A Bear's Protection

by Dakota West

  But the best was that she hadn’t heard anything at all from her stalker. No notes, no mysteriously sent flowers, nothing. Cascadia was heaven on earth.

  Of course, she hadn’t worked up the nerve to actually talk to Ash, the cute cop, at the pizza joint. Honestly, she’d been too embarrassed that he’d seen her take an entire pizza by herself. Part of her had wanted to go over to him and his companion and explain that she had a fridge in her motel room, and the pizza would also be breakfast.

  Instead, she’d waved once and then bolted.

  Sigh.

  It didn’t help that the guy he was sitting with was also insanely hot, and in a completely different way than Ash. This guy looked like he was probably a snowboarding instructor or a guitarist or a river rafting guide or something. He was tan, his hair pulled back, and somehow had a sleek-but-muscled outdoor look.

  She wondered again if that was Ash’s mate, and wondering that always led into wondering if Ash was a member of a triad or just a mating pair. They must be in a triad already, she told herself — what girl wouldn’t want to be in a sandwich between those two?

  Cora spat into the sink, rinsed her mouth out, and rinsed her toothbrush.

  Try not to think filthy thoughts before noon, she told herself, and then left her hotel room, feeling light and free in a way that she hadn’t in months.

  It ended quickly.

  As soon as she got down to the motel’s parking lot, she saw the window on her car.

  Shattered.

  Cora’s entire body went cold, and she started sweating. Her legs wanted her to run, as far and fast as she could, but she forced herself to approach the car.

  Other cars were driving past on the road, and she was highly visible, in public, in bright, strong sunlight.

  He’s not going to get you here, she told herself. Not with people around.

  When she got up to her car, she could see the rock that had shattered the window, just lying on the passenger seat.

  Carefully, her hands shaking, she reached in and picked it up and turned it over on her palm.

  It was just a rock. There was no note and no picture attached.

  Cora relaxed a little.

  Neil, her stalker, had never done anything like this without also leaving a note. It was part of his inability to stop talking, which was most of the reason that she’d turned down a third date.

  Cora tossed the rock in the air and caught it again, leaning against her car, wondering what she should do. More than anything, she just wished that this stupid thing hadn’t happened. Now she had to waste a day and a few hundred dollars getting it fixed, not to mention dealing with her insurance — which was still in Virginia. She hadn’t changed it yet, of course. She didn’t even have a permanent address in Cascadia.

  You could call Officer Sexy, she thought.

  She bit her lip and tossed the rock again. He probably had real work to do, like busting bad guys for drugs or saving little old ladies from murderers.

  He said any time, though.

  That was true.

  He didn’t let you off with a warning out of mercy, she thought, unbidden. Hell, he gave you his phone number, didn’t he?

  Cora gave up and reached into her glovebox for Officer Sexy — no, Ash’s — phone number.

  Ten minutes later, she heard sirens, and then a cop car sped into the parking lot of the motel. A moment later, Ash got out, still looking every inch the hot cop in his uniform, back straight, bearing military.

  Cora felt herself blush when she saw him.

  Then, the guy he’d been with the other night also got out of the car. He was wearing nice jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt, his hair free this morning, dancing around his jaw.

  She had no idea what he was doing there, but she wasn’t going to complain.

  “Thanks for coming,” she told them.

  Ash adjusted his hat slightly, and then put his hand out.

  “It’s no problem at all,” he said, shaking her hand. His was huge and warm, and as soon and he touched her, Cora felt safer than she ever had before.

  For a second, she looked up into his eyes, and a small shiver went through her.

  What’s with this guy? she thought. Why do I feel so good around him?

  The other man came over as well.

  “This is Hunter, my mate,” Ash said. Even though he sounded casual, Cora could tell that he was testing her, somehow, waiting to see how she reacted to that. Shifters, and particularly their social structures, still weren’t very popular with humans.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Hunter said. “I was just over at the station, and Ash was giving me a ride back to my clinic.”

  Something about that didn’t quite ring true to Cora, but she let it go.

  “What happened?” Ash asked, his hands on his belt, all business.

  “Someone threw a rock through the window,” Cora said, leading them to the other side of the car. “Shattered the window.”

  “Do you know when?”

  “Between eight last night and ten minutes ago,” Cora said.

  “And you didn’t hear anything?”

  She shook her head. Ash was writing everything down.

  He leaned in and examined the rock in her hand without touching it.

  “We’re not gonna get fingerprints off of that,” he said. “The surface is way too rough.”

  Cora just nodded.

  “There’s no reason someone would throw a rock through your window, is there?” Ash asked. “You haven’t even been in Granite Valley long enough to start a feud.”

  His eyes sparkled, and, despite herself, Cora laughed.

  “I don’t think so,” she said.

  Don’t lie to him, she thought.

  Ash was already filling out some forms, squinting at the space between the road and her car.

  “It might not have been aimed at your car,” Ash said. “Could just be kids throwing rocks because...” He shrugged. “I don’t know, kids are assholes?”

  “We sure were,” Hunter joined in. He was leaning against Cora’s car, looking straight off of some album cover. Then he made eye contact with Cora and winked.

  “Well, I was a hellion,” he said. “Ash was always on the straight and narrow.”

  “I’m going to ask around the motel, see if anyone heard or saw anything,” Ash said. “I’ll be back in a bit. He walked toward the lobby, and Cora couldn’t help but appreciate the sight of his ass as he walked away.

  It was just so... sculpted, even in polyester police pants.

  “I guess he hasn’t changed all that much,” Hunter mused. Also watching Ash walk away.

  “Have you two been together a long time?” Cora asked Hunter.

  He nodded. “Since high school, actually. We were fifteen. Jailbait.”

  “Is that common for, uh,” Cora paused, suddenly tripping over the word. “...People around here?” she finished, lamely.

  “For shifters?” Hunter asked, adjusting his stance against her car. He seemed almost amused that she was nervous about saying the word. “Not any more or less than other people.”

  He paused.

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “You got a man?”

  Cora had to laugh.

  “Not exactly,” she said. “I’m the queen of bad second dates.”

  “Bad second dates,” Hunter said, raising his eyebrows. “The first one goes okay?”

  “For some reason,” she said, shrugging. She didn’t know why she was telling her romantic woes to this wildly sexy shifter in the parking lot of a thoroughly middling hotel, but here she was. “I always seem to get the guys who are capable of acting normal at first, having a conversation, that sort of thing, and then bam. Second date, they’re weirdos.”

  “Better the second date than the third, though,” Hunter said. “Sounds like the sooner you find out, the better.”

  “I guess,” Cora said. “I’d just as soon meet someone normal.”r />
  Hunter’s lips twitched into a half-grin, and Cora kicked herself.

  Did you have to say ‘normal’? she thought. Is that offensive to shifters?

  “I don’t think anybody’s normal,” Hunter said. “I’m sure not.”

  Cora felt herself blush.

  “I didn’t mean, not a shifter,” she said. “I just meant capable of having a conversation.”

  This time, he laughed.

  “Didn’t even cross my mind,” he said. “But if you need some almost-normal conversation and for someone to show you around town, we could show you a good time.”

  Cora’s mouth dropped.

  Did he just asked me out? She thought, her mind reeling.

  Oh fuck I think he did. Oh fuck I think he asked me out on a date with the two of them. Oh FUCK.

  “Is that,” she started, and swallowed, trying to regain her composure. “Sure, when?”

  The door to the motel lobby opened and Ash came back out. He definitely had a military bearing, just in the way he held himself and walked. It wasn’t hard to believe that he’d always been on the straight and narrow.

  “How about tomorrow?” said Hunter, just as Ash came up to them.

  “What’s tomorrow?” Ash said, still distractedly looking at the police reports.

  “We’re gonna take her out and show her a good time,” Hunter said. He sounded almost too casual now.

  Right away, Cora noticed Ash’s jaw tighten, just a hint.

  But then he looked at Cora again, and the tightness went out of his face.

  “What are we gonna do?” Ash asked.

  “I’ll think about it,” Hunter said. “Make sure it’s something really good.”

  “Sounds great,” said Cora. She couldn’t think of anything else to say, even though she knew she sounded dumb. “Can’t wait!”

  “Well, is there anything else?” Ash asked. He sounded like he was trying to regain his professionalism, which couldn’t have been the easiest task, given that his mate had just asked her out.

  Tell them, Cora thought. Tell them about your stalker.

  Then she thought, there was no note. It wasn’t him.

  Still, she felt uneasy.

  “I don’t think so,” she said.

  Ash nodded curtly. Cora could tell he didn’t approve of this blending of his professional and personal lives, but he was trying to keep it under wraps.

  It’s kind of cute, she thought.

  “Pick you up at eight?” Hunter said, standing up straight.

  “Sounds perfect,” Cora said.

  Then the two of them walked back to Ash’s police cruiser. Cora watched them the whole way, appreciating the view.

  Chapter Seven

  Hunter

  Ash started yelling the moment they were back on the highway.

  “What were you thinking?” he said. He looked dead ahead, both hands on the wheel, but Hunter could tell he wasn’t quite as mad as he was pretending to be.

  After all, she’d said yes.

  “Come on,” Hunter said. “Were you just going to wait around until she tripped and fell into our bed?”

  “Not actively pursuing a human woman while I am at work does not mean that I’m doing nothing,” said Ash.

  “What was your plan, then?” Hunter asked. He drummed his fingers on the car door, next to the window.

  “First you insist on coming along, and then you just put the moves on her like that,” Ash muttered, not responding to Hunter.

  “If I’d put the moves on her, she’d be naked and screaming in a motel room right now,” Hunter said. “I just asked her out for us.”

  Ash huffed, but Hunter could just barely detect the scent of the other man’s arousal.

  “She’s got a beauty mark on her right collarbone,” Hunter went on, his voice lowering. “I bet if you undressed her, you’d find—”

  “Stop it,” growled Ash.

  Hunter glanced at the bulge in his mate’s pants and suppressed a grin.

  That meant he was still mad, but he’d calmed down enough for an apology.

  “I’m sorry,” Hunter said. “I didn’t mean to jeopardize your job, but she did say yes.”

  Ash huffed again.

  “No harm, no foul?” Hunter said.

  “I just don’t want to be the new face of shifter pervs,” Ash said, sounding calmer already. “I don’t need to be the wayward shifter cop who uses his job to get human tail.”

  “You won’t be,” Hunter assured him. “You couldn’t smell how bad she wants us?”

  Ash just frowned. That meant he had, but would never admit it to Hunter.

  “If you have a good time tomorrow, could you forgive me?”

  “We’ll see,” said Ash.

  Hunter knew that meant yes.

  When they went to pick up Cora the next night, they drove Hunter’s SUV. Even though the interior smelled a little questionable — he used it sometimes to transport injured wildlife, after all — Ash’s pickup truck only had enough room for two.

  “You might need a new truck,” Hunter said, still teasing his mate. “Something that seats three.”

  “Don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched,” said Ash.

  When they drove up to the motel, Cora was waiting for them, right in front of the lobby. She wore a knee-length skirt and a tank top, and both men sat in the car for just a moment, appreciating the way her outfit showed off her curves. Moments later, she was in the car, looking flushed and excited.

  Always the gentleman, Ash moved to the back seat. He eyed the spot where Hunter had cum on the window only days ago, hoping that they’d cleaned it well enough.

  “Cars aren’t really made for shifters,” Hunter apologized to Cora. “Someone’s always gotta sit in the backseat.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  Hunter could smell her nervousness, her excitement, and underneath it all, just the faintest hint of arousal. He looked in the rearview mirror, into Ash’s reflected eyes, and realized that his mate could smell it too.

  He imagined tilting back her passenger seat, pushing up her skirt and taking her, right there, maybe as Ash kissed her, pinching her nipples as she moaned...

  He blinked and brought himself back to reality, fighting down his erection.

  “A bonfire,” he said.

  Her eyebrows went up.

  “It’s pretty rural out here,” he said. “So we make our own fun. You can meet half the town this way, easy.”

  “You could talk while you drive,” Ash suggested from the back seat.

  Hunter put the SUV into gear and pulled out, onto the highway.

  “He’s grumpy that I asked you out while he was working,” Hunter told Cora, flicking his gaze to the backseat.

  Ash glared at him.

  “Why?” Cora asked. She peered between the two front seats at Ash, a sparkle in her eyes and a grin on her face.

  “He’s a stickler for the rules,” Hunter said.

  “It’s a conflict of interest to ask out someone I’m tasked with protecting and serving,” Ash protested.

  Hunter raised his eyebrows at Cora, like they were sharing a joke.

  She turned to the back seat again and winked at Ash.

  “Lighten up,” she said. “I promise not to tell anyone your mate hit on me while you were at work.”

  Ash’s face softened.

  “I know,” he said. “It’s just how I am.”

  Cora patted his knee.

  I think she could really be good for us, thought Hunter. He turned off the main highway and onto a two-lane mountain road that started winding upward.

  He allowed himself one more glance sideways, her skirt and tank top not hiding her curves even a little. The birthmark on her neck in full, delicious view.

  Really good, he thought.

  Chapter Eight

  Cora

  By the time they arrived in the huge clearing with a bonfire in the center of it, Cora started to have second thoughts
. She could almost hear her sister Amelia’s voice: What are you doing, going off with two shifters like that? You don’t even know them!

  Imaginary Amelia did have a point. Besides, no matter how safe, warm, and secure she felt around Ash and Hunter, there was no denying that she hadn’t exactly had the best track record with men lately. After all, she’d thought that Neil was just a harmless guy who was a little too impressed with himself, and now she’d moved clear across the country to escape him.

  Through the window, she could see a couple dozen people standing around, interspersed with coolers and a couple of charcoal grills fired up at regular intervals. There was a row of trucks and SUVs, and Hunter pulled in alongside them, his dirty old Ford matching perfectly.

  Cora felt her stomach twist again. Here she was, meeting half the population of her new town on a first date.

  What if it doesn’t work out with them? She worried. I can barely date one man, let alone two shifters.

  Almost like he could read her mind, Ash leaned between the two front seats and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

  “Just relax and try to have a good time,” he said. “This is what we do for fun in Granite Valley, after all.”

  Cora couldn’t help but smile.

  “Let’s go,” Ash said. “My legs are cramping back here.”

  As the three of them walked toward the bonfire, Hunter made a beeline for the nearest cooler and came back with three cans of beer. One by one, he cracked them and handed one to Cora and one to Ash, then popped the last one himself.

  “Cheers,” he said, smiling. “Hillbilly champagne.”

  Cora took a sip. It was just Budweiser, which she normally didn’t drink — she was more of a red wine person, to be honest — but it tasted exactly right for the occasion, a bonfire in the middle of the woods.

  She took another couple of gulps, and felt a little braver.