Mating Behavior by Mandy M. Roth Page A

they meant no harm and were honest boys. Who and what they
were wasn’t a total secret because the rumors floated. The boys did
nothing to stop the scuttlebutt.
    Almost all of them had remained in the area.
None had started families yet. It was probably a good thing since
there were so many of them. Hell, there were four in his immediate
family alone. Eli had two brothers. That had them up to seven
already and Jonathan hadn’t even begun to think about his other two
uncles and their boys.
    All boys.
    All rowdy.
    All different.
    All special.
    “The law is wrong, Eli,” Jonathan said.
“Plain and simple, the man has no right to force his daughter to
wed a lecherous bastard just because it’ll get his parish bigger
donations. Gerald Wilson is a snake who has raped more women than
not and I’m not about to let him get his hands on Molly.”
    Again.
    He didn’t voice his last concern but it was
evident from the tension that filled the area. Jonathan would rot
in the pits of hell before he ever allowed Gerald Wilson near Molly
again. He’d spent a decade regretting having been foolish enough to
leave her accessible to Gerald to begin with. He should have
claimed her as his mate the minute he’d realized that’s what she
was to him.
    It was an absurd thought and he knew it.
They’d been too young for him to go with his gut. Gerald hadn’t
cared a bit about Molly’s innocence. For that alone Jonathan had
watched the bastard from a distance, waiting for him to step out of
line so he’d be justified in killing him.
    “Yap, yap, yap,” Parker, Jonathan’s older
brother, said, as he rode up next to him. He steadied his horse and
nodded out toward the night. “I hear ya talkin’, little brother,
but I don’t hear you saying what it is you’re going to do to
rectify the situation.”
    “Rectify?” Eli grinned. It didn’t take much
to figure out he was in the mood for mischief. “Trust the doctor to
swoop in and start up with fancy words. We might need to stop by a
Frontier Stall and look that there one up.”
    Parker put his middle finger in the air and
offered a cocky smile. “Doctor that, asshole. And seems to me the
lawyer in the family would have some pull in regards to changing
the laws but it’d appear you are as worthless as your last
girlfriend claimed you to be.” He let his middle finger droop
slowly as his gaze slid to Eli’s groin.
    Eli shrugged. “Seein’ as how I had her
screaming my name out in ecstasy behind the General Store I can’t
see how I’d be labeled worthless. A bit randy maybe, but worthless?
No.” He rubbed his chin, doing his best to conceal a wicked grin.
They got entirely too much joy out of poking fun at one another.
“As far as laws go, I don’t get to change ‘em. I only get to twist
the already existing ones to my advantage.”
    Jonathan’s ears perked as he fingered his
sidearm and then his badge. The silver burned slightly as he
touched it but still, his hand remained. It was a reminder of not
only who he was but what he was. He was the sheriff but was also
more than a man. The beast, who suffered a sensitivity to silver,
swore an oath to protect Molly and the man supported the decision
wholeheartedly. The two had come to a conclusion long ago—she was
not to be harmed and, one day, she would be his. “Got any
law-twisting planned, cousin?”
    “A whole lot of begging, Jon. That’s ‘bout
it.” Eli chuckled. “Well, that and I told Parker to bring along
some aspirin. You might need it after you go and get yourself hung
over a woman. Be thankful a hangin’ won’t kill ya. Just make your
head and neck hurt for a few days. Now, if they decide to run
silver spikes through your heart or chop your head off, well,
that’s another matter.”
    “Wonderful.” He didn’t bother to hide his
sarcasm. “And thanks for the show of support. It warms me to know
my kin are positive I’ll get my neck snapped before the day’s
out.”
    The tiny snort that came from Eli