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Hunter got there first and spent a while flipping through the music selections, even though he’d known them by heart for years. The most recent song on it was at least fifteen years old, so it wasn’t like there were many updates.
Just as the opening strains of Beggar’s Banquet started coming from the ancient speakers, Ash walked through the front door in his civilian clothes, well-fitting jeans and a black t-shirt.
Hunter couldn’t really complain.
After they sat down, the waitress, Gloria, didn’t even bother coming out from behind the counter.
“You guys want the usual?” she shouted.
“Of course!” Hunter shouted back.
“And two beers,” Ash added.
“We just got a new keg of Sierra Nevada,” Gloria shouted, then turned away.
Hunter rubbed his temples.
“Bad day?” asked Ash.
“Bad ending,” said Hunter. “The first six hours were actually fine. I made a few livestock calls out to Long Prairie” — that was the wolf shifter town — “and then fixed a raven with a broken wing.”
“That sounds all right,” said Ash.
Gloria showed up with the beers, one in each hand, and set the frosty glasses in front of the two men. They each took a long swallow.
“Then, I got a call about a coyote that got hit by a car,” Hunter went on. “Forest Service brought it in right away, on a truck, and I took one look at it and just knew, right away, that this poor thing wasn’t gonna make it.”
“But you tried anyway?”
Hunter nodded. He took another long drink of his beer.
“I should have just put it to sleep,” he said. “Instead of making it go through surgery.”
“You had to try,” Ash said.
Then he put his beer back down and spun it slowly on his coaster.
“What is it?” Hunter said. “I know that look.”
Ash looked up, a smile in his eyes.
“I might have good news for us,” he said. “I met a girl today.”
Before he could say anything else, the doorbell to Tony’s rang, and someone from the back shouted. Out of habit, Hunter turned his head to see who it was — chances were, it was someone he knew.
Instead, in walked the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. Even though she was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt, her hair pulled back into a messy bun, Hunter felt like she might as well have been wearing a ball gown and getting crowned Miss America, because she was stunning.
Deep inside, his bear woke up and began growling.
Ours, it said, baring its teeth. Hunter fought to keep it down, even as a surge of desire rode through him.
Her face had a splash of freckles across an upturned nose, full, plush lips, and hazel eyes that weren’t exactly one color.
From ten feet away, sitting in his booth, holding his beer, Hunter stared. He couldn’t help himself, and it was all he could do to keep from standing, walking over to her, and then pressing her against the restaurant’s plate-glass windows, sliding his hands over her perfect, full breasts and hips, then undressing her, lifting her up, her legs around his waist as she moaned...
“Hunter,” a voice said.
He whipped his head around, dragged back into reality.
