Chapter 5

5

Preston

L ucy is still asleep.

She’s been sleeping like an angel all night long. I know this because I go check on her every half hour. I keep replaying that beautiful moment when her lips met mine for the first time. I wish like hell I was in there with her, cradling her ripe young body in my arms.

But this is the next best thing.

I press my ear to the window of her room, and listen to the slow, deep sound of her breathing. It’s a blissful sound, sweeter than any birdsong. Because it means she feels safe here, in my lair.

And this is where she’s gonna stay, my beast growls.

I shush it up and peer through the glass. The room is dark, but there’s a tiny gap between the curtains and I can just make her out. She’s curled on her side, blonde hair fanning across the pillow. One of her shoulders is bare. Does she sleep naked? I’m desperate to find out. I want to slide in beside her, pull the sheet down and expose her beautiful body to my hungry gaze. My beast snuffles at the glass, its nostrils full of her virgin perfume. The scent of her is driving it insane. Last night, I could hardly keep it from dragging her into the forest and claiming her. It’s out of control. It’s spent its whole life waiting for its mate and here she is at long last. Even more beautiful and sexy than I could’ve dreamed.

Lucy gives a sleepy sigh and turns over.

Reluctantly, I tear myself away and head back to the lobby. I’ve still got work to do.

I’ve been doing some research and it turns out humans like to play a game called capture the flag . It sounds like hunting dinner, but way less exciting. The humans get into two teams and each one hides a flag in their own territory, and the other team has to find it. But if someone gets caught in the other team’s territory, they can also get captured. That part’s kinda cool.

I’ve been up all night plotting the territory, drawing some maps and picking the best place to hide each flag. I’m sure as hell not going to leave it to those bozos to decide. I’d trust Lucy, though. I’d trust her with anything.

I need to make sure the flags are somewhere hard to get to, but not so hard that someone’s gonna end up dying in the process. And they’ve got to be visible, so they can be spotted easily.

I’ve done the first one already. Now I just need to put the second one up on a small peak. All that’s left is to tell Lucy about my plan. I sure hope she likes it.

By the time I get back to the lodge, it’s already dawn, and my beast is tearing up the ground, desperate to get to its mate. I rush to her room. Maybe I can catch her waking up. Maybe I’ll see that sheet slipping down, all by itself.

Fifty feet away, I slam to a stop. Because there he is again—that loser who was staring at her ass like he owned it—fucking sauntering along the path to her room with a towel slung over his shoulder.

I’ll fucking kill him! my beast roars.

I hold it back with all my strength, and I force myself to stand and watch.

He knocks on her door, calling her name in that whiny voice of his. Looo-ceee!

He has no right to say her name. I want to tear it out of his filthy mouth.

“You awake, honey?” he continues.

“Huh?” comes her voice from the other side of the door. Adorably soft with sleep.

“A little bird told me you’ve got the only hot tub in the place. Kinda mean not to share it with the rest of us, don’t you think?”

“Uh. I don’t know. It’s real early.”

Riled up as I am, I can’t resist a little smile at the sweetness of her voice.

“Just open up the door and let me in.”

That motherfucker. My blood boils.

“I-I’m not ready. I need to shower and stuff,” she protests.

He snickers to himself. “You can do all that while I’m in the tub.”

“I don’t know. I’m not real comfortable…”

He slams his hand against the door. “Lucy Cole, you open the door right now, or you’ll never work in this industry again.”

The last thing I hear is her little feet, padding across the floor.

Then I’m flying across the dirt. My bear’s massive heart is pounding with adrenaline, colossal jaws parted…

And my razor-sharp canines sink into his neck.

A strangled yell bursts from his lips.

I shake him.

Not hard enough to break his neck.

Just hard enough to make him wish he’d never been born. His limb flail, then he goes as limp as a ragdoll.

When I decide that he’s been punished enough, I let him drop. He hits the ground like the sack of shit he is. Then I look up.

The door is open.

Lucy is standing there in a flimsy white nightdress, her hand clapped over her mouth.

Crap. She saw everything. I didn’t want her to find out about me like this.

Her eyes are huge and freaked out.

Then something totally unexpected happens.

She opens the door wider.

I don’t hesitate.

I charge in, and she slams it behind me.

And I shift.

This is gonna scare her even more, but I need her to know there’s a man in here.

My body cracks and snaps and pulls in on itself. There’s an almighty crunch and here I am, up on two legs, arms hanging loose at my sides.

It’s a long time before I raise my head and look at her.

Her beautiful eyes are still huge, but now they’re sparkling like diamonds. Because they’re wet.

“You’re a… a bear,” she murmurs.

“A shapeshifter.” I raise my hands and let them drop to my sides. “Half man, half beast.”

Her eyes scan me from head to toe, taking in my body. That’s when I realize that I’m naked. Humans aren’t cool with that.

And not only that, but her eyes have zeroed in on my dick.

“Oh.” I put my hands over it, but it’s too late. It’s already getting hard under her curious virgin gaze.

Fuck. Desire is charging in my veins. All I want to do is rip off that scrap of fabric that’s hiding her beautiful body, and claim her. Throw her down on the bed and sink my cock into her tight virgin pussy.

Then, wonder of wonders, she takes a step closer. Her lips have turned cherry red, and I smell it—the thick, heady scent of her desire. My head just about explodes.

“Preston—?” she mutters.

Holy hell. She’s not afraid of my beast. She wants me.

She comes in close and tilts her head back, her eyelids going heavy. I dip down and claim her lips with my own.

Her skin is the softest thing I’ve ever touched. My callused fingers graze it as I stroke her shoulders, her arms. Then I cup her tits through the flimsy dress. When I touch her nipples for the first time, she moans into my mouth. They’ve turned hard, like perfect little pebbles.

The scent of her desire gets stronger, and suddenly, her hands are on my dick.

Fuck.

It surges, fit to burst. She runs her hands up and down, exploring. She’s shy but eager and it’s the sexiest thing in the whole world?—

“Arghhh! Errol!” We jump apart. Someone’s screaming right outside the door.

They’ve found him.

Lucy claps her hand over her mouth again. But she’s not freaked out. Her eyes are dancing with laughter.

“You better go,” she whispers. “Out the back.”

I’m already going. I dash to the rear window—the one where I spent the night watching Lucy—yank it open and vault out of it.

A couple of minutes later, I stroll back, tucking my shirt into my jeans.

The loser I half killed is still on the ground, and a bunch of people are clustered around him.

Lucy swings her door open. “What’s happened?” she says, all innocence. She’s wearing jeans and an olive-green V-neck shirt that shows off her tits to perfection, and she looks cool, unruffled. My heart swells with love for my girl. It’s so soon, but I’m falling for her. I can’t wait to tell her how I feel about her. How I’m gonna spend the rest of my life loving and protecting her.

“He’s been attacked!” the one called Natasha screeches when she catches sight of me.

“Shit! By what?” Wow, my voice really sounds stressed.

“A bear, he says!”

I dart over and crouch beside the “victim”. He’s groaning. There are wounds around his neck, but I was careful. He’s not bleeding out.

I turn him onto his back and take stock of his injuries. His eyes are bloodshot and there are scratches on his face. His shirt is torn, too. He’s probably got a bunch of bruises. Well, he earned every single one of them.

“What happened?” I ask.

His eyelids blink open, and he looks around dazedly. “I was just heading out for a walk when a goddamn bear attacked me.”

I frown. “You sure? Bears usually stay away from civilization. Unless they’re provoked.”

“Of course, I’m sure,” he splutters. “Look at me!”

“You were a little drunk last night, Errol,” Lucy murmurs. “Maybe you fell or something.”

I look up at her, our eyes lock, and my heart goes boom . I’m so goddamn proud of my girl, I could burst.

Errol points a trembling finger at Lucy. “You… you saw him!”

Her forehead furrows adorably. “No…” she says slowly, like she’s remembering. “I was in my room. I thought someone was trying to get in, and I was real scared, so I hid under the covers.”

Confusion fills his ugly-ass face. “You opened the door!”

She blinks several times. “Why would I do that if I was scared?”

His mouth opens and shuts several times, but nothing comes out. Slowly, he pulls himself upright. “I’m sick of this shit. Lucy, you get that minibus to come back and pick us up?—”

“You’re not leaving!” I bellow.

Everyone cowers.

Shit, that was way too loud. Even I can hear my voice echoing around the buildings. But no way are these assholes taking Lucy away from me.

Nothing is gonna keep me from my girl.

I clear my throat and do my best to speak like a human. “I mean, I’ve got a ton of events planned for you. You’ll be sorry if you miss them.”

“Such as?” The one called Natasha rounds on me, hands on her hips. “Because all I see here is a broken-down old dump.”

“This morning we’ll be participating in a game of capture the flag,” I announce. Probably not the right lingo, but who cares?

Everyone stills. I risk a glance at Lucy. Her eyes are shining, and she gives me a secret thumbs up. My heart does that weird swooping thing it’s been doing ever since she arrived.

“This’ll be fun, guys!” Lucy exclaims. “Out in the wilderness, relying on each other. Isn’t that why we came here?”

The silence continues, while they all exchange glances. Then the doofus who lost his phone last night—and handed my beast some serious sexual frustration—grins. “Yeah! Let’s do it.”

“What about the bear?” Natasha says.

“I’ve got bear spray,” Lucy cuts in.

Bear spray? I flinch. Dunno what it is, but it sounds nasty.

Lucy gives me a little wink. I get her meaning: don’t worry—it’s just to reassure the others.

“One thing,” I say, nice and loud. “There’s a storm coming this afternoon. Could be nasty. Make sure you start heading back here by twelve. You all hear me?” I give them each a long stare, locking eyes until they nod, because no way am I gonna rescue their asses because they’ve gotten themselves marooned or some shit.

“Okay.” I turn to Lucy, handing the rest of the planning over to her.

“Come on guys, let’s get into teams,” she says, clapping her hands together excitably.

“How we gonna do that?”

“Girls and boys?”

“Senior and junior?”

I stand back and let the humans do their thing.

Not supporting each other, like a bear clan would, but tearing each other down.

They wind up deciding that the two most senior employees will each pick their own team, and they take turns calling names out.

My gut tightens a notch each time a name is called out and it’s not Lucy’s.

They pick her last. In the whole damn team.

By the end of it, she’s standing there alone, arms wrapped around her body, looking so vulnerable my heart aches.

Those pricks. Why can’t they see how amazing she is? She’s ten times smarter and stronger than all of them put together.

I watch her face carefully, trying to figure out if it makes her sad. But she looks resigned. Like she’s used to it. Well, that’s the last time that shit’s gonna happen.

Like I told her last night, from now on, she comes first. And I’m gonna keep showing her that until she believes me.