Shifters Gone Wild; Collection

by Skye MacKinnon

  She kissed him hard as he drove into her, as fierce as before, his need flooding her, mingling with her own. He grunted as she clenched his cock, shuddered and pumped harder, and she moaned into his mouth. Each stroke of his length was divine, had her hips jacking higher, a need for him to go deeper rushing through her. She clung to him as she kissed him and writhed in his grip, the pressure building again, stealing control from her grasp.

  Rath growled against her lips and loosed a low guttural surprised sound as his entire body jerked against her and his cock throbbed, pulsing hard, flooding her with jets of his seed. She moaned and quivered as she joined him, slumped beneath him and struggled to breathe as another release swept through her.

  He groaned with each throb of her body around his, his shoulders shaking as she clung to them, and sagged against her. She sighed as he rolled onto his side, taking her with him, and wrapped his arms around her.

  She wasn’t sure how long they laid there, locked in each other’s arms.

  But as the delicious haze lifted, a trickle of fear went through her.

  Fear she might have just made the biggest mistake of her life yet.

  Not sleeping with Rath.

  But falling in love with him.

  Chapter 11

  Rath stood on the deck, a mug of coffee warming his hand and keeping the morning chill off him as he stared at Ivy where she prowled the fringes of the trees by the river, stalking a male black bear.

  He wasn’t sure what to do.

  He wasn’t like the man who had hurt her, but sleeping with her might have been a mistake, not because he didn’t like her, because he did.

  Gods, he did.

  It was because he couldn’t let her stay, knew he had to make her leave today, before more cougars arrived, and that it was going to hurt her and she wouldn’t understand. The alternative would produce the same results though. If she remained, and discovered what he was, what everyone who came to Cougar Creek was, she wouldn’t understand then either.

  Fuck, it hurt.

  He rubbed the spot that burned the fiercest beneath his dark green fleece, right over his heart.

  He didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want that smile she had finally found again to be stolen from her by him, for her to suffer as she had when the man had treated her so callously.

  Was he a bastard for wanting to send her away?

  Absolutely.

  But he had to protect her.

  That need ran deep in his blood, in his soul, an urge he had to obey no matter what, because her safety came first.

  It killed him that he wouldn’t be able to give her a reason when he made her leave, because the only way to make her see the real reason she had to go was to tell her what was about to happen at the creek. How the fuck was he meant to explain a gathering of males coming to service the needs of females in heat?

  No matter how he worded that, it would sound wrong to her, debauched, and would probably make her think he was fucking crazy, a delusional son of a bitch who had lost his mind out here in the wilderness.

  Could he tell her that he wanted her to go and find the spirit bears?

  A growl rumbled through him, not the first to peel from his lips this morning. The thought of her leaving tore at him, ripped at his strength and his heart, pulling him to pieces.

  He could ask her to come back in a few weeks.

  Would she?

  Fuck. He scrubbed his free hand over his dark hair, tunnelled his fingers in the thick mass of it and growled again, the thought she might not come back, that he might never see her again, driving through him like a thousand spears, each sharper than the last, until he felt as if he was bleeding out.

  Was going to die without her.

  He paced the deck, his footfalls hard on the timbers, the energy boiling inside him impossible to contain. It needed an outlet or he was going to go insane, or worse.

  His fragile control over his instincts as a male, her male, would snap and he would shift, his need to make her stay, to remain with him, forcing the reaction from him so he could dominate her and drive her into submission.

  Her leaving was his fucking idea, so no damn way he was going to go cougar on her like that.

  He stilled and looked across at her, a pained growl curling up his throat as his face crumpled, his heart growing heavy in his chest.

  She couldn’t go. He needed her too much.

  Yesterday had shown him that, their moment of madness revealing something that he could no longer deny.

  Ivy was his fated female.

  His one true mate.

  Rath watched her, aching to go to her, but afraid of it at the same time, because if he neared her, he would want to kiss her again, would want to keep kissing her until she agreed to be his.

  It wasn’t taboo to take a human mate. Many cougar shifters found their fated one outside of their species. He couldn’t turn her, but bonding with her, mating with her, would extend her life by tying it to his.

  They could live together.

  He released a shuddering breath.

  A fucking ridiculous dream.

  The last time he had allowed himself to believe in forever, it had lasted only a decade before it had been taken from him, and it had left him jaded. Broken.

  He couldn’t believe in forever again, and he knew that if Ivy stayed, he would start wanting that with her.

  He would fall in love with her.

  If that happened and she ran when she discovered what he was, he would be more than broken.

  The sensation of eyes on him rankled him, rousing his cougar side into a frenzy as a need to fight flooded him, and he tossed a black look in Storm’s direction as his brother stepped out from the cover of the trees to his left, leaving the path to his cabin and the others on that side of the woods behind.

  His brother drew his hand across his mouth, pretending to zip it shut.

  Rath wasn’t about to believe that promise. Sooner or later, Storm would bring up what had happened with Ivy yesterday, and her presence here at the creek, and his behaviour.

  Still, he appreciated the reprieve as he breathed through the need to fight, quelling it again, because he needed time to get his head on straight where Ivy was concerned.

  His gaze drifted back to her.

  She tucked against a lodgepole pine, camera still trained on the bear where he drank from the river on the other side of it to her. He could feel her happiness, her excitement, and he ached at that, because he knew it stemmed from more than the fact she was doing what she loved.

  He had a feeling she was coming to love it at the creek too, and maybe she was coming to love him.

  He set his mug down on the small table and stepped off the deck.

  He had to talk to her and it was going to be one hell of a tough conversation, but he had made up his mind.

  His ears twitched, and he lifted his head and scanned the sky in all directions for the source of the sound.

  A helicopter.

  The bear spooked.

  Alarm rang through him.

  Rath signalled to his brother to go into hiding and had reached Ivy before she had even started to lower her camera. He swept her up into his arms and pulled her into the woods, pinning her to the trunk of a tree a few metres from the clearing.

  He pressed his body against hers, covered her mouth with his right hand and looked down into her wide startled eyes as he whispered, “Keep still, and keep quiet.”

  He tilted his head back, tracking the helicopter as it drew closer, his heart pounding and adrenaline surging in his veins, rousing a powerful need to shift. Beneath his fleece, golden fur swept over his arms, and he struggled to stop the urge before his eyes changed and fangs lengthened, and Ivy saw what he was.

  He wanted to break it to her gently, not scare the ever-living fuck out of her.

  The chopper passed to his right, above the forest on the other side of the river, and drifted into the distance.

  He loosed the breath he had been h
olding and eased his weight off Ivy as he leaned back to peer around the thick trunk of the tree. Across the clearing, Storm crouched near the riverside cabin, tucked against the tallest lodgepole pine.

  Rath released Ivy’s mouth.

  “Why are you so tense?” she whispered, a trickle of fear flowing through her, and leaned to her right so she could look around the tree. “It was just a helicopter.”

  Rath snarled as his ears twitched again.

  A chopper that was doubling back.

  Fuck.

  Wind whipped through the trees, shaking the branches and making them sway, kicking up leaf litter. The grass in the clearing was blasted flat as the helicopter hovered above it, and Storm crept back, sneaking further into the woods, his eyes on the sky.

  Rath’s heart thundered as the chopper eased down into the clearing, bumped as it landed and the blades wound down, whining as the pilot cut the engine.

  His claws lengthened, canines elongating as a need to fight and protect his territory swept through him, and he kept his eyes off Ivy, afraid she would see the shift in his irises as they began to blaze gold.

  Two men dressed in black fatigues exited the front of the chopper. Not hunters.

  Or at least not the sort who were looking to shoot animals.

  The need to fight grew stronger, pounding in his veins, stoked by the memories that assaulted him—a night that had taken almost everything from him.

  One of the men opened the back right door of the pale gold chopper, and a handsome brunet male stepped out, his fine grey suit and polished black leather shoes out of place in the wilderness.

  His dark eyes swung around the clearing.

  Ivy stiffened.

  Rath dropped his gaze to her.

  “I know him,” she whispered and glanced up at him. “It’s Alexander… the man I sent the pictures to… but why is he here? How is he here?”

  Questions Rath wanted answers to himself.

  Ivy had only sent the photographs last night, not enough time for this bastard to use the landscape to identify the location of Cougar Creek.

  “Get the guns,” Alexander drawled, his English accent thick and regal, an arrogant tilt to his chin that had Rath wanting to punch it.

  “He’s after the bears!” Ivy lunged around the tree trunk.

  Rath caught her arm, yanked her back to him and growled as he shoved her against the tree. “Don’t move.”

  Because he would lose his shit if this male saw her and targeted her.

  “I have to stop him.” She struggled against him. “I don’t know how he found this place. He was meant to be in England. How the hell is he here?”

  “I intend to ask him about that,” Rath snarled.

  She paled, her hazel eyes enormous as her fine dark eyebrows furrowed. “Oh, Rath… I didn’t tell him, I swear. I’m so sorry. I’m so—”

  He cut her off with a brief kiss, smoothed his palms over her cheeks and held her face as he lingered, wanting to reassure her, and needing the contact to calm himself and to give him the strength to do what he needed to do.

  Hunters had almost succeeded in taking everything from him once and it wasn’t going to happen again. He wasn’t going to lose Ivy, or his brother. It wasn’t going to happen. He would keep them both safe. He would.

  “I know, Sweetheart,” he murmured against her lips and stole another kiss. “Stay here.”

  He reluctantly released her, sucked down a deep steadying breath and strode out into the clearing.

  He had to protect his kin.

  He had to protect her.

  No matter the cost.

  Chapter 12

  Ivy couldn’t breathe as Rath walked out from beneath the trees and towards the helicopter and Alexander. The instant the men in black combat gear noticed him, they lifted their assault rifles and took aim. Her heart skipped a beat and lodged in her throat.

  She clung to the rough bark of the tree, shaking so hard she feared letting go, sure she would collapse into a heap.

  Rath.

  Beneath his green fleece, his shoulders tensed, and cold swept through her when she realised it wasn’t fear that had him coiling tight.

  He meant to fight.

  He didn’t stand a chance against two armed men.

  A need shot through her, lit her up and drove her to break cover.

  A need to protect him.

  She set her camera down on the roots of the tree and stormed out of the woods on weak legs that only seemed to grow weaker as she broke cover. Her eyes locked on Alexander, her eyebrows knitted hard above them as she clenched her fists at her sides. As she glared at him, anger rose to overwhelm her fear and put strength in her step, fury that he had dared to use her twice now.

  Well she was damned if she was going to let him hurt the bears.

  She was damned if she would let him hurt Rath.

  Rath tilted his head to his right and frowned at her as she reached him, his golden eyes dark. He could shout at her later for disobeying him, right now she was more concerned with saving his ass.

  “You can’t shoot the bears, Alexander,” she snapped and stopped a step in front of Rath, placing herself in the firing line.

  Rath seized her arm and pulled her back, his grip fierce and unyielding as he moved to shield her with his big body.

  Ivy tried to get free, but he refused to release her, kept her hidden behind him no matter what she did. The urge to snap at him too faded when she felt him trembling. He was afraid now.

  Because she had placed herself in danger?

  Alexander wouldn’t let the men hurt her. He was a bastard, but not that much of one.

  She touched Rath’s hand. “Let me talk with him.”

  Rath looked over his right shoulder at her, his rugged face filled with fury, but his eyes flooded with concern, worry for her. She stroked his hand and smiled softly, wanting to reassure him. Some of the tension eased from his body and he drew her up beside him, but didn’t release her.

  Because he feared she would go to Alexander?

  No damn way.

  She had been angry with him when he had hurt her, but now she hated him. The thought that he had used her, and was likely using the other photographers he funded, to find a location to go hunting sickened her, and she was going to let him have both barrels.

  “You can’t shoot the bears here, Alexander,” she snapped, her pulse pounding again as her anger rose back to the fore, the thought of the mother bear or the male she had photographed today being targeted and killed pouring fury through her veins. “It’s illegal.”

  He arched a dark eyebrow at that and moved a step closer, coming to stand between his two lackies.

  Rath’s hand tensed against her wrist.

  She glanced at him, but he hadn’t taken his eyes off Alexander, was staring him down in a way that made it clear he wanted to fight him, and he would if it came to it.

  Hell, she didn’t want it to come to it. The thought of Rath fighting these men terrified her. Even if his brother helped, they would still be at a huge disadvantage. She hadn’t spotted any rifles in Rath’s cabin. There was no way they could win against the guns the men had without weapons of their own.

  She had to defuse the situation before it got that far.

  “I don’t know how you found me,” she bit out, “but I won’t let you do this. If I had known you wanted to hunt bears, I never would have taken your money.”

  Alexander merely glanced at her, his dark eyes devoid of emotion, and held his right hand out to the man beside him. A man who moved to the chopper and came back with another black assault rifle.

  He placed it into Alexander’s hand, and the bastard casually checked it was loaded, looked pleased when it was to his satisfaction, and had the audacity to smile at her.

  “It was easy to find you. I have a tracker sewn into the lining of your backpack. I’ve been following your movements for months now.”

  She felt sick at that. “You’ve been tracking me all this time
? Why?”

  He lowered the weapon to his side. “Because I am hunting. I have several people like you out here, desperate little photographers who will take pictures and send them back to me, covering a far wider area than I could by myself.”

  Son of a bitch.

  She lunged towards him. “I won’t let you hurt the bears!”

  Rath pulled her on her wrist, and she banged into him, her back to his chest. She huffed and yanked her arm free, her anger getting the better of her, the thought of anyone controlling her pushing her to lash out, and she didn’t want to lash out at Rath.

  She wanted to pummel Alexander’s smug face into a bloody pulp.

  Rath’s eyes tracked her, intense and focused, sending a warm shiver through her. She held herself together and refused to give in to the urge to attack Alexander, because Rath would try to protect her, and would end up caught in the crossfire, and she didn’t want to see him hurt.

  She didn’t want him to fight.

  “I am not here to hunt bears,” Alexander said, his casual tone grating on her last nerve.

  “Why are you here then? What’s with the guns if you’re not hunting?” She folded her arms across her chest and stared him down, waiting for him to explain himself and hoping he got the message that she was on to him and wasn’t going to let him get away with whatever he had planned.

  “Oh, I am hunting.” He smiled slowly as his eyes shifted to Rath. “I am here to hunt cougar.”

  Ivy didn’t understand. She hadn’t sent him any pictures that revealed there were cougars in this location. Rath had mentioned they lived in these parts, but then they lived across the entire region. Her pictures of the bears shouldn’t have alerted Alexander to the fact the big cats lived in this valley in particular. She definitely hadn’t spotted any signs of them along the river, which meant she hadn’t accidentally photographed something that revealed they were here.

  “You need to leave,” Rath snarled and spread his feet shoulder-width apart, his entire body coiling like a spring as she looked at him. “Before things get ugly for you.”

  They were going to get ugly for Rath if she didn’t do something.