Nick grinned down at Jo, knowing how anxious she was. He could feel the slight shiver of tension run through her body as she wrapped an arm around his waist.

“It’s going to be fine,” he murmured, pressing a quick kiss to her temple. Hearing her sharp intake of breath had him wishing he could take her back to the cabin and kiss her senseless, but they were here to speak to Tom.

Right on cue, Tom walked into the office – stopping dead when he saw the two of them waiting for him. “Right, what’s going on?”

“N-nothing,” Jo stammered, stepping away from Nick. “Why?”

Tom raised one eyebrow. “I can hear your heart hammering, Jo. Something’s wrong.” He didn’t need to be a shifter to sense the tension in the room.

“Oh,” she replied, glancing desperately at Nick. “It’s just about the cabin.”

His frown was immediate. “What about it?”

Jo, catching his expression, lifted her hands in defense. "Now, don't start getting angry with me, Tom, but I – uh – moved some stuff in."

“I’m not angry,” he replied, catching his brother’s grin. “Why would I be? I was wondering when you’d be moving in.” It had been two weeks since Jo had decided to quit her job in the city and move to be with Nick. Now that she had her stuff here, it felt more permanent. It was different, sure, but Tom was glad that his brother was happy.

Nick let out a bark of laughter, tugging Jo into his chest. “What Jo’s trying to ask you is if she and I could move into the cabin.”

“Is that all?” Tom replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Go right ahead, Jo. Although I hope Nick gets some better security against the Northern Wind pack.”

Nick’s chest rumbled with a growl of warning.

"Stop that," Jo chided, swatting his solid chest. "Yes, he has. Thank you for asking, Tom."

“So why were you so worried?”

“Well, where are you going to live?”

Tom gestured around the office. “Here.”

“You can’t live in this old place!” Jo exclaimed, immediately. “Especially when there’s a banged up shifter locked in the back room.”

“Speaking of which, how is he today?”

“Fine,” Tom replied, with a wave of his hand. “His leg’s going to take a good few weeks to heal properly but he should be fine.” Dan hadn’t exactly been pleased that he was stuck in their back room, but it wasn’t as though he’d had a choice. Tom hated the sight of him at first, but now he was beginning to feel a little bit sympathetic for the guy. Being taken away from your pack wasn’t exactly a comfortable situation. “He’s making it very clear that he still hates us, by the way.”

The corner of Jo’s mouth tipped up. “Well, that’s not surprising, since I ran him over,” she quipped.

Nick laughed. “True.” Smiling at Jo for a moment in reassurance, he turned back to his brother. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right here?”

“Yeah.”

Nick shrugged, knowing that Tom wasn’t going to give him any more of an answer than that. His brother had never been the kind of man to express himself. For a moment, Nick wondered if Tom would ever find a mate, the same way that he had with Jo. It would mean that Tom would have to actually open up to his emotions, and Nick wasn’t sure that would ever really happen. “Great. Well, we can get back to work then. Jo needs a bit of training on what to do, though.”

Jo grimaced. “I’ve had a quick look over things and we might need an accountant. Numbers aren’t my thing.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Seriously?” He didn’t particularly want a stranger working in their shop. It meant that they’d have to keep their shifting abilities secret again, and he quite liked the freedom he had to change whenever he wanted.

“Yeah, sorry,” Jo sighed. “Even just to get the books up to date. You’re due on your tax returns soon too.”

“Fine,” Tom muttered, running a hand through his hair. “As long as I don’t have to put out the advert.”

Jo smiled, glad there wasn’t any animosity between them. “Right. I’ll do it.”

“I’d best go check on our patient,” Tom grumbled, walking to the locked door. “Do you think we should let the pack know he’s alive, Nick?”

His brother frowned immediately. "No, I don't. That would just be a fight waiting to happen." The Northern Wind pack was already going to be sore from their defeat and he didn't want to go anywhere near them right now. That could potentially be a death sentence for them.

“But if they think Dan’s dead, isn’t that worse for us?”

Nick shrugged. “Maybe, but right now I’m not willing to risk anything. Hopefully, by the time Dan’s healed up, the Northern Wind pack will have come to their senses. They need to leave us alone.”

Jo glanced from one brother to another. “Do you think Dan will want to go back?”

“Of course he will,” Tom answered, remembering that Jo had no idea what it was like to be a shifter. “That pack is his family.” He couldn’t quite explain the deep bond that was between him and his brother, but it was one that was stronger than anything else. No matter their difference, they couldn’t ever really stay apart from each other. Their bears wouldn’t let them.

Jo looked at him thoughtfully. “So we’re a pack then.”

"Yeah, I guess. We're a pack now, in a very weird way - but that's the reason Dan won't stay." Tom glanced at Nick but saw his tiny warning head shake. It wasn't worth explaining to Jo that having her as part of their pack made things worse for them. The Northern Wind pack would hate Jo because she wasn't a shifter.

“I guess Dan won’t want to be associated with the human that very nearly killed him,” Jo murmured, wryly.

Nick planted a kiss on her cheek, with one hand around her waist. “You only did that to save me, Jo. Don’t feel bad about it.”

“Anyway,” Tom interrupted, not appreciating watching their affection at all. “The sooner Dan is better, the sooner he’ll be out of here and we can hopefully get on with our lives.” Walking away, Tom tried not to feel the sharp kick of jealousy. Nick and Jo had something special and there was no doubt about the fact that Jo was Nick’s mate, no matter how strange it was for that to happen. Would he ever find the same thing Nick had? Did he want to?

He walked into the room hospitalizing Dan, shutting the door firmly behind him. He could hear Jo and Nick's murmurs as they talked but focused instead on the man in front of him. A quick sniff told him that Dan hadn't eaten so far, but Tom just rolled his eyes. It didn't make any difference to him whether the man ate or not. If he wanted to die of starvation, let him.

“Afternoon,” he growled, his muscles tensing at the sheer hostility blazing from Dan’s eyes. There was silence, although Tom could hear the slight rumble in Dan’s chest.

"You know we're helping you, right?" he continued, pulling out the next dose of painkillers. "Don't think that we don't want you out of here as much as you want to go. For whatever reason, Jo insisted we look after you so that's what we're doing. You can kill us later." A slight trace of humor in his voice, Tom handed Dan a glass of water and his painkillers, waiting until he'd taken them. Dan certainly looked better, although they'd had to set his leg. It wasn’t broken, thankfully, but Nick was suspicious there was a fracture. At one point they'd considered taking him to the hospital but Dan had been too weak to move. Then, of course, there would have been the questions over what had happened, and they couldn't trust that Dan would keep the truth to himself. Yes, Jo had run straight into him with a car, but that was while he was in bear form, which they couldn't exactly explain to the authorities. In the end, they'd kept him at the mechanics, although Dan wasn't exactly grateful.

“Not hungry?” Tom asked, casually. “Thought I’d do a bit of blue steak later. Let me know if you want some.” He grinned as Dan’s eyes flared. The man still couldn’t shift, since he was so weak, but Tom knew his bear would be getting frustrated by now. A steak would keep him satisfied for a little while. “You’re going to have to tell me if you want some,” he continued, waiting for Dan’s response.

Dan gritted his teeth, hating the situation he was in. His bear was roaring at the thought of raw steak, and even though he tried to hush it, it wouldn’t stop. It wanted out, wanted to run free but Dan was too weak to change. “Yes, I want some,” he bit out, his voice low.

“Thought you might,” Tom replied, walking to the door. “I’ll bring you some later.” Slamming the door behind him, Tom made sure to lock it. Dan was getting a little stronger every day and it wouldn’t be too long until he could leave. Tom couldn’t wait to get rid of him.