Shifters Gone Wild; Collection

by Skye MacKinnon

  She smiled up at him. Score another one for her.

  He looked away from her, frowning at the river, and when his eyes slid back to her, they were definitely more gold than grey, sent a shiver through her as they met hers and had that banked heat threatening to burst into wildfire as he spoke, his deep voice rolling over her, through her, lighting her up in a dangerous way.

  “But I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  Chapter 3

  Rath wasn’t sure what had possessed him, why he had laid down the law and made it clear that he would be escorting Little Miss Ivy wherever she went on his property.

  It had been instinct, but he wasn’t sure whether it had stemmed from a desire to protect the secrets of his home and his kin, or a desire to protect her.

  Her careless talk of heading up river into the valley had provoked a fierce reaction from his cougar side, had made him instantly restless, stoked by an urge to force her to stay within the boundaries of his territory.

  Where she would be safe.

  He shoved away from the railing around his deck before he could even consider thinking about the reason why he wanted to protect her, snagged his mug and tossed the cold coffee onto the grass, and then strode into his cabin. He poured another mug, lifted it to his lips and drank it while looking at the river. It was only a few hours. He could work on the cabin by the river after she was gone.

  His eyes dropped to her, and he watched her as she fiddled with the camera she had protected as if it was her damned baby rather than a piece of soulless machinery.

  Maybe not soulless.

  Her photographs had been good, and the ones on her website had been impressive too. She had talent.

  He swigged his coffee, savouring the warmth of it and the buzz as the caffeine instantly hit him. Fuck, he had needed that.

  She moved again, rubbing her wrist this time, and he looked away when she pulled the sleeve of her beige jacket back to reveal a dark mark on her arm, something twisting in his chest at the sight of it.

  He hadn’t meant to be a dick. It just came with the territory. It was his job to keep Cougar Creek secret from the world, protected. She hadn’t been the first human to wander into the creek, but she was the first he was going to let leave.

  The other humans that had all strayed onto his land had been hunting, and some of them had been taking photographs.

  He and his kin had realised it was better to kill any suspicious humans after they had allowed one to leave and they had turned out to be a scouting party for a mortal hunter organisation bent on eradicating non-humans.

  Archangel.

  The bastards had paid for their attempt to murder his entire pride, but they had forced them to move the entire community to a new location, one he intended to keep safe.

  Ivy pushed onto her feet, snagging his focus again as she slipped her arm through the strap of her camera, so it sat across her chest and the camera hung at her right hip, and smoothed rogue strands of her rich brown hair back into her ponytail. She brushed her dark brown trekking trousers down, frowning as she spotted the mud all around her ankles, and stooped, giving him a hell of a view of her round backside as she tucked her trousers into the tops of her walking boots.

  Rath dragged his eyes away from her and growled at himself.

  He stomped out onto the deck as his mood soured for some godsdamned reason and didn’t look at her as he hit the grass and growled, “Keep up.”

  “Manners much?” she muttered, his sensitive hearing easily picking up her soft voice.

  He glared at the grass, a need to turn and tell her that he had manners pounding through him, but she would only ask where they were, and he didn’t have an answer for that question. He wasn’t sure where they had gone.

  They had disappeared the moment he had set eyes on her by the river, the second she had lowered her camera and her eyes had met his, and something had happened. He just wasn’t sure what that something was. It had him tied in knots, snapping at her when he felt guilty about it a split-second later, unsure what the fuck was wrong with him.

  He led her to the river, positioned himself on a log beneath a tree on the right side of the grassy area, and leaned back against the broad trunk of the pine.

  Watching her.

  She lifted the camera to her face and swung it in all directions, diligently keeping it away from him. The morning mist curled playfully around her boots as she did whatever the fuck she was doing. He had never taken a picture in his life, had no clue what she was looking for through the lens. Whatever it was, she seemed to find it when she moved to the other side of the grass, to the trees near the cabin there, and hunkered down, going incredibly still.

  Rath tried to do the same, but his right leg twitched and he tapped his fingers on his knee as he watched her.

  Couldn’t keep his damned eyes off her.

  She stayed perfectly still for close to an hour, and then stood and lowered the camera to her hip. She raised her arms above her head and stretched, pushing her breasts outwards, pulling her thick jacket tight across them.

  His cougar side growled at the vision of her, growing restless as he studied her, and he tapped his knee harder. When she turned his way, lowering her arms, he averted his gaze, locking it on the river. The sun was rising higher, clearing the mist now. He basked in it, letting the warmth wash over him and soak into his dark clothing, and distract him from her as it roused his love of lazing in the sunshine.

  It wouldn’t be long before summer rolled in.

  Gods, the thought of long days spent stretched out in the sunshine had him aching for it to roll around quicker.

  He wouldn’t say no to skipping spring, didn’t need the damned headache of a gathering wrecking his year.

  “It’s beautiful here.” Ivy’s soft voice coming from close to him had him whipping his head towards her. She smiled down at him. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She hadn’t. Much.

  Her hazel eyes sparkled and he could see in them that she had meant her words, and she thought his valley was beautiful. It was, and it was probably even more beautiful to someone like her, who had likely come from a city life.

  She moved away again, snapped a few photographs and looked at each one. Trying out angles?

  He tensed when she moved closer to him, and his gaze tracked her as she passed him, stopping only a metre from him. Her fine dark eyebrows pinched, her shell-pink lips pursing.

  He was about to ask her what was wrong when she lifted the camera and took another shot. Her eyes lit up when she angled the camera away from her and looked down at it. Happy with the picture?

  She crouched again, resting her elbows on her knees, her camera clutched in both hands, ready to lift into place.

  He tried to keep still for her, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t stop himself from tapping at his leg as he watched her, the energy coursing through him too much to contain.

  Another hour passed, and the mist cleared, and he caught the disappointment in her eyes as she gazed at the river, the sparkle that had been in them dying as she rose back onto her feet and lowered her camera. Her shoulders lifted in a long sigh.

  “The bears won’t be coming today,” he said, and she looked at him, the flare of disappointment in her hazel gaze growing brighter as she locked eyes with him.

  “Do they really come?” She scanned the river, and the woods on the other side, a look of longing on her pretty face.

  Rath nodded. “Sometimes. Something must have spooked them today.”

  Him.

  He was restless around her. The bears were probably picking up on it and steering clear of the creek.

  He should have watched her from the cabin instead, keeping his distance so the bears would show up. He wasn’t sure why he had come with her, had positioned himself in the open, and hadn’t hung back so she could get her photographs.

  And go.

  A growl curled through him at that thought, his animal instincts rebelling agains
t it in a way that left him cold as something hit him.

  His cougar side wanted her.

  He wanted her.

  It wasn’t going to happen. She was human, a complication, and he wasn’t looking for a female. He didn’t need one in his life.

  “Can I stay a little longer?” She fidgeted with her camera, her eyes fixed on it, but they nervously flitted to him when he looked at her. “I drove for days to get here, and then trekked for almost two days, and camped in the woods overnight. I swear, I’ll move on in the morning.”

  Rath frowned at the way she said that, making it sound as if she was talking about doing something other than marching her backside to her vehicle.

  “Move on where?” He sat up now, a feeling stirring inside him, one he didn’t like.

  She looked up river, towards the mountains and the glacier. “This is definitely bear country, and I’m sure I can find some.”

  He growled inside at that, his cougar side clawing at his skin, pushing for freedom, the thought of her out there in that wilderness, alone and vulnerable, rousing it and instincts long forgotten—a deep need to protect.

  He shoved onto his feet, moving so fast she startled and gasped, and loomed over her, so close to her that she had to tip her head back to keep her eyes on his face.

  “I thought we’d been through this?” he snapped. “It’s dangerous that way. You might end up hurt.”

  “Attacked?” She swallowed hard and her golden skin paled. “Do you see cougars around here?”

  Rath smiled wryly. “All the time.”

  “Really?” Her hazel eyes widened and darted around, and he swore her cheeks paled further. “I know how to handle bears, but cougars…”

  “It’s not the cougars who will hurt you.” He moved a step closer, just a few inches, but enough that he could feel her heat, drowned in the scent of her, and his damned cougar side stopped frantically clawing at his skull, pushing him to shift and force her to remain. “It’s the grizzlies. It’s grizzly country up that way.”

  He was talking shifters, ones liable to attack her on sight, or worse, capture her and keep her.

  He looked at Cougar Creek and huffed.

  Although, it was a fucking awful time for her to stumble onto his land too.

  It wouldn’t be long before the males started gathering, and any available female in the vicinity, even a human female, would provoke their instincts to fight for dominance so they could mate with her.

  Soon, she would be in as much danger here as she would be if he let her go upstream towards the glacier and the bear shifter pack that called that area of the valley home.

  He dropped his eyes to her and stared at her as she looked at her surroundings.

  For the first time in three decades, desire stirred in his chest, tore through his muscles and flowed through his veins, and had his cougar side shifting beneath his skin, hungry for a female.

  Hungry for her.

  Scratch soon.

  She had been in dangerous waters from the moment he had set eyes on her.

  Her hazel eyes slowly lifted to his, enormous now as she looked at him, but they were dark too, her dilated pupils and her scent revealing the emotions that flowed through her.

  Desire. Need.

  They called to him, and damn, part of him wanted to answer.

  Her eyes darted away from him, and her voice trembled as she spoke. “I… uh… didn’t see these cabins on any maps.”

  “They’re all hidden by the trees.” Was that his voice, so rough and deep, strained and raw? He tried to tear his eyes away from her, but couldn’t, was powerless against her pull as her scent curled around him, her beauty branded itself on him, and her soft curves inflamed him.

  A blush climbed her cheeks. “There’s a lot of cabins. Do you run a business here? Like vacation rentals?”

  Was she thinking of checking in? Fuck, he probably wouldn’t turn her away, even when he knew he should.

  “They’re all family cabins. I just look after them.” He mustered the strength to rip his focus from her and pinned it on the cabin nearest the river. The sight of it acted as a bucket of ice down his crotch, instantly cooling him off as he remembered that the family who owned it were coming soon, and so was his brother, and then most of the eligible pride males would hit the creek. “I’m meant to be refurbishing one.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m getting in your way.” She glanced at the cabin and then back at him, and he resisted looking at her, felt her frown and sensed the shift in her emotions, darker ones emerging. His coldness had upset her, and damn, she was quick to bring up a wall around herself and hit him with the same cold front he was showing her. “I’ll just get my things and go.”

  It was for the best.

  But he found himself lunging for her, seizing her wrist as his heart froze in his chest, the thought of her leaving propelling him into action before he could think about what he was doing.

  She looked down at his hand on her arm.

  “You can stay one night.” Fuck, he was going to regret this, he knew it, but for some damned reason he couldn’t bring himself to let her go just yet. “You can’t photograph anything that might give away the location, or me… or any of the cabins. You have to stick to the river and the wildlife, and do not wander out of the boundary of the village.”

  That seemed to scare her, and her eyes leaped to the mountains, her pulse picking up in his ears as she stared at them.

  When she finally looked back at him, that pulse kicked faster, echoing in his own chest as she smiled at him, one that reached her stunning eyes.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, and then added with a frown, “I just realised I never got your name.”

  “Rath,” he uttered, falling under her spell again, feeling a little hazy from head to toe as his cougar side purred at her, had him wanting to rub against her to mark her with his scent.

  To make her his.

  She tipped her head back, looked deep into his eyes, and rocked his entire world on its axis with three innocent words.

  “Thank you, Rath.”

  Chapter 4

  Rath couldn’t concentrate for shit. He growled as he hit his thumb with the hammer for what must have been the millionth time, lifted the sore digit to his lips and sucked on it as it throbbed. The female responsible for his predicament wandered the riverbank, blissfully unaware of his plight and the damage she had done with three simple words, breathed in a voice that had been far too fucking sultry, had made his name on her lips sound like the sweetest drug, one that had instantly intoxicated him.

  One that had made him crave more.

  He sank back on his ass and huffed as he set his hammer down beside the pile of shingles and braced his left leg against the roof so he didn’t slide down it.

  His gaze immediately strayed to the curvy female wreaking havoc on him, a strange sense of calm washing through him the second his eyes landed on her, the restlessness he experienced whenever he focused on his work and not her easing and leaving him at peace.

  Gods, she was beautiful.

  She moved around his territory as if she belonged there, fitted right in with her practical clothing of natural coloured hiking gear. The browns and beiges suited her, seemed to bring out the hint of a tan in her complexion and the rich chestnut of her hair that tumbled in silky waves from her ponytail.

  He studied her as she lifted the camera, moved it around, her finger working the button, and then tilted it away from her and gazed down at the photographs she had taken.

  Did she know she had a habit of taking four different shots at a time, all of them a slight variation?

  She would take a landscape one with the lens zoomed out, and then another zoomed in a little, and follow those by tipping the camera to take two similar shots in portrait.

  Rath canted his head, warmth curling through his chest that became heat as she removed her dark cream jacket, revealing a fawn-coloured woollen jumper beneath that hugged her breasts and the slight roundne
ss of her belly, and stretched tight over her hips and ass.

  Damn.

  He dragged his eyes away from her as a need to drop from the roof, prowl over to her and sweep her up into his arms and show her just what she was doing to him slammed into him.

  He scrubbed a hand over his mouth and paused with it on his throat as he growled at himself for getting caught up in her. It was just the season. His instincts as a male cougar had been roused, and it was affecting him, making him view her as a female in need.

  One he wanted to satisfy.

  He shook that desire away and forced his focus back to his work, moving onto his knees on the roof and picking up his hammer again. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans for another nail and positioned the shingle, slipped it into the hole he had drilled in the top left corner, and hammered it into place.

  He fell into an easy rhythm, made swift work of a row of fresh shingles, almost managed to forget the human wandering around his territory.

  Until she moved closer to him.

  His senses sparked again, her proximity making him hyper-aware of her as she walked around behind him, pacing the shore, stopping from time to time to take pictures. He could see her moving around without needing to look at her, could chart her exact position and the fact she was facing away from him, and his hearing sharpened as his focus switched to her, allowing him to hear every click of her camera’s shutter.

  Every sweet breath she drew.

  Every damned sigh she loosed as she admired her work.

  And his territory.

  She had called it beautiful.

  Gods, that made him want to puff his chest out like some damned peacock.

  Plenty of people, cougar shifters, had admired his territory. She wasn’t the first female to call it beautiful.

  But fuck, she was the first one who had affected him with those words.

  And the first female in a long time who had affected him by simply saying his name.

  It was the season. The damned season. Just because his role during the gathering was that of protector, and overseer in a way, it didn’t mean he was immune to its effects. He had needs too, but he didn’t need a female in his life.