Bear Naked and Bite Marks (2 page)

BOOK: Bear Naked and Bite Marks
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Declan looked at the bottle of whiskey
in front of him, and grabbed it to pour another glass. Normally they didn’t
allow patrons to purchase the entire bottle, but he was close with Trace, the
owner of the bar, and closer yet with Maverick. He also didn’t normally drink,
at least not like this. But for some reason he just felt like getting hammered
and forgetting all the ugly shit in the world. After helping the two men, and
Trace’s son, Liam, when a psychopath leopard shifter had threatened Liam’s
mate, Declan had hung around Sweet Water and become close with the males. Well,
as close as he ever allowed himself to get with anyone. They didn’t hang out,
and aside from the occasional time they bullshitted with each other, they all kept
to themselves. But that was more than Declan had ever done with anyone his
entire life.

After half a year had passed
Declan decided to put down roots in the small town.
He didn’t need an office to get in touch with his clients, and sure as hell
didn’t pass around business cards. People knew of him by reputation alone, and
they only called for his help if they had the funds and the connections to
reach out to him. It didn’t matter where he was. If someone knew about him,
about what he did, and had the right connections, they could get a hold of
Declan. But doing this type of mercenary work meant there were times he had to
travel, had to hunt down whomever he was going after to finish the job.

The song that played overhead switched
to something harder, and a little angrier. It matched how he felt … how he
always felt. He leaned back in his seat and rested one of his arms on the
table. Scanning the bar he took note of the females, and which one attracted him
the most. What he needed was to fuck some pussy tonight. It had been too long
since he had gotten a piece of ass, and his grizzly was starting to become
agitated. Whatever darkness resided within Declan had been there for as long as
he could remember. Maybe that was why the SIL had recruited him in the first
place? He had no family, no one that cared for him or vice versa. He was a
loner in every sense of the word. He may have been trained to keep his emotions
and the human side buried deep within him, but he had never felt human to begin
with. His grizzly was the one that controlled most of his actions, and Declan
was more than comfortable with that. He didn’t need any remnants of being human
to help him in his endeavors, and in fact preferred his animal anyway. The
bastard was just as cold and calculating as his human side, had always been
more powerful, too.

“You want anything to eat?” Declan
turned his attention to the waitress that had stopped beside his table. She
wasn’t normally what he went for, but she was female and attractive enough, so
in the end it really didn’t matter. The cropped shirt she wore showed off her
hip bones and her slightly concave belly. Declan liked the females he fucked to
be meaty, with curves that he could hold onto. This human was like a damn twig,
and he’d have to be careful when he finally shoved his dick inside of her or
she might break. But the scent of her arousal was strong, and the way she
checked him out told him that she was more than willing to go out into the
alley and let him screw her against the dirty brick wall. If Declan was being
honest, he could admit that he liked hard, rough, and raw sex. Fucking didn’t
need to be all flowers and candy, and sure as shit didn’t need to lead to
anything aside from getting off. He made sure the females at least came,
because even though he was a heartless asshole, he wasn’t a bastard like that.
“Maybe you’d like to meet up after I get off?” She was forward, and that wasn’t
a bad thing to him. She cocked a perfectly plucked and too thin blonde eyebrow
at him. He let his eyes move up and down her body, stopped right at the edge of
her skirt that barely covered her cunt, and then moved his gaze back to her
face. Damn, she was too fucking skinny, and her breasts weren’t even a handful.
Yeah, not his type at all.

“Maybe, but how about you get me whatever
dark beer you have on draft?” Her disappointment that he hadn’t jumped on that
shit right away was evident, but Declan turned his attention back to the dance
floor and watched as a few females ground against each other.

“I get off in twenty minutes.” He looked
again at the waitress, who now wore a grin. Her lips were painted bright red,
and they made her teeth look overly white. She leaned in, placed the hand that
wasn’t holding her little black tray flat on the table, and looked him right in
the eye. “Listen, I can tell when a guy wants a little action, and baby, you’re
practically screaming it.” Declan looked down at where her top gaped open, saw
her tiny little breasts peek over the top of her bra, and thought fuck it. “All
I want is a good time, the same as you.” She was a newer employee at Dakota
Dark’s, seeing as he had come here frequently since moving to Sweet Water and
he had never seen her before. When he didn’t turn her away she stood up, and
her grin widened. “Meet me by the back door in twenty and I’ll make sure to
make it worth your time.” She turned around, and his gaze zeroed in on her ass,
or what was there anyway. Declan went back to drinking his shots and watching
the two females pretty much fucking each other on the dance floor. He drank
enough that he should have had whiskey dick, but Declan could have been nearly
passed out and if pussy was near he’d be ready to go. Maybe that was a curse of
having his animal taking control like he did? Nothing could tame the beast, but
that had saved his life more times than he could count.

The music and noise in the bar was
deafening, but Declan blocked it out. He was good at that, good at making
everything else go away unless it was what he wanted to focus on. That kind of
mentality and concentration had saved his life more times than not, and it was
his apathetic nature that had him leading his unit through the harshness of
Serbia on his last mission. But where it helped him, it had also gotten him
injured, had shrapnel and scars littering his thigh, and was the reason he was
no longer with the League. No way in hell was he going to do a desk job with
them, not when he was meant to be in the thick of everything. So, that was why
he had branched out on his own, and he had never looked back.

The front door was pulled open, and
three human bikers came in. They were in leather from head to toe, had their
cuts on that designated what club they were affiliated with, and had this
badass persona to them. They may be dangerous in the human world, but when it
came to the males Declan hunted down, and the ones he had taken out while on
duty, they were nothing but a blip on his radar. He was about to down another
shot before he got up and headed out back to fuck the stress out with the skinny-ass
waitress, but everything in him stilled and his grizzly rose up when the scent
of something sweet filled his nose. It wasn’t a smell he had ever come across
before, but that wasn’t why his entire body had become strung tight, or why he
was starting to partially
shift
. He gripped the edge
of the table, his nails elongating to claws, and his canines punching out. He
also had become rock hard in a matter of seconds. His eyes were trained at the
entrance of the bar, and a low, dark rumble left him at the sight of the female
that walked in. All it took was one look at her face, one smell of her unique
and tempting aroma, and Declan and his grizzly were growling out.

Mine
.

Yes, she was theirs. The moment a
shifter found their mate was instantaneous, and although he had the powerful
and dangerous urge to charge forward, grip a chunk of her long, wavy hair in
his hand and pull her head back, exposing her throat so he could mark her, he
stayed back and just watched her. Staying away from her was probably the
hardest fucking thing he had ever done, but he could control himself for once
in his life, right? She moved into the bar, and the door shut behind her. The
fact that she was alone, that she would come to this slightly more hard-core
establishment when it was late, had the possessive and protective need rising
up in him. It was foolish for a female to do that, especially one not mated.
But then she walked over to the bar, completely oblivious that her mate was
only a few feet from her, and started an easy and clearly familiar conversation
with the bartender. Another low growl left him, but the music was too loud for anyone
to hear. She leaned against the bar, and her ass popped out. Holy fuck, now
that was a female with curves. Her clothing was slightly on the loose side, but
Declan could see plenty, but that also meant so could other males. He snapped
his gaze around the bar, but lucky for them no one paid his female any
attention. He looked at her again, smelled the scent of her wolf, and his dick
throbbed behind his jeans. Declan felt even more unstable, even more volcanic,
and to be honest he didn’t fucking like it. This uneasiness inside of him, and
the way his bear seemed manic to come out, had him actually using his human
strength to keep the animal back. Because if he let the damn thing out there
was no telling what it would do, or the destruction it would cause to anyone
that tried to keep him from that female.

Chapter Two

 

“Girl, you picked a crazy night to come
in.” Melissa sat down on the stool at the bar and leaned her forearms on the
smooth surface. Bobbie was a newer bartender at Dakota Dark’s, but over the
last couple of months the two females had gotten along really well. But aside
from the talks they had with each other at Dakota Dark’s, the two had never
gone out. Bobbie was a human, but she was as tough as any shifter and had a mouth
that rivaled Melissa’s, which was saying a lot since she knew she talked like a
sailor most of the time, and had a sassy ass attitude.

“Well, a little excitement is what I
need. Besides, I think a little crazy is what this wolf needs.” She grinned at
Bobbie.

“The usual?”
Bobbie asked. The human had a pixie style haircut, and the black locks were
usually tipped pink, green, or blue, depending on her mood. Her shirt was
nothing more than a few strategically placed strips of leather, and her cut-off
jean shorts showed off a helluva a lot of ass cheek. But Bobbie had a small,
petite figure and could pull that off. Melissa wouldn’t call herself petite in
any sense. She was just short, what with only being five foot three, but what
she lacked in height she made up for in weight. Not overly huge, but still
having hips that were wide, thighs that were a little thick, a belly that was
rounded and sometimes annoyed her, and breasts that were overabundant, there
were times that Melissa had wanted to be smaller. But then she realized that it
didn’t matter what a person looked like on the outside. They were either
genuine or total bitches, no matter their appearance.

“Eh, just give me a beer. A bottle of
whatever since I think they all taste the same,” said Melissa, and Bobbie
chuckled. “I think a Long Island is a bit much tonight, especially since I’m
alone and driving.”

Bobbie nodded. “Not drowning your
sorrows tonight?” Bobbie teased her as she grabbed a Sam Adams from the cooler
and popped the cap. She slid the bottle to Melissa.

“Hey, I don’t drown my sorrows. I like
to add a little alcohol to the already block party going on inside of me.”
Melissa grinned, and Bobbie shook her head and chuckled.

“If you need anything else let me know.”
She tapped the counter and turned to help a few younger human females that were
giggling at the end of the bar. One of them wore a sash that read
“Bachelorette”. That had a little bit of longing springing up in Melissa, but
she pushed those nasty thoughts away. She was never one to hang on to what she
didn’t have, and always tried to look on the brighter side. She was happy—for
the most part—was healthy, had friends that were like family to her, and was
successful enough in her life that she could live comfortably. There were times
she had asked herself if she slept with men to somehow fill the void she felt
inside, or if she was truly just living by her motto to live every day like it
was her last. Sighing out, she hated when she got in these moods, hated that
she questioned what she felt or what she had done. That wasn’t what life was
about. Everything happened for a reason, even if she didn’t know exactly what
that reason was, and she would just focus on one day at a time.

She turned around on the stool, held her
beer in one hand, and had her other resting on her purse that was across her
lap. She took a sip of the beer, pulled it back and looked at the label, and
realized she really wasn’t a fan of beer in general.
Maybe you should have just gotten one of those big ass margaritas that
you got with Candace that one time?
She took one more sip of the beer and
set it aside. As if Bobbie read her mind she set a glass of water in front of
her, and Melissa lifted it in thanks. There was no lying in saying that she
felt somewhat of a loser going out by herself, felt like she was being watched
and judged for it, but then again her “I don’t really give a fuck” voice was louder.

She people-watched for a few minutes,
saw the way two of the females in on the dance floor practically had sex with
each other, and it didn’t go unnoticed how more than one of the male patrons
gawked at them like they’d never seen such a thing. But there also was this
strange feeling that she had, as if she were the one being scrutinized. She
shook it off. Surely she wasn’t the only one people watching. Pushing that
feeling away, she continued scoping out the place, and was disappointed to find
that Bobbie was the only employee that she knew well enough to bullshit with
tonight. But she couldn’t shake the feeling inside of her, and it grew until it
was a tingling on the back of her neck. Someone was staring at her quite
intently for her to feel this way. The hairs on her arms stood on end, and her
wolf rose up. It was strange to feel her wolf take so much interest in what was
going on, because normally the human side of her was the one in control. But
this time it paced within her, growing even more agitated for whatever reason.
She inhaled deeply, but all she could pick up on was booze, sweat, arousal, and
the lingering smell of cigarette smoke wafting in from the front door opening
and closing.

BOOK: Bear Naked and Bite Marks
5.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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