by Celia Kyle
“I don’t know you from Adam. What makes you think…?” She fought harder, and he forced himself to release her. His body screamed to keep her close, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t—hold her against her will. “My parents didn’t raise an idiot. You think I’m gonna just—”
Ty shrugged. She had a point; he did have an ulterior motive. His bear wanted Mia in their den. Badly. Which was probably a mistake since his beast had naked ideas about Mia Baker.
“You can come with me, stay in my guest room, and keep an eye on Parker or you can stay here while I take Parker with me. He’s a cub in my clan, and I’m not leaving him in your care. Choose.”
There. Easy.
“Earlier you said he could stay and I’m pretty sure I’ve already said this once, but I’ll repeat it for the slow people in the class and in a way that a bear can understand: mine.”
Chapter Three
Admittedly it was quite creepy, but Mia watched Ty sleep. He’d put up a good fight the night before, arguing about whether Parker would be better off in his home or hers. Ultimately, it was the cub who decided… by falling asleep in her bed. Kids were too cute when conked out, and neither of them had the heart to move him.
So, she’d spent the night with a bear in her bed and another on her grandfather’s couch. His very short, very old, very saggy couch. Ty’s body was twisted and scrunched in an attempt to fit his six foot frame on the piece of furniture, and she couldn’t imagine he’d spent the night in sleepy comfort. Well, she’d told him to leave Parker with her and go home, but did he listen? No. In a sort of peace offering, she’d brought him a cup of steaming coffee to go along with his wake up call.
The man in question snuffled and groaned, lingering between half awake and sleep.
“Ty?” She poked his shoulder and then quickly darted away. When her touch didn’t elicit a response, she did it again. “Ty?” Dang it, bears were hard to wake. Her grandfather said it stemmed from their desire to hibernate. Once a werebear crashed, it took a bit to stir them before they were ready to go. And they often awoke cranky. Okay, one last poke and then she was breaking out the water guns. “Ty Abrams.”
Ty exploded in a tangle of limbs. His body sprang from relaxed and prone to upright and snarling in an instant, and Mia jumped back. Coffee sloshed over the edge of the mug and onto her hand and she winced at the burning sting. The sheriff shifted and twitched, his bear shoving past his human features and forcing his head to widen and mouth elongate into the beginnings of his snout. Dark brown fur pushed through his pores while his nails thickened and lengthened. His chest rapidly expanded and contracted, and Mia could only imagine the rapid thump of his heart.
Saying bears disliked being awakened early was an understatement.
Mia held out her uninjured hand in what she hoped was a calming gesture. “Easy. I brought you coffee.” The half bear shook its head as if to clear sleep away. “You know, coffee.”
Carefully she extended the cup, the initial wave of pain from the burn now a dull, throbbing ache. Ty’s huffing and puffing continued, that massive chest teasing her with every rise and fall. The very naughty part of her wondered if the move would look any different after she exhausted him with sex. Which caused her body to respond to him. She’d kept her desire at bay for all of five minutes in his company, but now her traitorous pussy decided to say “hello.” That part of her grew heavy, achy, and needy. Her clit twitched as she imagined his fingers and tongue torturing her, and her very heat clenched while she thought of him filling and stretching her.
Bad body, bad.
Ty breathed deep and a matching heat filled his eyes.
I am not going to look down, I am not going to look down, I am not going to…
Aw, crap on a cracker, she looked down. Down at the thick ridge filling his now tattered jeans and the long, hard length that pushed against the zipper of his pants. The material barely clung to his hips—the fabric torn from his partial shift—but there was no mistaking the proof of his arousal.
Because of her as a person, or the scent of her desire?
Mia cleared her throat and held out the half empty mug. “I brought you coffee.”
Seconds ticked past, the old cuckoo clock in the hallway squeaking with every flick from one moment to the next. Eventually, the hair receded, sliding beneath Ty’s skin as if it’d never emerged. The blackened claws disappeared, quickly followed by the narrowing and retreating of his bear-like muzzle.
That change, those shifts of the human body from man to animal and back again, always fascinated her. When she was younger, her dad hadn’t appreciated her demands that he shift every five minutes. So, each time she saw her grandfather, she’d beg him to transform, held captive by the impressive beauty of the shift.
At thirty-three, she still hadn’t outgrown the fascination.
Ty took one last heaving breath and then reached for the mug, capturing it with his large hand. It wasn’t until he removed it from her hold that she really felt the result of the burn. The ache blossomed into agony, and she quickly cradled it to her chest.
“Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar…” She spun and fled, intent on high-tailing it to the kitchen. His heavy, thumping stomps indicated he followed her, but she was too focused on her destination.
“Mia?”
She wrenched open the freezer and grabbed a handful of ice, pressing it to the back of her hand. The damage was done, there was no getting around the healing process to come, but at least some of the pain could be iced away.
“What do you need?” Ty’s barked question startled her, but she was used to her grandfather’s behavior. Weres made harsh demands and issued orders, but always with the best intentions.
Cradling her hand to her chest, she kept the ice in place and gestured with her chin to the other side of the kitchen. “A towel from the drawer to the left of the sink. Dampen it, please.”
Mia shifted her touch, sliding the freezing blocks over her damaged hand.
He went into action, doing as she asked and presenting her with the wet cloth in moments.
“Ice?” She winced with the next slide of cubes over her skin.
Again he was quick to respond, returning to her in less than a blink. She handed over the melting blocks, taking his compress in return and pressing it to her injury. She spared a moment to glance at the redness and winced again. It was already swelling, and some parts were lighter than others.
Dang.
The clang of ice hitting the bottom of her stainless steel sink preceded Ty’s reappearance at her side.
“Lemme see.” He kept his voice low, but the order was unmistakable. And one did not disregard an order from the Itan. Bend and poke at the words—massage ’em a little—yes. Dismiss? No.
Mia peeled away the icepack and exposed the injury to his gaze. The first glance had him drawing in a sharp breath through his teeth and releasing it on a grumbling sigh. “Damn it, didn’t your grandfather—”
“Ever teach me not to wake a sleeping bear? Yeah,” she huffed. “Apparently the lesson didn’t stick. I tried poking you, but—”
“I’m a deep sleeper. There’s not too many that will risk bothering a bear, so we’ve never had to be on guard over the years.” His gaze shifted to her face. “I’ll have to make sure my bear knows to rein it in with you.”
She didn’t want to think about the possibility of waking him ever again. She especially didn’t want to consider her waking him while they were both naked, tangled in sheets, and she would kiss—
Mia licked her lips, mouth suddenly dry, and she internally smiled when he focused on the action. Seconds ticked past and silence wrapped around them in a welcoming cocoon.
Heat filled Ty’s gaze, and those brown eyes bled black, his bear peeking from behind his human guise. Her breath caught with what she saw. His desire was unmistakable as he stared at her. A low, rumble filled the air, so close to a growl but not quite foreboding enough to send fear through her. He wanted her. Her, Mia Baker of the big b
utt and jiggly thighs.
Yeah, sometimes she was slow on the uptake, but a hard-on in the living room when the bear came roaring to the surface in a blink was very, very different from what she was experiencing now. Now it was a deep mixture of man and beast staring at her as if she were the tastiest treat. Mia wanted to be eaten.
Ty continued to rub the wet, cold, ice-filled towel across her injury over and over.
“Ty,” she whispered and tugged against his hold. The man simply smirked, flashing her a sexy grin, but didn’t release her. “Ty,” this time it was a whine.
Finally, he removed the icepack, but instead of letting her go, he brought her hand to his mouth. Gentle, chaste kisses were brushed across her burnt skin and what should have hurt, didn’t. His gaze locked with hers and sincerity along with something else filled his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Surprise overtook Mia. Men, werebears in particular, didn’t like to admit they were wrong and definitely didn’t apologize. A sort of dick-ish way to behave, but it was part of the beast.
He brought one hand to her face, fingers ghosting over her skin. “I’m so sorry.”
A loud pop and sizzle behind her elevated his gentle rumbling to a snarl, Ty shoving her behind him as he inspected the room. If he hadn’t looked so deadly, she would have laughed.
Instead, she gasped and nudged him out of the way. “Sugar, sugar, sugar… The bacon!”
She bolted past him and ran to the stove, watching said bacon dance in its grease.
The big, bad Grayslake Itan nudged her out of the way. He scooped up the fork and deftly flipped the strips of meat then lowered the heat of the eye. He did the same with eggs she’d forgotten about, turning them over without missing a beat.
Gorgeous and he cooked. Heck, he was more gorgeous the more he cooked. Nothing was sexier than the way he flipped an egg or slipped a slice of bacon onto a paper towel lined plate. It made her knees weak. And then there was the toast…
A nudge from Ty tore her away from her breakfast-induced fantasies. “Go sit down.” He gestured toward the kitchen table that looked older than her dead grandpa.
“But…”
“Sit, Mia. I scared the crap out of you and hurt you, so lemme feed you.” Worry and a hint of… something… tinged his expression.
“I… the coffee… living room floor…” She gestured toward the front of the house with her unharmed hand, dripping water on the linoleum floor. Coffee was soaking into the wood and ancient carpet as they spoke.
“I’ll have your floors redone and get your carpet cleaned. Sit.” He pointed at a rickety, unreliable looking chair. She paused, deciding on whether to listen, but another wave of the spatula got her moving.
Mia sat and watched. It was like food-laced porn. It took him no time, and very little mess, to slide a plate filled with eggs, bacon, toast, and pancakes before her. She still hadn’t figured out where he hunted up the ingredients for pancakes—or the syrup—but it didn’t matter. Nope, the Grayslake Itan was sitting at her condemned kitchen table with an all-too-sexy grin in place.
Once again her body reacted to his closeness, her pussy heating and nipples pebbling. When his gaze darted to her chest and then back to her face, his grin broadened into a smile. Darn it, he knew what he did to her. She shoved a bite of eggs into her mouth before she could beg him to throw her on the table and have his wicked way with her curvy body.
Ty took a bite as well and then pointed is fork at her. The man did a lot of pointing. “Tell me about you, Mia Baker.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Not much to say. You know—knew—my grandfather, right?” At his nod, she shrugged and continued. “I’m sure he regaled you with stories, so there’s nothing to tell. Thirty-three, single, graphic designer and wannabe web programmer. I know just enough about coding to be dangerous and tend to break things just as much as I fix them.”
Ty quirked a brow. “Does single mean unattached?”
“Um…” She cleared her throat and blinked back the tears quickly filling her eyes. “Yes, recently.”
That topic was so far off the table, it was ridiculous. There was no way she wanted to revisit her time with Justin. Zero.
A deep rumbling growl vibrated through the room, and she realized Ty’s bear had come out to play. “Did he hurt you?”
“I… He… It wasn’t…” A ripple slid over his features and dark brown fur immediately followed. Oh, crap on a cracker. “Not the way you think.” She rushed out the words, anxious to calm him. The last thing she needed was a half-ton bear in her kitchen. For some reason, she seemed to push his bear’s buttons. Funny thing was, he pushed hers, too.
Ty reached for her, his movements slow and deliberate, giving her a chance to withdraw. She didn’t. Why would she? She craved his skin against hers more than her next breath.
A shiver overtook her at the first touch of his palm against her cheek, and he rubbed her skin, the callused pad of his thumb tracing circles. “How?”
“It wasn’t…” She leaned into his touch and nuzzled his hand. “In the end, I wasn’t what he wanted.” She wasn’t tall. Or thin. Or, or, or… Or so many things. “He thought I could be, but I’m me and that was a disappointment.”
“That’s not surprising,” a feminine voice dripped with sarcasm and Mia jolted, jerking free of Ty’s hold.
His gaze never wavered from hers, and he dropped his hand to pet and stroke her forearm. “Sarah, forget how to knock?”
The words seemed innocuous. The tone was anything but. No, the Itan was pissed. She’d been dealing with the man—even when he’d neared bear shaped—until now. At the moment, Ty was all clan leader.
The woman whimpered but didn’t say another word.
Ty’s gentle expression vanished, and he slid his palm from her skin. In a single, fluid movement, he rose from his chair and spun to face the stranger in her kitchen. The action gave Mia her first look at the woman. Then she wished she hadn’t. Because, really, if the male werebears were hot, this woman was smoking.
While Mia woke with bedraggled hair that stuck up in a half-dozen directions, this chick’s ’do was flawless. The dark tresses laid in perfect, soft ringlets, framing her perfect face with its perfect nose and perfectly pouty lips. Then there was the woman’s body. It was trim and toned with small curves in all the right places. Mia sported pajamas, and her visitor wore a dress that clung to her. Oh, and her legs. Those suckers went on for miles and the woman easily had six inches on Mia.
She wanted to scratch out the stranger’s eyes. A bad thing considering there was little doubt the woman had a bear lurking beneath the surface.
Dang it.
“Well?” This time, the question wasn’t barked, but it was a near thing.
“I wanted to check on you. Isaac said you were staying with some human and I needed to make sure you were okay.” The last bit of her statement held such a simpering tone that Mia wanted to puke. Plus, the idea of scratching her eyes out returned. Especially considering the familiarity she used with Ty. Like the woman had a right to worry.
Ty looked at Mia over his shoulder and smirked, as if he’d read her mind. “You don’t think I can handle one little human?”
Sarah glared at Mia, but the expression fled when Ty looked back to her. “Of course you can.” The woman approached, hips swaying and a sweet smile gracing her lips. She sidled up to Ty’s stiff body and placed her palm on his chest, rubbing it softly. “It’s just, you usually spend your nights at the den and—”
A low, grumbling growl came from behind Sarah and a streak of dark fur blurred into the kitchen. It wrapped around Sarah’s leg and slid its teeth deep into her calf.
Mia identified the snarling ball of fluff right before the woman kicked him off. Blood dripping from his mouth, Parker went sailing across the room, beneath the table and then collided with the aged kitchen cabinets. A low whine came from his tiny chest and rage boiled up inside Mia.
How dare she? A cub! A mostly-defenseless cub!
&n
bsp; She was torn between tending to Parker and kicking Sarah’s witchy rear end, but Ty took her choice away. He was on the woman in less than a second, his hand wrapped around her throat while he backed her out of the room. Which left Mia with the little one.
She approached slowly, holding her breath with each step. Werebears, when shifted, could be as unpredictable as their natural counterparts. Cubs in particular. True, they still retained their human thoughts, but the animalistic side of them always waited for a chance to take control. He’d been a sweetheart before, but there was no telling now.
“Parker, honey?” Mia eased down to her knees and half-crawled toward the small, fur covered boy. “Sweetheart?”
A low growl was her only warning before her arms were suddenly filled with squirming, wiggling, and very bloody werebear cub. Parker buried his head under her arm and whined, pressing as close to her body as he could. She fell back with an oomph but didn’t fight the child’s presence.
Screeching from the other room filtered through the walls, but Mia couldn’t have cared less. The cub’s aggressiveness would have to be addressed, but the woman was a werebear, she should have been able to handle the pain of a child’s bite without flinging him across the room.
The shrieks grew louder and louder while Parker seemed to get more and more upset until all sound was silenced by a wall-shaking roar. The air stilled and even the birds outside ceased their songs. Then the rapid click of high-heeled shoes across the wood floors broke into the quiet, immediately followed by the slam of her front door. And the tinkling of more glass. Dang it, sounded like the woman shattered another window. They’d boarded up the few windows broken by Griss yesterday, but now…
It was times like this Mia wished she was a bear.