Husband Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #1)(7)

How was his stomach growling while he was feeding it? Little beggar was always obnoxious until he put on that first twenty pounds.

It was nearly dark when he scented animal fur. He was close to the cabin now, and the tracks in the snow were definitely wolf. He couldn’t have gotten this lucky. It wasn’t possible. Cole wasn’t this stupid to be right out where he could see from a plane.

But when he stepped through to the clearing of the cabin’s yard, low and behold, Cole McCall himself was standing in the doorway, as if he’d been waiting for him.

The hairs on the back of Ian’s neck lifted, and he slowed to a stop just inside of the tree line.

“It ain’t a trap,” Cole drawled out. His head twitched, and his eyes blazed for a moment before they dimmed again.

“Cole, you gotta problem, man,” Ian said as he lowered his backpack to the snow beside his boots.

“Clayton?”

Ian nodded once.

It was hard to tell behind Cole’s thick beard, but it looked like his lip ticked once. He inhaled deeply and pushed off the door frame. “Is it death?”

Ian nodded again, then looked around pointedly. The cabin was old, maybe eighty years, and the roof had gone to rot and caved in at some point. “You didn’t pick the best hiding spot. You made it too easy.”

“Yeah, well I wasn’t hiding from you. I was hiding from her.”

“I don’t understand.”

Cole twitched his head again and let off a long, low snarl, then swallowed it down. The hairs lifted on Ian’s arms despite the warm winter jacket. Crazy always heckled his instincts. Crazy was unpredictable and could get a man killed if he wasn’t careful.

“My wolf wants Elyse.”

Now Ian was the one letting off a growl, and he didn’t feel inclined to stifle his as Cole had done.

Cole swallowed audibly. “He settled for the little girl, but she just bought me time. I thought you’d never f*cking get here, Silver.”

“You are prepared then?”

Cole uncrossed his arms and nodded. “I know what I am now. I can feel it. Dumbass that I was, I thought I could be saved and outsmart the McCall curse. I thought Elyse could save me. And then I beat on her.”

“Fuck,” Ian muttered in a snarling voice as he tried to keep his head. Everything was red now. Red Cole, red woods, red snow. “You know a wolf bride wasn’t ever going to save you, McCall.”

He lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “If it were you, and you thought you could be saved, wouldn’t you try?”

Ian inhaled the mountain air, but it stank of wolf and fur. Cole looked human enough, but he wasn’t in control. His animal even smelled unsettled. “I’ll give you an honorable death if you want it.”

“Even after I hurt the girl?”

“Didn’t say you deserved it, *, but I have sympathy for a man losing a war to his animal. You and Lincoln are the least shitty of the McCalls.”

Cole huffed a laugh, though his expression stayed exactly the same. Defeated. “I’ll take that as a compliment coming from you. Can I ask you one last favor?”

“Don’t push your luck.” Ian cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, curiosity piqued. “What is it? Not saying I’ll do it, but I’ll consider it.”

Cole pulled a folded piece of paper from his jeans’ pocket and held it out. “It’s a letter to Elyse. An apology. I’m not safe to give it to her myself.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” In fact, putting Elyse in front of his protective grizzly was the worst idea ever. He’d come to that conclusion over the plane ride here.

“Please, man,” Cole pleaded, uncertainty slashing through his lightening eyes. “Dying will be easier if I know she’ll get this.”

Ian scrubbed his hands down his face and nodded. “Sure.” He approached and took the letter from Cole’s outstretched hand. Maybe he could put it through the post, or pay someone in Galena to deliver it to her. “You ready?”

Cole nodded and pulled his thick sweater over his head as Ian began to shuck his clothes. “Hurry,” he said in a strained voice as his neck snapped back.

“Shit,” Ian muttered as he rushed to undress. His bear would destroy his clothes ripping out of him, and he needed them to get back to the plane frostbite free.

Cole’s Change was instant, more proof of how in control his animal was. It should’ve taken minutes as each bone, tendon, and joint broke and reshaped, but Cole’s wolf exploded out of him and charged before Ian was ready. God, this was going to hurt.

He pushed his Change, but it was hard to focus with Cole’s teeth ripping into him. The snow in front of his face splattered with red. His red. Pain blurred his vision. The snapping of his bones was deafening, and Cole’s wolf was going at him in earnest now, tooth and claw. The law of Alaska was simple. Kill or be killed. His wolf knew why Ian was here, and apex predator shifters didn’t die easy, even if the human side of Cole saw the necessity.

Ian closed his eyes and pushed his Change harder than he ever had. A smattering of pops echoed across the clearing just before millions of stinging needles blasted through his skin and covered his body in a thick, winter coat. He roared his fury at the little, cheating shithead and shook his massive body, dislodging Cole’s teeth from the muscular hump over his shoulder blades. Even skinny and right out of hibernation, he was still ten times the size of the wolf.