by Cecilia Lane
Callum stiffened beside her. Tension lined his body and didn’t fade even when she placed a hand on his arm. Truthfully, the touch didn’t even calm her or her newly formed inner bear. The beast felt threatened and wanted to attack something, anything.
She knew, without Judah explaining, that humans had shown up. The time for hiding was over. It wouldn’t be long before someone was able to poke their way into the territory.
Change had come for Bearden whether they liked it or not.
The ride to the edge of enclave territory was tense and silent. Leah scrunched her nose and rolled down the window. The air was too thick and heavy to breathe.
Callum shot her a glance. “Sorry.”
There were two camps already forming by the time they arrived. Callum parked out of sight on one of the off-road trails, with Cole, Judah, and a handful of officers pulling over behind him. From there, they walked on foot and stayed out of sight to get an idea of what they were dealing with before confronting the situation.
From a vantage point not far from where she wrecked her car, they watched the camps unfold. One was smaller than the other, but growing larger with the cars that pulled up and unloaded civilian camping gear. Some signs were dragged out, reading positive messages like “Show us Bigfoot.” Nothing hurtful had yet to appear.
The bigger camp worried her. Deep green vehicles looked ready for war. Military uniforms were everywhere, crawling in and out of trucks, throwing boxes of supplies to the ground. There was even one pilot fiddling with a remote control and sending a small helicopter into the air.
“What do we do?” Judah asked, clearly leaving the decision to Mayor Callum Strathorn.
Voices murmured behind her, none of them in agreement, and she was reminded of Callum’s words when she first tried to leave. They used to kill trespassers.
There were too many along the border to make disappear. And more were sure to arrive. Even if she could stomach hurting innocent people, it would do nothing to stop the flow of people to the border of the enclave. Running wasn’t an option, and making a stand was guaranteed to draw even more attention.
“There’s only one thing we can do,” she breathed. Beside her, Callum nodded.
“We need to make a good impression. Only a few of us. Judah, I want you and two of your men. Cole, you’re with me.”
“You’re not leaving me behind,” Leah said.
Callum passed a hand over his face and eyed her steadily. “Actually, it might be best if you came. We’re all born. You can explain about being bitten. But maybe leave out Bruce.”
With the plan made, there was nothing left to do but go through with it. She hoped they’d have safety in numbers.
The group picked their way down the mountainside. Leaves and branches crunched underfoot, but the camps below seemed blissfully unaware. It was odd to exist right alongside them and not be seen.
Then one of the military men glanced up and pointed. “Someone’s coming!”
The next nearest man peered in their direction. He squinted, then raised a hand to his face to block the sun. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
“Right there, through the trees.”
“Are you blind? No one is standing there.”
“Are you blind? There’s an entire group!”
Callum pulled Leah close. “That’s what I meant about a single drop of blood giving us away. That person could lead the rest of them inside.”
She gave him a tight smile and stepped forward, Callum and Cole at either side. Judah and a couple of his officers followed behind. She could feel the change as she passed through the barrier. A chill ran through her and sent a shiver down her spine.
Gasps went up all around when the pure humans saw them materialize out of nowhere.
Leah glanced around, feeling suddenly shy and nervous. She sought comfort from her inner bear. Strong and ferocious, that’s what she wanted to be. Ready to protect the ones she loved. But capable of tenderness with those that deserved it.
She raised a hand in greeting. “Hi. I’m Leah, and I live in Bearden.”
Thank you for reading Forbidden Mate! I hope you loved Callum and Leah!
Shifters of Bear’s Den returns with Dangerous Mate!
A bear spoiling for a brawl.
Rylee doesn’t have time for distractions or bossy bodyguards, even if they’re tall, dark and gorgeous. She’s determined to ignore the tension sizzling between her and gruff bear shifter Cole, but it grows harder to resist his charm as one wicked-hot kiss leads to another. While Rylee and Cole fight their attraction, sinister forces gather in the town of Bearden.
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first chapter!
Dangerous Mate: Chapter One
Flames burst out of a nearby tent in a noisy challenge to the sky. Cole stumbled back to avoid the blast. Water rained down from fire engines, but it wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop the spread. They’d be lucky if any of the tent city survived by nightfall.
He twisted around to catch sight of his burn buddy sprawled on the ground and hauled him to his feet. The military man was assigned to him for any joint operations outside Bearden borders. With both the military and Bearden Fire Department dumping water, it was up to the ground team to clear out any who hadn’t already fled the flames and extend the reach of the hoses.
“This way!” he shouted over the radio. He made a full-armed gesture to drive home the point, in case they weren’t on the same frequency.
He’d been waiting for a disaster to happen. The military camp wanted to swing their dicks around and pretend like they were serving as protectors for the civilian camps, but they did nothing when given a list of fire hazards by the Bearden Fire Department. With multiple camps up and down the roads leading into the enclave, something was bound to light up. He hated being right.
At least there were extra men for this, even if it meant pairing up with them for a joint operation. The military guys had their own fire teams, and a few of the civvies had volunteer experience. Search and rescue teams, like him and his burn buddy, entered the messy maze of the tent city while the hose teams were still figuring out how water worked.
So far, though, there’d been no one to rescue. He feared his job would turn into search and recovery by the time night fell. He hated losing a life and loathed it even more when it was preventable.
The radio inside his helmet crackled with a new order. “Fall back! Search and rescue, fall back, now!”
Cole reluctantly turned away from the slithering oranges and yellows consuming yet another tent. The hose teams weren’t working fast enough. A deep rumbling over the sound of burning meant the tractors had arrived. At least the fire wouldn’t spread to the dry, wooded areas and take over the entire mountainside.
The shrill, panicked cry of a child latched onto his heart and pulled him the opposite direction.
He paused, head rolling from side to side as he tried to catch the noise again. They were near, but not near enough to see through the thick smoke.
There. He heard the cry again, rising to a wail. He started back into the fire.
“This way!” he urged.
“Are you crazy?” his partner yelled. “You heard the orders. We have to get out!”
Cole ignored the man. Someone was still in the middle of the inferno. He couldn’t leave a child behind.
His burn buddy planted a firm hand on his shoulder and Cole felt a brief flash of guilt. The human man couldn’t see as well as he could. His resolve hardened; that same difficulty would be even worse for someone without protective gear.
He crunched through the ruined remains of one tent after another, stopping to listen, then moving on once more. He was closing in on the crying when another voice added its sound.
He got eyes on the dark figures of the group before they saw him. A mother tried to pull at an unconscious man. Two children clung to her legs, making her progress that much more difficult.
“Here!” he shouted over his shoulder at his pa
rtner.
Soot and sweat streaked each of their faces. The man’s hands were an angry red, even in the light of day dimmed by fire and smoke. He’d tried to put something out and failed.
They weren’t the first family he’d come across in the middle of a blaze. Panic did strange things to people. Made them brave when they should be protecting themselves. Sacrificing their safety for someone else usually ended with losing everyone.
He grabbed the children first and shoved them at his burn buddy. The mother screamed incoherent noises and slapped open fists against his chest. He held her off long enough to sling the man over his shoulder.
“Let’s go!” he yelled loudly enough for her to hear him over the flames and through his gear. He could feel the heat blasting off the burning tents. How she wasn’t melting, he didn’t know.
Quick strides took them through the fire, back the way they came. The route was mostly clear and safe to bring their rescues through without any problems. Still, relief coursed through him as soon as they broke out of the tent line.
Grass and small trees had been uprooted at the edge of camp to leave a line of open dirt. Foam coated the road to form a barrier on that side. Beyond the foam were the emergency vehicles. Paramedics rushed forward as soon as Cole and his partner emerged from the burning tent city.
“Unconscious at the scene. Burns to hands and arms. Possibly more underneath his clothing,” Cole stated quickly to the paramedic taking over the man. He vaguely heard his partner saying something similar about the children and woman.
But outside the roar of flames, he could hear what he’d avoided accepting inside. The man had no beating in his chest and no air expelled from his lungs. He watched with trepidation as the paramedics pounded on his chest and hooked an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
He hoped someone had the foresight to make sure the kids didn’t see their father slipping away.
His bear roared in his middle at the defeat. Cole dug his fingers into his palms to hold the beast back. He needed to get out. Now. No questions, no accusing looks. There were too many people around for his taste.
Voices fading away to strangled buzzes in his ears, he turned on his heel and rounded the Bearden engine. Calm. He needed to find his calm. He needed to keep to his human shape. He couldn’t let Callum down and let his bear rip out of him in front of all the humans. They were there to make a good impression, show they were just like everyone else. He’d ruin that if he lost control.
Inside, he was a tempest. He tried to keep cool and even for the sake of everyone else, but the months of serving as Bearden Fire Chief had worn him down to nothing. He was glad to let go of command and let his brother, Callum, take his rightful place as clan alpha and Fire Chief. But being glad didn’t lessen the tension that still roiled inside him.
Cole ripped off his helmet and chucked it at the engine. His bear wouldn’t give him peace, and he hadn’t saved that man’s life. “Fuck!”
His innards boiled with fury. The fucking civilians didn’t listen. The military men didn’t listen. And now, at least one family had been ripped apart.
Callum and Major Brant Delano drew themselves apart from the crowd. As the men in charge, they oversaw the entire fight against the fire. He didn’t need to scent the stinging anger in the air to know Callum wasn’t happy.
“I don’t know where you were stationed before, but this is exactly why we made those suggestions,” his brother said with the tone of a man struggling to keep his voice level.
“We’re not here to babysit a bunch of men and women who shouldn’t even be camping here,” Brant dismissed.
“What then, Major, are you supposed to be doing?” Callum growled.
Delano fixed cold eyes on Callum. “We’re here to judge any threats in the area.”
“Threats?” Cole barked. “The only threats I saw today were the ones you were explicitly warned about!”
The commotion drew a crowd. Callum tried to push him back into the clan and cut off the problem before it truly began, but Cole didn’t hear him. He couldn’t see him through the hazy anger that clouded his vision.
“At least one man died today! Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you’d listened to us in the first place!” Cole shoved at Delano’s chest. Solid as he was, he couldn’t stand up to shifter strength.
Red crept up the man’s neck. Cole didn’t know if it was from his words or from knocking the man back in front of his lackeys, but anger coated his scent.
He wasn’t worth the trouble, Cole reminded himself. He had to be on his best behavior with humans watching in all directions.
“You fucking freaks probably set it yourselves!”
Cole balled his hands into fists and tried to swallow the insult. Tried, and failed. His bear roared to life and demanded he take an apology out of the man’s flesh. Hurting innocent lives, letting others die? An outrageous suggestion.
He turned, eyes flashing gold. “What did you say?”
Callum’s alpha nature washed over him and urged his submission. It only made his bear angrier. He didn’t want to be controlled. He wanted to fight.
Delano drew himself up to his full height, which was only an inch shorter than Cole. But what he lacked in the inch, he made up with weapons carried by everyone at his back. He already stumbled in front of them; he needed to take back his power. “I said, you freaks started this fire.”
Cole swung his fist and landed the punch on Delano’s cheek. His fingers lengthened into sharp claws as his bear shoved forward. The beast sent image after image of Delano covered in bloody wounds, fighting to keep the bear from his throat.
The man didn’t back down. He roared and ran straight into Cole, grabbing him by the shoulders and driving a knee into his stomach. Blow after blow landed. The scent of blood hit the air. His. Delano’s. Didn’t matter. Each busted nose and cut lip was a testament to the tensions that brewed between the camps and the enclave.
Hands grabbed hold of his arms and shoulders. More snaked in to grab hold of Delano. They were dragged away from each other, and they both struggled to return to the fight.
Callum shoved him back and held a finger right in front of his face. “Fucking back down, I said! That’s an order!”
Order or not, Cole tried to shake off the command of his alpha. His bear ripped at his insides and growled a challenge to his brother. Mistake, but he didn’t care. He needed to fight something. Anything. Anyone.
Callum dumped more power into the air and forced him to his knees.
“I want that monster gone!” Delano roared into the night.
Cole opened his mouth to yell right back, but Callum snapped his fingers. He snarled at his brother instead.
Callum’s voice was low and thick with the power of his inner beast. He forced eye contact to make sure Cole heard the order. “Get back to the firehouse. Do not stop anywhere. You will wait there for me. Do you understand?”
Anger bubbled inside him. At Delano, at Callum, and at himself. He was spiraling, and he’d let everyone see it. Fuck, he’d messed up. He needed to get out of the air still thick with smoke. He needed to clear his head.
“I understand,” he said between clenched teeth.
Dangerous Mate is available on Amazon!
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About the Author
Cecilia Lane grew up in a what most call paradise, but she insists is humid hell. She escaped the heat with weekly journeys to the library, where she learned the basics of slaying dragons, magical abilities, and grand adventures.
When it became apparent she wouldn’t be able to travel the high seas with princes or party with rock star vampires, Cecilia hunkered down to create her own worlds filled with sexy people in complicated situations. She now writes with the support of her o
wn sexy man and many interruptions from her goofy dog.
Connect with Cecilia online!
www.cecilialane.com
Also by Cecilia Lane
Shifting Destinies: Shifters of Bear’s Den
Forbidden Mate
Dangerous Mate
Hunted Mate
Runaway Mate
Stolen Mate
Untamed Mate
Shifting Destinies Standalone Stories
Her Christmas Wolf
Claiming the Wolf Princess
Wanted by the Bear