Bear Naked and Bite Marks (4 page)

“Argh.”
She slammed her hand on the steering wheel. Her mind and body were at war. Her
wolf was pissed that the bear had been so inconsiderate of what she wanted. He
didn’t even ask her name, didn’t ask anything about her actually, and the fact
he clearly was used to getting what he wanted was written like a flashing neon
sign above his head. She had never seen him before, assumed him to be new to
Sweet Water or passing through, but she knew enough about mated couples to know
that he wouldn’t just turn his back and walk away from whatever in the hell was
happening between them. What Melissa wanted to do was talk to Ary or Candace,
ask them their opinion on the whole thing, but it was too late to be calling
their houses. She shifted on the seat, felt her pussy swell with arousal, and
tightened her hands on the steering wheel. He hadn’t even touched her, yet she
was wet for him, uncomfortably so even. Even though Melissa only submitted in
the bedroom, she couldn’t help the fact she had melted internally at the gruff,
very rough sound of his voice. He’d find her, no doubt about that. Sweet Water
wasn’t that big of a town, and if he went around asking about her by physical
description alone at Dakota Dark’s, someone was bound to bring up her name. She
turned onto her street and pulled into her driveway. Once she shut the engine
off she sat there for a moment listening to the engine cooling, and trying to
wrap her head around the fact she had just met her mate. Even thinking it seemed
a little surreal. At her age she had all but given up on finding the male that
was destined to be hers. She didn’t travel, and knew nearly everyone in town,
but clearly she had overlooked that behemoth of a male that was all but
screaming “Mine” at her. This is what she wanted, right?

No,
what I wanted was a relationship with mutual respect. I also wanted a male that
would know that I am not the kind of female to just bark orders at.

Sighing loudly because Melissa knew that
what she had actually wanted wasn’t how this all worked. In the shifting world
males were normally alpha, demanding, and dominant as hell. Only rarely were
they like Manny, being soft spoken and gentle in his mannerisms. Breeds varied
how “alpha” the males were in their world, and with her mate being a very big
and kind of scary grizzly bear, he was one of the most possessive animals out
there. She needed to be ready for when he came to her and demanded that she
give herself up. Because he would, no doubt about that, but if he thought she
was just going to roll over and do his bidding, then he was in for a very big
surprise, too.

****

Declan had watched his female drive off.
He could have gone after her, but he let her run. The chase was half the fun,
and she was certainly making this an exciting, if frustrating, mating. He
needed to find out about her, because knowing her first name alone wasn’t much
help. What if she had a boyfriend or husband? A low growl left him. If she did
and they allowed her to go to a bar in the middle of the night, then they
needed their balls cut off. It wasn’t unusual for shifters to marry people that
were not their mates, because finding that one person meant to be yours wasn’t
a guarantee. When it happened it was by fate alone. Declan had known many
people over the years that had given up on ever finding their other half and
had found a male or female to spend the rest of their lives with. Did they love
them? Of course they did, and even had families with them, but they would never
full complete them like their mate could.
 
His little wolf mate might think she had won
this round, but she was in for one hell of a shock. But he’d find out about her
soon enough when he got back to his place.

He spotted Maverick coming out of the bar’s
backroom with a stack of papers in his hands. The lion shifter owned his own
mechanics shop in town, and although he didn’t really work for Trace Dakota any
longer, he still helped out with the books on occasion. Maverick spotted Declan
and lifted his head in greeting before moving toward him.

“Didn’t know you were coming in
tonight.”
Declan lifted one shoulder and
ran a hand over the back of his neck.

“I wasn’t going to, but I was feeling
twitchy if you know what I mean.”

Maverick cocked a brow and nodded
slowly. “Yeah, I feel yeah, man.” Declan didn’t need to spell out that he had
come here looking for some easy pussy. “You need anything? I’m about to head
home. I need to see my female.” Back in the day Declan and Maverick had crossed
paths when Declan’s unit had been investigating the Russian shifter mafia. Although
Maverick had been affiliated with the mob by being the number one hit-man for
that organization, Declan wasn’t about to take him out. Maverick may have been
killing off men due to Viktor’s orders, the boss for the American based Russian
shifter mafia, but the males he took out were ones Declan’s crew would have
eliminated regardless.

“No, in fact I’m about ready to head out
as well.”

Maverick nodded, clapped him on the
back, and made his way out of the bar. Maverick was a friend, well, as close as
a mercenary and former hit-man could be. Declan had never considered anyone a
“friend”, but ever since getting out of the Shifter Intelligence League he and
Maverick had been as close as two males with shady backgrounds could get. The
males he worked with in the SIL had been part of a team. They were close, looked
out for each other, but no one considered each other anyone more than members
of the same team. That was how they had been trained for years, and it was hard
trying to get out of that mentality, even if they could.

He was about to head home and find out
whatever he could about his mate when he saw the too skinny female he was
supposed to have met out back for a quick fuck. She looked annoyed when she
didn’t spot him right away, but when her overly painted eyes landed on him her
face took on a more sensual expression. Shit, he didn’t have time for this,
didn’t want to deal with trying not to be a bastard when he told her he wasn’t
interested, and she came off as a female that might think she was the shit. He
suspected that from the fact she walked like she had some kind of swagger,
hadn’t taken the hint when she first approached him, and was actually hunting
him out because he hadn’t met her for a fuck in the back alley.

“Hey. I’ve been waiting for you.” She
batted her lashes up at him, but even though she smelled freshly of doused
perfume, he was a shifter and could easily pick up on the scent of a male on
her. As if his thoughts conjured up what he had just assumed, a male came down
the back hallway adjusting his belt. His eyes zeroed in on the waitress, but
his attention was already diverted to his buddies playing pool. Clearly they
had both just fucked, and now she was after him. Declan might like a little
easy pussy occasionally, but he really didn’t like sloppy seconds. “You still
want to do this?” She lifted her hand to touch his chest, but he shook his head
and stepped away.

“Nah, I’m not interested anymore, but
I’m sure you got your fill.” She made a disgruntled noise, but Declan was
already striding out of the bar and to his SUV. Once in his Tahoe he cranked
the engine and peeled out of the parking lot. The only excitement he had ever
felt was when he was out on the field, hunting his prey that were in the form
of nasty bastards that didn’t know they were about to die. But this type of
anticipation and excitement that coursed through his body wasn’t about killing
off his enemy, but learning more about his mate so he could claim her. Declan
had never been the flowers and candy type of male, never needed to court a
girl, or sweet talk them into his bed. The females he went after were not
looking for anything more than a few hours of pleasure. But the things he wanted
to do with Melissa, the way he wanted to talk to her, work out how in the hell
they were going to get through this mating thing, was so against how he
normally acted that he didn’t even feel like himself.

He turned off the main road and
continued driving over the gravel driveway that led up to his isolated home.
The property available for purchase in Sweet Water was plentiful, and he had
found a small acre of land to purchase that already had a cabin located on it.
It was nothing extravagant, only a single bedroom home, but Declan didn’t need
anything more than that. In fact, compared to the conditions he had been
subjected to out in the field during missions, this place was a damn palace.
His headlights illuminated his place, and he pulled the SUV in the driveway and
pulled it to a stop. He headed inside, turned on the one light that illuminated
both the living room and kitchen, and headed to the marble island. Under the
lip of the counter was a small latch he had installed right after he moved in.
After he pressed it, a hidden compartment opened, and he pulled the door out to
take his laptop. He had a few handguns and a lockbox towards the back that held
passports, currency from around the world, and other legal documents that would
allow him to be just about anyone he chose. He needed those things when he had
to travel, and knowing the right people to acquire those legal documents was
imperative. But Declan had many connections.

He brought his laptop to the living room
and turned it on. After it booted up and he was on the couch he started a
general search on his secured data base. Her information came up instantly, and
it was the fastest and easiest search he had ever done. But then again she
wasn’t trying to elude capture like the people he went after, or changing her
name and becoming someone entirely new. He looked over every little detail that
made her up. The image that was pulled up with her information was recent, and
she was smiling brightly. Declan was able to hack into just about any database,
and the ones that proved more difficult were when he called in his favors from people
in the higher-ups. He had learned a lot of useful, if not illegal, shit during
his time with the shifter government.

Her full name was Melissa Amelia Damien.
A thirty-seven year old wolf shifter, she had graduated from Sweet Water High,
and immediately started at her undergraduate program for business at South Fall
University. After getting her Bachelor’s she went for her Master’s in business
management, and moved back to Sweet Water after acquiring that as well. Now she
worked as the administrative manager for a small counseling center at the
center of town. He read about the people she was affiliated with, that she was
single—thank fuck, because he honestly wasn’t in the mood to beat some male’s
ass over who had the right to claim his mate—and that she had a small two
bedroom house in a newer development. He was surprised to see that she was
friends with Candace Dakota, and the fact Declan knew Trace fairly well, and
that Declan could have run into his mate at any opportunity because they “ran
in the same circle” had his heart beating a little faster.

He read up on every little aspect of her
life for the next hour. The files he pulled up on her had bits and pieces of
her life. Where she grew up, family, past boyfriends, even the make and model
of vehicles she drove. He even found out what her favorite color, food, and
flower were. All of that may seem like unsubstantial information, but to Declan
it was like gold, because he could use every little bit of it. He set the
laptop on the coffee table when he had gotten all the information he needed,
and leaned back on the couch. For a few minutes he didn’t do anything but let
it all sink in so he could process it. Maybe he should have felt like a damn
creep for finding out about her the way he did, but then again she didn’t seem
very keen on finding out that he was her mate, and asking her all this personal
information right off the bat would only piss her off even more.

For the most part she had lived a pretty
normal and uneventful life, but what was really having his blood pump, and had
his bear trying to come out and tear some shit up was the list of males—human
and shifter alike—that she was associated with. It had been a pretty big
fucking list, and although she wasn’t a virginal teenager, and he didn’t expect
her to have saved herself until he came along, that didn’t stop his anger from
rising. His mate was pretty well versed in sex, but his human side tried to
reason with his animal that Declan hadn’t been abstinent either. They were both
grown adults, and he couldn’t be selfish in thinking that she had saved herself
for him, since if she hadn’t known who he was until just a few short hours ago.
But did that stop his bear from wanting to fuck up each and every one of those
males she had been with, whether dated or slept with? No, and instead it had
the opposite effect, and there was no way in hell he could control himself. So,
instead of doing something he would regret in the long run, he stood, headed
toward his back doors, and opened them. The air had a nice breeze to it, and
the moon was full. Although he only owned an acre of property, the other twenty
acres that were currently for sale were unoccupied. He went for the hem of his
tee, pulled it up and over his head, and then undid his belt, unbuttoned his
jeans, and slid his zipper down. Once he was fully nude he tilted his head back
and closed his eyes. His bear became frantic at the knowledge that it would
soon run free, but Declan needed this. After not getting laid tonight, finding
out he had a mate, not being able to claim Melissa like he and his bear
desperately needed to do, and now finding out that more males than he felt
comfortable with had touched what was his, Declan was pissed and ready to run
out all this volatile energy. But even if Melissa had only been with one male
he would have still felt this need to taste the blood of his enemy, and any
male that looked, touched, or even fucking thought about his mate was his
fucking enemy.