When something crashed against the house, Tobias ducked out of self-preservation. “Lady, I sincerely hope you aren’t talking about me.”
“I have a contract for you to sign. You can mark out the no doggy-style clause. And I put three kids—cubs—on there, but you can scratch it out and put whatever number you want to under eight.”
Something else crashed against the house so loud it made his ears ring. “I’m not your man, and we aren’t making eight cubs. Tell Harlan to back off so I can get out of here.”
Vera zipped the suitcase full of science shit and set the wheels on the floor. “Oh! I need clothes.” Suitcase abandoned by the door, Vera began to throw clothes from a dresser into an eye-scorching purple duffle bag. “Do you want to bite me now or later?”
“Bite you?” Another crash rattled the house, and Tobias scrubbed his hands over his face in sheer frustration. “Never is my answer. No biting.”
His bear snarled his disagreement, and Vera shot him a bright smile. “Your monster likes me. That’s good. I’m getting off this island, away from those murderous sons-of-bitches, and away from Harlan.”
“Harlan seems like a nice guy,” he argued.
“Are you serious? He smells like beef jerky, his teeth are the color of sunshine, and he can fart the alphabet. My kids would be weird. Look out that window, Tobias. Would you choose him as a mate?”
As soon as Tobias pushed the curtain aside, an empty bean can came flying past his head. “In all fairness, I’m biased because I’m not attracted to men.” But he could see where she was coming from. Harlan really did smell oddly like beef jerky. “Look, I’m a grizzly shifter and not meant to keep a woman. You seem nice, and you aren’t hideous. And your teeth are straight.”
“Aww! Thank you.”
“But I hibernate half the damned year, and I don’t want a mate. Not ever.”
“Oh, didn’t Link tell you? I’m hiring you as my mate.”
“Hiring me?”
“Yes, you don’t have to fall in love with me. I’d prefer you use me for my vixen body because that’s what I’m in this for, too. That and protection. I want a big shifter to bite me.”
“Vera,” he warned.
“And we won’t have to worry about you hibernating anymore.”
“Oh, yeah?” He was in crazytown, and Vera was the mayor. He should’ve known better than to come out here, and fuck Link for giving him the weirdest experience of his life. “And why is that?”
“Because I can cure you. Just in the winter months, and you can Change and roar and eat honey until your heart’s content in the summers. And diddle me because I’m serious about that being part of the contract.”
“I’m sorry…you can cure me?”
“I don’t earn enough to hire you with money, but I can barter with you. Bite me, claim me, protect me, and I’ll make sure you don’t hibernate if you don’t want to. And not only you, Tobias. Your brothers, too.”
Tobias sat heavily in a creaking chair near the door.
“Vera,” Harlan said in a whiny voice from outside, “can we talk alone?”
“Fuck off, Harlan,” Tobias and Vera both said at the same time. It would’ve been funny if he hadn’t been utterly dumbfounded over the situation. Mate this woman for a cure?
“Are you a witch then?”
Vera gave him a sad smile and knelt down in front of him, her duffle bag slung over her shoulder. “More like a mad scientist. I wasn’t born a shifter, Tobias. Someone I loved Turned me, and I’ve worked for years to learn how to fix myself. I can fix you, too.”
He narrowed his eyes and tried to guess what kind of shifter she was. Not many could Turn a person with a bite. “Fix me?” he asked, the words bitter on his tongue.
“Not like that. I need your bear as much as you do. I want to feel safe again. Living here wasn’t ever my choice, and I’ve been dealing with that shit,” she said, jerking her head toward the door where Harlan sounded like he was scratching at it, “for way too long. I need out, but Clayton won’t let me off this island unless I’m with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and your brothers are his prized possessions. I’m unnatural and expendable.” Her voice sounded odd though, as if she was telling a half-truth, but whether she was lying about being unnatural or expendable, he couldn’t guess.
Tobias ran his hands through his hair and shook his head over and over, staring at her as he mulled over what she’d said. A cure? A real cure?
“Can you guarantee my brothers won’t go to sleep in the winter?” Because Tobias owed them both so much and, dammit, he was actually considering this contract pairing. Not for him or Link, but for Ian. For Elyse. For Jenner, the brother he’d almost killed because of what he was.
“I suppressed every animal on this island for two years.”