“Yeah. She had me and my womb mates, Cole and Dare first. They’re easy to spot. They’re the ones who look like me. The second set of boys, Conor, Gage and Reed came along three years later, and our twin sisters were last. They’re only nineteen, but they’re enough to drive a person crazy.” He rolled his eyes expressively.
Galen wasn’t sure they should stay here at the lodge if Bear wasn’t here to lend his strength to Kendra’s protection. “We had thought to stay a few days and wait for some of my friends to arrive and accompany us to Michigan.” He glanced at the group of young shifters and shook his head. “Though now I’m not sure we should stay. I don’t want to put you in danger.”
“Don’t worry about that. Mom and Dad should be home soon. Mom would never let us spend a holiday without her here to cook for us.”
Almost as though his voice had conjured them, the front door opened and Bear walked through with his mate.
“Galen! It’s good to see you.” Bear grabbed him up in a tight, and literal bear hug before he set him away to inspect Kendra. “She smells like a shifter, but not.” He glanced at Galen. “What’s going on with that, and how can we help?”
Galen followed the other man across the room as Bear’s mate, Marietta, gathered her children in her arms one at a time for her own bear hug, fussing over them as mothers were wont to do.
“That crazy scientist turned her. We found her in a lab in Nevada after he kidnapped her from an Arkansas high school parking lot during a baseball game.”
“You’re kidding me! Another one?” Bear pulled him further into the corner and lowered his voice. “Is she safe? I mean, she won’t go screaming to the authorities, will she?” He glanced back at his family. “I can’t afford to have her drawing attention to us.”
Galen could feel Bear’s anxiety and knew that the old bear would do what he must to ensure the survival of his family. “She’s learning. And she’s my mate,” he added, just to let Bear know he would defend her to the death—not that his wolf was a match for a grown Grizzly Bear shifter. “I understand your need to protect your family. We can leave if you don’t want to risk it.”
“No reason to do that. We all need to protect each other.” Bear’s face split into a huge grin as he slapped Galen on the back and it almost sent him sprawling. “Let’s get you two a room.” He waggled his brows. “I’ll put you on the top floor away from everyone. We don’t need the kids to hear any strange noises in the middle of the night.”
Grinning, Galen shook his head. “I don’t know about you sometimes, you old bear. Do you think you can put in a call to Jake and Bastien and get some back-up out here? I think that crazy asshole’s men are still following us, though I can’t be sure.”
He didn’t add that they were supposed to have an escort that had never arrived. Galen frowned, afraid that the twins and Jace had gotten themselves into some sort of trouble.
“Just as soon as I see you settled.” He scowled at his daughters. “Elizabeth, Victoria, have your brothers get their bags and bring them up to five-twenty-two.”
“Yes, Papa.” The girls turned as one and headed toward where the boys were still clamoring around their mother, who handed them all food from a large basket.
Bear shook his head with a sigh. “Boys will be boys, they’re always worried about sating one appetite or another.” He winked at Galen, reached behind the counter for a key and gestured to the elevator. “After you.”
“You’re still using keys? I figured you’d have gone electronic by now.”
“Yeah, well, those key card systems aren’t cheap and I have six kids in college now and the girls are starting next fall.”
“Then it’ll have to wait, won’t it?” Galen knew it was nostalgia more than anything else stopping papa bear from modernizing the old lodge. Like most of the shifters who’d lived longer than one human lifetime, they had more than enough money to do whatever they wanted.
“That it will.”
They followed Bear up to their room. The older shifter opened the door and handed Galen the key. “Here you go. Just call if you need anything.” He waited until his boys dropped off what little luggage they had. “Breakfast is at eight. Our Easter dinner is usually at two o’clock, though Marietta will let us know if anything has changed at breakfast.”
“We can’t possibly intrude on your holiday,” Kendra said, her face nearly fire engine red as she stood before the large four-poster bed made from polished logs.
“Don’t worry about it. You aren’t the first guests we’ve had here during a holiday. I’m sure you won’t be our last.” He bared his teeth in a huge grin. “Welcome to Grizzly Gorge. I’ll see you two later. It’s past dinnertime, but if you two get hungry, help yourself to whatever you can beat the kids to in the refrigerator.” Bear shooed his cubs through the door. “Have a good night.” He winked and closed the door, leaving them alone.
As soon as Bear closed the door, Galen turned to Kendra and pulled her into his arms. He lowered his head to hers, unable to keep himself from touching her any longer. He stared down into her eyes for a moment, giving her the time to pull away, if that was what she wanted. Kendra didn’t move away. She returned his stare with wide eyes and nervously licked her lips.
Galen’s body hardened as he watched her tongue trail across her bottom lip. He wanted to know how it would feel to have her use her little pink tongue on his flesh. What would it feel like to drive his hard cock deep into her mouth?
His heart pounded and his breath heaved in his chest as he stared down at her. “I’m going to kiss you now.” Galen couldn’t stop himself from giving her that warning. He wanted her to know, to give her the chance to deny him, though he hoped like hell she wouldn’t.
The muscles of his stomach clenched, and his heart pounded in his ears. His cock grew larger, thicker, as he pictured what he wanted to do to her, with her. When she licked her lips again, Galen almost groaned with the need to pull her into his arms, cover her lips with his and draw her tongue deep into his mouth.
It had only been a few days and already this woman had worked herself so far beneath his skin he couldn’t imagine a day an hour—hell, even a minute—without her in it. His mind wanted her, his heart and body needed her more than he had ever thought it possible to need someone.
Unable to stop himself, he reached up and cupped her face. His thumbs lightly traced her full bottom lip when he wanted his tongue to do that.
“I can’t resist you when you do that.” He had to tell her so she would stop tempting him.
“When I do what?”
He almost groaned again when he noticed her focus on his mouth. It was almost as though she dared him to kiss her, to take her and make her his.
“When you lick your lips like that. It makes me crazy.”
Kendra pressed her lips together for a moment in a cute pout, her expression one of shy indecision and then her lips curved up at the corners and she licked her lips again.
This time her tongue made a slow, circuit of her upper and lower lips, while she held her mouth opened just a bit.
“Do you mean to tempt me, woman?”
“Yes, Galen, I do.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. “Now kiss me, before I change my mind.”
Galen leaned closer, intending to do just that when his phone rang.
“Dammit.” He sighed when he looked at the screen. “It’s the Alpha.” He’d known it had to be someone official as he’d reserved the shrill and annoying ringtone for official business because it demanded attention.
“Tolbert,” he said as he brought the phone closer to his head.
“Where the hell are you?” Jake Blackstone, the Alpha barked through the connection.
“We’re in Grizzly Gorge.”
“Grizzly Gorge? What the hell are you doing down there?” Bastien asked in the background.
“Is this a conference call?” What the hell? Why did the Alpha think it was appropriate to conference call him
just because he was late?
“No. It is not.” Shit. That was Dimitri’s voice. “You’re on speaker. We are all at Jake’s planning a rescue.”
“I swear to God, if that lunatic has kidnapped more humans to experiment on, I’m going to lose my shit.”
“It’s not humans. It’s one of ours.” Jake sighed and then added, “Cam MacDonald got himself captured. Luckily, it was one of the Macdonalds and he had a bunch of tracking devices in his pocket.”
He would. Those twins were nothing if not predictable.
“Shit.” Not only did it mean trouble for the retired Ranger, but that also meant there was no backup on its way. They’d have to wait until Jake could send someone down to meet them. “Well, we’re relatively safe here. Make your plans and send an escort down when you have the manpower.”
“We have it. We’ll get someone down to you in a day or so, as soon as we work out exactly where Cam is and who’s to be on the assault team.”
“I hope you don’t plan to go.” The female’s voice carried through from the other end of the call.
“I don’t, kitti,” Dimitri said, his voice changing from brusque to gentle and almost crooning. “You needn’t worry about me.”
“I do worry about you. The last thing I want is to have to nurse you back from death’s door again.”
“The same goes for you, Jake. You aren’t going on some rescue mission and leaving me here with my belly looking like I’ve swallowed a basketball.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll stay here and rub your feet and back,” Jake said with a chuckle. “In fact, all shifters with mates are staying home. The only men I want on that damned doctor’s trail from this moment forward are unmated males. If something should happen to half of a true mated pair, we’d lose them both.”
It didn’t bear thinking about losing the Alpha along with his mate and the child she carried.
“So, that’s settled. Stay where you are until we can get your escort down there. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“Are you and Ms. Mortensen doing okay? I mean you’re both healthy and unharmed,” Bastien added.
“Yes. She’s right here, as a matter of fact.”
“Kendra, I mean Ms. Mortensen. Are you there?”
Was that Carly? For crying out loud, did the men do all their business with their wives sitting in their laps?
“Hang on. I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Thanks.” Her voice carried over the speaker for Kendra to hear. “Ms. Mortensen? Do you mind if I call you Kendra?”
Kendra glanced at him as though to say, who am I talking to? “I, um, no. I guess not. Who is this?”
“I’m Carly and you obviously don’t know me, but I’ve been through what you’re going through. I just wanted to tell you to give your new life a chance. I know things are a little crazy right now and your life has been turned upside down, but please, just give it some time. Given the chance, it will grow on you. I don’t suppose I have to tell you not to fight your wolf when it wants out. I’m sure Galen has already told you that.”
Kendra must have understood the other woman was asking a question, not making a statement as it had sounded.
“Yes. He told me. I’m already forcing the change back to human and it’s not hurting so much anymore.”
“That’s good. I’m glad. I didn’t have anyone to help me the first few times I changed and I begged the doctor to kill me it hurt so damned bad. But, Bastien helped me through it.” Carly’s voice grew softer as she spoke about her mate.
“Thank you, Carly. I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Not me. Not anymore. Had things not happened the way they had, I might not have discovered Bastien is my soul mate. Something good can always come from something bad if you look for it. No matter how small that something good might be.”
“Are you calling me small, woman?”
“Would I do that?”
Galen could almost see Carly giving Bastien an innocent smile. The loving interchanges of the mated pairs such as these three pairs is what had made his life so unbearable the past few years.
He glanced at Kendra and felt his heart melt all over again. She was his mate. She had agreed to become his true mate and tie her life force to his and soon he would have that connection he’d longed for during his many years of solitary living.
“We need to get back to work, ladies. Do you have something to occupy your time while we decide on the teams and work through this intel?” The Alpha was all business now that they had spoken to Kendra and Bastien had assessed her mental condition over the phone. He still didn’t know how the healer did that, but he was their healer for a reason.
“Come on girls. I know when we’re not wanted,” Eden said with a laugh. “Let’s go start dinner. And don’t blame me if I catch the siding on fire. You promised to cook the steaks, Jake.”
“I know, love. But this is more important than grilling steaks. If you’d like, you could just order up several pizzas and we’ll have the steaks tomorrow.”
“Good idea!” Three female voices exclaimed and then the sound of a door shutting indicated the women had left the room to call for delivery.
“I didn’t want them here for this,” Jake said just as Galen heard Dimitri growl.
“I hate pizza. Why is it always pizza? Can’t you Americans think of anything but burgers and pizza?”
“Yes,” Bastien said with a laugh. “Hot dogs and steak.”
“Hot dogs are worse than pizza.”
“Sam, will you slap those two on the back of the head?”
“Yes, sir.” A slapping sound came through the connection followed by two people saying, ow.
“I don’t think he was serious, Sam.” Bastien complained.
“I was serious. Get your mind on the fucking program, you two. We have a man out there who needs us.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Just thinking about him or any shifter in pain hurts me. You know the drill with healers.”
“Yes, I do.” Jake sighed. “We already know where Cam is but we’re making sure he stays where he is for a day or so before we send anyone in. Plus, we need to get his brother in line and get him thinking straight. Right now, he’s working on nothing but pure rage and instinct.”
“But if the women knew that we didn’t send someone after him right away, they’d have our balls in a sling.”
“Not my balls. Russians have balls of steel.”
“That’s enough. This is serious business.” Jake was sounding irritated. “Grow the fuck up and let’s get down to business.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Dimitri said, sounding contrite, for him anyway.
“Tolbert, your job is to keep Ms. Mortensen safe until your escort arrives. Do you think you can do that?”
“I’ll do that or die trying.” He glanced at Kendra whose eyes were wide as saucers at the exchange they’d just overheard. “Kendra is my true mate.”
“Congratulations. I know how much it pained you to see everyone being paired off around you.”
“Thank you, healer.”
“You’re welcome. Just so long as your mate is willing.”
“She is,” Kendra answered for herself. “Just so you all know that.” She smiled up at him and Galen’s heart swelled.
“Well, now that everything is settled on your end, wait for your escorts to arrive and then you can head home. Sam says we’ll most likely stage our rescue from there. Grizzly Gorge isn’t too far from where they’re keeping Cam, if his tracking device hasn’t been tampered with. Plus, a show of force just before you leave might discourage anyone from following you.”
“True.” Galen couldn’t help but agree with that logic.
“That’s it, then,” Jake said. “Be careful and watch your back.” The click from the other end was the only indication that the Alpha had ended the call. It wasn’t surprising. He rarely said goodbye.
Turning to Kendra, he stared at her for a few minu
tes. All of the hunger he felt for her returning as he smiled.
“Where were we?”
Kendra smiled as she pressed her body tightly against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I think we were just about here.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Galen stared down at her for a minute, his concentration shifting from her eyes to her lips. His hand found her hips, and pushed her shirt up, his warm hands drawing circles on her quivering flesh.
He lowered his head, his lips covering hers, urgent and demanding. Kendra’s head spun, her knees going weak as Galen sipped at her lips.
Calloused hands skimmed up her torso, pushing her shirt up higher until he broke their kiss, slowly drawing her shirt over her head. She stood before him, her breasts straining against her lacy bra, as he stared down at her hard nipples.
“Gods, you’re beautiful,” he breathed the heady words against the side of her neck, working his way down to press kisses between her breasts. “I’ve thought of nothing else for the last few days. I daydreamed of this. Imagined it, hoping that you wouldn’t reject me when we finally found ourselves safe and alone.” He licked a trail between her breasts and back up to her mouth before sucking her bottom lip between his teeth.
“I have hungered for you, imagining what I would do first when we finally reached safety.” He pulled her closer, the ridge of his erection pressing into her lower stomach and pelvic bone. “I knew what I wanted to do to you.” He stopped long enough to place another mind-numbing kiss against her lips. “With you. I want to know everything about you, taste every inch of you.”
Reaching behind her back, he released the strap of her bra, letting it fall to the floor. “Not once have I ever wanted a woman as much as I want you. Never have I spent days thinking about what I would do or how I would do such things before I met you.” His breath came in labored gusts against her breasts as he cupped them, lifting them to the moist heat of his mouth. “I want to lick every inch of you, taste every crease and crevice. But, mostly, I want to draw your essence within me, lapping up your sweet cream as your body readies itself for mine.”
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