snorted. “Her mighty shifter.”
“Mighty Mouse,” Posy said and did some snorting of her own. “I’m not mating anyone.”
“This isn’t up for debate,” Maximus said. “You are my mate, maybe—hell, either way you belong to someone. We only have a short window of opportunity here on Earth, and only every few months and sometimes not even then if the moonbeams can’t shine. I’m not waiting to have my mate.”
“I hate mice.”
“I’m not a mouse,” Maximus bellowed. He shifted.
“Would you like a mirror?” Posy asked.
Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was smug. “I don’t shift into a mouse on my planet.” He struggled to shift back. Pax was laughing his ass off at him.
“So that’s supposed to make it better?”
An elephant roared outside, and Pax looked relived. “Finally some back up.”
Maximus peered out the door. Danner, another shifter, was swaying back and forth.
“This is totally unfair,” Maximus said and growled.
“Not as fair as you might think,” Pax mumbled.
Danner shifted into human form and walked into the hut.
“Um, he’s a pigmy,” Posy said. “You could fit in the palm of my hand.”
“I’m six foot seven,” Danner said, his voice was a twitter but normal for his size. He glared at Maximus, who couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing. “Shut up.”
“Yeah, mouse boy,” Pax added.
“You have to be the daintiest man I’ve ever seen,” Maximus said.
“Just get the female and let’s go. We need to get to the meeting place. We can figure out what to do when we get home.” Danner looked at his tiny arms. On their planet he could kick Maximus’s ass in human form.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Posy had her hands fisted. “The next one who touches me is going to throb like my feet.”
Pax jabbed a finger into her arm and down she went. Maximus scooped her up. He gazed into her slack features.
“Damn, if this one’s mine I’ll need more meds. Especially on my honeymoon.”
Chapter Five
“She can be matched with any shifter. A rarity. No wonder everyone’s confused.”
Posy was staring at a huge man. Maximus called him Tac. There were four other women she could see in the large long house. Outside was the unmistakable sound of rain. A lot of it. The men in the room were a mismatched lot. Maximus wasn’t the biggest. Tac was but not by much. She recognized Andro, the little person. Pax the cute wombat and his elephant partner, Danner, the tiny pigmy. She giggled when she saw Merit, the sloth shifter.
“Do all shifters have the same problem when we come to Earth?” Andro asked. He grouchily crossed his arms over his chest.
“Not this extreme,” Tac said.
“How do we figure out who belongs to who?” Maximus asked.
“We still have a couple of days before we can get back.” Tac gazed at Posy, and she glared back. “This one could prove to be a problem.”
“Prove to be?” Maximus snorted.
“There are other shifters from all over our planet here for a mate. If this female can be matched with anyone we’ve got our hands full,” Tac said.
“I’m not mating with anyone,” Posy said.
Tac strode over to her and hauled her to her feet. Posy cracked him across the jaw with a balled fist. She stumbled away cradling her hand.
“Damn, you have rocks in there,” she muttered.
“You really like to punch people, don’t you?” Maximus asked.
“Take me back home.”
“We all want to go home,” another woman said.
Tac tossed his head back and howled, the noise thunderous. He shifted, and Posy plopped onto her ass. The biggest dire wolf she’d ever seen snarled at her.
“Um,” she whispered. “With a name like Tac I was expecting a kitty.”
Tac stalked her and the other women. “Until we figure out which one of these shifters is your mate you will all behave.”
“I can’t mate a mouse,” Posy said. Her bravado died on her lips when Tac spun and came close enough she could see each individual