“Have I ever?”

  Rock looked at Riker. “I don’t think we’re going to get anything out of him.”

  “Nope,” Ryland said smugly. “On the upside, my next match isn’t for a couple days, so you have a little while that you don’t have to worry.”

  “Thanks,” Riker said sarcastically.

  Rock just shook his head.

  Ryland stood and stretched. “I’m going back to my place for a shower.” His brothers started to stand, and she got up with them but paused when she saw Ryland turn to her. “You want to join me?”

  Both brothers sat back down with a thud, eyes wide. They looked rapidly in shock between her and Ryland.

  She glared at him with narrowed eyes. “No.”

  Ryland walked over to the table where they were all sitting in stunned silence and put his hands down, leaning forward to address them. “You want to know my plans? Here’s part of it.” He pointed at her. “Lea and I used to train together. I’ve also figured out she’s my mate. So if you have ethical issues with that, you should figure out how to handle it, because I’m not going to be shy about it. Not with this many alpha shifters around.”

  Then he strode out, shutting the door behind him, leaving the room in shocked silence.

  Both Rock and Riker turned to gape at her.

  Rock recovered first, putting a hand through his short hair. “Wait. Wait, so… so what just happened?”

  Riker’s expression was blank. “I think he just said Lea was his mate.”

  “Ryland has a mate?” Rock asked. “Somehow I never pictured it. Which I know is mean, but he’s just so…”

  “So cold,” Riker said. “I know.”

  “Excuse me. I’m right here, and if you’d like to get my opinion on the situation, I’m happy to give it,” she said tersely, sitting back in her chair with folded arms. “Because I’m definitely not his mate.”

  “Why does he think that, then?” Rock asked.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Why do men ever get ideas about women belonging to them?”

  Rock shook his head. “I don’t know. Ugh, times like this, I just want to get back to Rosalyn.”

  “Your mate?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “But if you knew our brother, you should have said something,” Riker cut in. “At least given us a heads-up.”

  “You told me you were the only one you wanted for the job.”

  “I was told you were the only one available,” Riker said.

  “Then it wouldn’t have mattered if I was involved with your brother,” she said. “Which I’m not. At least not anymore. We just trained together for a while, had one little indiscretion at the end, which seems to have given him ideas.”

  Both Rock and Riker seemed unsure about her brush-off.

  “I don’t know,” Riker said. “I think he’s serious. He’s never talked about a mate before.”

  “Right,” Rock said. “I’d take him seriously.”

  “I already told you,” she said. “I’m not into him. I’m not doing that, so it doesn’t matter what he feels.” She stood abruptly. “I’m going to go take a nap. Well, after I assuage the butthurt feelings of all the shifters that are going to think this contest is even more unfair with a Brolin who can beat fully shifted bears with his hands.”

  “Right,” Riker said. “But this isn’t over. We need to talk about it.”

  “Nothing to talk about,” she said. “I’m not going to get involved with your brother.”

  “But he’s hot,” Rock said, a grin quirking the side of his mouth. “Don’t you want to?”

  She gaped at him. “What?”

  Riker gave his brother a shove. “Don’t mind him. He’s just fascinated at the thought of hooking Ryland up.”

  “He’s such an ice king,” Rock said. “Don’t act like you don’t find it amusing.”

  “Not when the mate in question is our ethics advisor,” Riker said. “How am I going to explain this to Ana?”

  “I’d love to meet your mates,” Lea said. “It would be a nice break from all the testosterone.”

  “Sure,” Rock said. “I’m sure they’d like to meet you as well. They’re staying down the canyon with Francis, a former Brawl champion. Then we go down to see them when the fights are done in the evening. It’s not the safest place up here for females. No offense.”

  “None taken,” she responded.

  “So yeah, you could come down with us tonight for dinner. It’s a good night since we’ll be barbecuing.”

  “Sure,” she said, hardly able to believe she was about to have dinner with the Brolins.

  Riker stirred. “Look, I’m still a little uncomfortable about this whole situation, but I’m going to trust you and Ryland to act like adults about this. You’re both fully grown, and it’s not our business. But if you could be discreet—”

  “That’s up to him,” she said, standing and getting ready to head out to do her job. “I already told you I have no interest in your brother.” She walked out into the sunlight, wondering how many times she’d have to say those words in order for them to finally be true.

  5

  A little later, Lea was surprised to find that most of the fighters were fine with what had happened. If they were intimidated, they weren’t going admit it.

  Typical males.

  But then one guy had managed to wait until she left the main area with the fighter cabins and caught her alone.

  He trailed after her as she walked quickly back to her cabin, not wanting trouble.

  But he continued to berate her loudly, clearly hoping to get a rise out of her. Maybe he was hoping she would switch his bracket, since if he won his first match, he’d be up against Ryland.

  He caught up to her and grabbed her wrist, and she whirled to face him angrily. “What is it?”

  He had a buzzed head, dark stubble, and several deep scars, probably from street fights. And he wasn’t letting go.

  Her eyes narrowed on his hand, and he dropped her wrist. “Sorry. But I had to get your attention.”

  “This isn’t the way,” she said. “You’re trying to get me alone. If you wanted to talk, we could have done it back at camp.”

  His expression darkened. “I don’t wanna talk in front of everyone. Besides, it’s just me up against Ryland Brolin next.” He folded his beefy arms. “You can’t think it’s fair.”

  He walked in close to her, and she refused to back down. He seemed intent on using physical intimidation to enforce his questionable idea of ethics, and she wasn’t falling for it.

  She put a strong hand on his chest and pushed him backward. “I can and do. He’s a bear. Any bear can enter. What’s the problem?”

  The man tried to reach for her again, but she dodged quickly out of the way and to the side, as if dodging a punch. He swung to face her, his shock evident.

  She fought back a grin. He was probably used to females he could intimidate and push around, but she’d been dealing with males like this all her life.

  If there was anything left of him after Ryland beat his ass out of the Brawl, she’d take pleasure in teaching him a lesson, just for all of female-kind.

  But that wasn’t her job right now.

  “If you don’t like it, make sure you beat him in your match,” she said. “That’ll put him out of the tournament.”

  “Or he’ll put me out of the tournament,” the man grumbled.

  “Let’s see, Boris, was it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “This is a contest, right?” she asked. “If you lose to Ryland Brolin, there’s nothing saying you wouldn’t also have lost to someone else. It’s just luck of the draw who you are up against early on, but after that, there is only one winner. What if you lose to the winner?”

  He scratched his head, looking stupid. “I don’t get it.”

  “You wouldn’t,” she said, turning to stride away. This doofus had no right to complain.

  He caught her by the hand, and she let out a growl, turning to glare at him. “I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  He hung on. “I’m still talking to you. How dare you turn your back on a male?”

  She felt rage ripple through her. No. No. Stay professional. Don’t get in a fight your first day.

  Taking advantage of her hesitation, he jerked her in against his chest with a thud.

  As a bear, he was huge, towering over her, so broad in shoulders and neck.

  She looked up, anger searing through her as she imagined all the ways to ensure he never looked that way at a woman again, and then heard a voice call out to them.

  “Let her fucking go.”

  Boris froze, and Lea looked up to see Ryland striding toward them, looking fresh out of the shower in jeans and a loose tee that still stretched over his powerful shoulders and arms.

  When he reached them, he grabbed Boris by the shirt and jerked him away from her, shoving him to the side where he tripped and landed on the ground.

  “I said fucking let go,” Ryland snapped at him.

  Lea walked forward, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “Hold on. He wasn’t doing anything.”

  Ryland shrugged out of her grasp, rage boiling just a millimeter beneath the surface.

  Lea could sense something dangerous, something cold and evil and powerful, and she took a step back.

  No, she needed to calm Ryland, because with the aura he was exhibiting, he really might have a monster inside him, and that monster was pissed.

  And then he calmed himself, and she could see the tension visibly leave him, his fisted hands relaxing at his sides.

  He stuck out a hand for Boris to take, and when he pulled Boris to his feet, he jerked him close so he could whisper to him. “I hope you win your fight tomorrow,” he growled.

  “Yeah?” Boris asked angrily. “Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m going to beat the shit out of you either way, and I’d prefer it to be sanctioned,” Ryland said darkly. Then he released Boris, who tried to scoff at him but looked visibly shaken.

  “Whatever. Shit,” he said, brushing off his pants as he fairly ran in the other direction, leaving them alone.

  “You…” She trailed off, looking at Ryland’s back as he watched Boris. “Why are you going to beat the shit out of him?”

  “For putting hands on what’s mine,” Ryland said, whirling around so his angry, silver gaze was focused on her.

  She flushed and turned on her heel, continuing her walk to the cabin.

  “I thought you could defend yourself,” he said harshly, coming up alongside her.

  “I didn’t need to,” she said. “He and I were just discussing things.”

  “With you up against his chest,” Ryland said. “You shouldn’t be that close to any males. Other than me,” he added with a slight grin.

  She jabbed her finger hard in his chest, watching his startled gray eyes widen. “You don’t get to tell me what I’m allowed to do. You aren’t my mate, my boyfriend, my boss, or my family. You’re nothing to me, Ryland Brolin. Just another man I’ve trained and a contestant in the Brawl. That’s it. And don’t you dare tell anyone otherwise.”

  He folded his arms. “Or what?”

  She sputtered at his audacity. “Or I’ll be mad at you.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you. I’m not your mate. I’m not going to be. Not interested.”

  He stared down at her. “Then why do you look at me like you do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “After the fight, when we were with my brothers. You think I didn’t see you devouring me with your eyes? I’m not blind,” he said.

  She swallowed. He had a point. “Right. I’m attracted to you. That doesn’t mean I want to settle down.”

  “Who said settle down?” he asked. “Maybe I like a life of excitement.”

  With an exasperated noise, she stopped walking. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you all this week. Can we just go back to being friends? Like we were when I trained you? For the sake of all the time we spent together?”

  “No,” he said, reaching for her hand. She let him take it, marveling at how much bigger it was than hers. He was always surprising her. When he’d first come to train with her, she’d thought he’d be a spoiled, rich executive who wasn’t willing to work.

  Quite the opposite, he’d been determined and outworked almost anyone she’d ever met, save herself.

  She couldn’t deny there was a sort of chemistry between them, but it was all wrong. It could never work.

  She pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry for being unprofessional that day in the training center. I’m sorry for confusing you.”

  “I’m not confused,” he said, shaking his head. “Look, when we made love, something inside me was different than ever before. My dire bear—if that’s what you want to call it—actually called you my mate. I didn’t even think that was possible. But I don’t want to let it go without exploring it.”

  “And I don’t want to explore it,” she said. “I’m here to do a job, nothing more, nothing less. And I don’t need you running around claiming me as your mate and making me look unprofessional. Especially since it’s not even true.”

  “It could be true,” he said. “And if it is, I’m sure we could make the rest work out.”

  She threw her hands up in the air and started walking again. “You Brolins like to make your own rules about everything, don’t you?”

  “Maybe,” he retorted. “Why?”

  “It just means you’re going to have a hard time having any credibility when running this event in the future.”

  He let out a hoarse laugh. “Like that matters.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he said, waving a hand, which she noticed was bruised.

  She reached forward and caught it, bringing it close to her face to examine it. He tried to pull away lamely, but she didn’t let him. “Are you sure this is set right? How does it feel?”

  A slight flush moved over his high cheekbones, and then he jerked his hand away. “It’s fine. I’m sure I set it right.”

  “Okay,” she said, letting him go.

  “Look,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “There’s something between us, and I don’t believe you when you say it’s one-sided. But I get what you’re saying about wanting to be professional, and I’ll try to respect it.” His gaze darkened. “But if I see you with another male, I’m going to step in, and they may draw their own conclusions.”

  She sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”

  “I never meant to make you feel like you couldn’t do your job. I’ve never pursued a woman before. I’ll try to do better at it.”

  She put a hand to her temple. “No. I’m not asking you to be better at it. I’m saying it won’t work—”

  She was cut off by a light kiss covering her lips, the warmth of his body coming just barely close enough. His hand came forward to rest on her hip, and she leaned in, melting into the contact.

  She hadn’t been kissed often, and it hadn’t felt anything like this.

  They hadn’t kissed like this when making love, and somehow it was harder to overlook this gentle pressure than all that hot passion.

  It felt as if the entire world disappeared and it was just them and a clear blue sky and the wilderness around them.

  Then he pulled back, staring down at her with stormy eyes. “See? Not one-sided. Like I said.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll walk you back. You going to dinner tonight in Bear Canyon?”

  She nodded mutely, her heart still feeling shaky after that kiss. She’d just seen yet another side to the mystery that was Ryland Brolin, and she was scared by how much she liked it.

  “Good. I’ll get to see you then as well.” He grinned. As they walked back to her cabin, she felt herself get more and more nervous.

  She’d thought coming here, doing what she needed to do, was going to be easy.

  Now she was realizing when it came to Ryland Brolin, for the first time in her life, she might be outclassed. Might have met her match, as far as scheming and plotting were concerned.

  Why did the thought slightly arouse her?

  6

  “So Ryland won his first match today?” Rosalyn, Rock’s mate and someone who had been a friend to all the Brolins since childhood, was bringing over a plate of barbecued corn. She set it on the wooden table where they were all gathered, along with the other dishes in front of them, and cuddled up against Rock, who slung an arm over her.

  Was that what mating was like? Ryland wondered as his eyes went to Lea, talking to Riker and Ana. They were holding beers and discussing something about the matches.

  He’d nearly lost it when he’d seen her up against Boris earlier in the day, but now, with the beautiful mountain around him and nothing in sight that could threaten his mate, he felt he was finally calm.

  “He did,” Rock said. “Tell her about it if you want.”

  Ryland shrugged. “It’s over. Nothing to talk about.”

  Ros cocked her head. “So what’s the master plan, Ryland? Why even enter the Brawl?”

  Ryland shrugged, keeping his expression neutral. “I just felt like it, I guess.”

  “Bullshit,” Ros said. “I’ve known you since you were little. You don’t do things just because you feel like it.”

  “I do act on instinct,” Ryland said. “That’s why I’ve succeeded in business.”

  “That’s different—”

  Ryland quickly changed the subject. “So how are you treating my brother? Keeping him distracted from being in Bear Canyon?”

  She shook her head with a smile, reaching for a corn cob and slathering butter on it. “Nah, the camp does that for him.”

  It was beautiful here in the evening, with the sun setting over the mountain, the trees rustling all around them, and the sounds of birds settling in for the night.

  “So he’s still enjoying working with abused kids?” Ryland asked.

  Ros nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s good for him.”

  “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Rock grumbled. “But yeah, it’s good. Better than I could have imagined.”