Now that their cousin Bowie and Locke had their permanent positions etched in stone, it was unthinkable for Tonic to live anywhere else. He’d assumed Bolder felt the same way, but his brother’s Polar Bear was even more ornery than his.
“Pay attention, man,” Bolder growled and Tonic refocused on the task at hand.
Maybe waiting until after the holidays to move the thing was a mistake. Locke was practically useless and no wonder, he’d been eating leftover turkey and Virginia ham for the last few days following Christmas dinner.
“Pick it up more on your side,” he instructed Tonic who flipped him the bird and in the process lost his hold.
“Shit,” he growled and dropped the tree, missing his foot by a millimeter.
“Again,” instructed Bolder, but Tonic needed a second.
After a restless night, he was in no way attentive enough to do this. He ran a hand over his face and rolled his shoulders.
“You were the one who decided today was the day to get rid of the fucking thing, so let’s go,” grunted Bolder who was in place and waiting for Tonic to lift his side.
Shit. He needed to pay attention or risk injuring himself or his brother and he would never do that intentionally. Of course, he would also never admit to either Locke or Bolder that the reason he was doing this in the first place was because he needed something to do, anything to keep him out of the cabin.
Out of the cabin and away from her. Maya Osborn’s presence was wreaking all kinds of havoc with his Bear, and his inner peace. The animal wanted her, and the man was in full agreement.
Grrr. Mine.
“Boys, maybe you should call some professionals,” Locke grinned over a ham sandwich he pulled from his pocket.
“Shut the fuck up. Maybe if you helped us instead of getting your chow on, this wouldn’t be so difficult,” grunted Bolder, who like his name, tended to be both hard and dense.
“Sorry, Nita wouldn’t want me to hurt myself unnecessarily, and besides, I believe in you. You got this,” he winked.
“Dick.”
“Pussy.”
“Bite me,” grunted Bolder and his eyes flashed with his Bear.
“Not my type,” Locke taunted.
“Will you two shut the fuck up?!” Tonic rolled his eyes at their banter.
It wasn’t easy being the oldest. He seemed to always be needed in the position of referee or peacemaker, when really, he was more of the punch now talk later kind of guy. He simply did not know a thing about being suave or genteel, as Locke’s mate Nita often pointed out.
He’d always had an easy time with women, but not since he met her. It was beyond his level of understanding why he should turn into a complete idiot whenever she was near.
Out of the four Polar Bear Shifters currently residing in Barvale, Tonic was generally thought of as the most affable. Especially by the local females. He’d even enjoyed the pleasure of one or two of their company, but the second he’d met her that stopped. His Bear would not even let him talk to another woman. He wanted Maya or no one, period.
“Okay, you know so much, put the sandwich down and lend a fucking hand and you, stop baiting him,” grunted Tonic as he tried yet again to hoist the enormous fucking thing onto the back of the trailer so they could bring it over to the wood chipper the Devlin’s kept by the lake.
A fine specimen like that would make a whole helluva lot of mulch for the forest floor. That was a good thing, or so he’d been told. Not that Tonic presently gave a fuck. Keeping the forest healthy was not exactly where his brain was at. Not at the moment.
Currently, that particular organ was working overtime picturing Maya asleep inside the cabin. He could picture her lying under the covers with her medium-length blonde hair spread out around her lovely elfin face like a halo. Her sublime body would be relaxed and warm, protected, not freezing in that little shithole apartment she lived in.
Fucking hell, his inner animal had almost gone crazy last night when he’d stepped into that place. It had been colder inside than it was out. No place at all for a female. Especially not one his Bear felt so possessive about.
No she was much better here with him. The question was how long would she remain compliant? When she was riled up, the woman was a firecracker, not a shrinking violet. It was one of the things he liked best about her.
No, she was not going back there. At least, not yet. For now his Bear was chuffing happily at the thought of her, Maya Osborn, sleeping in his bed.
He’d slept separately of course, inside the room that had been formerly occupied by his brother Locke, before he’d gone and gotten himself mated. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, at least not yet, but it was the only solution he’d had last night.
Tonic had tried leading her to the spare room, but his Polar Bear had serious objections to her sleeping in another male’s space. Even if that male currently did not occupy said space.
He simply couldn’t do it, and in the end, he’d led her to his own bedroom. She’d been so tired, poor thing, she hadn’t asked and he hadn’t volunteered that particular information. Good thing too. He already felt like an asshole where she was concerned. No point in proving he actually was one.
“So, how is Maya doing?” Locke asked and Tonic snarled at the mention of his unclaimed mate.
“Dude?” Locke raised his eyebrows and Tonic cut off his snarl.
“How is Maya? She’s not talking to me is how she is.”
“Why?”
“After I found her, half-frozen in that sardine can of an apartment, I brought her here last night, and she damn near chewed my head off insisting I take her back to her place,” he growled and heaved lifting the immense bulk of the tree onto the trailer with Bolder’s help, “but there was no way in hell that was happening. After she realized I wasn’t budging, she went to bed, exhausted.”
“Well, I imagine she’s crushed. Nita said she doesn’t want to bother Jill while she’s on her honeymoon, and made my mate promise not to tell Tim, but it’s got to be hard,” Locke commented.
“Yeah,” Bolder added, “she’s being threatened by the new bank’s president with immediate foreclosure and seizure of the shop and goods, correct?”
“Yes,” Tonic nodded and wiped his hands on his jeans, “I told her our lawyers would look into it and deal with it for her, but she is stubborn. She insists she is going to this meeting she has planned with Marcus and Daniel later this morning.”
“Are you going with her?”
“She’ll probably have a fit, but fuck yes, I am,” he growled and the tree threatened to slide off the trailer before he could strap it in place.
“Pay attention,” growled Bolder.
“Sorry, man,” he said and together they finally got the thing situated and strapped down correctly.
“Thank fuck,” he said and wiped his brow.
After securing it tightly, Bolder jumped into the driver seat of his truck. He was angry and sullen, as he was most every year at this time. Holidays sort of sucked for the Nanouk’s ever since their parents died.
Being banished from their old Clan and forced to relocate to a strange place was not as easy to deal with as it seemed. Locke had lucked out with Nita, but Bolder was more and more distant with each passing day, and Tonic, well it looked like he fucked up his one shot at happiness.