Matched to the Wolves [Werewolf Brides 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “She’s ours.” Zoan’s voice was loud and fierce but Yaro wasn’t fooled. His friend was saying it to convince himself as much as to convince Yaro. But Yaro wasn’t buying it. What they needed to do was take her out on some fun dates. Do things with her. Oh sure, he was happy to guard her and paint her store. No problems there. But for her to fall in love with them they’d need to do more than just order her to. Romance wasn’t that simple. Yaro kept his eyes focused on the back of the bus that held his woman, while his mind wandered trying to think of a good idea for a date. Something different and special, just like Shakina.

  * * * *

  Zoan knew he’d blundered and rushed Shakina, but he was sure that once they were with her more often, fixing up the store she had her heart set on running, they’d be able to regain her approval. Still, she was correct. He did need to ask her out on a date. It was just that he had no idea where to take her. Going out to dinner or to a movie was so ordinary and very boring. It wouldn’t be particularly special or memorable at all. People ate out all the time.

  He spent a few minutes thinking about taking her to the BDSM club in town, but most of the other werewolves now avoided the place. They said there was a new silent partner involved in running it and the establishment was much more like a brothel rather than a well-run BDSM club. That wasn’t what he wanted to do with Shakina at all.

  Zoan trailed the bus back toward the farm, staying a few cars behind it and pulling into the curb whenever it did, always watching to see if Shakina got off or not. He didn’t expect her to. He assumed she’d travel back to Cooper’s Farm on the bus, but then he hadn’t expected her to turn on him outside the store either. So right now hedging his bets seemed like a smart thing to do. Besides, it gave him time to think of an outing for them. Something a woman would enjoy.

  But when the bus stopped outside the farm gate, Zoan was no closer to a clever idea than he’d been at the start. “I think we need to apologize to Shakina. For hurting her feelings and trying to push her around,” he said.

  “I agree. Were you planning to say you want to help her renovate the store?”

  “Yes. She should know that we can likely do most of the work. Cooper will expect her to give him a budget. Even if we just do the laboring and the project coordination, making sure everything arrives on time for the tradesmen, that should help her.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Zoan pulled out from the curb, turned into the driveway, and stopped, getting out of the car, and waiting for Shakina. He heard Yaro get out as well, but he was watching his woman. Damn, she looked magnificent, her hazel eyes flashing at him and her hair shining in the sunlight.

  He needed to speak fast before she lit into him again. “I’m sorry for not listening to you and for assuming you weren’t able to take care of yourself. My motives were good, but I guess I didn’t demonstrate that all that well.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  It didn’t sound like she was ready to forgive him yet.

  “I wanted to let you know I’d be willing to help with the renovation, to work under your guidance in setting the store up how you want it. I’m pretty good at carpentry and maintenance. I expect Tedros might be able to help as well, and Yaro will install your computer and help with the painting.”

  Shakina looked suspicious. “I’ll make the decisions. If I say to paint one wall red and the other one orange, that’s how you paint them.”

  He knew she was teasing him. Her taste was excellent. “I might need to wear sunglasses while I’m painting, but if that’s what you want, we’ll do it.”

  “Okay, great. I really appreciate the help. I don’t want to cost Mr. Cooper more than I have to. Although I guess he’ll still be paying your wages as you really work for him anyway.”

  “It’s not a particularly busy time on the farm right now anyway, and we can work weekends as well,” said Yaro.

  Zoan breathed more easily. That was a good point. Lots of the interior fitting could be done in the evenings. As long as there were good bright lights, whether it was seven a.m. or seven p.m. was irrelevant.

  “Thank you for offering to help. I filled in all the paperwork while I was on the bus. I need to give it to Mr. Cooper to see what he says.” Shakina hurried down the driveway and Zoan watched her retreating ass. It was a mighty fine ass. In fact, every inch of her was even better than mighty fine. Sighing, he climbed in the car again.

  “Well, it looks as though you hauled your ass out of the fire again,” said Yaro.

  “And yours.”

  But he still needed to think of a date to invite her on. What should they do, or where could they go?

  * * * *

  Shakina stood in the middle of her salon watching as her friends helped put the finishing touches on it. She hadn’t been left alone there to do all the work, or to deal with tradesmen or answer difficult questions. Instead she’d been surrounded by people from the werewolf community, all excited to see her dream come true, and all eager to help in any way they could.

  April, May, and June, werewolf sisters, had brought the biggest doll’s house she’d ever seen into the salon, then proceeded to clean and repaint it, and furnish it from a box of tiny furniture they’d also brought with them. She was stunned with their generosity, but she also knew they were getting a lot of pleasure from their memories of it as well.

  “And there’s even a garage with two cars parked in it, in case any little boys come to your store as well,” added June, opening the garage door to show her.

  “It’ll be good to know girls are playing with it, though. There’s far too many boys back at Cooper’s Farm,” added May.

  That was why the mail-order brides had agreed to come to Coopersville. When werewolves mated with werewolves over several generations, gradually fewer and fewer girls were born. April, May, and June were three of very few young women on the farm. But when the wolves mated with humans, the birthrate changed back to half girls and half boys.

  It’d taken half a dozen of the men to install the enormous mirror on one wall. The floor had been resurfaced with a soft blue-gray tile that provided a soothing welcome to her guests and contrasted nicely with the eggshell blue walls and dark gray client chairs.

  Yaro had brought in a microwave oven, a small refrigerator, a sandwich toaster, and a coffee pot as well as half a dozen plates, bowls, and mugs for her. “We’re using all Zoan’s kitchen appliances as they were newer than mine, but these will work fine until you can buy something you choose yourself,” he said.

  “I won’t replace them. They’re wonderful, thank you. I was imagining Tanisha and I would be living off brown-bag lunches for the next long while. Now we can make ourselves whatever we want.”

  Tanisha, Esther, and Dera were hanging a huge banner across her store window. “Opening on Monday. Half-price style and cut Monday and Tuesday. Half-price color and cut Wednesday and Thursday only.”

  She’d spent a long time trawling the internet trying to get a feel for local prices. She needed to price herself just a little lower while she was starting out, but not so low she wouldn’t be able to make a living. Fortunately she’d been able to buy most of the items she needed in bulk from a warehouse, instead of from the suppliers who came door to door. They were much more convenient for store owners who were working long hours, but also more expensive. She’d tried to estimate enough stock to last three months, hoping that by then Tanisha would be able to mind the store one day while she traveled to the warehouse and replenished their supplies.

  Shakina paced around her store. It was so exciting she wanted to dance and sing. At long, long last she was about to have her own beauty salon, Shakina’s Styling. It might not be the most exciting of names, but she’d chosen it as a young girl when she’d first decided on her career, and it didn’t feel right to name her store anything else.

  A young mom with a little girl stepped into the store and looked around. “Um, excuse me?”

  “Hi, I’m Shakina. Can I help you?”
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  “Is that sign right? Half-price style and cut on Monday?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m just opening here and there’ll be half price deals all next week.”

  “I’m so glad you’ve opened a store here. It’s too hard to travel far just to get my hair cut. Can I come in on Monday morning? Early?”

  “Sure.” Shakina opened her brand new day planner and said, “Any time after eight.”

  When they left, all the women surrounded Shakina for a group hug.

  “Your very first booking,” said Esther.

  “And the first little girl to play with the doll’s house,” added April.

  “Yay!” crowed Tanisha, twirling Shakina around with her.

  Yay indeed. Her new life was really beginning now.

  * * * *

  Zoan had finally worked out what to do for Shakina. He and Yaro had escorted Shakina and Tanisha to the beauty salon on Monday morning, and then reluctantly left to spend their own day working at their own jobs.

  “It feels strange. We’ve put so many hours in at the beauty salon that not going there seems wrong somehow,” said Yaro.

  “Yes, I agree. But we’ll be back there again tonight.”

  “Hell yes, and we’ve got quite a few things to do before that.”

  All the way back to the farm, Zoan ran through the chores he needed to do in his mind, ticking off each one. As far as he could plan it, everything was organized. He knew the secret had been kept. One thing the people at Cooper’s Farm were very good at was keeping secrets. No one knew they were werewolf shape-shifters, for a start. Well, not quite no one, but certainly very few people indeed.

  His day was full and busy, and he hurried home to shower and change at five. Yaro had arrived before him, and was wearing neat, dark dress pants and shoes and a button-down shirt. His red hair looked almost brown against his navy blue clothing. Zoan’s hair and eyes were dark but he decided to go with the same theme, wearing black pants and a dark gray shirt with his dress shoes.

  Being careful not to get dirt on their clean clothes, they loaded a grill into the back of a farm pickup, then hauled in a giant cooler with sausages, burgers, and chicken wings in it. A cardboard box full of loaves of bread was next, and then there were giant bottles of ketchup and rolls of paper towel.

  “April’s bringing corn on the cob and coleslaw,” said Yaro.

  “Ah, coleslaw. It’s lucky we all like slaw since we grow cabbages and onions here.”

  “It just wouldn’t be a barbecue without coleslaw and fried onions,” teased Yaro.

  By the time they pulled up in the parking lot outside the beauty parlor, several other people were already there.

  Xola and Kairu had set up two long tables and Esther was covering them with a paper tablecloth that came on a long roll. It was pale blue, to match the color scheme of Shakina’s salon. Zoan stared in amazement. Esther must have thought of that. The idea had never occurred to him, but now that he’d seen it, it was brilliant.

  April and May set out bowls of corn on the cob and coleslaw on the long table while he and Yaro lit the grill and started cooking the meat.

  Long before the food was ready to eat, a crowd had gathered and people were asking, “How much for a sausage in bread?” “How much for the salad?”

  “Everything is free. This is a gift to the community from Shakina. She’s so happy to be opening her salon here she wanted everyone to share in her party,” said Zoan loudly.

  Well, it wasn’t quite true, but he knew she would feel like that. She was incredibly kind and generous.

  Zoan watched Shakina’s door as he turned meat and put the cooked pieces on a tray to be eaten. Person after person went into the store to thank Shakina. He just hoped some of them would want their hair cut or colored in the future.

  While he was still watching, Tanisha came out dragging the small table the two women planned to use for their meal breaks. One of the men rushed to help her and she went back inside, returning with the two chairs and some pots of nail polish. Then she sat on the sidewalk painting people’s nails for free.

  By the time it was almost dark the owner of the minimart came out and joined them, offering people free ice cream cones. When the bakery closed for the night, the owner also came over, offering them the leftover bread.

  The parking lot was full of happy people in party mode, talking and laughing together. April and May set up speakers and a laptop computer, and started a music playlist, keeping the songs just at background-music level so people could talk in their normal voices over it.

  The minimart owner turned to Shakina and solemnly shook her hand. “You and your friends have made us into a community tonight. Before, we were just a few disparate stores sharing a parking lot. Now we’re family. Thank you.”

  “It wasn’t me. It was my friends.”

  “We did it for you, Shakina. Because of who you are. You’re very special to us.” Zoan wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her, but he’d already gotten himself off on the wrong foot with her once. There was no way he wanted that to happen again. He wanted to see her realize her dream, to make a success of her beauty parlor, to achieve the love and recognition she deserved.

  People started saying good-bye and heading home. The werewolves began packing the tables and grill away. Zoan and Yaro stood and watched Shakina until Yaro said, “Shall we help you close up the store for the evening?”

  Zoan was grateful to him. That was a good idea. In a surprisingly short amount of time everything was put away neatly, the back door securely locked and then the front door.

  “Thank you so much for throwing the party for me. It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. The best party I’ve ever been to.”

  “I’m sorry for being rude to you before. I didn’t mean to take you for granted. I hold you in the highest respect. Can we start over again? Maybe take you out sometime?”

  “Of course. How can I say no after tonight?”

  Zoan stood in front of her and leaned forward. He gave her plenty of space to pull away, but she made no attempt to do so. Then he pressed his lips to hers very gently and kissed her. A few moments later, Yaro kissed her as well.

  That was all he’d hoped for tonight. Their next date would be different. But the hard work was done. She’d agreed to go out with them.

  Well, most of the hard work, that was. Now he had to come up with another idea for a date. Shit. This romance business was harder than he’d expected it would be!

  Chapter Two

  Yaro slouched on the couch, his feet resting on the coffee table. It was Zoan’s coffee table, and still in perfect condition, so he was in bare feet. They were living in his family’s house, located on the edge of the community and very private, which they both appreciated. Walking the extra distance to everything didn’t bother them. They were both young and fit. The idea of silence around them, and no close neighbors, more than made up for the need to shovel an extra few hundred yards of sidewalk in winter.

  But since he’d never bothered to replace the old furniture and appliances his family had used for most of his life, much of the furniture now was from Zoan’s house. As long as his computer and cell phone were up-to-date, he’d never really worried about tables and chairs. Their deciding to become a pair had been very much a business arrangement. Between them they could offer a woman a good life. They both worked here on the farm, so they would be around to help each other and their future bride whenever she might need them. Zoan was very practical. He could turn his hand to almost any task and do the job well. Yaro himself was also good with physical work, but tended to be a bit more of a nerd. His job was in IT and computers, so he was more used to sitting in front of a desk all day. But he liked cooking, could tolerate cleaning, and enjoyed doing outside chores as a break from his day job, so that worked out fine.

  Personality wise, they’d both grown up here on the farm and had known each other all their lives. Yaro was a year younger than Zoan, so they’d never been in the same grade at sch
ool, but had played together and shared chores every summer for as long as he could remember. They didn’t always agree with each other, but they could usually calm down and work out a solution. Yaro might have the red hair. But Zoan’s temper was just as fiery as his, and he tended to react more hastily to situations as well. But really, they cooperated well, were able to work out their difficulties, and both knew Shakina was the woman for them as soon as they saw her. So everything else was negotiable. The question now was how to progress their relationship. She’d enjoyed the party, so they needed to build on that success as soon as possible.

  Zoan was sitting in an armchair, a newspaper in his hands, but Yaro was almost certain Zoan wasn’t reading it. He hadn’t turned a page in a very long time. “Those two men who kidnapped Okapi are still nice and safe in jail, aren’t they?”

  “I think so.” His laptop was beside him on the couch so he picked it up and checked back through a few news websites. “I can’t see anything about them so my guess would be they’ll be there a while yet. The businessman whose car and paperwork they stole was not impressed at all that they were ‘blackening the good name of his business’ or whatever he said they’d done.”

  “Oh yeah, I remember that. Instead of worrying about his nice car being stolen, he was carrying on that the goodwill of his business was being destroyed.”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Just that I’m concerned there might be a link between where Shakina has her store and the bad guys.”

  Yaro breathed easier. “Oh, no. That’s not a worry. I talked to Okapi about that. He said he was simply running away from the Sheraton where the kidnappers had caught him and was heading toward the farm. He worked out that they must have bugged his clothing because no matter where he went, they found him. So he’d stopped at the Dumpsters to take his clothes off when the women came by to look at the store. There was no bad vibe or anything there.”

  Zoan still frowned at him. “I still can’t relax about it. I think I’ll check out around that area some more, see if anything seems off.”