Grayslake: More than Mated: Bear-ly a Choice (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Kelly Collins

  She pulled on her pants and buttoned up her shirt. “Are they more interesting than you?”

  He stood in front of her and cupped her cheek with his palm. “Let’s just say that they aren’t exactly boring. You’ll be surprised at how interesting some of them will be.” He lowered to his haunches and helped her tie her boots. “They have BE’s brews too, which should get you all excited.”

  Mack thought of a lot of things that got her excited. Finn’s hands, Finn’s tongue, Finn’s cock. But if she had to forego those, then a glass of honey mead was an adequate substitute.

  Always the gentleman, Finn walked her to the passenger side of the truck and helped her inside. She placed her bag of darts and tags between them. It seemed a fitting place. The damn things had come between them several times. If it hadn’t been for this connection she had with Finn, the entire trip would be a waste. Meeting Finn had made her failure less painful.

  All the way down the mountain, they talked about forest ranger stuff.

  “Would you consider coming to Grayslake on a more permanent assignment?”

  She took in a long breath and held it. Did he just ask her to stay? “Is there a position for me here?”

  Finn chuckled. “I can see you in a lot of positions. On your back beneath me. On my cock riding me. Bent over my couch with me—”

  “Finn, oh my God.”

  “Tell me the truth. Does that sound appealing?” He reached over and covered her hand with his. The heat of his touch coursed through her.

  Once again, her insides were too small for her body. Mack was bursting at the seams with passion. “It sounds more appealing than honey mead in a bar of strangers.”

  Finn came to a stop in front of the bed and breakfast. “I’m holding my control by a thread, love. There are things you don’t know yet and things you’re not ready to know yet but soon. Soon you will be mine forever. Does that frighten you?”

  A shiver raced up her spine, but it wasn’t from fear. It was in anticipation of what being Finn’s really meant. “Finn, I’m not asking you for forever, I’m asking you for a moment right now.” Her scalp itched and she was certain her hair grew an inch with the way it tingled.

  “Mackenzie, I can’t give you what you want now because I want to give you forever.” He turned off the engine and pulled a bag of clothes from behind his seat. “Let’s get changed.”

  Finn was talking forever as in all time and eternity. She’d heard about love at first sight. Never experienced it herself until she met the grumpy forest ranger opening her door.

  “Do you always carry a change of clothes in your car?” She grabbed her equipment and hopped out of the truck.

  “I usually carry two, but I loaned a pair of pants to an angry friend today.”

  “You had an angry friend walking around without pants? What kind of people do you hang out with?” Mack led him into the bed and breakfast and up one flight of stairs to her room.

  “You’ll see. Like I said, they’re an interesting bunch.”

  She walked to the closet and pulled out the only dress she brought with her. She didn’t know if there would be a need for anything beyond her uniform or jeans and T-shirts, but this was like a date, and she was glad she packed it. “Meeting your friends terrifies me. What if they don’t like me?”

  He rushed to her and brushed his lips across hers. “They’ll love you like I do.”

  Finn said he loved her. Could that be true? She searched her heart for her own feelings, and the only word that could describe the heat in her chest was love—a crazy, soul-deep love. It was as if she’d been waiting for him all her life.

  “This whole thing is so confusing to me.” She rested her head on his broad chest and breathed in his scent. It had a way of floating through her body like a calming drug. He was a human form of Xanax.

  “Just go with it, love. It will all make sense soon.”

  He gently pushed her away and gave her a look that said, ‘trust me’ and for some reason she did.

  “Do I have time to take a quick shower?”

  “You want some help washing your back?”

  “Not if all you want to do is wash my back.” What the hell was happening to me? She was turning into an animal in heat.

  Chapter 10

  Finn

  He kept her near his side every second. It was bad enough that she smelled like warm vanilla and honey, but she was wearing a dress that showed off her legs—legs that had been wrapped around his waist only hours ago, and he didn’t want anyone to look at what belonged to him.

  His dick surged at the thought. With her caged between his arms, he locked her in place in front of him. If his dirty looks didn’t tell every asshole in the place she was his, then the fact he had her locked down would.

  Finn slapped a twenty dollar bill on the bar and asked for two BE’s Brews.

  “Who’s this little beauty?” Rex asked as he popped off the caps and slid the two bottles across the old wooden surface.

  “Mine,” Finn growled deep in the back of his throat.

  “Right on,” the bartender said and backed away.

  “Really?” Mackenzie turned her body to face him. “You force me to come here so I can meet some of the locals and then you growl at them when they try to be friendly.” She shook her head and slipped under his arm. With the cold bottle in her hand, she walked toward a table against the wall.

  All eyes were on her, and it made Finn’s teeth begin to itch against his gums—a sure fire sign that his bear would do anything to protect her. The inner animal was furious with him for not letting him mark her during their mating, but Finn wanted her to know the truth before he claimed her for life.

  He followed her to the table and sat so he faced the room.

  This whole possessive thing was new to him. There was no doubt in his mind that she was his fated mate. Every cell in his being knew it to be fact.

  “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.” Finn wasn’t sorry at all, but he didn’t want the evening to go sour when all he wanted to do was to give her a look at the locals.

  She sipped at her drink and looked around the room. “I’m not embarrassed, Finn, I’m flattered despite your behavior being something out of the Iron Age.”

  “And they say we’ve evolved.” Finn looked at the shifters that were already in the bar. It was a local hangout so most of the people there were like him in a loose sense. “Let’s play a game.”

  She wiggled in her chair with excitement. “I love games. How do we play?”

  “It’s easy. I’m going to point to a local, and you’re going to tell me what animal they resemble.”

  She furrowed her brows. “You think these people look like animals?”

  Finn leaned back and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. It was so comfortable with her. “Love, these people are animals.” Little did she know, there was no embellishment in his statement. “What about Rex?”

  She stared at him for a good long minute. “Little man, reddish hair, long nose, pointy ears… fox.” She said it like it was fact. She was good. Rex was indeed a fox shifter.

  “How about the guy in the blue T-shirt at the pool table?” Jack was just passing through. He stopped at the Left Bank Bar each time he came through town. As a long haul trucker, he shot through town every two weeks.

  “That’s a tough one.” She tilted her head and watched him carefully. “Black, sleek, piercing green eyes, slinks like a cat when he moves. Hmm.” She leaned forward. “Panther.”

  “Nice job.” From that point forward she picked the men and woman around the room.

  “Lion,” she said about Cade, but his mane of yellow hair was a giveaway. She pegged Flynn as a Wolf, but was stumped at the little female in the corner. “She’s a tough one. Small beady eyes like a rodent.”

  Finn knew Mackenzie would never get Megan’s animal right. No one ever did on the first go. She was a hybrid and so her features were blended. “What’s your best guess?”

  She lift
ed her nose in the air and breathed deep. Finn was certain that she had no idea she was using her animal instincts, but he loved that she was in touch with them. That meant their cubs would be shifters.

  “She’s a mole.”

  “What?” He couldn’t believe she pegged the most difficult part of her. “How did you know?” Megan was a mole and meerkat hybrid and no one ever got her right. Pride puffed out his chest, His mate was so intuitive.

  “It’s a game, Finn. It’s not like she’s really a mole, but with those thick glasses and sallow skin, there wasn’t a better guess.”

  He almost broke it to her right there that everyone she’d labeled was correct, but then he’d have to tell her the truth, and he wanted to ease her into it. Tomorrow he’d take her near clan lands so she could see the cubs, and then he’d sit her down and tell her the truth. After that, he’d take her back to his place, mate her and mark her. “And me. What animal would you give me?”

  “You’re easy. You’re a bear. A big teddy bear.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. He didn’t know how he was going to be able to drop her off and leave her tonight, but he’d have to or else she’d get a baptism by fire into the shifter world.

  “What animal am I?”

  Finn ran his hands up and down her back. “If I’m a bear, then so are you because you’re my perfect mate.” His fingers threaded through her hair, and he pulled her in for a kiss. The connection had a way of lighting him up from the inside. It was the equivalent of poking his bear with a sharp stick, and he knew it would take every ounce of control to push him back from the surface. “You’re perfect. Our cubs will be perfect. Our life will be perfect.”

  “You keep talking about our life together, but we’ve known each other for days. We haven’t discussed a future. And cubs? You’re really taking this animal thing to the nth degree”

  “Our future is a given, Mackenzie. You know it. I know it. It’s a fated thing.” Finn was beginning to regret bringing her here. What he really needed to do was show her what he was. “Let’s go, I want to show you something.” Inside his bear was roaring with approval.

  There was no good place to show her. Some places were riskier than others, but he wanted her to be near the bed and breakfast just in case she fled.

  “Where are we going now? You want to show me some other animals in town?”

  “Something like that.” His heart pounded inside his chest. What if she couldn’t handle it? What if he lost her?

  Instead of driving to the bed and breakfast parking lot, he drove farther down the road and parked the truck near the lake.

  “Are you getting frisky again?” She didn’t wait for him to open her door. She opened it herself and slid from her seat to the claylike dirt.

  Finn raced around the truck. He wanted to walk with her for a few minutes before he let the bear out of the bag.

  “Have you ever thought you were something more than you were?” He tried to pick his words wisely.

  “Of course, hasn’t everyone?” Her hand slipped comfortably into his. “I thought I had superpowers when I was a kid.”

  She instinctively reached for him. That was part of their perfect match. They were two halves to a whole.

  “Really? What was your super power?” Finn walked with her around the edge of the lake. When they got to the other side he’d show himself—his other self.

  “It’s silly, really. I’ve always had a keen sense of hearing and smell.” She dropped her head. “It irritated my mom. She hated that I could hear her coming from a block away.”

  “A trait she said came from your father?”

  She stopped and looked at him. “How did you know?” Pain flashed across her eyes.

  “I’m getting a good idea of what you had to put up with. You were different, and your mother blamed all of your differences on your father.”

  She nodded. “She called me a half-breed. Half wonderful like her and half like my wild beast of a father. Her words, not mine.”

  “Do you remember him?” They were almost to the place where he’d shown her his bear before. His stomach clenched, and his heart ricocheted in his chest. This one moment would define the rest of his life.

  “No, I have flash memories. I think he was hairy. You know like a beard and mustache. He had to be big because I’m not what you’d call small.”

  “You’re perfect.”

  “I’m not what you think I am. I’m not perfect.” She looked around and recognition flashed across her expression. They were in the exact spot she’d met his bear.

  “I’m not what you think I am either.” Finn helped her sit on the rock and gave her a light, fleeting kiss. “I’ll be right back. Stay put. No matter what happens, stay here, and know that I’m in love with you, Mackenzie.”

  “Now you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” She twisted her hands in her lap and looked toward the still water.

  “Nothing, love. Just go with it, okay?” He placed his hand over her heart. “You need to listen to this part of you. Promise me.”

  “I promise, but where are you going?”

  Finn started to walk toward the forest. It wouldn’t do her any good for him to stand on his hind legs and let his bear roar. He wanted to show her, not shock her into a catatonic state.

  He stripped out of his clothes and let them fall where they may. The fur popped through his skin and his bones snapped and grew. His nose elongated into his snout, and his teeth dropped like fangs. By the time he cleared the woods, his bear was in full form. Twigs snapped beneath his weight and Mackenzie turned toward him. Her eyes grew wide. She looked left and right.

  “Finn.” It was a whisper yell. “Finn, where are you?”

  Chapter 11

  Mackenzie

  He lumbered toward her ever so slowly. One paw at a time, he approached as if he knew he’d scare her. She looked around for an escape, but there wasn’t one. Not unless she wanted to take to the water and even then, she knew enough about bears to know that he would be a better swimmer than her.

  She scooted back onto the rock when he got closer. Inch by inch he moved toward her until he stood in front of her.

  “You’re him.” Her hand reached out then snapped back not wanting to get it bitten off. “Unbelievable.” She made her voice low and sweet. Animals always reacted to a whisper better than a roar.

  Where in the hell was Finn? She looked to the tree line in search of him. He couldn’t have missed the bear. It exited where he entered.

  When she looked down, the bear had laid his head in her lap. His eyes were the most beautiful brown even by moonlight. She wound her fingers into his fur and scratched around his ears. She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it or heard it with her own eyes and ears, but the bear almost purred. She ran her fingers over his ears and stopped. Where was the tracker? She knew it in her heart that this was the same bear, but the tag was gone. No tear. No scar. Nothing.

  “You’re not him. You can’t be. I tagged you.” Panic started to rip through her body. This wasn’t her bear, and yet she knew it had to be. But how? The beast pulled back and sat before her. He stared at her with Finn’s eyes. She leaned forward, and the surrounding air ignited. It was filled with him. Not the animal him, but the real him. She closed her eyes and shook her head.

  When she opened them again, the bear nodded.

  “It can’t be.” Mack scrambled off the rock and fell flat on her ass with her dress billowed around her. “No, it’s not possible.” She replayed his words from the bar through her head. What animal am I? And she knew he was a bear. Deep inside she knew it, and yet she couldn’t wrap her head around it.

  “No, how can this be?” She dragged herself to her feet and walked backwards toward the bed and breakfast. Mack didn’t understand how it could work out if he was a bear. Weirder was the fact that him being a bear wasn’t her biggest hurdle to overcome. That was believable. On some level, it made sense, but how could she love a bear? He talked of cubs a
nd fate and a life together.

  She thought about the bar again, and how he’d applauded her ability to name the animals associated with the people. “Holy shit. Everyone here is different.”

  Finn stalked toward her.

  “Go away. I need time.” She turned to run. It wasn’t a smart thing to do. If she’d lost her marbles, and this wasn’t Finn, then she was likely to be eaten alive.

  She rounded the lake and heard him roar. It was a pained wail. Seconds later Finn, her Finn was calling out her name.

  “Mackenzie, stop. You promised you’d stay put. You promised.”

  She had promised, but she didn’t have all the facts. She was in love with a man-bear. She’d made love to him this afternoon and would have done it again and again if he’d let her convince him. I’m not what I seem. Those words echoed through her head. No shit, Sherlock. You’re a damn bear.

  “Mackenzie. You’re more like me than you know.” He was gaining on her.

  She stopped dead at his words. Was she? Someone once told her the truth resonated deep in your soul. Finn’s words made sense, but they didn’t. She knew her mother, and she was more like a rat than a bear. But her father?

  Mack turned to find a very naked Finn standing in front of her. “I tagged you. Oh my God.”

  He laughed. “I just morphed from a bear to a man and all you can say is I tagged you?”

  She fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m so confused. I’m scared.”

  He picked her up like she weighed nothing and carried her to the bed and breakfast. He paraded his naked body through the lobby, past the two other guests enjoying tea in the sitting room, and carried her upstairs.

  When they were through her door, he placed her gently on the bed and left to retrieve a towel from the bathroom. To her disappointment, he wrapped it around his waist.

  She stared at him and tried to piece it all together. He was adamant she not tag the bears. He was overly curious about the animals she did tag.