by A. B Lee
Sexy as hell was stalking towards her on long strides, and damn it, but she liked it.
“She’s on my land,” Bowie bit out.
Bowie didn’t look to the second man. Instead, his eyes rolled up towards the sky as he spoke, like annoyance was festering deep inside of him, and it was trying to break free. His big hands were fisted at his sides, and he was rubbing them against his legs like he was ready to explode.
While it was true that the man was a little more fidgety than she’d like, she was a little distracted what with eyeing up the new arrival and trying to get a feel for that man.
Two against one wasn’t good odds, but who was she kidding? One damn bear shifter was enough to take her down.
Maybe the guy was on drugs? Maybe his beast was antsy. Either way; it didn’t bode well for her.
It kind of reminded her of the look a caged beast had just before it started to pace back and forth, working out how best to escape that cage and eat everything in its path. She certainly wasn’t volunteering to be his damn dinner.
She guessed that from the way that his jaw rolled; he was trying to keep his crazy inside. At least, she hoped so.
Good for her if he could control that anger. Bad for her should his beast burst loose from within him.
Yeah, she really was going to kill Bute.
“You need to get off his porch!”
Dane was stalking towards the little human female with the piercing green eyes at high speed. He knew trouble when he saw it, and she was definitely it.
Baseball cap, steel-toed boots, and the attitude of a she-demon, and she was playing with damn fire where his brother was concerned. Damn stupid human.
Taking three steps at a time up the porch steps easily in his stride, he reached out, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, ignored the hard roll of something tucked into the waistband of her jeans, and yanked her soft body against his.
Then he spun her in the air with him, taking her feet off the ground, and dropped down the eight steps or so to the muddy earth with her still pressed against his hip.
He was … impressive. But then, so were most shifters.
Rayner felt the heady rush of adrenaline as it was dumped into her system. Fight or flight took hold of her, and she much preferred fight, but there wasn’t much that she could do about it; considering the iron grip that the man had on her.
As he turned her within his arms towards him, she felt the hard muscles that fitted against her softness just right, and for a minute there, she felt like Goldilocks, but it wasn’t Porridge or a bed that she’d discovered.
Dane had taken in her scent the first moment that he’d seen her on Bowie’s porch. He’d wanted to know exactly who it was that would be stupid enough to front up to his brother’s cabin, and he was more than surprised to find out that she was human.
That scent was spicy and rich, and it warmed his senses as his body flushed with heat inside and out and had given him an ache that shouldn’t have happened. He wasn’t a damn cub.
His first thought had been for her safety where Bowie was concerned. The man and his beast were paranoid about strangers being on his doorstep – hence the keep out sign at the start of the property – a sign that she’d obviously ignored.
Stupid – stupid – female.
His second thought had been that scent. It hit his nose and flowed through his body like it was replacing the blood within his veins.
Now, he was thinking just how damn good she felt against him. How good she felt within his arms.
Thoughts two and three had been more than unexpected. It was almost as if Bowie had blindsided him with a punch to his guts and shaken his damn head into scrambled egg brain at the same time.
That wasn’t good.
None of it was good.
But she was good – worse than that, she was human, and she was in the wrong damn place at the wrong damn time.
His bear didn’t just raise its head and pay attention, hell no, it roared to life within him and tried to push forward.
Dane was more than ready for the beast and his bearish ways, running into the damn fight when it should have stopped to consider all the angles. And there was one angle that he’d considered that his beast hadn’t thought about yet.
She was human.
“Get her the hell out of here, Dane,” Bowie growled out.
The man’s chin was angled down towards his chest. His blue eyes had turned jet black.
His brother was so damn close to losing it that Dane could practically taste it.
Bowie’s chest rose and fell with the hard breath that he sucked in, and his hands were fisting and un-fisting at his sides. Dane could scent the fur in the air, and he bit down on curse after curse as he wrapped his arms around the female and lifted her off her feet.
A heartbeat later and they were running for his cabin with the roar of Bowie’s bear echoing through the air all around them.
“Is he frigging crazy?” Rayner bit out.
Even being jostled and jolted the way that she was, she still tried to pull out of his arms, still tried to turn towards the sound of that big old bear as it roared for the second time.
“Kind of – yeah!” Dane bit out with something of an amused grunt, but she certainly wasn’t amused.
Dane kicked open the door to his cabin and turned them in through the opening. Tossing the door closed behind him; he slammed his back against it and hoped that his brother’s bear just did the same damn thing it normally did when it got loose, and ran off into the woods, battering trees as it went, and sharpening its claws on the trunks.
Rayner felt the hard rise and fall of his chest against her back, and she could certainly feel his hot breath panting out against her neck and ear as she debated the futility of trying to break free from the tight grip that his arm had around her waist— best case scenario – she’d probably break a rib or two. Worst case scenario, she’d make some kind of moaning sound deep in her throat from what felt like a caress on her neck.
Damn it, Bute, when I get a hold of you – I’m gonna rip off your damn balls, and then I’m gonna have them swinging from the rearview mirror of my damn truck!
Normally, at the point where things had gone tits up, she would have been formulating a plan. Right then, all she could think about was the way that his breath felt against her damn neck, against her skin, and just how much she liked it.
Her arm was running parallel across the top of his. Her fingertips were just touching the heat of his hand, and there were tingles that were dancing under her fingertips, that felt good – strange, but good.
Then there was the feel of his chest muscles against her back, and she had to wonder; that if she just turned around in his arms, how her breasts would fit against those muscles. How her body would fit against his all the way down.
Damn, do not get a crush on the damn shifter dude that saved your bacon from the bear.
He’s a bear as well.
Play it smart.
This isn’t salvation. This is out of the frying pan and into the fire pit from hell … maybe.
You don’t know this guy.
You can not trust this guy!
“You can let me go now.” Rayner knew that her voice was going to sound out of breath, even if she hadn’t been the one doing the running, but she’d never expected it to sound that breathy and damn husky all at the same damn time.
“See, there’s the problem,” Dane practically whispered against her ear, and every nerve in her body sprang to life at that caress of his hot breath. Every cell in her body seemed to be trying to listen to his words, tune in to his wavelength.
“You know I really hate it when someone says there’s a problem.” Rayner tried to consider all of her options.
She could slam the heel of her boot back into his shin and grind it down the bone.
She could bring her elbow back into his ribs – if she could find them under those hard muscles.
She could try to get the cosh out and
see just how far she could swing it behind her with enough force to let him see little cartoon birdies flying around his head.
She could smash the back of her head into his face, break his nose, and hope that she wasn’t the one seeing those stupid birds.
“Then you really are going to hate this,” Dane warned her, and she could hear the rumble of his bear in his voice as a growl rolled through his chest and vibrated against her back.
“I’ll bite…” she said, and then regretted that turn of phrase when he growled a lot damn harder.
She had to wonder why that sounded so damn good to her ears and her body.
Sure, she was on high alert. Expecting the unexpected.
Every inch of her was in danger mode, and he was definitely damn dangerous. What shifter wasn’t?
But still, that deep gravel over gravel tone, and the bear in his voice made her practically assume the position. He growled again, and she bit down on the need to make a sound of her own.
Somehow, she didn’t think she could manage a growl that could match the pure sexiness of his, but she didn’t think purring would be a good sound to make either, considering where she found herself.
Rayner felt his breath caressing her ear once more, and she found herself holding her breath rather than risking sounding too happy about it.
“Wrong thing to say to your mate, sweetheart,” he growled.
CHAPTER THREE
~
If ever there were words that Rayner had never thought she’d hear, never wanted to hear in her lifetime, then they were it. He’d just about rang her damn bell.
Your mate – my frigging mate – well, that just had to be as crazy bear as it got.
Is he kidding me?
I’m not a shifter.
I’m not a damn mate.
I’m human.
And freaking out!
I’m not some bar hopping – bed hopping – bear bait, bunny girl that goes to shifter bars and chases men like him.
I don’t flaunt my goodies just to get a man’s attention – well, only so I can blindside them and knock their damn teeth down the back of their throat, but that’s different.
That’s for work!
He’s got fangs and claws … and fur!
Fur!
A big furry bear butt like the one running amuck outside.
I didn’t sign up for this shit.
I’m here to get the money that crazy bear owes Bute – ah, to hell with Bute – to hell with the money.
I’m outta here.
“You need to get off me before this gets real ugly, real fast,” she ground out.
Hell, Rayner didn’t know if she could take the man down, but she’d do what she always did when faced with a big guy that was twice her size. Improvise.
“I’m gonna let you go, but you’ve got to…” Dane started, but she wasn’t interested.
“I don’t gotta do anything.” She tried to pull away, and Dane had a choice to make.
If she kept doing what she was doing, then one of two things was going to happen. She was going to hurt herself, or he was going to go damn insane from the glorious feel of her backside as it pressed and rubbed against his damn hard cock.
Dane reluctantly let her go.
Everything inside of him was screaming to keep her right where she was, keep her in his arms, pressed against his length, but she was his mate, and that meant that he needed to woo her – anything else would make him an abomination.
He had honor.
He had a code.
He had his balls fisted in his hands a second after she’d turned and brought her knee right up between his inner thighs and hit a very unexpected home run.
~
~
~
Rayner didn’t feel one moment of regret or guilt in what she’d done. She’d protected herself.
At five foot four she had learned to use whatever means necessary to get herself out of a tight spot, and that was one hell of a tight spot that she’d found herself in.
Mate my ass.
Just a randy shifter looking for a stupid girlie to believe that she was his one true love.
He folded in on himself like a house of cards in a strong wind. His face registered the excruciating pain that tore through him, and his knees buckled as his legs refused to hold him upright a moment longer.
He crumpled down onto his knees with a loud thud, and then he fell forward at her feet as she wrenched her body back away from him like she didn’t want to get any on her boots.
“I appreciate the symbolism of you falling at my feet and all…” she said, turned towards the front door, and wrapped the handle inside her fist. “But I’ve got other bad debts to go and chase down. Bowie is all yours, big guy. Enjoy.”
She wrenched open the door and kicked his feet out of the way so that she could pull it open just far enough to try to slide on through.
It was a tight squeeze.
She was halfway to making her escape when she caught sight of that big bear as it turned back towards her, raised its head on its neck, and roared once more.
“That’s just…” She pushed back inside the cabin.
Rayner slammed the front door closed to the sound of a deep moan that came from the guy rolling back and forth on the hardwood flooring. His forehead was pressed against the wood, and he was groaning in perfect time with his rocking.
Rayner backed away to the furthest wall. She lifted her hand and worried her forehead with her fingernails.
She needed to figure a way out of the mess that Bute had landed her in, and fast. Then kill Bute.
I could go out the window.
Hit the bear with a damn frying pan or something heavy if it comes for me.
Great idea – first I’d probably get stuck with my backside hanging out there for it to sink its damn fangs into – and a frying pan?
Really?
How am I planning to get that close?
“D-o – n-o-t – r-u-n,” Dane pushed out through the white-hot pain, a growl rumbling inside of him.
“Yeah!” She spat out on chuckle of disbelief.
Then she started for the back window. If she stayed, then she’d be trapped inside the cabin with one very miffed off shifter.
If she left, well, there was one very miffed off bear out there to contend with.
But, all in all, she’d rather take her chances with the damn bear than some nutjob claiming to be a mate.
~
~
~
Rayner was good at most things in life, but being a cat burglar obviously wasn’t one of them. She’d pushed open the window that was well above waist height and fitted with one of those safety features that meant it didn’t open all the way out.
“Just my damn luck,” she grumbled.
She pulled herself up onto the windowsill, and was backing out, squeezing her body through the gap … when the deep tone of another testosterone filled voice greeted her backside.
“That’s not very ladylike, and probably not a position that you want to find yourself in with my brother, Bowie, in bear form right now,” Roland growled.
He’d heard the roar of Bowie’s bear and had run the path to investigate just what it was that his brother found wrong with the world this time – when Dane had used the mental link between the brothers to ask for his help. Dane didn’t sound in a good way.
He was both surprised and amused to find the little human female trying to climb out of Dane’s back window. Surely, she wasn’t the source of Dane being under the weather.
Still, Roland couldn’t say that that the sight that had greeted him was a bad view that he had. He’d have to thank his brother for that one.
Rayner half closed her eyes and groaned inwardly.
How many damn shifters are there?
There really is no way that Bute is paying me enough for this shit.
She half turned back to the cabin and snapped her gaze down at the man. Just as she feared, a replica of the
first two in height and frame, and he had those same strong features.
“Is there a conveyor belt where they make you guys?” She ground out, but a moment later, she squealed out with shock as two large hands clamped around her waist and wrenched her backward into the cabin.
“Never run from your mate!” Dane growled out.
Rayner had to crane her head back on her neck to look up from that broad, muscled chest into his eyes. Gone were the sexy cool blue, replaced by an even sexier jet black that made him look so much more like a predator that she felt the fine hairs rise up all over her body.
“Mate!” Roland growled out in disbelief. Maybe he wouldn’t be thanking his brother for the view of her shapely backside.
Roland wanted to keep his head attached to his neck, and if she was Dane’s mate, then the least said about his view the better.
“I said so, didn’t I?” Dane growled back, annoyed at his brother’s intrusion, even though he knew that he should have been more than grateful for it.
“Now, hold the hell on,” Rayner bit out as she placed her hands on his rock hard pecs and tried her damnedest to push away from him.
Dane’s hands were locked on her hips, and she found that in the grand scheme of things, it probably would have been easier to move the mountain that they were standing on.
“You tried to run from your mate.” Roland shook his head in disbelief. “That’s either a really ballsy move, or a really dumb one.” He grumbled a growl before he disappeared from outside the window and left her escape route open once more.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Dane warned her. “But this time I’m ready for you, and I will take you down with me.” He growled, just a little, just enough to make her think twice.
CHAPTER FOUR
~
“Is that some kind of a threat, because I don’t do well with threats,” Rayner bit out.
She was still evaluating her options or the lack of them. Only one person knew that she was up the mountain. Bute.
Bute was going to be her damn white knight and send someone to rescue her! Ha! Bute didn’t even know how to work a damn phone without someone pressing the buttons for him.
