Tank by Mating Season Collection, Ronin Winters Page A

Yep, just like Regan, she was way too insightful. “And if I was interested cause of that? There any problem?”
    The amusement on Beth’s face lowered, and a more calculating look descended, straightening his back as he watched her. He had no problems with Beth, but truth was, he didn’t know her all that well, nor Regan for that matter. Both of them were taking care of the pack – that was true – but like a lot of the wolves, he couldn’t let go of the lingering discomfort that Regan hadn’t taken Steel’s bite, and it made him a little cautious around them.
    Her eyes closed and she nodded, obviously having come to some inner decision. She opened them again, looking him dead in the eye. “Here’s the deal. Jess is in a relationship she shouldn’t be in, but it’s the type of situation where it could go on for years – hell, she might even marry the guy. Wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. So I’ll help you because if she sees someone is interested in her, it might give her the push to get out of her current situation and take steps to better things.”
    “Why isn’t it good? He hurting her or something?” Hackles were rising and the wolf was baring its teeth at the thought of someone laying a finger on the woman he’d so recently been holding in his arms.
    Beth shook her head. “Nothing like that. She’s just insecure and caught up in the ending of a fairy tale. That combination can be tough to escape.”
    “Insecure? What the fuck would someone like her have to be insecure over? She’s fucking perfect.”
    “I love those true mate goggles you wolves wear.” Now Beth was smirking, and a blush was again threatening to take over, which was fucking ridiculous. He beat the shit out of people for money. His ass hadn’t blushed since puberty when he got caught sneaking into the girl’s lockers and saw Mrs. Taylor in all her post-menopause glory instead of Charity James like he’d been hoping. He refused to be blushing now under the smirking eye of his alpha’s sister-in-law. “She’s gained weight since high school and her boyfriend comments on it. It gets to her sometimes.”
    “And she stays with the asshole?” Now he had a real reason to hate the douche, and not just because he was in the way. Jag-off shouldn’t be talking to a woman like that.
    “That’s what I’m saying, and it’s why I’m helping you. If you do nothing else except make her see she has other options than that idiot, it’s a win. But ,” and here Beth pointed her finger at him, her eyes serious and her mouth unsmiling, “you gotta promise me you won’t bring her into our world unless it’s real love. Not just bite her because she’s your true mate, and don’t know nothing else about her.”
    Beth might be smart, and she might have grown up as a hunter, but there were things she couldn’t understand about wolves. Like how his skin was itching with the desire to get back to Jess. Like how her scent was already a permanent fixture in his memory. Like how thinking on the shade of blue of her eyes was enough to make him half hard. “You don’t understand–”
    “I know,” she interrupted. “I get it’s something I’ll never really know, but I do know you can have a true mate you don’t love. She’s my friend, so you need to promise that you’ll be able to swear, hand to God, you love her and not the thought of having a true mate. That you won’t take any steps unless you would be with her even if she never took your bite.”
    “Promise,” he said, and if he wasn’t sure that was possible, that was okay. Beth was smart, but she wasn’t a wolf, and she didn’t understand what she was asking. How Steel did what he did with Regan – well, no other wolf would ever have done that.
    “Okay,” Beth said, nodding and taking him at his word. “Let’s get to her then.”
    Best idea he’d heard, and his ass was in gear before the words finished leaving her mouth. Jess was standing