Page 29 of Shifter Situations

“I think… Possibly—” He cleared his throat and tried again. “I need a new marketing director.”

“I’ll check my schedule,” she told the demon, picking at her nails. A wide smile split her lips as she drawled, “I’m just so busy.”

They continued to bicker back and forth, but I tuned them out as I watched my brother flirt with Blaire. Novak’s sister looked weirdly cozy with Jack and Grim, but that didn’t stop Baylor.

When he caught my eyes on him, he nodded his head, and the four of them turned to head our way. They made Blaire look so tiny as she walked between the three of them.

“I forgot how much you and Bay look alike,” York said, bumping me with his elbow.

Barbie rolled her eyes, muttering, “They think alike too. It’s very charming.”

I snorted, squeezing her against my side as my brother stopped in front of us. Blaire was just as bloody as Sloane, but her jaw and cheek had a clean, yellow spot where Grim had been checking out her injury.

“Really, Briggs? Another one?”

Baylor sneered, and mild annoyance coursed through my mate bond. Jack tilted his head, grinning as Barbie tensed.

“Sloane is my mate, Bay. Don’t be a dick.”

“Yeah, okay. Your mate. Whatever you say, Big.” He shrugged. “You’ll have a new girlfriend in three months. I’d bet my truck on it.”

“I’ll take you up on that bet,” she sweetly replied. “I’ll even put my R8 coupe on the line.”

Jack and Grim took a step back, hauling Blaire with them as they joined the rest of my friends. The hellsteed had the biggest, shit-eating grin on his face, and Grim was silently laughing.

“Sure you will,” Baylor sarcastically agreed. “And what happens when there’s another woman? Other than you losing an expensive ass car, I mean…”

Gods, why couldn’t he just shut the fuck up?

He was going to be so pissed when he woke up in a couple of months and realized that his precious truck was gone. I did know enough about my mate to know that she took her bets seriously, even if Bay didn’t.

“If there’s another one, then I’ll kill her. I can’t really be sure how I’ll do it until it happens, though. I have time to get creative.”

Her smile was a hostile baring of teeth, and her mind was cycling through dates. I couldn’t help but smile down at her when she repeated August 29th in her head.

Baylor raised his brow, blinking slowly at my mate as he spoke to me. “Is she serious right now?”

Amused laughter rang out around us, and Sloane shrugged unapologetically. “Yep.”

“You’ve always had a type. Good to know you finally found the top level of crazy, man. I mean, Blaire and her both look fucking deranged with all that dried blood on them, but she actually sounds psychotic,” he rambled.

I chuckled at him. “That’s a bit of an understatement.”

Barbie scoffed playfully, elbowing me gently in the ribs. “The deranged psycho is right here. At least let me walk away before you start talking shit about me.”

“You’ll still hear us,” I joked.

She pursed her lips, pulling them to the left. “Yeah, but it’ll take considerably more effort to punch him in the throat if I’m four hundred yards away.”

Her amusement rolled through our bond, and I shook my head. “You can’t kill him, Barbie. Even if he is a dick, he’s still my brother.”

Jack cackled, raising his voice to say, “I’d correct that statement, Briggs. You made it sound like a light suggestion mixed with a fact. She can kill him. But you could try something along the lines of please don't kill him.”

“I can,” she affirmed before grinning at me. “But I won’t.”

“Oh, maybe I do like her, Big.”

“Why does he keep calling you Big,” she whispered to me, glancing down before her bright eyes bounced back up. “I know why I would, but…”