Lure of the Bear (Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart Book 3)

by Anna Lowe

  But kissing Hunter — a bear shifter… Was she crazy?

  Maybe she was because, wow — she was enjoying it. The soft, smooth feel of his lips. The hint of something powerful slumbering inside him, kept carefully leashed. She pressed close enough to feel the beat of his heart. A low, steady beat that represented Hunter perfectly. Solid yet fragile. Quiet, yet powerful. His lips barely moved over hers, but her soul danced.

  God, this feels so good, she wanted to sigh.

  She slid her arms around his shoulders — well, she tried, given their breadth — and leaned deeper into the kiss. An unrushed, skipping-through-fields-of-flowers kiss. The feeling of coming home after a long, long time away.

  If Hunter’s grip had been a little tighter or his lips more demanding, she might have pushed him away. But his touch was so gentle that all she wanted was more. More than she’d ever let herself dare to desire.

  “Dawn…” Hunter murmured.

  She hummed because it felt so good to hear him say her name. Officer Meli was for strangers. Hunter was a friend.

  “Dawn…” he whispered, gently pulling back.

  She might have kept her hands fisted in his shirt and her lips glued to his forever if it wasn’t for the fluttering of a bird overhead. She took in a sharp breath and stared. Did he not want what she wanted?

  The look in Hunter’s eyes said he wanted her just as desperately as she wanted him, but, as always, something held him back. He smoothed his hands over her shoulders then pulled her in for a hug. A long, tight hug, the way you hugged someone you’d missed for years.

  “Dawn,” he whispered, resting his head against hers.

  She took a deep breath, inhaling his musky scent, and clutched his shirt. Damn — she’d totally lost control for a minute. Maybe she was the one with an animal side.

  “God, Hunter. Remember that kiss under the waterfall?”

  She’d been sixteen, he’d been seventeen, and they were the last two kids at the local swimming hole. Splashing and playing had somehow turned to touching and hugging, and when they’d kissed, she thought she’d seen heaven.

  He nodded. “That kiss got me through…well, a lot of rough spots.”

  She ran her hand over a scar on his forearm, wondering what terrible things he might have seen or done all those years he’d spent in far less peaceful places than Maui.

  She closed her eyes, remembering the kiss down to the tiniest detail. The flavor of his lips. The slide of his hands over her ribs. The way they fit like they were made for each other. They’d broken apart and gazed into each other’s eyes for what seemed like hours until the bushes rustled with a new group of visitors that made them skitter apart.

  “Why did you stop seeing me?” she asked. They had vowed to meet back the next day, but Hunter hadn’t shown.

  His eyes dropped, and he kicked the ground.

  “What?” She grasped his arm.

  “Your dad. Your dad found out. He came around to my foster mother that night and made a big stink.”

  She pulled back, gaping. “My dad?”

  Hunter nodded. “He said if I ever got within a yard of you, he’d have my ass arrested.”

  Dawn shook her head. Her dad had been a wisp of a man, and even at seventeen, Hunter had been a big kid. But then again, her father was the district attorney, and she could picture how easily he could threaten someone like Hunter — a kid who had no one to stick up for him except the eccentric old woman who took care of him.

  She rested her head on his shoulder and rolled it from side to side. Her dad had been the one to encourage her to date the captain of the football team, Clive, who’d—

  She tore her thoughts away from Clive, as she always did. And as for her father… Some judge of character he turned out to be.

  “My dad was an ass.”

  Hunter’s chest rose and fell, but he didn’t say anything.

  I missed you, she wanted to say. I missed you so much for so many years. And I thought I was finally ready to get closer, but then…

  Then she’d been completely freaked out by him turning into a bear. Dawn stared at her feet.

  “Dawn! Are you coming?” Lily’s voice boomed out through the night.

  She let out a long, uneven breath and backed away slowly, pulling the purse from his hand. “I’d better get going.”

  Hunter nodded quietly, though his Adam’s apple bobbed. Was that hope or rejection in his eyes?

  Dawn turned on her heel and did her best not to rush away, feeling his eyes on her the entire time.

  “See you soon?” she murmured, unable to resist looking back.

  His smile was forced, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “See you soon.”

  She wanted to boomerang back into his arms, but she made herself walk on. A minute later, she was in Lily’s car and out the estate gate, ordering herself not to look back.

  “Lovely people,” Lily said as she pulled onto the highway.

  Except they’re not people, Dawn wanted to say. But, heck. Hunter had such soul and so much sorrow. It wasn’t fair to think of him as less than human.

  “That Hunter is such a nice man,” Lily said, opening the door to a conversation Dawn didn’t want to have.

  She hummed something neutral and looked at the stars.

  “A very attractive man, too.” Lily winked.

  Like Dawn needed to be told. Even back in high school, he was a sight to behold. But now, there was a wounded warrior appeal to him that made him that much harder to resist.

  “So what’s the problem, sweetie? You two spent the whole evening gazing into each other’s eyes.”

  “We did not!”

  Lily snorted. “I know love when I see it. What’s holding you back?”

  Dawn picked at a thread in the hem of her shrug. How much could she say? How could she possibly explain?

  “There’s something inside him that scares me,” she said at last, choosing her words carefully.

  Lily tut-tutted. “You’re not afraid of him. You’re afraid of falling in love.”

  Dawn’s eyes went wide, and she snapped her head around. “Why would I be afraid of that?”

  “You tell me.”

  Dawn huffed. Lily could be impossible sometimes.

  Still, her mind swirled with answers she couldn’t quite bring herself to utter aloud. Because love makes you vulnerable. That was one good reason. Because not every man loves his woman. There. Another good reason.

  And then, of course, there was, Because I’m afraid I might not be able to love him back.

  Dawn closed her eyes, putting a wall up against the ugly memories in the far reaches of her mind.

  Lily tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “What you need is someone to shake you out of that carefully controlled cage you live in.”

  “It’s not a cage.”

  “Everything worth having comes with a risk,” Lily said. “But without love, you don’t really live. Did I tell you about Stanley?”

  Dawn watched the scrub blur by at the edge of the road. Lily had shared so many stories about her late husband, Dawn figured she knew them all by heart.

  “I nearly gave him up,” Lily said in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. “I was so young, so foolish, thinking another good man would come along. So I let him go when things started feeling a little too…ordinary. I thought I wanted my freedom. I wanted a more exciting man.” Lily sighed. “I found out how empty my life was without him. How no other man could take his place in my heart. Lucky for me, Stanley waited. The man had such faith in true love…”

  Dawn’s eyes grew misty. Hunter had that unshakeable faith, too. He had faith in her, even when she’d shown so little in him.

  “When I think that I could have lost him forever… But I was lucky. We had our second chance, and we used it, honey.” Her voice took on a naughty hint again. “Boy, did we use it.” She slapped Dawn’s thigh, making her jump. “I don’t want to see you let your chance slip away.”

  Dawn clo
sed her eyes. She didn’t want that either. But deep inside, her heart was scarred and fragile. Did she really dare?

  Lily drove the next few curves in silence then murmured, “A beautiful night, don’t you think?”

  The sky was perfectly clear, and starlight glittered over the sea. The lush, earthy scent of Maui seemed doubly rich at night, when colors drained away and the landscape slumbered. Dawn breathed deeply and thought back to Hunter’s kiss.

  She nodded. A beautiful night, indeed.

  Chapter Seven

  “I still don’t get why I wasn’t invited to dinner,” Cruz grumbled the next morning.

  Hunter stirred his oatmeal without saying a word. It was seven a.m. — a ridiculously early hour for a bear shifter to be up, and yet, for the first time in weeks, he felt ready to face a new day. Optimistic, almost. Which was dangerous — he shouldn’t get his hopes up about Dawn.

  “You weren’t invited because you’d scare our guests,” Kai told Cruz.

  Hunter had the feeling nothing could scare Lily. And though he knew Dawn didn’t scare easily, she would have been that much more tense if yet another shifter had been around.

  Keiki, the calico kitten, had jumped up onto the table, and he gently pushed her to the side. She made a beeline for Cruz, who scooped her up and nuzzled her with his chin.

  “At least someone appreciates me,” he muttered.

  Hunter hid a grin. Cruz was nowhere near as hard and cold as he pretended to be.

  “I wasn’t invited either,” Silas growled over his coffee.

  Tessa snorted. “Because you’re scary, Silas, all right? We wanted to make a good impression on Dawn. I mean — on our guests.”

  Hunter took a sip of coffee. So it had been a setup.

  “I am not scary,” Silas insisted. His eyes glowed red, and his face drew into a deep scowl.

  Tessa rolled her eyes. “Sure. Not scary. Just a little intense.”

  Nina poured him a coffee, and Silas sighed. He snapped the newspaper open and turned his ire on the politics and natural disasters of the world. A minute later, he just about spat out his coffee. “Look at this.”

  Hunter leaned closer, as did the others, following Silas’s finger to an article on the back page.

  Cruz snorted at the picture of Regina Vanderpelt. “We know the little brat is getting married.”

  Silas pointed to the sidebar of the piece. “No, this part.” He started reading from the sidebar. “A security detail will accompany the delivery of Miss Vanderpelt’s diamond wedding ring at an undisclosed time…”

  “Look at the size of that thing,” Tessa murmured.

  “Thirty carats, with a value of…” Kai trailed off with a whistle.

  Hunter narrowed his eyes on the grainy photo of Regina modeling the ring at a fancy New York jeweler’s. “Is it just an ordinary diamond or…”

  “That’s the question,” Silas said. “What if it’s a Spirit Stone?”

  Everyone went silent except Keiki, who purred in Cruz’s arms.

  “Could be any diamond.” Hunter kept his voice even, but his fingers tightened around his spoon.

  Most humans were unaware of the existence of Spirit Stones, but shifters — especially dragons — coveted the jewels for their supernatural powers. Another one of the stones showing up on Maui was trouble, guaranteed.

  Silas looked from Tessa to Nina. “We know the stones call to each other, and now that two have awakened…”

  Tessa had arrived on Maui a few months ago and inadvertently set off a battle for an emerald known as the Lifestone. Then Nina had nearly been killed when shifter mercenaries attempted to kidnap her — along with the Firestone she’d inherited.

  Hunter put his spoon down. Shit, all he needed was a few dragons to swoop down over Maui in search of a Spirit Stone. That would scare Dawn off for good.

  “Which of the Spirit Stones is the diamond?” Tessa asked.

  “The Windstone,” Silas murmured into the depths of his mug.

  “We can’t be sure it’s a Spirit Stone,” Kai tried.

  “No, we can’t,” Silas agreed. He pointed at Hunter then at Cruz. “But you two are going to keep your eyes open and tell me the second you can confirm if that diamond is anything other than a fancy stone. You, too, Kai.”

  Cruz groaned. “I have a better idea. You go deal with Regina and her entourage. Keiki and I will hold down the fort here.”

  Silas shook his head and stood quickly. “I need to get in touch with some contacts and find out more about that diamond.”

  “I’ll watch Keiki,” Tessa offered.

  “Great. Thanks.” Cruz scowled until he caught Kai’s growl. A growl of warning that said, You watch how you talk to my mate.

  Cruz sighed and handed the kitten to Tessa. “Sorry. Here. I mean, thanks.”

  Cruz muttered all the way to the resort, though Hunter barely noticed. His mind was on Dawn and the complication the diamond posed. Danger seemed to accompany those Spirit Stones wherever they appeared.

  His hands were tight around the wheel, his brow heavy with concern. The security guards at the gate skittered out of the way and hastily waved him through. But the second he parked the Jeep at the resort and spotted Dawn, his mind went blissfully blank. Her silky black hair hung over the white shirt of her police uniform, and her barely concealed curves teased him.

  Mate, his bear hummed happily. There’s our mate.

  “Good morning,” he managed once he regained enough motor control to lumber over her way.

  Two plain, ordinary words when what he really wanted to do was run over, hug her, and spin around a few times. His heart leaped every time he saw Dawn, and his world brightened the way some people felt when they first stepped foot on Maui — breathing the fragrant air, tipping their chins up to the sun, smiling from the beauty of it all. Today more than ever because maybe, just maybe, she’d slowly come around. She’d kissed him the previous night, and his inner bear was still giddy about it.

  She loves me! She loves me!

  “Morning,” Dawn replied, cool as a cucumber except for the tiny quiver in her lip.

  His mouth moved, too, because there was so much more he wanted to say. To ask. To explain. But he forced himself to take a deep breath and get back to work without further ado. One kiss might not mean that much to her, even if it meant the world to him.

  “Beautiful day,” she murmured, walking at his side.

  It is now that you’re here, he wanted to say.

  No staring at her, no matter how beautiful she is, he ordered his bear. No growling at other men. No bared teeth.

  In other words, pretend I don’t exist? his bear mourned.

  All the ghosts of his past reared up at once, moaning and rattling their chains. As a child, he’d been told to bury his inner bear and never, ever let the beast free. It had taken years to work himself free of those scars. Now, he was right back where he’d started — denying his bear side.

  And God, did that feeling cut to the bone. But even so, his bear suffered in silence. She was worth it.

  “Beautiful day,” he murmured.

  “I wanted to go over the arrangements for—” Dawn started when a screech sounded in the distance.

  Everyone winced and turned their heads.

  “Coming, Regina,” Veronica, the personal assistant, said, hurrying out the front door of the hotel.

  “Ah, the bride is up and raring to go,” Dawn muttered.

  Cruz shook his head and shot Hunter a private remark. I can’t believe Silas forced me to come back here. Don’t you think he’s grasping at straws?

  Hard to tell. Hunter sniffed the air, searching for trouble or the faint scent of shifter he’d caught the day before. But the dewy morning air didn’t reveal much, so he followed Dawn into the room set up as security headquarters.

  “Why, hello, honey,” the asshole at the door purred at Dawn. A towering, barrel-chested guy — the type who’d served a year or two in the Marines then spent the next thirty y
ears hiring out to security firms. His eyes roved over Dawn.

  A good thing Cruz was there to keep Hunter from flinging that asshole against the nearest wall. Instead, he growled, and the man shrank back.

  Dawn’s eyes flashed at both of them. Call me Officer Meli, they blazed at the asshole, and I can handle this myself to Hunter.

  “I beg your pardon?” she demanded, not the least fazed.

  “I mean, good morning, Officer.”

  Dawn sniffed and walked on while Hunter pinned the man with a killer glare. Check out her ass, and I will teach you a lesson you’ll never forget.

  The man cleared his throat, hastily tidied some papers, and rapped his knuckles on the table. “All right, people. Settle down.” He thumped a big hand on his own chest, introducing himself. “Ken Thomas of Armor Security.”

  Hunter heaved an inner sigh. It figured this guy would be head of security.

  Cruz rolled his eyes. We have to work with this arrogant ass?

  Hunter shrugged. No problem. We’ll do the usual.

  Cruz grinned back. The usual meant quickly establishing alpha superiority and then doing their jobs as they saw fit. Any fool could call himself the head of security. Hunter and Cruz were the warriors who got the job done.

  The morning briefing covered all the usual things — ID checks at the main entrances, patrols of the fenced grounds, and details of possible weak points.

  “The weather report forecasts a massive swell set to hit Maui in a few days,” the head of security said.

  “God, no,” someone groaned. “We’ll never hear the end of it if the little bitch — I mean, Miss Vanderpelt — doesn’t get the sunny beach wedding of her dreams.”

  “You mean no one passed her orders on to Mother Nature?” another man cracked.

  Hunter glanced out the window to the bustling resort grounds, sensing a different kind of storm building.

  Ken Thomas went on with his brief. “The storm won’t reach us, but the swell might. And if it does, that complicates things.”

  “Complicates, how?” someone asked.

  “Thirty-foot waves kind of complicated,” he replied. “But that’s more a matter for the wedding planners than security. On the plus side, surf like that will help keep anyone from trying to sneak in from the beach side. Our main concern is the press. The reporters are already all over this event, and they’ll do anything to get pictures of this circus.”