Finding His Mate (Bare Bites #3) - Mila Crawford Page 0,9

was a shifter himself, making the sacrifice to go into law enforcement in order to protect The Clan. He lived among humans, not because he wanted to but because he needed to. The shifters of Bear Mountain would never be able to pay him back for everything he’d done for them; the rumors he dodged, the lies he told, and the evidence he’d gotten rid of.

“Miller here.”

“Aydin. I need you. I’m at the lake. We have these two assholes that crept up on us.”

“Is it a situation?”

“Yes. I shot them both. They’re fine. Nothing fatal.”

“Ok. I’m heading up.”

I hung up the phone and watched as Brett focused on them. His eyes laser-focused and his teeth bared, to make sure they knew that he would attack with no mercy if he needed to.

“Can you call off your fuckin’ dog, lady?” Joey said, his voice shaking from fear.

“No,” I said shortly. “He needs to make sure your stupid ass doesn’t move so that I’m not forced to kill you.”

“What kind of dog is he anyway? He’s huge.”

I watched Brett, his stature more like a small horse then any dog I’d ever seen. His coat was shiny, with gray and white lacing into each other beautifully. His head looked huge as he faced off with Joey, making Joey’s head look like a chubby infant’s.

“A Siberian Husky,” I said, my eyes still focused on my mate.

And then police sirens pierced the air and Aydin pulled up by us. He got out of the car and rushed over to us.

“Well, what do we have here?” He nodded his head to Brett, letting him know that he wasn’t a threat, taking his sunglasses off slowly, making a show of it. Brett snarled and by the sound of his voice I could tell that he felt annoyed. I always hated how shifter males had to demonstrate their Alpha nature, no matter what the situation. It was some bullshit evolutionary male ego thing.

“I was just enjoying this sunny day before these two came around and thought I was a helpless damsel.”

Aydin chuckled, grabbing handcuffs and walking over to Joey and then his friend. Once they were cuffed, he pulled Joey up by his feet and looked at me. “Can you help me take these clowns and put them in the back of the car?” The question was more for Brett. He wasn’t asking if I could do it, but if Brett was ok with me walking away from him with another man. I didn’t even wait for Brett to give him some sort of answer.

“Yes,” I blurted, before storming off with my gun lodged behind Joey. I heard Brett snarl but I didn’t care. If he thought just because he mated me I was going to bend and do whatever he gave permission for he was dreaming.

“You sure?” Aydin asked, his question sounding like a warning.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Once the two men were securely in the car and Aydin drove away, Brett came up to me. I knelt down and put my hands into his fur, but looking in his eyes I knew that what had put him on edge wasn’t the interlopers anymore, but the fact that I had walked off with Aydin without considering his feelings.

And then my guilt settled in.

Chapter 7

Brett

I watched the shifter cop leave with the two pieces of shit. I wanted to run, tear into something, howl at the moon. Anything to forget that my girl was just in danger. But I padded over to Shayla, desperate to feel her warmth.

“You’re pretty handsome, even in beast mode,” she said, her fingers gliding into my fur. She bent down slightly, and whispered in my ear. “But as handsome as you are, I really prefer the man for cuddling. Let’s go home.”

We walked quietly back up the path, her in front, me behind. I wanted to make sure I could look and scope out the environment. I didn’t want any other surprises.

“No one is going to jump at us from the bushes,” Shayla said, turning to look at me. “It’s over.”

I hated that I couldn’t talk to her in my current state, but I wasn’t willing to shift in that moment and possibly put us in danger. I remembered that there were three guys the night of my attack and only two had shown up today. Their friend could be here, waiting, lurking.

Once we got to Shayla’s house, I didn’t waste any time shifting back into human form as soon as I knew Shayla was