Bear Necessities

“On it, but now I’m calling dibs.” Glory rushed out before either Tabby or Cyn could protest.

“Greedy bitch.”

Cyn bopped her on the head with the brush. “Look who’s talking.” She picked up the bottle of bleach and a comb. “Now lie down and hold still. I have some roots to kill.”

Tabby sat back in the chair and wished that she’d waited five more minutes to ask Cyn to fix her hair. It could have been her out there checking out the hottie instead of sitting in Cyn’s chair getting bleached.

Bunny entered the tattoo parlor, pulled by the sight of bright, rainbow-colored hair and pretty, feminine smiles. He looked around and smiled. This place was pretty nice.

The tattoo parlor had that feminine touch to it without being the homage to estrogen that Wallflowers place had been. The walls were a bright aqua color, displaying the flash to advantage. The women had hung a nice, big art piece behind the counter that was rather more than flash. It looked like a giant, full-color pair of dragons, one red, one blue, circling together in a yin-yang, but was obviously a full-color tattoo inked onto someone’s back. The counter was made completely of glass and housed more flash in one section, both black-and-white and color, and jewelry for piercing different body parts. He eyed the Prince Albert and shuddered, resisting the urge to cup himself protectively. The flash in the windows and on the walls was in silver frames, making it look even more like art.

Two large books lay open on the counter, bound in brown leather and containing more tattoos. The floor was wood, a dark ebony stain that would hide spilled ink.

Looking down the long length of the corridor, he could see four curtained-off cubicles, probably where the women worked. At the very end was a last curtained-off area marked “Employees Only”.

The women, if they were the owners, had made the place look both welcoming and classy. He could see both men and women coming in here and being comfortable.

The tan-colored chairs near the window looked soft and inviting, but he had no interest in them. What he did want was down the aisle, behind the employees-only area. He could smell her, and she smelled wonderful. It was the same scent that had tickled him when he’d opened the door to Living Art Tattoos; a sassy, succulent scent that drew him like nothing else ever had. He’d almost barreled into the back room to find the owner of that scent when a blue-haired girl stepped out from behind the curtain and intercepted him. She brought with her the scent of the three women, but the citrusy scent that was hers alone was strongest, and not the one he was looking for. Curly, pale blue locks fell almost to the woman’s waist. Bright blue eyes almost the same shade as her hair watched him with a mix of desire and sweetness that would have attracted Bunny on any other day. She was looking at him like he was a tall glass filled with chocolate mousse and she happened to have a very long spoon.

“Welcome to Living Art. I’m Glory. Can I help you with anything?” She batted her lashes at him, but Bunny wasn’t interested. It was disappointing, too. She looked just like one of the heroines in the manga he liked to read, all big eyes and hair and sweet, innocent smiles. He could see himself spending a pleasant evening or two in her bed and finding out just how innocent she really was.

But that tantalizing scent tickled his nostrils again, sending a definite message to his cock to rise and shine. The gleam in the blue-haired girl’s eyes said she’d noticed and approved. Bunny backed out of pinching reach. “Excuse me, but the other two ladies who were in here. Where are they?”

The woman made a face, disappointment lighting her features. The flirtatiousness disappeared. “Cyn and Tabby are in the back. Cyn owns the shop. Would you like to speak to her?”

He had to come up with something plausible. “Actually, I was thinking of getting a tattoo.” He had a few already, so another one would be no big deal. A lot of women seemed to enjoy tracing the spiral triskelion design on his left biceps, the dark angel on his right shoulder. He had a black-inked, woodcut-style tailed bear with colored stars for the constellation Ursa Major on his lower back.

“What kind?”

A sudden image flashed before his eyes, so strong it startled him. “A bear and a wolf, I think.” Wolf? Is that what I’m smelling? He didn’t know there were any Wolves living in Halle. The only non-Puma he was aware of was his cousin Chloe, and she was Fox.

She blinked. “I think we can do that.”

“The bear will need to be pretty specific too.” He wasn’t about to go into details, not until after he’d met the owner of that scent. He was pretty sure that was his mate behind that curtain and he didn’t want to scare her off.

A Wolf? Really? He almost laughed. It seemed he was carrying on the family tradition of non-Bear mates. Ryan and Chloe’s mother was a Fox, and his Uncle Ray had also married a Fox. Bunny’s mother had been human, but despite that, his father had still caught flack in his mostly human community for marrying a black woman. His relatives had known better, and welcomed his mom with open arms. Fighting fate on your mate never worked out the way you expected it to, and you usually wound up in your mate’s arms at the end anyway, so why give yourself the grief?

“Oh.” She bit her lip. “Well, I do mostly piercings, but I could see if Cyn is available.”

“Please.”

She nodded and headed for the curtained-off area at the back. He could hear the murmur of voices, but neither one set off his senses.

“I wonder which one Cyn is,” he muttered. “Green or pink?”

“Pink.” He turned to find the woman with striking dark hair with broad pink streaks smirking at them. “I’m Cyn.” She held out her hand. “So, you want a tattoo, big guy?”

Bunny hid his grimace. Damn it, he wanted to see his mate, and pink Cyn wasn’t her. Cyn’s scent was sharper, harder. More lemony. “Yes, actually I do. The other young lady, what does she do?”

Cyn eyed him with suspicion. “Tabby is an apprentice tattoo artist.”

Bunny coughed. Nah. He could not have just heard that his Wolf mate was named after a kitty cat. No Wolf parent would be that cruel. Maybe it was Gabby or Darby or—

“Whose hair is about to fall out if you don’t get the bleach out now!”

Bunny shivered as that deep southern drawl prowled over his skin. His dick had gone from zero to hero in two seconds flat.

Oh yeah. He’d found his mate. Now he just had to claim her.

Oh shit. Oh, fucking shit. Tabby waited as Glory rinsed her hair out. My mate is out there. My mate . What’s even weirder? Bear. My mate is a Bear. And I have orange roots.

She was damn near hyperventilating. When she’d called dibs on the dude, little did she know she’d actually get him! And now she was going to wind up meeting him for the first time with orange roots. She was going to look like a half-melted Skittle. She grabbed Glory’s arm. “Y’all tell him I’m dead. Please?”

Glory grinned. “What is wrong with you?”

“Remember the whole woof-woof thing?”

“Yeah.”

“That guy out there?”

Glory’s eyes widened. “He’s a woof-woof too?”

“Er, no. More like grrr-grrr.”

Glory blinked.

Tabby shook her head. “Never mind. That whole werewolf mate thing in romance novels?”

Glory’s mouth did that really wide “O” thing. “Really? He’s your mate?”

“Yes! And I am having serious hair issues.” She put on her best pleading look.

“So, tell him I’ve been killed in a horrible vegetable-dye accident.”

“Tabby!”

She held up her hands in mock-prayer. “Pleeeease?” She blinked, trying to look desperate. Hell, she probably did look desperate.