by Celia Kyle
“You’re sorry?” he whispered. “Why? It got your hands on me. I’m not sorry at all.”
Kira huffed and glared at him. “Nice of you to act that way, to say that now. They could have been all over you this whole time had you not abandoned me.”
She should shut the hell up. Now even.
Ebie barked his agreement, so she didn’t feel too stupid.
“Yeah?” One word and it was filled to the brim with sexiness.
She needed to get a handle on these emotions flip-flopping through her. Angry, happy, annoyed, aroused. God, why couldn’t she settle on one? It was his fault.
She rolled the options through her head and realized exactly why she couldn’t. Because she’d pick aroused and their relationship would go from being a hint more than acquaintances and right on to Bang Town.
“No. No ‘yeah.’ That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean your hands would have been on me and, um…”
“Uh-huh.” He agreed with her, but it didn’t sound like he agreed with her.
Sexy bastard.
“Look,” she needed to stay on task. “You made me believe you were gonna help me clean up and feed me. Two things that did not happen. I cleaned up, and no food entered this mouth.” She pointed at said mouth to reiterate her statement.
Another bark from Ebenezer. Her dog was so smart. Plus, he knew which side of the bowl his dog chow came from.
Er, right.
Happiness tinged with cocky bravado blew toward her, the emotions rich and full with his closeness. She could swear he was smiling. A swath of white appeared above his chin. Yeah, he was grinning wide.
But she wanted to see just how wide. Not asking permission like she normally would, Kira reached for his face, fingers tingling in anticipation. She didn’t care about “seeing” random strangers, but her few encounters with Isaac had her wanting to memorize the rise and fall of his features. The way he smiled and the different expressions that accompanied each tone of voice.
Basically, she wanted to know him.
Except the cold, hard grip on her wrists kept her from her destination. The twitch and tug of his upper-body told her that he’d flinched from her touch, pushed her away as he jerked back.
She tried not to let his rejection of her touch pierce her heart.
Tried and failed.
Then she reminded herself that for all her dreaming and wishing, they didn’t know each other well. She swallowed her sigh and resolved to change that.
“I’ll feed you.” His voice was gruff and brisk. “I was going to cook for you, right? That’s fine, but I don’t have much of anything in the house. Do you want to go grocery shopping or do you have something at your place I can whip up for us?”
Kira grimaced. “Well, I ordered groceries, but they haven’t exactly shown up yet. It’s another reason I came over. You know people and I was wondering if you could maybe… I don’t know… Just…”
Hemming and hawing wasn’t solving her problem. She was hungry and her order hadn’t appeared yet.
Isaac released her wrist, but didn’t lower it, popping into a pose she associated with someone checking the time. “It’s after six. Did you order from Miller’s?” At her nod, he continued. “They’re usually done with deliveries by now.”
“Well,” she winced more. “You see… They…” She sighed. She hated saying anything negative about the bears in her new home, but it wasn’t exactly gossiping if he was asking, was it? “I ordered groceries the day before yesterday, but they’re really busy and they said—”
“Really?” Isaac’s tone told her a massive throw down was imminent.
Dammit.
“I spoke with Vaness—”
“Uh-huh.” He grabbed her hand once again, this time twining their fingers, as he led her deeper into the house.
They passed stacks of boxes, a reminder that he’d be leaving Grayslake soon, but she didn’t have much time to be sad about that fact. She found herself nudged toward a small table with a few chairs surrounding the piece of furniture.
“Have a seat.”
He didn’t leave her much choice since he practically shoved her onto the chair.
The moment he left her, he had a phone in his hand, the telltale beeps as he dialed reaching her. Apparently it didn’t take them long to answer because he spoke almost immediately.
“Emily? It’s Isaac. I need your father.”
Emily, Emily, Emily… Kira remembered the woman was part of the Miller Grocery family. The youngest or eldest of Mr. Miller’s cubs? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t get that much gossip passing by her house. She did, however, get enough to know that Vanessa at Miller Grocery was the same Vanessa that Kira embarrassed at the barbeque. Which was probably why she still hadn’t received her food. Great.
“Miller, hey, it’s Isaac. How’s the ticker?” Isaac sounded jovial, but the tension in his body was unmistakable. “Good, good. Come by the office if you have any issues. Listen, I’m calling for a personal reason. Your youngest, Vanessa, is causing problems and I don’t appreciate it. I sure as hell don’t appreciate her delaying an order to Kira Kolanowski. You know about Kira. My mom’s talking about her all over town.”
Kira groaned and laid her head on the kitchen table. She didn’t even want to know what Meg Abrams was spreading. After a five minute meeting, she’d gone from friends with benefits to soon-to-be-mated. Was she somehow, miraculously mated and pregnant now?
“She’s special to me, Miller.” That had her whipping her head up and focusing on Isaac. While his expression was unreadable, his scent and position of his body were not. There was no hint of a lie. He spoke the truth. She was… “Yeah, she’s real special. Which is why I don’t like hearing that an order she made days ago still hasn’t shown up at her door. You can understand my feelings here, Miller. She’s—”
She what? She was the ugliest woman on Earth? She was annoying? She was a walking goddess and he should kiss the ground she floated upon?
Coincidentally, she voted for the last one.
“Right. Exactly. I’ll see Rick in the next twenty minutes.”
A beep announced the end of the call and then it was just the two of them. Well, the two of them and a dog padding toward her that smelled suspiciously like urine. Dammit, she’d forgotten about Ebie.
Ebenezer nudged her palm and she turned her attention to the whining pup, taking another whiff. Yup, he’d done his business somewhere in the house and stepped in it which meant he’d tracked it through the place.
“Ebie, what am I gonna do with you?”
*
Isaac had a few ideas but not one of them revolved around what she could do about Ebenezer and centered entirely on what he could do with Kira. His cock had a handful of requests of its own and if he didn’t get some jeans on, she’d realize it as well.
Then again, he didn’t have to worry about her seeing his towel tented by his stiff dick. She’d be able to figure out his feelings if she breathed in his scent.
The dog came to his rescue. The damned dog who protected its owner with fierce snarls but also pissed in his house. Fucker. With a sigh, he dropped the phone to the counter and padded toward the duo, one he’d like to kill and one he’d like to fu-make love to. He couldn’t think of Kira as a hard and fast fuck. Ever.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared at the pup, baring a fang when the animal merely gave him a lolling dog smile. “Taking him to the animal shelter seems like a good idea.” The dog whined, Kira gasped, and he released another sigh. “But that’s not gonna happen.”
“He doesn’t mean to—”
“Oh, he does.” Isaac lowered to a crouch until he was eye level with the mutt. “You’re just trying to keep your mom from getting hurt, but lemme tell ya, I’m not gonna do that.”
Kira barked out a laugh. “Not hurt me? Ignoring me isn’t supposed to hurt?”
He pulled his attention from the dog and focused on her, on her flowing brown hair and those pale blue eyes th
at seemed to see into his soul. He hated himself for the hurt in her gaze and he knew he had a new fight ahead of him. She was one hundred percent right. After their afternoon together, he shouldn’t have abandoned her and then avoided her at all costs. He shouldn’t have let his sister-in-law’s comments about his ferocity and the battle with the hyenas upset him so badly that he stayed away. Then after one day of hiding, he’d been a girl and continued avoiding her, which compounded the problem.
He opened his mouth to tell her that, to assure her that wasn’t going to happen again, but her giggles had his teeth clacking together. She tried to suppress them, but the chuckles and snorts won that battle.
Isaac raised his eyebrows. “What’s so funny?”
She drew in a calming breath, blowing it out slowly though half of the time she giggled again before she could speak. “Calm,” she pressed a hand to her stomach as she tipped her head back and focused on the ceiling. She spoke to herself again. “Calm.”
Kira brought her attention back to him and then it drifted lower and lower…
Isaac followed her line of sight and pushed to his feet with a rumbling growl. She couldn’t see his glare, but that didn’t mean he’d stop.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The laughs were back. “It’s just hard to yell at you and stay mad when you’re sitting there with your junk flapping around.”
Flapping? Flapping?
“I was not flapping. I’m hard as a goddamned rock around you.” His bear was annoyed and forced another rumbling sound from him. He’d tipped his hand and pushed when he should have made a graceful retreat.
The chuckles silenced as quickly as they’d begun. “Oh. I… oh.”
Her gaze remained focused below his hips and he turned his back to her, cursing himself for revealing so much and then beating himself up because his damned cock was still standing tall. Fucking wayward body.
He tried to calm his need, and then the stench of Ebenezer’s most recent “accident” reached him, reminding him of what had to be done. He kept his back to her as he moved to the kitchen entry, careful of the dog’s wet footprints.
“I’ll get dressed and then clean this up.” He paused in the archway and glanced over his shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to your place with Ebenezer? As soon as I’m done, I’ll come over. We can wash him real quick and then see about dinner. Miller’s grandson, Rick, should be there by the time I’m done.”
“But—”
“I shouldn’t be too long.” He didn’t want to hear “buts” or “maybes” or, “I’m just not that into you.”
At least, not right then. Not when his bear raged at him over his carelessly spilled words.
Without waiting for her reply, he carefully made his way to the stairs. He didn’t see any damp paw prints and was grateful the damned dog stayed on the first floor.
A few thumps to his dick to reduce his erection later, and he was dressed and back downstairs.
Thankful he hadn’t packed away his cleaning supplies—hell, he hadn’t packed anything after meeting Kira—he got to work cleaning up the house. Most of the mess was kept to the main hallway and… another one of Isaac’s boxes.
Man, he loved that dog.
His bear grunted. The animal obviously didn’t understand sarcasm.
His twenty minutes were spent unpacking the soaked box, cleaning the contents and then packing everything into a new box. The drenched cardboard went into a plastic bag and straight to the trashcan situated at the side of the house.
When he and Kira finally got together that dog would need…
Isaac pummeled and kicked that idea away.
He was leaving—going somewhere new and away from everyone who knew he wasn’t good enough for any woman.
Slamming the lid down with a resounding thump, he padded toward the front door. He just needed to grab his cell phone and keys and then he could head to Kira’s.
Back in his kitchen, he ignored the lingering scents of her presence, the sweetness and earth that clung to her. Her flavors rose above the stinging air filled with evidence of his recent cleaning. They called to the bear, luring it forward with the promise of more, and he shoved it back.
They were leaving town. Leaving.
Besides, even if he were staying, she deserved better than him.
Shaking his head, he snared what he needed and turned toward the front of the house. Even if she was too good for him, he was anxious to be with her again.
Yeah, he was a glutton for punishment and a mind-fuck combined.
A high-pitched screech broke the quiet of the neighborhood, zinging through him and shaking him from inside out. What the… Another came, panic in the scraping sound. Then a third followed by the unmistakable snarl of a bear.
The fourth had his heart stopping as the source finally registered. Kira. It had to be her. She was one of the few non-bear residents in Grayslake and she was the only one close enough to be heard.
Isaac didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but he knew she was in trouble. His woman was in trouble.
He burst through his back door, vaulting over the porch railing and not hesitating to do the same to the six-foot fence separating their yards.
The scene before him froze his heart, the muscle unmoving as he stared. Kira’s entire garden was destroyed; the carefully tended beds that’d sprouted new life were now nothing more than scattered dirt.
He ached for the loss, knowing it would hurt her.
It’d hurt her, but not as much as the massive bear intent on chasing her around the fenced-in area. Her little feet scrambled over the pitted ground, the small brown body fighting to dig into the earth.
Without hesitation, uncaring of the identity of the bear going after Kira, Isaac tore his clothing from his body as the beast rushed forward. It recognized a threat to the woman they thought of as theirs and was more than ready to battle for her.
Fur sprouted, bones snapping and reforming in rapid succession. One step had him coated in the deep brown of his animal, two had feet and hands turned into claws, and three and four had his inner animal stealing control. His pace didn’t slow. No, it increased and had him racing to the she-bear attempting to kill Kira.
Yes. She-bear. Vanessa.
And killing was definitely on the woman’s mind. Her rage was palpable and easily rising above the stench of Kira’s fear.
Vanessa lifted her paw, claws flexed and extended as she aimed for the quivering, small ball of fur huddling in the back corner of the yard.
Isaac didn’t hesitate. He tore across the expanse that separated him and Vanessa. He didn’t slow. No, if anything, he went faster, pushed his bear harder in an effort to save Kira.
He released a bellowing, ground-shaking roar that drew Vanessa’s attention away from the small animal at her feet. The woman swung her head toward him, her eyes widening when she spotted him. She immediately eased away from Kira, lowering her arm and backing down from the impending fight.
Fuck that.
He barreled into the she-bear, tackling her with his massive weight and sending them straight through the wooden barrier that encompassed Kira’s lawn. They rolled, the much smaller bear crumbling beneath his weight and size.
She snarled and snapped at him while he did the same, sinking his teeth into her forearm when she batted at him and digging into her snout when she attempted to bite his.
Vanessa growled, pushing and scraping in an attempt to dislodge him, but he refused to relent, refused to allow this female to get away with attempting to kill Kira.
It would have meant his little mole’s death. She’d been shifted, probably in an attempt to dig her way to safety. Based on the condition of the yard, she’d tried hard to run and Vanessa was relentless in her pursuit.
A scrape of claws down his side, her back nails digging into his flesh, had him releasing a bellowing roar. The following burn, the one that seared his veins and sent throbbing pain into his bones, was both familiar and hated.
She de
served to die now. His bear would have been content with Ty punishing her after Isaac got in a strike or two to avenge Kira’s pain and fear. Now he knew the truth of the woman’s intent.
If Vanessa’s physical attack hadn’t killed Kira, the poison coating her claws would have done the job.
It was a burning, deadly toxin that left hideous scars in its wake. One Isaac once felt pulsing through his veins while he healed and patched up other bears and wolves suffering the same fate as him.
The red haze of fury and rage blanketed his vision, dropping like a blood-lusting cascade of silken fabric across his eyes. The agony assaulting him was what his Kira would have endured, the pain unending until it was neutralized and purged from the body.
Isaac had a specific purging in mind. One that didn’t involve Kira and was meant for Vanessa.
He bellowed again, announcing his plans to the world. It would take one more swipe, on more bite to her throat, and the threat to his little mole would be at an end.
Yes. The bear urged him. Now.
It craved the she-bear’s blood and he couldn’t blame the animal.
“Isaac!” The female’s voice was known to him, but he needed to keep his attention on Vanessa.
“Dammit, Isaac!” That male was familiar as well. Mated, but still a threat to his connection to Kira.
The bear’s possessiveness flooded him, battling with the desire to kill the bitch beneath him. Vanessa still struggled, scraping and cutting, and filling him with more of the deadly poison. He’d taken more into his body before. More and he’d survived.
“Isaac, stop!” The woman again.
Movement to his left had him tearing his attention from his prey with a snarl as he bared his teeth at the interloper. Only the sound died and delved back into his chest. She stood there, his Kira, naked and shaking. Dirt clung to her pale skin and those haunting blue eyes shined with tears.
“Please, stop.”
Another movement. The male. He stood too close to his Kira.
The she-bear beneath him moved, raising her head toward him, fangs dripping with blood and saliva and aimed for his neck.