by Becca Van
Bas nudged him with his foot and frowned his way. “Careful,” he said through their mind link.
Beck sighed and nodded. He wasn’t used to hiding his enhanced traits, because the people he socialized with were all like him and his brothers. In fact, they were all part owners of the company Guardian Security. His friends had met their mates when their women had been in danger and needed protection. He was ecstatic over meeting Krista but also damned happy that she was here because of a job and not because she was in danger. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to be objective if he knew his mate’s safety was in jeopardy.
However, what worried him more was that she would leave when she found out that he and his brothers were sabear shifters as well as her mate. If she took off, she would be sentencing him and his siblings to death.
* * * *
Krista knew she was being watched even though her back was turned. The hair on her nape stood on end and goose bumps pebbled everywhere eyes touched on her body. She didn’t like having her back to a room full of men after the shooting at the school, and slowly she edged her way around Kenna until she was leaning on the counter with her back toward the cupboards. Even though she wasn’t looking directly at the men, she could see that Bastian, Byron, and Beck were constantly glancing her way.
“Do you want cream, milk, or sugar?” Kenna asked after pouring some steaming coffee into a mug.
“No, thanks. That’s perfect the way it is.” She took the mug gratefully and sighed with bliss after taking her first sip.
“Why don’t we leave the men to discuss business while we go and sit in the living room?” Keisha suggested.
Krista nodded, hoping that her eagerness wasn’t showing. There was way too much testosterone in this room for her liking. There were fifteen handsome, buff men, and while she was used to dealing with the opposite sex since she’d interacted with a lot of male teachers, none of them had ever gotten to her the way the Tenant men did.
Once they were all seated, Kailin asked, “What made you apply for the job here? Will you miss the city and all the other conveniences we don’t have on this island?”
“I needed a change of scenery,” Krista answered, cautiously. She understood why Kailin had asked her about her application for the teaching position on such a remote, cold island, but she wasn’t about to blurt out the truth, either. “New York City is great, but it’s overcrowded and busy. There was always so much going on, and I was stressed all the time. I knew that wasn’t good for my health and had to change things.” She shrugged. “When I saw the advert to teach here, I intuitively knew it was what I was looking for.”
“Did you leave any family behind?” Keisha asked. “Parents, siblings, or maybe a boyfriend?”
“If I’d been involved in a relationship, I wouldn’t be here,” Krista replied, hoping to ignore the question regarding family. “Why did you all move here?”
“We were all in danger and hired Guardian Security,” Kenna said. “Our husbands are Guardian Security.”
Krista wanted to ask what danger the women had been in but decided it was none of her business and she didn’t want to pry. She figured if these women wanted her to know, they’d tell her when they were ready. Plus, she didn’t want to open up a can of worms and have them prying into any more of her life.
Keisha piped up. “We all fell in love and decided to stay.”
“Why three men?” Krista asked.
“Why not?” Kiana shrugged, her brow quirked at Krista.
“I’m not judging,” Krista said and winced when she realized it had sounded as if she were. “I’m open-minded, and I don’t care how other people live their lives.”
“Then why the question?” Kenna frowned.
“I guess I’m just curious.” She glanced toward the kitchen and blushed when her gaze met Bastian’s. He was staring at her so intently she wondered if he could read her mind. She frowned as she watched his brown eyes lighten until they looked as if they were backlit with sunlight. She’d never in her life seen such an anomaly before, and though she tried to convince herself she was imagining things or that the light above the dining room was responsible for that ethereal glow, she didn’t believe it. She shifted her gaze to Byron and stopped breathing when she saw the same paradox behind his now lighter brown eyes, and quickly glanced at Beck.
What the ever-loving fuck?
Krista’s heart started pounding and her breathing grew fast and shallow. There was no fucking way that was normal. What the hell is going on? Who the fuck are these people?
She whipped her head back around to meet Kenna’s gaze when the other woman touched her arm and while she tried not to react, she couldn’t stop herself from tugging her arm away. She was about to get up and move away but remained still and tense when Kiana said, “There’s a story surrounding this island that I think would interest you.”
Keisha began talking, “The guys and their friends can trace their ancestry back to the Haida people, indigenous to the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. They apparently resided in British Columbia, but a few of them wandered far and wide.”
Kailin took over. “Some of the indigenous tribes wound up on this island and settled here. There was a time when the vegetation on this island flourished, and the women of the tribe would go out every day to gather berries and other food.
“The legends say that there was a large colony of polar bears living here, as well, and while the women worked, they sang to the bears so they wouldn’t upset the Bear Mother Spirit. Every single woman, young and old, sang, with one exception. She was more interested in chatting about her own concerns. The bears thought the woman disrespectful, and as the women began heading back to their village, the selfish woman’s basket tipped, spilling all the berries.”
Kenna cleared her throat, then picked up where Kailin left off. “Two men dressed in white bearskin robes offered to help her if she agreed to go with them. She agreed. The chief of the bearskin people took her as wife, and she bore him twin sons who were half human, half bear. One day, her brothers came looking for her, and they murdered her husband. However, the father had taught his sons all the bears’ songs, and after their mother died, the brothers broke all connections with humanity and embraced their animal side, once more living with the bear people.”
Krista shook her head, wondering why they’d told her the story. She was intrigued but had no idea what any of the island’s history had to do with her. “Do you want me to teach the children about the local history?” She was stalling for time as she processed what she’d been told.
“Have you ever wondered if stories about shape-shifters were true? Have you ever read fictional romances, or are you an all-work-and-no-play kinda girl?” Kiana asked.
“I love reading erotic romance.” Keisha smiled, blushed, and placed her hand over her heart. “It’s amazing how close some authors get to fact.”
Krista couldn’t sit still anymore and shoved to her feet. She paced over to the living room window and stared out at the snow-and-ice-covered ground. A shiver wracked up her spine, but it had nothing to do with the temperature. She blinked and stared at the reflections in the window. She saw the other four women watching her intently. She had no idea what to do or say. The four women behind her believed that shifters were real. If it wasn’t so ludicrous, she would have laughed until tears ran down her face. While being a teacher she loved to encourage her students to use their imagination and not to let the strictures of society curb their minds, she’d never thought to meet adult women who believed in the supernatural. And yet there was a niggling doubt deep in her gut.
Why would four mature married women suggest that the phenomenal could be real? There had to be a reason, didn’t there?
Were they trying to tell her that the men in the dining room were shape-shifters? Is that why she’d seen the Tenant men’s eyes lighten and start to glow?
Even though she was trepidatious and wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answers to her questi
ons, she turned to face the women and met each of their gazes. “Are you trying to tell me that you all believe in the mystical?”
Kiana stood and slowly walked toward her. The other women soon followed. Krista backed up until her back was pressed against the cool glass window.
She gazed toward the kitchen when she noticed that it had gone quiet, and she could no longer hear the men talking, but thankfully, she couldn’t see them anymore, either. She wasn’t sure she’d have had the wherewithal to hold her ground if she’d seen all those big men watching her. They were an intimidating bunch of masculinity, and even though she’d tried to keep her eyes away from them, she found herself searching out Bastian, Beck, and Byron time and again.
The other men were wonderful eye candy, but she wasn’t attracted to them. The Tenant brothers, on the other hand, seemed to set her insides on fire, and the more she looked at them, the hotter she got.
“Yes,” Keisha answered. “That’s exactly what we’re trying to tell you.”
Krista crossed her arms beneath her breasts and frowned at them all. “You can’t seriously believe that something fictional is reality. All the things I’ve read about legends is just that. There might be a grain or two to truth in some of the facts about folklore, but no one has ever proven that shape-shifters are real.”
“What do you think would happen with the government or scientists if they found out that lore is true?” Kailin asked.
“They’d be imprisoned, put under microscopes, and dissected in the name of science and research.”
“Exactly,” Kenna said. “Shape-shifters would be killed and exploited by greedy, power-hungry men.”
“I can’t believe you all think that people can change into animals and vice versa.” Krista threw her hands up into the air. “There is no basis for your beliefs.”
“Yes, there is,” Kiana said. She sighed as she met each of the other women’s eyes and then gazed at her again. “Our husbands are all shape-shifters and so are the Tenant men.”
The only sound in the room Krista could hear was her own heavy breathing and the pounding of her own heartbeat. If she could have backed away from the four crazy women some more, she would have, but as it was she was starting to get cold because the glass was pressed up against her back. It didn’t seem to matter that the house was centrally heated. Krista was cold to the core and wasn’t sure she’d ever feel warm again. She wasn’t exactly afraid, but she was more than a little nervous. She’d begun to think she’d stepped onto an island of crazy people, but she’d rather deal with a little nutty eccentricity than the dangerous people she’d left behind in New York City.
“She’s not going to believe until she sees it with her own eyes,” Kailin said.
“I certainly didn’t.” Kenna nodded.
“Where’s Ben?” Keisha asked.
“He’s playing with Micah at his house,” Kenna replied.
Krista wondered who Ben was, but she wasn’t sure she could deal with any more startling revelations right now. She’d left Manhattan to get away from the flames licking at her heels but had a feeling she’d just jumped into a bonfire. She’d left her life behind when she’d quit her job and sublet her apartment. Everything she owned was in the two suitcases she’d brought with her, and even if she wanted to leave, she didn’t think that she’d be able to get another flight off the island until tomorrow at the earliest. She’d burned her bridges, and now she was going to have to live with her decisions. At least until she could make other plans.
What the fuck was she going to do now?
Chapter Three
Bartram Novak, or Barty to his gang, was full of fury and grief. His youngest brother was dead, and he needed revenge. That fucking bitch of a school teacher had shot his brother, and while David had fought for his life, it hadn’t made a difference. Even though David hadn’t told him he and his cohorts were going to go on a shooting rampage, it didn’t matter. His brother had been pissed that two of his teachers had failed him, and David hadn’t been able to get his high school diploma. Of course, Barty knew that was because his brother hardly ever attended school and was too busy partying and screwing around to pass, but that didn’t matter anymore. Most of his brother’s stupid teachers had given David passes since his brother had intimidated them, but a couple had held out. They were on his list of targets now, too, but the one on the top was the bitch who’d pulled the trigger. He didn’t care that she’d only started shooting to protect other students. He was going to get retribution, and he didn’t care how long or how much money he had to spend so he could to find the slut.
He’d had his men watching her place from the start, but the cunt had somehow managed to escape. The two guys who were supposed to be vigilant wouldn’t be walking straight ever again. He’d had them held down as he gave them a beating they’d never forget. They’d both ended up with a broken leg, arm, and jaws. He’d been lenient, because normally he would have just put a gun to their heads and pulled the trigger. By the time he’d been done with them, they’d been sniveling out their apologies. Barty had used those fuckers as examples to the rest of his crew.
He’d heard a rumor that one of his men was vying for the top position, and he hoped after dishing out punishment in front of all his followers that the thought of knocking him off the top rung of the ladder was now squashed.
It didn’t matter, though. When he found out who’d been drooling over his seat on the throne, he’d get rid of the asshole.
He’d made a shit ton of money from having his men sell drugs on the streets and could buy whatever he wanted. He had a few of the local police in his pockets and even a small-town politician. Word was out on the street that he was looking for that bitch and that he was offering a money reward to anyone who could find where she was hiding. Ten large ones was a great incentive for someone with any information to come forward. A lot of people would sell their souls to the devil to get their hands on that much cash.
Barty was hoping to have her location before the week was out, and as soon as he knew where she was holed up, he’d research the area and make some plans.
He hoped that she thought she was safe and got complacent, because that would make his and his men’s job of finding her easier.
One way or another, that cunt was going down, and the sooner the better.
* * * *
Bastian, his brothers, and their friends had been listening to the women since the moment they’d left the room. Most of the time a couple of the other men had continued conversing to cover up the fact he, Byron, and Beck were eavesdropping.
“Bastian, Byron, Beck, I think you need to come in now,” Kiana said.
He sucked in a deep breath, trying to dispel the nerves taking wing in his belly as he rose to his feet and glanced at his brothers in warning as they stood, too. He led the way to the living room and swallowed his snarl of anger when he saw his mate pressed up against one of the windows with the other women a few feet away. But they were surrounding Krista, and she looked as if she was a frightened doe caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. He swallowed his ire down, because if he so much as looked at the other mated women wrong, their men would be all over his ass.
“What’s wrong, ladies?” he asked even though he already knew what was going on.
“You and your brothers need to show Krista that shape-shifters are real,” Keisha said.
Bas nodded without removing his gaze from the gorgeous woman the fates had seen fit to create just for him and his brothers.
“Would you like one of us to stay with you, Krista?” Kailin asked. Krista swallowed audibly and nodded. Kailin slowly moved to her side and clasped her hand with hers. “Let’s go and sit on the sofa again. It’s cold by the window, and I’m sure you’re tired after such a long journey.”
Bas gave his brothers a signal to move away from the sofa. While he wanted Krista in his arms, in his bed, in his life permanently, he also didn’t want to spook her any more than she already was.
By the time she and Kailin were seated, the other women had gone to join their own mates in the kitchen, and he and his brothers were standing across from the sectional.
“I promise you’re safe with us, Krista,” Bas said in a low voice.
“Just because we can change into animals doesn’t mean we aren’t cognizant of our human side,” Byron explained.
“I was glad to have Kiana with me when my mates changed in front of me for the first time,” Kailin said loudly from the other room.
“M-mates?” Krista asked hesitantly. “That’s supposed to be another word for wife. Right?”
“Yes, but being mated is so much more than being a wife. Me and the other women will explain in more depth later.”
Bas toed his boots off and reached behind his neck to grasp hold of his shirt, then tugged it up and over his head.
Krista sucked in a noisy breath as she stared at his chest. Bas sniffed the air and almost fell to his knees. The warm, sweet scent of his mate’s arousal permeated his nose and deep into his lungs. That was one perfume he’d never ever get sick of. His sabear rolled as if he was trying to saturate his body in their woman’s aroma, and Bas didn’t try and stop him. He’d do the same thing if only he could.
Krista pushed herself back into the leather of the sofa. “What are you—”
“Take a breath, Krista.” Kailin took one of Krista’s hands in both of hers. “They need to remove their clothes to shift. If they didn’t, their clothes would be ripped to shreds.”
Krista nodded, and just as his brothers removed their shirts, Bas tugged the button of his jeans open and lowered his zipper. “So, you’re polar bear shifters?”
“Not exactly, darlin’,” Beck said.
“We’re a mix of the extinct saber-toothed tiger and a polar bear, sweetness,” Byron explained.