The three men sat in silence until Ryland spoke again, “As soon as the inspector leaves, we’re taking you home. Mama wants to talk to you.”
Quinn grimaced. He’d been avoiding his mother’s calls since Monday. The last voice mail she’d left was an explicit order to come to dinner, sooner rather than later. There was little he could do to turn down the ‘invitation.’ When Mama Bear wanted her cubs to come home, Mama Bear’s cubs came home. Knowing it was just a matter of time—and opportunity—before he claimed her, he figured tonight, since Paige was busy, was as good a day as any to tell his parents he’d found his mate.
“Mama!”
A woman’s shrill voice echoed through the Blackwood house. Usually the family gathered each Sunday. This was a middle of the week dinner that meant something big was going on. Unfortunately, Quinn was the something big.
The whole family was there except for his other sister and her family. They came in every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and two weeks during the summer. Oh, and at least one weekend a month. His mother couldn’t go very long without seeing her grandchildren.
“Stop screeching Debra Blackwood Clark. I raised you better than that.” A large woman yelled just as loudly from the other side of the room as she put the finishing touches on the evening meal.
His parents’ house had more than an open floor plan, it was so big and vast sometimes it felt like a freakin’ ballroom. This evening, Quinn didn’t think it was nearly big enough with two bear sows yelling at each other. Add in four more grizzlies, one Kodiak, and two cubs and it was downright claustrophobic.
“Apparently you didn’t raise Quinn so well.” Deb stomped further into the room, giving him a disgusted look.
“What? What did I do?”
“You didn’t tell her, you idiot.”
“Tell who what?” Ryland muted the television from his seat on the couch.
Quinn thought it best to get to his feet when his sister turned her obvious wrath on him. He’d never hurt his sister, he’d never hurt any woman. He didn’t, however, trust her not to hurt him. He remembered that one year in his childhood when his sister had been bigger than him and grabbed the nearest cub in self-defense. His niece snuggled against his shoulder and he breathed in her baby-fresh scent.
Want one, his bear rumbled and Quinn couldn’t agree more.
“You didn’t tell Paige she was your mate.”
“What? Of course, I did.”
Ryland rose to his feet and stood by Quinn’s side. “Oh contraire, Sis, Quinn was just telling Paige all about mating this afternoon. Me and Ryker can vouch for that.”
Quinn ignored his brother and tried to think. On Wednesday, Quinn had told Paige bear shifters didn’t always mate for life, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted his true mate. Forever. Saturday on the phone he’d told her she was his when she’d threatened to go out with his brothers. And Ryland was right, he had shown her a thing or two about mating this afternoon. He didn’t know what his sister was talking about.
“Shut up, Ry,” Ryker reprimanded his brother. Then ruined his seeming support by adding, “Can’t you see he’s about to blow?”
“Speaking of blow—”
A sound Quinn had never made before erupted in the back of his throat and suddenly, the room fell silent. He barely registered the fact that his father had risen from his chair and was looking at him with concern and that Jason had grabbed his daughter and put himself between Quinn and Deb and the cubs. Before he knew what was happening, he was in Ryland’s face ready to rip out the other man’s throat.
“Easy, son.” His dad’s hand on his shoulder steadied his rising bear. While bears didn’t have alphas—well, really all bears were alphas—they did respect the familial structure.
Quinn breathed deep, taking back the shattered control he held over his bear.
“See, Mama, Quinn is going to ruin it.” Deb looked around her husband’s broad shoulders to throw another angry look Quinn’s way.
“Ruin what?” His mother finally made her way into the living room. She’d paid little attention to the drama being played out in the living room as she’d finished dinner. Having three male cubs and two female cubs, drama had pretty much been the norm in the Blackwood household for years.
“My dip wad of a brother forgot to tell Paige she was his mate!”
“What?!”
Everyone started talking at once. Everyone except Quinn. Of course, Paige knew she was his mate. Today, at the site, she’d agreed to be his.
She agreed to have sex, his bear laughed at him.