Page 33 of Ravenous

I stood and took a menacing step in his direction. “I will fucking kill you if you even mention her again.”

Johnny laughed and stepped back, his hands up in defense.

“Let’s go get that tree off the house,” Colton said. “We won’t even talk to her.”

“Good.”

“Butyou’dbetter,” he tossed over his shoulder.

“Seriously. Fuck off.” I stomped into my house to dispose of the glass shards and get a broom.

When I got back, Johnny and Colton were on Joy’s roof, lifting the felled tree away from the house.

I glanced around quickly. If any human saw them, we were fucked because they were demonstrating way too much strength up there. Then again, there was no easy way to fake lifting a tree off a house, and with their shifter ability, they could do it quickly and easily. We didn’t need to wait for the slow-as-fuck repair guys.

“All clear below?” Colton asked me as they held the giant trunk.

“Yeah. Right here.” I stood below, so I could redirect it if necessary. The last thing we needed was for the guys to throw the tree trunk off Joy’s roof and onto mine.

The guys started swinging it. “On three. Here it comes–one…” –they swung it in my direction, then back– “two…three!” They heaved the trunk off the roof.

I let it fall safely between the two houses, where it broke into a few more manageable pieces.

From Joy’s back porch came the high-pitched sound of Remy’s shrieked delight and the fizz from an open soda can.

Everything inside me went gooey soft.

Joy was with my pup, just like she had been the day I met her. Easily entertaining her. Making friends. Communing.

Colton and Johnny jumped off the roof without using the ladder. They really should be more careful during daylight.

“She’s good with her, huh?” Colton asked, also having heard the girls.

I tried to hide the riot of emotion ping-ponging in my chest. My throat closed. “Yeah. Seems like it.”

“Of course, she would be. Fate picked her for you.” Johnny slapped me on the shoulder. It made sense he’d understand because Emma, his mate, was an identical twin, and while she and her sister looked exactly the same, even had the same DNA, he knew his mate.

I couldn’t say anything. I had arguments in my head about why it might not work and how I didn’t know how to make her love me, and what if Remy got hurt, but I didn’t want to share any of that with these jackals. I frowned.

“Aw, look,” Johnny cackled. “Even having a mate makes Wes grouchy.” He quickly dodged back in case I took a swing at him.

Colton’s cell rang, and he pulled it from his jeans pocket. “Yeah?” He looked up at the sky. “You got it. We’ll be back in thirty.”

He hung up. “That was Rob. He wants us back to get the cattle across the creek before it floods again if we get more rain.”

Shit. The ranch. My focus had been on my girls, not my job. But Wolf Ranch paid the bills, and Rob was my alpha. If he wanted us to move cattle across a creek, we did.

I ran a hand over the back of my neck. “Shit, he’s gotta be pissed we’re fucking around in town with all the work to be done.”

Colton laughed. “Nah, not when he finds out the reason why.”

That I’d found my mate. That she was human.

“C’mon,” he said, slapping me on the shoulder. “Let’s get that plywood out of the truck and onto the wall.”

I stood and watched my friends begrudgingly–one part grateful they were here and had my back and the other half still wanting to murder them for being near Joy. They each had their own fated mate, so they had zero interest in her, but still.

“Daddy! The grape soda had lots of bubbles, too. And it tastes yummy!” Remy ran up to me holding the can.

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