I stepped out from behind the bush and walked toward the bear I wanted to spend forever with.

  12

  Callan

  I didn’t know how to kill it, but I was going to figure it out. This super had taken its last breath. I would make sure of it. He’d never lay a finger on Hannah.

  My claws sank into his neck. He didn’t react. I wanted to see fear in his eyes, but the glowing embers of his eyes made it impossible to discern any emotion. I didn’t know if these creatures Allied had created were capable of feeling anything. His composure didn’t change when I shifted into my bear. The fur, teeth, and claws were the same to him as my human skin.

  They were bred to destroy and kill without remorse. They were weapons for Allied.

  What he didn’t know was that I wasn’t the same once the fur was exposed. The shreds of humanity were buried deep now. I could work off instinct and survival. The anger fueled me. The months that had put my friends and co-workers in jeopardy were mixed in with the fury for putting my mate in jeopardy. It was all the motivation I needed.

  “Callan, wait. Stop.” I heard a soft voice over my shoulder.

  I spun around, gripping the shifter with my claws. He gurgled as the blood began to fill his throat. If only it would be that easy to kill him.

  What in the hell was Hannah doing? Her bare feet rustled between the leaves. The sheet draped to her chest was soaked in blood. Shit. She had been hurt. It made me squeeze the shifter tighter. Was he the one who did that to her?

  She walked toward me slowly, with an outstretched hand.

  “You have to let him go, Callan,” she whispered. Her eyes darted from where I had his neck pinned with my paws to my eyes.

  No. Fuck no. I wasn’t letting him walk free. I roared.

  She gazed at me intently and took a step closer. I didn’t want her near him. The rain splattered around us and the forest shook with thunder.

  “The others ran away,” she explained. “I don’t know why, or where, but they took off. He’s the only one left. What if they went to get others? What if an army is on the way?”

  I considered what she was saying. I had enough anger running through my veins to take on an army of shifters, but it didn’t mean I would survive that kind of confrontation.

  Hannah continued, “You can’t kill him. Isn’t that what you told me? I don’t want to lose you tonight, Callan because you want to protect me. Because of revenge. You won’t win this fight.” She lowered her eyes. “That lured me in the woods on purpose, and I think it was to make me bait so they could get to you.”

  Her words resonated with me. I had gotten too close to drawing the woman in black out into the open. She didn’t want that to happen. She had sent a trio of shifter hunters to find and kill me.

  The storm was becoming more violet. I heard branches snap and thud to the ground in the distance. Hannah couldn’t stay out in this. I considered my options. I took one look at Hannah and had to hope that tonight some of our mate bond and made an impact on her. I needed her to know I’d be back. I looked at her, saying everything I could with one glance.

  I clutched the super and raced toward the cliffs, leaving Hannah in the clearing. I had ten miles to go before I reached the destination. The training I had done paid off. I was able to run at a speed I’d never matched before and without resistance from the super. I had severely wounded him, but not enough for it to be fatal.

  The terrain became rockier and I knew I was close to the drop off. The rocks and pebbles kicked out as I ran full-speed to the cliff.

  “Fuck off,” I roared as I halted at the edge and hurled the shifter to the bottom of the ravine.

  I watched and waited for him to crawl away but his body remained limp. I growled, daring him to move and then saw flashlights scanning the bottom of the ravine. I jumped back. There was a team dressed in black canvassing the area. They hauled his body away before I knew whether he had survived.

  I wanted to hunt each one of them down, but I had to get to Hannah.

  I sprinted through the woods the ten miles to where I had left her. She was standing a few paces from me when I walked toward her.

  “You’re not a bear.” She ran toward me, throwing her arms around my neck. “And you’re alive.” She sobbed into my neck.

  “I’m very alive, baby.” I wrapped my arms around her waist.

  Her lips turned upward and I caught them against mine. It was a mind-blowing kiss that could have ended every kiss. Our mouths were hungry and desperate. My tongue darted between her lips. The rain slid down our faces.

  “And you’re naked,” she whispered.

  I chuckled looking down. “I shredded my clothes when I shifted. It’s a problem when my bear doesn’t have time for patience.”

  “You were amazing, Callan.”

  I pressed my forehead to hers. “Thank you for saying what you did. You were right. There are more of them. An entire team.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “We need to get out of here and I need to call this into the station. I think it’s better if you go back to Ava’s tonight. It’s safer there than it is here.”

  I put an arm around her shoulder to lead her back to the house. I needed to find my gear and my gun halter before we left the scene of the attack.

  “No. I’m not leaving you.” She shook her head defiantly.

  I dropped to the ground, spotting my gun under a log. It must have landed there after I unclasped the halter. There hadn’t been much time to plan the shift.

  “You can’t stay here.” I clicked the halter into to place.

  “I can’t leave you either. Don’t ask me to.” Her voice cracked.

  I stopped on the trail and pulled her into my arms. The sheet slid between us. My naked body aligned to hers. I heard her inhale sharply.

  “Hannah, the last thing I want is to be anywhere else but right next to you.” I cradled her face in my hands.

  “I’m so sorry,” she blurted. “For what I said in bed, after we had that incredible crazy sex. I didn’t mean it. I don’t know why I said it.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay. What if I had died tonight and you thought I was some one-night stand girl who was in it for the great sex? What if I had died and never told you that I think I have found a reason to never leave Hunter’s Lake?”

  I swallowed hard. “Hannah.”

  “I mean it. And not just because you’ve now saved my life twice. I wanted to tell you before the shifter trap. I just didn’t know how. And you wouldn’t answer the door.”

  I tipped her chin and blistered a fiery kiss on her lips. Her breasts rubbed against my chest and my cock throbbed for her.

  “I have to get you somewhere safe,” I reminded her.

  She gasped for air. “I feel safe with you.”

  I grinned. “You are.” I reached for the sheet that was at our feet. I wrapped it around her shoulders. “I want to get a bandage on that hand, too.”

  I kissed the side of her head and walked her out of the forest.

  13

  Hannah

  I watched Callan wrap the gauze around my palm. It hurt worse than it looked. I let him tend to it the same way I had worked on his shoulder.

  I winced when he placed the tape on the back of my hand. Even the slightest bit of pressure made the nerves in my hand light up.

  “That should do it.”

  He had offered me one of his T-shirts and a pair of pajama pants. It didn’t seem fitting to put the skirt and top back on from our date. I held my palm in front of my face.

  “It feels better. Thank you.” I smiled.

  “Liar.” He smirked.

  I kissed him on his cheek.

  “The guys are going to be here any minute.”

  I nodded. “I won’t say a word.”

  He squeezed my knee. “Are you sure you won’t go to your sister’s?”

  “I can’t leave you. Even if the house is on fire.”

  He exhaled. “I get it. I do. Promise me you’ll listen to Casey.”

  “I don’t know him, but if I need to listen him to stay near you, the answer is yes.”

  “Good. He’s not a cop. That’s why he’s available. The entire force is going to be in the woods looking for the woman in black and those three supers. He’s a tiger shifter.”

  “Tiger?” I was intrigued. So far my only experience included bears.

  Callan nodded. “He’ll keep an eye on you. I trust him completely with your safety. He’s taken down his share of supers. I’ll have to tell you about Rawlings’s wedding sometime.”

  “I’ll be here when you get home, Callan.”

  He kissed me slowly. “You have no idea how good that sounds.”

  I grinned. “It sounded good, didn’t it?”

  His head jerked backward. “I think they’re here.”

  I couldn’t hear anything over the rain pounding the roof, but his shifter hearing gave him an advantage. Callan walked to the door.

  My mouth hung open when I saw the group assembled on the front porch. It was as if an entire hockey team had arrived, only they were armed, and could shift.

  Callan let one inside the house.

  “This is Casey,” he introduced me to the tiger shifter he had spoken so highly of just minutes before. “Casey, this is Hannah.”

  Casey nodded.

  “Hi,” I whispered. Maybe I’d ask him about the wedding story. It might pass the time while we waited for the guys to get back.

  “Hey.”

  Callan stopped in front of the door. He had since put on a fresh T-shirt and jeans. I had to admit he looked incredible hot naked in the woods, although it seemed inappropriate to tell him after everything that had happened.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  I didn’t know what to say. The words I love you were on the tip of my tongue, but I let him walk out the door without saying them.

  * * *

  I never meant to fall asleep, but I had excused myself from Casey’s scowling presence and curled into Callan’s bed. I flipped through a few channels, but there wasn’t much on at 3a.m. Eventually, I fell asleep.

  I felt a hand slide across my stomach. My eyes fluttered open.

  “Callan.”

  “Hey there, sleepy head.” He smiled.

  The sunlight filtered through the blinds.

  I pushed up on my hands, forgetting my one palm was bandaged. I winced. The pain was sudden and sharp

  “What happened?” I scanned him quickly for injuries. He seemed perfect and intact. I didn’t see a single scratch.

  Callan sighed. “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” I searched his eyes.

  “We scoured the entire forest, the park, and all the trails. Our team spent more time in the ravine than anywhere else. No supers. No Allied team. No woman in black.”

  I couldn’t believe it. “But they were there. They were real. I saw them.”

  “I know. But that’s the problem. They are always five steps ahead of us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I know you want this to be over.”

  He brushed the strands of hair off my shoulder. “I want it to be over for a lot of reasons.”

  “Where’s Casey?”

  “He slipped out. Said you fell asleep a while ago.”

  I blushed. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “It’s okay. You need some sleep. It was an exhausting night.”

  I touched the side of his chiseled face. Were we going to talk about all the things that happened between us?

  “The storm is gone?”

  He nodded. “It broke an hour or so ago, just as we were wrapping the search.”

  I twisted my lips together. “Nothing went right for you last night, did it?”

  His gaze was forlorn. “I wouldn’t say that.” He brushed a thumb over my lip. “We had an incredible time here.”

  How did he make my heart race so easily? My core tingled, and I was ready to jump him.

  “We did.” I nodded.

  He buried his face in the side of my neck, kissing behind my ear. His hand pushed the pajama pants off my hips. I wasn’t wearing any underwear. It wasn’t as if I had packed for an overnight first date. He pushed my knees wide as his fingers opened my slit enough to expose my swollen bud.

  “Ohh shit,” I hissed. I was still sore and everything was sensitive. Everything was moving faster and wilder than it did the first time.

  His fingers plunged inside me and I arched off the bed. Callan dropped a kiss on my stomach before he moved on his knees and turned me, dragging my ass to the edge of the bed.

  He splayed my thighs wide as his tongue darted inside my center.

  “Your honey is so fucking sweet,” he growled, lapping between my legs.

  I tugged on the old football shirt of his I was wearing until my nipples were exposed. His eyes met mine and I knew he was taking in every inch of my body. I was beautiful and sexy to him. He made me feel like a sexual goddess.

  “I’m going to come, Callan.”

  I couldn’t watch him between my thighs and feel this kind of pleasure without coming. I struggled for traction, but the sheet was off the bed and he was growling, feasting with fury.

  “Oh, fuck,” I whimpered, when his fingers opened me wider for his mouth to take me. The orgasm hit me like an unexpected wave and I jolted toward the ceiling. Callan’s palm flattened my stomach, holding me to the bed.

  I heard his jeans unzip and I nodded greedily. They hit the floor.

  “Please, let me taste you.”

  He threaded the T-shirt over his head as he climbed on the bed, straddling me. I looked into his eyes as he began to thread his glorious cock between my lips. I licked and sucked, trying to take him in.

  “Damn, girl,” he groaned. His eyes were full of lust and admiration as he began to pump small thrusts into my mouth.

  I loved the salty masculine taste rolling through my mouth as I took him deeper to my throat. His cock was silky and smooth and the bulging vein on the side was a landmark I could use to tease him with my tongue.

  I let him work me until finally I relaxed enough to take him fully. I groaned with satisfaction, knowing how good this felt to him.

  “You know there’s more I want to do with you,” he growled, sliding his wet shaft over my lips. He pressed the tip to my mouth, and I kissed it playfully. I grinned.

  His mouth descended to my nipple and I hissed when I felt his teeth graze over it.

  “I want you to be mine, Hannah.” He pushed up on his hands. He hovered over me. “I know it’s fucking fast. I know everything has been extreme since you got here.”

  He kissed me and I purred.

  “Wait.” I gasped for air.

  Callan sat back on his heels. His giant cock bobbed between us and I wasn’t sure I could concentrate with it so close. Just looking at it made me want it buried inside me.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. Before we do this again and I say something stupid, can I say something thoughtful and planned out?” I paused. “It’s not completely planned out, but more than anything else I’ve said.”

  I searched the floor for a blanket. I hopped off the mattress when I spotted a quilt. I tossed it over Callan’s lap. He laughed. “You have a problem with my cock?”

  “I do,” I admitted. “I want it to fuck me. And I can’t think straight when that’s all I can think about.”

  He growled. “Me too.”

  I took a big breath. “I’ve made a big decision. A life-changing decision. You’re the first to hear it. I haven’t even told Ava yet.” I sucked in a big breath. “I’m not going back to London.”

  “What?”

  “I can’t. I won’t. I want to be here with you. And it’s what I should have said last night instead of what came out of my mouth. I don’t know why I told you I was going to leave. I was trying to be casual or something stupid.”

  “Because you have a job and a life in London. That’s why you said it. You’re only here a few weeks to see Ava. I understand.”

  I shook my head. “But I don’t want that life in London. Not anymore. I want you. I know it. I feel it in my bones.”

  His eyes sparkled in a way I’d never seen before.

  “Hannah, there’s something I need to tell you too.”

  My chest tightened. “What is it?”

  “We’ll take this as slowly as you want. Okay?”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  “But this thing you feel. There’s a reason for it. I know you’re learning the ropes in Hunter’s Lake. I know you’re trying to get your bearings, and you’re trying to understand shifter life. You have a lot going on in your family. I know my timing sucks, but if I wait to tell you this it could hurt us both.”

  “What is it?”

  His eyes locked on mine. “Hannah, you’re my mate.”

  My mouth opened. “I am?”

  He nodded. “Yes. You are. But you get a say. And we can take it slow. There’s no rush. I could tell my bear to back the fuck off. Okay?”

  I smiled. “Why would you tell him to do that?”

  Callan’s brows pinched together. “Because you probably have a hundred questions. And being claimed is a big fucking deal. It’s not a decision to take lightly. You should think it through.”

  I inhaled. “How do I tell you this?”

  He cocked his head to the side.

  “I want you to claim me, Callan. I want to be yours. I think somewhere under my skin I knew I was your mate too. I just didn’t know that’s what the connection was. I didn’t have a word for it. Now I do. Now I know exactly what it is.”

  “Did you say you want me to claim you? Because after that I didn’t hear a single thing that came out of your mouth.”

  I licked my lips. “I want you to claim me. Right now.”

  The growl from his chest made my clit vibrate. He rolled me on my back as he threw the quilt to the floor. There was nothing between us. Our naked bodies hummed and ached for each other.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7