Bear-ly Spring Read online

  “I did not steal your…” The vampire snorted his contempt for her, so she turned her eyes towards the bigger man – literally. “I did not take his damn wallet!”

  “You know what he is, right?” Jethro offered down the female…

  “Yes,” she sneered back. She was only too aware of that fact now – it might have been helpful to know it ten minutes earlier…

  “Then you get that he can read your mind…?” Jethro offered and watched her open her mouth with a comeback answer and then pause for thought…

  “O.” She offered back lamely and to nobody in particular.

  “O indeed!” Nash said; holding out his hand for her to hand it over.

  Alana grimaced…

  “I need my arm…” She tried to snatch it away, but he made a point of holding onto it for a moment longer to prove his point.

  “Do not try to outrun me…” Nash grumbled.

  “What … do I have stupid tattooed on my backside?” She grumbled as she finally got control back of her arm and reached into her bag…

  “I would not be surprised…” Nash said as he rolled his eyes and shot a look back at Jethro. “A female is a female…”

  “And yet this one has sticky fingers…” Jethro offered back.

  “I do not have…” she bit down on those words as the realisation of just how useless they were now slapped her around the back of the head.

  “As I said, a female is a female…” Nash wiggled his eyebrows and showered Jethro was a mischievous grin. Jethro knew just what the man had in mind…

  “He’s already met his mate.” Jethro folded his large arms across his chest and eyed the woman as she tossed around the contents of the giant bag…

  “Yes, met… but not yet mated. It was the first to mate…”

  “Not going to happen, Nash.” Jethro said as he dropped his hands to his sides and turned back towards his truck on a sigh.

  “Oh look, my wallet… thank you…” Nash ground out as he snatched it from between her fingers.

  “I was hungry, ok?” Alana bit out, and Jethro could tell that was the truth by the sound of her voice. Either that or she was a damned good actress.

  His bear grumbled within him. A hungry female … that was never good…

  “Ha! Even now you can’t get over that soft spot, can you?” Nash chuckled at the sight of his friend.

  The man now looked as if he wanted to head-butt the roof of his truck.

  “You really hungry or just playing us?” Jethro didn’t want to know, but as his bear was starting to get antsy over it, he had thought that he’d better ask the question.

  “No, I’m lying,” She bit out, and right on cue her stomach rumbled.

  Jethro groaned to himself. That was all that he needed and now of all times … still, he guessed that if she stole anything from him then he wasn’t going to miss it. He’d be leaving most of his stuff behind anyway.

  “Get in the damn truck,” Jethro growled out.

  “I stole a wallet, I didn’t offer services for food…” she hissed back.

  “Maybe you should,” Nash offered, and the bear shifter growled, “at least it would be more honest.” Nash said to the shifter as he turned to toss him a glare.

  “Mind your manners around the lady,” Jethro growled.

  “Lady…?” Nash protested.

  “Yeah,” Alana grinned, lifting her chin as her eyes shone with mischief. “The lady…”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ~

  “When I see one I will do just that,” Nash offered back.

  “Get in.” Jethro motioned to the passenger door and Alana arched her eyebrows expectantly.

  “Aren’t you going to open the door for me, as I’m a lady, and all?” She was enjoying this, maybe a little more than she should have considering who she was dealing with and what they’d caught her doing.

  “Don’t push your…” Nash started, but Jethro had little time for games.

  On a loud sigh; he took matters into his own hands as he stalked around the truck and yanked open the passenger door. Then he motioned for her to get her backside in…

  Alana lifted her chin so high that she couldn’t see the ground where she was walking. The toes of her booted foot caught in a pothole and she was suddenly pitching towards Jethro … He reached out an arm and caught her with ease.

  “Thanks…” She breathed out, trying to catch her breath and get her head on straight…

  That was when Jethro did the stupidest thing in the damn world and scented her… He didn’t even know why he did what he did when he did it … all he knew was that his bear roared within his very soul…

  Mine…

  “Oh hell no!” Jethro growled out, and the vampire’s head snapped to one side so hard that the sound of bone clicking echoed in his head…

  “Her!” Nash lifted an accusing finger and pointed it at the woman. “The thief!” He tossed his head back on his neck and roared with laughter at the sight of pure shock and horror on Jethro’s face…

  “No, no, no, no, no, no, no…!” The bear shifter was shaking his head from side to side as if he was trying to shake the water off his bear’s fur…

  “Someone wanna let me in on the joke – not a joke…?” Alana asked, as she placed her palms against the big man’s chest and tried to push away from him, but vampire of shifter, the death grip was about the damn same when you were trying to get out of it.

  “Oh, but fate is a wicked mistress!” Nash grinned at the sight of the big, bad bear shifter’s face – he didn’t think he’d seen such a helpless – hapless look on the man since he was a cub.

  ~

  ~

  ~

  Elijah stood facing the outside world. His body was blocking the emergency exit at the back of the store and his back was to two human’s that hadn’t stopped chattering since his brother had stalked away to lick his wounds.

  While he was more than willing to accept fate’s intervention in the issues surrounding his kin that had been hanging over him for so long – losing his home, moving away from the mountain and starting over somewhere new – he wasn’t entirely sure that having a human mate was the answer to his prayers.

  Human females were so fragile. She looked particularly pixie like in stature next to him – what if he broke her?

  What if she didn’t want to mate with him and rejected him? That would leave the door firmly open for him to go crazy bear…

  “Him!” Andy snorted a chuckle.

  “It’s no laughing matter, Andy,” Nathan berated her.

  He flicked his eyes to where Elijah stood and saw the way that the man held himself. He knew that Elijah could hear them well enough, and his stance said that he wasn’t happy.

  Nobody was damn happy!

  If he’d had to pick a mate for Andy from the two brothers it wouldn’t have been Elijah. The man was a bad mood bear of the worst kind.

  The two men were polar opposites. Where Elijah was brooding and sullen, Jethro embraced life and those around him.

  That wasn’t to say that Jethro couldn’t be hard and set in his ways – couldn’t fight like a demon – he could, but the thought of Andy being a mate to either man wasn’t exactly a match that he’d hope for, but Jethro would have been more suited to her ways.

  “I’m not interested in an arranged marriage … sorry, mating!” Andy snorted again. “Tell fate thanks but no thanks. I’ll choose my own partner should the time ever come when I want to settle down.”

  Elijah’s bear growled within him at her words. There it was; her first rejection of him.

  It was only natural that a human would balk at the idea of soul mates, and he’d need to woo her like any human male wooed a wife, but it didn’t sting any less to hear it, especially for his bear.

  “It doesn’t work like that.” Nathan grumbled with a slow shake of his head.

  He blamed himself for bringing her to the mountain, but trouble had been afoot for her at home and having some time out
at the mountain was supposed to do her good.

  The idea that she could get in any real trouble on the mountain had been a distant one. Now this … Nathan wasn’t best pleased, and his sister Annabel wouldn’t be either.

  “That guy is a misogynistic butthole…” Andy raised a hand and pointed at Elijah’s back, and was caught only briefly in the man’s dark gaze as he tossed a scowl back at her from over his shoulder, before returning his attention back to the fresh air outside.

  “As much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Andy, you’re not all sweetness and light yourself.” Nathan reminded her.

  “Gee, thanks.” She tossed the man a look of pure disbelief. “But that’s not a reason to feed me to the damn bear, now is it, Uncle?”

  There was a sour tone that mixed with the sarcasm in her voice, and it rubbed Elijah up the wrong way, even if he was a little amused by her turn of phrase. His bear wasn’t best pleased by her choice of words, and the beast took offence that she’d thought he would harm one hair on her head … intentionally.

  “You make it sound like there’s a choice,” Nathan grumbled.

  “There’s a choice.” Elijah’s deep voice sounded as if the man had munched on gravel for breakfast, and it snatched her attention back towards him.

  “See! There’s a choice.” Andy backed up her words with a nod.

  “If we want a crazy…” Nathan started, but Elijah turned fast to glare at the man.

  “That’s not the issue here.” Elijah warned him off.

  He didn’t need a pity mate, one who was only with him because she didn’t want to send the man and his beast over the edge into insanity at the loss.

  At that point, he wasn’t sure what would be worse, going crazy bear without her, or going insane at her antics.

  “I would have preferred it if you and your brother had never found mates. That way neither one of you would have to leave the mountain … but that’s just me being selfish.” Nathan grumbled.

  Elijah had thought about that a lot over the years. The threat to his home, to his way of life had always hung in the balance since their father had died and the decree had been made as to his land.

  He thought he’d be ecstatic at winning, because it meant he got to live on the mountain forever, raise his own cubs there, but now … He didn’t want to think about that.

  He had a mate to woo, or not, and she didn’t look either too interested in that idea or too pleased with it either.

  How the hell was he going to woo a human female that saw him for exactly what he was – a bad mood bear shifter?

  ~

  ~

  ~

  “Mate her,” Nash urged, and Jethro pulled his head back on his neck and scowled back at the man.

  “Excuse the hell out of me?” Alana balked at the vampire’s words.

  “Can I woo her first?” Jethro tossed back with a scowl and disbelief at the vampire’s callous appraisal of the situation at hand.

  It was true that the conditions in his father decree had been for the first son to be mated, and not just find their mate. He was still in no damn rush to get the deed done … at least, his body was more than ready from the moment that he’d taken her scent and knew her as his, but his mind was still trying to find a gear, any gear, except reverse…

  “Little thief this is Jethro, Jethro this is little thief,” Nash announced. “Job done, introductions made, now get on with it.”

  “My name isn’t little thief, you big…” Alana bit off her words at the sound of thunder that rolled through Jethro’s chest. She didn’t like the sound of that growl, it sounded angry, and a little hungry… “While I don’t speak … bear … was that for me or the bloodsucking, fang monster?”

  Jethro’s eyes snapped from Nash to Alana. Those big chocolate coloured eyes of hers hit him right in the gut and made it twist inside of him, but not in an entirely bad way.

  His bear whined. The animal found its own gear and went in reverse, snapping off that growl for fear of scaring their mate.

  “All him, you’ll know when I growl at you, sweetheart,” Jethro offered her the best smile that he could muster with the tension that was etched onto his face.

  “Don’t call me sweetheart,” Alana grumbled.

  “Yes, she’s anything but sweet. Bloodsucking fang monster, there’s one I haven’t been called before, and I thought I’d heard them all.” The vampire offered back. “Now, as to your predicament…”

  “Nash,” Jethro shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it.

  He wasn’t going to rush his mate into anything. If he could woo her then fine, if not then he’d deal with the consequences of those ramifications.

  If Elijah wooed his mate first, well, he’d have to deal with that too.

  CHAPTER SIX

  ~

  “Ah, spring is in the air…” Nash announced as he strolled into the store and followed the sound of beating heartbeats out towards the back.

  “Barely spring…” Nathan muttered and yet Nash’s ears still picked it up.

  “Spring has sprung, birds are returning, and mates are, apparently in abundance.” Nash said as he turned to eye the scene.

  Nathan was resting his backside against a batch of piled up wood, looking more than a little winded, and not as happy as he might have been. Andy was standing with her hands on her hips; practically offering everyone a glare of annoyance, and Elijah was by the back door, and Nash couldn’t put his hand on his heart and say that the big bear shifter might not have been thinking about doing a runner.

  “Just the one…” Elijah growled out, as his eyes flicked towards the dour female for just a second.

  “Two.” Nash corrected him.

  “Huh?” Elijah scowled back.

  “Your brother just found his mate…” Nash sort of enjoyed sharing that news. The sight of Elijah’s jaw hanging downwards was a picture perfect moment…

  “I found mine first!” Elijah said after snapping his jaw back and clunking his teeth together.

  “It’s not a race…” Nash offered and then deliberately took time to consider that. “Oh wait … it kind of is, considering it’s the first to mate…”

  “Mate!” Andy snapped, she was chewing a wasp and she was making good time from what the vampire could figure out. “Look here…”

  “Oh, just the messenger, love.” Nash replied to the heady sound of the thunderous growl that rolled towards him.

  “I’m not your love…” Andy offered back with something of a sneer.

  “No, you’re his!” Nash pointed towards Elijah and she snorted in contempt.

  “That’s just so not…” She shook her head to the sound of another roll of thunder coming at them. “Can you stop that?”

  “No!” Elijah growled back.

  “That would leave him somewhat constipated…” Nash offered with the flare of amusement in his eyes. That amusement grew when Elijah rolled another growl in his direction.

  “Oh for the love of…” Andy bit out.

  “Him!” Nash pointed towards her mate and she snorted again…

  “Can you stop that?” Elijah tossed back to her.

  “What?” She demanded.

  “Snorting like a pig every time someone says…”

  “A pig?” Her chin went down, her eyebrows rose towards her hairline, and she looked at him from beneath her eyebrows.

  “That’s not wooing, my friend…” Nash offered from behind his hand and Andy’s eyes snapped towards him.

  “And that’s a good thing,” she hissed like a rattlesnake that someone had stood upon.

  “Can we all just…?” Nathan started, but nobody was really listening to him…

  “I can woo!” Elijah growled out.

  “No, you can’t!” Andy shot back.

  “What she said,” Nash agreed, pointing a finger at woman.

  “I didn’t mean it like that…” Andy frowned at the vampire, wondering why he was even getting involved in any of this.

&nbs
p; “I apologise,” Nash sounded and looked earnest enough, and yet she bet that he was just talking out of his backside.

  “When did he meet his mate?” Elijah wasn’t entirely sure that he believed the vampire. It didn’t go unnoticed that Nash and Jethro were as thick as thieves at times.

  “Just now, outside, and he’s already taking her home….” Nash offered with a small glint of amusement within his eyes…

  “Home!” Elijah took one long step towards his mate and the woman balked at the sight of him coming towards her. Those dark eyes blazing…

  “Oh, you can stay right the hell where you are…” she said scowling back at him.

  Elijah didn’t take another step. His mind was torn between the knowledge that he had gained nothing yet, no land, no security …. Nothing, and if anything, with Jethro finding his own mate then he might have actually lost it all…

  “What can I say to make you feel better…?” Elijah offered the woman and she scowled harder.

  “Feel better?”

  “About us…”

  “Us.”

  “Are you just going to echo everything I say?” Elijah demanded and she slowly drew her head back on her neck and looked at him as if he’d just grown a second head, maybe even his bear one…

  “Dick!” She exclaimed with absolute belief and total enjoyment at watching his face fall and the bad mood cloud over him once more.

  “Very helpful.” Elijah growled back.

  “You know, you have this big black raincloud that’s right over the top of your head, and as much as it’s a joy to be in your presence – not – I have to say that there is no way in hell that I want to spend one more moment in your company.” Andy announced, before she turned on her heels and stalked towards the vampire…

  Elijah growled a long hard warning at the man to get out of his mate’s way, and the vampire heeded it. One moment; he was standing in front of her blocking the way and the next he was gone…

  Andy pulled up short. Her eyes flicked left then right, and then she turned on her heels to find Nash standing over the other side of the room. His arms were folded and his shoulder was propping up one of the metal shelving wracks, and he looked as if he’d been there forever…