Mate Fur Hire (Bears Fur Hire 3) Read Free

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.