by Kit Tunstall
All relationship speculation fled as they stepped out onto the porch in time to see the helicopter door opening. She let out a sharp gasp of shock at the sight of Richard dropping into the snow, his feet encased in snow boots. He walked jerkily through the snow with the same lack of grace she usually displayed, also unaccustomed to deep drifts of snow except when skiing.
Unlike her, Richard was a god on the slopes, so it was amusing to see him struggle through several feet of snow to reach the cabin. He clomped up the stairs, his boots landing heavily as he kicked off the accumulated dusting.
He looked prepared for the Arctic rather than northern Idaho when he pushed back his thick parka hood, lined with fur, his cold gaze settling directly on her. He seemed to disregard Rafe entirely. “What the hell are you playing at, Breanna? I don’t have time for these idiotic games. It’s taken days to track you down, and I’m fed up with this nonsense.”
She could feel Rafe’s tension radiating from him in waves, and a low growl came from the back of his throat. She put a hand on his shoulder to soothe him, and as always, the bear inside responded just as well as the man to the calming effect. He fell quiet, though his posture was no less rigid.
She took a step forward, bringing herself just in front of Rafe. Firming her shoulders and tipping her chin upward, she forced herself to meet the frigid gaze of the man she had almost married. “I’m not playing any games, and you should know that if you read my email. I’m not going to marry you, Richard.” She winced at Rafe’s slight intake of breath behind her, followed by another growl as she took an additional step forward.
Richard scowled. “You most certainly are. Your father and I had a deal, and everything is ready to go. I shall not allow you to humiliate me in this fashion. Do you have any idea what your father owes me? If I call in the debts, he’ll be ruined, so get your fat ass on the helicopter and keep that mouth shut until I tell you to open it.”
Before she could stop herself, Breanna lifted her arm and slapped him across the face. Then she clapped the same hand over her mouth as her other hand struggled to hold the comforter in place to maintain a modicum of dignity. She’d never struck someone before, nor had she ever been angry enough to do so. She didn’t know whether to be giddy or throw up in response to her own actions.
She regarded him with a mixture of horror and the inappropriate urge to giggle as he cupped his face. The urge to laugh faded as his cold expression morphed to one of true anger. He lifted his arm, and for a moment she thought he was going to slap her back. Rafe must have thought the same thing, because he surged forward to move her from the path of a blow and pushed her behind him.
Instead, Richard waved his hand, and the helicopter door opened again. Two large men in suits paired with snow boots hopped from the plane the chopper. They strode confidently through the snow, clearly more at ease in the terrain than she or Richard would ever be. In seconds, his henchmen flanked him, and her eyes widened when their hands went to their hips to reveal sidearms.
“Get her on the helicopter in one piece. If he gives you any trouble, do what you must. I have enough money to hide the death of some hillbilly cabin dweller.”
One of the goons wrapped his hand around her upper arm, and in the process, the comforter slipped to reveal most of her upper body. As she hurriedly grabbed the fabric to cover herself, Richard sneered, increasing her anger. If he’d been within range, she would have slapped him again.
It was clear he didn’t consider her good enough for him, but it was the other way around. He was an unworthy piece of crap, and having seen how a man should love her, she couldn’t or wouldn’t settle for less. “I’m not marrying you under any circumstances. I don’t care if you ruin my father or level the entire west coast. There’s nothing you can do to make me go along with that. I don’t love you.”
He paused in his retreat to the helicopter, turning back to face her as he snickered. “And you think I love you? You’re nothing to me except a means to an end. I need your name and your family connections, and nothing more. After you pop out a couple of kids to anchor me to your social circles, I don’t care what you do.
“You can come shack up with your hillbilly then if you’d like, but in the meantime, you’re going back to California, you’re going to marry me, and you won’t say one word against me, or you’ll regret it.” He flexed his fist in a threatening manner as he uttered the last words.
What happened next happened so quickly she could barely follow the events. One moment, Rafe was beside her. The next, with a tearing of fabric, his bear was there instead. With a ferocious roar, Rafe batted aside the goon that had been holding a gun on him before turning to the henchman holding Breanna. Another swipe of his claws, and that man fell to the porch, unconscious as well.
Richard had stood frozen for a moment, clearly unable to comprehend what he was seeing. As Rafe turned toward him, he let out a bleat of terror and turned to run for the helicopter. It clearly took no effort at all for her lover to catch up with her ex-fiancé. He lifted Richard off his feet and forced the other man around to face him.
In the process, Rafe became himself again, though his claws still extended from his fingers. He held one threateningly near Richard’s eye, not quite touching him, but making it clear he could easily kill the other man.
“Get your men and get off my property. Stay away for my mate, or you’ll be the one who’s sorry. Don’t come back, or I’ll deal with you in such a way you won’t be able to leave again. Nod if you understand me.” The command in his tone carried easily to Breanna, though she was a few feet behind them.
Richard nodded frantically, wincing when his own actions raked his skin against the tip of Rafe’s claw. “What…what are you?” he asked in a high-pitched squeal.
“Just someone who wants to be left alone, and I want the same for Breanna. Go back to your life and forget about her, and we’ll all be happy. Got it?”
Richard nodded again, almost as rapidly as he had before, but with more consideration for where Rafe’s claw rested.
After a moment, Rafe lifted him off his feet and then dropped him, forcing the other man to land solidly on his ass in the snow. As Richard got clumsily to his feet, trying to stumble toward the helicopter, Rafe went to the goons.
He grabbed the first one by the back of his suit jacket and dragged his body off the porch, tossing him toward Richard. The men collided, forcing Richard back to his butt, and the other man landed on the snow with a small groan. Rafe repeated the move with the second one, this time not hitting Richard, who’d had the sense to stay down. “Don’t forget to take your trash with you.”
Breanna stood slightly behind Rafe, mainly because he wouldn’t let her walk around his side, and watched Richard take off again in his helicopter with his henchmen a few minutes later.
“Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to his shoulder as the helicopter gained altitude and veered away from them. “Do you think he’ll be back? Will he tell people about you?”
Rafe was still tense, and he shook his head just once. “Who would believe him?”
She nodded, seeing his point of view. After Richard had nearly peed himself from fear, she couldn’t imagine he would be back soon, if ever, since he was clearly unwilling to face Rafe again.
She pressed another kiss to his shoulder, surprised to find he was still tense. “They’re gone.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, they’re gone. I just wish you’d told me them showing up might be a possibility to start with. I guess you forgot to mention you had been engaged?”
Slowly, Breanna stepped around him, ensuring their gazes met before she spoke. She trembled with cold and wrapped the comforter tighter around her. He was definitely upset, because he didn’t notice or insist she get inside first before they spoke. “I was afraid to tell you. I’m not engaged to him any longer, and I haven’t been since before I got here. Like a coward, I broke up with him via email, and I just ran away from everything. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the full truth,
but I was embarrassed by my behavior. I promise I won’t do that again.”
Slowly, his tense tension faded, and abruptly he drew her against him as he dragged her back inside, seating her on the floor near the fire. “You need to warm up.” He kicked off his boots and the remnants of his jeans before he joined her under the comforter, wrapping his arms around her again.
Their shared body heat, coupled with the warmth of the fire, soon chased away the last of the shudders and chills from both of them. She lay against him, content in the moment and assured he had forgiven her lapse of judgment. She shouldn’t have lied to him, even by omission, but he seemed to understand she regretted it.
“There has to be complete honesty between us. Do you agree?”
She lifted her head from his chest to nod her agreement with this question. “Yes, I agree. Like I said, I’ll never lie to you again.”
He smiled softly. “And I’ll never lie to you either.”
“Thank you.” She moved closer to her mate, laying her head on his shoulder again. “I love you, Rafe.”
He growled, a sound of satisfaction. She stroked his chest, visualizing in her mind’s eye rubbing his belly as she had when he had presented himself in bear form. He was rough and rugged, but inside, her Rafe was a marshmallow at heart.
He confirmed that when he said, “I love you too. I waited thirty years for a mate I didn’t think really existed. I’m glad I was wrong.”
Before kissing him, she teased, “I love a man who can admit when he’s wrong.”
Chapter Seven
Her phone rang in the middle of the afternoon, and it was the first time she’d heard it in days. She hadn’t bothered to check it when the snow had cleared, feeling no urgent need to get anywhere. Planning to stay with Rafe, she had simply exchanged emails with Grace to catch up with her friend, rather than ask if she could stay with her for a while.
She still hoped to meet up with her in person again soon, but she no longer needed to fling herself on her friend’s mercy to have a place to stay or a way to rebuild her life. Not since her new life had started, the one she was building with Rafe minute by minute.
She was unsurprised to see her mother’s phone number, and she swiped the screen to unlock the phone with a deep breath to brace herself. It was no longer tempting to turn off the phone or ignore the calls. She would prefer to get the confrontation out of the way so she could move on completely. “Hello?”
“My god, what have you done?” asked Estelle shrilly on the other end of the line.
“I hope you’re happy with your shenanigans, young lady,” said Bernard, her father. Clearly, they were on speakerphone together.
“I wouldn’t call them shenanigans, but I am happy for the first time in a long time. Thank you for asking,” she said sweetly.
Her father cursed, and her mother wept for a long moment before either spoke again. “If you don’t get back here and make this wedding happen, we’ll be ruined. Do you understand me? The money is gone. All of it. We need Richard to maintain our lifestyle, and you were part of the deal. You must come home now.”
She took a deep breath again, actually relishing the moment as she felt her own transformation from scared little girl to capable adult reach fruition. “That place doesn’t feel like home, Father, and I’m not sure it ever really was. I’m not the daughter you wanted, which you have made abundantly clear. I’m sorry for the situation in which you find yourself, but it’s not my responsibility to ensure you’re bailed out. I refuse to marry someone I don’t love. I would like to have you in my life, but I expect that’s an unreasonable prospect.”
Dead silence greeted her words, and then her father cursed again. He rarely cursed in her or any woman’s presence, bound by an old-fashioned code of behavior that forbade such things. To hear the curse words flow from his mouth was a shocking experience, though it only added to her urge to giggle.
She didn’t know why she was so giddy, since it was a serious moment in a horrible confrontation between herself and her parents. Perhaps it was hysteria, or maybe it was just the rush of standing up for herself, which was quite liberating.
“Get back here right now. Enough of this nonsense.”
She continued on as if her father hadn’t issued an edict. “If you and Mother decide you would like to be part of my life, I’ll be happy to introduce you to my mate, a man I actually love. You might even approve of him, Father. He is a CEO, after all.” And a bear shifter, she added silently as she stifled a giggle. There was no way her father would approve of that part. “I don’t know if or when we’ll get married, but if we do, should I send you an invitation?”
Her mother’s hysterical cry and her father’s shout of anger were the last things she heard before she disconnected the line. They had time to think about what they wanted, and she was surprisingly okay with it if they made the decision to cut her from their life.
It was what she expected, and it didn’t hurt as much as it might have even two weeks ago, probably because they had cut her out long ago. She was simply finding the strength to let them go, and it wasn’t a huge loss.
She was more mournful over losing the family she’d always wanted rather than the family she’d actually had. As Rafe came up behind her, nuzzling her neck while he wrapped his arms around her, she settled back against him happily. She was content with the family she was building, the family that would replace the lackluster one she’d had before. With Rafe at her side, how could she be anything but happy, knowing she was his mate? After all, bears mated for life, and she was a human who mated for life too.
******
Polar Bond (Emerald Shifters #2)
Blurb
In Seattle for her best friend’s wedding, curvy Grace is immediately attracted to the best man, Kingston Meade. He’s equally interested in her, especially since his bear insists she is their mate. The attraction is undeniable, but she still doesn’t know he’s a polar bear shifter. There’s also the added problem of leucistic panther-shifter Ashley, who is determined to get her claws into Kingston, and she’s willing to slash Grace out of his life to do it. Will the bear king of Emerald City win and keep his curvy human queen?
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Wanda F. for suggesting Ashley be an albino panther.
Chapter One
As she seated herself at the table, the first thing Grace noticed was the bewildering array of silverware choices. It was far different from her typical life in Calgary, where each meal came with a single fork, knife, and spoon. She knew Breanna had grown up in this world, so her friend seemed completely at ease with the silverware when she sneaked a peek at the bride and groom farther down the table.
Unlike the bride-to-be, Grace had grown up with humbler roots, more middle-class comfortable than old money wealthy. If it hadn’t been for Breanna’s parents being such judgmental jerks, she supposed she never would have met her best friend. They had considered it a punishment to send their daughter to state university—whereas Grace had considered it a privilege to attend UCLA, especially on scholarship—but their prejudices had created the perfect situation for the two girls who started as roommates to become best friends.
Which was what brought her to this table now, staring at the silverware. A glance to her right revealed an older woman selecting a fork from the outside for the salad, so she did the same.
A second later, all thoughts of silverware or anything else left her mind as the empty seat beside hers was filled. She glanced up, way up, to see who was the late arrival. She knew he had to be the best man, Kingston Meade, but they hadn’t met yet. According to Rafe, he was in the middle of a merger that took a lot of time and attention.
“Sorry I’m late, old buddy, but it took forever to get Yamato to stop yammering.”
The new arrival was handsome. Handsome didn’t even begin to cover it really. He had fine, sculpted cheekbones, pale gray eyes, and platinum-blonde hair styled in careless waves around his face. With broad shoulders that filled
out his gray evening jacket in a mouthwatering fashion, she couldn’t help imagining what she would find under that outfit, were her hands at liberty to discover for themselves. That thought, entirely inappropriate, caused her panties to grow damp.
Suddenly, the best man stiffened, his nostrils flaring as his head turned toward her. He didn’t speak for a moment, his pale gray eyes somehow darkening slightly, looking more intense. There was a hint of watchfulness about him, almost like a predator sensing prey. No, that didn’t seem quite right either. It was an indefinable quality, something with which she was unfamiliar, but for some reason, increased her arousal and made her nipples crinkle against the cream-colored sweater dress. She was thankful for the thick cable pattern that hid her reaction.
A moment later, he blinked, and the intensity was gone. He gave her a charming smile and held out a hand. “I don’t think we’ve met? You must be Grace?”
She nodded, taking his hand and feeling clumsy as she did so. “Yes, I’m Grace DiPlaski. You must be Kingston?”
Instead of just shaking her hand, he did something unexpected. He turned it over and brought it to his mouth, pressing his lips lightly to her knuckles before returning her hand to her. “Yes. I’ll admit I’ve been dreading the amount of time this wedding would require, and it’s not even my own, but it’s suddenly seeming a lot more fun. It’s my understanding we get to spend a lot of time together.”
She resisted the urge to giggle like an infatuated teenager, because she wasn’t a teenager. The infatuated part wasn’t far off the mark, she had to concede. Somehow, she sounded confident and airy when she replied. “I think it’s one of the perks of the jobs.”
“I’m sure your boyfriend or husband will miss your time though.” He asked the question in a casual way before taking a moment to sip the white wine accompanying the first course at the rehearsal dinner.