Page 6 of Tank

Chapter 2

Moving In

Tank had those things he’d need loaded in his truck. The work he needed to do on his cabin just was too hard to work around if he lived there. Living with Missy would be interesting and honestly, he was looking forward to that. She was beautiful and drew him in, both human and bear. He could remember her as a young one, but he’d never imagined her as she was now. Was she his one?

It was too soon to tell but he wanted to find out. Hopping in his truck, he drove to Missy’s place. This was early enough yet he was sure no one would be asleep yet unless they worked an odd shift. Missy came to the door as if she’d heard him and held it open for him. “You need any help?” She asked.

“No, but thanks. If you want to keep catching the door for me, that would be great.” He shot her what he considered his sexiest smile, and she turned a lovely shade of pink.

He made several trips until everything was inside. Then he went back to the kitchen where the aroma of something wonderful cooking came from. “I’ve got it all in now.”

“Would you like to eat supper with me?” Missy asked.

“It sure smells great.”

“That offer extend to me too?” Jag asked. Where had he come from?

Missy didn’t look happy, but she tried to smile. “Why not?” And she got out some extra dishes.

“Need any help?” Tank asked.

“If you don’t mind getting the tea out of the fridge.”

Jag sat down and watched Missy like a predator. It surprised Tank that Ariel had sent this guy to Missy. He was bad news, you could just feel that coming off him. So far, the cats hadn’t had many like this guy. At the least, he was a jerk, but what if there was more? What if he was here for a nefarious purpose none of them knew about? Tank planned to keep an eye on this one. When he wasn’t at work, he would hang close to Missy too. It wouldn’t be a hardship, that was for sure.

They finished their meal and Missy left. “I hope I didn’t interrupt you two.” Jag mentioned with a smirk.

“You have an interest there?” Tank asked just fishing for information.

“Not yet. Time will tell.” Jag got up and walked away.

He sensed Missy was uncomfortable around the guy. Why had she given him the room? Was it the money or did she not know how to tell him no? Eventually, he would find out, but soon he needed to discuss this with Ariel. Maybe on the weekend. Sometimes on the weekend her cook did steak and eggs or eggs benedict. So what, he was a shifter and ruled by his stomach. It was smart to get a side benefit out of all of this. While he was here, nothing would happen to Missy. No way would he allow it.

Jag worked the same hours he did so if he tried anything, it would be at night. Tank would stop that and there were other people here who would step in too. He knew Doris. Not well, she’d not been here long but the girl was tough, and he’d put money on her if she fought Jag. Doris was a good person, he had a feeling about that.

The only one staying here he worried about was Jag even though he couldn’t say why. The guy irritated and unnerved him. His effect on Missy seemed to be the same. For now, he would get settled in and put everything where it needed to go. It was important to have a plan and to follow it. Tank was done before bedtime and he went to take a shower. He put on a pair of PJ pants and went into his room. Missy had her own bathroom, and he did too. The people upstairs would too. Did that mean poor Doris had to share a bathroom with Jag? At least they seemed to have slightly different shifts so they would avoid each other most of the time.

He settled down and got to sleep almost right away. There was something nice about this house or maybe it was the company. Tank would figure things out in time. That’s something he was good at. Only he had figured out that Ariel’s family was important before anyone had known why. It was why he’d made extra time for the young ones even recruiting some when they’d come of age for the forestry service. They had all turned out to be exceptional rangers.

Now he had found one that might be more important than a coworker. This would take time to find out. That was okay, he had plenty of that. At least Missy seemed to like him too. He’d laid awake in bed but, was unable to sleep for most of the night. He saw daylight coming in around the curtains and knew it was almost time to rise. It was Saturday and today he would work for Missy on her farm, Some might think it odd, but the thought excited him.

There was a time he’d thought about getting a farm himself. He’d decided to get his cabin with some acreage first. It gave him lake access and maybe he’d gotten lazy when it came to his own projects. Not that he hadn’t kept up with his woods and his lake access. His cabin had gotten in rough shape as he’d worked with the wardens, the wolf police, on various cases. He was ready to get his cabin back in shape now, but he may have met his perfect match. It seemed like life was laughing at him.

He hurried to the kitchen after a quick shower and throwing on some clothes. That’s when he remembered he had no food here. “Good morning. I hoped to see you here. I hope you don’t mind I made you breakfast.” Missy mentioned as she set a huge plate of scrambled eggs, with ham and toast in front of him.

She had a smaller plate in front of her and now began to eat. The current thorn in his side seemed to appear at this time. “I see you are serving breakfast. Got anything for me?” Jag asked.

“I didn’t really plan for you.” Missy said. Instead of leaving and getting his own breakfast, he stood there looking at Tank and pouting. “Tank will be working off his meals. Can you do farm work like plowing?”

“No.” Jag shook his head and made his exit.

They finished their breakfast not discussing anything until it was clear Jag was gone. Obviously neither of them trusted him. Tank felt a deep-seated distrust of the cat. He helped Missy clean up and they headed outside. “I thought we’d prepare the garden first since spring is around the corner. What do you think?”

“You plan to put in a large garden?”

“I hope to. Truly, it’s gotten smaller every year because I took care of grandpa. Now I need to make it a source of income again. I do have a handful of animals, but there’s a great deal to do before I get more.” Missy admitted.

“You’ll need to work on the fence around the garden too.”

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