Shifters on Fire: A BBW Shifter Romance Boxed Set (19 page)

“What you are telling me makes no sense.”

“You have seen my bear.”

“I saw a hallucination. A glowing image brought on by a concussion.”

“You also saw me in full animal form before you hid behind the fallen tree. Not the best of hiding places, but we can discuss that at another time.”

“I saw a bear in the woods. I still do not believe you and he are one and the same.” She couldn’t believe it or her head might split in two.

“Then how do you explain my presence there?”

She couldn’t. No human could have fought off four bears. Impossible. “A fantasy.”

He grinned. “Am I your fantasy?”

“Of course.” If he was a fantasy, or a figment of her rattled brain, why lie to her delusion. “In fact, I would be all for you kissing me.”

“Really? Perhaps she wasn’t as sure of herself as she thought. “I have been thirsting to taste you for weeks.”

“Then, by all means, drink away.”

His hand laced through her hair, holding her in place as his lips captured hers. He tasted of coffee and berries, a bizarre yet intoxicating mixture. His tongue demanded entry and she could do nothing but open to him. She had been kissed, many times, but not one of the men before Brutus had prepared her for this onslaught. He devoured her and left her wanting more.

Breathless, she stared up at him. “More.”

“If my queen asks, I can do nothing but give her what she needs.” He embraced her, this time pulling her size eighteen frame against his, making her feel petite. This kiss left her as breathless as the first and shaking with need. Never had she been brought to such a sensual haze and frenzy. The room spun and she clung to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

As if she were made of precious bone china, he laid her back into bed. “You need to heal before we continue.”

“You aren’t a figment of my imagination, are you?”

“I will be anything you want me to be if you will allow me to kiss you again.” He brushed his lips against her. “No, I am here and I am not going anywhere.”

“You are staying the night?”

He nodded. “Either in your room or outside. It’s up to you.”

“Why? I am not going to run for the hills.” Hell, she couldn’t even make it to the window and back without causing a major hospital ruckus.

“It’s for your protection, my love. We have not fully mated, leaving you open to other shifters who will try to woo you away.”

“I think this is going to bring on a migraine, but why do I feel like woo is a mild word for what I will be expecting.” Not a wallflower but never Miss Popularity either, she found the thought of a great many of his kind coming her way both exciting and nerve racking at the same time.

“I am the alpha of the grizzlies. I have been waiting for decades for my mate to come. Others have waited longer.”

“Decades—no don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

“My kind live very long lives, as will you should you choose to be my mate. The problem is it can be a long, lonely life if your mate hasn’t crossed your path. Unmated compatible females can be considered open season.”

“But if no one knows.”

“About that…”

“Someone knows.”

“Yes, the black bears know because I might have lost my temper when they attacked you.”

“And they can’t be trusted to keep their mouths shut.”

He shook his head. “It’s big news.”

She yawned. “Well, by all means stay here and make sure the beavers don’t come for me.”

“There are no beaver shifters. Only large mammals can shift.”

“Forgive me for not understanding the rules.” She giggled at the ridiculousness of the entire conversation. “I am sure you will get me a rule book in the morning.”

“If I have my way, I will be making you one of us in the morning.”

She wanted to ask what the hell he meant, but blissful sleep called her name.

Chapter Four

“I will stay with her here.” Shauna placed a reassuring hand on Brutus’s biceps. “You cannot stake out the ranger cabins. It will make the elks nervous.”

“She is my mate. It is my right to protect her.” He was none too pleased by the events this morning when the hospital released her and she’d announced she wanted to head home. Without him.

“She is your given mate but she has not accepted you. And, at the moment, your absence might be more compelling than your presence.”

“Excuse me?” His easy disposition and slow-to-rise temper were remarkably absent.

Asha stepped forward. “Down, boy. What she is trying to tell you, but you aren’t level-headed enough to seem to grasp, is if she is feeling nervous and scared, your hulking mass in her personal space isn’t going to help.”

“Thank you, Asha,” Shauna said. “It’s also possible this need you feel to be with her is starting to emerge in her, too. She watched the door the whole time you were gone this morning. Leading me to believe the emotional connection has started. But never having dealt with a shifter/human mating, I can’t really say.”

“Okay I am going to meet with the elk alpha to get permission for you to be on their land for a while.” He walked out of the cabin and stumbled over a package left on the step. “What the hell.”

Asha picked it up and shook it. “I would guess it’s the same kind of package that turned up at our cave this morning.”

“What package?”

“Stop fretting. The black bears sent a package of really good yummies. Huckleberry jam, some bread, and honey.” Asha licked her lips as her stomach growled. “Maybe I should open this up and check. Just in case.”

Brutus slapped at her extended hand. “This had Quinn’s name on it, not Asha. Perhaps you can get attacked and then they will send you a care package.”

His sister hesitated as if thinking over the possibility before changing tactics. “She cannot possibly eat everything in that box.”

“How would you know?”

“Feel it. They packed enough to feed a bear. She. Is. Not. A. Bear.”

“Yet.”

She blew a raspberry at him in frustration. “Fine.”

Brutus walked into the single dorm-like room. “This came for you.”

Quinn glared at him. “My boss just called to inform me I am on disability until Dr. Mannsmann clears me and since he is a friend of yours, I guess it means when you clear me for work.”

She was too intuitive for her own good. Qualities that would make her a great beta but didn’t help him today. “I promise to stay out of the good doctor’s business.”

“Great, now, Shauna, I want your promise.”

Shauna spit out her lemonade and looked at her with an appearance of faux surprise. “Me?”

“You. You might stand up to the brute over there, but in the end you want what he does.”

“And what would that be?” Interest piqued, Brutus took a step farther into the room.

“Me to agree to mate you? Mate with you? Be your mate? However you say it.”

“As long as you say yes, you can say it any way you want.”

“Great.”

“Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?”

“What?”

“You asked why I didn’t just ask you to dinner. Well, here I am asking you out to dinner.” Shauna shot him a look of
What the hell are you doing
but he knew his mate. “So, can I take you to dinner? You choose the restaurant in or out of the park.”

“How about the Bear Pit?”

“You’re funny.” She might be being sarcastic but she hadn’t said no, so Brutus would accept what he could get.

“I have never eaten at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel dining room.”

Her choice of the one within his borders filled his chest with pride. “Consider it done.”

He made his excuses because watching her climb into bed again strained the short leash he had on his libido. She had complained about aches and pains she hadn’t felt yesterday. Muscles in her shoulders, neck, and back screamed. Like the day after an auto accident when muscles you didn’t know you had protested every movement.

The elk alpha stood in front of the dorms. “Brutus.”

“Lars, I was on my way to find you.”

Lars bowed his head acknowledging Brutus’s claim. “Rumors are flying all over the park.”

“I bet they are.”

He turned to walk over to the common area where a few mothers and calves basked in the sun. “I don’t have to tell you the elk are peaceful animals. We have always allowed others on our lands, but we have many calves in the area now and the mothers are nervous.”

“I can’t push Quinn to mate with me.”

“I respect your decision. A coyote wouldn’t have given her a choice, and the wolves would be ever present. But perhaps you can convince her to move to grizzly lands until her decision is made.” The tall, thin man would be no match for Brutus, but he had earned the respect of the other alphas for a reason. He was fair and honest. If the alpha said something, he stood by it.

“I will explain the situation to her at dinner this evening.”

“I appreciate it. We like Quinn. She is always good at keeping the humans away from our young. Only Jenny is more loved.” Lars walked behind a building and returned in elk form. A majestic animal. With a bow, he moved to his pack. Three of the females blinked at him before bowing their heads in respect.

Brutus checked his cell phone and found as always when he was in the Mammoth area, he had limited service. He walked into the hotel, found a landline, and called the cave.

“Rennie.”

“Rennie, it’s Brutus. I need you to get me a reservation for two for tonight at the Lake Hotel.”

She paused for a second. “I will head up there.”

No worries about getting a spot. One of their people managed the dining room. “Also, make sure we have a few scouts out on the deck.”

“Of course, Alpha. Is there anything else?”

“Yes, I want everyone else to stay far away from the dining room. The last thing Quinn needs is to be bombarded by all the bears. She is uncertain as it is. I need her to feel as normal as possible.”

“O-kay.” The way she drew out the word told him the whole clan was likely to be sitting around them observing and listening in.

“I mean it, if I see one bear—no, one shifter who isn’t supposed to be working there tonight—inside that dining room…” He left it up to her to imagine what would happen. Because, his current, calm state, was nothing like what would happen if anyone disobeyed his order and ruined his chances with Quinn.

~~*~~

Quinn wrapped her shawl around her shoulders. Strange she should be so nervous on a date where the choices were all in her hands. Shauna had filled her in on the whole mating thing. She basically had the engagement ring before the first date. All she had to do was say yes. He would never cheat, he would never look at another woman as long as they both lived. His whole world now revolved around her and her happiness. But she didn’t sugarcoat anything. A beta was equal to a queen and came with a great deal of responsibility. It was her job to be the soft to his hard, the voice of reason when he needed it, and she would bring motherly love to a clan.

She could argue with him when others wouldn’t. He would listen, but it didn’t mean he would bend. She had to understand the power she would wield within the clan but, more importantly, the others would be there to support and take care of their alpha. A great deal to take in for a woman just now accepting Brutus wasn’t a figment of her imagination or a side effect of her shaken brain.

He pulled his black Jeep Rubicon up to the hotel. After an hour and a half of silence between them, she was ready to run. But the smile he gave her as he crossed in front of the vehicle showed a touch of nerves. “Thank you,” she mumbled as he opened her door.

“It is I who need to thank you for giving me and my people a chance.” They walked past two scouts she thought she remembered from the cave. “They are here to ensure we aren’t disturbed.”

How must it feel to have protection from everyone all the time? For good or for bad. A bison lingered in the distance. “Is he a…?

“No just a normal smelly animal.”

“How can you tell?”

“That he is smelly?” He tapped his nose. “They like to roll in their urine.”

“I know that.”

“Shifters do not.”

They followed the hostess to a table in the back of the dining hall. “It’s nice to have you with us tonight, Brutus.”

“We will start with two salads and a bottle of white wine.”

“Yes, sir. Shall I alert the kitchen?” the tall, beautiful woman asked with a friendly grin.

“Probably a good idea.” Brutus held out Quinn’s chair before taking his own.

“What are you alerting the kitchen about?”

“I tend to eat more food than the average person.”

“I see.”

“No, you don’t, but you will.” His smile made her knees weak. When the waiter returned and she’d made her selection, he ordered the trout platter for four.

“Will that be all, sir?” The waiter didn’t even bat an eye.

“For now.”

They chatted about the park, her job, and what she did in the winter months when the park closed. When their food arrived, she stared at the large platter placed before her date. “I thought perhaps when you ordered dinner for four, the menu meant some chichi small portion, not literally a dinner for four. You can’t eat all that.”

He leaned in. “I sometimes eat two of these.”

She choked on a laugh. “Your grocery bill must be through the roof.”

“Good thing money is no object.”

“If you are trying to impress me, that won’t work. I don’t care about money.”

“I didn’t think you did, but wanted to assure you you won’t go hungry.”

“Good to know.” She smiled, taking a bite of delicious grilled salmon. “Why me?”

He placed his fork down. “I don’t know. Something in you called to my animal spirit. Even before we touched, I was attracted to you.”

“Please. I think you have me confused with Jenny.”

“The skinny ranger? I don’t think so. Bears like women with meat on their bones, and you have exactly what I prefer.” He reached for his glass, but his eyes never left her cleavage. “Then when we touched, my world shifted. Yellowstone could have erupted and it wouldn’t have been as earth-shattering as your touch.”

The fork in her hand fell with an echoing clink on the china. His eyes watched hers and she couldn’t catch her breath. He handed her the fallen utensil and refocused on his food. She wondered how hard it must be to know your other half had just passed you without noticing. Why would fate give him someone like her who didn’t have the instant attraction he did? No doubt she was attracted to him, but if he had approached her, she would have thought him out of her league.

She let him order her a dessert though she had lost her appetite. She couldn’t get her head around it all.

“I need to ask you something,” he said. And I need you to hear me out to the end before you say no.”

‘Okay.” She pushed a piece of cake around her plate.

“The doctor has requested you not work for seven days. I would like you to consider staying on grizzly lands for that time.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I know you have your doubts, but there are other factors you need to understand. The elks are concerned that having unmated males sniffing around you could be cause for fights and not the environment in which to raise their children.”

“So the elk alpha asked you to get me out of Dodge?”

“They requested we ask you to stay on our lands until you have made your decision.”

“And if I don’t?”

“The grizzly are not welcome to stay in their lands to make sure you are safe.”

“But I don’t need your bodyguards.” She didn’t want them around her, either. She threw her napkin on the table in disgust, wanting her simple life back. This was getting ridiculous.

Brutus tapped on the window and one of the guards appeared at their table. “Sir?”

“How many unmated shifters are out there right now?”

“We have twenty-three in the general vicinity.” He pointed out the window at a group of men in the parking lot then a few on the deck. “And another five we can smell in the distance. As long as you are with her, I think they will stay at bay.”

“Thank you.”

“Ma’am.” The guard nodded and walked out.

She couldn’t see the full number he claimed were nearby, but when she made eye contact with two of the men on the porch, they postured and puffed out their chests, no doubt trying to impress her.

“Do you wish to meet my competition?”

She shook her head. She didn’t think one out there could be as impressive as Brutus, and none of them would care for her the way he did. None of them would have the confidence and consideration to suggest she meet another even if it were the best thing for her. “Where would I stay?”