Her legs were trembling now, and her pace had slowed down considerably. She was so focused on getting away from her mate that she did not notice that more danger lurked in the woods. When she was tackled from the side, her attacker held her by her throat on the ground.
Cassie grew white as a sheet as she recognized the woman. She tried to kick but her legs were restrained.
“I found her!” Mackenzie yelled out gleefully.
“No!” Cassie shouted viciously before she head-butted the woman. Getting to her feet, she let her beast to the forefront. Her animal could scent her mate in the air, but it also recognized the danger to its cub.
Claws out, she rushed forward and slashed at the enemy. Mackenzie was a part of her father’s pack. She had met Mackenzie at the age of ten when her moth had been forced to return to the pack. They were the same age, but Mackenzie had a streak of cruelness that had been taught at their alpha’s knee.
She may have been trained by the best, but Cassie had learned how to survive in the streets and among the worst of predators. She had built up her own network of connections since her mother’s death, so she was not going to be intimidated by a spoiled little brat.
She kicked out, and when Mackenzie reeled from the blow, Cassie slashed her claws at her throat. The woman choked out blood and fell to the ground. However, shifters were incredibly fast healers, so Cassie knew that the blow was not fatal. When she heard footsteps behind her, she whirled around and caught a ringing blow on her chest which made her stumble to the ground out of breath. Still recovering from the unexpected pain, she grabbed a handful of dirt, and when her new opponent reached for her, she threw it into his eyes, making him shout in anger.
She stood up to face him when Mackenzie shifted and jumped towards her. However, before she could connect, a large shape came flying out of the woods and interrupted the attack. The massive bear shifter threw Mackenzie aside like a rag doll and advanced towards the other shifter who stood there, gaping. When the latter realized that he was the next target, he snarled and shifted. One paw threw Cassie to the side where she hit the tree with a sickening thud and crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Luke’s roar was ear splitting.
His bear saw red at the sight of the still woman. It did not hesitate. Claws out, he slashed at the male. One hit was all it took for the bear to go down and stay down.
Luke moved towards the fallen woman who had his insides in a twist. His bear sniffed at her, whining. She was still breathing, but there was something faintly odd about her scent.
He sniffed at her neck and as he went lower, the scent became stronger. His nose poked at her abdomen and stomach and his bear got excited as he realized what it was.
Cub!
The bear’s enthusiasm was such that Luke had to force the animal back and shift. Naked, he stared at the unconscious woman. She was still breathing, but lay unconscious.
What was she doing here?
He knew she was pregnant. The bear could smell it. When a female was carrying, their scent became musky and more potent. Had she come here knowing it was his child?
Luke picked her up and frowned at how light she was. Even now, after a stretch of three months, he could still remember her weight in his arms, and that was very disturbing. However, he did notice that she had lost some weight, and he could see the dark circles under her eyes.
Witches and shifters did not copulate, but now that they had, he would have to take her back to the den and see what could be done about this. His animal was excited and possessive and snarled at him to be gentle as he carried her back.
Chapter 5
Cassie heard a voice as she came to. Her back and her head were throbbing. She bit her lip to hide her groan as she let herself fully awaken. She had been taught how to keep her heartbeat slow, and she practiced the little trick she had learned from a vampire down in New Orleans.
Of course, she had staked the bastard once he’d tried to sell her off when he’d discovered her identity, but she had learned quite a few useful tips from him on survival.
She was in an unfamiliar environment right now and she had no weapons. Still, these weren’t the worst odds she’d had. For now, she focused on gathering intel.
“Malnourished.” She heard a male voice.
Was he talking about her? That offended her. She was not malnourished. That was just rude.
However, she could tell that there was only one male in the room. She could take him.
Letting out a small groan, she heard the bustling movement as he came nearer. “Can you hear me? Are you awake?” the voice said.
Of course, she was. Stupid man.
Feeling his hand on her wrist, Cassie opened her eyes and grabbed the startled shifter by the lapels of his shirt. She twisted herself and threw him over her shoulder where he went crashing into a metal cupboard, leaving a sizeable dent.
Cassie jumped to her feet and grabbed onto the bed for support when her vision grayed for a few seconds. However, she could not afford to rest. She ran towards the door and heard footsteps rushing towards her. Retreating into the room, she looked around for a window and scowled when she saw there was none. She grabbed a scalpel to use as a makeshift tool, and when a familiar looking man burst into the room, she did not let herself think as she instinctively attacked.
She got in a few good hits before the scalpel was snatched from her and she was imprisoned against the body of her opponent who glared down at her.
Oh, shit.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
Golden eyes were narrowed at her, and she blinked and tried to act casual. “Hi,” she said.
He didn’t release her. “Hey,” came the response. “You going somewhere?”
Damn it. What was his name again?
Cassie tried to struggle, but she couldn’t move an inch. “The little girls room?”
Her mate looked over her head and raised a brow. “And what, Jude wouldn’t let you?” he said.
Jude? Oh, he must be the guy that she might have killed.
“Something like that,” Cassie said, frowning. “Why am I here?”
Luke made a strange face and leaned down to sniff her neck, making her scowl. “Hey, what are you–”
She wasn’t wearing her amulet.
Missing the cold metal against her bare neck threw Cassie into a hot panic. No!
She started struggling so viciously that Luke pulled his head away.
“Let go of me!”
She kicked at him, and he was forced to release her. Pushing past him into the hallway, her heartbeat increased when she realized that she was trapped. This entire den was built in a cave and that meant if there were any exits, only the pack members knew about them.
Cassie heard her mate’s angry growl behind her and ran for it, choosing a direction blindly. Letting her instincts guide her, she pushed open a door and froze in numbing shock.
She was surrounded by the alpha’s scent.
It was an average-sized room with a double bed dominating it. Clothes lay strewn on a chair, and a pair of weights were carefully placed at the end of the room.
Cassie snarled at her beast when she heard the click of the lock behind her. Her bear had led her right into her mate’s quarters. She turned around slowly, and the alpha of the pack stood there, glaring at her.
She snarled at him.
There was no way out of this room. She was well and truly ensnared.
He did not move and neither did Cassie.
They both just stared at each other until he broke the silence “You’re a shifter.”
Cassie bared her teeth at him. “And how is that your business?” When Luke just growled, she scowled, “Even if I am, you cannot force me to join your pack.”
“It is my business if you’re carrying my cub.”
Cassie threw her head back defiantly and said, “How do you know it’s yours?”
“Don’t insult my intelligence!” Luke’s growl echoed in the room. “I know the
child is mine. It bears my scent. What I want to know is,” he took a few steps forward, “how did you manage to conceive? Only mated partners can –”
He saw the panic and fear light up in her eyes. So, Cassie held secrets she didn’t want him finding out. Well, he wasn’t going to force them out of her.
“Never mind. Let’s focus on the situation at hand.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will. I won’t join your pack.”
Luke looked surprised, “Force you? Nobody is forcing you to do anything. You’re not a prisoner here.”
The shock on Cassie’s face and the tremendous relief made Luke make a note in the back of his mind to find out just what kind of pack Cassie was associated with.
“So, I can leave?” A wary question.
Luke shrugged. “I can’t stop you, but where will you go?”
Cassie looked uncomfortable at not having answer to that. She had been ready to jump ship when she had not found the witch. Without the help of one who practiced the dark arts to help protect her child’s secret, she was ready to go on the run.
“Your pack?”
Cassie was dragged from her thoughts. Startled, she asked, “What?”
Luke raised a brow. “Will you go back to your pack?”
“I don’t – I don’t have a pack,” Cassie said, shaking her head.
Luke crossed his arms. He had his suspicions, but she had walked right into his trap when she admitted she was a rogue.
“So you have no home to go to?”
Cassie wanted to argue with him but he was right, so she just glared at him. The alpha bear narrowed his eyes. “That’s my cub as well. I have equal rights to it. I can’t force you to stay here, but where you go, I will follow.”
Cassie looked up. Startled, she asked, “What?”
Luke raised a hand to interrupt her. “You were attacked by someone who knew you. Which means you clearly have enemies. You may think you can protect yourself, but maternal female shifters are at their weakest when they are carrying, and I’m sure even you know that. Are you willing to take that risk with our cub?”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “I am offering you protection here. You and the cub will be safe and the pack will protect you both with their lives. Even if you don’t want to stay here, until the cub is born, this is the safest place for you.”
Cassie clenched her fists. Even if she wanted to – even if his words rang with truth – if her mate were to discover what she and her unborn cub were, he might do the same to them. That is, what her father tried to do to her mother and her. Her hands trembled.
“Luke!”
The demanding voice of a child had the alpha turning around to open the door. Cassie watched warily as a golden-haired little girl tumbled into the room.
She watched Luke pick up the child in his arms and dust her frock. “Hello, Sarah,” he said.
The girl patted Luke on the cheeks with her sticky fingers, and Cassie saw the chocolate smeared all over her mouth.
“Mama made you a chocolate cake.” The child told the alpha, cheerfully.
Luke picked up a white shirt and carried the child over to the small attached bathroom as Cassie watched, transfixed. She saw him wet the shirt under the running tap and clean the little girl’s mouth gently as he asked, “Is there any left for me?”
Sarah gave him a guilty look and shook her head, before burying her face in Luke’s chest. A muffled voice asked, “Are you mad?”
Luke didn’t so much as crack a grin. Very seriously, he said, “I guess I’ll wait for you to turn into a chocolate bear now, and then gobble you up.”
The childish laughter had Cassie’s heart clenching. “I won’t turn into a chocolate bear, silly!”
“Yes, you will. Now hold still. Let’s wash your hands before Emily finds out what you did.”
The girl dutifully let him clean her up before he sent her on her way.
Cassie watched Luke’s interaction with the little girl and it confused her. In her old pack, children were not treated with such love and attention. She had never been held by any pack adult when she and her mother had been forced back into the pack. In the two years that they had stayed before escaping again, she had seen very few children, and those that she did encounter had either been subdued or just cruel. In her old pack, her father’s motto had been that the strongest survived.
Her mother had escaped when her father had wanted to use Cassie as an official pack breeder. She had only been twelve then. Never had she seen an alpha treat a child with such tenderness. Would he behave like that with their child, too? Would he show the same kindness and affection? What about when he found out that they were mated? Would he force her to commit acts against her will?
“That was Sarah.” Luke told her, “We don’t have many cubs. And the few that we have are precious to everybody.”
Precious?
That wasn’t a word she had ever heard regarding cubs.
Luke saw the hesitation on her face and said, “Cassie, you cannot survive out there if you’re carrying. Your instincts may be sharper, but your body will be weak. During these times, the mate protects the female,” He saw her face turn pale, but he wanted – no, needed – her to stay with him. “That’s my cub, and I want to protect it. I have that right.”
Cassie wondered why he wasn’t forcing her to stay with him. He could have. But the fact that he wasn’t made her decide to give it a go. If her father had sent his best people to capture her, then she would need to be prepared. And right now, this was probably the safest she could be.
She had her herbs with her, and that would help mask her true scent. Let them think she was a rogue shifter. Her father would never think of looking for her in other packs.
“Fine. I’ll stay. Until the cub arrives. And then we’ll assess the situation and decide further. But I make no promises, Luke.”
Her mate gave her a sexy grin. “A few months it is. Plenty of time for me to convince you to stay here.”
Cassie looked around, and said nonchalantly, “We’ll see. So how does this work?”
Luke studied her for a moment. She was a cool customer. And he knew that she was very deadly with or without a weapon. In the last three months, he had been unable to get this woman off his mind. And now that she stood here pregnant with his cub, his bear was ecstatic. He didn’t understand this pull he felt towards this complicated woman.
It had been so long since his animal had been happy – no rage, no black mood, just content. It looked at the brown-haired woman standing there and rumbled with satisfaction. He wanted her to stay. And she would stay. He would make sure that she was so entangled with him by the time the child came that leaving would not even be an option.
“Here.”
Cassie raised a brow. “Excuse me?”
Luke smiled pleasantly. “You’ll share my quarters.”
The woman in front of him was not easy to intimidate, and that pleased his bear. He did not want a weak mate.
Mate? Wasn’t he thinking too far ahead? But despite Cassie’s secrets, both he and the animal wanted her with a ferocity which was troubling.
When she gave him a tight smile and asked, “Why? Are you short on beds?” Luke was compelled to reply, “No. But I want you in mine.”
Chapter 6
Cassie’s cheeks turned red, but she didn’t back down. “I’m not going to sleep with you.”
Luke raised his hands. “I never said you have to. But I will enjoy trying to change your mind. In the meantime,” he said, looking her over, “would you like to tell me who’s after you?”
“No.”
He growled. “Then how do you expect me to protect you?”
Cassie scowled. “I didn’t ask for your protection. Let me just assure you that the people who are looking for me will never look for me in your pack, so your pack members are safe.”
Luke walked over to the messed-up bed and sat down, his eyes not moving from her face, “You must tru
st someone, someday. You don’t seem like a woman who has many friends.”
Cassie didn’t say anything. What did he know about her? She couldn’t afford to have friends. She merely had allies. And she had systems in place that ensured that if at any time she went missing she could get help. She found Luke a hard man to read.
A knock on the door had them glancing towards it.
A woman’s voice said, “Luke, I’m coming in. We have a problem with the–”
The female stopped short when she saw that Luke was not alone. She stared at Cassie who studied her in turn.
“Heather, you could have just called me. Why do you keep barging in?”
Luke sounded annoyed, and the elder smiled – a triumphant look. “I see. And who are you?”
Cassie was getting weirder out by the crazy smile the elderly woman wore. “Cassie,” she said.
“Are you and Luke sleeping together?”
“Heather, get out of my quarters!” Luke roared.
“It was just a question,” the woman retorted.
“Out!”
Heather shook her head, and as she left, she told Cassie, “Come to me when you’re done here. I’ll show you around.”
Cassie didn’t comment, and when Heather left, Luke snarled and kicked the bed, making it creak.
“So, you have temper issues. Good to know.”
Luke’s snarl increased in tempo.
Luke’s pack – Shadow Claw – held very curious packmates, and it didn’t take long for Cassie to realize that she was the hot topic of discussion. She followed Luke around and realized that although he was snarly and snappy, he was a good alpha. His packmates gravitated towards him, and he let them. Young and old, male and female, they moved around Luke when he was there, teasing him and badgering him. And although he was impatient and he growled at the lot of them, he went out of his way to make them feel welcome.
The children loved him. Cassie realized that she had yet to see him smile. His attitude with the children was serious and yet she could see how he nurtured their instincts and let them cuddle with him, clamber all over him, and chew on him. It was a strange sight for her, and she found it fascinating. For a second, she let herself imagine that the baby chomping on Luke’s nose was theirs.
Saved by Alpha Bear (Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Shadow Claw Book 1) Page 4