~

 

Bowie sat on the log with his mate beside him and Joshua in his arms. He liked the way that the cub looked up at him, like he wasn’t judging him for his past mistakes, like he just accepted him being there.

Roland was doing his cooking thing, Maggie was nibbling on pop tarts, and Rayner was sitting on the ground between Dane’s long legs staring into the fire, lost in thought when the sound of a truck got everyone’s attention except for Maggie, who seemed oblivious.

“What?” Maggie said when she noticed that they were all listening hard to something that she couldn’t hear.

“Could be trouble,” Dane said, pushing up to his feet, and Rayner was already doing the same.

Bowie passed Joshua to Mitzi as Roland flipped the steaks to the side of the grill plate before he walked around to join the others.

“You go right, I got left, Rayner stay here to protect the mates,” Bowie bit out.

“No need for that,” Colt called as he stalked into view. “I’m not here for trouble, unless it can’t be avoided.”

“You got the money?” Rayner called and heard the man bite out something of a bitter chuckle.

“Talk about mercenary…” Colt shot back.

“She asked you a question,” Bowie growled.

“I got it, but if you want it then I need something in return” Colt shot back.

“Can’t we just kill him for it?” Rayner said, “I don’t feel like negotiating right now.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Bowie agreed.

“What is it that you want?” Dane asked.

“A roof over my head until I get back on my feet. This money is everything I have…”

“My heart bleeds for you,” Bowie tossed back.

Colt bit down on the smartass remark that was itching on his tongue to be set free. He’d been true to his word. He’d lost the damn fight to Bowie and now he had to pay up.

“We don’t have anything for you but a rundown cabin that needs fixing…” Roland started and Colt jumped all over it.

“Done,” he said, stopping just shy of the group and eyeing Dane for his reply.

“Damn it,” Dane grumbled.

“Oh, no…” Giles voice rang out around the clearing, and echoed just enough that everyone scouted the area to see where the damn vampire actually was. “No, no, and wait … no.”

“Bad smell comes to mind,” Rayner bit out as Giles finally made an appearance.

“You can not keep adding to your little clan,” he informed Dane, and the alpha folded his arms across his muscled chest and raised an eyebrow back at the vampire.

“I can’t?” he growled.

“Says who?” Roland growled.

“Who died and made you king of your own ego?” Rayner snorted her contempt for him when Giles tossed her a glare. “Oh yeah, you did.”

“He’s not staying,” Giles said, tossing a look at Colt.

“That’s the alpha’s decision,” Colt growled back.

“Not if I kill you,” Giles tossed back and got a warning growl from everyone in return. “Seriously? You were all the best of enemies yesterday.” Giles reminded them.

“And still we like him more than we like you,” Rayner shot back and Dane couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Alpha?” Giles turned his attention towards Dane.

“He stays, for now,” Dane growled and Giles rolled his eyes to the stars above him.

“Strays and mates,” the vampire bit out in annoyance.

“Jealous much?” Rayner shot back.

“This won’t end well,” Giles warned him, turning on his heels and stalking away. “You’re just swapping out one crazy bear for another.”

“Your money,” Colt said, offering the little piece of paper that meant a lot to the clan to the alpha. Rayner snatched it up.

“And I know just whose backside I’m going to shove this up,” Rayner grinned.

It was a good day in her book. Bowie was mated, Maggie and Roland were having a cub, and she finally had the money in her hand to get the clan off the beholding trail with Bute.

They might have had a short term guest, but the vampire was having a really bad day, and that kind of evened things out in her mind. Now maybe the males would lighten up and let her get back to doing what she did best – kicking bad guy butt.

The End.