staying with me, wanna meet her?” I wasn’t sure if I would regret this, but something told me Mrs. O’Connor wasn’t as batshit crazy as people thought. I surely never got the vibe that she was a threat to anyone. I just let her say her piece, drank some tea with her, and she settled down, and I went on my way. Today I was going to bring her some company.

Nellie seemed to not know how to answer that question, like it was a trick.

“Come on, she's in the truck,” I said, stooping to scoop up Ole Betty from the ground. The gun was scraped up and had teeth marks in the butt of it, but otherwise looked like it would shoot just fine. Nothing a thorough cleaning couldn’t fix.