by A. B Lee
Her boss paid people like her to clean up his messes. Well, the man had certainly created a really big pile of crap for her to wallow in this time.
No, she’d got into this herself, and she was going to have to get out of it the same way. The only trouble was, she couldn’t really see an out right then and there.
Shifters everywhere.
One was even in his damn bear form, hell, what was she supposed to do with that?
“I can scent the uncertainty in you, a little worry, a little fear,” Dane growled at that last scent.
Fear. He didn’t want her to fear him. His bear didn’t exactly react kindly to that either.
“You don’t say,” Rayner shot back with disbelief.
“I’m not going to hurt you, woman,” he growled out, and she snapped her head back on her neck and scowled up at him.
“Ok, firstly – woman?” She bit back.
“It’s not like we were introduced when you trespassed on Bowie’s land,” he reminded her, and she took a long moment to consider that.
“Fine. I’ll give you that point.”
“And your name?” Dane asked.
“Why, so you know what to call me when you’re chasing me down the damn road?” Rayner curled her top lip, offered him the evil eye, and snorted her contempt.
“I’m Dane,” he said, trying his best to sound rational when all that he wanted to do was to shake some sense into her.
If she thought that it was a good idea to run from him – she should think again. And if she thought that he’d let that happen then she didn’t know anything about shifter mates.
“Like the – dog,” she offered back, raising her eyebrows and looking momentarily amused.
“I apologize that my mother didn’t name me Yogi,” he offered back, and for a long moment, she must have looked constipated as she held in her amusement until she crushed it inside of her.
She’d almost spat out a laugh, but the look on his face said not to go there, and she didn’t want him to think that she was weakening in her captive stance and surrendering to his easy charm. Not that the man had any, but she didn’t like to give false hope unless it was useful to her.
“I’d say nice to meet you, but … you know?” She pushed a little harder and found no way out of those arms of his.
“No,” Dane offered back with a dry tone to his voice that told her to shut the hell up and look for an out from the nightmare of the day that she’d found herself in.
“Cassie,” she said quickly and watched as his eyes slowly narrowed on hers.
Damn. She’d been busted already.
“Liar,” Dane offered back.
“Suzi?”
“Not even close,” he growled, just a little, but it was enough to make her pay even more attention to him.
Mine…
His bear was antsy. It wanted out as much as Bowie’s beast had, but he knew there was no way in hell that he could let that happen. Not around her. Not yet.
Mine…
The beast had found his mate, and he wanted to claim her every bit as much as Dane did, and yet, she was human – they needed understanding – they needed wooing.
Wooing.
What the hell do I know about wooing?
The women in my bed usually came to the bar looking to pick up a shifter for some wild times. Not that there had been many lately.
This one is wild in other ways.
She’d gone after Bowie, and she’d kicked me in the balls – she’s like a handful of damn dynamite, and I’m going to have to close my fist around it and watch it blow off my damn fingers.
She wants to run.
She doesn’t understand.
First call of wooing – explain the damn rules.
“Ok, I can see from the way that you look like you’re chewing a wasp that you’re mulling something over there, Einstein,” Rayner offered, and he grunted in annoyance, “but you need to let me go now.”
“Lady, that’s the last damn thing that’s going to happen,” Dane growled a little louder, a little deeper, and she felt it roll through her body.
The fact that her hard nipples were plastered against the muscles of his chest made that vibration all the more pleasing. But she needed to dismiss that sensation, and the tingles, and the damn look in his eyes – hunger – for her. It wasn’t helpful.
If she was going to get out of the trouble that she’d got into, then she couldn’t think of all his plus sides. She needed to get her nasty on.
“Don’t call me lady,” she sneered.
“Then tell me your damn name.”
“Rayner,” she snapped back.
“Rayner,” Dane repeated it, and he liked the way that it sounded on his tongue.
It sounded damn good to her ears when he said her name, all gravelly like that, and with just the right amount of rolling of his tongue, but she was trying hard not to notice. Trying harder to push away those tingles that touched her body wherever he did.
“I’ve got somewhere to be,” she lied, “and your brother owes money to Bute.”
Distract.
Deflect.
And then leg it for the truck.
Sounds like a plan.
“And you’re who they sent to collect it?” Dane’s voice wreaked of disbelief, and his eyes berated her.
“Now, hold on there a minute…” Rayner pushed real hard, and yet, he still didn’t go anywhere.
She took exception to the fact that men wrote her off because she was a female. Like she couldn’t do her job.
Hell, she had a ninety-two percent success rate for collecting from debtors. It would have been more, but you couldn’t collect from beside a hospital bed after you’d put someone there, the nursing staff got kind of antsy about those sorts of things.
“A female, and a human one.” Dane shook his head in anger.
“I got the drop on you, didn’t I?” She bit back, annoyance flaring within her.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
Rayner didn’t normally mind the fact that men underestimated her because then it was easier to blindside them and get exactly what she wanted, but this man?
There was just something about his disapproval that niggled at her last nerve. She’d had one hell of a day up to that point, and she wasn’t in the mood to be told that she was a puny human female who shouldn’t be doing the job that she was doing.
She tended to get her mean on when stuff like that happened, and she didn’t see how this would be an exception to the rule. Just because Mr. Muscles was one hell of a sexy, growly, naysayer, it didn’t make it any the less palatable to hear – if anything, it was riling her up even more.
“I’d like to see you do it again,” Dane growled.
That sounded like a challenge in her book, and boy did she like those. Liked to prove herself.
She had an urge to kick the guy in his balls again just to hit home her point, and yet – she knew he’d be expecting that – couple that with the fact that she was kind of caged in with nowhere to go, and she didn’t have much of a chance at getting a good shot in with him.
Maybe she’d wait for a while and blindside him again.
“You need to let me go, and then you need to call off your brother so I can get my money and get the hell out of here,” she informed him, ignoring his challenge for now.
“That’s all?” Dane asked.
His eyes were starting to turn back to a nice ice blue, and that held her gaze spellbound for a long moment.
She liked the black on some level that appealed to the badass inside of her. But she liked the blue more, especially when he turned his head like an inquisitive beast, and she got the full force of that look – the one that said he was more than interested in her.
“I could make a list,” Rayner offered back, and she probably could to.
To her surprise, the big shifter dropped his arms from around her body, and she immediately took a long step back from him. That little bit of distance didn’
t do hardly enough to null the attraction that she felt towards him.
Hell, her damn traitorous body wanted to sway right back close to him again, but she refused to let that happen. She was there to do a job, not get sidetracked.
Then Dane folded his big arms across his chest, and that pushed out those biceps even more, and she was hooked on looking. Like a cat that saw a fish in a bowl.
Rayner licked her lips. The pink tip of her tongue shot out and traced the fullness, and his eyes darted down to take that move in.
There was a low rumble of a growl that rolled through his broad chest, but it never reached his throat. Shame, she would like to have heard it again, maybe not right against her ear like the last time … hell, who was she kidding – that’s exactly how she wanted to hear it.
What did it say for all of her denials that what she actually wanted was to feel those big, strong, musclebound arms wrapped around her body again?
The hell if she knew, but she was more than intrigued.
“Good enough?” Dane asked, and snapped her out of herself.
“What?” she asked, her brow furrowing just a little. Had she missed a part of the conversation?
“I let you go – good enough?”
“Sure, brownie points,” she offered back.
Rayner didn’t know if it was particularly hot inside his cabin, but she was certainly feeling the heat, and parched too. She ran her tongue over her lips again, and that time his growl did reach his throat.
“You gotta stop doing that if you want me to behave myself,” Dane warned her.
“Doing what?” She was lost again. She had no idea what he was talking about that time either.
“Licking you’re lips,” Dane’s voice was full of his beast.
His cock was raging hard for her, and his body was set to full steam ahead. Somehow, he didn’t think it would be that easy.
“I’m thirsty…” she barely got the words out of her mouth when he dropped his arms to his sides and padded off for the sink.
Rayner watched him go, watched him work on getting her a cool glass of water, reaching up for a glass, his back muscles moved under his shirt, stretching, and it made something flutter inside of her. For a big guy, he was quite graceful in his movements – she never expected that.
Most big guys that she’d had dealings with over the years, usually over Bute’s cash, were big old thugs that swung first and didn’t bother with the questions before or after. They certainly didn’t possess a certain amount of grace like Dane did.
She had to admit, only not to him – that she was sort of impressed. Although, she could have done without the giant damn grizzly outside the cabin door.
Dane stalked back towards her carrying the glass. His eyes were fully intent on her and only her. She should have been even more impressed, but she was still mentally calculating a way out.
“I should have asked,” Dane said, handing over the glass, as she made sure that she didn’t touch his fingers and start those damn tingles again.
He’d berated himself for the way that they’d met. He’d berated himself for his screw up of a brother, and he’d berated himself for the full-on, adrenaline filled rush to introduce himself as her mate.
Now, it was his turn to berate himself for not seeing to his mate’s needs. He’d left the woman standing there dying of thirst.
That certainly wasn’t in his DNA.
His protective gene had kicked in the moment that he’d spotted her on Bowie’s porch. She was small and fragile, and his brother was a monster – they all were – just different shades of monster.
Then he’d pulled in her scent. Isolating it from everything in nature around them, and he’d known, known like the knee to the balls that she’d delivered to him that she was his mate.
That protective gene had hit level-red alert status. And yet, he’d been a dumbass and not taken care of her needs.
“It’s not a social visit that I’m on.” she frowned back before sipping at the cool water.
Dane watched her like she was the prey that he wanted to bring down. In reality, she was.
The truth was that she was just different prey to what he was used to dealing with. The way that he wanted to bring her down was in his arms with his cock buried so damn deep inside of her that he was lost.
Mine…
Damn, but he could almost taste the need for her on his tongue. That need was strong, overwhelming in its magnitude.
CHAPTER SIX
~
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.