“He’s our mate.”
No! He’s a bear.
“It doesn’t matter.”
It will matter to my parents…and bears are scary.
“Not all bears are jerks. Give him a chance.”
CHAPTER TWO
The music ended and Scott propelled the beautiful and stunned creature away from the dance floor. The poor woman had barely been able to put two words together since he’d touched her. The magick between them was strong and he could feel the mate bond beginning to take shape. It wasn’t something he’d been expecting, especially not at his buddy’s wedding. She was a wolf, not a bear. But, it didn’t matter to him in the least. His family wouldn’t care either. His mom would just be happy that after nearly a century, her baby had finally found his mate.
Now, if he could just get the little female to loosen up a little.
“Would you like to walk outside with me?” He gave her a little push toward the French doors leading out onto a well-lit patio.
“Ours! Ours! We found her! Don’t you dare mess this up!”
Shut it! He hushed his inner beast, which seemed to be more excited right now than he’d ever been his whole life.
“Sure,” she finally managed to squeak out. Her tiny body stood straight and gave a good impression of being in control, but he could feel the nervous tremors where his hand rested on her lower back. The urge to slide his palm lower was tempting, but he didn’t think it would help calm her at all.
He broke contact with her for a moment, slipping off his sport coat and then casually slid it over her bare shoulders. The March weather was nice, but it was still chilly, especially at night. They walked to the edge of the patio and looked out over the cityscape. Vegas was always lit up. He never got used to it. He preferred his Teton Mountain privacy —dark skies, thick forests, and no neighbors to be seen for miles.
“I take it our mate connection surprised you?”
She took a step back and met his gaze. The spark in her brown eyes brought his arousal up a notch. He wondered if that spark would carry over into the bedroom.
“Focus! You horny, bastard.” The beast within jerked on his consciousness.
“No kidding,” she finally answered. “Maybe because I wasn’t expecting you to be a bear.”
“I don’t have a problem with being a bear.”
A laugh shook her slender frame. “No, I don’t suppose you have a problem being a bear.”
He grinned. At least she’d laughed. That was something. “Do you have a problem with me being a bear?”
“Yes.”
Well, shit. That’s not the answer I was expecting. I can smell her arousal. I know she’s interested.
“Just be nice.”
I am!
“Do I frighten you?” He leaned down and inhaled her fragrant vanilla scented body wash. She smelled good enough to eat. His mind wandered through the process of stripping her naked and tasting her. He had no doubt she would taste even sweeter.
“No,” she answered.
It was a lie. Her body tensed when he’d asked the question and he could smell a hint of fear in the pheromones she was releasing.
He sighed. “We are rarely violent. Usually only when threatened.”
“I’ve only met a couple of other bear shifters and they were not the nicest people.”
“Do you judge the entire werewolf community by the actions of a few?”
“No!” she state quickly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have made that assumption. I’m just—”
“Nervous?” he whispered.
“Yes.” She nodded and leaned forward on the railing.
“Do you live here in Vegas? Does your family?”
“Yes, just east of the strip. I belong to the Taylor Pack.”
“You grew up with Chase?”
“No.” She shook her head. “His sister, Maggie.”
“Wait…I’ve heard about the infamous Maggie and Maggie.”
A soft laugh escaped her and a little more of the tension slid away. “Yes, everyone has heard about the Maggie’s. I go by Margaret now, though.”
He leaned down and nuzzled her cheek. “I like Margaret.” A barely audible whimper encouraged him further and he trailed soft kisses down the side of her neck. “I can’t wait to get you to the Tetons. You’ll love the forest. So much cooler than this godforsaken desert.”
She stepped back. Her facial expression morphed from disbelief to terror. Tension returned, thickening the air between them with the sickly scent of fear.
“Now you’ve done it!” His bear growled.
She slid his jacket from her shoulders and tossed it at him, shaking her head. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“Wait, Margaret…”
“You were moving at the speed of a charging grizzly bear. What did you expect?”
Not funny!
“I told you to stay focused.”
He hurried into the ballroom, but she’d disappeared.
I was focused.
“On you! Not on her. One little sound and scent of arousal and you completely forgot that she was scared only moments before. She’s not an unaware human who’s going to fall in bed with you after a few laughs and a charming smile or two. She’s a werewolf who has met a couple of mean bears. Weren’t you listening?”
She’s our mate.
“Not yet. Not if you scare her off.”
The warning in his bear’s voice was painfully clear.
A crossing between shifter species was rare, but not unheard of. Still, she could deny him and send him away, just like any other potential mate. He would be honor bound to accept her wishes, even though they would live in misery until both found another potential match…if they found one.
He couldn’t let that happen. There had to be some way to make this right.
***
She pressed the bathroom door closed and leaned against it. Her breathing was short, sporadic. Everything had been going smoothly until he had moved in and kissed her neck. His scent had overwhelmed her senses. Her wolf was screaming mate and he was whispering about taking her off to the forests of Utah.
Holy crap!
The urge to plaster her body against his was frightening. How could the magick pull so strongly in such a short time? Human’s joked about love at first sight, but the saying had probably been started by a couple of shifters. There was no way humans ever had to deal with emotions or hormones this powerful.
“Why are you in the bathroom?”
I needed a minute.
“We need to go back to our mate.”
No! He’s acting like I’m his for the taking already. Like I get no say in how this plays out, simply because we are good matches for a mating bond.
“Good? Sweetie, he is our perfect match. Those only come around once…if they come around at all.”
I have a life. A job. A career. What about that? Am I supposed to just drop everything because the hottest guy I’ve ever met walked through the door and said, ‘hey babe, your mine’?
Her wolf’s mirth rippled through her consciousness, settling her fears just a little. Sometimes it was nice to have an old soul to talk to about life, but sometimes it was like having a parent stuck in your head all day long.
“I heard that.”
Whatever.
Her breathing was slowing down. She straightened and walked to the mirror.
“You aren’t supposed to stop being who you are, but compromises can be made so everyone is happy with the arrangement.”
“You don’t think he was moving a little fast, talking about taking me back to the mountains? He just met me a half hour ago.”
“He was moving a little fast, yes. But, he’s a bear and used to getting exactly what he wants when he wants it. Couldn’t you feel the magick rolling off of him?”
Yes…it was a lot stronger than any alpha wolf I’ve met.
“Bears don’t live in packs, so they tend to all have very dominant personaliti
es,” her wolf added.
Margaret walked to the bathroom door and peered out. A few guests were milling about in the hallway, but no bear was in sight.
It would be lonely without the pack.
“He’s not going to lock you up in a hole and never let you out.”
You don’t know that.
“Yes, I do.”
She smiled and slipped out into the hallway. One deep inhalation declared he’d been there, but left a few minutes ago. She followed the now streaming group of guests to the doorway, grabbed a bag of birdseed, and found a place on the driveway next to Maggie.
“Hey! Where did you and Scott sidle off too?”
“Just help me hide if he comes around, please.”
Maggie caught her gaze and frowned. “Did he hurt you? I can smell him all over you.”
“No! I just—”
Margaret stopped at the sight of the lovesick Chris, still following Nicole Demakis around. But, what really took her by surprise was her lack of pain and disappointment over him not being her mate. The feelings had vanished. He was a friend. Nothing more. He was just Chase’s younger brother. How did that change in a matter of minutes?
Cheering from the sidewalk outside, snapped her out of her thoughts. She glanced up just in time to see Chase and Sam scramble down the path, laughing as well-aimed birdseed pelted them in the face. Sam climbed into the waiting classic black Dodge Charger. Chase Michaels was just what Sam needed.
Now, if she could figure out her situation.
Hallie Demakis stepped next to them and sniffed. “What’s up with you and the bear?”
“What do you mean?” Margaret tried to act nonchalant.
A snort of laughter came from the Demakis twin. “Three o’clock, hon. He hasn’t been able to peel his eyes away. I could probably walk by naked and he wouldn’t even blink.”
Margaret bit her lip to hide a grin, looped one arm through Maggie’s elbow and the other through Hallie’s. A quick glance to her right made her quicken the pace. “Come on,” she growled, pulling the two women along. They darted in the open front door, around the corner, and back into the same ladies restroom she had hidden in earlier.
Hallie shook her arm free. “Why are we hiding in the bathroom from a hot guy? Granted, he’s a bear. But, still a really hot guy.”
“Yes, Margaret,” Maggie started, her brow raised suspiciously. “Why are we hiding from Scott?”
“Oh, hot guy has a name?” Hallie started walking to the door.
“Stop.” Margaret sighed. “Please just help me sneak out of here.”
Hallie shrugged and pulled open the door just a hair.
“Please tell her I need to speak with her.” His deep bass voice rumbled through the thin opening, making Margaret’s whole body shiver.
Her lady parts were contemplating the horizontal mambo while the rest of her was nearing panic level. What the hell is wrong with me?
The door shut and Hallie pulled her phone out of her purse. Her fingers practically flew on the screen.
“Margaret, what is going on? Why don’t you want to talk to Scott?” Maggie leaned against the vanity countertop and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I’m afraid of what I’ll agree to, if I don’t get a little space to process…away from him.” Her shoulders sank. There it was. She was scared she’d agree to run off wherever this man wanted to take her. The bond pulled hard, and she just needed some distance so she could think clearly. Normally she was clear and level headed, but this guy had her upside down and her head was spinning.
“What do you mean? Agree to what?” Maggie’s face contorted, confusion evident in the one raised eyebrow.
“He’s her mate, Maggie. And a really strong match too, if she’s being pulled hard enough to freak her out.” Hallie stepped away from the door and dropped her phone back into her purse, snapping it shut. The click of the purse latch echoed though the still bathroom.
“Scott…is your mate? B-but…H-he’s a b-bear,” Maggie stuttered.
“No shit, Sherlock!” Margaret wailed. “What is my family going to think? What is his family going to think? Two weeks after I turn twenty-five, I find my mate and he’s a freak’n bear! And, I’m a little scared of him.”
“Margaret, why are you scared?” Maggie asked, laying her hand on Margaret’s shoulder.
“The only bears I’ve met were…mean. I just smell bear and I sorta freak. But now, when I smell him, all I want to do is drag him into the closest broom closet and have my way with him.”
Both girls busted out laughing.
Margaret frowned. This was not the support she needed right now.
“Is he bothered that you’re a wolf?” Hallie set her hands on her hips and put on a straight face.
“No, not really, but—”
“Just be happy you found your mate and nobody is trying to force you into a marriage you don’t want. Sam was lucky, but the rest of us might not be.”
Margaret met Hallie’s gaze and nodded. The laughter had faded and reality hit her in the face. She knew how hard Sam fought the mate hunt.
The nobles still enforced the old traditions on their children. Noble blood had to fight for a mate in a hunt. The strongest won the female. Magick and the bond between souls was never taken into account. It was that blatant disregard for the natural order of mating that had contributed to, if not caused, Sam’s mother, to lose her mind.
Hallie and her twin sister, Tess, would both turn twenty-five in a couple of years. Nicole would come of age later this year. Until Sam, it’d never crossed Margaret’s mind how unfair the hunt was. Not only did it deprive those matched by the hunt of their true mate, it deprived the souls that should have been their mates, too.
CHAPTER THREE
They are still in the damn bathroom.
Scott O’Hearn paced the hallway leading to the lobby of the hotel. Several other guests passed by, but no one said anything to the six-foot-eleven, two-hundred-fifty pound man wearing a hole in the carpet. He was used to it. Most people were intimidated and avoided speaking to him if at all possible. Except women. Human women, especially, seemed very attracted to him. He never had any trouble conversing with them. Why was he with this woman? Female shifters weren’t that different from human women.
“No they’re not, but they do react the same when you TELL them what to do.”
Well…she’s mine.
“Case in point.”
I know!
Las Vegas was a fun visit, but he didn’t want stay permanently. He kept an apartment here when Chase was in town, and stayed a few weeks here and there, but now Chase would be living in North Carolina with his wife Samantha. There wasn’t any reason to keep the apartment at all. Especially since he’d just wrapped up his assignment with the army. They’d been trying to get him to re-enlist, but he needed a break. Home was calling.
Now all he wanted was Margaret to share his home in the mountains —cuddled in his cabin. Vegas was too hot for his comfort most of the time. It was the beginning of spring and the weather was nice right now. But when summer hit, he had no intentions of being within a hundred miles of this scalding desert.
Wolves and a lot of other shifters lived in Las Vegas because weird things weren’t even noticed in this city. People here accepted the oddities without a second glance. Strange was the norm. That suited most supernaturals just fine, but bears preferred thick mountain forests, higher altitudes, and cooler air.
Female voices approaching from behind made him turn. Samantha’s two other sisters cast him smirks before ducking into the ladies room he was guarding.
Seriously, how big is that bathroom?
His bear did not comment. He wasn’t surprised.
A blond head poked out a few moments later. He met the woman’s gaze and waited. He was pretty sure it was Hallie Demakis, but it could have been Tess. They were twins and he’d only met them today.
“She doesn’t want to talk. You need to just go home,” the blonde sai
d calmly.
A growl rumbled deep in his chest. Margaret was not getting off that easy. He deserved a chance to speak with her again. How could she ignore the connection they had. He’d waited over a century to find a mate. The magick pulled hard. She couldn’t deny him for long without driving herself crazy…him too.
“I’m not leaving without a way to contact her.”
The Demakis girl wrinkled her nose and pulled her head back into the bathroom.
What the hell? I am not that scary. I know she was interested. I could smell her arousal.
A few moments later the door opened again and the same blonde walked out. He moved toward her and she held out a business card.
“What’s this?”
“It’s her card, dumbass.”
He scoffed and narrowed his eyes. “I get that.”
She met his gaze with determination and didn’t back away. “This whole stalking the bathroom thing is not helping.”
“I didn’t mean to scare her. I just want to talk to her.”
“She’s not scared…well…we’ll just say overwhelmed. Give her a day or so and give her a call.” She turned and walked back, pausing just before she opened the door. “Take it down a notch or two, okay, teddy bear.”
“A day or so?”
“Yes,” she answered and disappeared back inside.
He glanced down at the shiny white card. It read Margaret Taylor, VIP Lounge Manager | Mirage Casino and Hotel. Impressive. Her email and an office phone number were on the back.
A deep sigh slid from his chest. If time was all she needed, he could do that. It hurt that she wouldn’t even talk to him, but at least she hadn’t sent him away completely.
***
“Is he gone?” Margaret asked.
The door clicked shut. Hallie turned. “Yes, chicken. He’s gone.”
“I am not a chicken. I just need to have a clear mind. That wasn’t going to happen with my wolf screaming at me to do whatever he asked.”
“Don’t lay the blame on me.”
Saving Margaret Page 2
