Between the Bear's Sheets (Wylde Brothers 2)

For an hour, he stayed in that shower, and it was only when the water turned icy and not at all satisfying that he finally allowed himself to get out.

Although he hated himself, he wouldn’t change how he felt. It kept him moving, and that self-loathing was a pretty good punishment, if he were being honest.

2

Talia Landon stared at her brother’s fiancée and had to grit her teeth or she would have made some nasty response. Why Luke had chosen some high-maintenance bitch of a female to marry was beyond her.

For the past two years, Talia had watched Luke dote on Mina Sheldon in a sickening display of affection. It wasn’t even about her being a human and them being red fox shifters, but more so that Mina was an uptight asshole.

At every turn, she bossed Luke around, made him run ridiculous errands, and just had this air about her that screamed high-priced whore. Talia hated her, had ever since Luke brought her to their parents’ house for their Sunday family dinner.

“I told you I wanted the white lace accents.” Mina tossed the fabric aside and turned to stare at herself in the full-length mirror before her. She opened up her tube of cherry-red lipstick and applied a generous amount to her overly plump lips. Ever since they announced they were getting married—a new level of hell for Talia to live through—Mina had been in Bridezilla mode. Nothing was ever right, and it was Talia’s brother who suffered her wrath.

It made no difference though, because even when Talia brought up her concerns to Luke, he had gotten so upset and offended that he shut her out until she had been the one who felt guilty for even bringing it up. It wasn’t that she wanted to hurt her brother, but how anyone in their right mind would want to be saddled with a woman who bitched nonstop was beyond her.

But whatever, if Luke wanted to subject himself to that kind of abuse, who was she to get in the way? Talia realized that if her older brother wanted to live his life with a banshee and didn’t want to see reason, then he could suffer in his own personal hell. And there was no doubt Mina would deliver on that.

He was an adult, knew his choices would affect him in the long run, and would have to deal with the consequences. At least Talia was pretty sure they wouldn’t have children, at least not for a good long while, because that would require Mina to actually gain some weight. God forbid her wraithlike appearance actually looked healthy, or that she went bigger than a size two.

Talia looked back at Mina, with her perfect hair, and her perfect body, and everything else that was just too damn perfect to be real. But what made this day even more of a nightmare was the four equally gorgeous and fake women who gathered around Mina.

Their catty laughter, hushed whispers behind their hand-covered mouths, and the aristocratic air around them made this day especially lovely, just like getting her teeth cut out with a rusty razorblade.

There was no doubt one of the main reasons Mina was with her brother was because he was a renowned surgeon, and she loved to spend his money, hence the Prada pumps and Tiffany earrings that dotted her earlobes. Mumbling more to herself than anyone else, Talia stepped outside the small boutique in Sweet Water, Colorado. The breeze was warm and smelled fresh. It wasn’t like the smog-filled air she was familiar with.

Originally from California, she had been excited to come to Colorado, even if the reason behind it was less than pleasant. When Luke told them the wedding would be held at Mina’s parents’ in Sweet Water, no one had showed their concern that their home and the rest of their family were in LA.

So, instead of voicing their opinions on how it made a hell of a lot more sense to have the wedding in California, since the majority of the guests lived there, everyone had packed up their shit and headed over to the boonies.

Talia wouldn’t lie and say Mina’s parents’ estate wasn’t gorgeous, because it was. But then there was the irritation that came when Talia usually thought about her brother’s fiancée.

She needed a stiff drink, but it was only ten in the morning, so it seemed a cup of coffee would be her only option unless she wanted to look like some kind of lush. She certainly didn’t want to start some kind of small-town gossip about the new drunk stumbling around. Lord forbid Mina get mixed in by association.

Looking left then right, she finally remembered passing a bistro/coffee shop when they had come into town for Mina’s dress fitting. Heading down the sidewalk that was still cobblestone, she rounded the corner and came across the small café. The little bell above the door jangled when she opened the door, alerting everyone to her entrance.