~

 

Holy shit I have a mate!

Stop damn well thinking about screwing and start thinking about damn well wooing.

That thought hit Dane like a ton of bricks, and he wasn’t sure what the hell he was supposed to do with that.

It was pretty freaking obvious that he’d never had a mate before, but now that he had one, what was he supposed to do about it?

I gotta woo her.

Crap!

That sounds so much easier in my head than in reality.

She’s human, and she’s got the curviest damn body that I’ve ever wanted to sink my cock into.

Damn, that sounds bad.

She’s a mate, not a one-night shifter groupie.

How the hell can I woo her when all I am is just a walking cock and damn balls?

Human females needed love, care, and attention – like a houseplant – no, not a houseplant, because I kill those…

Like a puppy – yeah, not that either.

I guess I could … feed her!

“You’re hungry,” Dane bit out and watched her snap to attention again at his unexpected comment.

“Did my stomach rumble or something, cos I …?” She offered him another one of those frowns where her eyebrows tried to meet up over the bridge of her nose, and he knew he’d done something wrong again. He cursed himself.

“I didn’t hear it, and I’ve got good hearing,” Dane offered back.

“You don’t say? A bear with good hearing,” she mused on that for a long moment, watching his ice blue eyes as they narrowed into little slits in his face, she guessed he didn’t have a sense of humor.

“You’re messing with me, right?” Dane grumbled a growl.

“Something like that,” Rayner offered back, holding out the glass towards him, but he just eyed it for a long moment – it wasn’t even empty.

“You don’t like water?”

“I prefer beer,” Rayner shot back. God only knew that she could use one now.

“I have beer,” Dane went to turn back towards the little kitchen area, but she clicked her tongue against her teeth, and he stopped like he was frozen in place.

“I really need to go check in with my boss before he sends a whole heap of cavalry out here to rescue the female in distress,” Rayner lied.

If Bute was ever going to send in the cavalry, it would probably be on a cold day in hell.

“That … wouldn’t be good,” Dane shook his head, and his mind flicked right to his brother.

Bowie was deep within his bear, and there was no damn way that the man, or his beast, was going to allow anyone onto their land, not in the mood that he was in.

“Nope, it wouldn’t,” she offered back another lie, and he seemed to be buying what she was selling.

She was good at her job.

“Bowie would kill them,” Dane growled.

Rayner was taken aback by his answer. She hadn’t considered the big hunk of fur that was roaming around outside – at least, not in her latest ramblings and plotting to try to escape – damn, that threw a spanner in the works.

“They’d have to kill him,” Rayner offered back, a small frown on her forehead, and a sympathetic tilt to her head as she thought fast and played it by ear.

His eyes took her in.

Dane scented her deceit. He’d almost fell for her bullshit, hook line and sinker.

Damn, she was good. Typical female, playing on a man’s emotions like that.

Well, she wasn’t about to get away with it. He had her damn number now.

“It’s probably overdue,” Dane said and watched as her eyes slowly narrowed.

“Huh?”

“Kill my brother … the beast has gone a little … nuts.” Dane shrugged those broad shoulders and watched her eyes dance around the room as she considered his words.

“That’s…” She didn’t know what to say.

“Overdue.” He shrugged again.

“Right.” Rayner flinched inwardly and then outwardly.

When he placed the glass down and folded those huge arms over his impressive chest once more, her eyes found a home, right on him.

“That doesn’t bother you?” Rayner asked, dragging her gaze up his body to his cool blue eyes and feeling that kick in her chest once more.

“Bowie … dead?” Dane took a moment to consider it. “Not much, no.” He lied again and was damn glad that humans couldn’t smell deceit and pure bull or he’d have been in trouble.

“You know … I should leave now,” Rayner said with another frown.

“You know, I can’t really let you out there with Bowie having his fur on and all,” Dane shot back, and watched as she looked like she was chewing on an imaginary wasp.

“Right,” she said. Her eyes darted around again as she tried to come up with another devious plan. “And how long until he …?” she shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh, could be a while,” Dane said, then he motioned towards the couch that had seen better days. He winced inwardly at the sight of it. He sure wished his place looked nice enough for a female, for her. “You should get comfortable.”

Rayner didn’t much like the idea of getting comfortable. Or maybe she did. She kind of felt like she had mixed emotions about it.

On the one hand, she didn’t want to sit on his crappy couch. On the other hand, she sure wouldn’t mind getting real comfortable with him.

But that was a different life.

The guy was a shifter — enough said.

Sure, he looked good. He certainly looked like he could show her a good time.

She’d heard about shifters, good in bed, bodies to die for, and then she’d heard about shifter groupies. She definitely wasn’t a groupie.

Rayner didn’t care what was waiting for her outside that door. If the man got the wrong idea, then she’d put him down and take her chances outside with the furball.

 

~

~

~

 

Roland wasn’t taking any chances with Bowie’s bear. The beast could be totally out there on his own planet sometimes, and Roland liked everything on his body where it was supposed to be.

He climbed up onto the roof of his brother’s cabin and sat down with his legs dangling over the edge. He waited for the bear to do one more lap of honor around the clearing, and then he made himself known.

“Hey! Dumbass!” He called out and watched the bear slam on the brakes.

Bowie’s head came up, he sniffed the air, and his eyes slowly locked onto Roland. He growled.

‘Get off my roof.’ Bowie used the link between them to make his feelings known.

“Make me,” Roland challenged. “Oh, wait, you can’t. You’ve got your big, fat, dumbass bear on.”

‘Get off my damn roof, Roland. I’m warning you…’

“Oh, warning me. And what’s your dumbass bear gonna do – climb up?” Roland chuckled again and stomped all over Bowie’s last nerve.

‘I’m gonna rip your head off and shove it up your ass.’

“Let’s go. If you think you’re man enough.” He slapped his hand across his mouth and chuckled harder. “Wait – man enough? Not right now, you’re not, right?”

‘I know what you’re doing, and it’s not gonna work.’

“Too bad. I was looking forward to kicking your butt.” Roland shrugged his broad shoulders. Then he reached out and yanked the side guttering away from the roof.

Bowie’s bear roared in rage. Roland reached up and scratched his head as if he couldn’t quite make out what he’d done.

“This is supposed to come off, right?”

‘I’m gonna kill you!’

“Sure, you are.”

‘You’re a dead man!’

“I have no problem with you trying,” Roland called back.

‘Get down here!’

“I like the view.”

‘You’re dead – you’re so damn dead…’

“You said that, but I don’t see it happening.”

Roland ripped off a section of the guttering and tossed it down at Bowie. It thumped off the bear’s head to land at his paws.

“Whoops.” Roland chuckled as his brother’s bear danced around the clearing like it couldn’t make out which end was his head and which was his tail.

‘You’re dead. So dead.’