Perfect Mate by Jennifer Ashley

however, as he continued to point
     the semiautomatic at Joe Doyle.
    Nell had squeezed back into her little black dress. She had to be freezing now that
     light snow was starting to fall. But instead of huddling in the pickup’s cab with
     the heater on, she sat in the bed next to Cormac, very close to him.
    Cormac put his hand on her warm thigh and let it stay there. They needed to talk,
     but not now.
    Now was not the time for words. It was time to let the mate bond silently grow while
     Cormac and Nell healed and took care of Shane. They’d speak of forever later.
    “Last time I work for a Shifter,” the bounty hunter muttered. He shifted his weight,
     trying to get comfortable in the cuff s, but he made no move to run away. “How’d you
     get me out of there?” he asked Reid. “Did I pass out?”
    “Yes,” Reid said.
    He lied. Cormac smelled the lie, plus he’d witnessed Reid grab Joe and vanish. Another
     thing to talk about later.
    “A
Shifter
hired you?” Nell asked sharply. Her voice grated with inhaled smoke, but Cormac’s
     throat didn’t work at all.
    “He must have rigged my place to blow up,” Joe said. “Then called me and told me to
     stash the bear and wait for him, so he could make the kill himself. But he never intended
     to pay the bounty. He just wanted to slaughter. Didn’t care if I went up too. Bastard.”
    “What Shifter?” Brody prodded, voice hard.
    “Dick-wad who calls himself Miguel.”
    Graham looked up from where he was bandaging Shane, eyes narrowing. “Isn’t Miguel
     the Shifter who kept Peigi and the others sequestered in the old factory in Mexico?
     Until Diego blew it up?” He chuckled. “I’d have paid money to see Diego do that.”
    “I thought Miguel had been caught,” Brody said.
    Reid shook his head. “About half those Shifters got away. The Austin Shifters have
     been trying to round them up, but they’ve only caught a few of them. Miguel is resourceful.”
    “So he’s taking out his frustration by putting a bounty out on Shane?” Nell demanded.
    “Not just Shane,” Joe answered. “He also wanted Reid here, plus Diego Escobar and
     Cassidy Warden. I guess he blames them for his problems. If Escobar blew up Miguel’s
     home base, I’m guessing Miguel thought he’d blow up the perpetrators in return. He
     has a serious screw loose.”
    Reid gave him a hard stare. “What about you? You nabbed Shane and were going to hunt
     me, Diego, and Cass.”
    “No, I’d pretty much decided on just the bear. You and the other two were too risky,
     even though the money was good.”
    Cormac felt Nell tense, ready to come off the truck bed. “
Just
the bear?” Her voice held a warning snarl.
    “He seemed like the easiest target,” Joe said without worry. “I don’t kill humans.
     Guess I was wrong about the bear being easy though. No way I would have gotten through
     all of you to collect the bounty, even if Miguel hadn’t exploded my place all to hell.”
    “Where is Miguel now?” Graham asked.
    Joe shrugged. “Don’t know. We only communicated by cell phone, and I bet his is a
     burner.”
    “If my son dies,” Nell said clearly. “I’m taking it out of your hide.”
    “I think he’ll be all right,” Graham said, tucking in Shane’s bandage. “Anyone got
     any booze? I’m going to try to wake him up, and he’ll need something for the pain.”
    “We’re fresh out,” Jace said, coming back from Diego’s truck, where he’d been on the
     phone. “Reid, can you get Shane home safe? My dad can look after him. Tell Dad everything
     that happened, but assure him that Graham and I have got it on this end.”
    Reid nodded. He handed Jace the pistol, climbed up on the truck bed next to Shane,
     wrapped his arms around the unconscious bear-man, and vanished. Displaced air stirred
     the ends of Nell’s hair.
    “Shit,” Cormac croaked, at the same time Joe’s eyes widened. Joe stared at where Shane
     and Reid had been. “Hey, did anyone else