by M. L. Briers
When she retaliated again by flipping him the bird, he felt that patience slipping away from his grasp. His bear was more than a little damn miffed at her, it was practically clawing inside of him to get out.
“Damn stupid she-wolf and her damn stupid hunk of junk truck…” he growled and grumbled away.
Now that he was alone without a human in sight he could growl as much as he liked, and he liked. Boy did he like…
When he got his hands on that pint sized, pain in the backside trouble making shrew, he was going to do more than give her a piece of his mind…
His fist hit the horn again, it didn’t feel as satisfying as hitting one of his clan on the jaw, but it was just a natural reaction to not having so much pent up aggression and not having an outlet for it. His bear wasn’t helping things – clawing and roaring inside of him to be set free…
He slammed his fist down one more time; just at the moment that she seemed to lose control of the rear end of the truck. The tyre’s skidded against the wet grass that lined the roadside and the back end started to slide out…
“Steer into it, damn it…” he growled, but he could see that she was trying to pull the wheel in the other direction to correct the skid, and that was only going to lead to one thing… trouble.
Mari screeched and squealed as she fought the steering wheel and tried to steer herself out of trouble. It wasn’t working, the tyres weren’t finding purchase on anything and the back end of the truck was kicking out to try to come around and meet the damn bonnet…
A heartbeat later and the pickup left the road. It bounced over the rough terrain. It jumped, as it found every nook, cranny, and damn pothole and crack within the land, and she hit the brakes and prayed for a happy ending, knowing that her part in was all but done.
Mari felt her seat belt lock up against her pelvis and chest as the front end of the truck hit a deep gorge cut out in the landscape and the world took a quick pitch downwards. She had enough time to scream out before she saw the gnarly bare branch coming right at her through the windscreen.
She snatched her head to one side and felt the sharp sting of one of the twigs scrape against the side of her face, the sound of breaking glass and snapping wood filled her ears and seemed to echo within her mind, as the rear end of the truck lifted from the ground and threatened to tip her right over onto the damn roof, but a loud thud and a roar of a bear shifter seemed to coincide with the truck slamming back down to earth…
“Are you damn insane?” Cole’s words bounced around the inside of her truck and the walls of her mind as shock gripped her body, mind and soul.
Her hands shook as she unpeeled them from the steering wheel. Her whole body seemed to follow suite while she blindly reached for her seat felt and ripped it free, taking the pressure off of her body.
She turned in her seat and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Panic gripped her mind and body. She wanted out of the metal coffin and she wanted out now…
“Where the hell did you learn to drive?” Cole growled, stalking around to the driver’s door as her eyes came slowly up to his.
Fear gripped his heart and his stomach clenched and twisted inside of him from the look of fear, panic, and horror etched onto her face. For one moment they both stared at each other, neither moving, neither one saying a word, and then Mari felt that moment slip away as panic returned to her once again…
“Let me out, let me out…” She started to batter against the truck’s door. Yanking on the inner handle and thumping and shoving the damn thing in the hopes it would spring open and set her free.
Cole could see that Mari was shaking like a damned leaf in a mountain storm, and his heart went out to her. The need to protect a female, any female, even her, was ingrained within his bear’s psyche.
“Hold on…” he growled, closing the distance to the door, and wrapping his fist around the handle.
“It’s stuck, stuck. I can’t get out…” Mari’s pleading eyes met his. He saw the tears spring up and threaten her lashes and his bear roared within him.
A heartbeat later and he’d yanked the door completely off its hinges, tossed it away, and was stepping into the space at the door as he was reached in for her. Mari slapped at his large hands as they came for her.
“Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, back off!” She rushed out with a snarl from her beast that told him that she was walking a fine line of irrationality.
Cole growled, hesitated, and then growled some more.
“Hell, no damn way!” He reached in and wrapped his arms around her curvy body, lifting her clean out of the seat and bringing her body against his.
Cole felt her arms wrap around his neck as she dipped her head and buried her face against his shoulder. He was expecting a fight, but he guessed the woman was in so shock and didn’t have a mind to know exactly what she was doing.
His bear roared once more, and his muscles tensed hard at the feel of her safe within his arms. Then he turned on his heels and stalked away.
“I’ve got you. You’re safe.” He growled out as gently as he knew how against her ear. With his adrenaline pumping and his bear on protection mode, he was floundering in a sea of uncertainty.
The feel of her body shaking so violently as he held her close twisted something within him. He’d been ready to tell her what for, maybe even spank her damn backside a couple of times for the fun of it and the price of him getting his bumper fixed, but now all that he wanted to do was to sooth her, protect her.
The woman had no business being on the damn road if she couldn’t drive out of a simple skid. He growled, he grumbled, and he stalked back towards his truck.
He was one pissed off bear shifter. His anger was for her, and also for himself for getting that close to her, for hitting his damn stupid horn, for making her take her eyes off of the roadway…
“I’m not safe – I’m with you.” She pushed out on a whispered breath.
Cole felt his bear rise up within him at her accusation. Never had he wanted to kill someone more. His beast could have ripped, torn, and battered someone to damn death right there and then.
CHAPTER TWO
~
“I don’t…” Mari rolled her forehead against the hardness of his shoulder. She couldn’t stop her limbs from shaking. “You…” Her brain was foggy and she tried to clear it, but it just wasn’t happening for her.
Cole, damn it.
He has me – why does he have me?
Fight to get away…
Where the hell is he taking me?
“You’re in shock, Mari.” Cole bit out.
He hated to see a female like this – the life dulled within her senses. Even a female that had rearranged his damn bumper. His truck didn’t matter.
He’d seen that branch that had gone through the damn windscreen and she could have been killed. Her shifter blood wouldn’t have saved her from that.
It pained him. It struck fear into the very heart of him and he didn’t like that feeling.
“I don’t like you,” she bit out.
“I noticed, sweetheart.” Cole offered back. He didn’t want to challenge her, rile her or her wolf up. She needed time to come out of this…
“Put me down,” she snatched her head up and scowled at him. Her eyes looked a little glazed over, as if she was looking at him and yet not really seeing him, not really making sense of what was happening to her.
Cole’s eyes scanned her face and lodged onto the deep gash on the side of her forehead. That wound angered Cole even more.
“When we get to my truck,” Cole assured her. “I’ll take a look at that cut.”
Mari reached up blindly and traced her fingertips across her forehead until she felt the wet patch. The sting of touching the open wound made her gasp in a small breath, growl in annoyance, and that growl riled up Cole’s bear.
“Stop growling or you’re going to have one angry damn bear to contend with on top of killing your damn truck.” Cole warned her.
“I killed my truck?” She sounded so surprised as she craned her neck to look back over his shoulder, and the sound of her shocked gasp sent a shiver right down his spine.
“But I wanted to kill your truck.” It sounded so damn heartfelt that at any other time than this he would probably have laughed.
“Noticed that too.” Cole shot her a look of annoyance.
“Don’t look at me like that. Put me down!” Mari felt stupid. Stupid and dazed and a little out of control.
She wanted to be home.
She wanted her things.
She wasn’t a girlie girl, and yet she felt like crying and couldn’t understand why.
“Not a chance. You’ll probably fall over your own feet and head butt the damn ground.” Cole growled.
“Why are you angry?” She snapped.
This wasn’t right.
Nothing was right.
She didn’t like Cole and he didn’t like her; so why was he carrying her?
“Because you nearly killed your damn self.” Cole’s eyes flashed with rage. He was trying not to look at her. He was trying to get where he was going and not let the rage within him, within his bear cloud his judgement any more than it already had…
“I thought you’d cheer.” She snorted.
“Yeah, well, you don’t know me.” Cole felt the sting of her words.
“That’s cos you’re clan and I’m pack, and you’re a butthead.” She sounded muted, as if she was saying the words and yet couldn’t quite fathom why.
“And you’re little Miss Princess Perfect, are you?” Cole challenged her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I have no damn idea.” He bit out.
When he finally reached his truck; he found it wasn’t so easy to let her go. He knew what he needed to do and yet he was reluctant to let her out of his damn arms, hell, even his bear protested.
Cole reached out a hand and yanked open the back door. He turned her body and slowly, gently, lowered her backside to the seat.
Mari’s arms stayed around his neck. She seemed just as reluctant to let go of him as he had been of her, and he guessed that it had something to do with the fact that she was still in shock.
He reached behind her and snatched up the blanket from the back of the seat. So damn close to her now that he could have taken her scent…
“Get off me!” she growled.
“Sweetheart, you’ve got me.” Cole chuckled, but he didn’t find anything amusing when her hands slid down his shoulders and he lost that contact with her.
His bear was in full protection mode, and he didn’t have a damn clue why. Maybe because she was a female…
He flicked out the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her big brown eyes starred up at him from under the frown.
His eyes flicked towards the wound. It was pretty deep but it had already started to heal.
“You’re coming home with me,” Cole growled as he turned her in the seat, she was so damn pliable to his will that it scared him. Shock was a dangerous thing, and he had to wonder if there was something more going on with her as reached in to feed the seatbelt across her body…
“To clan land?” She snorted a burst of what sounded like laughter filled with contempt, it had come from nowhere and had died on her lips just as quickly.
“My cabin’s closer than pack land. I’ll get your head fixed up before I take you home.” Cole wasn’t about to take no for an answer, and his bear settled a little within him at his stance.
“I just want to go home.” Mari growled.
Cole placed his hand down on the seat beside her and leaned in to clip the belt into place. That was the first time that he really paid any attention to it…
Now that he had a plan – now that she was safely within his truck and they were headed home – he allowed it to roll over him…
Her scent, it filled his car and made his head spin and his body ache…
“Ah crap!” Cole bit out and Mari scowled at him.
“Now what?” She almost whimpered.
“Nothing sweetheart, just sit back and I’ll take you home.” Cole assured her, and watched as she dropped her eyes to her lap and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.
His bear growled at the sight of her looking so lost, and Cole had the urge to take her back into his arms and hold her until his warmth seeped right into her bones. He pulled back and closed the door.
He had a damn she-wolf for a mate, and with his clan, that wasn’t a good thing.
~
~
~
‘Justice, Cole’s just driven onto pack land as bold as brass and with Mari in the back of his truck. She looks a little shaken up.’
One of the pack out-runners delivered the news that he didn’t want to hear. He cursed at the damn she-wolf, she was proving nothing but trouble lately.
Mari had taken offence on Tyler’s behalf and had been waging a one- she-wolf war against the clan, knocking down border posts that ran the land between pack and clan lands, and throwing garbage onto their property in retaliation for the way that the clan had treated Tyler. The big bear shifter was happy and settled and he couldn’t understand why the woman wouldn’t just let it go.
He’d warned her off numerous times, and the damn woman had said that she’d quit being a pain in his butt, and yet… now this. He was going to have to come down firm with her this time.
‘Yeah, its fine. I’m on my way to Mari’s, if he doesn’t show up there it’ll be my cabin.’ Justice informed him.
He growled at the football game on the television and pushed up from his comfortable chair. She was damned lucky that her cabin was only a short walk from his or he might have given her hell just for that, as it was; he dreaded to think what she’d done to piss off Cole.
What he dreaded more was what Cole might have had done to her. His man had said that Mari looked a little shaken up and if that bear shifter had laid one damn paw on her…
He’d tried to keep the peace between the shifters on both sides of the divide, and Mari was putting that in danger. He didn’t need a war with the bears. Especially when four of his pack were so loved up with their damn mates that they couldn’t see straight to put their damn clothes on properly in the morning.
Not that he begrudged them that. A mate was everything in life that he was missing.
Justice stalked across the way to the sound of the meaty engine of Cole’s truck coming up the dirt track. He stopped, folded his arms across his chest and waited for Mari to arrive, and then – one way or the other – there would be hell to pay.
Cole’s eyes took in the sight of the alpha. He’d expected no less when he’d spotted one of the pack wolves eyeing him as he drove onto their land – he just didn’t know which brother was going to greet his appearance.
He guessed he had some explaining to do, and he guessed that Mari was in no fit state to help him out. When Justice lifted a hand and pointed towards Mari’s cabin, Cole pulled the pickup around.
Maybe bringing her back to pack land hadn’t been the best option. He should have taken her home, but his damn clan was just so… unpredictable that he didn’t know how that would play out and she was in no fit state to witness any of it.
If anything, she had been quieter, more subdued the closer that they got to the pack.
Cole shot a look over his shoulder at Mari in the back seat and growled in annoyance. His eyes had been flicking between her and the road the whole way back, and she still wasn’t showing signs of life.
A quiet she-wolf was never a good thing.
Cole popped the door and pushed on out. Stretching his huge frame to his full height as Justice started towards his truck.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Cole warned him, and Justice flicked him a death glare.
“I’m not you, Cole.” Justice growled, eager to get to Mari and see just what the damn bear had done to her.
One thing that he knew for sure was tha
t if Mari wasn’t mouthing off and causing trouble then something had to be wrong. She sat in the back of the truck like a damn statue, and that was just plain wrong.
“Justice,” Cole bit down on his bear’s wrath. The animal was getting tetchy. Cole shook his head and took a step towards the back door, blocking the alpha’s way, with his back to the door guarding his mate, his thick arms hanging down and out at his sides, and his fists at the ready in a show of aggression and force.
“You come onto pack land and act like an ass, Cole, and I’ll send you home in a body bag.” Justice growled the warning, but he was more than ready to act on it.
“Ah, the posturing of two adult male shifters,” Connor announced from the side of Mari’s cabin. He rested his shoulder against the wood of the wall and folded his arms across his chest. “Just another day on the mountain.”
“Vampire,” Cole growled out with a small shake of his head. “You need to keep your damn nose out of this.”
“What did you do to her?” Justice growled the accusation and Cole’s heart hit his ribs in a rush of anger that threatened to tear his damn bear right out of him.
“She totalled her truck,” Cole growled.
His top lip curled in rage. His eyes were black, and his chest puffed up like his bear was fighting to get out.
“Now you tell me,” Connor spat out in disgust, pushing away from the wall and starting for Cole’s vehicle.
“Don’t,” Cole snapped out, lifting his hand and pointing a finger at Connor.
Connor wasn’t about to listen to a damn bear shifter over what was right. Mari was a friend, pack, and it was a code of honour for Connor to protect her. If she needed his blood again then he’d give it willingly and to hell with some damn bear.
Connor wrenched open the door on the other side of the truck and scented her blood on the whoosh of air that rushed out at him. His eyes took her in, sitting there dazed and confused, but it was the roar of pure rage that came from Cole that snatched his attention away from her and towards the angry shifter that was already up on the roof of the truck and flying downwards through the air towards him…