Cole wiped the sweat from his forehead and then checked the time. Damn, this day was going slow. He was anxious to see Leeza, but still had hours until that was going to happen. He couldn’t stop thinking about their time together last night and was more than ready for a repeat.

“What the hell are you smiling like a lunatic for?” Kile eyed him like he’d lost his mind.

No way was he going to answer that question. Instead, he diverted with a question of his own. “Have you checked in about places to rent?”

Kile hammered in a nail to one of the shelters they were working on, then jumped down from the ladder. “Now when in the fuck would I have had time to do that?”

Cole shrugged. “Calm down, man.”

“No, seriously.” Kile grabbed another board. “Between killing a piece of shit, working my ass off, and oh, looking for your girlfriend and her wolf friend through the woods, which you’d already done so that was a big waste of my time, and not to mention checking out tracks in the woods, when in the hell do you think I had time to mosey into town and look for a place to live? Hmm? Answer me that.”

Straightening up, Cole looked at Kile with a cocked eyebrow. “Man, you need to get laid.”

“You got that right,” Kile agreed with a snort as he climbed the ladder. “Speaking of getting laid….”

“Don’t even go there,” Cole warned, hammering in another nail.

“Heard someone was coming out of lovely Leeza’s tent early this morning.” Kile wiggled his eyebrows. “Would you happen to know anything about this mystery man?”

Cole dropped his arm, his hand tightening on the hammer, but he refrained from smacking his brother in the head with it. “As a matter of fact, I do.” His voice was full of warning. He turned to grab some more nails, saying, “He’s a badass son of a bitch who doesn’t appreciate nosey idiots butting into his business. And if you call her lovely Leeza again, he will kick your ass.”

“But she is lovely,” Kile defended.

“Yes, she is.” This time, Cole pointed the hammer at his brother. “But I’m the only one who can call her that.”

Kile laughed loudly, shaking his head. “You poor bastard.” He gave a low whistle. “You got it worse than Eric, and that’s pretty fucking bad.”

“Just wait.” Cole finished his side, then grabbed his tools and headed out of the enclosure. “Your time is coming.”

“Laid and mated are two different things, broski,” Kile snorted. “Two totally different things!”

“So what do you think of the tracks?” Cole asked, stopping.

“Not sure, but Eric has already been reaching out, trying to find out if there is anyone who would want revenge for that fucker, and so far, nothing,” Kile replied, shaking his head. “We just need to keep our eyes open like we always do.”

Cole nodded, then headed toward the last enclosure that needed a shelter. He passed Ari’s and whistled to him. The wolf-dog’s ears popped up. He had taken care of him this morning for Leeza, but she was going to try to start her job later, so she could take care of him herself.

Deep inside, he hoped the job didn’t work out for her. He knew that was selfish, but he wanted nothing more than to work side by side with her. After hearing her and really listening, he swore to himself that he would support her, and he meant it.

He just hoped Lance Cutter kept his hands to himself.

He walked into the last enclosure, which was empty and kept that way for possible shifters who needed a place to stay. He figured they wouldn’t need this one empty long. As soon as word spread that their pack was here and helping take care of the place there would be no fear. They could just come to Eric to ask for help. Before them, it was just Gemma and she was human. But until then, they would keep it this way for any shifter looking for help. He was still amazed at what Gemma did for their kind, and once her grandfather had passed, she kept up the work he started. They had heard rumors about this place for years, but until Eric stumbled on it while looking for Foster Manning, rumors were all he thought it was.

“Hey, you need help?” Alex walked up, then leaned against the post. “I just finished helping Larry. He has a big date tonight and is leaving early. Feedings don’t start for another hour or so.”

“Yeah, that would be great.” This was the enclosure that needed the most work. The sooner he could get done, the quicker he could run into town and look at a few places to stay before Leeza got back.

After giving Alex a few instructions, they got to work, each quiet in their tasks. Alex was young, but a hard worker. Glancing at his watch for the hundredth time, Cole cursed. Could this day go any slower? Damn!

“So, what’s your story, Alex?” Cole asked, wanting to focus on anything other than how slow this fucking day was.

“Well, there isn’t much to it.” Alex’s smirk turned into a laugh. “I guess I’m what most call a roamer. This has been the longest place I’ve stayed for a long time.”

“How did you end up here?” Cole continued to work as he listened.

Alex stopped and looked around the enclosure with a big grin. “Heard stories about this place. I was hungry and needed a place to stay for a few hours. I found this place. Thought I’d blend in. The door was open to this enclosure, so I walked in, pretty much collapsed in that corner, and fell asleep, hoping I could steal some food after sleeping a few hours and then be on my way.”

“Obviously that didn’t happen.” Cole grinned and glanced at Alex.

“Nope, sure didn’t.” Alex shook his head. “I woke up to a little blonde lady who was in the enclosure with me talking to me, trying to gain my trust and get me to eat. I panicked when I saw the enclosure locked up tight. Larry was outside the enclosure, gun by his side, so I got a little aggressive. I mean, I wouldn’t have hurt Gemma or anything, but I wanted out.”

“Did you shift?” Cole had stopped working to listen to the story.

“Hell no. She thought I was a wolf-dog, which really kinda hurt my pride, but I forgive her now.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Humans, ya know. Anyway, she kept getting closer and closer, so I showed my teeth and did the most aggressive growl I had, trying to scare the small crazy woman away. I mean seriously, most humans would take off running, but not her. The next thing I know, this big son of a bitch was climbing the fence like it wasn’t even there and jumping in front of me.”

“Eric.” It wasn’t a question because Cole knew exactly who it was.

“Yep. We did the whole stare down thing, and I freaked. I went to the enclosure door to try to break my way out. I guess he thought I was going for Gemma and caught me in mid-fucking-air.”

Cole had leaned up against the fence, arms crossed, listening intently. It was pretty cool hearing about his brother’s time here before they came. They had been nonstop since they’d arrived, so the brothers hadn’t really had time to talk much.

“Gemma was screaming ‘don’t hurt him,’ and I thought she was talking to me, but in fact, she was telling him not to hurt me. It was amazing actually.” Alex shook his head as if still trying to understand it. “Anyway, Eric pulled alpha, scared the shit out of me, and I caved like a little pussy.”

“Eric can have that effect on some.” Cole chuckled again, really liking this kid. “So what about your pack?”

“Don’t have one.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Once my dad died, I just roamed. Some packs accepted me for a while, and others ran me off before I could step foot on their turf.”

“You think you’ll stay here long?” Cole pushed off the enclosure and started working again. “I know Gemma can use all the help she can get.”

“Can’t say, really.” Alex handed him a board. “But for now, I’m content.”

Cole understood that. Shifters were a restless bunch and the need to escape hit them all. Seeing Eric heading their way with Kile and Gemma, he stopped.

“What’s up?” Cole asked when Eric came inside the enclosure.

“Just got back from town.” Eric handed him a pamphlet. “Instead of housing, we’re looking into these.”

Cole thumbed through the pamphlet thoughtfully. “Trailers?”

“It’s a hell of a lot cheaper, you can get new or used, and they can be moved onto the property faster than building houses,” Kile answered. “It’s what I’m doing.”

“What do you think?” Eric asked Cole.

“I think it’s a good solution.” Cole handed them back to Eric. He wasn’t making any decision until talking to Leeza. Whatever he did was going to be with her and they’d make the decision together. “You taking a vote?”

“Yeah, tonight.” Eric nodded. “Gemma wants to throw a barbecue as a thanks to everyone for all the work that’s been done already.”

“Sounds good.” Cole glanced at his watch again and cursed. Fuck! Seriously, was this day ever going to end?