Shoulders dropping, Fallon said, “Aside from the fact that I should be twisting you into a pretzel, I feel the need to point out that his seeing more than one picture of me does not justify the skeevey behavior. As a matter of fact, it just makes it worse!”
“You’re thinking like a human.” Cree accused. “We’re not human. We’re apex predators.” She sounded the word out like Fallon was slow-witted. “We mate, we hunt, we kill when necessary. These are all a part of life. For every mated couple you know, have you ever seen them use logic? I mean really. Do you know any normal mating stories?”
Fallon thought for a second. “No...but why are we discussing this?!” She tossed up her hands. “I’m not getting mated. To that bear or to anyone else for that matter!” Tugging at her hair, she said, “This whole conversation is ridiculous.”
Cree nodded. “True...but for some strange reason I keep hearing generic excuses as to why you don’t believe Ransom McKenna is interested in more than just your land.” She eyed Fallon. “I haven’t heard you say anything about not being attracted to him...or not even knowing what he looks like.”
Fallon’s silence was telling. Cree began to laugh. “You did a search on him didn’t you?!”
“I was curious!”
“Bullshit! I know you! You were way more than curious!”
Mouth twisting, she leaned against a tree and decided to ignore her friend’s cackles. Yes, she’d done a little googling on Mr. Ransom McKenna and no he wasn’t some inbred, unibrowed, backswamp look-alike. He was actually pretty handsome. That is, if you liked your men six-foot-nine and unnaturally large.
He had a hard, square, stubbled jaw, a nose that looked as though it had been broken a time or two, sharp cheekbones and a mouth that was a bit thin on top but had a full lower rim. His eyes were a startling amber with flecks of green and from what she’d seen his smile was nice as well as his full head of silver tipped dark brown hair.
Just because she found him attractive did not mean she was okay with his harassment...or courting...or whatever! This shit was utterly ridiculous! What normal person exchanged the types of emails she and Ransom McKenna had? He was clearly intelligent with a goofy sense of humor and a quirky way about him.
And no she would not admit that she’d been tempted to laugh just a little!
Fallon rubbed her eyes. “I’m losing it. I have to be losing it...”
Cree walked over and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You’re not losing it sweetheart, you just want to fuck a bear.” After casually stating that she shrugged. “I can tell you from experience it’s a fun road to go down.”
Oy vey...
Chapter 3
from: Fallon Wilder
to: Ransom McKenna
date: Friday July 6, 2012 at 3:55 PM
subject: WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRAZY?
Is this all a part of your elaborate scheme Mr. McKenna? Badger me with your huge claws until I finally surrender and give you what you want? Because I’m telling you right now, that method will simply get one of your ungodly size arms ripped out of its socket before I beat you to death with it. Are we understanding each other here? Are we grasping the fact that all you’re doing is making me cranky?
Call Ransom a sick bastard but all he could do was grin broadly as he quickly typed up a response. After weeks of nothing, a little bit of glee lit within him at the fact that Fallon had finally been annoyed enough with him to express herself. It was a violent, albeit terrifying expression...but he saw that as semantics.
from: Ransom McKenna
to: Fallon Wilder
date: Friday July 6, 2012 4:00 PM
subject: Re: WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRAZY?
Scheme? What scheme? Scheming implies that I’m doing something in secret; implies that I’m hiding my plans when in all actuality you can clearly see that I’m doing anything but. Huge? Ungodly sized? Excuse me if I’m wrong here—which as a higher and wiser species I doubt that I am—but it would seem that you’re slightly obsessed with the size of my body parts. Now I don’t want to say that I feel sexually harassed...but I kind of do. Why are you so angry? Is this normal? Were you born this way or did you just not take your happy pills today? Maybe a little bit of peanut butter would help them go down easier...
from: Fallon Wilder
to: Ransom McKenna
date: Friday July 6, 2012 4:15 PM
subject: Re: Re: WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRAZY?
You, sir, are a prick.
from: Ransom McKenna
to: Fallon Wilder
date: Friday July 6, 2012 4:25 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRAZY?
I know this. I accept it. I live it.
from: Fallon Wilder
to: Ransom McKenna
date: Friday July 6, 2012 4:45 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: WHY ARE YOU TRYING...
Apparently you’re a dramatic prick at that. What is it that you want from me Mr. McKenna? Honestly? I’m not selling Wilder land to you. We’ve already established that. So what could you possibly be getting out of sending me all this shit? Aside from your obvious desire to be hurt...hurt a lot...
from: Ransom McKenna
to: Fallon Wilder
date: Friday July 6, 2012 4:55 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: WHY ARE YOU TRYING...
A meeting. Just one simple meeting. And if you don’t like what I have to say, then you can hurt me all you want. Although I have to warn you...I’m kind of into that...which means I may or may not bring along a ball gag...does that make me weird?
from: Fallon Wilder
to: Ransom McKenna
date: Friday July 6, 2012 5:05 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: WHY ARE YOU...
One meeting. One. Against my better judgment and what baby Jesus himself is telling me, I’m going to allow you to come to Wilder Lodge for a week-long stay. No, no, don’t get happy, it will not be comped. And I don’t really care what you do on your spare time McKenna but if you put a ball gag anywhere near me, you can rest assured that your mother will have very little to cry over during your funeral. Are we clear?
from: Ransom McKenna
to: Fallon Wilder
date: Friday July 6, 2012 5:15 PM
subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: WHY ARE...
Well there goes my fun...
With a sigh, Ransom logged out and stood, heading for his office door. Swinging it opened he yelled for Maddox, who came stumbling out of his own office, tugging his clothes back into place.
“Have some decorum for God’s sake. This is a professional place.” Ransom’s sibling stated, tucking his shirt back into his pants. “We’re trying to run a business that—”
“You smell like sex.” Ransom cut in.
Maddox leered a little. “I know.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Any reason why you’re interrupting my play time?”
“One, because I told you to stop fucking during office hours. Two, you and I are going to Wilder Lodge for a small vacation.”
The other man tucked in his lips, nodding slowly. “Clearly you’ve lost your goddamn mind.”
“She finally agreed to a meeting.” Ransom began to mentally reassess his original plans. Clearly Fallon wouldn’t sell Wilder Lodge to him but maybe just maybe he could get her to agree to another proposal. Besides, he needed to escape before his mother decided to once again try finding him a nice sturdy sow to mate. Sunday, as Ransom suspected, was no more than a ploy to attempt getting him to date again. A ploy that he had managed to avoid but it hadn’t been easy. Now his mother was pretty much sta
lking him and good God he finally understood where his pushy nature came from.
Maddox blinked. “And you don’t think it’s a lure to get you on her territory so she can kill you, bury you and salt the earth where your remains lay?”
Ransom smiled. “Surprisingly...no.”
“Unh-hunh,” Maddox backed away ever so easily. “Well you enjoy your possible homicidal trip. I’m not going.”
He grabbed his brother before he could run. Ransom wasn’t much for running; didn’t like to exert himself unless he really had to. And batting his sibling around like a piñata would take entirely too much effort. “Oh you’re going. And you’re going to fucking enjoy every goddamn minute of it.”
“Or what?” Maddox challenged.
“Or I tell everyone in the building what that pear shaped birthmark really is.”
The other man gasped. “You wouldn’t!”
“I could be persuaded to keep quiet...or I could be downright chatty about your days as a—”
One of Maddox’s hands slapped over his mouth. “I’ll go you manipulative bastard. I’ll go.”
Ransom grinned. “Well aren’t you just the best little brother in the world. Maddox wait! Don’t walk away angry! Didn’t we learn about how to properly deal with our feelings in group therapy with Mr. Peabody?”
***
“Wait, wait, wait, you did what?” Cree questioned as she, Cade, Makya and Anoki all stopped passing around plates at dinner to focus on Fallon who sat at one end of the table.
Taking a deep breath, Fallon answered, “I invited Mr. McKenna to come for a week=long stay at the lodge.”
The staring commenced. It was starting to make that small tick above her left eye twitch. “What?”
Anoki leaned towards her. “Is this a ploy to lure him on to your territory, kill him, bury him and salt the earth where his remains lay?”
Fallon rubbed that tic. “No.”
“So then you wouldn’t mind if someone were to say...take Gladys from you for that week, would you?” Makya asked.
She sat back in her chair, eyeing the main players of her pack. “You really don’t think I have any self-control do you?”
“It’s not that...” Cree hedged.
“But it kind of is.” Cade finished.
Fallon’s eyes narrowed and Anoki said, “We trust you with our lives, Fal.”
“But we don’t necessarily trust you with that bear’s life.” Makya added.
She threw up her hands. “I invited him here!”
“Which could possibly result in his untimely demise.” Cade pointed out.
“And we like to avoid untimely demises.” Cree stated.
“Where’s the loyalty?!”
She tried really hard not to knock Anoki unconscious when he muttered, “Locked in the same case where Gladys will be when that bear gets here.”
***
Restlessness had Fallon up late, shifting and running through the surrounding trees of Wilder Lodge, her mind racing along with her paws as they pushed into the soft ground. She didn’t think she’d been that off earlier when she said she was losing it. She had to be to have invited that bear onto her territory, into what was essentially her pack’s home. What was it about Ransom McKenna that just...pushed her buttons?
Perhaps it was the fact that he didn’t know her but he spoke to her as if he did; the fact that he didn’t seem to be too concerned about all her snarling and snapping. Maybe his nonchalance to her threats was what mildly piqued her interest. Fallon knew she was by no means an easy female. Add that to the fact that she was one of the most temperamental shifters on the planet and one pretty much had a recipe for disaster if they didn’t step lightly around her. She was aware of this, her pack was aware of this, and even her guests were aware of this. Yet, Ransom really didn’t seem to give a fuck. She wasn’t sure if she should admire that fearless quality or tear his Achilles tendons out with her fangs just to prove a point.
Cree seemed to think the grizzly was after way more than her land but Fallon wasn’t so sure about that. She knew enough about Ransom to know that the man had an extensive list of women that he could pick and choose from and none of them even remotely resembled Fallon in any way, shape or form. It wasn’t that she considered herself unattractive but she was realistic. She’d never walk anyone’s runway or be on the cover of a magazine...unless of course it was for fitness or involved hunting. She was capable of being sexy in her own quirky, awkward way but she highly doubted that any male would immediately associate her with lit candles and soft silken sheets. A rough ride on the forest floor with the moon overhead and nothing but the echoes of growls and snarls? Now that was more her speed.
Ransom, however, had been on more than one magazine cover and seemed to be the type that liked lit candles and soft three hundred count sheets. Or at least that’s what Fallon saw when she looked at him and...wait...why was she even having this mental debate? Why was she thinking of this complete and total stranger—okay maybe he wasn’t a complete stranger after all those goddamn emails but he was still unknown territory!
Skidding to a halt, Fallon stood and tilted her head back, staring up at the skyline as if it would give her some answer as to why she’d seemingly developed a very miniscule obsession with a bear that had done nothing but harass her over the last few months.
“Sometimes all a predator needs is to catch the right scent to know their prey.”
Cree’s words came back in a creepy, hollow echo in her head, repeating over and over again until she lay on the ground, covering her maw with her paws and closing her eyes, trying to block it out. Ransom was not interested in her. He was after her land. And she was not in denial goddammit!
Chapter 4
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Fallon barely bit back a low growl as she headed for her truck with Cree following. “Yes.” They’d been asking her that same goddamn question all morning. The day or reckoning was finally here, Ransom McKenna was thirty minutes away from landing at Eagle County Regional. And feeling ever so generous, Fallon had made the choice to play chauffeur for her guests.
She and Ransom would be face to face soon enough. Fallon hadn’t stopped to examine why that thought caused something extremely close to butterflies to tumble around in her belly.
“Because one of us can pick them up...or they can get a car or—”
“Cree,” Fallon interrupted, turning around. “I’m going to collect the McKenna brothers from the airport and safely transport them here. You can help me by making sure their cabins are ready.”
“That’s already been taken care of. We just need to do one more thing.”
She shot the she-wolf a curious look. “What?”
That’s when Cade, Makya and Anoki suddenly ambushed her, coming from God-knows-where to pin her to the side of her truck so Cree could frisk her. Frisk her!
“What the fuck?!”
“We love you, but we have to take precautions.” Anoki said. He looked to Cade. “Did you check the glove compartment, center console, and under the seats?”
Fallon’s soon to be ex-assistant nodded. “Checked and double checked.”
“Take out all the pens?” Makya questioned.
“What am I?” Fallon snarled. “A goddamn assassin?”
Cree continued to pat her down. “No, but you are crafty. I’ve seen you pick a lock with basic, non-lethal household items. That particular event didn’t exactly fill me with implicit trust.” She backed up and nodded at the men. “She’s clean.”
“On the count of three?” Anoki asked the guys.
Both nodded.
“One—”
Cade and Makya let her go as if she were a crocodile they’d had to transport into a new habitat, leaving Anoki to get the punch in the balls she’d been waiting to deliver.
He crumpled to the ground. “Betrayers!”
While they laughed, Fallon got into her truck and barely resisted the urge to run them all over!
/> ***
“A bit tense, big brother?”
Ransom looked up from his clenched hands, towards where Maddox sat next to him. “Why would you say that?”
The other man briefly tucked in his lips before replying, “It may have something to do with the full-human officer softly sobbing over there at the coffee stand.”
“I asked him to move so I could get honey packets. When I ask for someone to move I don’t expect a lot of resistance. Resistance makes me cranky. And when I get cranky—”
“Those in law enforcement who’ve probably spent years working with hardened criminals, end up in tears?”
Ransom shrugged.
Maddox sighed. “You don’t even know why you just ruined that man’s day, and possibly his life, do you?”
“I suppose you’re going to enlighten me, oh wise one.” Ransom mocked, eyes scanning the surrounding activity as people bustled through the airport. Every few seconds his chest clenched a bit, wondering when he’d see her. After a three hour flight and no sleep the night before, he was edgy. This could go really well, or really badly.
“It’s because you,” Maddox poked Ransom in the shoulder, ignoring his low growl, “are not here for business. You’re here for a she-wolf.”
He bit the inside of his cheek. “Not this bullshit again...”
“Yes this bullshit again.” Ransom’s sibling turned fully towards him, “You’re in denial. Deep, deep denial and it needs to stop because I can tell you right now—”
Maddox wasn’t able to complete that sentence when Ransom’s hand came up, covering his whole face and pushing him backwards as the most alluring scent caught Ransom’s attention. His nostrils flared as that scent got stronger; the smell of wildflowers and summer berries hitting him in the gut.
What a Bear Wants Page 3