~

 

Rayner had never eaten so much in her life in one sitting before. She’d asked question after question about being a better shifter as she sat there dressed in Dane’s ill-fitting clothes.

She’d only briefly touched on the subject of mates. To her, it didn’t seem as important right then as the rest of it; getting to grips with her bear, how to stop the shift before it happened, how to force the bear back and become human again, and the subject of her living arrangements did come up.

“There’s a spare cabin,” Dane reluctantly offered.

His bear rumbled and grumbled a growl within him at the thought of them living separately. He didn’t like it much either, but his mate was going through a lot.

In the grand scheme of things — up until five minutes ago – she was full human. He couldn’t expect her to take everything on board and understand every aspect of being a shifter right from the start.

He certainly didn’t want to burden her with being a mate. At least, not just yet.

“Live up here with that crazy bear?” She reached for the bottle of beer on the table in front of and snatched it up, and she angled her head toward the front door and gave a subtle nod about his brother.

“It’s the best place to be. You need to get a grip on your bear, and that isn’t going to happen in the city.”

“It isn’t like I wasn’t being tossed out of my apartment anyway. I suppose being up here for a while can’t hurt…” she narrowed her eyes, “anyone but your brother.”

“As I see it — it’s your right to go after Bowie, but just remember that his bear has a lot more experience than yours — and he’s one mean son of a bitch,” Dane warned her.

If his mate was planning on taking his brother down, then he would make sure that he put himself between them. That was his job — that was his duty — to her.

He’d protect his mate with his life.

“What about the vampire?”

“I’ll talk to him. You managed to control your shift — you didn’t run rampant, and the only person you wanted to kill was my brother. I imagine it would be a wait and see scenario. If not…” He left it there.

He would take on the vampire if he needed to do it to protect her.

“Will he go after your brother to kill him?”

Rayner wasn’t sure if she liked that idea or not. It was true that she had the urge to kill the man herself. But somewhere inside of her, and perhaps it was even her bear feeling it because those feeling seemed to be jumbled with her own, the thought of Bowie lying dead didn’t give her a sense of satisfaction.

“In truth, I have no idea,” Dane admitted.

“And what about your brother’s debt — it is the reason I was here,” Rayner asked.

“Back to business?” Dane grinned.

“What can I say? I’m just that kind of a girl.”

“You’re a girl?” Dane chuckled.

“Am I supposed to be insulted by that?” She chuckled back.

“Guess not.”

“You guessed right.” She chuckled before she placed the top of the bottle against her lips and drank the contents like it was water.

“Can I come to an agreement with your boss?”

“No — but I can.” Rayner was a fast thinker — she’d been bitten, she had a damn bear inside of her, and she was going to need Dane’s help with every aspect of life from that point on.

It was a no-brainer, and while she hated the thought of needing anybody in life — she knew she needed him. Then there was the little matter of her bear’s attachment to him. The beast seemed to think that it was a done deal — she wasn’t so sure — but she did like to hedge her bets.

She hadn’t asked Dane about being a mate. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious about it — once she’d found an Internet connection, it would be butt on the chair as she researched everything she could find on the subject.

As for Bowie, well, she needed to see off Bute one way or the other to keep anyone else from clan land. She’d do a damn deal with the devil if she had to.

 

~

~

~

 

“Go away,” Bowie growled as he picked up Roland’s scent in the air. His brother thought he was stealthy, sneaking up behind him as he sat on top of a pile of rocks and looked out over the drop off from the mountain ridge.

“Gonna jump?” Roland asked.

“You here to push me if I don’t?”

“That’s not my job.” Roland shrugged.

While he was pissed at his brother’s lack of control over his temper, his bear, and his brain — he didn’t believe that the man had set out to bite Dane’s mate.

Even his bat-shit crazy brother had some morals.

“You hear to stop me if I do?”

“That’s not my job either,” Roland said. “Maybe I’m just here to witness your withdrawal into self-pity.”

“I screwed up.”

“Yeah — and so spectacularly as well.”

“Dane should kill me…”

“If it were me — I would. But, I’m guessing our brother has more important things on his mind right now then killing you. His mate, for one thing.” Roland kicked out at one of the piles of rocks that his brother was sitting on. “First he had to get his head around having a mate — now he has to get his head around having a newly bitten, turned, mate.”

“I didn’t bite her.”

“That big old pile of fur that demolished your cabin door says otherwise speaks for itself,” Roland offered back.

He saw the grimace on his brother’s face, and even though he was pissed at him, he could sympathize.

“I don’t remember biting.” He didn’t either. But then again, when he was that far into his bear; he never remembered a lot.

“Well, you can sit up here in your self-pitying bullshit, or you can realize that Rayner will need all the help that she can get to live with what’s happened.” Roland stared off into the distance, but he felt his brother’s gaze upon him.

“You think that Dane will let me anywhere near her now?”

“I wouldn’t — if it were me.”

“Then what the hell do you expect me to do?” He growled.

“Make it right — for Dane — Rayner — and for you.”

Roland turned on his heels and stalked away. He said his piece — that was all he could do.

The sound of one curse word after another followed him with each step. That meant Bowie was thinking about it.