“You’d better not be thinking about hurting Renee,” one said in a hard voice. He had black hair and blue eyes.
Matto inhaled and tension slid through his gut. Shifters.
The two blonds standing alongside the man radiated protectiveness.
Matto followed an impulse. “My brothers and I met Renee last night. She interested us. Not in a creepy way. None of us have ever hurt a woman and we don’t intend to start now.”
One of the blonds leaned closer. “We’re watching you, wolf. You and your brothers. Renee is important to us. She’s a friend.”
“That’s fine. You won’t see anything out of order. What you will see is four brothers battling it out to win her attention. Our wolves want her.”
The three men relaxed.
“What are you?” Since his direct approach seemed to be working, Matto figured the honesty might boomerang back to him.
“Polar bear shifters,” the man said. “We don’t see many wolves around here.”
“We come in peace. Honestly. We’re thinking of building a luxury hotel up here.”
The dark-haired man pulled out a business card and handed it over. “Sax Hallsten. My brothers Tate and Ran.”
“Matto Taktuq. Your reputation precedes you. My brothers and I admire your work. What are you doing in Churchill?”
“We were born here,” Sax said. “We’ve built a lodge out on the tundra, but we’re lining up our projects for the next six months. If you go ahead with your hotel, we’d like to submit a tender.”
“Thanks. I’ll discuss it with my brothers,” Matto said.
Sax dipped his head. “We’ll probably see you around. Our mate works here, so we often stop by for meals.”
Matto stilled. “One mate for all of you?”
Sax grinned. “We’re lucky men.”
The three brothers left, leaving Matto to his breakfast and his thoughts. They all liked Renee. Their wolves had reacted to her even though their instincts had grown sluggish from lack of shifting. Was a relationship like that possible with Renee? And would she be amenable to the arrangement? Would his brothers? Something to think about and discuss.
It promised to be a busy day.
4 – Haunted By The Taktuq Brothers
Renee started her run at an easy pace to warm her muscles. Also, she had to be careful of polar bears at this time of the year.
“Hello, pretty lady.”
By the time she slowed and turned to identify the owner of the voice, two runners flanked her.
“I’m haunted by Taktuq brothers,” she muttered.
“What do you mean?” one man asked.
Her gaze flicked from left to right as she studied their faces.
“We’re twins,” one informed her. “I’m Dakota. He’s Kansas.”
“Did your brother tell you I was going running?”
“Which brother?” Dakota asked. “We haven’t seen any of them this morning.”
“We like to run,” Kansas said. “It makes a change to watch for polar bears instead of idiot drivers and city hazards.”
