Woodcutter Werebear (Saw Bears Book 2) (4 page)

“I know. I wanted to do it alone.”

He dipped his chin and canted his head, eyes on the bed skirt beneath her. “No one should cry like that alone.”

“Yes, they should, if they
want
to be alone.”

He frowned, looking entirely baffled. “Oh.” He shifted his attention to the door where several tall, sexy-looking, sweat-and-dirt-streaked men hovered. “She’s okay.”

“You sure?” A stocky man with a shaved head and a tattoo down his neck asked. “She doesn’t look like she’s okay to me.”

“Who the fuck did that to your face?” A Nordic-looking man with slanted eyes and shoulder-length blond hair asked. He appeared savage in the dim light as shadows stretched across his furious face.

“Drew,” Kellen warned.

“No. Explain, Kellen. You brought a woman up here, and she’s all banged up and crying. We need to know what’s going on.”

“She ain’t just a woman. Not like Brooke was,” Kellen said, standing slowly. “She’s a shifter. Been beat up by her own kind.”

“That true?” Drew asked.

“The man I’m promised to”—she circled her finger in front of her face—“did this.”

“Why?” a sandy brown-haired man with a beard asked.

Kellen handed her a box of tissues, and she wiped her face and tried to smile. It hurt. “I wasn’t being a good enough mate.”

“Fuck that,” Drew said in a careless tone. “Who is he? We’ll fix him up right for ya.”

“No!” she rushed out. Lowering her voice to a more tolerable level, she repeated, “No. Kellen was nice enough to take me away to give me a little break from him, but I don’t want this starting some shifter war or anything. It’s fine. I’m…figuring everything out.” She licked her dry lips and said, “I’m Skyler.”

Kellen handed her a Dixie cup of cool water and said, “Skyler, meet the Ashe crew. We all work the mountain to the east of the trailer park together. That’s Drew.” He pointed to the Nordic-looking man. “Haydan is over there,” he said, and the man with the tattoo and shaved head nodded once in greeting. “Denison is the ugly one with the beard, and Brighton was born to the same sow.”

When he pointed to the two men with light brown hair and light facial scruff, she thought Kellen had to be teasing by calling them ugly. They were very handsome. “You’re brothers?”

“By blood. The whole crew feels like family to us, though,” Denison said with a kind smile. “We’ve been together for years. My brother over here don’t talk, but he understands just fine.”

“Hi, Brighton,” she said with a shy, two-fingered wave.

Brighton smiled, his green eyes crinkling, and he nodded. He pointed to her face, and the smile dropped from his face. He looked sad.

“It doesn’t hurt much anymore,” she lied. “It happened Thursday.”

“I’m Bruiser,” an imposing man with muscular arms the size of tree trunks said from the doorway. “We’ll get out of your hair, but if you need us to gut the man who did that to your face, just say the word. We’ve been itching for a fight since Connor and Jed—”

“Bruiser,” Drew said in a harsh voice.

The behemoth frowned. “Right. You probably wouldn’t want to hear about all that. If you need anything, just holler.”

The crew of disastrously good-looking lumberjack bear shifters shuffled from the room. Brighton approached and touched her shoulder, and Denison did the same before they left. She understood. Touch was important to most shifters, and it did make her feel comforted that these strangers didn’t seem to mean her any harm.

Apex predators they might be, but mindless hunters they were not.

Kellen jerked his head toward the window as his eyes took on a faraway look. “They’re back.”

“Who?” she asked.

A slow, stunning smile took his face. “Brooke’s home.”

Dread slammed into Skyler like a punch in the gut. It was hard to draw breath as Kellen rushed to the door. “Come out when you’re ready,” he called. “I want you to meet her!”

The front door banged closed, and she imagined him and Brooke running toward each other and clashing into each other’s arms.

But she was an adult who’d only met Kellen this afternoon, and no matter what her traitorous heart was trying to tell her, she didn’t have feelings for him like that. He was an acquaintance, a friend at most—that was all.

And as his friend, she needed to support his relationship with a woman he obviously cared for deeply. With a sigh of determination, she stood and made her way into the bathroom. Nards was nowhere to be found, so she stepped up to the sink and stifled a yelp. She looked like hell on a hot day. The make-up she’d attempted to cover the bruises with this morning had run off. Her mascara streaked down her cheeks, the oversize flannel shirt she’d been hiding from the world in made her boobs look saggy, and her nose was red. With a strangled groan, she splashed water over her face until her make-up was completely gone, then shimmied out of her red flannel button-up. Underneath, she wore a red tank top with tiny black polka dots that hugged her slim figure. Roger never would’ve let her wear something so revealing in public. He’d said he didn’t like people seeing too much of her skin, but fuck it all. She was smack dab in the middle of a trailer park overrun by badass bear shifters. If Roger had a problem with what she wore here, he could take it up with their canines.

She knelt down, feeling the stretch of her favorite pair of black leggings, and re-tied the laces on her dark hiking boots. When she stood, she was determined to make a good impression on Brooke and the rest of the people here. She liked the Ashe crew. They didn’t know her from Eve, but they’d offered to go after Roger when they’d seen the bruises on her face. In those few minutes she’d conversed with them, they’d won her loyalty.

Running her fingers through the soft waves of her long, gnarled hair, she rushed to the front door. With a steadying sigh, she rallied her reserve, then threw the door open wide and hustled onto the small porch.

She’d expected Brooke to be beautiful. How could she not be to have caught the attention of a man who looked like Kellen? And she’d been right. Brooke stepped out of a silver Volvo in front of a trailer across the dirt road. It was hard to make her out through the crowd of men around her hugging her up tight. But through the shifting bodies, she could make out long, curled blond hair and animated green eyes. An easy smile and laugh lines. Kellen handed her a box of wine and the flowers, and she doubled over laughing before she side-hugged his waist.

Their interaction lacked chemistry. Skyler frowned. She’d expected to have to witness kissing and groping, but Kellen easily passed her off to Denison for a hug. A lean man with dark hair and blue eyes she didn’t recognize sauntered around the back of a black pickup truck and clapped Kellen on the back. They murmured something much too low for her to hear and laughed.

Then the man did something incomprehensible. He leaned over and kissed Brooke square on the lips. It was one of those tender, romantic, all-in-with-the-feels kisses that made Skyler blush for witnessing.

Kellen jogged over to Skyler, but he stopped at the porch stairs, and his eyes went round. “You look…” He left the word unspoken as his eyes raked over the tight fit of her tank top, leggings, and her clunky boots.

“I don’t understand,” she said on a breath. “I thought Brooke was yours.”

Kellen angled his head and narrowed his eyes. “My what?”

“Your mate?”

“Brooke?” he sputtered. “She’s Tagan’s mate. She’s mate to the alpha. I care for her deeply. We all do. She’s the only female in our crew, and she’s the best of us. She’s my friend, not my mate.”

Skyler felt stupid and tricked. “But you bought her flowers.”

“Because she deserves them. And wine because she likes it better than the beer we drink here. She’s a real lady, and ladies deserve for men to do sweet things for them.”

Kellen looked innocent and baffled in the waning evening light. He also looked a little upset.

“I’m sorry,” she said, relief flooding her until she was lightheaded. “Every time you spoke of Brooke, I thought you were talking about her because you loved her.”

“I don’t have a mate.” Now he sounded offended. “I don’t deserve one, and it isn’t my fate to protect a woman like that. All I’ll have is Brooke, my friend.” His shoulders drew up near his ears, as if he was embarrassed, and a soft blush touched his cheeks.

“Hey,” she said, desperate to comfort him. His uneasiness was her fault for making assumptions. She jogged down the stairs and touched his hand, then looked up into his eyes, now churning silvery-blue again. “I made a mistake. I didn’t know.”

She squeezed his hand, and he looked down at where their palms touched with a confused frown.

“I’m glad she isn’t your mate,” she whispered.

His startled gaze crashed into hers. “Why?”

Uh oh. Okay, she shouldn’t have admitted to her feelings like that. She wasn’t in a position where she could pursue a relationship with anyone, much less with someone who felt as dangerous to her heart as Kellen.

“I don’t know why I said that.” She shrugged and dragged her gaze to the toes of his scuffed work boots.

“No games. Why are you glad?”

Her breath trembled as she was caught by his eyes, demanding she be honest.

His chest heaved under the T-shirt that clung to the sharp angles of his defined chest. He squeezed her hand again and whispered, “Why?”

“Because…” She wasn’t good with words and couldn’t think of any way to explain how strongly she felt for someone she’d just met. Instead of speaking, she pulled his hand over her racing heartbeat, just under her collar bone. “Because this.”

A slow smile stretched his lips as he canted his head and felt her pounding pulse against his hand. Slowly, he drew her hand over his breastbone and pressed it against the hard muscle there. His heart was racing hers. “Me too,” he murmured.

“Kellen?” the man from the truck, Tagan, asked. “Who is she?”

Kellen swallowed hard, breaking the spell and pulling his hand away from her. “Tagan, this is Skyler.”

His alpha gave him a long, hard look and blinked slow, then brought his icy blue eyes to hers. “I know what you are, and I’m pretty sure I know who your mate is too. Roger Crestfall?”

Skyler nodded but was compelled to explain. “He isn’t my mate. Not yet. There’s been no ceremony.”

“And your face. Did he do that to you?”

Brooke stood right behind her mate, looking at her with ghosts in her eyes.

Skyler’s breath hitched at having to explain something so painful to people she wanted to like her. “He pushed me. The counter helped with the coloring.”

“Your people could bring trouble to mine,” Tagan said low.

“Tagan,” Brooke said, her delicate eyebrows drawn down. “She’s been hurt.”

“Which is why I need to know what you are doing here, seeking sanctuary with my Second.”

“Second? Kellen, you are Second to your alpha?” Skyler hadn’t realized he was so high in the crew.

Kellen’s nostrils flared as he inhaled slowly. “I took her,” he said, turning to Tagan. “She was hurt, and I couldn’t stand taking her back to him—to Roger.”

“You
took
her?” Tagan asked, his eyes narrowing to dangerous looking slits.

“Wait. He kidnapped you?” Brooke asked, turning her attention to Skyler. “Against your will?”

Lying was out of the question because shifters could hear a false note of a half-truth. Dammit. “Kind of?”

“Kind of?” Tagan roared. “Kellen, you can’t take someone’s mate!”

“Not Roger’s mate yet,” Skyler squeaked out.

“You know what Skyler’s last name is?” Tagan asked, his voice too loud for comfort. “Drake. She’s a fucking
Drake
, man. She’s a legacy, and her father is on the council.”

Kellen was shaking his head like he’d never heard of her last name before, thank God.

“I don’t understand,” Brooke said, gripping Tagan’s arm. “What does her last name have to do with anything?”

“It means,” Tagan gritted out, “Kellen has kidnapped a fucking princess.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Skyler said, holding her hands out to calm the crazy names being thrown around. “I’m not royalty. I’m just from a long bloodline.”

The muscles in Kellen’s throat tightened as he swallowed. He angled his chin and looked at her like he’d never seen her before, like he was regretting what he’d done. It gutted her.

Tagan scrubbed his hands down his face and glared at Kellen. “She’s trouble for us. You brought her here, you fix it. Take her back.”

“To Roger?” Kellen asked.

“Yeah, to fucking Roger Crestfall. You don’t understand the dynamics of her people, Kellen. Hell, I only know because they are in our territory, and an alpha is supposed to keep track of that stuff. Any threat to my people, I need to know about. She can’t stay.”

“I think we should hear what Skyler has to say about it,” Brooke said in an even, unintimidated tone.

The woman was Skyler’s new hero. She was having a hard time not going to her knees with the heaviness of the dominance in the air, and Brooke was standing up to her alpha. Between Tagan and Kellen staring each other down and drawing their animals to the surface, Skyler could barely breathe.

“Fine.” Tagan nodded, his eyes sparking with fury. “Speak.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Did Kellen bring you here against your will?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to go home to Roger?”

“No.”

Tagan’s lip lifted in a snarl as Kellen stepped in front of her. “Fuck!” the alpha yelled, the curse echoing off the mountain.

A low, dangerous-sounding rumble came from Kellen. “She’s not going back.”

“You kidnapped her!” Tagan bellowed. “That’s not how things work. You don’t just pick a woman and take her like some caveman.”

“That’s how it works for me!” Kellen yelled back. “I don’t do things like you or like Denison or Haydan, or like Jed did. This is how I do things. This is how my mind works. She was hurt, and all of me wanted to rip Roger’s entrails out and hang them from the trees. That’s what I wanted to do. You wouldn’t approve, so I didn’t do that. I stole her away from him instead. It was the best I could do for my bear. Look at her face, Tagan. Look at it! If Brooke looked like she did, would you send her back to her abuser knowing it’ll get worse for her? Knowing she would get hurt again? Would you? Don’t talk to me like I’m abnormal. Like I don’t know how to interact with people. I didn’t kill him. Ten fucking points for me because I wanted to, and I stopped the urge. I don’t know a lot about talking to people, but I know what I can and can’t handle. If I left her there, my bear would’ve returned tonight and killed Roger in his sleep to free her.” His voice dipped low and helpless-sounding. “I couldn’t leave her then, and I can’t send her back now.”

“Do you care about her?” Tagan asked, hooking his hands on his waist.

“Yes,” Kellen said without hesitation.

Tagan narrowed his eyes and tilted his chin. “As more than a friend?”

Kellen nodded slightly.

“Change,” Tagan demanded.

“I don’t want to challenge you.”

“You did when you took a Drake without consulting with me first. Change.”

Kellen’s shoulders lifted in a sigh, and he spun slowly toward her. He pressed his lips gently on Skyler’s forehead. “Go on inside.”

“What’s happening? Are you going to fight him?” She covered her mouth with her hands and sucked in air. “I don’t want you to fight.” She ducked around Kellen’s wide shoulders and pleaded with Tagan. “Please, I didn’t want to come at first, but I think I’m supposed to be here now. I want to be here. I feel…fuck.” Tears stung her eyes as she searched for a way to keep Tagan from hurting Kellen. “I feel better than I have in months. I’m not worth fighting over. I’ll go if you’ll just let him be.”

“No,” Kellen snarled. “You aren’t going. You’re safe here. I want you here with me where I can make sure no one hurts you.”

Brooke looked at Kellen with the saddest eyes. “Come on, Skyler.” She pulled gently on her hand.

Burning tears streaked down Skyler’s cheeks. “But I don’t want him to be hurt.”

Tagan lifted his chin, and something slashed across his eyes for just a moment before it was replaced by fury again. Approval perhaps.

“They won’t kill each other,” Brooke promised as she pulled her onto the porch and through the front door of 1010.

Kellen watched her somberly, and just before the door closed behind her, she called out, “I’m sorry!”

Her sobbing was eclipsed by the roaring of the bears.