Southern Shifters: Inked By The Bear (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Black & White Series Book 2) Read online

  Now, when she looked at him, woke up next to him, made love with him, together was all she wanted. Them. She and Gus.

  “In a loose, roundabout way, I guess.”

  “Who are they and how did they find us? What do they want?”

  “They don’t want anything. It’s their sergeant at arms who does.” Gus stepped closer and something in his voice changed. It set Bex on edge. He was worried. His tone, his eyes… The tension in his body when he looped his hands around the back of her neck. All of it, even when he used his thumbs to lift her chin and kissed her soundly on the lips, she felt the tension.”

  “Gus?”

  “He wants to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “Your mother and the circumstances surrounding, ah…” Gus shook his head.

  “Surrounding her pregnancy with me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What if I don’t want to talk to him? What if none of that is his business? Because it’s not. My life is not his business.”

  “I know.”

  “But you think I should.”

  Gus’s discomfort and uncertainty cautioned her more than any other words could. He was troubled. Bex took a deep breath and let it out in a loud exhale. “So, you left a wolf inside our house?” she asked, seeking a smile from her lover. “Did you at least lock the freezer before you came outside? Will there be any meat left?” She winked and when he finally grinned at her, she forced herself to relax. Gus would take care of her.

  “I hid it all.”

  “He won’t eat me for dinner, will he?”

  “Nah.” Gus swatted her on the ass when she passed him on her way to the porch. “But I’ll eat you for dessert.”

  “Fair enough.” Their banter and her forward motion stopped when she came face to face with the dark eyed wolf shifter. He was the same one she’d seen with Gus outside the donut shop in Deal’s Gap.

  Gus’s hands gripped her hips and held her steady, the front of his body pressed tight to the back of hers. Even in this precarious situation, even while he was there to support and protect her, he was aroused. What had gotten into him? More and more, lately, he was aroused and hungry for her. She didn’t find fault with it, but it was curious and she wanted to know what was going on with him. Right then, was not the time, though.

  She also wanted to know what was wrong with her because her thoughts became just as inappropriate.

  The wolf bared his teeth and his nostrils flared. His eyes scorched her as he raked her body with his gaze.. She wiggled back into Gus, as far as she could get. His arms wrapped around her and he grunted low in his throat.

  “She wants sex,” the wolf snarled.

  “But not with you,” Gus retorted.

  Bex’s blood heated and her pulse kicked into high gear. She was warm all over, her nipples and breasts tight and full in her bra, her panties damp. She did want sex. A lot of it. And not just sex, but dirty sex. Hard sex. On the floor sex. Ripped clothing sex.

  She wouldn’t care who watched either.

  This wasn’t like her and the feeling frightened her. “Gus?” She managed to get his name out between parched lips.

  “I’m right here, pretty girl.”

  “Please…” It was all she could think to say and she hoped he got the message.

  The wolf took a step in her direction, but Gus propelled her around behind his back. “No,” he growled. “You walk away, Blackwood. You walk away now. She’s mine.”

  Wolf and bear faced off. Bex caught her breath, her face against Gus’s back, but peeking around his side. His muscles twitched. He would shift if provoked, they both would, in broad daylight, in her quiet little area of town. That wouldn’t be a good thing. Not for anyone.

  She took Gus by the hand and started to back them toward the front door. “C’mon,” she said softly. “I need you.” It was true. She’d never been as sexually needy as she was right then. She’d never felt the tug as sharp as it was. She wanted sex. She wanted to fuck.

  “Gus, please…”

  She didn’t know why the wolf had triggered her like that, why the wolf had affected her the way he had. She didn’t want him. She wanted Gus. She didn’t understand what was happening, but when she finally coaxed Gus into the house and slammed the door, leaving the wolf on the porch, she could breathe easier. And she was all over Gus.

  “Bex?” Gus was breathing easier, too.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with me,” she huffed out, stripping out of her jeans and throwing her T-shirt off over her head. “But I need you. I need this.”

  “Okay. Far be it from me to argue with a horny woman. My horny woman.” He leaned back against the wall, planted his feet and unfastened his jeans. “Come and get me.”

  She did. She removed her bra and shimmied her panties down her hips by the time he had his cock out. He stroked himself until she stepped up to him. She was ready to climb him like a ladder, but didn’t have to. He lifted her as though she weighed nothing, and flipped them around until she was the one pressed to the wall. Gus was inside her in one hard, upward thrust.

  Bex wrapped her arms and legs around her lover and held on tight as Gus pounded and ravaged her. His mouth grazed her throat, his tongue licked at her pulse and up over her jaw. She met his lips in an open mouthed kiss that stole what was left of her sanity.

  She felt whole when she was with Gus, but this time, the animalistic element was new and all encompassing. It was primal and more than lust. It was more, just … more.

  Hunger and desire flooded her and her nails scraped his shoulders under his shirt. He’d never had the chance to get completely naked before she was impaled on him. But damn, it felt good. She was full of him, stretched around him, riding a wave of pleasure so keen she saw stars.

  “You’re so hot, pretty girl. Come for me, Bex. I know you want to… Just a little more. Fuck me just a little more…”

  His words set her on fire. He’d never talked dirty to her like that. They bantered, joked, played, and teased. But she needed his words to send her over the edge.

  She held on and bucked her hips into his body, back and forth between the wall and Gus. She arched her neck and he latched onto it with his teeth, biting and sucking until she trembled against him, her muscles squeezing and fluttering around his cock. She cried out when the orgasm crested and Gus growled, his body tightening and jolting through his own release.

  He held her there while she calmed. She buried her face in his neck and he wrapped her tightly in his arm, and moved them to the couch in what would become a public gathering room once the bed and breakfast opened. For now, it was the living room. He sat with her straddling his thighs, his cum leaking from between her legs. It was warm and slick and turned her on.

  She lifted her head and stared into his questioning eyes. “What’s wrong with me?”

  “Why do you think something is wrong with you?”

  “Because that wasn’t me.”

  Gus smiled and kissed her lips. “Sure as hell was you.”

  Bex couldn’t help it and returned the smile. “That’s not what I mean. I want you and like sex with you, but that was completely different and you know it.”

  “I do,” he agreed. “I don’t know, though. I don’t know what brought that on. I’m not complaining, though, and I hope you’re not either.”

  “No. I’m not complaining. I just want to understand it.”

  “Did you want him?”

  “No. I didn’t. I don’t… I don’t know how to explain it. I felt… Uncertainty, then hunger. Like lust, only different. It was an almost uncontrollable desire to fuck or fight.” She blushed. The word fuck always made her blush. Turned her on, but made her blush. “It was like he was a threat, and I felt protective.” She dropped her head to Gus’s shoulder. “And really horny.”

  “Horny is good.”

  “Do you think he’s still out there? Do you think he heard me?”

  “Yes to both.”

 
Bex groaned as a wave of embarrassment rolled over her. It’s disappeared quickly. “And you say he’s here to talk to me? About my mother?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you stay with me while I talk to him?”

  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Bex gave a short nod. “I guess I should get dressed, then.”

  *

  “What do you know about the bear who assaulted her?”

  Bex sat on the front porch next to Gus. They sat in her favorite place. The swing. Luke Blackwood sat across from them in one of the six rocking chairs Bex had bought second hand and refinished. All the rockers were mismatched, but that’s what she’d been going for. She didn’t want a place that was perfect and pretentious. She wanted warm and welcoming.

  She wanted the comfort her mother had extended to her guests for so many years. A home away from home.

  The wolf shifter didn’t make her feel comfortable. He made her feel twitchy and unstable. She didn’t understand it. She didn’t like it.

  When she and Gus had stepped back outside, Luke had been sitting exactly where he was now.

  The arousal that had assaulted her before was still there, simmering beneath the surface. What the hell was going on?

  “Bex?” Gus whispered in her ear.

  “Right. Sorry. I… She never talked about him much. And she never talked to me about him. She died never knowing about the conversations I overheard.”

  “She told someone else about a shifter? A human?”

  “Yes. After… They had talked him for years before I understood what they were saying. She was always referencing back to earlier conversations, he was always asking for more details.”

  “Who? Who was asking?”

  “The father of her missing fiancé. Why does any of this matter?”

  Luke tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, agitated. “Scent doesn’t usually transfer. It’s biological, in the case of shifters. We know when someone doesn’t belong and at times can even tell where someone comes from.”

  “Okay. What does that have to do with me? I’m not a shifter. I’m not like you or Gus.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “They did tests when I was an infant.”

  “Shifter DNA doesn’t always manifest itself at birth. It can mask. Cloak itself, if you will, until later in life. It’s usually around the early teen years, especially in males. I’ve known some females who didn’t shift or weren’t able to shift until, well… Until…”

  Bex shook her head. Luke was clearly having trouble with his words. At least he was as uncomfortable as she was. She knew exactly what until meant, but nothing else was making much sense. “What are you saying?”

  “I —”

  “Hold on. Are you saying that you think I’m a shifter?” She heard the panic in her voice and the tightening of Gus’s fingers on her shoulder told her he heard it too. “No. No. I can’t be. I just…” She shook her head. “No.”

  “I know it’s hard, but it is possible. The reaction you had before tells me something about being in the proximity of a wolf, an enemy, so to speak, changes you, makes some part of you sit up and take notice.”

  “I don’t want you.”

  Luke chuckled. “Believe me, I got that message loud and clear.”

  “Then… What?”

  “Just tell her, Blackwood.”

  “Just tell me what?”

  “The bear who assaulted her, wasn’t the only rogue shifter roaming the mountains back then. There was also a wolf. It’s how I got involved in all this. I wanted to know what had happened to him.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because he was from my pack. We heard stories about a wolf and a bear taking off on their own in search of new blood. It was an uneasy partnership and I think you are part bear. Part that bear. And the lust that took hold of you a bit ago? It was likely blood lust and because your body doesn’t know how to process the change, it took the form of sexual arousal.”

  “What happened to the wolf and the bear?”

  “Rumors were death. Poachers, most likely.”

  “God…”

  “Which brings me to the second part of this tale.” Luke leveled a pointed look at Gus. “And it involves you.”

  “Then let’s hear it.”

  “The bear was said to be from the mountains to the east of Gatlinburg. He —”

  “Wait a second. What are you telling me?”

  “The bear who raped her mother… I think it was a member of the family who raised you. A brother, a cousin, nephew, someone. I know the scent. I know…” Luke growled in frustration. “I just know.”

  Gus was off the swing so fast, Bex had to grab hold of the arm rest to keep her balance. She kept one eye on him and one on the wolf as best she could. She was struggling to process everything. If Luke Blackwood was telling the truth… Did she even want to imagine that? “Gus?”

  “I don’t know, Bex. I don’t know.”

  “I know it’s a lot to take in,” Luke added, standing. He looked uncomfortable. They were now, all three of them, uncomfortable.

  “You said the rumors were that they were dead? Both of them?” Bex asked. She was searching for clarification. Maybe. She really wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She’d like to go back to yesterday. Hell, go back to earlier in the day. Noon at work. Any time other than the present because the present moment pretty much sucked.

  “Dead, yes.”

  “How old are you, pretty girl?” Gus was leaning against one of the porch railings, booted feet crossed at the ankles. His knuckles were white, his grip on the railing was so tight. His voice was soft, tender, and she knew he was trying to make this easier for her, less jarring. He was forever trying to keep her sadness and pain at bay.

  “Twenty-four.”

  “I’m twenty-eight.” He looked away, toward the end of the street, which led to a smaller street, which led to the lake. Did he wish to escape? If so, she couldn’t blame him. She wanted to escape, too. She also wanted to protect him, but how could she?

  What could she do to protect him against what Luke had said, what his words implied? How could she protect either of them? How could she protect their relationship, new as it was? They were sleeping together, living together. She hardly knew him and he hardly knew her, but they fit. She didn’t doubt that. People would call it moving too fast, insta-love or maybe insta-lust. She understood that because there were times she thought that very same thing. But maybe it was okay for two souls who didn’t know exactly where they fit in the world because when they were together, she fit him and he fit her.

  “So, you’d been living with your new family for a couple of years when this took place.”

  “This?” Bex stood and stepped into Luke Blackwood’s personal space, uncaring that he could rip her apart, uncaring that he was a predator, and a dangerous one at that. All she cared about was the fact he was tearing everything apart with nothing more than words. “This is my life.” She pointed at Gus. “This is his life.”

  She didn’t raise her voice, but her blood heated and her pulse quickened, the same as it had earlier. She wanted to tear into him or have sex with Gus. She wasn’t sure which desire was stronger.

  Gus was at her back and had hold of her hands before she could reach out for Luke. His touch managed to calm her almost instantly. How did he know?

  “There’s only one way to really figure this out, Wolf, and you’re not invited.”

  “Tough shit. I’m going with you. I’ll send my pack home back to Deal’s Gap, but I’m going with you.”

  “Going?” Bex turned to glance up at Gus. “What are you two talking about? Where are you going?”

  “We. Where are we going would be the more correct question. A road trip. To see my family.”

  “You believe him? You believe he’s telling the truth?”

  Gus kissed the top of her head and tugged her in close. “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t know, baby. But it seems maybe
there are answers to be had and facing it all head on is better than burying our collective heads in the sand.” He lifted his gaze to Luke. “I can’t promise they won’t try to kill you.”

  “I can’t promise I won’t try to return the favor.”

  Chapter Three

  “Gus? Are you sure you want to do this?”

  She was nervous, his Bex. His pretty girl. His woman. She was nervous and she couldn’t hide it. He wouldn’t want her to hide it, either. “I’m sure that I don’t have a choice.”

  “Was there someone? A bear who just disappeared one day? Do you remember?”

  Gus shook his head. God, he needed to shift. He needed to go for a swim. He needed to get the hell out and get into the trees and the forest. He needed to be alone with his thoughts, with the panic that was threatening to overflow and swallow him whole.

  He also needed Bex, and needed her to understand things he wasn’t even sure he understood. He tamped down the overwhelming feelings inside and pulled her around and into his lap.

  Once he’d gotten her away from Luke and had sent the wolf to join his pack out back, he’d ushered Bex into the house and locked the doors. Not that that would keep Luke or any of his wolves outside if they really wanted in, but he suspected Luke didn’t want bloodshed any more than Gus did.

  Looking down at Bex, Gus couldn’t say the same. He sensed that she was ready and willing, if not able just yet, to rip Blackwood’s throat out. “I don’t know. I want to say yes, but I have to say no. I spent a lot of time outside when I was younger, out in the woods, trying to figure out where I fit in because I didn’t fit in. Not really. I missed my parents, but I didn’t know I missed them. I stopped talking. I didn’t cry. I just felt lost. I don’t know if there was someone who was around and then disappeared. I just know I wanted to disappear too.”

  She hugged him. Halfway through, she hugged him, arms tight around his neck. Her softness comforted him. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her breath warm on his skin.

  “Do you want any answers? Bex, look at me.” He almost gave up on her doing it, but she finally lifted her head. Uncertainty resided in her gaze when her eyes met his.