by T. S. Joyce
Hannah tried to exit the truck quickly, but Jenny was faster. She descended the stairs and shoved Riker hard in the chest. “You asshole. You didn’t even let me say goodbye.” She shoved him again and her eyes glowed silver, like a minnow’s tail in the moonlight. “She could’ve been killed.” Jenny’s voice sounded ragged and growly and as Hannah rushed toward her, a giant bear ripped out of her.
She’d never been afraid of Jenny’s bear before, but looking into her bottomless eyes as she stood to her full height, Hannah gasped and slunk behind the hood of the truck.
Riker crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t do this.”
Jenny roared so loud it shook Hannah’s bones and before the bellow was done, Riker’s body exploded into a mass of fur and anger. Two grizzlies faced off, circling on their hind legs.
“Let’s get you inside, shall we?” Blaine, Jenny’s husband, said, successfully scaring the devil right out of Hannah.
She jumped like a frightened rabbit and hit the truck with her spine. “Where did you come from?”
“I came with Jenny. She’s been waiting at Riker’s house since you left yesterday, working herself up to a right proper fury. You don’t need to see this, and they don’t need to see you when they are locked up like this.”
The two bears were indeed entangled in what looked like a raging life or death battle. “They’ll kill each other.”
“No, they’ll bleed each other. It’s what the bears do when the anger is too much. Come on.” He gripped her elbow and led her up the porch stairs and into the house.
Blaine didn’t seem worried that his wife was currently on the ground under an enormous clawed grizzly, but Hannah couldn’t take her eyes from the battling bears. Even inside, she ran for the window and yanked the sunflower yellow curtains to the side and stared in horror as Jenny raked her claws down Riker’s chest.
Maybe she’d been hasty in declaring she’d fight a clan of rival bear shifters to keep Bear Valley safe. What chance did a puny human have against enraged, ten feet tall, bawling, teeth gnashing beasts who weren’t afraid to maim their own family members?
No chance at all.
Chapter Five
Sleep was a fickle little beast that stayed just out of Hannah’s exhausted grasp. Her thoughts whirled restlessly. Perhaps she was afraid of dreaming about the torture chamber Dane had created for her again, but more likely, she was worried about Riker.
He’d said he would come home before she woke, but lookey here. She was awake and still alone in his giant bed. The house felt colder without him.
She was angry. Why was she mad? Because a couple of bears had pummeled the pie out of each other on her behalf. She hadn’t asked them to do that and now guilt dragged her down until she felt frozen against the cold sheets. The bedroom window was open but nothing reached her ears save the locusts and bullfrogs. From time to time she could see a firefly, but no movement that said Riker was coming home. That he was safe and not laying in a crag somewhere in the forest bleeding out.
“Riker,” she yelled, throwing a pillow at the unhelpful window.
Punching the remaining pillow to a lumpy pulp, she flipped over and huffed an irritated sigh. The front door opened so hard it slammed against the wall.
Lurching, she searched the dark, and within a heartbeat, two glowing eyes approached from the hallway. Riker stopped short at the end of the bed, bleeding from several long gashes on his torso and shoulders and utterly naked. His hard shaft jutted out against the lighter skin of his stomach, and her stomach wobbled with anticipation.
“Thank God you’re okay,” she whispered.
“Why did you scream my name?” His voice was low and rattled with a tone not quite human. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, as if he were holding himself at a distance on purpose.
“I thought…I worried you were hurt after your fight with Jenny.”
The tension in his shoulders eased, but not by much.
She slid her legs from under the comforter and pulled up the hem of her sleeping shirt. She hadn’t worn panties on purpose. Sleeping with Riker after he changed was her favorite time for him to be buried inside her. His animal side this close to the surface was so sexy, it made her feel reckless for his skin against hers. Slowly, she spread her knees apart, and lifted her chin in invitation. “If I brought you back too soon, I’d understand if you need to change again.”
His lips twisted into a naughty smile. “Change is done for tonight.”
“You want me to get on my hands and knees again?”
“No, love. I want to see your face when I make you come.”
Careful now, Riker. Words like those felt like the first stroke against her insides and her breath hitched.
He couldn’t seem to drag his glowing eyes away from her sex, so she ran a light fingertip down her stomach and circled her wet folds. Riker’s sharp inhalation of breath only made her want to tease him more. With his hand, he took a long pull of his shaft and leaned forward, rested on one locked arm against the mattress. A single dewy bead of moisture capped his cock and she wondered what it tasted like. She’d been shy with her college boyfriend because he’d made her feel weird for wanting certain things. Not with Riker though. Riker encouraged her to do what she wanted, and more than that, he seemed to relish in her adventuresome nature. His unconditional acceptance cast off the cloak of self-doubt. Sitting up, she abandoned her own pleasure and drew his shaft into her mouth, lapping slowly until the tiny spot of flavor, salt and Riker, tingled against the tip of her tongue.
He whispered her name in a ragged breath and gripped the back of her hair. He didn’t push her onto him. It seemed like he just needed something to hold onto as his shaft throbbed and danced under her delicate affections. She tortured him slowly, as he’d done to her in the truck.
Suddenly, he spun them around, sat on the edge of the bed and gripped her hips until she hovered over him. His teeth were gritted, jaw clenched until the muscle there strained and his eyes blazed, heating her skin where his gaze touched her. She dug her nails into his shoulders and pleaded, but he seemed to be trying to steady himself. With a determined look, he held her gaze like a caress and lowered her onto him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rocked against him, setting the pace as unhurried as her mouth had done.
A growl resonated deep in his chest, humming against her breasts and he gripped her thighs and pulled her against him, time and time again, faster and faster until she couldn’t slow them if she wanted to. Too far gone, she moaned as he drove into her deeper. So fast her breath caught, he stood and pressed her against the wall and slammed into her, his powerful hips flexing with each unrelenting stroke. She cried out as her pleasure spilled over and he gripped her hair, made her look at him as she came. Two hard thrusts later, a growl ripped through him and he filled her with his own convulsing release.
He carried her to the bed as if she weighed nothing, but didn’t seem inclined to pull out of her. She understood it. Their connection consumed her too. He lay on top of her, kissing and nibbling, exploring her body with his able hands, showing his love and adoration for her.
Riker was back home and safe beside her and her earlier trouble with sleep seeped away. Her eyelids grew heavy and she smiled sleepily as he encouraged her to let go. Numbness finally found her under Riker’s caring, tender touches.
****
The sound of the front door closing woke Hannah. Riker had left but his side of the bed wasn’t entirely empty. A tray with breakfast, eggs and French toast with orange juice, sat where he should’ve been. Hanging from the edge was a note.
Busy day today catching up on work. See you at dinner.
Benson
She smiled at the signature. For some reason, he always signed his notes with his first name. So formal. So endearing.
The food was delicious and exactly what her hungry stomach needed to start out the day. She’d go to work too and admonish Jenny for being too hard on Riker. Yes, it had loo
ked bad, like he was betraying her and putting her in danger by taking her to New York. But he’d done it to save her.
Showered and dressed in a pair of faded jeans with holes in the knees and a threadbare blue T-shirt, she left the house and found the trail that led to the cattle’s grazing grounds. Usually Riker walked her to work, but he’d been away from his clan for two days and she could only imagine how busy his schedule looked today. The council probably had a hundred things for him to make decisions on.
A flurry of movement to her right nearly scared the piss out of her, and Jenny jumped from the woods and tackled her like a linebacker. Shrieking, Hannah tumbled backward and landed on a giant fern with Jenny still clutched onto her neck like a pet monkey.
Worse still, it sounded like her friend was crying.
“Hey,” Hannah crooned, waving her hands helplessly above her back. “What’s wrong?”
“I really thought he did it. I really thought Riker turned you in and that you were going to die in some horrible way. I really thought my brother was lost.”
“Lost?”
Jenny eased back and her voice dipped to a whisper. “He used to be different. Emotionless. It’s what made him a good contender for alpha, but I want more for him.”
“I…I don’t understand. How could Riker be emotionless? He’s amazing.”
“Now.” Her voice was thick with grief or fear, or perhaps both. “Do you know how many battles he’s fought in for Bear Valley?”
“Uh, three?”
“Sixteen. And he’s helped to win them all. He’s a great bear, Hannah. But when an animal fights so much, it’s the softer side of him that gets snuffed out. You brought him back from the brink of living a cold life, and I thought he’d really taken you back to forfeit you for the clan. I knew there would be no coming back from that. It would’ve broken him.”
More words that sounded terrifyingly similar to the oracle’s predictions.
“No, no, no,” Hannah said in a low, comforting voice. “Riker saved me. He couldn’t let me know what he was doing or I would’ve given it all away before he could step in and put an end to the men who wanted to hurt me. He’s not going back to the way he was.” She couldn’t even imagine him cold and empty. Sternly, she gripped Jenny’s shoulders. “I won’t let him.”
Jenny’s bottom lip trembled and Hannah hugged her tightly. “Everything’s okay.”
“It’s over?”
“Yeah.” Mostly over, but Jenny didn’t need to worry about Murphy or the fact that Stone really was still controlling his puppets from that damned prison cell. She’d say anything to settle the despair in Jenny’s dark eyes.
“Let’s blow off work today,” Jenny said, sniffling.
“I’m mate to the alpha. I’m pretty sure I should be trying to set a good example.”
“Shane won’t care. It’s a quiet day and Renna and Blake are already there to help. Blaine is at work in town and will meet us for lunch, and until then, we can go shopping.”
It didn’t sit well with Hannah, blowing off her duties like that. She lived here and wanted to be accepted as part of the clan for Riker’s sake. He would be working his ass off all day, and she should be doing the same. “I don’t know.”
“How about if we talk to Shane? If he says stay, we’ll stay.”
Imagining the older shifter’s dour expression when they came to him with a shopping spree request, she did feel better. Maybe when he said hell no, Jenny would lay off of playing hooky.
Except Jenny had been right. Shane really didn’t care. He swatted her on the butt with a broom and told her to scram. To enjoy the day but be back to work early tomorrow morning. He said she deserved the day off after what she’d been through. Geez, had everyone in the clan already heard about New York?
“I need to find Riker and tell him what we’re doing,” she told Jenny as they jogged excitedly up the trail like a couple of teens skipping gym class.
“He’ll be in meetings. Let’s get dressed before we head to his office.”
Jenny let her borrow a white tank top with lace straps and a pair of sandals that were only a little too tight. Dressed in a yellow eyelet lace blouse and dark wash jeans with a pair of wedge heels that made her at least five inches taller, Jenny snatched a wad of money from a coffee can above the sink and shoved it in her wallet.
Riker’s face when she peeked through the door to the main office the council meetings were held was a study in relief. His leg drummed rhythmically, like it did only when he was thinking really hard about some big problem that needed fixing.
“One moment,” he murmured to the six shifters who sat around the table.
His hand found her waist and he pressed her outside with a grin. “Let me guess. Jenny is taking you into town?”
“Yeah, do you think it’s safe?”
He dug in his pocket and tossed his sister the keys to his truck. “I think it is as long as you stick near Jenny. She has a fierce right hook.”
With claws. She’d seen the damage his sister had done to him last night. After Riker, the woman was probably Hannah’s best bet for protection.
“You have money?” he asked.
“I don’t need anything. I’m just going window shopping.”
He frowned and pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans. “Just in case.”
He pressed five crisp twenties into the palm of her outstretched hand and her eyes went wide. “That’s way too much.”
“Mate,” he rumbled, pulling her close until his lips brushed her ears. “You don’t get to go into town all that often and you could use some new clothes. Particularly undergarments.”
She giggled as his warm breath tickled her ear. The man had a point. “And whose fault is that?”
He shrugged unapologetically and kissed her. Against her lips, he murmured, “I prefer the lacy ones.”
“Lacy ones,” she muttered as he slid her a cocky, masculine smile, then disappeared back through the office door. “A waste of good material, that’s what that is.”
Jenny tossed her a knowing grin and led the way to the black truck that was still parked where Riker’s driveway should’ve been, if it wasn’t just an open field of weeds and wildflowers. Hannah pocketed the money and slid into the passenger’s seat.
“Where does Bear Valley get its finances?” she asked. A bold question, yes, but she should probably know this stuff.
“We have our very own nerd. Cameron has been handling clan investments for years. The last alpha squandered his abilities and things were a lot tighter, but Riker saw his potential and put him to work. Even declared Cameron his second, elevating his status in the clan. He’s not the biggest bear of the bunch, but you bet your ass he’s the smartest. If you need money for anything, you shouldn’t balk against Riker giving you any. It’s your money too.”
“He asked me to be his at the mating ceremony at the summer solstice.”
Jenny squealed. That’s the only word to describe the joyous shriek that eked from her vocal cords. “It’s a good thing we’re heading into town. We need to get you an outfit. Something pretty. You’ll be officially one of the clan then and it’s a big moment.”
“Are there going to be people…I mean will it happen like when Riker had to bed Merit?”
Jenny took her gaze from the road long enough for Hannah to register her frown. “You mean will people have to witness you and Riker having sex? No. Hell no. That was just Merit’s twisted plan to get Riker to choose her in front of council members and his second. It won’t be like that. Besides, you smell like Riker now. It’s clear he’s doing his duty to you.”
“Duty?”
“Not like that. I mean that he’s taking care of you. You’re mate of the alpha, Hannah. You’ll have an important place among our people, even after Riker’s reign is through. Your mate should be revering you, and from your scent, it’s obvious he is.”
Dipping her chin, Hannah sniffed herself, but couldn’t smell anything other than whate
ver laundry detergent Jenny had used to wash the shirt. “Do you think the clan is angry that Riker didn’t choose a bear shifter as a mate?” The answer mattered. She wanted to be accepted, and ghosts of what-could-have-been threatened to hurt her chances at assimilation.
“Some of them are frustrated but they’ll get over it. What choice do they have? Riker’s bear has chosen, so they can either get on board or get out. I can’t imagine he’ll be too patient with naysayers. He’s a fair leader, but he’s no pushover. He runs Bear Valley with a strict hand, but anyone with eyes can see it’s for the good of our people. He’s taking a risk choosing you, but so what? It’ll blow over and people won’t think about it after a while. That’s the way it is with Blaine. I think that sometimes the clan forgets he’s human.”
As Jenny pulled the oversized truck onto the main road, a highway sign reading Sheridan 20 miles passed by.
Hannah reached for the radio dials and found a radio station blaring a Cage the Elephant song. Jenny bobbed her head to the beat and didn’t seem to mind her choice.
The term town was an overstatement. Village was more like it. Sheridan, Montana, population six hundred and forty-eight and only a couple times bigger than the population of bear shifters that lived in secret among the mountain passes just thirty miles away.
The main street was so small Hannah controlled her blinking, lest she miss it. The police station was the biggest building by far and Blaine’s cruiser was parked in front of it. A diner advertising famous pies seemed to be the busiest at the end of the street with six cars parked out front. A general store was connected to a store called Miser’s. This was the building Jenny parked in front of. Racks of clothes had been set out front with big red signs reading clearance.
The next hour was spent scouring the hangers for good deals and well-fitting clothes. Riker had lost his last ever-loving marbles if he thought anywhere in this town sold lace panties, so she settled on a pack of bikini cut cottons and made a mental note to track down a computer to order his preferred lingerie later. Patience was a virtue and if he placed such importance on her undergarments, maybe he should quit ripping them up like an animal. A private smile ghosted her lips. Okay, so she liked when he acted like an animal and if she was really honest, she even liked the satisfying sound of the fabric ripping under his desperate fingers. On second thought, she grabbed another pack of cotton comfys and made her way to the register. A pair of jeans, ankle height hiking boots, three clearance shirts and undergarments and she was still well under the cash Riker had given her.