by Woods, Jade
“You’re always hot,” the man in the wheelchair bit back, his arms bulging as he pushed the chair forward. She wanted to ask what had happened that he couldn’t walk, but figured it was inappropriate.
“My house has central cooling,” she spoke up, instantly regretting it.
The men’s attention shot to her, their eyes speculative. A long, tense moment passed, and Garrett put himself in front of her again. Luckily, he was so big, she could easily hide behind him, which was laughable considering she wasn’t tiny to begin with.
“So, are we going to stand around here all day?” one of the models said as he left the side of the other, his red hair flashing in the sun. “Wait, we aren’t expected to sleep outside, are we? Because you know, my skin doesn’t do well in the sun.”
“You are worried about baking?” one of the twins sputtered. “My brother and I will literally melt.”
“Are you a polar bear?” Dahlia spoke up, then covered her mouth, her cheeks heating.
Clearing his throat, Garrett took the lead. “They are. Bruin is grizzly like me. Vance is Kodiak… Gavin and Marcus are sun bears.”
“Sun bears?” she frowned. “Shouldn’t you like the sun then?”
She realized she had offended them as they rolled their eyes at each other. “It’s your fault. Rather, human’s.”
A low growl rumbled in Garrett’s throat, and they looked away sheepishly. Garrett turned to her and explained, “We don’t really have specifications other than general species such as bears, wolves, cats and so forth. But humans have given names to everything, so we refer to them. In this case, it’s an oxymoron.”
“Oh.” It was all she could say.
“Come,” Garrett said, guiding her back to her house. “I know you have a lot more questions, and I will answer them, but for now, everyone needs to settle in.”
“What about us?” Jet whimpered.
Garrett cocked a brow at her. “This is your territory, and you make the rules.”
She glanced at the mish-mash of men, their expression hopeful like lost puppy dogs wanting to come in from the rain. How could she make them live outside? Besides, they were obviously dear to Garrett. “As long as you promise not to leave claw marks in my walls, and track mud across the carpet, you can come in.”
Their expressions went supernova, and she couldn’t help smiling as one of the polar bears gripped Vance’s wheelchair, and raced it toward the house, Vance’s joy filling the air. Garrett tossed an arm around her shoulders, and she glanced at him, his face reflecting happiness as he watched his family.
He leaned in, and she caught the scent of pine and clean water, and male musk—it made for a heady combination, one she was starting to notice a lot. “Thank you.”
“You welcome. I’m just glad they made it here okay. I know how important family is,” she said.
He stopped, and pegged her with an intense look, his eyes flaring to life. She swallowed a lump as they shifted lower, and his tongue ran across his bottom lip—if she didn’t know any better, he was thinking about the kiss they had shared.
A shout of glee went up, and he stepped back. A pang of disappointment went through her and she sighed—maybe Garrett was the type of guy that was attracted to bigger girls, but was embarrassed about it? He needs to get over it, she grumbled to herself, because this dance of I-want-to-but-I-don’t-know was giving her a headache.
Throwing him an aggravated look, she turned her attention to her guests, and clapped her hands, grabbing their attention. “Who is hungry?”
Chapter Eight
Garrett watched from afar as his bears crowded around Dahlia in an effort to help her get the food platters to the table faster. He ignored the urge to put some distance between her and the others. With every hour that passed, that need to claim, and protect her grew and now that his bears were stealing her attention, his instinct had kicked into overdrive. He wanted her focus on him.
It’s one damned woman. You don’t even know her. He tried and failed to reason with himself, but she was having too good of a time, and he wasn’t going to take that from her. The tenseness he picked up on earlier had quickly melted as the clan started talking to her about random crap. He hated that she’d been scared of them, but she seemed to be enjoying their company now. Seeing them interact with her felt remarkably right… a bonded female didn’t just strengthen the clan-leader, but the entire clan. Women were the balance between their two halves, the center that kept them in check, and acted as a glue between the entire clan.
Running his eyes up and down her body, he wanted to whisk her away to the safety of her bedroom, and explore every corner of her mouth. Maybe she’d let him explore other areas, too. Her body language and scent let him know she was attracted to him, but…
I’m the one pushing her away. Was she interested in him because she found him attractive, both physically and emotionally, or because he was some sort of conquest? Maybe he was reading her wrong… perhaps, her interest was borne from curiosity of his species. He wanted to take a chance with her, but what if she broke his heart in the end? Never mind his oath to never fall in love, but shifters bonded fast and hard. If he opened himself to her, she could very well shred him more than Lazaran had.
“Garrett?” Dahlia’s voice pulled him back to reality, and he blinked at her with wide eyes. She was painfully beautiful, all that hair curling around her face like ribbons. He wanted to dig his nose into those sunshine locks, and fall asleep with the scent of her shampoo deep in his lungs. “They ah… don’t want to eat without you, it seems.”
Frowning, he looked around her body to find his bears sitting at the kitchen table, their massive frames dwarfing the chairs—hopefully the furniture didn’t break. He still had a door to replace. The table was loaded with food, the scent of salmon drifting to his nose. The clan watched him closely, their nostrils flaring, and Garrett swore he could hear their stomachs growling.
Garrett offered her a tight smile. “The clan-leader usually eats first. Did you take what you wanted? Because there will be no left overs.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I figured. I was scared I wouldn’t have enough for everyone. Come on, before it gets cold. Unless… you prefer it raw? I didn’t even think…”
Garrett was convinced it was more than her looks that got him going. She could have just left him in the woods to be hunted down. She could have dumped his ass at a hospital, and not bring him into her home. She didn’t have to feed him or provide shelter… she didn’t have to loosen him up with those magic hands. And now she was feeding his bears, caring for them in the simplest, most meaningful way…
Stepping forward, Garrett intended to scoop her up, and take her to her private quarters. But she had slaved for hours to make all that food, and it would be very un-bear like for him not to eat what she had prepared. He took both her hands in his, and kissed her knuckles, her gasp lovely.
“Thank you for caring for me and mine.” With that, he joined his clan at the table, Bruin pulling up a chair for him. Garrett didn’t miss the little smirk on his beta’s lips, but he didn’t press the point.
He inhaled deeply, the scent of fish, citrus and pineapple making his mouth water. He took the fork in front of him, and selected a cut of salmon garnished with lemon and set it on his plate. He wanted to tear into the meal, but he pushed away the desire, and cut off a big chunk of flesh. As he chewed, he closed his eyes, savoring Dahlia’s hard work. Flipping his lids, he nodded to his bears, and they snapped into action, loading their plates with food.
As they filled their bottomless bellies, Garrett glanced to the side where Dahlia nibbled at her plate by the kitchen counter. He wanted to pull her into his lap, and feed her choice morsels from his hand. He wanted to care for her as she had him. He wanted to peel off her clothes one by one then lay her across the bed, and service her until she begged him to stop. His body was tuned into every little thing she did and the way her lips glistened from moisture, sent his dick throbbing with need.
<
br /> “Can I ask a question?” she said suddenly, and everyone quieted. “Ah, I was just wondering… don’t polar bears live further north? I mean, we get snow here obviously, but—”
The twins looked to Garrett and he shrugged. Jet started talking, “My brother and I are outcasts because of our albinism. We are adapted to the cold, snowy environment, but the intense sun hurts. Because of this, it is hard for us to go out in the daytime, and that has made us a liability, so our clan kicked us out.”
“I’m sorry. That’s horrible,” she said, aghast.
Jet shrugged. “We are with Garrett now.”
Her brows pulled down in thought for a moment. “And what are sun bears?”
Marcus and Jake beamed at each other and Marcus said, “The smallest, but most stylish of all bears. The cutest, too.”
“Yup,” Jake chimed in. “We are the best cuddlers.”
Smiling ear to ear, Dahlia shook her head, her curls bouncing. “This is crazy. I feel like Goldilocks and the… seven bears.”
“This is us,” Bruin spoke up. “It’s an inner joke that we are Garrett’s Merry Band of Rejects.”
Garrett growled low in his throat, reminding his beta he didn’t like that reference, no matter how true it was. Besides, if Dahlia got wind that he was imperfect, she might reconsider her decision to mate with him.
She looked at Garrett, her silent question hoovering in the air.
Taking a deep breath, he threw Bruin a glare who meekly stuffed his mouth. “All of us were tossed out of some clan or another. As I explained, no shifter ever did well alone, so here we are.”
“I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t insult any—”
“Are you kidding?” Jet spoke up. “Garrett is the bestest clan-leader ever.”
Leto nodded in agreement with his brother. “Yup.”
As Garrett’s bears lavished him with praise, he blushed. They’d never openly voiced their approval of him before, but their continued will to follow him proved they respected his authority. He just wished he was a stronger leader for them.
“I’m so happy you all found each other. No one should have to be alone,” she said, her eyes glittering with warmth.
“We wish Garrett wouldn’t be alone, either,” Bruin spoke up, and Garrett issued a none too subtle warning, the growl filling the room. Everyone looked down in submission while Marcus cleaned his nails with a toothpick.
There was a moment of tense silence, but Bruin had already lit the spark, and there was no snuffing out Dahlia’s curiosity. Resigned, he waited as everyone cleaned their plates as silently as possible.
“What do you mean?” she finally asked.
“He means that I am stronger with a mate,” Garrett said, eying the bear all the while who simply kept his attention on his empty plate. “Remember what I told you about the mating-bond increasing a shifter’s strength?”
“Oh.” Garrett didn’t like the distant tone of her voice. He’d have words with Bruin later. “But why is that?”
Marcus threw his hand into the air, and jumped out of his seat. “Me! Let me tell the story.”
“Here we go,” Vance said, rolling his eyes and he sunk into his chair.
Garrett signaled to Marcus, and the bear clapped his hands together in excitement. The male lowered his voice, and motioned his hands in the air for effect. “It’s a story handed down through the ages by shifters, a tale of mystery and of Gods and demons. A story cloaked in myth and legend—”
Jake slapped Marcus on the butt playfully. “You were always one for drama. Get to the story.”
The bear growled at his mate, but grinned. “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… It’s an old story. A story told before humans could write. Beautiful, unearthly beings came from the sky, and everything they touched became something more. They lived on Earth for many years, observing, cataloging and creating. They weren’t the only of their kind though, and like all good stories, a villain is required. One could call them demons, I suppose, but unlike the sky-people, these beings were ugly and twisted, and only thought of war and dominating those deemed lesser.”
“So we were created—” Jake cut in.
“Hush! Don’t steal my show!” Marcus hissed then smiled innocently at Dahlia who was absorbing the whole thing with fascination. “The sky-people were the live and let live type, and didn’t take kindly to the demons running around, killing pointlessly. Besides, they had come to Earth first. So, they took the best qualities of many different species, and combined them into a single organism. A bear’s strength, a cat’s agility, a salamander’s ability to heal and regrow limbs… all these attributes instilled in the most promising and successful living being at the time… humans.”
“You can regrow limbs?” she gaped, her eyes like saucers in her face.
“Sure, but it takes a while and it’s painful,” Marcus said. “Basically, we were laboratory experiments, a bunch of parts thrown together to make the perfect guardian. Bears were one of the first shifters, and the closest to the sky-people. To get to them a demon would have to break a line of bears, and that’s not easy to do.”
“I would think not,” she said, a little smile twitching at the corner of her lips. “So, you were created by gods to fight demons… then why do you fight each other?”
Everyone passed each other uncomfortable looks, and Bruin spoke up. “The sky-people left long ago, leaving us to our own devices. It was the Chimeras that rose to power, and established a code of conduct for shifters to live by. Without the guidance of our mothers, we reverted to the animal instinct more than a human’s intellectual nature.”
“Mothers?”
“The sky-people were all female,” Bruin said, eying Garrett. “Which ties into the whole mating-bond thing.”
“Yup,” Marcus said, pulling Jake close. “The sky-people coded into our DNA a loyalty to women—the need to protect and serve females is a prime directive.” He glanced at his mate. “It’s why Jake and I were disavowed by our clans. All males are expected to mate a female to strengthen themselves as well as the clan, but that wasn’t an options for us so we were considered a weak link, and forced out.”
“I’m sorry,” she muttered again.
“Don’t be.” Jake grinned, planting a kiss on Marcus’s neck. “Garrett accepts us for who we are, and we are happier with him than we’ve ever been.”
A warmth entered Dahlia’s eyes, and Garrett relaxed. He found he enjoyed telling her about himself and his family. She seemed to be accepting it well, and didn’t appear to be bothered by their imperfections—hell, with his bears singing his praise, she looked damned approving.
Her eyes scanned the table, her lip going between her teeth. “Since there are no women in your clan, I take it none of you are married?”
“No,” Garrett took the lead. “We’re all… available. But there are no female shifters. The sky-people designed it this way.”
Her face reflected examination as she digested his words. “But what happens if a mated pair has a daughter? Are they not shifters?”
“Nope,” Bruin said. “They are human. Only male children become shifters. It’s a balancing system, and quite ingenious, might I add. Females cannot be shifter, but they are incredibly important to us. They balance our two halves, and are the glue of a family. It’s not uncommon for the alpha female to make the more important decisions in a clan. The more mated females a clan has, the stronger it is. Again, it all goes back to when we served the sky-people. Females born to shifter parents will often mate with shifter males, but since we are considered flawed, no female would give us a second glance.”
Nodding slowly, Dahlia glanced at Garrett who lounged in his chair. He was enjoying the conversation, the whole thing feeling a lot like the days when his parent’s clan gather around the dinner table for a good meal and, light-hearted banter.
“If you are hardwired to protect and serve women then why did that other bear try to kill me?” she asked, and the positive vibes plumm
eted.
Bruin slid his attention to Garrett. “What does she mean? Is she talking about Lazaran?”
“You didn’t tell them?” she asked Garrett.
Marcus leaned over the counter, and mashed his cheek against his fist, his eyes on Dahlia. “Yeah, how did you two meet, anyhow?”
Garrett rose to his feet. “That is enough for now. It’s been a long few days, and everyone needs to settle in.”
With that, he corralled Dahlia into the living room. He could feel his bears’ eyes on his back, their silent questions ringing in his mind. “I need to speak with you in private.”
“Okay, let’s go to my bedroom. To talk… only talk.” Dahlia rubbed her temples. “Just shut up now.”
Garrett tried to hide his smile. It felt nice to know she was thinking about mating with him. When they were in her private quarters, she closed the door, and he took a moment to examine her room. It was thick with the scent of lofty perfumes, and the big bed in the middle looked ridiculously cozy. A little growl crawled up his throat as he imagined them tumbling across it, pillows flying every which way.
“What did you want to discuss?” she asked, her expression guarded.
“It’s not important now,” he muttered, setting his sights on her. Being enclosed with her went right to his cock. He took a step forward, and she didn’t move, her throat shifting hard.
“Okay, well I have something to talk about then. Because this roller coaster is making me dizzy.”
“Thank you for welcoming my clan into your home,” he said, needing to convey his gratitude.
“Your welcome. But… ah…” she shuffled her hair, exposing her neck, and Garrett wanted to bury his face against her throat. “Okay, this is hard, but I’ve dealt with your kind before, so I’m just going to come out, and say it.”
He barreled on through, taking another step, his eyes holding hers. “From all that you’ve heard of my kind, you will forgive me for wanting to thank you properly.”
She laughed, but there was very little mirth in her tone. “Yeah, see that’s what I mean. You keep throwing out stuff like that, but then back off at the last minute. I know I’m not the average guy’s idea of beauty, and—”
