by Kim Fox
He disappeared into the forest and Elena took a breath of relief as the warmth that had been flooding her body was starting to dissipate.
She was still watching the forest when Ava finally came back, rubbing her black, oil-stained fingers on her jean shorts. “Are you okay?” Ava asked, stopping in her cowboy boots when she saw Elena’s face.
“Yeah,” Elena said, trying to act natural. “There was a huge guy on a black horse that came in here.”
Ava’s face dropped and her eyes narrowed. “That was Alexander. The not-so-nice brother. Did he say anything rude?”
Elena shrugged. “I live in New York City,” she said with a tight laugh. “I hear rude every day.”
Ava walked over to her horse and opened the gate. “Just ignore him,” she said. “He’s leaving at the end of the week anyway.”
Ignore him.
Elena had many talents and abilities but ignoring something or someone that intrigued her was not one of them.
two
Alexander raced full sprint through the forest crashing into thick branches and snapping them off the annoying trees. He had left his horse, Aristotle, by the edge of the forest when he felt the need to run. He closed his eyes and pumped his legs until they burned, letting the branches of the thick forest whip across his face as he ran.
The pain was good.
Pain was always good.
It was the only thing that would take his bear down a notch, and right now his bear needed to come down more than a few notches. Alexander’s polar bear was all amped up inside him, thrashing and snarling, desperately trying to get out. Alexander flexed his body tight and gritted his teeth. His bear lunged forward, enraged and bitter. He was just able to hold him back.
“No!” he screamed as he plowed into an old tree, snapping the thick trunk in half. He lowered his head and kept running as it tumbled over into the forest. “You’re not coming out!”
All of these fucking women around!
Their scents all over the house were making his bear even worse. He couldn’t even sit in his own bedroom anymore without his bear acting up. He was staying in his grandfather’s abandoned hunting cabin more and more these days. It was the only place to get some peace.
And now another one!
Another girl. But this one wasn’t like the other ones. As soon as Alexander saw her, he knew that she’d be trouble. She had big, curvy thighs that he had noticed immediately. His bear had noticed too. He had perked up the second that he saw her.
She had blue eyes and long blonde hair like her sister, but Elena’s hair had darker streaks. Alexander had started to get a little lightheaded when he smelled the grapefruit scent of her shampoo mixed with the sweet scent of her skin and he had to hold onto the reigns of his horse a little tighter.
He plowed into another thick tree with his shoulder, sending it flying through the air as he shook his head, trying to erase the intoxicating scent from his memory.
Today was going to be another bad day. He could feel it.
He could feel it in the form of a furious polar bear thundering around inside him, growling and snapping.
Alexander’s bear hadn’t always been like that. He was normal once and they lived together in relative harmony. Then one day, a few years ago, his bear started pining for a mate. And everything went to shit.
Now not one day would go by without his inner polar bear sulking around in a stormy and sullen mood, constantly whining for a mate, infuriated that Alexander always refused.
He had heard about bears bypassing the wishes of their humans and bonding to a mate regardless. Alexander knew the tricks that a bear could pull but he refused to let it happen. He stayed away from women whenever he could, and it was working out fine until lately when his brothers had decided to turn the family ranch into a goddamn sorority house. There were women all over the place now. And it was spurring his polar bear on even more.
Alexander leaped over a log and pushed forward beside the slow moving river that ran through their property. The cabin wasn’t far now and he pushed himself faster, longing for the peacefulness that always came when he stepped inside.
Even though his bear had been aching for a mate, Alexander wasn’t about to give in. He had seen how his mother treated his father growing up and he absolutely refused to let a mate do the same thing to him. The yelling and the swearing and the embarrassment. That wasn’t for him. He truly didn’t care about losing the ranch if he didn’t get married by the end of the year. The price of taking on a mate to keep it was just too high. He was fine living in the woods by himself. That’s what he’d been doing lately anyway.
The polar bear paced within his chest, urging him to turn back towards the ranch.
For the millionth time! You’re not getting a mate!
He pressed forward gritting his teeth as he ran.
Alexander just had to last the week. Seven days and he’d be shipped off to war. General Samson was coming to pick him up after he had volunteered for reenlistment so that his brother Khan could stay with his mate and cub. He didn’t mind; he was actually looking forward to it. War was the only thing that would settle his wild bear.
Killing was the only thing that took the edge off of his bear’s relentless raging. The end of a day of fighting was like the eerie calm at the end of a storm. But Alexander could never fully enjoy it. He knew the storm would be even worse in the morning. It always was.
His brothers didn’t understand. Nobody did. They just thought he was cranky and disagreeable for no reason. They didn’t realize the fierce, untamed polar bear within him was slowly torturing and crushing his spirit. It was hard living with a savage bear. He was always on the offense, always punishing Alexander for ignoring his primal needs.
It was affecting his mood. He couldn’t remember the last time that he smiled or laughed. Just the sound of laughter made him cringe these days. It was always better to just be alone. Just him and his heated, tormenting bear.
He sighed in relief as he arrived at the private cabin. Private cabin was a bit of a strong word. It was more of a shack. And an abandoned one at that. His grandfather used to use it as a hunting shack but abandoned it a long time ago. Alexander had discovered it as a teenager and now it was his favorite place in the world.
It was simple and small with only a bed that barely fit him, a tiny dresser, and a sink that didn’t work. There was a raccoon living in the cupboards when he first found it but he left when Alexander claimed it and he never came back. The scent of a polar bear inside was enough to send him packing for good.
He ducked in through the door and dropped down on the squeaky bed. He stared up at the straw ceiling and groaned. This place a sanctuary for him. His inner polar bear knew that when Alexander was here there was no hope of getting a mate. The bear would finally get the hint and settle down and relax a little. His constant nagging and whining would cease and Alexander could finally think.
Only today his bear wasn’t playing ball.
He snapped inside his chest with a vicious snarl, pacing around trying to surge out every few minutes.
Alexander could feel his blood pressure soaring as he pinched his lips together and his eyes tightened. Yup, today was going to be a bad day.
The curvy Elena popped back into his head and the thought made his bear charge forward. Alexander pulled him back, almost letting him slip.
“That was close,” he whispered to himself. He hadn’t lost control of his bear since he was a kid but that was a little too close for comfort.
Alexander rolled on the bed, restless and stressed out. He ran his hands through his hair and breathed out long and hard.
He began wondering what it would be like to talk to Elena but then shut that down. She’d hate you. She already does.
Normally Alexander didn’t care if someone hated him but the thought of Elena hating him bothered him to his core. He had been unnecessarily rude to her but that was only because he had been thrown off guard by the effect that her beauty had on him. He had hard
ened in his pants and his heart started pounding like a jackhammer on speed.
The memory was causing his bear to react again and he tried to think of something else but all he could think about was Elena.
He pushed off the bed and walked outside to get some air. He tried to distract himself by looking around at the forest. “Wow this bush is so big,” he said, staring at a bush and trying to convince himself that he actually gave a shit about it. I wonder what Elena’s bush looks like.
His bear pounced forward at the thought, striking with everything that he had. It caught Alexander off guard and his bear slipped by for the first time in over twenty years. It felt like a rope sliding through his hands, falling away just as he closed his fingers, missing it.
His hands burned as they swelled up into paws, and he clenched his jaw as his bones popped and his tendons shredded. “Fucking bear, get back in my-”
The polar bear exploded out of him, pushing Alexander deep down within.
The large white bear lifted his nose and sniffed the air. He turned in the direction of the horse stables and ran.
three
“Shifters?!?” Elena said, leaning back on her elbows and staring out at the vast lake in front of her. “All of them?”
“Yup,” Ava replied. “Big sexy shifters.”
Well, that explains Alexander’s size.
Ava had just explained how the four Vega brothers were all bear shifters but Elena still couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it.
She rubbed her chin. “That would make a great-”
“Don’t even think about it,” Ava interrupted with a stern voice.
“Story.”
She could see it now. If she was the reporter to finally break the story about the truth of shifters actually existing she would be drowning in awards. Any job that she wanted would be hers. It would be the story of the century. Possibly the biggest news story of all time. And she would be at the center of it.
“I didn’t confide in you so you could blab it out to the whole world and betray the trust of my new family, your new family,” Ava said, narrowing her eyes at Elena. “Julius is your new brother-in-law. Think about that before you do anything foolish.”
Elena was tempted but she would never reveal the secret without Ava’s permission. All of the awards, money and acclaims in the world would mean nothing if it meant losing her sister to get them.
“I won’t tell,” she said, squeezing her hands into fists. “Can Julius show me how he changes into a bear?”
Ava grimaced. “I don’t know if he’d be up for that. He’s not a circus act. And when he phases back he’ll be naked.”
“Naked?” Elena asked with a raised eyebrow. All of a sudden she wanted Alexander to be the one phasing.
Ava smiled. “Completely naked.”
“It’s quite the life that you live here, sis,” Elena said, shaking her head in jealousy. She glanced back at the two horses grazing behind them. Horses, nature, hot naked muscular shifters. Ava had really hit the jackpot.
Ava grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’m so happy that you’re here for the week. We’re going to have a blast!”
Elena smiled. It would be interesting if anything.
She looked around the flat plains behind her to the forest on her right, beside the lake. “I’m assuming there’s no bathroom around here,” she said with her nose scrunched up. “I have to pee.”
Ava smiled as she hunched her shoulders up. “Either in the lake or in the forest. That’s how we do it around here.”
Elena climbed up to her feet and wiped the dried grass off her ass. The lake water looked too cold and she didn’t feel like getting wet. “Forest it is!”
She glanced far down in the distance and that kid from the stables was leaning under the hood of the tractor. Thick gray smoke was pouring out. “Looks like the tractor needs your special touch again.”
Ava turned and cursed under her breath. “Give me half an hour,” she said, getting up and walking over to her old horse. “Can you entertain yourself for that long?”
It was so beautiful and peaceful out here that Elena could entertain herself all week. All she needed to do was lay on the grass, close her eyes and take in the warm sun.
“I’ll be fine,” she answered.
Ava jumped on the horse and galloped away while Elena walked over to the forest. She squatted behind a tree, careful not to put her bare ass on any poison ivy, and relieved herself.
“Ahhh,” she moaned. She had been holding it in for way too long.
A branch snapped and she whipped her head around. “What the-”
A huge bear as white as the Arctic snow was walking through the forest. She held her breath and wrapped her shaking hands around her legs, trying to be as quiet as she could. Her heart was racing to the point of nearly exploding and her legs were getting weak underneath her.
The bear lifted his wet black nose and sniffed the air. She lowered her dizzy head and gulped. It was a good thing that she had already been peeing or she would have done it in her pants.
“No,” she whispered as the bear’s huge head turned in her direction. His dark eyes locked onto hers and he paused.
She stared at him, unable to speak, unable to move.
The whites of the polar bear’s eyes began to cloud over with a black fog giving him a sinister look. He froze as the black clouds covered the gorgeous browns of his eyes.
Elena felt a pull towards him like someone had just wrapped a lasso around her and yanked her forward. The tugging feeling vanished as the black clouds disappeared.
This place is so strange. For once she was wishing for the comfort of New York City. There was strangeness plastered all over the Big Apple but it was nothing like this. This was wizardry or something.
She gasped and closed her eyes as the bear started shaking and trembling all over. She dug her forehead onto her bent knees and covered her ears as the worst sounds that she’d ever heard started clawing at her ears, making her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
The horrible tearing and crunching sounds stopped but she still couldn’t open her eyes. If I don’t look at the bear he’s not really there.
“Elena,” a deep voice whispered.
She jerked her head up and gasped when she saw Alexander standing in place of the bear.
A completely naked Alexander.
That was him?
Ava had just explained how the four Vega brothers were all bear shifters yet it still didn’t register that the bear could have been one of them. Her first clue should have been seeing a polar bear in the middle of Montana but brains don’t always work the best under high-stress situations.
Her eyes widened as she took him all in from his large chest, down to his rolling abs, the carved V in his pelvis and the cock hanging between his legs. The long, thick cock. The long, thick, beautiful cock. The one that she couldn’t stop staring at.
“Do you mind?” she screamed when she caught herself. She yanked her shorts up and quickly buttoned them. “Do you always sneak up on girls when they’re peeing? You pervert!”
He just stared at her with a stunned expression. “I have a mate?” he whispered.
“What?” she barked. “I’m telling Julius!”
She stormed out of the forest and stomped over to her horse with her chin in the air. Just because this guy was hot didn’t mean that he could flash himself at her when she was peeing.
“You’re my mate,” he said, louder and more sure of it this time.
The word sent a nervous thrill through Elena’s body. She was physically attracted to this guy but he seemed more than a little out of his mind.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” she said, glaring at him, “if you take another step. Go put a loin cloth or a leaf over that thing and go back in the forest where you belong. You primitive caveman!”
He stepped forward, ignoring her. “Come with me.”
Elena jerked her head back. “Are you kiddin
g me? Fuck off!”
He just walked right up to her with a determined expression on his handsome face.
“No,” she whispered as she tried to run but her legs wouldn’t listen. They had turned to jelly.
Alexander lunged forward, scooped her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Her legs weren’t working but her lungs were. “LET ME GO!” she screamed as she pounded her fists on his hard back muscles. Her hands quickly became numb.
The hulky bear shifter turned back to the forest and ran back in with Elena screaming bloody murder over his shoulder.
four
What’s the plan here?
Alexander had no idea what the answer to that question was. All that he knew was he had a mate, it was Elena, and he had an irresistible urge to take her back to his cabin.
“Put me down!” she screamed as he ran through the forest, careful to dodge out of the way of any branches that could hit her soft body. He didn’t want her to get hurt.
“This is not going to go over well for you, buddy!” she warned. “I’m a famous news reporter in New York freaking City! How would you like your stupid face on the front page of the New York Gazette?”
Alexander just held her tight and kept running. Every sane thought going through his mind was telling him to let her go and bring her back to the house. But the insane thoughts were too overwhelming. He needed to take her; to bring her to his cabin. He didn’t know what for or for how long but the motive was clear: his mate belonged in his cabin.
His bear beamed inside him, cheering him on and encouraging him for the first time in years. His inner polar bear wanted him to take his mate and claim her.
He got to the river and ran along the bank as Elena began a new barrage of punching his back with her fists. It didn’t slow him down at all. If she punched a little harder it would have felt like a gentle massage.
“You’re kidnapping me, you psycho!” she screamed from the bottom of her lungs. “Let me go!”
Alexander just lowered his head and kept moving. His cabin was just up ahead.