Vega Brothers: Alexander: BBW Paranormal Romance Reluctant Bride (The Bear Shifters of Vega Ranch Book 3) (3 page)

His bear pounced forward at the thought, striking with everything that he had. It caught Alexander off guard and his bear slipped by for the first time in over twenty years. It felt like a rope sliding through his hands, falling away just as he closed his fingers, missing it.

His hands burned as they swelled up into paws, and he clenched his jaw as his bones popped and his tendons shredded. “Fucking bear, get back in my-”

The polar bear exploded out of him, pushing Alexander deep down within.

The large white bear lifted his nose and sniffed the air. He turned in the direction of the horse stables and ran.

three

“Shifters?!?” Elena said, leaning back on her elbows and staring out at the vast lake in front of her. “All of them?”

“Yup,” Ava replied. “Big sexy shifters.”

Well, that explains Alexander’s size.

Ava had just explained how the four Vega brothers were all bear shifters but Elena still couldn’t seem to wrap her head around it.

She rubbed her chin. “That would make a great-”

“Don’t even think about it,” Ava interrupted with a stern voice.

“Story.”

She could see it now. If she was the reporter to finally break the story about the truth of shifters actually existing she would be drowning in awards. Any job that she wanted would be hers. It would be the story of the century. Possibly the biggest news story of all time. And she would be at the center of it.

“I didn’t confide in you so you could blab it out to the whole world and betray the trust of my new family, your new family,” Ava said, narrowing her eyes at Elena. “Julius is your new brother-in-law. Think about that before you do anything foolish.”

Elena was tempted but she would never reveal the secret without Ava’s permission. All of the awards, money and acclaims in the world would mean nothing if it meant losing her sister to get them.

“I won’t tell,” she said, squeezing her hands into fists. “Can Julius show me how he changes into a bear?”

Ava grimaced. “I don’t know if he’d be up for that. He’s not a circus act. And when he phases back he’ll be naked.”

“Naked?” Elena asked with a raised eyebrow. All of a sudden she wanted Alexander to be the one phasing.

Ava smiled. “Completely naked.”

“It’s quite the life that you live here, sis,” Elena said, shaking her head in jealousy. She glanced back at the two horses grazing behind them. Horses, nature, hot naked muscular shifters. Ava had really hit the jackpot.

Ava grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’m so happy that you’re here for the week. We’re going to have a blast!”

Elena smiled. It would be interesting if anything.

She looked around the flat plains behind her to the forest on her right, beside the lake. “I’m assuming there’s no bathroom around here,” she said with her nose scrunched up. “I have to pee.”

Ava smiled as she hunched her shoulders up. “Either in the lake or in the forest. That’s how we do it around here.”

Elena climbed up to her feet and wiped the dried grass off her ass. The lake water looked too cold and she didn’t feel like getting wet. “Forest it is!”

She glanced far down in the distance and that kid from the stables was leaning under the hood of the tractor. Thick gray smoke was pouring out. “Looks like the tractor needs your special touch again.”

Ava turned and cursed under her breath. “Give me half an hour,” she said, getting up and walking over to her old horse. “Can you entertain yourself for that long?”

It was so beautiful and peaceful out here that Elena could entertain herself all week. All she needed to do was lay on the grass, close her eyes and take in the warm sun.

“I’ll be fine,” she answered.

Ava jumped on the horse and galloped away while Elena walked over to the forest. She squatted behind a tree, careful not to put her bare ass on any poison ivy, and relieved herself.

“Ahhh,” she moaned. She had been holding it in for way too long.

A branch snapped and she whipped her head around. “What the-”

A huge bear as white as the Arctic snow was walking through the forest. She held her breath and wrapped her shaking hands around her legs, trying to be as quiet as she could. Her heart was racing to the point of nearly exploding and her legs were getting weak underneath her.

The bear lifted his wet black nose and sniffed the air. She lowered her dizzy head and gulped. It was a good thing that she had already been peeing or she would have done it in her pants.

“No,” she whispered as the bear’s huge head turned in her direction. His dark eyes locked onto hers and he paused.

She stared at him, unable to speak, unable to move.

The whites of the polar bear’s eyes began to cloud over with a black fog giving him a sinister look. He froze as the black clouds covered the gorgeous browns of his eyes.

Elena felt a pull towards him like someone had just wrapped a lasso around her and yanked her forward. The tugging feeling vanished as the black clouds disappeared.

This place is so strange.
For once she was wishing for the comfort of New York City. There was strangeness plastered all over the Big Apple but it was nothing like this. This was wizardry or something.

She gasped and closed her eyes as the bear started shaking and trembling all over. She dug her forehead onto her bent knees and covered her ears as the worst sounds that she’d ever heard started clawing at her ears, making her skin crawl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

The horrible tearing and crunching sounds stopped but she still couldn’t open her eyes.
If I don’t look at the bear he’s not really there.

“Elena,” a deep voice whispered.

She jerked her head up and gasped when she saw Alexander standing in place of the bear.

A completely naked Alexander.

That was him?

Ava had just explained how the four Vega brothers were all bear shifters yet it still didn’t register that the bear could have been one of them. Her first clue should have been seeing a polar bear in the middle of Montana but brains don’t always work the best under high-stress situations.

Her eyes widened as she took him all in from his large chest, down to his rolling abs, the carved V in his pelvis and the cock hanging between his legs. The long, thick cock. The long, thick, beautiful cock. The one that she couldn’t stop staring at.

“Do you mind?” she screamed when she caught herself. She yanked her shorts up and quickly buttoned them. “Do you always sneak up on girls when they’re peeing? You pervert!”

He just stared at her with a stunned expression. “I have a mate?” he whispered.

“What?” she barked. “I’m telling Julius!”

She stormed out of the forest and stomped over to her horse with her chin in the air. Just because this guy was hot didn’t mean that he could flash himself at her when she was peeing.

“You’re my mate,” he said, louder and more sure of it this time.

The word sent a nervous thrill through Elena’s body. She was physically attracted to this guy but he seemed more than a little out of his mind.

“I’m your worst nightmare,” she said, glaring at him, “if you take another step. Go put a loin cloth or a leaf over that thing and go back in the forest where you belong. You primitive caveman!”

He stepped forward, ignoring her. “Come with me.”

Elena jerked her head back. “Are you kidding me? Fuck off!”

He just walked right up to her with a determined expression on his handsome face.

“No,” she whispered as she tried to run but her legs wouldn’t listen. They had turned to jelly.

Alexander lunged forward, scooped her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Her legs weren’t working but her lungs were. “LET ME GO!” she screamed as she pounded her fists on his hard back muscles. Her hands quickly became numb.

The hulky bear shifter turned back to the forest and ran back in with Elena screaming bloody murder over his shoulder.

four

What’s the plan here?

Alexander had no idea what the answer to that question was. All that he knew was he had a mate, it was Elena, and he had an irresistible urge to take her back to his cabin.

“Put me down!” she screamed as he ran through the forest, careful to dodge out of the way of any branches that could hit her soft body. He didn’t want her to get hurt.

“This is not going to go over well for you, buddy!” she warned. “I’m a famous news reporter in New York freaking City! How would you like your stupid face on the front page of
the
New York Gazette?”

Alexander just held her tight and kept running. Every sane thought going through his mind was telling him to let her go and bring her back to the house. But the insane thoughts were too overwhelming. He needed to take her; to bring her to his cabin. He didn’t know what for or for how long but the motive was clear: his mate belonged in his cabin.

His bear beamed inside him, cheering him on and encouraging him for the first time in years. His inner polar bear wanted him to take his mate and claim her.

He got to the river and ran along the bank as Elena began a new barrage of punching his back with her fists. It didn’t slow him down at all. If she punched a little harder it would have felt like a gentle massage.

“You’re kidnapping me, you psycho!” she screamed from the bottom of her lungs. “Let me go!”

Alexander just lowered his head and kept moving. His cabin was just up ahead.

“Okay,” she said, lowering her voice, apparently trying to change tactics. “I have money. You want money?”

Alexander had enough money for two lifetimes yet he willingly lived in a rundown shack in the woods. He didn’t need money. He needed his mate.

“Will you say something?” she screamed. “Where are you taking me?”

“There,” he grunted when the shack came into view.

She pressed her hand on his back and used it to lean up and look behind her. “Oh crap,” she gasped when she saw the abandoned shack. “I’m getting murdered.”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, walking up to the entrance and ducking under, careful not to let her head hit the doorway.

“Then why am I here?” she asked as he gently dropped her to her feet. “What do you want with me?”

Her eyes dropped down to his exposed cock and she gulped. Alexander stirred with desire. Having his mates eyes on his dick was enough to make it start to harden.

“Oh, God!” she said, covering her eyes with her hands. “I knew it!”

A pain shot through his heart at seeing her so afraid of him. He grabbed a pair of shorts off of the bed behind her and slid them on. “I told you I’m not going to hurt you,” he said again and she opened her eyes.

She saw the shorts on his muscular legs and took a breath of relief.

“There’s a shirt around here somewhere,” he said, lifting up the blanket on the cot and looking underneath.

“That’s okay,” she said, staring at his abs. “You can leave your shirt off.”

She was still standing there with tight shoulders and a pale face. He couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked with her sweaty forehead and uncontrollable shaking. He could stare at her for days.

“Please, sit,” he said, motioning to the bed behind her.

The rusted metal springs squeaked as she sat down. She looked all around her, up at the ceiling, behind her. Alexander slipped his hands into his pockets and sighed. She looked so uncomfortable. He desperately wanted her to like this place.

This abandoned shack in the woods.

I have a lot to learn about women.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I can go hunt a deer and cook up some steaks.”

She twisted her face in disgust.

“At least he’s not planning on eating you,” she whispered to herself.

Ouch
. This wasn’t going very well.

Elena glanced at the open door and twisted her shirt in between her fingers. “Why am I here again? Oh wait, you didn’t answer me the first time.”

Alexander cleared his throat. “I thought I’d get to know you better.”

“By kidnapping me?” she yelled. She caught herself and looked at Alexander meekly. “It’s just a funny way to do it is all. For future reference, a cup of coffee might be a better idea.”

“You want coffee?” Alexander asked, springing up and opening a cupboard drawer under the sink. He had made coffee here once a few years ago. The can might still have been there.

He opened the cupboard and a raccoon burst out of it, sprinting out the door. Elena screamed and raised her feet off the bed as he ran by.
Great timing to come back, asshole.

It accidentally slammed its shoulder into the doorway as he ran out and disappeared into the forest.

Elena’s scream turned to laughter. She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with deep chuckles. Alexander watched her curiously.

“Always me,” she said, dropping her hands from her red face. “How do I always get into these situations?”

“You’ve been kidnapped by a bear shifter before?” Alexander asked.

She shook her head as a new roar of laughter came on. “No. This is a first.”

Alexander took a breath of relief. He was worried for a minute that another werebear had bonded to her. He didn’t want his chances with her to be ruined.

“So how is that coffee coming?” she asked, inching back on the bed so that her back was leaning against the wall.

Alexander ducked under the sink and looked in the coffee can.
Ew
. Apparently the can was used as the raccoon’s bathroom.

“Fresh out of coffee,” he said. “But I can get some water from the river if you’re thirsty.”

She chuckled. “I’m fine, thanks.”

Alexander leaned against the sink and looked at her awkwardly. He was never good at talking to people, even his own brothers didn’t like him, but he was especially bad at talking to women.

“So you’re not going to murder me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head vigorously. “Of course not. You’re my mate. I’d die before I let anything happen to you.”