Page 5

Mack

“We’re on.” Dear god, Tigger bounced on over like he’d gotten all his Christmases at once. The fact I was balanced on a ladder, drilling holes into a solid brick wall, did nothing to stifle his excitement. “Harper, she sent me her address. We’re going over tonight.”

“Fuck!” I looked around hastily. The bear shifter community hall was filled with families, bear and human alike, so swearing wasn’t exactly polite.

The trouble was the drill skidded along the wall, ripping up the plaster and nearly snapping the drill bit.

“Did you have to grab the bloody ladder?” I snapped. “Now I’ve buggered up the wall.”

But it wasn’t Tor grabbing the ladder that had me loosening my grip on the drill, it was her. Harper. Beautiful, with just a hint of fire in her eyes. The way her chin went up, her hands to hips that I wanted, needed, to grip.

But I couldn’t.

Harris males were a nightmare their fated mates tried to wake up from, screaming, and honestly, I wished to all the gods I’d never meet mine.

Right up until the point I did.

I didn’t see the mess I’d made, the drill or the picture frames. None of it but her. She had flecks of gold and amber in her eyes, did she know that? I wanted to be the one to tell her, right before my hand slid into her?—

“What happened here?”

Fred was one of Kieran’s dads and he looked pretty damn grumpy standing there, arms crossed. I followed his gaze to the mess I’d made of the wall and then shook my head.

“Tor wasn’t holding the ladder properly.”

“Tor.”

Fred was always looking for an opportunity to disapprove of us, and I’d just handed him one.

“In my defence, I just got a text from our fated mate so?—”

Fred ignored Tor, his eyes snapping up to meet Kieran’s.

“Son?” That note of hope, I never heard that before. “Is this true?”

“Yeah, Dad, I?—”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Fred turned around. “Kim!” His mate’s head popped up from where she was talking to some of the older members of the community. “Kieran’s got news!”

“What’s that, sweetheart?” The diminutive woman was always so sweet. She beamed up at her son, as if to make up for Fred’s grumpiness.

“We found?—”

“His fated mate.” Fred smiled for once, and I was shocked when his face didn’t crack. “He’s found her finally.” His eyes narrowed as he looked me and Tor over. “So now this whole fake ‘sleuth’ thing can finally be put to bed.”

“Dad—!” Kieran snapped.

“Son, I get they’re good friends, but a sleuth, that’s something else. Tigers form ambushes.” I shook my head, the term frankly ridiculous, or was it to protect me from this? “And wolves, they form?—”

“Packs.” I jumped down from the ladder, busying myself with loosening the drill chuck and then replacing the drill bit. “We form packs.”

“See, different,” Fred said. “So now you’ve found your mate, you can find some other bears, and?—”

“No.” Kieran was probably the most even-tempered of the lot of us, right up until you pushed him. He was just as stubborn as his dad, maybe more so. I watched his arms cross, a familiar expression forming on his face. “Harper belongs to all three of us.”

“That can’t be right.” Fred scratched at his neck. “Tor, you sure that’s what you feel for this girl? It’s more than just attraction, you know.”

“My heart didn’t just stop when I saw her,” Tor said, stepping into Frank’s space like the truth demanded room.

“It fell silent, stunned. Then it started again, only beating louder, faster, for her. Every beat spelled her name. The world was nothing more than a hazy blur. No face, no voices, just her. I wanted to follow her back to her car, not out of impulse but instinct. Protect her from anyone that might look at her. Keep her safe. Give her my jacket if it was cold. I’d feed her peeled grapes as she curled up on the couch to watch her favourite show, not because she needed any of it, but because I did. ”

Bloody hell. I wasn’t one for the words, but Tor was. Usually it was just to talk complete shit, but apparently there was a poet buried deep in the guy. I blinked and so did everyone else, but Kim rallied first.

“Well, that sounds like a mate bond if I’ve ever heard one.” She smiled up at the two of them. “So when do I get to meet her? You can bring her by this weekend. No, that’s too far away. Mid week.” She nodded firmly. “Find out what she likes to eat and?—”

“What about you?” Fred asked, staring me down. I set the drill down, meeting his gaze head on. “Is that how you feel?”

Worse, I wanted to say. There was a part of me that I kept locked down until the moment I took fur.

The feel of my paws striking the earth, then my haunches bunching, my body swinging forward as I ran faster and faster.

I thought there was no thrill that matched it, but now I knew better.

Seeing Harper, it was like I could feel the wind in my fur, the scents of the forest in my nose, everything becoming crisper, clearer.

I didn’t say that, though. Instead, I shook my head and lied.

“Nope.” I shrugged. “Guess you must be right, Fred. The girl…” Harper, her name is Harper, my heart shouted. “She’s hot, but no more so than a hundred other girls.”

“What?” I hated the look in Kieran’s eyes, but he couldn’t say I didn’t warn him.

When he proposed we form a sleuth, a pack, an ambush, or whatever the hell you called this clusterfuck, I’d made clear I was incapable of a mate bond.

I just thought rejecting my mate would be a whole lot easier.

My sleuthmate looked like the ground had been ripped out from under him right now. “What do you mean you?—?”

“What I said.” My tone was taut and if I wasn’t careful, the lot of them would sniff out the lie.

Thing is, wolf shifters were better equipped than any to deceive others.

The community thought fox shifters were shifty pricks and while they did dodgy things, they had nothing on wolves.

We could be cruel, conniving, manipulative, and no one would know the difference, not even other shifters.

“She’s not my fated mate.” I nodded to the two of them.

“You should pursue things with Harmony.”

“Harper,” Kieran corrected tersely.

“Right, and I’ll see you guys when you get home.”

“Mack—”

I could tell by Kieran’s tone that he was going to argue this as only a bear shifter could. They were nothing if not tenacious.

“Nah, K.” Tor slapped him in the guts. “We don’t need Mr Grumpy here ruining shit.

I’ll just borrow this drill, though.” He picked up my best Dewalt hammer drill, twisting it back and forth in his grip, smiling when my fangs ground together.

“And these drill bits.” He plucked some bloody drill bits used for wood, not masonry from the toolbox. “And these plugs?—”

“Fine,” I growled, snatching the drill and the bits and slotting them right back into my toolbox. “I’ll come, if only to make sure you don’t completely balls this shit up. You know she’s not gonna wanna go anywhere near your spiky dick if you wreck her walls for her.”

“She might if I wreck something else.”

The waggle of Tor’s eyebrows had me wondering how the hell I’d found myself in this sleuth for the hundredth time.

“I’ll put the pictures up,” I said, pointing the drill at Tor and then Kieran. “You two can wine and dine your fated mate. Consider this a wedding present or something.”

“Yeah, alright.” I was scared Kieran would argue, but he just shot me a long look, a small smile forming. “That’s what we’ll do.”

“But first you need to fix that wall,” Fred grumbled. “You’ve made a right mess?—”

“Fred,” Kim said, drawing his head down.

“They have, love. What will the elders…?”

The kind of peace, calm, that settled over Fred was frankly fascinating to me. What must it be like to have someone in your life that inspired that? I couldn’t imagine Harper being like that, but maybe…? I shoved that thought to one side.

“Go and get ready,” Kim said when she finally pulled away. “Your fathers can patch the wall.”

“But Kimmy—” Fred said.

“The bear shifter community pulls out all the stops when a sleuth finds their fated mate,” Kim said. “This time is no different. Go on, boys, and make sure to invite Harper around for dinner.”

They might, but I wouldn’t be there. Kim was sweet, but it felt like Kieran’s dads watched me and Tor’s every move, waiting for us to screw up.

Well, I knew I would.

That’s what Harris men did. They wooed their fated mates with unparalleled ferocity and then right when they had them where they wanted them… I shook my head, moving fast to pack up all my tools and then carry them out to the car.

Hours later, I had the toolbox back in my hand. We were all freshly showered and standing outside Harper’s apartment. Tor pressed the button, hefting the massive bag of Indian takeaway he’d picked up and the cellophane crackled on the flowers that Kieran held.

“Maybe she’s not here,” I said, some hope in my voice as we waited and waited. “Maybe she’s gone out and?—”

“Oh!” The door swung open and the other girl stood there. Was it Darla? Her smile, when it appeared, was sly. “Hey, Harp, your handy… men have arrived. They look like they’ve got all the tools you need.”

“Let them in!”

Harper’s voice was muffled, distant, and yet I found myself drifting across her threshold like some sucker bespelled by a witch. Stepping inside it was a typical small yet neat apartment.

“So did you guys want a beer, wine, my best friend spread out on the table to feast upon?”

All three of us reacted the same way, choking back a strangled groan.

Darla grinned and then sauntered off into the apartment to retrieve Harper.

She emerged looking damp, pink, obviously fresh from the shower, and that’s when my control shattered.

I wanted to be the one to make those cheeks flush, her skin damp, after I’d wrung orgasm after orgasm out of her until her voice was hoarse from screaming.

“Hey.” Harper rubbed her hair with a towel. “Oh my god, that food smells amazing.”

“Best and most authentic Indian food in the whole city,” Tor said, hefting up the bag. “Let me know where the plates and bowls are, and I’ll start dishing it up.”

“Everything OK, Mack?” Kieran asked me in a low voice.

No, I wanted to shout. I wanted to be the one to make small talk with Harper as the two of them moved around the kitchen.

I wanted to talk her through each dish so I could work out what she liked and disliked.

I wanted to trade little smiles with her as they set up dinner.

I wanted to take Harper’s bowl from her, sit down with her on my lap, and hand feed each mouthful to her so I could secondhand savour every bite.

Instead, I shook my head and met his stare.

“Never better,” I said. “Now go and talk to your mate and I’ll check the walls out.”

Anything other than sit down and stare at her like she was my last meal, not the Indian food.