Hook, Line, and Mated

By Jenika Snow

Easton Pope, a moose shifter, is known in the town of Sweet Water as being a standoffish recluse. But he isn’t trying to please anyone, and the isolation suits him well. Even when he sees his mate and the instinct to claim her rides him hard, he tries to convince himself he doesn’t need her.

Jessie, a serval cat shifter, has been brought back to Sweet Water due to her aunt’s passing. With her emotions turbulent, running free in the woods as her serval sounds like something to let off steam. But when she meets her mate in the towering form of a moose, she knows she can’t handle being claimed on top of grieving—so she runs, too.

They’ve both run from each other and their mating. Can Easton and Jessie complete the mating, or will their own hang-ups stop them from being together?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Nov 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781772335941

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Published by Evernight Publishing ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2015 Jenika Snow

ISBN: 978-1-77233-594-1

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all the readers that asked for the next Sweet Water story, and patently waited for it.

HOOK, LINE, AND MATED

Sweet Water, 7

Jenika Snow

Copyright © 2015

Chapter One

Easton Pope had a scowl on his face most of the time, not because he liked being known in his hometown of Sweet Water as the moose shifter that was difficult to work with, or who was abrasive and hardheaded. It wasn’t because he hated people, but because he was just perpetually annoyed with the world.

He grabbed the bottle on his desk and finished off the water. He stared out the window of his office, his annoyance a constant presence in him. He owned a small farming supply company on the outskirts of town. He supplied local farmers with lumber, machine equipment, and even had a modest sized mechanic shop attached to the main building.

This shop was something he’d built from the ground up, something he’d worked his ass off to make sure was a success. But because he’d thrown himself into his work and business, chances of finding a woman that was compatible with him, and could deal with his standoffish attitude and alpha tendencies, had been few and far between.

Boss, Jason is here for that part he ordered last week.

Easton nodded at Esben, one of the few human males that had been working for him since the beginning of all of this. It wasn’t that he didn’t like having humans work for him. It was just that Easton preferred shifters on his payroll, not because he discriminated, but because they were physically stronger and could do the manual labor faster than most. Also, most of the humans in Sweet Water tended to stay away from Easton.

Everyone tends to stay away from you.

But there were a few humans working for him that had proved themselves, and Esben was one of them.

Easton knew he was hard to get along with, knew that he’d been called arrogant and an asshole, and because of that no one wanted to be his employee. But Easton didn’t care if people liked him. In fact, he preferred to be on his own, preferred to not have to deal with the pleasantries of being social. The men that worked for him knew that, lived by that when they were around him, and that’s why they all worked so well together.

Get the part for him, and I’ll meet him out front.

Esben nodded and left.

He sat there for a moment longer, then pulled his big body out of his chair and made his way out to the front desk. He grabbed one of the red shop rags off the front counter, wiped off the grease that covered his hands, and saw Jason standing by his truck. The clouded leopard shifter was big and powerful in his own right, but of late Easton had seen this distance on his face. He knew from the rumors that always seemed to move through a small town, that although Jason had found his mate, he hadn’t claimed her yet. From what Easton had heard, Jason’s hybrid mate, Annabelle, had been abused by a group of purebred thinking fanatics. Because of that Easton could only assume she was broken, and that trying to mate with her made things difficult for Jason.

That was another reason Easton wasn’t in any hurry to find his mate, if she was even out there.

Shifters had one mate that was born to be theirs, that one person that was for them alone. They’d know they were mates from the moment they saw each other and scented the pheromones that came from them, but in the thirty-five years of Easton’s existence, he’d never found that person, and might never. Some shifters never found their other half, but just because a shifter did not find a mate didn’t mean he couldn’t find happiness in someone else. Easton was just reserved in the knowledge that he was too much of a hard-ass, and that even if he found his mate he might put her off with his personality.

Easton had been called a cold-hearted bastard, and he’d used all of that, all of those rumors and observations of himself, as fuel to his fire.

He left the front doors of the office and met Jason by his truck in the parking lot. They’d known each other for years, well before Jason’s folks had tragically passed away.

The clouded leopard pushed away from the vehicle and held his hand out.

They shook hands, the scent of the leopard strong, just as strong as the darkness that was clearly coming from him.

It had to be really fucking hard not being able to claim a mate.

I got the call the part’s in? Jason asked.

Easton nodded. Yeah, just got it in. Come on in the back and we’ll get you squared away.

They made their way through the bay doors that led to the open mechanics shop. There was another shop beside this one that held the parts and other supplies they sold, and another building in the back that held the larger supplies like lumber, tools, and other similar items. The three buildings sat on ten acres of land that had been given to him by his father when Easton had come into adulthood, and he hadn’t wasted the opportunity.

After he got the part Jason needed, they headed back to the office.

I’d like to settle the account and pay the tab.

Easton grabbed Jason’s file, and couldn’t help but sense the wall the shifter had up in place. Although Easton minded his own business, especially when it concerned matters of the heart, he also had known Jason long enough the other male wasn’t just a friend, but someone Easton could connect with.

Something on your mind? Easton asked as he inputted the total amount Jason and his farm owed the shop.

There was a flash of surprise that came across Jason’s face, but it was gone as soon as it had arrived. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. Hell. Nothing in this town can stay where it should … the business of others.

Easton knew when to take a hint, and it was clear Jason didn’t want to talk about it. He also had asked because they were good friends, but that didn’t mean he liked getting in others’ business.

I’m sorry. I got a bit aggressive right there, Jason said on a sigh. I’m just going through some shit.

No problem, and you’re right, it isn’t anyone’s business but your own. He handed Jason the receipt for what he owed. Easton watched as Jason got out his wallet, pulled out his card, and handed it to him.

It’s the whole mate thing, Easton. Either you can handle it or you can’t.

I don’t think I’ll have to deal with that, Easton said as he closed Jason’s tab.

Never say never. I didn’t think I’d have a mate, but— He shrugged and took the card back that Easton handed him.

If she was out there I would have found her by now. It’s probably best anyway. I’m not much of a male that can probably take on a mate. I’m too set in my ways. You know how I am.

Jason smirked. Yeah, well I guarantee when your mate comes around you’ll be knocked on your ass. Maybe that’s what you need. He chuckled again, and lifted his hand in goodbye. I’ll be back next week for a pickup of lumber.

Easton nodded and watched as Jason left the office. The shifter may have found his mate, but they weren’t all like that. Besides, Easton was fine the way he was living his life now.

Chapter Two

Jessie Harker had been driving for the last twelve hours straight. To say she was tired was an understatement, but she wasn’t about to stop and rest because she’d just wanted to get to the town of Sweet Water. The large sign upon entering the small mountain town looked welcoming, but she wasn’t here because she wanted a retreat. Jessie was here because her one and only remaining relative that had been important to her, her Aunt Brenna, had passed. Not only had Brenna raised her after her mother died and her father had split, but she’d been the rock in Jessie’s life.

And now Jessie didn’t even have that stability anymore.

She didn’t have to stay in a motel, not when Brenna’s house—the house Jessie had all but grown up in—was vacant. But staying there so soon after Brenna was found in the bathroom, dead because of a stroke, wasn’t something Jessie could bring herself to do.

She sat in her car after she’d turned it off, just listening to the sound of the engine cooling, of the noise of children close by. She hadn’t cried since she’d gotten the news from Brenna’s neighbor about her passing, but she felt like this wave of despair was right at the