Page 6 of My Unbearable Mate

“True.” I rose from the desk. The guys would assume I was trying to impress Barrett by overworking myself, but the real reason I’d thrown myself into these Werewife background checks that anyone on the crew could handle was to keep my mind off Clover Crowley.

Was it working? Hell no.

My bear had been fantasizing about those dangerous curves and what it would be like to have her in our bed again.

Maybe a hate fuck is just the thing to get her out of your system, he suggested.

And he was never, ever going to find out. There was a piece of me who wanted to show up on clan land, locket in hand, and be the one to fix everything. Almost everything. It wouldn’t fix that I didn’t have a mate.

“Is everyone headed to The Stepchild?” I asked.

Brad’s face brightened. “Fuck yeah we are. And the guys owe me a drink because they didn’t think I’d actually get you to say yes.”

That’s why you don’t have a mate, my bear said. All work and no play makes for a dull bear.

A couple of drinks should shut him up for the night.

The Stepchild was a rowdy bar on the edge of town run by the local wolf pack. Didn’t matter that it was a weeknight—music from the live band spilled out into the parking lot, along with clusters of humans and shifters.

I waved to a few wolves who’d worked with us on many cases on the way in and looked for my guys. No surprise they were lined up along the bar, with shot glasses in front of them.

“Boss is here!” Beau announced. “Next round’s on him.”

“You’re not getting out of buying drinks for Brad that easily.” I flagged the bartender for a beer.

“No shots for the big guy?” Brad asked. “We saved one for you.”

“I know better than to tangle with that shit.” I laughed. I was forty-two years old, and the effects of hard alcohol tended to linger. “Plus, I have a feeling I’ll have to keep all of you in line tonight when things get wild.”

Beau raised his brows. “Is Bellamy gonna take someone to Red Heaven tonight?”

Don’t rule out the possibility, my bear practically begged. It doesn’t have to be forever. Fucking Clover out of your system?—

“We’ll see.” Red Heaven was the private area behind the stage at The Stepchild where absolutely everything goes. A place for shifters to get truly wild.

“We gotta get him back there.” Beau high-fived Brad.

“I’m more concerned with getting me back there than anyone else.” Brad nodded toward the crowd. “C’mon, let’s go see who’s here tonight.”

“Good luck.”

“We’ll see you back there.” Beau waggled his brows before he disappeared into the crowd.

I leaned back on my bar stool and took a deep sip of my beer, taking in the night. I didn’t come here so often anymore. The crowd kept getting younger. My priorities had changed.

You’ve given up on finding a mate, my bear said.

I hadn’t, but I wasn’t hedging my bets of finding her in a rowdy bar and taking her to the sex room.

Tonight, my only focus was enjoying this well-deserved beer, watching the show, and making sure the guys didn’t get into trouble. Didn’t need the business getting a bad rep while the boss was out of town.

Someone took the stool next to me. I turned and almost jumped out of my seat when I realized who it was.

“Bellamy, how did you get even more handsome?”

My mouth dropped as she gave me cheek kisses.

“Nana Shirley.” It was Clover’s grandmother. She had to be pushing ninety, but she didn’t look a day over sixty. Her hair was still as red as her granddaughter’s, and she’d put on a sparkly jacket for the occasion. “What are you doing here?”

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