the three of you all looking for a place?"
"We're with him," the Black guy said, adding a little smile, but his eyes were narrowed as if he was trying hard to figure me out.
Well, the feeling's mutual, bud, I thought. "So, I assume you're looking for a three-bedroom? Um..." I didn't bother sitting back down to type at my keyboard, pulling up our limited amount of available houses. "Ok, we have a couple of those left. So, if you'd like to fill out some paperwork, we can start the approval process. And while you do that, I'll get you some brochures that show the floor plan options."
My hands were shaking as I gathered up the necessary paperwork. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice, but something about this was not right. I should've listened to my mates when they'd warned me to take it slow. If this was how I reacted to a group of humans? Maybe I should just call Ashley? No, I had this. I would not back out now.
So I stacked four different floor plans and a leasing application together and put them on a clipboard. Snagging a pen from my desk, I held it all out for whichever man wanted to take it. "Here you go. If you'll just fill this out, I'll see if someone's available to - "
The door chimed again, and I visibly flinched, but when my eyes jumped to the latest person entering, my breath rushed out. That was Ian. He'd take over, right?
But his feet froze just inside the door. "Bears," he growled, his head swiveling from one man to the other. "Get away from my mate!"
"Move," the smaller man snapped, pushing the Black guy away from me.
The largest one just turned to face Ian. "Alpha, I presume?"
The tension in the room was thick enough to cut. My heart was hammering so hard I could hear it. My breathing was coming just a little too fast. Both of my hands were clenching the edge of my desk, and I desperately wanted to flee, but I couldn't. I had nowhere to run, and I would not leave Ian alone to deal with these men.
Which was when Ashley stormed into the room. "Ian, stop!" she snapped.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her. For a moment, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, and then the biggest guy's face broke into a grin. "Ashley!"
"Hey, Vic," she said, crossing the distance to give him a very friendly hug. "I see you found us."
"You know him?" Ian asked.
From my angle, I caught Ashley giving Vic a look of warning, and then she let go of his neck to face her brother. "I do. Now calm down, Alpha."
Ian just pointed at me. "Not until she does."
"I'm ok," I promised. Not that I was, but I wasn't about to admit how nervous those men made me.
"Shit," Ashley breathed. "Elena, sit down. It's ok. I know your instincts are screaming, but I promise they're ok. I know Victor, and he's a friend." The whole time she spoke, she was making a straight line for me until she'd grabbed my arms and was easing me back into my chair. "He's not going to hurt you."
"Guys," the shortest guy said, "back off. The lady's nervous."
"Never seen a bear before?" the Black guy asked.
Ashley's head snapped back. "She's just turned. She's never seen shit before, and she should be at home right now learning her senses, but she's the Alpha Female and too damned stubborn to let us help." Then she looked back at me. "Slow breaths. They smell sweet, and that's ok. They're big, but they're not real bears. That's your survival instinct warning you of a bigger, nastier predator, but it's primal and doesn't know what it's talking about."
"Fucking bears, Ash?" I breathed. "You could've warned me!"
"Uh..." The big guy leaned around his friends to see me. "She kinda didn't know we were coming." Then he looked at Ian. "So, I guessed right? You are the guy in charge?"
"I am," Ian said, refusing to budge.
"Yeah, so, we came to beg." Vic tilted his head to the door. "We're happy to step outside if that makes it easier on your mate?"
"No," I said before they could walk away. "I'm fine. I'm sorry. I just... I thought you were human."
And I gestured for Ashley to lay off, because I really was ok now that I knew what they were. A little freaked out, and my pulse was still racing, but that