Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 3) (2 page)

It took Tobias way too damned long to get to Perl Island on account of having to refuel halfway there, and by the time he spotted the landing strip he’d used a couple years ago, the weather had turned.

Perl Island was all mountains, as if she were pointing daggers at the sky, daring any bush pilot to try her. Tobias had been flying a long time, though, and he knew exactly what his plane could and couldn’t do.

The churning storm clouds that hovered right above the island didn’t surprise Tobias at all. For some reason, this place got hit with the worst of Alaska’s weather. While it was a pain in the ass for him when his plane hit some serious, stomach-dipping turbulence, the storms and tsunami threats kept people off the island, and for the most part, the misfits were left alone. Which was probably the real reason he hadn’t been sent out on a kill mission to this place yet. Clayton, the head of the Shifter Enforcement Agency Tobias begrudgingly worked for, didn’t care as much about shifters warring with each other. Not unless they were drawing attention to themselves. Clayton cared if shifters were hurting humans, and since there were zero-point-zero humans crazy enough to make a home on this island, the misfits could likely do whatever they wanted without reprimand. Yeah. That sounded much better than the island was controlled by a witch.

The farther he flew away from Link, the more sure he was that Vera Masterson was just some backwoods shifter mixing herbs in the dirt, smoking copious amounts of weed, and chanting to herself because she was just as crazy as the other misfits. A shifter didn’t get exiled out here for no reason. Hell, if Clayton thought he stood any chance of keeping the crazy McCalls in one place, he’d probably cage them all here and sleep better for it.

Tobias dipped the nose of his plane slightly, lowering under the turbulence as he took a wide turn to square up to the rough landing strip. The edges were overgrown, but the center was covered with short grass, as if there had been other deliveries out this way that had kept the wild foliage from growing too high. Which made sense. He couldn’t be the only delivery here. The island wasn’t huge, and to support the twenty or so shifters, it would have to produce a lot of game, especially in the winter months.

Someone was feeding these people.

The landing was rough, but better than he’d expected. The first time he’d landed here, the runway was dotted with brambles, and he had plowed through a trio of young, knee-high alders which had almost dumped him on his butt and given him his first crash landing. But when he scanned the leftover runway out of the front window of his plane, sure enough, those alders had been trimmed with what looked like smooth machete slices.
Thanks to whoever is keeping this runway viable.
They’d just saved him damage to his new Cessna 185.

Tobias ripped off his headset and turned off the plane, then pulled the box out of the passenger’s seat. When he saw Vera Masterson’s name scribbled across the top, he froze. Such a strange feeling washed over him, just like when Link had said her name out loud. Déjà vu maybe or…something. Okay, so this package was for her. Maybe this was the lure. Maybe this delivery had to do with whatever she wanted to hire him to do, which shouldn’t make him this wary because people hired him for all sorts of odd jobs and deliveries. It was a product of the kind of work he did in the summers. There was no postal service out in the bush. Just him.

Tobias followed a small deer trail through the thick woods and followed the scent of cooking beef another mile through the wilderness until he came to a clearing. It was lined with tiny cabins in different stages of disrepair, and on the farthest end was a pair of outhouses. In between the two biggest cabins, a man sat, turning a spit that supported an entire leg of beef. Where the fuck did they get a cow?

The village was abnormally quiet as he made his way over the short grass toward the man tending the food, and the hairs rose on the back of his neck. He was being watched, and when he scented the air, it was full of dominance and all different types of fur.

The man by the fire lifted his head as his nostrils flared, and his dark eyes narrowed to slits. “If he sent you to off us, it’s your unlucky day.”

“Who?”

“You know who, grizzly. Ain’t nobody causin’ trouble here.” The broad-shouldered man stood to his full height as his glance skittered to the package and back to Tobias. He snarled his lips, exposing crooked yellow teeth. “What you got there?”

“A delivery, which is the one and only reason I’m here. No one sent me but the postmaster in Galena. Can you point me to where Vera Masterson lives?”

“She’s mine.”

Tobias cocked an impatient brow and gritted his teeth. “That’s fantastic. I need her to sign for this and pay me the delivery fee, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“I know you.”

“I assure you, you don’t.”

“You’re that prick who delivered the piping to us a couple summers back. Got in a fight with Eustice if I remember correctly.”

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 fuckin’ 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 asshole 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-fucked 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.

Undeterred, Vera clapped her hands together in her own high-five and went back to packing. “Do you snore?” she asked, twisting around with a frown.

“Uuuh, no?”

“Great. I’m a light sleeper, and I could deal with snoring, but I need to be mentally prepared not to whack you with a pillow.”

She’d lost him completely.

“I won’t need any money from you—”

“Wait, what? You’re supposed to pay me, lady. I delivered to you, remember?”

“Oh! Put that down,” she murmured, scrambling for a coffee can that sat on her kitchen counter. She pulled out a surprisingly thick wad of twenties and started counting them out, then apparently changed her mind, shoved the money back in, and handed him the entire can. “What’s mine is yours now.”

“No. No it’s not,” he gritted out, taking what he’d earned and shoving the can back toward her.

Vera had gone back to packing, though. “I won’t be fixing my hair for you every day, so you should accept that early. Like I said, I don’t need money from you, but I will need you to hunt at…where do you live again?”

“All over.” God this was getting weird. “Listen, Lincoln McCall said he talked to you—”

“McCall?” Vera’s giant wood-sprite eyes grew bigger somehow. “I didn’t know he was a McCall. Oooh, that’s bad.”

“Why is that bad?”

“I can’t help those McCalls. Too wild. Too crazy, and it doesn’t have as much to do with their animals as they think.”

“So, you can’t help him.”

Vera frowned and leaned back against a wobbly table. With a sigh, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s your favorite sexual position?”

Tobias just about choked on the air. “What?”

“I mean, I assume with bears it’s something animalistic. From behind while you’re growling or roaring or whatever. Do you like it from behind?”

“Y-yes.” Why was he talking? Engaging with this lunatic was a terrible idea.

“Okay. It’s not my favorite, but I’m flexible.”

“It’s not your favorite,” he repeated distractedly.

“No, but that’s fine. I have faults, too.”

“Fucking from behind is a fault?”

“I have needs, and I’ll expect babies at some point. Cubs? That’s what grizzly babies are called, right?”

“Right, I’m going to go. It was weird meeting you.” Tobias turned and opened the door, cursing Link for sending him on this dumb mission.

Harlan stood there looking pissed with his arms crossed over his chest. “She’s mine!”

Tobias slammed the door and ran his hands through his hair.

“Fuck off, Harlan. I have a mate now!” Vera yelled through the open window.

When something crashed against the house, Tobias ducked out of self-preservation. “Lady, I sincerely hope you aren’t talking about me.”