by Cecilia Lane
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Dangerous Mate
Book Two: Shifters of Bear’s Den
Cecilia Lane
Copyright © 2018 by Cecilia Lane
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Dangerous Mate: Shifters of Bear’s Den #2 by Cecilia Lane January 2018
Contents
Dangerous Mate
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Next in Series
Also by Cecilia Lane
About the Author
Dangerous Mate: Shifters of Bear’s Den Book Two
A Bear spoiling for a brawl.
Cole Strathorn fights fires. That’s all he’s ever wanted to do. He thrives on danger and protecting his clan. No one would mistake the six-foot-four, gruff bear shifter for a freaking baby sitter. But that’s exactly what he’s become thanks to an assignment from the town’s mayor. Cole’s new job requires him to keep an eye on the government scientist who has arrived in Bearden to study the shifters.
Cole expects a clichéd nerd with horn-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector, but he’s pleasantly surprised to find his charge is a lovely, curvy and very appealing woman. A woman who smells like she might be more than an assignment. The shy but brilliant scientist might even be his mate. Her addicting scent certainly arouses his bear.
A head for science, but a body for research.
Rylee Garland has come to Bearden to work. She doesn’t have time for distractions or bossy bodyguards, even if they’re tall, dark and gorgeous. She’s determined to ignore the tension sizzling between her and Cole. Her reputation hangs in the balance. If she doesn’t solve the mysteries swirling around the small town, she can forget about keeping her job.
But it grows harder to resist Cole’s charm. One wicked-hot kiss leads to another. Is Cole for real? Or is he just using his seduction skills to get information? Rylee’s had enough heartache for one lifetime and the deeper she falls for Cole, the more she worries he might not be what he seems.
A war brews.
While Rylee and Cole fight their attraction, sinister forces gather in the town of Bearden. The government might want information about the shifters, but there are others that seek something darker: total shifter eradication. The threat lurks, and the menace is real. Rylee and Cole must set aside fear and desire and join forces if they hope to save the shifters of Bearden.
Step into the world of Shifting Destinies, where the men and women you meet might just be a little more than human. Their towns are protected by magic, and their hearts are open and ready for love. But watch your step - more than darkness lurks in the shadows.
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Chapter 1
Flames burst out of a nearby tent in a noisy challenge to the sky. Cole stumbled back to avoid the blast. Water rained down from fire engines, but it wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop the spread. They’d be lucky if any of the tent city survived by nightfall.
He twisted around to catch sight of his burn buddy sprawled on the ground and hauled him to his feet. The military man was assigned to him for any joint operations outside Bearden borders. With both the military and Bearden Fire Department dumping water, it was up to the ground team to clear out any who hadn’t already fled the flames and extend the reach of the hoses.
“This way!” he shouted over the radio. He made a full-armed gesture to drive home the point, in case they weren’t on the same frequency.
He’d been waiting for a disaster to happen. The military camp wanted to swing their dicks around and pretend like they were serving as protectors for the civilian camps, but they did nothing when given a list of fire hazards by the Bearden Fire Department. With multiple camps up and down the roads leading into the enclave, something was bound to light up. He hated being right.
At least there were extra men for this, even if it meant pairing up with them for a joint operation. The military guys had their own fire teams, and a few of the civvies had volunteer experience. Search and rescue teams, like him and his burn buddy, entered the messy maze of the tent city while the hose teams were still figuring out how water worked.
So far, though, there’d been no one to rescue. He feared his job would turn into search and recovery by the time night fell. He hated losing a life and loathed it even more when it was preventable.
The radio inside his helmet crackled with a new order. “Fall back! Search and rescue, fall back, now!”
Cole reluctantly turned away from the slithering oranges and yellows consuming yet another tent. The hose teams weren’t working fast enough. A deep rumbling over the sound of burning meant the tractors had arrived. At least the fire wouldn’t spread to the dry, wooded areas and take over the entire mountainside.
The shrill, panicked cry of a child latched onto his heart and pulled him the opposite direction.
He paused, head rolling from side to side as he tried to catch the noise again. They were near, but not near enough to see through the thick smoke.
There. He heard the cry again, rising to a wail. He started back into the fire.
“This way!” he urged.
“Are you crazy?” his partner yelled. “You heard the orders. We have to get out!”
Cole ignored the man. Someone was still in the middle of the inferno. He couldn’t leave a child behind.
His burn buddy planted a firm hand on his shoulder and Cole felt a brief flash of guilt. The human man couldn’t see as well as he could. His resolve hardened; that same difficulty would be even worse for someone without protective gear.
He crunched through the ruined remains of one tent after another,
stopping to listen, then moving on once more. He was closing in on the crying when another voice added its sound.
He got eyes on the dark figures of the group before they saw him. A mother tried to pull at an unconscious man. Two children clung to her legs, making her progress that much more difficult.
“Here!” he shouted over his shoulder at his partner.
Soot and sweat streaked each of their faces. The man’s hands were an angry red, even in the light of day dimmed by fire and smoke. He’d tried to put something out and failed.
They weren’t the first family he’d come across in the middle of a blaze. Panic did strange things to people. Made them brave when they should be protecting themselves. Sacrificing their safety for someone else usually ended with losing everyone.
He grabbed the children first and shoved them at his burn buddy. The mother screamed incoherent noises and slapped open fists against his chest. He held her off long enough to sling the man over his shoulder.
“Let’s go!” he yelled loudly enough for her to hear him over the flames and through his gear. He could feel the heat blasting off the burning tents. How she wasn’t melting, he didn’t know.
Quick strides took them through the fire, back the way they came. The route was mostly clear and safe to bring their rescues through without any problems. Still, relief coursed through him as soon as they broke out of the tent line.
Grass and small trees had been uprooted at the edge of camp to leave a line of open dirt. Foam coated the road to form a barrier on that side. Beyond the foam were the emergency vehicles. Paramedics rushed forward as soon as Cole and his partner emerged from the burning tent city.
“Unconscious at the scene. Burns to hands and arms. Possibly more underneath his clothing,” Cole stated quickly to the paramedic taking over the man. He vaguely heard his partner saying something similar about the children and woman.
But outside the roar of flames, he could hear what he’d avoided accepting inside. The man had no beating in his chest and no air expelled from his lungs. He watched with trepidation as the paramedics pounded on his chest and hooked an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.
He hoped someone had the foresight to make sure the kids didn’t see their father slipping away.
His bear roared in his middle at the defeat. Cole dug his fingers into his palms to hold the beast back. He needed to get out. Now. No questions, no accusing looks. There were too many people around for his taste.
Voices fading away to strangled buzzes in his ears, he turned on his heel and rounded the Bearden engine. Calm. He needed to find his calm. He needed to keep to his human shape. He couldn’t let Callum down and let his bear rip out of him in front of all the humans. They were there to make a good impression, show they were just like everyone else. He’d ruin that if he lost control.
Inside, he was a tempest. He tried to keep cool and even for the sake of everyone else, but the months of serving as Bearden Fire Chief had worn him down to nothing. He was glad to let go of command and let his brother, Callum, take his rightful place as clan alpha and Fire Chief. But being glad didn’t lessen the tension that still roiled inside him.
Cole ripped off his helmet and chucked it at the engine. His bear wouldn’t give him peace, and he hadn’t saved that man’s life. “Fuck!”
His innards boiled with fury. The fucking civilians didn’t listen. The military men didn’t listen. And now, at least one family had been ripped apart.
Callum and Major Brant Delano drew themselves apart from the crowd. As the men in charge, they oversaw the entire fight against the fire. He didn’t need to scent the stinging anger in the air to know Callum wasn’t happy.
“I don’t know where you were stationed before, but this is exactly why we made those suggestions,” his brother said with the tone of a man struggling to keep his voice level.
“We’re not here to babysit a bunch of men and women who shouldn’t even be camping here,” Brant dismissed.
“What then, Major, are you supposed to be doing?” Callum growled.
Delano fixed cold eyes on Callum. “We’re here to judge any threats in the area.”
“Threats?” Cole barked. “The only threats I saw today were the ones you were explicitly warned about!”
The commotion drew a crowd. Callum tried to push him back into the clan and cut off the problem before it truly began, but Cole didn’t hear him. He couldn’t see him through the hazy anger that clouded his vision.
“At least one man died today! Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you’d listened to us in the first place!” Cole shoved at Delano’s chest. Solid as he was, he couldn’t stand up to shifter strength.
Red crept up the man’s neck. Cole didn’t know if it was from his words or from knocking the man back in front of his lackeys, but anger coated his scent.
He wasn’t worth the trouble, Cole reminded himself. He had to be on his best behavior with humans watching in all directions.
“You fucking freaks probably set it yourselves!”
Cole balled his hands into fists and tried to swallow the insult. Tried, and failed. His bear roared to life and demanded he take an apology out of the man’s flesh. Hurting innocent lives, letting others die? An outrageous suggestion.
He turned, eyes flashing gold. “What did you say?”
Callum’s alpha nature washed over him and urged his submission. It only made his bear angrier. He didn’t want to be controlled. He wanted to fight.
Delano drew himself up to his full height, which was only an inch shorter than Cole. But what he lacked in the inch, he made up with weapons carried by everyone at his back. He already stumbled in front of them; he needed to take back his power. “I said, you freaks started this fire.”
Cole swung his fist and landed the punch on Delano’s cheek. His fingers lengthened into sharp claws as his bear shoved forward. The beast sent image after image of Delano covered in bloody wounds, fighting to keep the bear from his throat.
The man didn’t back down. He roared and ran straight into Cole, grabbing him by the shoulders and driving a knee into his stomach. Blow after blow landed. The scent of blood hit the air. His. Delano’s. Didn’t matter. Each busted nose and cut lip was a testament to the tensions that brewed between the camps and the enclave.
Hands grabbed hold of his arms and shoulders. More snaked in to grab hold of Delano. They were dragged away from each other, and they both struggled to return to the fight.
Callum shoved him back and held a finger right in front of his face. “Fucking back down, I said! That’s an order!”
Order or not, Cole tried to shake off the command of his alpha. His bear ripped at his insides and growled a challenge to his brother. Mistake, but he didn’t care. He needed to fight something. Anything. Anyone.
Callum dumped more power into the air and forced him to his knees.
“I want that monster gone!” Delano roared into the night.
Cole opened his mouth to yell right back, but Callum snapped his fingers. He snarled at his brother instead.
Callum’s voice was low and thick with the power of his inner beast. He forced eye contact to make sure Cole heard the order. “Get back to the firehouse. Do not stop anywhere. You will wait there for me. Do you understand?”
Anger bubbled inside him. At Delano, at Callum, and at himself. He was spiraling, and he’d let everyone see it. Fuck, he’d messed up. He needed to get out of the air still thick with smoke. He needed to clear his head.
“I understand,” he said between clenched teeth.
Chapter 2
Cole let go of a long breath and slid to the floor of the shower stall. The water ran red from the broken skin on his knuckles. He picked out a shard of tile and let that, too, wash away down the drain with everything he’d been.
Callum was waiting for him when he finally turned off the water and toweled himself dry. His brother had stripped out of his gear and thrown on a fresh shirt, but he hadn’t done anything more to wash up than w
ipe the soot off his face.
He glanced down at Cole’s hands and Cole resisted the urge to hide them behind his back. How many times had they done something similar to their father growing up? Stolen chocolate was sure to be discovered on grimy fingers, but they thought they could avoid Pop knowing if they just kept their hands behind their backs.
It’d been years since he thought of that. Damn. He really was going crazy.
And yeah, maybe some of the damage to his knuckles had been done in the fight with that asshole military man, Delano. But the tiles in the shower looked worse and those wouldn’t heal. His skin still stung as the wounds knit themselves back together. He flexed his hand; at least he hadn’t broken anything.
He worked his jaw, but no words came out. Callum raised an eyebrow, then made a sharp turn. The time for talking was over before it began, it seemed.
Fine by him, he thought as he dressed in silence. He didn’t want to talk it out. Heart to hearts would not solve his problem. He’d been spiraling for months, and nothing slowed the disaster. His bear wanted control and was slowly eating him away from the inside out. He’d managed to keep it under wraps, but his outburst at the fire laid everything out on the table.
Callum needed to take him out to the woods and put him down. It’d solve the problem before he got out of hand. Before he truly hurt someone, instead of just using some asshole’s face as a punching bag.
The firehouse was solemn as Callum lead him through the living quarters and out the front bay. The rest of the clan on duty wouldn’t look him in the eye. They focused instead on making their engine shine after the fire.