~

 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Bowie grumbled on a low growl as he cocked his head to one side and looked away from Rayner.

“How am I looking at you, when I’m looking at you?”

Rayner felt her beast raise its head at the sound of her clan brother’s growl. As the bear didn’t go on full alert, Rayner could only assume that his growl was something other than challenging.

It annoyed the hell out of her that she didn’t have a handle on what her bear was feeling. She guessed that would come in time.

It was helpful to be around the clan and their growly ways because she was picking up nuances and helpful hints as to what constituted bear speak and emotions. But there were still the times when her bear growled, and she followed, and she didn’t know what the hell she was saying to those around her, and that worried her the most.

“Like I’m going to shift into my bear and bite you,” he said. His gaze flicked toward her for only a brief moment before he pulled it away again.

“Do we have a problem, Bowie?” Rayner asked.

“Yes.” He didn’t bring his eyes towards her that time.

“And what do you perceive that problem to be?”

“The fact that I bit you. Changed you. You can’t forgive me.” Bowie hunched his shoulders and turned away from her. Rayner thought that one over.

“I can see that it was an accident. I can forget, but forgive? I guess that might take some more time. But I’m going to get there, Bowie, because I know it was an accident. Help me with my bear the way you’ve been doing, and forgive will meet forget.” Rayner could only be honest. There was no point in lying to Bowie, he was like the others, and he could sense the deceit.

Bowie turned back toward her, this time, he brought his gaze up to meet hers. Rayner was held mesmerized by the fact that he’d looked at her at all. Since that first day when she’d turned up, and his bear had gone nuts, he just hadn’t been able to do it,

“You promise?” Bowie asked.

“I promise.”

Bowie gave a slow nod as he considered her words. That sounded good to him.

He never thought that Rayner would ever be able to forgive him for what he’d done — or Dane — but Rayner was the most important one of the two of them. She’d been human; now she had a monster like him.

“Dane’s back,” Bowie said, cocking his head to one side and listening as his brother approached them.

He could hear Rayner’s heart beating faster as her gaze fell on her mate. He liked that. It made him happy for his brother, but sad that he would never know that depth of feeling for someone else.

He was unlovable. A big, stupid, hulk of bad mood uncontrollable bear. Fate would never make the mistake of sending him a mate.

“Good. Now we can go and hunt down Tank.” Rayner said, and Bowie smiled. Rayner was fun; she’d brought a whole new something to their clan that he liked.

Sure, she was going to drive Dane slowly nuts, but that was a good thing, his brother needed to lighten up. He liked having her around, and he knew it was Dane’s job, but he’d protect her with his life. He owed her a lot more than that.

 

~

~

~

 

Roland had stayed well away from Maggie since the moment he’d slammed the front door behind him and noted that she jumped in place. She eyed him like he’d just tossed a fresh kill down on the floor at her feet and demanded that she skinned and gutted it ready for the damn fire pit. At least, in his mind she did.

“Rayner?” She had hope-filled eyes again, and he hated to disappoint her a second time, but on the other hand, the longer Rayner stayed away then, the longer she’d be obliged to stay in his cabin with him.

He certainly didn’t want to spend his time following her around like a lost puppy, but he thought that was what might happen if he didn’t man up and take her scent before she got fed up of waiting for her friend to return and left.

Roland’s beast growled long and hard at him. Somehow, he didn’t think the bear was going to let her go that easily.

She had to be his mate. Even for the simple fact that his bear was overreacting every time he thought about her leaving, he wasn’t feeling much better about that prospect either.

“Not yet, sorry,” Roland said. At least, it wasn’t a lie, technically Rayner wasn’t around. “I need a drink — do you want a drink?” Boy, could Roland use one?

“When you say drink…?”

“Scotch — beer — something stronger than water.”

“Sounds good.” Maggie didn’t see how a little Dutch courage was a bad thing. There she was, sitting in the kitchen of a bear shifter’s cabin, with no idea what she was doing there, except that she needed help, and she didn’t even know if Rayner would or could help her.

Her big, growly, host wasn’t how she’d expected a shifter to be, especially, a bear shifter. He might not have had the social graces, barking out orders, and stuff, but then neither did she.

He seemed … off, like something was bugging him, annoying or frustrating him, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Obviously, it could have been her presence.

Perhaps the man didn’t like humans.

Perhaps the man didn’t like females.

He sort of looked at her as if he liked females, but what did she know? She was clueless too — maybe, they should be clueless together.

Maggie caught herself on that thought. Together? Them? The man probably looked at her with pity, and she just didn’t realize it.

Maybe his irritation was that he wanted to get rid of her, wanted Rayner to come back faster, and she could understand that. He probably regretted offering her shelter in the first place.

“It’s strong — go slow,” Roland said as he handed her a tumbler that was a quarter full of Scotch.

Maggie acknowledged his warning with a nod of the head, lifted the glass to her lips, and downed the whole thing in one. Damn, did she need that?

The fiery liquid heated her body all the way down. He was right; it was a good Scotch.

Roland stood with his mouth hanging open and his eyebrows reaching for his hairline. She’d surprised him.

“Well,” he gave a small shake of his head and snapped out of it. “Okay then.” He chuckled.

He guessed you never could judge a book by its cover. Something which he should already have known considering he was a shifter.

 

~

~

~

 

Rayner, Bowie, and Dane had doubled back over the land to where Dane had parked his truck. There was Maggie’s beaten up old car, blocking Rayner’s truck in, and making it impossible for her to move it.

That got a goat. She liked being in control, driving herself places, and now Dane would be in charge.

Who was she kidding? Dane was always in charge. He was the alpha, and that was something that she was going to have to get used to.

“Shotgun,” Bowie said.

“I’m his mate — you’re in the back,” Rayner informed him, grinning from ear to ear with smugness.

“She’s not wrong,” Dane said and watched as Bowie’s shoulders dropped at the same time as his head hung low from his neck. He grumbled something to himself that even Dane couldn’t hear, and yanked open the back door.

“Hey, would you look at that,” Rayner announced. “Being a mate to alpha had its advantages after all.” She chuckled, and Bowie grumbled some more as he slammed the back door shut.

“You’re planning on torturing him in other, subtle, ways, aren’t you?” Dane chuckled.

“You bet I am,” Rayner lied.

After her talk with Bowie, Rayner had a better understanding of why the man couldn’t look her in the eye. An accident was an accident; she just needed to remind herself of that every now and again.