Vega Brothers: Alexander: BBW Paranormal Romance Reluctant Bride (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 3)

by Kim Fox

  “Okay,” she said, lowering her voice, apparently trying to change tactics. “I have money. You want money?”

  Alexander had enough money for two lifetimes yet he willingly lived in a rundown shack in the woods. He didn’t need money. He needed his mate.

  “Will you say something?” she screamed. “Where are you taking me?”

  “There,” he grunted when the shack came into view.

  She pressed her hand on his back and used it to lean up and look behind her. “Oh crap,” she gasped when she saw the abandoned shack. “I’m getting murdered.”

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, walking up to the entrance and ducking under, careful not to let her head hit the doorway.

  “Then why am I here?” she asked as he gently dropped her to her feet. “What do you want with me?”

  Her eyes dropped down to his exposed cock and she gulped. Alexander stirred with desire. Having his mates eyes on his dick was enough to make it start to harden.

  “Oh, God!” she said, covering her eyes with her hands. “I knew it!”

  A pain shot through his heart at seeing her so afraid of him. He grabbed a pair of shorts off of the bed behind her and slid them on. “I told you I’m not going to hurt you,” he said again and she opened her eyes.

  She saw the shorts on his muscular legs and took a breath of relief.

  “There’s a shirt around here somewhere,” he said, lifting up the blanket on the cot and looking underneath.

  “That’s okay,” she said, staring at his abs. “You can leave your shirt off.”

  She was still standing there with tight shoulders and a pale face. He couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked with her sweaty forehead and uncontrollable shaking. He could stare at her for days.

  “Please, sit,” he said, motioning to the bed behind her.

  The rusted metal springs squeaked as she sat down. She looked all around her, up at the ceiling, behind her. Alexander slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed. She looked so uncomfortable. He desperately wanted her to like this place.

  This abandoned shack in the woods.

  I have a lot to learn about women.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked. “I can go hunt a deer and cook up some steaks.”

  She twisted her face in disgust.

  “At least he’s not planning on eating you,” she whispered to herself.

  Ouch. This wasn’t going very well.

  Elena glanced at the open door and twisted her shirt in between her fingers. “Why am I here again? Oh wait, you didn’t answer me the first time.”

  Alexander cleared his throat. “I thought I’d get to know you better.”

  “By kidnapping me?” she yelled. She caught herself and looked at Alexander meekly. “It’s just a funny way to do it is all. For future reference, a cup of coffee might be a better idea.”

  “You want coffee?” Alexander asked, springing up and opening a cupboard drawer under the sink. He had made coffee here once a few years ago. The can might still have been there.

  He opened the cupboard and a raccoon burst out of it, sprinting out the door. Elena screamed and raised her feet off the bed as he ran by. Great timing to come back, asshole.

  It accidentally slammed its shoulder into the doorway as he ran out and disappeared into the forest.

  Elena’s scream turned to laughter. She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with deep chuckles. Alexander watched her curiously.

  “Always me,” she said, dropping her hands from her red face. “How do I always get into these situations?”

  “You’ve been kidnapped by a bear shifter before?” Alexander asked.

  She shook her head as a new roar of laughter came on. “No. This is a first.”

  Alexander took a breath of relief. He was worried for a minute that another werebear had bonded to her. He didn’t want his chances with her to be ruined.

  “So how is that coffee coming?” she asked, inching back on the bed so that her back was leaning against the wall.

  Alexander ducked under the sink and looked in the coffee can. Ew. Apparently the can was used as the raccoon’s bathroom.

  “Fresh out of coffee,” he said. “But I can get some water from the river if you’re thirsty.”

  She chuckled. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  Alexander leaned against the sink and looked at her awkwardly. He was never good at talking to people, even his own brothers didn’t like him, but he was especially bad at talking to women.

  “So you’re not going to murder me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

  He shook his head vigorously. “Of course not. You’re my mate. I’d die before I let anything happen to you.”

  “Anything happen to me? Like getting kidnapped?” she asked scratching her head.

  “Exactly,” he said with a nod.

  Elena rolled her eyes. “Good to know. Now I know who to call if some crazy guy throws me over his shoulder and brings me to a shack in the woods against my will.”

  Alexander grimaced. This wasn’t going as planned.

  Who was he kidding? There was no plan.

  She was a city girl and he lived in a shack in the woods. He had nothing to offer her and he was leaving for war at the end of the week anyway.

  He was doomed to spend the rest of his days alone with his tortured bear. It was time to let her go.

  Alexander was about to release her when she pulled out a tiny notebook from her back pocket.

  “Alright, Alexander,” she said. “I have some questions.”

  Elena was never one to let a good story slip through her fingers. She could already see the New York Times bestselling book now: Captured by the Werebear.

  No, wait. Captured by the Psychotic, Bloodthirsty Werebear. Yeah, that’s better.

  As crazy and clueless as this guy was he seemed pretty harmless. She could tell by the softness in his eyes and the puppy dog way he looked at her that he wasn’t going to hurt her.

  But that’s not how she would play it up in the book. The plot was already forming in her head. She was innocently sitting by the lake when a rabid, completely naked bear shifter ran out of the forest and kidnapped her. Chapters three to eight would be the harrowing time she spent locked in the cabin, fearing for her life.

  Everyone would want her. She would have offers lining up around the block. First, she would hit up the morning talk shows, like Live with Kelly, the View, Ellen. She would hit the major news outlets next. She was thinking a sit-down interview on CNN, Fox, NBC, 60 minutes, maybe even Oprah would want to do an hour special. After that, she would hit up the late night shows. A little lip syncing with Jimmy Fallon, share some laughs with Stephen Colbert, maybe a little flirting with Seth Myers, she might even host Saturday Night Live.

  This was going to launch her career into the stratosphere. A movie of her life would be made. She might even get her own talk show. She was already brainstorming ideas.

  But the story had to be a bit juicier. She couldn’t expect to have a movie made if all he did was offer her coffee.

  “Alright, Alexander,” she said, pulling out her notebook. “I have some questions.”

  He crossed his arms over his massive chest and stared at her. His eyes were a gorgeous brown. He really was a beautiful specimen. If she could get him to tour the television circuit with her, sales would skyrocket.

  “Have you ever kidnapped any women before?” she asked, biting on the back of her pencil. “Preferably virgins?”

  Alexander jerked his head back. “No!”

  “Damn it,” she cursed as she scribbled in her notebook. I’ll just write: He wouldn’t open up about his past but I could tell I wasn’t the first woman to be in the cabin.

  “What are you writing?” he asked, raising his chin and trying to see Elena’s paper.

  She tucked it back into her pocket. Maybe it’s a better idea to just observe for now.

  “So what’s it like to be a bear shifter?” she asked. Th
at was bound to be a large part of her soon-to-be very interesting story. People would want to know all about the bear shifter aspect and she had to have all of the answers.

  Alexander sighed as he glanced down at the floor. “It’s hard. Well, it used to be,” he said, looking at her with soft eyes.

  “What’s hard about it?” she asked, glancing down at his package. Besides the obvious. Her pulse slid into second gear when she pictured his impressive arousal from before. His cock was already huge and she had gulped when she saw it start to harden. All of that would definitely be in the book.

  Alexander exhaled. “Sometimes the bear doesn’t see things the same way the human does. It creates a lot of conflict within and it feels like you’re being ripped apart by two opposing forces.”

  “You don’t agree on things?” Elena asked, feeling confused. “Like what to eat?”

  “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “It runs deeper than that.”

  “Where to shit?” she asked with a laugh. “Tell me already. What are you fighting with your bear about?”

  Alexander crossed and then uncrossed his arms. “My bear wants to take on a mate and I don’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair and swallowed. “At least I didn’t.”

  Elena felt her heartbeat pick up a notch. “Until me?”

  He nodded his head gently. “Yeah.”

  Elena squeezed her hand into a fist as her nerve endings began to stir and tingle again at his words. She stared at him curiously, watching his every movement. She was strangely drawn to him, as if by a pull, but she didn’t understand why it was so strong. Sure, he was hot as men came, mysterious with a hint of danger, which she always liked, but he had forced her here against her will. She shouldn’t be warming up to him like this.

  “What happened,” she asked, “when your eyes went black?”

  Alexander smiled shyly and the sight made her body flood with a warm glow. “That was you becoming my mate?”

  She chuckled. “Oh really? Don’t I have a say in the matter?”

  “Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “You have as much say in it as I do. If you have a problem with it then you can talk to my bear.”

  “So, I’m your mate?” she asked, trying to wrap her head around it. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  Alexander rubbed his chin. “Sometimes a bear will take on a mate. When the bear chooses his mate, or fate does, whichever you chose to believe, there’s a bonding process that happens between the male shifter and the female.”

  “A bonding process?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “The two souls meld together, forever.”

  Elena laughed. This would be some great comic relief in her book. Two souls melding together. Although, she definitely did feel the draw towards him.

  “So,” she asked, trying to understand his insane logic, “our two souls have joined together? They’re one? We can’t date other people?”

  A look of rage flashed over his eyes as she said it but it quickly disappeared. But it was enough to send shivers dancing down her spine.

  “Do you want to see other people?” he asked, with a look of agony on his face. “Sometimes the female’s soul will reject the bonding process leaving the connection one-sided.”

  Elena held her hands up. “I just want to know what my options are.”

  He sighed heavily. “You’re free to do whatever you like.”

  Elena scratched her head while she looked up at the straw ceiling. “So you’re telling me that our souls are attached forever now? Even though we don’t know anything about each other?”

  “Exactly.”

  Elena laughed. What else could she do? “That sounds pretty intense.”

  Alexander nodded. “It is.”

  She looked at him curiously as he watched her. “Are you feeling those emotions now?”

  He looked away, unnaturally quiet. He slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed. “I can take you back to the house now,” he whispered.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered back. “I can stay a little bit longer.”

  His face lit up like the fourth of July. “Really?” he asked, perking up.

  “Sure.” I don’t have enough material for my book.

  It was late in the afternoon, or early evening, and Elena’s stomach was starting to grumble. “I am getting pretty hungry,” she said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Do you have anything to eat that isn’t a dead deer?”

  He stood up straight, looking ready to jump at her every command. “Do you like fish?” he asked. “There’s some tasty trout in the river.”

  She nodded. “Fish I can handle.”

  They left the cabin and strolled down to the river. Elena glanced around at the beautiful forest. The sun was shining through the tall branches and there was a light breeze cooling things off. The tiny colorful birds were singing in the bright green trees and a chipmunk ran by in front of her.

  Alexander walked quietly beside her. For such a large guy he was surprisingly light on his feet. He barely made a sound when he walked through the forest.

  “Where’s your fishing pole?” she asked. He had nothing on him. Only a pair of shorts.

  “Don’t have one,” he answered.

  Elena laughed. “This I got to see.”

  They walked in comfortable silence for a bit until Ava popped back into her mind. She must be worried sick about her, disappearing like she did. Oh well. She can write her own book about her missing sister who got abducted by a bear shifter. It will all work out in the end.

  “Tell me about Julius,” she said. She had got a good feeling about her new brother-in-law but she wanted to hear Alexander’s opinion of him. “Is he going to be good to my sister?”

  “Of course,” he said, jerking his head towards her. “She’s his mate. He’ll die for her if he has too.”

  “Yeah, but will he treat her well? What’s he like?”

  Alexander’s shoulders tightened. “He’s always telling jokes,” he said, with his face scrunched up like he just smelled a used hockey bag that had been sitting in a trunk on a hot day. “I don’t find him funny but she seems too.”

  “Good,” Elena said with a smile. Ava always loved to laugh and joke around.

  Elena couldn’t help but feel like there was some tension between him and his brothers with the way his body tightened as he spoke about them. She would have to do some more digging later.

  She heard the river before she saw it. “Wow,” she whispered as it came into view between the trees. It was a slow moving river with crystal clear water that glided around smooth rocks that jutted out into the air. Gorgeous, tall trees lined both banks. Every time that Elena thought that the beauty of this ranch couldn’t be topped she saw something new that topped it.

  Alexander stepped into the water with his shorts on. His huge back muscles and ripped shoulders looked jacked in the bright sun. The view has been topped again.

  She walked up to the water as Alexander waded in up to his waist. The water was nice and warm and looked so tempting. She was hot and sweaty and watching the clear water lazily flow around the rocks was just too enticing.

  Fuck it. I’m going in.

  She slipped off her shirt and began to unbutton her shorts when Alexander glanced back at her. A loud purr escaped from deep within him making her pussy pulse. What was that?

  Alexander was looking at her with heated, intense eyes and she was beginning to feel the pull that he had been talking about. She liked having his eyes on her breasts. She was tempted to slide off her bra but she stopped herself.

  “Do you mind?” she asked with a smirk when he wouldn’t stop staring.

  Alexander shook his head, catching himself, and turned back around. She was strangely disappointed to have his eyes off her. What is wrong with you?

  Elena slid off her shorts and stepped into the river in her bra and panties. The water felt cool and refreshing on her skin. It was so clean that she could probably drink it. This wa
s a river that Evian or Aquafina would use in one of their commercials.

  She swam out to the middle of the river, past Alexander, and tried to touch the bottom. Her toes grazed the sandy bottom as her head dunked under the water, washing the remnants of the hot afternoon off her face.

  Alexander smiled at her as she popped back up and she turned away, feeling her cheeks heat up despite just being cooled off by the refreshing river.

  She swam back to a large rock that was sticking out of the water and held onto it, letting the soft current lift up her feet. Alexander was looking down at the river, scanning the water with his eyes.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer. He just lifted up his thick index finger to his lips, telling her to stop talking.

  She watched him curiously. Tiny droplets of water were running down his bare torso, following the ridges of his abs. He really was sexy. How can I possibly show how sexy he is in my book with only words at my disposal?

  His chest tightened and his hand shot into the water like a bullet. He yanked his arm back out in the same split second and there was a large fish wiggling in his hand.

  “What?” Elena said with a gasp. “That was incredible!” It only took him one try. If she had to do that in order to survive her skeleton would be standing in the water still trying to catch a fish.

  He gave her a little wink and walked back onto the shore with the spotted fish with the red line along its side. She smiled as her breath quickened. What else can he do with those hands?

  She watched with fascination as he placed the still fish onto a rock. His wet cargo shorts hugged the outline of his nice hard ass. She cursed herself for ever asking him to put his shorts back on. Idiot!

  He had little scars all over his body but they just added to his appeal. Elena was a reporter and had been around violence before. She knew bullet and knife wounds when she saw them and he had plenty of both. I wonder where he got them. She would have to do some digging later on.

  She never took her eyes off him as he dived into the water and swam over to her. He popped out of the water in front of her with his hair sticking up wildly. Is it bad that I think my captor is cute? Talk about the ultimate Stockholm Syndrome.