Shifter Country Bears: The Complete Collection

by Roxie Noir

  “Where are we going?” Cora asked. She tried to regulate her breathing to make it sound normal, but Neil still had the gun in his hand, the safety off, even as he shifted gears with the same hand.

  He looked over at her, and then smiled like he had a surprise.

  “Little spot I found,” he said, cheerily. “I think you’re gonna love it.”

  “Tell me about it,” Cora said, still trying to think.

  The moment they’d pulled out onto the small, two-lane mountain road, Neil had started going much, much too fast, and now they pulled around another hairpin turn. Cora’s stomach did flip-flops as she thought she could feel the car skid toward the edge.

  “It’s not far,” he said, still sounding cheery. “Just wait!”

  Sure enough, it was about two more terrifying minutes before he pulled up to a vista point. There was no one else there, just a low stone wall and a beautiful view.

  Is he going to propose to me? Cora thought wildly.

  He gestured at her with the gun.

  “Go on!” he said. “There’s a great view.”

  She stood and got out of the car carefully. His weird, cheerful attitude rattled her even more than if he’d been acting threatening.

  He didn’t seem dangerous, exactly, but he did seem very, very unstable.

  As Cora stood in the turnout, looking over most of Granite Valley, wearing nothing more than an oversize t-shirt and a badly torn skirt, she wondered again if she should run, but then Neil was next to her, his arm around her, the gun in his other hand.

  “This is a really nice spot,” she said. Her voice sounded strange and high-pitched to her own ears, and she took a deep breath to try and keep her hands from shaking.

  “Isn’t it?” Neil said. He puffed up his chest and looked around, the morning sun picking out every tree in the valley in its warm golden light. “It is. What a nice spot.”

  There was a long silence.

  “So...” Cora said, eyes on the gun, “How have you been?”

  “Not great, Cora!” he said. “And, you know, my therapist says that I need to stop blaming others for my problems, Cora, but when you left me it felt really bad.”

  He took a step away and turned to face her, his back to the view.

  Where are they, Cora thought.

  What if it didn’t work? The skirt was it. I’m out of ideas.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have texted you back.”

  He blinked, looking confused for a second.

  Then he smiled and laughed, like they were having a silly misunderstanding.

  “No, not that,” he said. “Oh, that was fine, I know how girls play hard to get.”

  He winked, and Cora’s stomach turned over, a chill seeping down her spine.

  “I meant when you left! You didn’t even tell me,” he went on. Now he was frowning. “And that, well,” he stopped and looked at the ground for a moment, like he was collecting his thoughts. “That really hurt my feelings.”

  What the fuck is going on here, Cora thought. It was obvious that Neil was dangerous — he’d driven across the country and was waving a gun at her — but she had no idea what he wanted her to do.

  Please come, she thought, straining her ears for the sound of bears in the forest.

  Dead silence.

  “I’m very sorry,” she said. “That wasn’t my intention, I just got a new job.”

  Now he started pacing.

  “Well, Cora, here’s the thing,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together. Like, a lot of time, and I’ve kind of figured out when you’re lying.”

  Cora’s blood ran cold. She was desperate, searching for something, anything she could do, but she felt stuck. There was a sheer cliff or a crazy man with a gun.

  “And I know you told people you were moving to get away from me, you see,” he went on. “You told your friends! You told your sister! You even told the cops!”

  She swallowed, trying to think fast.

  “I wasn’t really trying to get away from you,” she said, slowly, her eyes always on the gun. “I wanted to see if you loved me enough to follow me.”

  As she said it, she looked into his eyes, and she hoped that she looked like a girl in love, not like a girl fearing for her life.

  Neil’s face broke into a smile.

  “Baby,” he said. “Of course.”

  Then he walked over to her and stuck his gun in her back, propelling her forward.

  I should have run, Cora thought.

  He walked her to the stone wall, and then made her stand on top of it. The wind rushed up and blew her torn skirt and shirt, billowing them both out, nearly knocking her backwards.

  Below was a dizzying cliff, a couple hundred feet of solid granite, boulders at the bottom. Cora’s heart hammered in her chest.

  Think of something, she thought. Come on, come on, think of something.

  He climbed up next to her.

  “You know, I had the ring all picked out,” he said, his voice getting dreamy. “Princess cut, of course, white gold band. We’d both wear white at our wedding and release doves at the end of the ceremony. Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”

  Cora’s voice stuck in her throat, so she just nodded.

  She couldn’t hear anything from the forest.

  They’re not coming, she realized. It didn’t work. They probably think I’m still in the shower.

  “And then, you had to go and debase yourself like that last night,” he said.

  His eyes filled with tears, and he stuck the gun into Cora’s ribs. Despite herself, she looked down, her heart seizing with fear at the drop.

  “Sweetheart,” she said. Her stomach churned with revolt, but she put a hand on his face, stroking it. “I was thinking of you the whole time,” she whispered.

  Neil looked deeply into her eyes for seconds on end.

  Maybe it’s working, she thought desperately.

  Then he shook his head.

  “No,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. You still did it, and you know, Cora, now we can’t have a happy ending.”

  He grabbed her hand with the one that wasn’t holding the gun to her and kissed it, fiercely.

  “We go down together,” he said. “Romeo and Juliet. They’ll tell our story.”

  “Romeo and Juliet didn’t jump—”

  “Kiss me,” he said, the gun jabbing into her painfully.

  Cora complied. His lips were cold and slimy, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth instantly. He tasted like aspirin and cigarettes, and she felt like he was gnawing on her face. Her heart exploded in her chest, and she tried frantically to think of something, anything.

  “Now,” he said. “You first.”

  He shoved the gun against her. She nearly lost her balance.

  “Neil, no,” she said, panicking. “No. Baby. Sweetheart. We could be so happy, here, in a little house—”

  Out of nowhere, an enormous brown blur knocked both of them off the wall and onto the ground of the parking lot.

  Cora hit the asphalt hard and skidded a couple inches. She smacked her head against the blacktop, the wind knocked out of her. She stared at the sky and tried to breathe, but she couldn’t force her lungs to inhale for seconds on end.

  It happened, she thought. I jumped. I’m dead.

  At that thought, the panic stopped.

  Then suddenly her lungs were working again and she gulped in air, coughing, breathing and sputtering, trying to roll over despite a pain shooting through her chest. At last she got onto her hands and knees, in the parking lot.

  I’m definitely alive, she thought. This fucking hurts.

  “Cora!” called a familiar voice, and she looked up to see Hunter, racing toward her, human and naked as the day he was born.

  She coughed again in response, and then he knelt down next to her.

  “No, no, come on,” he said. “Lay back down. There you go. You’re gonna be fine.”

  “What,” she managed to gasp out, “the fuck?�
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  “We followed your scent the second we realized you were gone,” he said.

  He eased her onto her back, and then held her hand, kissing it. Cora looked down, past her feet, where she could see Ash, also naked, standing over Neil, who was face down on the asphalt. In one hand was Neil’s gun, and in the other, Neil’s phone.

  “Backup’s on the way,” he called.

  Cora squeezed Hunter’s hand.

  It had worked.

  Cora had a broken rib, a minor concussion, and two shifters who refused to leave her bedside until she was released from the hospital.

  “The district attorney thinks Neil’s going to try for an insanity plea,” Ash said.

  Cora made a face and sipped orange juice through a straw.

  “The judge denied bail, though,” added Hunter.

  “Good,” said Cora. She was still mad, but the thought of Neil in an orange prison jumpsuit made her feel a little better.

  He was probably in there with shifters, too. Let him call them animals to their faces.

  Over her hospital bed, Ash and Hunter exchanged looks.

  “I wish you’d told us up front,” Ash said.

  Cora closed her eyes.

  “I know,” she said.

  “It wouldn’t have mattered,” Hunter said.

  “It was wishful thinking,” Cora said. “I thought that, maybe, if I pretended it was over, it would really be over, you know?”

  Ash just nodded, looking stern.

  “It’s over now,” he said.

  Each of them took one of her hands in theirs.

  “You’re sure you won’t move in with us?” Hunter asked.

  Cora nodded.

  “It’s been a little crazy,” she said. “There’s a lot to get used to.”

  Ash kissed her on the forehead.

  “The cabin is open whenever you want,” he said.

  Epilogue

  Cora

  Three months later

  “It just seems fast, is all,” Amelia was saying. She sat in the passenger seat of Cora’s car, as Cora drove the windy road up to the cabin. “I mean, Justin and I dated for like three years before moving in together.”

  “Mealy, I’m fine,” said Cora. “Listen, for once, I’m sure that I’m doing the right thing.”

  “It’s my job to worry about you,” Amelia said. Cora slowed and turned onto the long driveway. “And, I mean, you’re dating two shifters at once. I think I’m allowed to worry.”

  Cora shot her sister a warning look, and Amelia held up her hands.

  “Twice as much relationship therapy,” she said. “What if they get in a fight and make you pick sides? What if they both leave the toilet seat up all the time?”

  Cora drove into the little clearing where the moving truck had already parked, and they got out of the car.

  Out of the house walked Ash, Hunter, and Hunter’s cousin Julius.

  “This is my sister, Amelia,” Cora said.

  “Hi,” said Amelia, turning bright pink.

  “Thanks for coming and helping Cora move in,” said Ash

  “Maybe you can shed some light on how she accumulated so much stuff in three months,” Hunter added. “Didn’t you move to Granite Valley with just your car?”

  “Look, it happens,” Cora said.

  Then Hudson, Julius’s mate, came out of the moving truck, carrying a huge box, muscles bulging. He wasn’t wearing a shirt.

  Amelia stared, her mouth coming open a little.

  “Well, we better get hauling,” Ash said, and the other three men started moving furniture.

  “Okay,” whispered Amelia. “Who are they?”

  “The one with the shirt is Hunter’s cousin,” whispered Cora. “The one without is his mate.”

  “Do they have a...” Amelia waved her hands in the air. “A lady mate?”

  “Not yet,” said Cora.

  She looked at her sister.

  “You’ve got a husband, though,” she pointed out.

  “He’s not here,” said Amelia, watching Hudson walk back to the truck. “I bet Justin would understand.”

  Cora just laughed and grabbed her sister’s arm.

  “I think they’ve got this under control,” she said. “Come help me tell them how they should arrange my stuff.”

  The sisters walked into the cabin hand-in-hand.

  The End

  A Bear’s Nemesis

  Book Two

  1

  Julius

  Sitting in the back seat of the car, Julius looked out the tinted window at the courthouse steps. The crowd of people had been getting bigger every day this week. By today, five days into the trial, it threatened to spill out of the confines of the police tape and into the street.

  After all, closing arguments were today. Julius’s stomach knotted. He hadn’t managed to eat breakfast.

  Between the two throngs of protestors was a narrow lane, leading up the steps and to the massive doors of the courthouse. Julius watched as his clients ascended the steps: two male shifters and their female human mate.

  One of the shifters hoisted an adorable, smiling two-year-old girl onto his shoulders, and the kid waved enthusiastically at all the people screaming at them from the sidelines.

  Julius couldn’t help but smile. That’s exactly what we’re fighting for, he thought. For that kid’s parents to get married, even if there’s three of them. It seemed so simple.

  He’d been awake for half the night, prepping his final arguments, but nothing got him quite like watching a happy triad, but even as he did, his heart twisted in his chest. He loved Hudson, his mate, more than anything. But lately, both of them had been feeling the urge to complete their triad.

  Without their third, there was just something missing.

  Julius took a deep breath and opened the back door of the Town Car. He wasn’t used to being driven around, but this was by far the highest-profile case he’d ever been involved in, and there were security concerns.

  The moment he stepped out, the crowds on either side of the courthouse steps went nuts.

  On his left were the humans who’d come out to protest shifters. They held up signs with slogans like LOVE MEANS TWO and NO TRIAD MARRIAGE and TRIAD? MORE LIKE TRY-BAD!

  Julius thought that last one was particularly stupid.

  Not that he was surprised. In the past few weeks he’d had to deal with his fair share of humans who really hated shifters, and most of them hadn’t been the brightest bulbs.

  On his right, as he began the walk up the courthouse steps, were both shifters and humans, the people who’d come out to protest the protesters and show their support for triad marriage. Their signs said things like LOVE IS LOVE and LET LOVE BE THREE and MORE LOVE TO GO AROUND.

  Among them, Julius quickly found Hudson, in the very front, holding up a sign that said LEGALIZE LOVE. He was wearing his usual outfit — a tight black t-shirt that showed his beefy physique and blue jeans — and Julius smiled at him.

  Just having his mate there made him feel better, even as his stomach tightened again.

  If he lost this case, he’d be letting Hudson down. Not just Hudson — most of the shifters in Cascadia.

  Hudson smiled back, waving his sign. Then he put his hand to his lips and blew Julius a kiss, and Julius laughed. It was almost ridiculous, watching this six-foot-six, buff-as-hell mechanic blow a kiss, but that simple action made Julius feel better in a way that nothing else could.

  He walked on past Hudson, keeping his target in his sights. The courthouse doors. As he walked all the yelling intensified, and even though he tried to keep his eyes on the doors and not look at the protestors, he couldn’t help it. Julius was always curious about them.

  What kind of person dedicates their lives to hate? he had to wonder.

  As his eyes skipped along them, face after face twisting in rage, he saw her.

  She had nearly black, shoulder-length hair and killer curves. Even though she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, jus
t looking at her made Julius’s mouth go dry, and he nearly missed the next step, just barely catching himself in time.

  Even though she was holding a sign that said TRIAD PERVERTS, her mind was clearly anywhere but there. She stared off into the distance, not shouting or taunting.

  He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the girl. Something deep inside called to him.

  Something primal and urgent, his bear waking up all at once.

  It growled.

  No, he thought, desperately, still unable to tear his eyes away from her. Not here. Not now.

  It was too late. His bear was completely awake and full-on roaring with lust.

  Julius’s hands broke out in a sweat, and he gritted his teeth together, determined to keep himself in check.

  Then the girl’s bored gaze slid over to look at him, and for just a moment, they locked eyes.

  He drew even with her on the steps, eyes still locked.

  For the first time in years, Julius thought his bear might get the better of him.

  Then there was a loud, world-shattering bang.

  Julius whirled around. For a split second, he thought that something huge and metal had crashed to the ground. Everyone looked half confused and half panicked.

  Then there was another one, and another, each sounding louder and sharper than the first.

  Then, Julius realized they were gunshots. He leapt for the girl, tackling her full-on, the sign smacking him in the face as he covered her body with his.

  There was one more gunshot, this one amid a mess of growling and yowling. The unmistakable roar of a grizzly, the growl of a wolf, and a mountain lion’s bloodcurdling shriek.

  People ran everywhere, slipping on the stone steps, some falling, their protest signs flailing everywhere.

  Julius’s bear was half out, his hands clenched into tight fists and his face in a snarl as he covered the girl with his body.

  I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to so much as touch her, he thought. He could smell panic, blood, and a little bit of pee.

  Where’s Hudson?

  Underneath him, her chest rose and fell and her face was flushed. The shots had stopped, and for a split second, he watched her chest heave, his bear savoring the delicious swell.