Page 1 of Plus-Size Mate

Chapter 1 - Eddie

Why did I have to volunteer?Eddie thought as he made his way to the apothecary near the center of Nightstar.

When Jack Blackwell, his alpha, had requested someone deliver a message to the co-owner of the Green Cauldron, he should have let someone else take the job.

He didn’t much like the place. Not that it wasn’t welcoming and cozy, but the fact that the space had such an overpowering aroma of herbs and spices didn’t bode well for the sharp senses of a werewolf.

Still, he needed a walk to stretch his legs, and besides, any message from the alpha was bound to be important. As a loyal member of the pack, he was honor-bound to do whatever his alpha asked of him. Even if there were others who could have done it.

Standing on the pavement outside the shop, Eddie braced himself. It was his own stupid fault. He had been taking on all the extra work he could. Anything to stop himself from thinking.

How he had managed to get himself all twisted up inside, he would never guess. Carly wasn’t really all that special. Or so he kept telling himself. Maybe one day it would actually stick.

Fuck…

He growled through gritted teeth. Something about that damn she-wolf just wouldn’t let him go.

Maybe it was just the fact that she seemed so up for finding a mate. Maybe it was more than that.

Whatever it was, he was done with it.

He had to get his head back in the game. There were more important things to be worrying about than finding a mate right now. Like the fact that Nightstar was almost always on the brink of being attacked and possibly destroyed by the ex-residents who had taken it upon themselves to oppose Jack as the new alpha in town.

Christopher and his lackeys had been making plenty of noise and trouble for the new pack, but things had been quiet for a short while now, and even that set Eddie’s teeth on edge.

Silence was dangerous. Silence meant plans were being made. At least, that was what his time in the military had taught him.

Eddie suspected that the envelope in the breast pocket of his leather jacket likely had something to do with that constant threat, though why the alpha wanted to enlist a witch to help protect the town, Eddie wasn’t sure he would ever understand.

Witches weren’t the nicest of creatures, especially not towards werewolves. The two species had never really seen eye to eye, nor had they ever really gotten along in close proximity, yet they said the witch who owned the Green Cauldron had been in Nightstar for as long as anyone could remember. Just like werewolves, they were long lived, though Eddie did wonder just how oldthisparticular witch was.

Layla becoming a partner of the woman thanks to her love of healing and natural medicines had brought the two species closer, though Eddie was still a little wary of setting foot on another supernatural’s territory.

It’s just a witch,Eddie reminded himself, though in truth he’d had more than one run-in with the species over the years.

There was a time back in Iraq when a sorceress had paralyzed half their team using blood magic before theymanaged to take her down. That memory still made him cringe. He remembered all too well how the tingling, numbing sensation had taken over his entire body, even paralyzing his vocal cords, leaving him unable to attempt to cry out for help.

Jack had been the one to save them all back then. His quick thinking and excellent leadership skills had saved the day, and it had been that day when Eddie had offered up his loyalty to the Blackwell alpha without a second thought.

If Jack thought that gaining the witch’s help was a good idea, then who was he to question it?

And so, removing the envelope from his pocket, he took the steps of the shop two at a time and clenched his jaw as he braced himself for the scents about to batter his nose.

The bell dinged above his head as he entered, and the sound rang in his ears a few seconds longer than it took the door to close behind him.

The inside, as expected, was filled with the scents of herbs and spices, of beeswax and honey, of incense and burning. The air was thick with smoke and warm with the heat of the fire that burned in the hearth to his left.

If he managed to get past the smell, Eddie could actually appreciate the place in all its Medievalesque beauty. In fact, it was almost like walking back into the past the minute you opened the door. There was no electricity. At least the hum of it was one less thing for him to worry about.

Instead, the shop was lit with candles held in lanterns on the walls and candlesticks all about the place. Shelves filled with jars, pots and bottles decorated every wall, and there were all manner of trinkets scattered about. One thing the incense did nothing to hide from a werewolf was the smell of dead creatures;newts and frogs and an assortment of other things that witches liked to use for their damned spells.

Though all were preserved in some way, the smell was still atrocious to Eddie’s nose, and he barely managed to stop himself from gagging.

“You know, if the place offends you so,” a voice said from the back room as the beaded curtain parted, “Maybe you should avoid it.”

The voice was sweet, a little sarcastic, and edged with a little bitterness. It made Eddie turn immediately to look at the woman who entered behind the counter.

For a second, Eddie was taken aback. He had anticipated Wylla, Layla’s business partner. But this woman most definitely wasn’t her, though she did share some of the witch’s features and coloring; dark auburn hair, bright green eyes, tanned skin with a powdering of freckles upon her nose.

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