Page 1 of Marked By The Filthy-Mouthed Grizzly

CHAPTER ONE

Magnus

I t’s only Monday morning and my bear is already in a mood. I try to ignore the irritated grunts and vicious snarls in my ears as I sit down at the table for our weekly meeting.

I’m the only one struggling today. And why wouldn’t I be? I’m the only one without a mate.

My younger brother, Julian, sits down at the table in the back of our tattoo shop with a carefree smile on his face. He has a big piece of the banana bread his mate Lainey made for us. My stomach is swirling. It’s a mess. I couldn’t eat if my life depended on it.

“How are you doing this morning?” my sister Victoria asks as she takes a seat beside me. Her mate, and my best friend, Adrian, sits beside her, ripping off a chunk of the banana bread on the table, leaving crumbs everywhere.

“I’m fine,” I lie. I’m never fine. Not anymore. Not since my inner grizzly bear decided that he was done waiting for our mate. Not since he decided he was going to make my life miserable until she got here.

Victoria isn’t buying it. She tilts her head as she gives me that sympathetic look that I hate so much. I hate being a victim. I hate people looking at me like I’m weak. “You sure?” she whispers.

I nod. “I’m better.”

At least that part is true. I am a little better.

My maniac grizzly bear hasn’t burst out of me and destroyed our tattoo shop in a rage lately. He hasn’t kept me prisoner inside while he ran across three states, terrorizing everyone he passed.

My dickhead bear did both of those things a few weeks ago, so all-in-all, this is not so bad. I can take a little bit of angry grunts and groans over all that.

“Alright, let’s get started,” Julian says as he opens a file and pulls out an order form. “I have a customer coming in about twenty minutes.”

He shoves the rest of the banana bread into his mouth and my stomach twists. When was the last time I ate? When was the last time I slept?

Fuck, I’m such a mess.

“Victoria, did you order that shipment of ink?” Julian asks.

“Yes,” she says, looking it up on her phone. “Should be here tomorrow.”

“Awesome,” he says. “I booked that ad in the local paper again, although I don’t know why, we’re pretty much booked solid for the next two months.”

Our tattoo shop, Heat & Ink, is the hottest shop in Montana. I opened it a few years ago with my siblings and we’re all talented artists. Victoria might be the best tattoo artist when it comes to flowers this world has ever seen. Her roses and lilies can take your breath away.

Julian specializes in realistic animals, and I can pretty much do it all. Once we got started, we’ve been unstoppable. Word of mouth has traveled like wildfire and we always have people coming from out of state to get inked by us.

Adrian, a polar bear shifter who has been my best friend my whole life, recently joined the team when my grizzly was having one of his feral episodes. He mated with my sister and he’s so talented and we’re so busy that we decided to keep him on full time.

My dreams have come true. I have my own successful tattoo shop, working with the people I love the most in this world, and we’re a huge success. I’m only missing one thing…

I shift in my seat as my grizzly bear paces around angrily inside, wanting to burst out and wreak havoc on this cruel world that is keeping him from his mate. My jaw clenches and I squeeze my hand into a fist under the table as he snarls in my ear.

“Did you pay the power bill?” Julian asks Adrian.

“Power bill paid,” he says, looking over his paper. “Phone bill paid, water bill paid, internet paid, taxes paid, everything fucking paid. Boom. I rule.”

Victoria’s beautiful smile reaches her bright green eyes as she rubs her mate’s back. Her straight black hair is pulled back into a ponytail, tattoos covering her arms and hands. She’s so happy. I’m happy for her. I’m happy for all of them.

It’s just… hard.

It’s hard to enjoy anything or focus on anything when she’s not here. It kills me to know that my fated mate is out in the world, vulnerable to all of the dangers around her. It hurts knowing that every second I’m without her is a second wasted. A second I’ll never get back.

I stare at the table as my savage bear paces around all bitter and bleak.

The meeting goes on as I sit in silence.

I was always the one who took control of the weekly team meetings.

I was the one who ran the shop. Hell, I’m the one who got us a tattoo machine all those years ago.

I’m the one who started all of this, signed the lease, secured the franchise, bought the equipment and furniture.

I’m the one who used to order the ink shipments and pay the water bill. I used to do it all.

But now… With my grizzly bear pining so desperately for our mate… I feel like a shell of what I once was.

“Alright,” Julian says, concluding the meeting. “Let’s have a good week, team.”

“Hold on,” I say, putting my hand up. “I have something else.”

The three of them turn to me. Adrian grabs the last piece of banana bread on the table and shoves it into his mouth, crumbs tumbling down his large chest.

“It’s not good,” I say.

Julian runs a hand through his hair, looking nervous. “Do you need another break?”

We’re so busy that another break would be disastrous. All of the rescheduling, and upset customers, and revenue lost… I don’t even want to think about it.

“No,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I’m fine. This is about our friends. The dogs.”

“Oh,” Adrian says, exhaling long and hard.

Julian and Victoria lean in. “What about them?” Victoria asks.

“My grizzly was wandering in the woods last night,” I tell them in a low voice. “And we passed… the area. Their bodies were dug up. They’re gone.”

Julian’s bright green eyes widen as he stares at me in horror. “Animals?”

“No,” I say with a sigh. “The Warhounds must have found them. I did some digging online this morning and there’s a funeral for Knox and Mace this weekend.”

“Fuck,” Victoria says as she rubs her eyes. “This can’t be happening.”

“It’s okay, Vic,” Adrian says, wrapping his big arms around her. “It doesn’t mean anything. There must have been hundreds of people that wanted those rabid wolves dead.”

This all started years ago when Adrian was a teenager. He saw something he wasn’t meant to see when he went to the Rourke’s Warhounds’ headquarters to give someone a tattoo.

Mace and Knox were psychotic brothers who ran the Rourke’s Warhounds, a pack of criminal wolf shifters.

Adrian went through the wrong door and saw the carnage first hand.

Mace was forcing young shifters to fight to the death and when Adrian stumbled in, he was thrown into the ring.

He refused to kill his opponents, managed to escape, and had to flee to the arctic for eight years once Mace and Knox wanted him dead.

When I had my episode and my feral bear was rampaging across three states, Adrian returned to Montana, hoping the past would be left in the past. But it wasn’t. Once Mace and Knox found out he had returned, they came to kill him.

I had returned just in time, and me, Adrian, and Victoria managed to take the rabid wolves out. We buried them in the mountains, but apparently, not deep enough.

The bell over the front door clangs as someone walks into the shop.

“Hello?” a male voice says. “Are you open yet? Victoria, are you back there? My thigh needs your special touch.”

Adrian’s big hand squeezes into a fist as he huffs out an angry breath.

Victoria puts her hand on her mate’s arm, trying to calm him down. “I’ll be right there, Curt,” she calls out. “Just have a seat.”

“I hate that fucking guy,” Adrian snarls as he stares at the hallway.

“He’s harmless,” Victoria says, rolling her eyes. “And he’s given us so much work, he’s practically paid for my truck.”

Adrian frowns even harder, probably not liking that another man has paid for his mate’s truck.

“Alright,” Julian says as he stands up. “Let’s keep an eye on the dog situation, and get to work. Meeting over.”

We all head into the front of the shop and Adrian’s inner polar bear lets out a low snarl when we see that Curt has brought a friend.

“Oh great,” Adrian grumbles. “There’s two of them now.”

“This is Camry,” Curt says, pointing to the shredded guy with the weird smile and long hair standing beside him. “He’s new in town. I told him this is the best tattoo shop in the country.”

“Is he a stripper too?” Adrian asks, staring them both down.

“Hottest guy at The Banana Hammock,” Camry says proudly. “I’ll be dancing there tonight if you’re interested.”

Victoria snickers as she looks up at Adrian. “What do you say, honey? Should we go?”

Even with the way I’m feeling, I still laugh at Adrian’s disgusted face.

“Not a chance in hell,” he says.

“ I’m the hottest guy at The Banana Hammock,” Curt says, clearly offended. “Know your place, new guy.”

Curt heads over to Victoria’s station to get his thigh tattooed—and for some reason, he takes off his shirt. He’s flexing his abs and trying to impress her as Adrian walks over and whispers something into his ear. I can’t hear what he said, but that shirt goes back on pretty damn fast after that.

I take Camry since Julian and Adrian have customers coming in soon.

“What do you want?” I ask him as I set up my station.

“A skull would be cool,” he says, “maybe with some snakes around it.”

I sketch out something fast and he likes it. I put the stencil onto his chest and he’s pretty excited about it.

My grizzly chills out as I get absorbed in my work, tracing black lines on Camry’s skin. The hypnotic movements along with the buzzing of my tattoo machine seems to calm my bear.

But it doesn’t do much for me.

I think of my mate, wondering where she is and what she’s doing. I wonder what her favorite food is. If she prefers to read or watch TV. I wonder what side of the bed she likes. I wonder if she’s a night person or an early riser. There’s so much to know and I’m dying to discover every detail.

“You should come out with us,” Camry says as I trace the body of a snake that’s slithering out of the skull’s eye socket. “We’ll pick up so many chicks.”

I grit my teeth as I focus on the ink.

Picking up chicks is the last thing I’m interested in. What girl could ever compare to my fated mate?

What the hell is a hook-up going to do for me except make me even more miserable?

I’m not looking for cheap sex. I’m looking for my best friend. My life partner. My mate.

I need her .

“What do you say?” Camry asks with a grin. “Wanna get laid?”

I huff out a breath and keep my eyes on his skin. “No. And quit fucking moving.”