If he hadn’t known better, Sean would have sniffed his pits. Why the hell did Eden feel she couldn’t stay in the same house as him?

It’s not like I don’t shower regularly. He scowled.

Sean wasn’t used to women avoiding him. Or treating him like he was a leper.

But Eden. She was something else. He could have sworn he saw interest in her eyes, maybe even an invitation. But her actions were something else altogether. She made it a point to avoid him. Hell, she’d even declined the opportunity to take a nice guestroom in his place, opting for one in Tyler’s and taking the one farthest from Sean’s door, a rinky-dink one that he’d hardly call more than a broom closet.

She sure as hell wasn’t good for his self-esteem.

In Sean’s mind, his bear roared.

Yeah, yeah, I know.

It was no secret Sean’s bear was interested in Eden’s panther. No secret to Sean, and no secret to Tyler, who’d picked up on Sean’s attraction to Eden the first time he’d seen her in Grant’s backyard at the get-together.

“Cute, isn’t she?” Tyler had elbowed Sean.

“It’s a good thing you think so, since you’ve taken her identical twin as your mate.”

Tyler had laughed. “Identical, true. But it’s easy to tell them apart.”

“True.” Sean hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her.

She’d glanced up at him. They’d locked gazes.

He’d felt a sensation in his gut. And in his brain. He and his bear were instantly attracted.

Then he’d felt another sensation. A flame licked at his fingers.

Sean glanced down. “What the hell?” He dropped the paper plate he’d been holding. Ribs, brisket, beans, fell to the ground.

The plate was on fire.

Tyler was muffling a laugh. “Looks like you just met her elemental.”

“Really? Fire?”

Tyler nodded.

“And she can’t control it?” Jesus. She was supposed to help Trista and Tessa control their elementals and she couldn’t control her own?

“Seems she has a thing about bears…” Tyler’d said.

Sean raised a brow. “Not a good thing, I guess.”

“Nope.”

* * *

Days passed.

Now, not much had changed. He’d tried to talk to her. She seemed hellbent on steering clear of him. If he were at the dinner table, she’d find a way to grab a bite in her room with some excuse or another. If he wasn’t there, she’d stay. And when he deliberately waited until she’d sat and started eating to join them, she’d wrap it up and go away quickly.

Camden’s eyes always carried an apology for her sister’s actions. Tyler’s eyes carried pity.

Well, Sean had damned near had enough. No, he’d had more than enough.

He caught sight of Eden headed toward the woods, a little basket in hand. Her hips swung temptingly, her legs encased in a pair of jeans that were perfectly form-fitting and showed her assets off in a way that got his attention. Got his attention a little too well.

He pushed his bear and his lust aside and watched her, back held straight, head high, a basket in her right hand.

Now, what’s she going to do with that basket? Was it a picnic lunch?

He waited until she’d made it just passed the tree line, where she was almost out of sight, before he slid out the back door, closing it softly behind him. He knew he had to be quiet. Her hearing was probably as good as his, if not better. They were shifters, after all, and shifters had super-enhanced senses.

Sean picked up her scent immediately. He homed in on it because he knew it better than he knew his own. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say his bear knew it better than he knew his own.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that one of Sean’s fortes was tracking by scent. It’s what made him good and what kept their security business operating in the black many days. He was in the top two percent of scent-trackers, or so Griz had told him, back in the day, when Sean had worked closely in association with Griz.

He couldn’t keep an eye on her, but he could stay on her tail by following the trace of her scent. Thirty minutes later, he paused and leaned against a tree.

What the hell is she doing?

Was she going in circles? He frowned and studied the ground and the trees around him. Why would she be going in—

“Why are you following me?”

He looked up.

Sitting on a low tree branch, her basket next to her, Eden frowned at him.

“I—well, I—”

“Is this the part where you say you weren’t following me?” Reddish gold flames flickered in the depths of her dark eyes.

“You knew.”

She nodded.

“That’s why the circles.”

Another nod.

“What are you doing in the woods?”

“Walking, clearing my head. Why are you following me?”

“What do you have to clear your head from?”