Blind Date With A Bear(34)

Oh, crap. His bear was right. She had no idea what he’d meant when he said he wanted to make her his. He’d hadn’t given it much credence, but she had already denied his claim that she was his mate. She’d probably thought he was feeding her a line just to get some pussy.

What Quinn felt for Paige wasn’t merely attraction, though God knew, he wanted to spend twenty-four hours a day fucking her. Beyond that, he really liked her. She was easy to talk to, sassy and had a laugh that made his trousers tent just thinking about her. So far they’d shared two of the most intense sexual experiences of his life and he hadn’t even fucked her yet. He was pretty sure somewhere in there, he’d explained about mates, and mating.

“Did you tell her she was your mate?” At first, he thought his bear had whispered the words. Then he realized his mother was talking. “Did you tell this woman she was your mate, Quinn?”

“Umm, I.” He had told her she was his.

“The idiot, apparently didn’t,” Ryland said. “He just fu—”

Before he could stop himself, Quinn decked his younger brother.

“Ryland! Quinn!”

He went after his brother again.

“Enough!” This time the roar was from his father and three sets of strong hands grabbed him from behind. The combined strength of his father, brother, and brother-in-law almost wasn’t enough to stop him from taking off his brother’s head. No one disrespected a mate. Especially his mate.

Ah, fuck, Quinn thought. Deb was right. He hadn’t told Paige she was his mate. Just made some vague, dominating—scratch that, apparently domineering—claims. Basically, he’d demanded sex.

“You alright there?" Jason laughed softly, loosening his hold on Quinn’s arms.

“Yeah. No.”

His father’s large hand clasped his back and the men let him go, one by one. “Is she the one, son?”

“Yeah, but she hasn’t a clue about what it means to mate a bear.” How the hell had he screwed up so royally?

This time his brother-in-law snorted. “Does anyone?”



After Quinn had gotten his ass chewed out by his sister and mother, the Blackwood family had sat down to eat. Fried chicken, potatoes, broccoli. A meatloaf, a ham and a turkey. More potatoes, green beans, and enough sweets to satisfy a brown bear, five grizzlies, a Kodiak bear and two cubs. No, it wasn’t Thanksgiving or Christmas. Just a meal at the Blackwoods. A lot of food was needed to feed the clan. Afterwards, Quinn had decided to shift and cut through the forest to head home. Ryland and Ryker drove back to Ryker’s house, where Ryland had left his bike. Not that Ryland could blame Quinn. Everyone, including their father, had given him advice on how to win his mate. Everyone except Ryker. His twin had stayed quiet throughout the evening. Even more withdrawn than usual.

Ryland sometimes found it hard to believe they were identical twins. They looked alike, acted alike, and smelled enough alike that sometimes even shifters had trouble telling them apart. To Ryland that was the end of their similarities. He thought himself more grounded. More content, he supposed. He looked at the glass half full, while Ryker sometimes questioned if the glass even existed.

He knew something was up with his twin. For one thing, Ryker seemed to be shutting him out. He couldn’t explain the silent communication thing between them that drove the family nuts, he just knew he’d always known what his twin was thinking. Until now.

He waited until Ryker turned the black Hummer onto the gravel road leading to the house before he spoke. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on with the cats—and the two females I keep smelling in the building?”

Ryker continued to drive, down shifting up the incline at the end of the driveway. Parking the vehicle, he got out without answering and Ryland shook his head. The fact that he knew what was going on didn’t matter. He wanted his brother to say it out loud.

“Ryker, we need to talk about this.” He closed the front door and followed his brother into the two story log cabin. A year ago, Ryker had suddenly decided he wanted a house of his own. Ryland didn’t understand why, he was happy sharing an apartment in town. But he’d helped his twin, just like he’d helped Quinn build his house a few years earlier.

“What if the humans we’ve been smelling are working for Marcum? We need to tell Quinn.”

His brother finally gave him his full attention, right in his face. It was the second time tonight one of his brothers had been angry enough to tear his throat out. “Leave it alone. I’ll take care of it.”

“Tell me what you sense. I just smell a female cat shifter. Very, very faintly. You say you can taste her scent.”