Her UnBearable Protector (Paranormal Bearshifter Romance) Howls Romance

by Reina Torres

  Stopping at the door, Ericka looked back over her shoulder. “Hmm?”

  “You know I'm not like Caprice.”

  Ericka’s smile brightened back into its megawatt glory. “Thank goodness for that!” She opened the door with a solid yank and stopped short right there. “Mr. Durante?”

  Natale felt a tremor of emotions roll through her as her father greeted Ericka, pressing a kiss on both of her cheeks before stepping aside to let her out of the office. When he entered her office, his eyes focused intently on her face.

  She felt a lot like an amoeba on a microscope slide. Her father was a shrewd man whose eyes saw more than what was on the surface. She lifted her hand to her face, touching the warm skin of her cheek. She didn’t keep a mirror in the office, so she had no way of seeing if she was blushing.

  “Natale?” She heard the worry in his voice and when he held out his hands toward her she put her hands in his.

  “Papa,” the smile on her face was genuine, and she leaned into the kiss he pressed against her cheek, “I wasn’t expecting you to come to the workroom.”

  He gave her a little nod. “I received a visit this morning. Valerio Orsino appeared at my door.”

  “Oh?” She gently extracted her hands from his and folded them over her stomach, trying to still the sudden onslaught of butterflies in her middle. “What did he have to say?”

  She watched her father compose himself, focusing his thoughts and energy into a single purpose. It was a skill that she had always admired, even coveted. Standing before her in his elegant gunmetal gray suit, her father’s silvering hair took on a lighter hue, and his face bore few marks of his age. The solemn look in his dark blue eyes made her feel loved and cared for even as she worried over his answer.

  “You were hurt, Natale. He wanted to let me know, because he knew that someone should tell me.” His meaning in his soft rebuke was clear. She should have called him.

  “I’m sorry, Papa.” She shook her head. “I’m just fine, and I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “Bother me?” They both heard the naked emotion in his voice. “You were in pain, and I could not comfort you? I could not hold your hand, or kiss your brow.”

  Again, emotions assailed her, threatening to derail her newfound momentum. “I had Salvatore with me,” she paused, realizing that she’d said his first name, “and everything worked out.”

  He reached out his hand and wrapped his fingers around her wrist, lifting her arm and drawing it into the light. With a practiced twist of his fingers, he opened the cuff of her blouse and peeled back her sleeve. The bandage was pristine white. Valerio had arrived before breakfast, before dawn found its way into the city, and cleaned and dressed her wound. The sight of Salvatore hovering over his brother’s shoulder as Valerio poked and prodded her injury had been enough to distract her from the painful twinges of sensation.

  “Do you want to explain how this happened?” She heard the worry and reproach in his voice.

  She shook her head, but her gaze remained on her father. “No, Papa.” A knock sounded on the door, a short series of raps that was a cue from Ericka. “I have to get going. Lunch waits for no woman and we have a full afternoon packing for the venue ahead of us.”

  Stepping up beside her father, Natale tugged her sleeve down to her wrist and brushed a kiss against her father’s cheek. “You’ll see, Papa. You don’t have to worry about the show. We’ll be ready.”

  Natale crossed to the door and gently tugged it open.

  “Natale?”

  Steeling herself, she put a smile on her lips to set the tone of her voice. “Yes, Papa?”

  “I’m not worried about the show, Vita Mia. I only worry about you.” She heard a soft chuckle in the otherwise silent room. “I just want you to be safe and happy. If you want me to find another firm to protect you-”

  “No, Papa. If anything, I’m thoroughly convinced that the only firm capable of this is Orsino Security. They’ve already proved their worth.”

  “All right, Natale. Stay safe. I’ll see you at the show.”

  With one last smile for her father, she stepped out into the hallway, and closed the door behind her.

  While Mr. Durante waited for the elevator, the older man studied the closed metal doors emblazoned with the Durante Fashion logo. Salvatore remained just inside the entryway, focused on the workroom. He was still achingly aware of Natale’s father less than twenty feet away.

  Neither of them had said a word after Mr. Durante had spoken with his daughter. He’d already said his fill when he arrived at the studio.

  Salvatore’s father had roared when he was upset, it was a trait some of the Orsinos had. Anger and passion, any strong emotion, brought the bear up closer to the surface. Fear did the same as well.

  Valerio had been the one to speak with Giovanni that morning, traveling to the man’s condo on the other end of the Park. Both brothers had agreed that Natale’s attack should not be hidden from her father, nor should it be done on the phone. They handled things up front and Valerio had volunteered to speak with her father so that Salvatore could remain with her at the studio.

  When the elder Durante had approached him less than an hour before, Salvatore was ready for a confrontation. They had discussed, in quiet tones, the events of the night before. Giovanni didn’t ask for details about the man or what had become of him. He only had three questions for the head of Orsino Security.

  What injuries had Natale sustained?

  Should they cancel the show to protect her?

  Was he confident that they’d stopped the threat?

  Salvatore knew that he was repeating much of what Valerio had told him earlier at his home, but he would gladly repeat and restate the answers over and over again if it gave her father some peace. He hadn’t slept more than an hour the night before. When he wasn’t loving Natale, learning her taste and the sounds that he could wring from her full lips, he had replayed the dangerous situation from every angle.

  He knew that nothing was simple when dealing with the danger of someone obsessed, but he also hadn’t counted on Natale trying to leave him behind. She’d explained her actions, and apologized at length for her part in it. The fear that she’d experienced had driven home the need to follow his rules. His procedure. Now, all they had to do was keep things moving along until the show. The danger was behind them, all they had left to do was keep an eye out for any unforeseen circumstances. Salvatore had no intention of letting Natale go through this on her own.

  Giovanni had listened to his answers, nodded his head in the appropriate places of conversation, but he’d also given Salvatore a few shrewd looks of his own. Their conversation, if one could classify the interrogation that way, ended with a few pointed phrases.

  “You care for my daughter.”

  Salvatore didn't ask the older man how he knew. Giovanni’s pointed questions to Valerio, told him to expect this visit. He wasn't just dealing with a client when he spoke to Giovanni, he was so much more than that. Truth was the only thing he could offer.

  Salvatore didn’t try to keep the naked emotion from his voice. “I would die for her.”

  The barest hint of a smile touched Giovanni’s lips. “I don't believe you have to go to those extremes to prove yourself to my daughter, Mr. Orsino.”

  Oh, but Salvatore did. “If she ever came to any harm through my fault,” he assured her father, “I would pay any price.”

  Giovanni nodded and set a hand on Salvatore’s shoulder. “Just keep her safe.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The elevators opened and his brother Uberto stepped off, holding the door for Mr. Durante, barely managing a grumbled, “Welcome.” He didn't even wait for the doors to close fully before making his way to Salvatore’s side. Surveying the room of women, Uberto's lip curled back. “Too many skinny women here for my liking.”

  “Then it's good that you're here to work and not date.”

  Uberto’s scowl was turned up slightly at the corners
of his mouth. “I'll remember you said that big brother.”

  Almost as if Natale heard them, she looked up from the machine she was working on and gave the brothers a smile.

  “Of course I said it,” Salvatore clipped his words a bit, “and you should remember my words. Once this ordeal is over, I intend to make Natale mine in all ways.”

  Uberto nodded in agreement, but turned a questioning eye to his brother. “She isn't now?”

  Salvatore’s bear growled and Uberto struggled to hold his brother’s gaze. His own bear had turned his head aside, baring his neck to his leader. “You only need to know that I intend to join my life to hers in her traditions as well as ours.”

  Nodding slowly, Uberto managed to speak. “She wore a high collar. I thought she was hiding the mark.”

  Salvatore pondered the words in silence. Once Natale gave him permission, he would mark her with his bite, taste the hot rush of her blood on his tongue, and leave her with the visible evidence that she belonged to him. He longed for that moment, but it would have to wait until her show was done. He was selfish in one way, he wanted her full attention when they were joined, her mind and heart focused only on him.

  “We have,” Salvatore wanted to remind his brother as well as himself, “a job to do first. My needs will wait until her show is done.”

  Uberto chuffed out a breath, flaring his nostrils.

  “You'd best remember that she will be your sister, Uberto. Treat her as such.”

  His brother nodded. “Good, I have always wanted one,” he gave Salvatore a sly grin, “she can cook for me.”

  Salvatore’s warning glare changed to an amused smirk. “You’ll go hungry then.”

  The words settled in Uberto’s ears like a rock. “Truly, brother? A most inconvenient choice for your mate.”

  “Inconvenient for you, ‘Berto. Perfect for me.”

  Natale stood from her sewing table and looked in their direction before she took a model into the changing area.

  Uberto barely waited for her to leave before he gave his brother a good natured shove. “Then what is she good for?”

  Salvatore turned and nearly put his brother through the wall, a nearly feral grin of brotherly frustration on his face. “That,” he explained, “is why you don't have a mate, ‘Berto. Hold your tongue, before I remind you why I am in charge.”

  Another annoyed chuff of breath. “Because you are the eldest.”

  Salvatore turned to look at his brother and let his bear bleed into his eyes, turning them glassy black and allowing fur to replace the beard and mustache on his face. “Because,” his voice alone made Uberto shrink back from him, “I can tear you apart without breaking a sweat.”

  He leaned back and his features returned to normal, his feral glare fading into a bemused expression.

  “You are lucky blood doesn't come out of this suit.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Natale looked up as Uberto paced along the front wall of her apartment… again. “Can I get you something?”

  He darted a glance at her, scowled, and kept moving.

  Looking back down at her book, she started to read the same page again and found herself lost before she made it to the second paragraph and had to start over.

  He stopped at the first window and pulled back the edge of the curtain, glaring out at the skyline. “Just how long does a walk-through take?”

  She looked up and realized she was going to have to start the page over again. “Are you actually asking me, or just talking to talk?”

  Her frustration faded when he closed the curtain with a snap.

  When he turned his gaze to her, she felt her heartbeat slow, her breath leaking from her lungs. His eyes were dark, black with his bear, and yet it held none of the warmth when Salvatore’s eyes changed.

  She didn’t think that Uberto cared much for her, but looking into the inky blackness she felt cornered. Even though she was sitting in the center of the room with lots of space around her, she knew how fast Salvatore could move, she could only assume that they were all just as fast.

  Just as deadly.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, and she meant it. “I know you don’t want to be here, I can feel how upset you are.”

  His eyes narrowed on her. “Don’t think you know what’s in my head.” He took in a few bellow-like breaths, his chest filling with air. “You don’t know.”

  “Okay.” She set her book down in her lap and devoted her attention to him. “You’re right. I’ve always tried to put myself in other people’s shoes, but I shouldn’t have assumed anything.”

  His breathing slowed, and maybe it was just some kind of whimsical thought that popped up in her head, but as she gazed into the dark of his eyes, it felt like his bear wasn’t the one glaring at her. That cold consideration was coming from Uberto.

  “Maybe,” she nudged her book and it dropped off onto the couch cushion before she stood, “I should just go into my bedroom until Salvatore comes back. I don’t want to upset you any more than I already have.”

  Taking the silence as a nod she picked up the blanket from the sofa and dropped it over the back. She gestured to the kitchen. “Please, feel free to have something to eat. Salvatore had a bunch of groceries delivered. I’m sure you’ll find something in there that will be to your liking.”

  Squaring her shoulders, Natale walked toward the hallway with as much confidence as she could manage. She’d no sooner set foot on the hardwood floor of the hallway than she heard a deep indrawn breath of air.

  “Wait.”

  Taking a moment for herself she turned and met his eyes. They were human again, but somehow that didn’t make her feel better. What would people say if they knew she felt it was easier to look into the eyes of a bear than the man standing before her?

  “You should know,” he started to speak, taking his time with each word, “that my brothers think I’m making this too hard on everyone.”

  Yeah, she wasn’t going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole. She’d already gotten herself on his bad side by opening her mouth.

  He took a few steps closer and she tensed. Her body wanted to run. Her head was too damned curious to do more than stand and listen. Uberto seemed to sense her mood, it was likely the bear in him, she doubted that the man who inhabited his body cared much if she was afraid or not.

  “We followed Valerio to New York, because he thought that we’d make a home here,” he looked off to the side, his eyes taking in the room as if he hadn’t seen it before, “that we’d find what we hadn’t found before.”

  “You mean who you hadn’t found before.”

  His eyes met hers a moment later, a deep, searching look narrowing as he stared silently at her. “I said what I meant, Miss Durante.”

  “Oh,” she nodded, and tried not to let his words hurt, “I see.”

  “Our father was destroyed when our mother died, he didn’t live long after she passed away.”

  She saw something in the tight set of his chin, the pinch of tension at his temples. She didn’t say anything, choosing instead to listen.

  “She was like you.”

  Natale lifted her hand and set it over her heart, sure that she wouldn’t feel anything, sure that her heart had stopped.

  His lips pulled back, baring his teeth, showing her more than a hint of fang, more fur than hair on his face. “She was human.” His breath turned into a snarl, his nose and jaw changing by the second. “She killed him!”

  She opened her mouth to speak and suddenly he was there. Breathing into her face, his broad nose, a hair from her cheek, his fangs just a short snap from her skin. She had no doubt that if he wanted to – he definitely wanted to – but if he let himself go, gave himself the tiniest bit of permission, she’d be dead before she hit the ground.

  But he didn’t move.

  And she didn’t back down.

  Natale heard the distinctive snap of bone within his hulking form, felt the shadow he cast over her grow and still she met his
eyes.

  “You’ll kill him too.”

  The words hurt because she could hear the truth in his voice. He believed what he said. And that, she realized, she couldn’t fault him for.

  “You’re trying to protect Salvatore from me.”

  “I’ll do what I need to, to protect my brother’s life.”

  Those words held a meaning she didn’t understand. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. Uberto would probably enjoy explaining it, and that really scared her.

  “I don’t intend to hurt him, I would never-” she had started to say that she would never put his life in danger, but hadn’t she done that? By knowing her, by taking the responsibility for keeping her safe, he’d put himself in danger.

  What could she say to that?

  Nothing.

  “But,” she swallowed and struggled to find the right words, “the man who attacked me is dead. There isn’t any danger left. The letters have stopped coming. No more threats!” She held onto the hope in her words. “Salvatore’s just making sure, following through on a promise. The show is tomorrow. Once that’s over. Once there isn’t a problem, then he won’t be in any danger because of me.”

  “Falling in love with you is enough of a danger, but you’re a disaster to watch. You’re too independent, too impulsive.”

  She wanted to laugh at him. Impulsive definitely wasn’t something people would normally say about her, but since she’d met Salvatore, she’d changed.

  “If we had more time,” he looked her over from head to toe, “I could have taught you something.” He considered her again, his jaw muscle ticking under his skin at the edge of his beard. “You wouldn’t be so helpless.”

  She pressed her lips together in a pale line, her pride had been dinged by the matter-of-fact comment, a throw away statement that had hit home with precision. “I don’t want to be helpless. No one,” she bit at him with her tone, “wants to be helpless!”

  “Is that right?”

  She absorbed his tone, examined the smirk on his face and hoped he wasn’t just like the others.