Immediately suspicious, he walked forward, sniffing the air. There was water nearby, and Savannah’s scent was all around the outside of the deep lake that was in the heart of the woods. A slight splash caught his ears, and his eyes narrowed. Savannah was clearly enjoying the water. Tom shrank back into the trees, his eyes catching sight of her. She hadn’t run off or gone back to the pack, she'd gone swimming. Guilt flared, and he blew out a quick snort of frustration.
Are you going to come in?
His eyes flaring with surprise, Tom walked out of the trees, his paws making no sound on the grassy earth. He hadn’t thought she’d seen or heard him.
No.
The water’s lovely.
He sat down on the bank, letting the water trickle into his back paws. I’m fine.
Savannah swam over to him, her paws moving effortlessly through the water. She’d been terrified when she’d become aware of him, but had forced herself not to panic. She needed to act normal, pretend that everything was okay. All she was doing was swimming. Why are you here?
Tom looked away, unwilling to answer.
You don’t trust me.
No, I don’t.
Savannah pulled herself from the water, shaking her fur. Looking at him, she took in his huge bulk, and the way his gray eyes were staring at her, unblinking. He was an alpha bear, in every sense of the word. There was an air of authority about him that had her ready to bow her head in front of him, recognizing his power. He could protect himself, she was sure of it.
Had those big paws been the ones to kill Dan? The thought shook her to her core. She never thought of that before, a wave of anger rushing through her and forcing a rattle from her throat.
Tom snorted, pushing the air from his lungs. I’m not going to hurt you, Savannah.
Savannah quietened her anger quickly, knowing she couldn’t put herself in danger. Then why are you here?
He turned his head and looked up at the moon that shone through the trees. I needed to run.
And I needed to swim.
Tossing his head, Tom began to turn away.
I can see that.
Beginning to walk away from her, Tom forced his bear not to stay. The bear was happy with her beside him, and his awareness of just how honey brown her eyes were had shaken him completely. They were almost golden. The bear’s eyes were just a slightly different shade from her human eyes, but they still made his senses swim. This wasn’t the peace he’d been looking for. He needed to leave Savannah behind.
Savannah flung herself back into the water, throwing the water up everywhere. If Tom wanted to walk away, then she’d let him. Words weren’t going to convince him that she could be trusted, but maybe her actions were. She just hoped Lucas wasn’t going to appear out of nowhere and blow everything up. If Tom caught even the slightest hint of Lucas’ scent, then there would be no way out.
You’re not exactly graceful.
Tom’s words came into her head, but she didn’t respond. Choosing to ignore him, Savannah carried on swimming across the lake, letting her bear enjoy the water. The only reason she’d come into the woods was because she was unable to sleep, especially since she wasn’t used to being in her human skin for so long. It was funny how Tom had reacted to her human form, though. Savannah hadn’t missed the way he’d looked at her, although clearly he wasn’t exactly looking to make friends with her. Was that the way to get him to trust her? Reaching the bank on the other side of the lake, Savannah pulled herself up and watched as Tom’s alpha bear walked off into the woods, leaving her alone again.
CHAPTER 7
Savannah walked to the mechanics to start her first day on the job, thinking hard about her time last night with Tom. His alpha bear was strong, its muscles rippling under his dark coat. The way he carried himself was almost noble, as though he anticipated respect. Thinking about what it would be like to have Tom protect her, Savannah felt heat creep into her cheeks.
She barely slept last night, tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning when she eventually gave up and chose to get up for the day. For some, inexplicable reason, she couldn’t get Tom out of her head. There had been times when the nerves she’d felt had changed into something more… pleasurable, but she was unable to work out what. It had only been this morning, when she had time to sort through her emotions, that she eventually admitted to herself that she was attracted to him, in both his forms.
It was an attraction she was going to have to ignore, that was for sure. Since Savannah hadn’t really met other shifters, apart from the Northern Wind pack, she told herself that her attraction to Tom was probably the way most shifters felt when they met an alpha. There was something about them being so dominant, she guessed. Savannah had never met an alpha before. Lucas was a large bear, sure, but he wasn’t an alpha, as much as he wanted to be. Alphas were different. Although, that being said, his human skin wasn’t exactly bad looking either, if she ignored the way his lip constantly curled when he saw her. She hated that he had exactly the same response each time he saw her. It was as if his hackles rose. She’d thought her bear would be equally as hostile, but to her surprise, it had just been interested. There wasn’t any fear or any anger either. Just…interest.
Shaking her head, Savannah walked up to the office door, determined to get all thoughts of Tom out of her head. The last thing she needed was to feed her attraction to him. She had to remember why she was here, and the very important fact that Tom had, most likely, been involved in Dan’s death. The only reason she was here so that Lucas, in whatever way he chose, could have his revenge on Tom and Nick. There was no point in getting close to him – or to any of them.
“Good morning!” Jo smiled, the moment Savannah walked in. “Nice to see you here bright and early.”
“I didn’t want to be late on my first day,” Savannah replied, smiling as Jo laughed. She was finding that she quite liked Jo, despite everything in her telling her she shouldn’t. “What do I need to do?”
“First, let’s get a coffee and then I’ll show you what you need to do on a daily basis. We need a few more supplies and Tom is going to take you to the store later, to show you where everything is.”
“I’m sure I can go myself,” Savannah replied, quickly. “I don’t want to put Tom out when I’m sure he’s really busy.”
Jo shook her head. “No, no, he’s really happy to go with you. You’re our employee now so we need to make sure we treat you well! We don’t want another mechanics to steal you.”
Savannah opened her mouth to say that she didn’t think there was another mechanics nearby, only to catch the gleam in Jo’s eye. “Very funny,” she replied, weakly. “Seriously, though, I’m sure I can manage on my own.”
“He wanted to take you,” Jo said, off hand. “Anyway, the coffee pot is freshly made up and you’re welcome to help yourself at any time.”
Savannah followed Jo around to behind the front desk, thanking her for the cup of steaming coffee she handed to her.
"So, the first thing is the accounts," Jo explained. "Any jobs that have been done over the weekend need invoices, so that needs to be caught up on. After that, there's a whole pile of receipts – incomes and outgoings – that we'll need to work through to get a clear picture of exactly how well this place is doing."
“As well as make sure they’re paying the right amount of tax,” Savannah murmured, her eyes scanning a few pieces of paperwork that Jo handed to her.
“Yes, exactly.” Jo let out a sigh. “Those two don’t seem to care much about things like that, they just like to do the work, get paid and move on to the next thing!”
Savannah laughed, despite herself. “Leaving you a trail of things to pick up after them.”
Jo rolled her eyes, grimacing. “Unfortunately, yes.” Handing Savannah a few more folders, she indicated the computer to Savannah’s left. “You’re welcome to work there. The computer is ready for you to use and no-one will bother you – well, not too much.”
“Than
ks,” Savannah murmured, moving towards it and sitting down in a rather creaky chair.
Shaking her head, Jo let out a sigh of exasperation. "That chair's going to fall to pieces any minute, I can tell. We'll need to order you in a proper computer chair, Savannah. You can't sit on that all day. Just as well, I'm decorating and reorganizing this place! Tom won't be able to argue."
Turning around, Savannah gave Jo a quick smile. “I’m going to be honest, I don’t I’m going to be able to sit in this chair all day.” The chair was made from wood and splinters seemed to be sticking out all over the place, making it incredibly hard to sit on. She was already uncomfortable.
“Then that’ll be the first thing on Tom’s list,” Jo said with a grin, just as Tom came in from outside, wiping his hands on a rag.
“What list?” he growled, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Jo.
Jo grinned at him, unrepentant. “The list of things you need to buy when you go into town. Order in a new chair, a proper one, Tom. Not some rickety old thing you made yourself. Savannah needs to have a computer chair to sit on, since she’s going to be working at the computer all day.”
Tom threw her a glance, and Savannah caught her breath. He was already hot and sweaty, even though it was early in the day, but clearly, he'd been hard at work. He only wore a vest and she could see faint traces of grease and oil smeared across his biceps. His dark eyes were intense as they caught hers. She gave him a quick smile, but he only clenched his jaw, but that still didn't dampen the surge of attraction that ran through her.
Turning away to focus on the pile of paperwork on her desk, Savannah's ears were still listening to every single thing Tom and Jo were saying. Her ears couldn't help but listen, and her nose sniffed just a little to catch Tom's scent. He smelled of pine from the woods and oil from the shop, but there was an underlying scent she couldn't quite place. It made her heart begin to pick up its pace, and a burst of warmth pooled from her core. Her attraction to Tom wasn’t exactly going away, no matter how hard she tried to ignore him.
“Yes, you have to take her,” she heard Jo hiss. “Just stop being a grouch and get on with it.”
Savannah heard Tom's footsteps and briefly closed her eyes to compose herself. She didn't want him catching even a hint of how she was feeling about him, and just hoped she wasn't going to start letting off a scent of bear pheromones or something. Tipping her head, she turned in her chair and looked up at him. He didn't smile.
“I hear we’re going to the store,” she said, brightly.
“Yeah. I’ve just got to finish up a repair and then we’ll head out. Can you be ready in an hour?”
“Sure.”
"Great." He didn't exactly sound pleased, but Savannah was going to take whatever chance she could get to grow closer to him. She'd decided that this was the only way he would eventually learn to trust her and, since that was what Lucas wanted, that was what she would do. Her eyes lingered on him as he walked away, taking in every taut muscle on display. She'd known he was strong but certainly hadn't imagined that there would be so much obvious strength in his form.
“Good looking, isn’t he?”
Savannah snapped her head up, catching Jo’s quick grin.
“I – uh,”
“You don’t have to pretend,” Jo laughed, her eyes sparkling. “I won’t tell. Tom’s a good man, once you get to know him. Just give him more time. He’ll smile soon, I promise.”
Savannah didn’t know what to say, heat filling her face as she turned back to her desk. Forcing herself to concentrate on the numbers in front of her, she heard Jo begin to hum to herself as she got on with redecorating. If Jo had noticed her watching Tom, then she was going to have to be a lot more careful.
CHAPTER 8
Tom growled as he threw down the oil-covered rag, muttering darkly to himself.
“Everything okay?”
“No,” he bit out. “Not that it’s your business.”
Nick said nothing but gave his brother a sly grin.
"Don't start," Tom warned. "Let's just get this job finished, okay?" The oil change was taking longer than they'd thought since they'd found a leak as well as a badly clogged filter, but Tom was glad for the extra work. It kept his mind of Savannah.
His bear wasn’t happy last night, walking away from Savannah like he had. It had kept trying to turn him back to the water so that he could jump in beside her and enjoy the coolness. The bear had become so aggressive that eventually, Tom had shifted back into his human skin. The bear had made the change more painful than normal, almost as though it were punishing Tom for leaving Savannah alone. He wished his bear would just leave Savannah alone, but it was hankering for her already. He didn't want to admit it, but there was something about her that was drawing him in too.
She’d been more confident this morning, that was for sure. She was trying hard to be friendly and approachable, instead of the slightly terrified little thing he’d seen yesterday, and that had surprised him. Was it because she saw him in his bear form? Had that made her calmer? Whatever the reason, Tom wasn’t sure he liked this slightly sassy, confident Savannah. It made his bear growl happily, and that wasn’t exactly the response he’d been hoping for. In fact, he wanted to stay away from Savannah, but there was no chance of that happening now. She worked for them, didn’t she? That meant Tom was going to see her pretty much every day, and Jo, he was sure, was going to keep trying to push them together.
Tom had hoped that Jo might have forgotten about him taking Savanah to the store, but that idea had died the moment he saw her face. On top of that, he’d noticed the way Savannah had shifted uncomfortably in that old rickety chair, and he’d been embarrassed. He didn’t want her to have to use that old thing. He would order a new one right away. He remembered the way her bottom had wriggled against the seat, and, for just a moment, Tom was filled with a sudden rush of heat. It passed quickly, but Tom couldn't let go of the image immediately. She was attractive, he could admit that, with curves in all the right places. But he wasn't going to trust her, just because he found her beautiful.
“Hello?” Nick called, a hearty grin on his face. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Sorry,” Tom mumbled, giving himself a talking to. “I was just getting distracted.”
“With?”
“None of your business,” Tom growled, his bear growing restless over his brother’s ribbing. “Quit bugging me about her, Nick.”
Nick didn’t say anything, but Tom could hear the slight rumble of his chest as he laughed. He hated that Nick could see through him so easily but, then again, he was just as worried about Nick’s attraction to Jo when it had first started. It was like he’d known it before Nick had. Was this the same thing?
Pushing his thoughts away, Tom focused on getting the job done. He’d have time to worry about Savannah later.
Walking back from the store, Tom shot Savannah a glance. She looked happy and he’d been surprised at just how well things had gone between them. He ordered a new chair for her the minute they’d got in, before showing here where they got their supplies, what brands they used and where to get the order forms from, if they were going to buy in bulk. She’d done nothing but listen and nod, watching his every move with careful eyes. She was certainly keen to learn, that was for sure.
“So, that chair will be here by the end of the week,” he said, interrupting the silence. “I’m sorry you have to sit on that old thing until then.”
“That’s okay,” she replied, glancing up at him with a light smile. “I don’t much mind.” Turning her face back to the path, she carried on walking slowly, as though taking everything in.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, after a moment. “Thank you for showing me all that. I appreciate it. It’ll help me to actually do my job, and I know how much you didn’t want to do it.”
He frowned. “I didn’t mind, Savannah.”
She looked at him again, with a slight frown on her face and Tom found himself wanting to smoot
h away the crease in her forehead with his fingers.
“I know you don’t trust me, Tom. I know you didn’t want to come out here with me today. So I really appreciate that you did.”
He swallowed hard, wishing he could honestly tell her that what she’d obviously heard wasn’t true, but knowing he couldn’t. Scuffing his foot in the dirt, he shook his head to himself. “I don’t trust easy, Savannah, not after what’s happened.”
“What happened?” she asked, quickly, remembering that she wasn’t meant to know anything about the feud between his pack and the Northern Wind pack.
Quickly, he gave her the details, surprised that she didn’t seem as horrified as he’d expected her to be. He left the part about Dan out, thinking that she’d find out about him soon enough. Dan’s leg was doing so well that Tom expected him to be up walking really soon. He’d introduce him to Savannah then. One thing at a time.
"That sounds awful," Savannah said, once he finished speaking. "I'm not surprised that you don't trust me, then. I would be the same if I were you."
“Glad you understand,” he replied, gruffly.
The heady scent of pine and water caught his nose, and his bear roared immediately. Being with Savannah made the bear want to be with her bear, despite the circumstances.
“You feel it too,” Savannah whispered, taking a few steps to the edge of the forest. Her human skin was almost beginning to itch, since she’d been in it for so long, and her bear wanted out to run.
Tom paused for a moment, wondering if he should take the first step into developing his relationship with Savannah. He couldn’t exactly trust her yet, but the only way to do that was to spend more time with her, wasn’t it? “Want to go for a run?” he asked, with a quick grin.
Savannah’s eyes widened, surprised at both his question and the smile on his face. He looked so different when he smiled, more open and certainly more handsome. Battling down her attraction, she tilted her head. “Won’t Jo and Nick worry? I don’t want to give a bad impression, especially not on my first day.”
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