~

 

“You’re a bitten,” Mitzi said as she pushed the steaming cup of coffee across the counter toward Rayner.

“Yep.” Rayner knew that there was no point in denying it. She also knew that she needed to be careful with what she said.

“You know that’s not allowed unless you have paperwork — do you have the paperwork?” Mitzi asked, eyeing Rayner across the small divide.

“Yep.” Rayner lied.

She kind of had her fingers and toes crossed that Mitzi wouldn’t pick up on it, scent her deception, but she really should have known better.

“Liar.” Mitzi snorted as she reached for her coffee mug and brought it to her lips.

“I’m not the only one breaking the rules around here — your brother isn’t exactly Snow White,” Rayner offered back. They both knew what she meant.

“Your mate get a little carried away?” Mitzi asked.

“Nope. I was already bitten before he came along to claim me as his mate,” that wasn’t a lie.

She only hoped that she could get away with that one.

“So you know who bit you?”

“I have a very good idea,” she said, and that wasn’t a lie either.

“I take it your mate is going to seek vengeance?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be talking about your brother and his debt?” Rayner sidestepped the issue. She wanted it dropped. She didn’t need anyone having anything over the clan or Bowie.

“Who does he owe money too?” Mitzi asked.

“A human named Bute…”

“You work for the human?”

“Since before I was bitten…”

“How much does he owe?” She didn’t think she wanted to know.

“He lives here?” Rayner eyed the area. It didn’t appear that they had much — the newest things in the kitchen were for the baby. Rayner didn’t know what the picture was, but she wanted it drawn for her.

“He got us this place when my son’s father took off,” Mitzi admitted.

“Your mate took off?”

“Mate? No — my mistake took off and left me with a cub in my belly. Tank did what he always does; he stepped up.”

Rayner didn’t like the sound of that. If the man had borrowed money to go out drinking, womanizing, and gambling, then she could snort her contempt for him and wish him everything that he got. But it didn’t look that way to Rayner.

“This is all Tank?” Rayner asked as she motioned around her. Mitzi nodded. “Does he have a job?”

“He takes work when he can get it. He’s not workshy — he just has a bad attitude,” Mitzi couldn’t help but chuckle at that one. She knew her brother — he’d been through more jobs than a sailor had been through ports.

“Wonderful.” Rayner lifted her hand and worried her forehead with her fingertips. She was thinking, thinking about Bowie, and thinking about the baby.

Damn it. She wanted Tank to be a complete and total asshole — it just proved that in life you didn’t always get what you want.

“You can take what you have to, but please don’t take my son’s things,” Mitzi said, and Rayner groaned inwardly.

They weren’t exactly living in the lap of luxury. The place was had peeling paint, and their stuff was old.

What Tank had done, he’d done for his nephew. Family. Damn it, that didn’t help her with the Bowie situation.

“I’m not taking anything,” Rayner assured her.

She watched the tension ease in the woman’s shoulders, her face became softer, not as fraught with worry, and Rayner groaned again.

“You needed this,” Mitzi said. She was great at judging people’s moods, and she hit the nail right on the head with Rayner. Rayner nodded. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Rayner said.

“Tank’s not all bad…”

“I’m guessing he’s not an angel either,” Rayner shot back.

“Are any of them?” Mitzi chuckled.

“I’m getting the feeling the answer to that is no.”

“So, it really wasn’t your mate that bit you?”

“It really wasn’t,” Rayner said with a small shrug.

“What happens now?” Mitzi asked.

“Well, I’m not coming back — and I doubt very much anyone else is either. The stupid thing is, you’d think Bute would learn when Tank is concerned and stop lending him money.” Rayner pushed up to her feet.

“Oh, trust me, my brother can be very persuasive.”

“Yeah, I can see how that one works.” Rayner chuckled as she started for the front door.

When she pulled open the door, there was Tank, still wearing his bear, and still eyeing Dane and Bowie with an underlying warning growl to boot. Rayner stalked down the stairs, she noted the way that her mate took a step toward her, and she lifted her hand to stop him in his tracks.

Tank’s bear turned to look at her. Rayner gave a slow shake of her head, cocked one eyebrow, and sighed.

“Stay away from Bute — no more borrowing,” Rayner said. The bear grunted. “Don’t make me come back here. You don’t want to hurt me, so that means I have the upper hand. Use your tiny brain and think that one through.”

Rayner didn’t wait for an answer because she would never have understood it anyway. She set one foot in front of the other and started toward her mate.

Bowie’s bear was eyeing Tank like he wanted to go another round or two with the beast.

“Hey,” Rayner snapped a Bowie, and the bear’s attention shot toward her. “Get your skin on and let’s get out of here.”

Bowie hesitated, reluctant to go with her. He snorted his contempt for Tank and took another long look at the house. Then he grumbled a low growl in his throat and turned on his heels to follow Rayner.

“No money?” Dane asked.

“No money,” Rayner said with a shrug.

“It’s the cub, right?”

“What about him?”

“He made you go soft.” Dane grinned, it was big, and it was wide, and she would have liked to bury him face first in a mud pile.

“Bite me.”