by Ruby Dixon
I run my eyes over her sexy frame. Even if Eli bought the improbable story that Adelaide forced me to do anything, I wouldn’t let her take an ounce of the blame.
I couldn’t have stayed away from her. I know that now, but I sure as shit could have kept my mouth shut. I didn’t because I wanted Adelaide to mate with me. I wanted her to have our cubs and bring her special scent into my house where I could have her night and day.
“If Eli gets mad, he’ll get mad at me. You aren’t in any danger,” I reassure Adelaide as I help her out of the truck.
“I should hope not. If he gets mouthy, I’ll just tell him that I won’t take clients from the Lodge anymore.” She tips her nose in the air and marches toward the Lodge as if she’s wearing a suit instead of tight Daisy Duke shorts and a half-buttoned plaid top.
Leo is lounging on the Lodge steps as we approach. He doesn’t have any qualms about eyeing up Adelaide as if she’s a fresh honeycomb just spun from fat, hothouse-fed bees. A low growl of dominance and challenge echoes from my chest. His eyes flick up to meet mine and then drop to his shoes to show me I’ve nothing to worry about. But in that brief moment, I catch a glimpse of unholy mischief.
“Have a good time in the woods?”
“Um, yes?” Adelaide says.
“Shut up, asshole,” I answer, and gently prod Adelaide up the stairs. I don’t think now is the time to tell her that while the pine trees might have provided plenty of visual cover, the sounds and smells of our mating wouldn’t have escaped any bear within a five-mile radius.
“Just wanting to make sure you had a good time,” Leo lies cheerfully. He knows we had a good time. He’s just needling me, but I can’t get real angry because after three years of waiting, I finally have Adelaide. And now I was going to make sure I could keep her.
“Better time than you’ve had with anyone but Rosy Palm,” I mutter as I pass him.
“The right hand is a regular and reliable date,” Leo grins. “Plus she knows exactly how I like it.”
“You need to get out more. Maybe go for a walk in the woods. Worked for me,” I offer magnanimously.
“Maybe I do.”
Inside the Lodge’s cool lobby, Adelaide raises her perfect eyebrows. “Rosy Palm? Did you just tell Leo that all he does is masturbate?”
I flush a little, like a schoolboy caught passing dirty notes by the teacher. “Depends on if it makes you mad.”
She laughs. “No. It reminds me of some friends back home. They are always joking with each other.”
“Okay, then, yeah. But it was all in fun.”
“I’m glad, because Leo seems like a nice guy.” Nice guy? I don’t like that. I frown at her and don’t even try to stop the unhappy growl that rumbles in the back of my throat.
Adelaide pats me on the arm. “Don’t worry, big guy. I’m only hot after you. Leo came and told me not to give up on you when you were being a poopy head the other day.”
Well, shit. Now I have to be nice to Leo. “That was decent of him,” I admit grudgingly.
“It was, wasn’t it?” She smiles as if it doesn’t bother her at all that she’s asking me to be nice to Leo.
I mumble something to myself about how being nice to Leo would ruin my day. She just pats my shoulder, and to tell the truth, as long as she’s handing out these little caresses, I’ll probably do whatever it is she wants.
Her happy demeanor disappears when we reach the Lodge office. At my knock, Eli’s booming voice tells us to come in.
“Don’t worry,” I whisper against her ear. “He doesn’t bite.”
“Eli, I wanted you to meet Adelaide. I told you about her the other day. Adelaide owns the spa in town. You probably know each other.”
Eli rounds his desk in about three giant strides. “Nice to see you again, Adelaide. We’re getting a lot more couples now that you’ve opened up your business.” He shakes his head at her outstretched hand. “I can’t touch you or this old man here will have my head.”
I give Adelaide an ‘I’m sorry’ look, but Eli’s right. My need to make sure that it’s my scent all over her body, undiluted by any other males, will abate over time, but right now it’s pretty danged high. No need for an unnecessary domination fight.
Eli waves his hand toward a chair, but I’m in a hurry to get home. Adelaide and I both have to open our stores in two hours, which barely gives us enough time to go home, have shower sex, and return to town.
I throw an arm around Adelaide’s shoulders. “Adelaide is my mate now. I told her I’m a bear and that most of Pine Falls are shifters.”
She squeaks at the rough embrace, but doesn’t move away. “I’m not going to tell anyone. I swear it!” She holds up her hand as if making an oath on a non-existent bible.
Eli leans his ass against the front of his desk and crosses his arms. “It took you long enough,” he says to me.
Adelaide coughs into her hand to disguise a laugh. His lips quirk up at her response. He likes her and will have no problem letting her in the clan. My heart swells with satisfaction.
“Adelaide is worth the wait,” I tell them both. She sighs.
Eli turns to her. “We aren't ashamed of our nature, Adelaide. But there are some out there who might not be as accepting as you. Which is why we’re careful about how and when and why we share this information.”
“I understand.” She slips an arm around me, and I’m deeply touched by her show of support. “And I would never do anything that would jeopardize Cole or his family. And you are his family.”
Eli nods. “We are. And we’re your family too. Violet made another batch of those honey cookies. You should get a few on your way out.”
That’s Eli’s way of telling us that the meeting is over and he wants us to leave.
Any other time I would've stopped and gotten a couple dozen of Violet’s cookies to shove in my mouth, but I am far more interested in getting Adelaide home. There isn’t anything in the kitchen, and nothing Violet could cook up, that would taste better than Adelaide.
“I’ll open the store for you,” Leo calls out as I drag Adelaide out of the Lodge and into the truck.
She looks at me with regret. “I should probably go and supervise the opening of my store. There’s someone there, but I still should be there…”
I press a kiss to her forehead. “No worries. We have the rest of our life together.”
And I mean it.
SHIFT JUST GOT REAL
Life’s given me the short end of the stick on looks – I’m big, ugly and brutish. Normally I wouldn’t care about the packaging except for the fact that the woman of my dreams is Ryann Brown, a human half my age and so lovely she makes my body ache. What’s a were-bear to do in this situation?
Whatever he can to forget her, of course.
Except Ryann’s not taking no for an answer. And when she catches me watching her one night, she gives me a show I’ll never forget. Did I think I’d be able to walk away and not touch her? Not claim what’s mine?
Not a chance.
Chapter One
Mal
You shouldn’t be here, the little voice says.
I reach over my right shoulder and squash my conscience. I’m just watching, and she’s just making dinner. Early on, I made strict rules about what I could and could not watch. No private places like her bedroom and bathroom. Those were off-limits. The living room, kitchen, and small eat-in area between? Well…she didn’t hang any blinds up.
Right now she’s in her kitchen. She’s wearing headphones and bopping to some music.
I’m really doing her a favor, because anyone could come along and break into her house. She wouldn’t hear them, not with that music turned up as loud as she’s got it.
She swirls, sways, and then bends over to pull out her casserole. I swallow hard at that move.
My hand drops to the fly of my jeans. Fuck, she’s so beautiful.
Ryann Brown moved to town at the tender age of seventeen. She was gorgeous then—all legs,
big hair, and braces. I smelled her at the grocery store, went home, and drank myself into a stupor.
Underage, smelling like my mate, and human to boot? The spirits hated me.
I stayed in my cabin for a month, living off the food in the forest, before I got the courage to go back to town. It was worse when I didn’t see her. I tore all over Pine Falls looking for her, watching the high school, prowling around all the streets at night. I couldn’t sleep. Finally, I heard that she had just been visiting. Mary Brown and her husband moved here about ten years ago. They were quiet folks. Mary’s a scientist over at the Wolf Rescue Center. Ryann returned to wherever it was she came from.
I went back to my cabin and stayed there the whole winter. Lost about fifteen pounds, rubbed my dick raw, and came out with a beard that rivaled Paul Bunyan’s. I’d found my mate, but she was an underage human who didn’t even live in Pine Falls.
I thought I’d be able to fuck away the memory of her, but any time I got a whiff of a woman’s arousal, my dick became limper than a noodle.
When she returned three years later to work with her aunt at the Rescue Center, my inner bear rejoiced, but I knew better. She was human—beautiful to look at, sweet to smell. There’s no way she’d ever be interested in a loner like me.
Every time I saw her she was surrounded by people. Sometimes it was just her relatives, but often it was boys. Assholes who probably thought a clit was a pimple on a girl’s vagina. Fuckwits who were more interested in blowing their own load before she came.
She didn’t date any of them, to my relief. I knew the day was coming when she’d take up with one of these boys. I might have to move then…away from Pine Falls and away from her.
I’d never be able to forget about her. Her smell is imprinted on my brain. I only need to think of her and I get hard. But I couldn’t be close to her man without maiming him. I’d go into a jealous rage and take him out before I even realized what happened. And if she cared about him, it’d bring her grief, and I couldn’t live with that either.
No, it’s better that I leave her. Go to Alaska or maybe even the Arctic. Hunker down in some den and sleep my life away, just reliving the memory of her, day after day, night after night.
Until then I’m stuffing myself full of her in the only way I can. In furtive glimpses and stolen snapshots when she’s not aware.
It’s wrong. I know it’s wrong, but I’m doing it anyway, and I’ll continue to do it until the day comes when she’s no longer mine.
I think of her as mine.
The problem is even if I weren’t a bear shifter, I’d never be able to win her over. I’m too ugly and too big. Way too big.
The few women who’ve tried me out haven’t ever wanted seconds. One poor girl started crying when she saw my dick. It’s just too big. And if it’s too big for the substantial ladies I’ve paid to have sex with me, then it’s way too big for Ryann, even if she did want me. Which she doesn’t.
Watching will be enough for me.
“Hey man, you got a smoke?”
Reluctantly, I tear my eyes from Ryann’s window. A young man wearing a black beanie, a black windbreaker, and loose jeans approaches me.
“No,” I answer abruptly.
“How about twenty bucks? You got that?”
“No.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ryann has left the dining room. I stifle a sigh. That means she’s going into her bedroom, and I won’t get to see her again.
“How about your wallet? You got one of those?” the kid says belligerently.
I palm my keys. “No.”
“I’m betting you do have a wallet. Why don’t you just hand it over.”
The smell of iron and oil and sulfur hits me. When I look at the kid again, he has a gun in his hand.
“Put that away,” I growl. “You’re going to hurt someone.”
I glance toward Ryann’s corner apartment. If this guy is shooting around the parking lot, it could ricochet and hurt her. That’s unacceptable.
“Where do you live?” I return my attention to the wannabe tough.
“Wh-what?”
“Are you a Pine Falls resident?” I ask impatiently. He doesn’t look like anyone I know, but he doesn’t look like a tourist either.
“No, I’m from Exeter.” His hand twitches in his pocket. He’s not sure if he wants to bring it out.
Exeter is a town about twenty minutes south. “Good. Go on then. Go back to Exeter.”
His mouth presses into a thin line. “Not without some cash. Give me your wallet or else.”
I did warn him, I think. In a movement that’s too fast for him to block, I knock him sideways. He stumbles, and I sweep his legs out from underneath him. He’s facedown with my knee in his back before he can take another breath.
“Sorry about this. Don’t want to hurt you, but you can’t be around here.” I pull the gun out of his pocket and release the magazine. There are only four bullets. That’s not good. I pluck the bullets out, pocket them, and then return the gun and the magazine to the boy’s pocket. I pick him up by the collar and then shove him forward.
“Mr. Standard?”
Inwardly, I groan. It’s Ryann with a trash bag in her hand. I open my mouth to chastise her, and then realize she knows my name. I walk forward, dragging the kid with me.
“Hey man, let me go,” the kid protests.
“Not yet.” Not around Ryann. I’m going to have to stuff this piece of trash into my car and drive him back to Exeter. Or I’ll drop him halfway there. “Miss Brown, it’s getting late. Let me take that for you.” The dumpster is in the far corner of the parking lot. She should definitely not be out here all by herself in the dark. I reach for it, but she doesn’t let it go.
“No. It’s fine. But what are you doing here? Do you live here?”
No rational excuse pops into my head. “Was thinking about it,” I finally answer. “It’s isolated in my cabin. I’ve been thinking about moving to town. How is it you know me?”
She ducks her head. “Oh, my aunt pointed you out when you brought some of your carvings to the Center a few months ago. They were just beautiful. I really admire your work.”
“Well.” I clear my throat. Ryann’s compliment has floored me. I’ve had rich folks from all over the world give me accolades, but not one has made me feel like Ryann’s simple statements have. “Well, that’s real nice, Miss Brown.”
“You can call me Ryann,” she says softly.
“This is making me want to puke. Sooner you let me go, sooner you can bone her, mister.”
“Shut your piehole,” I bark. Cringing, I turn back to Ryann. “Found this piece of trash in the parking lot.”
“Did he hurt you?” she cries out. “Should I call 911?”
“I’m fine. Guess I should call Sheriff Gant.”
“I can call him,” she offers.
“I didn’t do nothing!” the kid protests. “I was just standing here—”
“With a gun in his pocket,” I explain. I tug on her trash, and this time she lets it go. “You go on inside and call Sheriff Gant, and I’ll make sure the trash gets taken care of.”
“He was spying on you!” he shouts as I drag him away. “He stood for like ten minutes and stared at you through the window!”
The kid trips into the side of a parked car. I may have helped him, but it shuts him up.
Ryann is stuck to the ground. “Go on, Ryann,” I say gently, even though the tips of my ears are burning. The bear tells me a claw to the kid’s stomach would shut him up. “Go inside and call the sheriff.” She nods and scurries inside.
“You’re a fucking perv. Let’s see what your sheriff thinks of you hanging around a chick young enough to be your daughter. You’re a fucking pedoperv.”
I let the bear bash the kid’s head into the dumpster as I toss the trash bag inside.
“You’re not telling the sheriff shit, kid.”
“Oh, you wait and see,” the kid cries, holding his head between his hands. “If you
don’t let me go, I’m going to tell him everything.”
I drag him behind me as I walk toward the curb and wait for Sheriff Gant. In a contest between my pride and Ryann’s safety, her well-being will always win out. I’ll spin some story for Sheriff Gant that he can write in his report. I’ll probably go with the one I told Ryann, but later on, either tonight or sometime tomorrow, the sheriff and I will have a chat.
Once he learns that Ryann’s my mate and that I was watching out for her, he’ll let it slide with a warning. No getting caught, and I have to stop once she’s with a man. I know what the rules are. Watching is okay until she’s bonded to someone else.
I won’t enjoy Sheriff Gant knowing my business. He’s not a busybody, but at some point, it’s going to get out. And then I’ll have to suffer the pitying gazes—the ones the mated bears try to hide from the unmated bears. We bears aren’t meant to be alone. Lots of the single bears live around the Lodge, which is the main tourist destination of Pine Falls, just because they like the company.
I’m not much for other bears, but I can’t stay away from my mate. Not even the whole town knowing I’m on Ryann Brown’s invisible leash would keep me away.
It’s embarrassing, sure, but what’s the alternative? Not seeing her? That time will come soon enough.
I haul the piece of trash to the curb and force him to the ground. Gently, I explain, “You tell Sheriff Gant whatever you like. But you don’t come back here to Pine Falls. Not for anything. If you do, there won’t be big enough pieces of you to put in a trash bag. Got me?”
He looks at me with wide eyes, and it seems I’ve made my point. I nod in satisfaction. At least Ryann’s going to be safe tonight.
Chapter Two
Ryann
Pine Falls is a weird little place.
Most places are different. Take Detroit, for example. If you lived in Detroit, you probably wouldn’t leave your door unlocked or go around with the windows open. You’d probably freak out at finding a big, hulking neighbor lurking outside your house.