Sarah was sprawled out in a big clump of leaves, fighting and clawing her way out. She looked spitting mad and her anger was aimed entirely at me. “You bitch! You stupid, stupid bitch. You pushed me! You pushed me into poison ivy!”
I immediately crowded back, and collided with Wyatt’s hard, hot chest. “I didn’t push you. I was trying to save you from falling. If I’d known it was you, though, I would’ve pushed. What were you doing here? Why were practically running into our shelter?”
“Our shelter?” She said it with incredulity at the same time as Wyatt said it with a smile in his voice.
I turned to him and put my hand to my forehead. Looking at all that bare chest exposed was enough to momentarily make me forget how badly my brain was thundering against my skull and I had to touch it to make sure I hadn’t imagined everything. “Your shelter.”
He grinned and hooked an arm around my waist. “Our shelter. Even if you were trying to run away from it.”
I winced and he just chuckled. “I was… just stepping out for some fresh air.”
“You were running. That’s okay. I like a good chase.”
My heart skipped a beat and moisture leaked between my thighs until the angry, shrill screaming from behind me registered and I turned back to Sarah.
She was still struggling, rolling around trying to get out and becoming more and more furious by the second. “When I get out of here, I’m going to drag your ass in here and rub it all over you.”
Wyatt growled from behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Watch it. You shouldn’t have been entering my shelter. The way I see it, you’re in the wrong here. Now, if you’ll stop all the caterwauling, I’ll come around and help you out.”
I wanted to protest that. I didn’t want him helping her. Helping her seemed to just encourage her. But, instead, I crossed my arms over my chest and remained silent.
“Yes, please, come save me, Wyatt.”
I hissed at her. “I’m glad I accidentally pushed you.”
“It’s been four days since his dick was inside of me, you bubble head. He made me scream on his desk. Four days. That’s all. Think about that long and hard before you start feeling like you are anything special.”
I glared back at Wyatt, who was looking like he wanted to dig a hole and crawl in, and grunted. “You sure do move fast.”
He groaned. “I didn’t know you then. I didn’t know you were coming.”
I poked him in his bare chest and marched away from him. “I suggest you help your girlfriend out of her predicament.”
Before I got too far away, he caught me in his arms and nuzzled his face into my neck from behind. Sensations shot off in me like fireworks. My knees went weak and I dug my fingers into his arm in an attempt to steady myself.
“I’ll walk you down if you’ll just wait.” His voice was thick and husky, not the only proof that he was just as affected as I was. There was also the steel erection burrowed against my ass.
I could feel his need pulsing into me. Not just the normal way, but through some kind of channel that shot straight to my chest. I turned to him and stared up at him with wide eyes. “What did you do?”
He took a step back, but his eyes flickered to my neck. “What do you mean?”
I raised my hand and felt the bite mark. The fog from the night before suddenly cleared and I nearly fell to my knees remembering the feeling of his teeth sinking into my neck. Pleasure, pure and intense, coursed through me and I found myself clinging to his chest before I could help it.
“I, uh, I got a little carried away. It’ll be fine.”
My anger was slow to override my shock. It flowed in like the tide, slowly but surely, as did the realization of what the bite signified. Pleasure aside, he’d taken control of a situation that he had no business controlling. He’d effectively bound me to him for life, if what Allie said was accurate, without my permission. It didn’t get more caveman than that.
As my anger crested, I swung my hand back and used the back of it to swat him, hard, in the ball sack. He went to his knees in front of me and I glared down at him. “You don’t just…bite… someone without their permission!”
I shoved him backwards and then stomped off. Dramatic exits were as important as first impressions. Unsure of where I was going, I decided it didn’t matter as long as it got me away from the asshole who’d marked me without even considering what I wanted. Talk about control freaks.
I kicked a stick out of my way with my flip flop and tried to decide what I should do next. Despite the bright sky above me, my thoughts were grim.
CHAPTER 18: Wyatt
After yanking a still screaming Sarah out of the poison ivy patch, I stalked off in search of my mate. Since we were bonded, I could feel her like a damn beacon, calling my name. She had every right to be upset. I knew it, but that didn’t make me want to give her any more time to herself to stew in her anger, or plot against me. Maybe the smack to the nuts had been enough of a reprimand.
I neared the group campfire location and stilled. She was sitting on a log, by herself, silently fuming. Her lips were moving, but there was no sound coming out, not even any that reached my sensitive hearing. The wind caught her scent and brought it to my nose and I growled as I stepped from the tree line.
“I knew you were there. I could smell you creeping in the trees.” She didn’t look up from the shiny phone she held in her hands.
“I wasn’t creeping. I was trying to decide if you were casting spells or something. You’re a little scary right now.”
She huffed a short laugh and then gave me an angry look like she hadn’t meant to. “Don’t try to be funny. I’m pissed at you. I’m so pissed that I can’t even think straight. I don’t know if I want to boot your ass off the side of this mountain or punch you in the dick again. Both. Both sound really great to me right now.”
I just stared at her. She didn’t know what the bite meant. Why was she so angry about it? “Sugar, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you so upset about a little love mark?”
Her face turned red and she jerked her attention back to her phone. After punching buttons on it for a few seconds, she turned back to me with hesitation in her eyes. “Thorn did the same thing to Allie. Marking her like she’s his property. You just did that to me. You practically lifted your leg and pissed on me. I don’t like that.”
I could hear something else in her words. Something that told me that what she was saying wasn’t the whole truth. I couldn’t guess what else there was to it, though, so let it go. Instead, I tilted my head to the side and showed her the similar bite mark she’d left on my shoulder. Normally, I would’ve healed faster, but for some reason, her mark was staying.
“For someone who is so against people marking their territory, you sure as hell laid a number on me.”
Her eyes flamed as she noticed her bite mark for the first time. Then, her breathing quickened and I watched her nipples pebble beneath the thin tank top she wore. I wanted nothing more than to drag her to me and take her again. I could hear the group closing in on us, though.
“We both got a little carried away, Georgia. I don’t regret it, though. There’s a reason we both let ourselves go.”
“What’s that?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Some people are just meant to be together, sugar. Looks like you’re the lucky one, after all. You get to keep all of this.”
Her lips parted as I flexed my arm muscles and then grinned at her. “Don’t be mean to me. I’ll be distracted by it all day and then people could get hurt.”
She snapped back to reality as leaves crunched, letting us know we weren’t going to be alone for much longer. She shook her head, clearing it, and then gave me a growl of her own. “That’s a cheap way to get me to be nice to you, Wyatt.”
I scooted closer to her and stole a kiss. “I’m willing to be cheap if it gets you in my shelter again.”
She sighed. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”
I grinn
ed against her mouth and kissed her again just as Martha and Bill came into view with Sarah hobbling behind them. I didn’t care. I was with my mate. They’d just have to deal with me not being on my most professional behavior for a couple of days.
I looked over at Georgia. Maybe more than a couple of days… Maybe forever.
*
The second day was usually spent teaching the basics, but everyone with us had been through survival training before and half of them were old pros. Martha hadn’t been kidding when she said she could’ve taught me a thing or two. Bill, too, probably. Considering Martha was a shifter, too, she was just as at home as I was in the outdoors.
Instead of the normal stuff about how to build a real, tried and true shelter, a fire, and stuff like that, we were moving on to eating. I kept Georgia close to my side as I taught the group a new trap.
She’d paled at the idea of trapping a live animal then killing it to eat and survive. Instead of complaining and running from the scene, though, she stood by my side and even attempted to make the trap once. I refrained from pointing out that her trap wouldn’t have caught a snail.
She’d perked right up at the idea of picking berries and had managed to come away from the experience with stained fingers and lips. Her smell surrounded me and I sported a boner the entire time we were there. There was nothing I could do about it.
While we traipsed all over the mountain, she eventually kicked off her flip flops and braved the elements in just her bare feet. I silently vowed that I’d rub them once we were finished. She was doing her best to learn and adapt and it was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen.
My final demonstration of the day, before I released everyone to go out and scavenge for their dinner, was fishing. I taught them how to do it with just a sharpened stick and a piece of vine. While the rest of the group was getting the hang of it, I made my way to Georgia and smiled.
“You having fun yet?”
Her eyes lit up as she looked up at me. She was waist deep in a stream, her clothes soaked from splashing around, and she’d somehow managed to get mud on her forehead. “This part, this is fun!”
I moved into the water behind her, wrapping my arms around her under the guise of helping her fish. “Here. Sometimes, the stick throwing method works better for people who are a little taller and can get a little more motion behind them. You can always use an earring or something similar as a hook, too. Part of surviving is using what you have.”
I always kept a hook in my pocket while teaching, in case someone needed a little extra help. I could tell that, even though she was enthusiastic, Georgia was going to need extra help. A lot of it.
I pulled her over to the bank with me and pointed at the mud. “Find yourself a fat worm.”
Her face said it all. There was no way she was going to stick her hand in the mud to grab a worm.
“Sugar, as much as I’m holding you hostage here to be close to you, I’m also doing it to teach you something. In case you ever need it. So, go ahead. Stick your hand in there and find a worm.”
“That’s not going to happen, Wyatt.” She was shaking her head fervently. “That’s gross. Beyond gross. I don’t want to touch a worm and I don’t want to kill one, either.” Her nose crinkled as she thought more about it. “Let’s go back to the spear method. Maybe if I find a rock to stand on or something, I’ll be able to do it.”
“Okay, we’ll practice without the bait for right now. Let me just show you how to throw it out.”
I should’ve known better than to give my little hell-cat something sharp to throw around.
CHAPTER 19: Georgia
I did everything just the way Wyatt showed me. I drew back the little stick with the vine and hook connected and then I jerked it forward. I wasn’t prepared for the tug I felt or Wyatt instantly swearing from where he stood behind me.
I turned around and looked up at him with wide eyes. “What?!”
Scowling, he took the makeshift pole from me without a word, turned and limped away. His silence was eerie.
I followed him, worried that I’d done something to upset him. “Wyatt, what happened?”
He sat down on the bank and looked down at his leg. His leg, where there was a shiny, silver hook jammed in. He swore some more and then just rested his elbows on his knees and took a couple breaths. How was he the picture of relaxation despite there being a fish hook in him?
I, on the other hand, went into full blown panic mode. I’d injured my mate. I’d stuck a freaking hook into him. “Help! Someone, help! I hooked Wyatt!”
Wyatt started laughing, his eyes crinkling in a distracting way and his hands wrapped around his middle clenching his stomach as he roared.
“Oh, god. He’s going into shock!” I knelt in front of him and cupped his face in my hands. “I’m so sorry, Wyatt. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Hang on, baby, just hang on.”
He sobered up and held my gaze. “Sugar, it’s okay. I’m fine. It’s going to hurt like a bitch to pull out, but I’m not dying. It’s just a scratch, really.”
I looked back at it and felt a wave of nausea roll around in my stomach. Scratch, my ass. He was hooked deep. I stifled a gag and nodded. “Sure. Just a scratch. No big deal.”
He looked up as Martha came over. “It’s okay, Martha. Just got a hook in my leg. Nothing I can’t handle. Why don’t you lead the others back to the traps to see if anything is caught in them?”
She nodded and headed away like getting a hook in your leg was perfectly normal.
I put my hands on Wyatt’s thighs and searched his face for signs of distress. When I found none, I blew out a big breath. “This isn’t that big of a deal?”
He shook his head. “No. You’re not going to want to watch, though.”
I glanced at where his fingers were gripping the hook and gasped. “Wyatt! You can’t just pull it out. You need stitches and a doctor and…medicine. You definitely need medicine.”
He cupped my face in his hand and turned it towards his. “I’m fine. Just a little tug and it’ll be out.”
I looked back down at his leg right as he tugged the hook. Blood and skin ripped out and I felt the world sway. There was blood everywhere. On his hands, on his leg, on the rocks beside him. “Too much…blood.”
“Georgia?”
Wyatt’s voice faded as my vision grew dark and fuzzy at the corners. I felt my stomach roll again as the rocks rushed towards my face.
*
The first things I noticed when I came to were the fact that I was wearing different clothes and my hair was wet. I sat up and groaned. My forehead hurt and I cringed as I felt the skin there. On one side, there was a goose egg from Sarah, and on the other, rough skin that felt like several little scratches.
“I caught you before you really banged your head around, but your forehead still caught the gravel.”
I looked over at Wyatt and frowned. “You dropped me, didn’t you?”
He laughed. “As much as I love your confidence in me, no. I didn’t drop you. You just fell away from me. I did what I could. You’re okay, though.”
I looked at his leg and noticed there was nothing there. Not even a scratch. I wanted to ask, but I figured it had to be something to do with his shifter abilities, so I kept my mouth shut. The more time I spent with him, the more I was worried that we didn’t fit at all. I didn’t want to reveal to him that I knew about mates. If I did, he’d know that I knew that we were supposedly bound forever.
It sucked. Contrary to what I’d have him believe, I liked being around him. I liked him, but it was obvious that we couldn’t be more different. He made me laugh and I couldn’t help but be attracted to him. Yet, I still knew that it wasn’t right. Even if I was the kind of girl who kept men around for longer that a couple weeks, I needed a man more attuned to my lifestyle. A man whose mere existence didn’t threaten my safety with poison ivy pits and fishing hooks. A man who wasn’t more accustomed to killing animals for his dinner and living barefoot in the mountain
s than having dinner in a four-star restaurant.
Those bare feet were almost enough to be my undoing, though. I couldn’t help but look at them. So out of place among the rocks and dried leaves on the ground, and yet so right. His feet were long and tan, a match to his long body. They were clean, despite the elements, and some weird part of me wanted to touch the tops of them to feel the light dusting of hair there. They were the feet of a man, a wild man.
I didn’t know how I was supposed to deal with letting him go when even his feet made me swoon. None of this make sense.
“You look like you’re experiencing a bunch of emotions over there. How do you feel?”
We were alone by his shelter. I looked up and met his eyes and my heart immediately raced. I tried to ignore it. It didn’t know what it needed. It was stupid. “Like I don’t belong.”
His face darkened and he scooted closer to me. He caught one of my own feet in his hands and started massaging it. “You belong.”
I just shook my head. I was suddenly feeling like a big, ugly wart. I was out of place. I didn’t belong here. I was a hindrance to anything he wanted to do with the rest of the group. He probably did need someone like Sarah. Someone who could be a partner to him. Someone who wouldn’t accidently walk off the side of the mountain if left to her own devices.
I shook my head again. What was I thinking? What had gotten into me? It didn’t matter what he needed. I didn’t need him. Right? Right. That was the way I’d lived my whole life. Never needing any man. Never thinking about what a man needed from me because it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be around long enough to give it to them, anyway.
Yet, looking at Wyatt, I was plagued with thoughts of all the things he would need that I didn’t have. How was it possible that a man who could squelch every doubt and insecurity I’d ever had about my body in a matter of hours could also be a man who made me doubt everything about the way I’d lived my whole life?
Bears of Burden: WYATT Page 7