BEAR LEATHER TITLE PAGE
Bear Leather
Grit and Growl Book III
by
Becca Fanning
BEAR LEATHER
Tyler stripped out of his work suit and looked at himself in the mirror. He ran his hand through his light hair, and rubbed a small patch of skin on his chest that wasn’t covered in ink. He had been saving that spot for years but hadn’t figured out what to cover it with. He shook his head and pulled on a pair of worn jeans and a long sleeve shirt. He pulled his Clan cut over the shirt. It felt good to be dressed properly.
He packed a few things in his bike satchel. The Clan was going on a weekend ride. It had been a while since they had been out together. Between Brian’s wedding, Brett’s engagement, and everyone’s schedules, it had been almost impossible to get the whole group together. Tyler had been itching to get out on the road. He enjoyed his job, it made him think, and it gave him enough discretionary income that he was able to indulge his love for motorcycles, but what he truly wanted, was to be on the road.
There was something about the openness of being on the bike that made everything fade away.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. It was Brett. “Hey, man,” Tyler said as he answered.
“Hey. You all set to go?” There was rustling in the background which made it clear that Brett’s girlfriend was helping him pack.
“Yep. We’re still meeting at the shop?”
“Yeah. We’re going to need to make a stop on the way to our…end destination.” They hadn’t decided where their stopping point was. They had mapped a few areas they didn’t want to go into because of other motorcycle clubs.
“Where are we stopping?” Tyler leaned his head against his shoulder to hold the phone in place while he put his toothbrush and some deodorant in a tiny bag and tossed it on top of his knapsack.
“At the university. Mary called and she wanted us to swing by on the way through.”
“The way through?”
“Okay, it’s a little out of the way, but I haven’t seen her since I got engaged to April and I wanted to tell her in person.”
“Dude, it’s been a month. You haven’t told her you’re engaged? She’s going to kill you, man.” Tyler hadn’t seen Mary in quite a while. He thought about it; it must have been years. Brett’s adorable sister was the absolute opposite of Brett, totally innocent. And she would be pissed as hell when she found out that Brett had kept his engagement from her for a month.
“Yeah, so that’s why we need to stop over there.”
“Alright, dude. No problem. It’ll be good to see Mary.”
Brett laughed. “She will probably freak out. She had the biggest crush on you when we were teenagers.”
Tyler laughed. “Yeah she did. Alright, go finish packing. Don’t be late.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Brett hung up and Tyler pocketed his phone.
He finished packing and strapped the bags to the motorcycle. He jammed the keys in the ignition and revved the engine. He pulled out of his driveway and the immediate sense of relaxation that took hold of him almost made him fall off his bike. It felt so good.
He did an extra lap around the mechanic’s shop before pulling in. Will, Brett, Aiden, and Brian were already there. “Was that extra lap completely necessary?” Aiden said. He dropped his half-smoked cigarette onto the ground and crossed his arms over his extremely muscular chest.
Tyler grinned. “Yeah. It was.”
Aiden threw a long leg over his bike. “Can we go?”
“Yeah. One quick thing that everyone should know. Aiden got into a massive fight with a few of the Tribe dudes the other day.”
“Fucking assholes,” Aiden spat.
Tyler had to agree. They were jerks. Racist, sexist and hated shifters. There wasn’t much that the Tribe liked besides trying to pick on people they thought were beneath them. Luckily, when the Tribe tried to pick, the Clan usually came out on top.
“Yeah, dude. They are. But everyone should be aware that riding around, and through some disputed territory, may cause some problems,” Brian finished.
“Noted,” Tyler said. He wasn’t too concerned. He knew how to talk his way out of an arrest. He honed that skill through his many years of getting the boys out of prison for a scuffle or two. Or twenty.
They all climbed on their bikes, and followed Aiden down the road.
It was about a five hour drive to the university where Mary had just started her first year of graduate school. It was a relatively rural area, and they drove past gorgeous forests. Tyler almost wanted to stop and take a picture every once in a while. He was happy it was such a nice day. Riding in the rain took a little of the fun out of things.
They followed Brett, who had looked up the address of Mary’s apartment complex and figured out directions. They pulled into the parking lot around back and walked around to the front of the building and pressed the buzzer for the apartment.
Tyler hadn’t seen Brett’s younger sister in at least four years. He had basically grown up in Brett’s house. His father had been in and out of jail and his mom was, more often than not, on drugs. Brett’s mom Emma had taken him in so he wouldn’t be put in foster care. Almost everything he had done with his career was to say thank you to Brett’s parents for caring for him. He worked his butt off in college to get into a great law school. He wanted to show them that they invested in the right kid, that he wasn’t a fuck up like his parents.
Mary, Brett’s sister, was three years younger than Tyler and Brett. As a kid, she had always been the annoying shadow that they were required to bring along to their activities. She drove Brett crazy, but Tyler didn’t mind her. He always tried to be nice. When she turned 13, she practically disappeared. If he walked into a room, she walked out, a blush on her cheeks. She avoided him constantly, and if they did manage to be in the same room, Brett would tease her endlessly about having a crush on Tyler.
Then Tyler went off to college. He saw her when he came home for holidays but once he started law school, and then his job, and she started college, he was over at Brett’s parent’s place a lot less.
They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes before Brett pulled out his phone and called his sister. He hung up and looked at them. “She was outside and she saw the bikes. She’s in the parking lot.”
They walked back around the building, and to their bikes. There were a few girls milling around the parking lot, it looked like they were unpacking groceries from a car.
Tyler remembered Mary as a gangly 14 year old, all height and awkwardness. The woman who stood before him didn’t look at all like she was related to Brett, let alone like she was the same 14 year old girl that Tyler remembered.
She was tanned, and her long, chestnut brown hair fell halfway down her back. Her eyes were large and green. Her lips were soft-looking, full and a light pink that made something inside of Tyler stir. And she was sitting on his bike, painting her nails. On his bike.
“Who is the hot piece on your bike, Ty?” Aiden called.
Brett turned quickly. “What the fuck did you just say about my sister?”
Aiden took a step back. “Shit, dude. Sorry. I didn’t know that was Mary.”
Mary finished applying the polish to her last nail and looked up. “Calm down Brett. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.”
Brett crossed his arms and seethed. Mary pocketed the closed bottle of nail polish and pushed herself up off the bike. Tyler cringed as her fingers touched the handles. Mary crossed the space between her and Brett and she threw her arms around him. “Long time, no see, big brother.”
Brett begrudgingly hugged her back. She looked up and saw Tyler and he could see the hint of a blush on her face.
“Hey Ty,” she said. She gave him a small wave. “So are you going to take me to lunch big brother?” she asked with a grin.
They all sat down at the table. Mary was sure they looked a little ridiculous, a bunch of burly biker dudes at the same table as a small
brunette. She was thrilled that she managed to drag everyone to her favorite Thai restaurant. She hadn’t been there in ages.
They all ordered and she started chatting about her various projects with school. She was helping out with a social work program that worked with at risk youth in the area. She could feel Tyler’s eyes on her the whole time. She couldn’t help but smile a bit wider.
All throughout her teenage years she had a major crush on her brother’s best friend. He was always at the house because of the trouble his parents would get in to. He was always so sweet to her. Sometimes, when they both couldn’t sleep, they would sit out in the living room together and drink hot chocolate. They talked about everything. And then he went off to school and he basically disappeared from her life. It was her first real heart break. In college she had gone out with a few other guys but they never measured up to Tyler. He was always there in the back of her head.
“So where are you guys heading?” she asked.
“We were going to go down to the forested area a few towns over and shift for a few nights.”
“I’m jealous!” It was hard to shift at school. She always had to sneak out for a weekend to do it. And she couldn’t not. No shifter could go forever without shifting. It was in their DNA, and it called to them. Most shifters could get away with a minimum of going a month without changing. Some could do more, but the full moon called to most of them.
“Why don’t you come with us?” came a soft, masculine voice from besides her.
She turned to Tyler. “Really?”
He nodded and Brett groaned. “My sister is not part of this motorcycle club. This is a club trip.”
Mary pouted and Tyler pulled his cut off his back. It was made of worn leather and had the logo sewn onto it. He slid it onto Mary’s shoulders. “I call a vote. All in favor of making Mary a recruit, say aye.”
Mary watched Tyler glare at every member of the group individually, until they put their hand up and said “Aye.” Brett was the only resounding “Nay.”
“Majority rules,” Tyler said with a silly grin. “Welcome to the club, recruit.”
The guys slept on her apartment floor. Her roommate elbowed her in the side when Mary asked if she minded. She pulled Mary aside and whispered, “Are you kidding? Five hot dudes in our apartment? Why didn’t you invite them over sooner?”
Mary rolled her eyes. All the shifters in the room could hear the girl clearly, and Mary didn’t want their egos stroked any more than necessary. Half the guys had big enough heads as it was. The next morning, she woke up early and made breakfast. She quickly ran out of food, and she knew that they were likely going to stop on the way to the forest to deal with the appetites of the bikers.
When they were down in the parking lot, Mary asked, “So, whose bike do I get to ride on?”
Brett pointed at Tyler. “Your idea, you get to deal with her.”
Tyler smiled. “Alright recruit. Hop up.”
Mary settled behind Tyler. She wrapped her arms around his muscular torso. He let her wear his cut again, and she couldn’t help but tilt her head to sniff the soft leather every once in a while. It smelled just like him.
They were on the road for all of an hour when Aiden motioned that they pull off at the nearest rest stop. He and Brian went inside to find food while the rest of them filled up their bikes.
As Brian and Aiden exited the little shop, half a dozen bikers pulled into the gas station. “Fuck me,” Brett hissed.
“What’s wrong?” Mary asked. Her brother’s eyes had gone completely dark and Tyler pushed her behind him, shielding her from the other men on the bikes.
“It’s the fucking Tribe. Damnit.”
Brian and Aiden jogged towards the rest of the Clan. The other bikers pulled right in front of them, blocking their exit.
“Look who we have here. On Tribe land,” one of the bikers said with a scowl. He had a nasty scar running down the side of his face. It looked like a bear had clawed him. Mary’s heart sank. Whoever these guys were, they were bad news.
“We’re passing through, fuck off.”
“No one gave you permission to pass through our territory, half breeds,” the man spat.
Mary could feel her hackles rising. These were the same bigoted shit heads who had tried to hurt Brian and his new wife. Before she could stop herself, she stepped around Tyler and looked right into the eyes of the asshole who thought he was better than she was just because he couldn’t turn into an animal. Moron.
“Hey, shithead. Back the fuck off and we won’t rip your arms off. Am I making myself clear?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tyler flinch.
“Who do we have here? A little bear bitch.” He pulled a knife from his pocket. “Let’s see what she looks like skinned.”
Everyone around her jumped into action. Tyler pushed her further back as he collided head on with the biker who threatened her. His fists moved rapidly. Brett and Aiden were in a squabble with two of the bikers who had still been sitting on their bikes.
Mary felt helpless. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. She looked at the abandoned bikes and an idea hit her. She circled around the fighting men and braced both hands on one of the Tribe bikes and pushed with all her might. It toppled over and hit the ground with a resounding crash that made everyone stop fighting for just a moment.
Mary turned to another bike and pushed again. This time it toppled into a second bike, bringing them both to the ground.
“Fucking bitch!” Mary’s eyes widened as three of the Tribe bikers broke off from the group and headed towards her. She leapt over the fallen bike, happy she had done hurdles in high school, and screamed at her brother and his friends.
“Go! Go!” They wasted no time jumping on their bikes and revving the engines. They pealed out of the parking lot one by one. Mary jumped on Tyler’s bike, almost sliding off the back as he gunned it forward. She grabbed his waist and clutched at him desperately.
They heard a few gunshots in the distance, but they were already down the road.
When they finally arrived at the outskirts of the forest, Brett motioned for them to pull into the tiny parking lot just off a long, unpaved side road. He stopped his engine and leaned forward, his head hitting his handle bars.
“Mary, next time you want to try to diffuse a possibly violent situation, do me a favor and don’t get involved.”
“Trust me, I don’t ever want to be near something like that again.”
“The biker life not really for you, kiddo?” Tyler elbowed her in the side and she rolled her eyes at him. She popped the collar of the cut she was still wearing.
“I live for the biker life.” Tyler laughed and slid off his bike.
“Enough chatting,” Brian said as diplomatically as possible. “Let’s hunt.”
Mary followed the pack as they marched into the woods. She crashed into Tyler’s back when they all stopped abruptly. Aiden yanked off his t-shirt and had his pants halfway off before Mary realized that they were in the spot they were going to shift.
Her eyes widened at the sight of Aiden’s chest. It was covered in tattoos and scars. Many of them bisecting. She wondered what had happened.
She shook herself out of it. “I’m going to go shift over there,” she pointed to a patch of trees. It didn’t seem like anyone was paying much attention to her, so she marched a few feet away and began to undress. She folded her clothes and lay them down on a log. She took a deep breath and let the change take her over. A tingle started at the top of her head, moving rapidly down her body. Her toes curled as she felt the hair all over her body lengthen. She let out a soft groan as she fell to the ground on all fours.
Dancing Bearback (BBW Shifter Cowboy Western Romance) (Bear Ranchers Book 3) Page 30