by Kim Fox
“Muffins are ready!” Stetson called out.
“Go deep,” Karl said, holding his hands up.
Stetson tossed one across the camp and Karl snatched it out of the air. He peeled the wrapping off as Stetson threw another one to Slate.
Tyler walked over with a cup of coffee and plopped down on an empty seat beside them. “It should be easier for you guys to find a mate,” he said. “You only have to find one girl for the two of you. It should take half the time.”
Slate shook his head vigorously. “No. One girl each.”
Karl glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. His brother had always been so against sharing a mate. They had never talked about it before but Karl always felt a little hurt when Slate spoke like that. Identical shifter twins always bonded to the same mate but Slate refused to hear the truth. He thought that he was different.
He watched Slate with a heavy chest as his twin bit into his muffin, eating the wrapper along with the muffin. Well, he’s definitely different. Maybe he was right.
Tyler tilted his head to the side. “I thought twin shifters shared mates?”
“Shared mates?” Camilla asked with a crinkle of her nose. “You mean both of you at the same time?”
Kylee was turning red with all of this threesome talk. It was a little early for a discussion on orgies.
“That’s what he means,” Slate said, “but that’s not going to happen.” His voice was firm and unmoving. “I want my own girl.”
Karl dropped his eyes to the fire. He and his brother had always been so incredibly close but this always seemed to be standing between them. Sometimes he wondered if it would ever be settled.
“You shifters are so weird,” Tyler said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’ll never understand you people.”
Karl furrowed his brow as he turned towards him. “But skin shifters take on mates.”
Tyler laughed. “Yeah, but we decide who our mates will be, not some crazy wild animal who lives inside our bodies.”
Karl dropped his eyes and gritted his teeth. Slate could deny it all he wanted but the truth was right there. Their bears, or fate depending on what you believed, would be the one who chose their mates. If it was the same woman as Karl, then Slate couldn’t do anything about it. He would just have to learn to deal with it.
Camilla nodded. “I must admit, it is a little strange.”
Royal walked over and she looked up at him and smiled. “But it worked out for us.” He leaned down and kissed her on the lips. Her cheeks were red and she was smiling shyly when he pulled away.
“Yup,” she said, licking her lips. “It sure did.”
Karl couldn’t help but wonder if it would work out for him. It had to. It was fate.
Thorn emerged from the forest and walked over to the outdoor kitchen where the coffee pot was sitting.
But fate could be cruel when it came to mates. Thorn could tell you all about that.
“Ready, babe?” Royal asked. “The cows are hungry.”
Camilla jumped up with a smile. “I sure am. Scrappy!” She let out a whistle and the puppy ran over to his owner. He was getting bigger and looked goofier than ever. He was in the awkward stage where his paws were too big for his body and he kept tripping on them when he tried to run faster than he was able to.
Royal and his new bride were holding hands as they walked over to the barn with Scrappy following them closely. They looked so happy and as much as Karl had mate issues, or a lack of mate issues was more like it, he was thrilled for them. Camilla had moved into Royal’s cabin and she helped him every day with the cattle. She was great with animals and the cows loved her as much as she loved them.
“I have to go too,” Kylee said, taking her Sheriff’s hat off the empty chair beside her and putting it on her head. “Time to go solve the case of Mr. Anderson’s broken mailbox.”
She walked over to Stetson who was taking out a tray of muffins while wearing a pink apron tied around his massive body. He looked ridiculous but no one had the guts to tell him that.
“See you later, babe,” he said, kissing her on the lips. Stetson bent down and kissed the little bump on her belly. “See you in a few months, baby.”
Karl drew in a deep breath and then slowly released it. He was happy for his friends but he couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. He wanted the same but for some reason, he didn’t think he would get it until Slate accepted the truth. After all, it did take three people to complete the triad. It would never work if Slate was so against it.
“Ready to go?” Slate asked, jumping up and rubbing his palms together in excitement.
“You guys leaving again?” Thorn asked as he walked over with a coffee mug in his hand.
“Oh yeah,” Slate said with a nod. The twins had been doing a lot of wingsuit flying lately off of the cliff outside of town. They had both always been adrenaline junkies and there was nothing like the thrill of jumping off a cliff while wearing nothing but a tight suit with some fabric wings sewed under the arms and between the legs.
“Is this part of the business development for the ranch?” Thorn asked with a raised eyebrow. He took a sip of coffee while he waited for their answer.
Karl held his breath. The squad had split the ranch jobs up among themselves and Slate had convinced Thorn to put them in charge of business development, whatever that meant. Karl didn’t even think Slate knew. So far it had just been an excuse to go wingsuit flying every day.
Royal and Camilla were in charge of the cattle, Stetson was in charge of cooking, fishing, and camp maintenance, Tyler was in charge of the horses that were about to arrive now that the stables were built, and Thorn was in charge of overseeing everything and helping out where he was needed.
“What about this guy?” Slate asked, pointing at Tyler. “He hasn’t done anything since the stables have been built.”
“The horses are coming tomorrow,” Tyler said, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s my last day off.”
Slate’s face lit up. “Want to come wingsuit flying with us?” he asked.
Tyler chuckled. “I don’t need to put on that ugly suit to fly,” he said. “Watch this.”
Karl grinned as Tyler’s eyes began glowing a creepy white. He was a skin shifter which meant that he could slide into the skin of any animal and control it.
A little red-tailed hawk flying overhead cawed as it dove down right at them. “Here he comes,” Karl whispered.
It plunged down towards them like a feathered missile. Karl smiled as the bird slowed, then spread its beautiful wings and landed on Tyler’s head. It would have looked odd to an outsider, having a hawk perched on Tyler’s frozen body with his eyes glowing a bright white, but Karl and the squad were all used to it. Tyler had been doing this kind of shit for years.
“Okay, Tyler,” Slate said, rolling his eyes. “We get it. You’re very talented.”
The bird jumped off of Tyler’s head and flew up. He paused over Slate’s head, flapping its wings to keep him in place, and dropped a white watery shit into his hair.
“Ah what the fuck?!?” Slate screamed as Karl, Stetson, and Thorn burst out laughing. Tyler’s eyes returned to normal as he released his hold on the bird. He was grinning as Slate tried to wipe the bird poo off of his head.
“Dick!” Slate yelled, throwing his half eaten muffin at Tyler. “You’re no longer invited.”
“So,” Thorn said, not letting them change the subject. “When is all of this business going to get developed?”
Slate jumped up. “I have more pressing things to do like go jump in the shower,” he said, glaring at Tyler. “But don’t worry boss, it’s coming.” He hurried off to his cabin and Thorn turned his narrowed eyes to Karl. Karl gulped. Thorn wasn’t known as the Thornado for nothing. He could be intimidating as hell.
“We’ll figure it out, boss,” Karl said. How? He had no idea.
“You better,” Thorn said, “or you two will be the official shit shovelers for the cattle and hor
ses.”
Stetson grinned. “I always knew those two were full of shit.”
“They will be,” Thorn said giving Karl a warning look, “if they don’t make something happen.”
Karl could smell the manure of a hundred cows wafting over from the barn. He gulped. Thorn never made idle threats.
Slate better have something in mind. But if he knew his twin, which he did, Slate would have nothing.
Slate pulled the pickup truck onto the grass at the top of the mountain. “Are you sure?” he asked Karl as he looked at his hair in the rear-view mirror for the tenth time. “I can still smell it.”
“It’s in your head, man,” Karl answered.
“No, it’s in my hair,” Slate said with a frown. Fucking Tyler. Fun and games were fine but even Slate had his limits. You didn’t mess with a man’s hair.
He was already thinking of ways to get him back when Karl cleared his throat. “What do you think about what Tyler said? About the shared mate?”
Slate exhaled as he turned off the truck. How could he tell his twin, his best friend, and brother, that he didn’t want to share a mate?
He had cringed the first time his dad had told him about twins sharing mates. He would never share a mate with Karl. He knew what would happen if he did.
“Can we just go flying?” Slate asked, dismissing his brother. “I’m so sick of all of this mate talk.”
Karl nodded and climbed out of the truck. Shit. He was upset. He knew his brother as well as two people could know each other and there was something bothering him. This mate talk had been nothing but trouble since they moved onto the ranch.
And it seemed to be just getting worse.
Slate sighed as he stepped out of the truck. They could deal with their issues later. It was time to go wingsuit flying.
Karl was already pulling on his suit as Slate walked to the back of the truck. His adrenaline was already getting jacked as he breathed in the piney smell of the tall cedars and the bright sun warmed his face. It was the perfect day to jump off a cliff.
“Thorn is not just going to let us fuck around all day while everyone else is hard at work,” Karl said as he slid his arm into the sleeve. “You told him that we’d be in charge of business development. Do you have anything in mind?”
Slate nodded. He had just googled business development before breakfast and got a whole ton of articles full of great ideas. He hadn’t read any of them yet, but they were saved in his favorites. “I’m working on it.”
Karl sighed. “Well, we have to work on it a little bit faster or Thorn is going to make us clean out the barn and stables. And he wasn’t talking about vacuuming.”
Slate shrugged. “Business is in our blood,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”
Their father, Walter Ember, had started an engine manufacturing business and grew it from his garage to over three thousand employees. The twins grew up in a very rich family. Their father was an eccentric multi-millionaire who had more than a couple of quirks. The main one was that he was absolutely obsessed with the piano. He played it all of the time and when he wasn’t playing it, he was listening to it. When he died Slate and Karl were horrified to find out that he had donated his entire estate, worth over thirty million dollars, to the piano players’ association of America. Their father had written them a note that said a man should make his own fortune and not just be given one, but Slate didn’t believe that was the reason for their lack of inheritance. Their father always loved the piano more than he loved them.
Thirty million dollars. Slate still couldn’t hear a piano today without getting nauseous.
Slate put on his suit in a hurry and joined his twin at the edge of the cliff. The helmets were left in the truck. Their heads were harder than rocks anyway.
“Well, we better figure it out soon,” Karl said, peering over the edge of the cliff. “That cow shit is starting to pile up.”
“Will you stop nagging me?” Slate asked. “This is where I come to get away from the nagging.”
“Alright,” Karl said with a tight voice. “But we have to talk about it later.”
Slate sighed. He loved his brother to death but sometimes he could worry for nothing.
“Ready?” he asked, his lips curling up into a huge smile. Slate inched forward letting his toe peek over the edge. The wind was fierce up here, cold and biting. The hair on his skin stood up as the sharp cry of a hawk echoed from down below. His pulse began to race as he peered down at the humans below looking like tiny specks as they walked around. The twins were so high up. If Slate stood on his toes he could touch a cloud.
Slate grinned as his inner brown bear started going nuts. Their bears hated this shit. They would pace and claw and surge forward, trying to get out, but as soon as they jumped their bears would be silent and frozen. And then they would be calm for the rest of the day.
“Oh yeah, I’m ready!” Karl answered with an excited grin on his face. The twins could be insanely stressed out or furiously upset, but as soon as they stepped close to the cliff and felt their adrenaline spike and their senses heighten, all of that would be forgotten. “Want to go say hi to the climber?”
Slate leaned forward and looked straight down along the face of the cliff. There was a curvy woman halfway up who seemed to be taking a break. He could see down her shirt and his pulse raced a little bit harder. He was definitely going to take a closer look.
Sometimes Karl and Slate would glide along the surface of the cliff, giving the rock climbers high fives or heart attacks, depending on how adventurous the climbers were. One time Karl snatched a granola bar out of a climber’s hand.
“Let’s do it,” Slate said as his bear tried to lunge out of his skin. Slate clenched his body and pushed him back down. That’s a good bear. “On three, two-”
Karl jumped, disappearing over the cliff in a swan dive. That asshole never waited.
Slate grinned as he dove down after his brother.
The wind rushed up like a smack in the face as he plummeted to the ground like a fucking heat seeking missile. “Woo hoo!” he screamed as he spun like a tornado, only a foot or two away from the rock. There was no freer feeling like wingsuit flying, and Slate fucking loved it. There was no room for anything else in your mind while flying, not money, work, stress, politics, mates, nothing.
Slate thrust his shoulders up and opened his arms. The wind caught his fabric wings and yanked him up. He flew forward like one of the circling hawks below and smiled. His inner bear was silent, probably too scared to make a peep, and his mind had nothing but calm and serenity flowing through it. Every second trickled as time slowed down in that moment of complete joy and happiness.
The view was spectacular with the Abraskoa mountains and the lush Montana forests. He could spot the town of Colwood up ahead and their new ranch off in the distance. It was absolutely beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful.
Slate pointed his toes for control and dipped to the side, spinning back towards the cliff to check out the sexy rock climber who was still frozen in the same spot. Karl was below him and already on the way to get a closer look. Not before me.
He turned towards the cliff and then straightened out about two feet away from the surface of the rock. It whizzed by his face in a blur and he felt like a fighter jet as he maneuvered with an insane amount of agility and speed down towards the woman.
She began screaming something about a helicopter as they approached. Slate couldn’t hear too well with all of the wind rushing past his ears but she didn’t sound happy.
“ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!?” she screamed in horror as Karl flew past her. She sounded terrified. Karl whizzed by her and nearly crashed into the cliff as he turned his head back and watched her over his shoulder.
She was quickly approaching as Slate swooped down the rock. “WHAT THE FUCK?!?” she screamed as she looked up at Slate with wide eyes.
Time slowed down to a crawl as he blew past her. She was incredible. Thick and curvy with
the most delicious pink lips. Her wide, terrified blue eyes shined like sapphires as she watched him without blinking. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her windswept bangs were pushed off to the side.
Slate wished that his wingsuit had brakes. He only had a fraction of a second to look at her as he whizzed by but he needed all day. He needed hours to study her cute little chin, the smooth column of her neck, her round shoulders, and beautifully formed breasts.
It was over too fast. He flew past her and even though he saw Karl nearly kill himself turning his head, he did the exact same thing. He whipped his head back and grinned as he got a perfect view of her soft, curvy ass, and thick legs.
But again, it was over too fast. His shoulder smacked into a rock that was sticking out of the cliff and he grunted as he spun out of control. “Fuck!” he grunted as his shoulder burned inside. Something was broken. It would heal and wasn’t the end of the world but it made it hard to thrust out his hands and control the suit.
Karl was already flying across the valley, slowing down with his arms and legs spread open. They would always land on the grass, sometimes slowing to a stop by landing on their feet and running, and sometimes by hitting the ground like a meteorite and leaving a trail of ripped up dirt behind them.
“HELP!” Slate heard her call out. It was faint but he had heard it.
He should have been focusing on his landing but he turned his head back and looked up at her. They made eye contact and her sapphire blue eyes seized his core. It shook his body in a way that he had never felt before.
It was the best feeling in the world, quickly followed by the worst feeling in the world as he slammed into the hard cedar trees of the forest.
three
“So much for my saviors,” Layla said as the flying idiots with no parachutes hit the ground. The first one bounced down the valley like a golf ball, slamming into the dirt over and over again before skidding to a stop. The second one faired even worse. He smashed into the forest below, taking down tall cedar trees like a sharp sickle slicing through wheat.