Page 7 of Rough and Rugged

The gentleness in his eyes left, replaced with hard determination and something else I couldn’t decipher.

“No matter.” Beare spun toward his camper, climbed in, and slammed the door.

I hot-footed it back into the house, closed the door, and double locked it with shaky hands. I didn’t know if it would keep Beare out, but he didn’t seem the type who would do any damage or harm others.

Not twenty-four hours in my new place, and I already had problems. I had hoped the transition to my new life would be easy and quiet.

But now, with the jerk-face plopped right next door, then add his cousins, easy and quiet was the last thing I was going to have in my life.

Chapter Five

Beare

Iwassofrustratedwith Axton’s refusal to sell the property to me, and the confusion of what I’d smelled last night, I needed to get away from here and shift out my aggravation.

With great satisfaction, I released my bear, letting the animal be in control for once. I took off into the woods, toward the original bear den of my great-great-great grandfather, who settled here after he and his den migrated down from Canada.

It was hours—maybe a full day before my bear finally tired and slowed. I wasn’t even sure how long I was in animal form before he surrendered to me. But I finally shifted back into my human form when I reached the clearing.

I entered one of the deserted dwellings that hadn’t collapsed, and fell asleep on the bed.

With a slow stretch, I woke to knocking sounds. Through the window, I saw a beech tree and spotted a red-headed woodpecker looking for bugs.

“Getting breakfast,” I grunted. Then my stomach grumbled and my mouth salivated at the idea of food.

I got out of the bed, fixed the covers and stepped out of the cabin. It was barely morning. Though dawn peeked over the horizon, the night still clung on.

I had time to get back to my trailer, shift, clean up and get some breakfast, before Axton would step out of the house.

It would be gratifying to shift to my bear form for another day, but I had work to do before my kin arrived. Besides, I was craving coffee. I shifted back to my bear and headed home.

About a hundred feet away from the camper, I shifted back and, naked as a jay bird, looked around for the clothes I’d peeled off yesterday. A gasp snared my attention. I looked up to see Axton, standing there ghostly white, a basket in his hand and his mouth agape.

Every molecule in my body froze. Had he seen me shift? Was he shocked at my nakedness? I stepped toward him, but he bolted for the house.

Shit. He must have seen me. It was the only reason why he’d take off as though the Huns were after him.

“Axton, wait,” I grated out, but he didn’t turn or stop. I sped up my pace, but kept a few yards back. “I can explain.”

“I’m either having a nightmare and this is some fucked up dream. Or I’m losing it,” he yelled over his shoulder.

I increased my speed until Axton was only a few feet away. “Please, stop. Let me explain.”

He abruptly spun around, but I was faster and stopped only inches before I plowed into him.

“How are you going to explain what I just saw? Or are you going to lie to me? And I’m standing here talking to a naked man.” Axton threw up his hands, turned back around, and stalked toward the house.

Then I sniffed.That same scent. Stronger this time. Sweet and addictive.

I was right about him when I first arrived. There was no doubt now that Axton Fields was my mate. My fated mate. Right then, my bear rushed forth, calling out for his mate with clicking sounds at the back of his throat, but I quickly restrained him.

I tried to calm my bear, but he wasn’t having it. He demanded to be released to go after Axton. With everything in me, I held my bear at bay until the animal understood that I was the one in charge.

Axton was upset now, but add my bear to the mix, and my mate would never want to see me again.

All the times my mother and father had talked about fated mates, and I thought it was all folklore bullshit. Yes, I was a bear shifter, the Alpha of my den. I did believe in magic, and other shifters in world. But with today’s modern amenities, we’d stopped living together in dens, or packs, and some of our instincts had fallen away.

Most of the younger generations—including myself, had forgotten the old ways of living because they’d become obsolete. Hunting for food became easy. Head to the grocery store.