Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27964 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
But now… With my grizzly bear pining so desperately for our mate… I feel like a shell of what I once was.
“Alright,” Julian says, concluding the meeting. “Let’s have a good week, team.”
“Hold on,” I say, putting my hand up. “I have something else.”
The three of them turn to me. Adrian grabs the last piece of banana bread on the table and shoves it into his mouth, crumbs tumbling down his large chest.
“It’s not good,” I say.
Julian runs a hand through his hair, looking nervous. “Do you need another break?”
We’re so busy that another break would be disastrous. All of the rescheduling, and upset customers, and revenue lost… I don’t even want to think about it.
“No,” I say, taking a deep breath. “I’m fine. This is about our friends. The dogs.”
“Oh,” Adrian says, exhaling long and hard.
Julian and Victoria lean in. “What about them?” Victoria asks.
“My grizzly was wandering in the woods last night,” I tell them in a low voice. “And we passed… the area. Their bodies were dug up. They’re gone.”
Julian’s bright green eyes widen as he stares at me in horror. “Animals?”
“No,” I say with a sigh. “The Warhounds must have found them. I did some digging online this morning and there’s a funeral for Knox and Mace this weekend.”
“Fuck,” Victoria says as she rubs her eyes. “This can’t be happening.”
“It’s okay, Vic,” Adrian says, wrapping his big arms around her. “It doesn’t mean anything. There must have been hundreds of people that wanted those rabid wolves dead.”
This all started years ago when Adrian was a teenager. He saw something he wasn’t meant to see when he went to the Rourke’s Warhounds’ headquarters to give someone a tattoo.
Mace and Knox were psychotic brothers who ran the Rourke’s Warhounds, a pack of criminal wolf shifters. Adrian went through the wrong door and saw the carnage first hand. Mace was forcing young shifters to fight to the death and when Adrian stumbled in, he was thrown into the ring. He refused to kill his opponents, managed to escape, and had to flee to the arctic for eight years once Mace and Knox wanted him dead.
When I had my episode and my feral bear was rampaging across three states, Adrian returned to Montana, hoping the past would be left in the past. But it wasn’t. Once Mace and Knox found out he had returned, they came to kill him.
I had returned just in time, and me, Adrian, and Victoria managed to take the rabid wolves out. We buried them in the mountains, but apparently, not deep enough.
The bell over the front door clangs as someone walks into the shop.
“Hello?” a male voice says. “Are you open yet? Victoria, are you back there? My thigh needs your special touch.”
Adrian’s big hand squeezes into a fist as he huffs out an angry breath.
Victoria puts her hand on her mate’s arm, trying to calm him down. “I’ll be right there, Curt,” she calls out. “Just have a seat.”
“I hate that fucking guy,” Adrian snarls as he stares at the hallway.
“He’s harmless,” Victoria says, rolling her eyes. “And he’s given us so much work, he’s practically paid for my truck.”
Adrian frowns even harder, probably not liking that another man has paid for his mate’s truck.
“Alright,” Julian says as he stands up. “Let’s keep an eye on the dog situation, and get to work. Meeting over.”
We all head into the front of the shop and Adrian’s inner polar bear lets out a low snarl when we see that Curt has brought a friend.
“Oh great,” Adrian grumbles. “There’s two of them now.”
“This is Camry,” Curt says, pointing to the shredded guy with the weird smile and long hair standing beside him. “He’s new in town. I told him this is the best tattoo shop in the country.”
“Is he a stripper too?” Adrian asks, staring them both down.
“Hottest guy at The Banana Hammock,” Camry says proudly. “I’ll be dancing there tonight if you’re interested.”
Victoria snickers as she looks up at Adrian. “What do you say, honey? Should we go?”
Even with the way I’m feeling, I still laugh at Adrian’s disgusted face.
“Not a chance in hell,” he says.
“I’m the hottest guy at The Banana Hammock,” Curt says, clearly offended. “Know your place, new guy.”
Curt heads over to Victoria’s station to get his thigh tattooed—and for some reason, he takes off his shirt. He’s flexing his abs and trying to impress her as Adrian walks over and whispers something into his ear. I can’t hear what he said, but that shirt goes back on pretty damn fast after that.
I take Camry since Julian and Adrian have customers coming in soon.
“What do you want?” I ask him as I set up my station.
“A skull would be cool,” he says, “maybe with some snakes around it.”
I sketch out something fast and he likes it. I put the stencil onto his chest and he’s pretty excited about it.