by Mason, Marie
“Killing me here, babe. Killing me” He was wound so tight, he didn’t know how much control he actually had left. He knew it was probably best to let things cool down. He didn’t want her saying yes in the heat of the moment. “Yeah, I’m not sure how long the inspector will be this afternoon either. Tomorrow night, then.” He cut her off before she could open her mouth to speak. “You’ve got to learn a new word, sweetheart. I’ll pick you up at six.” He nuzzled his mouth against her neck. Her giggle as he tickled her neck turned to a deep moan when he gave her neck a sharp bite.
“I wasn’t going to say no.” She pulled his head up and kissed him. She couldn’t think he was doing that. “Where are we going?”
“I want to show you something.”
“Didn’t you already do that?”
“Hush, woman, or you’ll be getting another up close and personal look.”
“Promises, promises,” she teased softly as her fingers brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen across his brow.
Her eyes filled with desire and he couldn’t wait to claim her as his mate.
“Wear jeans and sturdy shoes. And dress warm. It’s still cold at night.” He gave her a hard, swift kiss because that was all his control would allow. He spring up, graceful and lethal, and helped her to her feet. Fastening his jeans, he grimaced as he forced his hard cock back behind the zipper. Quickly gathering the lunch tote and blanket, he laughed when her pink panties fluttered to the ground. He snatched them up before she could.
“Uhh-uhh. Those are mine.” He stuffed them in the front pocket of his jeans and gripped her elbow, guiding her to the elevator. He needed to get her off the secluded floor before his good intentions went to hell in a handbasket.
CHAPTER FIVE
Quinn watched until the taillights of Paige’s car blinked out of sight. Before he could turn and walk away, his brothers were beside him.
“So.” Ryker spoke first. Both men had crossed their arms and were looking at him with the same expression their father had used when Quinn had messed up. “When are you bringing her home to meet the parents?”
Not until after I’ve had my dick inside her, that’s for sure, he thought silently. Last week in a moment of desperation to get her to go out with him, he’d invited her to his parents’ Sunday dinner. She’d said no and now he was glad. Now that he’d had time to think—who was he kidding?—now that he’d had a taste of her, he’d rethought that idea. He loved his family, but they were big, loud, and noisy.
Ryland took pity on him. “Don’t tease, Ryk. Can’t you see the man is having a hard time?”
Ryker shuddered. “I really didn’t want to see just how hard a time he was having. The picture of his bare ass in the air will haunt me forever.”
Quinn turned and walked away giving them the bird and using Paige’s brushoff from the other day. “Whatever.”
His brothers fell into step behind him, making every crude joke they could think of as they made their way back to the office trailer. He couldn’t wait until they found their mates. Payback was a bitch.
“Yeah, Quinn, you didn’t even give her a hard—”
Quinn turned so suddenly his brothers didn’t have time to pull back. One large hand curled around each of their throats. Both men were Quinn’s equal in height and weight, but they didn’t react to their brother’s threat. They recognized a male in the grip of the mating heat and realized they had pushed their brother to the edge.
“Hey, I was just going to say you didn’t give her a hard hat on the site.” Ryker spoke and Quinn released them to go sit behind his desk. “Geez, man. Lighten up, already.”
Quinn just gave them a flinty eyed glare. If it wasn’t for these two knuckleheads, he would have been balls deep inside Paige by now. Probably for the second time. And you would have mated her, his bear reminded him. Which would not have been one of his better ideas.
“Look man, we’re sorry.” Ryland apologized for both of them. Something he had always done. Ryker usually dragged his brother into the thick of trouble and didn’t look back.
They’d just spent the last fifteen minutes giving him hell, but Quinn couldn’t stay mad at his brothers. “It’s alright guys. I’m just a little touchy, I guess.”
The twins looked at each other and they did that silent communication thing that drove the entire Blackwood clan insane. He chuckled to himself at the thought of the trouble they’d have with their mates. He didn’t know of any woman who would appreciate the men’s uncanny ability to communicate with each other without words. Women wanted to know everything.
Except Paige She hadn’t even asked where he was taking her tomorrow night. Which reminded him, he needed to warn his brothers to stay away from the woods behind his house. He was not about to be interrupted a second time. “Stay away from the woods tomorrow.”
Ryland and Ryker both took a seat in front of the metal desk they all shared when needed. “Got plans, do you?”
“Yeah, and they don’t include you.”
“Hey, bro, you know we’d join in a minute. Paige is hot.”
“Quit poking the bear, Ryland,” Ryker warned his twin. Then ruined his support by saying, “I think Quinn’s gonna poke Paige.”
This time Quinn did roar and barely controlled the urge to shift and give his two shitheaded brothers a lesson they’d remember for a long, long time.
“Don’t worry. We won’t be near the woods. At least not yours.”
Quinn leaned back in his chair. “How are the others working out?” Before he’d returned from the Council meeting, he’d hired two more bear shifters to help patrol the grounds at night. He didn’t know how the hell the jackals were getting in and out without being seen. Or scented. Maybe with the extra shifters, they’d finally get some answers.
“They’re decent.” The twins exchanged another glance.
“Out with it,” he demanded.
“There’s something else going on. Maybe a vagrant. Someone looking for a place to sleep.” Ryker spoke, taking the lead, which was very unlike him.
Quinn looked at Ryland to see what the other man thought.
“Yeah, I agree with him.” He tossed another quick look at his twin. “You need to tell him, man.”
“Tell me what.”
“Ryker thinks there’s been some cats hanging around.”
“Cats?” Atlanta was not cat country. Even though the winters weren’t usually severe, some years it could get mighty cold when an arctic blast rolled through. And cats hated cold weather. Most cat shifters stayed further south where it was warmer. Maybe the shifters were just passing through. He looked at his brothers and knew the men weren’t telling him everything. “And?”
“And there’s something off about them,” Ryland said. “When I track them, their scent isn’t strong, like it’s been days since they’ve been here.”
Ryker finished his brother’s thought. “But in the building, I can almost taste the scent.”
“What about you, Ryland?”
“Not so much.”
Quinn rubbed his jaw vaguely wondering what was going on with his brothers. He really didn’t want to be doing this right now. He wanted to be with Paige. Be in Paige. His dick was still twitching from the feel of her mouth and his bear was chuffing, wanting another taste of her sweet honey.
If Marcum had enlisted other shifters in his crazy scheme, his agenda had changed and Quinn needed to change right along with it. “Get some fox shifters in here, maybe they can find something we can’t. I was hoping the sight of more bear shifters would scare the jackals off. Damn cats are so stubborn, they’d stay just to toy with us.” He didn’t let his worry show. If Marcum got cats involved, he meant business. Cats demanded their pound of flesh up front.
The three men sat in silence until Ryland spoke again, “As soon as the inspector leaves, we’re taking you home. Mama wants to talk to you.”
Quinn grimaced. He’d been avoiding his mother’s calls since Monday. The last voice mail she’d lef
t was an explicit order to come to dinner, sooner rather than later. There was little he could do to turn down the ‘invitation.’ When Mama Bear wanted her cubs to come home, Mama Bear’s cubs came home. Knowing it was just a matter of time—and opportunity—before he claimed her, he figured tonight, since Paige was busy, was as good a day as any to tell his parents he’d found his mate.
“Mama!”
A woman’s shrill voice echoed through the Blackwood house. Usually the family gathered each Sunday. This was a middle of the week dinner that meant something big was going on. Unfortunately, Quinn was the something big.
The whole family was there except for his other sister and her family. They came in every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and two weeks during the summer. Oh, and at least one weekend a month. His mother couldn’t go very long without seeing her grandchildren.
“Stop screeching Debra Blackwood Clark. I raised you better than that.” A large woman yelled just as loudly from the other side of the room as she put the finishing touches on the evening meal.
His parents’ house had more than an open floor plan, it was so big and vast sometimes it felt like a freakin’ ballroom. This evening, Quinn didn’t think it was nearly big enough with two bear sows yelling at each other. Add in four more grizzlies, one Kodiak, and two cubs and it was downright claustrophobic.
“Apparently you didn’t raise Quinn so well.” Deb stomped further into the room, giving him a disgusted look.
“What? What did I do?”
“You didn’t tell her, you idiot.”
“Tell who what?” Ryland muted the television from his seat on the couch.
Quinn thought it best to get to his feet when his sister turned her obvious wrath on him. He’d never hurt his sister, he’d never hurt any woman. He didn’t, however, trust her not to hurt him. He remembered that one year in his childhood when his sister had been bigger than him and grabbed the nearest cub in self-defense. His niece snuggled against his shoulder and he breathed in her baby-fresh scent.
Want one, his bear rumbled and Quinn couldn’t agree more.
“You didn’t tell Paige she was your mate.”
“What? Of course, I did.”
Ryland rose to his feet and stood by Quinn’s side. “Oh contraire, Sis, Quinn was just telling Paige all about mating this afternoon. Me and Ryker can vouch for that.”
Quinn ignored his brother and tried to think. On Wednesday, Quinn had told Paige bear shifters didn’t always mate for life, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted his true mate. Forever. Saturday on the phone he’d told her she was his when she’d threatened to go out with his brothers. And Ryland was right, he had shown her a thing or two about mating this afternoon. He didn’t know what his sister was talking about.
“Shut up, Ry,” Ryker reprimanded his brother. Then ruined his seeming support by adding, “Can’t you see he’s about to blow?”
“Speaking of blow—”
A sound Quinn had never made before erupted in the back of his throat and suddenly, the room fell silent. He barely registered the fact that his father had risen from his chair and was looking at him with concern and that Jason had grabbed his daughter and put himself between Quinn and Deb and the cubs. Before he knew what was happening, he was in Ryland’s face ready to rip out the other man’s throat.
“Easy, son.” His dad’s hand on his shoulder steadied his rising bear. While bears didn’t have alphas—well, really all bears were alphas—they did respect the familial structure.
Quinn breathed deep, taking back the shattered control he held over his bear.
“See, Mama, Quinn is going to ruin it.” Deb looked around her husband’s broad shoulders to throw another angry look Quinn’s way.
“Ruin what?” His mother finally made her way into the living room. She’d paid little attention to the drama being played out in the living room as she’d finished dinner. Having three male cubs and two female cubs, drama had pretty much been the norm in the Blackwood household for years.
“My dip wad of a brother forgot to tell Paige she was his mate!”
“What?!”
Everyone started talking at once. Everyone except Quinn. Of course, Paige knew she was his mate. Today, at the site, she’d agreed to be his.
She agreed to have sex, his bear laughed at him.
Oh, crap. His bear was right. She had no idea what he’d meant when he said he wanted to make her his. He’d hadn’t given it much credence, but she had already denied his claim that she was his mate. She’d probably thought he was feeding her a line just to get some pussy.
What Quinn felt for Paige wasn’t merely attraction, though God knew, he wanted to spend twenty-four hours a day fucking her. Beyond that, he really liked her. She was easy to talk to, sassy and had a laugh that made his trousers tent just thinking about her. So far they’d shared two of the most intense sexual experiences of his life and he hadn’t even fucked her yet. He was pretty sure somewhere in there, he’d explained about mates, and mating.
“Did you tell her she was your mate?” At first, he thought his bear had whispered the words. Then he realized his mother was talking. “Did you tell this woman she was your mate, Quinn?”
“Umm, I.” He had told her she was his.
“The idiot, apparently didn’t,” Ryland said. “He just fu—”
Before he could stop himself, Quinn decked his younger brother.
“Ryland! Quinn!”
He went after his brother again.
“Enough!” This time the roar was from his father and three sets of strong hands grabbed him from behind. The combined strength of his father, brother, and brother-in-law almost wasn’t enough to stop him from taking off his brother’s head. No one disrespected a mate. Especially his mate.
Ah, fuck, Quinn thought. Deb was right. He hadn’t told Paige she was his mate. Just made some vague, dominating—scratch that, apparently domineering—claims. Basically, he’d demanded sex.
“You alright there?" Jason laughed softly, loosening his hold on Quinn’s arms.
“Yeah. No.”
His father’s large hand clasped his back and the men let him go, one by one. “Is she the one, son?”
“Yeah, but she hasn’t a clue about what it means to mate a bear.” How the hell had he screwed up so royally?
This time his brother-in-law snorted. “Does anyone?”
After Quinn had gotten his ass chewed out by his sister and mother, the Blackwood family had sat down to eat. Fried chicken, potatoes, broccoli. A meatloaf, a ham and a turkey. More potatoes, green beans, and enough sweets to satisfy a brown bear, five grizzlies, a Kodiak bear and two cubs. No, it wasn’t Thanksgiving or Christmas. Just a meal at the Blackwoods. A lot of food was needed to feed the clan. Afterwards, Quinn had decided to shift and cut through the forest to head home. Ryland and Ryker drove back to Ryker’s house, where Ryland had left his bike. Not that Ryland could blame Quinn. Everyone, including their father, had given him advice on how to win his mate. Everyone except Ryker. His twin had stayed quiet throughout the evening. Even more withdrawn than usual.
Ryland sometimes found it hard to believe they were identical twins. They looked alike, acted alike, and smelled enough alike that sometimes even shifters had trouble telling them apart. To Ryland that was the end of their similarities. He thought himself more grounded. More content, he supposed. He looked at the glass half full, while Ryker sometimes questioned if the glass even existed.
He knew something was up with his twin. For one thing, Ryker seemed to be shutting him out. He couldn’t explain the silent communication thing between them that drove the family nuts, he just knew he’d always known what his twin was thinking. Until now.
He waited until Ryker turned the black Hummer onto the gravel road leading to the house before he spoke. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on with the cats—and the two females I keep smelling in the building?”
Ryker continued to drive, down shifting up the incline at the end of the dri
veway. Parking the vehicle, he got out without answering and Ryland shook his head. The fact that he knew what was going on didn’t matter. He wanted his brother to say it out loud.
“Ryker, we need to talk about this.” He closed the front door and followed his brother into the two story log cabin. A year ago, Ryker had suddenly decided he wanted a house of his own. Ryland didn’t understand why, he was happy sharing an apartment in town. But he’d helped his twin, just like he’d helped Quinn build his house a few years earlier.
“What if the humans we’ve been smelling are working for Marcum? We need to tell Quinn.”
His brother finally gave him his full attention, right in his face. It was the second time tonight one of his brothers had been angry enough to tear his throat out. “Leave it alone. I’ll take care of it.”
“Tell me what you sense. I just smell a female cat shifter. Very, very faintly. You say you can taste her scent.”
“Drop it, Ryland.” He turned to go, but Ryland grabbed his arm.
“I feel it too, Ryker. I feel the draw.”
“I know.” Ryker shook off his hold and walked away.
Ryland stayed where he was, sick inside because of the despair he’d heard in Ryker’s voice. For the very first time, he felt disconnected from his twin.
CHAPTER SIX
Quinn’s favorite place was deep in the woods that surrounded his house, far away from the glow of civilization and the gleam of prying eyes. Quinn loved being outside—any time, any season, any weather. Day, night, rain or shine. He’d decided to show Paige his woods during the early evening hours. He’d love to bring her here in the dark of the night, but that was for another time.
The woods were completely private. His twin brothers, though, had been known to roam at night in their bear form, or bring their latest lover into the wild. After he’d happened upon Ryland au natural with his latest fling, they’d tried to warn each other if they had plans for the evening and divided the woods so each bear would have their privacy.