Page 13 of The Secret Mate Society

I ordered a black coffee I knew I wouldn't drink and made my way to his table, studying him.There was something in the way he held himself—coiled tight, like something inside him was fighting to get out.

"Thanks for coming," Jake said, his deep voice low enough that no one else could hear.His knuckles were white around his mug."I wasn't sure you would after this morning."

"You practically dragged me off that property," I replied, sliding into the seat across from him."You didn't give me much choice."

He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.“I’m sorry.You were… just asking a lot of questions and I didn’t want something bad to happen to you.”

“What would happen to me?”I scoffed.“We were just asking that farmer questions for an article.”

“That’s what Dan thought too,” Jake said quietly, leaning forward in his chair.“And now he’s gone.”

“Dan?Who’s Dan?”

“The guy you replaced.Daniel Rowe.”

My heart skipped a beat, cold fear leaking over my skin like someone had poured water over my head.I leaned in close, unable to help myself.“What happened to him?”

“Honestly?”Jake sighed.“I don’t know.But I know what happened before he went missing.”

His eyes met mine, and I saw the fear in them.For a moment I wondered if I even wanted to know what he was about to tell me.Jake was a big, muscular dude who could take care of himself.He wasn’t scrawny like I was.But even so, he looked actually afraid of what he was about to say.And for some reason, that made me want to know even more.

"Dan was investigating the same thing you are.Animal attacks.Missing hikers.He kept saying there was a pattern."Jake pushed his mug away."At first, I thought he was just chasing a wild story.Maine has its share of mountain lions and bears, after all."

"But?"I prompted when he fell silent.

"But then he started digging into older cases.Going back years.Even decades."Jake's voice dropped lower."He found some old cases in northern New York.They were sporadic, but there seemed to be a pattern.”

My throat went dry.It sounded like Dan had found several of the cases I’d memorized over the years.Upper New York seemed to be a hotspot until the late nineties.After that it went quiet.

"What did he find?"I managed to ask, my voice barely a whisper.

Jake studied me for a long moment, his rugged face unreadable."He found a connection between what happened there and what's happening here.Said the attacks had the same...signature."

My hands began to tremble under the table.Signature.That was the word the police had used when they thought I couldn't hear them.How the wounds were inflicted with surgical precision.How only the heart and liver were missing every single time.The killer… themonster… it knew what it was after.

“So what happened to him?”

Jake sighed again, this time sitting back in his seat.“I don’t know.He’s just…gone.”His eyes darkened as he stared past me, out the window where twilight was beginning to settle over the city."One day he calls me, excited about some breakthrough.Says he found something in the archives that connects everything.The next day—nothing.His apartment cleared out, phone disconnected.It's like he vanished."

The coffee shop suddenly felt too warm, too close.My pulse thudded in my ears.

"Why are you telling me this?"I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Because you're asking the same questions," Jake said, his voice rough."And I don't want to find another empty apartment, especially not yours."

I swallowed hard, fingers curling around my untouched mug."What do you think happened to him?"

Jake leaned forward, those broad shoulders hunching as if carrying an invisible weight."I think he got too close to something.Or someone.Too close to the truth."

The way he said it sent ice through my veins.I thought of my father, of the thing that had torn him apart.Not a bear.Not a mountain lion.Something else entirely.

"What aren’t you telling me?"I challenged, meeting his gaze.

A muscle in his jaw twitched as he avoided my gaze.Finally, with another long sigh, he looked up.But his eyes weren’t filled with fear or irritation like I expected.There was something else there, a warmth I didn’t expect.

“I’m not sure I should say.”He stared at me for a long moment before shaking his head.“No.I have to.”Suddenly his hands were across the table, wrapping around my own.My skin prickled with delight as his thick fingers danced over mine with a gentle touch.“I don’t want to see you get hurt because… well, because I’ve got a bit of a crush on you.”

That was the last thing I expected Jake to say.