Shifters Forever The Boxed Set Books 1 - 6 (21 page)

K
elsey had been walking
in the tunnels for quite a while. She took her phone out of her back pocket to check the time. An hour of walking. How far would that be? She wondered if it had been close to five miles. She had no clue, because she wasn’t exactly speed-walking.

She noticed that her phone showed she had no service. That wasn’t a big surprise. She was underground, after all. And with a slight downward slope to the tunnel, Kelsey wondered if she’d possibly been going deeper underground. She should turn around, but why? There was no reason to go home. It was early on a Saturday and she had no plans.

What if I’m far from the B&B when I do find the exit?

She could always use the phone to call someone to come get her.

And how will you know where you are, smarty pants?

Phones had GPS locators, of that she was pretty sure. And if they had to, the authorities could track her.

Shoot, I hope I don’t have to pay them to save me.

She’d heard stories of people getting lost and the military or state agencies having to find them, then charging the lost person hundreds of thousands of dollars for the effort.

Silly me, acting paranoid. It’ll be fine.

She trudged on, still enjoying the adventure, though her enthusiasm was tempered with fatigue. She took out one of the granola bars. No, she’d better save it for a little later, when she was really hungry. The same with the water, she thought, as her tongue stuck to the roof of her dry mouth.

She heard a snuffling sound. Like a child sniffling, or blowing air out of its nose. Then she heard shuffling.

She froze. Who would be in the tunnel? Did this mean she was close to the exit? She became happy, excited really, at the prospect of getting out of the tunnel. It was becoming a bit claustrophobic.

She waved the flashlight, moving it around the tunnel, looking for the source of the noise. She walked around a bend, shining the light and at the same time cursing herself for being so foolish.
What could it possibly be?
she chastised herself. There was nothing that could hurt her in the tunnels. There was an alcove on the right and straight ahead she could see daylight. Granted, it was muted daylight, as if she were in the woods, but still... it was daylight. She rejoiced.

Then she heard the snuffling sound again. She shined the light toward the deepest part of the little alcove, which was really more like a tiny cave.

There.

Movement.

A small, dark form moved in the corner of the alcove.

Was it a rabbit? A dog? She approached, murmuring sounds of comfort. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Eyes glowed in the flashlight’s beam. Tiny dark eyes, a muzzle, dark fur. She closed in.

The animal made tiny sounds of distress. She squatted on her knees and avoided shining the light in its face, casting the rays on its body instead.

A tiny bear. A dark brown baby bear. Fear showed in its eyes.

“Aww, don’t be afraid of me. I love bears.” She kept her voice low and reached her hand out to let the bear sniff it.

The baby reached its paw out, touching her hand with its soft pads.

“Such a sweet baby.” She took the baby’s paw in her hand and rubbed it, then put the flashlight down, angling it so that she and the tiny bear weren’t in its direct light.

Kelsey sat near the bear, cross-legged. The little bear shuffled closer to her, then ambled into her lap, laying its head on her thigh. She patted the baby’s head and its back, murmuring soothing sounds. It licked at her fingertips, tried to suckle on her thumb.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Why are you in here all alone? Did your mommy die or abandon you?”

The little bear grunted, rooting against her body.

“I wonder if you could eat a granola bar.” She reached for the backpack slowly, unzipping it while the bear’s tiny, squinty eyes watched her without fear.

“You’re not even afraid of people, are you?” A wave of sadness coursed through her. Was this what her and Teague’s baby would have been like when it shifted? Would it have been born human and then shifted to a little bear at will?

She took the granola bar out and ripped the wrapper with her teeth, peeling it back. The little bear raised its head and sniffed, then licked at her fingers. She put the granola bar closer to its mouth. It licked at it, then nibbled on it. Within a second it had taken the bar in its mouth and was trying to chew on it.

Did it even have teeth? She didn’t want to find out the hard way, so she’d leave that question unanswered. In less than a minute, the bar was gone and the little bear leaned its head against her chest. She held it securely, not too tightly. It would be better if she got outside of the tunnel, figured out where she was, and had some phone reception.

She’d tell Astra to come get her. Kelsey shifted the backpack over one shoulder and rose to her feet with the bear still cuddled within her arms, like a baby would have been. “Come on, little one, let’s get out of here.”

What was she going to do? Raise a bear? Sure. Didn’t some people have pet bears? She’d seen something like that on one of the nature shows on TV. That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?

She looked at his little snuffling snout. If it were a cat, it would probably be purring. Again, she thought of what a baby would have been like if she and Teague had had one.

Funny, for all the times he’d mentioned wanting children, she had never thought to ask him how it was when baby shifters were born, and whether they could shift when they were little or not.

She rubbed the little bear’s head, running her fingers down its fur toward its neck, as she made her way in the dimness with the flashlight clasped precariously in one hand. She put her face into his fur and breathed deeply.

I’m messed up. Why am I doing this?
Why was the little bear getting to her this way?

More light came in from the tunnel entrance. She flipped the flashlight off and tucked it into her back pocket. Shifting the little bear—the little bugger was heavy!—she fished her phone out and held it up.

Bars! Yes!
She had reception.

Kelsey bit back the whoop of joy she wanted to release because the little bear’s eyes were closed. A smile crossed her face. He was so cute.

A roar that was too close for comfort made her jump.

A squeal escaped Kelsey’s lips at the same time that the little bear released a yelp.

A large brown bear was twenty yards away.

Kelsey squinted at the bear. Was that Teague? What was he doing out here?

She looked closer.

Not Teague.

The little bear started to squirm in her arms.

The big bear released another roar and reared up onto its hind legs.

Kelsey looked at the baby bear, then looked at the big brown bear. She wondered if the bear meant him harm, or...

Is that his mother?

A flood of information that she’d heard about mother bears and protectiveness rushed to the forefront of Kelsey’s mind. She didn’t want to release the little bear. What if that wasn’t its mother? What if that big bear killed the baby?

What if it is its mother?

Then it would kill Kelsey. Or would it? Would it kill the baby bear when it smelled Kelsey on it? Did bears do that? God, she wished she’d paid better attention to that stupid TV show.

The bear growled, swiping its paws out in a threatening manner, still yards away.

Now what? She was torn between protecting the baby bear—how could she protect it if she was holding it?—and setting it down in the middle of the large bear’s attack. Then it might run off. She had to make a tough decision, but she wasn’t going to let the little bear get hurt. And she had to make it now, dammit. Her thoughts were jumbled; only her instincts seemed to be working.

“It’s okay, baby.” Kelsey leaned down to set the baby bear on the ground. She didn’t want to be holding him if she got into it with the bear.

Kelsey jerked her backpack off her shoulder. She heard another roar and looked up just in time to see the large bear charging her way.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Kelsey swung the backpack. The bear stopped, frozen. Kelsey swung it again. The bear raised a paw and swatted the backpack, shredding it in half, scattering the contents.

The baby bear whimpered.

The female bear roared again and swiped her paw toward Kelsey. Kelsey took a step back, stumbled on something, lost her balance and fought to regain her footing.

Another roar came from the left.

Loud.

Ferocious.

A second bear exited from between the trees, intercepting the first bear.

There was no doubt about this bear. It was definitely Teague.

Kelsey screamed, worried that he’d get hurt.

He barreled into the female bear, which was slightly smaller than he was. She rolled twice and careened into a tree.

Kelsey righted herself and picked up the baby bear.

Teague shifted. “Put the baby down,” he yelled at Kelsey.

Kelsey knelt, releasing her hold on the baby. The little bear looked back at Kelsey, then took off.

Kelsey screamed again. The large bear had risen and was behind Teague on two legs, reared up, her paws raised, long claws extended.

Teague started to whirl around and shift.

Mid-shift the bear swiped at him, sending him backward, blood spraying from a series of gashes on his chest.

The baby bear approached Teague and its mother, crying.

The mother roared, as if she was communicating with the baby. The little one looked back at Kelsey, then went behind a tree, barely visible, as if it was hiding.

Teague finished shifting. With his bear fur dripping blood, he stood on his hind legs, and with his jaws open wide he released a roar that sent the female running toward the baby bear. She gave Teague one last snarl, then took off at a run with the baby right next to her.

Kelsey ran toward Teague, uncaring that he was in still in full bear form. She’d seen his bear before. She had no fear of his bear.

She wrapped her arms around his bear, mindful not to touch the bleeding area.

Teague shifted to his human form. He groaned, stretching his arm out, removing his shredded shirt from his broad shoulders and wide chest.

The lacerations had stopped bleeding. He ran the shirt over the bloody skin. The cuts began to close up, leaving behind angry red scars.

“Your wounds.” She’d forgotten how he could heal so quickly. She’d only witnessed it once, when he’d had an accident in the kitchen with a knife. “You’re healing.”

“What the hell.”

Those were his first words? Really?

Her arms still around him, Kelsey looked up. His face was no longer contorted in pain; now it was suffused with worry.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said. “That’s the bear that Grant was saying they’d spotted.”

“She’s not a shifter, is she?” Kelsey was pretty sure of the answer... but still, she wondered, mostly because of the baby bear.

He put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her close. “I saw you holding the little bear.”

Kelsey nodded, a feeling of emptiness overwhelming her.

“Don’t you think it’s time we had a talk?” His wounds were no longer open; only long scars remained of the former gashes in his flesh. He took a step toward a log.

“I don’t know. The bear... What if she comes back?” Kelsey wasn’t sure she wanted to discuss the baby with him. Then she remembered her words to Astra. Teague deserved to know first. He deserved to know. Period.

“Kelsey.” His voice was firm. “No. It’s not optional.” He sat on the log and patted a spot next to him.

His eyes turned a golden color. She recognized that his bear was speaking for him. The bear and the man—she loved them both. It was time to be fair and truthful.

She sat on the log beside him. She chewed on her lip, worried, wondering, unsure where to start.

“I was pregnant with your—our—baby.” Her voice broke, and she erupted into sobs, releasing years of heartbreak. Years and years, over more than just the baby, more than just Teague.

T
eague put
his arms around her, holding her while she sobbed, letting her release all of her angst.

He didn’t want to tell her, but...

Teague knew she’d been pregnant, but he hadn’t been sure if she knew. She’d never said. How could he begin to tell her he’d kept it a secret? He’d known she was pregnant from the moment the embryo had implanted itself in her body. Its heartbeat had been distinct and clear. And then a very short time later, it was gone. One moment there, one moment not. Teague had mourned silently, unsure whether she knew, believing she didn’t. And then two days later, she’d left, completely vanished from his life without another word. He’d wondered if she knew and if the baby had had anything to do with her decision. He’d wanted to chase her down.

His bear had damned near killed him to get him to follow her, to track her down and bring their mate back.

Teague hadn’t done that, though. He didn’t believe in forcing a woman to be with him if she didn’t want him. He’d gone to bed every night for two years thinking that for some reason Kelsey had stopped loving him, stopped wanting him. He’d wondered if it had something to do with his bear, or because of her fear of couple bonding.

What was he supposed to tell her? He knew about the baby? He ran his hands over her hair, her back, relishing having her in his arms, even if it was to console her.

Her sobs lessened, and the tears seemed to have stopped. With one finger beneath her chin, he tilted her face up, looking into her red-rimmed dark eyes.

“I knew.” He sucked a deep breath in.

Her eyes widened. “Knew... what?”

“I knew you were pregnant. Knew it from the moment it happened.”

Kelsey shook her head, either in disbelief or shock. “How?” her eyes became wider and lit with realization. “The bear?”

“Yeah. Your scent changed. My bear could tell.”

“You’ll hate me for what I have to tell you. I don’t blame you if you hate me. I deserved your hate. I’m stupid. Foolish, not worthy of being a mother.” She glanced down at her clasped hands in her lap, then raised her face toward his again, as if she was trying to face something that had defeated her. Her lower lip trembled, threatening another breakdown.

What the hell was she talking about? “No. Not a chance.” He placed his lips on hers, stopping the trembling, trying to give her some comfort and security.

“I killed the baby.”

“Wh—?” Was she trying to say... He didn’t want to voice it. He couldn’t voice it. It was unspeakable. Pain made a fist tighter than a vise grip around his heart and his bear’s heart.

“I knew how much you wanted children. You lost your parents, you only had Tanner. I knew. And yet—”

“Tell me.”

“I didn’t think it would hurt. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I went for a bike ride.”

A part of him wanted to rejoice as well as to mourn. But he’d already mourned the loss of the baby. He’d mourned that along with having lost Kelsey so long ago. He rejoiced in his heart because this meant she hadn’t wanted to get rid of their baby. She’d wanted it. It had meant something to her.

He didn’t want her to suffer any more. Didn’t she know she was the most important thing in his life?
She still is. Always will be.

“Kelsey.” He let her see his bear, let the bear shine through his eyes. He pulled her onto his lap, bloody clothes be damned. “You can’t blame yourself. You had no way of knowing that that would happen. It means the baby had problems. It wasn’t meant to be. It’s sad, but it doesn’t mean you did anything to cause what happened.”

Her hands curled on his shirt, pulling him closer. “You don’t blame me? You don’t hate me now that I’ve told you?”

Then it occurred to him. Hit him as hard as if he’d been pounced on by half a dozen super-large shifters. She loved him so much that she was worried she’d hurt him by losing his baby. His heart filled with so much emotion, he had to pull her tight against his body. He didn’t want her to see the weakness she created in him.

“That’s why you left? Because you thought I’d hate you? That you’d hurt me?” Didn’t she know it had hurt him so much more to lose her?

She nodded.

“Jesus, Kelsey.” He lowered his head, a growl building in his chest. The bear’s desire for its mate was mounting. It was surpassing his own. The bear had been patiently waiting the last few days, not forcing itself on her, not pushing things, but it was overwhelmed by her scent, by the need to claim her again, to make her theirs.

K
elsey saw his bear
. She saw the desire flare up behind Teague’s eyes, and knew that what they’d always been to one another hadn’t even come close to fading. She could see it in his eyes as surely as she felt it in her heart.

His lips pounced on hers, claiming them. His tongue seared a path, parting the seam of her lips, branding its heat into her. She gasped and fought the urge to moan. The heat of his body was intoxicating. She reached up, twining her fingers in his hair. She couldn’t even think of anything but wanting him and how much she’d always wanted him.

Arousal flowed through her blood, every time his tongue danced with hers. A whimper built in her chest, increasing with every second the kiss lasted.

Teague shifted her, straddling her legs over his thighs, practically planting her on what she could see was a very well-defined, mouthwatering hard-on. She pulled at his shirt, needing to feel his flesh, to relive what they’d had.

“All this time...” she began. “All this time, you haven’t found someone else?”

“Found someone else?” He looked into her face, his eyes piercing hers, pinning her with his gaze. “You’re my mate. I’ve always known that.”

She moaned a soft whimper, ran her fingers up his chest, into his hair, pulled him closer, then leaned down, kissing him. “There’s no one else for me either.”

“There’d better not be.” His voice was a growl, coming from deep within, both his and his bear’s passion evident.

“Do you know how much I missed you?” Two years of pent-up emotion made her voice catch.

“I missed you, too,” he whispered, his tone hoarse. “I don’t want another woman, and I won’t tolerate you being with another man.”

“I’d never be with another man. There’s no other man like you. There never will be. There hasn’t been since you.”

“I should have made you mine long ago. I was a fool for waiting, when I’ve known all along that you’re the one for me.”

She moaned.

“Is that a yes?”

“It’s been a yes for so long. It will always be a yes.”

“It’s irreversible. If I make you mine... if we bond...”

“I’m already yours, Teague. Your wounds. Are they okay? I mean, I know they look healed, but I don’t want to—”

His lips interrupted her question, his breath hot on her neck. “They’re very okay.”

He gripped the neckline of her top and ripped through the material, his nails more like blades—or claws. He licked his lips, nostrils flaring, eyes changing to a bronze color. “Want to see just how okay they are?”

The vow in his eyes and his voice promised heaven, climaxes, eternity. Her breath caught, trapped, when she forgot to breathe.

Beneath her, she felt his length getting harder, as his breathing quickened.

Teague tugged on the fabric of her top, pulling it off, then slid a fingertip beneath the satin of one bra cup, pushing it away. A flick and her bra was split in half, and her breasts popped out as if they’d been released from prison. Her rosy nipples peaked, becoming taut pebbles.

Teague’s dark eyes trained on her breasts with the focus of a predator, his face saying she was the most exquisite thing he’d ever seen.

A groan slipped out of his mouth. “Amazing.” He lowered his head and rubbed his lips on her nipple while his hand pushed the remains her bra away, completely freeing her breasts. Cupping them with his hands, he brought them close to his face, burying into her creamy mounds.

He sucked first on one nipple, then on the other. She arched her back, offering him more of herself. Each suck he made, each pull and nibble on her nipples made a surge of current travel down to her clit. His tongue twirled, worshiping each rosy peak individually. She closed her eyes, her hands on his knees behind her, to keep from falling.

“Fuck. I need you. I need to be deep inside of you.”

Her eyes flew open. Before she could ask what was stopping him, he tugged on her button, unzipped her jeans, stood her up and shimmied them down her body. He unzipped his own jeans, dropped them, then placed her back on his lap, again straddling him, his hardness resting against her mound, her clit buzzing with need.

She spread her legs, raised herself up, and took him in her hand. His pulse beat in his cock as she lined it up and slid down onto him. He pushed her legs wider, sinking deeper into her slick channel.

Desire simmered in her body, demanding release. “Teague—”

He slipped his hands behind her ass, raised her and lowered her back down on his hard cock, at the same time raising his hips. She gasped. His length pierced her, impaling deep within her.

“You’re done running,” he said with a groan, then pushed her up again and dropped her back down. “You’re never leaving again.” With his supernatural speed, he quickly had her flipped onto her hands and knees, her body steadied against his with his forearm.

“Never.” She moaned the word out, making it a very long syllable while she looked back at him, enjoying the sheer lust written on his face.

He pushed her legs apart, and her breath caught as he slipped the head of his hardness into her sleekness, then drove himself deep within. She grabbed for the log they’d been sitting on, uncaring how she braced herself or with what, uncaring about the splinters that were embedding themselves in her palms.

One thing mattered.

Teague. Inside her.

He begin to drive into her with the ferocity of a jackhammer, pummeling her, reaching around, his fingers pressing on her clit, pinching it, flicking it, rubbing it furiously, alternating between slow and lazy and then ramping up to a ferocity that matched his pumping. He pushed her down and pulled her ass up as he mounted her, constantly pushing himself in and out as a crescendo mounted within Kelsey. His length was like hardened, forged steel, unforgiving, unyielding, all man as he branded her with his passion.

“Are you mine?” he growled in her ear, and the sound reverberated in her brain.

“Forever,” she gasped.

She soared to a new height, pushed further, deeper, faster. Her blood was boiling, or was that her brain? She couldn’t tell as years of pent-up passion were released with a scream at the same time he bit into her shoulder. A searing pleasure penetrated her orgasm, driving her deeper and higher in her climax.

Behind her, Teague clasped her close, a roar emitting from his throat as he pulled her tight against his body, releasing a stream of heat deep inside her channel.

“Forever,” he grunted close to her ear. “Let there be no doubt.”

He pulled on her chin, bringing her head backward, then locked his lips on hers, meshing them together as his tongue took control of hers, giving and taking.

Promising forever.