Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (8 page)

A
month
later

C
helsea looked
up when she heard the door open, but she didn’t need to look up to know who it was. The spot on her neck where Grant had marked her during the coupling bond tingled whenever he was around, a subtle sensation that reminded her she belonged to him, and he belonged to her.

Grant smiled that smile—the one he reserved for her alone, as if no one else in the word existed.

Her stomach did one of those things it always did when he was around, like jumping beans were overreacting. She hoped the sensation would never go away.

She’d moved out of Mae’s and into Grant’s place less than a week after Jeff’s death.

His murder had gone ‘unsolved.’ There was nothing in the news about Derek. When Chelsea had brought it up to Grant once, he’d said he didn’t know, and didn’t want to know. That Mae had taken care of it.

Now Chelsea understood the nature of their friendship. They’d known each other for a long time. He was more like a nephew, as Mae had explained it.

Chelsea was the last one in the shop. She’d told Mae she’d lock up when Grant came to pick her up. She’d kept her job at the salon because she couldn’t imagine a life of idleness, and Mae turned out to be a wonderful friend, even more wonderful than Chelsea had ever hoped for. She was the big sister Chelsea had always wanted.

Chelsea practically ran to the front door to greet her bear. She hugged Grant, leaned in for his kiss. His mouth claimed hers while the bonding mark burned with renewed fervor and heat pooled between her legs.

“Mae said something—I guess you could say it spawned a question.” She looked up at him with a sparkle in her eye, took his hand and led him to the door. They slipped outside, and the door locked behind them.

“Do tell.” Grant ran his hands along her sides, his thumbs caressing the sides of her breasts. A shiver of pure passion ran through her.

She laughed, and glanced around to see if any of the local residents were out after dark, if they’d get caught making out on the sidewalk. The coast was clear. “She said you were more like a nephew to her.”

“Nephew,” Grant laughed. “She has lots of nephews.”

The mysterious smile on his face made Chelsea curious. “What are you not telling me?” She gave him a wry look. “Secrets already?”

“Never.” He placed his lips on hers. “Never secrets, never again.” His tongue took control, and she surrendered to his assertiveness, relishing his maleness.

“Mae’s mate was the chief of our clan. She enjoys helping any of us, whenever we need her.”

“Her mate was... if her mate was the chief... who is now?”

He planted a finger in the middle of his broad chest. “I handle things now—when they need to be handled.”

She jumped when she heard a footstep, swinging her head to look behind them.

“Mae. What’s wrong?” Why was Mae back?

“Nothing. Not really. I think.” The vivacious woman smiled at Chelsea, pulled her coat tighter around her body, then turned to Grant. “I have a nephew who will be stopping by.”

Grant didn’t say a word; he cocked an eyebrow and kept his eyes on Mae, waiting for her to finish her thought.

“He’ll will need a place to stay, some privacy if possible.”

“He can stay in one of our cabins. There are several empty ones.” Grant looked at Chelsea as if to make sure she didn’t mind.

Of course she didn’t. She nodded in agreement.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Mae said with a sigh.

A man stepped out of the shadows.

Tall, muscled, handsome.

Chelsea gasped as he came closer.

There was dried blood on his lip and on a cut on his eyebrow. A healed cut. His face looked like he’d been in a bar brawl. And lost.

The man smiled a sheepish grin, shrugged. “A scuffle.” His voice was a low rumble. “No biggie.”

Chelsea knew immediately that this was no ordinary man. He was one of Grant’s kind.

“This is Kane.” Mae put her hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Thank you for giving me a place to stay,” Kane said.

Grant nodded. “Any nephew of Mae’s is welcome.”

Chelsea snuggled closer to her bear. Finally she was home. Taking Grant’s hand, she wondered if Kane would stick around long enough to attend the wedding.

“We’ll enjoy the company,” Chelsea said, and smiled at the newcomer.

N
ext in the
Shifters Forever
Series:

S
eduction

A
nother hot bear
shifter from out of town. Another sassy, bootylicious woman. Another sexy story!

Astra and Kane’s story.

A
stra Evans is a curvy
, delicious firebrand who thinks that the only good shifter is a dead shifter.

With two exceptions, of course. ;)

And Kane Ortiz is NOT one of those exceptions.

K
ane’s a mountain
-sized grizzly bear shifter who wants one thing.

To avoid a group of shifters hunting him down.

Except he’s got a problem. Astra. That damned, sexy, hottie with the curves that don’t end.

Good luck, Kane. You’re gonna need it.

A
stra ignored it
. Wouldn’t even look at it.
Nope. Not once.
She promised herself tonight would be a night off. She shoved her hair away from her face, and thought again about cutting her long blonde locks. But there was no way she was doing short hair. It didn’t look right on her.

Maybe if she was a little bit smaller... She bit back a laugh. She would never be a little bit smaller, and she loved her body just fine. By damn, she loved the curves she’d been blessed with. Hell, yeah, curves were in!

Astra stirred the pasta instead of looking at the phone. The stupid cell phone vibrated again. Though she couldn’t see it, and wouldn’t look at it, she could hear it, loud against the wood of the table.

Wow. Someone is way too persistent.

She was looking forward to a night of spaghetti and a movie. She’d DVRed the movie last week and hadn’t had a chance to check it out yet. She’d spent the whole week helping ranchers and pet owners, being called to assist with problem deliveries, wounded animals. Not that she didn’t love her job. She did. She enjoyed training to be a vet. But she needed a minute off. Okay, maybe more than a minute. She bit back a curse word.

The phone vibrated on the table again. Why couldn’t they call another vet assistant? She picked up the phone and turned it over so she could see the screen. It wasn’t someone looking for veterinary help.

She couldn’t resist the smile that crept onto her face. Grant. Her favorite uncle
.
More like her favorite shifter. Except she didn’t like shifters. At all. Well, her stepdad and Grant were the only shifters she liked. The only ones she knew, too.

Who could blame her for hating shifters, though? Enemy shifters had killed her mother, leaving Astra to be raised by Doc.

She tapped on the phone to answer it. “Hi, Grant. Chelsea didn’t get bonked on the head again, did she?” Astra liked Grant’s woman, Chelsea. Had liked her since the moment she’d met her, a little over a month ago.

“No.” The smile on Grant’s face could be heard in his voice. “But I was hoping to get Doc to pay us a visit. Not an emergency, but... his services are needed.”

Astra squealed out loud. Then she clamped her hand over her mouth. She hadn’t planned to lose control that way. Doc was a doctor. A people doctor, not an aspiring animal doctor like Astra. Could this mean—?

“Chelsea’s not pregnant, is she?” Excitement was hard to hide when it came to Grant and Chelsea having a baby.

Grant laughed, the sound welcome in Astra’s tired ear. “Hey, now! We’re not rushing that part. Still planning the wedding.”

Astra laughed too. She knew that. In fact, she was going to be in the wedding. Chelsea had asked her to be the maid of honor. Mae was supposed to be matron of honor. Astra hadn’t heard what they were going to wear yet, but she hoped it wasn’t one of those god-awful colors that bridesmaids’ dresses seemed to always be.

“Well, Doc’s out of town. Did he not answer his cell?”

Grant was silent on the other end. Something set alarms off for Chelsea. She wasn’t sure what kind of alarms, because he didn’t seem panicked or anything like that, but still, his silence spoke volumes.

“I was just going to sit down to dinner.” She didn’t mention the movie part, because she didn’t want Grant to feel guilty if he had to pull her away from it. “I’ll put it aside and eat later.”

She heard Grant saying something. It was muffled, though, as if he’d put his hand over the mic. Then she heard Chelsea’s voice in the background.

“Hey, Astra?” Chelsea. Clearly Chelsea had either taken the phone from Grant or he’d handed it to her. “Why don’t you bring whatever you cooked over and we’ll do a potluck thing? Mae’s here, too.”

Now the signals were really going off in Astra’s head. What was Mae doing there? What did they need medical attention with? And why had Grant hesitated when she’d asked him if he’d called Doc?

K
ane Ortiz looked
from Grant to Chelsea, back to Grant, and finally to Mae. “What am I missing? Who’s Astra?”

“She’s Doc Evans’ daughter—stepdaughter,” Mae corrected herself.

“Doc’s out of town. Astra’s coming over. She can check you out.”

“I’m fine. I’ve mostly healed.” Kane frowned at the three of them. There was an undertow he didn’t understand. He appreciated Mae’s overprotectiveness, but he wasn’t a child.
Jeez
. He was full-grown. More than a century and a half old, for fuck’s sake. He ran a hand over his stubble. The several days old growth was itchy.

Grant frowned back at him, a look of concern underlying the frown. “A shifter bite—that’s altogether different from a regular wound. It can create issues. Just let her check.”

Kane nodded. Grant had said that Kane could stay in one of his cabins, and Kane could acquiesce to a little examination in exchange for that. Especially since Kane had to stay off the grid and lie low.

He felt guilty not telling Mae everything, but he pushed the guilt away. Sometimes knowledge could prove dangerous to others. It was best he just mind his own business, stay off the radar, let things settle, and then move on. He was a nomad anyway, with no interest in putting roots down. In spite of his nomadic ways, though, he didn’t want to bring trouble to these nice people who would give him a place to stay, if only for a while.

He inhaled deeply and his stomach roiled from hunger. The dinner they’d put together was tempting. He’d hardly eaten anything in three days, traveling only at night, wearing scent block so he couldn’t be scented, always in bear form so he could hear and sense other shifters.

“Grant, I sure appreciate you letting me stay in one of your cabins.”

“No problem. It’s our way. We help each other out.” Grant smiled at Mae.

Kane wondered about the smile. It was as if they shared a secret.

Mae patted Grant’s shoulder. “It’s nice to have shifters in the valley again. It’s been lonely.”

Kane wanted to correct her, to tell her his plan was to be here only for a short time, but he didn’t have the heart to do that. She seemed so happy, and there was a gleam in her eye.

Then he remembered, he had a question for Grant. “Could I ask one thing? And I hate to be a pain in the a—”

Mae coughed.

Kane looked at her, then Chelsea.

Oops. Shit.
He’d almost said
ass.
“I’m sorry. I was saying I hate to be a pain, but is there any possibility for me to put in a request?”

“Sure.” Grant put an arm around Chelsea and planted a kiss on her temple, on a spot where a tiny, crescent-shaped scar remained from what looked like a recent wound. Chelsea smiled back at him, leaning her curvy body against his.

Kane bit back the shot of envy that coursed through him. What the hell was wrong with him? Domestication didn’t suit him one bit. He’d never been happy with one woman. He’d never wanted to settle in one place for long. He took a deep breath and forged on with his request. “If you have a cabin that’s high on the mountain, one that’s isolated, and as far up as possible, I’d love to use that one.”

“I do, but it’s way up there, man.” Grant ran fingers through his hair. “You sure? That one doesn’t have electricity yet. I’ve got Joe modernizing the cabins, but we were reserving some of them for late spring when getting up there and getting back down would be easier.”

“I’m positive.” Kane practically glowed with excitement. A cabin without electricity that wasn’t easy to get to, that’d be right up his alley. A dream come true, if you’d asked him.

A small gasp escaped Mae. “Isn’t that the one way up in the clearing? I don’t think that’s a good idea, Kane. Avalanches...” She paused.

She was probably hoping he’d take the hint. Yeah, he wasn’t going to take any hints.

“Avalanches don’t mean anything to me. I’d hibernate through one.” He shrugged. No biggie for him; an avalanche was the least of his problems. Unless he was trapped with unfriendly shifters, and outnumbered, like he’d been a few days ago. He didn’t think that would happen again. He’d done a great job covering his tracks.

His stomach growled loudly in hunger, reacting to the tempting aromas that were coming from the kitchen. “Sorry,” Kane said. “It’s been a while since I had a meal.” What the hell. Were they going to take
his
hint? When were they going to sit down to dinner? “Shall we?” He started toward the kitchen, not wanting to be rude, but at the same time, he needed some damned food.

Mae put a hand on his shoulder. “We were going to wait for Astra.”

“Why? Is there some sort of rule that says she can’t examine a shifter unless he’s got an empty stomach?”

Chelsea stifled a giggle.

Mae shook her head as if he were incorrigible or hopeless. Or both.

Grant was the only one of the three who remained serious. “No. We invited her to join us for dinner. It’s nice to do that, since Doc’s out of town.”

Grant’s manner of speaking was easygoing, but there was a level of tension in his demeanor that threw Kane off again. Something was making his senses go on high alert.

“So what are you not telling me, then?” Kane narrowed his eyes, his gaze penetrating. He focused on Mae, though he knew she wouldn’t give information easily if she didn’t want to. He didn’t want to turn his scrutiny on to Chelsea. He wasn’t sure Grant would appreciate his pushing her around, and since Grant was going to provide him with a cabin to stay in for a while, he didn’t think that bullying Grant’s wife for answers would be all that cool.

Mae sighed, as if she was ready to give up. “She’s got a thing for shifters. That’s all.”

Kane cocked his head. “Like, she’s a freak and loves to do shifters? A shifter groupie kind of thing?”

Laughter roared out of Grant. “No. More like she hates shifters.” He managed to get the words out between bursts of laughter.

Kane gave a perfunctory nod, confused at the humor of the situation.

A knock on the door stopped Grant’s laughter.