Buck dropped Jessie and Dana off in front of Jessie’s cabin. Jessie put his arm around Dana’s shoulders as they walked inside, feeling the new but familiar draw to his fated mate. After all these years of telling everyone he knew that he didn’t want a mate, he felt like a fool. If he had known it would feel like this, he would’ve signed up for Mate.com a long time ago.

The murder investigation stood between them. There were niggling questions in the back of his mind, but Jessie instinctively knew the Dana could never hurt anyone.

“I want to take you on a date tonight.”

“I don’t have anything to wear on a date,” Dana said.

A blush rose in her cheeks and he realized he’d embarrassed her. After spending two years as a domestic servant without pay, he could understand why she wouldn’t have anything to wear on dinner date.

“I am sure I could borrow something from my sister-in-law, Daisy. She has a lot of nice things and I know she would want to share them.”

“If we wear the same size I wouldn’t mind,” Dana said.

“I’ll call her and ask her to bring some things over for you,” Jessie said. “Why don’t you take a nap and I’ll wait for Daisy.”

“A nap sounds wonderful.”

Jessie guided Dana into the guest room and showed her where she could put her things that she had in the backseat of the car. Dana collapsed on the bed with a sigh and curled her feet up under her.

“This is the most comfortable bed ever,” she mumbled.

“You rest now, babe,” Jessie said. “Tonight, I’ll take you to Fate Mountain Lodge for a delicious dinner.”

“Where have you been all my life?” she said with a giggle as he stood in the doorway gripping the door handle.

“Avoiding finding my mate because I’m an idiot,” he said.

“You aren’t an idiot.”

“Not anymore,” he said with a smile, closing the door.

“Now that I have you,” he said to himself.

He’d been avoiding Mate.com and had been chasing human women for years. All along, Dana had been right there. If he had signed up for the dating site two years ago, when his family first started pestering him about it, he could have saved Dana from all the pain and suffering she’d experienced at the hands of the Updikes.

He couldn’t think about the past now, he had to think about the future. Jessie was not the kind of guy that got stuck on problems and he was determined not to start now. The best solution had always been to have a good time. He went into the living room and gave his sister-in-law Daisy a call.

“Hi Jessie,” Daisy said. “I heard you found your mate today.”

“Word travels fast,” Jessie said.

“What can I do for you?”

“I want to take her out to dinner, but she doesn’t have anything to wear. She was indentured to the Updike hyena pack for two years without any pay and she needs something for dinner at the Fate Mountain Lodge.”

“Your mate was a prisoner of the Updikes’ for two years?” Daisy asked, a shocked expression in her voice.

“I could have saved her a long time ago if only I had signed up for Mate.com back then. I know I made a mistake but I want to make it up to her.”

“The Updikes tried to do the same thing to me. Except they were going to try to marry me.”

“I know. The Updikes need to be stopped. But first, I need to take my mate out to dinner and show her a good time. She needs that, and so do I. We were both down at the police station today answering questions about the murder.”

“Murder? Whose murder?”

“I found the body of Chuck Updike in the trunk of Dana’s stolen car.”

Daisy gasped and the phone was silent for a long moment.

“You don’t think she had anything to do with it, do you?”

“Of course not. Dana would never do something like that. She’s a sweet, good, and loyal woman.”

“Being held prisoner can do strange things to anyone, even the sweetest woman in the world. Sometimes people snap.”

“Dana didn’t snap. She just took the wrong car. Someone else is responsible for the murder, and I intend to find out who, even if the Bear Patrol can’t do it.”

“I’m sorry, Jessie. I shouldn’t have said that. I watch too much cable. I have some great dresses that would be perfect for dinner. I’ll bring them over and your mate can choose what she’d like to wear.”

“That would be great, Daisy,” he said with a sigh, feeling slightly depressed and exhausted from the morning’s events. “Thank you for your help.”

An hour later, Daisy arrived at his doorstep, holding a bundle of clothes in her arms.

“Here I am,” Daisy said, her blonde curls bouncing around her shoulders.

“Come on in,” he said, stepping back for her to walk through the door. “Dana is taking a nap so you can just leave everything with me.”

Daisy walked in the room and set the clothes over the back of the couch. She gave him one of her enthusiastic smiles and began explaining to him what she had brought over. All of the terms and definitions of women’s clothing went right over his head. But from what he saw, the dresses were pretty and would suit Dana well.

“Thank you for bringing these over, Daisy.”

“Anything for my brother-in-law. I just can’t believe that you found your mate so quickly. And after all these years of teasing you and pressuring you to sign up for Mate.com, the minute you sign up, you find your mate. And then you find a dead body in the back of her car!”

“I know.”

“If she didn’t do it and you didn’t do it, who do you think to do it?” Daisy whispered, pulling several pairs of shoes out of a bag.

“One of the humans or shifters they’ve ripped off. Some other mob boss. Another hyena. It could be anybody.”

“Well I have to be going. I left the baby with Cyrus, and he is itching to go hunting. I need to get back to the cabin.”

“Thanks again, sis,” Jessie said.

Daisy gave Jessie a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Daisy wasn’t the kind of girl you usually found on Fate Mountain. She’d spent most of her formative years in the city, living in a mansion and getting pretty much anything she wanted out of life. But she had proven to be a good mate for his brother Cyrus. Nobody had been able to bring Cyrus down from the mountain before Daisy. As opposite as the two of them were, they suited each other somehow.

He was glad that Cyrus and Daisy were so happy together. Now, he only hoped for the same for him and his own mate.