Wolves and bears had always been enemies, it's just what happened when two sets of predators collided. Brooke had been brought up to believe that bears were pompous and selfish, and Connor Strauss had fit the bill perfectly: cocky, with more money than he knew what to do with, but so very alluring. It was like she couldn’t help rising to the bait every time he opened his stupid, gorgeous mouth.
It felt wrong to hide her true self from him, especially now that they were finally starting to get closer. Brooke felt like she was finally starting to understand him. She would just have to convince the pack that the Strauss’ weren’t a threat to them; surely if she could get them all together and just talk to each other they’d be able to come up with something? Yeah right, her pack was the most stubborn group of people she’d ever met. Most of them would sooner fight a whole sleuth together than sit and talk things out for five fucking minutes.
She paused, hand on her vehicle door. The winds had picked up and Brooke could smell wolves. Usually she would just ignore it - it wasn’t just her working at the lodge after all, but she was on high alert after the way Vince had called out to her the other day: “Your time is coming to an end Brooke! You’d be wise to watch your back.”
It had to be Vince. But there were others with her now and - Brooke’s blood ran cold as the heavy, sweet stench of blood filled her nostrils. Someone was attacking her pack.
She took off running, shifting as she hit the tree line. She trusted her wolf more than her human brain right now. The wolf was all about strategy, about protecting what was hers. She just hoped she’d arrive in time.
They were closer than she’d realized; she’d only been running for ten or so minutes when she started hearing growls and snarls from between the trees. Her claws ripped up the dirt as she sprinted the last few yards and skidded to a stop in a large clearing.
The first thing she saw was a bear. It wasn’t Connor, she realised with a surge of relief. This bear was smaller with lighter colored fur - more likely one of Connor’s brothers. The bear was advancing on Lucas, whose tiny frame was spitting like a firecracker as he tried to ward the much larger animal away. Brooke saw red. She cleared the space between them in a single bound, sliding under the bear’s outstretched paw to put herself between him and the barking wolf.
The bear looked startled, but only for a second, changing the angle of its paw to crash down onto Brooke’s back like a sledgehammer. She went down but struggled to her feet immediately as the bear turned back to Lucas.
Get out of here, she snarled furiously. Lucas looked at her, contemplating what to do and she growled, Now!
Lucas cast a glance to the other side of the clearing before turning and fleeing back between the trees. Brooke huffed, rolling her shoulder as best she could - the wound that was already there stung but didn’t reopen, and nothing else was broken as far as she could tell. She looked around her, trying to make sense of the carnage. She could spot eight of her wolves, three of which were injured, and four bears. Her heart sank as she spotted Connor towards the middle of the clearing, but she couldn’t focus on that now, not when her pack was in danger. The youngest of the bears, judging by his size, was holding one of his paws as red blood matted dark fur. Good, Brooke thought grimly.
Vince was crouching low in the branches of a nearby tree - not a scratch on him. He looked like he was just watching the fight unfold, waiting to see who would win. Hatred, hot and bitter, flared in her chest at the sight. Coward, she thought viciously.
Connor batted away a she-wolf, Maria, and turned, their eyes meeting. Brooke felt a lump form in her throat. He and his sleuth had injured three of her wolves, it was her job as alpha to take them down, take him down. He didn’t know who she was and she wished she had the same luxury - this would be so easy if he was just another bear.
But he wasn’t.
Connor charged at her and Brooke stood her ground. She knew what she should do; he’d left his throat open, she could just dart low and sink her teeth into the soft meat of his neck and it would all be over. But she couldn’t. She knew she couldn’t. She was weak. The best thing she could do was to show him and pray he only killed her.
She looked up at Vince. Get them out of here. Vince’s eyes narrowed, cocking his head to one side. Connor was halfway across the clearing, swatting her wolves like flies when they lept for him.
What are you going to do? Vince’s voice was taunting in her head and she grit her teeth, turning away from him to face the bear. She had to trust that he’d listen to her, for once in his life. At the last possible second she clamped her eyes shut; she didn’t want to see Connor’s reaction. A coward till the end.
She shifted.
Silence. Brooke kept her eyes closed, but she could still see Connor’s face, contorted in fury and hatred, behind the lids.
“Brooke?”
She jerked, eyes flying open. He’d shifted. Connor stood in front of her, those deep dark eyes wide with shock.
Brooke ran.
68
Connor
Connor was dumbstruck. The rest of the wolves had run, following a large black wolf that had spent most of the fight up under a tree, but Connor could only stand and watch as Brooke turned and sped off into the trees. A second later he followed her, ignoring his brother's calls for him to come back. He’d explain everything to them later, but now he had to find Brooke.
God, I’m so stupid. The scent, the fights, the wound. Connor’s stomach twisted painfully - those deep angry gashes on Brooke’s skin - he’d done that to her. He had to make it right.
He found her by the water’s edge. She was still human but as she twisted round to face him she bared her teeth, poised to shift. He held up his hands.
“I don’t want to fight,” he said softly.
Brooke snarled, “We haven’t got a choice, Connor. You know what I am now - there’s no need to pretend to spare my feelings.”
“But I’m not pretending! I care about you Brooke; I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell me.”
Brooke laughed, but it was cold and empty. Connor could see tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and he wanted nothing more than to reach forward and wipe them away. It felt like they’d travelled back in time, all the progress between them lost.
“You’re kidding, right? When would I have told you? When we were fucking? When we were arguing every day at Cole’s? Maybe I should have just mentioned it in my interview? ‘Anything else you’d like to mention Brooke? Oh yes, I’m the alpha of the new wolf pack that just moved into town but don't worry! I only bite if you piss me off, or maybe if you ask me real nice!’ Please, you would have chased me out of your office.”
I wouldn’t, he wanted to scream, but he knew she was right. He’d hired her right after Eric’s ex had nearly torn the lodge apart from the inside out. If he’d known the hot new shop keeper was the alpha of the small group of wolves at the bottom of the mountain, he wouldn’t have hired her, wouldn’t have let her near his family.
Now though… Connor looked into her eyes. They were the same dark shade of hazel as the she-wolf he’d fought just a few days ago. He expected to feel angry, but all he felt was that stirring in his chest that said she was his. He didn’t care who or what she was. He wanted her more than ever.
“I don’t care,” he said fiercely, willing her to believe him. “I don’t care that you’re a wolf, Brooke.”
“Or that I’m an alpha? It doesn’t tear your little delicate Strauss ego to shreds to want an alpha in your bed?” She hurled the words at him like grenades, but despite the fury of the words, her eyes were wary. Connor smiled. Actually, he loved it. Brooke was demanding, strong willed and beautiful. His knuckles turned white at the bitterness in her voice, furious at the thought of someone telling her she wasn’t good enough for them. He tilted his chin up.
“Why don’t you come find out just how much I don’t care?” His eyes glinted with challenge. Brooke looked at him for a long moment, almost in disbelief, and then sh
e pounced.
Connor was ready, catching her as she wrapped her long legs around his waist. Their mouths met in a flurry of teeth and tongue, and Connor pressed her back against a nearby tree. He couldn’t get enough of her, plundering her mouth with his tongue, wanting to taste every inch of her. Brooke nipped playfully at his lips and he groaned, cock pulsing in his jeans.
“You really don’t care that I’m an alpha?” she murmured, hot breath ghosting over his lips. He looked up at the soft edge to her voice and moved one hand to cup her face, stroking a thumb over the soft skin of her cheek.
“Honestly” he asked. She nodded almost desperately, pressing kisses into his palm. “I think it’s really hot.” The thought of fighting her for control, to have Brooke commanding him, sent spikes of white hot pleasure sparking up and down his spine. He bucked his hips, pressing his dick against her and leaning forward to bury his head in her neck, biting at the tender skin. Brooke gasped and squirmed against him, slipping out of his arms.
In the blink of an eye, Connor had his back pressed against the tree and Brooke gazed up at him wickedly before sinking down onto her knees.
Connor saw white.
“Fuck,” he groaned, head thunking against the tree trunk behind him.
“No no no, baby,” Brooke purred. “Look at me.”
God, this woman will be the death of me.
Slender fingers toyed with the fly of his jeans, brushing against his dick and Connor’s nails dug into tree bark, trying not to thrust his hips forward.
“You want me to suck you?”
“Please,” he gasped out. “God, yes, Brooke, please.”
“Oh baby, you don’t have to beg,” she teased, stroking him deliberately through the denim. “But I love it when you do.”
Connor opened his mouth to respond, fully intending to make a joke, but a warm wet heat enveloped the head of his cock and he choked back his words, hands flying to Brooke’s hair for something to ground him.
“Fuck, oh, fuck, Brooke.” His grip spasmed as she swallowed around the head, pulling back to press open mouth kisses down the shaft. “Your mouth feels so good, so good, baby, fuck.” Brooke hummed, nails trailing up and down his thighs just hard enough to make him think about skin breaking beneath them, leaving marks, and his knees nearly buckled. An honest to god whimper left his mouth before he could stop it. He’d never felt like this before, never felt so helpless - it was fucking amazing.
A tell-tale pulse in his belly made him pull back, his dick sliding out of her mouth with a wet pop. She looked debauched, red lips glistening with saliva and cheeks flushed. She looked up at him questioningly and he huffed, “I was about to cum.”
“Yeah, that’s the point,” she snarked, deadpan. Her hands grasped his hips, and she looked ready to swallow him again.
As tempting as the idea was, he snorted and pulled her up with a growl, tugging her against his chest to talk into her ear, pausing to nip the lobe. “Yes, darling, but I would rather cum inside you.” his voice was unrecognisable, rough and wild. Brooke shivered in his arms and Connor grinned at her smugly. “Would you like that?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” she smirked and he hummed, pushing her down to lie on the forest floor.
“You are wearing far, far too many clothes,” he murmured.
“Rip them off me then, Strauss, come on.” Brooke pressed herself closer. Connor was quick to comply, eagerly pulling off her jeans and shirt like he was unwrapping a present just for him. A familiar possessiveness thrummed through him as more of her gorgeous body was revealed to him. He took a moment to shuck his own clothes and Brooke watched him as he worked, her eyes heavy with lust. She was so beautiful, spread out on the ground waiting for him to take her.
When she was bare beneath him, Connor sat back on his heels, looking his fill. His eyes dragged over the slopes of her legs, the swell of her breasts rising and falling as her breath came in short gasps and pants. He shucked off his jeans and stroked himself a couple of times as he looked down at this angel. Even streaked with dirt and leaves in her hair, she was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen. Her fingers crept to the waistband of her panties and he moaned, watching her.
“If you don’t hurry up,” she drawled, finger slipping beneath the lace and breaking the trance she’d put him under, “then I might just finish without you.”
His bear ached to take her roughly in the dirt, make her scream his name, but he made himself take his time. He could tease too.
He snagged one of Brooke’s legs, spreading her open so he could see better. Brooke arched, her fingers finally sinking inside her. It was mesmerising. Connor could smell her arousal, hear the slick noises she made as she thrust two fingers into her pussy, gasping every time. He kept his hand locked around one ankle, keeping her open, and she writhed beneath him desperately.
“Connor,” she whined, reaching for him and thrusting her fingers faster. He gently evaded her grasp. He wanted so badly to sink into her heat, but this was a game. And he wasn’t going to break first.
“Finger yourself for me, sweetheart,” he growled, leaning over her to brush their lips together. “I wanna watch you finger yourself and imagine it’s my cock. Since that’s all you seem to be interested in.” Brooke snarled, fingers stilling inside herself.
“No. I... I want your cock,” she said, her voice trembling but eyes determined. It made his cock throb. Connor reached down and palmed one of her breasts, rolling the nipple between his thumb and a finger.
“Say please, Brooke.” He was pushing it, he knew, but he wanted to see how far he could take this thing between them. Brooke’s eyes hardened and Connor almost came then and there as she brought her wet finger to her lips, running her pink tongue up the side before she pulled it into her mouth and sucked. He ached to give in, but he held out just a few seconds longer and…
“Please Connor,” she purred. “I want you…”
I win.
With a flick of his wrist he pulled down her underwear and pushed in. They both gasped, clutching at each other and Connor immediately set a bruising pace.
“Harder,” Brooke gasped, arching her hips up to meet his thrusts. “Please, harder.”
“Such a good girl, wasn’t that hard, was it?” He snapped his hips forwards, marked the pale skin of her neck with his teeth. “Feels so good inside you Brooke - so fucking good.”
She was trembling beneath him and her legs tightened around his hips, drawing him in impossibly closer and flipping them over.
Connor landed on the ground with a grunt, looking up dazedly as she sank down further onto his cock. His hands came up to grasp her hips, fingers digging in hard enough to leave bruises. In response, she dragged her nails down his chest, drawing blood the way he’d fantasized earlier and sending Connor over the edge with a roar. Brooke kept rocking her hips, drawing out his climax until his body started twitching with over stimulation and all he could do was hold on.
Brooke gazed down at him, eyes glazed over as she chased her own orgasm. She stared down at him, completely at her mercy, and Connor reared up to kiss her, licking into her mouth desperately and sneaking down a hand to circle her clit.
“Mine,” she whispered as she came. Connor stroked her cheek, finger rubbing at her as she rode out the waves of pleasure.
Yours.
69
Brooke
Brooke pulled Connor’s shirt on and flopped back onto his chest. They stayed there for a long while, trying to get their breathing under control. She felt grateful that their shifter metabolisms allowed them to lay there in the winter weather and rest together.
Brooke’s wolf felt sated and lazy, content to lie in the fading sunlight snuggled up in Connor’s arms, but her mind was already racing. What did they do now? She wanted to tell Connor everything, apologize for how she’d been thinking about him all this time, but she wasn’t sure where to start.
She let her fingers trail around Connor’s arm, stroking in lazy circles
as she tried to dig herself out of her own brain. Now that it was quiet she realized she couldn't hear anything; the fight hadn’t continued without them. She huffed quietly, Vince must have decided to listen to me after all…
“You okay?” Connor’s voice was soft, like he was worried about breaking the silence, and Brooke tensed before realizing that she didn’t have to lie anymore.
“Vince.”
“Vince?”
“The wolf at the tree,” she sighed, turning over to look at him. Connor hummed.. He was sprawled out without a care, muscles glistening in the sun. He looked beautiful. She was lost in the sight of him for a second, and then he quirked his eyebrow, inviting her to keep talking. She blushed at being caught staring.
“When I became alpha, he was the only one to oppose me,” Brooke explained, giving into the urge to play with Connor’s hair. The curls were just as soft as she’d hoped they would be. “I’m almost certain the fight today was his doing.”
Vince had always been a bastard, but she hadn’t thought he’d go this far. Provoking an outright war with one of the country's most powerful sleuths? He was a bigger idiot than Brooke had given him credit for. She sighed before continuing.
“There’s so few of us now. We’re losing more every time we move. Most of our members that are left are younger than me and members that are being added tend to be younger or cubs. I’m worried.” She’d known most of her pack since they were pups, watched them grow from awkward young kids into slightly less awkward young adults. “Keeping them safe is… it's tough.” Her words were slow and clunky. Feelings never were her strong suit. Connor squeezed her arm, drawing her further into his embrace and Brooke nuzzled into his chest.
“Is that what you meant when you said I didn’t know what it was like to look after people?” he asked quietly. Guilt stabbed in her chest.
Billionaire Bear Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset Page 43