by Lynn Hagen
Bryce let his claws slide free as his canines elongated. “Come try and drain me.”
The stranger threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I planned to, bear.”
The guy speaking leapt, his fangs gleaming and razor-sharp as he landed in front of Bryce. The shithead was trying to show off. Well, so could Bryce. He used his brute strength and grabbed the man around his throat, pulling him close. This vampire had just gone rogue because Bryce could see the fear in his red eyes.
What a dumb shit.
Bryce was outnumbered. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem. But he wasn’t going to shift on the city street. It was bad enough that there were vampire hunters, but Maverick had warned the bears that someone named Mr. Kenyon was keeping a close eye on things around here, especially in Brac Village.
If Bryce shifted, he chanced putting the shifters’ species in danger—which meant he had to kill these men in human form. Not shifting was going to be a hindrance, but killing all these men in human form was doable.
The vampire he had a hold of fought to get out of Bryce’s grip just as the others converged on him and Abe. Bryce knew Abe was not a fighter.
Bryce howled when he felt a set of fangs sinking into his shoulder. He spun, using the vampire in his grips as a weapon, knocking the others back with the vampire’s body.
He was pretty surprised to see Abe kicking out wildly beside him. Although he wouldn’t blame the fey for cowering beside him, Bryce had expected just that.
“We are going to take your big ass down,” another of the vampires said in challenge. “It’s only a matter of time before you tire out, and then I’m going to enjoy dining on you.”
“You can dine on my damn fist.” Bryce slugged the guy in the jaw, making the vampire’s head snap back. Even though he was putting up a good fight, Bryce knew the creature was right. Without being able to shift, he was already tiring out.
“Get out of here, Abe,” Bryce shouted.
“I’m not leaving you.”
The poor little guy had already proven that he sucked at shimmering. Bryce had found out that the younger a fey was, the more apt he was to shimmer himself inside a brick wall. Bryce was not about to become a part of the house structure on the ranch.
But he also didn’t want Abe to be hurt if he stayed here.
Just as two of the rogues jumped him, almost taking him down, he heard fighting behind him. Bryce was confused. Abe was standing in front of him.
“I think your mate is pissed,” Abe said as he stared wide-eyed at something behind Bryce.
Just great.
That was all he needed was Ahm to get involved.
The weight was pulled from Bryce’s back as the Shadow elf leader fought with honed precision and grace. Bryce hated to admit it, but he was beyond impressed. Ahm took a stance, one arm stretched behind him as he glanced at his opponents. He reminded Bryce of an ancient warrior.
No, he was not going to be enamored with Ahm’s agility and lethal expression. Nope, not a fucking chance.
“I don’t need your help,” Bryce bit out as he turned to look at his enemies. The rogues were no longer looking at him with hunger in their eyes. They were staring at Ahm with something close to fear.
This was not what Bryce had in mind when he thought of his mate standing by his side.
Before he could blink his eyes, Ahm grabbed him and Abe, shimmering them to the ranch. Damn it, now he was going to have to hitch a ride to the city to get his truck. Bryce shoved Ahm away from him, no matter how good it felt to be in his arms. “I didn’t ask you to rescue me.”
Abe glanced between the two, his eyes unsure. Ahm glared at Abe and then raised his arm, pointing toward the house. Abe gave Bryce an apologetic look before he took off toward the back door.
“You are fully aware of how dangerous these times are and you chose to walk the streets?” Ahm asked, his pale-white nostrils flaring. “I thought you smarter than that.”
Bryce growled, shoving the palm of his hands into Ahm’s chest, hard. “What do you know about me? Shit, that’s what. Until you learn who I am and what I’m about, keep your damn observations to yourself.”
Ahm glared at Bryce, his dark-blue eyes almost glowing with rage. “I will not have you risking your life, Bryce.”
Hearing his name on Ahm’s lips was almost his undoing—that and the man’s long, beautiful snow-white hair. Bryce curled his fingers in to stop himself from grabbing a handful. It fell over Ahm’s shoulders and down his back. But the top was pulled back in an old-fashioned leather thong.
The man was simply gorgeous.
And a moody bastard.
“What the hell do you care, Ahm? You have hidden who you are from me for years. What’s with the sudden concern?” Bryce wanted to punch Ahm and kiss him at the same time. His cock was thickening as he stared at the stunning man, but Bryce pushed the building need out of his mind.
Ahm didn’t want him and Bryce was not about to throw himself at the asshole. He did have his pride.
“What’s with the sudden dangerous behavior?” Ahm countered. The elf had sufficiently evaded Bryce’s other question. “I am part of the Ultionem. Push me and I will ensure that you are never without a guard again.”
Bryce felt his anger explode as he charged after the Shadow elf. He tackled Ahm, taking him down to the grass. Ahm didn’t fight him. He lay there matching Bryce’s hard stare. “And what did you hope to accomplish with this?”
Laying a hand on either side of Ahm’s head, Bryce leaned in close, their noses almost touching. “I want you to leave me the hell alone, elf. I want you to stay out of my life since you refuse to be a permanent part of it. You will not dictate to me or threaten me again.”
Bryce was shocked down to his toes when Ahm easily flipped them, Bryce landing on his back, the air whooshing from his lungs. Ahm straddled Bryce’s body, his snow-white hair creating an intimate veil as he leaned down toward Bryce. “You will keep yourself safe or I will take over the responsibility for you, bear.”
As much as Bryce wanted to knock Ahm off of him, he lay there soaking in his mate’s heat. His mind took on a life of its own as images of the two in this same position, but naked, began to play in front of him.
Bryce was rock hard.
He was panting heavily.
His throat dried out as he stared up into Ahm’s heart-stopping blue eyes. When Ahm closed the distance and devoured Bryce’s lips, he thought he was going to come in his jeans. There was no hesitancy, no tenderness. The kiss was brutal, possessive, and forced a moan from Bryce’s throat.
This was their first kiss and it stole Bryce’s very breath.
He reached up and slid his fingers into Ahm’s long hair, curling his fingers, and pulling the man closer. Ahm bit his lower lip, showing who the dominant male was between them, and then plunged his tongue deep into Bryce’s mouth, damn near making Bryce pass out.
There was a hunger, a savage need, and a raw desire to Ahm’s possession. Bryce could feel it sinking into his very blood. Ahm didn’t let up. He leaned further into Bryce, his thighs tightening around Bryce’s sides as he licked over Bryce’s teeth, his lips, and then gave his bottom lip a hard bite before he shimmered away, leaving Bryce feeling cold and alone.
Cursing, Bryce rolled to his side and then got up, running his hands over his head, berating himself for giving in to Ahm. The only thing Ahm had been doing was showing Bryce who was in charge.
And Bryce had fallen for it.
He felt like a damn fool. If it was the last thing he did, Bryce was going to get Ahm out of his system once and for all.
* * * *
Ahm shimmered home to the marshlands, feeling so hard and needy that he was nearly insane. He knew better than to kiss the bear, but he hadn’t been able to resist. Not when he had his mate beneath him, his eyes begging Ahm to take him.
“Fuck,” he muttered to himself. “What the hell am I doing?”
Ahm used to be a cold, vicious leader, uncaring of what
anyone thought, including his tribe’s people. He had dispensed justice and had hunted and killed to protect. Now he was denying his mate because he knew that his people wouldn’t accept Bryce.
Sadly, Ahm knew things were never that easy. As much as he wanted to tell the tribe to shove their old ways up their narrow-minded asses, he knew he wouldn’t. They were his to protect and take care of.
He had ruled them for three hundred years and he couldn’t turn his back on them, not even for Bryce. Ahm knew he was not only condemning himself to a lonely and miserable life, but his mate as well.
Being the ruler of an entire race, choices were never easy, and he knew all too well sacrifices had to be made—even if he was living with only half a soul. His mouth thinned as Nara sauntered into his office, a self-satisfied grin on her face.
Ahm studied her closely. “What have you done?”
Nara’s smile grew as Darla walked into his office, her eyes lighting up when she spotted Ahm standing behind his desk.
God, he did not need this right now. He had told his cousin he wasn’t mating Darla, yet she pulled the same bullshit she always did and acted as if Ahm had said nothing at all.
“Ahm, so good to see you,” Darla nearly purred.
Ahm rounded his desk, heading for his office door. “As always, good to see you, too,” he said curtly as he walked out, leaving the two calculating bitches standing there. Heading to his bedroom, Ahm couldn’t help but remember the kiss he had given Bryce. He had only meant to show the bear who was in charge, but instead, Ahm’s entire body had caught fire.
For years Ahm was able to suppress his need to claim Bryce. But it seemed lately, the only thing Ahm wanted was his mate. Maybe his need was because he was getting older, or because he had lost his blue pigmentation that made his race stand out. Ahm had loved who he was and had mourned the day he had turned five hundred and lost his coloring.
Ahm stripped down and walked into his bathroom, regulating the water for a nice, long, hot shower. To his dismay, he still had an erection after that scorching kiss with Bryce.
Climbing under the spray of the water, Ahm leaned his forehead against the stall and wondered if anything was ever going to go right for him. It seemed no matter what decision he had made in the past few years, it always turned against him.
Giving up the inner fight, Ahm curled his fingers around his erection and thought of how his mate’s body felt when Ahm had straddled Bryce. God, what he wouldn’t have given for them both to be naked at the time.
His wrist twisted as Ahm stroked his painfully erect cock. He knew he could end the torment by just going to Bryce and claiming him, but things were never that easy, not in Ahm’s world.
His imagination took flight and Ahm thought of how Bryce’s lips felt on his, and then wondered if they would be that soft as his mate sucked him to completion.
Ahm sucked in a breath, his hand moving up and down his shaft faster. He pressed the nail of his thumb into the tiny slit and groaned, murmuring Bryce’s name. The shifter was gorgeous, strong, and would be a worthy mate at his side.
Too bad his tribe wouldn’t see Bryce that way.
Ahm switched thoughts, going back to Bryce’s strong body underneath his. He had felt the man’s erection and had been dying to reach down and free the swollen flesh. Ahm’s lips parted as his hand became wet with the shower water, easing the friction and adding pleasure to what he was already doing to himself.
Would Bryce’s ass feel just as good as Ahm hoped his lips would? He was dying to find out. Ahm was also dying to sink deep inside Bryce’s ass and hear the man calling out his name.
Ahm arched his back, his seed erupting onto the shower wall.
But he still felt so damn lonely. Jacking off, even to the image of Bryce’s gorgeous body and face, hadn’t sated the fire burning inside of him. Ahm wanted the bear. He just wasn’t sure how to have his mate and keep his tribe. It was eating him up within, and Ahm wasn’t sure he could hold out much longer.
Chapter Four
Ahm squatted down on the thick tree branch he was watching Bryce from. He was high enough and far enough away that his mate wouldn’t spot or scent him. Bryce was sitting atop his horse, gathering the cattle, driving them back toward the back pastures.
His eyes flickered over his mate. He had watched Bryce over the years from afar, always drinking in his handsome face, his sexy build, and the beautiful way his face lit up when he laughed.
This was the only way to see the bear in his natural form, no pretenses, no anger. As long as he knew Ahm wasn’t watching him, Bryce acted himself. His mate had said Ahm didn’t know anything about him.
It was the farthest thing from the truth. He knew more about Bryce than the man would ever know. Bryce liked to hold his head back and soak up the sun. His mate also liked riding his horse hard, feeling the freedom from the speed.
Bryce also liked playing with the cubs living in his house. Ahm often spotted Bryce with his younger brother Cole and his nephew, Oscar. They played in the backyard, his mate the gentlest of creatures.
But what drove Ahm to the brink of madness was when his mate sat out on the porch looking as if he were the loneliest bear on the planet. Those were the times Ahm truly considered leaving his people behind and pulling the man into his arms, wiping that saddened look from his face.
Ahm stood to his full height, brushing back his long hair when the wind fanned the strands over his shoulders as he watched Chauncey ride toward Bryce. That brother was a troublemaker. But admittedly, he was also the sibling that made Bryce lighthearted and laugh the most.
“Need a hand?” Chauncey called out to Bryce.
Bryce turned and narrowed his light-grey eyes at his sibling. “You should have been here an hour ago.”
He was also the one who pissed Bryce off the most.
“Sorry.” Chauncey laughed. “Curtis was being a little frisky this morning.” The bear wiggled his brows at his brother, making the side of Ahm’s mouth twitch in what should have been a smile.
But he wasn’t feeling happy lately. Not for the last few hundred years if truth be told.
Before Ahm could shimmer away, Bryce’s head turned and the bear was looking him directly in the eyes. Ahm watched as Bryce headed toward him, his muscles flexing as he held on to the reins, the Stetson on his head blocking out the sun, allowing his mate to glare at him unhindered.
Bryce stopped under the tree Ahm was standing in. “Spying on me?”
“Merely observing ranch life.”
Bryce gave him a look that said he didn’t believe Ahm. He rested his scarred hands over the saddle horn, looking every bit as handsome up close as he did from afar. “Why don’t you come down from the tree?”
Ahm shimmered to the ground. He leaned against the large trunk, crossing his arms over his chest. “Now what?” He wasn’t sure why he was playing this game. Ahm knew he wasn’t going to take anything further, but he couldn’t help the feeling of raw need driving through him as he stood there talking with Bryce.
* * * *
It was only early spring, but Ahm was standing there without a shirt on. Bryce forced his eyes not to focus on his mate’s sculpted chest or his flat abdomen. He wasn’t thick with muscles like Bryce was, but he was nicely chiseled. Bryce spotted the necklaces Ahm seemed to always be wearing. They looked handmade, but Bryce refused to ask.
“Now you tell me why you were sitting in a damn tree watching me.” Damn if it didn’t please Bryce to know his mate had been spying on him.
“I was ensuring you weren’t out doing anything to jeopardize your safety.”
Bryce cocked his head. “Yeah, because I can get into so much trouble hanging out with cows.” Ahm dipped his head, but not before Bryce saw the smile edging the man’s lips. Dismounting, Bryce prayed the man didn’t shimmer away as he walked toward Ahm.
Grabbing his mate’s chin, Bryce was surprised Ahm allowed him to lift the guy’s head. He expected to see a murderous glare in Ahm’s dark-blue
eyes. But he didn’t. What Bryce saw shocked him.
There was so much loneliness in the man’s eyes that Bryce could actually feel the emotion deep down in his own body. “Why?” Bryce asked. “Why have you denied us both for so long?”
Ahm’s mouth was set in grim lines as he gazed into Bryce’s eyes. “Ruling a tribe is not an easy task, especially when my people refuse to allow any outsiders in.”
Bryce knew this about Ahm’s people, but to hear his mate tell him that he had stayed away because his tribe was a prejudiced, narrow-minded group felt like a knife was plunging into his heart.
Dropping his hand, Bryce turned away. “That’s still not telling me why you are here.” He wanted to hear Ahm say he had made a grave mistake and beg Bryce to forgive him. But Bryce wasn’t foolish enough to believe the strong and powerful Ahm would grovel to anyone, least of all him.
“Don’t you dare fall for that load of crap.”
Bryce turned, letting a low growl rumble through his chest. “Go play with the cows, Chauncey.”
Instead, Chauncey rode toward them and dismounted. “Fuck that. He made it pretty damn clear you weren’t good enough for his uppity ass.”
It was true. Bryce turned toward Ahm, waiting for him to defend himself.
“This does not concern you, bear.”
Chauncey took a menacing step forward. “Hurting my brother will always concern me. It’s called family and us Lakelands stick by our own. If I didn’t think Bryce would hate me I would kill you.”
He was shocked at Chauncey’s venomous tone. His brother meant every word he spoke. Bryce turned back to Ahm. “Make a choice, Ahm. Either be my mate, or never bother me again.” God, those words cut into Bryce like a heated knife, but he was tired of seeing his mate, but never being allowed to touch, to claim.
The kiss had been explosive, but Bryce needed more than that. He needed commitment.
“It isn’t that easy, Bryce.”
“Yes, it is.” Bryce could feel that Ahm’s choice wasn’t going to be in his favor. He threw up his defenses, blocking the pain he knew was coming. He could already see the rejection forming in Ahm’s gorgeous eyes.