“GET BACK!” I scream as I hurry behind my small tent, keeping it between us.
He lowers his head and walks forward with a grunt. Holy shit, he’s big.
My heart feels like it’s going to pound out of my chest. I can hardly breathe as I point the gun at him.
What’s a bullet going to do to him? He must be two thousand pounds! I don’t even know if the bullet is going to make it through his thick hide. Maybe it will piss him off enough to make him kill me quickly.
“I said stay back!” I scream as he keeps walking forward. “I shot a snake in the head, I’ll shoot you too.”
Not exactly in the head, but he doesn’t have to know that…
The bear steps on my tent and it collapses like a popped balloon as he comes forward. His hungry eyes are locked on me.
I’m not dying like this.
“I warned you!” I shout. I squeeze my eyes shut and fire three times.
The shots tear through the darkening sky and ring in my ears.
When I gain the courage to open my eyes, I see the bear recoiling away from me and whimpering in pain. Three red spots are matting his fur with blood. Two in the shoulder and one in the chest.
He’s still staring at me, looking hurt, looking almost… betrayed as he watches me, whimpering the whole time.
“Oh, no,” I whisper as I watch him stumble onto his ass. “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you just… I warned you!”
I grip the gun in my hand as he struggles to get to his enormous paws. I point the gun back at him as he stands up, but then something snaps within me and I start running instead.
I leave my tent. I leave my bag. I leave everything but the gun, and flee with my life.
Chapter Three
Julian
Ten minutes earlier…
My bear catches a scent on the wind and it rips through my body, stunning me, gripping me, seizing our attention like nothing has ever done before.
He recognizes it before I do and starts running toward the source of the tantalizing smell.
I gasp when it hits me.
It’s her.
It’s really her.
Our mate.
Let me out, I demand as my bear rushes forward on big powerful paws.
He grunts back. The intention is clear. He’s not letting me out without a fight.
Fine, I growl as I try to grab a hold of him. He snarls as I pull him back in while trying to push my way out. His body tightens as he fights me back.
He’s waited to find our mate as long as I have and he’s not about to let me have the first sight.
You’ll scare her!
He growls again and starts running even faster.
Panic fills me as I start imagining all of the ways this encounter could go wrong. Our poor girl is out in the middle of the Montana wilderness and we’re about to run up to her as a huge grizzly bear. We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t have a heart attack.
Let me handle this!
He shakes his head and forces me back down when I try to wrestle my way up.
I feel helpless in here. This is the moment I’ve been waiting forever for and now I’m going to be forced to watch as my stubborn bear fucks it all up.
My grizzly bear suddenly stops on the crest of a hill and we both freeze when we see her.
She’s absolutely fucking stunning.
That’s her.
That’s my girl.
The girl who I was fated to meet. Fated to protect. Fated to love and cherish for the rest of my days.
I watch through my bear’s eyes as I vow to do all of those things. No one will ever hurt her again. I’ll be there for her—loving her, cherishing her, worshipping her body wherever she goes.
She’s making a fire, oblivious to my presence.
Both me and my bear let out a groan when she tucks a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear. She has a face that belongs on a China doll. I can’t get over how gorgeous she is.
She’s a natural beauty who can make an old sweatshirt and torn hiking pants look like it should belong on a runway. My bear lets out a low rumble when she cracks a stick over her knee and then bends over to toss it into the flames.
I need this girl. Her curves… fuck… I feel like I’m drowning and gasping for a breath of her.
Her striking brown eyes flit over to me and then widen when she sees my bear approaching.
You’re scaring her!
The poor girl is shaking as she leaps onto her bag and pulls out a gun.
“GET BACK!” she screams and my whole body fills with shivers at the sound of her beautiful voice.
Let me out, I beg as she runs behind her tent. I can handle this better than you.
My grizzly bear grunts, disagreeing completely.
“I said stay back!” she screams as my clueless bear keeps approaching. “I shot a snake in the head, I’ll shoot you too.”
I grin as I watch her. She shot a snake? She’s a feisty one. I always knew my mate would have a fire in her belly.
I desperately want to come out and tell her that I don’t mean her any harm. That I would die before hurting her, but my bear keeps pushing me down, making me watch helplessly from deep inside.
The clumsy fucker steps on her tent and the whole thing collapses.
Why did you do that, you idiot?!
She’s finally had enough of this humiliating courtship. “I warned you!” she shouts as she pulls the trigger.
Three shots bang out and suddenly my bear is recoiling as pain rips through us. It’s a searing burn as the bullets cut through muscle and tendons, causing my bear to stagger back.
He just watches her as I wince inside, feeling every bit of pain that he’s feeling. It’s not just the bullet wounds, it’s the betrayal. It’s the rejection of having our mate turn on us after we finally found her.
“Oh, no,” she whispers as my bear’s back legs give out and he stumbles onto his ass. “I’m sorry. Why didn’t you just… I warned you.”
She points the shaky gun at us one more time and then starts running.
No!
She’s gone and we can barely stand with the bullet holes in us, let alone chase after her.
I warned you! Why didn’t you freaking listen?!
My bear just whimpers pathetically as he tries to get untangled from the collapsed tent. We’re spilling blood all over it and breaking it even more as he finally stumbles out. The thought of my mate sleeping outside in the wilderness with nothing over her head is making the pain that much more intense.
What?! No!
My asshole grizzly starts pulling me out, dragging me up against my will as he slinks back in. Our body starts shaking violently as the phase completes.
“You fucking asshole,” I mutter as I fall to the ground in my human form. “Now you let me out? So I can feel the worst of the pain? You really are a furry fucker.”
I have two slugs in my shoulder and one in my chest. Blood is pouring out as I will my shifter healing to get moving.
It’s too slow. My girl is out there in the darkening forest and I have to go protect her.
“That went even worse than I thought it would,” I grumble as I reach into the broken tent and pull her bag out. “You scared the hell out of her and you got us shot. Three times!”
My bear growls back at me.
“Shut up,” I mutter as I open her bag.
I can’t exactly go chasing her like this. If she thought a grizzly bear was scary, then she’s going to find a naked man covered in blood approaching her absolutely terrifying.
“Oh crap,” I grumble when I pull out her clothes. Nothing in a quintuple XL. Only Large. None of this will fit at all, but it’s better than showing up with nothing but a smile on my face.
Her t-shirt tears down the seams as I pull it on. I pull on her pants too, but there’s no way I’m able to button them. I’m just glad I don’t have a mirror. I have a belly top on that finishes over my navel and pants that are squeezed around my calves.
It takes three steps before the pants and bloody shirt shred to pieces.
“Damn it!” I say as I pull them off and toss the tattered shreds into the fire. I won’t be able to fit in any of this stuff.
After repacking her bag, I pull the bent and broken poles out of her tent and then wrap the nylon around my waist like a pathetic-looking kilt. It’s the best I can do for now.
The bleeding is already slowing down as my shifter healing starts repairing the muscle damage. It will take several more hours before the pain subsides, but I can still go out and look for my girl. I’d have to be seconds away from dying before I gave up trying to find her. Even then, I’d still be looking around for her as I traveled toward the light.
I raise my nose and get shivers all over as I breathe in her scent once again. It’s faint, but I can follow it.
“All right,” I mumble to my bear as I start walking. “It’s my turn.”
Don’t fuck it up, he grumbles back. There are no third chances.
Chapter Four
Madison
I’m in a bad spot now. I ran off the trail and it’s getting dark. If I’m able to find my way back to camp, there’s probably going to be a wounded (or dead) grizzly bear lying on my broken tent.
And the worst part is, I’m feeling guiltier than I’ve ever felt before.
The poor bear. He must have smelled the food cooking and came over for a quick bite. I just wasn’t willing to be that bite. I wasn’t about to get eaten.
I look around at the dark trees and get a shiver as I zip up my sweater. It gets cold here in the mountains at night, and I have a long dark freezing few hours ahead of me.
I doubt I’ll sleep a minute with the mountain lions, wolves, and bears prowling around, looking for their next meal.
“Oh crap,” I whisper when I hear a rustling in the darkness. Here comes one of them now.
I point the gun at the noise and wait in silence as it gets closer and closer.
The sliver of the moon is barely casting any light through the trees, giving me hardly any visibility. I wish I had my flashlight. I wish I had my ammo to reload this gun.
“Get back!” I scream when I hear a branch snap under the beast’s tremendous weight. I’m picturing lots of sharp claws and deadly teeth as I struggle not to pull the trigger over and over again until I’m out of bullets.
“It’s okay,” a deep masculine voice says from somewhere I can’t see.
Now my heart really starts pounding. It’s thrashing in my ears as my body trembles. A man? I wasn’t expecting a man.
I was expecting a wild animal who wanted to plunge its claws and teeth into me, but a man might want to plunge something else inside of me and that is not going to happen.
“I have a gun!” I scream as loud as I can. “Get back and leave me alone or I’ll let it rip!”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” says the voice in a calm manner. “I just want to talk.”
“Then talk!” I shout. “But if you take one more step closer, I’m pulling the trigger and I’m not stopping until your body looks like Swiss cheese!”
The rustling stops. All I can hear over my pounding heart is his slow deep breaths.
“Who are you?” I shout in a panic.
“I’m someone who’s been looking for you for a long time. I’m someone you’re destined to meet.”
“Oh, that’s not creepy at all!” I snap back. Fuck this. I’m out of here.
I start running back in the direction I think my camp is in, but it’s so dark and I can barely see anything. Branches keep coming out of nowhere and whipping my cheeks as I run. I trip on a root and fall, but I spring back up and keep running.
I don’t know where Mr. Pervy Creeper is, but I’m not slowing down to find out.
Finally, I see the light of my dwindling campfire in the distance and I pick up my pace. I just hope the grizzly bear is not still there and looking for revenge. Thankfully, it looks like he’s moved on.
I run toward the fire so I can quickly grab my things and then leave. I’ll never survive out here in the wilderness without my bag and my tent.
Wait a minute. Where the fuck is my tent?
The broken poles are here, but the colorful nylon is gone.
Did that bear take it? Why??
And why are my clothes all ripped up?
I don’t have time to make sense of any of this. I have to keep moving. Quickly.
I’m throwing things into my bag as fast as I can as I keep an eye on the dark forest, hoping I don’t get any more unwanted visitors.
“Yes,” I whisper when everything is packed. I slip my arm through a strap and then hoist my bag onto my back as I keep an eye out for danger.
Danger comes.
The silhouette of a huge man cuts through the night sky and I curse under my breath as I grip my gun and point it at him.
“That’s close enough,” I warn as my finger strokes the trigger.
He takes one more step and the orange glow of the fire lights him up.
“What the hell?” I gasp when I see him.
This man is a giant. A shirtless giant.
My eyes are drawn to his massive chest first. The fear that was flowing through my veins starts to get replaced by a warm desire to snuggle up against it.
I quickly shake that unhelpful thought out of my head and look into his eyes. They’re mesmerizing with the orange of the fire reflecting inside them. A few days of dark stubble covers his strong chin and sharp cheekbones. His dark hair is a mess, but it still looks good. He’s extremely hot. The kind of guy who belongs on the cover of a calendar, not creeping around in the forest.
My eyes dart down his hard toned abs to the colorful skirt he’s holding up around his waist. Is that?
“Are you wearing my tent?!”
“Yes,” he says in a deep voice that drawls out like a growl.
“Why?!”
His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. “I… uh… don’t really have a good answer for that.”
“That is incredibly weird.”
He just stands there, staring at me with a look of awe on his face. Warm tingles start spreading through my body with the way he’s looking at me.
I must look horrible. It’s been days since I bathed in the river and the clothes I’m wearing are more functional than fashionable. I’m afraid to see what my hair looks like. It probably looks like I walked into the salon and asked for the ‘wild birds’ nest’ hairdo.
Why the hell am I even thinking of this? Who the hell cares what I look like?
I jerk the gun up as I grit my jaw. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
“I want you,” he says as he takes a step closer. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“You’re gonna get a bullet in your fucking forehead if you take another step.”
He stops and his back straightens as he looks at me with a firm stare. The tent drops an inch and I swallow hard when I see the thick root of his cock. And it is thick. Extremely thick.
“This isn’t going how I had hoped,” he says as he runs a hand through his dark hair. My eyes dart to his huge round tricep as his arm goes up. He really is gorgeous. Creepy, but gorgeous.
“And how did you hope this was going to go?” I ask as I take a step back with my bag hanging on my shoulders. “That the poor innocent girl at the campfire wasn’t armed? Huh? So, you could do anything you wanted to me?”
“You have no idea what I want to do to you,” he says in a way that sends heat shooting between my legs. “And I don’t think you’d object if you knew.”
“I guess we’ll never find out,” I say in a tight voice. “Give me my tent back.”
With a shrug, he lets go of the nylon and my tent falls to his ankles. The warm glow of the fire is enough to light up his entire body that’s currently on display for my wide unblinking eyes.
I’ve never been the kind of girl who wanted to see men naked, but with him, I can’t stop looking. His long p
owerful dick is hanging low down his muscular thighs. It starts to thicken even more and rise up with every second I’m staring at it.
My mouth begins to water as I watch the vein pulse along his shaft as the big head swells up and slaps against his abs.
I squeeze my thighs together, feeling the heat pooling between them. A strong desire to slip my hand down there and take care of the intense throbbing between my legs tries to take over, but I fight it with everything I have.
He’s hard as a rock and staring right at me. Precum starts leaking from the tiny slit at the top and drips down his beautiful shaft, all the way to his huge balls that are swaying beneath it, looking so full and ready to unload.
I gulp as I look back into his hungry eyes. This man is hard for me.
“See anything you like?” he asks with a grin on his sexy lips.
“No!” I shout as I shake myself back to reality. “Step away from the tent!”
He does as I say and steps back into the darkness. I can only see part of his silhouette now and I’m not sure if I should throw a log on the fire, get my flashlight, or ask him to come back. My body is craving that big cock even though I would never. Not here. Not like this. And definitely not with a creep like him.
I keep the gun pointed at him as I rush forward and grab my tent. As soon as I have it, I run back and quickly crumple it up into a messy ball.
“You go south,” I tell him, “and I’ll go north.”
“I’m going where you go,” he says with a possessive tone to his voice. “I’m not leaving you now that I’ve finally found you.”
“If I see you again, I’m pulling the trigger,” I warn. “I’ve been playing first-person shooter games since I was in diapers, got that? I’ll put one right between your eyes. Don’t test me.”
“What’s your name?” he asks.
“Fuck you, creep!”
“I’m Julian Bowen,” he says, not phased by my vicious tone. “And we’re meant to be together.”
“You and the bullets in my chamber are meant to be together. Now, I’m not going to tell you again. Fuck off!”
Dirty Alpha (The Alpha's Obsession Book 2) Page 2