Harper jerked her hand back in time to set it on her hip.
“When you ring me to come and hang your pictures up.”
Tor’s sly smile made clear he knew exactly what he was insinuating.
“OK, so we have Kieran, Tor, and…” Harper turned to Mack, and that’s when Tor and I stiffened. The look on his face, the way his arms were firmly crossed against his chest, were giving major bugger-off vibes. “I have to guess?” She shrugged. “Fair enough. From all of this.” Her hand waved vaguely in his direction. “I’m thinking something kind of butch, like Buck.” Tor sniggered at that. “Rock? Stone?” Mack shook his head slowly. “Dax!” Another head shake. “What about Mack?”
Of course Harper guessed his name. What we were, it was written in the stars. She just didn’t know it yet.
“Yeah, it’s Mack,” the wolf shifter admitted grudgingly. “And we need?—”
“Bitch!” Another woman came sauntering up, then thrust a sausage sandwich in front of Harper’s face. “Got you your sandwich. Two sausages, one bun, just the way you like it.” That had me thinking things I had no business considering, when the friend realised we were standing there. She smiled as she looked each one of us up and down. “Who’re your friends?”
“We’re—” Tor started to say.
“Going.” Mack’s tone made clear there would be no arguments. “Find out what kind of walls you have, then get the right hooks. You’ll be fine, Harper.”
The other girl frowned slightly, but she wasn’t my focus. I couldn’t look at anyone, not when Harper was right there. She smiled slowly, nodding to herself, then look back at her friend.
“These guys were helping me work out what hooks I need.” Harper shot her a meaningful look. “So I can put those photos up of Nan?”
“Oh? Ohhh… gotcha.”
“I’ve got their business card.” Harper retrieved it from her back pocket, only for the friend to snatch it from her grip, then take a photo. “What the hell, Daria?”
“You might forget it's in your pocket and put it through the wash.” Daria grinned. “Wouldn’t want to lose the number of such nice, helpful guys.”
Suddenly this Daria was a whole lot cooler in my eyes.
“So we better get going.” Harper lifted her sandwich. “Walls to inspect. Sausages to eat.”
“Maybe we should leave picture hanging to the professionals?” Daria said. “The only stud finder I know how to use is?—”
Harper slapped her hand over her friend’s mouth then started pushing her down the aisle.
“Thanks again!”
“Let us help.” I couldn’t help it. I stepped forward, feeling like my heart was ripped out of my chest and left beating frantically for everyone to see. “We’re spending the day hanging up pictures at the bear shifter community centre. Doing a couple more for you is nothing.”
“Bear shifter…” When Harper’s scent soured, I felt like the floor had disappeared out from under me, but just as quickly itbecame sweeter, more floral. “So you’re…?” She pointed at Tor, then Mack. “And you’re…?”
“Tiger shifter,” Tor said, letting a little of his purr bleed into his voice.
“So what are you?” The fire had gone out of Harper’s voice. “A lion?” Mack stared at her steadily. “Y’know, lions and tigers and?—”
“It doesn’t matter what I am.” Mack’s eyes shifted from blue to silver in that second, his wolf pushing forward. “Nice to meet you, Harper, Daria.” He turned to us. “C’mon, or we’ll be late for the working bee.”
As I watched him walk away, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Didn’t he feel the bond as well? He had to. That was how this worked. We formed a sleuth when we were still apprentices, a bond that formed from working under some tough bosses. That meant my fated mate was theirs.
“Wolf shifter,” Tor explained. “They are grumpy pricks on a good day, and Mack is one of the grumpiest. So, about these pictures…”
He sidled closer.
“You want to come around and hang Harper’s pictures for her?” Daria asked with a grin. “She’d love that, wouldn’t you, Harp.” Love wasn’t the word I’d use to describe Harper’s expression, but we had an in and I’d take it. Daria turned to us. “Her number is…”
She rattled it off fast, especially as Harper was starting to move, trying to cut her off, but Tor was actually useful for once, tapping it into his phone.
“We’ll be in touch,” he said, then looked down at where Harper’s fingers were digging into her bun. “Enjoy those sausages.”
