Tonight he’d gone and grabbed them a couple of pizzas from a new brick-oven place he’d spied on the way home. Two with extra sausage, one with mushrooms and onions. Only, when he’d arrived back at the cabin, it was dark.
The small Mercedes hatchback he’d surprised her with last week wasn’t in the driveway. He checked his phone and there was a missed call, but it had been hours before. No texts either.
When he’d tried calling her back, it went straight to voicemail. Tonic tried the flower shop, but the business phone went right to the after-hours recording. He wasn’t going to find her like that.
Tonic’s Polar Bear had wanted to take over, to hunt her down and see if she was alright, but his human side was more cautious. He didn’t want to be seen as a fool. What kind of desperate asshole ran after a woman for being late? No, it was better he call Bolder to relieve some steam.
Fuck, he was a mess. Did she know how easily he could lose control because of her? This was not how it was supposed to be, he thought angrily. Maya was supposed to calm his Bear, not send it into a fucking frenzy!
“Dude, I said, what were you thinking? Women are complicated man, but one thing I know, they need to hear the words. You don’t tell her how you feel and she will walk. They all do.”
“I’m not good with words,” Tonic grunted and looked at his phone again, “fuck man, every time I talk, I say something stupid.”
“We all know you’re a tech genius. Maya knows you aren’t stupid,” Bolder insisted, “maybe she just got caught up at work.”
“Yeah, maybe, but, I can’t risk losing my shit. I mean, how do I stop myself from feeling like this?”
“From feeling like what? Like you can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t do a fucking thing but think about her, and how good she feels in your arms?” Bolder raised his eyebrows and gave a self-deprecating grunt.
“What do you know about it?” Tonic growled angrily, but that anger was directed at himself. He was a fool and he knew it.
“I know everything about it. Your head’s all fucked up, and the only thing that brings you peace is the way she smiles, the twinkle in her eyes when she laughs, that sound she makes when you kiss her just right,” Bolder closed his eyes, but not before Tonic saw the stark pain on his brother’s face.
“Shit, I didn’t know you felt like that,” he told his brother.
“Yeah, well, neither did she, and she walked away. You might want to find your mate and tell her everything you’ve been keeping secret from her and fast,” Bolder tipped his beer in his direction and Tonic turned around.
It was just his bad luck that his gaze landed on the same three fuckers who had attacked Maya the other day outside the burger joint he’d taken her to for lunch. The assholes were sitting down at the other end of the bar, tossing back a rapid succession of shots and talking way too loudly. Hank Adams, Treyvon James, and Grayson Kettle, were bad guys and he was in no mood.
Tonic’s Polar Bear pushed and scratched against his skin. The beast was angry and he wanted out. Wanted to beat those fuckers to a pile of dust.
“Yeah, you remember, her,” Hank’s voice reached his ears, “That freaky bitch. You know the one, she can’t Shift, but she’s always butting in on Clan business.”
“Got some nice tits on her though,” his companion, Grayson, laughed and slapped his buddy on the back.
“Fuck her tits man, I was thinking more of that fat ass of hers. Talk about cushion for the pushin’,” Treyvon cackled.
Tonic saw red. The slow, rumbling growl built up until it was a snarl. Bolder watched the byplay then put his beer down and stood up.
“Dude?” he said, but Tonic’s focus was on the three assholes.
“Man, let’s not talk too loud about her,” Grayson added, “Freak girl might have friends here.”
Tonic’s snarl increased in volume and a few of the Shifters near him moved away. Apparently, these assholes had learned nothing after that unfortunate incident the other day.
As far as Tonic and his Bear were concerned, these fuckers needed to be taught a lesson. Treyvon’s eyes found him across the bar and he paled. Maybe he wasn’t as dumb as his buddies.
He tapped his friend’s shoulders and pointed in Tonic’s direction. His Beast watched the byplay expectantly.
“The fuck? Oh shit, it is him,” whispered Grayson.
Good, thought Tonic. At least one of them understood the precariousness of their situation.
“Why shouldn’t we talk about that bitch? That sorry excuse for a Shifter ain’t gonna do nothin’ to me. He can’t touch me. I’m a full Clan member and he’s on probation. See, I had myself a talk with the Keeper and he said probationary members needed to get permission before attacking full members. That bitch is not Clan, and neither is that puffed up-”
“What did you call my mate?” Tonic’s long legs ate up the distance between him and the three assholes in no time at all.
“She ain’t your mate, and besides, there is nothing you can do about it,” Treyvon slurred and poked Tonic in his chest, the big redheaded man was just asking to get his ass handed to him, “she’s nothing but a whore anyway.”
That was it. All bets were off now, Tonic raised his fist and punched the sonovabitch hard in the nose. Blood spurted everywhere as he fell on his ass, but before he could hit him again, a gentle but firm hand grabbed his shoulder and he turned around, fist in the air.
“Tonic!”
It was Maya, that registered and he dropped his arm, grabbing her in a fierce hug as she threw herself at him. She looked tired, but happy to see him, and his Bear roared fiercely in welcome.
“Maya! What happened?” he asked, but she just clung to his neck and his arms naturally tightened around her trembling body.
The three men forgotten as they tried to help their bleeding pal off the floor. His attention was on his mate for the moment.
“Work. I had a special order from Lacey Devlin and I tried to call, but my phone died. That old thing is always crapping out on me, but I was worried when you weren’t home, so I went out looking for your truck,” she confessed, and he felt like a fool.
“Fuck. No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t home.”
“Awe, ain’t this sweet. Why don’t you two rejects just get the fuck out of here. We don’t want your kind,” Hank, the soon-to-be-armless fucking bigmouth said while one of his buddy’s cheered him on.
Treyvon was currently too busy to talk. He was holding a bar towel to his face to stem the bleeding. Grayson tried to push him back in his seat, but the man was too stupid or too drunk to listen.
“You broke my fucking nose!”
“Tonic,” Maya began, but there was just no way in hell he was going to put up with that kind of blatant disrespect.
“One second, honey,” he said, the term of endearment slipping out, as he turned to face the threat and tucked her behind his big body.
“I think you three need to be taught some manners,” growled Tonic and with one hand he grabbed the Black Bear Shifter by the collar and hoisted him off the floor.
The man was big, but Tonic was bigger and that was saying something, since he was the smallest of the Nanouk triplets. Bolder growled threateningly from his side and he knew at once he had his back.