Stolen by her Bear (Black Ridge Bears Shifter Romance Series Book 1) Read online

  He stalked through the trees, ditching moving stealthily when he sensed three males ahead of him. When he rounded a bend in the path, he spotted a cabin on the right hand side of it, and the three cougars on the deck of it. He recognised both Cobalt and Storm as the two with Rath.

  While Rath had dark hair, his two younger brothers were closer to blond, with Storm’s short hair a sandy brown colour and Cobalt’s nearer to platinum. Storm was the biggest of the three by far, his broad build unmistakable as he stood halfway up a ladder Cobalt was holding, stringing up coloured lights on the front of the cabin.

  Rath stilled at the same time as his brothers, his grey eyes swinging towards Saint as he prowled towards them, emerging from the shadows. The big cougar male slowly set the box he had been picking through down near a lamp on the deck and stepped off it, onto the path.

  “Saint.” Rath nodded, a frown etched on his face as he moved to stand a few feet in front of the cabin, placing himself between Saint and his brothers.

  Always the alpha. Always taking care of his pride and keeping them safe. Rath was a good male. He would do the right thing, or Saint would convince him to do it.

  Saint flicked a glance at Cobalt as he turned to face him and Storm as the male dropped to his booted feet beside him, and then set his gaze back on Rath.

  “You mind keeping it down a little? Some of us are trying to have our winter sleep.” Saint held Rath’s gaze, ignoring the two younger cougars as they moved as one, coming to the edge of the deck.

  Attempting to intimidate him.

  The more rational part of him—the more human part—ignored their threat, uninterested in starting a fight with them and sure Rath wouldn’t let it get that far. He would keep control of his brothers and keep the peace.

  The side of him that was ruled by his bear instincts growled, had him gearing up for a fight, assessing the brothers to decide which to deal with first.

  “Sorry—” Rath started.

  “Not sorry,” Storm snarled and jerked his chin towards Saint. “Fuck this guy. I got to remind you that he tried to kidnap Gabi?”

  Rath looked over his shoulder at his younger brother and Saint could almost see him changing his mind, knew in that instant that the alpha was going to side with his brothers when he had looked ready to agree to keep the noise down before Storm had spoken.

  As much as Saint hated admitting he had been wrong, as bitter as it tasted on his tongue, he lined up an apology about what he had done with Gabi, intending to explain the reason he had been in such a bad mood and that he had never intended to do anything to hurt her, had only meant to scare her a little to make her talk and confess whether she was a hunter or not.

  He didn’t get a chance to issue that apology or explanation.

  Cobalt growled and stared Saint down, a flicker of gold emerging in his grey eyes. “You know you almost killed Flint. He would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for Yasmin. You deserve fuck all from us.”

  Guilt gnawed at Saint’s gut upon hearing that, the regret that had flared inside him upon thinking about his actions with Gabi increasing tenfold as he thought about his fight with the cougar male. He hadn’t realised Flint had been injured that badly. He amended his apology, adding one about Flint too, and opened his mouth to let it tumble from his lips, sure it would be enough to convince Rath and his kin to be a little more considerate about the noise.

  Storm spat on the ground near Saint’s boots and glared at him.

  Saint’s bear side roared to the fore, wrenched control from him in a heartbeat as anger surged through him, had a growl rolling up his throat and fur rippling over his skin.

  “Your brother came to Black Ridge to pick a fight. He got what he deserved.” Those words came out as a vicious snarl, heavy with the rage that curled through him as he thought about that fight, as he thought about how the cougar had violated his territory—and his balls.

  And now he and his brothers were violating the sanctity of his winter sleep.

  “Yeah, and now you’re getting what you deserve.” Cobalt dropped off the edge of the deck and squared up to him, and the temptation to put the cougar in his place was strong, had Saint close to slamming a right hook into his pretty face.

  Saint looked at Rath, sure he would have something to say.

  Sure he would be the reasonable one out of the three and do what was right.

  Rath just looked at his brothers.

  Saint roared at him as he said nothing, as he turned to face him again and stared at him in the same way his brothers were, silently giving him his answer.

  He wasn’t going to order his pride to keep the noise down.

  He wasn’t going to be reasonable.

  Saint forced himself to turn away, the jibes Storm and Cobalt threw at his back rousing his anger to new heights, until his blood thundered in his veins and his bear side overruled the human part of him, clouding his thoughts and pushing them down a single path.

  If the cougars weren’t going to be reasonable, then he wouldn’t be reasonable either.

  He strode through the forest, picking up speed as his mind churned and he seethed with a need to make the cougars pay. Fur rippled over his skin again beneath his clothes, his bones aching as his muscles coiled tight.

  If they wouldn’t let him sleep, then he wasn’t going to let their celebration take place. He would find a way to ruin it somehow. His thoughts blurred, a mash of ideas that tangled together as he growled, as his fangs elongated and a need to shift ran through him. Pleasing images of turning back and fighting the three males filled his mind, had him losing awareness of the world as he sank into them.

  He snarled as the hairs on his nape rose and his senses sharpened, yanking him back to the present.

  He looked around himself, expecting to find himself back at the Ridge.

  Stared at the raised cabin at the top of a small clearing.

  A noise off to his left had him shrinking back into the shadows. His heart drummed harder, blood pumping faster and hotter as a familiar figure exited the trees just a short distance from him, humming to herself.

  She looked up as the first flakes of snow began to fall, lowered her head and tugged her hood up as she wandered towards the cabin, heading straight past Saint.

  Oblivious to him.

  Deep brown fur rippled over his skin as he smelled her.

  Sweet berries.

  Laced with Cobalt’s scent.

  Instincts roared to life inside him, stole control of him before he could yank back on the reins.

  Saint launched from his hiding place.

  And snatched her from behind.

  Chapter 4

  Holly tried to scream as someone grabbed her from behind, but a strong hand clamped down on her mouth, pressing her black scarf to her face and smothering her. Her legs flailed as he lifted her, waves of tingles rushing through her as her heart started at a pace, as her mind struggled to process what was happening.

  Trees swept past her as the male hauled her backwards into the forest.

  Her eyes widened as she watched them disappearing faster and faster into the distance, as she heard the deep huffing snarl of the male who had grabbed her.

  Her mind came back online in a flash.

  She kicked her legs out, bucking her body forwards with each lunge of her feet, slowly wriggling free of his grip. He put an end to that by banding an arm around her stomach, crushing her lungs as he pinned her back against his front. She fought harder, refusing to give up, refusing to let the male take her.

  A bear.

  He had to be a bear.

  All the tales the brothers had told her about their neighbours collided in her mind, filling it with terrifying images of what this male might do to her.

  Rather than making her shut down and shrink away in fear, it only made her fight harder. She kicked at his knees with her heels, battering them whenever he took a step. He grunted as his right one gave out and he went down, dragging her with him. A root jabbed into her rig
ht side through her coat and she grunted too, the sound muffled by his hand and her scarf. She struggled to breathe and found she couldn’t with the material pressed against her nose.

  Panic finally set in.

  She wriggled, managed to jimmy her left arm free and hit the male in the gut with her elbow. He didn’t even grunt. He certainly didn’t release her. She struck again, winced when her elbow hit a stomach as hard as a rock. Realising she wasn’t going to escape him by hitting him, she took hold of his hand that covered her mouth, scratched and clawed at it as she tried to prise it away from her face.

  He pulled her onto her feet, twisted with her and began walking forwards instead, each long stride jostling her as she wriggled and kept scratching at his hand. Her head fogged, thoughts blurring as oxygen became an issue.

  Rather than trying to get his hand off her face, she pulled at the dangling lengths of her scarf instead, managing to tug it from beneath his hand. The second the thick material was clear of her nose, she breathed deeply, savouring each one as her head cleared, strength returning to her limbs as oxygen flowed into her blood.

  She summoned that strength, focused on her body so she was ready to shift the moment she had enough.

  Pulled down another breath.

  Her head fogged again as his scent hit her.

  Earthy, with a hint of cedar and snow.

  Something primal inside her fired to life, had a growl rumbling up her throat and made her restless, but it wasn’t a need to fight him she felt.

  Holly locked up tight, too stunned by the heat that had ignited in her veins to do anything but hang limp in his arms, breathing in that scent in a desperate need for more, as if she couldn’t get enough of it. The urge to shift dropped away, the thought of fighting him replaced with something infinitely more frightening.

  They reached the edge of the woods and she spotted cabins in a clearing, a lone one to the right of the fire and two near the forest to the left of it.

  The bears’ territory.

  A need to fight obliterated the primal hunger that had swept through her as the male carried her towards the lone cabin. She growled against his palm as she kicked his legs, snarled in frustration when he evaded each attempt to take them out again.

  The desperate urge to fight grew stronger as two males who sat beside the fire stood and eyed her. They were strikingly similar. Twins, if she had to guess. She didn’t like the way the one on the left looked at her, his face darkening as firelight flickered over it.

  The one on the right took a step towards her, or at least the male who was holding her. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Back off,” the brute behind her growled, his deep voice rolling like thunder across the land and shaking her deeply.

  What he said next shook her deeper still, had blind panic rushing through her.

  “I have plans for the female.”

  Plans?

  Her eyes widened and she threw a pleading look at the one who had spoken, fought with all her might as the one who held her marched her up a set of steps to the deck of the lone cabin. The blond male looked as if he wanted to say something, wanted to do something, but the one beside him grabbed his arm and he looked at him instead.

  That bastard shook his head.

  Holly yelled against the palm of the male who held her, her words muffled by it, and lifted her legs to brace her boots against either side of the doorframe as she came within reach of it. She pushed hard against it, refusing to let him get her into his cabin. He growled and twisted with her, so she was facing the woods again, and her breaths came faster as he hauled her backwards into the cabin.

  She angled her feet outwards, desperately tried to hook the toes of her boots on the doorframe, growled when she managed it and the bear easily kept on pulling her into the cabin.

  Holly reacted on instinct.

  Bit into his palm.

  “Son of a—” He turned and tossed her into the cabin.

  She cried out as she slammed into a worn brown couch, bounced off it and hit the wooden floor, catching her right elbow on the small coffee table and landing on her back.

  Bear loomed over her, darkness reigning in his deep chocolate eyes as they narrowed, the left one tugging on a scar that intersected his eyebrow and continued down his jaw to the thick mass of beard that covered the lower half of his face.

  Holly scrambled backwards like a crab, heart thundering and breath rushing from her.

  He glared down at his palm and then back at her.

  Bear yanked his hat off, revealing shaggy brown hair and the scar that continued upwards on his forehead. He tossed it aside and his coat followed it, and Holly was quick to dive behind the end of the couch furthest from him, placing it between them.

  Fear tried to seize control again but she breathed through it, scowled at the brute and kept her focus on him, even as her eyes darted around the cabin, never straying from him for more than a heartbeat.

  There had to be a way out.

  Maybe if she screamed loud enough, her pride would hear her.

  That thought went out of the only window when the bear advanced on her, a six-seven formidable wall of muscle packed into a black and green checked fleece that hugged impossibly large biceps.

  His arms flexed as he clenched his fists and a drop of blood squeezed from between his fingers. She stared at it as it fell to the floor, as it splashed onto the wooden boards, losing track of the world as a strange need came over her. She breathed deeply, caught his scent and growled as it roused a need to fight.

  Bear cocked an eyebrow at her. “Threatening me now?”

  His deep baritone rolled over her, sending a thousand arcs of electricity tripping over her skin.

  She hadn’t been threatening him, but it was better he read it that way than interpret her growl in the right one. She had the terrible feeling her cougar side hadn’t meant it as a threat at all. It wanted him. She wanted him. Oh gods, this couldn’t get any more messed up. She had spent years feeling she was dysfunctional and doomed to a lonely life, and now every inch of her was on fire for a male who had kidnapped her.

  There was something seriously wrong with her.

  Her body locked up tight as he stalked towards her, refused to move no matter how desperately she tried to run. She could only stare at him as he closed the distance between them, his eyes holding hers, filled with anger.

  The brute shoved the hood of her coat back.

  Her eyes widened and she braced herself, almost curled into herself and away from him, but stood her ground at the last second.

  Mostly because he suddenly stilled.

  Just stared at her.

  Her heart slowly settled as she stared right back at him, her breathing coming easier and her muscles loosening enough that she could probably make a break for it without tripping on her own feet.

  Only she couldn’t move.

  She stood as frozen as he was, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like how her gaze refused to leave him or how her blood quickened at the sight of him, at the scent of him.

  She didn’t like the fact she couldn’t seem to bring herself to attack him.

  “Why did you kidnap me?” she bit out, feeling a little braver as he continued to just stand there, showing no sign that he wanted to hurt her.

  He didn’t answer her, just raked a slow look over her that heated her blood. Panic. That was what was making her hot all over. Not that leisurely once-over he was giving her. Not that look in his eyes that screamed he liked what he saw.

  He reached for the zipper of her dark purple jacket.

  Holly slapped his hand away, hitting it hard enough that her palm stung, and was quick to move, placing the couch between them again.

  His dark eyebrows pinched hard and he advanced on her, trying to close the distance between them again. She refused to let it happen this time, kept on moving at the same pace as he was, circling the couch.

  Realising she had passed the damned door and for some damned reason
hadn’t made a lunge for it.

  Bear growled and went over the couch, and she shrieked as he grabbed her and twisted her towards him. Holly hit him with everything she had, managed to gain enough room to clock him pretty hard in his face with her fist. He grunted and growled, banded his arms around her and hauled her against his chest.

  “Settle down.”

  His deep voice rolled over her again. Lush. Warming.

  She pushed through that weird haziness she felt whenever he spoke and kept fighting him.

  “What do you plan to do with me?” She shoved against his chest, kicked him in his instep and weathered another rumbling growl.

  She kicked again, missing her target this time. Her foot landed behind his just as she shoved him with all her might, as he went to adjust his grip on her. Her eyes flew wide as he lost that grip on her and toppled over the back of the couch, hit his chin on the cushion and his shoulder on the coffee table.

  He snarled.

  Shook his head as he shoved his palms to the floor and pushed back onto his feet.

  “I just want to sleep,” he growled, his face darker than ever as he flicked a glare at her. “I asked nicely.”

  “Sleep then,” she barked. “But you’re not sleeping with me!”

  She dodged him when he sprang at her, stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a heavy skillet from the stove. She twisted as she sensed him behind her, grimaced as she swung and smashed the flat of the cast iron pan into the side of his head. He staggered to his left and sank against the counter, his left arm resting on it to support him as his knees buckled.

  Blood trickled down the right side of his head.

  Holly ran for the other end of the room as he growled, cursed herself again when she realised she had gone straight past the door. What was wrong with her?

  “I was sleeping.” His deep voice was a rumble of thunder, a warning that a storm was coming and she was going to get caught up in it, and it was all her fault.

  She should have run out of the door when she had the chance.

  Bear twisted towards her, his eyes as dark as midnight. “You damned cougars woke me up. You woke us all up.”