Page 38 of Brandon’s Mate

Yeppers. “I’ll talk to Ray about it.” She gestured to the bag in his hand. “Want a cupcake?”

He pulled out one of the two-packs of cupcakes, dropping the bag on the ground. He ripped open the cellophane and sniffed the contents dubiously.

“Is this food?” he asked.

“Um… not sure there are any actual food products involved in its creation, no,” she admitted. “But it’s yummy.”

He sniffed again, and pulled off a bit and stuck it in his mouth. He frowned, then his eyes opened wide.

“This should be food,” he proclaimed, and then turned around walked off up the hillside, disappearing into the trees.

Chapter 14

At exactly 8:30, Brandon saw a woman step tentatively out of the trees at the trailhead.

Either he was dealing with a total amateur, or she was bait and there was someone with a rifle and a night scope ready to pick him off.

But then, if someone just wanted to take him out with a sniper, they could have done it long before today.

No risk, no reward.

He jumped out of the tree and landed lightly on his feet behind her. Panther powers. “Hands where I can see them,” he said, training his weapon on her. She jumped and whirled around faster than he expected, pulling her own gun as she did it.

It was Callie, the waitress from the Crows’ Nest. Brandon had seen her in there a couple of times, usually looking scared—probably of Caleb.

She still looked scared, but at least she had the gumption to bring a weapon. Although shooting straight was another thing.

He let the barrel of his gun drop. “Put that thing away, would you? I can take a bullet, but the way your hands are shaking I’m afraid you’ll miss what you’re aiming for and shoot me in the head. No coming back from that.”

She slowly lowered the gun, and Brandon holstered his. No point in scaring her any more than he already had. She looked like she might bolt any minute, and he really wanted to hear what she had to say.

It wasn’t what he expected, though. “Caleb’s pretty pissed you sent his guys back in such bad shape,” she said.

It was hard to tell from her tone if she thought that was a good thing or a bad thing, but considering that she’d called a secret meeting with one of Caleb’s enemies, he was going with good thing.

He gave a half-grin. “Cry me a river.”

“He’s even more pissed that your girlfriend broke his teeth and almost crushed his larynx.”

She did? Damn. Go Kitty. “That’s my girl. I hope he stays pissed for a good long time.”

“I don’t.” She reflexively touched her cheek. What he’d thought was a shadow on her face was a fading bruise.

Fucker. “Did he hit you?” Apparently Caleb took his temper out on people weaker than him. After Brandon finished his mission, he might just have to go teach Caleb a “lesson.”

She shrugged. “I’m a shifter. I heal fast.”

“That’s really not the point,” he said savagely. “He shouldn’t treat his mate that way.”

“I’m not his mate,” she said. “Not officially. But when he took over the bar…”

“What, he got you with it? That’s not how real estate deals work, babe.”

Her head went up. “Don’t treat me like an idiot,” she snapped. “The bar belonged to me and my brother. Half-brother,” she amended. “He was a crow.”

Brandon heard the past tense and winced.

“He was the second of the crew. Caleb killed him when he took over.”