Page 3 of Mated to Four Bears

I nodded understandingly. “Thomas has been extremely busy recently, but I will make sure he knows all about you and your daughter. I will tell him to prioritize you.”

“You would do that?” Mr. Johnson’s eyes lit up. “Because that would be amazing.”

“Of course I will. I’ll see Thomas once I leave here and get home.”

My three brothers and I lived together in one of the bigger buildings in this city that we owned. It made it easier for thepeople who knew us. It didn’t matter which Osborne brother they wanted, they could get to us with ease. Well, usually anyway.

I wasn’t surewhyThomas hadn’t returned Mr. Johnson’s call. I could only assume it was his busy schedule, but I definitely would pass the message on. Once I could get out of here, which wasn’t going to happen until I’d talked to that special woman. There was nowayI could leave this store until I’d given her my number, and hopefully gotten hers.

“Well, I will speak to you soon,” I said as I offered Mr. Johnson a wave.

Mr. Johnson nodded, satisfied, which allowed me to slip away from him. And just in time as well, the woman was headed up to the counter, ready to pay for whatever she was purchasing. If there was ever going to be a chance for me to speak with her, it had to be now.

I grabbed something to take to the counter with me so I wouldn’t look so obvious. It wasn’t until I was nearly there that I bothered to check what I had in my hand. Toilet paper. Great. Not exactly what I imagined I’d be holding on the day I met the woman of my dreams, but I couldn’t turn around now. It’d look too weird.

My stomach flip flopped and my heart pounded. It was even hard for me to get enough air in my lungs. The closer I got to her, the worse these feelings became.

She took a step closer to the counter as the line went down and raked her fingers through her hair. My hyper sensitive nose instantly latched on to the citrussy scent of her shampoo. Even that was utterly intoxicating.

I caught myself just in time, before I could tap her on the shoulder.Thiswasn’t the right moment to meet her, I already knew that. When we’d both paid for our purchases, I was hopingour eyes would meet and it would be like a meet cute from a rom com movie.

Not thatIwas the Osborne brother with the secret love of rom coms. That was Thomas, but he’d shown me a good couple over the years.

As soon as it was her turn to pay, the air turned a little thicker. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the weird sensation in my gut came back. Turned out my gut did bring me here because of this beauty.

What is she up to?I thought as I edged my way a little closer. The man behind the counter couldn’t seem to sense the magic in the air, but I did. My great instincts were what put me at the top of my game when it came to seeking out this sort of stuff, which was why I followed my gut so much.Why was she using magic here?

There were alotof rules surrounding magic use. The Code of Magic was very clear, and the laws had to be up held at all times. So, I couldn’t understand why this woman would risk everything in a convenience store like this.

The thick air made it hard for me to focus on what was happening. The longer it took, the more I knew she could be getting away with. Anyone else in the store wouldn’t be paying this kind of attention to her, so there was no way they’d pick up on what her actions were. She wasn’t counting on someone like me.

“That’ll be nine twenty,” the guy behind the counter drawled with a lazy-looking smile on his face. He was definitely in the throes of magic, and he had no idea. “Thanks, Ma’am.”

I watched in awe and horror as he held up a one-dollar bill to check it against the light, just as he would do if it was a much bigger note. That wasn’t going to cover the costs of her purchase. I just had to wait for him to notice as much.

“Twenty dollars, thank you, ma’am. And here is your change.”

I swallowed hard. Her shoulders sagged with what I assume was relief as she took the change from the man and stuffed it into her wallet. The Code of Magic definitely didn’t allow for theft.

Anger burned in my stomach as I watched her race towards the door. I wouldn’t let her get away with it. I raced after her. My morals were screaming at me to take her down, and to find out how many other people she had been doing this to.

For all I knew, she could be a criminal mastermind. If so, I wasn’t going to tell another soul that I almost gave her my phone number. That would be too humiliating.

“Hey, stop!” the cashier yelled when I got to the door. “Come back here.”

“Don’t worry, I got her,” I yelled back. “Just a minute.”

“No, you, stop…”

“William,” Mr. Johnson joined in. “You need to stop.”

I rolled my eyes. What were they stopping me for? They were just going to slow me down and make this so much harder.

“You haven’t paid for the toilet paper.”

I blinked in confusion at the cashier. What was he talking about?

“It’s in your hand,” he explained, a little kinder as he seemed to realize I wasn’t doing anything on purpose.

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