by Marla Monroe
Looking out the window behind the edge of the curtain, he saw Eason’s big four-wheel drive pull around from the front of the hotel. It eased down the lot before parking two doors down and cutting the engine.
“It’s them. They should be knocking in a minute,” he told the others.
As he watched the two bears climb out of the truck, Creed stood up from the couch and stretched. His brother’s power flared slightly around him. It took him by surprise. Turning around, he noticed that his bear had moved closer to the surface, filling Creed’s eyes with a honey-gold glow.
“Creed?”
“Brother Bear doesn’t like another male being around our mate while the bond isn’t secure.” Creed shrugged.
“Crap,” Shayne said. “We don’t need this right now, Creed.”
“Tell me your bear isn’t putting up a fuss at the thought of those two coming in right now,” Creed snapped.
Shayne relaxed and thought about it. He could feel the unease in the pit of his stomach, but his bear wasn’t gnawing at him to get out. Instead, the wily ole beast was watching and waiting.
For what?
Brother will take care of this.
Shayne smiled, looking at his brother. “Seems that my bear is letting you handle this one. He’ll take the next one.”
He heard a snort and turned to see Serenity stand up with a disgusted look on her face. She obviously wasn’t one of the females who enjoyed seeing males fight over her. He frowned. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for Shayne to let Creed handle this one after all.
* * * *
What was it with males that they had to beat their chests and proclaim their testosterone was thicker than everyone else’s? She wasn’t meant to fight over. Serenity sighed and walked around Creed and his growly breathing. She didn’t need this. It was one of the reasons she didn’t think agreeing to their mating was a good reason. Of course her lynx had an entirely different opinion on the matter and didn’t mind making it known to her.
“This is ridiculous,” she snarled at the two men.
Before either of them knew what she was going to do, Serenity threw open the door to two very startled bears who took a step back when she did. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the odd male with rich brown eyes and the most unusual hair she’d ever seen. Instead of dark brown or deep black strands, this one’s hair was multicolored all over. The variegated strands hung just past his shoulders and weren’t like anything she’d ever seen before. There was no way this one could ever have been mistaken as anything but other, shifter. Humans didn’t get hair like that. Not even from a bottle.
The other male with him had the darkest brown hair that couldn’t be mistaken for black that she’d ever seen. His eyes had the liquid quality of dark chocolate syrup without a hint of laughter showing. Both of these bears were solemn and controlled as if they’d purposefully locked themselves down. Maybe they had. They were coming to meet their Ursus and Zashchita’s mate for the first time and had probably guessed that the mating wouldn’t have been completed yet with trouble brewing. She sighed.
“Come in. Don’t mind the homicidal bear standing behind me. He isn’t going to hurt you because he knows I’ll walk if he does.” She added that last bit a little louder and firmer for Creed’s benefit.
She thought she saw the second bear’s lips twitch as he walked into the room, but it could have just been a fluke. As both he and the first bear stepped into the room, closing the door behind them, she walked over to where Wren had retreated near the fridge. The other female looked almost sick. Maybe she didn’t like being among so many dominant male shifters either. She sure didn’t like it.
When she looked back at where the four bears were still standing by the door, she realized that the two new bears weren’t even looking at Creed and Shayne. They were looking at them. A low growl erupted from Wren. She bared her teeth at the four bears across the room. Before Serenity could ask her if she was okay, the female wild dog stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
“What’s wrong with her?” Shayne asked, the puzzled expression on his face almost comical.
“I don’t think she likes being in the middle of a group of dominant males any more than I do. Add to that the fact that Creed is all but beating his chest and all four of you are bears, I don’t blame her for putting some space between you,” she said with a laugh.
Creed drew himself up to his full height and glared at her. She didn’t lower her eyes, despite the danger in defying him. She was a feline and didn’t follow directions if it didn’t suit her. It didn’t suit her right then. Instead, she sauntered up to stand between the two new shifters who looked far from happy to have her there. They both stepped to the side, placing plenty of room between her and them.
“Why don’t you introduce me to your den brothers?” she asked, letting her voice go deep and throaty.
“You’re playing with fire, Serenity,” Shayne said in a hushed voice.
“Serenity?” the variegated-haired bear asked. “Her parents seriously named her Serenity?”
Creed growled much louder than before while she fought not to burst out laughing. She totally agreed. Her mother shouldn’t have given her that name. She had never been serene in her life.
When Creed took a step toward the other male, she stepped in front of him. “Stop it, Creed. I’m about as far from a Serenity as you are from Teddy. Now suck it up and tell me what the plan is, or I’m going to leave with Wren and her brother when he gets here.”
“No,” Creed said in a gravelly voice.
“Then straighten up.” She turned to face the other two males who, though their heads were still held high, their eyes had been averted. “I’m Serenity Jones. I’m sure you can tell that I’m a cat shifter. I’m a lynx.”
Shayne took up there. “This is Warren and Eason.” He pointed to first the one with the amazing multicolored hair then the slightly shorter one with deep shade of brown hair.
She held out her hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
When neither bear reached to shake her hand, Serenity sighed and glared over her shoulder at Creed. What was she going to do? Serenity had no doubt that she was stuck with the two bears for mates, but nothing said she had to stay with them if she didn’t want to. It might hurt and cause a lot of stress for her cat, but if Creed was going to be like this, she would rather live with that misery than to deal with someone like him.
“Creed. Calm down. She isn’t looking at Warren or Eason as potential mates. All you’re doing is pushing her away with the attitude,” Shayne said, gripping his brother’s shoulder.
Serenity didn’t think there was anything that would calm the big brute down. Her lynx disagreed. She listened to the whispers of the cat in her head and shrugged. It was worth a try. She wanted to go home, and as long as Creed was acting like this, they weren’t getting anywhere. She walked slowly toward him, his eyes jerking from the two bears to focus on her. His brown eyes followed her like a tractor beam as she eased closer to him. As soon as she was within touching distance, Creed turned his eyes back to the two bears at the same time he reached out and grabbed Serenity, hauling her next to him in a gentle yet unrelenting grip. There was no getting out of his hands now. Maybe she’d made a mistake.
“Mine,” he grumbled in his chest.
“Mine too, Creed. Ours,” Shayne said, slipping up next to her so that she was sandwiched between them.
Creed changed the “mine” to “ours” and reiterated it with the two bears once again. They didn’t argue, nor did they say anything else. Both of them seemed completely fine with that proclamation. While Serenity wasn’t, she let it go. She’d pick her battles, and with there being four huge male bears in the room and her in between, that time was not now.
“What’s the plan to get out of here?” she asked.
Creed nodded at the two new arrivals before clasping her hand in his and pulling her toward the loveseat. He sat then pulled her onto his lap as Shayne sat n
ext to him. It was a tight fit.
“We’re going to take the truck Eason and Warren drove here in and drive home. When we are close to town, you will stay down until we’re safe inside of the garage where no one can see you,” Creed told her. His voice slowly reverted back to his normally deep tone as he spoke.
“What about them? How are they going to get back? If they show up at your place in that truck, it might tip the hunters off. They saw you leave in that truck and might put two and two together,” she pointed out.
“We’re going to park it somewhere for a few days until the coast is clear,” Warren said.
She didn’t see where they had much choice, but the truck looked expensive. She was worried something would happen to it and it would be her fault, but Serenity didn’t have a better idea.
A knock at the door made Serenity jump. She hadn’t heard a car pull up or sense anyone near. She’d been so wrapped up in the issue with the hunter and her own problems with being mated to two bears that she’d relaxed her normally astute senses. None of the bears seemed worried, though. She watched as Warren stood from the chair he’d sat in and walked over to the door. While he didn’t exactly throw it wide open, he didn’t hesitate much once he got there.
Creed’s arm wrapped around her waist, securing her to his lap. He didn’t feel tense exactly, but she could tell he didn’t want her to leave his embrace. They must have sensed whoever it was as another shifter.
Sure enough, a tall, thin, dirty blond shifter walked into the room, his eyes moving from one male to the next before he settled himself with his back to the corner behind the door and crossed his arms.
“Where’s my sister?”
“Mojave! I told you they were fine. Don’t go insulting them before you get to know them.” Wren walked out of the bathroom directly to her brother.
Serenity noted that she carefully avoided looking in their direction, though. What had spooked her when she’d been fearless earlier? The wild dog glared at her brother but didn’t let her gaze rest on any of the other males in the room. Instead, when she looked over in their direction, she focused on Serenity.
“They can’t just leave an expensive truck out in the open somewhere or it will get stolen. Besides, if they recognize the truck, all they have to do is run a check on the license plate to find out who they are and where they live,” Wren pointed out. She still didn’t look at any of the bears.
“What other choice do they have?” Serenity asked, already catching on to Wren’s thought process. She wanted her brother to offer them a place to hide the truck.
Evidently her brother had figured it out, too, but he didn’t like it. He glared at his sister then sighed. “They can park the truck at my garage. There’s room.”
“Thanks, Mojave,” Wren said before nodding at Serenity. “We better go.”
“Are you sure? We don’t want to cause your pack any trouble. Your sister has already put herself in danger by warning Serenity,” Creed said.
“We can handle ourselves. If it wasn’t Serenity, it would have been another shifter, maybe Wren. You can follow me,” the other shifter said.
“There’s enough room in Eason’s truck for all of us. Once we drop off mine, we’ll all return home in his. We’ll duck down once we get close in case someone is watching either house,” Creed added.
It didn’t take long at all to load everything into the big four-wheel drive. The back had a cover, so all of the groceries would be safe back there. Before she cl into cab of the truck, she thanked Wren for her help, then watched as the other shifter hurried around the bears standing between the two trucks to get into her brother’s truck. Serenity couldn’t help but wonder why she’d been so freaked out by Warren and Eason. She’d been fine with Creed and Shayne. They were much scarier than the other two bears. Maybe, like she’d first thought, it had been too many big males in one room.
Creed ushered her out of the room with Shayne following behind her. They all got into the big new truck Warren and Eason had driven in. The other two bears took the black truck. There was plenty of room in the big four-wheel drive so that she didn’t feel as if she were squashed between the two big males. Even so, her nerves were already strung tight from being on the Rouge Hunters’ radar. That was bad—real bad.
A chill ran down her spine as it finally sank in that she’d been identified by them for extermination. Why? She’d done nothing to bring attention to herself. She kept a low profile and stayed away from humans anyway except when she needed supplies. It didn’t make sense.
Shaking her head, Serenity fought hard to find some of the calm that her mom thought she’d gifted her with when she’d named her. It wasn’t happening though. Panic amped up her heartbeat, tightening her throat until she started making odd whining sounds. This was not like her. She didn’t lose it like this.
“Easy, honey,” Creed told her, losing his hold on the steering wheel to take her hand in his.
Shayne squeezed her knee before leaning closer to kiss the outer corner of her eye with the lightest of kisses.
“Shhh. It will be fine, Serenity. We won’t let anything happen to you,” he said. “It’s been a long day. As soon as we get back to the den, we’ll settle you down to take a nap.”
“I don’t understand what’s wrong with me. I’m never like this. I don’t get shaky or terrified like this,” she said.
“You’ve had too much happen in a short period of time, Serenity. We’d just claimed you to be our mate, then you find out that you have hunters after you as well. That’s a lot to deal with in one day. I’m sorry,” Creed told her.
She felt his sincerity, and, despite that she didn’t want to be anyone’s mate right then, she appreciated that he had offered his apologies for adding to the ordeal.
“It’s okay. Nature has a way of blindsiding you when she wants to.” Serenity blew out a breath. “I just wanted to be allowed to make my own choices.”
“No one is forcing you, Serenity,” Shayne all but whispered next to her.
“Having a fated mate, or mates in this case, is the same as force. I can’t change how my lynx feels or how your bears feel. At least I didn’t have to end up with some asshole that would try to keep me under his thumb.” She realized she’d accepted her fate and just confessed as much to the two bears on either side of her. To their credit, they didn’t give a loud whoop of triumph.
They soon reached the outskirts of the Talmadge community where she bought her supplies and where Wren and Mojave seemed to make their home. She wondered how many wild dogs lived in their pack. Then she wondered if the other woman would mind if she called and talked to her sometime. It had hit her as they had sped away from danger earlier that day that she didn’t have any friends to talk to. If she was going to be mated to two bears, she would need a female’s prospective at times, and just maybe she could count the other shifter as a friend. Serenity had a feeling that having a friend during her transition from lone lynx to the status of a mated female was going to be a rocky one. Having a wild dog female sympathizer on her side could help keep her out of trouble.
I have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.
Chapter Seven
They drove around the back of a large brick building that had multiple pull-down garage-type doors on it. A high fence enveloped the entire area, but someone opened it as soon as they drove up, closing it behind them. Serenity stilled her nerves that ran up and down the skin of her arms like an army of ants. They weren’t her enemies. They were helping them. As a rule, dogs and cats didn’t get along, but they were shifters and alliances had been formed in the past for the sake of their existence. She could do this. Wren had gone out of her way to warn her of danger, putting herself in the line of fire in the process.
Wren and her brother pulled off to one side, Mojave waving them inside one of the bays with a long muscled arm out his window. Once they’d parked, the rolling doors slammed down, causing her to jump between the two bears. Immediately Shayne sett
led a calming hand along her shoulder, rubbing over it and down her arm in a light caress. She couldn’t stop her smile of appreciation.
“It’s okay. We can trust them. I’m very good at reading people and these African Wild Dogs are good shifters.” Shayne smiled back at her.
Before she could reply, both doors of the truck were opened for them to climb out. Well, the bears stepped out while she had to climb out with Shayne’s assistance. Looking around, she realized there were five of the wild dogs in the bay including Wren and Mojave. He walked over with his sister on his heels.
“Your truck will be safe here for as long as is necessary. I would like to set aside some time as soon as possible to talk about the situation that has developed here. I understand that you are new to the area and setting up your sleuth with several male members. I think it would be to all of our advantages to work together and develop a relationship to ensure all of our protection. The hunters are not going away,” Mojave said.
“You have more information on these hunters?” Creed asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Serenity couldn’t stop herself from poking him in the arm. Hello, talk about closed-off body language. He needed to relax if he wanted cooperation. Creed looked down at her with a puzzled frown. She pulled at the crook of his arm until he uncrossed them. When he did, she smiled and clasped his hand in hers to keep him from doing it again. As a result, Shayne claimed her other hand with a mischievous grin. Creed merely grunted but didn’t attempt to pull his hand from hers.
“One of my pack brought information a few minutes ago that one of the old hunting lodges outside of town has been bought by one of the men suspected of being a member of the Rogue Hunters. To add to that, several more people have arrived in town and are actively looking for rental property in the area.”
“Does sound like they are setting up shop since they bought something they can use as a headquarters,” Creed agreed. “Why are the ones coming in only renting then? You would think they would stick around and set up a home to blend in better.”
