Grayslake: More than Mated: Bear Up (Kindle Worlds Novella) (3 page)

“Hey, no!” Brad had been caught on the back foot and snarled in surprise. “She’s not his mate, not yet. The rite of preparation doesn’t apply.”

Fuck’s sake, Dean sighed. Some people would argue anything, even set in stone laws like the rite. As the challenged, Creed was entitled to one full day with his woman, his mate, before he entered the pit to either live or die. It was one of their fundamental rights. And anyone who looked at the two, Kait’s small hand on Creed’s arm holding the big bear back even though he could easily have shrugged her off, could tell that if they weren’t mated yet, they soon would be.

“In this case,” Dean lifted his voice to carry over the room. The bears with their backs to him turned to look. “I rule that it does. Brad, if you have a problem with that, you can meet
me
in the pit now.”

“No, Itan,” Brad mumbled, dropping his gaze. “No problem at all.”

“I didn’t think so.”

Dean transferred his attention to Creed and Kait. “Creed, take your woman home and prepare for the pit tomorrow.”

“Itan.” With a nod, Creed turned and, Kait’s hand in his, left the lodge.

Dean stayed where he was, arms folded as he looked around the room. He’d have liked to say he was disappointed at how they’d come out of the woodwork at the possibility of fighting, but they were bears, violence was in their nature. It was unavoidable.

“Braun, Bennett… a word?” He stepped away from the door as the two walked over to him, the crowd dispersing at the same time. Some disappeared to rooms upstairs while others headed out the door presumably heading home. Only a few remained to nurse drinks and chat in small groups.

“Report,” he ordered, looking at Braun first. She was the enforcer of the two, but Bennett’s calm head in a bad situation hadn’t escaped his notice.

“Five males, all bears, attacked us in the alley behind the library. It was obviously set up. They were waiting for us, some in front and some behind to cut off our escape.” Anger flared in her eyes. “If I’d been on my own…”

He knew what she’d been about to say. If she’d been on her own and not worried about revealing what she was to two humans, she’d have torn through them. Sure, she might not have been able to take on five males by herself. Braun was as mean as they came in bear form, but even she wasn’t
that
good, but she could certainly have held her own until help arrived.

“Shhh, don’t worry about it,” he said soothingly. “You did the right thing. Bennett?”

The younger bear shrugged. “Not much to tell, Itan. We were coming out of the Moon when we caught the scent of unknown males. Then we heard the ruckus behind the library. By the time we got there it was all over and the attackers had gone. We’d have given chase, but Kacie…”

Dean’s expression tightened and he held up his hand. “Again, you did the right thing. Any delay might have meant the death of a human—” And his mate, but he didn’t add that. “—And, as you both know, the bear community as a whole can’t afford that kind of scrutiny.”

Both bears nodded in reply. The need to remain hidden was drilled into all of them as soon as they were old enough to realize they were different from other folks in town. It wasn’t just Lizard Lick either. There were other shifter clans nearby, and it wasn’t unheard of for different shifter types to band together to wipe out any clan or pack who didn’t play by the rules and advertised its presence to the humans around them.

“Braun, assemble the enforcers and send out recon teams. I want to know who these assholes are, their numbers and where they’re holing up.”

“Yes, Itan.” Her reply was swift, rage still banked in her eyes.

“Do
not
engage,” he ordered, knowing the she-bear would like nothing more than to storm into the rogue’s camp and take them all apart piece by piece. “I want to know if they really are just a bunch of assholes acting alone or if there’s another clan looking to move into our territory behind it.”

Braun nodded. “On it, boss.”

“Oh, and take Bennett. See if he’s got the makings of an enforcer.”

He hid his amusement as Braun huffed and shot the younger male a look.

“Come on then, and make sure to keep up or I swear I will cut your ass loose.”

A
s a rule
, Kacie Leroy never remembered her dreams.

So when she woke up, brain fuzzy with images of lying all warm and cozy in Dean Sterling’s arms, she clung to the thoughts with everything she had, trying to grasp them before they disappeared under the brutal focus of full consciousness.

Keeping her eyes closed, she turned away from the light shining through her eyelids and willed herself to slide back into the wonderful dream. Well, she didn’t really know whether it was a wonderful dream or not, but it had Dean in it, so it was already a hundred percent better than all the others. Of course, because this was Kacie and she’d always been a little aside from the norm, the dream also contained scary men with claws and, for some reason, her friend Lilly roaring like a bear and attacking people.

Wait…what? Delicate, I’ll-cry-if-I-break-a-nail Lilly attacking people? She practically passed out if she got so much as a paper cut.

A snort of amusement brought Kacie the rest of the way out of sleep and the dream fragments scattered. She pouted, her eyes still closed. Well, wasn’t that a total bunch of crapola? Best dream in a while and logic had to intrude to point out all the mistakes.

Like the fact that Dean Sterling would ever even
look
at her, never mind let her get all cozy and comfortable in his big, muscly arms. Oh well, a girl could dream, couldn’t she? And she obviously had been.

Opening her eyes, she was preparing herself to haul up and out of bed when she stopped dead, eyes glued to the ceiling above.

The white plaster and beam ceiling most definitely wasn’t hers.

Oh shit. Whose ceiling was that? Where the hell was she?

She snapped her eyes shut and squeezed them tight to pray.
Please don’t say I had a one night stand and called him Dean…

“Oh, you’re awake. Good,” a deep male voice broke through her confusion, coming from somewhere behind her. With a start of surprise, she made to sit up and turn around but a hand landed on her shoulder. “No, don’t move please. I want to make sure you’re fully healed. And I need to give you something for the pain before you do.”

“Healed? Pain?
”

Kacie looked up in confusion as a tall man with sandy brown hair that flopped over blue eyes leaned over her. He looked familiar but she couldn’t make her foggy brain figure out where she knew him from. It was only when he reached for her stomach that the spell broke.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He paused, rocking back on his heels for a second to study her with an intent gaze. “You’ve been injured. You’ll let me look at the site of the wound now.”

She raised an eyebrow. With his firm, almost mesmerizing look and the deep, compelling tones of his voice, she could almost believe he was trying to brainwash her.

“Yeah, right. Next you’ll be telling me these aren’t the droids I’m looking for. Who the hell are you anyway?”

“What?” The look of surprise that washed over his features almost made her snort with amusement. “No one’s ever said no before. What do you mean, who am I? I’m Morgan Jones, I’m a he…” He paused, his expression altering just slightly. “I’m a doctor. I’m afraid you were involved in an accident, Miss Leroy. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Oh crap, an accident. That could explain a few things…

“Is that why my head is all fuzzy and I—”

She stopped talking, aware she’d been about to admit to having what amounted to wet dreams about Dean, and suddenly remembered where she knew him and his name from.

“Morgan Jones? Dean Sterling’s army buddy?”

He favored her with a quick smile as he shone a small pen light in her eyes, one after the other. “That’s right. We served in the same unit for a few years.”

Kacie relaxed. Now she remembered seeing him with Dean in the Moon a few times, his tall, broad-shouldered physique and handsome face setting all the local single ladies atwitter. Not her though. Morgan was handsome and everything, but she’d always had a thing for hot ex-jock soldiers like Dean.

“Okay.” She nodded to give him permission, watching the ceiling as he peeled away the covers over her stomach. “Was it a bad accident?”

“Uh-huh, really quite nasty. Fortunately, we got to you in time.” He made a pleased sound and pressed the dressing back down over her stomach. “It’s all looking good. It might pull a little at first but then it should ease up.”

“Thanks, I’ll be careful. Am I okay to shower or get it wet?”

He nodded. “Sure. You can actually remove the dressing if you want the next time you do. Just be careful, these army ones… they like to hang on to some skin when you take them off. Get it wet and peel slowly. Don’t pull, okay?”

“Got it, Doc. Thanks.”

“You can sit up now.
Slowly
,” he warned, watching her carefully as she levered herself up into a sitting position.

Her head swam a little but quickly eased up. However, the rest of her felt somewhat odd. She felt energized. Almost like she’d stuck her finger in a wall socket to charge but without the unfortunate side effects of frizzy hair or dying.

She took a look around the room. She’d expected comfortable hospital surroundings but it appeared to be some kind of lounge…

“Why am I on the table?”

“It was the quickest place to bring you for treatment.” Morgan shrugged as she swung her legs over the edge of the table. As he’d warned, her stomach pulled like she’d done a thousand sit-ups and she tensed. But the feeling faded and she carried on the rest of the way.

“Really?” Alarm bells began to ring in Kacie’s head. From the way he’d been talking, she’d been moments away from death, so they brought her to… she took a better look at the room around her… some kind of hunting lodge?

Sliding off the table, she backed up a couple of steps and fixed the doctor, if he even was one, with a firm look. “Okay, mister, you’d better tell me exactly what the hell is going on here.”

“I think that’s where I need to tap out.” Morgan looked over her shoulder as the door opened behind her. “You can explain this shit-storm to her, not me.”

“What shit-storm?” She whirled around to find Dean framed in the doorway. The sight of him took her breath away, but she was used to it, concealing her intake of breath with a scowl. “What are you doing here?”

“Maybe because I live here?” He nodded to Morgan as the tall doctor left the room, shutting the door behind him. She got a brief glimpse of another room but couldn’t make out any details before her view was cut off.

“If I was in an accident, why was I brought here rather than taken to a hospital?” Folding her arms defensively over her chest, she waited for his answer.

The pause before he answered gave other questions time to crowd through her brain. Like had he seen her when she was asleep? Oh my god, had she drooled?
Please tell me I didn’t drool. Not in front of Dean Sterling.
That was so not sexy. Looking down at herself, she frowned.

She wore her going out jeans, the ones so tight they were practically sprayed on, paired with a large white t-shirt that wasn’t hers. Easy to tell because it buried her and she preferred her t-shirts fitted and lower cut. Girl had a figure, she had to show it off, that was the law… but if she had her going out stuff on…

“Oh shit.” Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. The next second she hurried around the table, searching under it and around the chairs for her purse. “What time is it? And where’s my cell? Kait and Lilly will be so worried!”

“Hey, hey… calm down.” Somehow Dean had crossed the room without her realizing, taking her into his arms as her head swam with her sudden movement. She clung to him, wrapping her hands around the big, muscular upper arms she’d been dying to touch for years. “You were badly injured. You need to take it easy.”

His touch and the very real experience of being in Dean Sterling’s, the guy she’d had a crush on since she was in pigtails, arms was enough to short-circuit her brain for a second. Her response was to look up into his handsome face with a dumbfounded, “Huh?”

She closed her eyes for a second.
Smooth, Kacie, real smooth. He probably thinks you’re a sandwich short of a freaking picnic now.

“Kacie? Sweetheart, open your eyes.”

Shaking her head, she kept them shut.

“No. Won’t.”

This was so not happening. Dean was not holding her close and cozy-like, and he had no way just called her sweetheart. That last bit sealed the deal. She was still dreaming. That’s why nothing made sense. That’s why she was in Dean’s arms and he’d just called her sweetheart in that soft, sexy voice she’d imagined so many times in her dreams.

His chuckle was deep and masculine, sending a shiver down her spine. “Why not?”

She bit her lip as he touched her, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. It was such a cliché move, she knew that, but her knees didn’t care and weakened instantly. Damn traitors.

“Because this is such a nice dream, and if I do, it’ll all be over and I won’t remember it.” Oh great, now her mouth was operating without the intervention of her brain. Because she hadn’t, like, wanted to keep any of her dignity. Pffft, who needed the stuff anyway?

“Okay.”

He didn’t argue with her about it just being a dream. Figured. Even her imaginary Dean knew this would so not be happening in real life. No matter how she felt about the handsome ex-jock turned soldier, no matter how many convert glances she’d stolen in the Lizard Moon, he had never once looked at her in
that
way.

“Okay?” she frowned, eyes still shut. Apparently a girl did have some pride after all…

“Because with your eyes closed, you can’t stop me doing this.”

Her eyes flew open as the words were whispered against her lips, only to flutter closed again with a soft moan as his mouth claimed hers. His lips were warm and firm, brushing against hers lightly. Softly, like he didn’t want to scare her off.

She almost laughed at the thought. He should think himself lucky she didn’t hook her leg behind his, throw him to the floor and pin him down to ravish him. Yeah, right… like she would
ever
do that. She was more likely to freak out and run. Only the fact that this was fantasy rather than reality kept her where she was. Because it
was
a dream, she could enjoy it and not worry about what people thought.

“Don’t stop,” she begged when he lifted his head. She opened her eyes to find him watching her, a strange look in his eyes. “I like it when you kiss me.”

“Moon’s balls, Kacie,” he groaned, one hand coming up to slide into her hair and hold her still. “You’ll be the death of me. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.”

She couldn’t answer, didn’t get time anyway as his lips crashed down over hers. This time he wasn’t soft or gentle. His mouth claimed hers in a hard, passionate kiss that shattered what defenses she had left against him to smithereens.

He explored her lips, learning their shape and texture, and then parted them with a hard sweep of his tongue. She opened for him with a soft murmur, hands bunched in the fabric of his shirt, and he pushed inside. He explored the soft recesses of her mouth with devastating finesse. His tongue found hers and coiled around it, stroking and sliding.

She gasped, the sound lost under his lips, and kissed him back. She’d never been a pliant or passive woman, not generally and definitely not when it came to the bedroom. She knew what she liked, what she wanted, and she wasn’t shy about getting it.

Easing closer, she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. She matched each of his strokes and slides with one of her own, forcing the tension and awareness between them higher rapidly.

Her fingers found the short hairs at the back of his head, stroking through them. Being kissed by Dean was like nothing she’d ever imagined—and she’d thought about it a lot. He was hard and forceful, but not rough or harsh. She could spend an eternity in his arms and consider herself a happy woman.

She pouted when he pulled back, gentling her with softer kisses until he broke away to look down at her. His breathing was ragged and his eyes dark with heat. A heat so dark and dangerous that her body clenched in response.

“Slow,” he muttered, as though to himself. “I promised I’d go slow. Be careful.”

“Promised who?” She reached up to trace her finger over the full curve of his lower lip. “There’s only the two of us here and I didn’t make
any
promise to behave…”

The growl was lower this time and whispered over her skin. It was such a deep and primal sound that she paused, looking around the room to make sure no dangerous animal had gotten in with them. But it hadn’t. Her eyes widened. No, the sound had definitely come from Dean.

“Fucking hell, Kacie… you have no idea what you’re saying, what you’re doing to me…” Expression tortured, he leaned down to press his forehead against hers.

“Just kiss me again,” she whispered, not understanding the problem. It figured even her dream version of Dean would be reluctant. “What’s so wrong with that?”

“This,” he snarled, grabbing her hand and shoving it down to his groin. She gasped as his cock pressed into her palm, as thick and rigid as a steel pole. “And because I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.”

“Oh.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say, swaying on her feet as he put her from him suddenly.

His hazel gaze searched her face. “There’s lots you need to know, but not now. You’re tired, and you’ve been injured. Sleep, heal… and then we’ll talk.”

“Talk now,” she demanded mulishly, folding her arms. But as though mention of the word had summoned it, a wide yawn washed over her and exhaustion rose up to rob her of strength. Could she be tired
in
a dream? That seemed odd but she let the thought go in favor of meeting his gaze with a firm one of her own. “Okay, tomorrow, but you need to tell me everything. Deal?”

“Deal,” he nodded, watching her strangely as she yawned again. “Now let’s get you settled in the spare room.”