Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire #3)(4)

Actually, Eustice picked a fight with him.

“He’s dead now. My witch got him.”

The hairs rose higher on Tobias’s neck. “Look—”

“You can call me Harlan. I’m king of this place.”

“You mean alpha?”

“Nope.” He shook his head once, slow. “King.”

Tobias’s patience was wearing as thin as spring ice, and a growl rattled his chest before he could stop it. His bear wanted to bleed this prick, and it had nothing to do with this weird-ass conversation and everything to do with how dominant Harlan felt. Whatever animal he was harboring was a monster, just like Tobias’s.

Harlan smiled and canted his head, his dark eyes amused. “Grizzly, grizzly, grizzly. So touchy. You wouldn’t last a day here. Too weak for my Vera. She’d eat you up and spit you out. Nah, she’s mine, and I don’t have to worry about you. I’ll be f*ckin’ her soon. She probably likes it rough. The smart-mouthed ones always do. She put me off too long, and now my animal is angry. He’ll have her rough as punishment for making me wait.”

Fury burned through Tobias’s veins, and for what? No damned reason he could see. The dynamics and mating behavior of this village were none of his concern. And if she really was a witch, as Harlan suggested, Vera could likely take care of herself.

Tobias offered him an empty smile. “Tell me where Vera is so I can be on my way.” Preferably before he ripped Harlan’s throat out through his mouth-hole.

He spat, then jerked his chin toward the woods. Through the trees, Tobias could make out a cabin set some distance away from the rest.

“She’s in heat,” Harlan said, lips curved in a hungry grin that made Tobias nauseous.

He ignored the * and strode off.

“Don’t get her with a baby,” Harlan called. “That witch is mine.”

God, he couldn’t wait to get off this island. He had gotten this same sick feeling in his gut the last time he made a delivery here. Like nothing was right with this place.

Vera’s cabin was bigger than the rest and looked much better taken care of. There were new planks mixed in with old on the small porch, and in front of the door was a new welcome mat. Except instead of Welcome someone had painted, Fuck off Harlan, in bold, white letters.

Tobias snorted. He rapped his knuckles onto the smooth wood of the door, and a moment later, a short woman yanked it open, blue eyes blazing and mouth open like she was ready to de-hide him. Tobias stumbled back a step as they stared at each other. Her hair was medium brown with a reddish tint and curled into soft waves down her shoulders. Her eyes were stormy blue and almost too big for her heart-shaped face. Her eyebrows were delicately arched in surprise, and she smelled faintly of fur, though he couldn’t tell what kind of animal she was. Something dominant. And under that was the slight scent of pheromones that told him Harlan had been right. There weren’t many female shifters on this planet, but the scent of their heat was unmistakable to any male.

She was short, curvy, and had done her eyes up pretty with some kind of shimmery eyelid shit women used to doll themselves up. Vera Masterson was about as out of place here as she could get.

“You’re him,” she said on a soft breath.

“Tobias Silver,” he murmured, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Oh, my gosh, I’m being so rude. Come in.”

His urge to run from the beguiling woman was almost as strong as his instinct to stay, but he’d promised Link to hear what she had to say, and he sure as shit wasn’t going to make a second trip out here. With a glance over his shoulder for Harlan who was standing by the fire watching him, he stepped through the door.

Whatever he’d expected to see when he walked into a witch’s cabin, it wasn’t this. Most of the place was cluttered with tables covered in Bunsen burners, vials of different colored liquids, scribbled notepads, and row after row of ingredients packed in glass mason jars. In the corner was a pair of propane tanks, and near the fireplace were more glass vials. He saw exactly zero of the spell books, cauldrons, or fragrant herbs he’d expected to see hanging from the rafters, though she did have a long strand of garlic cloves in her small kitchen.

“It took you long enough to get here. I’ve been fixing my hair for a week on the off-chance you showed up, and do you know how hard it is to get a curling iron going out here in bum-f*cked Egypt? I shit you not, I had to rig it up to a solar panel because Harlan has been watching the generator like some sort of guard dog. I swear, he’s like one of those girls who’s like, ‘I won’t have sex with you until you mow the yard,’ or whatever, but with him, he’s like, ‘you can’t use the generator until we make thigh friction.’ Asshat.” She was talking with her back to him as she began to pack up vials and packs of sterile needles into a black suitcase.

“Uh, do you want me to set this over here?” he asked, gripping the package.

“Sure but don’t unpack it. We’ll need that stuff.”

Tobias blinked slowly. “I’m sorry?”

“Just to get things out in the open, I’m a Virgo, and I hate long walks on the beach because sand between your toes is incredibly uncomfortable, am I right?” She turned and lifted her hand, like the tiny woman wanted a high five. Tobias refused on account of the giant package in his hands and the fact she felt dangerous to touch. His inner bear had quieted completely in her presence. It had been a while since the monster in his middle had gone still.