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CHAPTER SIX

Victoria

I t’s crazy how fast life can speed up on you sometimes. For the past two years, I had settled into a nice rhythm. Working at the shop with my brothers, letting my bear roam around the mountains, practicing my art—sketching and inking—always trying to get better. It was nice and quiet and pleasant.

But as soon as the front door to Heat & Ink swung open and this tall scrumptious polar bear shifter walked in, nothing has been the same. Nothing will ever be the same again.

My mate has turned everything around. He’s flipped my nice pleasant life on its head, exchanging quiet for excitement. Swapping calmness with unyielding, unquenchable lust.

I think I like my new life better.

Because sitting here at dinner with this gorgeous masculine face gazing at me all basked in the glow of the candlelight, his big powerful hand gripping mine, the memory of his hot sexy mouth still buzzing between my legs—I wouldn’t change a thing. Except maybe to make it last longer.

“I think they’re closing,” I say as I look around the empty restaurant. We’re the only ones left, all tucked away in a romantic corner, the bottle of wine on our table long done.

“I don’t want to leave,” Adrian says as those warm blue eyes wash over me, making me tingle all over.

“The night doesn’t have to be over,” I whisper as I lean closer.

I touch his leg under the table with my foot and he lets out a low groan.

I love the sounds I keep teasing out of him.

The grunts and groans and moans and possessive growls.

He’s so sexy. “We can go somewhere else. There’s a bar down the street. ”

We decide to have mercy on the nice waitress and let her go home. Adrian insists on paying for the meal even though I try to split it with him. He won’t have any of that though.

He holds the door open for me and then takes my hand as we walk down to the bar.

It’s quiet on the street with hardly anyone out in our small Montana town.

We pass the Post Office and General Store which are both closed.

I can hear the music from the bar drifting out on the cool breeze.

We’re in no rush, so we walk slowly, taking our time and catching up on all the lost years.

“Where are you staying?”

“Magnus said I could crash at his place until he gets back,” Adrian says.

“He left you a key?”

He gives me a mischievous look. “I might have broken the back window trying to pry it open. Don’t tell him it was me.”

“My lips are sealed.”

He stops and spins me around, pulling me into him as he grins down at my mouth. “I hope that’s not true.”

“For you, I can make an exception.”

My cheeks flush pink as he grins while leaning down. “That’s my girl.”

I moan as he kisses me under the stars, those big perfect hands splayed on my back, pinning me in place against him. He’s the best kisser. Not that I’ve had any experience, but when you know, you know. You know?

“Maybe we should skip the bar,” I whisper shyly as one hand slides up into my hair, holding the back of my head. “We can have more fun at my place.”

He growls possessively as he looks down at my breasts. My nipples are hard and tingling under that heated gaze. My pussy is already so wet. I push my hip against his hard-on and he groans. Yup. We can definitely have more fun at my place.

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all?—”

The rumbling of motorcycles interrupts us. Adrian’s whole body turns stiff as he looks at the three approaching lights.

I’m expecting them to roll right past us to the bar, but they screech to a stop a few feet away.

Adrian growls as he grabs my arm and pulls me behind him, shielding me with his massive body.

His arms and back are flexed as he stares them down.

“Do you know these guys?” I ask as my inner grizzly perks up, getting ready in case I need her.

“I have a feeling, yeah.”

We still can’t see them since the spotlights are blinding us.

They finally turn the motorcycles off and the street snaps back to darkness. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust but I see three grisly men stepping off their bikes. They don’t look too friendly.

“Shit,” Adrian mutters. He turns around with worry in his eyes. “Run, Victoria.”

“No way,” I say, squeezing my hands into fists as I step out from behind him.

His grip on my arm tightens. “ Please .”

“Not a chance,” I say as I stare the three approaching men down. “I’m staying with you.”

He sighs, but it’s not a sigh of annoyance. It’s a sigh of acceptance. Of admiration. We’re in it together now through thick and thin, and he knows it.

The breeze shifts and the thick dank smell of wolves hits my nose. My nostrils flare as my bear growls. Wolf shifters. All three of them. What the hell do they want with us?

“We heard you were back in town,” the tall man in front says with a cocky grin on his pretty-boy face.

His hair is all messy, but it looks like a manufactured messy, like he spends more time getting ready in the morning than I do.

He looks more rockstar than killer, but I can tell by his vibrating energy, that looks can be deceiving.

The two scowling men standing a few feet behind him look like tattooed walls of muscle.

“I don’t want any trouble, Knox,” Adrian says as he puts his arm in front of me like a shield.

Knox notices and sneers as he looks me over.

Adrian doesn’t like that. He lets out a low possessive growl. I can sense his bear inside going nuts as well.

“Don’t look at her,” he snarls.

Knox grins like a carefree playboy as he looks back at my man. “Where have you been hiding all this time, Cross? My brother has been looking for you.”

“It was a long time ago,” Adrian says through gritted teeth. “Tell Mace it’s over.”

“It’s over when Mace says it’s over,” Knox says, running a hand through his silky brown hair. “You obviously don’t know how any of this works.”

“Let me tell you how it’s going to work,” Adrian says, stepping forward with a snarl. “I’m not a cub anymore. Any of you dogs come near me or anyone in my life, you’ll have a pissed-off twenty-five hundred pound polar bear to deal with.”

Knox smirks and then turns his attention back onto me. “What’s your name?”

Adrian can’t handle having this creep’s eyes on me. His whole body shakes like a violent earthquake and then he explodes into his furious polar bear.

I gasp as I step back, shocked at the size of him. I saw his bear many times when I was a kid, but he’s grown so much. He’s huge . And livid .

The three men quickly phase into their wolves as Adrian charges, roaring like he’s about to unleash hell on all three of them.

I have to help him. It looks like Adrian’s powerful bear can take care of these canines in his sleep, but I’m not taking any chances. Their wolves are big too, and I doubt this is their first fight.

My grizzly bear is all too eager to come. As soon as I open the door to a phase, my grizzly bursts through it in a rage.

My paws hit the pavement as the three wolves and my angry mate collide. Adrian immediately smacks one with his big paw, launching him into a parked car. Broken glass explodes from the windows and the passenger side door caves in as the wolf yelps.

Adrian pins Knox’s wolf as the third one leaps onto his back.

My grizzly snarls as I see him bitting into Adrian’s back, the white fur turning red.

Mine .

I push her forward as she sprints toward the fight. She leaps onto him, crashing into his hind legs, and sending him tumbling onto the ground.

He tries to scramble away, but I land on top of him, pinning him to the ground with my paws. I open my jaws and sink them around his neck in warning. I could easily take his life and a part of me wants to. I don’t like any threats to my mate.

A loud gunshot gets our attention.

My bear looks over and growls when we see a naked man pointing a shotgun at Adrian’s head. He’s one of the goons, the one whose wolf who got a first-class flight into the side of the car. He must have phased back and got his gun.

“Get off him,” the man yells, cocking the shotgun.

Adrian’s polar bear is pinning the yelping wolf down under his massive paw. He shows his teeth and growls at the man, daring him to pull the trigger.

That polar bear is tough and he looks like he could take a lot of damage, but even a polar bear can’t win against a shotgun slug at close range.

My grizzly bear releases the wolf we’re holding, rushes over, and steps in front of my mate.

“Let him go,” the man says, pointing the gun at me then at Adrian. “Last chance.”

Adrian reluctantly steps off and Knox’s wolf sprints past me. The boys retreat to their motorcycles.

We stay in our bear forms as they phase back, grab their shredded clothes, and step onto their bikes naked.

“You dumb fuck,” Knox hisses as he glares at Adrian’s bear. “You should have stayed gone. Mace is going to hear about this.”

Adrian’s polar bear growls as he watches them start their motorcycles and quickly flee.

We stand guard in the dark quiet street, watching their bikes until they disappear around the bend. It’s only when we can no longer hear the rumbling engines, that we relax and look at each other.

Our bears see each other as mates for the first time and if there weren’t so many questions racing through my mind right now, I’d enjoy the nice tender moment a little more.

My grizzly looks up at him in awe. I can feel the reverence flowing through her body as she looks up at his massive white head with those beautiful blue eyes gazing back at us. He’s so much bigger than me. Bigger than my brothers even.

And he’s all mine.

He lowers his head and lets out a contented moan as he rubs his head against my neck. My grizzly is in heaven as she smells his masculine scent, breathing in as much of him as she can.

We let them have their tender moment and then we phase back into our human forms.

Adrian turns to me, fully exposed in the dark street. It’s the first time I’m seeing this man naked and I cannot look away.