The curtain blowing in the breeze at the open window drew her attention. When Balor began snoring Carlin inched to her feet. She moved behind his fat, furry ass, gazing at him.
That is one huge butt.
As she moved toward the window, trying to keep her feet from shuffling, she was thinking up an excuse if caught. Carlin would say she needed air and Balor was blocking the door, nothing more. Once she reached the window she climbed on the table; it wobbled but held her. Carlin sat in the window. If discovered, she’d need another excuse. She needed air and to pee and Balor was blocking both doors.
Carlin slid to the ground, still thinking of excuses. She needed to stretch her legs. Carlin bolted. I need to run to stretch my legs. The excuses kept popping into her mind. I need to move faster because this is shifter country and there are cougars, bears, wolves…
Chapter 3
The foliage was thick and crunched under her as Carlin wildly fled. Her heart pounded as crazily as she ran. She knew if they found her gone they would catch her. She had no clue where she was, because they had pulled the hood over her head when she was tossed back into the van. Desperation was a bad compass to guide her feet, but the emotion was all she had.
Don’t panic.
Already panicking.
Carlin heard something crashing behind her. A loud roar sounded; it was Balor. She caught a glimpse of antler. With her heart near exploding Carlin ran straight into the arms of a fur mountain. She bounced back and landed on her ass. What happened next was a whirlwind of...furry. A Kodiak, Balor, was fighting with the new bear. Animal, the wolverine, joined in followed by Patch, the grizzly, and Buck, the huge stag. All were intent on killing what looked to be an extinct short-faced bear.
Shifter forest nothing, I’m in shifter hell.
Carlin clutched at the necklace hanging around her throat for a second before releasing it. She inched back as the fight raged. The wolverine howled as it was tossed ass over teakettle. Carlin’s eyes widened. Watching the beasts and hearing them was a life-like animated cartoon of crazy, talking animals. She winced. The short-faced bear seemed to have every swear word in the book for a vocabulary as well as colorful execution.
Pusillanimous polecat puke?
That would bear looking up.
Pertinacious pissant?
Carlin was growing impressed with the way the ancient bear could spew phrases while throwing claws.
The short-faced bear grabbed an antler and swung the stag into the grizzly. Both beasts toppled to the ground in a heap of fur and hooves. Moving crab-like, without taking her eyes off the fight, she fled. Backward Carlin went until her hands met open air. Screaming, off-balance, and with no hope of saving herself, Carlin began to fall. A giant roar sounded and she was grabbed into the arms of the ancient bear.
It grew darker as they fell. She was held secure with the animal curling around her. Her head cradled, she realized the bear was saving her life. At this drop the fall would break her neck. When the bear connected with the ground they bounced and she heard a small groan. Carlin was released and rolled to the side, falling off him.
They were in a mine, and it was too shadowy to see much. The ground was dirt and small pebbles. Carlin could make out the breathing of the bear near her. Looking way up, she noted the clear sky and heard the roar of a Kodiak.
Dazed but uninjured, Carlin knew she was lucky she landed on her savior or she would have been crushed or broken to bits. Why the animal had come in after her was beyond her. Carlin thought nothing was larger than a Kodiak; she was wrong.
She jumped when a warm hand slipped into hers. “Are you hurt?” a strong, male voice asked.
“No, I don’t think so, but my adrenalin is still on overdrive. I can’t see if I’m bleeding.”
“You aren’t, I’d be able to smell if you were.”
“Why did you save me?”
“I’m a bounty hunter. I’ve been after Balor and his gang for a while. I don’t believe in collateral damage.”
“Thank you.”
“My name is Tarvor. Did Balor hurt you?”
“No, but he wants me to help him rob a bank. He’s crazy. I was trying to escape when we collided.”
“We need to get out of here.”
He released her hand, and she heard a small struggle to stand. The sound of shuffling feet came next. Rock pieces trickled down the sides of the walls, and she guessed he was trying to feel for a way out. She almost screamed when her hand was grabbed and she was pulled to her feet.
“This way,” Tarvor said. “Watch your head.”
Carlin followed him, blindly. Both of her hands were on his arm with her pressed close to his side. For the first time in two days she wasn’t afraid. She marveled she was in the dark with a man who could shift, someone she didn’t know, and she was strolling along as though she hadn’t a care in the world.
Maybe I’m nuts.
“Tarvor?”
“What?”
“I’m not a shifter.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
“Why does Balor think I am?”
He cleared his throat. “I think I’d freak you out if I told you.”
“I’m in a mine shaft with a short-faced bear who should be extinct,” she drawled.
“True. Normally, humans can’t tell a shifter from a human. Then again, humans can’t tell a human from an alien, so awareness is not down to a science with humans, or shifters. Sometimes shifters can be confused by a human if her mate is a shifter.”
Aliens? One thing at a time.
Carlin knew she shouldn’t ask her next question, but she did. “You think I’m mated to a shifter?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh God, Balor isn’t... He can’t be my…”
“No, not him. Me.”
“You realize the second we find society I’m having myself committed?”
“Duly noted.”
The sun almost blinded her as they came to the opening of the mine shaft. Carlin gazed way up into the handsome face of her savior. His voice matched his looks. Sexy as hell. Muscular, dark-haired, brown-eyed, a rugged god. He was the most perfect male she had ever seen. He offered her a beautiful grin, making her heart flutter.
Her breathing became labored for a new reason. He’s my mate? Sign me up.
“I think I’ll skip an asylum for an altar,” she said.
Tarvor cupped her chin and studied her features. “Hey, you’re cute.”
Carlin groaned, realizing it was his first real look at her. A sexy god told her she was cute, how quaint. She wondered if he’d changed his mind. He continued to study her, and his gaze went from her feet to her head and back down to linger on her small breasts. Carlin was sensitive to her lack of breast and booty, but Tarvor’s smirk was bright enough to show her he enjoyed what he saw.
“I need to get you somewhere safe,” Tarvor said, and they were on the move. “Balor will try for you again.”
“Do people really shift into mice?”
“No, people don’t, but a real shifter can, and a mouse shifter is very rare.”
“That’s why Balor wants me?”
“I’m afraid so, and when he discovers you can’t shift the consequences will be…”
“What?”
“Unpleasant.”
“How unpleasant?” she asked.
“Let’s just say he’ll have sand in his vagina.”
“What?”
“His cock will be two inches shy of a full boner.”
“Huh?”
“He’ll be pissed.”
“He wouldn’t kill me?”
“He would try. But I won’t let that happen. No mealy-mouthed, apoplectic curmudgeon will touch my mate.”
His possessive tone surprised her. As though he meant what he said. His grip on her hand was strong but not painful. Tarvor led her deeper into the woods. Carlin was as lost as she had been before, except there was no fear. She debated whether she should yank her hand free. Exchanging four shifters who want
ed her to steal for one shifter who decided she was his mate was close to being out of the frying pan and hovering over the fire.
Carlin heard the deep-throated growl of a cougar. She clutched Tarvor’s hand harder and felt the blood drain from her face. She reminded herself Balor told her she was in a shifter forest. It was better to stay with a shifter.
“It’s all right,” Tarvor soothed. “You’re safe with me. I know this is strange for you. It’s wacked out for me too. A human mate? Never saw that coming.”
“Um, hello, an extinct bear for a husband. Never saw that coming either.”
Tarvor chuckled.
“Sorry, I’m not normally a wimp, but finding out there are shifters and being kidnapped could put a pallor on anyone’s mood.”
His hand was big and warm on her flesh as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer for a squeeze before releasing her. His stride was long. Soon she was slightly trailing him, and she noted the broad span of his back. His hips, snug in his jeans, gave her a delicious view of a perfect ass. Carlin felt a sigh coming on, but she held it back. Just because he said she was his mate didn’t make it true. There was no reason to believe him, even though she thought it would be wonderful if he held her hand again. His full lips would draw anyone into wanting a kiss.
It’s perfectly natural to be interested in a sexy god, no matter the circumstance.
As though he knew she was checking him out, Tarvor smiled back at her. The blood having once drained from her cheeks crashed back with a vengeance.
“The attraction is mutual.”
“What?” Carlin gulped.
“I can feel your desire building. You may or may not know this, but you’re beginning to sense I’m your mate. At least your body does, even if your mind is fighting the notion tooth and nail. The pull of attraction should grow stronger, my lineage goes back millions of ancient years.”
“But how is that possible if you’re a bear and I’m human?”
“I’m a shifter, I am human and bear. Which makes me both or neither. In our line’s beginning there was no need to take a human form. It wasn’t necessary. It was also unheard of. Then when the first humans evolved the need to hide in human form grew or we would be killed off or die out.”
“Well, you did. I mean the world thinks you did.”
“There are parts of the world unexplored. You can find us in Russia if you can bear remote areas, no pun intended. All shifters keep a low profile, and the extinct species try to keep no profile. I was thinking my mate would be a shifter, probably Kodiak or grizzly, but you’re much better. My line will continue to be pure, our cubs strong. In my line of work that would be for the best. There is no one or nothing more unstoppable than a short-faced bear on any continent.”
Something clicked in Carlin. “Wait a minute, are you saying I’ll have baby bears?”
“My line is unique that a cub won’t shift until he or she feels a huge respect for his or her mother. It’s a bred-in safety feature. When the cub’s father is around the transition usually occurs early—maybe four or five years, sometimes younger.”
“Wonderful,” she huffed. “I feel strange, and I don’t know if it’s in a good way.”
Tarvor stopped. He shifted into bear form, standing six feet at the shoulder on all fours. Carlin merely gazed up at him. There was no fear. She reached to smooth her hand down the side of his furry face.
“Where are your clothes?”
“I’d look pretty silly with clothes on.”
Carlin pictured Balor with ripped minion boxers and giggled. “Balor had clothes.”
“Balor and his idiots were forced from the shifter society. In the shifter society we’re given certain perks, and one is the access to specialized shifter gear, clothing. A friend in the military developed it in a science lab, and we are forever grateful. The specialized cloth not only stretches to accommodate our shifter form it also fades until invisible. But the clothes wear out like any other clothes and need to be replaced. Balor and his brood can’t replace their clothing, except from a store. Can you imagine how hard it is to find underwear for a Kodiak?
Tarvor shifted back. He was clothed again.
“I bet Balor stayed in shifter form while in the forest,” he guessed.
Carlin nodded.
“It’s because he’s not welcome here. I’m guessing he was hoping with so many shifters I’d be confused. What he doesn’t understand is mates can find each other anywhere. I highly doubt Balor or the others will find a true mate. If they take a human callously and reproduce, a child shifter can spend a great deal of time in terror of the unknown. Think about it—if you suddenly shifted into a wolf one night, what would you do?”
Carlin blinked in horror. “That happens?”
“Unfortunately. The luckier ones are drawn here, but because their parent is an outcast the pull isn’t as great. I’ve found a few and saved them from blowing their brains out. It’s one of the reasons I have to stop Balor and his brood. Except for Patch, we are age mates, a shifter term meaning the same age. Patch will never mate. I scented the others have no mates the same time I scented you. They must sense it too, at least now. That means trouble for all females.”
“How cruel.”
“Now you know why I have to get you to safety. If Balor cares nothing for blood, he won’t care if he spills yours.”
Chapter 4
Tarvor slipped Carlin’s hand into his again as she lagged behind. The eyes of the forest were on them. Assessing, sizing them up. The mouse and the bounty hunter. Would it work?
The deeper into the foliage he led her the more certain those around knew they were meant to be. His inner shifter sensed the tension expel. After all, Tarvor attacked four shifters for a human. Balor was an ass and unwanted, but a human was simply a human—unless she was a shifter mate. Mate trumps an unwanted shifter tenfold.
There was something about Carlin that Tarvor couldn’t put his finger on. His little mate had too many scents on her. The stench of Balor lingered. I know every place that malevolent manure miscreant touched her. What Balor had scented wasn’t that Carlin was a shifter, but that she belonged to a shifter. Tarvor was lucky to get her away. Balor and his men might have decided she was meant for them.
When Tarvor glanced back at her emotion gripped him. He had a mate. The longer they were together the stronger the pull was to get her to safety. Her lively, light gray eyes were beautiful when single rays of sun hit just right. The sheen of her dark blonde hair was riddled with lively highlights. She was small, but her character was strong; it had to be. Introduced to shifters in the foulest way, kidnapped, hunted, then plunged into darkness and informed she was his mate. Well, she could have done worse. Carlin offered him a tiny smile when she caught him grinning at her.
Tarvor had the love of his great-granddad until he was seven. The man was sharp. For years Tarvor hung onto his every legend, his Bible of shifter words. Granddad loved life and knew when his time was coming to an end. He had pulled Tarvor aside and told him he would be a great benefit to the shifters. Their line of bounty hunters, protectors to their shifter race, was a necessity. He would be in need of a strong mate.
A blue jay called. Sentinels of the forest, the bird indicated Tarvor had entered bear country. They would be safe soon, safe to explore what and who they were meant to be with one another.
Tarvor stopped when they reached the cave entrance. He cupped Carlin’s chin. There was no mistaking flesh on flesh, the ache to be with her grew stronger and made his belly flip. A new and strange feeling.
“Don’t be afraid,” Tarvor said.
“I’m not. I really am fine. I’m used to caves. I like them.”
Tarvor should have known. “Stay close.”
“Honey, if I get any closer you’ll be sweating for me.”
Tarvor chuckled. He knew what she meant wasn’t sexual, but that didn’t mean his cock didn’t jump at the innocent, seductive reference. Her sweet gaze was trusting. Ta
rvor wanted to roar, but with the acoustics in the cave he might render her deaf.
“Welcome home.”
The smile that split her face and exploded onto her features was a gift. Tarvor actually felt his legs begin to buckle before he caught himself. The female before him was indeed strong. She’d almost brought a short-faced bear to his knees, and Tarvor couldn’t have been happier. Smiling, they entered the cave.
* * * *
Carlin could practically taste the ancient presence in the cave Tarvor led her through. She knew this place. Her thoughts spiraled back to when she was a child trailing her father on archeological digs. Her heart began to pound. The twisting and turns within the cave went deeper than she was privy to in her early years. Tarvor followed a trail only he knew.
“Your kind lived in these caves?”
“Yes. There are so many caverns yet to be explored by humans. They may or may not understand what they have discovered is the tip of the iceberg. Some caves are blocked on purpose. With a massive rock in a human’s way they won’t use dynamite inside the mountain. With my strength the push of a heavy paw can move almost anything.”
“Where does the light come from?”
“Fluorescents occur within some caves. Archeologists haven’t come this far as yet, and I doubt they will unless the cave collapses from an earthquake. I doubt that will happen either.”
“Where is your family?” she asked.
“We recently lost my grandfather, but my parents are in Europe. My father is a bounty hunter for that region. When I was old enough I was sent here to explore with my grandfather every summer. I was meant to take over this territory for him. It’s mine now. I miss him. He was a smart man, just like my great-granddad was. He passed when I was seven. I was heartbroken. I still see my parents as often as possible. They’re going to love you.”
Carlin reached to caress the necklace under her shirt. She had been to Europe on digs. She had found a very special artifact on the dig in Europe, her pendant. At the moment there was no warning warmth emitting from the artifact.
“Where are your parents?” Tarvor asked.
Untamed Shifter Love Page 2
