The Bear's Mate

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2014 Vanessa
Devereaux

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-837-3

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry
Designs

Editor: Kerry
Genova

ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized
reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction.
All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual
events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely
coincidental.

THE BEAR’S MATE

Kalispell Shifters, 1

Vanessa
Devereaux

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

Aiden’s
heartbeat pounded so hard that he felt each gush of blood it pushed around his
body. He put his foot down harder on the accelerator. Beads of sweat broke out
on his forehead. He gripped the steering wheel tighter causing his knuckles to
look like every drop of blood had been drained from them. He wiped away the
perspiration with the back of his hand, willing the car in front of his to get
the hell out of the way because this was clearly an emergency.

You’ve got to
come and help me because I’m in big trouble.

That’s
all he’d heard his brother shouting down the phone and then the line had gone
dead.

He’d
told one of his co-workers that he needed to go and pick up some medication for
the cough he couldn’t seem to shake. After that, he’d swiftly left the wildlife
management office. He glanced down at the bag perched on the passenger
seat.
 
It had been packed for as long as
he could remember.
Pulled out in haste just ten minutes ago.
Inside
was
a way out and a fresh start. He hoped that
his brother had his
one
ready and also every other member of their
group. Once Aiden gave the signal they’d leave, never turning back.

Sadness
swept over him. Flathead County had been their home since they’d arrived here. They’d
set up roots in Western Montana and Idaho as best as they could. They’d found
jobs, homes, had children in the local schools, but if it was no longer safe,
then so be it.

Aiden
pulled into the parking lot of his brother’s condo building. He really wanted
to collect his thoughts, take a deep breath and think about the next move, but
someone, about even government officials, had discovered their secret, and his
brother was in danger.

Exiting
the car, he put his nose into the air. The bear in him smelled the blood. The
air was tinged with a heavy metallic odor. Someone was hurt or worse. He
glanced up at the building, keying in on the exact window of his brother’s
condo.

So
much for thinking they were safe because nothing significant had happened
before now. However, someone had found Christopher and was probably torturing
him, punishing his body until he gave in, told them the truth and the identity
of every single member of the group.

Aiden
entered the building, opting not to take the elevator because most of the time
it was unreliable. Once he’d even got stuck between floors in the damn thing. He
ran up the stairs two, sometimes three at a time, hoping he wasn’t too
late.
 
Christopher was the only family he
had left now, and he couldn’t imagine carrying on without him.

Aiden
reached the fifth floor and pushed back the stairwell door, smelling burgers
cooking as well as the tell-tale coppery odor that still clung heavy in the
air. It was his brother’s blood he knew it. He’d always been able to detect
shifter blood better than that of a human. He ran along the hallway to
apartment 511. The door was closed. He turned the handle but didn’t expect it to
open because he’d always instructed his brother to lock it at all times and
never let a stranger over its threshold. Not such a great idea now that the
enemy was inside with him. Just how had they gotten inside? His brother wasn’t
easily fooled.

He
pulled out his gun and kicked at the door with the sole of his right foot. It
flung open, and Aiden rushed inside, scanning the area with his gun ready to
shoot.

“Please,
don’t hurt me, I’m sorry.”

Christopher
cried out, and it sounded like he was in the bedroom. Aiden edged his way along
the wall toward the room, ready for the ultimate showdown. He expected to see
the people in there torturing his brother, but instead a naked woman stood by
the door holding a bread knife that had blood splattered on it.

He
knew her. She was one of the members of the group. She was a wolf-shifter and
was, in fact, his brother’s sometimes girlfriend. He’d warned Christopher that
a wolf and bear shifter weren’t exactly a match made in heaven, but his baby
brother knew best. Aiden lifted the gun higher and entered the room. She caught
sight of him, suddenly pointed the knife at Aiden and partially shifted, showing
him her sharp canines as she opened her mouth and growled.

“Eliza,
just put the knife down, okay,” he said stepping farther into the room.

His
brother was lying on the bed with a nasty wound to his lower belly.

“Aiden,
do something because she’s gone crazy,” he said.

“He’s
the one you should do something about,” she said taking a run toward Christopher
with the knife.

Aiden
knew he needed to grab her and wasn’t sure just where on her body to do it. She
was nude, and the bottom line was she was Christopher’s woman. However, by the
look of things the relationship might be over.
 
He put his arms out and grabbed her with one hand on her belly, the
other across her left breast.

“Just
drop the knife,” he whispered in her ear, getting a strong odor of her wolf.
She was just as scared as Christopher was; he could detect the tinge of fear in
the air. She wasn’t going to let go of the knife any time soon, so he decided
to take matters into his own hands.

He
shook her, and the knife fell to the ground by his right foot. Aiden kicked it
under the bed and out of her reach, and then let her go.

“Your
brother is a disgusting rat,” she said turning around.

“I
said I was sorry,” said Christopher.

“Just
what the hell’s been going on?” asked Aiden.

“He’s
been with another shifter,” said Eliza.

Aiden
looked at his brother and raised both his eyebrows.

“I
will never forgive you for this Christopher Renner. I’ll show myself out and
let me just say you got exactly what you deserved.” She stormed out of the
bedroom.

Aiden
put his gun back in its holster. “Is it true that you’ve been two timing her?”

Christopher
didn’t have a chance to answer when another girl, also naked, walked out of the
en suite bathroom. He lifted his nose to catch her set. Cougar if he wasn’t
mistaken. This one had to be new in town, and that worried him more than
Christopher cheating on Eliza with an unknown shifter.

“Shit,
what the hell have you been up to?” asked Aiden.

“I
felt in a playful mood,” said Christopher holding his stomach and grimacing.

“Hi,
my name’s Linnie.”

She
walked over to Aiden and held out her hand. He had to admit she did have a
great body, but that was beside the point. He’d panicked and broken speed
limits, even traffic rules in his attempt to save Christopher, and all because
of sex.

“I
think he should get that gash and bite checked out.” She slipped on the blue
dress she’d picked up off the floor.

“And
I think it best that you leave ASAP,” Aiden told her.

“Maybe
I’ll see you around,” she told Christopher before she exited the room.

Aiden
walked into the bathroom, hoping he wouldn’t find any more naked girls lurking
in there. He took a towel off the rack and a washcloth, ran it under the tap,
and walked back into the bedroom.

“Let
me see how bad that wound is?”

Christopher
set his head back on a pillow while Aiden wiped away the blood from the injury.

“Ouch.
Be careful,” said his brother. He pushed Aiden’s hand away, but he persisted with
cleaning him up anyway. He’d always been a big baby about things like this.

“You
had me worried. Why didn’t you tell me it was Eliza you were scared of?” asked Aiden.

“I
didn’t get a chance to. She was coming at me with that knife. I know you’re
finding this very amusing.”

Aiden
smiled, relieved that things weren’t as bad as he’d expected. They wouldn’t have
to leave. “So you mind telling me what brought this about? I thought you and
Eliza were becoming exclusive.”

“Guess
my libido’s been in overdrive lately. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you we’re
heading toward bear mating season.”

He
didn’t. Aiden had felt the stirrings and urges within his own body. However, he
didn’t have a mate, didn’t even have a female friend at the moment so he’d done
his best to suppress them and using his daily run as a way of getting it out of
his system.

So far, so good.

“Eliza
is a nice girl, even if she is a wolf. It was stupid to tempt fate,” said Aiden.

“She
is, but I thought we could spice things up with a ménage a trios. I thought
she’d like it just as much as me. I told her to come over for a surprise in the
bedroom and when she got here…”

“She
found you and Linnie had already started without her.”

He
nodded, and then grimaced again as Aiden dabbed at more of the injury.

“How
did you and Linnie meet? You know I like to check people out before we let them
into our inner circle.”

“She
was at a bar I went to the other night. I smelled her cougar as soon as she
walked into the place. Said it was the first time she’d met another shifter and
that she’d been lonely. Her group landed on the Oregon coast.”

“Hold
still
will
you? Eliza’s probably thinking about settling
down and you had to do a thing like this.”

“I
don’t want the whole settling down thing. I want sex with two women at the same
time sort of thing.”

Aiden
pushed his brother back down on the bed.