Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44191 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
But claiming her would be anything but simple. She was a human, unaware of the paranormal secrets around her. If she knew the truth, she’d be terrified, disgusted even. A woman wouldn’t mate with an animal, especially not one as delectable as her. She had wide birthing hips and big heavy tits. A woman like her could handle being fucked and bred.
When she’d taken the honey he’d harvested, all he could think about was pouring it on her naked body and sucking off every drop, slowly, starting with her sweet little cunt. He growled, shaking the distracting thoughts away.
“I think I’m already addicted to your way of life,” she said as he continued giving her a tour of his homestead.
“Then stay,” he said.
She twirled around, hugging his flannel to keep the chill out. “Don’t tempt me.”
But he wasn’t joking in the least. He didn’t want her to leave. He watched her taking in the surroundings, the mighty firs, the eagles soaring above, the scattering of wildflowers. She kept snapping pictures, proving she loved everything he loved.
Fate had chosen well for him. Now he had to figure out how to keep her.
“What are those?” she asked, pointing down a valley to a line along the ground.
“Security lines and trail cameras.”
“Why? Bears and wolves?” she asked.
“Humans.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Way out here? Why the security? What would they do?”
“There are a lot of dangers out here, none of them from bears or wolves. I can never let my guard down.”
“Is it the poachers?”
“It’s not just the men after you. It’s been a problem for as long as I can remember. Humans are cruel and dangerous. They take what they don’t need and leave a trail of suffering behind them.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you.”
“If they know you have their photos, they won’t stop looking for you.”
She squatted down, covering her face with her hands. On instinct, he got to one knee, pulling one wrist away. “What’s the matter?”
“I didn’t want to say anything but I lost my wallet on the hike, either before or after I met you, I have no clue.” She sniffled, her eyes filling with tears. “If they find it, they’ll know my name, where I live, where I shop, everything.”
Those hunters likely had her belongings. They lived for the hunt, and something like a wallet would stand out. He used the opportunity to his advantage.
“You’ll stay here. With me. I can protect you.”
“Forever?” She stood back up, waving a hand across the land. “They’ll give up eventually, right? Maybe they’ll think I died. I could have fallen off a cliff or gotten killed by a pack of wolves.”
“They’re relentless.”
“Really, Wilder? That’s not what I need to hear.”
“It’s just the truth. Remember I told you I’ve been out here since I was a boy?”
She nodded.
He was going to tell her something nobody knew. A dark past that still haunted his nightmares. “Poachers murdered my parents and left me for dead.”
“What? How is that possible?” She started to back up, nearly tripping. Panic marring her features. “Killed? What do you mean they killed your parents?”
A poacher had come looking for grizzly bears to sell their body parts on the black market for unbelievably high prices. His parents had fought to protect him in their fur, but they were no match for the firepower the poachers carried with them. He still remembered the weight of their still-warm bodies over him as he attempted to wiggle free. When he ran off to the tree line, they shot him in the side, but he kept running, ignoring the pain until he was miles away.
He’d learned to survive, and eventually to thrive alone in the wilderness. His father had been an alpha grizzly shifter on their sacred shifter land, and now it had passed on to him. All the animals of the forest respected his rank—if they didn’t, he reminded them why he was king of this forest.
“Nearly killed me too.” He lifted up his t-shirt, showing her the gnarly scar on his side where the wound had healed so many decades ago.
Her mouth fell agape, and she stepped closer, running her fingertips ever so gently over the white scar. “Wilder. Oh my God. They’re going to kill me too.”
“I’ll never let that happen. I promise you that.”
Chapter Six
There was something Poppy didn’t like. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She sat in the sitting room in his home, recalling the conversation from a couple of hours ago. He had to leave as he wanted to get the cub settled, and he’d made a couple of calls, but told her not to leave until he returned. She had nowhere to go, regardless, and those poachers scared the life out of her.
What started out as a money-making mission was turning into a nightmare. But she couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Wilder was nothing but kind, but there were now a couple of things that didn’t make sense. First of all, the way the cub responded to him. Sure, it made sense that some cubs that had gone through traumatizing experiences might develop a connection with the human that helped them. That was a big if, and that usually tended to take days, if not weeks and months. She’d seen it on those nature videos. The cub acted so differently around Wilder. As if the cub knew something about him. It wasn’t natural.