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door opened and Kade hopped in behind the wheel. “I hope you ladies don’t mind me driving you up to the Den and getting you settled in. Axel was hoping to be the one to do that, but it turns out he has a bit of business to take care of.”
    “No problem,” Nina purred and Harper tried not to roll her eyes.
    There was definitely a twinge of regret or disappointment or something in her gut at the thought that it wasn’t Axel with them, but no doubt she’d see him again. She twisted in her seat to look out the back window. Just in time to see Axel storm off toward the tree line.
    What kind of business could he possibly have in the forest?
    She certainly didn’t have much experience with mountain men—none, really. But from what she could see, they were definitely more interesting than any men she’d come across lately. And Nina was right: oh so deliciously hot.
----
    “ A xel !”
    He ignored the call of his brother and kept moving into the cover of the trees. He couldn’t shift but dammit, he wanted to. No, he needed to.
    That female. Her scent. Her touch. Her everything. He hadn’t been prepared for that. Hell, nothing could have prepared him for that. She was his mate. But she was a human. Wasn’t she? Maybe not…there was something about her scent… No. It wasn’t possible.
    Axel roared and spun as his brother’s hand clamped down on his shoulder.
    “Easy, big guy,” Luke said, but he wasn’t joking. The look in his younger brother’s eyes was all business. “You need to settle down.”
    With another roar, he wound up and punched the trunk of a nearby pine. The tree rocked and split from the force; Axel’s knuckles burned with the crush of bone. No matter—it would be healed in minutes.
    “Feel better?” Luke leaned up against a nearby tree, his arms crossed.
    Axel nodded begrudgingly. “A little.” It was far from ideal, but if he couldn’t shift—and he couldn’t, not with humans so close by—getting physical was the next best option.
    “Good,” Luke said. “Now, do you want to talk about what just happened back there?”
    Axel shook his head and growled. Talk about it?
    Hell no.
    That was the last thing he wanted to do. He couldn’t talk about something that he didn’t understand. And he didn’t understand what had just happened. Not even a little bit. He’d never reacted to a female that way.
    Never.
    Especially a human female.
    “Fine by me,” Luke said. “But you’re going to need to pull your shit together and quickly because you can’t go acting all…animal around our guests.” He waited a beat; Axel took a breath and paced back to where his brother stood. “You good?”
    Axel nodded.
    “Good. Let’s go. I don’t want to leave Kade in charge of entertaining those two for too long. Who knows what will happen.”
    It was a good point. Kade had a bit of a reputation of being a…well, to call a spade a spade, when he wasn’t being all brooding and grouchy, Kade was a man whore. And unashamed about it, too. At least he had been before Kira took off. Luke and Axel were both fully aware that Kade made regular visits down the mountain to the local pub where he entertained women; he just didn’t talk about it anymore. Things had changed with Kade. He was far more secretive and withdrawn now. His sexual conquests were more of a penance than a release and Axel knew exactly why that was. His little brother hadn’t let his bear out since Kira left. It had been almost a year. Way too long for a bear shifter to go without recognizing his true self. It would be torture for Kade. A torture he seemed to think he deserved.
    Either way, Axel didn’t want his sexually charged brother anywhere near his female. “Let’s go,” he grunted and led the way back through the trees. It only took him a minute to realize he’d already referred to the curvy blonde as his female.

Chapter Three
    T he main lodge , or Den as it was called, was both cozy and luxurious in a rustic, mountain kind