Bella's Tease: Blue Collar Wolves #4 (Mating Season Collection) by Ronin Winters, Mating Season Collection Page A

perhaps the first time since puberty ended.
    Bella pushed hard and freed herself, wagging her finger at him. “Behave yourself.” And then she turned, presenting that ass, and looking over her shoulder, winked at him. “I promise it will be worth the wait.”
    She was out from behind the bar before he could grab her up and run out the back with her.
    “How is it you became more of a horndog since you mated?” Razor sat at the barstool in front of Iron, his words taking a few moments to penetrate the haze of lust fogging Iron’s head. “Shouldn’t sex be boring now?”
    Iron picked up a shot glass and debated if Bella would yell at him if he chucked it at Razor’s head. Probably would since there were kids around, so he tabled the impulse and put the glass away. “Don’t make me sound all old man on you and say wait until you mate, or some shit like that. Steel’s the one to get all deep and meaningful in these discussions.”
    “Yeah, my mate.” Razor’s voice went that half-step between nostalgic and bittersweet, and Iron went on alert. That tone, that was the tone his voice took on when he spoke about Bella, back when she was in college, those days when if someone told him one day he’d mate Bella, he’d have rammed the fucker through the wall and beat the shit out of them for torturing him in the cruelest way possible, because there was no way he’d ever get Bella in his life.
    Iron’s eyes met and held Razor’s, and the pain in them was fucking intimately familiar from many a moment when Iron stared into the mirror and saw only the bleakness of his own life without his mate.
    Razor never talked about mates or mating seasons, and Iron assumed it was because he was young and wanted to get some unattached fun in before worrying about true bonds and forever after and all the shit that comes with being with one woman for the rest of life.
    But what if, maybe, Razor already knew…?
    The door opened, and Steel and Regan walked in, and with them a smaller blonde woman, wearing glasses and an oversized sweater, and with a shy, inquisitive air as she both shrank into herself, but was open with her avid studying of her surroundings. Razor seemed to snatch at their entrance to turn away and call out, usual jovial tone in place, “Fashionably late Alpha? Or busy in other ways?”
    Everyone laughed, the flowing liquor helping the overall happy mood, and Steel flipped off the younger but bigger wolf before he looked around, and spotting Mel and Bella chatting in the corner, leaned down and whispered in Regan’s ear. She nodded, and, after entwining her fingers with his and giving them a squeeze before letting go, took the other woman’s hand and went to talk with Bella and Mel, leaving Steel to approach the bar.
    Iron put a beer down in preparation, and Steel grabbed it up and drank half in one gulp. “Nice entrance,” Iron said, giving a lift of his eyebrows. “That Annabeth?”
    “Yeah, Regan wasn’t sure if her coming was a good idea, but Beth insisted. Said she wanted to meet the family.” Steel shrugged and tried to appear calm, but, at least to Iron, it was apparent that tonight his chill was missing, and this display was pure show.
    Regan’s acceptance into the pack wasn’t going smooth. The fact that she hadn’t taken Steel’s bite had a lot of the wolves uneasy, and her past as a hunter hadn’t won her any points either. Mel and Bella accepting her helped keep the talk to a minimum, but Iron knew his oldest friend, and between the problems the pack was having with Regan and the ongoing threat of Jacobson, the alpha was getting worn down, game face be damned.
    Iron did his part to help, keeping the chatter light and away from heavy matters. Tonight wasn’t about that anyway. Tonight was about the pack celebrating the good in their life, and so much good had happened recently. Sometimes, that reminder was needed. “Smart girl. Coming in when everyone’s happy and drunk is about the best time