Protector of the Pride (Lions of Pride Island Book 3) (13 page)

S
hane McAllister sat
on one of the large, cool rocks at the edge of the small, private lake where he and his brothers liked to fly-fish whenever they got a chance.

Well, he and Jesse at least. Maverick had his own means of fishing he preferred, most of which utilized claws rather than rods and flies.

Shane checked his hook and then whipped his arm back and lazily let it fly forward, landing in a plop on the mildly rippled water in front of him.

It was an overcast day, cloudy and cool, the perfect day for thinking through the silly ultimatum from their late father. One that could change all their lives.

Like all of his brothers, Shane was in love with the land around them. The soaring mountains, the thick trees, the little paths throughout the acres that only the three of them had fully explored. They’d grown up here on this wild, private land, and he wasn’t going to let a few wildcats take the place he’d been all his life.

He slowly reeled his line back in as he thought dreamily about options. Then he cast his line again and again, in a slow, poetic repetition that put his mind at ease but didn’t help him come up with any solutions to their problems.

It made no sense that their father could give away the land. He and his brothers had made it great. His middle brother, Jesse, had started up a restaurant chain where they used the fresh beef and buffalo meat they raised. His youngest brother Maverick had built a successful trail-running business, where he took busy city men on quiet tours through the rugged west on vacation.

And Shane himself ran the ranch. Hired the employees. Ran the lodge where guests sometimes stayed when looking for a Montana adventure. Made sure things ran smoothly and money from the ranch was reinvested in the right ways. For a few years, he’d left the ranch and gone to college to study finance. It had been torture, wearing stuffy clothes, interacting with people every day.

The bear in him had hated that.

He supposed more than most bear shifters, he and his brothers had been spoiled. They’d been able to spend almost more time in bear form than human form. As a result, Shane understood many valuable things. How to hunt, how to fish. How to track a man or animal anywhere.

But not how to woo a human female. And ironically, that was the only thing that would save their land.

The quiet footsteps and the piney scent in the air signaled the approach of his younger brother. Jesse was just a couple years his junior and had long, golden-blond hair that grew effortlessly and was tied back in a loose ponytail. And pale blue eyes.

His coloring couldn’t have been more different from Shane, who had dark hair and piercing dark-green eyes.

Jesse looked relaxed in their typical uniform of worn, sturdy denim and a hardy work shirt, unbuttoned at the top to show impressive muscles.

All three of the brothers made their living with their hands, and their bodies showed it. Combine that with being bear shifters with extra height and the ability to build strength easily and they were a sight to behold.

Shane wondered if that would be an advantage in winning a woman. He honestly had no idea. They rarely came to the ranch, and he didn’t remember one ever wanting to work there. Except for their funny, plump housekeeper who was more of a surrogate mother than anything else.

Fanny had occasionally bemoaned the lack of female company but kept the men in control well enough. Shane wondered if she would have any ideas about how to go about catching a mate.

“Thinking over our recent predicament?” Jesse asked quietly, situating himself cross-legged on a rock a few feet away.

Shane nodded and cast his line again, slowly reeling it in. “Recently
known
predicament. Obviously, it’s been around a lot longer than that.”

Jesse sighed. “Yeah.”

They heard a rustling in the brush around them, and from the spicy scent in the air, Shane knew Maverick had joined them.

In bear form, as usual. He let out a low growl, announcing his presence, as he slumped on the sandy shore between them.

Jesse gave him a passing glance and then stared out at the lake, where Shane’s attention was directed. “Well, we don’t have a choice. One of us has to bite the bullet immediately, and my guess is it has to be you.” He turned to Shane. “What do you say?”

“I say he doesn’t know how to talk to a female,” Maverick growled. They were all able to talk in their bear forms. A bonus to the magic that made them what they were. “I say we’re all doomed, unless we go kidnap one.”

Shane ignored that insane idea. “I’m not going to let us lose the land. I’ll figure something out.”

“Right,” Maverick grumbled. “Big brother will always fix things. See where that’s gotten us so far. Aren’t you the one that’s supposed to be in charge of paperwork?”

“If you knew just how much paperwork there was and the state it was in when Shane took over from Dad, you’d know exactly how he missed it in the first place,” Jesse retorted serenely. It took a lot to ruffle their middle brother, who wasn’t likely to lose his temper at anything Maverick said or did after years of dealing with his hot temper.

“It’s still my fault,” Shane said, setting his pole aside, tired of fishing. “I should have noticed. Should have looked at the will closer.”

“Three months to find the first mate. That sucks,” Maverick said.

Shane frowned. Maverick was the youngest of the three, only in his mid twenties, while Jesse was in his late twenties, and Shane in his early thirties. “I’ll go first. That gives you two some time.”

They seemed mildly satisfied by that. All three were confirmed bachelors. Like Shane, they didn’t really see the point of or need for a mate. Except to save the ranch.

All a woman could do around these parts was get in trouble or distract them from work. This wild land wasn’t meant for a female, especially the fragile, bookish ones Shane had gotten to know when he went to the big city for his degree.

No, they’d be better off running things just the three of them. But unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

“You know, there’s gotta be females in town,” Maverick said. “Only thirty miles from here.”

“Yeah, and with ten males for every female, it’s unlikely they’ll want to come up to the ranch,” Shane said.

“Maybe Jesse should go,” Mav said. “He might be the nicest to a female, with his pretty boy looks.”

“Hey…” Jesse said. Then he shrugged, because what Mav said was true. “I guess if I have to, I can try to find someone. But having never really left the ranch except for meetings with suppliers, I imagine I have even less experience with the fairer sex than Shane.”

“Humph,” Maverick said, settling the huge weight of his bear with a thud. “Seems like if anyone wants anything done, they have to do it themselves.”

Shane just laughed at that as Maverick disappeared into the woods around the lake.

“Should we go after him?” Jesse asked, standing and brushing off his hands. The sun was starting to set, throwing beautiful shadows through the trees around them, making the water shimmer with dim light. “No telling what he gets up to on his own.”

“What’s he going to do? Find a female as a bear and convince her to come back here?” Shane laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Jesse said. “What’s the worst he can do?”

The answer to that turned out to be worse than either of them could have expected.

* * *

M
averick shifted
into his human form as he stalked into the small cabin he’d claimed for himself at the edge of the ranch. He liked his privacy, preferred things that way, and intended for things to stay that way.

The land was theirs, it always would be, and it was clear now that he had to do something to ensure it, because his weak older brother was too cowardly to do anything about it.

If it were up to Maverick, he’d just go into town, pick out a female, drag her up to the ranch, and tell her how things were going to be.

But that would land him in jail, and besides, he valued his bachelor existence. And what woman would be able to tolerate the kind of living he enjoyed? None probably.

He pulled on a shirt and jeans and sat at the small chair and desk he’d made, which had an outdated computer on top of it.

He didn’t know exactly how human men typically found mates, but he knew the computer in front of him had answers to almost everything in the human world. He typed in a few clumsy searches. “Find a mate” didn’t bring up the right results. Neither did “buy a wife.” He scratched his head. “Bring a woman out west.” Still nothing.

There wasn’t a lot out here to tempt a woman besides beautiful vistas and cool, fresh air. A few more searches led him to "dating" websites, places where people put pictures up and talked to each other, but Maverick didn’t think any of that would lead to exactly what he was looking for. Three months wasn’t enough time to get Shane hitched.

Or to get a woman out here for the sole purpose of meeting him.

Maverick scratched his stubbly chin. Shaving was the least of his worries, and none of his men seemed to care. Perhaps he was thinking about this the wrong way. Wooing a woman? No, he didn’t understand that. But hunting, trapping, he understood that. Perhaps this wasn’t so different from catching a juicy fish. Set the bait, set the trap, and wait…

And the dating website that had shown up in Mav’s most recent search was exactly the right place to do it.

Mav typed in Shane’s name, knowing computer savvy Shane had probably looked into this weeks ago when he’d first found out about the ultimatum that could lose them their land.

Sure enough, the profile popped up. But the text below the words was all wrong. Nothing that Mav thought would attract a mate.

Someone just had to show Shane what exactly would bring a woman out to Montana, and it wasn’t anything like Shane was describing.

Mav took a few moments to imagine what a lady bear would want in a mate and then rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

When he was done, he scanned the screen with satisfaction, changed the login so Shane wouldn’t be able to get in and see this particular profile, and shifted back into his bear to run out into the night.

The land that meant everything to him was saved. He was sure of it. Now he just had to show up in the right place at the right time, spring the trap, and bring home Shane’s mate.

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