~

 

Maggie was back up on her feet again. Her hands were on her curvy hips and if that female had been a witch – he’d really have thought about bending over and kissing his ass goodbye.

“What I meant to add was that you can stay on clan land. We have other cabins,” Roland rushed out the explanation.

Hell, he hadn’t really meant that at all. He was planning on wooing his mate, and she didn’t need to be anywhere other than where she was right now, but if telling a little white lie calmed her then he was up for that.

“Oh,” she said as her deep scowl and dark glare eased a little. “Well, could you start saying what you mean the first time, so I don’t get the wrong end of the stick?”

“Probably not. I’m male, and I’ve got two brains vying for my attention. You’re female, and let’s face it, you’re always going to get the wrong end of the stick,” he said, and slapped one of those sexier-the-hell grins on his face that knocked the stuffing out of her argument before she’d even formulated a response.

Roland couldn’t help but chuckle, the look on her face said that she’d gone from rushing to bite his head off to confused and considering if she should be offended or not.

He liked her off balance, and silence was golden, definitely better than when she squealed. She looked really cute like that.

Maggie couldn’t get over that smile. It was a sexy grin, and his eyes flashed with laughter. If he’d insulted her, then he’d done a damn good job of sidestepping it.

“Admit it — I got you there,” Roland said. He watched as she considered it for a moment more, and then she shrugged her shoulders.

“I’m not staying here,” Maggie said with a small shake of her head.

“Actually.” Roland took a long moment to think about it. What better way to get his mate accustomed to living in their new cabin than having her live in his cabin. “The other cabins are in need of work. I’ll stay in one of them, and you can stay here.”

He thought that was the ideal solution, but he guessed that he was wrong when she rushed to crap on that idea. He didn’t need to hear the words; he could see it written all over her face.

“That’s not a good idea…”

“It’s a very good idea. You need somewhere to stay, and I’m supposed to be fixing up the other cabins anyway — I don’t have a problem living where I work.”

“I can’t throw you out of your home…”

“I’m leaving — voluntarily.” That smile was back on his lips again, and boy, did that make her pause for thought. Roland took that as a yes. “Great, well that’s settled.”

“It is?” Maggie rushed to catch up. “No, it’s not!”

“Sure it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Where else are you going to live?” Roland stopped chasing his tail and decided it was time to hit her with the hard truth. He watched as she considered his words.

“Well…” Maggie slowly lifted her hands to waist height, opened her mouth to speak, closed her mouth again, and dropped her hands to her thighs – the fight had gone out of her.

“See — settled.”

Roland grinned to himself as he turned away. That was probably the first thing that had gone in his favor since he’d met her.

Maggie eyed Roland’s back. She was almost certain that she heard sniggering coming from his direction — and his shoulders did move a little as if he was laughing.

He had certainly steamrollered right over the top of her with that one. But he wasn’t wrong — where did she have to stay?

She needed to see Rayner. She needed to find out exactly what being a mate to a bear shifter meant, and she needed to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

 

~

~

~

 

Bowie’s bear growled a warning at Rayner as she stalked towards where Tank’s bear was guarding the house. When Rayner showed no signs of stopping, Bowie put his bear between her and Tank.

“Don’t make me walk around you, bear,” Rayner said as she slowed on her approach toward him, but didn’t stop completely.

Bowie growled again. Rayner had no choice but to ground to a halt, she tossed her hands onto her hips, and tipped her head to one side as she eyed the bear.

“I’m thinking — you’d look great as a throw rug on my cabin floor,” Rayner said and almost chuckled out loud when Bowie’s bear twisted its head to one side and grunted.

Rayner heard Dane coming up behind her; she didn’t have to toss a look back over her shoulder to know that he would be grinning like a Cheshire cat. It seemed that Bowie was his new guard dog where she was concerned.

“Come on, Rayner, play nice with Bowie,” Dane chuckled.

“Don’t want to,” she tossed back over her shoulder.

“You’re the one that wanted Bowie here,” Dane reminded her.

Rayner shifted her weight on her feet, chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and then rolled her eyes towards the sky. Then she sighed.

“Okay, you tell him to move. We are getting Bute’s money,” Rayner said.

“Yeah,” Dane took an extra long time to think that one through.

“Bowie, I’m warning you…” Rayner took matters into her own hands. She went to move left, and Bowie did too, she went to go right, and Bowie moved to intercept her.

Rayner stomped her foot on the grass in annoyance. Dane chuckled, Bowie snorted, and behind him; tank grunted. Then the front door to the house opened, and the woman stepped out onto the porch once more, this time without the cub in her arms.

“Tank, what’s going on?” The female asked.

Tank’s bear made a strange grunting sound as he was communicating with the woman via a mental link between them. She eyed Rayner, woman to woman, for a long moment, and then she nodded.

“You’d better come in,” the female said.

Bowie’s bear turned to look over his shoulder, and as he did, Rayner smacked him on the head as she dived to the left, darted past him, and kept going. Bowie made a strange, confused sound and started toward the house after Rayner.

Dane was right there behind her every step of the way, good thing too, when Tank’s bear decided to rear up on its hind legs and offer Rayner a warning growl.

“Seriously, brother?” The female said before blowing out a loud sigh. “Her and me, the rest of you knuckle-headed, testosterone-fuelled, bad mood bear’s can stay outside.”

Tank grunted in annoyance, Dane wasn’t too pleased with how things were going either, and Bowie’s beast just looked downright confused. But, in true Rayner style, she threw a smile back over her shoulder as she kept going toward the house.

“You heard what the lady said. Let the rational females talk while you boys hang out here. I’ve got this. Play nice,” Rayner chuckled as she strolled on past Tank’s big, bad bear and up the stairs.

She was about to get Bute’s money and Bowie off the hook.