chapter 42

“I need some liquor. This tea shit ain’t gonna cut it.”

“Nita!” Tally burst into laughter.

“What? It’s true!” She remembered her first view of Ky. Half-naked and passed out on his kitchen floor. “As for noticing, no. He’s changed. A lot. He’s all big and buff and...”

“And what?” Tally asked, leaning forward.

“And sexy as hell. He was a cute guy back in school, but he had braces and his hair was kind of long. He was shy so he was always hunched over a little. God!” she hissed. “I must have been really stupid to him. Not knowing he was the one guy I trusted back then.”

“Oh, Nita. I’m sure he had a reason not to tell you.”

“Yeah?” she snapped. “What? Because as far as I’m concerned he was my best friend. You’d think that after the friendship we had he would be acknowledging that right away. Besides,” she huffed. “His sister said he’d been in love with me back then. More of a reason for him to tell me who he was.”

“But honey, men are stupid.”

“Yes, we know that. But he’s smart. This is Ky Stone. He was in advanced classes. About to head off to an early college program. He’s really fucking smart. So he can’t use stupidity as an excuse when he’s a genius. And,” she groaned, shoulders dropping. “Tally he’s so sexy. He did things...”

Tally blinked. “What things?”

A hot shiver ran down her spine. “Things no man had ever done with his tongue. I swear my legs melted to the floor the first time we had sex.”

“Damn, girl!”

“Why would he do this?” she asked herself more than Tally. Ky had changed. Not just physically. He was hiding things from her. That’s not something the younger version of him had ever done. They’d been honest with each other. There had been more than just friendship between them. A special bond had formed and now she wondered if what she felt was all an illusion. An illusion created by the new Ky Stone. A lie.

“I think you need to talk to him.”

“If I see him, I won’t be responsible for my actions.” Already she visualized smacking him upside the head with her frying pan. That would teach the bear to mess with her. She didn’t care that he was bigger and buffer than her. She had Latin genes on her side.

“Stop and think for a second. He treated you so well while you were up there with him. You had a great time. You got to know each other,” Tally said suggestively. “In every sense of the word.”

“I also opened up to him. I told him things only you know.”

“I’m sorry, prima.” Tally placed a hand over Nita’s on the table, squeezing her in an attempt at comfort. “We’ll figure it out. If you need me to go up there and castrate him, say the word.”

Tally had grown a lot more aggressive since her mating to the two wolf shifters. It helped Nita feel better to know her cousin had her back. Not that she wanted to truly hurt Ky. The more she thought about it, the more she worried she’d developed more than just feelings of attraction for him. She’d never felt so hurt or distraught over a man. It didn’t matter that she’d only spent a handful of days with him. Ky was an anomaly. He’d slipped in through the cracks and gave her emotions a run for their money.

She hated to admit it, but she feared she fell in love with him. This was so not the way things were supposed to go.

* * *

Ky tried again to reach Nita. Nothing. They’d had an amazing time together. He couldn’t figure out what happened. His cell phone rang just as he was getting ready to leave his house.

“Liam?”

“I’m down by the river. There’s a group of outsiders here.”

“I’m coming,” he growled.

He’d decide on Nita later. As it was, the fishing problem needed resolution.

He stripped out of his clothes and dashed out of the cabin. No more asking nicely. The bear grunted, ready to take control. As he ran, the shift took over. His bear roared the moment he was out. Anger over his missing woman and now the trespassers meant the bear wanted to knock some heads off.

He arrived at the river bend in time to catch David and Liam fighting

with some brown bears. They didn’t seem to be from the neighboring clan. He roared loud for all to hear.

The fight didn’t stop but two of the bears left, scared. Then Ky noticed a large brown bear off to the side, watching him. The brown made a dash for Ky.

Ky waited for the other bear to reach him, he knew that scent. It was a neighbor from two clans down the mountain. He’d been in talks with them for use of the river once in a while, but nothing definite had been decided. It seemed they’d taken it upon themselves to go fishing at his river anyway.

The bear swung, digging his claws into Ky’s fur. Ky’s bear roared with rage. He bit and shoved at the other animal, doing some serious damage with his own claws. Black bears were the most dangerous out there. They shoved back and forth, Ky biting on the side of the brown bear’s muzzle.

Roars and growls sounded all around. His attention was focused on the brown trying to best him. The brown huffed, tackling Ky and trying to take him down. Unfortunately for him, Ky wasn’t Chief of his clan just for show. He tackled with his guards all the time for fighting practice. Ky slammed a giant claw on the brown’s neck. The brown pulled back, almost falling on his back but he regained his balance. A loud pain-filled roar sounded from the brown. Ky bit down on his neck. The brown pushed away at the same moment Ky knocked him on the side with his claw.

The brown bled from the neck wound. The bastard didn’t give in though.

“Get off of my land.” Ky growled through their animal link. He slammed into the side of the brown and took him down.

The brown shoved back, finally knocking Ky on his ass.

They were both on their feet in seconds, Ky shoving and biting at the other bear’s muzzle once again.

The brown tried using his claws to inflict pain in Ky’s side, but the anger over the trespass and even worse, his frustration over his missing mate, kept him from dwelling on the pain.

Ky hit the bear on the shoulder where he’d bitten, to add to the pain he knew the intruder felt. The brown bit into Ky’s arm. Fiery throbbing took hold of his limb. Ky didn’t stop, he used the moment to his advantage and once again burrowed his canines into the brown. The metallic taste of the enemy’s blood hit his tongue. It pushed the bear even more into a feral state of mind.

He shoved at the brown, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground. The enemy huffed, kicked at Ky’s stomach and tried to get him off.

Ky jabbed his claws into the bear’s arms and pushed him further on his back. He bit the side of the brown’s head, tearing at one of the bear’s ears.

The brown shook, trying to get out of his hold but only managed to get a massive gash on the side of his face. Loud roaring sounded from all over.

“We’ll go!” the brown finally whimpered.

“If you come back, I won’t let you walk out of here alive,” Ky promised, still holding the brown down. “Do you understand?”

“Yes,” the other man mumbled between whimpers of pain.

Ky stood and roared loud. A warning to those standing there fighting his men. If they returned, there would be no getting out alive.

The group left. One limped away, the other helped carry the bear Ky had almost killed.

He, David and Liam stood there, watching the intruders go for a few minutes before finally shifting back into their human bodies. They had some gashes, and in Liam’s case, a pretty ugly wound on his side, but overall they were fine.

They dove into the chilly river water to bathe the blood off their bodies.