Thorian left Cici’s house, feeling more than a little frustrated that he had held back. He knew it was the right thing to do, but that still didn't make it any easier. His grizzly growled relentlessly inside him, admonishing him for not taking her and claiming her at the soonest possible opportunity.

But Thorian had heard the stories of what could happen to a shifter if they tried to mate too quickly. There were articles about it on Mate.com. And he’d heard the tales since he was a child. It wasn't something that you should rush into. A human would often feel the mating impulse as strongly as the shifter, and then later regret jumping into it. Humans had a fickle nature that couldn't always be trusted. He trusted Cici, and could tell she was ready for love, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

He drove down the road toward the Talbot estate, feeling nervous that he had to go back out there after Vicki’s death. After parking outside, he grabbed his tools and started toward the door. As he walked up the steps of the porch, the cool winter air nipping at his cheeks, the Talbot's son came storming out of the house. He almost knocked into Thorian as he charged past.

"You saw, didn't you?" the boy said.

"I saw what?" Thorian asked.

"You saw my mother charred to death."

"I'm afraid I did.”

"Whoever did that to her is going to pay. I don't care what kind of reputation she had, that’s no reason to stuff a woman full of explosives and light her on fire."

"I'm sorry for your loss, son," Thorian said. "Did your mother have any enemies?"

"Of course she did. She was a wealthy woman with a husband and everyone knew she had boyfriends. Not to mention the women she hung out with, I don't trust a single one of them."

"What do you mean?" Thorian asked.

"Her friends were all back-stabbing bitches," her son said with a shrug.

"Can you elaborate?" he asked.

"Her best friend wants to sleep with my dad. It's completely obvious."

"I didn't know that."

"She's been trying to get her hooks into him for years. I think they dated back in high school or something."

"Why would a woman want a married man?"

"Her husband ran off with his secretary a couple years ago. Ever since, she's been trying to get my dad to notice her. But he only had eyes for my mom. Honestly, I think he’s always been kind of obsessed with her. I've heard them talking late at night sometimes. Some of the stuff I've heard, well, let me just say, a kid my age should never have to hear that."

"Oh? I’m sorry. That sounds terrible."

"My dad was a very jealous man." The kid picked up his phone and looked at the screen. "I've gonna go. My girlfriend’s waiting for me. I'm going to stay at her family's house until this blows over. I can't deal with my dad right now."

"Good luck, kid," Thorian said, watching the teenager walk away and climb behind the wheel of his car.

Thorian approached the front door, but before he reached it, it swung open and Mr. Talbot stood in the doorway.

"It took you long enough. We don't have any electricity in the kitchen again.”

"I just replaced the fuse," he said. “But I will check it out.”

He followed Mr. Talbot down the hall and into the basement where the fuse box was located. He opened it up and checked the fuse again. It was blown again. This time he’d brought the correct fuse with him in his bag. When he was done, he closed the fuse box and walked up the stairs to the kitchen to check the lights. Mr. Talbot walked into the room, his eyes dark and his arms crossed over his chest.

"I fixed your problem," Thorian said.

"You were sleeping with her, weren't you?" the husband asked.

"Pardon me?" Thorian said, thinking maybe he meant Cici.

"Vicki. You were her type."

"I can assure you, I would never sleep with your wife.”

"She took a fancy to you the moment she saw you. I saw you talking in the hallway. Were you planning a date?"

"Absolutely not." He could smell waves of anger rolling off of Mr. Talbot and it made him uncomfortable.

"If I find out that you were sleeping with Vicki, I will kill you myself," he said, clenching his fists.

"Are you threatening me?" Thorian asked.

"Do I have to?"

"Your wife just died. You should save your energy for your son.”

The man let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples with his hand. Tears streamed down his face and he leaned over on the counter a sob shuttering from his chest.

"I loved her so much," he said. He gritted his teeth angrily and looked up at Thorian. "Who was she sleeping with?"

"I don't know anything about anything except electricity and fireworks," Thorian said.

Mr. Talbot slammed his fist onto the granite counter. "It was Jake Martin, wasn’t it? I've seen them talking. I thought she liked them younger, but he was her type. I should've taken care of the both of them.” Mr. Talbot’s eyes were glazed over in thought.

"Taken care of both of them?" Thorian said, growing nervous.

"I should've fired him," Mr. Talbot said.

"Well, hindsight is always twenty-twenty," Thorian said, grabbing his tool bag and sidestepping around Mr. Talbot. He inched his way out of the kitchen and made a beeline for the front door.

"If you find out who she was sleeping with then I want you to tell me," Mr. Talbot yelled through the house.

Thorian stopped as he made it to the front door and turned to the furious man. "Sure thing," he said as he gripped the door knob.

He hurried outside away from the insanity and tossed his tools into the backseat. As he turned he found the Jake Martin pushing a wheelbarrow of hay toward the pasture for the horses. Jake dropped the handles and came storming over to Thorian.

"It was you, wasn't it," Jake said.

"Me, what?" Thorian asked.

"You were in a jealous rage, so you tied her up and burned her to death because she was in love with me."

"You people are all insane," Thorian said.

"I loved her,” Jake said. "We were going to run off together and finally be happy."

"Why didn't you then?" he asked, inching toward the driver’s side door.

"Because she didn't want to leave her husband's money. She didn't want to live on a stablehand’s salary."

"Well, you know what they say, true love conquers all," Thorian said, gripping the handle of his truck. Jake leaned against the door, preventing him from opening the truck.

"Are you saying she didn't love me?" he said, anger burning in his eyes.

The smell of rage rolled off the man. Thorian didn't have a clue what was going on. These people were all deranged. Why were they so obsessed with Vicki Talbot? She must have had some special skills in the sack or something because she had a crummy personality. Her body wasn’t very nice either. Her curves were all artificially enhanced, just like her face.

"I didn't have anything to do with Mrs. Talbot. I don't know if she loved you or not. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't. I only met her one time. Maybe you should find yourself a nice girl who isn’t married. Just a little bit of life advice from a complete stranger," Thorian said, yanking the door open.

He climbed behind the wheel and turned on the engine, pulling out of the driveway and driving away as fast as he could. If he never saw these people again, it would be too soon. He had never met two more psychotic men in his life, both obsessed with an orange-skinned, bleach blonde, facelifted socialite who was obviously spoiled and as shallow as a puddle. But, to each their own.

He continued driving down the road, thinking about his beautiful raven-haired Cici, her luscious curves, her funny laugh, her quirky smile and her silly sense of humor. He loved everything about her. He couldn't wait to make her breakfast in bed and watch her eat his food while he licked her toes.

His inner grizzly growled at the image. And he squeezed his eyes closed as he stopped at the end of the Talbot’s driveway before he turned out onto the main road.

There would be time enough for that tonight after their date. Then he would let his inner grizzly come out and claim his curvy, gorgeous little mate. He didn't think he could hold back anymore, no matter the protocols. He sure hoped his little Cici was ready, because after this morning, his grizzly wasn't going to be contained.