Chapter 5
Gia
I woke slowly, surrounded by something unfamiliar, yet I knew I was safe.
Warm.
Heavy.
Protected.
For one blissfully confusing second, I thought I was back in my apartment in Jersey wrapped up in my weighted blanket with rain sounds playing on my phone.
Then something deep beneath my cheek rumbled.
Not thunder.
Not machinery.
I was leaning against something.
Or someone.
A chest.
A very large chest.
My eyes snapped open.
Holy shit.
A huge man was cradling me against his bare body like I was precious.
Like I weighed nothing.
My entire face heated instantly.
Because not only was he enormous and ridiculously attractive in a rugged mountain-man kind of way, but his chest was naked.
Completely naked.
Hard muscle stretched beneath tan skin dusted with dark hair, and I was currently sprawled all over him like some exhausted woodland floozy.
What.
The.
Fuck.
I jerked slightly.
His arms tightened immediately.
“Easy,” he rumbled.
Oh, dear Goddess.
That voice.
Low. Gravelly. Sleep roughened.
The kind of voice that belonged in explicit romance audiobooks narrated by suspiciously talented men.
My gaze lifted to his face.
He was unfairly gorgeous.
And massive.
And staring at me with those impossible mismatched eyes—one brown, one green—that somehow looked even more intense inside the dim cabin lighting.
“Am I… dead?”
“No, Honey. You’re not dead.”
The next few seconds, memories of what happened flowed through my mind.
I knew this man.
Not entirely. Not exactly.
Hell, I didn’t even know his name.
And yet, somehow, I knew him.
I asked him questions.
Well, more like I stated them.
“You saved me. You carried me out of there.”
The answers he was giving me were hard won.
“You said, um, you said mate before.”
“I shouldn’t have,” was his reply, and for some reason that cut me.
“But you said it.”
“Yes.”
And wow—mate?
Could it be?
I sucked in a deep breath, coughed because breathing was hard after you inhaled a lot of smoke.
His brows furrowed—concerned.
That was a good sign, right?
“Drink this,” he instructed lifting a glass of water to my lips.
I did. Greedily.
And I used the moment to stare at him.
Up close, this stranger was a little overwhelming.
Huge shoulders.
Thick beard scruff shadowing his jaw.
Shaggy dark hair still damp with sweat, or water maybe, from fighting the fire.
Scars crossing one powerful forearm.
Dangerous.
But not in the polished, sophisticated way Jeremy Steeler was dangerous.
No.
This male looked like the wilderness itself decided to become a person.
And apparently I’d passed out in his lap.
Cool.
Very normal.
“I—”
My voice cracked.
So embarrassing.
Then another realization hit me.
“You’re naked.”
The words flew out before I could stop them.
His brow lowered slightly.
Then he glanced down at himself.
“I gave you my coat,” he grumbled.
Oh my God.
I said it out loud.
Kill me now.
“I meant—well—not fully naked,” I babbled while my face somehow got hotter. “You have pants. Obviously. I just meant—shirtless. Which is still very—”
Stop talking, Gia.
Like right now.
A slow, strange look crossed his face.
Like he was trying not to smile.
Then I became aware of something else.
Something hard pressing beneath my butt.
My eyes widened.
Oh.
OH.
That was him, too.
Sweet, merciful forests.
I cleared my throat so hard I nearly choked, and yep, I wiggled.
Right on the rocket on his lap.
Oh my Goddess, I was making it worse!
I scrambled sideways off him toward the nearest couch cushion.
He allowed it, which was nice. And not.
Because the movement left cold air between us instantly.
And weirdly?
The giant male looked displeased about it.
Not angry.
More like confused.
Like some instinct inside him didn’t understand why I’d moved away.
He stayed where he was on the couch, massive arms spread across the back cushions, head tilting slightly while he watched me with open curiosity.
Predatory curiosity.
The kind that made my pulse flutter wildly despite the lingering smoke in my lungs.
“Are you okay?” he asked finally.
“No,” I answered honestly.
That startled a low huff out of him that might’ve been amusement.
“Fair.”
I accepted the glass of water he handed out to me once more. Carefully, I gripped it so our fingers were brushing against each other for just barely a second.
But even that was enough to send electricity shooting straight up my arm.
I jerked slightly.
His eyes narrowed instantly like he’d felt it too.
Oh Goddess.
Maybe this mate thing was real?
Which was absolutely insane because true mates were rare even among magical species, and Dryads almost never found true bonds anymore.
Yet I had the feeling mine had somehow appeared tonight, during that freak forest fire.
And he was a gigantic male—a firefighter with mismatched eyes and super sexy chest hair.
Life was weird.
I took a sip of water mostly to avoid staring at him.
Didn’t work.
The male was impossible not to stare at.
Especially because he was staring right back.
“So, uh, you rescued me.” I murmured quietly.
“Yeah.”
Simple answer.
No bravado.
No fishing for praise.
Just fact.
I looked down at the oversized coat still wrapped around my body.
His scent clung to it.
Smoke.
Pine.
Male.
Something wild and heavy, and dangerous underneath.
And now that I was fully awake?
I could feel it.
A pulsing between us. A bond, maybe?
Not complete.
Not settled.
But there.
Hovering between us like an invisible thread pulling tighter every second.
My Dryad magic reacted to him instinctively.
The vines tattooed around my wrists—normally hidden beneath glamour—tingled faintly beneath my skin.
The forest magic inside me buzzed and hummed, like it recognized him.
Which honestly made even less sense than the rest of this situation.
“You’re rumbling again,” I said softly.
The strange vibration coming from his chest stopped immediately.
Interesting.
He looked almost annoyed at himself.
“What are you?” I asked again.
His gaze sharpened.
“What are you?” he retorted the same as before.
Fair enough.
I shifted slightly on the couch.
“Okay, I’m a Dryad.”
He blinked once.
“Is that like some kind of nymph?”
Offended, and oddly impressed with his knowledge of Greek myths, however misinformed, I narrowed my eyes.
“We prefer forest guardians, actually.”
His mouth twitched.
That tiny almost-smile did dangerous things to my nervous system.
“Right,” he said. “Okay, so you’re a forest guardian.”
“You say that like you don’t believe me.”
“Not at all. I mean, you smell like magic and trees,” he replied bluntly. “I believe you.”
“I smell?”
“You smell good, Honey.”
Honestly?
Fair. Also, kinda hot of him to notice.
“And you?”
“Bear.”
I tucked my legs beneath me, clutching the water glass while studying him openly now.
“You’re a Bear Shifter? What kind?”
His chest rose, and I winced, thinking I had offended him.
Then he answered, “Hybrid.”
The word came out clipped.
Tight.
Like it tasted bad in his mouth.
Something about his tone made my heart pinch unexpectedly.
“A hybrid what?”
“Part Grizzly. Part Black Bear.”
Okay, so that explained… a lot.
The size.
The intensity.
The absolute wall of Alpha energy coming off him.
Most Shifters leaned heavily toward one animal instinct.
But hybrids?
Their emotions and instincts tended to run stronger. Wilder.
Less stable.
No wonder the bond between us felt so intense already.
“My name is Gia. Gia Anatoly.”
“Gia’s a good name.”
I felt my cheeks heat.
“Thanks. Yours?”
“Wreck.”
“Your name is Wreck?” I asked carefully.
“It’s Grayson O’Connell. Everyone calls me Wreck.”
Okay.
So, Bear.
Definitely has Irish roots.
Definitely built like he could throw an entire truck if sufficiently motivated.
“They call you Wreck?”
His jaw shifted slightly.
He nodded.
And, okay, I probably should’ve let that go.
Instead, because my survival instincts clearly needed work, I opened my mouth.
“Why do they call you Wreck?”
Silence stretched.
The cabin seemed suddenly smaller around us.
Then his mismatched gaze pinned me in place.
“Because I am one, and because eventually,” he said quietly, “I wreck everything I touch.”
Well.
That was depressing.
And alarmingly attractive.
What was wrong with me?
The forest magic inside me stirred softly, brushing against the heavy shadows wrapped around him.
Not recoiling.
Reaching.
Like it wanted to soothe something hurting beneath all that muscle and control.
The realization startled me.
This male carried pain everywhere with him.
Not fresh pain.
Old pain.
Buried deep enough, it became part of him.
My chest tightened unexpectedly.
“You didn’t wreck me. You saved me,” I said quietly instead.
His expression hardened immediately.
“Not yet. And I didn’t really have a choice, Honey.”
The words should’ve sounded dismissive.
Instead, they sounded terrified.
Like the idea of not saving me was impossible.
The mate bond pulsed warmly between us.
Oh Goddess.
Maybe this giant, emotionally constipated Bear already felt possessive.
I took another sip of water to hide my smile.
“Well, um,” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I don’t really know what to do with any of this.”
His eyes stayed locked on mine.
Neither did he.
I could tell.
Despite the Alpha energy and sheer physical dominance, there was uncertainty in him too.
Like this connection scared him every bit as much as it scared me.
Honestly?
That helped.
A little.
“But I guess,” I continued softly, “I should start by saying thank you.”
“Don’t need to thank me.”
“Still. I mean, you literally ran into a wildfire for me.”
“It’s literally my job,” he said and tried to shrug it off.
“Yeah? Is taking me to my place and holding me on my sofa until I wake up also part of the job?”
Something dark flashed across his face then.
Not regret.
Certainty.
“No, Honey. That part wasn’t the job. That part was instinct.”
“Instinct?”
He nodded.
“But just for the record, I’d do a hell of a lot more than hold you if you’d let me.”
My breath caught.
Oh.
Oh wow.
The silence after that turned thick.
Charged.
The kind that made the air feel heavier.
Wreck rubbed one large hand across the back of his neck suddenly, expression shifting into something almost like anxiety.
Was he nervous? Around me?
That seemed impossible, considering he looked fully capable of wrestling alligators recreationally.
“Gia, will—fuck.”
He stopped abruptly.
Blinking, I tilted my head.
“What?”
His jaw clenched.
Then unclenched.
“Will you go out with me?”
I stared at him.
This terrifying mountain man who’d just dragged me out of a wildfire looked genuinely tense waiting for my answer.
And somehow?
That was the most unexpectedly adorable thing I’d ever seen.
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
His expression immediately darkened.
“Was that funny?”
“No!” I said quickly, trying not to smile. “Okay, maybe a little.”
The Bear inside him rumbled low again.
Not threatening.
Possibly offended.
Hopefully amused.
Which honestly only made him hotter.
“You ask all your near-death rescues out on dates?” I teased lightly.
His gaze dropped briefly to my mouth.
“No.”
The single word settled low in my stomach like heat.
Ah.
Right.
Because I’m different.
Because he called me mate.
This wasn’t casual for him.
Or for me, apparently, considering my stupid Dryad magic was buzzing all around me and my heart was already fluttering like an idiot.
I should say no.
I’d known this guy for like maybe an hour.
He clearly came with emotional baggage, anger issues, and enough dominance to start a small war.
But sitting there semi-wrapped in his coat while his scent surrounded me?
The word no simply refused to form.
“Okay,” I heard myself say.
His entire body stilled.
“Okay?”
I smiled despite myself.
“Yeah, Wreck. I’ll go out with you.”