What a Bear Wants Read Free Page B

them on every available surface that I can.”
              “Speaking of fucking on every available surface,” Ransom stood and walked over to one of his bookshelves, pulling down a small box and tossing it to Maddox. “If you’re going to fuck Hannah after hours, don’t do it on her desk. This is a respectable business. Do it in the goddamn bathroom like everyone else.”
              Chuckling, Maddox pulled the pair of panties from the box and tucked them inside one of his pockets. “The beast wants what the beast wants.”
              “The beast better not want a sexual harassment suit.” Ransom and his brother had spent entirely too much time building their business for that. It had started off with simply flipping houses and turned into a multimillion dollar corporation that had over two thousand clients a year.
              Maddox stood and gave his signature smile, the one that said he was forty steps ahead of everyone else. “That can’t be done if you have a waiver.” He started for the door.
              “You are such a whore.”
              “Not the point, big brother. Not the point...” He then stopped and turned to look at Ransom. “Oh and Ma wants you over for dinner on Sunday.”
              Ransom froze. “Why?”
              “Why do you sound like I just told you she wants you over for murder?”
              “Because Ma doesn’t ask me over for dinner unless it’s going to result in something that will make me cranky.” His eyes narrowed on his sibling. “Is it going to make me cranky?”
              Maddox put up his hands. “I have no idea.” He opened the door. “I just know that I was given a message to deliver and that you don’t ignore Ma’s messages unless you want a sow paw to the back of the head when you least expect it. Remember Thanksgiving?”
              Snorting, Ransom said, “You were only out for an hour or so.”
              “Not the point, big brother. Not the point...” Then Maddox was gone, leaving Ransom to consider all the horrible possibilities as to why his Mom wanted to see him. It wasn’t that they weren’t close. Actually it was the exact opposite. Lorna McKenna could genuinely be called one of the most important people in his life, along with his Dad of course.
              It was just that...his Mom was a traditionalist. She was all about marriage and family and bringing strong cubs into the world to continue what she loved to refer to as the McKenna Lineage. That usually meant if she wanted him over for dinner, there would be someone else there. Someone with a vagina.
              Ransom wasn’t opposed to vagina. He just wasn’t ready to be mated to the same vagina for the rest of his goddamn life. Not that there was something wrong with mating, because there wasn’t...for men who didn’t have nomadic tendencies. He’d always been the strange one among his kin, consistently bouncing from place to place. Ransom liked change and it showed because unlike the rest of his. He liked moving around. It was the biggest reason he’d gone into real estate. The ability to pick and choose where he laid his head at night was a priceless privilege for him that he wasn’t willing to give up.
              Lorna called him restless, while his father Callum, simply thought that at any moment the right female would be cause enough for him to settle down. Ransom didn’t see that happening anytime soon, if ever. California was home right now. But that could change at any moment. He liked his life. Liked his freedom even more. And no one, may she be bear sow, feline or canine, was going to make him give it up.
     
    ***
              “I hate bears!”
              Cree’s head jerked around to see her best friend and alpha stomping towards her. She turned a strained smile to the black bear family that was currently eyeing