Red's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (13 page)

“So, that leaves you and…
Rena
…a lot of time
alone.”

He didn’t have to be genius or psychic to pick up on
the jealous tone of Marcella’s words.

Finally, pinning his ex-girlfriend with a stare. Now
that his mate was here, the last thing he wanted was any confusion between him
and Marcella that would cause more obstacles between him and Rena. He had tried
to be as gentle with Marcella as possible, but, he could clearly see now he
needed to be blunt. “Look, Marcella, I’m not trying to—”

“So, you’re decent at softball…a girl’s game.” Tim, his
cousin’s voice broke Cord off from his let down of Marcella.

Turning, Cord faced the man stalking toward him, still
carrying his bat and baseball glove.

Arching a slow brow at Tim, Cord folded his arms across
his chest wondering what his cousin was getting at. “But we won, beat your team
and that was good enough for me, I don’t care if we were playing jacks,” Cord
taunted the cocky Were-bear before him.

Tim clenched his jaw, evident in the flexing of muscles
in his face.

Cord couldn’t care less if his ribbing aggravated Tim.
The other male had approached him. His cousin was an ass when he wanted to be
and too arrogant for any one Were.

“That’s no proof that you can run this town. Guide and
control the people.”

Cord shook his head and rolled his eyes. He should have
figured everything with his cousin had to do with the mayoral seat.
When
would Tim learn to let it go?
Cord had no plans to release his position to
the man, no matter what anyone thought. His taking over after his father departed
the office was a matter of pride and honor and Cord wouldn’t see that mantle
passed to anyone. Especially the supercilious ass bear shifter before him.

They were starting to draw a crowd, Cord noticed. Weres
could smell two males in a pissing contest from five counties over.

“Watch me,” Cord bit out.

With squinted eyes, Tim stared at him.

Cord locked gazes with him. He wasn’t intimidated by
his cousin. No fucking way. It was best that Time recognized that fact now.

The first to break the eye contact, Tim glanced around
him, seeing the faces of males and females gathered waiting to discover where
all of this exchange was leading to. A sly smile appeared on Tim’s face seconds
before he said, “How about we put your Alpha-claims to the test. In a more masculine
way?”

Tilting his head, he stared at Tim. “Such as?”

Holding out his hand with his baseball glove in it, Tim
let the leather mitt drop.

Cord looked down at the item that had created a small
dust cloud around his feet when it hit the dirt. Glancing back up to his
cousin, he asked, “What the fuck is the purpose of such damn dramatics?”

Shit
. No one had to tell Cord what was
coming. Den County had few customs that took place in such a manner, but one.

“I challenge you to a grappling match,” Tim declared
loudly ensuring that anyone at Fur Field heard him issue the challenge clearly.
“If you’re man enough.”

Cord knew that his cousin was betting on the fact that
having his life mate and children would provide Tim with the strength to get
the best of Cord, show him up before a captivated audience, witnesses. Cord was
sure that if Tim won he’d immediately demand Cord relinquish the official seat.
Cord would be damned if he let that happen.

“Cord?”

It was Rena’s voice that broke into his thoughts. He
wasn’t sure when she’d come up on the opposite side of him than Marcella was
still standing.  However, he could not spare Rena the time to answer any
questions she may have about the proceedings.

Instead, Cord grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked
it over his head. Staring boldly at his cousin, he tossed the shirt to his
left, where Rena stood and said, “Draw the fucking circle, Tim. Let’s get to
it.”

His bear roared and scratched inside of him. Cord knew
that his animal side wanted the opportunity to go for his cousin. But, if he
allowed his bear out, Cord could guess it would shock the hell out of Rena. Not
to mention he’d have to keep his bear from going for Tim’s throat. This wasn’t
a challenge to the death, just one of dominance.

 Tim gave him a sharp nod then lifted his hand high and
waved his wife, who was sitting with their children in the stands, over to him.
When Nita, a short, pregnant, Hispanic female got to Tim’s side, his cousin
handed her his bat and then removed his shirt and handed that to his life mate
as well.

Collecting the bat from her, Tim ushered all the
bystanders back then used the top of the bat to drag a wide circle around him
and Cord. After chucking the bat toward Stephen, his cousin’s good friend, Tim
stepped before Cord.

With arms wide, and one foot before the other, Cord
assumed the stance and demanded, “Call it, Gordon.”

~YH~

Rena could not believe her eyes. Two larger than life,
handsome, bare-chested men were before her in a makeshift circle locked
together. She wasn’t sure whether Cord had Tim, or Tim had Cord.

Their feet were planted wide in the dirt, they leaned
forward toward each other. Both men’s heads were buried against each other’s
shoulder with a thick arm secured around each neck as their other hands were
gripping a wrist.

Tim squatted low then sprung upward using his knees and
flipped Cord over his head bringing both men to the dirt on their backs. Rena
swore the ground shook beneath the feet of all the observers by the force.

The crowd gathered around them became bigger as word of
the wrestling men must have spread through the fairgrounds. She would have
anticipated that someone would step in and stop them. Especially when Sheriff
Smokey showed up. However, the bystanders just cheered them on.

Cord and Tim became a tangle of fast-moving arms and
legs. Rena wasn’t sure how she followed the blurred movement and fierce
actions. When Tim attempted to swing his body over Cord and pin him to the
ground, Cord must have anticipated the position because he snapped his legs up and
hooked his ankles around Tim’s neck. With a grunt, Cord forced him off him,
slamming Tim back to the dirt.

She wasn’t sure how Tim found the strength to bring his
feet up to Cord’s chest and kick him off. Both men scrambled to their feet back
to the starting stance. The men were oblivious to anything else around them as
their heels skirted the perimeter as they circled each other.

Like Titans, the brawny men clashed again. Amidst
growls and roars, they tussled and wrestled with each other, Cord and Tim attempting
to show their dominance.

Tense moments passed for Rena as she watched, feeling
helpless to do anything. She couldn’t help but concentrate all of her energy,
all her inner strength to Cord. Even though she knew there was little
possibility of her compelling her life force into Cord and making him stronger.
However, it didn’t stop her from allowing the voice that had once been small
inside of her to roar Cord’s name, a devout chant.

Cord. Cord. Cord.

At one with the voice within, Rena whispered, “You can
do this.”

“Come on, Tim. This is your time. The position is yours
to take.” Nita shrieked, rubbing her small protruding belly as if it was a
talisman of strength for Tim.

Never one to shy away from competition, the more Nita
shouted the harder Rena concentrated. Focusing in on the one man that had
somehow come to mean more to her than a simple unwanted flirtation, her
desire—Cord.

When Tim had Cord’s shoulders pinned, bearing down on
him with all of his weight, looking as if he’d bested Cord, things shifted,
changed. With a sound coming from the pile of torsos and limbs that sounded
practically inhuman, a roar boomed around them.

Rena realized it was Cord who had released the sound as
he gripped Tim around the waist in some sort of bear hug. As if discovering a
hidden well of strength, Cord began fighting with more vigor. Cord arched his
back from the dirt, lifting Tim up with him.

Tim, struggling to retain his purchase on Cord, found
himself rapidly rolled right and buried shoulders-deep in the dusty ground.
Cord had a firm grasp around Tim’s throat, Cord broad arm and full weight was
pressing Tim down.

Rena had never been one to enjoy a wrestling match or
boxing in the past, but as she watched these two burly men tussle around in the
dirt, she found that her body was vibrating with excitement at the male
display. She wanted to fan herself.

Unable to look away, she continued to watch.

No matter how Tim grunted, bucked, or twisted left to
right, he could not break Cord’s hold.

“Submit Tim, Cord is the victor.” Sheriff Smokey
pronounced in a deep, rumbling voice.

Reluctantly, Tim dropped his arms to the ground showing
his submission.

Finally, having his cousin recognize his dominance,
Cord released the other man. Taking a moment to consume a few deep breaths, he
steadied himself. Soon he shoved up from the ground, rising to his feet, his
stance wide, steady as he stared down at the beaten man.

“This is done. Over,” Cord declared to Tim who was now
sitting up, heaving in great gulps of air.

“Oh…Great Spirit…Cord you were…amazing.” Marcella
rushed to Cord’s side, chest heaving as she attempted to
pant
her words
out.

It wasn’t the neediness in the other woman’s voice or
Marcella’s apparent display of wantonness that made Rena feels as if she’d
swallowed a cactus and its needles were digging in her stomach, but the hand.
Yes, the single hand the woman lay on Cord as if she was trying to put some
claim on him by her flagrant touch.

Cord glanced away from his cousin who was pushing
himself up off the ground and dropped his gaze to his bicep where Marcella’s
hand was. Rena wasn’t sure what the past or present relationship between Cord
and the petite, brown-haired, Asian woman might be, nor did she wait to see how
Cord responded. In an instant, before she knew what was happening Rena reacted.

Taking one, maybe two big steps forward, brought her
close to Marcella. A sound started in her core, quaked up through her body and
came out sounding like what Rena’s ears could only describe as a growl. A low
roar of warning to the other woman.

Rena couldn’t figure out where or how the sound had
come out of her, but it did. Her focus had tunneled and narrowed in on the
other woman in a red haze. In seconds, if Marcella wasn’t smart enough to heed
her blatant threat, Rena was confident she’d rip the woman apart, starting with
tearing the arm off that clasped Cord. A part of her wanted the Asian beauty to
try her, challenge her.

Still holding Cord, Marcella’s head snapped to the side
and pinned Rena with a stare, and her lips curled up in a snarl.

Is she baring teeth at me?

Rena wondered, not an ounce of fear had travelled
through her hot veins. She growled again and advanced closer.

“Marcella, take your hand off me.” Cord didn’t ask, he
demanded. His voice was graveled and full of tension, and something else. This
man had just proven to all who watched that he was leader of this town. He was
the strongest person and ready to take on whoever was foolish enough to
challenge him or stand in the way of what he wanted.

She had been impressed, turned on and proud as she’d
watched his show of force over Tim. When Rena dragged her stare away from
Marcella, drawn to Cord and she saw that he wasn’t looking at the other woman,
but at her. His gaze was intense, direct and bold. The heated look in his onyx
gaze with large specks of golden flash revealed his lust and need for her.

The air between her and Cord crackled with kinetic
energy.

The red haze that she’d been feeling trapped in just
moments before had vanished as if blown away by a gust of wind, only to be
replaced with a soft golden haze. She couldn’t explain it, but it was aimed at
Cord. She wanted this man. Desired him with such a fierce need and hunger, she
felt consumed, blind with longing. She craved this man. More than honey or
salmon.

Not waiting for Marcella to remove her hand, Cord swept
the woman away like a bothersome fly as he stepped to Rena. Seizing her arm in
an unbreakable grip, he led them in a brisk strut off the field.

Not caring what the scene looked like to the others
left standing behind them, Rena followed. Rather she was matching Cord step for
step, as if they were in a race toward pleasure. In her fist, she clutched his
shirt high against her chest, taking in his heady scent as they strutted out a
side gate of the field then down past the back of a few tents on the outskirts
of the fairgrounds. She didn’t know where Cord was taking her, but he was a man
on a mission. And she was too ecstatic to be a part of whatever was coming.

Soon they reached Paw Tracks Street, the main road that
ran through town where Cord made a sharp left away from the festival crowds. A
few people were milling around businesses and storefronts, but a lot less
compared to the crowds surrounding the park.