After dropping that bomb, the guys and I worked side by side to clean up the mess.
After we got some fucking clothes on, of course.
Last thing I wanted to do was have a meeting with a bunch of guys and their dicks just blowing in the breeze and their balls on full display.
The next few days sped by in a haze of dust, animal shit, and the guys beating the shit out of each other half a dozen more times.
At this point, I was becoming quite the fucking referee.
“Goddamn it, Kian,” I growled and shot the Bull Shifter a red-eyed glare.
Yeah, my eyes were normally blue. But they turned Jersey Devil red when I was pissed.
Like now.
“What? Who gives a fuck about Dante’s goddamn Bear problems?” he grunted, earning himself a shove from the Bear himself.
“It’s not ‘Bear problems’, asshole. It’s all our fucking problem,” Dante replied and snarled at the Bull.
Those two were the most volatile, going for each other’s throats all the damn time.
“These Crew meetings are gonna fucking suck, aren’t they?” I asked Emmet.
He just grunted, and I couldn’t blame him.
Zeke was busy filling in one of the Wolf’s many tattoos with some archaic looking stick and a jar of magicked ink. I had no idea what it was, but at least neither of them were fighting.
That was good.
“Knock it off!” I yelled, imbuing my voice with my Alpha powers.
Apparently, something happened the day I showed them my Devil. Each one of them had submitted to me, baring their throats and pledging their allegiance to my leadership. It was an honor, I knew that. But sometimes it felt like I was fucking babysitting.
“What are you talking about?” I asked Dante.
“We’re all a fucking mess, man, I mean, Alpha—”
“You don’t have to call me that,” I grumbled.
“I do. It’s how my Bear is built.”
“Okay,” I said, just wanting to hurry this shit up. “Why are we all a mess?”
“Cause each of us is holding on by a thread. We’re outcasts. Loners. But that’s not how nature designed us.”
“Someone translate this for me,” I barked.
“He’s saying he wants to shack up,” Kian replied with a grunt.
“Shack up? OH shit, you mean women?” I asked.
“Yes, he means women, or whatever the hell you call female furry monsters like him,” Kian replied.
“A female Bear Shifter is a Sow, and fuck you, you walking cheeseburger,” Dante shot back.
“Alright, so what’s the problem? Go find a date if you need to blow off steam,” I said, not understanding their dilemma.
“Max, do you have any idea how few female Shifters exist?” Emmet asked me.
“No. Obviously,” I replied.
“Not a lot. And of course, we have rules. Shifters, I mean. They’re just like yours, I think,” Emmet explained. “We can’t just go fucking human women, and risk our animals getting attached. Not until we meet our fated mates.”
“But how will you meet them if you don’t try?”
“Don’t you think we have, Alpha?” Kian snapped and walked out of the barn without looking back.
Shit.
So that was the problem. All the members of my Motley Crewd Ranch were in the same boat. This was theirs, mine too, last chance if they wanted to survive.
Without mates, each of us could succumb to the darkness within, and that could be catastrophic.
Shifters and other supes who did not find their mates, their tether, went mad. That kind of descent into darkness usually ended in death.
And it was the Alpha’s job to mete it out.
Fucking hell.
“Look guys, I admit to feigning interest when Emmet was describing whatever problem Kian discovered with our highest yielding corn fields, but I am on this. I am going to help you control your Shifter sides until you find the one you were meant for,” I vowed.
They all looked at me solemnly, even Kian was back hanging out by the barn door.
“I mean it. I won’t let you down.”
And I wouldn’t. Avail and Grandmother might think me a good for nothing, but over the last couple of days, I’d listened to these men. My Devil bonded with them, the same way I did with the land.
What could I say?
No, I’d never had a purpose before, but I think I found one.
Hell. I found two.
My sweet Sugarplum and this group of rag tag Shifters. Motley Crewd, indeed.
It wasn’t that I was lazy. Well, not exactly. But I’d gone from being a lackadaisical millionaire to working with animals and muddy earth for fourteen hours a day.
And as if that wasn’t enough of a change, meeting my fated mate, the one person in the universe capable of filling my heart and soul, not to mention tempting my body, and having to stay away from her while I waited for our date was not easy.
Penelope Abruzzi.
It had been three days since I saw her, and my beast was barely manageable. The Devil inside me was desperate for the curvy, dark-haired beauty.
I was completely on board, of course. I mean I was dying to be with her. Wanted to woo her, seduce her, claim her with my bite, and make her mine.
Of course, I couldn’t do that.
Well, not yet.
Penelope was a normal human and had no idea supernatural creatures existed.
How would she react to my somewhat furry, red-skinned, winged side?
Would she be afraid? Scared I would hurt her?
My Devil sneered at the idea.
I would never hurt her. Not ever.
That dark part of me was eager to see her again. But I needed to exert control.
“Boss?”
I ran a hand over my face.
“I’m fine,” I told him, ignoring the Wolf’s inquiring looks as the others filed out.
“Sure you’re good?”
“Truth is, uh, I met my mate—”
“Holy shit! Really?” he asked, looking stunned.
“Yeah. She’s been here apparently all the while. I mean, we owned this place, but I’ve never even visited this ranch before my Grandmother handed it to me and gave me her ultimatum.”
“Lucky you, Boss. I mean, look, all my family ever had was a single-wide and a shit ton of bills,” he joked.
“I suppose money comes with its own set of problems.”
“I really wouldn’t know. In my experience, it’s women who bring the problems. Always thought money would fix them,” Emmet said.
“Not likely. Anyway, don’t say anything to the guys. I don’t want them thinking I’m rubbing salt in any wounds.”
“Course not. You having dinner with me and the boys tonight? Dante is turning a dozen chickens on a spit behind his cabin,” Emmet told him.
“Sounds delightful, but uh, not tonight, I’m afraid. I have plans.”
“Plans, huh? With your mate?”
“Shut up, man,” I hissed.
“Okay, sheesh. But they’re far enough away now to not hear me. Anyway, just so you know that Mr. Henries of yours sent me an email. It seems your granny entered us in a little rodeo they’re holding next month.”
“A rodeo? In New Jersey?” I asked, his eyebrows going sky high.
“Yep. It’s at the county fairgrounds five miles outside of town. Seems like they do it every year.”
“Okay, well, you and the boys will do just fine,” I said, checking my watch.
“That’s the kicker. You have to enter too, Boss.”
“Me? Enter a rodeo?”
Emmet’s wicked grin split his face wide, and it was all I could do not to deck the fucker.
Fuck my life.
I walked away, leaving him to his snorting laughter. I had just enough time for a shower, and I wasn’t about to waste any of those precious minutes needed to get ready for my mate horsing around with this jackoff.
I had a date to get to. And a mate to mark.
Mine.