by A. B Lee
Asshole.
Like she cared what her ass looked like. It wasn’t exactly her backside, now was it? Still, if he was going to taunt her, then she might just sit on his head and fart.
That made her smile inside. Hell, she didn’t know if bears could smile, but she didn’t exactly have access to a damn mirror to check either.
That thought was kind of appealing, not the farting part, although … but, sitting on his damn grinning face with her big furry backside.
Mate! Ha! She’d squish on him with her damn bear self any day of the week.
Bear or human, the man wasn’t exactly puny, and standing there naked, well, he certainly was appealing. Her bear made a noise all its own, and she didn’t know what the hell it meant, but she got the sentiment behind it without much problem.
Her bear was more than happy to see Dane as her mate. It seemed … weird that there was someone out there just for her. Apart from her grandmother, nobody had ever been there for her in her life before; she liked that.
“Blanket,” Roland said as he strolled towards Dane and hesitated in his step when she growled in his direction. “Be nice – I could take the blanket away, and you’ll be standing there as naked as the rest of us when you shift back,” he teased.
“Bite me,” she growled, and both men tried not to snigger. Yeah, they understood her alright.
“That’s my job,” Dane grinned from ear to ear at the thought, but somewhere deep inside, he still wanted to kill Bowie for what he’d done. He’d settle up with his brother later; right then it was all about Rayner.
“Damn, I’m hungry!” Roland exclaimed, and Rayner had to admit, she felt ravenous.
“I got some nice, juicy steaks in my fridge,” Dane teased and noted the way that his mate’s gaze shot in his direction. “Thick, juicy, cook them just right and…”
Rayner’s beast pulled back, and for one long moment, she felt so damn disorientated, dizzy, both hot and cold that it made her feel sick to her stomach. She dropped to her hands and knees on the cold dirt.
Then she felt a blanket being wrapped around her shoulders and over her back as Dane snatched the blanket from his brother and rushed to cover her naked body.
“I’m going to kill your damn brother,” Rayner growled out with the underlying rumble of her beast still in her voice. That might not have been the strangest part, but it was up there with the others.
“Not if I get there first.” Dane nodded.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~
Rayner had never eaten so much in her life in one sitting before. She’d asked question after question about being a better shifter as she sat there dressed in Dane’s ill-fitting clothes.
She’d only briefly touched on the subject of mates. To her, it didn’t seem as important right then as the rest of it; getting to grips with her bear, how to stop the shift before it happened, how to force the bear back and become human again, and the subject of her living arrangements did come up.
“There’s a spare cabin,” Dane reluctantly offered.
His bear rumbled and grumbled a growl within him at the thought of them living separately. He didn’t like it much either, but his mate was going through a lot.
In the grand scheme of things — up until five minutes ago – she was full human. He couldn’t expect her to take everything on board and understand every aspect of being a shifter right from the start.
He certainly didn’t want to burden her with being a mate. At least, not just yet.
“Live up here with that crazy bear?” She reached for the bottle of beer on the table in front of and snatched it up, and she angled her head toward the front door and gave a subtle nod about his brother.
“It’s the best place to be. You need to get a grip on your bear, and that isn’t going to happen in the city.”
“It isn’t like I wasn’t being tossed out of my apartment anyway. I suppose being up here for a while can’t hurt…” she narrowed her eyes, “anyone but your brother.”
“As I see it — it’s your right to go after Bowie, but just remember that his bear has a lot more experience than yours — and he’s one mean son of a bitch,” Dane warned her.
If his mate was planning on taking his brother down, then he would make sure that he put himself between them. That was his job — that was his duty — to her.
He’d protect his mate with his life.
“What about the vampire?”
“I’ll talk to him. You managed to control your shift — you didn’t run rampant, and the only person you wanted to kill was my brother. I imagine it would be a wait and see scenario. If not…” He left it there.
He would take on the vampire if he needed to do it to protect her.
“Will he go after your brother to kill him?”
Rayner wasn’t sure if she liked that idea or not. It was true that she had the urge to kill the man herself. But somewhere inside of her, and perhaps it was even her bear feeling it because those feeling seemed to be jumbled with her own, the thought of Bowie lying dead didn’t give her a sense of satisfaction.
“In truth, I have no idea,” Dane admitted.
“And what about your brother’s debt — it is the reason I was here,” Rayner asked.
“Back to business?” Dane grinned.
“What can I say? I’m just that kind of a girl.”
“You’re a girl?” Dane chuckled.
“Am I supposed to be insulted by that?” She chuckled back.
“Guess not.”
“You guessed right.” She chuckled before she placed the top of the bottle against her lips and drank the contents like it was water.
“Can I come to an agreement with your boss?”
“No — but I can.” Rayner was a fast thinker — she’d been bitten, she had a damn bear inside of her, and she was going to need Dane’s help with every aspect of life from that point on.
It was a no-brainer, and while she hated the thought of needing anybody in life — she knew she needed him. Then there was the little matter of her bear’s attachment to him. The beast seemed to think that it was a done deal — she wasn’t so sure — but she did like to hedge her bets.
She hadn’t asked Dane about being a mate. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious about it — once she’d found an Internet connection, it would be butt on the chair as she researched everything she could find on the subject.
As for Bowie, well, she needed to see off Bute one way or the other to keep anyone else from clan land. She’d do a damn deal with the devil if she had to.
~
~
~
“Go away,” Bowie growled as he picked up Roland’s scent in the air. His brother thought he was stealthy, sneaking up behind him as he sat on top of a pile of rocks and looked out over the drop off from the mountain ridge.
“Gonna jump?” Roland asked.
“You here to push me if I don’t?”
“That’s not my job.” Roland shrugged.
While he was pissed at his brother’s lack of control over his temper, his bear, and his brain — he didn’t believe that the man had set out to bite Dane’s mate.
Even his bat-shit crazy brother had some morals.
“You hear to stop me if I do?”
“That’s not my job either,” Roland said. “Maybe I’m just here to witness your withdrawal into self-pity.”
“I screwed up.”
“Yeah — and so spectacularly as well.”
“Dane should kill me…”
“If it were me — I would. But, I’m guessing our brother has more important things on his mind right now then killing you. His mate, for one thing.” Roland kicked out at one of the piles of rocks that his brother was sitting on. “First he had to get his head around having a mate — now he has to get his head around having a newly bitten, turned, mate.”
“I didn’t bite her.”
“That big old pile of fur that demolished your cabin door says otherwise speaks for
itself,” Roland offered back.
He saw the grimace on his brother’s face, and even though he was pissed at him, he could sympathize.
“I don’t remember biting.” He didn’t either. But then again, when he was that far into his bear; he never remembered a lot.
“Well, you can sit up here in your self-pitying bullshit, or you can realize that Rayner will need all the help that she can get to live with what’s happened.” Roland stared off into the distance, but he felt his brother’s gaze upon him.
“You think that Dane will let me anywhere near her now?”
“I wouldn’t — if it were me.”
“Then what the hell do you expect me to do?” He growled.
“Make it right — for Dane — Rayner — and for you.”
Roland turned on his heels and stalked away. He said his piece — that was all he could do.
The sound of one curse word after another followed him with each step. That meant Bowie was thinking about it.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
~
In the space of one day; Rayner had ripped through three different outfits that Dane had provided for her as her bear decided to burst from within her with only a minimum of warning.
It normally coincided with a rush of anger inside of her, and that was normally every time that she thought about what had happened.
Dane was there every step of the way. It was strange that his presence seemed soothing to her bear, soothing to her, but she was glad of it, knowing that he was there to make sure she didn’t go bat-shit crazy like Bowie had done.
Rayner had to figure that getting a grip on her bear was harder than she’d given thought to, and she’d thought a lot about it. It was second only in her mind to thoughts of Dane — naked Dane — sexy as hell Dane — those thoughts seem to be backing up in her mind like a traffic jam that she couldn’t escape from.
Every time that she raced out of the cabin, Dane was right there behind her, stripping off his clothes, distracting her with his naked body, and shifting right alongside her.
His bear nudged, cajoled, and rugby tackled her when she started to stray somewhere that she shouldn’t have been. It was half reprimand and half playfulness, and she liked it.
By morning, she was as tired as hell, and although she’d meant to go to the spare cabin, she ended up collapsing naked and wrapped in a blanket on his sofa in front of the open fire, where she promptly fell asleep.
Somewhere within the back of her mind, she knew that she was being lifted, carried, and she knew that it was Dane that was doing it. Her sense of smell was extraordinarily heightened, and with her head against his chest the sound his heartbeat was comforting and strong.
Rayner curled against his body. Somewhere within her mind, she was loathed to let go.
He felt like her rock, her anchor to the real world — not that his world was that real to her yet.
“Sleep, sweetheart,” Dane whispered against her ear as he laid her down on his bed, and detached her body from around his.
That was the last thing that he wanted to do, leave her sleeping there alone. He had the urge to climb in beside her, wrap his body around hers, and protect her from her dreams if she needed it.
Dane could feel how strong the mating pull was between them. If it was affecting him that much then it would also be doing the same thing to her.
She needed to come to him as a mate, wanted, needed, wanting, needing him just as much. Anything else would be taking advantage of her emotional, rational state, and that he couldn’t do.
Rayner grumbled in her sleep. She even growled a little — that upset his bear — the beast wanted to claim her for their own, but his damn beast could wait its turn.
Dane had to force his body away from the bed, their sleeping mate, and out of the room. He grabbed a bottle of Scotch on his way toward the front door.
When he yanked it open, there was Roland, sitting in one of the outside wooden deck chairs, and staring off into a new day.
“You need to talk?” Roland asked.
Dane stalked over to the second chair and dropped his backside into it with a deep grunt. He yanked the top from the bottle of Scotch and brought it toward his lips.
“Nope.”
“Good,” Roland offered back.
Dane placed the bottle to his lips and took a long swig. Then he blew out a long breath and passed the bottle to his brother. Roland did the same.
“Bowie?” Roland asked passing the bottle back to his brother.
“Don’t know yet,” Dane admitted.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about it, he had. It was more to do with the fact that Rayner was his primary concern now. He took a drink before passing the bottle back.
“I hear that.”
“Rayner?” Dane shot a look at his brother, and the man grinned.
“Feisty.”
“Give me that damn bottle,” Dane growled, and Roland chuckled as he slapped it back against the man’s palm.
“Good luck wooing her. That’s all I’m saying.” He chuckled again. It was low and deep in his chest, and it annoyed the hell out of Dane.
“Well – don’t.”
“Got it.” Roland chuckled once more.
“Asshole,” Dane grumbled as he lifted the bottle towards his lips and stopped – he took a moment to think of it.
Rayner was damn feisty and as sexy as all hell. He chuckled, and that started Roland off once more.
The pair of them sat on the porch, chucking, and passing the scotch back and forth.
~
~
~
Rayner flew out of the cabin as if it was on fire. She’d slept better than she’d slept in a long time, and that was weird because she could never sleep in someone else’s bed, but she had, and the damn sun was going down.
Now she had somewhere to be, and it wasn’t on the shifters mountain.
“Runaway mate,” Roland chuckled.
He was the first one to spot Rayner as she took off across the open area that he was trying to clean up with Dane. His alpha had decided that the whole area needed sprucing up now that there was a female living there, and he’s somehow managed to rope himself in.
“What?” Dane’s head whipped around in the direction that Roland was pointing, sure enough, there was Rayner taking off on fast feet. “Oh, crap!” He growled.
Dane dropped the large branch that someone’s bear had managed to drag in from the woods around them, narrowly missing Roland’s feet as the man jumped in place.
“Hey!” Roland growled.
“Rayner!” Dane took off after her. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Going to kick Bute’s ass,” Rayner growled.
She wasn’t slowing down, but with Dane’s long legs it didn’t take much for him to catch her up. He circled his hand around her wrist and yanked her to a halt.
“Who’s Bute?” Dane growled.
He liked the fact that she wanted to kick the guy’s backside rather than telling him that the man was her boyfriend, or something equally as deadly — for him.
“My boss — he’s the idiot that sent me up here. It’s his fault,” Rayner growled out.
“What’s his fault?”
“Sending me up here,” Rayner didn’t seem to be making any sense, even to herself.
Her mind was spinning from sleep, and dreams — strange dreams — mostly of bears and Dane naked. She liked the Dane naked part.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea…”
“And Chet…” she spat out in disgust.
“Who’s Chet?” Dane didn’t get the feeling that he was her boyfriend either.
“My landlord…” she growled.
“Mr. Two-weeks notice?”
“Yeah, boy, could I let my bear loose on his butt.”
“Again, not a good idea,” Dane warned her to the sound of Roland’s chuckling.
“Why don’t you go sniff out where Bowie’s taken himself off to,
and smack him on the nose a few times?” Roland grinned.
“That sounds like a…” Her eyes lit up at the thought.
“Bad idea,” Dane said with a deep scowl that cut ridges into his normally smooth forehead.
Rayner didn’t hold back that time when she felt the urge to run her fingertips over those welts, she did it, and shocked the hell out if Dane in the process. His beast growled, and he joined it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
“Why’d you growl?” Rayner asked, tipping her head to one side like a curious beast.
“Oh, that was a good growl — it meant he liked it,” Roland chuckled, and Dane shot him a glare.
“I can speak for myself,” Dane growled.
“Oh.” Rayner frowned.
She guessed that she’d have to learn the difference between the growls as well as bear speak. Was there no end to her learning about her new life?
Rayner felt another rush of anger within her and lifted her booted foot and kicked him in the shin. Dane yelped, reached for his shin and rubbed it furiously, as he eyed her with disbelief.
“What was that for?” Dane growled.
“Hell, I just wanted to hear the difference in your growling.” Rayner shrugged.
The sound of Roland’s chuckling grew louder and annoyed the hell out of Dane. He turned a glare on his brother.
“Don’t you have something else to do?” Dane growled again.
“Nope.” Roland chuckled.
True to his word, Roland folded his arms across his chest, eased his stance, and eyed the mates with curiosity. Dane grunted in annoyance.
“I think you’ve got a mean streak.” Dane turned his attention back to his mate.
“You could call it that — others call it; repressed anger — my boss calls it productivity — I like to think of it as stress relief.” Rayner yanked her wrist free of his hand and tossed her hands on her hips.
