The Bear Shifter's Baby

by Jasmine Wylder

  “Good morning, Atticus,” he greeted.

  Atticus turned from where he’d been staring off into the distance to see Dominic, hunched against the morning dampness, his hands buried deep into the pockets of his jacket.

  “It’s quite early,” Atticus answered. “Is everything ok?”

  Dominic stood on the steps of the covered porch, unsure of what exactly to say. How was he supposed to tell Atticus he couldn’t act as Olivia’s bodyguard without telling him it was because he wanted her body to himself?

  “I think that Olivia should stay with someone else,” he told the man.

  Slowly, Atticus took another puff on his pipe and looked hard at Dominic as if trying to read his mind.

  “Is there a problem?”

  Under any other circumstances, the prince never had a problem talking to Atticus. He was the Alpha and while there was no choice but to listen to him, Dominic had royal blood and never felt dominated or intimidated by anyone. But he felt as if what he’d done with Olivia was written all over his face and he couldn’t meet her father’s eyes.

  “No,” he paused to search for an excuse. “I just think I could be of more use doing something else for the pack. Patrolling the woods at night or something.”

  “Do you think that protecting my daughter isn’t important enough?”

  Dominic shook his head. That wasn’t it at all. In fact, Atticus had no idea how important Dominic felt protecting Olivia. The thought of anything happening to her made him sick to his stomach. He wanted her to stay safe and he wished that he could be the wolf to do it, but he couldn’t separate the need to protect her from the need for her. But that wasn’t something he could tell Atticus.

  “No, it is extremely important to protect her,” Dominic said seriously. “I just know I’m quick and strong and would be of good use on the front lines of an attack if there were to be one.”

  Atticus nodded, Dominic knew that his argument made sense. He held his breath while Atticus debated the request.

  “Our pack may be small and not all of us are as young or as strong as we used to be, but there’s still plenty of wolves to defend against an attack. The only one who can’t defend herself would be Olivia.”

  Dominic knew that was true because she was the only one of the pack that couldn’t shift.

  “Then wouldn’t it have been a better idea to keep her in school away from all of this?” he questioned.

  “If she was safer in school I would have left her there. But these murderers know who is in the packs and too many stories have come out that wolves who live on their own have been slaughtered on their own. She’s safer here where she can be taken care of.”

  Dominic hadn’t known about the attacks on solo wolves, but there still had to be a better way. He opened his mouth to say something but Atticus cut him off.

  “She’s safer with you.”

  There was nothing more that Dominic could say, the conversation was closed. He’d have to find a way to stay away from Olivia while still keeping her tucked safely away with him.

  Chapter Ten

  Olivia

  When Olivia woke up in the morning, her body entire body was sore and drained with exhaustion. Even her toes needed stretching out as she lay under the covers, her body still naked, and she tried to sort in her mind what had happened the night before.

  It wasn’t as if it was the only time she had snuck out of the house late in the night and found herself hooking up with a guy she thought was cute. It didn’t happen often but sometimes those walks through the night with a guy she had a crush on had ended up more physical than just a walk. But never in her life had she had sex like she’d had the night before.

  Her body was clearly still recovering from the intensity, the sheer passion that had torn through them both. It had been hard to even know what had come over her, it was like her body hadn’t been hers. She’d given into the pure lust she’d felt for him, some animalistic being inside of her that had turned her brain into mush and all she had felt was the burning inside of her. She had wanted him, she had needed, and when they ripped each other’s clothes off, she had taken him.

  A smiled lightly played at her lips at the memory of his tongue licking the wetness between her legs and she knew she’d never experienced anything like that before with a man.

  Then again, she’d never been with shifter before. Regular humans lived in town not that far away from her own pack, and that had allowed her to choose plenty of dating options that didn’t consist of shifters. Maybe the intensity that she’d experienced with him was normal when hooking-up with a shifter. Though her body felt spent, her mind was racing on a track too fast for her to be able to keep up.

  Through her teens years she’d dated different boys she’d met in her town as well as some in the neighboring towns, but Olivia had always been careful to stay far away from any of the boys that were in the pack. Some girls had found their perfect soft hair, burning eyes, and impossibly muscular bodies to be an insane turn-on, Olivia wanted nothing to do with dating a shifter. Those girls made conquests of dating those boys whereas Olivia had always made it a conquest to find boys that were completely opposite of what she knew.

  There was nothing wrong with dating a shifter, but it was already hard enough to live in a pack where she was the only one without the ability. There was also the reality that being unable to shift in a world full of shifters was what had gotten her mother killed and that was a fate that Olivia wanted to stay far away from. It still tore at her at night as she wondered what may have happened to her mother in that fight, had she been able to protect herself. But there was no use letting her mind wander down that path at the moment, she had other things that she needed to figure out.

  Like why she had spent her whole dating life staying as far away from shifters as she could, just to jump at the first one she’d had an attraction to. Of course, she’d never known an attraction like she had with Dominic. That felt like something new entirely and Olivia wasn’t sure how to handle it. Stretching some more in the empty bed, she tried to lay her feelings out for herself in an attempt to get them straightened out.

  Dominic was attractive. Not just attractive actually, but hot with a clearly raw sexuality that drove Olivia wild. But he also annoyed her completely with his abrasive personality and his rude way he acted as if he was better than her. So what if he was a prince? As if a prince who had been sent away to a small pack to be a guard was anything to be impressed about. She was the daughter of an Alpha, if there was anyone who should be bowing down it should be he who knelt at her feet.

  There was another part about him, though, one that she wasn’t sure upset her or made her more intrigued by him. It was something dark, a shadow that lived behind his warm amber eyes that told her he held a past that still chased after him. It was obvious he had done something to get himself sent to her pack, it wasn’t as if princes were sent away from their castles every day, but whatever it was, it still ate at him.

  In the midst of her thoughts she heard the heavy front door of the cabin scrape open and then close quietly. She didn’t know where Dominic had gone but she had better get up because he was back. Slipping on a t-shirt and panties, she walked out into the living room where Dominic was sitting on the couch, his head in his hands.

  “Hi, you,” she greeted him, her voice soft and relaxed.

  “Olivia,” he greeted her more sternly.

  She crossed her arms in front of her chest, suddenly feeling a little unsure of herself.

  “I’m starving,” she tried again. “Should I make us some breakfast?”

  Dominic shook his head.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  He hadn’t even turned to look at her but she felt suddenly exposed. More exposed than when she had been lying naked underneath the strength of his body.

  “Alright, well, the rain seems to have subsided. We could go do something today.” Her voice had lost its soft comfort and had become shakier.

  “You’ll b
e spending the day inside. I’ll be outside, patrolling the grounds. Once it becomes dark I’ll come back and do as Atticus has ordered me to do.”

  A flash of anger surged through her, “You’re really planning on just leaving me here today? Alone?”

  Dominic stood and turned toward her but wouldn’t look her in the eyes. “The danger hits at night, I’ll be back before then. There’s a meeting at Atticus’ today so I’ll be there for part of the day. As long as you stay put and don’t go wandering around, you’ll be just fine. There will be no reason to be scared.”

  “Scared? Is that what you think? That I’m scared of being left alone?” Clearly Dominic didn’t know the first thing about her and the strong-will that she possessed. Being scared was the last thing on her mind. In fact, she felt the whole business about her being baby-sat by a banished prince was ridiculous.

  For a flash his eyes met hers before he broke their stare. Her tiny hands bawled into fists as his attitude frustrated her further.

  “So, if you’re not scared to be alone, then it shouldn’t be a problem if you stay here.” It wasn’t a question that he was asking but a statement which he planned to bait her with.

  “Of course I’m not scared! But you’re just going to leave me here as if nothing happened last night? As if I suddenly mean nothing? Or do you sleep with all the girls and leave them like this?”

  Dominic opened his mouth and Olivia waited for his smart remark. If he was going to give her attitude, then she was going to give him a fight.

  “Olivia, I’m not going to do this with you. I’m going to leave for the day. I’ll see you tonight.”

  He turned and walked toward the front door and Olivia felt her heart race. She didn’t want him to leave her there, she didn’t want him to leave her at all. But it was clear that after all of her thinking about him that morning, she was obviously wrong about him. He wasn’t at all the dark, sexy, interesting prince that she thought he was. Instead he was nothing more than a ‘love them and leave them’ kind of man.

  As much as she admits she didn’t know much about him, it was clear that he certainly didn’t know her. If Dominic thought that a locked door was going to keep her inside all day and away from the action of what was going on around them, he was sorely mistaken. Maybe she shouldn’t have gotten mixed up with a jerk like him, but he shouldn’t have gotten involved with a determined girl like her.

  He left her there in the living room, her t-shirt skimming her bare legs. He had resisted her with no temptation in his face at all. The door clicked with a lock behind him and she stomped her foot on the wooden ground like a child throwing a temper-tantrum. She’d show him that she didn’t need him and that she wasn’t afraid of whatever was going on. Olivia could take care of herself and once she heard what the meeting was all about and learned the details that no one wanted to share with her, she’d show both Atticus and Dominic that she didn’t need a man or wolf to baby-sit her. With that thought, she turned on her heel and went to the bedroom to get cleaned up so she could get on with her plan.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dominic

  It wasn’t necessary to turn and see how unbelievable Olivia looked when she walked out of the bedroom; her smooth bare legs leading teasingly to what her t-shirt was barely covering up. He saw enough out of the corner of his eye that Dominic knew if he turned to look at her fully, there’d be no way he could stop himself from wanting her.

  But that was exactly what he was going to have to do. Atticus wasn’t going to release him of his duty of protecting Olivia, and with that soft silky tone in her voice, she wasn’t going to let him off easily either. It was going to be up to Dominic to stop anything more from happening. Just the scent of her in the room was enough to rile his wolf inside. He took deep breaths as he sat on the couch trying to clear his mind and calm his insides.

  When that didn’t work and seemed to only make things worse, he had made that excuse about being gone for the day to patrol. He had heard that there was going to be a meeting at Atticus’ but Dominic hadn’t exactly been invited to attend. Instead, he’d heard a couple of men in the pack talking about it that morning on his way back to his own cabin. It was the perfect way to get out of Olivia’ presence without making it obvious. The bit about needing to patrol the woods had just been to be extra cautious. By the time he came back, he hoped he’d be so exhausted that she would just leave him alone for the night.

  But what was he to do tomorrow? And the next day? How was he supposed to continually avoid her when his main job was to protect her?

  With his mind made up to leave for the day, Dominic had stood and caught his first full sight of her for the day. Her mussed hair, the little bit of redness on her chin and cheeks from the stubble that had rubbed her raw the night before while they kissed. And as he had suspected from that first glimpse he’d gotten of her, that tiny t-shirt that barely covered her, was a sight that no man or wolf could ignore.

  It took every bit of strength to look away from her before they had a repeat performance of the night before.

  Before he could escape from her and make it to the door, her words cut through him like a knife. He couldn’t fight her, he couldn’t find the strength in him to lie, but he wasn’t able to tell her the truth either. As much as he wanted to push her away to ensure he doesn’t ruin his last chance of being in a pack, he hated the tone in her voice. The words that came out like venom. She meant nothing to him and he was just going to love her and leave her like the others. That was how it’d been with the others, but it was the hurt in her voice that was killing him. Loving and leaving was the last thing he wanted to do to her. In fact, if he wasn’t risking everything, he’d have loved her right there again in the middle of the living room.

  But that wasn’t an option, not unless he wanted to be removed from the pack and sent off to live the rest of his life as a lone wolf. Instead of arguing with her, which would have been completely useless, he left the cabin and let himself shift out in the woods. Being around Olivia was far too much for him to handle and the only way to breathe was to be wolf. The other way to breathe was to be with her, but that was not an option, so he’d have to settle for sending himself out on his own.

  Rather like a lone wolf anyway.

  Dominic didn’t stray far and kept close to the cabins, he told himself it was in order to see when the other pack members were going to Atticus’, but he knew the real reason was he wanted to make sure that Olivia was alright in the cabin. Though he had told her that the dangers only lurked at night, he couldn’t have been positive about that fact. There was nothing that he wanted less than to have anything happen to Olivia, and not just because Atticus was counting on him.

  When he saw the other men going towards Atticus’ cabin, Dominic shifted and dressed from the clothes in his pack and followed them inside. If Atticus was surprised to see Dominic walking into his own cabin instead of glued to Olivia’s side protecting her, he hid it well and didn’t say a word. It was only fair, Dominic figured, that he be kept informed of what was going on if he was part of the protection.

  “I’m glad you’ve all came so I can keep you up to date on what has been happening.”

  When Atticus’ voice cut through the chatter of the other men, they quieted instantly to listen to his words.

  “As you all know, these attacks have been getting more gruesome as they have gone on and there have been many rumors about what exactly is going on. Well, I’ve got it in great confidence that we now know who is behind them and how they take place.”

  Dominic stood by a window in the living room, in perfect position to catch a glimpse of his own cabin and make sure that no one was anywhere near Olivia.

  “I had a visitor— a survivor of one of the packs. He was badly hurt, almost didn’t make it through, but as soon as he regained his strength he made it a mission to warn other packs in the hopes of sparing lives. He came to me last night and has already begun traveling again.”

  It was so silent in t
he cabin that Dominic could have heard a mouse crawl as the shifters held their breath and waited to hear what he was going to say next.

  “We were right in our assumptions. The attacks are being done by poachers, but it’s not just one group. It seems there is an underground competition happening, the group of poachers get the biggest catch by causing the most destruction to a pack. Each group has one chance to attack a pack. As it goes on, the poaching groups get better at attacking, devising more elaborate plans to strike each time. No group has been able to kill the Alpha family but apparently that is worth a great deal in the competition. They come in the night and pillage the packs. They stop at absolutely nothing.”

  Dominic could feel a shiver run through his body. Capturing not only the Alpha but the family was the goal, so Atticus had been right; Olivia was in great danger.

  “At no time are any of us to let our guard down until we find a way to put an end to this. Is that clear?”

  Atticus’ voice was stern and each of the men mumbled that they were clear on the direction. Even for a pack that consisted solely of the biggest and strongest men in the kingdom, they were all feeling unsure and nervous over what was happening.

  “This is our pack and I have no intention of losing it to disgusting humans who are using our deaths as a sport. If and when there is an attack made on us, we are to stop at nothing to keep ourselves safe.”

  He looked at each of the men one by one, stopping a second longer on Dominic than the rest of them. Shifters held a very strict rule to never kill a human, but Atticus was telling them that rule was off. They were to do whatever they had to in order to keep them safe.

  “The pack comes first, all of us. Am I making myself clear to everyone?”

  Again, each of the men agreed with the Alpha’s words.

  “Good. Make sure that at night fall you are all in your cabins and are ready to fight at a moment’s notice.”

  The pack took turns asking whatever questions came to mind, but Dominic wasn’t listening too much. He was feeling sick to his stomach and wanted to make sure that Olivia was alright. He’d deal with his inner wolf pacing and find a way to keep himself in check if it meant he could keep her safe.