Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #3)(38)

“Where is Jenner?” Tobias asked in a low, snarly voice.

Vera cast him a frown over her shoulder, but he was standing even farther behind her now. As far away from Ian as was polite. Ian looked uncomfortable, too, and Vera wondered if she suppressed their bears this winter, would they be able to relax around each other?

“Jenner’s on a guided hunt out in the bush right now. He and the Dawsons took a big group of frat boys out, and there is only so much bro-time I can handle before I want to duck out. Elyse and I are planning the wedding.” Her dark eyes went wide as she looked at Vera. “You’ll have to come.”

Vera grinned and got so excited she couldn’t breathe. Years on Perl, and now this. A real life wedding invitation from her future sister-in-law?

“It’ll be out at Silver Summit Outfitters lodge.”

“Oh,” Vera said as she realized how impossible that would be.

“What’s wrong?”

Tobias stepped in and saved her from fumbling. “Vera isn’t safe around humans yet. Her animal is a biter, and she’s capable of Turning people. We can’t put you two at risk. She’s docked at Link’s place until she can manage better.”

Lena let off a shocked noise. “That sounds awful.”

“I’ll be there if it’s safe,” Vera promised hopefully.

“Well, can we talk to you on the radio while you’re in seclusion?” Elyse asked. “I talk to Link that way.”

“Yes!” she said too loud.

Tobias chuckled beside her, and the others grinned.

“So,” Elyse drawled, “do you think it’s okay to have dinner together, or do you have to go back to Link’s right away?”

Vera wanted to say yes. She truly did, but she didn’t have enough control over her Changes yet to feel confident about spending hours eating and chatting with Elyse and Lena. They were human, and if she bit them, it wouldn’t matter if it was an accident. She would never forgive herself. “It won’t be like this forever,” she apologized. “I’m working really hard to get better at this.”

Ian had been quiet, but at her admission, he spoke up. “Vera, are you a born shifter?”

She shook her head slowly.

“Turned?” he asked, his eyebrows arching high.

She nodded.

“Did you choose to be Turned?”

Another shake of her head.

Ian looked and smelled furious as he swung his gaze to Tobias. “Did you kill the sonofabitch who did this to her?”

Tobias’s eyes had lost their humor and had gone cold and empty instead. “I did.”

“Good,” Ian said darkly. He turned to Vera. “I’m sorry for what’s been done. If you need anything, you ask, okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered.

Elyse squeezed her hand. “You tell us when it’s safe to visit you.”

Vera smiled brightly. “I will. I can make us beer and moonshine.”

“You know how to make moonshine?” Lena asked.

“Yes! The blueberry kind. I’m a bit of a chemist.” She frowned at how close she was getting to the secret of the cure. “I can send a jar of it with Link when he visits if you want.”

“We want,” Elyse said through a grin. “And someday, you can teach us how to make it. Winters around the homestead sure get long.” Elyse’s smile faded, and she looked up at Ian, her heart in her eyes as he hugged her to his ribs.

If only Vera could tell them she was going to try to fix that, but Tobias was right. If for some reason the cure didn’t work on grizzlies, she couldn’t get their hopes up. She liked Lena and Elyse too much to hurt them like that. “It was really nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” Lena said. “Hey, Vera?”

“Yes?”

“Would you mind if I took your picture?”

“Really?” she asked, patting her wild hair.

Lena nodded, then lifted her camera in front of her face and aimed it.

When Tobias slid his hands gently around her waist from behind, she was warmed to her core that he was willing to take a picture with her. This would be their first together. She snuggled her face against his cheek as he leaned forward and cheesed for the camera. After Lena clicked a picture, Tobias kissed her on the cheek. Damn, what that man could do to her insides.

“You have the strangest color eyes,” Lena said, canting her head with a frown. “Gold in the middle and blue on the outside. In the sunlight, they look otherworldly.”

Tobias waved to his family and Link did the same, and as she started to back away from Lena and Elyse, she admitted low, “That’s because I’m a fox.”

As she turned away from Lena and Elyse’s shocked smiles, her heartbeat raced, and inside her fox made that soft satisfied humming sound she had the other night.

For the first time ever, Vera was proud to claim her animal out loud.





Chapter Fifteen


Tobias could see how tired his mate was becoming. How drained she was with everything she had to balance. His woman was strong, but at what point should he intervene?

Vera and Link worked relentlessly over the long table of vials, jars, flasks, clamps, microscopes, burners, beakers, funnels, and test tubes. Link’s usually clutter-free cabin was now ground zero for organized chaos.