He tugged at his tie, pulling it away from his throat. “Now that I think of it, I suppose I don’t need this anymore.”
He’d worn the damn thing for so long, he’d almost stopped noticing it. Now, as he undid the top two buttons on his collar, a rush of relief went through him. He hadn’t realized how much he’d hated that slight sense of constriction until he was able to breathe freely at last.
He was working on the last button of his suit jacket when he realized Paige seemed to havestoppedbreathing. Glancing up, he found her attention riveted to the gap where his collar hung open. Her own throat worked as she swallowed hard.
Conleth abruptly felt ten feet tall and made of solid gold. He had a mad urge to do a victory lap around the camp, high-fiving everyone he passed.
She wants us!His stallion pranced in his soul, preening shamelessly.See how she looks at us? Our mate wants us!
She did. It might only be on the basest, most physical level, but it was a start. He could work with that.
Slowly,he cautioned himself. There was no need to rush. As long as he stayed in control and didn’t lose his head, everything was going to be fine?—
“Hey!”
Conleth jerked at the yell. He’d been so focused on Paige, he’d lost track of the rest of the world.
Now it all came rushing back, his pegasus’s awareness of all the nearby lives flooding his mind. All the glowing dots of the surrounding staff members, going about their own business, paying no attention to Paige and himself…
And one smaller, brighter spark, charging straight for them.
A spark that Conleth knew only too well.
“Get away from her!” Archie pushed in front of Paige, squaring up to him with bunched fists. “That’s mysister!”
CHAPTER 4
“Archie!” Paige yelped. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I saw him!” Archie jabbed an outraged finger at Conleth. “He was giving you the look!”
The only look Conleth had at the moment was sheer horror. He stared at Archie, mouth ajar.
“Sorry about this.” Paige gave the camp manager a desperate smile before turning to her brother. Grabbing his arm, she dropped her voice to a low hiss. “Archie, you can’t interrupt while I’m working. Go back to your friends.”
“But you promised, Paige!” Archie said, way too loudly. “You promised that if any shifter tried something funny, you’d tell me straight away. And he was doing thething. With hiseyes.”
Paige was painfully aware that if anyone had been doing something inappropriate with their eyes, it had been her. “Archie, Mr. Tiernach-West is the camp manager.”
Archie glowered over his shoulder at Conleth. “I know who he is.”
“Then you know he’s avery important man,” Paige said through gritted teeth. “It’s part of his job to meet all new staff. He was saying hello, that’s all.”
“That’s not what he was doing!” Archie clenched his fists, face contorting in frustration. “You’re not listening to me, Paige! I know I get stuff wrong all the time, but I’m not wrong about this. He’s got the mating fever!”
Conleth’s eyebrows shot up. “Mating fever?”
For once, Paige wished Archiewouldturn into a bear. At least then he wouldn’t be able to talk.
She forced a laugh. “Kids say the darndest things. Come on, Archie. We’ve taken up enough of Mr. Tiernach-West’s time.”
“Stop treating me like I’m just a stupid little kid!” Archie twisted out of her grip, rounding on Conleth. “And you stay away from my sister!”
For a moment, Conleth continued to do an excellent impression of a clubbed halibut. Then he blinked, all controlled charm once more. He shot her a wry, sympathetic glance over Archie’s head before turning his attention to her brother.
“There’s no need to make a scene, Archie,” Conleth said in patient, reasonable tones. “Now, let’s all take a deep breath and?—”
And that was as far as he got, before Archie did what he inevitably did in any stressful situation, and turned into a bear.
