by Rayna Tyler
“Here.” Reese took off his jacket and roughly tossed it at her. “It’s better than you deserve,” he said, squelching any notions Maris might have that my brother sympathized with her plight.
“Especially after your buddy Stuart told us about the poison-laced bullets you gave him,” Preston said, wrapping his arm protectively around my waist.
I wasn’t surprised to hear that tidbit of information, not after learning Stuart wasn’t a professional hunter and had refused to take my life.
Maris opened her mouth as if to protest the accusation, took one look at Preston’s berating glare, then huffed and shrugged into Reese’s jacket.
Mandy walked over to Bryson and patted his furry shoulder. “Hey, big guy, you need to shift.” She set his clothes on the ground in front of him, then flicked his snout. “Oh, and that’s for not telling me you knew the shooter was after Berkley.”
Bryson shook his head and snorted. Seconds later, he was standing in front of Mandy with his head bowed, rubbing his nose. “I’m sorry. I knew you’d want to come with me instead of waiting for the guys if I told you.”
“Darn right I would have.” Mandy watched him snatch his pants off the ground.
“Hey, eyes off the bear.” Nick tugged Mandy so her back faced Bryson, then frowned when she giggled.
In his animal form, Bryson was the deadliest of us all, but as a man, he was literally a teddy bear, the easiest to embarrass, and the first to present the cutest blush.
Minutes later, Bryson was fully dressed, and we were on our way to retrieve Sherri and Stuart, then head back to the cabin. Bryson and Reese flanked Maris, with Nick and Mandy following behind. After one verbal complaint and a threatening growl from both of my brothers, Maris remained silent for the remainder of the trip.
Preston had scooped me into his arms, his intense gaze speaking volumes about what he’d do if I dared to argue. This was one time I was quite content to curl into his embrace and let him play the dominant protector.
Epilogue
BERKLEY
Three Days Later
Sherri finished loading her suitcase into the trunk of the rental car parked in the lot in front of the lodge. She secured the lid, then turned to me with a smile. “Thanks for everything.”
After the local sheriff had arrived to escort Maris and Stuart to the jail in Hanover, I’d convinced Sherri to stay for a couple of extra days. I’d taken her to the touristy spots in the area, including an afternoon at the falls. The time had passed quickly, too quickly, and she was headed to the airport in Denver and a long flight home.
“You know you’re welcome here anytime.” I pulled Sherri into a tight hug. When I stepped away, I noticed the skepticism in her gaze. “I mean it. I’m not saying it to be nice.”
“I know. It’s… Well, after everything Maris did to you.” Sherri smoothed her hands along her jeans.
I squeezed her arm. “You’re not Maris, and what she did was not your fault.”
She bobbed her head, opened the driver’s door, and slid inside. “I better get going. I don’t want to miss my flight.”
“Have a safe trip and call if you need anything.”
“I will,” Sherri said.
I stepped back and waved, touched by a bit of melancholy as I watched her drive away. I turned to go inside the lodge, spotted Preston’s truck pulling into the lot and stopped to wait for him.
He was grinning with those adorable dimples when he got out of the vehicle and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“You left early this morning,” I said, not bothering to hide my disappointment at waking to find him gone.
“Had some errands to run in town and didn’t want to wake you.” He placed a kiss on my forehead.
“Oh yeah. What kind of errands, and should I be jealous?” I nipped the claiming mark on his shoulder.
“Awe, sweetness.” He pinched my ass. “You know my heart belongs to you, among other things.” He rubbed against me, making sure I could feel the hardened bulge in the front of his pants.
I giggled. “Such a charmer.”
He wiggled his brows. “You weren’t complaining about my charms last night. If I recall, you were begging…”
Some guests were exiting through the lobby doors, and I didn’t want them to overhear the details of what Preston and I had done during the night. “Don’t say it.” I pressed a finger to his lips.
“Actually, I had to go into Ashbury. While I was there, I stopped by the bakery and got one of those muffins you like.” Preston released me and reached inside the truck to retrieve a small square white box.
“You remembered.” I’d forgotten that Mandy and I had made him stop to buy a dozen muffins the day he’d accompanied us to the bridal shop. I loved to bake, but nothing I prepared was more delectable than the bakery’s Decadent Delight muffins. My mouth watered, thinking about biting into the white cake stuffed with icing and drizzled with rich dark chocolate.
I snatched the box from his hand, cradled it in my arm, and hastily pried the top open. “You are a…” The word god didn’t make it past my lips. “Where’s the muffin?” I stared at a chewy bone large enough to satisfy a Saint Bernard and wrapped with a large red bow.
“I ate it on the drive back.” He licked his lips.
“You ate it.” Heat rose on my cheeks, and I shot him a narrowed, disbelieving glare. I’d really wanted that muffin and couldn’t believe he’d stoop to something so devious. I retrieved the bone and shook it in front of his face. “If you’re trying to get back at me for the mouse, this is not funny.” It was then that I noticed a glint of gold—a shiny ring—fastened to the end of the ribbon.
I was too overwhelmed with shock, joy, and love to do anything else but gasp, “Oh.”
After taking the box and placing it on the hood of his truck, Preston slipped the bone out of my hand and untied the bow. He tossed the chewy into the box and wrapped his larger hand around mine.
He slid the ring on my finger, his serious love-filled gaze never leaving mine. “Marry me, Berkley.” The ring was a perfect fit, and I wondered if Mandy, the notorious conspirator, had assisted with getting him the correct size. He’d gone to a lot of trouble, and I was touched by his proposal, nearly to the point of tears.
“I know you already wear my mark, but I love you and want to make it official.” He grasped my hips and tugged me closer. “Besides, if you agree to marry me, you’d be fulfilling my greatest fantasy.”
I skimmed his shoulders, interlocking my fingers at his nape. “Oh yeah, and what would that be?”
He smirked. “Stripping you out of a wedding dress, of course.”
I laughed. “You know me. I’m all about fulfilling fantasies.”
“Good, because I’ve started a list,” he said, capturing my lips with a breath-stealing kiss that had me hoping his list turned out to be an extensively long one.
<<<<>>>>
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Books by Rayna Tyler
Seneca Falls Shifters
Tempting the Wild Wolf
Captivated by the Cougar
Enchanting the Bear
Enticing the Wolf
Ketaurran Warriors
Jardun’s Embrace
Khyron’s Claim
About the Author
Rayna Tyler loves writing about sexy alpha heroes and the sassy heroines who turn their lives upside down. All her stories have hot, always sizzling, romance with a guaranteed happily ever after.
Excerpt from Enchanting the Bear
BRYSON
“Believe me Bear, I know how you feel.” Just looking at the quills protruding from the swollen flesh on the side of the dog’s muzzle made me cringe.
I’d been a cub, barely accomplishing shifts on my own without assistance, when I’d encountered my first porcupine. I knew firsthand what kind of pain having the skin punctured on your face could cause. I’d have thought after the last time Mandy brought the dog to see Mitch Jacobson, the local vet, he would have learned his lesson and left the prickly animals alone.
I guess some of life’s lessons are harder to learn than others, even for natural-born animals.
The dog thumped his tail on the truck’s leather seat, then whimpered. A noise I’d sympathetically endured for the umpteenth time during the drive from the lodge of the Seneca Falls Resort to Mitch’s neighboring home. I stretched out my arm, avoiding the cluster of sticklike protrusions, then scratched him behind the ears.
I glanced at the newly constructed entrance on the side of Mitch’s house. I’d heard he recently converted a portion of his home into an office by adding a moderate sized reception area near the spare bedroom he used as an exam room. Normally, anyone in need of his services during the week would have to drive all the way to Ashbury. With the new office opened on Saturday morning, those of us who lived nearby didn’t have to make the long drive down the mountain. Fortunately for Bear, it was the beginning of the weekend and Mandy had called ahead to make an appointment.
The last time I’d been here was when Berkley, Nick’s sister, had been out running in her wolf form and gotten shot by a guy hired by the psychotic girlfriend of an ex-boyfriend. It was a good thing Mitch was one of the few humans in the area who knew about shifters. He’d saved her life and earned the gratitude of her family, her mate, and me.
There was only one other car parked near the entrance, so I figured we wouldn’t have long to wait. “Let’s get this over with.” I made my way around the truck, then lifted the dog off the seat and cradled him in my arms. Most male bear shifters were big guys, and I was no different. I could have easily tucked the dog under one arm.
I hadn’t even made it two steps when Bear’s pitiful whimpers vocalized into louder moans. I didn’t care what anybody said, dogs were smart. He knew where we were, why we were here, and wasn’t happy about it. “Sorry, bud. You’ll feel a lot better once Mitch takes those out.” I pressed on the metal bar across the middle of the glass door and stepped inside.
“Good morning.” A female I’d never met before was sitting behind the reception desk. “You’re here for an appointment, right?”
“Yes, I—I…” Why was I stuttering? I was a man of few words, believed in getting straight to the point in most situations, but I never had a problem forming sentences. And I never, ever stuttered.
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I’d been holding my breath from the moment my gaze locked with those dark eyes the color of ripened acorns. Or maybe it was because she had the most radiant smile I’d ever seen on a female and it had my heart revving faster than an expertly tuned engine in a race car.
I sucked in air, then gulped again when my lungs didn’t respond right away.
“Mitch is finishing up with his last patient, so it should only be a few more minutes.” She glanced at the computer screen on the desk in front of her. “Will you need shots today as well?” She tapped a few keys.
“Why would I need shots?” I asked, distractedly paying more attention to the way her soft brown curls framed her face and the subtle hint of lavender in her scent than to her actual question.
“I was talking about your dog, Bear.”
Being a male who could shift into a bear, I always found it amusing every time I heard the animal’s name spoken out loud. I couldn’t figure out if Nick, Mandy’s mate and the dog’s owner, was trying to be humorous or if he thought his pet really did resemble one of my kind. Though how an animal with mangy brown fur and a body that was longer than his legs came close to looking like a bear, I wasn’t sure. “He’s not my dog.”
“He’s not?” Suspicion furrowed her brow. “I could have sworn when Mandy was in a few weeks ago, she said he belonged to her fiancé…” She pointed at the screen. “I’m sorry, aren’t you Nick Pearson?”
“No, I-I’m…” I stammered. Again. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I make what I said sound coherent? It wasn’t as if I had a problem articulating or talking to females. I talked to the women who worked at the resort all the time. So why did this particular female with the full, kissable lips have my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth? And why was my bear, normally bored and uninterested in most females, suddenly rumbling and urging me to get closer to this one?
“Nick’s my boss. My name is Bryson, Bryson Cruise.” My voice sounded deeper and more gravelly than usual, thanks to my bear, but at least my tongue was no longer paralyzed.
She rolled her chair away from the desk and walked around to my side of the counter. “Nice to meet you. I’m Leah.” Her gaze flashed to the Seneca Falls logo on my shirt. “Do you work at the resort?”
“Security.” Though lately, my job description had taken on new parameters. With Mandy and Nick’s upcoming wedding, I’d gone from patrolling the property and keeping it safe to idea consultant for their new house, cake taste tester—no complaints on that task—and finally doggy caretaker. Since Mandy and Nick had a meeting with the contractor this morning regarding final changes to their new home, they’d asked me if I wouldn’t mind taking care of Bear.
The dog was back to whimpering pathetically, which was fine with me because it encouraged Leah to remain standing next to me.
“Poor thing. You’ve been playing with that nasty porcupine again, haven’t you?” She swept her hand along Bear’s flank, her fingertips grazing my arm. Her skin was warm, soft, soothing. So soothing that my animal was insisting I shift so he could rub all over her. Hell, I was ready to forgo seeing Mitch, toss her over my shoulder, and take her back to my house.
The females I’d been attracted to in the past, the ones I’d shared an occasional bed with, had all been shifters. None of them came close to eliciting the kind of response I was experiencing with this human. My inability to think, my straining cock—currently concealed by Bear—and my animal’s overwhelming desire to claim could only mean one thing.
