Devil May Care (The Grizzly MC Book 12) (7 page)

He closed his eyes and just let the familiar power move through him. Skin tore, muscles stretched and expanded, and he felt his beast rise to the surface. Fur replaced flesh, he grew to his massive height of ten feet tall when on his hind legs, and his hands and feet became paws tipped with massive, deadly claws. When he was before her as a grizzly, he inhaled deeply, and sensed her wonder, but also her fear. She examined him, but took a step back, as if on instinct. Her fear still lightly coated the air. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

Fuck, that’s the last thing I want.

He dropped to his front legs so he wasn’t so tall standing over her, hoping that might alleviate some of her worry. But she still moved back another step, and the low sound that left him was unavoidable. His bear didn’t like her afraid of them. He huffed out again and moved closer to her. Butting his head up against her hand, he made another low sound when she finally ran her fingers through his fur.

Her fear slowly started to fade, and he loved that, grew pleased about her accepting him. “Your fur is so soft, and you’re so big I can’t even comprehend it.”

He rubbed his head against her again, and if he were a feline he would have been purring at how good it felt for her to be touching him right now.

She speared her hand in his neck fur. “Does your human side understand what’s happening right now?”

He made another low sound as his answer. Lifting his massive head and looking into her eyes, he saw her smile, and his pleasure grew. He knew this woman would be it for him, that she would be the light he’d been searching for, that brightness to wash away the depressing, soul sucking darkness inside of him.

She was
theirs
whether she knew it or not
.

He closed his eyes, just reveling in the feel of her running her hands through his fur. For several minutes all they did was stay like that, with her breathing steadily, the sweet scent of her acceptance filling him. She finally rested her face against his neck, the scent of her contentment, of her pleasure consuming him. She felt safe with him right now, and that’s what he’d wanted her to know.

“As strange as this sound, I could stay like this, Jakob.” Her voice was soft, relaxed. “You make me feel like nothing can hurt me.” She looked up at him, and for just a second they were locked in this kind of trance. He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t want to push anything.

And that’s what I want you to know, Saya. Nothing will hurt you, because I’d rather slit my own throat than let you go, or let someone fuck this up … myself included.

She’d already seen him and his aggressive bear side, but he supposed she needed to see that side of him to know who and what he was really like.

He closed his eyes and let the shift overtake him, transforming back into his human form. After getting dressed so as not to make her uncomfortable, he went back over to her.

“Jakob?” she said his name softly.

“Yeah, Saya?”

“Tell me I’m not the only one feeling … this.”

He was silent for a second, and then exhaled. “No, you’re definitely not the only one.”

Another moment of silence passed.

And then, surprising the hell of out him, she leaned forward and kissed him.

It was as if the fucking world stopped, just ended right there for him, and it was all because this female had her lips pressed to his.

Yeah, this female was it for him, and he knew that without a damn doubt.

Chapter Nine

“So?” Bodhi asked, his expression hopeful and nosy as fuck.

“So what?” Jakob responded, looking at his brother across their parents’ dining room table.

Bodhi shoved a forkful of pie in his mouth, and when he had it swallowed and washed it down with a beer, he smiled. “So, what’s up with you and the girl? I haven’t heard anything, and you seem in a better mood.”

Jakob leaned back in the chair and pushed his plate away. “It’s none of your business,” Jakob said but grinned, too. He was feeling good, really fucking good, in fact.

“Bro, you had no problem before telling me about the chicks you fucked.”

“That was a long time ago, Bodhi.”

“Boys, watch your fucking language,” their father Diesel said, coming into the room with three beers in his hands, and a grin on his face.

“Mom swears just as much as we do,” Bodhi said, and grabbed one of the beers from their dad.

Jakob took the other beer just as his mom, Maggie, came in. “We should watch our mouths,” Jakob said, but he was smiling.

“You guys act like I wasn’t just as wild as you back in the day,” Maggie said, her grin wide, the mixed drink she had in her hand filled. She sat down, looking at the three of them. “Well, don’t stop talking on my account.” She took a drink and grimaced. “Dammit, Diesel, this is the last time I let you make my drinks. You make them too strong.”

Their father laughed and reached over to take his old lady’s hand. “Baby, you know why I like to get you liquored up.”

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Bodhi said, and Jakob couldn’t help laughing.

“How do you think you two came into this world?” Diesel asked.

“Don’t wanna hear any of that,” Bodhi said and drank half of his beer.

All of them were laughing.

Hell, he didn’t like hearing that his parents had sex, but it was part of life. Besides, Jakob had his fair share of fucks in this very house.

“Hey, remember when you snuck that club whore through your bedroom window when you were seventeen?” Jakob asked and loved when Bodhi’s eyes got big as he glanced at their mom.

“What?” Maggie all but shrieked.

“Jakob, shut the hell up. That was a long damn time ago.”

Jakob was full on belly laughing now. “Oh yeah, Mom. Bodhi wanted this club whore real bad. She was what, thirty or something?”

Diesel choked on his beer as he laughed.

“And you were only seventeen?”

“No, I had just turned eighteen,” Bodhi said in response, but he was glaring at Jakob. “Jakob, why don’t you tell Mom and Dad about the woman you want, the one you’re chasing like a lost puppy.”

Jakob tensed. It wasn’t that he was trying to hide anything from his parents. They were all pretty open about things … well, most things. But he’d just started getting to know Saya, and before he could tell them things were getting serious he needed to really
know
her. He needed to spend time with her, and make sure being with him was what she wanted. If and when that time came he’d tell everyone. Or at least that had been his plan until Bodhi opened his fucking mouth.

“You met a girl?” His mom sounded so hopeful and excited.

“The keyword is
just
met her, Mom.”

His mom was still smiling.

His father was looking at him.

“What?”

Diesel shrugged. “Nothing.”

Jakob didn’t believe him. “No, just say it.”

His father set the bottle down. “Well, I’ve never known you to actively want a female, Jakob. Your body language when Bodhi opened his mouth and told us something you clearly weren’t ready to be revealed, tells me this female isn’t like anything you’ve ever encountered.”

His father was pretty smart when it came to … just about everything.

There was a moment of silence before Jakob finally responded. “Yeah, she’s something special.” And she was. He just hoped she saw him in the same light, as well.

****

One week later

The window was down, the night air chilled, and Saya’s thoughts cloudy. They’d just gotten finished eating dinner and were on their way to meet her father’s club. It was a good distance away, but it was early enough, and she was anxious for Jakob to meet her other family.

The music was low, and the wind whipped her hair around her face. Grabbing a hair tie, she twisted the strands into a messy bun and tied it up. They came to a stop at an intersection, and the tingling on the back of her neck intensified. She felt Jakob’s gaze on her, and glanced over at him. He was staring at her neck, and then slowly lifted his gaze to her face. They were stopped at a light, the redness of it shining through the windshield and making things a little unrealistic, but hazy and erotic at the same time.

“What?” she asked softly, everything inside of her heating. Her pussy became wet at the look he gave her, and her nipples beaded up. Blood rushed below the surface of her flesh, and she wondered if he could sense her, tell she was aroused.

Of course he can. He’s a bear shifter.

She didn’t know much about shifters, though, didn’t know how “superior” they were to humans. But the way he inhaled deeply, the slight flare of his nostrils, and the fact he made a low growl, told Saya he knew she wanted him.

They’d only been really seeing each other for a week, but everything felt so right with him. He’d also been a gentleman, not pressing her for sex, even though she knew he wanted it as much as she did. It wasn’t like she was blind to the erections she’d seen him sport, and she sure as hell had a feeling he could see the physical reactions he brought out in her, too.

He cleared his throat, and the red glow from the light turned green. He was still staring at her when the car behind them blared its horn. She saw the way his jaw clenched and heard the sound of his hands tightening on the steering wheel. The car behind them honked again and again despite the fact they’d only been sitting at the light for a few seconds.

“Motherfucker,” Jakob said in a low, animalistic voice, and she wasn’t sure if he was cursing at the fact the car behind them was being a prick, or this electricity moving between them.

“It’s green,” she managed to say, feeling that familiar heat, that liveliness that she couldn’t ignore from the moment she saw him on his Harley.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile, but it wasn’t one of humor, but one of something … feral almost. The engine of his car roared to life as he went through the intersection. Saya glanced out the side mirror and saw the car that was behind them followed their turns.

“I’m going to stop and get gas,” Jakob said right before he pulled into a station. She waited in the car as he pumped the gas and watched him go into the store. Looking down at her phone she sent a text to Syd, the Sergeant at Arms for the Death Bringers, or the Executioner as he was known in the MC.

We’ll be there in about an hour. Stopping and getting some gas.

Tucking the phone in her purse, she rested her head back on the seat and breathed through the arousal that still pumped through her. A knock on the windshield had her heart racing momentarily. She snapped her eyes open and looked over at the passenger side, seeing three guys close to Jakob’s car. One of them leaned down, a grin on his face. With her window cracked slightly she could hear the other guys talking low, making crude comments about her and what they’d like to do.

“Hey.”

She didn’t respond, and instead looked at the store to see Jakob standing in line waiting to pay for the gas.

“Hey, you don’t speak English or some shit?”

Again, she didn’t respond, and instead went to roll the window up, but he placed a hand on the glass, using force so she couldn’t roll it up.

“Get your fucking hand off the window.” Saya wasn’t going to mince her words, and had tried to ignore him, but clearly he hadn’t taken the hint to get the fuck away from her.

“Damn, you got a mouth on you.” He turned and looked at his friends behind him. “Tommy, Paul, you hear the mouth on this bitch?”

She could have gotten mad, could have screamed and cursed him out, but she wasn’t going to start shit. She glanced at the store again and saw Jakob was paying.

“If I was you I’d get the hell out of here before that guy right there,” she pointed to the store, “kicks your ass.”

The guys straightened and started chuckling. “You mean the asshole that thought a green light meant stop?” All three started laughing harder. He leaned down again, his breath smelling of liquor and the sweet scent of pot coming from him when he moved closer. “I’d say three against one is pretty good odds, don’t you think?”

She rolled up her window before he could stop her, but before she could lock the door, which was what she should have done right away, he had it opened.

“Come on out here, pretty thing.”

“Fuck off,” she said and tried to pull the door closed again.

He went to reach for her, but she saw a flash of movement and then he was being pulled off of her. Jakob was on the guy, beating the shit out of him as Tommy and Paul watched with wide eyes. Jakob was making these low growls as he slammed his fist into the guy’s face.

“Jakob, stop, you’ll kill him.” She was out of the car but didn’t get close, not when she could see the flash of his bear right there at the surface. Jakob pulled away from the guy bleeding on the ground and looked at the other two assholes.

“If you don’t want the shit beat out of you for being near my female, I suggest you fuck off.”

The two guys all but ran away, leaving their pathetic friend on the ground.

Saya looked around, saw several people had stopped and were staring at them, and then glanced at the store. She noticed the cashier on the phone and looking out the window.

“Jakob, come on. She’s calling the police.” Saya got in the car, and Jakob was in the driver’s seat a second later. He peeled out of the gas station, and she finally let herself breathe.

For several minutes neither spoke, and she kept her focus straight ahead.

“I’m sorry you had to see all that shit,” he finally said.

She turned her head toward him, her throat tight, her mouth dry. “You have nothing to be sorry for.” She swallowed again. “Thank you for being there and watching over me.” The car came to a stop as he pulled over on the side of the road. She could tell he was still so pumped from the fight, and she reached out and touched his arm.

“I shouldn’t have lost my cool with you right there, but he shouldn’t have gone near you, Saya.” He was looking down at where her hand was, and she knew she needed to get him back in the place they’d been. She knew she wanted to get his head clear, and the only thing she could think to do that was to kiss him.

“Jakob.” She waited until he looked at her. “If you weren’t there things could have gone differently. I’m glad you beat his ass.” And she was. Without thinking anymore, and just wanting to feel his mouth on hers, she leaned in and kissed him.

When she pulled away, the fierce look on his face had that familiar heat moving through her like a freight train. She wanted him, wanted his big body over hers, making her come, dominating her. She wanted to feel and sense his bear right at the surface, ready to give her everything, and make her yearn for more. Saya had never wanted anything as much as she wanted Jakob, and she could tell he wanted the same thing.

He cleared his throat and moved slightly on the seat, as if trying to get comfortable. Glancing down she could see his massive erection pressed against his jeans.

“Can you smell my arousal?” she asked softly, almost whispering it. Saya felt slightly embarrassed at the fact she actually said those words.

The growl that left him had tingles racing along her skin.

“Yes,” was all he said, but it was all he needed to say. They had somewhere to be right now, and she knew that after it was said and done she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from finally giving into her desires.

She didn’t want to stop or control them.