~

 

 

“Trust me when I say that I’d like nothing more than to do just that,” Rayner bit out with a sour tone to her voice and a look to match it. “It’s a bit of a shithole.”

“Well, that’s real easy – just walk back the way you came,” Bowie offered back with a sneer that exposed his blunt teeth.

She guessed that she should count herself lucky for that one, fangs weren’t exactly something that would make her feel any better about her situation.

“Can’t do it, friend.”

She shook her head but kept her eyes locked on him. She didn’t trust the behemoth not to go bat-shit crazy and shift right there in front of her. Then she really would be up shit-creek.

Then what? She was damned if she had a plan for what came next, but she’d winged it before and would have to this time because she wasn’t planning on running out on a perfectly good paycheck.

“I’m not your friend. I’ll never be your friend,” he ground out.

Rayner guessed that was the one truth that she could rely on him telling her today.

She was sure that his tone was getting deeper. He felt darker somehow, like when the sky was clouding over just before one of those hell-on-earth lightning storms, and you knew what was coming your way.

She didn’t much care for those either.

“Geez, got it already. What’d you do, roll out of your crib on the wrong side this morning?” She twisted her face up and regarded him with about the same amount of attitude that he was giving her.

They say never challenge a shifter because the beast doesn’t like it. Well, too bad. The beast should pay his damn bills.

“I said…” he took a long step towards her and her hand reached under her jacket for the makeshift cosh at her waist.

Bowie’s gaze flicked down and narrowed to where her hand stayed at her waist. He had to wonder what kind of a weapon the annoying woman had there.

Rayner’s fingers were already tightly fisted around the end of it, and her heart was telling her that the race was in full swing, but she wasn’t about to run anywhere.

“Bowie!”

Another, deeper, if that was possible, and she knew it was because she’d heard it for herself, voice boomed out into the stillness of the air, and she swallowed down hard at the thought of two of them – and only one of her.

Shit-creek. Big time.

Rayner knew she needed to get a better weapon than some taped up coins. Right then, she wouldn’t have minded holding an RPG. Not that she knew how to work one of those mothers, but it sure would have made her feel a whole lot better about things.

Rayner’s eyes flicked to the second behemoth that was stalking her way. The man wasn’t dressed in the same black–on–black ensemble, choosing instead a light pair of faded jeans, ripped in places, but not deliberately like some Rock Star wannabe, nope, they looked tatty through hard work and being well worn, and they certainly fitted in all the right places.

The plain black tee that he wore looked good on him, fitting snugly against the rows of bulging muscles that made her heart skip a beat or two. He had the same good-looking features as the first, a stone square jaw, chiseled nose, and a pair of cool blue eyes that ate her up and then spat her out whole again.

Sexy as hell was stalking towards her on long strides, and damn it, but she liked it.

“She’s on my land,” Bowie bit out.

Bowie didn’t look to the second man. Instead, his eyes rolled up towards the sky as he spoke, like annoyance was festering deep inside of him, and it was trying to break free. His big hands were fisted at his sides, and he was rubbing them against his legs like he was ready to explode.

While it was true that the man was a little more fidgety than she’d like, she was a little distracted what with eyeing up the new arrival and trying to get a feel for that man.

Two against one wasn’t good odds, but who was she kidding? One damn bear shifter was enough to take her down.

Maybe the guy was on drugs? Maybe his beast was antsy. Either way; it didn’t bode well for her.

It kind of reminded her of the look a caged beast had just before it started to pace back and forth, working out how best to escape that cage and eat everything in its path. She certainly wasn’t volunteering to be his damn dinner.

She guessed that from the way that his jaw rolled; he was trying to keep his crazy inside. At least, she hoped so.

Good for her if he could control that anger. Bad for her should his beast burst loose from within him.

Yeah, she really was going to kill Bute.

“You need to get off his porch!”

Dane was stalking towards the little human female with the piercing green eyes at high speed. He knew trouble when he saw it, and she was definitely it.

Baseball cap, steel-toed boots, and the attitude of a she-demon, and she was playing with damn fire where his brother was concerned. Damn stupid human.

Taking three steps at a time up the porch steps easily in his stride, he reached out, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, ignored the hard roll of something tucked into the waistband of her jeans, and yanked her soft body against his.

Then he spun her in the air with him, taking her feet off the ground, and dropped down the eight steps or so to the muddy earth with her still pressed against his hip.

He was … impressive. But then, so were most shifters.

Rayner felt the heady rush of adrenaline as it was dumped into her system. Fight or flight took hold of her, and she much preferred fight, but there wasn’t much that she could do about it; considering the iron grip that the man had on her.

As he turned her within his arms towards him, she felt the hard muscles that fitted against her softness just right, and for a minute there, she felt like Goldilocks, but it wasn’t Porridge or a bed that she’d discovered.

Dane had taken in her scent the first moment that he’d seen her on Bowie’s porch. He’d wanted to know exactly who it was that would be stupid enough to front up to his brother’s cabin, and he was more than surprised to find out that she was human.

That scent was spicy and rich, and it warmed his senses as his body flushed with heat inside and out and had given him an ache that shouldn’t have happened. He wasn’t a damn cub.

His first thought had been for her safety where Bowie was concerned. The man and his beast were paranoid about strangers being on his doorstep – hence the keep out sign at the start of the property – a sign that she’d obviously ignored.

Stupid – stupid – female.

His second thought had been that scent. It hit his nose and flowed through his body like it was replacing the blood within his veins.

Now, he was thinking just how damn good she felt against him. How good she felt within his arms.

Thoughts two and three had been more than unexpected. It was almost as if Bowie had blindsided him with a punch to his guts and shaken his damn head into scrambled egg brain at the same time.

That wasn’t good.

None of it was good.

But she was good – worse than that, she was human, and she was in the wrong damn place at the wrong damn time.

His bear didn’t just raise its head and pay attention, hell no, it roared to life within him and tried to push forward.

Dane was more than ready for the beast and his bearish ways, running into the damn fight when it should have stopped to consider all the angles. And there was one angle that he’d considered that his beast hadn’t thought about yet.

She was human.

“Get her the hell out of here, Dane,” Bowie growled out.

The man’s chin was angled down towards his chest. His blue eyes had turned jet black.

His brother was so damn close to losing it that Dane could practically taste it.

Bowie’s chest rose and fell with the hard breath that he sucked in, and his hands were fisting and un-fisting at his sides. Dane could scent the fur in the air, and he bit down on curse after curse as he wrapped his arms around the female and lifted her off her feet.

A heartbeat later and they were running for his cabin with the roar of Bowie’s bear echoing through the air all around them.

“Is he frigging crazy?” Rayner bit out.

Even being jostled and jolted the way that she was, she still tried to pull out of his arms, still tried to turn towards the sound of that big old bear as it roared for the second time.

“Kind of – yeah!” Dane bit out with something of an amused grunt, but she certainly wasn’t amused.

Dane kicked open the door to his cabin and turned them in through the opening. Tossing the door closed behind him; he slammed his back against it and hoped that his brother’s bear just did the same damn thing it normally did when it got loose, and ran off into the woods, battering trees as it went, and sharpening its claws on the trunks.

Rayner felt the hard rise and fall of his chest against her back, and she could certainly feel his hot breath panting out against her neck and ear as she debated the futility of trying to break free from the tight grip that his arm had around her waist— best case scenario – she’d probably break a rib or two. Worst case scenario, she’d make some kind of moaning sound deep in her throat from what felt like a caress on her neck.

Damn it, Bute, when I get a hold of you – I’m gonna rip off your damn balls, and then I’m gonna have them swinging from the rearview mirror of my damn truck!  

Normally, at the point where things had gone tits up, she would have been formulating a plan. Right then, all she could think about was the way that his breath felt against her damn neck, against her skin, and just how much she liked it.

Her arm was running parallel across the top of his. Her fingertips were just touching the heat of his hand, and there were tingles that were dancing under her fingertips, that felt good – strange, but good.

Then there was the feel of his chest muscles against her back, and she had to wonder; that if she just turned around in his arms, how her breasts would fit against those muscles. How her body would fit against his all the way down.

Damn, do not get a crush on the damn shifter dude that saved your bacon from the bear.

He’s a bear as well.

Play it smart.

This isn’t salvation. This is out of the frying pan and into the fire pit from hell … maybe.

You don’t know this guy.

You can not trust this guy!

“You can let me go now.” Rayner knew that her voice was going to sound out of breath, even if she hadn’t been the one doing the running, but she’d never expected it to sound that breathy and damn husky all at the same damn time.

“See, there’s the problem,” Dane practically whispered against her ear, and every nerve in her body sprang to life at that caress of his hot breath. Every cell in her body seemed to be trying to listen to his words, tune in to his wavelength.

“You know I really hate it when someone says there’s a problem.” Rayner tried to consider all of her options.

She could slam the heel of her boot back into his shin and grind it down the bone.

She could bring her elbow back into his ribs – if she could find them under those hard muscles.

She could try to get the cosh out and see just how far she could swing it behind her with enough force to let him see little cartoon birdies flying around his head.

She could smash the back of her head into his face, break his nose, and hope that she wasn’t the one seeing those stupid birds.

“Then you really are going to hate this,” Dane warned her, and she could hear the rumble of his bear in his voice as a growl rolled through his chest and vibrated against her back.

“I’ll bite…” she said, and then regretted that turn of phrase when he growled a lot damn harder.

She had to wonder why that sounded so damn good to her ears and her body.

Sure, she was on high alert. Expecting the unexpected.

Every inch of her was in danger mode, and he was definitely damn dangerous. What shifter wasn’t?

But still, that deep gravel over gravel tone, and the bear in his voice made her practically assume the position. He growled again, and she bit down on the need to make a sound of her own.

Somehow, she didn’t think she could manage a growl that could match the pure sexiness of his, but she didn’t think purring would be a good sound to make either, considering where she found herself.

Rayner felt his breath caressing her ear once more, and she found herself holding her breath rather than risking sounding too happy about it.

“Wrong thing to say to your mate, sweetheart,” he growled.