by Rayna Tyler
“Because, he’s...” Mandy’s elbow connected with Nick’s ribs, and the next sound out of his mouth was a combination exhale and groan.
“He’s what?” I crossed my arms tightly across my chest. They were up to something, and I was determined to find out what it was. “What were you going to say?”
“Oooh, don’t you just love this song?” Mandy interrupted, then rocked her body to the beat.
“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.” Nick bobbed his head as if he was enjoying the tune and not pretending to keep the conversation off the topic of Preston.
My brother and my best friend weren’t the only ones who knew how to play dirty. I leaned forward and propped my elbows on the table and spoke to Mandy. “Fifty bucks says you can’t get Nick to dance with you.”
Mandy stopped rocking and inquisitively raised her brow. “Fifty bucks...really?”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded, knowing I had her. It wasn’t so much about the money as it was about winning the challenge, something Mandy and I had in common.
“Mandy,” Nick whined, his face paling. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks to ignore her and stay right here.”
“Tempting.” Mandy knew I hated to lose and expectantly waited for my counteroffer.
Nick might be Mandy’s mate, but I’d known her a lot longer and wasn’t afraid to use everything in my arsenal to win. “I’ll bake you a week’s worth of your favorite Danishes.”
Mandy tapped her chin and ignored Nick’s low growl. “Fifty bucks plus two weeks’ worth of Danishes with extra icing, and it’s a deal.”
“Done.” I smacked the table and tossed a gloating grin at my brother.
“You two can bet whatever you want. I’m not doing it.”
Mandy patted Nick’s hand. “You will if you don’t want to sleep on the couch with Bear.”
“What... What happened to being loyal to your mate?” I almost felt bad from Nick’s alarmed expression.
“Don’t be such a baby.” Mandy pried free of his grip, slipped off his lap, and tugged his hand. “One dance isn’t going to kill you.”
“It might.” He reluctantly got to his feet and circled the table. Nick hovered over me and growled in my ear. “You, little sister, are an evil woman.”
“Who, me?” I feigned innocence, my laugh earning me a narrow-eyed scowl from Nick as he let Mandy drag him toward the floor.
No sooner had they left than Nina appeared at my side. “Here you go.” She set a tray with a large pitcher of beer, several empty glasses, and my change on the table in front of me.
“Thanks,” I said, pocketing the change, then pouring myself a drink.
“Oh, and I love the earrings.” Nina pointed at my gift now donning her earlobes. “They’re perfect.”
I smiled. “I’m glad you like them.” She’d probably made the bathroom her first stop to open the present and put them in her ears.
“Nick and Mandy didn’t leave already, did they?” Nina glanced at their empty chairs, her shoulders drooping.
“Oh no.” I took a sip, savoring the bitter taste and pointed at the dance floor.
“Will you be okay if I join them?” Nina anxiously bounced up and down.
Being thoughtful was one of Nina’s endearing qualities, but I didn’t have a problem sitting by myself. “Not at all. Go, have fun.”
“Awesome.” She hurried over to join them and was immediately swarmed by her girlfriends.
The owner of the bar was great about playing a wide range of music and had switched to rock with a heavy bass. It wasn’t long before I was sipping my beer, rocking to the beat and watching the dancers on the floor. Paying to see my brother’s attempt at dancing was the best money I’d ever spent.
After five painful minutes, I’d laughed so hard, I was afraid I’d pee my pants, and decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom. It would also give me a chance to scope out the bar to see if Preston had arrived without any scrutiny. Not that he couldn’t easily scent his way to the table and would need my help.
On my way to the restroom, I spotted Maris sitting on a stool near the bar, and my stomach was instantly speared with dread. As usual, she was ignoring Sherri, who was nursing a drink and staring at the crowd. I hated seeing the forlorn look pasted on Sherri’s face and would have dragged her to our table if I didn’t have to deal with her cousin to do it.
Maris was laughing and appeared to be flirting with a cowboy to her right. When the guy turned his head slightly, giving me a glimpse of his profile, I realized I knew him. His name was Troy. We’d never gotten to sharing last names. I’d met him here in the bar a few months ago, around the same time Nick and Mandy had gotten together. He was a player, had been a lot of fun the one time we’d gotten together, but wasn’t someone I’d wanted to consider being serious with.
Maris hadn’t seen me yet, and I made use of the opportunity by dashing down the hall to the bathrooms. With any luck, Troy would keep her busy for the rest of the night so I wouldn’t have to deal with her.
SURPRISINGLY, I HAD the four-stall bathroom all to myself. I had finished doing my business and was standing in front of the short white counter washing my hands when I glanced in the mirror and saw Maris walk inside. Was there no getting away from the woman?
Since ignoring her wasn’t possible, I made an attempt at politeness. “Hey, Maris, I see you found one of our local hot spots.” I snagged two paper towels from the dispenser, dried my hands, and pitched the crumpled remains into the trash.
“If you’re talking about this run-down excuse for a bar, then yes, I guess I did.” She strolled over to the counter and fluffed her hair.
So much for trying to be nice. She’d insulted my cooking, insulted my home, and now she’d insulted one of my favorite hangouts. As far as I was concerned, she’d drawn more than first blood, and I’d had enough. One more nasty anything and the claws were coming out. “You could always leave.” I didn’t mean just the bar. I wanted her off my property and out of the state.
“I would except...” Her excessively dramatic sigh made me want to vomit. “I promised Sherri’s father I’d look out for her.” She unsnapped the gold clasp on the tiny red handbag hugging her hip, then withdrew a tube of lipstick. “The things you have to do for family.” She smeared another coat of hot pink on her already glossed lips, then dropped the tube back into her purse.
Maris was too self-absorbed to understand what it meant to do something charitable for a family member, and it would be a waste of my breath to point it out to her. “I have friends waiting for me.” I wasn’t interested in continuing this conversation and took a step to leave.
Maris quickly blocked my path. “You still haven’t figured it out, have you?”
My wolf’s hackles were up, and I clenched my fists against my thighs to keep from pushing her aside. “What exactly haven’t I figured out?” Maybe now I’d find out why Maris came all the way to Colorado to torment me.
“That you need to stick with your own kind.” Disdain dripped from each word.
During our days at college, Maris had made subtle innuendos about other shifter species being inferior, but she’d never blatantly come out and said she thought she was better than me because I was a wolf, not a cougar. Had it been part of her motivation to go after Drew in the first place? “Meaning?”
“Meaning you were never good enough for Drew.” Her pointed finger was inches away from my face and in danger of being bitten off. Maris’s eyes took on a glassy look, and she gazed at the mirror over my shoulder as if her thoughts had taken her somewhere else.
If Maris had been human, not gifted with a shifter’s accelerated metabolism, I would have blamed her erratic behavior on imbibing too much. Though I’d smelled some alcohol on her breath, the only thing overpowering her natural scent was the large amount of expensive perfume she’d doused on her skin.
“Drew is mine, and you can’t have him.” She snapped out of her haze, the full force of her disgusted gaze focused back on me.
“I’ve seen the way that cougar’s been sniffing around you.” If Maris sneered any harder, she was going to have a new wrinkle or two by morning.
What cougar? Then it dawned on me she had to be talking about Preston. “Are you talking about the resort’s head of security?”
“Yes. He’s all kinds of delicious, so I can’t understand why he’d be interested in a scraggly wolf like you.”
Scraggly. I was a lot of things, but scraggly wasn’t one of them.
“Maybe he’d prefer to see what a she-cat has to offer.” She ran her hands seductively along her hips.
Maris had officially reached a new level of crazy. Not two seconds ago, she was warning me to stay away from Drew, and now she was lusting after Preston. Drew I couldn’t care less about, but Preston was mine. He was my destined mate, and this little bitch wasn’t getting anywhere near him.
If my wolf could speak, she’d be uttering the word “finally.” The pressure in my chest and the flutter in my stomach weren’t caused by stress, they were the result of love. I was in love with Preston.
I got in her face and bared the claws on my right hand. “You can have Drew, but if you mess with Preston, I’ll show you a wolf’s version of skinning a cat.” I poked her shoulder hard, but not hard enough to draw blood. “You’ll be lucky to have even one of your precious nine lives left when I’m through with you.”
Maris took a few steps back, her growl lacking intimidation. By the scent of her apprehension, I assumed the pampered bitch had never been in a real fight.
“Everything okay in here?” Mandy called from the restroom’s doorway, where she stood propping the door open with her hand.
Maris jerked her head in Mandy’s direction and snarled.
“Don’t even think about it,” I threatened, allowing my animal’s low, feral growl to enter my voice. I flicked the claws on my other hand in case Maris refused to heed my warning and go after my friend.
“You’re going to pay for all the trouble you’ve caused me.” Maris uttered her vehemence through gritted teeth, then spun on her heels and shoved past Mandy on her way out of the room.
“What trouble?” Mandy asked, glancing cautiously at the door as she closed the distance between us.
“Don’t know and don’t care.” Hopefully, the lunatic would be angry enough to leave the bar, and I’d be able to enjoy the rest of the evening. “So...” I draped my arm across Mandy’s shoulder. “What kind of Danishes am I making for you?”
PRESTON
After the pleasurable day I’d had with Berkley and Mandy, I was looking forward to Nina’s party. More specifically, I wanted to spend time with Berkley. Maybe coax her onto the dance floor, and see what she was like when she finally relaxed and cut loose.
What I hadn’t anticipated was being held up by a guest emergency. By the time I’d returned to the lodge, Berkley, Nick, and Mandy had already left. I’d assumed with all the safety protocols Reese had in place for the members of his family that Berkley would be traveling with Nick and Mandy. I’d found out from the night clerk working the reservation desk that they’d taken separate vehicles, that Berkley had left on her own.
With Desmond Bishop still posing a threat, she should have known better. It was a reckless thing to do, and I was livid.
Just because Berkley was street smart and could take care of herself didn’t stop me from being concerned for her safety. The root of my irritation was much deeper, more possessive, more animalistic. She wasn’t wearing my scent or my claiming mark. Until she consented to be mine, I didn’t want her around any other males, and neither did my cat. He wanted to protect his mate, and the longer Berkley and I were apart, the more agitated my animal and I became.
Making the long drive down the mountain without being able to reach Berkley because of the intermittent cell phone service hadn’t helped. I couldn’t even check in with Nick to make sure she’d arrived safely.
By the time I reached the bar, my body was strumming with tension and the pressure in my chest was constricting. All I could think about was making sure Berkley was all right, then draping her over my lap and spanking her gorgeous ass for making me worry.
The lot was packed; the only available spaces were the ones farthest from the entrance. I didn’t waste any time parking or racing across the gravel to reach the heavy wooden doors leading inside.
After receiving a nod from the burly guy manning the door, presumably to check IDs, I walked into the main area of the bar. It took less than a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, and even less time for me to sift through the odors and find the one I was searching for—Berkley. She’d passed this spot recently. Her unique jasmine scent still lingered in the air.
I scanned the crowd and saw Nick sitting alone where some tables had been pushed together in a corner on the opposite side of the large room. He waved and motioned for me to join him. Seeing Nick’s relaxed appearance went a long way in relieving some of my stress. If Mandy and Berkley were in any kind of danger, his wolf would be tearing this place apart to protect them.
The moment I took to steady my breathing and gain some composure put me in a collision path with Maris.
She hadn’t bothered to watch where she was going, and I hadn’t noticed her storming into the bar from the narrow hallway to my right until she’d slammed into my side. The sparsely lit hallway had a hand-carved wooden restroom sign posted above the entryway giving me a clue as to where she’d come from.
Her shove against my sturdy frame had the potency of a nudge. “Get out of...” Recognition flared in her angry gaze, and her demeanor went from being rude to pretentiously happy to see me. She glanced expectantly toward the hallway behind her, a sneer-like smile forming on her lips.
It was unnerving and had the hairs along my cat’s spine standing on end.
“I didn’t know you’d be here, Pres.”
“Preston,” I corrected. “Only my closest friends call me Pres. If you’ll excuse me...” As I turned to leave, she latched on to my arm. “Wait. Can’t you at least buy me a drink?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She leaned closer and skimmed her palm across my chest. “Even if I offered to return to the resort and give you a tour of my room?”
“Maris, I’m not interested.” Her nearness, her smell, her touch made the bile in my stomach churn, and I didn’t care if she was insulted by my abrupt tone. “There are plenty of other males here who I’m sure would be willing to take you up on your offer.” I captured her wrists, intent on pushing her away, when I heard a snarl—low, feral, and filled with pain. It wasn’t loud enough to draw the attention of humans, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed by several of the nearby shifters.
I jerked my head in the direction of the sound and locked gazes with an extremely pissed-off she-wolf. Berkley’s angry glare glowed a luminescent amber, and she clenched her hands into tight fists. She made a slow, disbelieving shake of her head, said something to Mandy I couldn’t hear over the music, then bolted for the exit.
“Preston, what the heck?” Mandy stomped across the floor, then planted herself between Maris and me.
“Mandy, it’s not how it looks.”
“I know.” Mandy narrowed a warning glare at Maris, who’d casually stepped aside but hadn’t been smart enough to leave.
Instead, Maris shrugged, not bothering to hide a gloating smirk. She’d known Berkley was in the bathroom, would eventually pass this way to return to the table, and had purposely taunted her by throwing herself at me.
“You.” Mandy gritted her teeth and pointed a finger at Maris. “You stay awa
y from my friend, or I swear I will rip your fucking hair out.”
Mandy was close to losing it. She rarely cursed, and she never said “Fuck.” I wanted to go after Berkley but was afraid if I did, Mandy would end up being hurt by Maris. Humans didn’t stand a chance in a fight with a shifter.
Nick must have seen what happened, because he’d appeared out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around Mandy’s waist before she could go after Maris. “Go, find my sister. I’ll take care of this.”
I didn’t have time to worry about what Nick meant when he said he’d take care of things. Finding my mate was all that mattered.
Chapter Nine
BERKLEY
After Mandy and I emerged from the bathroom, we’d made it as far as the doorway leading from the hallway into the bar. Maris’s heavily perfumed odor permeated my nostrils seconds before I saw her mass of flaming red hair. I’d hoped after our encounter, she’d be smart enough to return to her seat and stay out of my way for the remainder of the night.
What made matters worse was finding her pressing her body against Preston’s, her palms flattened on his chest. “Son of a bitch,” I growled. Either the stupid woman hadn’t believed I’d follow through on my threat, or she had a serious need to experience pain.
“Berkley, what’s wrong?” Mandy followed the direction of my stare and gasped, “Oh.”
I took a step forward, only to have Mandy grab my arm to keep me in place. “You can’t hurt her.”
I had to give her credit for trying to intervene. It was never smart to get between two shifters, but that didn’t stop her from squeezing my arm tighter and digging in her heels. Mandy was frantically glancing at the few people—all shifters—whose attention I’d drawn. “At least not here.”
I would have listened to her advice, would have held back my wolf until later, if Preston hadn’t wrapped his hands around Maris’s wrists. Irrational as it was, seeing him touch her was my undoing.