Owen (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 2) Read online

  The line crackled, and he came on. “You probably shouldn’t be talking to me, Dakota, not without a lawyer. I’m on my way to see Eddie. Is he there with you?”

  “That’s the problem.” She quickly told him everything she saw. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Leave. Get the hell out of there. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Okay,” she said, setting the radio down. Except she couldn’t leave. If she did, Eddie would be gone. The men were trying to load him into a van, struggling against his weight. They’d clearly never abducted a bear before, but they would soon succeed. Who knew what they had planned.

  Closing her eyes, Dakota took a deep breath, and then she sped towards the men, ramming the truck into their van. Her head hit the steering wheel, disorientating her. Through blurred vision, she saw the outrage in the men’s faces. Dropping Eddie, they hurried to the truck and pulled her out. She barely noticed, a black haze forming around her, yet she remained conscious. The men pushed her to the ground, at the feet of Girey.

  “That was a dumb move, sweetheart,” he said, snarling. “Looks like you’re going to be joining your boyfriend at the river.” He turned to his men. “Tie her up. Take her with us. We’ll drown them both.”

  Two men lifted her up, but they immediately dropped her back down, hearing the roar of a bear. Eddie was awake, standing on all fours, a massive grizzly. Pulling rope from the back of their busted van, some of the men tried to lasso him down, but his might was too strong. He ripped through the rope and brushed the men away with his paw.

  Girey had been watching with amusement, until he saw his men go flying. He pointed his pistol at Eddie. “I was going to take you in alive so I could watch you suffer, but this will have to do.”

  “No!” Dakota tried to shout, but her voice was weak, inaudible.

  Girey steadied his arm, but he didn’t get a chance to shoot. Another grizzly knocked him over and tore his gun away. It was Colby.

  Returning to his human form, Colby stood over Girey. “This ain’t my town, but you better get the hell out. Your days at the rodeo are over. If I ever see you and your men again, the next time I take your gun away, I’ll take your hand with it.”

  “You can’t get rid of me that easy, boy,” Girey sputtered. “I always collect on my debts.”

  Colby roared in reply, returning to his bear form. Girey quickly got up and jumped into the van, followed by his men. They raced away, as fast as the wreckage of their vehicle would allow, shouting curses from the broken windows.

  Ignoring the bastards, Eddie came to her, a bear no more. “You came back?” he asked, taking her into his arms. “Why’d you go and do a stupid thing like that?”

  Her head pounded, and there was a ringing in her ears, but she tried not to let it show. If Colby was going to take her into custody, she wanted to go with her dignity.

  “I didn’t steal your truck. I brought it back,” she answered, feeling it important to say.

  “She needs a hospital,” Colby said, standing behind him.

  “No, no hospitals, not if we can help it,” Eddie argued. “I’ll have the rodeo medic check on her. If we take her to the hospital, they’ll know where she is.”

  Don’t they already know? she thought, but she didn’t protest when Eddie carried her into the trailer and set her down on a couch. Colby didn’t follow. He left to summon the medic, giving them their space.

  “What happens now?” she asked, rubbing a hand across her head. “Is Colby going to arrest me?”

  “No,” Eddie said firmly. “He has no jurisdiction here, darling.”

  “What about his friends at the station? Are they on their way too?”

  “Dakota, no one knows you’re here. We haven’t told anyone. We were never going to. Colby is family. He would never do that to the woman I love.”

  “You love me?”

  He laughed and sat next to her. “Of course I do. I was an ass earlier. You are noble, Dakota. More noble than I’ve ever been. What you did for your brother was brave. And what you did for me tonight… well, that meant something. Big. You risked your freedom to save me. Colby understands that. He’s seen who you truly are. Now, you’re under his protection as much as you’re under mine.”

  “But what am I going to do? If the station here has my picture, nowhere is safe. I might as well turn myself in.”

  “Don’t do that,” Eddie pleaded. “I know somewhere you can go. Come with me. We rodeo folk, we’re always on the run. We’re all outlaws. You’ll fit right in. No one will ask any questions.”

  She smiled, despite the pain in her head. “You want me to come with you?”

  “More than I’ve ever wanted anything before. I’ll keep you safe.”

  It would be hard to tell Brianna. She didn’t want to disappoint her friend, but it made sense. She could hide in the rodeo. She could be free and have her happiness.

  “Okay,” she said, accepting his offer. “I’ll join you.”

  ***

  The medic was gone, and so was Eddie. He’d left her alone to sleep, giving her his bed. When she’d woken, it was to an empty trailer, but she knew where he’d gone. Under the moonlight, she walked the half hour to the stadium, following Eddie’s footsteps to the stables. She wasn’t afraid to do so, not even with Girey out there, plotting his revenge. Knowing Eddie loved her, she wasn’t scared of anything. She felt truly safe for the first time since leaving home.

  “You never did tell me his name,” she said to Eddie when she entered the stables. He stood before his bronco, feeding him oats from a bucket.

  “Dakota, you’re supposed to be resting,” he protested, setting the bucket down. “Let me take you back.”

  “I don’t want to go back,” she said. “I only want you.”

  With all the strength she had, she pushed him into an empty stall, the horse and its owner already gone. Loose straw crackled beneath her feet as she met him there, full of desire and intention. Standing on her tip toes, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, the heat of her anticipation fueling her lips. There was nothing tender about the kiss. Eddie took control, commanding her tongue with his, showing her the full force of his love.

  When she was at his mercy, he broke away. “I’ve wanted you since the day I met you,” he growled, craving her.

  “Then take me,” she permitted. “I’m yours.”

  Delighted, he lifted her up so that she straddled him with her legs, and he pinned her against the wall of the stall, running his hand over her toned thigh, now tanned by the sun. He kissed her neck, his lips hot but tender against her pulse, sending shivers down her spine. As he kissed her, his hand traveled up her thigh and beneath her tank top, caressing her bare skin, magnifying the joy already coursing through her body.

  “Keep going,” she pleaded, immersed in his kisses. “Feel all of me.”

  With his strength, he ripped off her bra and threw it onto the ground, keeping her steady against the wall, and then he cupped her breasts, circling her nipples with the roughness of his palm, awakening her body as his lips continued to slide across her neck. She squeezed her legs around his waist, letting him know just how much pleasure he brought her, aroused further by the foresight that next time she squeezed her legs, his cock would be inside of her.

  He knew it too, causing his cock to grow through his jeans and press against the gap where her thigh met her ass. Suddenly impatient, he massaged her breasts harder, pushing against them as he kissed her with the vigor of a bear but the lips of a man. She wrapped her arms around the bulk of his neck, matching the intensity of his kiss, charged by the power of his body, a power she wanted to feel within.

  He lost control. Consumed by his desire for her, he dropped her to her feet, and then he spun her around so that she faced the wall. He lifted her tank top over her head, and he pulled down her denim shorts, exposing the lace of her panties. Her core was wet. He could smell it. Bending down to his knees, he inhaled her, the scent of her desire an ambrosia. Moving he
r panties aside, he tasted the ambrosia, his tongue hard and warm against her core.

  Moaning, she arched her back, giving him full access to her as he licked her pink flesh, sliding his tongue into her core, lapping the ambrosia, ripening her, preparing her for the magnitude of his cock. As he drank her in, he gripped the cheeks of her ass, rubbing them like he had her breasts. It opened her up wider to him, gave him more room to taste her.

  “I want you,” she panted, her breath hot against the wall. Her body was aflame, ready to burst apart. “Ride me and never let go.”

  He stood. “I’ll give you what you want,” he murmured in her ear. “I’ll show you what the love of a cowboy feels like.” He took her hand and put it over his cock. “It feels like this.”

  “It feels good,” she praised, gripping the tip of his stiffness, unable to wrap her hand fully around it. “But I’d like it better if it were free.”

  “So would I,” he said with yearning, his own wetness seeping through his jeans. “While I set it free, I want you to touch yourself. Show me what you want me to do to you.”

  As she listened to him unzip his jeans, she obeyed him, keeping one hand against the wall while she massaged herself with the other. His tongue had left her clit moist and ready. She rubbed it, imagining it was still his face between her legs. Her breathing grew harder, luring him back in.

  He grabbed the strands of her chestnut hair and pulled her head back, causing her backside to protrude further so that he could fuck her. Teasing her, he kissed her back, starting at the base of her neck and slowly working his way down, his lips as soft as the snowflakes back home. Already charged, it rocked her body over the edge.

  “I’m going to cum,” she warned, gasping between his kisses, his head nuzzled against the curves of her back.

  “I want you to,” he said. “I want you to cum all night.”

  To prove it, he ran his tongue down her spine, causing her to cry out as she came. Pleasure ripped through her, but it was only an appetizer. She was still hot, ready for more.

  He gave her more. Seizing her hips, he drove his cock into her plump wetness, filling her with his girth, which pulsed gloriously against her inner flesh. As he began to thrust, he rubbed her clit, heightening her bliss, building her back up. Her body shook with each drive. The whole stall did, causing a rake to fall to the ground.

  Needing to feel more of him, she reached between her legs and took his balls into her hand, enjoying their size and masculinity. As he plunged inside of her, she rubbed her thumb against the base of his shaft, where their wetness joined, spilling down his cock.

  “Oh darling.” His voice was low and powerful, saturated with lust. “I knew you were something special.”

  To show him just how special fucking her could be, she clenched, squeezing her core around his cock. In return, he thrust hard, pushing deeper into her, and he began to swivel his hips, rubbing his cock within every inch of her pussy. It sent currents through her body, causing her to moan with ecstasy. Moving her hips with him, like a slow dance, she trembled with pleasure, her breath wild. He pushed her hair aside and pulled her closer so that her back rested against his chiseled abs, and he kissed her neck once more, working his cock within her while he tasted the sweat that dripped down her back.

  In his arms, she exploded, her ambrosia drenching his cock. “Eddie,” she whimpered as she came, overwhelmed by a powerful bliss that made her float in a golden light, her soul reaching out to his.

  Swelling when she said his name, he returned to pumping her, growing with his own pleasure until he also came. He shuddered as he released himself into her, continuing to hold her, the muscle of his arm resting against her breasts.

  “I really do love you,” he declared into the night. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’ll be safe with me, Dakota. No more running.”

  “No more running,” she promised, knowing she was safe, that his promises were real. “Not from you.”

  From now on, they would run together, outlaws in the southern deserts, animals who roamed free.

  FIN

  Alec

  Secret Baby Bears I

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Prologue

  “Hammer, Smith, & Partridge” hung over the front door, a creaky, faux-antique sign that swung in the breeze.

  The five men looked at each other.

  “Nervous?” Alec, the biggest of the bunch, looked around at the others.

  Jackson shook his head. “Nah, man,” he said with a grin, flexing one of his giant biceps. “I’m sure this is nothing.”

  Rust and Clay exchanged glances. “I don’t really know what we’re doing here,” Clay said after a moment. “Did you guys get a weird voicemail, too?”

  Rock laughed. He was the youngest of the group; prone to never taking things too seriously. He grinned, and then said: “No fuckin’ idea, man.” He smirked. “You know, they never found out about what I did with that police car when we were all in college.”

  “This can’t be about that,” Alec replied. “That was over seven years ago. I got a message, too, but I couldn’t understand what the damn secretary was saying.”

  A hush settled over the group. Alec took charge and led the way inside. The doorway was so low that all of the men had to hunch down as they passed through. Inside was dark, a bit cramped and dusty. An elderly secretary sat behind a massive oak desk, scribbling something on a legal pad. When she looked up at the group of men, a slight blush washed over her wrinkled features.

  “Hello, boys,” she said with a smile. “Are you here to meet with Mr. Partridge?”

  The men all exchanged a look. “Something like that,” Alec said. “We all got this message-“

  “Oh, yes,” the secretary said, clearly more flustered than before. With surprisingly nimble fingers, she searched through a stack of papers on her desk. “You’re right on time,” she added, glancing up quickly. “Mr. Partridge is in his office. He’s expecting you.”

  The secretary got up and skittered across the room. She seemed nervous, like she was expecting something to jump out and bite her. As she knocked on the door labeled ‘Partridge,’ Alec glanced at her desk and read the word printed on a folder: “Speculon Labs.”

  “Come in!” A booming voice sounded from Partridge’s office. The men went in, single file, and arranged themselves around the spacious room. Like the front office, it was a bit dusty, but Partridge had the shades thrown open and sun was streaming through the windowpanes.

  “What’s all this about?” Alec cleared his throat and settled against the wood-paneled wall. “We all got calls, telling us to come here…” He trailed off, clearing his throat. “I mean, could you tell us why you wanted us to come in? All at once?”

  Partridge turned to face the group. He was an elderly man with longish, tufted white hair and a silk bow-tie at his throat. Despite his old age, youth twinkled in his clear, blue eyes.

  “Yes,” he said, clasping his hands together in his lap. “No doubt you recall donating sperm to the genetic research project at Dodson University?”

  Chapter One

  Talia stood at the front of the classroom, her hands poised in front of her. “Class, settle down,” she called in a mild, calm voice. “We’re about to begin for the day.”

  All of Talia’s students loved Ms. Roberson. Even the rowdy ones could always be brought to order with a stern look or a word of encouragement. Talia was a natural teacher, and it showed. This was her third year at Rickard Elementary, and even though she’d missed the kids over the summer, Talia wasn’t exactly glad to be at school that morning. Recently, her life had become a mountain of stress. Her son, James, was starting to exhibit behavior considered rather abnormal for a two-year-old boy. She could barely leave him alone for a second before he’d make a mess of trouble; lately, his favorite thing to do was chew on the new kitchen cabinets that Talia’s landlord had installed the previous year.