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  “Ah, Little Red, you’re breaking my heart. What’s wrong? Don’t cry.”

  She hit his chest. “I’m angry with you.”

  He hugged her tighter. “Why? It’s not like you to cry when you’re angry at someone.”

  “Ha, what do you know? I’m usually very sweet, considerate, and never bossy. Well, that is before I met you two. You and Zack bring out the redhead in me. The only other people who can do that are my brothers and dad.”

  Sandy hit Jake’s chest again as his body shook with laughter. “Hey, don’t laugh at me. I’m telling the truth.” Sandy growled deep and pushed at him to get off, but he just held tighter.

  “Oh sorry, Little Red, I’m just trying to imagine you as sweet and never bossy.”

  Zack came out, his hands full of plates with toast, pancakes, and fruit. She felt heat cover her cheeks, and she moaned as memories of the last night flashed before her.

  “Who’s sweet and never bossy?” Zack asked.

  She elbowed Jake in the chest. “Me. I’m sweet and never bossy.”

  She watched as Zack placed the plates on the table. His eyes lit up and his whole body shook like he was trying to contain his laughter. He sat on a chair and pulled her from Jake’s lap. “Firebird, you’re very sweet.” He nibbled on her ear and a shiver racked her body. “And as for the bossy part, I like a woman who can stand up for herself and knows what she wants.”

  Sandy groaned as Zack’s mouth come down on hers and his hand slid up under her shirt. The ringing tone of The Doors’ “Light My Fire” pulled her away from the kiss and the blissful state she was getting to. When it went unanswered after a couple of times, she narrowed her eyes on Zack.

  “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” She watched him give a fleeting look at it then shrug.

  “It’s no one important.”

  Curious, she reached for the phone and answered, only for his mother to say, “I just wanted to check that girl that I spoke to give you my message. I know the type of woman you usually go for, the ones with half a brain. This one sounded at least like she could follow orders, but I didn’t want to chance it. I know when they leave in the morning you don’t see them again. Which is good because I already have one human daughter-in-law and a half-breed grandson. Thank God your sister has stopped her rebelling ways and agreed to marry a grizzly.”

  Sandy gripped the phone tighter as Zack groaned and tried to get it out of her hands.

  His mother continued, “That’s what you need to do, Zackary, stop rebelling. Get a real job or business. Get rid of the bimbos like the one I spoke to this morning, and come and marry or date a lovely bear shifter. I have three beautiful girls lined up for you tonight—”

  Sandy had heard enough. Right now she didn’t care if the woman was Zack’s mother or the friggin’ pope, Sandy wasn’t going to let her keep speaking. “Have you finished now? Because I’m really not in the mood to listen to any more of your shit.”

  Zack’s mother sputtered on the other end, and Sandy sat up in Zack’s arms.

  “You need to listen, lady. That human daughter-in-law thinks you’re this wonderful lovely woman and speaks nothing but nice things about you. I have met that daughter of yours with the beautiful little boy, and you should be proud of what amazing people they are. And lastly, Zack isn’t rebelling. He is one of the most talented people I have ever met, and his business is doing fantastic. I love what he does just like I love him.”

  She didn’t let his mother respond before she pressed the End button. She could feel the tension in Zack’s body, but she’d felt him stiffen even more when she’d said she loved him.

  Argh. Crap! She shot a glance at Jake and saw him staring at her with a look of longing, and she felt a pang of guilt that she didn’t say it to him too. Oh no, I love him too. How the hell did they do that? No way was she going to say anything more. God, look at how Zack was reacting.

  Jumping out of Zack’s arms, she chanced a look at Zack to see his frozen face. Then she caught a quick glance of Jake again before she ran into the house praying one of her brothers or her father would come and pick her up.

  She’d stuffed up big this time and let her redheaded temper go too far. She ran to the room and searched for her bag. Finding it on the floor with her clothes, she rummaged through it until she found her phone and called her eldest brother.

  “Hey, Phillip, I need a favor. Can you come pick me up from the vineyard, like now?”

  “Is everything all right, sis?”

  She looked around her as she one-handedly got into her clothes. “Um, yeah, fine. I…I…I’m fine. See you in twenty out front.” She gave him the address and hoped it was correct.

  Leaving the room she’d made love to the men she loved in, she ran down the stairs and out the front door.

  Oh my God, I just told off one of the men I love’s mother. Shit. Sandy’s brain was in overdrive. They said I was their mate. She wondered if they got to choose mates or they just got stuck with whomever and put up with it. Why hadn’t she asked that question?

  ****

  Jake was pissed as he watched Sandy run off, and Zack sat frozen in the chair. Why wasn’t he going after Sandy to tell her that he loved her too, and that she didn’t have to worry about his mother?

  Zack was an idiot, and Jake wasn’t sitting there shocked anymore. Getting up, Jake shook him. “Zack, snap out of it and go chase our mate down. She just told your mother off, which I don’t think anyone has ever done. And she stuck up for you and told her how much she loved you.”

  Jake shook him again before giving up when Zack grabbed his phone, nodded, and walked in the opposite direction.

  Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jake went after Sandy. After looking in his room to find it empty and her clothes and bag missing, he searched the rest of the house. Jake was surprised when he saw her walking toward the road.

  Running after her, he yelled for her to stop, but she seemed in her own little world. Finally he stopped her as she reached the front of the property.

  “Little Red, where are you going?”

  Sandy felt stiff in his arms, and he looked down to see her brow furrowed and her lips turned down into a frown. “Do you have a choice of who is your mate or are you stuck with me?”

  What the hell is she going on about? “Sandy, I don’t know what you mean.”

  Her eyes widened at the fact he’d used her name, and she pushed at his chest. “Do you have to be with me or do you have a choice? Does being a shifter take away who you would really choose?”

  Growling at her silly thoughts, he pulled her to him and kissed her until they were both fighting for air. “Little Red, I don’t do anything I don’t want to, and we shifters always have a choice.”

  He closed his eyes and breathed her sent in as she relaxed in his arms. “How angry is Zack at me right now? I know I shouldn’t have spoken to his mother like that, but that woman…”

  Jake chuckled and leaned down to pick her up, cradling her in his arms, before slowly walking back to the house. “Zack’s not angry, just shocked that someone stuck up for him against his mother. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and usually he just avoids his parents.”

  “Oh, well, I’m glad I cleared that all up, and now I’m on a roll, I might as well ask you the rest of what I wanted to ask.”

  “You have more questions?”

  She snuggled into him. “Yep, and my number one is why are you so afraid to let go with me? I feel you holding back. I know you want to say things, and you keep biting your tongue. Like about me going to this concert, how I won’t let you or Zack pay for things, the fact I do so much for my brothers, or even talk about your job. I want to ease your tension, not make it bigger, and don’t think I haven’t noticed how much you avoid things. I know you can’t tell me too much about your work, but, Jake, I’m willing to listen to anything you have to tell me, be it little or a lot.”

  Jake paused at the front door to stare down at her and couldn’t help the
words that came out of his mouth. “God, I love you. No one else worries about me or asks every day how my day went, even when they know I don’t want to talk about it. You don’t complain about my crazy phone calls in the middle of the night. You’ve welcomed me with open arms every night since I’ve met you. I’m so lucky to have you.”

  Jake looked down to see tears rolling down Sandy’s cheeks. He leaned down and kissed them away. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  She reached up and pulled his face down to hers. She kissed his lips and whispered, “I’m crying because I’m happy. I love you too. I wanted to save it to say to both of you someplace special, and I didn’t want to say it after my tirade to Zack’s mother, as I didn’t want you to think I thought of you as an afterthought because I didn’t.” She brushed her lips against his again. “Come on, let’s go and sit inside. I want you to tell me what’s going on. Why you’ve been so stressed.”

  He nodded and opened the door before walking straight to the lounge room. He sat on the lounge without letting go of his precious bundle. He stroked her hair as he thought of what to say. “There’s a shifter killer on the loose. My partner, cousin, and his partner, are working nonstop to find him. The last three killings have been people we knew. I can’t shake the feeling he is deliberately playing with us. He is killing more and more. I have to find him.”

  She let out a big sigh. “Why else are you holding back with me?”

  He moaned because he knew he had to tell her. He couldn’t keep holding back. “I don’t want to be too controlling, as I know you hate how your brothers and father are. But I can’t help it.”

  Jake gripped her hands and kissed her fingers. “Please don’t get angry when I tell you this. When you’ve been working late at night and are the last to leave work, I watch you to make sure you get in your car and get home and lock your house. I also had your car checked, and a guy will be installing a security system in your house. Oh, and I went to the fire station and had a chat with your father and brothers. That’s why they haven’t been around every morning and night.”

  She stared at him, speechless, for a while before a car horn seemed to make her shake herself, and she looked toward the door and then back at him. “Give me a moment.” She got off him and walked out of the room.

  He waited for her to come back. Zack walked into the room.

  “Where’s Sandy?”

  He pointed toward the door.

  “Why did you let her leave?”

  Getting off the lounge, he stalked over to Zack. “I didn’t let her leave. Unlike you, I went after her.”

  “Well, where the hell is she then?” Zack snarled back.

  Jake felt his clothes rip as his bear took over because he was angry that Zack had done nothing to go after their mate. Muscles stretched and fur grew as he and Zack both turned into bears.

  A scream and a yell had them both turning in their bear forms to see Sandy and her brother standing in the lounge room entry. Sandy’s brother looked white as a ghost as he pushed Sandy behind him. She went willingly for a moment then seemed to look at the both of them in their fighting stance.

  Sandy came around her brother, avoided his trying to pull her back, put her hands on her hips, and snarled, “You two boys were not about to fight, were you?” They moved farther apart.

  “You weren’t fighting over me, were you?”

  He and Zack both hung their massive heads. Sandy came over and smacked both of them. She shocked Jake when she knew which bear was which. “Jake, who started this?”

  Sandy patted Zack. “Change back now. You’re scaring my brother.”

  He and Zack both changed back. Jake watched as Sandy’s brother Philip leaned against the wall.

  “What the hell are you two?”

  Sandy spun to face her brother. “You’re joking, right? They’re bear shifters, you idiot. Hence, us walking in on two massive bears fighting.” She turned back to them and came up to Jake. “I leave you for two minutes, and you’re fighting Zack. What the hell, Jake?”

  He shot a glare at Zack who grinned at him. “Ah, Little Red, we were just playing right, Zack?”

  Sandy turned to Zack who muttered, “Um, yeah.”

  “Crap. You two suck at lying right now, but I have a bigger problem now. What do we do with my brother now that he knows?”

  Jake had no clue. He looked Philip up and down. “You going to tell anyone what you saw?”

  Philip shook his head frantically. “Who the hell would believe me anyway? I would be committed.”

  ****

  Zack couldn’t believe what Sandy had done for him. After he’d gotten over the shock of her sticking up to his mother and saying how she loved him, he had the courage to do what he wanted to do. He’d called his mother back and told her that he was disappointed that she wasn’t happy with any of his career choices and that she hadn’t even seen his shop to judge him. He’d even told her he wasn’t going to the engagement party because he didn’t support his sister being persuaded into marrying someone she didn’t love.

  He and his mother had a huge argument. He’d ended by telling his mother that if she ever spoke to his mate like she did today, he would publicly disown her, and she would never see any grandchildren he had or him again.

  The whole drive back to Sandy’s place, his mind had been going a million miles an hour. His mate had stuck up for him and loved him for who and what he was, tattoos and all.

  He wanted to tell her he loved her but in a big way. Zack had already had an idea the other day when she’d visited him at work, but now it was more fully formed in his mind.

  At the self-defense class, he couldn’t focus and his bear wanted to be at home snuggling with their mate, not teaching her how to defend herself.

  When they arrived home after self-defense class, he sat quietly thinking things over as he ate dinner. Together they watched some TV before Sandy went to bed. He stayed up and designed his surprise for his little firebird.

  Chapter Eight

  Sandy’s alarm went off but she was scared to get out of bed. What if she got fired? What if she lost her house because she couldn’t find another job? What if…?

  “You’re thinking too hard,” Jake murmured

  She groaned and got out of bed. “Where’s Zack?”

  “He had to go meet a contractor at six, so he snuck out. He didn’t want to wake you. We know the last couple of days have been big ones.”

  They’d arrived last night at her house and relaxed for a while before they had to go to self-defense class. Sandy tried to get out of going, but Jake and Zack both ganged up on her. If they or her brothers weren’t around, she needed to know how to defend herself.

  Zack had been quiet all night and didn’t say anything about not going to his sister’s engagement party. He didn’t say much at all after her brother left. She tried not to let it bother her, but he still hadn’t said anything to her about the conversation with his mother. The worrying was winning.

  After getting dressed, she went to work hoping she still had a job.

  Sandy sat at her desk. She’d been there for four hours and started to relax as nothing had been said about Saturday night when her boss called her into his office. He sat behind his desk with an uncomfortable look on his face.

  “Er, um, Sandy, well, you see, with the economy being the way it is at the moment, we are looking to do some downsizing.”

  Sandy closed her eyes to stop the tears as he continued, “I’m really sorry to say this, but we have to let you go. You will get a redundancy package and a wonderful recommendation for your next job. We would like you to finish out the da—”

  Taking a deep breath, she stood as her temper started to make itself known. She knew they weren’t laying her off because of the economic crisis. It was because of Saturday. Sandy didn’t know if it was because her men had manhandled his brother, or if it was because she was with two men. Right now she really didn’t care.

  She cut him off. “What part abo
ut Saturday night is getting me fired? Is it because I’m seeing two men? Or is it because one of those men almost killed your brother?”

  Her boss wiggled in his seat and looked anywhere but at her as he mumbled, “A little bit of both, but mostly that you embarrassed Richard in front of everyone. Look, you’re a nice woman, but we have a reputation, and I think it will be best after Saturday that you find another job, so it’s not uncomfortable around here.”

  “Uncomfortable for who?”

  Her boss cleared his throat several times.

  Sandy had gotten angrier each time he spoke. She stood and walked to the door. “I will be out of here in ten minutes. Bye. Oh, and good luck finding someone as good as me.”

  After storming to her desk, she dumped the contents of her drawers into a box with the rest of her things. She grabbed her bag, marched out of the office, got in her car, and drove to the police station to kill one big bear.

  On the way to her destination, she stopped at the shops to buy some doughnuts as she was sure that’s what cops were supposed to eat.

  Arriving at the police station, she parked as close as possible, picked up her box of doughnuts, and walked in and up to the reception. Sandy put her sweetest voice on. “Hello, I’m Jake Bear’s fiancée Sandy. I wanted to surprise him with some doughnuts. Any chance I can pop up and see him?”

  The woman behind the desk smiled at her and Sandy opened the box. “Would you like one?”

  “I had heard gossip that he was getting married soon. Congratulations. He’s quite the catch.” She eyed the doughnuts, grabbed one, and pointed. “He’s on the second floor to the right in the Homicide department. I can’t send you up alone, so I will call his partner and get him to meet you at the lift. It’s through the security door to your left. ”

  Sandy nodded to her and walked to the entrance. “Well, at least I will be in the right department when I kill him,” she muttered.

  ****

  Jake sat with his cousin Brock and his partner. David had disappeared a few minutes ago after the phone rang. Together they looked through the photos of the shifter killings again, trying to find some new clues. He was tired already and sick of finding nothing. “Let’s give it a rest for now. We’ve been going over these for the last three hours and haven’t found anything.”