Hansel's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tale) (4 page)

“
Guess not.” Her father
reached across the seat and squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right
here.”

Giving him a quick nod, she opened the
door and slipped out of her father’s high cab. As she sank to the
ground that ominous feeling returned in her stomach. It didn’t help
that the crowd seemed to part wider with every step she made. She
could hear the murmurs from the county folk around her, but she
didn’t really pick up on enough clues to understand what they were
talking about.

“
Greta?” It was Sheriff
Smokey’s deep baritone voice.

“
Here she is sheriff.”
Someone called out and seemed to urge her forward with a hand to
her back.

Greta had the urge to turn and snap at
the person, but she restrained herself.

“
Great. Now we can get all
this settled.” The Sheriff stepped through the crowd toward her. He
was a handsome older male. He’d been single during all the years
she had known him, but recently he had reconnected with her
parent’s neighbor’s daughter—the love of his life. That woman was
also the mother of Rena, one of Greta’s good friends who’d moved
into town after finding her own mate—Cord, the new
mayor.

With the overflowing love in his life,
the Sheriff displayed more smiles than he had with his previous
gruff exterior. However, the deep-set frown in his face reminded
her of the old lawman he had been. That increased her
nervousness.

“
What can I do for you,
Sheriff Smokey?” She kept her cool, with all these Were’s around
her, they would be able to smell her anxiety.

Sheriff placed a gentle hand on her
shoulder. “Do you know this Were?” He stepped to the
side.

Instantly her knees went weak and her
heart raced. It wasn’t because of his handsome face. Boy was he
good looking. He had a strong squared jawline, a thick bottom lip
below a slightly thinner upper lip and long dark hair that hung in
waves, way past the collar of his t-shirt. The male had shoulders
as wide as any other were-male in town, but he gave her thoughts
and images she should not be having with so many people standing
around her. It was his eyes that drew her and locked her in. Basic
Were-bear black…yet they seemed to share secrets with her. Know
things that she had never told her family. That knowledge made her
shiver with fear, not caring that everyone around her could
probably sense it.

No, she didn’t know his face because
he had grown up. A lot. But she would never forget the sweet woodsy
scent that was his alone.

“
Well, Greta?” This came
from Dainton her cousin who nudged her shoulder.

She must have been standing there
dense and silent for too long.

The sexy Were before her smiled. Well
if that’s what one could call the left corner of his mouth
twitching and lifting a few millimeters.

“
Yes. Maybe…yes.” She
licked her lips, trying to control the stumbling over her
words.

“
Which is it?” Dainton’s
tone was low with a slight rumble, proof that her cousin could
sense her discomfort.

The intruder from her past was quick
to pick up on the situation as well because he ended the nonchalant
pose he had maintained against his motorcycle and took his full
height. However, he never took his gaze away from her.

Not wanting people to misunderstand
her feelings, Greta rushed on. “I’m sure he’s not here to harm
anyone.”

“
How do you know him?” The
Sheriff knew the story of her disappearance and just like her
parents, he was overprotective of her.

“
What’s his name? He
refused to give it to us.” Rorke, one of the males in the crowd
standing behind the visitor, called out.

Damn
. She shoved her hands deep in her jeans pockets. To recall
his name would mean she would be forced to go into deep memories
she had worked hard to suppress. Ones that were beginning to ooze
out from under the locked door of her mind. Sweat beaded up on her
skin and began to roll along the center of her chest.

Shit. Oh, shit.
She wasn’t a nervous person by nature. She had
always considered herself to have a strong disposition, but this
situation was altering her very nature.

“
Hansel. It’s Hansel.”
Stepping up, he took hold of her arm and began to pull her through
the crowd gathered around them.

Needing to escape, she allowed him to
lead her away from her family and friends.

“
Where the hell do you
think you’re taking her?” That growl came from her
father.

Hansel didn’t even pause in stride as
he shouldered his way out, making a lane for them.

“
I’m alright, papa-bear.”
Greta called out to him over her shoulder as she moved her feet in
a swift pass to keep up with Hansel’s long strides.

Leaving his bike he strutted down the
center of Main Street daring cars and trucks to hit
them.

“
Where are we going?”
Greta asked, keeping her focus away from the heat of his touch,
which she could feel through her shirt.

“
The hell if I know. Don’t
know this town.”

Males. She shook her head. “Go left,”
she advised.

They weaved their way through oncoming
traffic, which she was pretty sure by the stares they were getting
as vehicles passed them that it was busy because by now everyone
had heard that an outsider was in town and they came to see what
was going on.

“
If we keep straight down
this road it will lead us to the park entrance.” Once they were
along the sidewalk, she tugged against his hold. “I can walk on my
own.”

He stopped. Looking at her, those deep
intense black eyes now had small chips of gold in them.

Seeing the tinge of color caused her
core to tighten. Quickly she stepped back, thankful that he had let
her arm go.

“
Sorry, I’m not trying to
frighten you, Greta.” His voice was a husky timbre.

Cars still whipped by and she glanced
toward the street, seeing they were still in full view of the
townsfolk. “I’m not scared. Look let’s get a little more privacy.”
Not waiting for him to follow, she started walking again. When she
entered the park she didn’t stop until she got to one of the picnic
tables at the edge of the playground. Thankfully it was too early
for parents to have their young playing along the jungle gym
equipment.

“
Why did you come here?”
She stood beside the table pressing her hands flat on the smooth,
crafted wood that she knew her friend Rorke’s family company would
have made.

“
Look at me,
Greta.”

Damn, his voice, just like his eyes
and body, were all too beguiling. Her mind attempted to convince
her not to turn around, to protect her emotions from the rushing
memories that she was sure were soon to come once the floodgates
were open. However, her body had a will of its own.

Turning, she faced him. He was too
close. Not close enough for her to feel his body heat, but if she
took a step they would be sneakers to boots. “What now?”

“
Say my name.”

“
Wh-at?” She
stuttered.

“
I never believed I would
see you again. Your face and everything that I knew about you has
haunted my mind both day and night over the years. I’ve thought
about the sound of your voice saying my name.” He spoke in a low,
confident, commanding voice, “Say it.”

Biting the inside of her bottom lip,
she tried to step back but the edge of the table pressed against
her ass leaving her unable to put more space between them.
“Hansel.” The name tumbled from her lips, the bomb that shattered
the dam.

Her body began to tremble as images
and nightmares poured out into her mind. Things she’d fought to
forget, things she’d worked hard at containing…memories better left
packed away.

“
You happy now?” she
growled.

“
Ye—” He reached up, as if
to touch her face.

She swatted his hand away. When she
had first been returned to her family, she’d allowed her parents to
hold and console her that first night. Then she’d put a wall around
her mind and emotions dealing with the situation and would not
discuss it.

Undeterred, he gripped her shoulders
and pulled her body forward. His gaze searching hers. “I’m not
happy if my presence has caused you pain, Blackberry.”

That nickname had been what he’d
called her the one time she had shifted after she’d been captured
and tossed inside a cage, injured. That memory was sweet and
horrific all at once.

“
Well, it has.” She placed
her palms flat on his chest and pushed.

He didn’t budge. Dragging her closer,
he pressed his mouth close to her ear and spoke, “Talk to
me.”

“
N-o-o.” She didn’t talk
to anyone about what had happened. The smell of him and the heat of
his body brought comfort and a high level of desire she’d never
known.

“
You know you can trust
me.” The warmth of his breath caressed the shell of her
ear.

She sank her teeth hard on the inside
of her bottom lip holding back the whimper that tightened her
throat. There was nothing she could do about the cream that
drenched her labia and pooled in her panties. The park around her
was starting to have a golden haze. Even though nothing like that
had ever happened to her before, she wasn’t ignorant of what it
meant. But, why now…why Hansel?

Males in Den had tried to get her
attention too many times for her to count, but none had caused this
reaction. Now this male from her haunted past showed up and her
hormones were going haywire.

Hansel’s growl rumbled along the side
of her neck as he lowered his head and buried his nose against her
skin. “Blackber—”

“
Stop, Hansel.” Catching
him unaware, she shoved him away and moved quickly. Once the table
was between them she said, “Why did you come here?”

His features were drawn tight as he
gripped the sides of the wooden top, his golden gaze locked on
hers. “It wasn’t my intention. I didn’t even know this was where
you were from. I was passing through.”

Folding her arms under her breasts,
she tilted her head and said, “You should have kept on
through.”

He stood there, silent for a moment.
His gaze roamed from her face along her throat to her breasts now
perched high on her forearms.

Her nipples tightened and pressed into
her bra in response. Keeping herself and him on the topic at hand,
she lifted her arms until they covered her bosom.

The gold in his eyes had faded
somewhat when they met hers again. “Look, Blackberr—”

“
Greta.”

One thick, well-shaped brow arched
high. “Blackberry,” he declared.

Taking up the challenge, she set her
hands on her hips. “Greta. That’s my name. Use it or find your bike
and get back on the highway outta here.”

Those large, strong hands of his
tightened on the edge of the table. She could almost hear the wood
starting to crack. However, she wouldn’t budge from her words.
Hansel didn’t scare her physically, but emotionally she wanted to
run like hell was behind her.

With one sharp nod, he gave in,
“Greta.”

Damn, she should have allowed him to
keep calling her the nickname. The rich, seductive slow timbre he
used to whisper her name made her thighs ache. Made her mind play
images of what it would be like to wrap her legs around him and
feel him thrusting deep inside of her.

Not good, not good, not
good.
This were-male, made her body desire
to play in an area she’d never ventured into before.

“
Now that we have
established my name, how soon can you get out of town?”

Assuming his full height,
he shrugged. Maybe he just needed to see that I was okay. That I
had
survived
the
ordeal we had both gone through. I had survived, hadn’t
I?

“
I was considering hanging
around a few days.”

What? “Why? I’m fine.” She held her
arms out allowing him to take in her unscathed form.

Quickly she realized it was the wrong
action. Hansel’s gaze moved along her form, taking in everything
from her face to her thighs. He followed the path in the wake of
his stare.

She lowered her arms. “Your curiosity
should be satisfied.” Turning, she began walking toward the
entrance of the park, ready to leave this male and her past in the
past. “You’ll want to get out of town ASAP. Den residents don’t
like trespassers.” She tossed over her shoulder.

“
In your perfectly
executed exit, did you consider I may be here for me?”

His words stopped her in her tracks.
She faced him on a slow pivot but kept her silence.

He hadn’t let her get far from him,
because he was only a couple steps away from her. Evidence that he
wasn’t just allowing her to walk off.

“
That I might need this,
Blackberry.”

There went that damn name again. She
ignored it for the moment. “Why would you need it? It’s apparent
you got away as well.”