Everly
The bright red and blue lights in her rearview mirror assured Everly that the sheriff had noticed her speeding.
“Crap,” she muttered as she pulled over. Right in front of Zane’s gym, too.
“License and registration, please.” Sheriff Kyle Winters was the personification of the laconic lawman. Except where, for reasons unknown to Everly, Zane Dixon was concerned.
He stopped when he saw Everly was behind the wheel. “You taking Dixon’s truck out joyriding?”
Hands trembling, Everly opened the glove box and rooted through it looking for the appropriate papers. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Not exactly, no.” Like she was going to admit to speeding, she thought with an internal roll of her eyes.
“What’s going on here?”
Oh, dear. Everly looked up to see a half-naked sweaty, sexy as hell Zane. An angry, half-naked, sweaty, sexy as hell Zane, Everly corrected herself.
“Hey, baby!” Everly said brightly in an effort to diffuse the situation. She turned to Sheriff Winters and thrust the papers into his hands. “Here you go.”
Winters looked through what she gave him. “Did you get her added as a driver on your insurance?”
Everly had no idea why Winters was being such a condescending butt-hole about the thing. “Everything is in order,” she said through gritted teeth. Or, at least she hoped it was. She and Zane hadn’t even been married long enough for the ink to dry let alone getting her put on his car insurance.
“Watch your tone to my wife.”
Crap, crap, crap, Everly thought. That’s all she needed to make the situation even worse. She was out of the truck and blocking Zane before her angry husband could go toe-to-toe with the sheriff. “I have great news.”
“Does it have anything to do with the upcoming election for sheriff in town?” Zane put his hands on her shoulders and not-so-subtly shifted until Everly was behind him.
“You thinking of throwing your hat in the ring? Will they even let ani—”
“Oh, no you don’t!” Everly charged on the sheriff. She stood staring up at the big, older man. “Look, write me a ticket or not but you will not use that word to describe my husband. Is that understood?”
Unwittingly, her index finger came out, and she wagged at the sheriff like he was a little boy caught with his finger in the cookie jar.
The sheriff took a step back as though intimidated by a woman a hair over average height armed in full daylight armed with only a scolding index finger. “You save your hatred and prejudice for other people. Zane is a wonderful human being who agreed to serve our country in the Shifter Special Forces.”
“But he didn’t serve, did he? He got tapped to fight in a ring instead, like some kind of modern gladiator.” Sheriff Winters’s voice was cold as ice and full of resentment.
Everly tilted her head in confusion. There was something else there, too. Pain, maybe?
“Zane isn’t responsible,” Everly said, going with her gut.
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ev, get away from the sheriff,” Zane called out. He took a few steps off the sidewalk but stopped when he saw the look in Winters’s eyes.
Everly turned back to look at her husband. The wind picked up a little, blowing strands of her strawberry-blonde hair in her eyes and mouth. “It’s fine, Zane. It’s all okay.” She turned back to the sheriff. “Isn’t that right, sir?”
There was a look in his eyes that gave Everly pause. She knew, deep down, that Zane was right. She should back away from the lawman. There was something edgy and taut about the way he was carrying himself.
And really, what kind of fool goes around rattling the chain of a man with a gun? Apparently, her kind of fool.
“I know you think you're angry with Zane, but he hasn’t done anything to you. You caught me speeding. Give me a ticket, and then you can be on your way.” Everly never thought she’d ask for a ticket, but that’s the kind of bizarre alternate universe Zane Dixon had placed her in.
Kyle Winters looked from Zane to Everly and back again. Something she had said had set the lawman off. At the wild look in his eyes, Everly decided maybe a step back would be in her best interest.
“You were designed to be bullet catchers and spies. Coming home wasn’t supposed to be a part of the bargain.”
Zane motioned for her to get behind him again but Everly chose not to listen to him. She did step away from the sheriff, just not in the safe enclave of her husband’s arms.
“We knew what we were getting when we signed the paperwork,” Zane said calmly.
“Some of you did, at any rate.” The sheriff put Everly’s papers on the hood of the truck and stalked away from them, frustration vibrating from every pore in his body.
Everly grabbed them before her license and registration could blow away. “What do you think that was all about?” she mused.
“I have no idea.” Zane walked closer to her, looming over her. “What I’d like to know is who you were trying to impress with that wagging finger.”
“Gram used to use it all the time. It’s a time-honored Miller woman tradition,” Everly said. She winked at her husband. “Don’t make me use it on you.”
“I wouldn’t dare.” Zane cradled her face in his hands. “I was worried about you. Charging after the sheriff like that. What if he had shot you?”
Everly frowned. “He called you that name. The one I hate. I won’t allow that to happen again.” She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him stubbornly. “No one calls you that on my watch.”
Zane kissed her forehead. Her cheeks. The tip of her nose. “I’ve been called worse and survived. What I couldn’t survive is losing you.”
Everly’s heart beat a little faster in her chest, and she felt her mouth open, just a little. “Zane,” she said on a little puff of air. Some invisible connection, like gravity, like love, pulled them towards each other.
Their breaths mingled. Eyes met. The moment was ripe with expectations and need.
“Yo’, Hurricane. Break time is over, cupcake. Time to get back to work.” They broke apart, surprised by the sharp tone and words.
“Um, hi?” Everly said, looking over at the mammoth man standing in the doorway of Zane’s gym.
“Everly, this is my current trainer Seth Law. You’ll meet my new trainer Kingston Hart as soon as he gets into town.”
“C’mon,” Seth clapped his hands, urging Zane to move faster. “We have another hour of sparring before I let you go for the night.”
“Oh, oh! That’s what I came down here to tell you,” Everly said as she followed Zane into the gym. “I talked to Fannie.”
Zane took a swallow from a bottle of water and hopped into the practice ring. “What happened? Did you work everything out?”
Everly bit her lip. She really didn’t want Zane to fight, but she couldn’t lie to him, either. “Not exactly. But we made headway.”
Zane shook his head. “I signed a contract, Ev. I need to be there. It’s a done deal.”
Zane
With the dogged determination of a stubborn toddler, Everly followed him into the gym.
“I don’t want you getting hurt, Zane.” She was so earnest as she looked up at him. It took every ounce of will to deny her request. Fighting wasn’t just what he did, it was who he was.
“Getting hurt is part of being a fighter, Ev.” He rolled his shoulders, trying to find some ease.
She opened her mouth to argue with him, but he held a finger up. “Let me finish, please?”
Everly squirmed with her restraint.
“Boxing or ring fighting is what we do. But it’s also who many of us are. We’re like thirteenth-century warriors transported to modern time. We need to challenge each other. Sharpen our claws.”
Everly gave a half grin. “Grill meat and grunt?”
“Sometimes, yeah. But every blow I take, every one I give, it makes me want to go home. Of course, it does. But I always stay.” Zane put his hand over his heart. “All I can do is stand and fight.”
He saw the doubt in her eyes. The desire to wrap him up in bubble wrap so he’d never be hurt again.
“I saw your last fight,” she said, a little M forming between her eyebrows. “You got your wrists jammed on your last fight.” Her green eyes flashed fire as she lifted her chin.
“I know. I was there. I remember. The rules have changed since then, though.”
“How?”
“We used to be able to shift mid-fight but too many fighters were getting hurt. The rules were switched up so we have three rounds. The first is ten minutes long and in human form. The second is ten minutes long in bear form. The third, if anyone has the stamina to make it that long, is five additional minutes in human form.”
Everly reached for his hands and rubbed up and down the fighter’s tape wrapped around his wrists. “What happens if your opponent breaks your hand or wrists?”
Zane tightened his hands on hers before gently tugging her closer to him. “You’ve seen the way the fights go. Three rounds. First is ten minutes human form only. Second is ten minutes, bear form only. Third, if we make it that far, is five minutes. Human form.”
Everly nodded. “But some of the joint locks look really painful.”
There was no humor in Zane’s laugh. “They don’t just look painful. They are. Trust me.”
“The wrists are joints.”
Zane wanted to smile at her mother-hen worry. He lifted her hand, kissed her palm. “The wrist lock is done by grabbing your opponent's hand and twisting.” Gently, he did so. “Like this in a non-natural direction.”
“That’s not so bad,” Everly conceded.
“I haven’t applied any pressure yet,” Zane teased. He applied the minutest of pressure.
“Ow!”
He let go immediately. “You okay?”
She nodded but looked at him in growing horror. “Maybe you need to find a new line of work. This seems really brutal.”
“I’m a big ass Asiatic bear shifter, Ev. I am brutal.” He kissed her wrist. “But, I would never, in a million years, hurt you. I’d rather take a bullet then hurt you, hear?”
“I know. I guess I only see you as Zane. My husband.” She smiled and ran her finger across his lips. Down his neck. “My lover.”
Zane’s heart thudded a little harder in his chest. A reaction that had very little to do with exercise. He placed his forehead against hers and gently kissed her nose with his. “That’s the only way I want you to see me.”
“And these kinds of holds and stuff are allowed?”
“They are, but not usually done. We don’t wear gloves in the BKB, but we do tape our wrists up pretty well. It would be a challenge to apply a wrist lock once I’m geared up.”
“I have to love you the way you are, don’t I? Not the way I want you to be.”
With shaking hands, Zane framed her face. “Do you love me?”
She blinked, looking adorably confused. “I married you, didn’t I?”
“But you never said the words before.”
Her eyes shifted down as she ran through her memories. “Well, you didn’t say it, either,” she finally challenged.
“I asked you to marry me, didn’t I?”
Meeting his eyes, she nodded shyly. “Does that mean you love me?”
“Hey, Hurricane, c’mon, we need to work on your stamina,” Seth called from the office. He walked in, saw Everly in Zane’s arms and sighed.
“Everly, this is Seth Law. Seth, this is my wife, Everly Dixon.”
He resisted Everly’s slight push to greet Seth. Zane loved having armfuls of his luscious wife and was reluctant to part with her.
She gave him a sardonic look before ducking beneath his arms and going to meet Seth. “How are you?” she greeted.
Seth, being Seth, whistled. “Dang, Hurricane, how’d you get such a beautiful woman to marry your ugly ass?”
Zane rolled his eyes. “With my charming personality, of course.”
Seth merely snickered. “Well, sweet cheeks, when you get tired of Mr. Charming Personality over there, I’ll be happy to show you around.”
Everly looked back and forth between Seth and Zane. She turned back to Seth. “Let’s get one thing straight, okay? My husband needs to train and keep his head in the game. Right?”
Suddenly nervous, Seth glanced between Everly and Zane. “Uh. Yeah?”
“You asking or telling there, Sethipotomus?”
Seth grimaced. “It’s Laying Down the Law.”
Zane snorted. “I don’t know. Sethipotomus has a nice ring to it.”
Seth glared at him and flipped him the bird.
“You just make sure my husband is properly trained.” Everly poked Seth in the chest with the same finger she’d used to wag at Sheriff Winters. Zane grinned. Damn, he loved her.
Everly walked back to her husband and put both arms around his neck. She pouted slightly as she said, “I will be most put out if you get hurt.”
“Me, too, Ev. Me, too.”
“Good.” She kissed him and began to leave the gym. As though having a second thought, she turned. “And Zane?”
“Yeah?” Zane was already thinking of the rest of the workout Seth had planned for him.
“We’ll work on your stamina some more. Tonight.” With a flirty wave and little giggle, she left.
Zane glared at the door for a moment, every cell in his body taking a tally and declaring they wanted to follow Everly’s training methodology for the next six weeks.
Eventually, though, he sighed and let his mind override his hormones. “Soon,” he promised himself. Soon.