by M. L. Briers
Every red flag went up within her mind.
His height, his weight, his strength – strength that she had felt as he’d brought her down the ladder – she knew that couldn’t fight against any of it if he attacked…
He was a shifter – she knew that much – what if his bear broke out, broke free, wanted to take a bite?
She wouldn’t stand a chance…
And then there was just the simple fact that she was alone…
Stupid … stupid … why did I think that being in the middle of nowhere would be safer?
Look at me now…
I’m not safer – there just isn’t anyone around to hear me scream…
“You should leave now …” she rushed out. “You should go…”
That wasn’t what he wanted, and yet, he wanted to run like the damn wind and never look back.
His mate. That was a damn scary prospect…
She’s here … my one true mate…
What if I’m like my father?
What if she’s like my mother…?
I can’t do this…
I have to do this … don’t I?
His bear gave him a long warning growl. The beast had scented its mate and it wasn’t going to be so easy to keep the beast at bay now that he knew her…
I should leave … she wants me to go…
I should stay … I have to woo her…
Damn it!
“Don’t hang from any more damn ladders…” he growled out. Every step that he took backwards, away from her, was torture… “If you need something doing, ask.”
“I don’t…” Bonnie gave a small shake of her head, but it was fast, like she was in a rush to do something else … be somewhere else…
“Ask.” He repeated.
Karl had to force one step at a time away from her when his bear grumbled and growled and demanded that they stay.
He finally managed to wrench his eyes from her and turn away. Then he stalked back towards his truck as quickly as he could before he changed his mind – before his beast changed it for him.
He’d stay, but not there … not right in front of her and make her scent of fear.
He’d be that stalker guy that she’d accused him of being. Lurking, waiting, making sure that she didn’t do something else that was equally stupid … that she didn’t get hurt.
It was his job to look out for her.
His job to protect her, and he’d do that with his life.
Bonnie watched the man walking away from her. Every inch of her body was in a state of heightened awareness over what had happened.
Her heart still hadn’t settled in her chest and she still wasn’t able to draw a full and complete breath.
The man was … unsettling.
“I’ll ask when bloody hell freezes over…” she muttered, before turning on her heels and starting back inside.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
Bonnie had the cabin locked up tight.
Nothing was getting in – not even a big old bear or the man himself – not without him making a heck of a lot of noise, and she’d put her baseball bat beside her desk, ready and willing to use it should the worst happen.
She knew that she couldn’t just exist anymore. She needed music as a backdrop to her work, and work paid the bills, and she had to trust that she’d hear anyone who tried to get in.
She’d spent hours pacing and wringing her hands at the prospect of someone being outside and not being able to see them through the darkness, one big drawback to country living – no damn street lighting. Finally, she got herself into a place where rocking out to some good tunes on her phone with the little earbuds in her ears felt ok.
She was determined to get a fresh start now that she’d upped and moved from the city to her new home, and no big old scary shifter guy with eyes the colour of her favourite chocolate bar, and a strong pair of arms was going to end that newfound feeling of security.
At least, that’s what she was trying to convince herself as she worked on the latest cover design and tapped her toes along to the beat…
Fantasy had become the escape word for people intrigued by the confirmation that there were such things as vampires, shifters, witches and wizards, along with some other supernatural beings that were right out there on their own doorsteps, and she loved working on those kinds of covers more than the generic romance stuff that she always blew a raspberry too whenever she finished a cover.
She used to love curling up with a good romance novel and imagining finding a love that would last forever, or at least until the end of the novel, but after what she’d been through – well, true love seemed like just another plot in a movie or book – she couldn’t believe that kind of reality existed in the real world for her anymore.
Bonnie layered in one more orb of light from the wizard’s hand, and felt the strangest sensation crawl over her skin. She flicked her eyes sideways towards the window that looked out onto the land at the back of the cabin and inadvertently held her breath.
Something was there, or had been there – she was almost certain of it…
Bonnie jumped in her seat at the sound of the thud that snatched her attention away from the window and back inside the house. She reached up and pulled the buds from her ears – the sound of the music still came from the tiny speakers as she laid them down next to her phone on the desk, and she scrutinised the living room around her, looking for signs that something had fallen over from its temporary placement…
Her skin crawled. Her heart raced, and she had one hell of a big lump to clear in her throat…
Everything looked fine, and as her eyebrows started to unclenched from above her nose, and just as she started to relax in her chair – another thud made her jump in her seat and she immediately reached for the bat at her side and wrapped her hand around it…
She pushed up to her feet and started for the front door…
Another thud made her jump and pull up short. She swallowed down hard and raised the bat to shoulder height, trying once more to swallow down her heart from where it was pounding in her throat…
“Come on, Bonnie, open the damn door…” Jenny berated her, and she had to admit … that was the best damn sound in the world.
She let her head drop forwards on her neck for a moment as she took in a big breath and reminded herself what an idiot she was, and with another impatient kick to the door to get her moving, she headed right for it and yanked back the bolts…
“Why are you…?” Bonnie was confused as to how and why Jenny was still in town, but she had to move back out of the way as Jenny steamrollered by her and headed straight inside balancing a big white box on one upturned palm, and the smell that came from it made Bonnie’s stomach growl in claiming mode …
Oh, she wanted whatever was inside that cardboard box alright…
“Road closed…” Jenny informed her as she swanned into the room and made a beeline for the coffee table… “I found a bakery in town called Ma’s …” Jenny gushed, reaching over and placing the box safely down, before she stretched upwards and dropped her overnight bag from her shoulder onto the sofa. “Oh, and do we like Ma. Yum!”
“How yum?” Bonnie sounded excited for the first time in a long time…
“You thought you’d have to do all of your own baking…” Jenny shook her head… “Think again.” She pointed a finger down to the box, and Bonnie reached out and tossed the door closed, before she started for it… “It would be a sin of epic proportions to even consider making your own when you could have … those.”
“Oh, big upsell.” Bonnie frowned. “But it smells like heaven…” Bonnie grinned.
“I’m not going to kill the surprise, open it, and marvel at the most delicious cakes and pastries that I have ever tasted…” Jenny announced and Bonnie giggled with glee. That was high praise from the queen of baked goods…
“Seriously?”
“I could move here permanently based on what is in that box alone �
�� and there’s more – so much more back on the shelves…” Jenny offered temptingly and with so much glee that Bonnie knew that her friend wasn’t blowing smoke…
Bonnie tossed the baseball bat down onto the sofa and dropped to her knees on the floor beside the box. It was like finding a treasure chest washed ashore…
“Bat…?” Jenny berated her. “You’re in the middle of freaking nowhere with bolts, many, many bolts on the door…”
“I had an unwanted visitor…” Bonnie said on a deep frown, and then she tipped her head to one side and closed her eyes for a second as she rephrased that… “Ok, not unwanted…”
“My God …” Jenny’s hand went to her breast and she faux gasped in horror… “You mean – you wanted a visitor?”
“Not that either,” Bonnie bit back. “I was kind of in a bind and…”
“A bind? How?” Jenny quirked just the one eyebrow back at her friend – she didn’t like the sound of that.
“I was sort of up a ladder outside …”
“Ladder!”
“Yep, one of those things that make you taller.” Bonnie pressed her lips together for a long moment at the memory and lost her need for sarcasm left her.
“Go on…” Jenny waited…
“And the ladder kind of shifted beneath me, and I had to cling onto the rain gutters for dear life…” She knew it sounded bad, and it had been at the time, but now when she thought back on it – it felt a little amusing as well…
“Are you insane?” Jenny demanded, looking at her as if she’d just tossed those baked goods right in the bin, and when her hands went to her hips, Bonnie grimaced…
“Yes,” she offered back, trying to look as innocent as possible.
“Yes, right answer.” Jenny nodded. “Just because you’ve moved to the wilderness it doesn’t make you Pocahontas, you know?”
Bonnie opened her mouth to speak – to defend her actions – and then she reached out and flicked open the top of the cake box…
“Oh look, cake!” She announced, and Jenny’s eyes snapped to the delicious looking assortment within the box…
“Oooo, cake…” she muttered, practically salivating and licking her lips… “Hey!” she scowled…
“I know, do not distract the miffed woman with gooey and delicious baked treats, but it’s just so easy…” Bonnie’s lips quirked upwards.
“It’s like a knife in the back…” Jenny narrowed her eyes on her…
“Yeah, but smell that chocolate and the strawberry sauce … smells delicious…” Bonnie said with glee, wafting her hand over the cakes and up towards her friend…
“True…” Jenny leaned in towards the box, then she bit down on her annoyance that she could be distracted so easily from her wrath… “That’s low, even for you.”
“A girl only has so many tools at her disposal…” Bonnie said; reaching out and snagging a chocolate éclair that looked sinful … then she eagerly bit into it and the taste exploded within her mouth… “Oh my God!” she exclaimed; covering her mouth with her hand, but her eyes said it all…
“Told you,” Jenny said with glee; reaching into the box and snagging her own cake, a raspberry meringue that literally melted as soon as it touched her tongue…
“I – love – Ma’s…” Bonnie managed to get out, before she ravenously attacked the helpless chocolate cake within her sticky fingers…
Jenny nodded, eyes wide, big old grin on her lips as she swallowed…
“Cake heaven…” she declared, before going in for her next bite.
~
~
~
“I thought you’d be home by now…” Bailey offered from somewhere high in the treetops above Karl, and the man snapped his head back on his neck and searched for sight of the vampire…
“Don’t do that!” He growled in annoyance.
He hated just how damn stealthy the vampire could be at times. Not that he was paying any attention to his surroundings – hell, a jet could have been coming in for landing over his head and he probably wouldn’t have noticed until it parted his hair…
His ears were directed to the sounds that were coming from inside the cabin. The two females were making the kinds of noises that would be fitting in the bedroom, rather than just eating cakes … but still, he liked those sounds – he liked them a lot…
“Don’t you have a life?” Karl snapped at Bailey when the man dropped effortlessly and gracefully down next to him…
“Seriously?” Bailey raised just one eyebrow at the man, and the shifter scowled back at him. “That’s the question you’re going to ask a vampire?”
Karl grunted.
“Why are you here?” The shifter demanded. He didn’t like it, not one little bit and neither did his bear…
A vampire stalking around his mate’s cabin, and at night … it wasn’t right…
“Why are you here?” Bailey craned his head forwards on his neck and regarded the shifter with suspicion.
Karl took a long moment to think about the man’s question. His eyes darted around the area as if he was searching for the right thing to say in return.
“Because…”
“Because?”
“Because…” Karl said no more, and Bailey twisted his head on his neck and gave him a sideways look of pure suspicion.
“Because?” he tried again.
“Because…” Karl shrugged his broad shoulders. His eyes dashed around again…
“Because … of the wonderful things he does?” Bailey’s melodic tones set the song from the Wizard of Oz off a treat.
Karl didn’t appreciate the vampire’s humour, and he grunted once more – that time in annoyance…
CHAPTER SIX
~
“Go away…” Karl growled, turning back towards the cabin and dismissing the man.
“You go away…” Bailey shot back on a frown.
“I was here first…”
“I was here … because…” Bailey shot back, and Karl turned a curious look back on him. “I had nothing…” Bailey shrugged.
“Go away…”
“What are you five?” Bailey bit out. “Stop saying that.”
“I’m … in a protective mood. It’s not a good idea for you to be here,” Karl offered back, and that piqued Bailey’s interest…
“Ohhh, someone likes a human…” Bailey grinned, then that frown dropped. “It’s not Jenny?”
“Which one’s Jenny again?”
“The one at Ma’s bakers…”
“No, not her…” Karl offered back, distracted by the sounds that came from inside the cabin once more.
They sounded dirty. Erotic… he liked that.
His hard length twitched within his jeans and he grumbled at the feel of it. There wasn’t a damn thing he could do to but leave that uncomfortable ache where it was while the vampire was around…
“Good…”
“It is?” Karl snapped a look back at the man before he returned his gaze back towards the cabin…
“Very…”
“Why?”
“Because…”
“Don’t start that again!” Karl growled.
“I was going to say, because … I like Jenny…” He offered with a tone of pure annoyance at being interrupted.
“You do?”
“Sure…”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“She’s… a girl…” Karl shrugged.
“And that’s a problem how?” Bailey asked.
“I have no idea …” Karl shook his head. “I’m … distracted…” Karl offered back slowly, carefully considering his words.
“Noticed.” Bailey snorted. Then he twisted his head on his neck once more and eyed the bear shifter for a long moment… “Noooo…” he said with a teasing quality that brought the man’s head around, and his eyes glared at the vampire.
“What?” Karl finally snapped out – the look of amusement on the vampire’s face and the lack of an explan
ation annoyed him so.
“You found your…”
“Don’t…” Karl warned on the shake of his head.
“Ha! You did!” Bailey chuckled, and Karl had no choice but to turn towards the man and shush him…
“They’ll hear you,” he growled. “She … hates me.”
“Have you met you?” Bailey offered back, and the big man’s head came up as his eyes glared in annoyance…
“Yes,” he bit out, accepting the vampire’s words as gospel.
He knew that as men went; he wasn’t exactly a prize catch. He was big and growly, and he really did have something of an attitude problem when it came to being around people. That was probably something that he could thank his father’s genes for.
The man wasn’t exactly all sunshine and roses. Not that alpha bears were supposed to be, but the man had just taken the bad mood bear thing to a whole new level at times.
His father wouldn’t have known a kind word if it had bitten him on the backside, and the alpha bear might just have choked on it if he’d tried to get one out of his mouth. That had left Karl wanting…
He’d never known his mother. He’d been told that she was kind and loving, and he’d wished as a child that she’d been around for him.
Karl wasn’t sure how he could miss someone that he’d never known, but he had. He’d mourned not having her in his life.
“Oh, this is going to take some serious wooing…” Bailey sounded distracted, but extremely gleeful.
“You don’t say…” Karl bit out dryly.
He didn’t need to be told the obvious from a vampire. He didn’t need to be told that he was basically unlovable…
“Are you up for that?” Bailey asked, and as Karl turned to look at the man; he noted the deep frown etched into his forehead.
“I’m not – not up for that,” Karl’s eyes went skywards as he considered his words.
“Geez, you’re chasing your backside already…”
The sound of the vampire’s chuckle annoyed him. He could woo …
At least, he thought he could … but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice in the matter.
His mate was there and it was a case of woo or lose her, and he couldn’t lose his mate. That would just be wrong on so many levels that he didn’t want to explore in case it set off his bear…