~

 

Colt gulped down half a bottle of water and watched Bowie fawning over his cub as he stood by the window of the dilapidated, work in progress cabin that he’d been working to fix up, and a rumbled a growl at his situation.

He hadn’t signed up for this, any of this. He’d borrowed that damn money from Bute to pay for his future, a future he no longer had.

Sure, it hadn’t been the best-laid plans, he hadn’t really thought it through, but what was new with that? Bella hadn’t been his mate, but he’d liked her a lot, and she’d been good to him, and he thought he might just have a future with her.

How wrong could one man be? Damn wrong.

Either she’d been giving out mixed signals, or he’d been daydreaming, but he thought she liked him. It turned out that she liked him as a friend – he berated himself once more.

He was done with females. He was done with dreaming of a future with a family, cubs, and resigned himself to the fact that he would never have what that crazy bear had now.

He didn’t resent Bowie’s happiness, his family, or just how lucky the guy was. Not everybody found their mate, and he couldn’t find it within him to crap on another guy’s parade.

Colt placed the water bottle down on the windowsill, reached for the hand towel, and wiped the sweat from his face, neck, and naked chest.

He’d thrown himself into fixing up the cabin, and he had to admit, just not to Bowie, that the man had done a reasonably good job so far. It didn’t matter to him that he wouldn’t be living there long — it was a matter of pride in his work to get it right, and he’d done well in the short time that he’d been there.

Someone else would be living there after he moved on, and that was all right with him. Nothing was permanent in life — at least, not in his life.

Everybody left sometime. At least, everybody left him at some time.

Sure, he’d love to have what Bowie had — but that just wasn’t written in his stars. He’d protect what was his, not that he had anything anymore, but he was fit, healthy, with two good hands — he’d rebuild, move on, and have a semblance of a life.

At least, that was the plan.

 

~

~

 

“I’m pregnant, Roland, not struck down by a debilitating illness that leaves me unable to do anything for myself,” Maggie protested.

From the moment that Roland had found out that she was pregnant, Maggie had been pushing a large boulder up a really big mountain in getting him to ease off. The man was annoying, protective, unreasonable, as sweet as hell, and frustrating to the point of screaming.

“I know that…” Roland shrugged.

“Yes, you may know that Roland, and yet, knowing and doing are two different things with you.”

“What does that mean?” Roland really didn’t understand what she was saying to him.

His eyebrows pinched together as he questioned her sanity. He knew the pregnancy hormones were bad, a really bad thing, and he wanted to cut her some slack, but sometimes her reasoning went completely over his head.

“I can pee by myself, and I don’t need your help to get to the bathroom.” Maggie scowled.

“I know that…”

“Good. Then stop trying to come with me every time I get to my feet. I can also get a glass of water for myself, put the kettle on, make a cup of mint tea, make dinner…”

“I know all that; I’m just being…”

“Overly protective.” She challenged him with a look as she folded her arms and dared him to deny it with one raised eyebrow.

“Maybe a little,” he admitted.

“Maybe a lot.”

“Maybe a little more than a little — but not a lot.”

“You mean it gets worse?” Maggie snorted at the thought of it. He was already an overprotective bear, how much worse could it get?

“I wouldn’t say worse.” He chewed on that thought with a small shrug of his impossibly broad shoulders, and an eye toward the ceiling.

“That’s because you think you’re doing nothing wrong right now, do you? Do you think that you’re being overprotective?”

“Maybe a little…”

“A lot, Roland, trust me, it’s a freaking lot,” Maggie snapped back.

“Unfortunately, I can’t change who I am…”

“I know that, and I’m not asking you to do that, and I wouldn’t want you to do that, you big numpty. Just dial it back a little bit,” Maggie reasoned.

“I can try…” He grimaced.

“Before I kill you and this cub doesn’t have a daddy bear!” Maggie snapped.

“I can try really hard,” Roland said, holding his hands up to his chest in surrender — her hormones were definitely playing up again, and he knew when to back off. This was one of those times.

 

~

~

 

“Call me crazy, but I like spending lazy mornings in bed with you,” Dane growled happily.

He’d made love to his mate before going to sleep last night, and he’d made love to her again this morning when they’d woken up. Life was perfect.

“That’s not crazy, I’m me,” Rayner chuckled.

“Yes, you are — and I’m a lucky man,” Dane growled as he stroked his fingers down her back and felt her body arch toward him in response. He liked that.

“Yes, you are. And if Colt would just stop banging, sawing, swearing, and being a growly bear at stupid o’clock in the morning — life would be perfect,” Rayner offered him a wicked grin, and he liked that too.

“I’ll have a word with him…”

“No, don’t. We already took everything he had — let him work it out in sweat and hammering,” Rayner said, as she propped herself up on her elbow and prepared to get up.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Dane growled. He hadn’t had hardly enough of his mate, and he was seriously considering spending the rest of his life in bed with her.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees, well it does, kind of, but I need to speak to Bute and see if he’s got any work for me,” Rayner said.

Dane growled. The idea of paying off Bowie’s debt and being free and clear with Bute meant that Rayner didn’t have to chase down criminals, and crazy people anymore.

At least, that had been the plan — his plan. Obviously, she didn’t see things the same way that he did. That could be a problem.

“I thought we talked about this, you working for Bute…”

“It’s money in the bank,” Rayner said, turning and throwing her legs over the edge of the bed as she sat up.

“A blood bank,” Dane growled.

“I’m not going to get hurt,” she said and shot a look at Dane as he tipped his head to one side, narrowed his eyes, and questioned her sanity with just a look. “Okay, much.”

“Exactly.”

“Isn’t it lucky that I am a bear shifter now? I heal quickly and easily.” Rayner offered him another wicked grin, but that one was the sexy kind, that one was teasingly bad.

“Shifters can still…” he started to berate her and remind her of what she already knew, but she didn’t need to hear it – again.

“And I’m not just kickass anymore — I’m super–kickass,” Rayner chuckled at the sight of his face. Dane was an open book to her now, and he had a sour look about him.

“Rayner…” he started to grumble a growl of warning.

“I’ll be careful,” she said.

“I’m not letting you out of my damn sight,” Dane growled as he pushed up in the bed and the sheet slipped away from his hard, naked body.

Rayner growled at the sight of her mate. It didn’t matter how many times they made love — soon as she laid eyes on him; she wanted him again, and again, and once more with a cherry on top.

“Fine — I know I can’t dissuade you, thick-headed male, protective bear, protective mate, so, I guess we're working together — that will make life easier.” She grinned from ear to ear, and Dane groaned.

Had he just walked into her carefully set trap? Probably. It was Rayner.