Rebel Bears MC: (A Bear Shifter Romance Collection)

by Celeste Raye

  Jake was starting to get nervous.

  “I hate to be the one that has to tell you this, Scott, but again, you can’t be with her. It’s not proper.”

  Jake was dreading every second of it. He had to tell him why it was such a bad idea for the two of them to get together. Not only could it open him up to a fight to the death with her promised, but it would also open him up to shame. Her family was not a good one, and it would be considered bad to lower himself to such standards. There was a hierarchy, even in the shifter world.

  “Why don't you just tell me what's really going on?”

  “I saw you coming out of the woods with her, and I'm hoping you didn't take it too far with her. Did you have sex with her, Scott? I really need to know.”

  Jake could see that Scott was little stunned by his question. Ever since his brother asked about her, he knew that it was going to be a problem. He could see it in his face. How could he deny it, when all of his brothers had fallen in love in the last few months and years and he saw it all happen? It was the same look that Scott had in his eyes when he looked at or was around Jessica. Jake had that same look not too long ago himself and knew that the expression still crossed his face every now and then.

  It was pure and unbridled love.

  “Why does it matter?”

  “It does Scott. Just tell me the truth. Have you had sex with her or not?”

  Scott looked down for a moment and said that he hadn't. “It's not that I don't want to, though. She is not the type of girl that you can move fast with. Things get a little heated, and she just takes off.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, literally, she just takes off like a bat out of hell into the woods. And then we run around for a while, and then we come back. I probably won't see her until tomorrow night. We haven't had sex yet, but I'm not going to say that it isn't what I want. I want us to be together in all ways. I know this sounds stupid because I don't even really know her, but if I didn't know any better, I’d think that I was in love with her.”

  The sinking feeling that Jake had had rose to his throat and was now making it difficult to swallow. He was, in fact, in love.

  “I told you that she's getting married.”

  “You did, but from the sound of it, she really doesn't want to marry him. It almost sounds like she's being forced to marry him. Do you know anything about that?”

  “It’s not being forced; it's just that they work well together.”

  Scott looked at him with a blank stare, and Jake knew it was because he was being vague. How else was he supposed to explain it?

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that her kind needs to stick with her kind. That's what it means. You need to stay away from her and let her marry Jerry.”

  Scott was not satisfied with the answer, and again, he asked why he had to stay away from Jessica. He also wanted to know what Jake meant by her sticking with her own kind.

  Jake sighed loudly. “She's not all shifter. She's actually like a quarter vampire. It's a long story; one of our own went off for about ten years and came back with a half-breed child. That's what Jessica is. She's not even half-blood, but everybody looks at her that way. There is no telling what kind of children she'll have. Her parents are dead, and she was taken in. Her family lost status, and it will be regained if she marries Jerry.”

  Scott was stunned. He didn't know what to say. At first, he was taken aback and a little freaked out about it. The woman that he was so interested in was actually a living-dead vampire? How did that even work? Now the questions were coming rapidly, but Jake couldn't answer them all.

  “I know you want to know all of these things, but a lot of it I can’t answer. I don't think that she's really dead, but she is part vampire. I don't really know how it works. There are not a lot of documented cases of part-vampire, part-shifters.”

  “Does she drink blood?”

  Jake chuckled for a moment. “Would that be the dealbreaker for you?”

  Scott shrugged and said that he wasn't sure. Jake just shook his head and groaned out loud. His brother was decidedly an idiot.

  “You got it far worse than I thought you did.”

  “What is the worst that could actually happen if we were together?”

  That question worried Jake. It meant that no matter what he had just said, Scott was still going to go for it. How could he convince him otherwise?

  “I don't know. The ancients might come back and try to put you on trial and kill you. They've already tried to do it to us.”

  “Then why is she so different than a human or a witch?”

  Jake smiled wryly for a moment and was unable to answer the question. His brother had married a witch; his other brother had married a human. Those were both too big no-no’s in their world. It had caused a lot of drama, and they had to kill several of the ancients because of it. Most likely, it was the ancients that had brought down the curse on their head. Jake knew that they would probably be back for revenge sometime soon. Could Scott being with a vampire be any worse than all of that? Short answer was probably not.

  “The ancients weren't too happy about the human and the witch, either. Have you heard much about what happened when they came?”

  Scott got serious for a moment and agreed. He had heard that they were burned alive from some kind of fire from the sky.

  “I hear that Celeste is one badass witch.”

  Jake burst out in laughter for a moment. It was so quick that it surprised him. It wasn't a laughing matter and burning them alive was probably one of the most sickening sights that he’d ever seen. It was the smell, though, that was never going to leave him.

  Maybe it was because it was Scott. Maybe there was a camaraderie there that he didn't feel before. Jake had always been the older brother or the one that had to tell everyone what to do. He was one that had to keep everybody safe and on the straight and narrow. Now, he wasn't the oldest. Scott was; and the way that his older brother just waved it all off like it was no big deal was a relief to Jake. It told him that maybe, for once, he wouldn't have to be the one who always did the right thing. Maybe he could make some mistakes.

  He shook the thought off because that was getting ahead of things. Jake wanted all of that to happen, but he knew that they were a long way off. They were brothers, but they didn't know each other all that well.

  “Yes, Celeste is a badass. And if you think she is, you should see what happens when she and her aunt get together.”

  “They did the ceremony earlier. Remember?”

  Jake just shook his head. “No, you don't understand. That was just a little ceremony to end a curse. If we ever go to battle again, you better hope that those two are on our side. They can do things that I've never seen before. Things that I never thought were possible. Those are two women you don't want to get on the bad side of.”

  “Will they care if I'm with Jessica?”

  Jake just shook his head in defeat. They were right back on Jessica, and he knew then that there was going to be trouble ahead. How much trouble and in what form, he did not know yet.

  “You're not going to let this go, are you?”

  Scott shook his head. “I don't know if I can. Are you going to try to stop me?”

  Jake said that he wouldn't.

  “Trust me, Scott, I get it. You can't help who you love. I just thought you would want to know the whole truth before you went down this path.”

  Scott thanked him for the concern, but Jake knew that he had already forgotten his words. Maybe his brother wasn't all that different from all of the rest of them. You couldn’t tell any of them anything, and none of them listened when it came to matters of the heart.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Scott couldn't stop thinking about what Jake had told him. Jessica was part vampire. For some reason, it was easier for Scott to believe in witches and shifters. They're alive, and though there was magic involved and that could get kind of hinky, it was even harder to
wrap his head around vampires. They drink blood, are dead, they don't age: it was a lot.

  He had to wonder if he cared that Jessica was a bloodsucker. It was a possibility. Jake had told him that he wasn't sure if she did that sort of thing or not. Did she sleep in a coffin? Was she going to look the same in twenty years? There were so many things Scott wanted to know but didn't know how to ask.

  Jake had gotten frustrated with him, and once he realized that Scott was not going to heed his warning, he had been pretty much done talking about Jessica. Scott had wanted to find out more, but now he was condemned to wonder and wonder instead.

  So instead of heeding the warnings and listening to his new brother, Scott was in the woods, waiting in the place that he now affectionately considered their spot. He hadn't seen her all day, hadn't heard about her or from her. He didn't even know if she was coming because the next day, she was going to be married. This was going to be their last night together, and even with everything Jake had told him, Scott was no less in need of her. He just had to figure out how he was going to get her.

  It was getting late, and the air going into his lungs was getting colder by the minute. Frustration was growing, and Scott was afraid that she wasn’t going to come. Scott waited almost another hour before he decided that he was going to have to go track her down. It was going to be their last night together, and even though he wasn’t sure how it was going to work out, he knew he had to see Jessica just one more time. Tomorrow, she would no longer be free.

  Since Jake had told him about her being a vampire and why she felt like she had to marry Jerry, Scott wanted to give her another option. He didn’t care if that meant he was opening himself up to the fallout from her intended. All that mattered was that he had the chance with her.

  He knew where she was staying in the compound. The place was vast, and it took him a little time to make his way over to her. Scott also had to avoid most everyone else. He didn’t want one of his brothers seeing him. Even if it wasn’t Jake, the others would tell him about it.

  When he got to the room that Jessica was staying in, he looked around and wondered if she was even up. It was late, really late, and if he was at the wrong room, someone was going to be pissed.

  Scott knocked softly at first, though he started to doubt anyone could hear it. He waited for a moment before he knocked a little harder than before.

  “Shit, Scott, come here.”

  Her voice was suddenly behind him, coming out of the darkness, and he was grabbed by the hand and pulled away from the door. He didn’t have to look to know that it was Jessica. What he didn’t understand was why she was pulling him away, or what she was doing out there instead of in her room.

  Jessica pulled him down the hall until they were at a turn, and they waited on the other side of the wall, out of sight of the door. He was about to ask her what was going on, but she put a finger to her lips, telling him to be quiet.

  Scott watched her door open and caught a glimpse of a man coming out of it. He knew without asking that he was the one she was supposed to be marrying. It wasn’t someone he wanted to see and especially not coming out of her bedroom. What did that mean?

  The guy stayed out there for several minutes before he went back in the room. Scott turned to Jessica and asked her why she was out there and the guy was in her room.

  “That’s Jerry. He doesn’t know I know he’s in there. He’s trying to surprise me, but really, he is just trying to push himself on me again. This is my last night of freedom, and I don’t want to spend it with him.”

  Scott thought about how badly he wanted her and how he had to make her his. That was the plan constantly on his mind, but now he was questioning it. He didn’t want to be the guy she hid from, but there wasn’t much time left. When he wanted to slow down and put the brakes on, he couldn’t. They had to move forward, somehow.

  “Oh.”

  “So, what are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see you.”

  There was no other answer, nothing eloquent to say. Scott wanted to see her, so he tried to track her down. He had been beaten to the punch, though.

  “Well, here I am.”

  “Do you want to go for a run?”

  Jessica smiled and agreed that she did. “I was trying to wait Jerry out, but it doesn’t seem like he is going to be leaving any time soon.”

  “You are supposed to marry him tomorrow, right?”

  She agreed. “Yeah, so?”

  “Well, I mean, won’t you have to be with him then?”

  She agreed, yet there was a sense of melancholy because of it. Scott didn’t understand, but then he remembered what Jake had told him. Maybe if they talked about that, if she knew that he knew, maybe she would see that there was another option. Was Scott willing to give himself up as one of those options? How was this thing with her going to go? Was it love, lust, what?

  “Yeah.”

  “I hate to see you like this. You should be happy, Jessica. It’s clear that you’re not. Why do you insist on marrying a man you obviously don’t want to be with?”

  They were out of the clubhouse, but Scott was still talking in hushed tones. He’d learned that there were always ears around.

  “Why do you care?”

  She’d stopped in front of him and was now imploring him with her eyes. It was a simple question, one with a simple answer.

  “Because I feel something for you, Jessica, and even if you are never to be mine, I want to think of you as happy.”

  “Who says you’re going to think of me at all?”

  He sighed. “Trust me; I have thought about you nonstop since we met. I don’t see how that is ever going to change. I don’t want it to.”

  She looked away after there was the barest hint of a smile. “Even though I am too be married tomorrow?”

  “From the man that you’re hiding from? You realize that you are with me and he is waiting for you in your room? That can’t be normal.”

  “No, I guess it isn’t. I suppose we shouldn’t be talking, meeting out here in the woods like we are. I know I am supposed to feel something for him, but I don’t.”

  “Then come with me, Jessica. Come run with me and tell me how much better it would be if it was just the two of us.”

  She shook her head and didn’t take the hand that was offered to her. He wanted her to trust him. It didn't matter who was in her bedroom. All that mattered was that Scott was with her at the moment.

  “You don't want me, Scott. Trust me. There are things that you don't know about me.”

  He waved her off. “I know enough.”

  “Who told you?”

  “Jake.”

  “Of course, your brother would. He is trying to warn you away from me, Scott, and maybe you should listen. You are new to all of this, and you don’t understand our ways.”

  “I know that it breaks the rules.”

  “And still you stand here in front of me?”

  “There is nowhere else I’d rather be, Jessica.”

  He smiled wide, and she eyed him with suspicion. It was hard to trust anyone that could say such perfect things, and she told him so, though her tone had softened considerably.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jessica shook in the dark and finally took his hand. When she saw Scott standing by her door, she’d never imagined he would want such a thing from her. He smiled at her when she took his hand, and then he pulled her in quickly for a kiss. A demanding kiss.

  They weren’t that far from the clubhouse, but Jessica didn’t care. She didn’t care if they were seen. All she was worried about was the hot mouth on hers and how Scott was making her feel. He had a knack for convincing her that it was just fine.

  It was harder than ever to deal with Jerry, and Jessica didn’t think that it was because of the wedding coming up. It was the feelings she felt around Scott. Now that she knew those types of feelings were even possible, how was she supposed to go back to anything less than extraordinary? She couldn’t.


  She moaned into his mouth and whimpered when he picked her up and set her down on the ground not far from where they’d been standing. She could still see the lights from the front of the clubhouse, and she knew that they could be discovered at any moment.

  Jessica knew that they should go elsewhere, but once his hard body was pressing against hers, all thoughts of ending it were quickly off her mind. She called out with the addition of his weight and the manhood that was pressing against her thigh.

  She’d felt that before, but never had it sent an electric current to her nether regions, nor did she feel as needful as she did right then. Jessica had always wondered why women seemed to lose their minds when it came to certain men. Jessica now was starting to understand it for the first time.

  He was moving fast, his hands cupping her breasts, and his lips were moving on from her own. They were going down to the mounds that jiggled with excitement, and Jessica closed her eyes as her shirt was opened and he laid her chest bare. The hot mouth that had roused such emotions was now on her neck, teeth nipping at her shoulders.

  Then Scott’s mouth was closed around one of her nipples, and she was calling out loudly from where she laid on the grass. It was surprising, and since they were close, Jessica knew that she wasn’t supposed to be making a lot of noise.

  When his hand went between her legs and pressed against her core, her heart skipped a beat, and she whimpered. Jessica wasn’t looking for that to happen, and it threw her off guard for a moment. She sighed and shook as his fingers thrummed her system.

  “You don’t know how badly I want you, Jessica.”

  His hand pressed harder when he talked. She yelped, making him move back to see her face, asking her what was wrong. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  Jessica met his eyes and tried to put it plainly. “You’re going to be my first, Scott, so I am not sure what is going on. It just felt different, and it did hurt a little bit. You know, when you pushed there…”

  Her voice trailed off, and Scott was in shock. He was looking at her wide-eyed, his mouth agape. It was humiliating, and Jessica tried to push him off of her. That was the last response she was looking for.