Mated To Magic (Stark Creek Shifters Book 1) by Barb Shuler (free ereaders .TXT) 📕

in bear form…” Maximus started to laugh. Kody all but preened at the laughter. These two would be the death of me one day, I just knew it.

“It was epic. I crept around that small crop of trees and saw them sitting there. I roared and I think they all shat themselves. They moved faster than I’d have thought little humans could.”

“This is not a funny situation, you assholes.” I slammed my hand down the desktop, the growl I’d been holding back escaping. “We don’t want these good ole’ boy hunters up here looking for a big rabid black bear. Not to mention your antics could have caused those kids to get hurt in their rush to get away from you. Did you think about that?”

“If they hadn’t been up there, then they wouldn’t have been scared,” Max chimes in, shrugging then high-fiving Kody.

Before I could react, Tyson slapped them both up the back of their heads. Their heads bobbed forward with the force of his blow. Low growls filled the room, but they were ignored.

I grinned as Ty flopped down in the chair by my desk and glared them both down.

Liam, who stood leaning against the wall, just shook his head.

“Guys, seriously. It’s all fun and games until someone dies. Do you want the death of an innocent kid on your conscience? I don’t.”

“What about people out there up to no good? Drug dealers or poachers...hunters out there doing off-season hunting? You know that shit happens.”

Max and Kody stared at me, hope in their eyes. If I face-palmed myself, would they understand how asinine they were being? Was it bad that I wanted to tell them they could do what they wished to those kinds of people? Ugh. Being the Alpha meant I had to be responsible. Giving these jokers free reign to torture people may not be the smartest of ideas.

“We’ll see how things play out. I’m not giving either of you meatheads free reign to be utter assholes. Not yet. We’re just getting settled well in this town. I don’t want to move again just yet.”

“What’s on the agenda today?” Liam asked me, bringing me back on task. I gave him a slight nod of thanks.

“We have a new security job. They accepted the bid we did last week.”

“Which one?” Liam asked.

“The empty building across from the hardware store on Main Street. It’s going to become an insurance sales office. They want the standard systems installed. It shouldn’t take long to do if we all hit it hard. The faster we get done, the more money we make. They want to be up and running in a week.”

The boys nodded, and I reached behind me to pull out a folder. I’d had Sylvester, Mia’s cop friend, pull the information I needed on the kids we’d found in the woods. I guess he was actually the pack’s cop friend, though I wasn’t so sure he wasn’t just after my girl. That was a thought for another day.

“Before we go and get started there, the kids that Kody scared out of the woods are local kids. They have no records, their families are well off, not rolling in money but not poor. They were most likely just out there up to typical teen shenanigans.”

“I doubt they’ll be back out there after the almost ‘bear’ attack. But we should keep an eye out just in case. I found two more deer carcasses other than the one you told us about at the watering hole. They all seem to be taken down by a big cat of some kind,” Max said, his business face on.

“More than likely a mountain lion. This area has a good number of them.”

“They could have been taken down by a small bear, too. The one on the edge of the property was the oldest and had claw marks across the ribs. They looked more bear-shaped to me.”

Liam pushed from the wall and shrugged. “This is a natural habitat for mountain lions, black bears, and brown bears. I’d expect to find a few carcasses every now and then.”

“There’s usually not as much of the carcass left, though.” Ty met my gaze. I nodded.

“The deer by the watering hole was only half eaten before the smaller scavengers started in on it. There could be many reasons why, but let’s keep an eye out, make sure there isn’t some rogue shifter about.”

“It could be a youngster that has no idea it’s even happening to them.”

I nodded at Kody.

“That’s true, let’s just be vigilant. If you see a carcass, get pics and use the GPS on your phone to note its location. We have one hundred acres to keep up with; there could be a lot going on out there that we don’t know about.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and sighed. There was so much to do.

“Alright, you each have things to do. Go. I’m going to check on Mia, and I’ll meet you at the building so we can scope things out.”

“You mean you’re going to stalk your mate and make sure she’s not run away from your ugly ass yet?”

I growled at Max, my fingers flexing. His shit eating grin made me want to skin him, but when I stood up to my full height, he got up and headed for the door.

“Happy stalking, sucker.”

I heard him and Kody chuckling as they left the office. I was gonna skin him, I really was. One day soon.

Liam and Ty left. When the door closed and the house was empty again, I opened my laptop and waited for the map to pop back up.

Maybe I was stalking…but I didn’t care. Mia was the reason my heart beat. The night I’d seen her in that bar, her beautiful smile, her eyes that sparkled in the lights overhead, she pulled me up by the short hairs. Just her scent, a sweet melody that sang to me, was enough to have me falling at her feet.

When she’d trusted me enough to