Page 8 of Combust
“That wasn’t a request,” Kenny prompted. “And I don’t have all night.”
The bears glared at each other one more time, warning growls rumbling from their deep chests. Then fur rippled and limbs began to contort.
Moments later, two naked, muscled men rose shakily from the gravel.
One was Andrew, looking considerably less well-groomed than he had inside the club.
His tall, sleekly-muscled body was splotched with reddened bruises and marked with parallel gashes where his thick fur had failed to protect him from his opponent’s claws. He also sported what promised to be a truly impressive black eye.
Serves you right.Maggie couldn’t help feeling a tiny bump of satisfaction at the sight.
As for his opponent… She caught her breath at the sheer physical impact of the stranger. He had shaggy dark hair and the beginnings of a scruffy black beard, with fierce blue eyes under strong brows.
His tanned, densely-muscled arms were covered with tattoos that stretched from wrists to shoulders, then over each sharply-defined pectoral. Old, white scar tissue covered his hands like taut gloves, with a wide splotch of pale, shiny skin stretching over his ribs on one side of his torso, winding around to his back.
Her gaze dropped lower, to the huge cock nestled in a patch of thick black hair between his tree-trunk thighs.Oh. My. God.
She hastily forced her eyes back up to his face.
Under the intensity of his sapphire eyes, she felt something like a gut-punch. Her bear, already agitated from the confrontation with Andrew, reared up and came alert.
This one, it said.
This one…what?Maggie asked, puzzled. Her bear usually only reacted like this to threats.
Well, that wild-looking guy already attacked Andrew, she thought.
Maybe it hadn’t been a rescue, after all. Maybe he’d had something else in mind. He sure looked wild enough.Was he planning to go after me next?
Her gut clenched, and a cold sensation that had nothing to do with the icy October wind rolled over her skin. Her sense of safety had been badly shaken tonight. Right now, even Malia’s calm presence at her side wasn’t helping her regain her inner balance.
“All right, guys,” Kenny said, his brisk tone breaking into her thoughts. “Now’s the part where you tell me why I shouldn’t haul your asses to jail for being drunk and disorderly.”
Chapter Three - Close Encounter of the Naked Kind
“Officer, do you know who I am?” Andrew demanded.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” Cade muttered.
The cop rolled his eyes, which made Cade warm to him a bit.
Cade noticed the three shifter women watching him, including the gorgeous brunette who had attracted his bear’s interest, and was suddenly and intensely aware of his current lack of clothing. In general, shifters didn’t have a nudity taboo, but it was different when almost everyone else here was wearing clothes.
At least good ol’ Stuffed Shirt is in the same boat.The thought was oddly comforting.
Then the cold wind shifted just enough for Cade to catch the cop’s scent. He stiffened.A wolf shifter cop in bear shifter territory?What the hell?
In Cade’s experience, wolf shifters and bear shifters hated each other.Maybe all those stories about Bearpaw Ridge are true after all…
“Nope. No idea. You wanna show me some ID, sir?” The cop’s hard blue gaze shifted to Cade. “You, too.”
Cade peered at the scraps of clothing scattered around on the mounded gravel, hunting for his wallet.
Dammit, I didn’t count on having to buy another pair of jeans before my first paycheck. Guess I’ll be skipping breakfast and lunch tomorrow. Maybe dinner, too.
He was glad he’d polished off the steak sandwich and most of the fries before tailing Andrew and his date out of the club. That should hold him a while.
He caught sight of a flat square wedged partway under someone’s back tire, the black leather nearly invisible in the sharp-edged shadows cast by the cop car’s headlights. He felt a spurt of relief.
