by Gower, Hazel
Brian heard a groan before Jarrod answered, “Ahhh, Brian, it’s you. I thought your brother, Blake, was getting it on with someone in the office again. I was sure it was him when a voluptuous brunette came rushing down the stairs, holding her clothes on.”
Brian growled through the phone. “Keep your fucking eyes to yourself, Jarrod. That’s my true mate.”
Brian heard a chuckle on the other end. “What happened, man? She ran like the hounds of hell were at her heels.”
With a snarl, Brian said, “Just don’t let her leave. And where on earth is Tayler?”
The laughing stopped instantly and Jarrod whispered, “Oh shit. My sister just followed your mate to the locker room. I better go before she kills her. You know she has a crush on you. It also didn’t help every shifter in the gym could hear you two going at it. I think even some of the humans heard. I better go rescue…”
Brian didn’t even bother to hang the phone up. He opened the draw to find a spare set of shorts, gave thanks that his brother was a slut and hid spare clothes everywhere, and shoved them on as he ran to the door, praying he got to Susie in time.
Chapter Four
Susie felt like a fool. Not only did she just have sex with the hottest guy ever, she’d found out he was a friggin’ bear shifter, like out of a paranormal book. The thing that took the cake, though, was that he supposedly thought of her as his mate even though she wasn’t really his type. He didn’t really want her as he usually went for models or “women that could be models.” Great, just fucking great. She’d enjoyed sex for the first time in three years with a guy who didn’t even think she was attractive and thought she smelled.
Susie ran as fast as she could while holding up the pants, and used the other hand to make sure the knots she’d made in her shirt stayed tied. She didn’t notice she’d been followed into the locker room until someone grabbed her hair and slammed her against the lockers, screaming, “You can’t have him. He’s going to be mine. Stay away from him. He doesn’t like fat nobody humans. Brian is mine.”
It took her a while but Susie recognised the voice of Tayler from earlier. Moaning because she hadn’t figured it out when she’d been talking to her before that the teenager’s crush was Brian, Susie said, “He’s yours. You can have him. Actually, you’re welcome to him, Tayler. Don’t worry. I will not be coming back here again. I’m thinking of moving away. What do you think of Queensland? I know they’re always looking for good childcare workers.” She babbled on until she felt the teenager’s grip loosen and then finally let go.
Susie grabbed her bag out of the locker before she slowly turned around, afraid of what she would see. The girl grew quite a bit and bulked up at least three times her size. Fur covered her skin and she now had long, sharp teeth.
“Wow, I bet you never get bullied at school.”
The creature… ah, um, Tayler cocked her head to the side and stared at her with a freaky intensity.
“Well, as I, um, said before, I’m going to go now. He’s all yours. I don’t want him.” Susie moved carefully toward the door, praying she could get out of the locker room in one piece. She promised herself she would move and find a women’s gym, or to hell with it. She would just live with her weight and go buy the next size up in clothing.
Before she reached the door, someone banged on it and a guy’s voice she didn’t know yelled, “Let me in now. You better not have hurt her, because Brian will kill you.”
At the mention of Brian’s name, the girl growled and took a step in Susie’s direction.
Fucking fantastic. Pissed, Susie yelled, “Shut the fuck up. I had her calm. I’m almost to the door. So zip it.”
She looked back at the girl who still snarled at her and stalked her like she was prey. “Remember now, Tayler, he’s yours. I don’t want Brian or care what he thinks. I’m moving to Queensland. That’s a long way away. He won’t know where I live, I promise.”
She took the last steps to the door without taking her eyes off Tayler. As she tuned the knob and listened to the lock click, she sighed in relief, only to be scared nearly to death when she heard snarling on the other side of the door and the teenage shifter came charging for her. Fuck, just what she needed. Opening the door, she ran like her life depended on it, and it probably did. Susie didn’t even care about holding onto her clothes. She ran right by Brian and another guy, who she assumed had been the guy banging and yelling through the door, without looking back to see if Tayler pursued her. She just wanted to get out of there.
As she passed the reception desk on the home stretch to the exit doors, a solid mass stepped in front of her, and arms wrapped around her.
“Woo there, what’s the hurry? I know this is a gym, and running is fantastic exercise, but for some reason, sweetheart, I don’t get the feeling you’re running for the fun of it.”
She looked up and the glare on her face froze as she stared into the brightest emerald green eyes she’d ever seen. They were encased in a face that made her think of wicked things. He actually looked a lot like Brian, although his hair had a curl to it and his cheeks had dimples. This guy was also taller and bigger all around, almost like a bear.
She gave an inward groan and tried to take a step back but his grip stopped her. She gave him another look up and down. He looked like the kind of guy a woman might have a fun, sexy night with. Oh no, what was happening to her? She was turned on again and thinking about sex with a complete stranger. As that thought ran through her mind, she pushed against him to get away. “Let me go. I have to get out of here.”
She kicked at him, but he laughed at her effort. “What’s your name? You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?” She gave him her best death stare, which only made him laugh harder. “Oh, sweetheart, if you want to get away, you really need to try a lot harder than that.”
Gritting her teeth, she spat out, “Susie. My name is Susie. Will you please let me go now before the sociopathic shifter teenager comes after me?”
Mr. Green Eyes raised his eyebrows as he asked, “And why, may I ask, is she coming after you?”
Sick of the questions and desperate to get out, she snapped, “None of your business. Just let me go.”
He grinned and she could see sharp white teeth as his mouth turned up at the corners.
“Sweetheart, everything you do is my business because you are my mate.”
Holy shit, she could have been knocked over with a feather. “I can’t be.”
He pulled her closer to him and took a deep a breath. “Yes, you are. You smell like heaven, honey, mangos, and my brother.” His eyebrows drew together as he finished and his smile turned into a frown as he leaned into her and took another deep breath.
Groaning, she pushed at his chest only to stop when she heard, “Blake, get your fucking hands off my mate.”
She turned in Blake’s arms to see Brian stalking their way.
****
Blake glared at his brother and pulled Susie tighter to him. “What the hell is going on, Brian?”
His brother snarled, and went to grab Susie, so he moved her behind him, all the while keeping a gentle grip on her so she didn’t run off like she seemed to be doing now to his brother.
“Blake, hand her over, she’s mine.”
Usually the easy-going brother, Blake never snarled or got grumpy like his brother, but now he growled. “She can’t be because she’s mine.”
He heard a groan against his back and turned to see Susie, whose face was brighter than a tomato as she moaned, “Please, can you take this somewhere private?”
Turning back to his brother, he looked around to notice quite a good sized crowd surrounded them.
Letting go of Susie and seeing the embarrassment on her face, he sighed and followed his brother to their office. Once at the stairs, he turned to let Susie up before him, only to stop when she was nowhere to be seen. “What the hell did you do to her, Brian? You’ve scared her off.”
Brian scowled at him and dragged him up the stairs to t
he office, closed the door, and turned on him. “Why do you think it’s me, Blake? Maybe you scared her off, and that’s why she didn’t follow us.”
“Really. My mate is running out of our gym like her life depends on it, and she smells like you and somehow I did it. I hadn’t even met her before I caught her, and stopped her getaway.” Blake raised his eyebrow at Brian.
“My mate?” Blake rolled his eyes at Brian’s comment and waited for his brother to acknowledge the situation properly. Brian grunted. “Fine, our mate, and you didn’t scare her off. I did. Well, so did Tayler.”
“I don’t know if I really want to know what happened because Tayler is a sweet teenager who has crushed on you for years. What on earth did you do to her and Susie?”
A moan slipped from his brother. “I met Susie yesterday. She joined the gym to lose weight.”
Blake growled at his brother. He loved women with a bit of meat on their bones, but Brian only went for stick figures. “It’s not as bad as you’re thinking,” Brian said.
“Really? Because I didn’t know you could read my mind now.” Brian snarled at him. “Look, Brian, just tell me. Did you tell her she was too fat for you, or she needed to lose loads of weight?” He watched his brother wince before he moaned.
“Not in those precise words,” Brian said.
Blake lunged for his brother as Brian held up his hands and continued, “It’s been twenty-four hours since I first met Susie. I have jacked off until my cock is blue and I am still rock hard. So when she came in this afternoon, I, um, jumped her and had the most mind-blowing sex of my life. I stuffed it up when she figured out I’m not human. I might have said something about how I never usually would be attracted to her instantly, and she’s not my usual type as I usually only date models or women who could model… Oh, and I kinda said she smelled but I fixed that, I think.”
Blake stared at his brother, looking for any signs he was joking. When he saw none, he punched Brian in the face, letting all his frustration out on him. “Please tell me you didn’t have sex with her while Tayler was here.”
Brian groaned and touched his nose. “You have sex in here all the time. How was I to know Tayler’s little crush made her so possessive of me she would scare my mate off, big brother? I just thought it was a silly teenage crush. I didn’t think she’d chase after Susie and scare her.”
Blake wanted to smack his brother again, but he didn’t because he was usually the idiot. He didn’t act like the older brother much. There wasn’t a huge gap with only two years separating them. Blake was the happy-go-lucky bachelor, or he had been until minutes ago when he caught a curvy, sassy little brunette.
Walking over to the computer, he signed in and typed in Susie’s name to pull up all her info. Glancing at his brother, he grabbed paper and pen and wrote down her address. “Here is what we are going to do. You are going to go sort out Tayler and make sure our sister doesn’t get wind of this, as Matty is still sick. I’m going to go around to Susie’s and see if I can fix the mess you have made. I will give you a call and you can come over, but only when I give the all clear.”
“I don’t know, Blake. I think I need to go clear up everything with Susie.”
Not in the mood to argue with his brother, Blake shook his head and ran for the door, hoping his brother hadn’t ruined their chances altogether.
Chapter Five
Susie couldn’t get over how much her life changed in a matter of hours. She’d learned some things that go bump in the night were real. Sitting in her bed under the covers like they would protect her from everything, Susie wondered if she should have paused at some stage and asked what other fable creatures where real, just so she knew what she might need to prepare herself for.
Looking over at her empty open wardrobe, as on arrival home she’d flung everything she owned into the suitcases which now sat on the floor. Susie wondered if she could get away with just going on a very long holiday, and then come home and stay away from anything to do with supernatural people. Susie laughed because she’d no idea where supernatural people went in order to avoid them. Hours ago she didn’t even know shifters existed. What were the chances she would run into that teenager, or Brian the gorgeous dickhead, or the sexy Mr. Green Eyes Blake. Shit, she needed to stop thinking about those hotties.
Shutting her eyes and trying to gather her scattered thoughts, she got out of bed. Susie decided to take a shower, hoping it would freshen her up and help her think more clearly about the mess of a situation she’d gotten into. Susie knew she couldn’t really move. She had a huge mortgage on the townhouse. After turning the taps on, she shed the tatted remains of her clothing and stood under the hot water. She grabbed her loofah and cleaned off the dirt and as much of everything else as she could, trying to get rid of what happened to her this afternoon. Watching the suds take the dirt and grime away, she hoped that was where everything would stay.
While lathering the shampoo on her hair, she thought over her new situation. She loved her job and it worked out great only being part time. It fit in with her full-time university. She wondered what her chances where of ever running into the teenager from the gym. Susie couldn’t remember seeing them before, and Tayler, Brian, and Blake where hard to forget, so surely the town was big enough.
Rinsing the shampoo out, she thought, the city is big enough that Healthy Bodies isn’t the only gym. Smiling, she remembered two others. She’d only moved to this part of town as it sat in the middle of things she needed like family and university. She couldn’t be scared out of her home. She decided she would get back on the horse… er, bike, cut her losses, and join a gym on the other side of the town.
Grabbing the conditioner and feeling better now she’d figured everything out, she hummed a happy tune. The events this afternoon weren’t going to scare her away from her home. Susie had gone two years without ever seeing them, and there was no way she would forget those two handsome faces. She scrubbed harder to make sure nothing was left of her earlier encounter to remind her of today.
After getting out of the shower, she towelled herself dry, thinking of her clothing options for that night when her friends would come around and they would head out clubbing. Susie walked over to her wardrobe and went through the suitcases to find some clothes to put on.
Feeling fresh and relaxed for the first time in hours, she screamed at the sight of someone on her bed. She glanced around for anything to defend herself with when her eyes fell back to the bed. Her yelling died as she got a closer look. Blake laid on her bed in a button-up black shirt and dark blue denim shorts. His eyes focused on her and the towel she gripped.
“How on earth did you get in here? No, don’t answer. I know I locked it. Why are you here?”
She didn’t want to know how he got in through her locked door. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. He stared at the towel as if his glare had the power to make it magically disappear. Gripping the towel tighter she said, “What the hell are you doing here?”
He arched a perfect eyebrow and his green eyes sparkled as he said, “Lose the towel and I will tell you anything you want to know?” She gaped at him and tried to decide if he could be serious.
Ignoring his comment, she looked around for clothes with easy access. He stood up in one fluid movement and stalked straight to her. She backed herself into the bathroom and bumped into the wall just as his arms came around her. Susie should probably yell again, but his green eyes captivated her.
“When I tell you to do something, you will do it. No questions asked.” He pried her fingers from the towel and watched it fall. “You can and will obey me. I am not my brother. You ever run from me, sweetheart, and I will chase you down. And when I catch you, you may not like what I do to you. Got it?”
Gulping, she nodded, feeling her vagina clench and her juices start to flow. Oh God, what was wrong with her? Blake’s voice alone made her wet. His lips lifted at the sides, and his dimples came to life. Susie gave an involuntary sigh. He chuckled. “Oh,
Susie, you are going to be punished for leaving me earlier.”
A whimper slipped from her lips as he picked her up, palming her butt. “Oh, I have just the punishment, and I hear you have quite a set of lungs. I think I’ll have to find out if it’s true for myself.”
He walked over to the bed and laid her on the end of it before taking a step away. “Fuck, you’re perfect. I love your gorgeous body.”
Snorting at his remark, she watched as Blake leaned forward and placed gentle kisses on her stomach and leisurely moved up her body. Pausing at her breasts, he cupped one in each hand. “These are magnificent.” Shivers of excitement ran through her. “My brother is an idiot.”
She groaned, coming back to reality at the mention of Brian. How could she be here with Blake when she’d fucked Brian this morning? They would think she was a slut. She started to think it herself. “Why the hell are you here? I have already been humiliated by one of you. I am not in the mood to add you to the list today. So why did you come?”
He frowned. “I don’t know how much my brother explained about shifters but…”
Scowling, she interrupted him. “Not much and I have a lot of questions.” He groaned and got off her to sit on the bed, pulling her on top of him. Susie pushed against his body, trying to get away so she could get dressed. “Let me go, please. I want to get dressed.”
Sighing, he pulled her closer. “Sweetheart, if I’m going to be the one to explain this, then you are going to stay naked.” His hands cupped her breasts as he spoke, slowly caressing them. “As my brother and I have said, you are our true mate. This means several things. First, you are the only woman who can give us shifter children unless we mate with the same type of shifter as us. Second, it means you are our perfect match, which is good because once a shifter mates, he or she is mated for life. There is no such thing as divorce, so you would want to get on with them. Third, you are our soul mate, the person who can tame our beast, make us stronger.”
