“You gotta catch me first, slow ass.” Rayner chuckled, and Dane tossed a look back over his shoulder with a questioning frown.

  He hoped that he was doing the right thing, but he’d noticed a change in his brother whenever he was around Rayner, and the same with her. They both seemed to be feeding off each other’s need to keep their bears in check. He hoped it stayed that way.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Roland noted the way that Maggie kept shooting glances in his direction, and he could tell that she was nervous because that feeling was coming from her in waves, but she was also curious, and, he thought, somewhat attracted to him.

  He wasn’t attracted to scardy cat women and shrinking violets. Maybe it was his shifter DNA, but he liked his women with claws and a backbone, a women like Rayner if she hadn’t of been his brother’s mate. Although, a curvier version.

  But this little human seemed different. She’d brought out the protector in him, in his bear, and more. A lot more.

  Animal attraction, lust, call it whatever the hell you liked, but she had his blood heated like a damn fever, and he kind of hated and loved the idea of why.

  There were no two ways around it – his bear was clawing within him to scent her, and he felt that need stirring within his own mind. The only problem was; he hated the thought of finding out that he was a complete idiot and that she was nothing to him. Just lustful thoughts and maybe a little wishful thinking.

  He hadn’t really thought much about a mate until Rayner had shown up on their doorstep, but since that moment, hell, it seemed to be all he daydreamed about. Dane was happier than he’d ever seen him, a damn sight crazier too.

  Hell, he’d even left Rayner sleeping with his brother guarding the cabin while he went out to see if he could track the vampire and see what the bloodsucker was up to. Stalking a vampire was never a good idea, but Dane was protecting the woman that he loved.

  “Sit,” Roland growled because he couldn’t hold it in, and he motioned to the hardback chair that stood back from the kitchen table.

  He was house proud in a manly sort of way. He liked everything in its place, and he might not have had fancy things, but everything was as clean as it could be.

  He was glad of that now that she was in his home, and he’d noted the way that she’d nosed around as soon as she walked in the door. He wished that his place was nicer, females like nice things, and his stuff was just … functional.

  He wasn’t sure if she liked his cabin or not. Rayner was a city girl, and if they’d been neighbor, it meant that Maggie was as well. He guessed they liked fancy things. His home wasn’t fancy, but it was liveable.

  “Is that supposed to be an order?” Maggie scowled at him, and he didn’t much like that look on her face, accusing, disbelieving, suspicious, and like he’d slapped her, something he’d never do.

  He hadn’t expected her outburst either, and it took him a moment to think on it. Hell, she was female, and he could think on it all he wanted, but he was never going to figure out her mind.

  “Why would you think that?” he offered her a curious look.

  “Tone of voice.”

  “You don’t like my voice?” Roland knew damn well that was one thing he couldn’t change, even for a mate. Not that she was his mate - that was all up in the air until he scented her.

  He rebuked himself for sounding so damn bombastic. He wasn’t really used to having a human female around. He hadn’t even had that much time to get used to Rayner being there.

  He didn’t have to worry so much about breaking Rayner anymore, and she did like to thump him hard in the bicep if he teased her too much. But Rayner didn’t really get offended – this human? Hell, he had no clue about her.

  He feared that Maggie might just break her hand if she thumped him. He wouldn’t want to hurt her, and he didn’t want her to get hurt on account of him.

  “I don’t not like your voice,” she offered back with a small wince and saw her own momentary confusion mirrored on his face.

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I…” she huffed. She wasn’t entirely sure herself, not anymore.

  “Sit,” he said, a little gentler, like he was encouraging her that time, and she sat without thinking.

  Maggie didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to do anything that wasn’t completely on auto-pilot.

  Her host was … strange. He had ways and mannerisms that seemed to upset the normal rhythm of her mind and body.

  She didn’t know if it was just his size or the fact that he was a bear shifter and she was definitely on unfamiliar ground, but he was certainly throwing her off-kilter. It was … confusing, to say the least. Throw in a dash of excitement to that mix, and she was a little sweaty on the palms of her hands, and her heart kept taking off for the finish line every time that he looked in her direction.

  And then there was that growl – boy, was that potent? Like as sexy-as-hell was on steroids. The man-mountain certainly had a lot going for him in the bad boy department.

  But she couldn’t say the same for her. They were chalk and cheese, or mouse and lion, and she knew that opposites were supposed to attract, but she didn’t think that applied to them.

  She’d seen pictures and read stories about the type of women that shifters attracted, shifter groupies who went out of their way to stalk men like him, and there was no way in hell that she couldn’t compete with those women, even if she had a mind to try, which – she didn’t.

  Nope, there was no way that a man like Roland would be interested in a woman like her. That made her feel a little sad.

  “Rude,” she muttered as she fidgeted on the chair and shot him a sideways glare.

  Roland flinched. He wasn’t doing very well in remembering that she was female, and it wasn’t as if he couldn’t tell. It wasn’t as if his whole damn body wasn’t attune to her femininity, hell, his damn cock was twitching like it had a mind of its own to escape his damn jeans and get to her.

  His beast wasn’t much better. The bear wanted her scent and was practically sitting just beneath his skin.

  If she hadn’t of been human, then his bear might just have burst forward to claim her damn scent itself. His beast growled; it liked that idea.

  Roland knew that he’d messed up. Not only was Dane going to be pissed off that he hadn’t run the female off their land, but he’d been second-guessing his decision from the moment that he’d made it.

  He wasn’t entirely sure that he could keep his beast at bay either. The bear was pretty damn adamant that it wanted to scent her.

  He guessed that whichever way the situation panned out, mate or not, someone was going to come out losing something. It felt like that was always the way of the world.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ~

  Dane wasn’t accustomed to having his orders disregarded. Not that he’d ordered Roland to remove the human from their land, but he thought he’d made it clear what he wanted, and he didn’t think he’d have to paint a picture for his beta.

  He stalked towards Roland’s cabin across the wide open space with a curse for every step that he took and stopped in a heartbeat the moment that he caught sight of something not completely right with his world. The fine hairs stood to attention all over his body, and his beast was on full alert just under the surface of his skin.

  “I told you to stay off my land,” Dane growled.

  With the kind of speed that could only be credited to a vampire, Giles stood not more ten feet in front of him. Dane knew exactly how far it was because his mind was already calculating the distance to speed for how long it would take him to get to the bloodsucker should the need arise.

  “I don’t think either of us thought that was going to happen,” Giles said.

  “You’ve been stalking Rayner…”

  “I’ve been stalking all of you, so tell her not to take it personally.”

  “Asshole.”

  “And then some.”

  “What do you want?” Dane didn’t like having the vampire that close. It made his beast antsy, and his mind work overtime. He needed to be on his game, just in case the bloodsucker tried anything.

  Rayner was doing better than he’d expected her to do at coping with her beast. He figured it was her strength of character and kickass personality that had seen her through the traumatic experience, but she still didn’t have a handle on her bear – hell, none of them did, but for a human, he was damn proud of her.

  The vampire could suck it, in more ways than one if he wanted to find fault with her.

  “Just checking in, reminding you I’m still around…”

  “Like I need reminding,” he growled.

  “Your brother does…”

  “Bowie…”

  “And – as your other brother seems to have adopted a puppy…”

  “That human female isn’t staying; she’s a friend of Rayner’s…”

  “Still…”

  “Get off my damn land,” Dane growled, and dismissed him with a wave of his hand, but still, neither man moved an inch.

  “No more biting humans,” Giles warned him. “The first time was careless, the second time there won’t be another warning or the chance for a third.”

  When Giles disappeared just as fast as he’d appeared in front of him, Dane took a long, deep breath into his lungs as his chest expanded and his shoulders rose, he rolled his eyes skywards, and let out that breath.

  It was obvious that his brothers were going to be the death of him … somehow, but he wasn’t about to let Rayner go down with him. Giles was still a threat to her, albeit, a muted one. But he still didn’t trust the vampire to protect anyone but himself.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Roland had heard the mutterings from outside his cabin, and he’d recognized the tone of the melodic vampire’s voice. He was walking towards the cabin door when Maggie spoke and stopped him in his tracks.

  “Is it Rayner?” He could hear a certain amount of hope in her voice, and he frowned at the thought of disappointing her, and then there was the little green-eyed monster of jealousy that rose up inside him for his new clan sister and her friend.

  Of course, Maggie would want to see Rayner and spend time with her, but that didn’t mean that Roland didn’t resent the fact. If anything, that jealousy only threw more fuel on the fire of Roland’s suspicion that she might be his.

  His mate.

  His woman.

  His everything. That wasn’t just a scary thought; it was a damned heady one too.

  He had to wonder what the hell he was going to do with a full-human mate. His first thought was keeping her the hell away from Bowie.

  “No,” Roland tossed back over his shoulder as he reached for the door handle. “Stay there,” he added as an afterthought. He didn’t want the little human female anywhere near the big bad vampire.

  “Yes, sir, I’ll stay right here, sir,” Maggie bit out, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Roland tossed a look back over his shoulder that made her press her lips together, but the corners of her mouth turned up with a smile that she couldn’t suppress. Her big baby blue eyes were alight with amusement, and she could have hit him in the stomach to have achieved the same effect.

  “Funny,” Roland said.

  He still cursed himself for using that same attitude with her that he’d told himself not to. Easier said than done. Luckily, there would be time to make amends.

  “I thought so,” she said, just as he pulled the door closed behind him.

  Roland’s gaze swept over the area and he immediately noted the fact that the vampire was no longer around, but Dane was stalking toward him, and the alpha did not look happy. Roland’s eyes practically rolled back in his head, and he wished the vampire would come back again to give him something else to concentrate on and to keep his brother occupied; because he knew what was coming, the look on the alpha’s face said it all.

  “Why is she still here?” Dane growled with more than a little anger at the continual annoyances in his life. All men, the only saving grace to his days was Rayner.

  “There’s a problem.” Roland winced. He really didn’t want to have to explain things to Dane, not then, maybe not ever.

  “Problem?” Dane wasn’t one for fancy words. He wanted to get to the meat and potatoes of any situation and not dance around the frills.

  “She’s — well — there might — it’s like…”

  With every attempt at a sentence, Roland squirmed, and Dane lost another nerve – Roland needed to tread carefully because he was fast approaching that very last nerve.

  “Spit it out, I’m not getting any younger,” Dane growled.

  “Damn it.” Suddenly Roland felt the need to go and head-butt a tree trunk. It would have been easier, more humane than having to tell his brother what was going on.

  “Roland…” Dane growled again. He wanted to get back to his mate. He still didn’t trust Bowie with her.

  “She might be mine!” Roland snapped out when he brought his gaze to Dane’s, and he saw that information hit the alpha’s brain like a sledgehammer, the man was reeling from the news.

  Dane took a moment to shake it off. He cocked his head to one side and questioned the man with a hard stare. Roland grunted.

  “How the hell can you not know?” Dane demanded, unsure if his brother was just pulling his damn leg. If he was, he’d better run.

  “I haven’t…” Roland waved an absent hand in front of him as he grimaced at just how pathetic he was about to sound.

  “Scented her?” Dane’s eyebrows shot upwards.

  “Yeah — that,” Roland grumbled as he looked anywhere but at his brother.

  The alpha was smirking, and the beta had a new need bubbling within him, the need to plant his fist in his alpha’s face. That would go down like a ton of bricks.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?”

  “The hell if I know,” he snapped back.

  Roland knew alright. Once he’d taken that scent, once his bear was certain that the human was his — there was no going back.

  Dane immediately turned on his heels and started away from Roland’s cabin, leaving the man standing there somewhat dazed. “Well, damn it, man. Suck it up and do what your bear is telling you.”

  “That’s easy for you to say,” Roland mumbled to himself, not intending to be overhead, but Dane picked up on it anyway.

  “Hey, when your bear knows — your bear knows. Just damn well sniff her already, and then you’ll both know,” Dane tossed back over his shoulder.

  Roland would be fine, that human female would be fine, he hoped, now he needed to get back to Rayner, who might not be so fine.

  “Damn, smug, asshole,” Roland grumbled to himself, as he turned back toward the door and groaned inwardly at what was to come. “Just do it — doesn’t seem right somehow.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ~

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Bowie grumbled on a low growl as he cocked his head to one side and looked away from Rayner.

  “How am I looking at you, when I’m looking at you?”

  Rayner felt her beast raise its head at the sound of her clan brother’s growl. As the bear didn’t go on full alert, Rayner could only assume that his growl was something other than challenging.

  It annoyed the hell out of her that she didn’t have a handle on what her bear was feeling. She guessed that would come in time.

  It was helpful to be around the clan and their growly ways because she was picking up nuances and helpful hints as to what constituted bear speak and emotions. But there were still the times when her bear growled, and she followed, and she didn’t know what the hell she was saying to those around her, and that worried her the most.

  “Like I’m going to shift into my bear and bite you,” he said. His gaze flicked toward her for only a brief moment before he pulled it away again.

  “Do we have a problem, Bowie?” Rayner asked.

  “Yes.” He didn’t bring his eyes towards her that time.

  “And what do you perceive that problem to be?”

  “The fact that I bit you. Changed you. You can’t forgive me.” Bowie hunched his shoulders and turned away from her. Rayner thought that one over.

  “I can see that it was an accident. I can forget, but forgive? I guess that might take some more time. But I’m going to get there, Bowie, because I know it was an accident. Help me with my bear the way you’ve been doing, and forgive will meet forget.” Rayner could only be honest. There was no point in lying to Bowie, he was like the others, and he could sense the deceit.

  Bowie turned back toward her, this time, he brought his gaze up to meet hers. Rayner was held mesmerized by the fact that he’d looked at her at all. Since that first day when she’d turned up, and his bear had gone nuts, he just hadn’t been able to do it,

  “You promise?” Bowie asked.

  “I promise.”

  Bowie gave a slow nod as he considered her words. That sounded good to him.

  He never thought that Rayner would ever be able to forgive him for what he’d done — or Dane — but Rayner was the most important one of the two of them. She’d been human; now she had a monster like him.

  “Dane’s back,” Bowie said, cocking his head to one side and listening as his brother approached them.

  He could hear Rayner’s heart beating faster as her gaze fell on her mate. He liked that. It made him happy for his brother, but sad that he would never know that depth of feeling for someone else.

  He was unlovable. A big, stupid, hulk of bad mood uncontrollable bear. Fate would never make the mistake of sending him a mate.

  “Good. Now we can go and hunt down Tank.” Rayner said, and Bowie smiled. Rayner was fun; she’d brought a whole new something to their clan that he liked.

  Sure, she was going to drive Dane slowly nuts, but that was a good thing, his brother needed to lighten up. He liked having her around, and he knew it was Dane’s job, but he’d protect her with his life. He owed her a lot more than that.

 

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