She kissed his shoulder, smiling against his skin as happy tears spilled over her eyelids. “I’ll never get tired of hearing you love me. That’s a promise.”
Chapter Nine
Gash felt lighter than he had in… well, in ever. He’d secured his mate. Claimed her body and her heart. Now he was going to keep her forever, to love and cherish as he saw fit. And the best part was, she wanted him too.
He brushed his lips across her forehead, breathing deep her new scent. Bailey mixed with him. It was perfect. And he couldn’t fucking wait for the rest of the clan to notice it. He was so damn proud.
A banging on Bailey’s cabin door had him jerking to attention. Easing her from his chest, he stood and pulled on his jeans. But the pounding became more urgent and was accompanied by yelling.
“Gash, you dog, I know you’re in there. Open up.” Ryan’s words were humorous, but his tone was urgent. If the human was looking for him instead of at home with his Layna, things couldn’t be good.
Bailey threw the sheet off, frowning, while Gash pulled his shirt and boots on, not bothering with the laces.
“Get dressed,” he ordered.
She picked up her shirt and leggings from the floor.
“Not those,” he said, rifling through her drawers for acceptable clothes. “Those are um, I won’t be able to think with you wearing those.”
He glanced up to catch her smirky grin, and tossed her a pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt as she dragged that cotton bra back over her tits. She pulled the shirt on and he read the words stretched across her chest. Chubby Single & Ready For A Pringle.
“Take it off,” he demanded.
“What? Why?” Bailey looked down. “Oh.”
“You’re not fucking single anymore.”
She grinned. “Nope. Sure not.” Reaching around him, she pulled another t-shirt from the drawer. “How about this one?”
She held it up for him to read. Bite My Muffin Top. A growl rumbled his chest. Yep, he’d be biting a lot of her later, for sure.
Gash nodded and tossed her a pair of boots from her closet while she dressed.
“Gash, come on,” Ryan hollered. “The alarms went off. Open this fucking door.”
Shit. The alarms. But the app on his phone was supposed to alert him when something was tripped. He dug it from his pocket to find several missed notifications.
“Shit.”
He grabbed Bailey’s hand and pulled her through the living room to answer the door.
“What’s happened?” Gash snapped, pushing past Ryan and dragging Bailey outside with him. She wasn’t leaving his sight. If this was Felix, he wasn’t getting near her without a serious fight.
“The alarm at the front road was tripped. Three females were caught on the cam.”
Gash frowned. “Females?”
Ryan nodded as they hurried toward the lodge, cutting through the woods again. “Yeah, females. Three of them. Dressed old-fashioned like. Long dresses and funny hair.”
“Funny hair?” Bailey asked.
“Kind of… poofy? Reminds me of a woman out of a western.”
Gash stomped over a fallen log, pausing just long enough for Bailey to clear it. “Maybe Rigor sent them. Doesn’t sound like Felix,” he grumbled. “But who knows what he’d do to get inside our boundaries. Where are they now?”
“Cornered, just beyond the parking lot. Out of sight of the guests. Hopefully. The bears are there, and all the cats except you two, Doc, and Josie.”
“Good.” The three females weren’t getting far with that many shifters on them. He’d question them and find out who they were working for.
Exiting the forest near the barn, Gash rounded the parking area and headed toward the gravel road that led down the hill to the highway. But he pulled up short when he spotted the three strangers standing in a circle of naked males with Layna on the side, screaming obscenities. None of the shifters were in their animal form, and in fact they all looked a little ill. Both bears wore wary expressions. Magic, Owyn, and Renner were sweat-drenched and barely standing. And Mason was bent forward, hands braced on his knees like he was about to lose his dinner.
“Explain,” Magic snarled, brushing his damp hair back with one hand. “And you better do it really fucking fast. Because I don’t need my panther to take you out.”
One female with long blond hair tilted her head to the side. “Maybe not. But I think we should go inside first, and get you all some…” she glanced away, waving her hand absently in the direction of Magic’s groin. “Clothes.”
Mason’s ragged chuckle sounded eerie in the quiet of the night. “You’re kidding right?” he asked, straightening.