Beaufort Creek Shifters (10 book series)
The Bear’s Arranged Mate Chapter 11

Jermaine

Ice cream dribbled down Elva's chin. I barked with laughter while dabbing it with a napkin, enjoying the way she glared at me from beneath her perfectly winged eyeliner. Thick black lashes batted rapidly while a plush tongue poked out defiantly. It had been a week since I'd given her a bath. A week since she had confessed her darkest secret. A week since finally coming to the understanding that her defenses had a rhyme and a reason.

Her parents had been awful to her. Worse than awful. Absolutely monstrous. Anybody in her position would have ended up worse.

But not Elva. She was strong.

And her nightmares would soon be a thing of the past.

I grinned. "It's not my fault you're a mess."

"You're the one who wanted us to walk around the park with ice cream."

"Is that why you're drooling?" I elbowed her playfully while raising my cone to my lips. "Or is it me?"

She seemed a bit more at ease with me. I was mindful of my movements while also supportive of her insistence on not treating her any differently. One of our local shifter friends was a psychologist, a crane shifter who worked with kids and adults to work through trauma.

While I had been relieved to replace someone local who could help Elva through her issues, Elva didn't seem keen on the idea.

And that was up to her. I wasn't about to push anything.

She shoved me playfully. I stumbled, more for her satisfaction than mine, and then looped my arm around her shoulders. Walking with her like this felt good. It was natural. "It's the ice cream," she claimed. "I've never drooled over you."

"I'm sure your friend Beatrice would say otherwise."

She huffed and shrugged me off, though I didn't get the impression that she was actually angry at me. She was just playing at it. "You're so full of shit that your eyes are brown."

I laughed. "Come on, sweet pea. Don't get mad just because I can read you like a book."

"You've done no such thing."

"I beg to differ."

She grinned widely. "Then beg."

"You know, I've never tossed a woman across a park, but there's a first time for everything."

"Darling, you wouldn't dare."

I tossed my unfinished cone into a trash bin and hoisted her over my shoulder, ignoring the sting of cold ice cream getting smooshed into my upper back. Bears were generally warm creatures-but that didn't mean we liked getting iced. "Elva, sweetheart, you are wasting ice cream," I warned her jokingly. "You better not put any on my-Ah, that's my spine."

Frigid fingers poked at my warm skin. If that was how she wanted to play, then I would be happy to participate. I planted her on a bench and stuck my cold fingers up her skirt, grabbing her thighs just below the curve of her hips.

She hissed and then moaned. "Not fair."

"It's after dark. No one is here."

"No, it's not fair that you have so much strength on me."

I laughed. "How's that not fair?"

"Because I can't win."

"You can win if you try."

She grinned mischievously as she stood up and planted her boots on the wooden bench. The boards creaked slightly. "I have tried. But you keep letting me win. You don't fight back fairly."

"Weren't you just complaining that I'm stronger than you?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same."

I stepped back, curiously looking her up and down. I must have had one hell of a look on my face because she cackled uncontrollably.

"You must be out of your mind."

"It's just frozen from the ice cream."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, don't remind me. It's all over my back."

Whatever mischief hid behind her eyes spread to the rest of her face. She hopped down from the bench and strutted toward me, a sultry layer to every move she made. That was another thing I truly loved about Elva. She wasn't shy about being sexy. Every time she showed off her curves, it made me hungrier for her.

Right now, that hunger was skyrocketing. I didn't care that we were in a park after dark. I would take her if she let me.

She smirked up at me. "Why don't you take off your shirt if it's bothering you so much?"

"You just want to see me shirtless."

"Don't I always?"

My cheeks burned from grinning. No other woman could have made me feel this way. Elva was a creature of her own. She was hardly a shifter at all given how powerful the spell that she cast over me was. Maybe she was a mixture of things. Or maybe this whole mate thing had some credence to it. "I suppose that's true."

"You suppose?" She made a pfft sound and crossed her arms over her chest. "Wow, thanks."

"Don't get bratty, sweet pea. I don't mind bending you over my lap."

"You make it sound like I have ever minded such a thing myself."

It was my turn to smirk, though I wasn't sure I had much smiling power left in me. My urges were impossible to control with her teasing me like this. If she kept pushing my buttons, I would have to replace a darker part of the park.

She skipped past me and then turned around, sticking her tongue out. Silent signals like that made me excited. Not because she was acting up but because she trusted me to understand her.

That was something neither of us was used to at this point.

As I made up my mind to chase after her, a shadowy figure materialized on the path ahead. I grabbed Elva by the waist and yanked her into my side when another figure appeared. And then another.

Three figures stood in our way. Behind us, one danced like a boxer, kicking up rocks that skittered off into the grass. It was weird that I couldn't see their faces-but I could certainly smell them. And they smelled like filthy dogs.

"Mr. Ryan," one of the three called out. I tightened my grip on my partner's waist. "We've been looking for you all day."

"We've been watching," added the other.

"Waiting for the right time," yet another added.

The figure in the center cracked his knuckles and stepped forward. Light played over his features, enhancing the shadows that carved his emaciated face. Eyes that would have been cerulean with a better diet were pale, nearly clear, blending with the whites of his eyes and making him look more like a walking corpse.

"Boss said we could devour you as we please," he said with a heavy Southern drawl. "As far as I figure, we got lucky with such a feast. Big fella like you with such a cute girl on him-we'll be full for a week."

Elva clutched my wrist. "Babe, we have to-"

I shushed her. "We don't have to do shit. Stay calm."

Stay calm-what an ironic thing to say while we were surrounded. My bear side ruffled up and threatened to break through my carefully centered attitude.

Anything other than logic just wouldn't do right now. I had to face this encounter with the right mindset. Losing my cool wasn't going to do us any favors. But neither was being passive.

I squared my gaze on the figure in the center, the truly emaciated wolf. "I'm sure your employer hasn't given you all the details."

"He's given me plenty. You and your friends took our family," he retorted. He spat on the ground. "I'm here to make sure things stay even."

"Again, those aren't all the details."

He smiled, revealing a row of rotten teeth. "Doesn't matter. We're here now." He crouched, the seams of his pants ripping loudly. "And we're hungry."

"Jermaine," Elva hissed, "let me shift and help."

"No, sweet pea. I want you to run back to the ranch and get backup."

She swatted my arm. "By then it'll be too late."

"That's why I want you to run right now."

There was no time to argue. The three figures shifted into massive wolves, plus the one behind us. I tore off my shirt and let my pants rip. Whatever ended up happening wouldn't really require me to keep my clothes, anyway. It was four of them and two of us-and they had genetic modifications done in a lab.

Us? We were just a bear and a tiger. We weren't a match for these foes.

I gritted my teeth. But we have to try.

The wolves dove toward us simultaneously. A flash of orange cut in front of me, blocking the first strike. Elva snapped furiously at the wolves, allowing me to flip around and face the wolf attacking us from behind. He was much larger than his friends-and much stronger, too.

His neck was an easy lunge. Though these wolves were greater and stronger, they didn't seem to be particularly coordinated. I managed to wrestle with the rear wolf and get him injured enough to shove him aside. Once I joined Elva, I noticed the metallic tint to the air.

I nudged her side to keep her steady, projecting to her, Go right and I'll go left.

She hummed thoughtfully, replying, That would mean our paths cross.

We just have to time it right, I reasoned. Unless you're not up for the challenge.

I could practically feel her smirk when she retorted that she could handle it.

That's my girl, I praised. On the count of three...

Elva hopped right just as I hopped left. The three shifters recoiled for a second, giving us the opening we needed. I went for the one in the center and snapped his throat. Elva slashed the one on the right. As soon as the three were incapacitated, I shoved her toward the park exit.

Go! Now!

Elva didn't question me. She sprinted toward the exit with me on her heels, the sound of the wolves behind us making my skin crawl. Tanner and Blake had told me the extent of the experiments-but these wolves were different.

They looked like wolves. They acted like wolves.

But they didn't sound like wolves.

The screeches the creatures released were more like a cross between an injured eagle and a horror movie monster. The sound sent me nudging Elva forward even as she snapped at me mentally to stop pushing her. It forced me to dart up to her side to keep her protected.

It literally scared me half to death.

Were it not for my association, the fact that I was a right hand to Blake himself, maybe those lab-created wolves wouldn't have felt free to attack us in the open.

He said his boss sent them, I thought. And that they could devour us.

My paws broke branches, sent rocks flying, and dug crevices into the earth. When we finally reached the edge of the Beaufort Creek Pack lands, I hardly bothered to slow down. I knew those things were still after us. I could feel them watching.

I didn't shift into my human form until I reached my porch. I collapsed in front of the door, peering up at the green eyes of the tiger hovering over me. Though her thoughts weren't apparent and I couldn't hear her projections, I could sense her feelings. She was worried-and I shared that sentiment.

"I'm head of security," I panted. "I'm the goddamn man who takes care of this place. And I couldn't have sensed those fuckers were about to ambush us?" My palm was wet with nervous sweat as I dragged it down my face. "I'm a mess."

Elva shifted. She plopped on the ground next to me as she tried to catch her breath. "Jermaine, you can't blame yourself. We were totally caught off guard."

"We shouldn't have been in town by ourselves like that."

"Why not? We can protect each other."

She must have knocked her head or something. "Are you crazy? They could have killed you, Elva. You could have died."

"You wouldn't have let it happen. Besides-" She rolled to her side to look at me. "We're stronger together. We fight well together. We're bonded, Jermaine."

"But you can still get hurt."

She lifted her head, staring at me through heavy lashes. Moonlight kissed her skin. I had nearly forgotten she was naked until she popped her bottom into the air, leaning into a catlike stretch. "I trust you."

That was such a mistake. Didn't she understand that? Without a mate bite on her neck, we were just two people screwing each other in hopes that our ritualized bond would be enough.

But after that encounter at the park, I could finally see why my alpha saw fit to shove us together. We had the mechanics of a bond going, but we had to take it to the next level.

I didn't see that happening any time soon.

When Elva was done stretching, I stood up and motioned for her to come inside. I sent her off to the bathroom, hoping that maybe a little space would help me get my head on straight. Watching those wolves attack my partner made me paranoid. If they had gotten any good attack in, then she would be bleeding out right this second.

We weren't mates. We were partners. And being partners wasn't enough to keep us from dying.

It was then I realized the best way I could protect Elva would be to leave her alone.