Stretching out his limbs, he decided to run, in the mood to kill something.
Gabby didn’t seem to realize he was courting her. Ever since Burke had mated and married Rachel, Grady had been feeling the urge to settle down. But his animal spirit called out for a kindred soul, a cat. The only pride in Cougar Falls was theirs, made up of the Chastell cats, a bear and his wife, a few foxes, and a wolf. The Catamount Pride were few but tolerant of others. If you were a respectable Shifter, Burke had a home for you.
Grady couldn’t complain. He liked those in the pride. Well, except for Dean and Monty. And lately Burke had become a huge pain in the ass, watching over Gabby like he was her fucking father.
With a snarl, Grady scared a trio of foxes deeper into the woods and clawed a nearby tree to mark his passage. My territory. My pride. My female, he wanted to yell.
But no one was out here to listen, and the only woman who needed to hear it didn’t take him seriously. Burke had warned him that heavy-handed wouldn’t work with Gabby. Then he’d overheard Gabby tell her sister how tired she was of all the grabby males in town wanting her now that it was known she could shift into two animals—a trait that gave her celebrity status among their kind. Not wanting to be like all the others, he’d tried the light approach.
Hell, he’d even gone so far as to politely ask her out on an honest-to-God date, but she’d patted him on the head like a dog and told him it wasn’t necessary. A thanks but no thanks he didn’t understand.
He needed to change his strategy with the female before some other hungry Shifter snapped her up. But except for tying her down and forcing her to accept his sincerity, he didn’t know what the hell to do. How could he find a future with her when she sure as hell wasn’t seeing him as anything but a comedian, an embarrassing feline no better than a dancing bear?
Gabby dried her eyes, caught her breath and convinced Burke Grady hadn’t been molesting her. A prankster like his brother Dean, Grady had seen fit to welcome her into the pride with open arms. He teased, he flirted and he made her feel special. Her worries that she and her family would be ostracized for being part cat and part fox had faded as if they’d never been.
Her older sister Julia walked in and laughed. “I don’t know, Gabby. I like your theme song. ‘Foxy Lady’ is catchy.”
“The first five times, maybe.” Gabby handed Julia the glass she motioned for. “But every time I enter a room, Monty or Dean is playing it. It’s like they sit around waiting for an excuse to screw with me.”
Julia hugged her. “Just think of them like the brothers you never had.”
“And never wanted,” she muttered and left the room.
The guys waved at her, laughed and continued their poker game.
She blew a stray hair out of her eyes. Of all the males in the pride, Grady was the one she didn’t think of in a brotherly fashion. The minute he’d learned she was a cat, he’d been all over her. Possessive and territorial. She would have been flattered if she hadn’t sensed he was only drawn to her animal spirit, not to her. And then she realized Grady had a protective streak in him, like Burke. He hadn’t been possessive as much as he’d been taking care of a pridemate.
When she’d officially left the Silver Fox Clan and joined the pride three months ago, he’d been like her shadow. This past month he’d gradually pulled back. He teased her the way he teased Julia and Rachel and Maggie—one half of the bear couple in the pride. But the three of them were happily married. She wasn’t.
She sighed. All the attention she’d been getting from the other single men of Cougar Falls was actually turning her off dating, period. Before, when she’d been a simple fox, she hadn’t been good enough for anyone. Oh she’d had a few boyfriends, but no one serious, no potential mates. Then everyone learned she had another animal spirit and bingo, she became Ms. Popular.
As she moved through the living room, she tossed a fallen pillow back on the couch, grabbed her jacket and pulled it on, and went outside to take in a breath of fresh air. Gabby would never admit it to anyone else, not even Julia, but she liked Grady a lot. He was smart, funny and incredibly sexy. Whenever he brushed up against her, her entire system went into overdrive.
Like other Ac-taw, Grady had little modesty. He walked around naked from time to time after a shift, but no one made a big deal about it. Then again, before she’d arrived, the only women living at the Catamount Pride’s ranch were happily married. No one here used to give a thought about a naked pridemate.
Ty, Gabby’s new brother-in-law, had become especially prickly where Gabby was concerned. She’d overheard him threaten to lock Dean and Grady up if they didn’t watch their step around her. As if Gabby was some tenderhearted young girl afraid of her own shadow.
She snorted. Tenderhearted? Not at all. Gabby had toughened over the years. Being told she wasn’t good enough, a freak of the first order, had forced her to be strong. What made it worse was that it hadn’t been the town bully verbally abusing her, but her own relatives. Her guardian aunt and uncle didn’t like her and never would. The same tainted bloodline that now earned her so much fame had been shunned by her relatives for years.
Ironic. Yet because of it, she now lived with people she actually liked. Her sisters had married the men of their dreams, and Gabby had a brand new life just waiting for her. A lonely, sexually frustrating new life.
She wondered, not for the first time, what Grady would do if she actually accepted one of his many invitations. If she hadn’t heard Julia ask him to treat her kindly and make her feel better about herself, she might almost have believed his sincerity.
Julia, for all her meddling, meant well. But knowing the man Gabby lusted after thought of her as a pity project was just too humiliating.
She kicked a rock out of the way and walked deeper into the woods, wondering what a girl had to do to get a little bit of honest attention around here.
Chapter Two
The next few days passed in relative peace. Grady focused on work in Whitefish, where Chastell Tours had picked up a steady clientele. With the weather finally breaking, folks were starting to seriously fish. Hiking had slowed due to the rains, but as the weather warmed, the campers appeared in droves.
“Somebody shoot me.” Dean sighed and plunked his ass in a chair. “Sometimes I really hate tourists.”
“What’s wrong? Did Diana Do-Me not give you enough attention?”
Dean grinned. “Jealous? Who knew a woman could look that hot in waders? She and I went a few rounds yesterday and the day before. But now I’m bored, and she’s not getting the hint.”
“Just suck it up. She’s heading back to Florida in a few days.”
“I know.” Dean studied him with piercing brown eyes. His expression so eerily mirrored Burke’s that Grady blinked. “Grady, Grady, Grady. You’ve been pining for weeks—hell, months—and it’s starting to become embarrassing.”
“Fuck off.” Grady hung up his hat and jacket and moved to sit near the vacant fireplace. The office served its purpose, but the fireplace and seating area made it a favorite of Grady’s when he just wanted to relax and get away from the pride. Though Cougar Falls was only a half hour away, most Ac-taw never left town. Only he and a few other Shifters held down jobs on the outside. At the thought, he asked Dean about the schedule.