Page 3 of Bear Facts

The Lupines were angry about whatever had their pants in a twist this time, but not so mad that they wanted Graham to discipline them. They shut up, but sullenly.

This was Shane and Brody’s tracker job today. Placate these assholes and prevent Graham from having to get in the Lupines’ faces. Then maybe, just maybe, Shane could have some breakfast.

They stood on the dusty ground in the middle of the common area behind the houses. A few Shifters had turned their backyards into gardens of dry-climate flora, some of which were already blooming. Spring came early in the high desert. Any other day, Shane might admire the contrasting colors, but the clump of pissed-off wolves ruined any of the beauty.

Graham gazed steadily at his Lupines for a few more seconds, then he turned his back and marched away. He headed toward his house across the strip of ground without a goodbye and without looking back. Graham knew how to make an exit.

Brody, who was in a much better mood than Shane this morning, quietly studied the collected wolves. The fact that the Lupines hadn’t simply dispersed in disgust meant Graham was seriously upset with them.

“So, what’s the trouble, boys?” Brody asked in his good-natured way.

Shane knew he wouldn’t be able to add anything without making the situation worse, so he clamped his mouth shut.

“Mates,” the Lupine who’d declared he didn’t want to negotiate with bears said. Name of Leopold Dunham—Leo to whatever friends he had—had scruffy black hair and mean gray eyes. “We need some.”

“Don’t we all,” Brody responded with a laugh.

Mates were what kept Shifters sane. Even Graham, as volatile as he could be, had a mate who calmed his rampages with a single touch. Graham was probably chuckling with Misty now over how he’d managed to dump this morning’s problems onto the bear brothers.

“The only reason we agreed to come to this shithole is we thought we could find mates here.” Leo spat on the ground. “Now Eric is saying his females are off limits.”

Shane doubted Eric had put it that way. Eric’s sister would have whacked her brother up the side of the head for calling the women under Eric’s watch his females. Eric’s mate would have quietly cheered her on.

What Eric had likely meant was that these Lupines couldn’t simply scoop up any woman in Shiftertown and make off with them.

Also, Leo hadn’t agreed to come to the Las Vegas Shiftertown, nor had Graham or any of his Lupines. Shifter Bureau had decided Graham’s Shifters had to move in with Eric’s, and there was fuck all anyone could do about it.

“Let me get this straight,” Shane broke in. “You’re mad because Eric didn’t round up every female Shifter in this Shiftertown, shove them at you, and say pick one?”

“You can talk,” Leo sneered. “Eric’s sister shit all over you and then shacked up with a human. What a bitch.”

A red mist descended behind Shane’s eyes, and the angry bear who’d been rumbling inside him climbed to the surface.

“Don’t speak about Cassidy like that,” Shane stated flatly. “Not ever.”

Brody cut in, his good humor still in place. “Yeah, her human mate can tase you until you can’t walk, let alone worry about any kind of mating.”

“Humans suck,” another wolf growled. “We should take out her mate, and then that would be another female free for us.”

“Sure,” Brody said. A rising wind that smelled of rain ruffled his grizzled brown hair. “Go ahead. Kill Cassidy’s mate and destroy her mate bond. Then see what she does to you.”

A few of the wolves moved uneasily. Cassidy was a tall, strong, Shifter Feline who could take on any wolf-man without breaking a sweat. Her mate, Diego, wouldn’t go down easily either. He might be human, but he’d been a cop and now ran a private security company. He knew how to fight. Diego had gained Shane’s—and most Shifters’—respect.

“I wouldn’t say too loudly around Graham that humans suck either,” Brody continued. Graham’s mate, Misty, was human, and Graham made sure no one gave him grief for it.

More uneasy movement. Maybe Brody’s half smile and reasonable comments would soothe these Lupines down and send them sheepishly home.

Ha, ha. Wolves going sheepishly home.

“We were promised mates,” another wolf said. At his statement, the others straightened up again, the determined light brightening in their eyes.

Yet another Lupine took up the argument. “If Eric and Graham don’t bring them to us, we’ll take them for ourselves. Even they can’t interfere with a Shifter and his mate once they’re bound.”

Technically true. A leader, no matter how powerful, could not mess with a Shifter’s mate. That rule had been put in place centuries ago, to keep pack alphas from simply snatching up every female they wanted, whether the women in question were mated or not.

Shane’s anger soared. These guys were talking about force-claiming Shifter females like it was their right. To hell with being diplomatic.

“It’s a Shifter woman’s choice whether she mates with you, dickhead.” Shane made a show of looking around the empty stretch of the common area. “Funny, I don’t see a horde of them throwing themselves at you. Maybe they’re just not that into you.”

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