Page 4 of Mated to Four Bears

I glanced down and cursed myself for being such an idiot. Of course, the toilet paper. I shook my head slightly and popped it back on the shelf before leaving. What a shit show this had become.

3

SAMANTHA

Relief flooded me as I made my escape from the convenience store. I had food and a little bit of change to get me through the week. I did feel truly awful for using my magic to trick that man, but it was a desperate situation, never to be repeated. I would definitely pay him back once I could afford to do so. It would be fine.

Now if only my racing heart could accept that it was going to be fine. While I waited for that to happen, I opened a bag of chips that were calling out to me, and stuffed a few in my mouth, sating the hunger just a little bit.

Not going to bed hungry would let me get a good night of sleep. Then I could wake up in the morning, refreshed and ready to take on a day of job hunting and trying to piece my life together.

That didn’t sound appealing. Not one bit. It might be enough to put me off waking up at all, but I would do my best. I wasn’t going to let my life defeat me.

“Hey!” a loud voice suddenly yelled, ricocheting through the peace I was just enjoying. Well, aside from my crunching the chips, but after the day I’d had, that was a good sound. “Hey,you. Yes, you, from the convenience store. Stay right where you are.”

Ice trickled down my spine and I froze. Shit, who the hell was that? Was it the store owner? I thought my spell fooled him, but maybe I was wrong. Even with really strong magic, not everyone would be taken in by it.

Slowly, I twisted around and took a second to run my eyes up the body of the man looking back at me. He definitely wasn’t the store owner, which gave me a bit of a shock. But what was more surprising was the strange look on the man’s face. Thegorgeousman’s face. I’d spotted him inside and been struck by a lightning bolt of attraction. I half thought he might give me his number, which would have really made my day a little better, but he’d been distracted by an older man who wanted to talk to him. Although, maybe that was what he’d come to do now.

It had been alongtime since I last went out on a date. An embarrassingly long time. What with my classes schedule and my work, I just hadn’t had time. Plus, it was hard to meet any eligible bachelors in college without being in the party scene. Something I couldn’t afford.

But this wasn’t a college boy moving towards me. This was a tall, broad, very muscular man. The very definition of tall, dark, and handsome. I was drawn in by his dark brown eyes, chiseled jaw line, and the peek of chest hair I could glimpse underneath his shirt. Fuck, I was hot with just one look. Ifhewanted to take me out on a date, I was all for it.

“Hi,” I said with a warm smile, hopefully looking inviting. Not the easiest thing to achieve when I’d just committed a crime. “Nice to meet you, my name is Samantha. And you are…”

I stepped closer to him with my hand outstretched. But he didn’t take the offering of a hand shake, nor did he crack a smile. He simply narrowed his eyes at me a little more. I had to admit, it had me that much more intrigued.

“Captain William Osborne,” he finally answered. “And I think you and I need to have a talk, don’t you?”

“Like, over dinner or something?” I couldn’t stop myself from flirting. I wasn’t normally so forward, but it wasn’t every day I met a man like this one.

“What do you mean, over dinner?” Uh-oh. He wasn’t playing along. I thought this was something we were both in together. “This is a serious matter. I saw what you did in there, and something must be done about it.”

I could almost feel the blood ebbing out of my body. I let my hand drop and tried to think of something to say. I wanted to run far away to escape another round of humiliation, but it didn’t seem like I could get away.

“I saw you misuse your magic in the store in a way that youknowisn’t acceptable. There is no way you have gotten this far in life without reading the Code of Magic, Samantha.”

It didn’t help that my name on his lips turned my knees to jelly. If I wasn’t careful, I was about to fall apart right in front of him, which would only make this so much worse.

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?” he asked when I just continued to stare at him like an idiot. “Because you can’t do that. Magic or otherwise. You can’t just steal from people. It isn’t right. Surely you must know that.”

“I know, I just…” Oh God, how did I explain myself? Tears had already started forming in my eyes again. Was this going to be a day of weeping all the time? I wanted this man to understand why I’d done what I did, but I didn’t want him to judge me. He was already looking at me like I was the devil in disguise. “I will pay the man back. It isn’t something I would have done if I wasn’t desperate.”

“Desperate?” he asked with brows knotted together in confusion. This wasn’t a softening or anything like that, but atleast he was giving me a chance to explain. I had to be grateful for that. “What’s going on? Has something happened?”

I gulped audibly. I didn’t want to get into my whole life story. That was humiliating. But I was starting to see that honesty was going to be my only way out.

“I just got fired from my job,” I told him, my bottom lip trembling like crazy. “For no reason, just because the chef didn’t like me having any opinions about anything. I don’t know what I’m going to do now, because it isn’t a great time for hiring. I feel pretty screwed, especially since I left my tips behind. That dollar was all I had in my wallet, and I just needed to eat.”

“That’s it?” His eyes popped wide with shock. “That’s all you have? Just the dollar?”

I nodded, hanging my head low. Humiliation burned in the pit of my stomach. I was honestly on the verge of running. The only thing that stopped me was fear that I’d end up locked up somewhere. Being put in jail was the last thing I needed to end my shitty day. I’d doanythingto at least keep my freedom.

“It doesn’t matter, though. I’m sure I will get a job soon,” I muttered. “And hopefully my ex-boyfriend will pay me back.”

By now, Antonio was probably on to some other woman, fleecing her of everything she had. I felt sorry for whoever she was, but I was just grateful it wasn’t me anymore. He’d used me up and spat me out, proving just how worthless he thought I was.

“Someone owes you money?” William focused on that. “Who owes you money? If you’re struggling, you should get it back.”

---