“Yeah, Quinn, you didn’t even give her a hard—”
Quinn turned so suddenly his brothers didn’t have time to pull back. One large hand curled around each of their throats. Both men were Quinn’s equal in height and weight, but they didn’t react to their brother’s threat. They recognized a male in the grip of the mating heat and realized they had pushed their brother to the edge.
“Hey, I was just going to say you didn’t give her a hard hat on the site.” Ryker spoke and Quinn released them to go sit behind his desk. “Geez, man. Lighten up, already.”
Quinn just gave them a flinty eyed glare. If it wasn’t for these two knuckleheads, he would have been balls deep inside Paige by now. Probably for the second time. And you would have mated her, his bear reminded him. Which would not have been one of his better ideas.
“Look man, we’re sorry.” Ryland apologized for both of them. Something he had always done. Ryker usually dragged his brother into the thick of trouble and didn’t look back.
They’d just spent the last fifteen minutes giving him hell, but Quinn couldn’t stay mad at his brothers. “It’s alright guys. I’m just a little touchy, I guess.”
The twins looked at each other and they did that silent communication thing that drove the entire Blackwood clan insane. He chuckled to himself at the thought of the trouble they’d have with their mates. He didn’t know of any woman who would appreciate the men’s uncanny ability to communicate with each other without words. Women wanted to know everything.
Except Paige She hadn’t even asked where he was taking her tomorrow night. Which reminded him, he needed to warn his brothers to stay away from the woods behind his house. He was not about to be interrupted a second time. “Stay away from the woods tomorrow.”
Ryland and Ryker both took a seat in front of the metal desk they all shared when needed. “Got plans, do you?”
“Yeah, and they don’t include you.”
“Hey, bro, you know we’d join in a minute. Paige is hot.”
“Quit poking the bear, Ryland,” Ryker warned his twin. Then ruined his support by saying, “I think Quinn’s gonna poke Paige.”
This time Quinn did roar and barely controlled the urge to shift and give his two shitheaded brothers a lesson they’d remember for a long, long time.
“Don’t worry. We won’t be near the woods. At least not yours.”
Quinn leaned back in his chair. “How are the others working out?” Before he’d returned from the Council meeting, he’d hired two more bear shifters to help patrol the grounds at night. He didn’t know how the hell the jackals were getting in and out without being seen. Or scented. Maybe with the extra shifters, they’d finally get some answers.
“They’re decent.” The twins exchanged another glance.
“Out with it,” he demanded.
“There’s something else going on. Maybe a vagrant. Someone looking for a place to sleep.” Ryker spoke, taking the lead, which was very unlike him.
Quinn looked at Ryland to see what the other man thought.
“Yeah, I agree with him.” He tossed another quick look at his twin. “You need to tell him, man.”
“Tell me what.”
“Ryker thinks there’s been some cats hanging around.”
“Cats?” Atlanta was not cat country. Even though the winters weren’t usually severe, some years it could get mighty cold when an arctic blast rolled through. And cats hated cold weather. Most cat shifters stayed further south where it was warmer. Maybe the shifters were just passing through. He looked at his brothers and knew the men weren’t telling him everything. “And?”
“And there’s something off about them,” Ryland said. “When I track them, their scent isn’t strong, like it’s been days since they’ve been here.”
Ryker finished his brother’s thought. “But in the building, I can almost taste the scent.”
“What about you, Ryland?”
“Not so much.”
Quinn rubbed his jaw vaguely wondering what was going on with his brothers. He really didn’t want to be doing this right now. He wanted to be with Paige. Be in Paige. His dick was still twitching from the feel of her mouth and his bear was chuffing, wanting another taste of her sweet honey.
If Marcum had enlisted other shifters in his crazy scheme, his agenda had changed and Quinn needed to change right along with it. “Get some fox shifters in here, maybe they can find something we can’t. I was hoping the sight of more bear shifters would scare the jackals off. Damn cats are so stubborn, they’d stay just to toy with us.” He didn’t let his worry show. If Marcum got cats involved, he meant business. Cats demanded their pound of flesh up front.