by Tamsin Baker
Prowling for their Mate
By Tamsin Baker
Perfect Pairs: Book 1.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
PROWLING THEIR MATE
First edition. October 20, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 Tamsin Baker.
Written by Tamsin Baker.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
Chapter One
Tyler.
Nope... No.
Not her.
Can’t do it... Been there.
Nope.
I swung away from the dance floor to face the mirrored wall behind the bar and slumped on the stool.
Damn it. Not an attractive woman in sight. Again.
My twin brother was off in some dark corner with a blonde chick who wore too much makeup and clothes she must have painted on before she left home. I shuddered.
Not my type. Not at all.
“What’s up with you?” a familiar female voice asked as she sidled up next to me.
I rolled my eyes. Renee. Great. Just what I need.
I forced my hunched posture to attention, straightening my spine, and rolling back my sagging shoulders. “Nothing, sis. What’s up with you?”
I reached for my beer and plastered a smile on my face, trying my best not to look like my world was a desolate place to inhabit.
Which, nowadays... it was.
My gorgeous sister stared back at me, her mouth turned down in a disapproving frown.
Renee completed the family trifecta of hair color. I had our father’s dark brown locks, Brandon was blond like our mother, which, of course, left Renee with an amazing head of red hair.
“You look depressed and I’m sick of seeing it, Tyler. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Renee crossed her arms and glared at me with the heated gaze that only a redhead could get away with. The look made me flinch and I took a long drink of my frothy, cold beer.
I hated having to deal with her when my mind was in the depressing space it was occupying tonight. She was too hard to ignore and she read me far too accurately. How could I tell her the truth?
“I’ve just had a rough week at work, sis. Nothing more.”
Renee punched me in the arm, hard, knocking me off balance. I grabbed the edge of the bar to steady myself as pain rippled across my upper right chest and I rocked on the barstool.
“Ow!” I glared at her and rubbed the sore spot with my free hand. She really could pack a punch, this woman. I was kinda proud. Brandon and I had taught Renee to fight from a young age and no one had ever taken advantage of.
So I glared right back. “Hey, sis! You’re not supposed to bite the hand that feeds you. We taught you to fight so you could punch out other guys, not us.”
“Tell me the truth!” she demanded, stomping her foot and placing both hands on her hips. What a freaking princess!
I rolled my eyes again and inhaled sharply through my nose.
“I’m lonely, okay? Work’s great, the family’s fine, but I’m fucking sick of chasing random tail!”
Renee’s whole posture relaxed and she slid onto the stool next to me. “Whiskey, neat,” she called to the bartender and placed her hand on my leg. “You’ll find her soon. I know you will.”
I lifted my beer again. I had no doubt I’d find my mate one day, but when? I’d already waited long enough and I was losing patience.
“Yeah, but when? I’m damn sick of waiting. Dad told us that we have no control over our destiny, and that fate would take care of everything, but seriously? I’m fucking thirty-two. I’ve been dating for fifteen years already and I’m done. I want a family.”
I clenched my hand into a fist until pain shot up my fingers and through my palm.
“Hey, Ty. I’m heading back to the house. You comin’?”
Brandon, my fraternal twin thumped me on the back and I grimaced. What? He wanted me to play third wheel again to whatever stray bitch he’d come across this week?
“No, thanks. Nae will give me a lift.” I unwound my throbbing fingers and tried to ignore how uncomfortable I was at this point of my life.
Our sister nodded in agreement beside me and Brandon took off with the blonde Barbie doll.
Renee sighed as she watched Brandon leave and downed her whiskey with a quick flick of her wrist and a practiced swallow. “It doesn’t look like big brother is going to be lonely tonight.”
I knew how that felt, and filling your cold nights with random women was not the way to happiness. If anything, it only accentuated the lack of love in my life.
I shook my head and called for another drink. “Nope, not Brandon. Although at the rate he’s going, we’re gonna have to move soon, so he’ll have fresh meat to play with.”
Renee laughed and elbowed me in the side. “Hey, glass houses, brother of mine. It wasn’t that long ago you were dragging some skank home every other night, too.”
I know. You don’t have to remind me.
I stared blankly at my drink and rolled my empty glass slowly between my hands. It was true. I’d practiced the art of wooing and screwing. Why not? I’d been young and had been told that I had to wait until Fate deemed it time to send the right woman my way.
But it’d been almost fifteen years since my first girlfriend and I was tired of waiting. I wanted to find my forever now. The woman I was meant to love, who was created to be with me.
It seemed almost too perfect to be true.
Renee turned to me. “What if you have to wait until Brandon’s ready, too?”
Frustration clawed through my heart. God, no. Please.
I groaned and reached for the newly poured beer the bartender placed in front of me. That was my worst fear—that Fate would wait until both of us were ready to settle down.
“Honestly, Nae? Then I’m fucked.”
My family were shifters, mountain lion shape-shifters, to be exact. We all lived in a small town at the base of the Canadian Rockies.
My dad had pulled Brandon and me aside when we were nearly ten, to explain about the birds and the bees. The only difference in the speech we got instead of the “normal” one came at the end of the talk, when our dad had explained our future.
“You two are a perfect pair. Perfect compliments to each other in physical appearance and personality.”
We’d nodded and waited for the signal to go back to play. That’s when Dad had hit us with the line that would change our lives forever.
“And that means that when the time comes, you will mate with a single female. Together.”
“What!” We boys had glared at each other and pouted. Though twins, we rarely shared anything. If we fought over a bike, how would we share a mate?
Our father had smiled and touched us both on the cheek. “It’ll be fine.”
Unfortunately, it was not fine. I was thirty-two years old and ready for my woman. If I had to share her with Brandon, then so be it. But where was she?
I glanced over at my baby sister. “I can’t imagine finding a woman that we’re both gonna like. Brandon’s always gone for the tall blondes.”
“And you’ve always gone for the short brunettes. We know, Ty,” Renee finished for me.
My head had begun
to spin and I finished the rest of my drink, embracing the wooziness. It was a nice reprieve from the cold feeling in my gut.
“I think I’ll walk home, Nae.”
Renee jumped to her feet next to me and touched my arm gently. “No, I’ll drive you.”
I groaned and shook my head. “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. It’s only fifteen minutes. That gives Brandon a chance to finish with the blonde piece of tail.”
The last thing I wanted to do was walk in on that scene.
Renee chuckled and squeezed my arm tight, the same way she had when my first dog had been hit by a car. With love and compassion. “Goodnight, bro.”
I stumbled forward and pulled my sister into my body for a one-armed hug. She was the best, she really was.
“Night, sis.”
I walked out into the cold night air and took a deep breath. My mountain lion wanted to run, but the last time I’d shifted drunk, I’d woken up locked in a zoo. My mother would kill me if that ever happened again.
I shook my head and laughed. What else could I do at this point in time? So instead of shifting and running through the forest like I desired, I began the lonely walk back to the house I shared with my twin.
LAURA
I was going to kill my stupid sister if it was the last thing I ever did. I put my cell on speaker and dialed Belle’s number for the fifth time, growling at the phone. “Where the hell are you?”
Belle’s phone finally picked up and I heard a familiar giggling down the line. “H’lo?”
Oh, thank God!
“Belle! Where are you?”
Belle giggled again and I rolled my eyes heavenward.
A little help, please!
“Belle, you have to be at that University Open House tomorrow or you won’t be accepted.”
Belle laughed as though that was the greatest joke she’d ever heard, and slurred into the phone.
“I wasss...at the lit’le pub on the corner and now I’m goin’ home with Brandon...”
I grabbed my keys and headed out the front door.
Calm. I needed to stay calm.
“That’s great, hon. Can you ask him to give you his address and I’ll come pick you up in a little while?” I made my voice as light and friendly as possible, hoping to convince my horny little sister to come home early.
“It’s 48 Cabin Creek Drive,” came the husky reply through the phone.
I shivered. His voice was like salted caramel over vanilla ice cream. So smooth and decadent, my knees almost buckled beneath me.
Damn it...What the hell was that?
I shook myself as I walked down the path, wrenched open my car door, and jumped in. Cabin Creek Drive wasn’t far away.
“Don’t move. I’ll be there soon.”
I put my car into gear and pulled out into the empty road. This was the last thing I wanted to be doing on a Friday night, chasing down Belle... again. But hey, what else was there for me to do tonight?
Wasn’t like I had a life or anything...
Twenty-two minutes later, I pulled up outside a beautiful double-story house. It was at the end of a block of homes at the edge of the residential property bordering the forest at the base of the Rocky Mountains..
“Wow.”
I stepped out of the car and looked up at the well-maintained home and lawn lit up by attractive landscape lighting.
Who was this guy?
“Can I help you?”
I spun around and fell back against the car, a force that I didn’t even recognize almost knocking me off my feet.
There was a man standing in front of me and his face looked like it’d been carved by angels. Dark eyes that, even at a distance, burned with heat, short, dark hair that was styled casually, and his body looking strong and wiry.
I swallowed against the lump that had risen in my throat and felt an intense pull in my lower belly. My primitive side that I didn’t like to admit was even a part of me, responded to the attraction of this exceptionally hot male.
“Uh, yes. Hopefully you can.” I cleared my throat and staggered forward on legs that were shaking. I must have looked drunk.
“You all right?” the man asked as he stepped forward, grabbing my bare elbow.
I gasped as sparks flew up my arm and tingled all the way to my core. My heart thumped against my ribs and I bit back a groan.
I’d never felt anything like it before.
“Fu...ck!” the gorgeous guy growled, letting go of me as though he’d been burned.
He backed up so quickly I almost fell forward into the front hedges.
He continued to growl weird, panting noises, sounding much like a large cat of prey.
His eyes flickered from their dark brown color to a strange, tawny yellow. Was there something wrong with him, or was the dim light playing games on me?
I looked at him, hard... and saw it again. What the hell was this guy on?
“What’s wrong with you?” he demanded as though I were the one behaving oddly.
I straightened up and glared at him. This man was a stranger and I was here to get my sister. Get your head on straight.
I flicked my hair back and squared my shoulders. “I’m here to pick up Belle. She told me she’d be here.”
The man nodded with jerky motions, still breathing like he’d run a marathon, and gestured for me to follow.
“She’s probably inside...with my...brother.”
His voice had dropped a couple of octaves and as he bounced up the steps to the house and unlocked the front door, I got a great view of his tight ass.
Stop perving on him, stupid! When has a man like that ever looked at you?
I pulled my short sleeve pink cardigan tighter around my overly generous breasts and muffin top that was resting on the waistband of my jeans. It’s a shame it wasn’t fall, and I was wrapped in my winter puffy jacket to hide the evidence my love off all things carbs.
“In here!” a guy called out to me, and I shivered as the voice from the phone rang through the air.
His voice was like chocolate—smooth, hot, and melted.
And he liked girls like Belle. Tiny, blonde... and a bit on the silly side.
Heat seared my cheeks as I followed behind the dark-haired man who was still looking like he wasn’t comfortable in his own skin.
I walked down the hallway and came into a massive kitchen and living space. Parquet floors and modern, expensive furniture were featured in what was a relatively spotless house.
Wow. Two men really lived here? Maybe they’re gay and I just made an idiot of myself?
“She’s in the bathroom.”
I dragged my eyes away from the view out the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked toward the melted chocolate voice.
Oh my God!
The same force that hit me outside pounded into my chest and sent me stumbling against the marble counter. My heart raced against my ribs as blood flowed through my body at a lightning fast pace.
Sweat broke out along my neckline and if I didn’t know better, I’d think I was having a heart attack.
“What the hell is going on?”
The two men shared a look and some form of communication passed between them. Maybe they really were a couple. Stupid Belle had gone home with a gay guy, or at least a bisexual one!
The dark-haired one turned toward me, his hands gripping the chair next to him so tightly his knuckles glowed white.
“I’m Tyler and this is my twin brother, Brandon.”
Oh, thank God they’re not gay.
Didn’t think my gaydar was that far off!
I looked between the two men, who could have easily graced the front cover of any men’s health or fashion magazine. “Obviously, you’re not identical.”
The men chuckled and glanced at each other weirdly again. They were almost carbon copies of each other in facial features, yet with totally opposite coloring. Tyler was slightly smaller in build and height than Brandon.
“No, we’re not identical. What’s
your name?”
I straightened up and folded my arms across my chest, heat flushing up my neck. The things they must be thinking... I was always a disappointment to anyone who met Belle first.
I was the big, fat, nerdy sister. “I’m Laura.”
Both men repeated my name and made strange, purring noises.
I frowned at them. “What is with that?”
Tyler looked at his brother and gestured toward me. “Go shake her hand.”
Brandon stared at Tyler dumbly, but moved forward anyway.
“Hello.” He walked within an arms-length of me and extended his hand.
I stared at the massive palm and that odd shiver caressed my spine again.
I reached out and our skin connected.
“Holy shit!” Brandon jumped back in a similar way that Tyler had earlier, and heat pooled in my lower belly. I rubbed my hand along my jeans, the zinging within my skin lasting even longer than when I’d touched Tyler.
Heat stole across my cheeks as the warmth turned into a deep, arousing throb. I opened my mouth to ask another question when an unpleasant noise broke through my subconscious.
I cleared my throat. “Is that my sister?” I lifted my chin toward the sound of vomiting.
Brandon nodded and crossed his arms over his massive chest. A few buttons had been popped and I got a good view of golden skin and blond, curly chest hair.
Had my sister been the one to unbutton that shirt, or had Brandon himself?
I inhaled sharply and ignored the strange looks I was getting from the men. I strode forward and a deep twinge tugged over my heart when both of them moved rapidly out of the way.
Was I that repulsive? Or did I look like I had something contagious?
I pushed aside any lingering feelings of rejection and focused on my little sister.
“Belle?” I called out as I pushed on the partially open wooden door and sighed, my shoulders sagging in defeat.
Oh... seriously?
My beautiful sister was slumped on the bathroom floor, vomit covering her half-exposed tiny, perky breasts.
I whirled around to face the man who’d brought her home.
“Do I have to worry about a morning after pill? Or didn’t you quite get that far?”