For Shift's Sake: Paranormal shapeshifter alpha werebear soldier BBW romance (3 page)

“Hear that?” he addressed his cock. “No action. No way, no how.”

But…fuck…he’d like some. Especially with Bobbi. With a sigh he reached for the shower gel and started to soap up, putting the thought from his mind. Women like Bobbi were not meant for men like him. She needed someone understanding and stable with a good job to provide for her, not a battle-scarred soldier with all the softness scoured out of him and more blood on his hands than the average serial killer.

He’d been a professional soldier. Which meant he’d spent more years than he could remember in the army. Most of it in shitty places so far behind enemy lines he could never drop his guard or relax completely like most men.

Which meant not only was he taking a shower armed, his SIG nestled on the top of the toilet cistern within easy grabbing reach, but when the front door to the room opened, he was instantly aware of it.

All his senses went into high alert. The patter of the water over his body ignored, he concentrated on the room beyond the bathroom. Whoever it was wasn’t very stealthy. Within a minute of being in the room, he’d figured out all the entrances and exits as well as the fact that the light level in the mirror over the sink changed when the outer door was opened.

Easing himself from the shower, he tucked the curtain behind the pole so the water was hitting something other than the tray at the bottom and padded across the floor. His steps were silent and the fact he was naked didn’t bother him at all. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d been in a fight starkers, probably wouldn’t be the last.

The door to the main room was a little ajar and he caught sight of movement through the gap. Good, whoever it was hadn’t left. A small, nasty smile curved his lips. After that little incident in the diner earlier, he’d expected some kind of payback, the reason his bike was parked prominently outside.

On a normal op, he’d have disappeared, watching from a distance until he was ready to strike, but this time, with Danny’s sister involved, things were different. He wanted the assholes to know where he was…and make the mistake of trying to strike back against him.

A strike that might have worked had he been human, but bears were fucking hard to kill.

Gun still in his hand, he launched himself out of the bathroom. Slapping the light switch just inside the door, he plunged the room into darkness and threw himself toward his prey. No gunfire… he didn’t want the intruder dead. Dead men couldn’t talk and he had a few questions to wring out of the guy.

He hit the intruder mid-waist with the force of a spaceship at light speed and dropped him to the floor. He was smaller than Reese had expected, and weaker. There was no resistance, just a girly squeal, as he flipped the guy over and jammed the muzzle of his SIG under his ear.

“Right, who the fuck are you and what do you want?” he snarled, dumping as much of his bear into his voice as he could while still remaining intelligible.

His brain might have been slow getting with the program but his body sure as hell wasn’t. The soft curves pressed up close and personal against him had an instant effect and his cock, deflated by the prospect of a fight, sprang to attention again.

His intruder was a woman? Taking a deep breath, he rolled the scent over his tongue, realization snapping his eyes wider at the same moment she whimpered.

“…pleasedon’thurtmeIbroughttowels.”

“Bobbi?” He snatched the gun away and stretched to snap the bedside lamp on, not moving his body from hers. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. You’re okay, Bobbi. Look at me, you’re okay. I’m not going to hurt you, darling. You’re safe.”

Safe with him. Not safe from him. He was as hard as a fucking rock. About as bad as a gargoyle, like one of his old battle buddies. Ex-FSB, the guy was literally a stone cold killer.

His night vision had kicked in so he could make out her face now. As he smoothed back her hair from her face, she relaxed and eventually opened one eye. When she saw it was him, she opened the other.

“Okay. I’m okay now. I’m good. Promise. You just startled me is all.”

“Uh-huh. You sure I didn’t hurt you?” he kept his beast out of his voice and tried not to think how soft her hair was under his fingers. Like silk. He wanted to wrap himself in it, and feel it stroking along his bare skin.

She shook her head and gave a little laugh. “Nope. Plenty of padding on me.” She shrugged, but he caught the self-conscious note in her voice. “You know what they say, plenty of cushion for the—uhm, yeah. Anyway…”

He hid his smile as she faltered and her cheeks darkened. For a moment he considered dropping his hips and letting her feel just what her curves did to him, but he played nice. For now.

“So, I’m good.” She smiled up at him. “You can get off me now.”

He shook his head. “Can’t.”

Her brow creased. “Why not?”

His lips quirked into a wry smile. “Because I’m stark-bollock naked.”

*

Naked. He was naked.

That heavily-muscled, hot as Hades body was mere inches from hers with absolutely nothing covering it. Open access.

Halleluiah
.

It was only extreme control, force of will, and the certainty hot guys like this didn’t go for girls like her that kept her hands by her sides. She looked up at him. At first she’d thought some kind of animal had gotten into the room, but it was just Reese—the hot as hell English white knight who’d sent Cole’s men packing. Now that her eyes had adjusted and she could see, he didn’t look that scary at all.

Okay, maybe a little. She hadn’t expected him to come out of nowhere like that and although she’d seen just about every action movie there was, the feel of a gun pressed under her ear was one she never wanted to experience again.

The light from the gap in the curtains played across his face, highlighting the uber masculine features. Seriously, the guy should be a poster boy for manliness or something. Strong brow, check. Straight nose, check…wait, no. There was a slight bump halfway down that said it had been broken at some point. Strong jaw,
check
. Full, kissable lips…oh fucking hell,
check check check
.

“Naked? Is that so?” Closing her eyes, she smiled. “There you go, problem solved. Towels are on the bed now.”

There was movement and the heat of his body moved away. A pang of disappointment hit her, but she kept it and the temptation to peek out under her lashes, in check. The English were prudes…weren’t they? Poor guy was probably embarrassed as hell to have his ass in the wind like that. Not to mention the little fact the motel manager had broken into his room…

“All decent now.”

She opened her eyes to find him over her, a towel wrapped around his trim waist and a hand out to help her up. It swallowed hers, and her heart thrilled when he lifted her to her feet easily.

She wasn’t a small woman, blessed with an over-abundance of curves men either loved or hated. Previous boyfriends had joked about doing themselves damage when lifting her, but Reese didn’t say a word. She’d have liked to say his face didn’t change but she wasn’t looking at it.

Her attention was riveted on his abs. Still wet from the shower, a lone drop made its happy way toward the towel looped around his waist.

Not drooling, must not drool,
she told herself firmly.

He didn’t have a six-pack; it was at least an eight pack. Even his abs had abs and he had v-thingies at the sides of his hips she ached to trace with her tongue. How the hell did a guy get to be built that way? It just wasn’t fair to womankind.

She looked away before she broke down and started to beg. Her brow furrowed as a small tattoo on the side of his ribcage caught her eye. Lines of text she’d seen before.

“You’re military.”

He nodded. “Ex. British Military Intelligence. Mostly.”

He let go of her hand and stepped away. For such a big man, he didn’t loom like so many did. In fact, despite his obviously violent background and training, she felt safer with him than she had for years.

“Mostly?” She cocked an eyebrow. Her brother was special forces, so special that she didn’t know where the hell he was half the time, and hadn’t since their parents died a couple years ago. So she knew there was more to the story than that. Normal soldiers didn’t get tattoos like that. Danny had one as well, half hidden by the rest of the tattoos he’d covered himself in. She looked at Reese again. Was he like Danny?

His expression didn’t change but she felt the shutters come down. “Mostly, yes.”

O…kay, she wasn’t getting any more out of him on that score then.

“My brother is army,” she babbled, suddenly nervous in the changed atmosphere. “It’s how I recognized that.” She waved at the ink on his side. “Anyway, you must be busy, errr…drying off and all that. I’ll leave you to it.”

Making a break for the door, she almost had her freedom before the good little manager inside kicked in. She began to turn.

“Oh, breakfast is at—” Her words stalled as she collided with a warm, solid, male body. Before she could rebound and land on her ass, a hard arm shot around her waist, holding her tightly against his heavily muscled body. The same gorgeously ripped body currently covered in nothing but a small towel.

Her brain short-circuited and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You must get sick of women finding excuses to throw themselves at you.”

That maddening half smile teased at the corner of his lips and raised her heart rate again.

“Actually, it doesn’t happen that often. But this time, I’m glad about it.”

Her gaze riveted to his lips, every cell in her body on alert, caressed by the husky timbres of his voice. A phone sex voice if ever she’d heard one.

“You are?” She blinked, that wasn’t the answer she’d expected.

“Yeah.” He bent his head until his lips were a bare whisper above hers.

“Errr…why?”

“It saves me from making an excuse to do this.”

He kissed her.

No, that was wrong. He didn’t just
kiss
her... Instead, he
claimed
her. His lips covered hers, hot and firm. Hard and dominating as he took control of the kiss. She whimpered as he pulled her closer. Close enough to feel the long, hard bar of his cock caught between their bodies.

Her whimper became a gasp. Was that…was he…because of her?

His tongue drove into her mouth, a scorching, knee-trembling wet slide of sin as he sought hers. They touched. Danced. Her hands slid across the carved granite of his shoulders and down, aching to feel, touch, and explore, only to find her wrists captured in his big hands. He held her arms out to the side, slightly up and back so that she was off balance and resting against him.

At his mercy.

“No touching.” His voice was rough and raw, all pretense of civility stripped away. She bit her lip, forced to clench her thighs together as a sharp stab of need ripped through her. “Touch me and I’ll fuck you here and now against the door.”

He plundered her lips. A kiss and a sinful temptation rolled into one. Heat flooded her body and stole her ability to think. By the time he lifted his head, she was panting and writhed against him, a soundless plea on her lips as she fought his hold. Screw not touching him. Being fucked hard and fast against the door sounded like a perfect plan.

“Shhh,” he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. “We don’t need to rush. A woman like you should be courted…savored like a fine wine.”

The softly spoken words, uttered in that deep, rough voice, did it for her. Her heart melted right there on the spot. How many men would have called a halt when she couldn’t? How many would have said something like that, with an easy lay on offer.

She only knew one and he stood in front of her.

“We’ll get back to this.” He kissed her again, softly. A caress full of promise. “When you’re sure I’m what you want.”

“What if I’m sure now?”

His lips quirked again, and he slid his hand into the hair at the nape of her neck to tilt her head up so she could meet his eyes. His expression was serious.

“Get to know me first. I’m not a nice man, Bobbi. Make sure before you give yourself to me that it’s really what you want. Now…scoot…before I change my mind.”

On shaky legs, she did as she was told, pausing halfway across the parking lot to look back. He leaned in the doorway, one big shoulder against the frame and that towel hanging low on his hips.

“Fuck me…” she whispered, unable to believe that had just happened. With him.

“That’s the plan. Tomorrow,” he called out. “Now get inside before you catch your death.”

Biting her lip, she did as told.

Chapter Three

Bobbi Bradbury was his mate.

Reese stood, still shocked by the revelation as he watched her walk across the lot to the small house behind the diner.

His mate. He had a mate.

And she was human.

Amazing, unbelievable…
impossible,
but there was no denying the subtle scent he’d caught when he had her in his arms. Nor the response from both sides of his dual nature when his lips had claimed hers.

His bear, far more canny than he at times, roared up to just under the surface, so close he almost felt fur poking through his pores, just to be close to her. To pick up and analyze the scent hidden beneath perfume and shower gel. It was faint, just the edge of something that had drawn him in like a bear to honey, but there.

She smelled of sunlight over the forest, of warm dens and…home.

His bear roared in triumph. It didn’t care she was human. She could have been a frigging were-bunny for all it cared. She was their mate. Simple. It grumbled and growled within, wanting to storm to the house and claim their curvy little mate.

She would welcome him. He knew she would. The scent of her arousal and interest still hung on the air. When she’d clung to him, it had taken every ounce of control he had not to take her then and there. Only the mate scent stopped him. She wasn’t just a casual lay in a town he’d never come back to. She was his mate and she needed courting properly.

Something moved in the shadows around the now closed diner. He frowned, his keen vision picking up the outline of a man in the shadows. Before he could push off from the door and grab some pants, whoever it was slid back into the darkness. The sound of a bike engine roaring away down the road on the other side of the diner confirmed his suspicions.