Chapter Four Desiree
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I struggle to pull in a breath, still so turned on that it’s taking everything in me not to climb up his long, tall body like he’s a jungle gym.
His lean, dark and muscular body paces like a panther up the steps. He’s a beautiful man. Dark and seductive. His deep eyes glow again in the shadow of the porch and I squint at him, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I’ve never seen anything like that before.
He opens the door and waves me through. I walk in and study the room. It’s warm and inviting. Masculine. Just a little stark and bare. It could use a woman’s touch for sure.
I turn around and hold my hand out when he starts to stalk up to me. “Wait! Don’t touch me. Just tell me what you need to tell me.”
He sighs and then grins mischievously. I can feel my heart skip a beat. He looks like a naughty little boy.
“Would you mind if I put some clothes on? I’d rather not have you grill me naked.”
Red tinges my cheeks again. “Oh. Right. Yes. Please go put on some clothes. That would be better.”
Liar, I chide myself. I absolutely do not think it would be better.
My whole body physically revolts at just the thought of him covering up that gorgeous, muscular body.
I can see dark hair curling on his chest and trailing down where it disappears under the blanket.
I want to trail my fingers through it, wrap them in it and tug it until he hisses out and wraps his fingers in my hair again.
Kisses me until I can’t even breathe. Until I’m so lost in the moment that I can’t think.
I can only feel his hard lips on mine. Our breaths mingling, harsh and raspy with need.
I jerk myself around and stare at a wall, trying to pull myself together. “I’ll just wait here.”
He moves closer and I can feel his breath across my shoulder when he leans over, whispering in my ear. “You can watch if you want to. I won’t mind.”
“I will,” I groan and my hands clench at my sides. He’s tormenting me. And I want him to stop. Want him to keep making that dark chill dance over my overheated skin. I don’t know what I want. But I want it from him.
He laughs softly, harshly in my ear. “Baby, one of these days, you’ll beg to watch me strip.”
“You’re not stripping. You’re getting dressed,” I answer logically, trying to pull my brain out of the fog of lust masking my thoughts.
“Semantics.” He stands up and stalks across the room.
I drag in a breath, feeling for the first time since I met him like I can think.
Immediately my eyes wander around the big, open room.
A fire crackles on the hearth and I move closer, chilled since he moved away from me.
An ache settles on my chest and I rub at my heart absently.
My arms are heavy and my legs feel like wet noodles.
I fall into a leather armchair in front of the hearth.
I’ve never felt so weak and shaky. I run a hand through my hair and fan my cheeks.
I’m still flushed. Still achy and needy and I don’t know what’s going on.
I thought there was no way I’d ever be attracted to a man.
I’ve had men attracted to me and I could feel it but mostly it just made my stomach turn. I’m far from that with Austin.
At the same time I know he’s lying and I don’t trust what I’m feeling because of that.
“Better, princess?” That smooth, velvety voice sighs in my head like thunder. Immediately my nipples tighten and that achy need pulses in my belly and down to my clit.
“I’m not a princess,” I grunt desperately. I need to get myself under control. I’m being unprofessional and it’s already hard to do my job with a bunch of macho men that think they need to protect the little lady. Even though I’m taller and wider than a lot of them.
“You’re my princess.” He comes closer and I can feel that dark thread of lust start to wrap around me, tugging at my heart.
He moves to stand in front of me and I can’t stop myself from looking up into his face, shadowed by the firelight behind him. He’s a huge, intimidating shadow of a man and he actually does make me feel dainty. Feminine. Out of control.
I draw in a breath and release it in a shallow hiss. “What is going on, Austin?”
“With the murder or with us?”
“With the murder first?” I put off the inevitable desperately.
I can see his lips tips up and he sighs. “Fine.” He folds his long body into an armchair across from the one I’m in.
“That man is our foreman. Harvey. Harvey Daniels.” His dark eyes turn inward and I can see a glimpse of pain shadowing them.
“He…was a good man. A man that suffered every day of his life after his wife and children died. He used to say that he wouldn’t really be able to live again until he was with her.
Until he died.” He sighs and I can see the plaid flannel shirt that he’s wearing straining with the breath.
Damn, he’s big.
“Anyway. He disappeared a few days ago. He’s always been reliable so we had no idea what happened to him. Couldn’t find him anywhere on the ranch.”
I pull my notebook out. “So…Friday was the last day you saw him?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“And none of you thought it was strange if he’s so reliable?”
“Yeah, we did. But he’s a grown man. And he’s had a lot of trouble handling the losses he’s had.”
“How did his wife and children die?”
“His wife and two kids were were killed in a car accident. He was working and she didn’t want to bother him but their daughter was sick.
She tried to drive into town to the doctor’s while a storm was moving in.
Flash flood washed away part of the road and took their truck with it.
We found them a few days later. They never even made it out of the truck. ”
“I’m so sorry.” I can feel tears in my eyes and I push them back. I need to get myself under control. I’ve never been so emotional. Like my nerves are rubbed raw and exposed.
I clear my throat. “So…did he go anywhere on Friday night?”
“He usually went to the bar so I assume that’s where he was going.” He shrugs his big, wide shoulders. My mouth goes dry and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
“Okay. Is that all you know about the body?” I’m not sure I believe him but I ask anyway.
“The other part is something to do with us.” His dark eyes search mine and I try to mask my need for him.
“There is no us,” I say.
“Oh, there’s definitely an us,” he argues back. “And there’s a future for us. You’re my future wife. As long as you can handle what I’m going to tell you next.”
“Are you the killer?” I laugh.
“I don’t know.”
My mouth drops open and I stare at him. “You think you might be the killer?” My hand drops to my gun and I feel my breath stop in my throat. Terror dances along my spine.
He shakes his dark head but his eyes won’t meet mine. “I-I don’t think so. Not really.”
“Then what exactly are you saying?” I ask, still tense and uneasy.
“I’m saying I smelled my scent around him. I don’t know why. I don’t remember anything for the last few days. I shifted and it’s all a blur after that.”
“Did you hit your head?” I pull up. “Wait, what do you mean…you shifted?”
He sighs deeply and I can’t help but watch, fascinated as his broad chest expands. “That’s the other part of the story. Or part of the story.”
“I’m a shifter. Bear shifter specifically. All of us are. And that man was killed by a shifter.”
“Y-you’re a bear and your bear killed a man?” Hysteria tugs at me. Oh my god! The first man I’ve ever wanted and he’s a crazy lunatic killer! Only me! I swear to heaven!
“I don’t think so. I’m sure I would remember that. And there was no blood on me when you found me. If I had killed Harvey I’m sure I would have been covered with blood.”
I purse my lips and try not to let the hysterical laugh that’s bubbling up my throat out. “Sure. Then why do you think you killed him?”
“I don’t think I did. But my scent was around the body so I was definitely there sometime in the last few days. Or my bear was.”
“Maybe he was hurt and you killed him accidentally?”
“I just told you…” His flashing silver eyes slew to mine. “No blood.”
“Right. No blood.” I can’t think. What is going on here?
“Why do you think you’re a bear?”
“Because I am,” he replies. His words are strong and unflappable. Like he’s telling the truth.
But that’s not possible.
I shake my head. “Nobody’s a were animal. There’s no such thing.”
He chuckles but there’s no humor in it. “I swear there’s way more in this area than you think.”
I feel like I’m poised at the edge of a cliff.
“And the really good part is that you’re my mate. The woman I’ve waited hundreds of years for. The other part of my soul.”
My brain latches onto the most significant part of that sentence. “Wait. Centuries? How old are you?”
“Two hundred eighty-nine. My brothers are all younger than me.”
I stare at him, wide-eyed. “But…but you look thirty-three maybe. Mid-thirties for sure.”
“We age differently. In your years I’m about thirty-five.”
“My years? You mean human?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re not human?”
“Nope.”
I wrestle with the weird feelings of longing, need and lust. Confusion swirls through the fog he starts every time he’s near me.
“I don’t believe you.”
His lip quirks up on one side. “Wanna see me shift?”
“No! No way.” I can’t breathe. Something’s wrong with me. With him. With us. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
“I will. I’ll just have to take my clothes off. If I shift wearing clothes, I’ll tear these up. It’s hell on my wardrobe.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, that’s the big concern.”
“Mate? What does that mean?” I ask, wondering if I’ve lost my mind.
“Do you feel a pull to me? A need for me to touch you? To make love to you? A tingling in your throat where I want to put my mark?”
I shake my head, lying through my teeth.
My hand reaches up to cover the side of my throat where I see his eyes touch.
I feel all of it. My skin tingles and burns on the left side of my throat right where it meets my shoulder.
It’s worse when he’s talking but it never goes away. Not since I first saw him.
He stands up and stalks over to me, his steps light and sure. I stand and put the chair between us. “Wh-what are you doing?”
His head cocks to the side and he smirks at me. “You sound nervous, little mate.”
“Little?” I snort. “Nobody has ever called me little.”
“You’re just a little bit of a thing.”
Wide-eyed and feeling that tug in my belly again at the heat in his eyes, I watch him come closer. I should back away. Should run away. But I don’t. I stand and watch him, enthralled with the sheer physical beauty of him. Then his eyes flash golden and I yell and point.
“There it is! What is that?”
He growls, “What?”
“And you’re growling?” What the hell is wrong with this guy?
“That’s my bear. He likes you. A lot,” he snarls. “I’m barely holding him back from meeting you.”
I back-pedal quickly, forgetting about the fireplace until he snarls again and then jumps to catch me and pull me back.
I fall into his chest and struggle to catch my breath.
My fingers curl in the soft fabric on his chest and he growls under his breath.
I tilt my head back and stare up into his golden eyes, seeing the flash of long white canines when he curls his lips at me.
My heart thunders against my ribs as I realize that what I felt all along is real. He’s telling the truth. And if he’s telling the truth about that? Am I his mate? Is that why this strange ache plagues me and my body desperately wants him to take me?
His lips crash down on mine and I feel the sting of his sharp tooth scraping my lips and tongue while he devours me.
A long, low moan tears from my throat and I can’t stop myself. I wrap one leg around his hip and practically try to climb him, my hands scrabbling to wedge myself as close to him as possible.
Need rears its head, bringing me to a shaking, wobbly mess completely out of control.
He leans over me and that’s the last thing that I see before I he takes me to the floor, his body covering mine, my eyes closed, mind whirling.