At least up until now he’d obeyed the unspoken bathroom rule. Joe sighed. This was his last sanctuary. The place where he could go to get away from his gregarious, sometimes foolish youngest brother and his cantankerous, sullen middle brother and just be alone for a few minutes.
Now he’d have to put a damn lock on the door.
“I want to find her.”
“What?”
Joe had turned back to finish shaving. He didn’t shave that often, did he? Well, if he did there was nothing wrong with grooming. His brothers should try it once in a while.
Joe straightened his tie and put his razor neatly away then glanced around his bathroom. Nothing out of place. Except for his lazy-ass brother.
“If you’re telling me you’re going to be a private detective again—”
Garret waved his hand again. “No, I told you, I learned my lesson after Lola.” His face turned dreamy. “It was worth it, though. She had legs that went on forever and boobs a man could really get lost in.”
“Garret, you ought to learn some respect!”
“What? It was just the truth. Everyone knows about Leggy Lola and her luscious— “
“Garret!”
His brother sighed and shook his head. “You’ve got to get out more often, bro. You’re turning into a real grump. You’re reclusive. Not as much as Sawyer, granted. But then I think we can all agree it’s best Sawyer isn’t let lose in the general population.”
Yes, that was something they could definitely agree on.
Sawyer wasn’t exactly sociable. He didn’t really have manners, or social skills or a filter. Nope, it was best Sawyer was kept away from people.
“Her husband hired you to follow her and see if she was cheating on him then you slept with her!”
Garret grinned. “Like I said, I wasn’t a very good private investigator.”
“Do things like marriage vows mean nothing to you?”
“Her husband was an asshole. He was verbally abusive. Lola wanted out.”
And Joe knew Garret had helped her get out. He might not be able to keep it in his pants, but at heart he was a soft touch for a woman in trouble.
“So now you want to find Lola?”
“What? Lola? No, she was hot and all but she wasn’t our mate.”
Joseph paused. Stared at Garret. “What?”
“She wasn’t our mate. I mean, I assume I’d know if she was, right? We’d all feel it. Feel something towards her. That’s what the legend says.”
The legend had been passed down through the generations. There were only ever boys born to the Bjorn men. And always three brothers who would share one mate. Legend had it that their mate would find them. That no obstacle, no barrier would keep her from their side. And when they were united, their inner bears would be set free. It was a strange life, living in a half-state. They could feel their other half, at times it seemed like a living, breathing beast inside them. But a beast that was kept under tight rein. Locked in these human bodies.
“She’s supposed to find us,” Joe pointed out.
“Well, I’m getting tired of waiting for this mystery woman to knock on our front door. So, I’m going to find her.”
Joe sighed. A long, drawn out affair. “That’s not the w
ay it works, and you know it. You can’t just rewrite the legend.”
“It’s a new era, Joe. How many wars have we seen? How much famine, drought, destruction have we lived through? And through it all, we’ve done it alone.”
“I thought you liked living the bachelor life. Won’t a mate cramp your style?”