by A. B Lee
“Not that you’re not a woman that I wouldn’t, because I would…” Shane growled inwardly. It was making it worse.
“Thanks. I think.” Lucy frowned.
“I’m not the best with explaining myself.” Shane gave up trying and slumped back in his seat. Now she did feel sorry for him.
“Yeah well, you’re male.” She tossed up a shoulder and saw him start to smile. That smile turned into a grin and he gave a small chuckle.
“Thanks.”
“Anytime.” She offered back.
“On the bright side.” Shane cleared his throat. “There’s snacks, water, blankets…” He went to say a bed and thought better of it. She’d already panicked the first time that he’d mentioned it.
“So we’re not totally helpless then.” Lucy eyed the outside world again. Not that she could see much.
Shane’s beast didn’t like that description. Helpless. He’d never been helpless in his life and he had the urge to protect her with his should the situation arise.
His beast gentle growled as if he’d hit the nail right on the head. Damn it. How had he not seen this before?
Shane felt the urge to hit his head against the steering wheel. He resisted it only because he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. He made her nervous and she made him hornier than hell…
This curvy little pint sized human female was his mate.
Of all the damn times and places to uncover the truth, now wasn’t the best of them. He couldn’t escape her to run as his bear, and he couldn’t tell her what he was because he didn’t want a screaming female on his hands. What the hell was he going to do now?
“Listen, Lucy… I’m gonna go curl up in the back of the truck with the load. That way you can feel more comfortable about…” Her eyes widened and she almost choked on her tongue as she stared back at him in disbelief.
“You’re what?” She spat out. “No!” She shook her head.
“Look, nobody’s going to come through this storm and you can lock the cab…” He reasoned, but the woman was still shaking her head.
“That’s not…” She bit down on a sigh. “I trust you.” Lucy tossed up a hand and Shane frowned.
“You do?” He looked sceptical.
“I… kind of trust you.” Lucy didn’t want to lie to the guy. He’d offered to freeze his butt off in the back of the truck for her. She doubted he was going to get all mean and handy with her. After all, as he said, he didn’t need any help getting woman.
“Kind of…?” He gave her the kind of grin that could knock her panties off.
“Well, stranger danger, and all that implies.” She absently shrugged her shoulders.
It was strange. The longer that she sat there talking to the guy, the less threatened she actually felt by him. The man didn’t just drive a truck, he was built like one, and yet there was something in those eyes of his that said he really wasn’t a danger to her.
“Ok, so I’m gonna take a blanket and go…”
“No. Don’t. Seriously. Don’t leave me alone in this and don’t put yourself through that.” Lucy eyed the outside world again because she really didn’t want to look him in the eye one more time. His eyes might just read her soul; they certainly looked as if they could.
He obviously wasn’t attracted to her. He’d said as much. So why make the poor guy freeze in the back of his truck?
She needed to get a grip. Not everyone was an asshole. Although, she always seemed to find the men that were.
This was different. This was a random meeting of two people that were just heading in the same direction. He wasn’t a monster. He was just a guy.
A real nice guy if the fact that he was willing to freeze his backside off just to make her feel better was anything to go by.
Didn’t she feel stupid?
“Ok. We’ll sit it out together.” Shane turned in his seat and stared at the whiteout in front of him.
Now what? He kind of wished that she’d taken him up on his offer. His bear was getting antsy inside of him.
While they were on the road driving towards home then the bear was almost content that they had a purpose. Now he had nowhere to go and a mate sitting in a confined space with him and all bets were off. He had to tell her… something.
“I don’t want you to freak out…” Shane announced and he saw her head whip around.
“Something wrong with the truck?”
“Nope.”
“Where we’re parked?”
“Don’t think so.” Shane winced. Surely she was running out of options and he’d have to cut to the chase of it.
“You?” She said quietly. Shane frowned. Then he groaned. He couldn’t tell her he was a damn shifter, not yet.
“I need to pee…” Shane announced. It wasn’t really a lie. He could take a piss.
“Oh.” Lucy pursed her lips and considered it. Shane winced again as he reached behind him and snatched his jacket from the seat.
“I’ll be right back.” He frowned.
He pushed open the door against the wind and heard the hinges creak as it fought to hit the lock again. His strength could have held it open in a force ten gale. The blast of ice cold air was actually a relief as he dropped down into the snow and slammed the door closed.
He turned the wing mirror in on itself so that he couldn’t be seen from inside the cab and stalked towards the back of the truck. There was one thing he did know. He wasn’t going to be able to take a leak with a cock harder than steel.
Right now; he was out of the confines of the cab and away from his mate and that was all that mattered. He knew he was close to home, and given the opportunity, he probably could have shifted and made it there within an hour or so. But that wasn’t going to happen. He had a mate to care for.
Shane’s bear wanted out. The beast had a need to protect their mate and it didn’t care that all he would be protecting her from was a damn snow storm. That would be all Shane needed, for his damn bear to pop up at the window of the truck and scare the shit out of her.
Shane fished his phone out of his back pocket. He had a need to talk to Jackson or Alex. But the damn thing wasn’t going to get reception in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard; he knew it, but still he tried.
“Damn it. Damn. Damn. Damn.” He kicked a tyre in frustration. His beast growled. He needed to calm the hell down or he’d lose it.
CHAPTER THREE
Lucy sat in the truck and wondered just how long it took for a man to have a pee. Then she wondered if it was just a pee. Then she smiled to herself with that old saying…
Does a bear shit in the woods…?
She wasn’t stupid. She knew what Shane was and it was one of the reasons why she hadn’t wanted to get in the metal box with him. Shifters were grumpy, growly, assholes with a superiority complex and a persecution one to match, and they were hornier than hell…
Shane wasn’t like that. He was different. Maybe not the hornier than hell part, but he didn’t seem overly grumpy or growly, and he wasn’t an asshole. At least- he wasn’t an asshole- yet…
She looked at the wing mirror and found it turned inwards. All that she could see was his seat and snow. Snow, snow everywhere.
At least if she couldn’t go anywhere then Diego couldn’t either.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. She’d run from one shifter into the arms of another. She frowned hard.
Not the damn arms. No sex here, oh-no. I’m not going down that road. Well, I’m going down a road with him, when we manage to get started again, but no sex. Hell, no way.
What is it with shifters? Damn good looking but with an attitude to match. I want something real in my life from now on and mindless sex might have been good for the body, but it was a damn strain on the soul.
Diego wants to think of me as his property that’s his problem. I’m on my way to… somewhere else. With… a guy that takes forever to go for a pee…
She considered swapping seats and rolling down the wind
ow to see if he was ok. Maybe he’d fallen into a ditch and couldn’t get out? Maybe she was loopy for worrying?
He had picked her up at the side of the road with no questions asked and no expectations…
She started to lean over into the driver’s seat when the door was wrenched open and he took up a good proportion of the space in the doorway. The icy winds blasted her in the face and she jumped back into her own seat. Shane’s eyes locked on hers for what had to be the longest moment of her life as he hesitated at the door…
“You ok?” Shane called in over the winds and the storm.
“Yeah. I didn’t think you were. Thought you might have got stuck in a ditch…” Lucy yanked her eyes away from his and noted him climbing back into the cab.
“I just checked the load.” Shane lied as he climbed back into the cab and slammed the door shut. He didn’t even have a real load. He’d dropped off his stuff and was only bringing back a few bits for the Valley Clan on his journey home. Home… Damn, he’d much rather have been held up in his cabin with her than out there on the road.
“Thought you might have had trouble finding it in the cold…” Lucy chuckled and then grimaced.
For a moment there she had forgotten who she was talking too. Her eyes flicked sideways and she caught the great big grin on his face as he silently chuckled. His broad shoulders were moving up and down and she felt a modicum of relief that he’d taken it the right way.
“Unlikely.” Shane assured her in a way that was as equally playful as his mate had been. His beast, however, growled gently at the slight to their manhood. He needed to rein the beast in one more time.
He had the urge to drive the truck out of there, and if it had been just him then he might have risked it, but he couldn’t take that chance with her in the cab. He felt settled and unsettled all at the same time. As if his beast was at peace that they had found their mate and yet restless not to have secured their future together.
How the hell was he going to woo her when they were stuck in a damn truck in the middle of nowhere?
“You seem… edgy.” Lucy offered. Maybe talking to him wasn’t the right way to go to keeping her distance. She’d wanted nothing more than a lift to the next- wherever- that he was going too, but they couldn’t really sit there in silence until the storm cleared.
“I guess I don’t like to be confined. I’m more of an outdoor kind of guy.” Shane offered back. While he’d like to tell her about his needs, all of his needs, he didn’t think it would go down too well. A sudden blast of wind rocked the cab and she jumped a little. “It’s just the wind.” Shane offered.
He reached out in front of him and fisted the steering wheel to save from reaching over and scooping her into his lap. He felt the need to protect her. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her within his arms and for her to know that she was safe with him.
“Lucky it’s not thundering. I’d be under the seat.” She joked, but a part of her wasn’t lying. She hated storms, all storms, she felt too helpless against nature, and she hated to feel helpless. “When this snow stops we can get going, right?” She eyed the veil of white that covered the windscreen.
“I’ll have to see how the land lies when this stops. The roads might be too dangerous to attempt to move.”
“You mean we could be stuck here indefinitely?” Lucy felt the rush of panic within her.
“We might need to walk to the nearest town.” Shane tightened his grip on the wheel. This wasn’t good. His bear was picking up on her plight. “How are you at walking?” Shane would carry her if he had too.
“One foot in front of the other.” Lucy offered back with a small shrug off her shoulders and Shane chuckled again. The deep rumble brought her attention back towards him. He noted that she seemed to settle a little more when she was looking directly into his eyes. He liked that.
“Cute.” He offered back and saw the amusement in her eyes. “Don’t worry. One way or the other I’ll get us out of here.”
“You that eager to get rid of me?” She smiled and his body tensed. He had to hold onto another rumble that threatened to roll through him.
“That’s a loaded question…” Shane chuckled again.
He wanted to tell her that it was the last thing he wanted. The fear that was nagging in the back of his mind, but he didn’t want to appear psychotic. He’d only just met her; declaring his undying love for her would be a step too far.
“Sorry. Just ignore me. If you want to get some sleep…” Her eyes flicked towards the back and he felt his length twitch in his jeans. The thought of that damn mattress in the back, of her, of having her lying with him sent his mind swirling with images that he’d rather not have had.
“I’m good. But you go ahead.” Shane dragged his eyes away from her and stared at the whiteout. From the corner of his eye he saw her fidget in place. At least there wasn’t a rush to fear, of panic this time when he’d suggested it.
“I’m good here.”
Lucy’s voice sounded smaller to him, a little breathier. So he guessed that somewhere in the back of her mind she still worried that he was going to pounce on her. He hated how that made him feel.
“Are you hungry yet?”
“No.”
“Thirsty?” She caught sight of his face in the mirror of the truck that he’d turned inwards. It was only a slither between the thick snow that had built up there, but he looked slightly pained, maybe strained…
“No. You seem to want to feed me up…”
“People should eat more in the winter…” He offered back with a shrug off his broad shoulders.
“We don’t hibernate…” His head snapped around and she was certain that she’d heard a crunch from the bones in his neck. His eyes fixed on hers and narrowed slightly. She swallowed.
Damn, did I say the wrong thing? Does he not like people knowing that he’s a shifter?
“You know what I am?” Shane held his breath and waited for her answer. She nodded. He felt a sudden rush of relief and it seemed to lift a giant weight from him.
“Does it bother you?” He asked and she shook her head. “Good. Cos I’ve been trying not to growl this whole damn time in case you freaked out.” He relaxed back into his chair and let go of the steering wheel. His beast pulled back a little. Their mate wasn’t afraid of shifters.
“You get that a lot? People being afraid of you?” Lucy felt for him. He seemed like a decent guy and she hated the thought of him being judged for who he was.
“Yeah.” She waited while he considered it. “On the one hand you have people who want to get to know you because you’re a shifter…”
“Bear bait…” She nodded. She’d seen her fair share of those woman hanging around Diego. They wanted to sample one night with a shifter male- just to see what all the fuss was about. She hated woman like that.
“Bear bait?” When he frowned his eyebrows curled up towards the top of his head and his eyes looked a little more soulful. She liked that.
“It’s what we call the woman who throw themselves at shifters.”
“Sounds… fitting. I’ve got a friend, Marcus, who just loves women like that…” He chuckled.
“What about you?” It bugged her a little inside as she waited for his answer. She wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t as if she was with this guy and had to fend them off the way she had with Diego.
“I wasn’t opposed to…” Shane grunted a little. He didn’t want to relive the thought of all of those woman with his mate. It seemed wrong.
“Wasn’t- opposed to…?”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Sure. Things happen in your life when you start to look for other things.” Shane offered.
“Like a mate?” Lucy saw his shoulders tense. Sore subject, Lucy, move on…
“Something more fulfilling.” Shane offered. She’d given him the perfect way of exploring that subject and he’d backed up out of there like a coward.
“Like a steak sandwich?” Lucy chuckled.
“Y
ou are hungry…” Shane eyed her and she shook her head.
“I just know that you guys are either fighting, eating or shag… Doing other things.” Lucy turned her head to look out at the non-existent road in front of her. There was a low rumble that came from him, and even that sound seemed less menacing than when Diego did it. If anything; it made the hairs on her skin stand to attention… It was the strangest feeling.
“Well, we’re bears- so fighting is a given. We’re all pretty big guys with fast metabolisms- so eating is a must, as for other things- well that soothes the bear within…”
“So when you guys get all rowdy someone should throw you a venison steak or strip naked, good to know.” Lucy still wasn’t looking at him but she could feel his eyes on her. There was another low rumble and she shot a sideways look to find him gripping that steering wheel again. “Is this conversation bugging you?”
“Not, bugging me, exactly…” Shane couldn’t look at her. Not right then. Not when she’d put the image of herself stripped naked in his mind. His bear was back to prowling within him.
“Making you- hungry?” Lucy tested the waters. Something was up with him.
“I could eat.” Shane could always eat, but a nice juicy steak didn’t fill him with half of the longing he felt for the taste of her on his tongue. This conversation was getting out of hand. It was a red rag to a bull for his beast.
“Well don’t stand on ceremony for me. Eat.” Lucy wondered if that was why he kept trying to feed her.
Shane was caught between a rock and a hard place. Now he had to eat, whether he wanted to or not. He pushed up to his feet and turned towards the back of the truck and the sound from her lips when she came face to face with the hard ridge inside of his jeans made him wince…
“Not hungry then.” She looked up at him. He expected to see accusation in her eyes when all that was there was amusement. Another wave of relief hit him and he dropped back down into his chair and blew his breath out on a long sigh.
“Not- exactly.”
“I know shifters. I’ve known one quite well…” His beast growled at her admission. He felt a wave of jealousy rush through him and that need to rip the guy’s head off. But there was a nervous look on her face that told him so much more, and when her eyes absently flicked to the outside, and then back again- he thought he had her pegged.