Page 39 of Cross To Bear

“She’s my fated mate,” the other man insisted.

“Roxy’s a fox shifter, and you know how fucking flighty they are. She doesn’t even do relationships, let alone mate bonds.”

“She will one day.” Beast seemed to swell even larger then. “She will for me.”

“Yeah, well, good luck with that.” Crash turned to me. “C’mon, the boys are inside.”

But that’s just what I was afraid of.

I never felt like I fit in when I came to places like this with Jesse, and that didn’t change when I walked in with Crash. He grabbed my hand the minute we climbed the steps and walked in the front door, the huge bouncers nodding to us as we entered. Wolf shifters, I’d been told. Lone wolves with no specific affiliations with other packs, so they could enforce order and not worry about any pack ties to influence their decisions. The noise, the thumping music, all of it felt weird, alien, different to my neat little life. Though for some reason I squeezed Crash’s hand back, resulting in a smile thrown my way over his shoulder as he led me deeper into the crush.

I stayed home because Jesse lost interest in me the minute he stepped into a bar. He’d chat with the girls who were blatantly flirting with him, tell wild stories to the vast number of acquaintances and hangers on he had. Anything but talk to me, focus on me, check in with me. Though as we approached the bar, somehow I knew that wouldn’t be an issue. Razor and Bjorn were talking to some guy as we approached, but Hawk appeared to have sighted us the minute we walked in. He took in the gear Crash had bought me with hungry eyes that had me thinking about this morning. Of inching my skirt higher, like someone without a care in the world. No, of one who wanted his eyes to flare hotter, brighter gold. Whatever Bjorn was saying, his voice trailed away as all three of them turned to face us.

“OK, whose bright idea was this?” Razor said, taking me in and then stepping closer, grabbing the zip of my jacket and pulling it up again. “Was this you, Roxy?”

The barmaid appeared, sliding four beers our way with a smirk.

“Damn, girl, I thought that might look good on you, but you’re making it work hard. Take off the jacket and let’s have a proper look.”

“No, don’t…”

Crash’s strangled voice drew my attention to his expression as I pulled the jacket off. The top was a cute little babydoll one. I didn’t usually wear a lot of black, but the cut was very flattering, nipping in just under the bust, then flaring out over my hips and stomach.

“Whoa, nice ti—”

An older man stumbled forward, eyes trained on my chest. Hawk’s hand shot out in response, wrapping itself around his whiskered throat, choking off any other response. He shoved the man away, not even looking his way as the stranger gasped.

“Booth,” he grunted. “Now.”

“We need to fire Roxy,” Bjorn said, right as Crash swooped in, picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder.

“Or give her a fucking raise,” Razor muttered. “Look at Maddie’s arse in those jeans.”

“Hey!” I yelped, then smacked Crash on the arse. “Hey!”

“Definitely a raise,” Crash said as he plonked me down on an upholstered bench seat, the four of them looking down at me. He plucked two beers from Hawk’s grip and then offered me one. “Maddie, you know you’re fucking hot, but in this…”

But I didn’t. I knew I could scrub up OK when I put the effort in, though it’d been a while since I saw this. That wild look that comes into a man or men’s eyes when they see something they like. Crash sat down beside me, tapping the mouth of his beer bottle against mine.

“So here’s to new experiences,” he said.

“New experiences?” I looked around me and saw people drinking, talking, laughing and playing pool, waitresses as slippery as otters, sliding between the tables and delivering trays of drinks. “What new experiences did you have in mind?”

Chapter 24

Razor

“It’s not about what we had in mind,” I said, grabbing a nearby chair, then spinning it around before straddling it. “It’s about what you’re thinking.” I tried really fucking hard not to let my gaze slide down the slope of her neck, past her collarbones and to the tits that were just sitting there, aching to be touched. I shook my head slightly and then forced myself to focus. “You said you wanted to just be free, to have experiences rather than responsibilities.” I smiled slowly, rubbing my fingers slightly, because it was almost as if I could still feel her little clit against the tips. “And after last night, I’m thinking you quite like someone else taking charge of those experiences.”

Maddie sucked in a breath, eyes going wide, making it easier to catch the moment her pupils expanded. Scared or aroused, that’s what she was, or both.

“I had a chat to the boys last night and…” I glanced at each one of them, though their entire focus was on Maddie. “We think we’re the men for the job.”

This was the moment of truth. She said she didn’t want responsibilities, didn’t want to pick up a different emotional load, but that would mean no ties entirely. Anonymous sex with strangers, an idea that had my fangs locking together as the bear shoved against our bond, making clear what he would do if that happened. Instead of frowning, her scent souring, it grew sweeter, and those beautiful brown eyes stared into mine.

“You want…?”

She couldn’t even say it, which was a concern, because if we were going to do this, everyone was going to need to be painfully honest with each other, except in one regard. What we felt for her would have to be kept back. She’d put a hard limit in place, our feelings not welcome right now.

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