Blind Date With A Bear(18)

“The Council sent me to escort you to the meeting.”

“And you are?” Yeah, he was a big, bad bear shifter and could take a man out with a swipe of his paw, but he wasn’t dumb. Humans had a way of evening the playing field. With guns, tranquilizers, poison. He wouldn’t put it past Marcum to try something stupid.

The man held out a sealed envelope and Quinn saw the crest of the bear clan. Only high officials had access to this seal. Inside was a letter from the bear representative telling Quinn the agenda for the day. His father had been approached to serve on the Council. He’d refused because he still had young cubs. Quinn hoped someday his father would reconsider. He was a good man and would serve the shifter world well. He stuffed the letter into his jacket pocket. “Okay, let’s go.”

A moment later, his way was blocked by a large man wearing a suit and tie. Bill Marcum. The reason he was in this city and away from his newly discovered mate.

“I think we should talk, Blackwood.”

“What’s there to talk about? My brothers and I found the scent of your flunkies all over our building site.”

“Now how do you know it was my boys, Quinn?”

Quinn gritted his teeth in frustration. He heard the arrogance in the other man’s voice. Marcum wanted nothing more than to see Blackwood Brothers Construction fail. For years, he’d been tossing around unfounded accusations about the brothers. This wasn’t his first attempt at sabotage, but it was the most dangerous to date. During other builds, Marcum had confined his efforts to stolen equipment, misdirected deliveries and other things that had resulted in annoying delays. Not real threat, more like frat boys on a hazing dare.

Two weeks ago, the same things had started on this site. It had quickly escalated into something more sinister. The bolts on some of the I-beams girders had been seared off. Other girders had been compromised by repeated heavy blows to their sides. Blows that could only have been made by a shifter using the beams as a punching bag. Quinn figured Marcum had his nose out of joint because Blackwood Construction had just won a major government contract Marcum had thought he had in the bag. A very lucrative ten story building renovation. All the brothers preferred new construction, but in today’s economy, you couldn’t be choosey, and you certainly couldn’t turn down a government contract.

Normally, they didn’t bother with round-the-clock security on a job. After the first incident, he’d hired a security company. After last night…now Ryland and Ryker would be patrolling the area. He grinned, wondering what the jackals would say when two grizzlies came at them. Probably piss their pants and run.

“This is my last warning to you, Marcum. Cut the crap. I got the contract because I can bring the project in on time and on budget. I’ve put up with a lot from you over the years, but it ends now. If I catch any of your jackals on my site again, you can expect the worst.”

“Now, Blackwood, don’t you think that’s something the Council needs to decide?”

Quinn stepped into the man’s personal space. Marcum was bigger than most jackal shifters, a little over six feet. Quinn towered over him with his seven foot frame, intimidating him. A smile stretched across his mouth. He didn’t mind a bit intimidating this piece of trash. “No matter what the Council decides, remember I’m the one that will finish this.”



Paige knew what Deb was doing. She was trying to distract her from the fact that it was now four-thirty in the afternoon and Quinn still hadn’t called her. Granted, there was no certain timeframe in which the I’ll call you tomorrow went from being a promise to the dreaded I just told you that in order to appease you. She wouldn’t have been so antsy if Deb hadn’t been so worried. Paige knew Deb Quinn to call before now. The only reason Paige wasn’t falling into a deep well of depression was that Deb had told her Quinn had left town early this morning to deal with the trouble he’d been having at his construction site. She figured because of that, she could add a couple of hours to the deadline for him to call.

“Are you sure Quinn didn’t mention true mates to you? About how a shifter knows?”

“Look, Deb, your brother is great. He's big, strong, handsome, and I like him. I really like him.”

“That’s great,” the other woman gave a huge sigh of relief. “I was afraid he’d blown it.”

Paige held up her hand. “Let me finish. I know what you’ve told me about true mates, and I, uh, did some research.” She’d done a lot of research when she’d seen her first picture of Quinn on Deb’s desk. She’d hoped she’d find a website that told you how to turn yourself into a true mate for a shifter you loved. Not that she’d loved him then, or now for that matter. She did have an instant attraction to him. Something he hadn’t had for her last night. Oh, there had been some sexual chemistry—some fuck me now sexual chemistry. There hadn’t been the, I’m Tarzan, you Jane.