“I mean I haven’t seen you for a while. How have you been?”
“I am doing much work,” he said in a serious voice. “Boris stays with his cubs to help mate, and Yuri tries hard to make a cub of his own.”
Boris and Yuri had both met their fated mates while on the job with us. Boris met a badass bear shifter named Elana while working undercover at a kindergarten with Bella. Yuri had fallen for a human working at a hospital while helping Darla on the case where she’d met Kathryn.
Now that I thought about it, I could almost understand why Lois was so disgruntled about the number of her agents – and contractors – who fell in love on the job.
“Well, I’m glad to have you help, Alexei. But I need to tell you something--.”
“You have found mate here,” he interrupted. “Wolf boss tells me this. I am very happy for you, but of course I do not say this to Lois. She is very angry about news, even though it is supposed to be joyful.”
The Belarusian brothers were massive, as wide as they were tall, tough as nails, trained killers who had faced some of the toughest bad guys in the world. But even they were as terrified of Lois as the rest of us.
“It must be weird for you with both of your brothers mated now,” I said sympathetically. “Y’all have always done everything together.”
“Yes, we join military, work on covert missions, retire and start restaurant, all together,” he said, his accent deepening with emotion. “I am very happy for brothers, and I like very much their mates, but now I worry there is no one for me and I will be alone always.”
“You’ll find someone Alexei,” I said, patting his shoulder. “The right lady for you is out there somewhere.”
He shrugged. “Many shifters marry for companionship. Maybe I do this. Too bad all the women I know areliesbijanka.”
“You’ve gotta stop hanging out around Sapphic Security then, buddy.”
We stood in companionable silence for several minutes until the team came out of the locker room, suited up for the game. Ruby gave me a smile as she walked out, her wolf friend at her side.
“Are you ready to play?” I asked her.
Ruby opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a low growl.
“Mine!”
My head snapped to the side, ready to fight my friend if he was trying to claim my mate, but Alexei’s attention was fixed right on Eleanor. He took a step closer.
“Mine,” he repeated.
Eleanor gave him a disdainful glare and growled low and deep in her throat.
“Step back, bear. I don’t have time for nonsense right now, we have a game to play.”
Ruby’s gaze swung between them, trying to figure out what was happening. I stepped in the middle of Alexei and the two women, not wanting my mate to get caught between two irritated shifters.
“You two better get on the field before one of the coaches come looking for you,” I said.
Ruby and Eleanor exchanged a look, then took off at a jog down the tunnel towards the field.
“Easy big guy.”
I put my hand on Alexei’s arm, holding him back as we fast walked after our mates. I could see his prey instinct kicking in, wanting to chase Eleanor, but this wasn’t the time or the place.
“Come to dinner with us after the game, you’ll get a chance to get to know your mate. Right now we all need to work.”
Alexei took a shuddering breath.
“Okay, yes. You are right.”
Ruby
Iwas dying to know what happened between Eleanor and the giant man who’d been standing next to Cassie, but for now, we had to focus on the game. We jogged out onto the field, ignoring the irritated look our coach sent in our direction at our tardiness.
