by J. K Harper
Haley sighed. The quiet life of a writer had somewhat eluded her here. But at the same time, it was sort of nice. Everyone seemed to want her to belong, even though she was just the house-sitter. They were welcoming and friendly. It was a tight-knit yet accepting community like nothing she'd ever experienced before.
Abby turned to the man who was taking her place behind the reception desk, saying, "It'll just be an hour, Joe, thanks." The man cheerfully flicked two fingers from his forehead at her in an aye-aye, cap'n sort of way, then cast a friendly yet curious look at Haley. She gave him a shy smile in return, wondering if he too was a shifter, then picked up her steps to follow Abby and Jessie as they went down the hallway. Grant walked between them on his own two legs, still stark naked.
No one seemed to notice or care that he didn't have clothes on in the middle of the winter. Then again, they were bear shifters. She knew they had a totally different metabolism and internal temperature than humans. The cold must not bother him at all. As they entered the small dining area, which by the casual, somewhat messy look of it appeared to be for staff only, she couldn't help her curiosity. "Jessie, would you let him run around like this in town too? I know everyone in Deep Hollow knows about shifters. But he's starkers."
Jessie giggled, but Abby answered, smiling as she gestured for Haley to sit down at the table. "No, not in town. It took a while for me to get used to it up here too. The pack I'm from lives closer to humans, even though on the pack estate there is a lot of privacy. But only members of that pack are usually there. So it's different up here. Here at the lodge, we welcome all kinds of shifters, from all over the world." Abby busied herself ladling out a hearty-smelling soup from the giant pot bubbling away on the stove in the corner. "I knew the lodge existed, of course, but I never actually came here until I met Quentin."
"Did I hear someone sexy and amazing just say my name?" Haley looked over as a big guy, Cortez's brother as well as her house property manager, walked in. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her sitting there, but nodded cordially. "Haley. Good to see you here." Even so, he gave Jessie and Abby a questioning glance.
Abby, who was walking the soup bowls over to the table, leaned over to brush her lips on his cheek for a lingering moment before she answered. "This girl works her tail off, even when she's hanging out at the Mountain Muffin all afternoon. Jessie's told me so. She's landed here for a whole year. Jessie and I decided it'd be good for her to come see the lodge and meet all of us."
Before Haley could say more than hello back to Quentin, a rush and tumble of enormous men sauntering into the room distracted everyone.
"Who wants to meet all of us?" The owner of this voice, a tall man with dark hair and that somewhat feral vibe Haley had come to associate with bear shifters, strode straight over to Jessie, whose face exploded into the same joy and happiness it had worn outside with the bears that were her mate and son. This must be Shane. Haley couldn't help a wistful stare as Shane kissed Jessie with all the possessive passion of a man who hadn't seen his woman in weeks, let alone about five minutes ago. Grant waved his chubby arms at Shane, obviously still recognizing Shane in his human form. And clothed, Haley noticed. Good thing he was. She was pretty sure Jessie was right and she wouldn't have had the grace to handle seeing naked adult guys running around all over.
That fascinating Cortez, though. Hmm. She might not entirely mind seeing him striding around buck naked. He'd be so big, and those legs like darned tree trunks, and that broad chest of his—
Nope. Not going there. She turned her head away. What Shane and Jessie had looked real enough, but it was also still painful to watch. Even so, she wondered where Cortez was in this gaggle of Walker bear clan guys. She also couldn't help thinking again about the sexy gold stubble on his face and what it might feel like against her cheek.
"If she wants to meet the clan of the wild and crazy, then she's come to the right place," Quentin said. His voice was mild, but Haley caught an irritable undercurrent. She remembered his mother, Elodie, had told her that Quentin was in charge of the lodge, as well as all his hooligan younger brothers while the elder Walkers were gone. Almost all of them were somehow involved with the running of the lodge. If they were all like Cortez, poor Quentin probably had a tough time reining them in.
It was probably impossible to rein in a guy like Cortez.
The noise level in the room turned way up, everyone chattering and laughing and just taking up so much space. If Jessie hadn't been right here with her, if Abby hadn't been so friendly and welcoming from the beginning, Haley might have wanted to leave the room and go hide. The energy in here boomed and ricocheted, amping up the entire space. So much suppressed wildness in all these huge men. She could sense it from Abby, too, though hers seemed more contained. Haley knew it wasn't just male testosterone filling the room. It was fierce, untamed shifter energy, brimming and curling through the room with its strength and innate power. Pix was very powerful, but her energy was more controlled. This bordered on half savage, invigorating as well as intimidating.
Abruptly, another energy tumbled in through the doorway, pulling Haley's attention like a magnet. She breathed in hard as she turned around.
Cortez.
He rolled into the room, feeling just as energetically wild as the others, but also like he had some sort of anger lashing beneath everything. Then his eyes landed on Haley. She almost choked on her breath from the sheer power of his gaze. His anger seemed to ease off and a surprised smile swept over his face. They'd left on such a strange note full of mystery and confusion, but now it felt good to see him.
Before he could say anything, another dang huge guy entered the room, followed by a pair of kids who immediately ran over to Grant and swooped him up in their arms, all three giggling at once. This guy paused when he saw Haley, his eyes narrowing. She took a nervous half step back. There was no mistaking the animosity in his gaze. It was disconcerting because he looked similar to Cortez. He must be another brother.
“Who's this?" Ooh, nope. His voice was definitely not friendly. The air seemed to chill.
Jessie, paying more attention to Grant's giggles as the two new children tickled his belly and the soles of his bare feet, said through her own giggles, "Hey, Riley. Meet Haley, the house-sitter.”
Haley drew breath to say a pleasant hello to Riley, even though her entire being felt suddenly pinned by his decidedly not happy presence. Pinned like a helpless butterfly to a board, unable to escape. He didn't want her here. Why? He strode to the center of the room, staring at Haley with a look that she could only think of as being predatory. The greeting died in her mouth. Though she managed to stand her ground, she quailed back. Holy crap, he was not happy to see her. She didn't even know who he was. Cortez. Where was Cortez? She opened her mouth to ask him for help, but her mouth had dried up into something that felt like desiccated twigs.
Rocking to a halt in the center of the room, arms down at his sides, fingers slowly curling, Riley snapped, “Haley. Yeah, I know who you are. The writer. The one who likes to tell secrets.”
The dark, angry thread beneath his words thunked sudden silence into the room.
“That's why you came here, isn't it? To spy on us?” His words came out flat, but with an edge beneath them. He leaned forward. She saw something not human lurch in his eyes, and she thought she might piss her pants. “You want to tell our secrets, expose our home to the whole world so more fucking humans who want to murder our kind will come here, isn't that right?"
4
Fucking Riley and his shit. Cortez instantly saw red at his brother's asshole move. That sweet, pretty Haley was standing stock still, clearly terrified. Cortez had instantly sensed Riley's simmering antagonism directed right at her the second his brother came in the room. His bear roiled beneath his skin, pushing hard at him. Cortez was on Riley's heels, a breath behind his brother as Riley got too close to Haley. Much too close to her with his ugly temper. Lunging the last step forward, he grabbed Riley's shoulder amidst t
he shocked silence in the room, yanking him back.
“Watch your mouth.” A snarl underscored Cortez's words. The snarl of his bear shoving through his throat, threatening to lunge out and draw blood from his own brother if he had to. Teetering on being out of control. “She's no spy, and that's no way to greet her. Apologize to her right this second, asshole."
Jessie had clutched Grant to her, as well as Riley's own children, wide-eyed from where she crouched on the floor. Even though she'd lived here for a year, even though her own mate and her own son were shifters, overt displays of shifter aggression still frightened her. Abby was aghast, her mouth open with one hand over it. Yet her eyes were laced with sympathy. She knew why Riley was being such a prick. They all knew. But Abby had more kindness in her than Cortez felt like sparing for his brother right now. Quentin swung his head sharply toward Riley, opening his mouth, but Abby reached out to catch him by the elbow. Cortez more sensed than saw her shake her head at her mate. For some reason, she didn't want him to interfere.
Riley yanked his shoulder away from Cortez, still not taking his eyes off Haley. She'd turned bone white, but didn't move an inch. Beautiful, bold, strong woman, even in the face of danger like this. Cortez snarled again, shoved his way forward to push his bulk between her and his brother. She had no idea what was going on. She wasn't a fair target for Riley's anger. “Back off," he warned again, now staring down Riley, cutting off his brother's glare at Haley. “She's not here to cause trouble. Mom and dad would've known. They vetted her within an inch of her life."
Ragged silence still held the room. Ugly and sad, it smothered everything and everyone there. Grant had stopped his giggling, and Laney and Finn, Riley's cubs, had also fallen silent, staring at their father. Cortez forced himself to take a breath. He needed to chill in order for this to go well. Leaning forward and lowering his voice, he grated out, "Riley, we get it, man. We all do. But she's not a bad human. Now apologize to her so we can have some fucking lunch like the civilized family we are.”
Laney suddenly giggled. "Cortez, you said fu—"
"Delaney Walker, knock it off,” Riley barked, though he didn't lower his baleful gaze from Cortez. “When you're older you can cuss up a blue storm, but not till then."
Finn snickered, causing Laney to elbow him in the ribs. Riley snapped again, a sharp, "Behave. Both of you." The cubs settled down.
For a long moment, Riley still stared hard at Cortez, who glared back, unmoving. Finally, Riley moved his gaze to Haley, leaning his head to the side so he could see her around Cortez. Another long, breathless moment of tension held the frozen room before he muttered, "I apologize, Haley.” His voice was short. "I don't trust human strangers in our town."
He sharply bit off any more words. Finally turning away from her, which made Cortez relax, Riley strode over to the counter where makings for sandwiches had been laid out. With jerky movements, he began making himself a sandwich, stepping away from the burst of tension he'd created.
Cortez held his temper, reined in his bear's roaring as best he could. This was as good as it was going to get for Riley. For his whole screwed-up clan. Savagely, uselessly, he wished Haley hadn't seen this side of them. Maybe she would write about this kind of shit. Put it in her books or whatever.
Turning to look at her still-wide eyes, he somehow knew she wouldn't. Ever. She was a good person. She wasn't one to tell secrets that weren't hers to tell.
After another beat of heavy silence, Abby said in a determined tone, "Let's eat."
Haley still seemed shaken, face pinched. Cortez cursed Riley again in his head, though he managed not to say anything out loud. As everyone else began to chatter again, he looked right into her eyes, trying to read what was going on behind them. “You okay?”
Haley's teeth caught at her upper lip. Cortez couldn't help staring at those full lips before he yanked his gaze up to her eyes again. Such a pretty green and still big, they looked shadowed. She finally nodded, slowly. “Yes. Or I will be. He was scary,” she added in a whisper.
“He can hear you, you know,” Jessie piped up. Looking calmer now, she'd stood up again, still holding a wriggling Grant. "Their hearing is a lot better than yours and mine."
“We can fix that," said Shane, curving a possessive hand around his mate's waist. His tone was also relaxed, though he'd tensed up like everyone else. But looking at his mate and his son, he was calm. Cortez envied that sort of easy peace.
Jessie arched a brow at Shane, though she smiled at him. She curved a hand up on his cheek.
“How could that be fixed?" Haley asked, less nervous. She shot a quick look at Riley's back. "I'm not fishing. I'm genuinely curious.”
Riley shrugged his shoulder, focused on making his sandwich. Another drop of tension welled, but it was quickly covered by Abby again ordering everyone to make their sandwich and have their soup before they had to get back to work. Low chatter started up again, getting louder as the cubs stampeded toward their father and pushed in to make their own lunches.
"Shane wants me to turn," Jessie answered Haley's question, jiggling Grant on her hip.
“Roast beef, babe?” Shane asked Jessie. Jessie nodded, and he went over to make a sandwich for his mate.
“Turn?" Haley looked at Jessie, clearly lost. She looked so innocent here, in the midst of his clan's craziness. Cortez felt the weirdest wave of possessive protection wash over him as he watched her.
“Be turned into a bear.” The words were simple, but enormous. Cortez knew that Jessie had been considering being turned for a year now, though she'd been hesitating. It was a huge step. But he looked at Haley to see her reaction.
“Ohhh,” Haley said, her eyes going even wider.
“Yeah,” Jessie agreed softly, smiling down at Grant. “Ohhh.”
“You'll be an amazing bear,” Shane called out as he squirted mustard onto his mate's sandwich.
Cortez watched Shane for a second, then looked at Haley again. “You hungry? I'll make your sandwich." He felt kind of bashful offering it, but she nodded, the side of her mouth curving faintly into a smile. Damn, now he felt all puffed up like it was the most important job he'd ever do.
“Yes. Thank you. Is there turkey?” Her voice was quiet, so quiet in the loud of this room. But less tense now.
“Hell yeah, there's turkey. I'm making Haley's sandwich,” Cortez announced to the room at large, like he'd been challenged. He marched over the counter and shoved both Riley and Shane. Riley glared at him but didn't press it. Cortez knew his brother was trying to keep calm in front of his children.
Abby, being a good-natured diplomat as usual, said, “That's nice of you, Cortez.” But there was a speculative undertone in her voice.
Cortez shrugged. “It's to make up for Riley being a dick.”
Shane laughed, eyeing Riley as he finished making lunch for his mate and himself. “Nothing can make up for that. Especially not making a sandwich.”
Riley had relaxed more. He elbowed Shane, hard. The two of them engaged in an elbowing, shoving, foot smashing battle for a minute, to the sound of the cubs laughing and Grant's baby giggle-shrieks. Even Abby laughed. The tension in the room dissolved completely away.
Cortez made a sandwich for himself once he finished Haley's, keeping out of the line of elbows and boots. His cousin Shane was good for the clan. He'd once been a big brawler, fighting on the underground shifter rings, but finding his mate and son had changed him. Softened his rougher edges. He liked to be a peacekeeper now. He'd definitely kept the peace a lot of times. Cortez really appreciated that he was doing it now.
Maybe someday he too would be as valuable to his clan, rather than just the fuck up they usually saw.
Carefully, he carried the sandwiches back to Haley, each one set onto a paper towel. He snagged two travel mugs of hot cocoa from the counter too. Abby usually put hot drinks into travel mugs because this time of year everyone liked to take them back out to whatever they'd been working on and enjoy them through the day.
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br /> Haley smiled at him in thanks, which was pretty awesome and made the rest of the bullshit in the room disappear. Her smile was just so damn gorgeous. She took a couple bites of her sandwich, swallowed them, murmured how good it was. Her face, though, was still drawn, her laugh nowhere to be found. Cortez ate his own sandwich in silence for a few minutes, watching her carefully. She was still scared, and she shouldn't be. He frowned. Whatever was happening with her had to do with more than what had just happened here.
He glanced over the room, filled with his boisterous family, his family's mates and children. It was a bustle of energy and commotion, just like always. Everything had gotten back mostly to normal, though Abby and Jessie glanced over at Haley more than once, their expressions concerned.
Cortez made up his mind in a split second. He wrapped the rest of his sandwich in the paper towel, then stood up. Haley looked at him, puzzled. "Come on," he said. "This is great here and all, but you haven't seen the whole place yet, have you?"
She shook her head, slowly wrapping her sandwich in her paper towel even though she still looked confused.
"I'll show you around. I know a good spot where we can finish our lunch. It's not windy today, not that cold right now. Bring your jacket and gloves and all that. Okay?" Carefully, he extended a hand to her.
Haley looked at his hand for a long moment, then up at him. She still seemed somewhat wary, but he knew it wasn't aimed at him. Finally, she nodded. "Okay."
Her voice was quiet, but when she reached her hand out to his, her grasp was certain. Grinning, Cortez gently tugged her up out of the chair. "If you want to stay up here, Jess,” he called out, "I'll take Haley back to town later."
