Fearless (The Willowdale Village Collection #2)

2. Lena Graves

CHAPTER 2

LENA GRAVES

L acing up my gym shoes, I eyed the few drops of rain that still splattered against my bedroom window. The dark gray skies had lightened up just slightly, and if I was going to manage to go on a run, now was the time. The radar predicted storms for most of the night.

Tugging on a hoodie over my shirt, I looked at the place on the street where the patrol car had parked earlier in the day. My lips nearly dipped into a frown at its absence—something that was ridiculous to feel disappointed over because it obviously meant they were doing their job and were busy.

Turning on the lamp next to my bedside, I looked around my simple room. The king size bed took up the majority of the space, a white wood frame with painted wildflowers, and the pale green walls matched the bedding. I’d known when I moved out of the pack house that I’d be losing a lot of luxuries, but I found I didn’t mind in the least. There was something about the simplistic nature of my apartment that was very calming.

I even had a guest bedroom, connected to mine with a jack-and-jill bathroom, that Ari sometimes crashed in if we were having a late night movie marathon.

Although, not only him…

Shaking myself from that thought, I walked down the hallway to the open-concept living room and kitchen. My kitchen was quaint and small with yellow cabinets, making my bright blue appliances stand out on the counter. Checking the crockpot I had turned on earlier in the day, I was happy to see the pot roast was nearly ready, the smell invading the entire house. I would have to make this run quick because as it was, I would much rather be curled up eating warm food and watching a good show tonight. At the same time, I also wouldn’t admit to hoping I would run into someone…or two someones.

Two men that I always ran into when I was planning to shift. I swear, they must have a tracker on me or something. Honestly though, that wouldn’t surprise me coming from Macon or Connery. Trying to squash the excitement of that thought, I locked my apartment and jogged down the stairs that led to the back parking lot of my building. I could have shifted right there, but there was a certain wildflower clearing that my rabbit and I particularly liked.

Breaking into a steady jog, I turned the corner from the parking lot and looked around the roundabout that made up the center of Willowdale Village. Outside of the bus station and train station, there weren’t many vehicles in our town. Most chose to walk rather than use a car, taking advantage of the refreshing breeze that ran through our cozy, mountain-nestled village.

We didn’t have many visitors in Willowdale Village, being the last town on the train line, and many of the humans stayed in Galena—a town only a short drive away with a population that was almost entirely non-supernatural. The only exception was during ski season, when many humans found their way to the local bed and breakfast.

“Evening, Lena!” Marie, the owner of the local coffee shop, waved as she closed her patio umbrellas.

The center of town was shared by Bunny Bites, Cozy Spell Coffee Shop, Willowdale Village Town Hall, District 9 Fire Department, Second Willow Bank, and Lunar Bed and Breakfast. Other businesses, like my brother Luca’s legal office and the Willowdale Diner, were on the surrounding streets, alongside cozy homes inhabited by village residents. I knew this place like the back of my hand, and I knew I would never move—there was just no way I would find a place as perfect and quaint.

“Stay safe tonight; hopefully the weather won’t turn bad!” I called out to the friendly green witch, her excited smile telling me that she was feeding off the energy in the air. I didn’t fully understand the dynamic of different types of witches, but I knew that most were very in tune with nature.

As I continued my jog, my rabbit grew more and more eager to shift, the energy running under my skin filled with excitement. I shifted fairly often, but one of the most recent times—not on my own—had been with Ari. His massive blond wolf had towered over me and entertained my rabbit’s insanity, which included climbing and hopping over him while he laid in the grass. Honestly, it was more than a bit embarrassing. He never seemed to mind, though. In fact, he asked to shift with me often. It was flattering.

Suddenly, my smart watch buzzed. I looked down to see that Dylan, my brother closest in age to me, was calling me. Throwing it on speaker, I picked up the call.

“Hey!” I chirped. “I’m on a run—what’s up?”

“I’m not even surprised you’re out jogging in this weather. Are you going to shift?”

“Have to. The weather has been so hit or miss lately,” I pointed out. “What are you up to?”

“I actually wanted to see if you could bake something for me to bring to a meeting tomorrow. I have to go into the city to meet with a few Alphas; figured I could bring something nice.” He sighed as if he was disappointed in himself, and I almost laughed. Dylan was not one for politics, but he was better at it than Hunter and for sure better than Luca.

“Sure!” I agreed, happy to fit in a small bake for him. “Anything specific?”

“Do something moon shaped.” His amusement was clear in his chuckle. “Everyone there will be wolf shifters.” What a freakin’ dork. At the same time, people would probably love that.

“Got it! Come by and grab the cookies before you leave tomorrow,” I said before hanging up with a quick goodbye, stepping onto the forest path that led to my clearing.

There was a potential I’d run into other shifters, but most of them lived in the pack lands to the west of Willowdale, which were in the opposite direction. I didn’t know how it was everywhere else, but Willowdale had always been very inclusive in its shifter dynamic. Probably because their Luna for so long had been a bright yellow rabbit, of all things, instead of a wolf.

We even had a rare unicorn shifter as our seer… it was sort of crazy.

Needless to say, shifters of every type were welcome to join our pack and live on the pack lands. Even if they chose to live within the village proper, like myself, they were still part of the pack.

I was sure that Hunter would even let non-shifters join if they wanted, considering Willowdale had a sizable witch population. But they had their own coven lands to the north, so it wasn’t necessary. The coven lands were actually one of my favorite places to visit, especially when they were holding festivals or rituals.

Around five minutes later when I finally reached the wildflower-filled clearing, I let out a small, happy sigh—stretching my hands above my head as my muscles twitched. I wouldn’t deny that I had been avoiding shifting as often recently…mostly because I didn’t want to set off my mating heat.

Something that happened every single year following your eighteenth birthday.

In years past, I had been able to mostly ignore it because while it turned me on like crazy, if I didn’t feed that side of myself—either by spending too much time in my shifted form or having sex a ton—then it stayed relatively mild. While I knew some shifters were blinded by their mating heat, rabbits had it happen annually so it wasn’t as intense, luckily.

The only time it became a problem was if your rabbit decided that she had found your mate…or mate s in my case. Which meant that there would be no ignoring my heat this year.

For about two weeks now, my skin had felt tight and hot, as if my body were ramping up without my permission. My rabbit side was so extremely hyped up that it felt difficult to breathe sometimes, let alone focus. It didn’t help that no matter where I went, there seemed to be at least one, if not several, super attractive shifters trying to distract me with their good looks and rough voices. Wholly unfair in my mind.

Letting out a groan, I allowed the shift to come over me all at once. Because I’d practiced so often, I didn’t have to worry about losing my clothes in the process.

In a pop of air, I transformed into a much smaller, fluffier version of myself, bright teal fur catching my gaze as I moved my paw through the grass at my feet. The wildflowers stood tall around me and I immediately began to hop around, my rabbit taking over fully—probably so she could eat far too much grass and wildflowers. The thick trees of the surrounding forest provided shelter, and while I could hear everything around me, I was mostly able to zone out.

I thought I heard the distant sound of wings moving through the air, but when I looked up, the sky was empty. Still, I hopped toward the edge of the clearing and near the trees, just in case I needed to run. My ears perked up as I looked skyward once more, but when I didn’t hear anything, not even the sound of landing in the distance, I continued to graze?—

The thud of a heavy muscular body landing next to mine had me letting out a screech of surprise as I fully shifted back into my human form and fell backwards—narrowly being caught by a hand that cradled the back of my head.

Instantly, the scent of a warm, smokey bonfire filled the space around me. Damnit.

“Connery,” I growled in frustration, hitting his bare chest. “How the hell did you do that?!” Seriously, I not only hadn’t heard the dragon shifter land, but then also hadn’t heard him shift back or walk into the clearing?! In my rabbit form?! That was insane . Every time he or his brother made an appearance, they would find new ways to surprise me.

The devilish man dipped his head and nipped my neck, instantly causing a hiss to leave my lips as my magic surged over my skin in response. He wedged his large frame right between my thighs, his chuckle vibrating through my entire body. The bite to my skin had my nipples tightening painfully and my face flushing. I felt completely trapped against the ground, and I had to admit that his ability to hold me hostage like this—like I was actual prey to him—was so damn hot.

Somehow, whenever we shifted, he found me and we ended up here.

I was really struggling to find issue with it when it felt so right.

“Get off me,” I growled as I looked up at him. His intense navy gaze was glittering with heat, his dragon extremely present. The low rumble that left his chest didn’t match the humor that seemed to be coming off of him. I seriously had no idea what to make of the man half the time.

He was confident, demanding, so hot—and really, really touchy. His almost luminescent skin was contrasted by his black shoulder-length hair, so dark it had a blue undertone to it, highlighting the silver piercing through his left eyebrow. My skin prickled with awareness of how much he seemed to enjoy the position we were in.

“You want me to get off on you, gorgeous?” he asked, leaning down and nipping my lip. The whimper that left me was completely unavoidable. I knew it wasn’t a kiss, but my heart completely disagreed—and that was the problem with Connery. His teasing, his intensity, had heartbreak written all over it. I had no idea why he watched me the way he did or why at twenty-two he and his brother decided to join the police force and make this place home. I mean seriously, he was as different from Liam as humanly—or dragonly—possible.

“I’m serious,” I whispered as he ran his fingers up my waist, pressing down on me further.

“I don’t believe you,” he growled softly. “I think you love me on top of you.”

The issue was that he wasn’t wrong—at all. The physical pull he had on me was insane…but that was my problem. He wasn’t the only one I felt that with.

“That’s not the point.” I inhaled sharply as his lips trailed down my jaw and neck, my hips rolling against him as he let out a deep primal sound that vibrated against me. Unfortunately, my normal defenses were far from up since he’d caught me post-shift, and I could feel how wet I was becoming, my skin breaking into pleasurable chills.

“It is, though,” he said. “I’m tired of you denying this shit between us.”

“Not denying it,” I whimpered. I couldn’t deny my attraction to him or his brother like I could with Liam and Ari, because they never let me get physically far enough away to do so—but I could keep them at a distance emotionally. I knew that if I didn’t, I would be the one who ended up with a broken heart.

“You just don’t want to give me anything then,” he mused, bringing his head back up to brush my lips. I hissed at the feeling of his length sliding against my heated center. “Why are you holding back?”

“Because this is casual to you. It isn’t to me,” I said, unable to help myself.

The humor dropped from his face. “I’ve never been so serious about anything in my entire life, gorgeous.”

“Connery,” I whispered as this time he pressed a deep kiss to my lips, causing a surprised noise to leave my throat. Instantly, my legs came up and wrapped around him, and his hand slid up to my waist, tightening in an almost bruising way.

My body was so insanely keyed up that I was close to climaxing from kissing alone. The hold this man wielded on my body was far too intense, far too much?—

When he bit down on my bottom lip and tugged, I slipped my hands into his hair as liquid heat flooded between my thighs. I knew he could scent my desire because the growl that left his lips was absolutely primal as his hands moved from the back of my head, pushing up my hoodie and shirt to reveal my sports bra. When he suddenly disappeared, moving down my body, I whimpered from the loss of contact.

My eyes closed as I allowed myself to give into the moment. Connery tugged down the front of my sports bra, freeing one of my breasts. The cool air made my skin prickle, but that was instantly replaced by his hot mouth against my nipple, his teeth toying with it as another pair of lips sealed to my mouth in a possessive, deep kiss.

My eyes snapped open at the new sensation right as Connery’s teasing brought me to an orgasm that rolled over me like a heavy wave. His brother’s lips sealed to mine, desire saturated every nerve ending and my limbs felt heavy as pleasure pulsed through me, causing me to let out a moan. Holy hell.

“There we go,” Macon whispered against my lips. I felt relief not only from the pleasure they had brought me but from his words. Before this there had been only teasing touches, not even kisses…nothing nearly as serious. Yet as I stared into Macon’s crimson gaze, all I could see was ‘serious’—which was something the man never fucking did.

When Connery fixed my bra, I melted into the ground, staring at both of them in true surprise. “What…what just happened?”

“You know exactly what happened.” Macon pressed another kiss to my lips, and I nearly shuddered at the scent of vanilla that surrounded me.

“She’s about to freak out,” Connery warned, a lightly veiled hurt in his gaze even as he intertwined our fingers.

“And try to run,” Macon agreed, running his hands through my hair. I saw a feral glint in his gaze. “Could just chase her. Hunt her down, make her realize how much she needs us.”

“Macon,” I whispered. Despite his careless grin, I knew the man was beyond serious—Macon was actually a bit feral and psychotic. I mean…I liked it, but it could be overwhelming.

His black hair with bright red tips was cut shorter on top than usual, making me want to run my hands through it—but I resisted. His chest was bare like his brother’s, but he was covered in dark tattoos that seemed to swirl under my gaze. My eyes ate up his muscular torso, both of them were so insanely cut it was almost unreal.

“Yes, bunny?” he teased.

I inhaled sharply. “I need both of you to let me up.”

Connery muttered a curse and sat back, but Macon didn’t move, his eyes running over my face. “We can tell you’re still in pain, that you still need us. Why do you insist on suffering?”

Rolling over and pushing back, I tried to shake myself as I let out a breath. Stumbling to standing, I whispered words that were far too vulnerable. “Because I would rather suffer like this than in other ways.”

Not giving them a chance to ask me to clarify, I turned and high tailed it out of there. I was terrified of the four men that made me feel so much, so intensely, because there was one thing I feared more than physical suffering, and that was heartbreak.

I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, choose between them, and I couldn’t expect them to share—not all four of them.

I was supposed to be fearless, but the emotions I felt for these men made me feel anything but.