Chapter One
Axel
Axel’s ax swings down and itthunksagainst the wood. Again and again. It’s repetitive, calming. Cutting wood is his yoga, his meditation. It’s times like these when he can just let go. He doesn’t have to think about the fact that the lodge is failing. He doesn’t have to worry about finances. And most of all, he doesn’t have to remember not having a mate. Mate. What every bear shifter aspires to have. It’s the dream, right? Find your mate, have a family, expand. There is no sex for a bear shifter outside of mates. It just isn’t heard of. A bear mates, that’s it—end of story.
So here he is, Axel Henderson, thirty-five-year-old virgin, swinging his ax to relieve the stress. There are other ways to relieve stress, too. Jerking off is one. He can beat it all day and not get tired. But that isn’t what adults do, he has to remind his cock as it twitches at the thought of him stroking it.
He swings the ax again. Lets the wood break and fall. He has to have faith. He has to believe that one day he and his brothers will find mates. He's the oldest of the four, and he feels like the responsibility lies on him. That if he finds a mate first, the others will too. And really, four adult bear shifter virgins make for cranky men.
He hears him before he sees him, Raif. He walks like he sleeps, loudly. He's by far the grumpiest of the brothers. He growls at almost everyone. Even scaring a little girl who came to the lodge with her parents, they didn't come back. If his brothers don't start to behave better, there won't be a lodge for anyone to come to anymore.
“Toilet’s clogged again in room ten,” Raif complains.
Axel flicks his eyes over to Raif as he stands defiantly with his hands on his hips, scowling.
“And?” Axel asks his brother, straightening up and letting the head of the ax rest on the ground.
“And it’s fucking clogged. Again. People are shitting too much.”
Axel laughs, he can’t help it. He knows Raif is serious, and the fact that he’s laughing will only make Raif angrier, but seriously, what’s he supposed to do?
“Not my problem,” Axel says as he picks up more wood to split.
Raif growls loudly, and Axel snaps his eyes to him at once. Shifters are a secret, and if Raif keeps growling and stomping around like he is, it will draw attention.
“You are in charge of the grounds and the rooms. It’s your fucking job. Fix the fucking toilet. Don’t make me tell you again.” Axel stands tall and watches as hisyounger brother shuffles his feet. Axel’s in charge, he’s the leader, and Raif knows he shouldn’t be complaining about a toilet, he should just fix it.
Raif turns with a huff and heads back towards the front of the lodge, hopefully not scaring any guests on his way.
Back to the logs, Axel goes. Set, swing, split, move. Over and over. Deep breaths and clear thoughts so he doesn’t go back to thinking about finances and expenses, and most of all, having a sweet, warm body beneath him.
After a couple of hours of cutting wood, there is a significant pile. More than enough for the fall, and he knows he’ll be out there splitting more logs soon enough to clear his thoughts. More guests are arriving soon, and he wants to be there for check-in like always.
He gathers his ax to return to the shed and opts for a quick shower in his cabin. All of them have cabins spread out through the property. Axel’s is closest to the lodge, Raif’s is the furthest away. Raif still complains about guests trekking through his territory. He’d complain no matter what.
Axel washes off the dirt and sweat from his body. Moving quickly and methodically, ignoring his hard cock and the way it throbs under the spray. He’s always hard, it feels like, not for any other reason except hormones. He thought that would stop after being a teenager, but apparently, being an unmated bear shifter makes him extremely horny.
He’d tried to date when he was younger. Even got to the point where his pants were coming off, but he was consumed with a feeling of wrongness, and it made him sick to his stomach. He gave upafter that. His brothers seem to have had similar experiences. He remembers Jack sneaking off to see a human girl when he was about seventeen, then one day it just stopped. Jack seemed sad for a while. Like he, too, had realized he couldn't be with anyone other than his mate.
Making his way back out of the cabin, he runs his fingers through his wet, dark hair. He keeps it short, but it’s long enough to drape softly on his forehead when wet.
Inside the lodge, he checks the reservations on the computer. There are thirty-two rooms and four cabins for rent, but they’re hardly at twenty percent capacity most times, and that decreases in the winter. Today, though, the weather is good. A nice fall day, warm enough that people want to be outside exploring, and cold enough at night that they can warm around the fire.
When his parents ran the lodge, it was always full. He grew up with a bustling household, guests always flitting about, work always to be done. He loved it. It felt like home to him. Now it’s quieter. Sometimes, there are only five guests at a given point. He wonders how he can make it what it was, how he can make it feel like it did when he was young, when it was thriving.
Chapter Two
Chloe
This is the worst fucking day Chloe can imagine. Danielle has dragged her on this stupid vacation. Promising Chloe it would be just the relaxing time she needed. But no, her luggage had been lost by the airline, and when she slipped and fell in a puddle of water, her skirt ripped. She didn’t have many clothes that weren’t for work. She had skirts with suit jackets and heels, her go-to uniform. Pants seemed to hug her thighs and ass in an unappealing way, so she preferred skirts that made her figure look smoother and leaner. Not that the skirt was helping her out much right now.
Danielle could have told her where they were going on this vacation. Hawaii, Bermuda, someplace warm where she could sip cocktails on the beach. She had even brought a bathing suit for goodness' sake. A one-piece that covered as much of her body as she could find. But still, sunshine, water, attractive shirtless men to ogle. But no, she had been flown toMontana of all places, and now they were taking a bus to bumfuck nowhere for some lodge.
“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Chloe grumbles under her breath.
“Yousigned upto come with your best friend on a vacation to celebrate her divorce.” Danielle pats her arm as the smelly bus goes over another bump.
“Sure, but Montana? I mean, come on. Why aren’t we somewhere nicer? I wanted the beach, Danielle, sunshine. Not grey skies and muddy puddles.” She swipes at her side, where it is still soaked from falling in the puddle. She’s glad she hadn’t hurt herself when she fell, that would have been the icing on the cake in this shitty vacation.
