Protection at Nightfall

by E L Thorne

  “I had to make sure you were okay.” Mae put the shotgun down and sidestepped, locking eyes with the man. “Who are you?”

  “This is Derek. Mae, my boss.” Chelsea was introducing them as if they were at a social event, not as if he was a killer who’d stabbed and killed Jeff, and was holding her hostage at gunpoint.

  Derek indicated the shotgun. “Go get that, Chelsea, and bring it to me. Don’t try anything or I’ll have to blow a hole in your friend Mae here.”

  “Stop. I’ll get it. Don’t hurt her.” Chelsea stomped to the shotgun, picked it up, and carried it to Derek.

  Derek checked it. “Loaded, huh?” He smiled an evil grin. “Aren’t you the brave little missus?”

  A sneer crossed Mae’s face. I wondered if she knew I was watching. A part of me was glad she was here. I didn’t want to risk scaring Chelsea with my bear.

  I stepped from behind the tree and bush that had given me a hiding place. I reared up on two legs, threw my head back, and released a roar of pure anger.

  Chelsea screamed.

  “What the fuck!” Derek raised his handgun.

  “No!” Mae yelled.

  I closed the distance rapidly, my bear seeing red. I had every intention of not killing Derek, but I couldn’t say the same for my bear, especially when Derek pulled the trigger. The round caught me in my upper torso, ripping into my shoulder. I didn’t let it affect my momentum.

  I raised my claw, swiping at Derek, catching him across the throat. Blood spurted.

  At the same moment, Derek pulled the trigger again, delivering another round into me, then the man collapsed.

  I fell on top of Derek, crushing him before I rolled over.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chelsea

  I stared at the bear that had attacked Derek. Huge and furry, it lay still. Derek was bleeding from his neck and lying very, very still. There was no way he’d lived through that mauling. I couldn’t say that I was upset. Did this mean my nightmare of running was over? I backed up, afraid the bear would still be alive and attack me.

  Mae was crying, reaching for the bear, and kept repeating Grant’s name.

  I grabbed for her shoulder. “Let’s go.” If the huge animal came to, it would kill us both with a single swipe. “Grant’s not here. Let’s go. Now. Before it wakes up. Hurry,” I hissed.

  Mae shrugged me off. “No. Don’t you get it? I can’t leave him. I won’t. Don’t you know?”

  A part of me did. A memory was returning. Being carried...

  But I didn’t want to... No, that couldn’t be. But my memory said it was true. I sat next to Mae, buried my head in my hands, and rubbed my temples.

  Mae was talking to the bear, beseeching it. “Please, Grant. You know you can’t die. It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Woman. You’re killing me. Quit with the smothering. And what the hell were you doing?”

  Grant’s voice?

  My head snapped up. It was him. His shoulder was bloody, a mess of flesh, torn up, but not as bad as... Was it possible it wasn’t as bad as it had been a few seconds ago? How could that be?

  He healed fast. Was that related to the bear? I couldn’t tear my eyes off his wound. “You—”

  “Now you know my secret.” His voice was a groan. A small smile, tempered with pain, played on his lips.

  “I was starting to wonder if I knew it. I’m remembering that night. And I don’t think it was a hallucination.”

  He shook his head. “It wasn’t.” He groaned in pain.

  Mae put her hand on his shoulder. “You had me so worried.”

  “And what were you thinking, coming out here like some damned vigilante?” He put his hand on Mae’s.

  Everything came crashing down on me.

  Grant and Mae. It was true.

  I stood, rubbed my hands together. “I—”

  What the hell was I going to say? I couldn’t leave. I had no car. I had no way to get to my car. Jeff was dead in his SUV. I would have to stay while they called the police. At least I was done running from Derek, but I’d have to deal with avoiding these two while everything wrapped up. More running, it would seem.

  “Chelsea.” Grant rose to his feet, wincing as he rolled his shoulder. “Wait.”

  “I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I never meant to come between you two. I feel so guilty. I was confused. What happened... that shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Chelsea,” he started again. “Please, wait.”

  I turned to Mae. “I’m so very sorry. I didn’t mean to do anything to hurt you. I wasn’t planning to.”

  “I think there’s a misunderstanding.” She glanced from Grant to me. “Chelsea, Grant is more like my nephew.”

  I laughed mirthlessly. The pain of all this stung too deeply, penetrating the shock of the last few hours’ events. “He’s too—You’re too—No, he’s not. You’re about the same age.” Was Mae trying to make me feel better?

  “Mae was married to my second cousin,” Grant added.

  “And that means...?” I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

  “It means you’re the one I want.” He pulled me close to him.

  I shivered but ignored the cold. I looked at the blood on his shirt. I couldn’t process what he’d just said. It didn’t want to sink in fully, so I did what I always did—I opted for a practical detour with a question. “Don’t you need to see a doctor?”

  “No. I don’t. Though I’ll see Doc Evans shortly, just to make sure.” He rolled his shoulder.

  I could see that under the shot-shredded fabric the skin was beginning to heal, leaving behind the bloody mess of his shirt, but at least his flesh was mending.

  I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around that. At the same time, I recalled the other night, when I’d been hurt and drugged up, the fur, the warmth, the tenderness of being in the bear’s embrace as he carried me to the cave. “You became a bear.”

  He touched my forehead with his lips, a tender kiss. “My kind does that,” he whispered in my ear.

  Mae watched us, not saying a word, except there was a big smile plastered on her face, as if she’d just gotten a great birthday present.

  I was starting to understand the nature of Mae and Grant’s friendship. And at the same time, I felt foolish for having thought differently. A slow warmth, unimpeded by the coldness of the day, washed over me.

  “And your cousin, who was married to Mae? The same thing?”

  Mae cleared her throat and waved her arm around as if to indicate Derek and the situation, bringing them back to the present.

  He nodded. “We need to take care of all this.”

  “Let me handle it,” she said. “I can make it all go away. I need you both to go, though. Quickly. And you’re going to call Doc for your shoulder.”

  When Grant opened his mouth to protest, she held her hand up, a command in her gesture, brooking no argument.

  “You sure?” Grant’s eyes closed slightly, as if he doubted her.

  “What do you mean?” I was becoming more confused with every moment.

  Mae tossed Grant a set of keys. “Take her out of here while I take care of all this. Send Joe to get me. I’ll call a friend to help me out with the logistics. I’m parked near the SUV.”

  Grant snatched the keys out of the air, then put his uninjured arm around me. “We’ll be at the house.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Grant

  In my front hall at home, I stripped my shirt off then looked at my wound in the mirror. It was completely healed.

  Chelsea’s eyes widened. “I can’t believe it.” She shook her head. “Just like that, you’re healed.”

  I nodded. It still amazed me, especially since it wasn’t often that I was shot or injured to this degree. My days of conflict had ended years ago, and, of late, I’d settled nicely into being the clan’s head, a quiet and drama-free leader who tolerated no trespassers on their territory, and no issues that would attract the attention of humans.
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  “So, does that mean you’re—Does that mean you don’t die?”

  “No. I can die. But not from this sort of thing. It’s more about separating me from my bear. That would cause me to become a—” I hated using the word. I hated that it sounded like I was minimizing it. “It would make me more human. Then I’d live a human life, and I’d be killed by things that kill humans.”

  A puzzled look crossed Chelsea’s face.

  I took her by the hand and led her out of the hallway into the library, in front of the large desk. “I’m not immortal. But our kind has longevity. Long, long lives. And we don’t die unless we’re separated from our bear spirits.”

  She sighed. “I don’t have to understand it.” Her gaze roamed over my chest, and a desire lit in the back of her eyes.

  I scented her arousal, and it awakened both the bear and the man in me. The adrenaline of being wounded and having to save the woman I wanted as my mate heightened my sexual drive. Wanting to possess, own, take, and brand himself deep within her.

  “Do you want to...?” I was going to ask if she wanted to understand it, if it mattered, if I mattered enough that she’d want to know, but how would I do that? How could I show this woman how much she’d come to mean to me when I wasn’t sure if she was in as deep as I was?

  Chelsea cocked her head to the side, a glint in her eye. “I do.”

  I frowned. “You do what?”

  “I do want to.” She placed a hand on my stomach, then her fingers crept their way up over my chest, wandering through the sprinkle of hair, up, over, onto my uninjured shoulder, and then around my neck. She stepped closer into my hemisphere, her eyes sparkling, locked on my, her cheeks flushed from the warmth of the roaring fireplace Joe had started in the library before I’d left them alone.

  Without taking my eyes off of hers, I reached for her top, took it by the hem and raised it over her head. Her skin took on the glow from the flames, its fairness enhanced. Her chest moved with each breath, as if she was offering herself to me.

  “Chelsea.” My voice was a rumble from deep within, part mine, part my bear’s. I rubbed my lips over hers, reveling in the sweetness of her kiss. Her moans were taking me to a place I wouldn’t be able to return from.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chelsea

  I held my breath, my fingers entwined in his hair, wanting his mouth to take mine the way his heart had taken my very soul. And then he did.

  “Grant.” I moaned against his tender kiss. “I need you.”

  “I need you, too.” He dotted kisses along my jaw line. “I want you to be mine forever.”

  The promise of his words rang true for me. “I want you forever, too. Only you.”

  He stopped kissing me to press his forehead to mine. “You have to understand how this works. What it means.”

  “Tell me.” Because whatever it was, I’d be good with it. I knew I would because we were meant to be together.

  “I have to mark you. I have to bite you”—he trailed his finger along the side of my neck where it joined my shoulder—“right here. It’s called a couplebond, and it means we’ll have a deeper connection. A soul-deep connection. Forever.”

  Okay, not what I’d expected. But when I lifted my eyes to his, all I could see was his love for me. And then I knew the truth. “Yes.”

  “You’re sure? Because once I mark it can’t be undone.”

  A moan slipped out. “Please.” I didn’t even realize I was begging at first. But I think a deeper part of me did know. My soul was calling out to his. And to his bear’s.

  “You’re mine.” His voice was a hiss, its timbre laced with lust and need.

  “Yessss.” I felt another orgasm starting and pushed back on him.

  “Forever, mine.” He grunted, pumping, holding my hips. “There won’t be another.”

  “Never. All yours.” My voice was a pant, the words torn from my throat but given willingly from my soul.

  He kissed me again, and then, with another roar, he bit into my shoulder. A starburst lit behind my eyelids, and then a scorching sensation burned through my veins. A heat warmer than any I’d ever experienced. And then I felt it. I felt him.

  We’d joined.

  We were one, forever.

  “I love you.” His voice was low, a whisper as his breath traveled over the back of my neck. “My mate. I’ve waited so long for you.”

  I snuggled into his embrace, enjoying the comfort of his love, the nearness of his touch.

  Epilogue

  Chelsea

  A month later…

  I glanced up when I heard the door open, but I didn’t need to look up to know who it was. The spot on my neck where Grant had marked me during the couplebond tingled whenever he was around, a subtle sensation that reminded me I belonged to him, and he belonged to me.

  He smiled that smile—the one he reserved for me alone, as if no one else in the world existed.

  My stomach did one of those things it always did when he was around, like jumping beans were overreacting. I hoped the sensation would never go away.

  I’d moved out of Mae’s and into Grant’s place less than a week after Jeff’s death.

  His murder had gone “unsolved.” There was nothing in the news about Derek. When I brought it up to Grant once, he’d said he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. That Mae had taken care of it.

  Now I understood the nature of their friendship. They’d known each other for a long time. He was more like a nephew, as she had explained it.

  I was the last one in the shop. I’d told Mae I’d lock up when Grant came to pick me up. I’d kept my job at the salon because I couldn’t imagine a life of idleness, and Mae turned out to be a wonderful friend, even more wonderful than I had ever hoped for. She was the big sister I had always wanted.

  I practically ran to the front door to greet my bear. I hugged Grant, leaned in for his kiss. His mouth claimed mine while the bonding mark burned with renewed fervor and heat pooled between my legs.

  “Mae said something—I guess you could say it spawned a question.” I gazed up at him, my heart beating in time with his, took his hand, and led him to the door. We slipped outside, and the door locked behind us.

  “Do tell.” Grant ran his hands along my sides. A shiver of pure passion ran through me.

  I laughed and glanced around to see if any of the local residents were out after dark, if we’d get caught making out on the sidewalk. The coast was clear. “She said you were more like a nephew to her. You know. That day, when you told me everything about yourself.”

  Grant laughed. “I remember. She has lots of nephews.”

  The mysterious smile on his face made me curious. “What are you not telling me?” I narrowed my eyes, attempting to look foreboding, but knowing I’d totally failed. “Secrets already?”

  “Never.” He placed his lips on mine. “Never secrets, never again.” His tongue took control, and I surrendered to his assertiveness, relishing his maleness. “Mae’s mate was the chief of our clan. She enjoys helping all of us, whenever we need her.”

  “Her mate was... If her mate was the chief... who is now?”

  He planted a finger in the middle of his broad chest. “I handle things now—when they need to be handled.”

  I jumped when I heard a footstep, swinging my head to look behind us.

  “Mae. What’s wrong?” Why was she back?

  “Nothing. Not really. I think.” The vivacious woman smiled at me, pulled her coat tighter around her body, then turned to Grant. “I have a nephew who will be stopping by.”

  Grant didn’t say a word; he cocked an eyebrow, and kept his eyes on Mae, waiting for her to finish her thought.

  “He will need a place to stay, some privacy if possible.”

  “He can stay in one of our cabins. There are several empty ones.” Grant peered down at me as if to make sure I didn’t mind.

  Of course, I didn’t. I nodded in agreement.

  “I was hoping you’d
say that,” Mae said with a sigh.

  A man stepped out of the shadows.

  Tall, muscled, handsome.

  I gasped as he came closer.

  There was dried blood on his lip and on a cut on his eyebrow. A healed cut. His face looked like he’d been in a bar brawl. And lost.

  The man smiled a sheepish grin, shrugged. “A scuffle.” His voice was a low rumble. “No biggie.”

  I knew immediately that this was no ordinary man. He was one of Grant’s kind.

  “This is Kane.” Mae put her hand on the man’s shoulder.

  “Thank you for giving me a place to stay,” Kane said.

  Grant nodded. “Any nephew of Mae’s is welcome.”

  I snuggled closer to my bear.

  Finally I was home. Taking Grant’s hand, I wondered if Kane would stick around long enough to attend the wedding.

  “We’ll enjoy the company,” I said, and smiled at the newcomer.

  E.L. Thorne is the pen name of author Elle Thorne. These books are closed door romances for those who prefer less language and no sexual content.

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