Page 139 of Not Your Ordinary Shifter

Stags. Her honey badger recognized the scent and dismissed them immediately.Not threat.

Debbie rolled her eyes. They probably weren’t a threat, but they were big, muscular males who were probably used to getting their own way. Just because they weren’t predators didn’t mean they were pushovers. Sometimes, her honey badger was just a wee bit overconfident.

Sometimes you paranoid.The honey badger sniffed its disdain, metaphorically turning its back and falling asleep.Except it wasn’t really ‘asleep,’ just tuning her out for the moment.

Yeah, she spent a decent amount of time arguing with her animal half—totally normal.

“Hello, ladies,” the blond cowboy said as he swaggered in close. Now she could see that he had bright blue eyes, just the right amount of scruff all over his square jaw, and freaking dimples when he smiled. Huffy or not, even her honey badger perked back up with interest—stupid animal. “Welcome to the Shady Grove Shifter Rodeo.”

Thor

“Well, hello, cowboys,” one of the honey badgers said. She sidled closer to them, smiling widely. Thor had to admit, she was drop-dead gorgeous. Curved in all the right places, long black hair, a dark tan to her skin tone, startling bright green eyes, and short enough to make him feel all big and manly, while still tall enough, he wouldn’t break his neck bending down to kiss her. “I’m Saskia. These are my cousins.”

His stag dismissed her immediately. It only had eyes for pink-helmet cousin, who was watching him almost warily. No, she didn’t have Saskia’s amazing rack or her stunning features, but she drew him in. Looking at pictures of them side by side, he would have chosen Saskia to flirt with every time, but in the flesh, he barely noticed Saskia.

Ajax, on the other hand, practically tripped over himself to shake her hand.

“Ajax, Beta of the Midwest Herd,” he said. For all his harping about focus, he didn’t seem bothered anymore that Thor had come over here. “This is Thor, my alpha.”

“Ajax?” Saskia asked, tilting her head. “Like in Deadpool?”

Sucking in a breath, Thor shot a warning glance at his beta, but it was unnecessary. Ajax just winced, that goofy smile still plastered on his face as he kept his hold on Saskia’s hand. She wasthatattractive.

“Uh, like the Greek hero,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “The Battle of Troy?”

“You’ll have to tell me all about it.” Saskia winked at him, and Ajax nearly drooled. If Thor wasn’t so amused, he might have rolled his eyes. He was so going to rib Ajax about this later—even if Saskia was the first pretty face to ever throw him off his game.

Still smiling flirtatiously, Saskia introduced them to her cousins. Apparently, they wereallrelated, at least tangentially. They were also all definitely honey badgers, which made Thor’s stag a little wary. Honey badgers were known for being either totally crazy or total badasses—or an unholy combination of both. Having never met any before, Thor didn’t know if that was true.

Pink helmet was Debbie, and Thor found himself very reluctant to let go of her hand when she was introduced, making her eyes widen in surprise.

“Ever been to a shifter rodeo before, Debbie?” he asked, rolling her name over his tongue. It was short and cute like her. She wasn’t just cute though, she was a sexy little package, and just touching her soft, warm skin, feeling the callouses on her hands, made him want to keep touching her… and touching her…

“Uh, no, first time.” She peered up at him curiously, giving him a look like she was wondering what he was doing.

Her eyes darted to Saskia, then back to him, and he realized she expected him to be focused on her cousin. Thor immediately wondered if Saskia wasalwaysthe welcoming committee. With her stunning good looks, it was likely most men were completelydistracted by her. Ajax sure as hell was. He was practically panting.

“Would you like a tour?”

He should be getting ready for his ride on Maddox, but he could do both. Half of it was just getting in the right headspace, and he knew that wasn’t going to be possible if he knew Debbie was wandering around, meeting all the other cowboys. He could already see men ambling toward them.

His stag muttered inside his head, wanting to stake some kind of claim on the delectable Debbie before any other shifter did.

Why she affected him so strongly, he had no idea, but he knew he couldn’t just walk away from her. He wouldn’t be able to think of anything else if he did. He wasn’t sure his stag would let him, anyway.

“Sure, cowboy,” she said with amusement, seeming to get over her surprise pretty quickly. She looped her arm through his. “Show me the ropes.”

Thor chuckled at her pun, although she could have no idea just how much he’d like to show her all sorts of tricks with ropes. A sudden image of her tied to his bed, trussed up like a present—or a prize—filled his brain, and the front of his jeans pulled tightly across his groin.

“Come on, ladies,” Ajax said, claiming Saskia’s arm. She smiled sunnily at him. “We can show you around.”

Rana, the leader, nodded silently. Thor had recognized her name immediately, of course. A shifter born without the sense of smell?Everyonehad heard of her. It didn’t seem to affect the way her cete responded to her, though. She was clearly in charge, but there was a tension among all of the women and it was focused on her.

Out of all the honey badgers, she was the quietest right now, but not in a good way. It was like the quiet before thestorm—before someone snapped. Thor didn’t miss the worried glances several of the women shot her when she wasn’t looking. Something was wrong with the honey badger princess.

Well, if she was down about something, the rodeo was definitely the place to be.

In the meantime, he was more interested in her cousin.

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