Rick regarded him strangely. “You sure have a lot of Nothin’s tonight.” Sudden understanding dawned in his features. “Say, you don’t think she’s your mate, do you? That curvy city gal?”
“Leave it be, Rick.”
Rick grabbed his shoulder and half turned him around. “Mike, if she’s your mate—”
“Let go of me!”
“If she’s your mate—”
Mike reached up and pried Rick’s hand loose. “Let go of me, damn you.”
Rick looked ready to punch him. Mike hoped he would. A fight would be a lot more preferable to where this conversation was headed, anyway.
Sudden movement caught his eye. He spun to see Jess and her friend—Suzy, Mike thought her name was—cut their way through the crowd toward the door. She’s leaving, Mike realized. She’s leaving and I’ll never see her again! His bear growled mournfully inside him.
“Shit, pard, you’ve got it bad,” Rick said. “I didn’t mean—well, hell. There’s only one thing to do.”
“What?”
“You’ve got to go after her.”
“She’s already rejected me. Twice.” Mike shook his head. “Naw, if it was gonna happen, it already would’ve.”
Jess and her friend paused at the door. Mike saw her crane her head and pick him out at the bar. For a wild moment he thought she might come over, or even just wave. If she had waved, he would have gone after her right then.
Instead, she just looked away sadly, pulled her jacket on, and followed Suzy out into the night. Cold air blew in when the door was opened, and Mike shivered, even all the way at the bar. Maybe not entirely because of the temperature.
“There’s still time,” Rick told him. “You can get her before she gets to their car.”
“And what? Be some stalker that follows women in parking lots?” I was already creepy enough earlier. “Naw.”
Rick brightened. “That guy! That rich asshat.”
“What about him? He back?” Mike cracked his knuckles.
“No, you idiot. You could say you were coming out to make sure he wasn’t still there. You’d be protecting her, then. It wouldn’t be stalker-ish at all.”
Mike considered. “That’s not a bad idea. Surprisingly. For you.” He let out a breath. “I mean, if I were interested in being rejected for a third time.”
“Mike, if you don’t go out there, I’m going to go get Jason and send him out there for you, and if she says yes to him I’ll never let you forget it.”
“Fuckface.”
“Retard.”
Mike grinned. Suddenly he felt a lot better. Rick was right. It was just the excuse he needed to give Round Three a try.
“What about my beer?” he said. “I haven’t paid yet.”
“I got it,” Rick said, rolling his eyes. “Now go, you fool, or it’ll be too late.”
Mike moved toward the door. Please, he thought. Don’t have gone already. He couldn’t stand it if she had left. His bear thrashed and clawed his soul inside him.
He shoved the doors open and staggered out into the night. Snow streamed around him, lighting on his hair and instantly melting. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see against the harsh lights of the parking lot. All else was blackness.
There! A sedan pulled out of the lot. Inside he could see the two women.
“Wait!” he said, forgetting even as he did that he was supposed to be offering to protect them from that blond bastard. He ran toward the road, waving his arms. “Come back!”
The women didn’t seem to hear or see him. As the car vanished into the blackness of the howling night, Mike’s bear raged inside him.
Chapter 3
Jess was beginning to wonder if she’d made a mistake. Maybe Suzy was right. Maybe she shouldn’t let her bitter experience with Andrew color a new relationship. She hadn’t expected another man to come along so soon, especially not one that touched something inside her like Mike did, but one had. And it had only taken a few moments, really. Amazing how quickly life could turn around.
No, she told herself stubbornly. It’s too soon.
Like Suzy said, she had to stand on her own two feet. She had to get her mojo back before she could jump back into the dating game properly.
She frowned. Something about Mike didn’t seem like a game. With him, somehow, even though they’d only exchanged a few words, it seemed more serious. She thought of his blue eyes and his confident, alpha-male smile. Then she thought, A werebear ski instructor! She giggled in naughty delight.
Behind the wheel, Suzy threw her a glance.
“You know, Jess, we can go back. I mean, he’s probably still there.”
Jess was mortified. “Am I that transparent?”
“Well, I hate to tell—shit!”
Suzy stomped on the brakes. A light dusting of snow covered the road, and the car skidded, threatened to hurl itself off the asphalt into the much deeper snow to either side. Jess’s stomach lurched and she held on tight, one hand wedged against the dash, the other against the door. The car righted itself and grated to a stop … right before a large, shaggy pine tree that had fallen across the road, blocking it. Jess hadn’t even seen it through the snow.
“Goodness!” she said, sucking in a deep breath.
Suzy was wild-eyed. “Fuck fuck fuck!”
“Good thing you saw it in time.”
Swearing, Suzy climbed out of the car and moved toward the tree. Jess hesitated, then joined her. The chill of the mountain wind raised gooseflesh on the back of Jess’s neck, and cold snow settled in her hair. To the right, the mountain plunged away in a series of snow-covered slopes. To the left a rockier slope mounted toward the peak high above.
Suzy kicked the tree. “What the hell?”
“Must have been the wind, or maybe the weight of snow settling over time,” Jess said. “Made the tree leaned over till it pulled the roots up and fell.”
“Damn it all, the other way down will take much longer,” Suzy said. “I guess we should just feel lucky we survived.”
“That’s the spirit. Let’s get back in the car and get that heater going.”
As they started to move back toward the car, a pair of headlights stabbed the night from the other side of the vehicle, and a large SUV—a black Hummer—that had been cloaked by darkness and snow pulled out from the shoulder of the road, where it had been camped with its lights off. The SUV blocked the road, trapping the women between the fallen tree and the Hummer.
A shiver coursed down Jess’s spine.
“Oh no,” she heard herself say.
“This … it was a … a trick?” Suzy said, and belatedly Jess realized that she was right. Whoever was in the car must have caused the tree to fall in order to lay this ambush. To Jess, Suzy said, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
A shape emerged from the Hummer. Then another. And another. Soon five men had stepped out and were making their way toward the girls. The men were just silhouettes against the glare of the headlights.
“Assholes!” Suzy said, kicking snow at them. “You knocked down that tree!”
“We did,” said one of the men, and Jess recognized the smooth, accent-less voice of Bryce Manner.
“You could’ve killed us!”
“That would’ve been a shame.”
Suzy crouched, ready to fight. “If you try anything, you’ll regret it.”
“Why, what are you going to do?” There was a sneer in Bryce’s voice. “What can you do?”
Suzy made her hands into fists. Raising them, she let her rings catch the light, and Jess watched the headlights glitter on her diamond pinky ring. That thing could sure cut some flesh, all right. Pride and admiration for Suzy filled her. Her friend was tough, that was for sure.
“What do you want?” Jess said, coming to stand next to Suzy. She wouldn’t cower behind her friend for protection. If these men tried anything, they would damn well have hell to pay getting it.
“You, of course,” Bryce said. He stalked forward,
and his buddies fanned out to either side of him.
Jess was dumbfounded. “Me?”
“Naturally.”
She swallowed. Summoning her nerve, she said, “Look, you rapist bastards, if you try anything, I’ll jump down that slope.”
“Into those woods? At night? You’d freeze or impale yourself on a tree.”
“Try me, jerk.”
He moved forward more, turning himself at an angle now so that the light illuminated his handsome face and dancing green eyes. His face looked surprisingly warm, even kindly, and that confused her.
“I don’t want to rape you,” he said. “Both of you, calm down.”
Suzy didn’t lower her fists. “Get lost, you creeps.”
“When I saw you with that bear shifter, I knew I had to stop you from making a mistake.” Bryce spoke to Jess, completely ignoring Suzy.
“Why?" Jess asked. "Are you some kind of shifter hater?”
Bryce actually laughed. So did the other men, the whole line of them, and for the first time Jess noticed something odd about them—the whole lot of them. They were all blond and handsome, almost like brothers, but not really, and they moved with eerie grace and power. And all of them boasted those same almost glowing green eyes.
“We’re not shifter haters,” Bryce said. “We’re shifters.”
“I … I … what?”
“That’s right. And we don’t want to rape you. We want you for our mates. Well, me and Vale do. The rest are still looking.”
One of the other men stepped forward, smiling at Suzy. “I want her.”
Bryce nodded. To Jess, he said, “Get in the Hummer. Both of you.”
Jess made herself stand tall. “Get bent.”
A beat of silence passed. Snow fell from the dark sky.
“I think we should show them,” said the man that must be Vale.
“Let’s do it,” said Bryce.
Without another word, the five handsome men started unbuttoning their shirts, revealing firm pecs and washboard abs. That done, they pulled off their expensive shoes, pants, and briefs, and stacked them neatly in the car. Despite herself, Jess was impressed by all their lithe muscles, tight asses and long, gleaming hair. The cold didn’t even seem to shrink their cocks, which were sizable. But the men were still scary.
Together, the five fanned out again—and Shifted. Jess had never seen a shifter change before, and she gasped and drew back at the sight. Air blurred around the five men, and their bodies blurred, changing shape fluidly, quickly. Golden fur erupted along their arms and legs, and their long golden hair grew even longer and thicker. Dropping to all fours, they stood there, five gorgeous lions, breaths steaming in the snow that settled in their thick manes and melted on their long red tongues. Their beautiful green eyes flashed in the night.
“Lion shifters,” Suzy breathed. “I don’t believe it.”
The lead one, Bryce, stepped forward, toward Jess, and she marveled at how his muscles rolled and bunched beneath that silky golden fur. He was a bastard, but he was gorgeous, and he wanted her.
She scooped up a ball of snow from the ground and hurled it at his face. The snow exploded right in his eyes. He flinched back, a threatening cough coming from his throat.
He started forward again, the other four with him—
A bear erupted from the woods. Huge and black, covered in scars and rolling slabs of muscle, the eight-hundred-pound behemoth swiped a huge paw and blasted one of the lions backward. It struck the Hummer with a screech of groaning metal and slid to the ground.
Jess stared at the bear in amazement. It was so huge, so primal, so full of wrath—but also, clearly, the urge to protect her and Suzy. Could it be … ?
The remaining four lions wheeled to face their enemy.
With a demonic growl, the grizzly barreled into them, swiping left and right with its wicked paws. A lion leapt onto its flank, claws digging into the shaggy hide, but the bear didn’t stop in its drive toward Bryce. Another lion lunged at it, but the titan knocked the feline away. Before it could reorient itself, both Bryce and the fourth lion leapt on the bear together.
Jess felt the blood drain from her face. The three lions mauling and slashing at the massive black animal, while the bear raged and growled, biting and swiping and stomping, was the most jaw-dropping sight she had ever seen. She couldn’t tear her eyes away.
Mike, is that you? she thought. Then: Oh God, don’t let them hurt him!
“Come on!” Suzy said, and grabbed her hand.
“What can we do?” Jess said. They didn’t have any weapons, and they were still blocked in. And if they waited, and the bear didn’t win the fight, the lions would be sure to drag them back to their dens for mates.
“It was your idea!” Suzy said, and hauled her toward the side of the road. “Run!”
She was right, Jess realized.
Swallowing a gulp of air, she followed Suzy down the slope and into the dark, snow-covered forest while the battle raged behind them.
Chapter 4
Pain filled Mike as one of the lion shifters raked a claw down his back. He felt blood seep into his thick fur, almost burning hot. The big cat had latched onto him tight with all four claws. Mike shook himself violently. The lion shifted balance and clung tighter, but at least it couldn’t rake him while it was holding on like that.
The other two had blasted into him from both sides and were raking and chewing on his shoulders and the back of his neck. He raged and bit. Growling out his fury, he threw himself to the ground and rolled back and forth, hoping to crush the bastards. All three scattered.
When he rose, dizzy from blood loss and on fire with pain, they were already surrounding him, lifting their teeth back from long, bloody canines. Blood even dripped from their manes. Damn, the things had really chewed him up good.
He was starting to think this was a bad idea. It had seemed like a good one at the time. He couldn’t drive fast enough to catch up with Jess, but he could shift and lope down the mountain until he was able to get ahead of her on the endless switchbacks. He was still debating how that meeting would have gone. It had been a shock to smell the reek of strange shifters—he’d never smelled lion before, not even at a zoo—and a greater shock to see them advancing on Jess and her friend when he’d finally caught up to them. He hadn’t even hesitated in coming to her defense. Now, though, she was lost in the woods and he was about to get massacred. He could handle one or two lions, sure, but three was pushing it.
The fourth one, whom he’d almost knocked off the road, climbed to its clawed feet, shaking the blood from its side. That blood, at least, came from it and not Mike.
Shit, he thought. Four of these devils is too many.
It pissed him off to admit that he was outmatched, but he knew he was as the fourth lion joined the other three and together they began circling him. Any moment and they would leap on him again, all at once, and he’d be finished.
You can’t die, he thought. You’ve just met your mate! And if he died, she would too, he had no doubt, or meet a fate worse than death.
The lions leapt.
With an enraged bellow, Mike charged forward. He swatted one of the felines away, felt another lose its hold on his side, and growled in pain as the other two landed on his flanks and dug in.
He threw himself to the ground again and felt a bump. Good. He’d hurt at least one of the asshats. The other one fell away as Mike climbed to his feet and blundered forward. He smashed through the pine trees bordering the road and bounded downhill, away from the lions.
From the sounds of their growls, they gave chase.
He could smell Jess and Suzy ahead. Damn it all. He couldn’t lead the lions to the girls. Changing course, he angled away, going at a forty-five degree angle from the ladies.
He could only hope the lions followed him, not Jess and Suzy. He might be able to survive a running fight through a snow-covered forest at night against a pride of lion shifters.
Well, at least for awhile
.
Chapter 5
Heart pounding, Jess ran. Tree limbs slashed at her face, showering snow and slicing at her cheeks. More snow crunched underfoot, sucking at her stylish faux-fur boots, making running difficult. Her breaths exploded from her mouth in little puffs of steam. Some yards off to the side, she could hear Suzy’s footfalls and rapid breaths.
“I think I hear them behind us!” Suzy gasped.
Jess could hear very little over the sound of her own heart smashing in her ears, but she believed Suzy.
“Run faster!” she said, and followed her own advice.
The night was black beneath the trees, but here and there the moonlight cut down between clouds, illuminating the floor of the forest and preventing Jess from dashing herself against a tree or jutting boulder. Luckily little undergrowth grew here and the spaces between the trees yawned wide. Ahead, Jess thought she saw a bright patch that might be a break in the forest.
“There!” she said, pointing. Hopefully Suzy saw her gesture. “Go that way!”
They ran toward the bright patch and burst out into a clearing. Before them, a light drift of snow settled on the roofs of a dozen or so log cabins arranged loosely along the slope. Jess and Suzy slowed, then stopped for a moment, panting. The scene was idyllic, all those sleepy snow-covered cabins overlooking a grand vista, what little could be seen of it at this hour: white-capped peaks mounting toward the dark horizon. Jess could sense them if she couldn’t see them very clearly.
We’re safe, she thought. The lions won’t attack us if there are people around.
“I don’t get it,” Suzy said, inspecting the cabins. “There’s no smoke from the chimneys.”
Jess looked. Suzy was right: the chimneys were idle. Despair overwhelmed her.
“They must be abandoned,” Jess said.
“Damn.”
“Maybe we can still use them. Hole up in one. Barricade the doors.”
Suzy snapped her fingers. “If these cabins have ever been used, there might be things left behind. Guns, maybe. Knives.”
They set off, threading their way through the silent buildings.
Bear Love Page 2
