Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 78(@300wpm)
CHAPTER FOUR
Layla
“So, they’re trying to kill you?!” I say as anger courses through my body. I squeeze the steering wheel and grit my teeth. “All because your bear is a little cranky?”
“More than a little cranky,” he says with a laugh. “He’s out of control.”
“He seemed pretty in control to me.”
“That’s because…”
“What?”
I look at him when he trails off. He really is handsome.
He’s got the kind of face that you look at once and never forget. Maybe it’s the piercing dark brown eyes or the powerful slope of his jaw. It could be the way his nose crinkles when he looks at you with such intensity that it makes your skin tingle or the way his sexy lips curl up when he smiles. Whatever it is, I’ll never forget him. I know that I’ll still be thinking of this day when they’re rolling me into the retirement community rec room for bingo night. I’ll be thinking of this man for a long time.
“What?” I ask again when he doesn’t answer.
“Nothing,” he mumbles as he looks out the window.
“No, you were going to say something. Your bear was different around me, why?”
Still nothing.
Well, fuck this.
I yank the car onto the side of the road and throw it into park. We’re on a secluded mountain road, surrounded by towering pine trees. There’s no one for miles.
He turns to me with amusement in his eyes. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not leaving until you tell me everything.”
“You’re feisty.”
“And you’re frustrating.”
He smiles and despite myself, the edge of my anger and frustration fades. How can I be upset with that sexy face and those warm brown eyes looking at me like that?
“You’re even more amazing than I imagined,” he whispers as he looks at me like no man has ever looked at me before. It makes my heart gallop in my chest and takes my breath away.
“What does that even mean? Why are you always talking so cryptically?”
“It’s just… It’s complicated.”
“I’m a smart girl.”
“I can see that.”
“I’ll understand. Start explaining or you can walk to the hospital.”
He takes a deep breath and sighs. “You really want to know?”
I take the keys out of the ignition and slap them onto the dashboard. He grins as I cross my arms and sit back in my seat. “Start talking.”
“You’ve heard about shifters, right?”
I nod.
“Do you know about their mates?”
I get a shiver. “Yeah, a bit. They’re completely monogamous, right? Only one girl for them?”
“Yes,” he says slowly, “but it’s more than that. A shifter’s mate is like the sun in their galaxy. Everything revolves around them. All the light that shines in the shifter’s life comes from their mate. Without their mate, it’s nothing but darkness.”
I can’t help but think that whoever this guy’s mate is is one lucky girl. I’m a little jealous.
“A mate is everything. It’s a shifter’s reason to live—to love and protect their mate.”
“Okay…”
He takes another deep breath. I like how his muscular chest moves up and down when he breathes like that. I’m kind of happy that those guys didn’t leave more clothes behind. He has a gorgeous body. Those arms are getting me all warm between the legs and that six-pack looks so lickable it’s making my mouth water.
“My bear couldn’t handle life without our mate and he cracked,” he continues. “It was bad. As horrible as that scene back there appeared, those guys were right to be doing what they were doing.”
“No, they weren’t,” I snap in a fierce voice. “You don’t deserve to die, Noah. You or your bear. Don’t ever say that again.”
He drops his eyes, looking like he wants to believe me, but can’t.
“My Kodiak was dangerous and violent. He went on rampages and was unstoppable. Until he saw you.”
I jerk my head back in surprise. “Me? Why?”
He looks at me and it clicks.
“Oh.”
His brown eyes seem almost apologetic.
“We’re…”
“Mates,” he says with a nod.
I stare at him for a long moment and then burst out of the car with my mind racing. I take a deep breath of the fresh mountain air as I look up at the tall pine trees. An eagle soars through the sky then cuts left when it finds something scurrying in the forest below.
Mates… me and him?
It explains the intense feeling of being so drawn to him, of needing to save him, of wanting to please him. It explains the way his bear was looking at me with that warm possessive feeling. It explains a lot.
He gives me a minute and then steps out of the car, looking sexier than ever. He’s only wearing that tattered shirt wrapped around his waist, so I can see everything else—his massive chest, his gorgeous arms, his muscular thighs. I look at his big strong hands and can already picture them on my body, twisting me around and making me moan.