Sassy Shifter Brides: Complete Series - BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Mail-Order Romance (12 page)

“Oh, thanks,” he muttered, accepting the coffee with a weak smile. He took a sip, and the hot liquid spread through him, bringing an ounce of clarity where there’d been none before. He kept his eyes on Liza, taking in her wild hair and the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. Her hazel eyes were sexy as hell, and he could feel himself stirring again. They’d just christened a particularly lucky clearing in the shadow of some Western Larch trees, the yellow and red leaves cutting into the greenery of the otherwise evergreen forest. Still, he felt like he was more than ready to go again. If only there wasn’t work to do.

“So, who was that guy?” she asked, easily the third time she’d tried to pry the information from him since he’d grown sullen and grouchy.

“One of Deacon’s guys,” he recited the worn half-truth, receiving a tired nod in response.

“You know what I mean. You’ve been driving us and the horses so hard since he came around that I’m pretty sure you’re either trying to run from or to something. So which is it? And why did he make you react like that? I doubt you’d threaten to punch the lights out of any farmhand if you didn’t have a damn good reason for it. Or, if that’s your usual behavior with strangers, I might have to reconsider introducing you to any civilized beings,” she teased, winking at him. Rake snorted dimly, grasping for a smoke and lighting it despite Liza’s disapproving look. He drew a long drag and exhaled before looking at her again, the same questioning terseness shining in her eyes.

Finally, he sighed, letting the glowing ash fall from the Lucky.

“Fine. You got me. I think that kid was from my pride. From the Whiteplains. Seeing as they threatened to make sure I wasn’t with any woman they didn’t approve of, I’m pretty sure they’re planning on jumping us before we get back. So I’m trying to get as close as we can.” He cocked a brow at her, exhaling a lungful of smoke. She scrunched her nose and, with a move that was almost too graceful to be true, plucked the smoke from his lips and put it out on the ground.

“Hey, what was that for?” he asked, scowling.

“Just because you’re choosing to worry about something you have little to no control over, doesn’t mean you can smoke like a chimney around me. Hell, tiger, I wanna kiss you, and you’re making that damn difficult by tasting and smelling like something that was scrubbed out from beneath a stove.” She stuck out her tongue, and he had to do some serious soul-searching to find enough willpower to not lunge at her. Instead, he chuckled and inclined his head at her, taking another sip of way too strong coffee to wash the taste of the cigarette out of his mouth.

“As the lady demands.”

“Damn straight,” she said with a giggle, the happy sound filling him. Then she fell quiet, and when he looked at her again, lines of worry were clearly etched on her face. He reached for her hand and took her much smaller fingers in his big palm.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t want you to fight with your family because of me. There’s a lot of history there, and I don’t want you to do anything you might regret later.” She pursed her lips and his heart constricted a little in his chest. Rake set down the mug of coffee and inched closer to her. With one smooth move, he pulled her onto his lap, having her straddle his powerful thighs. Her face hovered above him, and the slight pout of her lips was maddening. His cock was hardening, and it was far too difficult keeping his thoughts straight.

“Now, you listen to me,” he said, resting his hands on her ample ass. “I understood a long time ago that there was nothing for me with the Whiteplains. Nothing at all. They live a life I can’t possibly agree with, and that’s why I left. I’m not going to be like my father was, sleeping with and knocking up any girl who shakes her tail at me, all in the name of some long-dead ancient rite. The way of the pride, at least the way it is now, can’t survive, and I won’t be a part of holding on to history that should be forgotten as soon as possible. My life is with you, Liza,” he said, pausing for a second. He gazed deeply into her eyes, and for a moment, he thought he saw the shimmer of tears in them. Rake planted a small kiss on the tip of her nose, getting a weak smile out of her. The suddenness of his words caught him as much off-guard as they did her, but hearing them out loud, he knew them to be the truth.

“I want you to be completely sure of this when I say it. I love you. Madly, deeply, completely. I thought I could ignore it when I was threatened by the pride, but it has become more than clear to me that this is something I don’t want to lose. Unless you say otherwise, you’re stuck with me. And I’m more than happy to forget all about my family, if they’ll only let me.”

He let out a growl as her hands tucked into his hair and yanked his head back a bit so she could kiss him. Rake drank from her lips, his hands exploring the length of her body and cradling her against him. She ground against him and reignited the fire within him that had never quite had the time to settle down.

“I think I love you too,” she whispered.

“Good,” he replied with a wolfish grin, flipping her on her back on the grass and covering her with hurried kisses, her hands already going for his belt. The air filled with her giggles, and his lion clawed at him, pressing its presence on him. Never had a woman made both him and his animal respond so wildly. For a moment, he could be happy and wipe the worried thoughts away, even if they would never get the chance to wander too far from him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was their last night under the Idaho sky. Liza could barely feel anything but the constant ache that went down to the bone, making her weary and brittle. The days were long, the rides were hard, and she didn’t just mean the horses. Rake was insatiable, and she found herself to be as ravenous as he was. Whenever they weren’t busy walking down an unruly head of cattle or driving the massive herd forth, they were in one another’s arms. It quickly became apparent to Liza why Kacey had fallen so fast and hard for Warren. There was something undeniably masculine about these cowboys, and going a day without them seemed like a fate worse than hell – an addiction she didn’t mind having.

The fire was already crackling, even though the sun hadn’t quite set yet. They had a good half-day’s worth of riding left for the next day and had decided to call it an early night. Liza hadn’t been the one to object, seeing as her thighs quivered with each step Tempo took, and her back and shoulders were killing her. She was sprawled out on the sleeping back, listlessly picking at her dinner. Rake was cozied up right next to her, one hand on her back in a mixed show of possession and affection. His warmth was soothing.

They ate their dinner in silence, Rake’s sharp gaze lingering on the impending darkness a fraction too long every now and then. He tried to hide it from her, but she could see the worry gnawing away at him. His shoulders were tense and his posture spoke volumes of a protector ready to spring into action at the drop of a hat. Liza felt like he kept half and eye out for any creeping werelions even when they were lost in the throes of passion. It had been left to her to lighten the mood, and the closer they got to the end of the drive, the harder it seemed to get.

Things won’t change just because you’re getting back to civilization. Or, relative civilization, anyway,
she tried to assure herself, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. A growing anguish had been developing in the pit of her stomach – a nervousness that wanted to bubble over the edges.

Liza had been hard pressed to find a place in life, always the outsider wherever the wind took her. Her free spirit and artistic endeavors were met with scathing remarks in her family of successful entrepreneurs and doctors, her ambitions driving a wedge between her and the rest of them. In Dallas, she’d felt far too removed from nature to really find her groove, even though she was surrounded by people and energy that accepted her in all her quirky glory in a way that her family never had. But now, in the Idaho wilderness and by Rake’s side, everything seemed to be falling into place. The possibility of seeing it all slip through her fingers when she got back to town and had to face the reality of her life was chilling, to say the least.

Her lids were getting heavy, and she was just about to suggest to Rake’s grim form next to her that perhaps tonight they could skip the sunset altogether, when a piercing roar rumbled through the man. He was on his feet in less time than it took Liza to glance at him.

“Rake!” she gasped, watching the man sprint toward where his horse stood in the distance. Liza scrambled to her feet and stumbled after him, the falling darkness making it hard for her to catch up with the man.

“Stay here!” he yelled over his shoulder, and a moment later, Liza stuttered to a halt, blown away by what she was seeing. The man began contorting and shifting in mid-run, his powerful body morphing into that of a huge, sandy-coated lion. A thick mane sprouted around his neck and head, his determined chin and inviting lips elongating and flattening into a muzzle. Strong nails dug into the fresh dirt, and when he came to a stop, staring down something outside of Liza’s view, he stood tall and proud as a lion.

“What the hell,” Liza murmured, but her question was quickly answered. Rake roared – a noise so primal and full of rage that it rooted Liza to the spot, as it would just about anyone else. She saw a flash of his big jaws and teeth, and her heart pounded wildly. She would never have thought that a lion could have looked natural in the grasslands of Idaho, but he most certainly did. The man was a king, a ruler wherever he went, and she had no doubt about it. Liza squinted, making out three more bodies in the dark. Rake’s mane bristled and his long tail twitched, throwing the tuft of fur at its end back and forth. Her eyes grew accustomed to the falling darkness, as the useless fire crackled behind her. The beasts circling Rake were three werelionesses, distinct from him without the dark crowns of mane around their necks.

He bared his teeth, and Liza took a small step backwards, feeling like she was intruding on something that she could only make worse. The muscled, tight forms of the lionesses crept around him in a circle, snapping and snarling, but not daring to make the first move against the much stronger lion. Only together did they have a chance of defeating him – a thought that chilled Liza to the core. One of the lionesses stopped, raising her head to look at Liza. It snarled, golden-brown eyes sparkling with malice. In a flash, it had bounded out of the circle and was heading straight for Liza. She yelped, turning on her heel and breaking into a desperate run.

Behind her, she could hear Rake roar and the padding of heavy feet pounding against the ground. She ran towards the campsite, though it hardly seemed like it would help. She grabbed Rake’s knife from on top of his bags and twirled around just in time to see Rake tackling the lioness and collapsing onto the tent in a mess of claws, teeth and snarls. The two other lionesses were running after them as well, and the air was thick with growls and yowls. Liza gripped the knife tightly in her hand, her body pulsing with adrenaline. It seemed like forever, but in reality, it was only a split second before Rake leapt forward, dragging the lioness by her neck. She was not much smaller than him, but he pulled her along like she was nothing but a nuisance. Her eyes were closed, and he dropped her in front of himself, standing almost next to Liza. Liza wasn’t sure if she was still breathing, everything seemed a blur.

The other lionesses paused, hissing at the sight of their fallen companion. Rake lowered his head a bit, powerful muscles playing in the light of the fire, ready to pounce at the slightest of offenses. He bared his teeth, and his nails dug into the dirt. His golden eyes were wild with anger, and there was a trickle of deep red blood dripping from his maw. She knew right then and there that he would kill them if she didn’t stop him.

“Rake, no!” she yelped, stepping closer to him and dropping the knife. Her hands went into his thick mane, gripping the fur and tugging at him to look at her. “Don’t do this. Please. You’ll never be able to live with yourself,” she whispered, desperation pounding in her chest. The snarl evaporated, and she could see him snapping back, the haze of bloodlust lifting. After a moment, she let go of him, and the man shifted back.

He stood tall and proud, snaking an arm around Liza and pulling her to his side as he glared daggers at the two lionesses.

“Take her and never come back,” he growled, nudging the limp body at his feet with the nose of his boot. “Remember that I’m perfectly capable of taking on all of you. While you’ve been plotting how to continue with your stagnation, I’ve been growing stronger and smarter. If you want, I can prove that right here and right now, but I’d rather not kill my family if I don’t have to. And I don’t want to subject my mate to that sight.” He squeezed Liza against him, and her hand wrapped around his waist. The lionesses shared a look and shifted, revealing two women who bore a remarkable resemblance to Rake. Both were tall and blonde with bright eyes and determined chins.

“So that’s what you’re capable of sinking to, Renata,” Rake said darkly, inclining his head at the body of the frail blonde at his feet. She was still breathing, but her lion form had fallen from her. She seemed younger than the other two women, her sandy-blonde hair covering her face, and a deep bruise forming on her neck where Rake had caught her between his jaws. “Risking the lives of the young. Is this really who you want to be?” he asked, disappointment in his voice. Renata huffed, her nose crinkling with annoyance as she leant down to check on her younger companion. Liza’s fingers twisted into Rake’s shirt, her body covered with goose bumps.