Perfect Mate

by Jennifer Ashley

  “I do,” Eric said, his tone mild. He remained on the porch, despite the cold wind, carefully coming no farther into Nell’s territory. “I need Cormac to be here, and I need you to go along with it. You two mating will help me, and help you, and help all the other bears as well.” He relaxed enough to smile, but his green eyes were watchful. “In fact, Nell, you’ll be doing it for the good of all Shiftertown.”

  Chapter Two

  On a narrow street off Charleston Boulevard, in a twenty-four-hour club that was much more like the old, seedy Las Vegas than the slick new one, a man studied four snapshots he’d laid out on a somewhat damp table. His beer bottle, along with another empty, stood beside them. Across the room, a stripper—a tall, well-built Shifter woman, complete with Collar—danced her provocative dance.

  Shifter strippers were popular, because Shifter women, apparently, never minded stripping all the way down to what was legal. They were also tall and curvaceous, with large breasts that were all natural, and equally great asses.

  Josiah Doyle—Joe to his friends—occasionally watched the stripper, but confined himself mostly to memorizing the photos, which he’d burn tonight.

  The first was of a man, Hispanic or Latino, with black hair and brown eyes. Joe’s notes on the back of the picture said that the man was a former cop who now ran a security company. Probably a dangerous guy to screw with. Joe was pretty dangerous himself, but he wasn’t completely stupid.

  He sipped beer and set the still-cold bottle down again. The next photo was of a gorgeous honey of a Shifter woman, blond with light green eyes, tall and sweet like the stripper. She was the wife—or mate as they called them—to the Latino. Another potentially dangerous target, because the ex-cop Latino would protect his wife.

  The third photo was another human, this one tall and thinner than the first man, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so dark they might as well be black too. Joe flipped over the photo and reread what he’d written: Stuart Reid, another former cop, now employed by DX Security—the Latino ex-cop’s firm—and living in Shiftertown.

  Joe let out his breath in a slow sigh. That Shifter bear from Mexico who’d contacted Joe had to be crazy to go after these targets. But a job was a job, money was money, and Joe had promised himself he’d look into it.

  The first three were no-goes, however. Joe didn’t kill humans, no matter how high the price. Killing humans was murder, and murder brought with it a long prison sentence. Joe had never gone to prison in his life, and he never intended to. He’d never even received a speeding ticket, and all his weapons were licensed and legal.

  Besides, if he stooped to murdering humans, his mother would freak. Any break in the Ten Commandments meant a long lecture over Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, or Easter dinner—whichever holiday happened to be closest to the offense. For Joe, the breach was usually taking the Lord’s name in vain or coveting something. Joe had learned to keep his mother happy so he could eat his bird and stuffing or ham and greens in peace.

  The stripper up on the little stage was baring it gladly, and Shifter females could bend. His mother didn’t have to worry about Joe committing adultery with her, though, or even coveting. She was a Shifter, for crying out loud. He might get fleas or something.

  He bent to the photos again. The female Shifter in the photo was a better target, but again, if the Latino guy and maybe even Reid, who worked with her husband, protected her, then hunting her would be too risky. Joe might have to kill the two humans to get to her, or kill them to defend himself if it came to it. Nope. Best stay away from them.

  Joe pushed their photos away and drew the fourth one to him. This one, now . . . This one had potential.

  The photo showed a huge male with muscle on muscle and dark hair streaked with brown. The Collar around his neck proclaimed him Shifter, as did the look in his brown eyes. Shifters always had a certain look, as though they really did want to knock you down and kill you the first chance they got, never mind the Collar programmed to shock them if they became violent.

  This Shifter wasn’t married to any human, and he’d never been a cop—Shifters weren’t allowed to join law enforcement. He wasn’t related to the Shifter woman target either. She was a wildcat and he was a bear, and from what Joe had heard, different Shifter species didn’t get along that well with each other.

  Shifters could be killed without a stain in the eyes of God, or even in the eyes of Joe’s mother. Shifters were animals. Sure, they walked around in human guise, but how did that make them different from circus animals dressed up and paraded around in front of kiddies?

  The bounty on the Shifter male was set at twenty thousand. A hundred thousand for the four, or twenty thousand for single kills. The Shifter doing the hiring obviously wanted to encourage Joe to go for the collection.

  But then, Joe had never been greedy. An honest day’s living was better than six figures earned by deeds on the other side of legal. If he could pay his bills, help out his mom, and enjoy his life, he was happy.

  Twenty thousand was a nice chunk of change. The target looked tough, but Joe liked a challenge.

  He turned the photo over and studied the info on the back. The bear seemed to have only one name, but Joe had heard that the bear Shifters never took last names. Weird, but whatever.

  This bear lived in the heart of Shiftertown, with his mother and younger brother, and his name was Shane.

  ***

  “See, Mom?” Shane said. “You’ll be doing us all a favor.”

  Cormac watched the stare down between Nell and Eric. Nell could have invited Eric inside at any time, but she stood with her arms folded and kept him outside the door. Cormac liked that, because the arrangement put him between the two of them, Cormac in a good place to protect her.

  “For the good of Shiftertown,” Nell repeated, ignoring Shane. “Go on, Eric. Explain that.”

  “I’ve put in for a grant,” Eric said calmly. “You know we’re still cramped for housing. We have all the new Lupines plus the extras we can’t tell the humans about.”

  Cormac didn’t know who these extras were, but the others seemed to, so he kept silent.

  Eric went on. “We need more space for the Lupines alone, but the humans will pay for only so much housing. Even with Iona—she’s my mate, Cormac—cutting costs for us at her mom’s construction company, it’s tough to get more funding approved. Bears are the most difficult Shifters to place. If I show I’m willing to have more bears live here, I can qualify for a grant for more housing. So when I heard that Cormac wanted to come here, I figured it was a good start. He can help me bring in more bears from his clan, I can get my grant, and we solve the housing squeeze.”

  Officially, he meant. Unofficially, Shifters had more room than they let on. Still, Eric’s Shiftertown had recently had another Shiftertown-full of Lupines shoved in with them, the humans having closed one in northern Nevada to save costs. Even with the extra underground rooms humans didn’t know about, ten Shifters to a small house was still a tight fit.

  “Speaking of housing,” Nell said. “Tell me he’s bunking with you.” She jerked her chin at Cormac.

  Eric gave her a smile. “Nope.”

  Nell’s brown eyes widened with anger. “Oh, no, you don’t, Eric. I have barely any room as it is. Shane and Brody take up a lot of space, and I have Reid staying here.”

  “Yeah, Mom, but notice Reid’s not here,” Shane said. “He’s spending nights down the block with his girlfriend, and you know it. We can give Cormac Reid’s room—good incentive for Reid to move in permanently with his sweetie. Who’s a bear,” Shane added to Cormac. “In fact, she lives with the Shifter females we rescued from a crazy Shifter down in Mexico. Peigi is the only bear, but I know the others must be ready to find new mates—mates who are sane, that is. So if it doesn’t work out with my mom . . .”

  “Shane,” Nell snarled. “Zip it.”

&nb
sp; “I’m just giving the poor guy options,” Shane said, undeterred. “Since you’re not welcoming him with open arms.”

  “Cormac stays in your house, Nell,” Eric said. “It’s a good plan. Reid can move in with Peigi and her roommates—he can help protect them against unwanted attention, and I’m guessing I’ll be doing a mating ceremony for him and Peigi soon.” He gestured at the torn-up kitchen. “Besides, looks like Cormac’s handy for putting up the new cabinets.”

  “Why do I even have new cabinets?” Nell asked. “Are you trying to bribe me with a spontaneous kitchen makeover?”

  “This is courtesy of Iona’s construction company,” Eric said. “Your old kitchen was falling apart. Iona got the new cabinets and the countertops at cost. You can thank her later.”

  “I’m sure your mate and I will have a big talk later,” Nell said.

  “Yeah, well, you and Cormac talk it out first.” Eric stuck his hands back into his pockets. “Then come see us.”

  Eric turned around, an alpha’s signal that the conversation was over. He walked away, back into the growing dawn, and no one said a word or tried to stop him.

  The others watched Eric, but Cormac kept his gaze on Nell. Behind the anger in her eyes, he saw confusion and even terror. He’d have to go slowly with her, reveal the other reasons he’d been looking for her when the time was right. The letter in his back pocket burned him, but Nell could only take so much. The letter had been hidden this long. What was another few hours?

  Nell had retreated into a hard shell, and Cormac would have to crack it, little by little, to show her how warm it could be outside. But he could be patient. He’d learned patience at an early age, because patience meant survival.

  Nell didn’t look at him. “Shut the door, Brody,” she said. “It’s cold.”

  She turned on her heel and walked back into her bedroom, once more slamming the door.

  ***

  Nell was going to skin Eric, and then Cormac. Maybe even her sons, the grinning idiots.

  The banging and drilling had resumed in the kitchen, Shane’s and Brody’s voices added to Cormac’s. Since when were her two terrors so anxious for their mother to mate again? They’d pretty much driven off any other male Nell had cast her eyes on since they’d all moved here.

  No, to be honest, Nell had driven them off. But she’d had her sons’ approval every time.

  Of course, all the males she’d tried to date had been Felines, Lupines, or even humans, when she could meet a human tall enough. No bears, because this Shiftertown had a shortage of unmated bears. Eric hadn’t been wrong about that.

  A grant, my ass. Eric did what he wanted and didn’t wait for humans to give him the money to do so.

  Nell peered into the mirror as she brushed her unmanageable hair. At least she didn’t have many lines on her face, in spite of having raised her sons on her own, alone for most of that time. She didn’t look a day over a hundred.

  Shifters didn’t show age much until close to the end, and many never made it that far—at least, they hadn’t in the wild. Hunters, starvation, and death in childbirth had taken out most Shifters before they ever reached their third century.

  Nell was nearing her hundred-and-fifty-year mark, her sons both just at their first century. Cormac was younger than she was. While Shifter bodies didn’t show age, there were other ways to tell. Scent, body language, and the eyes.

  Cormac’s eyes said he was older than Shane but not as old as Nell. About halfway in-between probably—say a hundred and thirty. And he was mateless. She wondered if he’d had a mate before and had lost her, but she hadn’t had time to look at him long enough to search for traces of a broken mate bond.

  Another way Shifters died in the wild was by giving up. Surviving became too much for them, especially for a male who’d decided to forsake his clan. Young Nell had found it romantic at first—she and Magnus hiding from humans, fighting to stay alive, relying on each other as mates.

  Bears were pretty solitary anyway, but Magnus had quarreled with his clan, and so was completely alone. Nell had been too far from her own clan to be able to rely on them. No good roads or airplane travel in those days, and trains came nowhere near where Nell and Magnus hid themselves, and so they’d strived to make it on their own.

  Fine until the stress and fear had wearied Magnus. And so he’d found a way to end his pain, leaving behind a frightened female grizzly, only ten years past her Transition, to raise two small cubs all on her own, hundreds of miles from anywhere.

  Nell’s anger and grief at Magnus’s betrayal was as sharp today as it had been a hundred and thirteen years ago. Nell remembered her wails of despair when she’d stumbled across his body, how the bear in her had come out without her being aware that she’d shifted. She’d howled long into the night, holding her dead mate, thinking nothing would ever stop the pain that flooded her.

  Nothing, that is, until she’d heard the terrified cries of her cubs, hunting for her, calling for her. Brody and Shane had given Nell a reason to live, a reason to bury her grief and get on with life.

  Nell thunked down the hairbrush and scowled at herself. She was getting maudlin, and she didn’t have time to wallow in the pain of the past.

  She left the bedroom, striding down the hall again, pretending to ignore everyone in the kitchen, even when the three stopped and silently watched her go by. She walked out the back door into winter sunshine, the air cold but not icy, and turned her steps down the common land that ran behind the houses, heading for Peigi’s.

  She sensed as well as heard Cormac come out the back door and follow her. He didn’t bother to be stealthy about it. Cormac’s even stride told her he was coming after her because he wanted to, and he didn’t care if she knew it.

  “Thought you were anxious to get my kitchen fixed up,” she said when he reached her.

  “Plenty of time to get it done today, with your sons’ help. I wanted to see more of Shiftertown.”

  “Why? This place isn’t much different from any other Shiftertown.”

  “Sure it is,” Cormac said. “The one in Austin is full of bungalows about a hundred years old. In Wisconsin, half the Shiftertown is in thick woods. More bears and wolves up there than Felines. All this open desert makes me crazy.”

  “You’ll get used to it.” Nell scowled at him. “Why’d you really come here?”

  “Told you. Looking for a mate.”

  “Humans don’t like Shifters moving from state to state on a whim. Did you get kicked out of your Shiftertown?”

  Cormac didn’t answer. Nell glanced at him again, to find him looking around at the houses, which were small rectangular homes built in the seventies, common in towns in the west. Cormac’s face was a careful blank, but something in his eyes made Nell uneasy.

  “Does Eric know the real reason?” Nell asked him. “Or only what you told him?”

  Cormac’s blue eyes flicked to her for a brief instant. “You know, jeans look sexy on you.”

  Nell didn’t hide her snort. “Do you say that to all the bears whose pants you want to get into?”

  “No.” Cormac had such an expressionless face, guileless. He must have practiced a long time to achieve that look. “What do you call those pants I see women wear, the ones that stop just below the knee?”

  “Capris.”

  “Capris. I bet you’d look sexy in those too.”

  “It’s too cold for capris. It’s January.”

  “Compared to Wisconsin, this is a balmy summer day.”

  “Well, not for me. I left cold winters behind twenty years ago, when I got rounded up and transported here.”

  “Eric says you came from Canada. The Rockies.”

  “Eric talks too damn much.”

  “Only because I asked him,” Cormac said. “I want to know all about you.”

  Nell faced him, and they both
stopped. Gray dawn was turning to pink, the undersides of the few high clouds stained brilliant fuchsia. “I’m not looking for a mate,” Nell said in a hard voice. “I’m sorry you’re lonely, and I’m sorry you came all this way, but I’m done with all that. I have my boys, I take care of the other bears here, and I don’t need a change.”

  “Don’t need it, or don’t want it?”

  Nell made an exasperated noise. “Goddess, this is why I don’t go out with bears anymore. All of you think you’re so big and strong, so you expect everyone to do what you say. I have news, grizzly.” She tapped his chest. “I’m plenty strong myself. Plenty strong without you. Without anyone.”

  Cormac looked down at the fiery woman poking his chest. She truly believed what she said.

  Eric had told him, Nell’s been alone since she got here, finding every excuse not to connect. She’d gone out with other Shifters and a few humans, but nothing had come of it, no matter how hopeful the male might have been.

  Cormac had searched the country for Nell and her cubs, and he wasn’t about to stop now that he’d found them. He had a mission to fulfill, one too long in the making.

  “I can see that you’re a big, strong woman on your own,” Cormac said. “Where are you heading, by the way? Or are you just walking around in a snit?”

  The flash in her eyes could have burned down a building. “I’m doing my job. I look in on the females and cubs we rescued to make sure they’re all right. They went through a rough time.”

  “Shane said something about them being taken from a Shifter in Mexico?”

  “Yep. An un-Collared Shifter mate-claimed these females and kept them sequestered in the basement of an abandoned factory. Trying to set up his own little Shiftertown. Eric’s sister Cassidy, with her mate Diego, Diego’s brother, and Reid and Shane, rescued them. The poor cubs the Shifter fathered on the females never saw the light of day until they were brought here. They’re still traumatized.” The lines around her eyes relaxed. “But getting better.”