Bear Arms (Alpha Werebear Shapeshifter Romance) (Mating Call Dating Agency Book 4) by Lynn Red Page B

All he needed was the short little cigar and a big hat and he’d be right at home.
    “No,” Morales finally said. “I got no fight with you either, but I will know what the hell is going on.”
    Lexie felt her breathing get shallower. Her chest was like an empty husk, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t calm her nerves enough to breathe normally.
    The two began to circle. Rake had his hands shoved into his pockets, and reminded Lexie a little of the super monster badass in every single kung fu movie she’d ever seen. He was the type that didn’t need to be all inflated and loud for you to just know he could kill you.
    At the same time, Morales was the Arnold Schwarzenegger bad ass. With just a look, just a glance, he commanded all the attention in a room, and with all the muscles and strength he had, even without knowing anything about him, you knew he could more than take care of himself.
    “It’s the bad ass ass lick,” Blake said with the deadpan Lexie had grown somewhat accustomed to.
    Without thinking about it, she snorted hard, and then laughed. “What?” she asked.
    “That’s what they’re doing. Like dogs licking each other’s asses, but this is what bad motherfuckers do when they are feeling each other out. If either of them was crazy enough to try anything, I think they already would’ve.”
    “What about a... I don’t know, a chain or something?” Lexie was watching intently, convinced that at any moment something was going to erupt.
    “Badasses don’t need chains, unless they’re about to have a dance-off,” Blake said with a slight smile. “I think they both realize that neither is significantly more bad ass than the other. That says something about how smart they both are.”
    “Eve?” Rake called out, without taking his eyes from Morales. “You know why I’m here.”
    “I,” the owl made a sort of gawping noise. “I guess I do, but I didn’t think you’d just come .”
    “You want me to go?” Morales asked. “I’m not leaving until I’m convinced this prick isn’t going to hurt you, but I won’t stick around any longer than that.”
    “No,” Eve said. “No, we were on a date, we were having fun. He’s not going to do anything crazy. Right, Rake?”
    She was speaking with that slightly distracted voice that Lexie recognized in herself. There were two voices in Eve’s head right then, and they were fighting for control. On the one hand, Lexie thought, the big bear she’d been flirting with was a good guy, and Eve knew it. On the other? Who the hell wouldn’t like a blast from the past going out of his way and courting bodily harm to prove how much he wanted a girl back?
    “I don’t know who you are,” Rake said, “and I don’t much care. You stay between me and her though, and I might have to reconsider my position on not fighting you.”
    At that, Morales let out a sardonic laugh. “You crazy son of a bitch,” he said. “You got no idea what I—”
    “I’m sure you’d give me a hell of a beating,” Rake said, “but I’d win eventually. I got nothin’ to lose, and that makes a man,” he paused, sucking air between his teeth, “a little wilder ,” he said. “A little bit, you know, more fierce.”
    Morales considered this, and the two continued to circle. “You might not have anything to lose,” he said, “but I’ve got someone to protect. Someone I care about. I assume you must care about her too, so I know you don’t want to hurt her.”
    “You’re smarter than you look,” Rake said with a half-grin. “Can we talk, Eve?”
    “Just give the word,” Morales said. “I’ll do whatever you want, Eve.”
    Lexie looked over at Blake, who was shaking his head back and forth, very slowly. She noticed that the ready-to-fight tension had relaxed from his shoulders, and he wasn’t gripping her hand quite so tightly anymore.
    “I want you to stay, because I’m not gonna just go along with all this,” Eve answered. “Rake, yes we’ll